First Day at Work (2)
Yuri and Seonye kept bickering without giving each other an inch.
“Bodyguard, my ass! Why would someone like you need protection from a gorilla like her?”
“Ha! A gorilla? Look who’s talking, you walking dairy cow.”
“Hey—! How can you say something so vulgar right in front of Sihyun!”
Seonye flushed scarlet and shrieked, which only made Yuri let out a disbelieving snort of laughter.
“Ha! The only vulgar things around here are those two things swinging off your chest!”
The words had barely left her mouth before Yuri’s fist shot straight toward Seonye’s chest.
The sudden strike came too fast for Seonye to dodge.
But just before the punch could land—
Grab!
“That’s enough. Both of you, stop.”
Sihyun had already seized Yuri’s wrist.
Caught off guard by the interference, Yuri’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be my bodyguard, and you’re protecting some other bitch instead?!”
Her face turned beet-red with the sting of betrayal as she shouted.
“Sihyun!”
Seonye gazed up at him with dewy, starstruck eyes, as if he were the prince who had just swept in to save her.
“Haaah……”
Sihyun let out a long, weary sigh and looked at Seonye with an exhausted expression.
“Seonye noona.”
“Yes! Yes! What is it, my sweet Sihyun? Whyyy—?”
Seonye beamed as if the goddess of victory herself were smiling down on her.
She was already imagining the two of them walking out of this office together for some quiet time alone—when an unexpected word slipped from Sihyun’s lips.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh……?”
The bright smile froze on Seonye’s face as if time itself had stopped.
“W-why are you suddenly apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong, Sihyun~”
She tried to deny reality, reaching out again to cling to his arm.
But—
“I don’t think I’ll be able to keep working at the café anymore.”
Sihyun took a step back, putting clear distance between them, and continued in a firm voice.
“S-Sihyun……?”
Seonye stretched a trembling hand into empty air, trying to catch him.
“Thank you for everything until now.”
He bowed deeply at the waist.
Crash—!
Something precious shattered inside Seonye’s mind with a sound that rang through her skull.
Her vision blurred. Strength drained from her legs.
And then, clear as day, she heard it right beside her ear—
“Pfft.”
Yuri’s mocking snicker.
“You heard him. Get lost.”
Yuri jerked her chin toward Seonye, wearing the leisurely smile of a true victor.
“Y-you little—!”
Seonye clenched her teeth so hard her whole body shook as she glared daggers at Yuri.
Tears began to well in her reddened eyes.
Rage, sorrow, and betrayal all tangled together and rose like a flood.
In the end—
Plop, plop…
Fat, childish tears rolled down Seonye’s cheeks and splattered onto the floor.
“Waaaaaah—!!!”
She collapsed right where she stood and burst into full-blown, childlike sobs.
The entire office filled with the sound of her wailing.
Even so—
“Ugh, for fuck’s sake! That’s filthy loud. Hey, get rid of her already.”
Yuri scowled and snapped the order at Sihyun as if she were telling him to clean up trash lying in the street.
Sihyun looked thoroughly at a loss, unsure what to do.
“Seonye noona… please don’t do this…”
“Nooo—! Let’s just go home together, Sihyun! How could you do this to me! Waaaaah—!”
Seonye kept throwing a tantrum like a little kid, then—
Thud—!
She flopped flat on her back, arms and legs splayed out like a starfish.
“Ha—! This crazy bitch!”
Yuri let out a laugh of pure disbelief.
“Hey, I said get rid of her! Just pick her up and toss her out the door!”
Faced with Yuri’s ruthless command, Sihyun had no choice but to approach and try to get Seonye up.
But—
“Don’t touch me! Unless you’re coming home with me, don’t you dare lay a single finger on me, Sihyun!”
Still sprawled on the floor, Seonye thrashed and screamed.
“If you touch me I’ll sue you for sexual harassment!”
Her face was a complete mess of tears and snot as she yelled.
There were other employees in the office who could see everything, but Seonye paid them zero attention and fought back with everything she had.
Yuri could only laugh in utter exasperation.
“This psycho bitch for real? Sue me? Fine! Go ahead and try! I’ll sue you first for disrupting business!”
She whipped her head toward Harin and barked a sharp order.
“Oh Harin, call the police on this bitch right now!”
“P-President! Th-that’s a bit… please just calm down for a second! Okay? Please!”
“She’s right. And Seonye noona, you should stop now too……”
Sihyun and Harin tried desperately to mediate, but—
“No!”
“Nooo—!”
Neither woman showed the slightest intention of listening; both remained completely unhinged.
Still lying on the floor, Seonye huffed and puffed as she spoke.
“Fine, go ahead and report me. I’ll just mobilize Hanbit’s legal team!”
“This bitch for real?”
“Ahh~ while I’m at it I should sue for unfair labor solicitation and obstruction of business~”
“What kind of bullshit is that! You’re just a part-timer! You’re the one causing the obstruction!”
“Mmm~ I’m still suing~”
“Ha—! Fine, go ahead and try if you want!”
That was what Yuri said out loud, but inside she was seething with irritation.
Ah, for fuck’s sake, this goddamn bitch…!
If this lunatic actually hired her family’s legal team, the whole thing would explode into a real disaster.
Yuri wasn’t the least bit inferior in family background or legal standing, but—
Those family bastards will stick their noses in and make everything a pain in the ass!
The members of the Cheongryong Group’s Han family would absolutely pick a fight over it.
They would sneer about how she was making a fool of herself over a single bodyguard—no, over some nobody of a man.
Even though she had clearly stated she had no interest in management, those people who were always watching for any excuse to trip her up would never stay quiet.
And the one person who understood Yuri’s situation—
“B-both of you, please stop!”
Harin finally gathered her courage and stepped in.
She was desperate, already imagining herself stuck cleaning up the legal mess if this continued.
“There’s nothing good about making a huge deal out of this, right? Okay?”
She had more or less grasped the situation.
It was hard to believe two women were causing this much chaos over one guy named Sihyun, but after looking at his pretty-boy face…
She could somewhat understand why neither of them would yield an inch.
Of course, understanding didn’t mean she could just sit back and let this circus keep going.
“How about we do it this way for now?”
Harin decided to propose a compromise.
“This building already has plenty of CCTV and security, so you don’t really need a bodyguard inside, right?”
“Hey, Oh Harin, don’t you dare—!”
Yuri glared and raised her voice at Harin’s sudden suggestion, but Harin pressed on without flinching.
“And you said it was a café part-time job, right? So it’s not full-time—it’s part-time hours?”
“Huh? Yeah……”
Caught off guard by the question, Seonye nodded.
At that, an ominous premonition washed over Sihyun.
He opened his mouth to speak up, but—
Stay quiet!
Harin shot him a sharp look that clearly ordered him to keep his mouth shut, so he had no choice but to close it again.
Yuri and Seonye were finally starting to focus on Harin’s words; if he rashly butted in now, this nightmare might never end.
“Then let’s do it like this!”
Harin began laying out the concrete compromise she had thought up.
“In the morning, Sihyun will handle the President’s bodyguard duty until she arrives at the office. You never know what might happen during the commute.”
“Once the President gets to the office, Sihyun goes straight to the café for his part-time shift.”
“And when it’s time to leave work, Sihyun comes back here to handle the commute home and any after-hours protection for the President.”
Harin seemed to think her idea was pure genius, because she puffed out her chest proudly as she finished.
“Well? Isn’t that fair enough?”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Yuri, Seonye, and Sihyun all lost their words for a moment.
A brief silence settled over the office.
Is this bitch insane? Who the hell is she to decide things on her own? Still… at least this way I get to stay with him…
Yuri scowled and glared at Harin, but she had no choice but to accept it inwardly.
I-I guess this is okay… better than losing him completely…
Seonye also seemed reasonably satisfied. She slowly sat up from her tantrum on the floor, accepting Harin’s proposal for the time being even while wearing a sulky pout on her tear-streaked face.
What about my opinion?
Sihyun could only feel dumbfounded as the two of them seemed ready to decide everything without him.
Who the hell were they to go around dividing up someone else’s time however they pleased?
But they completely ignored him.
“Alright, settled? Done! No more fighting!”
Harin clapped her hands sharply, trying to wrap things up.
Yuri and Seonye reluctantly exchanged looks that said they had no choice but to agree, still glaring at each other as they traded warnings.
“Don’t you dare think a dirty trick like this will work next time.”
“You’re the one who better watch out. Try to control Sihyun however you want and you’ll end up with a bloody nose.”
Watching the two of them snarl at each other, Sihyun thought bitterly—
So what about MY opinion, you crazy bitches!
Barely into his first day at work and already trapped in this deranged nightmare of a situation, Sihyun could only feel a vague dread for all the hardships still waiting for him in the future.