TSG 58

After the meal, Se-hyun intended to head back to the office, leaving Shin Tae-oh if he wanted to go somewhere else. He knew Shin Tae-oh would likely follow, but figured he’d just go back in if he wasn’t feeling well, so he left him alone.

However, Se-hyun felt more concerned about the current of attention trailing behind me than Shin Tae-oh following. The strange feeling prompted Se-hyun to look around. It was the office he went to every day, yet something seemed off. Why did it feel like people’s gazes were on him rather than Shin Tae-oh?

Just as Se-hyun was about to turn his body to look at the passersby next to him, Shin Tae-oh grabbed his shoulder.

“Don’t look around.”

They rode the elevator with Shin Tae-oh still holding onto Se-hyun’s shoulder. It was definitely different from usual. Originally, most people looked at Shin Tae-oh because he was the CEO of the company. Se-hyun used to follow him and look around, but this time, the attention seemed to be on him.

What could be the reason?

“Sir.”

The moment the elevator door opened, Lee Jin-ho hurriedly approached. He felt his gaze land on Shin Tae-oh and then quickly pass by him.

Lee Jin-ho seemed to know something too. And…

“I’m feeling better, so that’s why I came in. Don’t ask.”

Shin Tae-oh preemptively shut down Jin-ho’s inquiries, indicating he also knew something.

“I see. You recovered quite quickly.”

Seeing Jin-ho’s awkward nod, Shin Tae-oh nudged Se-hyun’s back.

“You should get to work.”

It was unlike Shin Tae-oh to make such a comment sending him off, but Se-hyun just nodded obediently.

“Understood.”

Se-hyun noticed that Shin Tae-oh wanted to be alone with Lee Jin-ho, so he obediently retreated. As he turned around, he vaguely heard the two of them having a conversation.

‘Where should I try to find out?’

It wasn’t in Shin Tae-oh’s nature to just drop it if he wasn’t saying anything.

‘Then I can’t stay by Shin Tae-oh’s side.’

If he was kept in the dark, it would be hard to gauge where any issues might arise. Rationalizing it that way, Se-hyun sought out…

‘The person most likely to know what’s going on.’

⍣⍣⍣

Of course, it was Yoo Jin-ha. Since the incident seemed to revolve around him, Se-hyun didn’t have to think too hard about seeking him out.

He had delivered Yoo Jin-ha’s gift previously, so there was a thought that if he spoke carefully, Yoo Jin-ha might disclose what was going on.

“Assistant Manager Yoo Jin-ha.”

Spotting Yoo Jin-ha coming out into the hallway, Se-hyun waved in recognition. Having people’s gazes constantly follow him wherever he went, it was almost refreshing that Yoo Jin-ha was the only one who didn’t seem to notice him.

Hearing Se-hyun’s voice, Yoo Jin-ha glanced over before visibly startled and looked around. Taking the opportunity to meet his eyes, Se-hyun raised his hand in a friendly greeting, but Yoo Jin-ha swiftly approached and abruptly grabbed his wrist.

That wasn’t the hand he’d held, so why…?

“Come with me.”

Pulled along forcefully by Yoo Jin-ha despite his smaller stature, Se-hyun couldn’t hide his bewilderment as he was led away. Yoo Jin-ha’s strength felt overwhelmingly disproportionate.

Their destination was the emergency stairwell.

After peering down to confirm no one else was there, prompting Se-hyun to scan their surroundings as well, Yoo Jin-ha spoke.

“Secretary Ahn, I didn’t see you this morning so I thought you weren’t coming, but you’re here?”

“Yes, I accompanied the CEO on an external appointment and just returned.”

He couldn’t bring himself to admit they’d just gone to eat, so he skirted around it citing the policy against disclosing the boss’s activities externally.

“Then did you hear about the post that went up last night?”

“A post?”

“Yes, there was a post about Secretary Ahn on the anonymous board…”

Yoo Jin-ha kept glancing at Se-hyun as if he was hesitating when he was about to say something.

“No, this doesn’t make sense. No matter how anonymous it is, for an employee to post about their CEO is strange, but that happened. And it was taken down within ten minutes, yet everyone at the company is gossiping about it now…”

Yoo Jin-ha didn’t even say what it was about yet, but Se-hyun could already picture it.
Anonymous posts sometimes included naming names and making inappropriate comments. They could be harmless everyday stories or unveil hidden tales from within the company. Se-hyun kept alerts set to browse the anonymous board regularly.

“You mean about the CEO and me?”

“… Yes.”

Rather than ask what the post said, Se-hyun asked who it was referring to, and Yoo Jin-ha readily nodded in confirmation. Se-hyun fell into thought for a moment before looking up.

“Thank you.”

“You’re leaving? I haven’t even told you everything yet.”

“I think I need to hear the details from the CEO.”

Thanking Yoo Jin-ha, Se-hyun excused himself and exited through the emergency door. Yoo Jin-ha reached out but only managed to extend his hand as he slipped away.

“No, but…”

The story wasn’t over yet.

⍣⍣⍣

Shin Tae-oh received a verbal report from Lee Jin-ho about a post that had been posted on an anonymous bulletin board while Se-hyun was gone.

After Lee Jin-ho talked about the information he had learned so far and the overall atmosphere of the company, Shin Tae-oh showed a complicated expression.

“You came to the company too quickly.”

“Don’t you think the Chief Secretary’s inability to handle this properly reflects poorly on his capabilities?”

“You said you were going to grab a meal and visit a cafe.”

“I missed my chance.”

Shin Tae-oh could not hide his disappointment in response to Lee Jin-ho’s resentment. Lee Jin-ho’s plan to organize the situation and Shin Tae-oh to spend time outside with Se-hyun failed. They were going to have coffee and talk about their vision for the future together, but Se-hyun said he had to go to work.

“I didn’t expect him to be so dedicated to his work.”

“Earlier you acted like his feelings for you would make anything possible…”

Lee Jin-ho muttered his dissatisfaction. If Shin Tae-oh hadn’t risked his work ability in the first place, he wouldn’t have said this.

“His feelings for me are clear.”

“What makes you so confident about that?”

“Because he couldn’t turn away from me.”

Yesterday, his wish to see Se-hyun came true. This was the first time the world did not betray Shin Tae-oh. Se-hyun, who appeared like that, ignored his words and entered anyway.

Looking at things like that, it appeared that Se-hyun only listened to what the boss said when he wanted to. Isn’t this something different from loyalty?

“In any case, this can’t continue. Ahn Even Secretary Ahn has realized something is amiss.”

As Shin Tae-oh crossed his arms making that statement, Lee Jin-ho pressed his lips tightly and turned his head away. It was uncharacteristic of Lee Jin-ho who normally had no trouble speaking his mind to Shin Tae-oh’s face. Just as Shin Tae-oh furrowed his brow to call out to him, a voice interrupted.

“What is it?”

“…”

Shin Tae-oh uncrossed his arms and turned around at the sound of Se-hyun’s voice. The frowning expression Shin Tae-oh had upon seeing Lee Jin-ho disappeared without a trace and a smile appeared on his face.

“What?”

Se-hyun stared at Shin Tae-oh’s naturally virtuous expression. Did he really think Se-hyun would just look at that smiling face and move on?

“If you keep holding on, I’ll go ask someone else.”

There were many people who he could ask these questions right away. There’s Chief Secretary Lee Jin-ho not far away, and there were a lot of people in the secretary’s office. Or he could go back to Yoo Jin-ha.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“I’ll decide that.”

At Se-hyun’s urging, Shin Tae-oh closed his mouth and subtly leaned his upper body.

“There was a post saying you and I have that kind of relationship.”

“Is there anything else?”

When Se-hyun asked calmly without any signs of surprise, Shin Tae-oh looked even more awkward and held out his cell phone.

It seemed like he felt he couldn’t hide it anymore. Se-hyun took the cell phone from him and saw that it was a captured photo of the bulletin board.

While Se-hyun was looking at his cell phone, Shin Tae-oh secretly gestured to Lee Jin-ho. As Lee Jin-ho took a step back he was told to hurry up and take care of it.

“I’ll solve everything.”

Shin Tae-oh tried to talk to Se-hyun in an attempt to help Lee Jin-ho escape, but it backfired.

“This isn’t something to delegate to someone else; it’s something we should handle together.”

Se-hyun focused his gaze on Lee Jin-ho. Under silent pressure not to go, Lee Jin-ho came to Shin Tae-oh’s side.

After trapping them both with his stare, Se-hyun looked at the phone again. As an employee, the IP information would be logged. While he could likely trace it by digging, Se-hyun’s thoughts weren’t solely fixed on the culprit.

‘Why did this happen to me?’

He saw exactly this kind of incident in the original work. Someone posted a post questioning the relationship between Yoo Jin-ha and Shin Tae-oh, thereby fueling the rumor inside the company.

That alone wasn’t worth investigating. Whether it was an office romance or not, it could have been ignored. Yoo Jin-ha wouldn’t suffer any consequences from the rumors spreading.

But the instigator behind this wasn’t stopping there. Knowing this, Se-hyun let out a frustrated sigh without reservation.

“We’ll have to investigate what happened. I’ve already extracted the IP, so…”

“I’ll handle it.”

Se-hyun cut off Shin Tae-oh’s words and raised his hand.

“Secretary Ahn, you will handle it?”

“Yes. I have an idea of what’s going on.”

Se-hyun forwarded the screenshot to his own phone, then handed Shin Tae-oh’s back. Shin Tae-oh instinctively held out his hand, allowing Se-hyun to place the phone in his palm before turning away.

“Wait a minute, Secretary Ahn.”

Shin Tae-oh, who decided that he couldn’t just let him go, quickly grabbed Se-hyun’s arm.

“Can I really leave it to Secretary Ahn?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about me?”

Shin Tae-oh pointed at himself with his other hand.

“This involves both of us, so why are you trying to do it alone, Secretary Ahn?”

This is exactly why I want to handle it alone.

That ‘us’ sound…

Even though the only one watching was someone from the secretary’s office, Shin Tae-oh’s blatant lack of discretion only lends more credibility to the rumor.

“I have an idea of what’s going on.”

Se-hyun gently pushed Shin Tae-oh’s hand away.

“Could you please wait for a moment?”

“What should I do then?”

Se-hyun suppressed the lump rising in his throat at Shin Tae-oh’s plaintive questioning.

“Get some sleep.”

Go to sleep, your eyes look tired.