NFS 1.4

-7 years later-

“Sales team, have you tested the Australian snack samples? How’s the response?”

The sales team gathered for the meeting each shared their opinions at CEO Lee’s question. The person who was particularly enthusiastic was Manager Park, who joined the company this year as an experienced hire.

“It’s absolutely amazing. We distributed them to several shops, and they say every dog that comes in goes crazy for them. All the shop owners are asking when they’ll be available. CEO, let’s import a container right away.”

CEO Lee said nothing and looked at Seung-ha sitting opposite Manager Park.

“What does Team Leader Joo think?”

“Freeze-dried products do tend to be well-received. But the unit cost is too high, and this company’s products have a shorter shelf life compared to other snacks. Let’s just air freight a small amount first and reveal it at next month’s pet show.”

CEO Lee nodded.

“Right, let’s import just a few boxes by plane to match the pet show timing.”

Manager Park wasn’t happy with CEO Lee’s decision. In her mid-40s, she had established a solid position within five years of entering the red ocean pet market. The reason she had transferred to this company was because CEO Lee had secured a contract with a famous foreign pet food brand that no one else could import.

After becoming known in the industry for that one thing, she had gone on to discover hit products one after another. She had joined this company seeing its potential for future growth, but there was an obstacle. It was that young team leader. That kid hadn’t even gone to university, but he’d gotten lucky and received the team leader title just because he’d been working there since the company was established.

Manager Park never dreamed she’d have to take orders from someone 10 years younger than her, calling him “Team Leader.” At first, she suspected he might have seduced the CEO with his pretty face. But that wasn’t it. Absolutely not. Because on his first day, he had openly said while introducing himself,

‘Oh, and I’m gay.’

“Team Leader Joo, I heard you collected the overdue payment from the Myeongdong shop? How did you manage it? Their owner had been avoiding it for over half a year, everyone else failed.”

“I just went there and waited, and they paid.”

“Did the owner fall for Team Leader Joo?”

CEO Lee joked with a smile. She looked at Team Leader Joo adoringly for resolving the long-standing debt. Manager Park, feeling irritated, added a comment.

“I heard that shop owner is gay too?”

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward as everyone looked at Manager Park. Manager Park internally realized she’d made a mistake, but she disliked apologizing even more. She smiled at Seung-ha, pretending to be casual.

“I heard Team Leader Joo is single. It would be nice if you dated, right?”

“The Myeongdong shop owner has someone he’s going to marry. And I find it unpleasant that my dating life is being discussed in a meeting.”

Though Manager Park’s face grew hot, she couldn’t express her anger openly with everyone staring at her. Moreover, the CEO took his side again.

“Manager Park, I’m curious about Team Leader Joo’s love life too, but I hold back. Don’t ask about such things during meetings.”

This time Seung-ha looked at CEO Lee with an incredulous expression, but she announced the meeting was over and stood up. Then, as if remembering something, she asked Seung-ha,

“You’re upgrading the shelter’s food grade? Take our cold-pressed food.”

“That’s too high-end and expensive.”

“Then mix it in.”

“No way. The dogs will just pick out the tasty bits.”

The two left the meeting room discussing the shelter where Seung-ha volunteered every weekend. As Manager Park watched them with disapproving eyes, another employee offered consoling words with a smile.

“Team Leader Joo can be a bit direct sometimes. But he’s good at his job and a nice person.”

“No, how much older am I than him? If he openly says he’s uncomfortable, what does that make me?”

As Manager Park grumbled while leaving, one of those remaining gave an answer,

“What does it make you? Just an old-fashioned person who’s only grown older.”

Excluding his military service time, the shelter that Seung-ha visited every weekend for five years without missing once had undergone many changes. When the elderly woman who had run the shelter alone in poor conditions passed away, one regular volunteer stepped up to gather official members and establish a non-profit corporation.

Though members gathered and operations somehow continued, there was still a long way to go. Fortunately, many volunteer groups came on weekends, lightening the workload. One Saturday, because of a company dinner the night before, Seung-ha hadn’t checked who would be volunteering that day. So when one of them recognized him, he didn’t know who it was at first.

“Didn’t you attend W University? Computer Science department?”

When his dropped-out school’s name came up, Seung-ha properly looked at him. He seemed familiar. The name vaguely came to mind. No, what came to mind first was someone who had been close to him. Seo Ahn-jae.

“Hello. You’re Gi-ho sunbae, right?”

“That’s right, wow, it is you. What was your name again?”

“Joo Seung-ha.”

Right, right. He kept examining Seung-ha with curiosity while nodding.

“Everyone was surprised when you quit school back then. Especially him…”

Gi-ho stopped as if he was about to say something and carefully asked Seung-ha.

“Were you close with Ahn-jae by any chance?”

“No.”

“Ah…”

“Thank you for coming. You can order lunch, but there aren’t many delivery places around. If you drove, you can go out to eat and come back.”

Though Seung-ha quickly explained and turned around, Gi-ho held him back.

“Ah, wait. What are you doing these days? If you’re a regular volunteer here, do you come every weekend?”

“Sunbae, it’s nice to see you after so long. But we’re not close enough for me to share my personal life, are we?”

“Huh? Hey, why are you talking like…”

“Thank you for coming. Please volunteer diligently.”

Seung-ha turned away from the dumbfounded Gi-ho. Then he went to another volunteer and heard the name of the company that came today.

“Million. They’re from that famous gaming company. I heard they’re even more successful now as a game portal, raking in money worldwide. That team leader was bragging about the company a lot.”

The person she pointed to was Gi-ho, who was half-heartedly pulling weeds in the distance. Damn it. Seung-ha cursed internally. Million was Seo Ahn-jae’s company.

“You know their CEO too, right? He’s so handsome and cool. It would be nice if he came to volunteer too.”

That will never happen. Seung-ha replied internally and went somewhere where Gi-ho couldn’t be seen. Right, they probably won’t meet again.

Gi-ho always wished he could turn back time to 7 years ago. Why did I do that then? What on earth was I thinking? He hadn’t gone a day without regret these past few years. Seven years ago, his foolish self had fought with Ahn-jae, who was then both friend and CEO, and quit before the game was released.

At the time, he’d felt like saying “Let’s see how well you do without me, no matter how great you think you are,” but Ahn-jae had done extremely well. His company was so successful it had broken through to space. He’d heard that Million’s startup members who worked together then had become wealthy and were now traveling around the world.

Of course, their wealth was nothing compared to Ahn-jae’s success and fortune as CEO, but it still hurt to see those who had been in the same position as him doing so well. However, he didn’t feel envy or jealousy toward Ahn-jae. His friend had grown too big – he felt too intimidated to even make conversation, leaving no room for jealousy.

So at first, he was just grateful that he’d been given a position at the company, albeit belatedly, but after working there for about a year, he felt a bit hurt. They had been quite close friends in college, but now he barely saw Ahn-jae’s face once a month. Even then, it was only during full team meetings that team leaders attended.

A few days after volunteering at the shelter, Gi-ho waited for a chance to talk to Ahn-jae after the meeting. Wanting to exchange even just a few more words, he followed behind as Ahn-jae was leaving. This was the only reason he brought up the junior he’d met there. After rumors spread about that junior quitting school during college, Ahn-jae had strangely become sharp-edged and often got angry. Gi-ho clearly remembered that this was why he’d stopped working with Ahn-jae, unable to handle him then.

“Last week when our department went volunteering at the animal shelter…”

When he stuck close to Ahn-jae, Ahn-jae’s secretary gave him a disapproving look. Ignoring him, Gi-ho asked Ahn-jae, who was heading to the elevator hall, “Guess who I saw?”

Though Ahn-jae was ignoring him, Gi-ho excitedly added as if it was something remarkable, “I saw that person who was famous for being the prettiest in our department in college. Remember? That guy who was so pretty that even the guys said they could have a go with him.”

They hadn’t yet reached the elevator hall when Ahn-jae suddenly stopped and turned around.

“…Joo Seung-ha?”

“Oh, right. Joo Seung-ha. Hey, you even remember his name. I was so surprised when I saw him yesterday. He’s still the same. Hasn’t changed at all.”

The secretary interrupted then, informing Ahn-jae, “CEO, we need to leave now to make it to your meeting on time.”

The secretary always played this role of cutting off unnecessary people, and Ahn-jae would use it as an excuse to shake off bothersome people. But not this time. Ahn-jae raised his hand, signaling the secretary to step back.

“Why was Joo Seung-ha there?”

“He’s a regular volunteer at that shelter. When I asked another volunteer, they said he’s been going there for about 7 years. He’s the only male regular volunteer, so he handles all the physical work. They said the shelter would have closed without him – they’re really grateful. But hey, how has he not changed at all? If anything, he’s gotten even better?”

Excited that Ahn-jae was quietly listening to him, Gi-ho rambled on.

“Before he was just pretty, like a boy, but now he’s got real presence. Were his eyes always that beautiful? Wow, he looked like he was doing a photoshoot even in dirty work clothes.”

“…”

“Oh, and about our team’s project…”

“Contact information?”

“Huh?”

“Give me Joo Seung-ha’s contact information.”

As Ahn-jae took out his smartphone, Gi-ho gave an awkward laugh.

“I just saw him at the shelter, that’s all. We weren’t even close. Oh, but since he regularly volunteers there, if you ask for his contact… Huh? Ahn-jae?”

Though Gi-ho called out, Ahn-jae had turned and quickly walked away. Gi-ho was about to follow but gave up when he saw the secretary blocking the way to Ahn-jae. “Aish, let’s talk for a bit.” He grumbled while heading back to the office, then tilted his head in confusion. Why does he want Joo Seung-ha’s contact information?

Working five days a week and spending every holiday at the shelter, Seung-ha could barely manage this schedule without rest days only because his sales job allowed flexible time use. Except for Mondays and Fridays, he only needed to show his face at the office in the morning and was free otherwise.

He could occasionally nap in his car when tired. However, due to the nature of sales work, calls and messages kept coming from early morning until late at night. Though it was past 8 PM, Seung-ha had just returned to his car after setting up products and talking with a new client. He hadn’t eaten dinner, but fatigue came first.

Just as he was about to recline his seat for a quick nap, his phone rang. Thinking it must be complaints from the demanding owner he’d just met, he sighed, but it was someone else. The representative of the shelter’s non-profit corporation. Though called a representative, it was just a title for the volunteer who contributed the most time and money.

“Hey, Jjang-i noona, what is it?”

Everyone at the shelter used nicknames, and she called Seung-ha by his too.

[Sunny, what should we do?]

Her voice trembled, making Seung-ha quickly sit up straight.

“What’s wrong? Is the landlord telling us to leave?”

Recently, the landlord had raised the land use fee several times. Everyone internally suspected he was trying to terminate the contract. Was he finally telling them to leave? While he was tensing up, Sister Jjang’s words were completely different.

[We received a donation… but the amount is too large. What should we do?]

“How much came in?”

[…100 million won.]

Seung-ha too was shocked speechless.

[Sunny, what do we do? What if it’s dirty money?]

“Don’t you know who sent it?”

[No.]

“Haa. Sister, don’t use it yet since we might have to return it.”

Then Sister Jjang hesitated before asking,

[Then will you return it? Actually, the donor wants to see us. But they said they’re uncomfortable with women and want a male staff member to come.]

Why a man? Seung-ha was dumbfounded. Sister Jjang seemed suspicious of this too and added,

[Surely it’s not some rich old man who fell for your looks and is setting up a trap to seduce you?]

“Noona, please stop reading those weird novels.”

[This won’t do, let’s go together. It’s suspicious that they want to meet right away…]

“They want to meet now?”

“Mm-hmm,” he heard in response. Seung-ha thought for a moment. With that money, they could find a new location for the shelter. Whether it was a rich old man or woman targeting his body, there was no harm in meeting first.

“Where?”