TPG 10
by Cherry“You must keep your promise.”
General Manager Yoo tapped the stair railing with her fingertips while waiting for the executive director’s answer. As the executive director’s silence, which she thought would be answered immediately, lengthened, anxiety was rising.
— Prepare to transfer to headquarters.
“Thank you.”
General Manager Yoo hung up the phone and turned around while composing her joyful feelings. Then she felt someone else’s presence and hurriedly turned her head.
“General Manager Yoo.”
The low, soft voice made her tense as if an invisible hand was gripping her heart tightly.
“Secretary Lee.”
General Manager Yoo called Lee Si-woo and swallowed dryly.
“What’s the matter?”
General Manager Yoo pressed her lips tightly to hide her parched tongue.
“I got a call and came out to take it briefly.”
At his words while showing his phone, General Manager Yoo forced her trembling lips to curl up.
“Take your call here. I’ll go in first.”
“Yes. Oh, excuse me…”
He seemed to have something more to say and stopped her. General Manager Yoo was so nervous that she felt like her heartbeat could be heard, but she forced herself to appear calm.
“What is it?”
“It seems like you’re getting a call. I’ll step aside. Please continue your conversation.”
When he pointed to General Manager Yoo’s phone, she instinctively hid the screen behind her. She was holding the phone but hadn’t even noticed it was vibrating. Worried about arousing suspicion by showing her panic, she casually put it to her ear.
He left the emergency stairwell quietly to avoid disturbing General Manager Yoo. General Manager Yoo’s gaze wavered as she looked at the closed door.
Nothing had happened. She had simply encountered Lee Si-woo.
Having comforted herself this way, General Manager Yoo faced her anxious emotions as soon as she returned to the office.
“What’s this about, General Manager Yoo?”
Due to Han Soo-hyeok’s question as he stood at Lee Si-woo’s seat.
***
The suspicion began with ordinary conversation.
As he was checking his phone’s vibration, Han Soo-hyeok approached and said:
“Tell General Manager Yoo to come in. And come with her when she briefs today’s schedule.”
At his clean instruction, as if he had completely forgotten this morning’s events, he put down his phone and nodded.
“I understand.”
While looking for where General Manager Yoo was, he noticed Han Soo-hyeok’s gaze was on his phone.
“I’m sorry. I’ll put it away.”
“It doesn’t matter. Rather, you should keep holding it.”
“Yes.”
As he was answering that he would, he suddenly remembered what happened with General Manager Yoo yesterday.
“Why?”
“It’s… nothing.”
He shook his head and stepped back at Han Soo-hyeok’s question. He thought yesterday’s incident of General Manager Yoo finding his phone wasn’t worth mentioning.
However, his thoughts changed when he accidentally overheard her phone conversation while looking for General Manager Yoo.
He made an excuse to her when she discovered him, saying he had come out to make a call, then went to find Han Soo-hyeok. And he told him about yesterday’s incident.
Han Soo-hyeok coldly turned his gaze to stare at his computer monitor. The security team he contacted came up, and General Manager Yoo appeared afterward.
The moment she walked into the office, the hands tapping the monitor stopped, and the secretaries all held their breath. Some stopped typing and glanced at each other, while others turned their heads away from General Manager Yoo. Clearly feeling the atmosphere, General Manager Yoo was momentarily flustered, then composed her expression and said:
“What’s the matter?”
“I’ll ask the questions first. There was an unauthorized transmission without my permission. What is it?”
At Han Soo-hyeok’s words, the heavy silence pressing down on the secretarial office was entirely directed at General Manager Yoo. General Manager Yoo bit her lips slightly and lowered her head a bit.
“I’ll check on it.”
She said she would take responsibility and look into it since it happened within the secretarial office. Even with her evasion acting like she knew nothing, Han Soo-hyeok’s eyes didn’t waver an inch.
“Come in.”
When Han Soo-hyeok moved toward the CEO’s office, General Manager Yoo slightly raised her head to look at him, then followed with heavy steps.
As she passed by him, her tightly clenched jaw stood out. General Manager Yoo’s face showed a mixture of regret and fear.
When they closed the door and went in, the office became even quieter. Only the monitor lights on the desks flickered, and no one could speak first.
As the chaotic tension subsided, the secretaries slowly caught their breath and began typing again. However, subtle tension still remained at their fingertips.
He sighed and turned back to his seat. Even while looking at the monitor, his gaze kept going toward the CEO’s office door. He couldn’t hear the two people’s voices at all, but he could feel the heavy atmosphere hanging in the room.
Han Soo-hyeok seemed to be slowly regulating his breathing with his arms crossed inside the CEO’s office. Meanwhile, General Manager Yoo stood near the door, then quickly bobbed her head and opened her mouth as if trying to argue something. But Han Soo-hyeok firmly shook his head once and decisively blocked her with a gesture. General Manager Yoo’s shoulders shook, and she lowered her eyes.
As if all eyes in the room were focused on the CEO’s office door, silence flowed through the secretarial office. General Manager Yoo was silent for a few seconds, then lowered her head as if accepting everything.
General Manager Yoo briefly bowed to Han Soo-hyeok and left the CEO’s office. Her shoulders were drooped with resignation, and fatigue and resentment lingered around her eyes.
Afterward, all of Han Soo-hyeok’s schedules were canceled. In the chaotic atmosphere, he had nothing to do among the busy secretarial staff adjusting schedules. There wasn’t much a new secretary who had just arrived yesterday could handle. Especially in sudden situations like this, everyone was busy just handling their own tasks.
He watched the people moving busily and stood up from his seat.
***
A little later, Secretary Kim sighed and sank into her chair. A secretary next to her spoke to her.
“Looks like overtime is confirmed for today?”
“Probably.”
Secretary Kim rubbed her tense, stiff shoulders while checking the schedule calendar. Then, as if discovering something, she tapped Secretary Han’s arm.
“Did Secretary Han organize this?”
Secretary Han looked at what she was referring to and chuckled.
“Where would I have time to organize that? I’m busy enough rescheduling everything.”
“But this is…”
When schedules needed major adjustments like this time, each person would tacitly take on one task to handle. They would organize everything at once afterward, something possible because they had worked together for so long.
However, they were creating schedules considering cases where postponed appointments might overlap. But information was being updated in real time. Thanks to this, Secretary Kim raised her head when she realized that the meeting she had rescheduled didn’t conflict with other appointments. Someone was diligently moving around among the secretarial staff.
“Mr. Si-woo, could you check if next Wednesday at 3 PM is free?”
“I understand.”
He made a note on his phone and quickly returned to his seat. Secretary Han rested her chin on her hand and watched him.
“While everyone else couldn’t pay attention, he was asking around and organizing things on his own.”
Secretary Kim, who had been holding the phone for a long time and hadn’t noticed, spoke as if impressed by Secretary Han’s explanation.
“He said he only learned schedule organization yesterday, but he’s quite helpful, isn’t he?”
To move as Han Soo-hyeok’s personal secretary, he needed to understand the schedule first. So they had prioritized teaching him the calendar system, and he was using what he learned to help those around him.
“Look at this. He even got all the confirmation codes for conference room reservations. How is he so capable?”
Secretary Kim checked belatedly. Looking at the change notification window, she saw the schedule he had modified. A secretary assisting secretaries…
“He’ll be worth nurturing.”
She agreed with Secretary Han’s admiration.
***
He came up to the rooftop. The wind passed by, gently stroking his hair, and the clear sky color seeped through his eyelids. It was peaceful.
The traffic accident had all become hazy like fog, feeling like a distant dream from the past. The warmth surrounding him was reality itself. Even so, he wasn’t denying that he had returned to the past. The fact that he had formed a new connection with Han Soo-hyeok and was seeing him daily was proof.
There was one more thing.
The future must have changed.
As Han Soo-hyeok said this morning, he had changed just one thing, and that was the reason he was here now.
“You’ve become the beloved youngest.”
At the low, soft voice, a smile spread across his face before he even opened his eyes.
After the hectic morning schedule ended, the secretarial staff started giving him snacks one by one. He received not only cookies, chocolate, and bread, but also two types of milk. Then they pushed him to go rest on the rooftop. Even though everyone was busier, they took care of him first, allowing him to come up to the rooftop and rest.
“That’s right. I must be quite loved.”
Though his voice contained playfulness, warmth spread inside him.
“It seems like you would have lived well wherever you were thrown, not just the secretarial office.”
He burst into laughter at Han Soo-hyeok’s murmur that he had worried for nothing.
“Have one.”
He pondered between banana and strawberry milk, then offered one. Han Soo-hyeok looked at the chubby banana milk with a serious face. He did take it, but his eyes seemed somewhat troubled.
“Why are you looking at it like that? Do you prefer strawberry?”
It would be fine to switch if so. He liked both anyway.