Chatterbox
"Oh, right — what's the plan for the groceries?"
"Call me when you're ready, Noona, and I'll head over to meet you. Il-Mart? Or Ghostco? Which one are you going to?"
"They're both within walking distance of here anyway, aren't they?"
"Yes."
"Then let's hit Ghostco first for the bulk stuff, and just grab whatever extras at Il-Mart on the way back."
"Got it. Off you go, then. Call me if anything comes up."
Suho wrapped me in a hug and patted my back like he was doing an impression of me — unexpectedly cute of him.
Like a kid playing grown-up.
I gave his hair a little ruffle, sat back down on the sofa, and went to slip off my slippers — and it was agony. I couldn't bring myself to face the high heels I'd so recently parted with.
"You don't have any sneakers, do you..?"
"Pardon?"
"Never mind. It's just — I can't psych myself up to put those heels back on."
"Hmm. One moment, please."
Suho slipped out his phone and dialed someone.
He appeared to be calling Ms. Yeji.
"Yes, it's me. Ah — by any chance, do we have shoes on hand for our Noona to wear? Yes. Yes, of course."
Why on earth am I your noona..?
Lee Suho, so freely tossing around words like "we" and "our," struck me as having an admirable amount of gall, and I watched him rest his chin on his hand through the rest of the call.
"Oh~ right, that's true. Please bring them over — and since Noona's going furniture shopping today, I'd like you to come along and help out."
Thankfully, there seemed to be some sort of spare shoes.
Thank goodness.
Truly.
As long as they're not heels.
"Yes. Then please come up to the CEO's executive office. Yes~"
—Clack.
In contrast to that lively tone, Lee Suho set the phone down on the desk as if he were tossing it aside, then stole a glance at me.
"What?"
"They say they're comfortable, but... hmm. I'm not sure you'll like them, Noona."
Isn't comfortable all that matters?
"Why?"
"Oh, no, it's nothing. You'll understand when you see them."
Why is he being like this?
Lee Suho gathered his documents again and buried himself in them, and I couldn't help wondering what he'd pulled this time. If they weren't sneakers, what on earth could they be to earn a reaction like that?
While I was lost in thought for a moment, a heavy knock sounded on the thick wooden door of the CEO's executive office.
—Knock knock.
"Coming in."
Sure enough, announcing rather than asking, Ms. Yeji walked in — and the moment I saw what she was carrying, I went faint.
"What is that..?"
They were flat shoes, so at least they promised no war with my feet.
Right.
Comfortable — exactly as Lee Suho had said.
Yes. That much is a win. But that thing...
—Gulp.
Crowned with a large, lace-like bloom of a decoration perched on the toe, those shoes looked impossibly, unbearably feminine.
"......"
I couldn't lift my head.
Did someone like me even have the right to wear something like that?
No, wait — wouldn't putting them on mean something precious of mine quietly disappearing?
As I hesitated, Ms. Yeji spoke up with a laugh.
"Pfft! Unnie. You wore actual high heels, and now you're plummeting into despair over a flat with a little decoration on it?"
"That was because I didn't own a single pair and had no other choice⋯."
Ms. Yeji set the shoes down lightly at my feet and questioned me like a suspect under interrogation.
"So. Will you wear the heels, or the flats? The slippers have to go back — they're borrowed from another department."
There was no need to hesitate. No — there was no choice at all.
"Ah... these are pretty... they really do make me want to put them on... ooh... simply gorgeous⋯."
"See?"
If both paths led to hell, then the correct move was to take whichever hell was marginally less hellish.
I shuddered at Ms. Yeji's sheer ruthlessness — presenting options as if I had a say, while effectively handing me one choice and an empty box — but there was nothing to be done. I wanted to escape this present helplessness, like a soul reborn into a body too young to do anything for itself, as fast as I possibly could. That, however, would take time.
How on earth had she even gotten these? The shoes fit my feet perfectly — it felt like a small miracle.
"Hold on — these aren't borrowed from somebody else too, are they?"
"Those were prepared for you in the first place, unnie, but the CEO said it was too soon."
"Too soon for what, exactly..?"
I was beyond words. If shoes this comfortable had been sitting around, they should have handed them over from day one⋯⋯. No — on second thought, I probably would have fought it tooth and nail. One look at a shoe smothered in this much ornamentation and I likely would have thrown an outright fit.
Wearing those utterly plain, jet-black heels — without a single scrap of decoration — hadn't felt like much of a burden for a while there. But that was before I learned what they would cost my body. Presented with flats under today's circumstances, decorated or not, I'd wear them. End of story.
"Well, who can say. Oh, right — you said you're going to look at furniture?"
"Yeah. It seems like I'll be buying a lot of odds and ends, and if I pick through it all alone, I'm afraid I'll end up with things I don't even need."
My old place hadn't exactly been full of things, either. It was smaller than the living room of Suho's house now, so naturally there'd never been much to fill it with.
But now there were no limits on money or space, which meant I needed someone on hand to rein me in before I went on a rampage.
"Noona. Weren't you the one telling me to brace myself to be fleeced dry?"
"You fleece someone over the long haul. I can't bankrupt you right out of the gate."
"Really? And how long is the long haul?"
"Who knows? Until the novel's finished, I'd say?"
Is it hot in here? No, it isn't — it's cold out today, with the wind.
Lee Suho's cheeks were red.
There was no wind blowing, so why was his face that red? The office did run a little warm, but I marveled that it was warm enough to put a flush in his cheeks.
Or is he just young, with good circulation? Must be nice.
Suho, head hung low, fished something out of his inner pocket and held it out.
"Ah⋯⋯. Yes. Here. The card."
Oh. Right — I left the card at home.
"That reminds me, I left the card you gave me back at the house too."
I'd been so dazzled by the car keys that the card never made it out the door.
So that rotten habit of mine — the second I fixate on one thing, everything else falls out of my head — is alive and well. Good grief.
It seemed like a habit I ought to fix, and fast. Though I'd been that way since I was little, so it might be past saving at this point.
"Well, we'll be walking into the house together later anyway, so it should be fine. Put the furniture on that one for now; I'll settle the groceries separately afterwards."
"Right. Ms. Yeji, let's get going."
There was a slight heel at the back, but a heel that low was common even on men's dress shoes. With my ankles — which had been howling — quieting down as if they'd been fed a dose of stomach medicine, life finally started to feel livable again.
"Anything specific on your list?"
"Mm. We'll talk on the way⋯. See you later, Suho."
"See you~"
We stepped out of the CEO's executive office and stopped in front of the elevator right outside.
Down below there'd looked to be at least six elevators — why does this floor have exactly one?
Still chewing on that utterly pointless question, I pressed the down button, and the doors slid open, bright light spilling out.
So this is what the road to heaven looks like.
When the body is at ease, the whole world turns beautiful.
High heels are to be worn never again. Unless something truly catastrophic happens.
I had, granted, hauled those shackle-like heels — so obviously bent on dragging me down to hell — all the way here, but if I had my way, they'd be sealed inside the car forever. Interred somewhere they could never again see the light of day.
"Huh?"
A thousand idle thoughts in my head, I pressed the button for the first floor, and the elevator refused me.
Did I hit the wrong thing?
"What is its problem?"
"Ah, unnie — you have to tap your employee badge on the reader down there."
"Why?"
"Security. You have to tag it coming up to the fifteenth floor, and tag it again going down."
Honestly, they've made a fortress out of the place.
Only when I fed a bite of card to the Cerberus standing guard over hell did the beast finally open the gate out of it. A finicky creature, no question — but once you knew the trick, it wasn't so formidable.
Slipping back out of hell, I moved to ask Ms. Yeji what I'd been planning to buy, and what might be worth adding.
"Oh, right — Ms. Yeji, the things I wanted to buy were—"
The doors opened without warning, and this was nowhere near the first floor.
Well, it was an elevator. Other people did ride those, presumably?
"Oh! Director — you were at the office??"
A woman whose voice alone was overflowing with delight stepped aboard.
How does a sound like that come out of anyone inside an office building?
"Yep. The CEO asked me to escort the Madam over. We're heading right back out."
"Ohh. Off again already. Aren't you out of the office an awful lot these days? We got the company-wide message that the Madam was visiting today, too — and I never even got a glimpse of her."
"What good would a glimpse do you? Besides, all this field work quietly suits me fine. Early clock-outs, overtime pay, travel allowances — it all piles up."
"Aigoo~ but all that running back and forth wears a person out. Not that the CEO doesn't tally it all up and pay out properly, of course⋯."
I stood quietly in the corner of the elevator, listening to the two of them talk as though I weren't there.
Nothing about it seemed to require my input, so I kept still — and then the woman who'd boarded on the eleventh floor turned to me.
"Um... by any chance, are you the new addition to the secretariat?"
"...Sorry?"
"Oh, I'm Yoo Hyejung — I'm with the secretariat! We got a request for a new employee badge recently, so I'm the one who made it. You look just like the photo, and your outfit matches too!"
To put it generously, she was exuberant.
To put it honestly, she came across like a kid with precious little social seasoning.
She looked downright delighted at the prospect of a rookie arriving — which told me everything. This one was, without question, the team's maknae.
"Mm⋯."
"It was a rush order, so the photo probably doesn't do you justice⋯. Wow, wait — you didn't retouch it at all? You're even prettier in person~"
Is this woman all right? She's charging ahead without leaving me a single opening to reply.
The flitting bunting worked its beak without a moment's rest, like a bird half-dead of thirst that had just spotted a river. She wasn't even talking that fast — so why did every word land like machine-gun fire?
"Well, for the record, I am Song Gaon — the person that badge was issued to⋯."
Yep. Maknae. Anyone with eyes could see it.
"..Kyaaah! I'm finally escaping maknae duty~!"
Called it.
So. Where was I supposed to start, and how exactly was I supposed to explain?
Any chance you'd help me out here..?
Still deliberating over how to phrase it, I shot Ms. Yeji a sideways glance.
Meeting my eyes, Ms. Yeji broke into a sweet little smile and clamped a hand down on the secretariat maknae's shoulder.
Shoulder thus captured, Ms. Chatterbox tipped her head up to look at her.
"Hyejeong. This is Song Gaon — the Madam. And didn't I tell you not to ride the executive elevator unless your business was with the CEO's office?"
"Wha—!?"