Twenty-Four

It was already past five in the afternoon and I was still transcribing the voice recordings today. At first, I only wanted to take down notes of the important details. However, I kept getting distracted with the whole audio. So, I took it upon myself to transcribe them.

As for my officemates, everyone has already left the building. Soyoung wanted to stay behind but I told her that I would only stay for a bit. Minju and her friends didn’t say a word when I returned. But they would still do their occasional death glares.

As for Mr. Nam, we didn’t speak during the whole ride back to the company. The car was dead silent. But Haru and I exchanged glances through his rearview mirror. Eventually, Mr. Nam spoke to me when we got into the elevator.

---*---*---*---

The elevator doors closed once I pressed the button to the top floor. As the elevator moved, I kept my eyes on the floor. Mr. Nam hasn’t said a word since we left Mr. Taeyoung’s building. And I didn’t know how to approach him, especially when he remained silent the whole time.

“If you plan to accept my brother’s invitation, I highly suggest that you don’t pay any mind to it,” my eyes widened as Mr. Nam broke the stillness between us.

I looked up at him and all I could say was, “Sir?”

He sighed as he turned to me. He continued, “My brother asked you to have coffee with him some other time. It’s best that you ignore that invitation.”

“Yes, Mr. Nam,” I nodded as I looked away from him. I wanted to ask what his reason was. But his energy had a different feel to it so I simply agreed to it. After all, it was about his brother. It was best that I kept my thoughts to myself.

---*---*---*---

Until now, I still wondered why Mr. Nam told me to reject Mr. Taeyoung’s invitation. The invitation itself didn’t seem to be a bad idea. It was merely a harmless request to have coffee together. Perhaps, some other time, I could ask Mr. Nam about it.

Mr. Nam’s door clicked open and I immediately looked up from my laptop. I held my breath as I anticipated a furious boss. Mr. Nam stepped out of his office and smiled as soon as he turned to my direction. “Still busy, Miss Ryuk?” he asked as he closed the door.

A sense of relief flowed throughout my body. He was the Mr. Nam that I met once again. I replied, “Just a bit, sir.”

“I hope that Miss Chun didn’t give you another task that you shouldn’t handle,” he said as he walked towards my table, brows furrowed.

I smiled and shook my head. “Don’t worry, Mr. Nam, this has nothing to do with Minju. I’m just writing down notes from the voice recordings from our meetings. I took it upon myself to record our meetings in case I missed anything important,” I explained. “I also stay behind for thirty minutes, just to make sure that Minju and her friends are already gone.”

He nodded. “But shouldn’t you leave the note taking to Hyeongu? I told you to let Hyeongu do the compiling of notes,” he answered.

“I just want to make things lighter for Mr. Kim. As your main assistant, I’m pretty sure that he already has a lot on his plate. Like you said, we work as one big team here. Mr. Kim is a part of that team as well,” I said.

I added, “And again, I needed to do something to pass the time while waiting for Minju to be completely gone.”

Mr. Nam smiled with satisfaction as he nodded again. He replied, “Thank you for being such a good team player, Miss Ryuk. At the same time, I apologize that you have to stay behind because of Minju. I didn’t mean to put you in such a situation where you’ll be fearful for your life.”

“There’s nothing wrong with everything, Mr. Nam,” I said. “In every job, there’s always going to be good times and bad. And I think that the higher your position is, whether it’s at work or life in general, the more opposition you gain. Minju is, in my perspective, simply a spoiled rich princess.”

Mr. Nam chuckled. “Well, you’re right about that. But I still feel bad about what Minju did to you. So, how’s about I treat you for dinner?”

I froze as I looked directly at him. That was an unexpected turn of events. I only wished for Mr. Nam to be the person I met previously. But again, this sudden invitation would be added to the list of how he acted strangely today.

In a panic, I stuttered, “Uh, there’s no need for that, Mr. Nam. Like I said, I don’t mind. And I don’t want to be a burden to you. I already had my free meal in the cafeteria today.”

“No, you won’t be a burden. And to lighten your worries, we can have a simple dinner in the cafeteria. It’s the only way that I can think of to make up for what Minju did to you,” he insisted.

“But won’t the other employees wonder why we’re eating in the cafeteria together?” I asked, worried.

Mr. Nam thought for a bit before he replied, “I don’t see anything wrong with us, sharing dinner together. Take it as my way of apologizing for Minju’s behavior.” He added, “And if anyone tries to start rumors about us, I’m pretty sure that they will just keep things to themselves. I have very strict rules when it comes to those kinds of behaviors. I don’t tolerate it and I remove people because of that.”

I pressed my lips together as I contemplated if I should accept Mr. Nam’s dinner invitation. Though I could see that his invitation was harmless, I still wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to eat with Mr. Nam.

Back with my previous jobs, it was always emphasized that a relationship between a boss and their employee should be strictly formal and distant. It was something that I was accustomed to. Which was why Mr. Nam’s dinner invitation was strange.

“Miss Ryuk,” he said as he called for my attention. I looked back at him and he continued, “I promise you, we’re not going to do anything illegal. I’m only asking you to accompany me for dinner tonight.”

I looked straight into his eyes and he seemed to be really eager to have dinner with me. Defeated, I sighed and nodded.

---*---*---*---

“We can sit right here,” Mr. Nam said as we arrived at the middle table. With our trays in hand, we took our seats and prepared for our meals.

I remarked as I removed my bag from my shoulders, “It seems like you’ve done this before, Mr. Nam.”

“Done what before?” he asked.

“Eating food in the cafeteria.”

“Ah, that,” he smiled before a light chuckle. “Well, there are times where I will work overtime and I will eat here in the cafeteria. This is open until seven in the evening so whenever I know I will be working a little later than five, I get my food here,” he explained.

Now, that would explain how the cafeteria treated him. When we arrived, everyone greeted him as their employer. But when we approached the counter to order food, he didn’t say much. He only told them to give him “the usual” and they immediately prepared a try for him.

“No offense, Mr. Nam, but I expect that whenever you get hungry, you’d simply have your food delivered,” I said as I took a sip of my juice.

“Sometimes, I do,” he replied as he took a little bite from his toasted bread. “However, the food here brings me comfort. So, I prefer to eat here rather than expensive ones outside.”

I nodded as we started eating. Because of Mr. Nam’s presence, the kitchen added a bit more to my portions as well. And though I protested against it, the staff was more than happy to give me a few extra slices of chicken and a bit more of the soup. That caught me by surprise but I was thankful for that.

“If it's okay with you, Mr. Nam, I would like to work for an extra hour tonight,” I said, which made him look up at me. I continued, “I’m still not finished with the notes and I have a few contracts to sort out. I hope you don’t mind.

“You don’t need to work overtime, Miss Ryuk. You can continue those by tomorrow morning,” he replied.

My brows furrowed. I asked, “But what about the notes?”

He chuckled and answered, “You don’t need to rush them, Miss Ryuk. You can send them to Hyeongu when they are ready. Don’t overwork yourself, especially after what Minju did to you. I don’t mind if you will take your time with those. What’s important to me is that you give yourself some slack after the incident with Minju.”

“If you say so, Mr. Nam,” I replied.

“Now, can we not talk about work for a while?” he asked.