By Zephyria 
Having solved the problem, Yi-ho returned to his work. Before diving in, he carefully opened a sandwich that looked appetizing even through its packaging and took a bite. The vegetables were cold and fresh, it was generously packed with ham and cheese, and the bread was soft. It tasted even better after he took a few more bites and ate his way into the center.
Does he want to set up the wedding buffet himself when we get married in the Netherlands? Anyway, if he keeps acting like this, I’ll start working from home permanently; I’ll have no choice but to seriously look up the cost of shipping a container to the Netherlands. The moment the lease ends, instead of the house next door, we’ll just live in one house…
“…….”
Yi-ho’s shoulders suddenly slumped as his hands drifted aimlessly across the keyboard.
Whether this strange neighborly relationship would continue also depended on the will of the landlady and Cha Min-gyu. If even one person disagreed, it was unlikely they would continue living this way. In the first place, the current situation was far too exceptional. Once they each found new studios, it would be impossible to enter the other’s space in five steps or to know every detail of the other’s daily life as if looking in a mirror.
An unrequited love is a variable that cannot be output.
He had told himself to keep it tucked away inside, but lately, the volume of it had grown too large. It was all because of Min-gyu, who toyed with Yi-ho’s heart with his excessively affectionate demeanor.
Perhaps it was a relief that he was working from home. He felt the need to maintain some distance so that his uncontrollable emotions wouldn’t suddenly overflow.
If a variable that is never output continues to eat away at the memory for no reason, it eventually affects the healthy functions of the system. Therefore, he had to be wary of the situation expanding further than it already had. Only then could he maintain the status quo and continue to feed on the kindness of Cha Min-gyu, who believed him to be the closest friend in the world.
He could just maintain a proper boundary like this and then fold his feelings when the time came.
So far, it was fine.
The end would come eventually anyway, so he decided to enjoy this unrequited love for Cha Min-gyu until the very end. Until the last moment. So that not a single grain of emotion would go to waste.
However, the company had never once let Yi-ho put his little plan into practice.
On top of that, they squeezed him dry. On Tuesday, after working from home until 6 PM, Yi-ho closed his monitor and immediately swapped his comfortable loungewear for outdoor clothes and headed out. His car drove in the opposite direction of the office workers heading home.
That damn coding class….
Just because he worked from home didn’t mean the coding class was remote. Tae-gyung, who had been full of passion for learning, had also seen his attendance rate stealthily vanish once things turned out this way. He probably didn’t want to leave the office after work to listen to content he already knew. Yi-ho wanted to run away too. But what choice did he have? He was the instructor….
“As such, once a class is defined, it can be used repeatedly from then on. This is a crucial feature that exists in any programming language. In the next session, we will learn about the expanded concept of inheritance….”
As the lesson passed the halfway mark, the students’ expressions grew increasingly lukewarm. The crowd that had packed the classroom at first had now thinned out.
“Does anyone have any questions?”
The classroom was deathly silent. As soon as he announced the end of the class, everyone hurriedly packed their things and headed for the exit. Yi-ho approached the only remaining student, who sat frozen in his seat, staring intensely at the monitor.
“Is there a part you don’t understand?”
Min-gyu loosened his tightly crossed arms.
“I just… for the first time in a while, I feel really stupid.”
“What’s the problem?”
Yi-ho examined Min-gyu’s screen. The practice assignment had been performed quite excellently. The code, which had been haphazard at first, had now been refined—he wondered how he’d managed it.
“You did well enough, so why?”
“It’s a beginner’s class. Honestly, it should’ve been easy for it to suit my temperament.”
He was saying something incredibly arrogant, but it felt more like an objective assessment than vanity.
“It’s because I had to finish the course in eight sessions, so I made it an accelerated version.”
“No. My brain has just stiffened. I wanted to learn diligently to help Song-i Song-i with some work, but it looks like that’s not going to happen.”
“Hah.”
He had no intention of acting superior because of his degree, but to think he could manage with just two months of classes.
While Yi-ho smiled beside him, Min-gyu transferred today’s practice assignment to a USB. Inside a folder named ‘Programming (Song Yi-ho),’ subfolders were lined up by the date of the class. Witnessing such excessive passion for a sloppy class made Yi-ho feel a bit embarrassed. On the other hand, those three rigid characters caught his eye. He always called him Cha Min-gyu, but Min-gyu called him by all sorts of nicknames, as if he had forgotten the name ‘Song Yi-ho.’ Those nicknames were full of intimacy.
Did he expect me to name a folder that other people might see something like ‘Song-i Song-i’s Coding Class’? He quickly chased away the absurd feeling of disappointment. Lately, the amplitude of these meaningless emotions had been growing.
After shutting down the system, Min-gyu reached his arms out to stretch his stiff body. Since it was summer and his shirt was thin, the contours of his body were even more visible. Yi-ho, who had been watching the movement of his shoulder blades, quickly looked away.
He didn’t know why Min-gyu kept tempting him when he had firmly resolved to exercise self-control. Min-gyu’s gaze followed the profile of Yi-ho, who was pretending to look out the window.
“Song-i.”
“…Yeah.”
…But if the other person called first, it was okay to look a little longer. Min-gyu had called him, but when Yi-ho looked at him, he didn’t say much.
Then, while I’m at it, should I be a bit more greedy? Because honestly, I was sad that I hadn’t seen him for three days.
“Cha Min-gyu, I have to come into the office tomorrow too.”
“Ah, the team leader meeting?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Are you coming in halfway through after working from home like today? That sounds tedious.”
“…Well, it can’t be helped.”
Min-gyu, looking at Yi-ho with slightly narrowed eyes, said,
“If you don’t absolutely have to come in, Song-i, just rest at home.”
“Does that make sense? What would people say later?”
“Just brush it off. Do you think other people never miss meetings?”
“You know I can’t do that.”
Since he was working from home, most people would understand, but someone was bound to say something. If he didn’t have the confidence to deflect those jabs with a smile like Min-gyu did, it was more peaceful to just put in the effort to show up.
So, since it had come to this.
“Let’s have dinner together after the meeting before we go home. It’s been a while since we ate out.”
Min-gyu gazed intently at Yi-ho. Soon, he wore a smile that seemed both incredulous and yielding.
“Sure, why not.”
∗ ∗ ∗
“I know Team Leader Song is struggling with work, so I really made a big decision to yield this time. You have to acknowledge that.”
“Pardon?”
In the hallway heading to the conference room, Team Leader Nam suddenly clung to him and said something incomprehensible. Then, Team Leader Lee from the Planning Team wedged himself between Team Leader Nam and Yi-ho.
“Stop joking. Darling, the Head of Department pushed for you because he wanted someone young to go, so don’t listen to him and just keep going. Keep going.”
Team Leader Lee patted Yi-ho on the back, creating distance between him and Team Leader Nam. Team Leader Nam responded from a step behind with an awkward face.
“Ah, Team Leader Lee. It was just a joke, why are you like this….”
“It’s because you’re playing that joke on someone who looks like a skeleton. Look at those dark circles under his eyes. This, this. A face that looked twenty has become twenty-five. This is a disaster. Oh dear, hurry up and go grab a snack or something.”
Team Leader Lee led Yi-ho away with a slightly brisk pace. Eventually, hiding his voice beneath the sound of footsteps on the marble, he whispered.
“That guy is one thing, but Team Leader Cha’s temperament is really mean. No matter how bad their relationship is or how much he hates being with him, how could he try to steal an opportunity like this?”
Why suddenly Cha Min-gyu? Something must have happened while he wasn’t coming to the office, but Yi-ho didn’t know why Min-gyu hadn’t told him. Since he didn’t understand the situation, he had nothing to say and could only blink.
“There is. Go and hear it. It’s good news.”
“Yes….”
Seeing the innocent face rarely found in a thirty-three-year-old office worker, Team Leader Lee clicked his tongue inwardly. He’s a unicorn, a total unicorn. Though he was frustrating at times, he never missed his duties, which made him someone others wanted to protect.
“Anyway, the people who like Team Leader Cha just don’t know his true nature. The real gems are always in the STEM fields.”
“…Is Team Leader Cha popular?”
“Of course. With a face like that, obviously. He’s occasionally drafted for things like recruitment fairs. When he goes up on the podium, the reaction is indescribable. The moment he grabs the mic, it becomes like an idol concert.”
“…….”
Seeing Yi-ho’s expression cloud over, Team Leader Lee nodded, thinking, ‘Sigh, even this sweetheart thinks he’s arrogant.’ However, a completely different thought was passing through Yi-ho’s mind.
‘Ah, damn it. As I thought, it wasn’t just me.’
This was no time to be leisurely about maintaining distance just because he was working from home. He had overlooked the fact that other people could like Cha Min-gyu too. At thirty-three, how much longer could he afford to pine? He felt frustrated that he should have clung to Min-gyu’s side pathetically until the very end.
To see Team Leader Cha’s face in the meeting room as soon as possible, Yi-ho quickened his pace.
“Then for the Thailand conference, Team Leader Cha and Team Leader Song. The two of you will go.”
…Hm?
Yi-ho looked at Min-gyu, who was sitting far off diagonally. Min-gyu looked back at him with a smile and a slight furrow in his brow.
∗ ∗ ∗
A pot of gamjatang bubbled on the gas stove. Min-gyu, wearing a crisp white shirt and a dark green apron with a soju logo printed on the front, scooped up some broth and poured it over the bones.
Min-gyu leaned the ladle against the pot and placed tissues and utensils in front of Yi-ho. Even as Min-gyu tore open the wet wipe packaging and neatly placed the wipe on top of the wrapper, Yi-ho sat blankly with his chin resting on his hand. Complex numbers flashed through his serious eyes.
He was going on an overseas business trip alone with Min-gyu.
“…I’m in trouble.”
Yi-ho muttered unconsciously. Watching this, Min-gyu quietly took Yi-ho’s side plate, but Yi-ho didn’t even notice.
‘I’m really in trouble.’
To the extent that even now, sitting across from Min-gyu having dinner, he suddenly wondered, ‘Do I even have time for this?’
A conference trip with Cha Min-gyu. Personally, it was obviously the greatest stroke of luck. Since team leaders were going, the flight seats would naturally be business class, and they would be given a great hotel. And outside of working hours, he could enjoy an overseas trip with Min-gyu for the first time in a long while.
…But the problem was the work during the conference. Of all things, the project deadlines overlapped.
Yi-ho’s agony stopped as a side plate containing a large piece of bone was placed right in front of him.
“Eat first, then think.”
After serving Yi-ho’s portion first, Min-gyu served himself and shook the bowl of rice before opening the lid.
“Cha Min-gyu.”
“What?”
“Did you say you didn’t want to go on the trip with me?”
“Is that the rumor again?”
“Yeah. That you hate me.”
Yi-ho relayed Team Leader Lee’s opinion while stripping the meat from the bone.
“I just told them not to take you because it seemed like Team Leader Song was busy to death.”
“I figured as much.”
“But why didn’t you tell them that the actually soft-hearted and kind Team Leader Cha did that for my sake?”
“…I still don’t want to.”
“You’re too much.”