TSG 119

Thunk.

Thwack!

The sound of Shin Tae-oh’s dart hitting the board was quickly followed by the sharp thunk of another dart missing and lodging into the wooden panel off-target. Each miss seemed to cool the spark in Se-hyun’s eyes a little more.

Shin Tae-oh quickly calculated the simple equations. Shin Tae-oh knew the answers, but every dart he threw was a complete miss.

“I thought you said it’s been a while since you played darts.”

“That’s why I’m like this. If I played darts every day, I’d be good, right?”

Well, he had a point.

It was a somewhat reasonable statement. Se-hyun had done well with a basketball he hadn’t touched in a long time, but usually Shin Tae-oh would be right.

“Failed.”

Se-hyun, tasting failure in the first mission Shin Tae-oh had stepped up for, patted his shoulder as if to comfort him.

“It’s okay. It’s just a game.”

It wouldn’t be fun if he was good at everything.

With that thought, Se-hyun consoled Shin Tae-oh and added:

“I’ll do the next one.”

The subtle implication wasn’t lost—his faith in Shin Tae-oh’s skills had taken a slight hit. If Se-hyun wanted results, it seemed he’d have to handle things himself. Tae-oh pressed his lips together in silent frustration.

They’d only completed three missions, yet chatting openly with Shin Tae-oh in front of company employees didn’t feel awkward to Se-hyun anymore. Even though it wasn’t work-related.

“Se-hyun, are you planning to collect the next stamp?”

“I’ll give it a try. By the way, what’s your 100-meter time, Sir?”

Caught off guard by Se-hyun’s sudden question, Shin Tae-oh paused to think before answering offhandedly,

“Twelve seconds?”

That’s quite a good record.

“Then, shall we do that together?”

Se-hyun pointed to a mission that was the first to be done as a team.

Shin Tae-oh’s eyes followed Se-hyun’s finger and read what he saw.

“Team shuttle run?”

“Yes.”

Two people run back and forth. Press the buzzer at each end and run to the opposite side, and the other person does the same.

The faster the better, and it’s even better if you match well with your partner.

Shin Tae-oh’s gaze, after confirming the rules he already knew, shone with a different meaning than Se-hyun’s. Meanwhile, Se-hyun had gone ahead to complete the registration and returned. Shin Tae-oh’s eyes were filled with Se-hyun’s body movements, which looked noticeably lighter than before.

Se-hyun stood at the starting line, rotating his ankles while waiting for Tae-oh to be ready.

“I’m ready.”

“Then we’ll start.”

The staff member pressed the start button as people gathered to watch Shin Tae-oh and Se-hyun. With a beep, the team shuttle run began.

***

Se-hyun was not a competitive person.

No, if anything, he leaned toward the competitive side but found reacting to every challenge too exhausting. It was easier to suppress his competitive nature altogether.

He had lived well like that until now, but today each mission began to stimulate the competitiveness Se-hyun had been suppressing. It seemed to be opening its mouth wide, daring him to try and devour every challenge.

‘This is fun.’

Sprinting at full speed, pressing the buzzer, and changing direction – repeating this process made Se-hyun’s muscles swell tightly with tension.

He was completely immersed in the task, thinking only of pressing the buzzer within the time limit. Normally praised for his wide field of vision, Se-hyun’s focus was now razor-sharp, excluding everything else.

“I wonder if the rumors about Secretary Ahn and the CEO are true?”

Deputy Manager Lee Seung-hee from Planning Team 2 muttered as she watched. Her closest friend, Assistant Manager Park Eun-jung, gave her a doubtful look.

“It seems so. The way the CEO looks at Secretary Ahn is not normal.”

“You see it too, right? Earlier I thought they were just close because they work together. It feels different.”

She watched the two men running quickly. They had handsome faces that didn’t crumble even against air resistance, and their speed was considerable.

It was a skill level that could have earned them a scout or two if they had caught the eye of an athletics coach when they were young.

Seeing Se-hyun run well made him stand out even more compared to the CEO. Unlike Secretary Ahn who was running like mad to press the buzzer, CEO Shin Tae-oh’s eyes never left Secretary Ahn. When Secretary Ahn brushed past him, he not only deliberately avoided him but also reached out his hand to catch him when he slightly staggered.

Was that how people usually run?

“The way he looks at him with such tender eyes, as if worried he might fall, is too strange.”

“I agree.”

The two women firmly concluded that there must be something between them.

A man standing next to them, watching Shin Tae-oh, nodded his head.

‘It’s all made with his lover in mind.’

It was Yoo Jin-ha. Jin-ha, who had been drafted for this IC event, looked into Shin Tae-oh’s transparent inner thoughts.

“Se-hyun used to play basketball in the past.”

“Se-hyun likes these kinds of games. He quickly figures out most things.”

“Shuttle run? What if Se-hyun falls while doing this? Ah, I could catch him.”

The conversations shared only among Shin Tae-oh, Yoo Jin-ha, and Assistant Lee were all about Ahn Se-hyun. Yoo Jin-ha wondered if he should reveal to the rest of the office that this whole event had been blown up just so Shin Tae-oh could have fun with his lover.

Yoo Jin-ha felt that urge for a moment but chose to keep his mouth shut. Although it was planned for a lover, everyone in the company was enjoying it as a result.

Se-hyun was also enjoying it with a very serious face, so hadn’t Shin Tae-oh achieved about 80 percent of what he wanted?

The remaining 20 percent…

‘Expressing affection disguised as coincidence and naturally revealing that they’re dating.’

That seems both easy and difficult.

“Secretary Ahn, I…”

“Run!”

When they nearly collided, Shin Tae-oh instinctively opened his arms to catch him, but Se-hyun brushed him off without hesitation. It seemed Shin Tae-oh wouldn’t get a chance to lay a hand on Se-hyun until the race was over.

“Seeing how he just pushed the CEO away, maybe they’re not dating?”

“Secretary Ahn seems to have quite a competitive streak.”

The two women were clearly confused, unable to come to a definitive conclusion.

***

The number of teams participating in missions gradually decreased. Since they could receive raffle tickets based on the number of stamps, not many teams challenged all the way to the end.

Instead, they enjoyed snacks and drinks at separately prepared booths, and some spent leisurely time in the media art installation.

Shin Tae-oh looked at Se-hyun while flapping his sweat-soaked front. He was amazed anew at Se-hyun, who looked no different from usual except for a slightly flushed face, despite having run much more than himself.

“Shall we have coffee too?”

They hadn’t had a sip of water for three hours while doing missions. So Shin Tae-oh tempted Se-hyun with the suggestion of an iced Americano, but the response was completely different from what he expected.

“Can we retry?”

Se-hyun kept looking at the darts, seemingly regretful about Shin Tae-oh’s failure. Thanks to this, Shin Tae-oh couldn’t mention the Americano again and just nodded.

“Probably.”

They hadn’t particularly considered the case of retries, but it did not matter. Since there was no precedent for the first event, everything was being created as they went along.

“Hmm… never mind. Let’s just do the last remaining one. Curling, is it?”

Instead of retrying, Se-hyun looked at the team curling.

The rules were simple: one person sits in a basin while the other pushes. Teams could compete directly or aim to land within a target zone if there was no opponent.

“Let’s go.”

Without showing a hint of fatigue, Se-hyun briskly made his way toward the curling area. Tae-oh chuckled when he noticed the back of Se-hyun’s hair damp with sweat, despite his composed demeanor.

It was clear that there was something Shin Tae-oh had hoped to achieve from today’s event. But at this point, he no longer cared.

Because Ahn Se-hyun was enjoying it.

Shin Tae-oh could see his eyes sparkling with fun even if he wasn’t smiling broadly.

So today, just seeing his happy face would be enough…

“What are you doing?”

Se-hyun, who had gone far ahead, suddenly returned and looked up at Shin Tae-oh.

“We need to do that as a team, so we should go together.”

“Oh, right.”

Shin Tae-oh couldn’t hide his surprise. The reason was… not only had Se-hyun come back, but he was also holding his hand.

As they started walking again, hand in hand, Shin Tae-oh was too preoccupied to shake off the gazes that began to stick to the two of them.

It was different from when he had put his arm around Se-hyun’s shoulders earlier.

“By the way, it might be good to do this as couples for the second event.”

“Huh?”

While Shin Tae-oh belatedly tried to interpret Se-hyun’s words, a kind explanation followed.

“It’d still be fun as a team event, but I think it would be more fun if couples like us challenged it.”

Se-hyun didn’t lower his voice, seemingly unaware or uncaring that others could hear.

“It could be a unique date idea for office couples.”

At Se-hyun’s decisive words, Shin Tae-oh stopped in his tracks.

“Does this feel like a date to you?”

Shin Tae-oh asked, looking at Se-hyun with a half-dazed expression.

Se-hyun, who had been looking elsewhere, turned back to meet Shin Tae-oh’s gaze.

“Um… yes.”

At his answer, Shin Tae-oh broke into a bright smile.