A Man Like Oppa

Thanks to unloading into An Jihye's mouth twice, a decent chunk of work hours had gone up in smoke — but my body felt so much lighter afterward that my actual productivity shot up instead.

My typing even seemed faster for no good reason. My words came out smoother. I could focus on the work properly. So unlike yesterday, I managed to wrap everything up right on the stroke of quitting time.

Then I headed down to the lobby…

"What would you like to eat?"

"Is there anything you like, Yeonwoo?"

"I'm not picky."

I'd met Seon Yeonwoo for dinner.

She really was small. Park Eunseo wasn't particularly tall either, but Seon Yeonwoo was a touch shorter still. Height aside, though, she had more than enough of the parts that made you register her as a woman — the softly rising swell of her chest, the pleasing twist of her waist and hip line. And unlike the others… she was wearing jet-black stockings.

Walking out of the company beside a woman like that, the stares of every man around us kept landing on us, one after another. But I'd already walked like this with Park Eunseo, Chu Yeonju, even An Jihye. I'd gotten used to it enough that other men's eyes no longer registered as something I needed to care about.

If anything—

"…Well, how about pasta or something?"

"Do you want pasta, Sunbaenim?"

"Honestly… no."

"Then what?"

"Honestly, right now… I kind of want stew."

"Then let's get kimchi jjigae."

"You sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Seon Yeonwoo was the one who really got under my skin. Not because she was pretty — though she was — but because, well… maybe I was just a regular guy at heart, and the whole third-generation chaebol thing was what really stuck with me.

"That place over there has good stew."

"You've been, Yeonwoo?"

"Yeah. I go a lot."

I'd had this preconceived notion that chaebol types only ever went to fine dining or omakase. Seon Yeonwoo clearly wasn't that type — she strode straight into the stew house right in front of the company.

"Auntie, two kimchi jjigae… and two egg rice, please."

"Coming right up!"

She even placed the order without missing a beat, then shot me a look that asked if she'd done well. The coyness in that expression was a little different from the kind I got from Park Eunseo or Chu Yeonju. Which made sense. Park Eunseo was a friend, Chu Yeonju was older than me, but Seon Yeonwoo…

"It should suit your taste too, Sunbaenim."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Nice and spicy. They use pork neck, and it's really good."

…She was like a little sister.

So the coyness felt like a younger sister teasing her older brother. Of course, I didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠actually have any siblings, so I was free to think that way — if a friend who did have a little sister had read my mind, he would've cursed me out on the spot. But I could say this with certainty: the moment those same friends actually saw Seon Yeonwoo, talked with her, got close to her, they'd end up thinking something pretty similar.

"If I buy you this stew, you're not going to use that… that thing from before to make me do anything weird, right?"

"Hmm… I'll try my best."

"……."

…Or not?

"If we enjoy the stew today, maybe… one of the characters from what you said that time will fade from my memory?"

"……."

Definitely not.

Her intention to keep teasing me forever was so transparent that a dizzy little rush hit me and I squeezed my eyes shut for a second. When I opened them again, Seon Yeonwoo was wearing the smile of someone looking at a person who was fun to mess with.

But honestly — Seon Yeonwoo teasing me, holding something over me — none of it really felt bad. First reason: she was ridiculously pretty. The idea that beauty forgives everything wasn't a lie; every time she pulled a prank I got briefly annoyed, and then I was smiling. And the more she teased me… the higher the odds of generating a new "relationship," which was a pretty significant reason on its own.

"Fine. I'll buy you meals often from now on, so please just let it disappear from that head of yours, Yeonwoo."

"Buying me meals often… so you want to see me a lot?"

"No, how did the conversation even get there…"

I gave a hollow little laugh at her nonsense, and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kimchi jjigae that arrived between us finally shut us up for a while. I was hungry — and so was she. We ate in quiet, ruthlessly demolishing the kimchi jjigae and filling our stomachs. It really was as good as she'd promised. We left with solid, satisfying full bellies…

"How are you getting home, Yeonwoo?"

"I was going to take the bus."

I'd half expected her to call a private driver. Apparently not.

"What about you, Sunbaenim?"

"I'll drive. Want a ride?"

"Uh…"

The offer made her hesitate a little. Fair enough. Even between a direct senior and junior, having some other guy drive you home could feel like a burden—

"Where do you live, Sunbaenim?"

"Anyang."

"Anyang's the opposite direction…"

…Or maybe she was just feeling bad about the detour.

"It's fine. If it knocks even one more character out of your head, it's worth the effort."

"……."

Whatever she made of that, Seon Yeonwoo thought it over for a moment, then—

"…Then I'll take you up on it."

—asked for the ride with another bright little laugh.

That meant heading back to the company for the parking garage. We returned together and waited for the elevator down to the basement. It was just shy of seven. Barely under an hour past official quitting time, and the company was still grinding away at full speed.

…Yeah. This was exactly why I kept bitching about how much corporate life sucked.

Sure enough—

Ding—

The elevator that arrived at the first floor disgorged a flood of people, and then another crowd of people heading underground like us crammed themselves in. Which meant that in the short ride down to B2, Seon Yeonwoo ended up pressed right up against me. Extremely close.

In a half-hearted attempt to be considerate, I'd pushed her toward the wall to cut down her contact with everyone else and stood right in front of her. So the soft swell of her chest was pressed firmly into my back. I couldn't see behind me… but she was probably a little flustered too. To anyone else, though, it would just look like a pretty little sister and the big brother shielding her from the crowd.

"……."

"……."

Except, strictly speaking, that wasn't what this was.

Ding—

People poured out at B2, and Seon Yeonwoo and I followed them out of the elevator at a clip. We headed for the car, I opened the door, and once we were inside I learned where she lived — a place that really did live up to the chaebol label. About a fifteen-minute drive from the company.

For those fifteen minutes, strangely enough, almost no conversation passed between us. But I could definitely feel it…

"……."

"……."

Seon Yeonwoo in the passenger seat kept glancing over at me. Every time I checked the right side mirror, our eyes met, just a little. I didn't take those looks as interest in me, of course. If I had to pin a meaning on them… simple curiosity, maybe? About what, I had no idea. Still — if that curiosity let me add even one more "relationship," and if that got me up to three relationships with Seon Yeonwoo, it was hardly a losing trade.

So while she was conscious of me, I quietly made sure she stayed conscious of me right back…

Click— click— click— click—

We arrived in front of her place.

"Thanks for your hard work, Sunbaenim. And thank you for the ride."

"No problem. Go on in."

"You too. Drive safe."

I dropped her off. Even while I was punching my own address into the navigation to head home, Seon Yeonwoo didn't leave the side of the car.

"Hurry and go inside."

"I'll go in once I see you leave, Sunbaenim."

"…Alright. I'm going. See you tomorrow."

"Ah — yes. Drive safe."

And after roughly an hour of driving, I got home. Out of habit I opened the Office Romance Management App and started scrolling…

"Hm?"

I discovered that Seon Yeonwoo's "relationships" could be edited too. Time to check right away.

"What the hell is this…"

Over the weekend I thought hard about my "relationships" with Seon Yeonwoo.

…Not because I was desperate to do something with her right away, or felt like I had to. It was the weekend. I'd wanted to hang out with Park Eunseo or Chu Yeonju — eat, mess around, have sex — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but both of them had their own schedules and couldn't meet. And meeting An Jihye still felt a little premature.

So I had no choice but to dig a little deeper into Seon Yeonwoo, and the effort paid off for sure.

How to handle Seon Yeonwoo. What kind of sex concept would work best with her. How to reshape the "relationships" to get there. I could sketch those pictures out, more or less.

First step: I'd changed "Someone fun to tease" into "Someone who makes me smile just by looking."

Looking at the relationships that had appeared from the start, it was clear Seon Yeonwoo already had a certain amount of goodwill toward me. Not man-to-woman attraction — person-to-person fondness. The nature of the "weakness" she was holding. The expression on her face when she waved it at me. The fact that teasing me was fun. And above all, that affection score was the clearest landmark of all.

Forty-eight. A little under the midpoint, so you could write it off as nothing special — but considering Chu Yeonju's first affection score had been around fifty-seven when we'd ended up having sex surprisingly fast, it was hardly a low number.

"But what did I even do to get the Oppa label?"

There was just one thing I couldn't figure out. Why… what had Seon Yeonwoo seen that made her think of me as like an Oppa? It was the third relationship, so it had probably formed most recently — last Friday. If I picked through the special moments from Friday…

Getting pressed tight in the elevator, and the drive… was there anything else? Digging into even smaller details…

"When I offered to drive her home, that moment was a little…"

Right. When I'd said I'd take her all the way home, Seon Yeonwoo had thought about it for a while. Something small in her perception of me had shifted then — I just still didn't know what.

Still, it wasn't a bad ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thing.

"…Might not take that long."

If I used the three relationships I'd already secured, I could make Seon Yeonwoo mine too. Naturally — a woman who fit my "picture" perfectly.