By Zephyria 
Kim Jo-wook, the Executive Director of Taejang Electronics, was a nepotism hire. The reason was that he held the position by virtue of being the husband of Choi Hye-ran, the branch manager and youngest daughter of the Taejang Group Chairman. As a husband ten years younger than his spouse, the position he occupied as Executive Director was that of “youth.” Youth, and the innovation of Taejang seen through the eyes of the common people. Because of this, he operated his SNS actively, and while he might skip important schedules, he made sure to be present for anything involving new employees. This was so he could take group photos among the youth after events and instruct them to follow his SNS account.
In the executive office, occasionally—or rather, quite often—absurd proposals were spat out, with him praising them as highly innovative ideas. The executives, finding it difficult to stop the Chairman’s son-in-law, would simply sigh and say, “Yes… please do as you wish.” In reality, the tasks assigned to him were within a scope where any resulting disaster could be immediately cleaned up. Then, the PR office would dress up his activities as witty and great achievements and release them to the press.
“Ho, so you’re saying we’re changing the office desks.”
“Yes. They’re getting old, and since several people’s hands have touched the desks due to the air conditioning issue on the 6th floor, getting new ones would be better for the employees’ morale and in terms of welfare…”
“I don’t mind changing them, but instead of keeping them as they were… wouldn’t it be good to introduce various changes?”
“Pardon?”
“The original office felt a bit stifling and lacked a sense of warmth between people. Is it just me? I feel like ideas would just vanish in a place like this. When I visited the Google headquarters in New York before…”
“…….”
The foreboding feeling that rose while listening to his explanation soon became reality.
And so, an innovation that should never have come to South Korea was introduced to the 7th floor of the Taejang Electronics DL Division.
It was, none other than, the ‘partition-less office.’
‘…Should I hack it?’
His knowledge of security was shallow, but he felt he could at least scrape the page of this official document. He could change the phrase ‘partition-less office’ to ‘high-partition office,’ then everyone could quickly set up partitions and bolt them down with drills, claiming it was irreversible.
Yi-ho, who had returned after a long time to a company he wanted to bolt out of immediately, glanced back at Cha Min-gyu. Min-gyu’s expression, having lost his well-functioning spot overnight, was also not very bright.
Furthermore, this floor was given the bizarre nickname ‘Creative Space.’ Modeled after a university library, the structure—where large desks were placed freely and people could sit wherever they wanted to work—did not consider practical efficiency in the slightest.
The faces of the development team members, who had faced the extremely dangerous social situation of a stranger being able to sit next to them immediately after finishing their remote work, were particularly dark. Everyone desperately searched for a corner to set down their laptops. Even there, they observed a tacit agreement, sitting a space or two apart. Yi-ho also took a spot in the area where the development team members had taken refuge.
However, someone broke the agreement and invaded the space right next to Yi-ho with a tablet. Yi-ho stared blankly at the man who brazenly pulled out a chair and sat down. Min-gyu curled the corners of his lips.
“This shitty situation is actually helpful for one thing.”
Min-gyu was dressed a bit more formally for work today. While Yi-ho was glancing over his attire, the back of Min-gyu’s hand brushed along the side of his thigh.
What the.
Is it okay to do this at work? Isn’t this illegal? Behind Yi-ho’s face, which was struggling to feign composure, his pupils trembled.
Then, a drink was placed in front of Yi-ho. It was an Americano, his favorite. And.
[Iced Americano ┃ I_love_mushroom♥]
In the spot where a strange name like ‘Charming-gyu’ or something had been written before, something even weirder was written. Huh… this is illegal. This is definitely illegal.
Today’s Min-gyu was like a notorious amusement park attraction. He didn’t give Yi-ho a moment to catch his breath, trapping him in a shimmering wave of romantic feelings.
Min-gyu closed the distance even further right there. When the armrests of the chairs touched and they couldn’t get any closer, he leaned his head down.
“I was sad that I couldn’t see you while Team Leader Song was working from home, so it’s wonderful to see you.”
Is it okay to say things like that so recklessly in a place without partitions?!
Unable to react, Yi-ho froze. His body became hard as a rock, but his heart alone was thumping wildly. The distance between his face and Min-gyu’s was barely a span. A few people at the open table glanced over with looks of shock. At this rate, he might have no choice but to hand out wedding invitations in the office tomorrow.
“Ahem, Cha, Cha Min-gyu…”
But isn’t it too fast right now? I should announce it a bit later, not when the atmosphere is bad because we lost our partitions… I also have to ask Mother if she can handle the return gift rice cakes… Like a broken POS machine spitting out receipts, fireworks of thoughts exploded in Yi-ho’s head.
“Team Leader Song.”
Why are you calling me? To tell me to get married?
“Yes, yes…!”
As Yi-ho barely managed to open his mouth, Min-gyu propped up his tablet in front of him.
“It seems there’s an issue where the image search accuracy is dropping; by when can you check and fix it? I’d like it done as quickly as possible.”
Ah.
A very clean smile was directed at Yi-ho.
The others at the same table immediately bowed their heads toward their screens. Yi-ho gulped down the coffee Min-gyu gave him and tilted his head with a skewed expression.
“…How exactly is the accuracy dropping?”
“Look at this. I searched for this, but the results are strange.”
“They’re normal.”
“No, look closer. Isn’t this a bit too broad? It should be more concentrated…”
“Ah, I said it’s normal! Computer vision isn’t even my area!”
What exactly is an office romance?
For now, he just knew that Min-gyu was consistent.
Since it had been a while since he came to the office, there were many things to resolve, so he stayed later than the usual clock-out time. When he worked alone in his room while working from home, the feeling of being a team leader had faded, but it returned immediately upon returning to the company. Especially when he was getting scolded by superiors as the team representative, or when he had to coax and soothe subordinates who were slacking off because they didn’t want to work…
However, on the way home with an exhausted body, a sort of event occurred thanks to his first commute in a long time. In Yi-ho’s two hands was a takeout bag of garlic tripe from a famous stir-fried tripe restaurant located in front of the company. Since his clock-out time was delayed by about two hours, the queue had shortened, allowing him to pack three servings without waiting. A late dinner and late-night snack time with Min-gyu would soon unfold.
The distance between the two had widened sharply after the early summer business trip to Thailand, then closed sharply due to their cohabitation and dating at the end of the rainy season, and was now finding an appropriate point again. In fact, there was no need to research anything; they just had to do exactly what they had done for four years when they lived in opposite houses.
Realizing it anew, now that they were dating, the time they spent insisting they were just friends had been quite excessive. Moving between each other’s houses as if they were next rooms, using household items as they pleased… they had already been doing everything lovers do.
Even if it was unconscious for Min-gyu, Yi-ho, who had pretended to suppress his feelings, had actually been crossing the line of friendship without hesitation.
Thanks to that, it worked out well, as they could spend time without awkwardness even after the relationship changed in an unexpected direction.
Arriving at the 18th floor of the apartment, Yi-ho stepped out of the elevator and naturally headed toward unit 1 instead of unit 2.
After tapping the touch pad to wake it up, he entered his house’s password.
Beep.
As if pouring cold water on his excited heart, the door lock sharply pointed out that the number was wrong and turned off. He must have made a mistake.
Yi-ho pressed the door lock at a slower pace than before.
Beep.
“Eh…”
Did I get heatstroke already? I think I typed it correctly this time.
—Who is it?
Having heard the two attempts, the intercom sounded from inside.
“Cha Min-gyu, it’s me.”
Yi-ho shook the takeout food in front of the intercom.
“I bought late-night snacks. Let’s eat together.”
—Aha.
The low laughter transmitted through the intercom speaker, sounding like a soft rustle, was pleasant to hear.
—I can’t right now. Can you come back in 20 minutes, Song-i?
“Oh… okay.”
—Yeah. See you later.
Then, there was a click as the communication from the speaker cut off.
“…Was he working?”
It seemed something had come up that needed to be handled urgently. Yi-ho typed the password for unit 2. The lock was successfully released in one go with the number he remembered. Fortunately, he hadn’t suffered heatstroke. Then again, it would be a disaster to forget your own house password even if you did…
Yi-ho checked the time. Since 20 minutes was too precious a time to spend just staring blankly, he took off his work clothes and showered in the bathroom. By the time he changed into comfortable clothes and shook the moisture from his hair, the time was almost up. After making sure the time had passed, he called Min-gyu before leaving.
“Are you done? Can I come over now?”
—Yeah. Just finished. Come over.
“Got it.”
As soon as Yi-ho finished the call, he heard the sound of the front door of the opposite house opening, as if Min-gyu was coming out to meet him. Yi-ho stepped out of his door, trying to suppress the smile forming on his lips. And then he froze.
While he stood still, the front door of unit 2 closed on its own with a beep.
Yi-ho scanned the person in front of him from head… to toe.
“Where did you go?”
“Nowhere. I came straight home after work.”
“That…”
He was speechless because he had too many questions about the other person’s appearance. First, the hair. Unlike at the company, his bangs were all down, and his straight black hair was dried and set in a rounded style. The light green summer knit top seemed loose, yet strangely traced the lines of his body. Below that, he wore distressed jeans, and Yi-ho wondered why on earth he was wearing Converse sneakers while opening his own front door. And even the scent of perfume coming from his body.
The current time, facing Min-gyu dressed in an outfit that wouldn’t look out of place in a magazine as a perfect weekend date look, was Monday at 9 PM.
“Come in, Song-i.”
“…Why on earth are you dressed like this?”
“It’s only natural to dress up prettily when my lover is coming over to the house.”
“……?”
Yi-ho looked at the shabby short-sleeved T-shirt… shorts… and the slippers he had dragged along. Min-gyu’s gaze followed his.
“Hmm…”
“…….”
Instead of pointing it out, Min-gyu turned around without a word, as if telling him to acknowledge his sin, and led Yi-ho into the house.