Episode 237
6:32 PM.
Kwon Yeon-hee was just hoping that her face would not frown as she fixed her eyes on the monitor.
‘When does everyone get off work…!’
It was average for employees to leave work around 7 o’clock at the latest, but because Manager Lee Jae-heon had been off for a few days, there was a lot of work that was overdue. There are limits to having other employees take over, so Lee Jae-heon probably won’t be able to get off work until late, and then all the other employees will have to leave to do something about this difficult situation…. Another 30 minutes have passed as I continue to work with a nervous mind
. At that time, Team Leader Woo, still pale, approached Lee Jae-heon with cautious steps.
“Um… Manager, can I send the kids home from work? It’s late…”
“The manager is working and you’re going to get off work?”
“I will stay and fill in the gaps. “Don’t worry, you know I’m good at that job.”
“Well… that’s right.”
Lee Jae-heon said, roughly nodding his head.
“If you have nothing left to do, please leave work.”
At those words, the employees stood up from their seats, looking at each other secretly. Although there was a condition of ‘nothing left to do’, it was because Team Manager Woo looked at me as if I was going to do something if I didn’t go. Although they felt sorry for her, the employees began to leave the office one by one.
Team leader Woo Soo-young quietly approached intern Noh Yeon-seok.
“Yeonseok, can we just go in now? “I’m still an intern…”
“Oh no! “I still have some work left to do, so I’ll keep doing it just a little longer.”
“…Well, don’t push yourself too hard.”
Looking at her expression, it seemed like she thought she was probably unable to leave work because she was worried about what others thought. All the people I used to hang out with every lunch hour are still there.
The people who couldn’t leave work were five survivors, including two employees from Team Leader Woo’s line, Woo Soo-young himself, and Lee Jae-heon.
Director Lee Jae-heon spoke as if he was teasing her, but Kwon Yeon-hee was already aware that the condition of ‘nothing left to do’ was what he was telling us to listen to. It meant that if it bothered you, you should stay.
‘Would you like to buy me a late-night snack?’
I remembered Lee Jae-heon, who frowned and frowned, perhaps because he was worried about me, but when he wandered around, he pretended that he couldn’t win in the end and cared about us. I thought maybe we would all get together this evening and have a quick talk.
‘…But Manager, I can leave work now as long as I complete the approval…’
Kwon Yeon-hee, who was trying to figure out the flow of work piled up on Lee Jae-heon and was relieved, saw something in her eyes.
“….”
“…Uh….”
An astonishment that he could not swallow came out of Noh Yeon-seok’s mouth, but Kwon Yeon-hee also did not have time to criticize Noh Yeon-seok. She looked at Director Lee Jae-heon with wide eyes.
‘That crazy bastard…!’
The monster that had been prancing around Lee Jae-heon approached behind his back and began strangling him with translucent black hands. It was even more creepy as it was not a monster of the grotesque form often seen in the other world, but something completely human in shape, strangling it as if giving a back hug.
At that moment, a cold air known only to survivors filled the office.
“…greatness.”
When Lee Jae-heon cleared his throat slightly, as if his throat was clogged, Team Leader Woo reacted in surprise.
“yes yes? Even if there is any inconvenience…!”
“…Okay, let’s continue working.”
“Yes, I will upload the work I am currently working on soon…!”
No, no, no.
‘Why do you keep making our manager a bad person?’
Yeonhee Kwon felt like crying.
I know that Team Leader Woo Soo-young carefully monitors Manager Jae-heon Lee’s feelings, I know that he takes good care of other employees, and I know that he walks a tightrope between those things, but it was unfair to be unfair. In some ways, it’s a self-sufficiency, but after listening to it, it seems that more than 50% of the image of old people created is due to that monster. If she were in Lee Jae-heon’s position, she might have really cried.
When Kwon Yeon-hee was fidgeting, Lee Jae-heon seemed to be having trouble holding on any longer! I got up from my seat roughly.
Anyone could see that he looked nervous.
“…You’re still doing things.”
“Yes, yes…”
Lee Jae-heon left the office at a fast pace.
He was wheezing and exhaling as if he was trying to calm his anger, but Kwon Yeon-hee, who knew the truth, knew that he was barely breathing. I wonder if I was the only one who noticed that, and the faces of the team behind the scenes, including Kang Min-ah, showed signs of worry.
‘…Why aren’t you coming back?’
Kwon Yeon-hee, who felt like she was sitting on a thorn cushion and was watching carefully, eventually got up from her seat when Lee Jae-heon did not return even after 10 minutes.
“Yeonhee?”
“…That bathroom….”
“Oh, right. “Please come back.”
“thank you.”
As Kwon Yeon-hee, who gave a cursory thank-you, left the office at a brisk pace, she saw Jeong In-ho nodding slightly. This probably means going out and checking on Lee Jae-heon’s condition. As Kwon Yeon-hee blinked in affirmation, Jeong In-ho turned his gaze.
‘Where are you?’
Kwon Yeon-hee looked around for Lee Jae-heon, but couldn’t see where he had gone. I stopped by the men’s restroom to see if there was anyone inside, but the lights were off. Since it was quiet most of the time after work, if someone was there, you could probably hear it, but the hallway was just quiet.
What Kwon Yeon-hee found while walking around the slowly quiet company was…
“…Aw! Boss!”
It was Lee Jae-heon, strangled and crushed under a monster in a warehouse where documents were stored.
Upon hearing Kwon Yeon-hee’s voice, Lee Jae-heon pushed the monster away with great force, and the monster in the shape of a woman tilted its head and soon disappeared. As Kwon Yeon-hee, who was looking pale, quickly approached her, Lee Jae-heon chuckled and raised his upper body.
“Hey, that, that one, that thing just… cut off my neck…!”
“Kek khuhhh… ah, it’s my neck.”
“Ugh, I’m the manager…! “Don’t die!”
“Who needs to die…who needs to die?”
“I liked your voice…!”
Lee Jae-heon looked at her with a strange look as she slowly burst into tears. For some reason, Lee Jae-heon, the person involved, seemed more calm than Kwon Yeon-hee, who was a mere witness. Kwon Yeon-hee’s crying grew louder as she looked at her as if asking why she was making such a fuss.
“Uuuh… why are you looking at me like that….”
“Why are you making such a fuss?”
“Are you saying that?”
When I returned to reality, things seemed to get a little better, but as expected, Lee Jae-heon was Lee Jae-heon. Anyway, when other people worry about them, they just look at them like, “Why on earth are they doing that?” In the end, the only people who were upset were the people around him who saw Lee Jae-heon like that.
Jaeheon Lee, who was looking at her with an embarrassed face as she couldn’t stop crying like chicken shit, patted her on the shoulder.
“…I’m sorry for causing you worry. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“If you thought like that, wouldn’t you just be crazy? The manager shouldn’t feel sorry, that monster is bad. “Please don’t apologize to me for some really weird reason.”
“Ah… okay then.”
“….”
Kwon Yeon-hee sniffed once, wiped her eyes and spoke.
“…Please buy me a late-night snack….”
“Why am I… No, tell me what you want to eat.”
“I want to go to the manager’s house.”
“You came yesterday too… Yes, please come. “Just come and have fun as much as you want.”
“Minah, Yeonseok, and the assistant manager too.”
“You just make a living, right?”
“You don’t like it?”
“…Damn it….”
Kwon Yeon-hee knew that she would lose in the end even if she said things like that, so she did not back down even though she was secretly watching. I was just trying to shake off the fear I had just now by worrying about trivial matters, such as what to buy for dinner today.
Kwon Yeon-hee hesitantly approached Lee Jae-heon and followed closely.
“Try to lower your necktie… I was already a little bruised, but it’s gotten worse, isn’t it?”
“No, wait a minute….”
“Oh really…! It’s completely turned black! “Don’t avoid checking!”
As Kwon Yeon-hee grabbed Lee Jae-heon’s collar and lifted up his necktie, a handprint that was between red and black came into view. Even during this time, I felt like I was going crazy thinking, ‘I’m glad I didn’t bleed.’ You idiot, are you thinking of doing that in a situation as serious as this?
“It must really hurt….”
“Yeonhee?”
“….”
“….”
Kwon Yeon-hee and Lee Jae-heon’s bodies stiffened at the sound of a completely different voice that was not theirs.
“manager…?”
“Why did you grab Manager Boo’s collar…”
Kwon Yeon-hee left and didn’t come back for a long time, so Woo Joo-young came to look for her and team leader Woo Joo-young tried to stop him, but in the end, he couldn’t, so Jeong In-ho, who had accompanied him, was looking at them. At first glance, there was a similarity between Team Leader Woo’s face, which was full of embarrassment, and Jeong In-ho’s sour face when he saw Lee Jae-heon’s black neck.
“…Collar….”
Kwon Yeon-hee muttered softly, and her brain started spinning.
I reached out my hands and grabbed the collar of my shirt to check my eyes, which were probably red from crying, and the condition of Lee Jae-heon’s neck. And team leader Woo Soo-young, who can’t see the bruise on Lee Jae-heon’s neck at all. Lee Jae-heon is awkwardly bowing down while being held by the collar.
“…It’s not the collar.”
Kwon Yeon-hee removed her hand from her clothes and hastily shook her head.
“That’s not what it is. “I didn’t really grab you by the collar.”
“Uh uh…”
“It’s not real…!”
Out of frustration, even though I wanted to show Jaeheon Lee’s neck condition, I couldn’t. Perhaps because he was far away, he could only see Kwon Yeon-hee grabbing him by the collar, but in reality, there was a slight bruise on Lee Jae-heon’s neck. This is the bruise that I don’t know where it came from that Jaeheon Lee showed me by pulling down his neckshirt last night.
But it wasn’t the right situation to show it. If you’re unlucky, you might get the misunderstanding that Kwon Yeon-hee strangled Lee Jae-heon.
When the two women were so embarrassed that they couldn’t say anything properly, In-ho Jeong raised his hand and called out Yeon-hee Kwon.
“Yeonhee, come here.”
“yes yes?”
“are you okay?”
“….”
Why is he acting like that again?
“…?”
Why is the manager like this again?
‘What is it? What is it really….’
I don’t know how much time had passed in that brief moment, but Jeong In-ho was looking at Kwon Yeon-hee with a worried face and was wary of Lee Jae-heon, and Lee Jae-heon was frowning as if he was feeling the inconvenience of having his evil deeds revealed. Even Kwon Yeon-hee, who knows the truth, could tell what concept they had, so Team Leader Woo Woo-young, who was already quite prejudiced, would be even more so.
Without any error from Kwon Yeon-hee’s expectations, Team Leader Woo opened his mouth and looked at Lee Jae-heon.
“I, Yeonhee, made a mistake… but it probably wasn’t intentional. I’ll take you there and have a good talk…”
“A story?”
Woo Joo-young and Kwon Yeon-hee’s shoulders trembled at the sharp tone.
“Ha, I’m really… I’ve become a manager at this age, so I’m holding on to everything.”
“…Boss…?”
“Have you gone crazy? Do you know who is holding you by the collar now? Ha, bear with me.”
Why are you doing this?
‘We weren’t in this mood until just now. What kind of plan are you two planning?’
Kwon Yeon-hee was taken aback as she alternately looked at Jeong In-ho pulling me away and Lee Jae-heon frowning. What kind of actors are you? How can you catch emotions so quickly? What kind of situation is this? Team leader Woo Soo-young’s face is getting whiter.
“Employee Kwon lives a very comfortable life. When he gets angry, he grabs the manager by the collar. “Isn’t that right?”
“…I… no, wait….”
“Isn’t being unable to manage your own emotions disqualifying you as a member of society? I’m suspicious of how it came to Oseong. “Why are you going to hit me now?”
“…Uh….”
“Assistant Manager Jeong.”
Lee Jae-heon looked at Jeong In-ho with sharp eyes.
“Take him. “Take him with you and have a very private conversation.”
“Chief, please stop.”
“They said they were gathering together, but it was just… Tsk.”
Lee Jae-heon, who had brushed off the part that had been caught, walked out of the warehouse with nervous steps. Jeong In-ho wrapped his arms around Kwon Yeon-hee’s shoulders and patted her as if comforting her, while team leader Woo Soo-young, who was pale and exhausted, was watching the whole situation.
Kwon Yeon-hee, who was speechless for a moment, muttered in bewilderment.
“…Boss…?”
So what is this situation…?
