Jichan-ssi, You're Bold, Aren't You?
Lunch hour was officially from twelve to one. But people who actually stuck to that schedule were vanishingly rare.
Whether you called the company atmosphere open-minded… or just loosely managed, as long as you got your own work done no one really gave you grief. You could stretch the hour a little if you read the room right.
Or, if your conscience pricked you, you could simply come back early and start working again to make up for leaving early.
But me?
I was the guy carrying roughly two-and-a-half people’s worth of work in our department, so…
Rrrumble—
I stood up without much concern even as the chair wheels scraped across the floor.
…Still, looking around at this company sometimes left a strange twist in my gut.
Yeah. It wasn’t their problem, right?
If I got fed up and quit, Planning Team 1 would basically grind to a halt—but as long as I stayed, none of the fallout would land on them. That was the thinking.
I even wondered if Park Eunseo knew that and had told me to come out early on purpose.
It was 11:45.
Reading the room, I slipped out to the company lobby. Park Eunseo’s ponytail swayed as she smiled at me.
“Jichan-Jichan, pizza-pizza, let’s eat-eat, let’s go-go—”
“Where the hell do you even pick up that way of talking?”
“Dunno-dunno? Forbidden-forbidden? Mad-mad?”
“…….”
…Yeah, that was actually pissing me off a little.
Doing that kind of coquettish nonsense with her foxy face made every guy walking past glance her way.
But this Park Eunseo—
“You said you reserved a table, right?”
“Ah, yeah. Let’s gooo—”
—left with me to grab lunch.
Some of the onlookers were clearly shocked just by the fact that another man was walking beside her.
Up until now Park Eunseo had kept a pretty solid iron wall around herself.
So of course it was surprising to see her suddenly heading out of the building at this hour with a guy she was playfully teasing.
Not that it was any of my business.
Thanks to Eunseo’s clever foresight in booking the pizza place ahead of time, we sat down and had steaming hot pizza in front of us almost immediately.
And of all things, pepperoni…
“…You actually know how to eat pizza?”
“I was originally going to order pineapple and held myself back, so you should be grateful, Choi Jichan-ssi.”
“Wow. Crossing the line there.”
…It would’ve been perfect if she just hadn’t said that.
Still, the buffalo wings and cheese oven spaghetti she’d ordered as sides were all delicious too.
“How’d you find this place?”
“Chu Yeonju-sunbaenim told me about it a little while ago.”
“Ah… really?”
“Yeah.”
I never would’ve guessed the tip came from Chu Yeonju.
“…You keep in touch with sunbaenim?”
“Mm… so-ometimes? Just when I think of her I message her. She told me about this place a few days ago.”
There was actually a solid reason the two of them were close.
Me, Park Humin, and Park Eunseo.
When the three of us joined the company, the first mentor assigned to us had been Chu Yeonju.
Not a work mentor like Manager Kim Yuhon—more of a company-life mentor.
There’s this place here, so use it like this.
If something like this happens, go talk to that department.
Our company has these benefits, so make sure you don’t miss out.
That kind of mentor.
…Naturally Park Humin had hit on her constantly and gotten thoroughly shot down every time.
Come to think of it, the reason Eunseo and I got close in the first place was thanks to Humin’s spectacular failures back then.
“What about you? Do you stay in touch with sunbaenim?”
“Nah. If I messaged her first… the picture would look a little weird. We just exchange a quick message when the messenger pops up on each other’s birthdays.”
“That’s kinda bleak.”
“It’s not bleak, it’s normal. I told you—it makes the picture weird.”
“Then what about Humin-ssi?”
“Him… I dunno? We ran into each other for a second earlier, the three of us, while smoking. From the way he was talking to sunbaenim, it didn’t seem like they message separately.”
“…Kinda feel bad for him.”
“Don’t feel bad—be grateful.”
“Hm? Why?”
“Because of him, you and I got close.”
“Ah… aah, I guess you could look at it that way.”
Park Humin had been so aggressive about it.
But Chu Yeonju was too kind-hearted, so she’d had to put up with a fair amount of trouble just politely fielding his advances.
Meanwhile… the two of us who’d been left as the complete extras got close really fast…
“Yeah. Thanks to him, you and I ended up like that.”
“Like that?”
“What else would it be?”
“Mmm….”
…Which was how last week’s events had happened too.
“…Whoa, Jichan-ssi, you’re bold, aren’t you?”
“What are you on about.”
She was gearing up to get coquettish again.
Park Eunseo was looking at me with a suggestive gaze, but funnily enough it didn’t feel sexy at all—I just wanted to grab that ponytail and shake it around.
Whether she knew what I was thinking or not—
“So what are you doing after lunch?”
“Rest a bit then work, I guess… ah, maybe take a nap.”
“Didn’t sleep last night?”
“…Slept okay.”
…I couldn’t exactly say I’d stayed up half the night poking around the Office Romance Management App.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. Honestly I only come to work for the fun of messing around with you…”
“Hm?”
“You know. No dreams, no hopes, just grinding for a paycheck….”
Park Eunseo set her pizza down with slightly gloomy eyes.
“…Work’s hard, other guys look at me weird, and Humin-ssi—one of the only coworkers I can lean on—is still pretty distant… You’re really the only one I’ve got.”
“…….”
The words felt a little… awkward, though.
“Is this a confession?”
“Ah, caught.”
I smoothly brushed that part off as just more of Eunseo’s coquettishness.
Then, while we moved on to ordinary conversation, I analyzed what she’d just said.
It was pretty out of the blue.
For the past year Park Eunseo and I had been in a lukewarm sort of relationship.
Closer than she was with other guys, sure… but only that much.
And now suddenly I was her only pillar of support…
“…….”
“…What are you thinking about?”
“Hm? Ah, nothing. If you’re done, let’s get up. My treat.”
“I was gonna pay?”
“Uh… then you get the coffee.”
“Mm, okay.”
I’d think about it once we were on our feet.
After we finished everything it was 12:10.
We’d arrived at the pizza place around 11:50, so we’d eaten pretty fast.
Anyway.
After the quick meal we left the pizza place and went straight into the café next door.
“What about you?”
“I’ll take an iced latte.”
“One cookie mocha latte frappuccino and one iced latte, please.”
Eunseo ordered some frappuccino with a name so long I could barely remember it, while I stuck with a plain iced latte.
While we waited…
Poke—!
“Hmph!”
…I playfully jabbed a finger into her slim waist for no real reason.
Park Eunseo flinched at the teasing, then immediately looked back at me with that same suggestive gaze and grinned.
“Order’s ready—”
The drinks came out while we were still messing around.
Since most people in the area were still eating, we got our coffees without any wait and left the café.
By the time we got back to the company building it was about 12:15.
We sat across from each other in the lounge space in the lobby and noisily sucked on our straws.
“Haaaah… I wanna go hoooome….”
While she complained like that, Park Eunseo leaned her head back against the chair.
Which made the subtle volume of her chest stand out all the more.
…Was it doable? From the look in her eyes earlier, if I played it right it might work.
But first.
While Eunseo was spacing out at the lobby ceiling, I quietly pulled out my phone and checked the Office Romance Management App.
Administrator: Choi Jichan
Management Targets: Seon Yeonwoo, Chu Yeonju, An Jihye
Special Management Target: Park Eunseo!
Cohort, Male Friend, Sex Partner — 62
…It had been 61.
It had gone up to 62, but since I still didn’t know exactly what that number represented, it was a little frustrating.
What was certain was that it was something like affection level.
After confirming that much I slipped the phone back into my pocket. Eunseo, who’d been staring at the ceiling, lowered her head.
“You working overtime again today?”
“Looks like I’ll have to. It’s Monday, so… a lot piled up over the weekend.”
“Awwww…”
“Ah, that’s annoying. Are you pitying me?”
“…A little?”
We laughed while lightly teasing each other like that.
Then, once the time slipped just past 12:20, I got the gut feeling that it was a good moment to make a move.
“Eunseo.”
“Mmm?”
“…Wanna do it?”
“Do what?”
“…….”
Instead of answering, I pointed at her lower half with my chin. Eunseo flinched.
“R… ri-right now?”
“Yeah. How about it?”
“…Uh, uh… where…?”
“At the company, obviously. We don’t have time to go anywhere else. Looking at it… we’ve got about thirty minutes.”
“…….”
I’d spoken quietly.
Even so, Park Eunseo glanced around nervously, worried someone might overhear.
Then, in a small voice:
“…Do you have that?”
“Uh… yeah, I do.”
“But… where? Is there somewhere without people?”
“I know a place. Somewhere people almost never go.”
I answered her just as quietly, gently steering the mood toward a definite yes.
“…People really don’t come there?”
“Yeah. Sometimes I even take naps there during lunch.”
“…….”
She still seemed a little hesitant.
In cases like this, you just treat it as a done deal and stand up first.
“I’ll go first.”
“Ah… okay.”
“I’ll text you the location. Come over in a minute.”
There was the matter of rumors, after all.
I personally didn’t care how rumors spread, but for Park Eunseo a bad rumor could actually be dangerous.
Men would be men, and women would be women.
So I stood up as unobtrusively as possible, still holding my cup.
I headed for the company’s basement parking lot—specifically the deepest part of it.
It used to be the basement parking control room, but after the control room moved aboveground it had become a place almost no one ever visited.
I arrived around 12:25.
And at 12:27…
Click— click— click—
The sound of Park Eunseo’s flat shoes approached.
“Ji…chan…?”
“Yeah.”
“Haa…”
When I let her know I was there, Eunseo let out a deep sigh of relief.
Even then she looked around carefully, making sure no one was watching.
Once she was sure we were alone—
“In here.”
“Whoa… what is this place?”
“Old parking control room, apparently. Completely unused now.”
“Ahh… how’d you find out about it?”
“…A different sunbae told me about it before.”
This place had also been pointed out by Manager Kim Yuhon.
I wondered whether Manager Kim Yuhon had ever brought his own wife here.
If he had, that was exciting in its own way; if he hadn’t, that was exciting too.
For that reason…
Sliip…
“…Nervous?”
“A-a little… this is only my se-second time and we’re already doing it outdoors…”
I carefully pulled her waist in and drew her into my arms.
Park Eunseo wasn’t short, but she wasn’t particularly tall either.
I tightly wrapped my arms around the waist that fit so neatly against me, and with my other hand I cupped her soft cheek…
“…Chuuup, haaauuup… smooch, chuuup, hnnnnngh…”
First, I heated her body with a lingering, sensual kiss.