Follow Me to the Rooftop
“No. I was just curious. Woojin, it seems like you’ve lived a rather dull life. As stubborn as your taste in bungeoppang.”
Woojin’s gaze lingered on the tail end of the red bean bungeoppang.
“…I lived diligently. It wasn’t dull.”
“I know. The type who only looks forward and runs. That’s exactly why I picked you.”
Ihwa gave the beer can a light shake and murmured under her breath. The sound of liquid sloshing filled the night air.
“People like you don’t get distracted. If I mark you as mine, whether it’s red bean or anything else, that stubbornness of yours would keep you right in that spot.”
For a moment, Woojin simply stared at her instead of answering. His heart gave a strange lurch, but it passed quickly. Even in this situation, the way she kept bringing up the red bean to needle his preferences made a chuckle slip out.
“…Are you really criticizing my taste in red bean even now? That’s impressive.”
When Woojin shook his head with a hollow laugh, Ihwa only shrugged, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. He couldn’t tell if it was a compliment or the declaration of a true red-bean hater, but her absurd attitude somehow softened the barbed emotions the rooftop had stirred in him.
“Is that supposed to be praise or an insult?”
“My side is an expensive seat. Of course it’s praise.”
Ihwa downed the rest of her beer in one swift motion and rose to her feet. The night air seemed to ripple and change with her movement.
“So starting tomorrow, don’t let anyone drag you up to places like this. If you’re standing here with your head bowed, it makes me look ridiculous too. Unlike some people, I can’t afford to be as tacky as red bean.”
“You really had to squeeze in one last jab about the red bean, didn’t you?”
Woojin grumbled as he stood, but Ihwa walked off without a backward glance. Left alone, he looked back and forth between the crumpled bungeoppang bag and her retreating figure.
He had drawn a clear line that this was strictly business, yet her casual, offbeat, and razor-sharp words kept stepping over the boundaries he tried to maintain. At the time, he had no idea that sharing canned beer with her would later become the greatest comfort in his exhausting life.
When he had first entered this strange contract, Woojin had been consumed by the bitter thought that he was selling his pride. But after enduring the brutal reality and looking back, he was beginning to believe this might not have been a vague humiliation after all. Perhaps it was one of the best decisions he had ever made.
The next morning, the moment Woojin opened the office door, he was greeted by a mountain of documents covering his entire desk. If anything, there were more than yesterday. It was obviously Assistant Manager Choi’s handiwork.
Woojin stared at the stack for a moment, briefly considering marching over to confront him. But he quickly shook his head. Being dragged up to the rooftop again for another round of illogical scolding and emotional exhaustion would be worse than simply enduring the physical workload.
He sat down silently and grabbed his mouse.
Yet the harassment didn’t stop at dumping work on him. In the afternoon, crude voices drifted from the break room. Through the slightly ajar door came not the scent of coffee, but the stench of ugly gossip.
Woojin paused in the hallway beside the break room.
“Deputy, don’t you think that Kim Woojin bastard is getting way too cocky just because he’s dating Seo Ihwa? Acting like he’s hot shit.”
It was Assistant Manager Choi’s sneering voice. Deputy Gang’s oily laugh followed right after.
“Tell me about it. No matter how you look at it, my face is way better, but Employee Seo must have rock-bottom standards. Why the hell is she dating a guy like that? It’s disgusting.”
Woojin barely suppressed a bitter laugh. More than being saddled with extra work or personal attacks, the fact that men far uglier than him were criticizing his appearance filled him with indescribable revulsion.
Do they not own mirrors?
His face might not belong to a sculpted idol, but it was certainly not at a level where it deserved judgment from men with yellowed, smoke-stained skin and protruding bellies. Woojin clenched his fists tightly. The words were beneath his notice, yet the garbage pouring into his ears piled up like sediment in his chest.
That was when he felt a chilling presence behind him. Reflexively turning at the sharp sensation, he found Deputy Yoon standing there. The momentary coldness seemed like an illusion; the man was already offering Woojin a gentle smile. Yet the glint hidden behind that smile felt as though it could see straight through him.
“Why are you standing here listening to that?”
Deputy Yoon’s quiet question sounded closer to pity than rebuke. He gently pushed Woojin’s rigid shoulder back, then stepped into the break room without hesitation.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
His heavy voice slammed into the room. Assistant Manager Choi and Deputy Gang, who had been arrogantly tearing Woojin apart moments earlier, whirled around in shock.
“Ah, we were just… taking a short break for coffee…”
Deputy Gang flinched and quickly gauged Deputy Yoon’s expression. The earlier bravado with which he had critiqued Woojin’s looks had vanished; he trailed off with a servile smile.
Deputy Yoon approached the coffee machine with his usual relaxed aura. The sound of grinding beans filled the heavy silence as he stared at the two men with an unreadable expression. When the oppressive quiet had tightened their throats, he finally spoke while preparing his coffee.
“Ah, I thought I heard someone gossiping. In this day and age, who would stoop so low as to talk behind someone’s back, right?”
Deputy Yoon slowly turned, coffee cup in hand. The gentle smile had disappeared, replaced by a gaze as sharp as an ice pick that pinned both men in place.
“Don’t you agree?”
Deputy Gang and Assistant Manager Choi shrank like mice before a snake. They could only nod frantically and swallow dryly, unable to form words.
Deputy Yoon took a leisurely sip, then added one final nail as he left the break room.
“If you’re done with the coffee, get back to work.”
“Y-yes! Understood!”
The two men shot up like springs and practically fled to their desks. There was no trace of their earlier arrogance in the way they frantically typed while constantly checking their superior’s mood.
A short while later, inside the conference room where Woojin had been summoned, Deputy Yoon sat in heavy silence. The warm smile from the break room was gone, replaced by a serious, piercing stare.
“Employee Kim. Are you really dating Employee Seo?”
The unexpected question momentarily froze Woojin’s thoughts. He had never imagined someone of Deputy Yoon’s caliber would care about office gossip, which only heightened his confusion.
“…Yes.”
Perhaps he had caught some subtle dissonance in the short reply. Deputy Yoon pressed again.
“Are you dating because you genuinely like her?”
The continued interrogation set off warning bells in Woojin’s head. Does this man like Seo Ihwa too? The suspicion flashed through his mind, but protecting the contract remained his top priority.
He swallowed hard and answered once more.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Hmm…”
Instead of replying, Deputy Yoon tapped the desk rhythmically with his index finger. Tap. Tap. Tap. In the quiet conference room, the sound seemed to constrict Woojin’s chest.
Deputy Yoon’s demeanor wasn’t rude, yet the silence itself felt suffocating.
“If you’re truly in a relationship, be careful. Employee Seo’s family is far beyond what you can imagine.”
The completely unexpected statement made Woojin echo, “Her family?”
Deputy Yoon tilted his head, looking genuinely puzzled.
“You’re dating her without knowing about her family?”
“…Yes.”
“Goodness. This is as far as I can involve myself. You’ll have to ask her directly about the rest.”
With those final words, Deputy Yoon left the conference room without hesitation.
Left alone, Woojin mulled over the word “family.” Just what was behind Seo Ihwa that a man at the deputy director level would feel the need to warn him? The questions multiplied, but no answers came.
When quitting time arrived, Woojin approached Ihwa, hoping to clear up his frustrating doubts. But at that exact moment, a heavy hand clamped down on his shoulder. It was Assistant Manager Choi.
The instant he saw the man’s face, Woojin’s brows furrowed on their own.
This fucking—
He swallowed the curse before it could escape, but he couldn’t hide his twisted expression.
Assistant Manager Choi narrowed his eyes at Woojin’s face and snapped, “What’s with that look?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I just twisted my ankle for a second.”
Woojin tried to play it off smoothly, but Assistant Manager Choi clicked his tongue and jerked his chin toward the roof.
“Follow me to the rooftop.”
As Woojin trailed after him, he glanced back once. In the distance, his eyes met Ihwa’s. Her indifferent gaze was fixed on his back.
Back on the rooftop. Assistant Manager Choi casually pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Woojin, wondering what fault the man would find this time, deliberately turned his eyes toward the distant cityscape to avoid getting dragged into anything. But the harsh cigarette smoke still stung his nose. Maybe it was the stress, but even as a nonsmoker, Woojin felt a fleeting impulse that perhaps he should take up smoking.
Once he had finished the cigarette, Assistant Manager Choi finally opened his foul mouth.
“Did you rat me out to Deputy Yoon?”
His tone made it clear he believed the humiliation in the break room had been Woojin’s doing.
Woojin answered without the slightest hesitation.
“No.”
The old iron door to the rooftop opened with a harsh scrape. With a spine-chilling creak, the person who appeared was Ihwa—the very person he had assumed had already left for the day.
At her sudden entrance, Assistant Manager Choi’s eyes visibly trembled.
“Employee Seo? Uh… weren’t you supposed to have gone home already?”