Boss, Why Are You Doing This?
The test results came back clean — nothing wrong at all.
But the situation itself had gotten filthy tangled.
"Iseul, about that..."
"It's fine."
"Huh??"
"I already told you. I won't get jealous, I won't get envious, and I'll wait. And honestly... I already saw this coming."
"Saw what...?"
"That women would fall for a man as charming as you. Of course they would."
"......"
That was hands-down the most absurd thing anyone had ever said to me in my entire life.
Women falling for me was a given?
I had never heard anything like that in my life. Looking back on every relationship I'd ever had, I was always the one who confessed first.
She must have gotten seriously rose-tinted over me after all the help I'd given her.
So shouldn't I lock this down right now, qualifications be damned? So she can't walk it back later when she comes to her senses?
"Oh, right. How did the interview shoot go?"
"I didn't finish it."
"Huh??"
"I heard about the accident and just ran out in the middle of it. I'm sorry."
"You what??"
"Um... Boss..."
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
At the sudden voice, I turned — and there was Manager Choi Jinwoo, hovering awkwardly, having somehow appeared beside us.
"Iseul needs to get back to the shoot..."
"Ah, right. Go ahead, Iseul. I'm fine."
"Okay..."
"And, uh, Manager Choi."
"Yes...?"
"...Never mind. We'll talk later."
"Yes..."
Manager Choi Jinwoo — the kind of guy whose smile alone could lift your mood just from saying hello — looked thoroughly dejected. Of course he did. The woman he'd poured his heart out to and the woman he had feelings for had been wrapped around each other right in front of him.
But he didn't see the kiss on the cheek, right?
Should I have asked Iseul?
No — more importantly, why the hell did Shin Yena do that in the first place??
After sending Iseul and Manager Choi off near the restrooms, I headed back into the ER. Shin Yena was twisting her whole body into knots, radiating pure embarrassment from head to toe.
"Excuse me. Shin Yena."
"Y-yes... Boss..."
"Why did you do that?"
"Huh??"
"I mean, why did you...! Look, let's step outside. We'll talk out there."
Too many people around. I led her out, found a reasonably empty spot, and started over.
"Explain."
"Explain what...?"
"What you did to me."
"The kiss...? Or the hug...?"
"Both!"
"Well... I already told you earlier... you succeeded..."
"Succeeded at what, exactly?"
"You've been flirting with me this whole time!!"
Her words hit me like a sledgehammer — no, like a full-sized industrial hammer straight to the skull.
"I was flirting with you?? When??"
"Don't play dumb! From day one on the job, every single day without fail!"
"So when?!"
"You showed me where the copier paper was! And how to load it! You taught me how to make coffee! You helped me every time I was stuck! You smiled and said hello! And...! We ate together! We drank together! When I got drunk, you... got me home safely... And today... you even got in an accident buying me a present.... If that isn't flirting, then what is it?!"
"......"
Copier. Coffee. Helping out. Smiling. Saying hello. Meals. Company drinks.
That was flirting?
"Those are just normal things people do at work! And you were the one who suggested drinking in the first place. I never took drunk-you home — the taxi driver did. And the most important part: I didn't get in an accident going out of my way to buy your present. I bought the gifts, and the accident happened on my way back to the office. And do you see these??"
"Those are... my presents too...?"
"No! They're for everyone at the company! I didn't just buy something for you — I bought gifts for the whole staff. Yours just happened to be a little nicer because it's your birthday."
I set the paper bags I'd been carrying in both hands down on the ground and pulled the contents out one by one to show her.
Shin Yena rejected every last bit of it.
"D-don't lie! It was flirting! One hundred percent flirting!!"
"You're not even the one who was doing it!"
"I am the one! I'm the one who got flirted with!"
"Ha...."
It was so ridiculous, so completely absurd, that all I could do was laugh.
What the hell am I supposed to do with this?
"Hoo... Fine. Let's say you're right."
"Then..."
"I won't flirt anymore. Happy?"
"Huh...? Why...?"
"Because it was never flirting to begin with!"
"......"
"Y-Yena...?"
My voice shook.
Because tears were welling up in Shin Yena's eyes. Fuller and glassier than when she'd first come to the ER.
"That's so mean... You're so mean!!!"
"Yena!!"
And just like that, Shin Yena ran off somewhere, crying.
She clocked out without a word to the company and went no-call, no-show for several days straight.
Which left me deeply, deeply uneasy.
There's a saying that when a woman holds a grudge, frost falls even in midsummer.
What if she gets so pissed she posts about me and Iseul doing that in the conference room all over the internet??
For starters, I fed a rough cover story to Team Leader Park Eunmi, her direct supervisor.
"So you're saying Yena is too sick to come in??"
"Yes, Team Leader Park. She got in touch with me."
"Even if she's sick, three days with no contact is a bit..."
"She said she was too sick to even manage a phone call. So I told her to take a few more days and rest properly."
"Hmm... Alright. Understood."
The team was already the kind that could handle a hundred jobs with a handful of people, so with or without Shin Yena, nothing really changed.
The only thing growing was my anxiety.
"Um, Boss... is Yena really that sick...?"
I have no idea. The part about her contacting me was a lie.
"Hard to say. Her voice didn't sound great when we talked, but I don't really know either."
"......"
"I genuinely don't know. And I already told you — she was just worried and freaked out. That's why she did what she did. There was nothing else to it."
"Okay..."
I'd asked Iseul and confirmed it: Choi Jinwoo hadn't seen Shin Yena kiss me on the cheek.
Of course, asking about it meant Iseul found out about that part too. But she didn't get jealous or angry.
She just chopped an unusually large amount of green onions and onions, with unusual force. So much that there was no room left in the freezer.
"Alright, I'm heading out a little early today. Good work, everyone."
"Yes, Boss."
"See you, Boss~~"
"Take care..."
I only worked the morning and left.
Then I went straight to Shin Yena's place.
Being the CEO, after all, I could pull up employee contact cards whenever I wanted.
"Hoo..."
Standing at her door, I felt strangely nervous.
With a trembling heart, I pressed the doorbell.
Please, just for today, let us have a normal conversation without her spiraling into some weird delusion.
"Who is it..?"
"It's me. Yoo Eunho."
"B-Boss? What are you doing at my place..?"
"I was worried. Open the door. Let me see your face."
"Again..!! Again!!!"
"Huh?"
The closed door suddenly flew open.
And there stood Shin Yena, looking like she hadn't washed once during her entire no-show streak, puffing her small frame up as big as it would go as she shouted.
"You just flirted again! Saying you were worried! Saying you wanted to see my face!!"
"How is that flirting?! The company CEO came to check on an employee who's been AWOL!"
"What kind of company CEO shows up at someone's house over a no-show?!"
"It's a company with fewer than fifteen people! The CEO is allowed to drop by!"
"......"
Apparently my argument had some weight to it, because Shin Yena bit her lip in frustration and glared at me fiercely.
"Are you going to leave me standing out here? Am I that unwelcome?"
"...Come in.."
I accepted the hard-won invitation and stepped through the door she was holding.
And got immediately thrown back out.
"Wha—!!"
"Five minutes! No — ten minutes!!"
Shin Yena shoved me square in the chest, slammed the door, and from inside came a racket like the whole apartment was collapsing.
In the brief glimpse I'd gotten, underwear was strewn everywhere, snack bags, delivery containers, and assorted debris — she was clearly scrambling to clean it all up.
Same gender, completely different species. Iseul can't stand a single thing out of place.
"You can come in now..."
"Pardon the intrusion."
Ten minutes?
No — I'd waited nearly a full hour outside. My legs hurt so much I sat on the stairs at one point, and I got so bored I took a walk around the studio apartment building.
In that time, Shin Yena had cleaned not just the apartment but herself too. The homeless-person look was gone. Her hair was still damp.
"There's nowhere decent to sit..."
"What do you mean? Right here is fine."
I plopped down on the floor, and Shin Yena quickly unfolded a portable table in front of me.
"Is cola okay..?"
"Sure. I'd appreciate it."
"Just a moment..."
She pulled a free cola from a delivery order out of the mini-fridge, poured it into a cup, set it on the open table, and sat across from me.
"Shin Yena. How long are you planning not to come to work?"
"Forever.. I'm quitting..."
"Why??"
"How am I supposed to show my face there?! I already went from 'girl with weird delusions' to 'easy girl who thought she was being flirted with all by herself'....."
Hearing it put that way, even I would probably be too mortified to come back.
But I couldn't let her quit.
I needed that paycheck leash around her neck so she wouldn't go running her mouth somewhere she shouldn't.
"Come back to work. I'm fine with it."
"I'm not fine with it! Me!!"
"......"
I had no idea how to talk her around.
No. Wait.
Moments like this called for a straight line. Time to be honest.
"I'll be straight with you. I want you back at the office. But more than that, I'm worried about whether you'll keep a secret."
"A secret..? You mean... you and Iseul..?"
"Yes."
"....So that's why you came? Not because you were worried about me?"
Did I mess up?
Shin Yena's expression went ice-cold.
But what could I do? You can't unsay something once it's out.
"Both. I'm worried about both."
"Liar."
"Why would I lie?"
"You've been lying this whole time!"
"That's...!"
"Ha! Funny you should mention it — I was actually in the middle of writing a post to put online?!"
"Yena!"
"See? You didn't come because you were worried about me. You came because you were worried about Han Iseul."
"......"
Completely cornered.
But she wasn't actually about to post it... right?
"You're lying, aren't you?"
"About what?"
"About being in the middle of writing a post."
"I'm not? Unlike someone, I'm not a liar. Hmph!"
"What do you want?"
"Huh..?"
"Tell me what you want and I'll do everything I can to make it happen."
"Don't tell me... you think I'm the kind of woman who'd demand money over something like this?!"
"......"
I couldn't answer.
Because if she wanted money, I was fully prepared to pay her to shut up.
"Ha..!! I am so disappointed! How could you think of me like that...!!"
"......"
"Fine! Then give me money! Give me a lot!! Then I won't post anything online and I won't say a word to anyone!"
"Name the amount."
"You son of a...!! One hundred million! No — a billion! Ten billion!!"
"Why does it keep going up?"
"That's my business!!"
"Hoo...."
A hundred million I could do. A billion would sting at this stage, but I could still manage it. Ten billion, though — that was too much. The number was just too big.
"You can't, can you? Then leave! I have a post to finish writing!"
"......"
Shin Yena's eviction order hung in the air as I scanned the room.
The only devices that could post something online were her phone and the laptop sitting on the bed.
Then let's check.
Whether she was actually writing a post about me and Iseul to put on the internet — or not.
If she really was writing one, I'd pay the ten billion. Iseul's face was already public; her entire career was on the line.
"Then I'll just verify."
"Verify what?!"
"Whether you were actually writing a post or not."
"Huh..?"
"I'm betting you weren't. The Shin Yena I've gotten to know isn't that kind of person."
"What are you even— w-wait a second!!"
I shot to my feet and spun toward the bed behind me.
"No!!!!"
Shin Yena shrieked, knocking over the table as she flung herself onto my back — but I toppled onto the bed and opened the closed laptop.
A lock screen came up.
"Ah...."
"Haaa...."
My groan of frustration crossed with her sigh of relief.
But what do you know?
She'd set up facial recognition.
The lock unlocked instantly, and the screen she'd been looking at before I arrived lit up.
And I saw it.
Her secret little hobby.
"KYAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
"......"
Shin Yena screamed and slammed the laptop shut. I just blinked blankly and slowly turned my head.
Toward Shin Yena, who was still clinging to my back like she'd piggybacked on.
"Boss... why are you doing this..?"
"Kyaaah!!! Don't!! Forget it! Forget all of it!!!!"
Boss, Why Are You Doing This.
That was the title of the webtoon Shin Yena had been reading before I showed up.
And every single panel of the few pages visible was an explicit, no-holds-barred depiction of a man and a woman having sex.
Yeah. An adult webtoon. And not just any adult webtoon — one with an absolutely filthy rating.
"Don't tell me... what you want from me is what was just on that screen..?"
"No! Absolutely no—"
The end of Shin Yena's sentence trailed off.
Instead, a strange sound started up.
Something vibrating.
Bzzzzzz!!! Bzzzzzz!!! Bzzzzzz!!!
Her phone?
No.
The sound was coming from under the trembling pillow.
Looks like we each ended up holding one of the other's secrets.
A rookie actress who had sex with the company CEO in a conference room.
A new hire who masturbated while fantasizing about the company CEO.
Two very private secrets that neither of us would benefit from having get out.