Marriage Mate 2

Yuyeong subtly smiled and turned around.

“Deputy Manager.”

“…Huh?”

“First of all, I have no plans to get married right now.”

With a murderous expression, Yu-young took a step toward Deputy Manager Kim. Seeing the madness in his eyes, Kim unknowingly let his mouth fall open. Sure, Yu-young always seemed a bit fiery, but… Had he lost his mind?

“Even if I do decide to get married in the future, my coffee-making skills will have absolutely no impact on that decision. Do you understand?”

“A—Assistant Manager Han!”

“The same goes for family planning. Whether I have a child while I’m young and firm, when I’m old and wrinkled, or not at all—it’s none of your business, Deputy Manager.”

Yu-young’s explosive statements froze the office atmosphere in an instant. The eyes that had been absentmindedly glued to monitors all turned toward Yu-young and Deputy Manager Kim. Everyone covered their mouths in shock, unable to hide their astonishment.

Keeping his widened eyes locked onto Kim, Yu-young lifted the corners of his mouth.

Seeing Yu-young’s face contort into something even more terrifying, Kim instinctively took a step back.

“And. You might want to start making your own coffee from now on. You never know, right? Who knows what might end up in there besides coffee?”

“W-What? Assistant Manager Han, how dare you…!”

“…Haa… I’m going to step out for some fresh air.”

Ignoring the stunned Kim, who was pointing a trembling finger at him, Yuyeong turned away with a blank expression. Having said everything he needed to, he finally felt like he could breathe. Like in those famous indigestion relief commercials, he almost expected a blue light to radiate from his chest. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.

Honestly, his pent-up resentment toward Kim had been building up ever since he joined this company. Even if he ranted for three days straight, it wouldn’t be enough. At least now he had done some emergency venting. If he had laughed it off like a fool after hearing those comments, he might have been so angry that he would’ve pulled down his pants and taken a dump right on Kim’s desk.

Yeah, I did the right thing. I did… right?

“Haaaaah…”

Once on the rooftop, Yu-young collapsed onto a bench in a corner of the rooftop garden.

It wasn’t even lunchtime yet, so the garden was completely empty except for him.

You idiot. You absolute fool. You held out for a year, and now there’s only two years left! You’ve been patient all this time—couldn’t you have just endured a little longer…?

But that bastard Kim was the one who started it…!

A chaotic mix of thoughts swirled in his head. Yu-young looked up at the sky with a heavy heart. The puffy clouds, oblivious to his inner turmoil, floated by lazily. As he stared at them, he suddenly remembered the rolls of fat on the back of Kim’s neck, and his mood soured even more.

This is definitely going to get reported. That petty bastard won’t let this slide. The more he thought about it, the more hopeless it seemed.

It was only a matter of time before what happened today reached his father’s ears. Normally, when a low-ranking employee butted heads with a superior, the news wouldn’t travel all the way up the corporate pyramid to the CEO. But Yu-young’s situation was different. His father had always kept a close eye on his department, watching for any trouble.

…I think I’m screwed, aren’t I?

No. I just have to endure. I just have to hold out.

Yu-young, who had been rubbing his face with both hands, mumbled determinedly.

Technically, his agreement with his father was to “avoid causing trouble”—but Kim hadn’t exactly treated him well either, had he? Sure, he missed the old days when he could just punch people in the face and throw his resignation letter at them, but now was different. He had to prove that he had changed.

Somehow, he had to smooth things over with Kim. But there was no way in hell he was going to apologize. Why should he, when he had done nothing wrong? Still, if he didn’t patch things up, he might end up facing disciplinary action…

“Make peace vs. No apologies.” These two thoughts looped in his head like a Möbius strip, neither side willing to budge. With a gloomy expression, Yu-young let out a deep sigh.

No matter what, he had to go back to the office.

After spending a short time sulking on the rooftop, Yuyeong made up his mind and returned. He even bought coffee for his coworkers to make peace easier.

Stay calm. No matter how much that bastard throws a tantrum, just endure it.

Even so, he remained firm in his decision to never apologize. He had done nothing wrong—why should he apologize? If it came down to it, he would rather go down swinging, even if it meant both of them getting fired.

With a complicated mix of emotions, he stepped back into the office. But surprisingly, the atmosphere wasn’t as frozen as he had expected. In fact, his coworkers even welcomed him back.

“Yu-young, you’re back! Feeling a little calmer?”

“…Yes. I apologize for causing a disturbance.”

Feeling awkward, Yu-young bowed slightly and handed out the coffee he had brought.

“Here, have a cup… I really am sorry. Lunch is on me today.”

“Oh, come on! Sure, you snapped back, but Deputy Manager Kim was the one who crossed the line first.”

Kim Ju-yeon, a colleague he was close with, whispered to him.

“I was so pissed just listening to him. I’ve never met such an old-fashioned jerk in my life!”

“Right? It’s not just me, right?”

Hearing someone take his side, Yu-young suddenly felt a wave of emotion. He grumbled, and Ju-yeon chuckled. Just then, another coworker, Lee, chimed in.

“By the way, what’s up with the CEO suddenly showing up?”

“Yeah, right? He just walked into the office out of nowhere… I was shocked.”

“…Wait, wait. What did you just say?”

Had he just heard something he really shouldn’t have? Yu-young’s eyes widened in horror.

“The CEO… came here?”

“Yeah, yeah. Like five minutes after you left? And he didn’t send his secretary—he came himself and took Deputy Manager Kim away!”

“Right! And he looked furious, didn’t he?”

“Seriously! Did Kim embezzle billions or something?”

“Oh, come on. A deputy manager embezzling? No way.”

His coworkers laughed amongst themselves, but Yu-young remained frozen. It felt like watching a carefully stacked tower he had spent a year building crumble before his eyes.

He came within five minutes… That’s either wiretapping or surveillance.

His father’s affection for him had always been intense. Though a bit old-fashioned and hot-tempered, his love and obsession for the son he had so late in life, after having two daughters, were overwhelming. Wiretapping? Surveillance? Totally plausible.

That bastard Kim must be getting chewed out right now…

His father had somehow managed to hold back for a year. Sure, Kim had always been a jerk and assigned him unfair tasks, but today was the first time he had made such blatantly inappropriate comments. If his father had heard that, he would have definitely lost his temper.

“Haaaah…”

Another deep sigh escaped him. After Kim returned, would it be his turn to get called in next…? Would he be fired before he even got to the CEO’s office…?

This is hopeless. Maybe working at my father’s company was a mistake.

Yuyeong buried his face in his hands and sighed.

…….

After returning to the office, the deputy manager, with a gloomy expression, grabbed the manager and started venting.

“Hey, Manager Yoo. Listen to this. Do I really treat my subordinates that poorly? Come on, give me a break! I’m basically an angel at this point, you know? Back in my day, people couldn’t even get close to having an honest conversation! Of course, I’d make coffee for everyone first thing in the morning without anyone asking, and I’d get things ready for meetings and do all the copying tasks too!”

“Yeah.”

“Seriously, the problem with these younger folks today is that they lack perseverance! What did I do to them? Back in my day…”

Manager Yoo responded indifferently while clicking the mouse on his desktop, not really paying attention. The deputy manager continued to rant, repeating the same thing over and over, occasionally glaring at Yu-young. But even though he was obviously upset, he didn’t say anything directly.

It got to the point where the constant glares made Yu-young’s face feel as though it were burning. Anyone overhearing would think Yu-young was constantly being berated by the department head.

Yu-young, however, quietly sighed to himself, rubbing his face, realizing that the deputy manager still hadn’t figured it out. Keeping a subordinate tied up like this for his complaints was essentially just bullying.

The only consolation for Yu-young was that his true identity hadn’t been revealed yet. If they knew he was the boss’s son, the situation would be entirely different—probably with the deputy manager acting all submissive, or worse, like a broken robot. But that was not the atmosphere he wanted at all. What he wanted was just to have a normal work life.

The day passed under this tense atmosphere. As expected, the deputy manager left around 5:52, claiming a headache, and after that, Yu-young continued working like a robot. He didn’t leave his desk until 8 p.m., stretching his stiff neck and shoulders after sitting tense for so long.

He had to prepare a comprehensive report for the new team leader arriving next week, detailing the results and current status of last year’s and this year’s first quarter. Thankfully, Yu-young had finished everything he could handle, and now all that was left was for the deputy manager to read it and report to the team leader.

Dammit, this was originally the deputy manager’s job, Yu-young muttered inwardly, and then knocked on the still-lit door of the manager’s office.

“Ah, Assistant Han. You’re still here?”

“Yes… Manager, may I take some time off?”

Looking over his glasses, the manager silently nodded.

“Sure. Take a good rest.”

“Thank you.”

“Just make sure it doesn’t happen again next time. If you do it again, I won’t let it slide.”

Although there were no further explanations, the manager’s words carried weight. Yoo paused for a moment before bowing deeply.

“I’m sorry. I will make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“Yeah. I know how hard you work, so I’m letting it go this time.”

“…Thank you.”

“Alright, now go ahead and head home.”