I'm Min Seoeun. Pleasure to Work With You (2)

"Good morning. I'm Min Seoeun. I look forward to working with you."

She bowed with crisp precision. Seeing Min Seoeun in person, I liked her far more than the photo Han Minah had shown me.

A blunt, expressionless face.

Tall.

A solid, well-built frame.

I kept any sign of interest off my face and returned the greeting with the warmest, most approachable smile I could manage.

"Likewise, Seoeun. As the Team Leader mentioned earlier, I'm Choi Woojin."

"Yes. I look forward to working with you."

A low voice.

Min Seoeun's voice was every bit as solid as her face — deep, with a dense, tightly packed resonance rather than anything husky. The kind of voice people call heavily damped.

Honestly, I was looking forward to it.

Lim Jiwoo's sly, seductive voice.

Chae Dayeon's cute little voice.

Han Minah's sultry one.

How would a voice so completely different from any of those sound once pleasure had wrecked it? The thought alone was enough to get me interested.

Not that her voice was the only thing I was looking forward to, of course.

"For now, Seoeun, why don't you have a seat here for a moment?"

"Yes."

"Going forward, this will be your desk. I'm sure you've already guessed as much, but there's still a lot you don't know about our work."

"That's correct."

"And that's completely natural. Not knowing things means you might make mistakes, too. So before you do anything, I'd like you to check with me first."

"Understood."

Seated beside me, Min Seoeun held her back perfectly straight, her head neither tilted nor cocked even a fraction to either side.

Textbook posture, pure and simple.

The way she addressed a superior.

The way she sat.

The clipped, clean answers.

And above all — her body.

She felt a touch taller than Lim Jiwoo, who was already in the upper 160s, and there was something distinctly… solid about her build.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Shoulders that dropped in a clean, elegant line.

Long thighs that still managed to look neat and composed.

Forearms with a clean, attractive definition.

"Seoeun, this is just icebreaking curiosity, but — did you used to play sports?"

"Yes."

"Ah, that explains it. You give off a bit of an athlete vibe."

What was strange, though, was this: call it prejudice if you want, but for a former athlete, her skin was remarkably pale.

Pale enough to rival Chae Dayeon, who practically radiated homebody energy.

"Mind if I ask what sport?"

"Taekwondo."

"Ah."

That made sense. It was an indoor sport, after all.

But still…

"Would it be all right if I asked… how far you went with it?"

"I trained professionally through high school, but I stopped because of an injury."

Even if an injury had forced her to quit — the moment I heard she was a former professional taekwondo athlete, the thought flashed through my mind that one wrong hit from her could actually kill someone.

However.

"…Seoeun, one second."

"Yes."

There was absolutely no chance I would ever get hit by Min Seoeun.

Absolutely none.

Thud—

The moment Woojin set his phone down, Min Seoeun's body gave a sharp, full-body flinch.

Anyone who knew her well — anyone close to her — would have been genuinely startled to see her react like that.

"So then… Seoeun."

"Y-yes, Assistant Manager."

"What's wrong? Why the sudden panic?"

"Ah… it's nothing."

So even you have something you're afraid of now.

So even you feel emotions.

So even you can get flustered.

Then why?

Why had Min ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Seoeun flinched the moment she looked at Woojin?

"Seoeun, are you interested in promotion at all?"

"I'm not intere— no, I am… ah, that is…"

"No need to overthink it. You know as well as I do that wanting a promotion right this second doesn't mean you can actually get one."

This man.

Call it an athlete's instinct, but she could feel it in her bones — that this person, her mentor, held her promotion in his hands.

Stay on his good side and advancement would come easily. Slip up even once, give him any reason to find fault, and her path forward would slam shut. That kind of instinct.

In other words: the instinct that she had to stay in this man's favor, no matter what.

But why?

Wanting to impress a superior was only natural — but why this level of tension?

…Because I have to get promoted.

Min Seoeun decided the hunger for promotion she was feeling right now was simply because she was a new hire who'd been in the office for all of ten minutes.

"…Regardless of promotion, I'll work hard."

"Good answer, Seoeun."

"Thank you."

"Still, the sooner you get promoted — the sooner you make Assistant Manager — the better, right? You feel the same way, don't you?"

"Yes… that's correct."

"Great. From here on, if you follow what I tell you, promotion will come easy. You understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes. Understood."

Meanwhile, watching Min Seoeun talk with Woojin, Lim Jiwoo felt a strange unease creeping in.

What about me? What about my promotion?

The distance meant she couldn't actually hear what the two of them were saying, but Lim Jiwoo instinctively registered Min Seoeun as a rival.

And on top of that—

"Why is the Team Leader…"

The sight of Han Minah watching Woojin with a smiling face pushed her alert level even higher.

She had no idea that Han Minah was an Intensive Management Target just like her — but the foxlike instincts she'd honed over years of scheming were screaming that something had already happened between Woojin and Han Minah.

Come to think of it.

"Besides me…"

Woojin had said it in passing, but — he'd mentioned there were a few other people he had to manage besides her.

Not just for show. Real competition.

If she sat around like this, she was going to slip down the rankings. Lim Jiwoo quietly rose from her seat.

"So going forward, the way things will run is—"

"Woojin."

"Yes?"

I'd done enough "management" of Min Seoeun for the moment and was walking her through the things a new subordinate needed to know when Lim Jiwoo approached with a faint smile in her eyes.

"Um… there's something I'd like to talk about for a second. Do you have a minute?"

"Right now?"

"Yes, now would be ideal…"

Even as she said she wanted to talk now, Lim Jiwoo shot a sidelong glance at Min Seoeun.

Whether the look was deliberate or not, she was clearly conscious of her.

But why? Why was Lim Jiwoo so aware of Min Seoeun?

"Seoeun, give me a moment. I'll be back in five — go ahead and read through everything here."

"Understood, Assistant Manager."

There happened to be materials Min Seoeun needed to look over anyway, so while she read, I stepped out of the office with Lim Jiwoo.

We didn't go far. The moment we reached the entrance—

"So… Woojin. When can I take the promotion exam…?"

"Didn't I tell you last week? I said I'd look at the situation and let you know about the next schedule."

"You did, but still… it's been almost two weeks already, so…"

I stared at Lim Jiwoo's awkwardly smiling face for a beat, then—

"…Is this about Seoeun, by any chance?"

"What? Seoeun?"

"Yeah. Just wondering. Now that I have to manage Seoeun too, I figured you might be worried I'd have less time to spend on you, sunbae."

"……"

Nailed it.

Lim Jiwoo's current Promotion Desire was High. She wanted the promotion, but not desperately enough for it to show. And given her confidence, she'd probably been assuming I'd call her in on my own soon enough.

And then Min Seoeun showed up?

An impression that said she'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be good at the job.

Impeccable manners.

A voice that inspired trust.

With a new hire like that on the scene, it looked like she was feeling the heat under her feet…

"…All right. Let's meet Saturday."

"Saturday?"

"Yeah. Are you free Saturday?"

"I am… yes. Then I'll see you Saturday."

Whether it was relief at having her schedule locked in, Lim Jiwoo answered with a much more relaxed smile and headed back into the office.

And watching her go, the thought that crossed my mind was—

"Promotion Desire… seems to hit people a little differently."

Even at the same "High" setting, the way each person internalized it seemed to vary.

And from the way Lim Jiwoo had just acted, it looked like even without me touching her Promotion Desire, surrounding circumstances could shift how she experienced it.

If that counted as a variable, it was a variable… but not the kind I couldn't control — not the kind that soured my mood.

If anything, it was a good one.

"Haa… I hope she starts racking up points soon."

Lim Jiwoo's own instincts had already told her a rival had appeared.

But what if that were literally true? What if her rival were standing right in front of her?

Like I'd mentioned to Han Minah once — if I put them on "team play," I might get to see something pretty entertaining.

Pit the two of them against each other, and I could just lie back on the bed while two women competed to stay in my good graces.

I was still enjoying that little fantasy when I got back to my desk. Min Seoeun was already looking at me, apparently finished with everything I'd told her to read.

"All done?"

"Yes, I've read it."

"Nothing too difficult, right? Company rules and that sort of thing — just common sense, really. Stuff you obviously should do, and stuff you obviously shouldn't."

"That's correct."

"Okay. Then… one second, Seoeun."

All right then.

I was thinking of using the new hires as an excuse to go see the "deer" — but first I headed over to Yu Minseong, mentor to Park Chihyeon, the other new hire who'd arrived alongside Min Seoeun.

He looked about as busy as I was, walking his own recruit through the basics.

"Minseong."

"Ah — yes, sunbae."

"Sorry, are you in the middle of something?"

"Not really busy… well, you're doing the same thing, right? Just teaching them what they need to know."

"You got the new-hire kit yet?"

"Oh. Right."

When a new employee joined, they received a handful of items.

An employee ID badge.

A name tag.

A pen.

That sort of thing. We casually called the whole package the new-hire kit.

"You haven't picked it up yet, have you?"

"Nope. I'll take him down and grab it."

"Don't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bother — I'll get both at once. Chihyeon, right?"

"Yes, that's right!"

"Chihyeon, mind coming with me for a second?"

"Yes, sir!"

Park Chihyeon shot up from his seat with a completely different brand of military stiffness from Min Seoeun's. I headed back toward where she was waiting.

"Seoeun, come with me for a bit? Chihyeon and I need to pick a few things up."

"Understood."

Min Seoeun rose immediately and followed me out of the office.

The three of us headed for the sixth floor. Since it was only one floor down from Planning on the seventh, we took the stairs instead of waiting for a crowded elevator.

And on the way down—

In one stroke, I yanked Ju Harin's Promotion Desire — which had been sitting at Very Low this whole time — all the way up to Very High.

It was 11:45 a.m.

From the moment she'd clocked in until now, Ju Harin's drive for work had been scraping the absolute bottom. So — had she actually prepared the new-hire kits?