Chapter 80

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Translator: True Detective

Chapter: 79

Chapter Title: Deputy Yi, How's Your Body?

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- Deputy Yi, is your body okay?

Perhaps still bothered by her own mistake, Chief Choi sends a personal message checking on Hyunwoo's condition.

'Come to think of it, this is a first.'

The Organizational Innovation TF Team had an insane workload that could make anyone curse, but Chief Choi had never once contacted her team members privately. Naturally, there were no off-hours task directives or after-work texts, the kind old-timers loved to pull.

A personal check-in text from Chief Choi to Hyunwoo. It carried some real significance.

- Yeah. I'm fine, Team Leader.

- Deputy Yi, I really have no face left after that business trip fiasco. Let me apologize once more.

'She must be really hung up on her mistake. Keeps saying she's sorry. Wait... sorry?'

'That's it!'

The [Guilt] toward Hyunwoo that he'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠amplified via the work system. That was why Chief Choi, who never sent personal texts, had reached out this time.

'Looks like there's hope after all?'

Hyunwoo had half-given up after blowing the perfect alone-time chance in the car, but there was still an opening to go after her.

- Then buy me a drink, Team Leader. Shivering all night in the cold's got me craving soju.

"..."

Heart racing, he fires off the text right away, but Chief Choi doesn't reply for a good while.

Thinking back after sending it, he'd never heard her mention drinking at company dinners. She probably didn't like alcohol or didn't drink at all.

'The car incident already made things awkward, and now I've come on too strong...?'

Hyunwoo kicks at the blankets in self-reproach for his impulsiveness. But then—

- Alright. It's my fault too... When works for you?

"Phew..."

Chief Choi accepts Hyunwoo's proposal, to his relief.

'They say pull the iron while it's hot...'

Her [Guilt]—wasn't that the strongest right after making someone feel sorry? If so, now was the prime moment to strike. With his mind made up, Hyunwoo—

- No need to delay. How about tonight?

Throws a fastball right down the middle. And—

- Got it. Where should we meet?

Chief Choi's reply comes in.

Buzzing with chatter.

Hyunwoo sets the meeting at a bar in the city near the office. Maybe because it overlaps with quitting time? It's packed with office workers.

- Ding-a-ling.

Arriving first and waiting for Chief Choi, Hyunwoo waves when she enters through the door.

"Over here, Team Leader."

Spotting Hyunwoo, Chief Choi gives a slight nod and heads to the table.

She'd clearly come straight from resting at home, yet she's dressed in her work clothes. A sharply creased jacket without a single wrinkle, matched with a black skirt. With the evening chill, flesh-toned stockings too.

To a stranger, she'd look just like any salarywoman heading to an after-work dinner.

"..."

The two sit across from each other at the table with some snacks, but words fail them for a while.

"Looks like you're in decent shape after all? Craving booze and all."

Chief Choi breaks the silence first.

"Hahaha... A guy's gotta handle that much. You're okay too, right, Team Leader?"

"Huh? Oh... Yeah, I'm fine. And..."

Adjusting her signature black horn-rimmed glasses with a finger,

"I'm really sorry about yesterday, Deputy Yi."

She bows her head formally in apology. As team leader, she didn't need to go this low to a mere team member, but the work system's amplified [Guilt] emotion seemed to be at play. Or maybe she was just the type to own up cleanly.

'Both, maybe?'

Judging from her usual personality, Hyunwoo figured it wasn't just the system's amplification.

"Please lift your head, Team Leader. It wasn't like you did it on purpose."

"No... I have to apologize properly..."

"Ah! Stop with the apologies and let's just have a drink. Come on?"

Growing awkward from her persistent apologies,

- Glug glug glug glug.

Hyunwoo fills Chief Choi's soju glass to the brim, then his own.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"One-shot it, and yesterday's forgotten, Team Leader."

"..."

Driving off-course without even checking the nav, huddling tight against Hyunwoo for hours in the mountains to share body heat.

His scent and the warmth of his embrace still lingered in her mind, but Chief Choi pauses briefly before—

"Kuh..."

Downing the soju in one go.

- Clink.

Setting their glasses down almost simultaneously, they each grab a piece of grilled meat from the plate.

"That square it? Then I'll get going..."

"Aw, come on, Team Leader. Who leaves after just one drink? I'm really hurt."

Not wanting to show her tipsy self to a subordinate, Chief Choi shoots up from her seat, but sits back down at Hyunwoo's chiding.

'I should head home.'

Truth be told, no-drinking was one of Chief Choi's many strict personal rules.

Most workplace incidents and accidents stemmed from drinks, in her view. Sexual harassment, brawls, backbiting, curses, conflicts—all fueled by booze. Since joining the company, she'd never touched a drop.

Drinking with superiors was essential for promotions, but she despised that nonsense. Climbing the ladder through after-hours boozing and politics wasn't her style.

Salarymen should be judged solely on performance, and that's how Chief Choi had reached her position.

'I showed up, but had no intention of drinking.'

So she'd planned not to touch a drop tonight either, but because of her screw-up with Hyunwoo? She couldn't just swat away the glass he offered.

- Glug glug glug.

"Cheers! Let's go hard tonight, Team Leader. We earned it, right?"

Filling her glass again, Hyunwoo raises his toward her.

"..."

"Team Leader! My arm's gonna fall off."

'Deputy Yi's not showing it, but he must've had it rough. He's acting different from usual...'

Hyunwoo, who stuck strictly to business talk otherwise, was letting his emotions show raw today. Realizing it tied back to last night, Chief Choi—

"Haa..."

- Clink!

Gives in to his playful urging. Their glasses clink and empty relentlessly from there.

"Ugh..."

Tipsy now, Chief Choi slumps her head fully onto the table, unable to hold herself up. Maybe because she'd always sat ramrod straight without a hint of disarray? Hyunwoo finds the sight startling.

"Just two bottles between us..."

Hyunwoo, who'd inwardly worried her tolerance might outmatch his, realizes it was needless.

Fastest promotions in the company, universally acknowledged skills, poker face with no gaps. Eyes that seemed to pierce his soul. The perfect perfectionist Chief Choi—he'd figured her drinking game would match.

To rise as high as her in the corporate world, you needed some booze prowess, but she was a lightweight who couldn't even finish a bottle.

'What a letdown...'

Having pregamed with a hangover cure on the way in, fully prepped, Hyunwoo feels a twinge of emptiness seeing her wrecked by one bottle.

Nearing midnight, the bar's empty save for them. Time for round two or a venue switch.

'But forget round two—she needs to go straight home.'

Chief Choi's utterly smashed, though. Home's the only option.

"Team Leader! Team Leader!"

"Mmm... Deputy Yi..."

"I'll take you home. Address! Gimme your address."

Sober, no way she'd share her solo-female-pad address easily, but shaking her half-unconscious form gets a garbled response after a few tries. Luckily, her officetel was right across from the bar.

"Ngh... Let's go, Team Leader."

"Ugh.... ughhh."

Slung over his shoulder, her aggressive bust engulfs his body as expected. His member stiffens instantly at the overwhelming flesh assault.

'Hoo... Hold it... hold it... Summit's in sight.'

Taking a drunk woman home—hard to imagine a more perfect setup for a hot night.

'But... hoo...'

Tall or heavy-chested? She weighs more than expected. Having effortlessly hoisted and pounded Hye-ri in the office recently, Hyunwoo naturally compares their weights.

"Hye-ri really was like a feather..."

Sober Chief Choi might bristle inwardly, but head lolled, she clings to him like a baby.

- Beep beep beep beep.

- Ring-a-ding-ding.

After ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doggedly prying the passcode from drunk Chief Choi, Hyunwoo unlocks the door and enters her no-men-allowed officetel without resistance.

"Whoa..."

180 degrees from Eun Seol's model-home officetel—Chief Choi's place screams extreme minimalism.

'Nothing here at all.'

Beyond the standard washer, fridge, AC, closet, and basic table, her only furniture is a bed. No personal items save a laptop on the table.

"Feels like an empty house."

No hobbies, not even a TV—her life outside work must be nonexistent.

- Thud.

"Mmm..."

Hyunwoo lays Chief Choi on her bed first.

- Glance.

Curious about her life, he sneaks peeks around while she's out cold.

Bathroom: basic toiletries, a few cosmetics, hairdryer. Closet: neatly ironed suits she wears daily.

- Rattle.

"Ooh la la..."

Bottom drawer: bras and panty sets rivaling her bust in size, plus swimsuit and cap, all neatly folded.

"Not the back... the cup! Cup size, that's what matters!"

Hyunwoo's top priority—Chief Choi's cup size. He gingerly lifts a bra and checks the tag.

'70H!!!'

What was one letter worth to shake a man's world? Seo Jin-ah's fantastical teardrop breasts were mere D-cups. Before H, they felt like child's play.

No, curb expectations. Why were Jin-ah's perfect? Not just size. No sag, firm uplift, shy pink nipples, translucent skin veiling blue veins. Perfect balance.

Raw size invited gravity's toll—worst case, granny tits he didn't want to see.

"Sigh..."

Gazing at her bed-slumped-from-booze breasts, lost in fantasies, Hyunwoo decides to check them out.

- Swish.

Tense like opening Pandora's box, he lays a trembling hand on her breast. Last safety check via work system, but—

No changes still.

Jin-ah had [Desire] for intimacy with Yi Hyunwoo in her psych message; Eun Seol and Hye-ri had [Affection] toward him. Clear safeguards for pouncing.

Chief Choi's were vague like [Trust] and [Guilt]. So even with this golden chance, Hyunwoo felt some tension.

'But I can't let tonight slip.'

Steeling himself, Hyunwoo grabs her luscious breasts boldly with both palms.