A Chance to Tease

The moment she arrived at work, Seon Yeonwoo ran into one of her cohort-mates and broke into a smile.

The two of them decided to kill the short wait for the elevator with a little small talk.

"Did you have a good weekend?"

"Of course. Where did you go, Suyeon-ssi?"

"I went to an amusement park with my boyfriend. It'd been forever since I'd been to one… it was so much fun."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yes. We haven't been dating that long."

So she has a boyfriend.

It was news to her, but looking at Isuyen, Yeonwoo didn't find it particularly strange.

Softly waved long hair. Round glasses that suited her gentle face. And a height that towered over Yeonwoo's own tiny frame.

"…Suyeon-ssi, how tall are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Me? It's a little embarrassing, but… 172 centimeters."

"If that's embarrassing, then what does that make me…"

"Ah—no, I mean, um…"

Almost a twenty-centimeter difference.

She hadn't meant to put Isuyen on the spot, but she couldn't help the nagging sense that she'd somehow lost a contest she never signed up for.

Still, she pulled herself together.

"Then how tall is your boyfriend?"

"He's not that tall, really. About… four centimeters taller than me, maybe?"

A 176-centimeter man and a 172-centimeter woman.

When she pictured it, the pairing didn't quite click as a matching set, so Yeonwoo asked the question that had just popped into her head.

"What kind of person is your boyfriend?"

"We're the same age, actually. But he feels like an oppa."

"An oppa?"

"Yes. I only have a younger brother, so… we fought a lot growing up. Any fantasy I had about siblings got shattered a long time ago, but you know how there's still that image of what a good older brother is supposed to be like?"

"Someone who dotes on you and looks out for you…"

"Exactly. My boyfriend is exactly that image—no, not just the image. He really does treat me like a wonderful older brother would. That's why I confessed first, and we started dating."

Oppa.

Yeonwoo had no siblings of her own, but the moment she heard that word, one particular man floated unbidden into her mind.

Strangely enough, he was someone connected even to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠woman she was talking to right now—Isuyen.

Before she could ask about that man, the elevator arrived at the first floor.

They stepped inside, but carrying on a conversation in a packed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠elevator felt a little awkward… so she kept her mouth shut. When Yeonwoo got off first, she gave Isuyen a polite little bow and exited.

"Oppa…"

She'd been thinking about that man all weekend.

Ah—not because she had a crush on him or anything like that. Literally just thinking.

And once she really sat with those thoughts, she realized something.

The truth was, she'd been teasing him quite a lot over a weakness that barely even counted as one.

To Yeonwoo it was just a joke, but to an ordinary office worker it could sound like a death sentence that made your heart drop into your stomach.

Well.

Saying the company was a piece of sh—… wasn't going to get anyone fired. But if Yeonwoo so much as flapped her mouth the wrong way, she could make someone's work life plenty miserable.

And yet Jichan… had taken Yeonwoo's "teasing" completely in stride.

He'd even gone out of his way to look after her.

If you had a good older-brother type—someone you could easily trade jokes with, but who still took care of you—wouldn't it feel something like this?

And so Yeonwoo sent Jichan a text.

Smiling the whole time, of course.

"What the hell is this now…"

The second I got to work, another text from Yeonwoo landed—asking me to buy her a meal. Again.

Treating someone to lunch? Not hard.

Especially when that junior was my "direct" junior—then it was no trouble at all.

You just wanted to look out for them. Wanted to take care of them. Wanted to ask if anything was giving them a hard time.

At our company, the so-called "direct" senior-junior relationship was basically like a father and son in the military.

But if the son was doing better than the father… wait, shouldn't the kid who'd made it out into the world be the one spoiling his old man?

But my hands were saying something completely different from my thoughts.

…Were those animal stickers a whole series or something?

Park Eunseo was a fox, Chu Yeonju a puppy, Seon Yeonwoo a rabbit.

An Jihye… a cat came to mind, but not using stickers at all suited her image better.

Anyway.

With lunch plans locked in with Yeonwoo, I opened the Office Romance Management App for another look.

"…It went up."

Her affection had been sitting around 48 just a little while ago, and now it had climbed to 50. Something must have happened.

"Sunbaenim, good morning."

"Ah, yeah."

Isuyen clocked in while I was looking. I returned the greeting halfheartedly and turned back to my computer…

"Sunbaenim, you're an only child, right?"

"Me? Yeah. Only child."

Out of nowhere, Isuyen started talking about only children.

It was so random that I just went along with whatever she was saying…

"I ran into Yeonwoo-ssi on the way up. We chatted for a bit and the topic of siblings came up."

"Hm? Ah, right."

At the mention of Yeonwoo—who I'd already been curious about—my head turned slightly.

But it wasn't anything particularly earth-shattering. Just the usual "we ran into each other and talked about what we did over the weekend" kind of vibe.

I gave her a "got it" level of response, wrapped up the conversation, and sank into the morning's work for a good long while.

"Alright, alright, let's go eat."

The team leader rose with a little stretch, signaling lunchtime.

The team leader.

Even after that whole scheme with Yoosung Industries… nobody had filed a claim yet, so he seemed to think he was still in the clear.

Which was why he was standing there looking so smug, unlike before.

Still.

From what I'd heard from Park Eunseo, he'd be gone within two weeks.

Apparently Legal was taking its time gathering airtight evidence to make absolutely, positively sure they could take his head.

Since he was a man who'd be disappearing soon enough, I cut off any further interest in the team leader, quietly stood up myself, and headed toward the lobby.

After a short wait…

"Sunbaenim."

Yeonwoo appeared with a smile full of mischief.

Similar to that sly little fox Park Eunseo, and yet different.

Maybe because Yeonwoo saw me as an oppa-type, and I knew it… this girl, so much shorter than me, really did give off a little-sister vibe.

Together with that Yeonwoo, I ate pizza and traded idle chatter until, at some point, I felt the conversation run dry.

In the quiet, we just ate our pizza without a word—except Yeonwoo kept looking at me and smiling.

…Probably because of the second "Relationship."

Just looking at me was enough to make her laugh.

I'd set that second "Relationship" so lightly on purpose, because of the next "Relationship" I planned to lock in after it.

Starting today, I was going to change the second "Relationship" to something like… a person she wants to tease.

And the nature of that teasing would be whatever I wanted… for example, "sexual" teasing.

Because Yeonwoo had dirt on me, she'd figure she could pull "that" kind of prank and I wouldn't be able to do a thing about it.

But I was her oppa-type guy.

So even if she pulled those pranks, she'd think of me as the nice guy who'd take it all in stride.

Then if I also shifted the third "Relationship" away from plain "oppa-type" toward something like… an oppa-type who's close to her ideal man—I had a feeling I'd get to see some very interesting things.

"Ah… I heard you ran into Suyeon-ssi on the way in this morning?"

"Yes. Just stuff like what we did over the weekend… nothing major. She said she went out for a bit."

"What about you, Yeonwoo-ssi?"

"I just stayed in."

Even as she answered, Yeonwoo was smiling.

"When you dropped me off that time—did it take long to get home?"

"It was evening, so once I hit the highway it went pretty quick."

"That's a relief… so I can ask you again next time?"

"Huh?"

Said in a thoroughly mischievous tone, of course.

If any other woman had spouted something like that, I'd have been annoyed. But coming from Yeonwoo, it felt less like irritation and more like hope.

Because one of those lines had included the word "next time."

So…

"…Sure. Ask whenever you want. I'll take care of all of it."

I was her friendly oppa-type guy, after all.

With the air of a man who'd cheerfully ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠put up with every last one of her pranks, I chuckled and took a bite of pizza.

Yeonwoo, watching my reaction, let that mischievous smile deepen even further—and followed my lead with a huge chomp of her own.

A few days after lunch with Yeonwoo… Thursday.

All three of Yeonwoo's "Relationships" had shifted, little by little.

She had dirt on me, so I couldn't move a muscle. Teasing me was so fun that just looking at me made her laugh—and now she wanted to pull even naughtier pranks. And because I was the big-hearted oppa who took every last one of those pranks, she was starting to like me.

Some of it I'd changed myself. Some of it Yeonwoo had rewritten on her own.

Bit by bit.

The actual jump in affection was barely anything—but watching Yeonwoo's "Relationships" slowly fall into the "picture" I was painting still made me smile.

It had been about two days since I'd set things up this way… so Yeonwoo should have been imprinted by now.

I wonder what she'll show me… I was thinking, when—

"Sunbaenim, I'm going to run down to the supply closet for a second."

"Hm? Need something?"

"No, it's just… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yeonwoo-ssi needs to get something down and she can't reach…"

"……"

Of all the reasons, that one was impressively trivial.

Not that it was heavy, not that it was bulky—just that she couldn't reach.

I'd been wondering why she'd call Isuyen of all people, though.

Asking some other guy… would feel a little off, wouldn't it. Being alone with another man, even briefly, in a dim little place like the supply closet.

And it wasn't just any other woman—it was Seon Yeonwoo. Easy enough to spark unnecessary rumors.

In that sense, tall Isuyen made a perfect choice…

"I'll go. Don't worry about it."

"Huh?"

"You're busy, Suyeon-ssi. I'll handle it—you keep working."

"Ah… okay."

…Or so I'd thought. But if that was the case, wasn't it better if I went?

I wasn't like the other guys, after all.

"Don't tell Yeonwoo-ssi."

"Okay."

Figuring I might as well pull a little not-quite-a-prank of my own while I was at it, I told Isuyen to just send back a simple acknowledgment.

Then I took the stairs down to the first floor, stepped into the supply closet tucked away in the farthest corner—and there she was. Yeonwoo.

"Yeonwoo-ssi."

"Yes?!"

"Why so startled?"

"……"

The moment I called her name—the moment someone she never expected walked in—Yeonwoo jumped out of her skin.

To that Yeonwoo, I said:

"You needed something taken down, right? What is it?"

"Well…"

She had just handed me, on a silver platter, the perfect opportunity to tease her right back.

"…It's a little further in."