First Day at Work (4)
Cafe Luminous.
Unlike a certain someone else today, Park Areum was genuinely having her first day on the job.
Even though the branch wasn’t located in a bustling downtown district, customers kept pouring in, making the shift a little grueling for café work—yet she still managed to feel good while working.
The reason was simple.
Her hourly wage was a whopping thirty thousand won!
On top of that, she wasn’t working alone. Right beside her was a coworker so dazzlingly beautiful it almost hurt to look at her.
The problem was that the coworker turned out to be a man.
Areum only realized after hearing his voice. The first time she saw him, she had been certain he was a girl. He was the kind of pretty boy who looked so delicate that even another woman would mistake him for one.
Her usual type had always been the ripped, abs-of-steel muscle-beast variety, but… he was such an exquisite pretty boy that personal preferences like that suddenly didn’t matter at all. Between his looks and the earnest way he threw himself into the work, Areum simply could not tear her eyes away.
Has spring finally arrived for me too? Kyaaah—
In her head she was already past the wedding and naming the kids… no, the grandkids.
Right in the middle of that blissful daydream—
Saaaaa…
“⋯⋯?”
An inexplicably murderous gaze prickled against her skin. She turned her head.
A pair of blue eyes and a pair of red eyes were locked onto her at the same time. The two women were practically shouting with nothing but their stares:
You wanna die?
Looking for a grave?
People say love is something you seize for yourself. That may be true—
But the eyes currently boring into her were saying something else entirely:
Eyes on the floor, or else.
Want to get fired?
I-I might actually die for real…
The sudden conviction that what was about to be seized was her own life made Areum tuck her tail between her legs at once.
Love? For someone like me? Ahahaha~
She swallowed her tears on the inside and decided to just focus on the work.
It had been an extremely short spring day!
At any rate—setting aside one part-time girl’s crushed romantic hopes—Yuri and Seonye, having successfully eliminated a brand-new rival on the spot, turned back to each other and snarled as if they were ready to tear one another’s throats out.
“Hey. It’s because you dragged him back into this café job that some random girl started trying to stick to him.”
Yuri muttered the complaint while thumping the table with her fist—quietly, so Sihyun wouldn’t hear. She desperately wanted to slam it hard enough to crack the wood, but with him working nearby she was forcing herself to hold back.
Seonye answered by thrusting her chest out with pure insolence.
“Hmph. Even if it weren’t the café, there’d still be plenty of girls crawling after Sihyun. That glasses girl in your own office, for one?”
Not only did that enormous chest grate on Yuri’s nerves—remembering Harin drooling over Sihyun made her face twist into a scowl all by itself.
“⋯⋯I can control her.”
“Hmph. And I can peel off any girl who starts wagging her tail in the café.”
“Oh, sure. You’re right. Thanks to you I got to meet him, after all.”
“What—?!”
Yuri’s jab left Seonye speechless. It had been the single biggest mistake of her life. She never should have introduced him to that club part-time job just to get closer to him. That was exactly how this crazy woman had gotten tangled up with Sihyun in the first place.
“Hey! If you’re just going to keep picking fights, get lost!”
Seonye’s whole body trembled as she shouted. Yuri only smirked, completely unfazed.
“You’re the one who should get lost. Don’t you have work?”
“Why are you worrying about my work schedule?! You should go back to your office right this second and do your own job!”
“Nah~ The place runs fine without me.”
Yuri’s answer was so shamelessly smug that Seonye could only snarl louder.
“Iiiiiih!!!”
Right then—
~♪ ~♬
Seonye’s phone started ringing.
“Ah, yes. Can’t you just handle it without me? You absolutely need my approval? Haaah… Fine.”
She ended the call with a heavy sigh, face scrunched tight. Yuri didn’t miss the chance to snicker.
“Pfft. Hurry up and go to work.”
“Iiiiiih! Just you wait, Han Yuri!”
After firing off that warning, Seonye turned and looked at Sihyun for a long, lingering moment with soft eyes. Then she spun on her heel and strode out of the café.
Watching her leave, Yuri wore a victorious little smile and murmured under her breath,
“He’s mine anyway, you bitch.”
She had been forced into a temporary compromise because of those miserable family parasites, but that was as far as her generosity went.
Min Seonye.
Kang Yoona.
Even that nameless part-timer over there.
“I’m never giving him up.”
Once rival Seonye had vanished, Yuri propped her chin on her hand and leisurely watched Sihyun work.
That guy… he really is working hard.
From early morning he had been stuck breaking up her fights with Seonye, only to run straight into Yoona right afterward. Physically and mentally he had every right to collapse and sleep on the floor. Yet here he was, diligently working without a single moment of slacking off.
Seeing him side-by-side with the new female part-timer still grated a little, but she had made her warning crystal clear and the girl seemed to have gotten the message, so Yuri decided to let it slide.
Just like that, time slipped by while she watched him. Before she knew it, Sihyun’s shift was over.
The moment the clock struck one in the afternoon, Yuri stood up and walked straight over to him.
“Hey. You’re done, right?”
“⋯⋯Yes.”
Even Sihyun was only human; he couldn’t quite hide how exhausted he looked. Yuri let out a small laugh at the sight.
“Hungry? Let’s go eat lunch.”
With no real choice, Sihyun simply nodded in silence.
“Anything you feel like eating?”
“⋯⋯Whatever’s fine.”
He answered in a drained, lifeless voice.
Something I feel like eating, huh…
Proper midday meals had never been a luxury his life allowed. Between the grueling part-time shifts that stretched from dawn until late night, skipping meals was simply routine. Only when the hunger became truly unbearable would he settle for a convenience-store sandwich or a roll of kimbap. The only real meals he ever got were the ones Seojin cooked on the rare nights he managed to come home early.
Even so, Yuri didn’t scold him for the half-hearted answer. She just nodded.
“That so? Then I’ll pick.”
She casually pulled out her phone, tapped the screen a few times, and soon the corner of her mouth curled up with interest.
“Hmm… this place looks good.”
Yuri led him only a few steps away from the café, down a narrow alley, to a shabby little Korean restaurant. The faded signboard and the old sliding door looked easily decades old.
She’s bringing us here?
Sihyun stared at her for a moment, half-dazed that someone like Yuri would willingly walk into a place like this on her own two feet.
“What? You don’t like it?”
“Ah, no… just…”
Yuri, who already understood exactly why he was reacting that way, laughed as if the whole thing was hilarious.
“What, you thought we were going to carve up some steak? Want me to take you to a fancy restaurant instead?”
“N-no, this is fine. Let’s eat here.”
“Good. Come on in.”
With that, Yuri calmly pushed open the creaking door and stepped inside. Even though the lunch rush was nearly over, the cramped interior was still surprisingly packed with customers.
The moment they sat down, Yuri ordered without the slightest hesitation.
“One grilled Spanish mackerel and one kimchi jjigae, please.”
She looked so completely at home placing the order that it was obvious this wasn’t her first time here.
So this is her kind of place…
Sihyun thought. The way she had polished off Seojin’s kimchi jjigae last time, too—she really did seem to like Korean food.
I figured she’d only ever go to expensive places. Didn’t expect somewhere like this.
It genuinely caught him off guard. But Sihyun was not the type to simply take an unexpected side of Yuri at face value.
Maybe she’s just cheap. That iced americano she ordered last time, too…
If she liked Korean food, she could have just gone to a high-end hanjeongsik restaurant. Perhaps she had already read the ungrateful thought on his face even though he had pocketed a huge contract deposit, because Yuri looked at him with mild exasperation.
“Hey. You’re the one who said ‘anything’s fine.’ I’ll buy you something expensive for dinner, so wipe that look off your face.”
“What look? And what do you mean, dinner?”
“Hmph. Whatever. I can pretty much tell what you’re thinking just by looking at your face now.”
“⋯⋯Then do you know what I’m thinking right this second?”
Sihyun shot back with a defiant glint in his eyes. Yuri answered with a thoroughly fed-up expression.
“Ugh, this guy is seriously so tsundere…”
While they bickered, a neat assortment of side dishes and the food they had ordered quietly appeared on the table.
A plump Spanish mackerel, grilled golden-brown and glistening with oil. A bright-red kimchi jjigae bubbling appetizingly inside its earthenware pot. Despite the shabby exterior, the food itself radiated pure “hidden gem” energy.
“Stop grumbling and just eat.”
“⋯⋯Yes.”
Sihyun picked up his spoon and started eating quietly. After the morning’s endless ordeal he was completely drained and had planned on just going through the motions for the sake of appearance—
“⋯⋯!”
The food was so good that, before he realized it, the speed of his spoon began to pick up. Watching him, Yuri smiled with quiet satisfaction and started her own meal.
“Mmm… still, kimchi jjigae always tastes better when your mother makes it.”
“Mmph… who are you calling ‘Mother’?”
Even while answering grumpily with his mouth full, Sihyun kept eating so adorably that Yuri couldn’t help laughing.
“Okay, okay. Just keep eating.”
“⋯⋯Yes. Mmph.”
And so the two of them continued their quiet, peaceful meal.
As he ate, Sihyun thought to himself that the hard part of the day finally seemed to be over—completely unaware of whatever plans Yuri was already hatching for later.