MTLNOVEL #019
#019
Hwi-kyung was contemplating whether to ask the executive director bastard, “Do you like me?”
This was truly a question that shouldn’t be asked. Even close friends don’t easily ask, “Do you like me?” Not only does it make things awkward, but it’s problematic whether the answer is yes or no.
It’s literally a question with nothing to gain from asking. Hwi-kyung knew this well. That’s why he didn’t say anything to Gyo-ha, even though he was so uncomfortable he couldn’t tell if his food was going down his nose or his mouth.
“Isn’t this restaurant delicious?”
But Gyo-ha couldn’t guess Hwi-kyung’s state. Gyo-ha had issues too, in that he couldn’t sense the gravity of the situation even seeing Hwi-kyung picking at his food while only thinking about killing him.
Hwi-kyung adjusted his posture to avoid breaking his innocent chopsticks. The high-end Korean restaurant Gyo-ha had brought him to certainly looked expensive. The pricey lunch charged to the corporate card was naturally delicious. It would be tasty even if paid for with one’s own money, so how much sweeter when paid for with someone else’s?
Causing such minor damages to the company was a pleasure for Hwi-kyung. If only it wasn’t the parachute executive director swiping that corporate card, lunch would have been several times more enjoyable.
“…It’s delicious.”
“Then why are you eating so poorly?”
“It’s my first time eating lunch… in such a high-end restaurant room.”
“This place isn’t that high-end.”
“…”
“Isn’t it rather casual?”
Hwi-kyung mentally killed Gyo-ha about ten more times. This was the moment when the number of times Hwi-kyung wanted to strangle Gyo-ha surpassed the number of times Gyo-ha wanted to throw Hwi-kyung into the Pacific Ocean.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Gyo-ha couldn’t read minds. He had peeked at the system windows appearing next to Hwi-kyung a few times, but the system windows didn’t directly display Hwi-kyung’s thoughts or feelings.
Inadequate conditions: Your superior forces an uncomfortable lunch.
Inadequate conditions: Your superior shows great interest in you.
At least these contents were visible. Gyo-ha felt a little hurt. He had scolded the HR team leader for Hwi-kyung’s sake (which only had a negative impact) and brought him to a good restaurant (Hwi-kyung felt like he was about to get indigestion), yet it was seen as forcing an uncomfortable lunch.
Moreover, Hwi-kyung didn’t quickly dismiss these system windows like before. There was no point in closing one when the same window would keep popping up. It meant that not a single moment of this meal felt comfortable.
“Hwi-kyung.”
“Yes.”
“Am I that uncomfortable?”
Would you be comfortable if I said yes?
Hwi-kyung seriously wanted to grab Gyo-ha by the collar. Who would feel comfortable with a parachute executive director suddenly appearing and disrupting their work life? Gyo-ha was throwing around obvious questions in situations where they couldn’t be answered obviously.
Even without malice, Gyo-ha was nothing more than a hindrance to Hwi-kyung. Just one of many obstacles interfering with his retirement. A person who was merely an unexpected variable he hadn’t experienced in the previous cycle.
“May I speak frankly?”
“Of course.”
“I understand that you’re looking out for me. I suppose it’s because I’m your temporary secretary.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“But that’s causing problems for my work life.”
“What?”
“You buying me coffee, coming down to have lunch together… all of it is problematic for me.”
So getting rid of him early would be good for mental health. While he had been keeping quiet to be considerate, Gyo-ha had quickly ruined his reputation within the HR team on his own.
It would be more advantageous to cut ties with the executive director and align with the HR team leader. At least Manager Kang Moon-chul was on that side. Moreover, while a temporary secretary had no affiliation, the HR team was a team. All he could gain from sticking with the parachute executive director was annoying overtime and strange rumors.
After making these calculations, Hwi-kyung began to voice the thoughts he’d been having without hesitation. Though his speech was full of cushioning words, to Gyo-ha, who had rarely been rejected by others, it all sounded shocking.
“Personally, I need more time to focus on HR work… I think it would be best to quit the temporary secretary job by the end of this month.”
“Is there that much HR work? I don’t think so.”
“…”
“I’ll stop bothering you with trivial things from now on.”
“That’s not the issue, Mr. Executive Director.”
Because of your devoted attention to me, rumors about me in the company have gone crazy… But even though he had decided to frankly address the issues, he couldn’t throw such a direct pitch. From the start, it didn’t seem like Gyo-ha would easily understand anything Hwi-kyung said.
At this point, Hwi-kyung had grasped Gyo-ha’s fundamental problem. Lee Gyo-ha was a decent person. He had a certain level of common sense, and objectively, his personality was good.
His problem was that he was a bourgeois far removed from hardship or failure. Lee Gyo-ha would never be able to understand Jung Hwi-kyung, no matter how hard he tried. Why Hwi-kyung lived in a small apartment, why he was reluctant to go to the emergency room, why he was so obsessed with coming to work as usual… How could the youngest son of the Baekgyeong Group understand?
Being kind and being ignorant were separate things. Lee Gyo-ha was ignorant of all the problems Jung Hwi-kyung faced. He didn’t have a grandmother whose hospital bills ran into hundreds of thousands, nor did he have a curse that sent him back in time if he didn’t get a job at a good company.
So Hwi-kyung forgave Gyo-ha’s ignorance. What else could he do? Hwi-kyung couldn’t understand Gyo-ha’s life either. Even after living thirteen times, he had never once lived as a chaebol. Lack of understanding was just another word for lack of experience.
“I want to work at this company for a long time.”
“Yes, work here for a long time.”
“But the nicer you are to me, Mr. Executive Director, the harder that becomes.”
“…Why on earth?”
But if someone was too ignorant, they needed to be hit. Hwi-kyung contemplated whether to splash water on Gyo-ha as he picked up the high-end ceramic water cup. Damn it. Why? Don’t you have ears? Don’t you know about the strange rumors about us?
Though he desperately wanted to confront him, he had to hold back for now. Hwi-kyung thought he might develop an ulcer at this rate. Should he just splash the water now and regress once?
Though all the tasks he had to do at the beginning of a regression were annoying, it seemed worth enduring that annoyance if he could just hit the executive director in front of him once.
“I really… just don’t understand. What does being friendly with someone have to do with working at a company?”
“…”
“Corrupt hiring of executives’ sons, spreading gossip about others… these should be the problems. Isn’t it a problem that a superior being nice is seen as a problem?”
It was correct, but too idealistic. Hwi-kyung suppressed the urge to tell Gyo-ha, “Stop showing that you’ve never worked at a company.” Right. Maybe someone could have never worked at a company. Maybe they could think of a company as an ideal space… or not.
“Ah, really… Mr. Executive Director…”
“Yes.”
“Why are you doing this to me…”
Hwi-kyung gently placed the water cup and utensils back on the table, afraid he might throw them at Gyo-ha, and tried to put on a pitiful expression. Outwardly, he looked sad like someone with a tragic story, but inwardly, he was still just thinking about killing Lee Gyo-ha.
“This is a very delicate question, but…”
“…”
“Do you perhaps like me?”
The angle of regression sharply pierced Jung Hwi-kyung’s chest.
Inadequate conditions: Signs of office romance detected.
Inadequate conditions: Your superior shows great interest in you.
Do you want to regress?
If this goes wrong, I’ll press Y and move on to the fourteenth cycle. Hwi-kyung reached for the water cup again. Having decided to regress, he felt a bit more at ease. Next time, I won’t come to BK International. I’ll definitely go somewhere without parachute appointments.
While Hwi-kyung was mentally shortlisting companies for his fourteenth cycle, Gyo-ha’s heart sank at the “Do you want to regress?” window that appeared next to Hwi-kyung. The question about liking him was absurd, but the question about regressing filled him with fear.
Are you trying to send me back to the first day of my master’s degree again? That was truly something he couldn’t bear anymore. He had just learned for the first time how complicated the process of buying a degree was, and he didn’t want to become someone skilled at buying a doctoral degree in the next cycle.
Don’t press Y! Don’t regress! Just live in this cycle!
But action was faster than shouting those words. Hands are usually quicker than words, after all. Gyo-ha grabbed Hwi-kyung’s arm across the table.
And he said this:
“You can’t.”
“What?”
“No more regression, I said.”
“What?”
“You’re a regression person!”
Jung Hwi-kyung, who was about to splash water on the parachute executive director one last time and coolly leave this cycle, was so shocked at that moment that he dropped the water cup on the floor. The high-end ceramic cup shattered as it hit the ground. Sharp fragments flew and scratched Hwi-kyung’s ankle, but he had no time to feel the pain.
Jung Hwi-kyung was truly shocked. To use a crude expression, he wasn’t just “really” shocked, but “fucking” shocked. Damn it. How did he know? That I’ve regressed thirteen times and am working at this company?