* * *
Despite the rumors swirling through the company, the TF team was buried in work—handling pre-expo promotions, discussing the furniture display strategy, and checking on production progress.
Everyone was busy with their tasks for the exhibition.
Assistant Manager Oh, who seemed to be walking on eggshells, had a short meeting with Saheon and returned to work harder than ever.
“I’ll head out now!”
“Good work today. See you tomorrow.”
“I’m heading home too.”
After 6 p.m., people started to trickle out.
The marketing manager left first, followed by two designers and then Staff Choi.
“Assistant Manager Gil, not heading out?”
“Just finishing this up. You go ahead, Assistant Manager Oh.”
“Ah, alright. Good job today.”
With Assistant Manager Oh’s awkward smile fading into the distance, the office fell quiet.
Wookyung, now alone, switched from typing up documents to opening the messenger app.
[Me: Director, not heading home?
Saheon: I still have work to finish. You go ahead, Deputy Wookyung.
Me: How about we wait and have dinner together?]
As he sent the message, he glanced toward Saheon.
Busy with calls and typing earlier, Saheon immediately looked up and met his gaze.
“I’ve got some things to deal with today. Sorry, Wookyung.”
“No need to apologize if it’s work. Was that a call from the U.S.?”
He’d heard Saheon speaking English earlier and was curious.
“Yeah, talking to a dealer over there, and tying up a few loose ends.”
For some reason, the rest of those loose ends bothered him more.
Wookyung stared, and Saheon’s face took on a guilty look.
“I’ll explain later.”
“Is it about me?”
He hadn’t even said anything—but Saheon flinched and blurted it out.
That only made him more curious.
Realizing he might’ve said too much, Saheon looked even more troubled.
“A little… but it won’t really affect you.”
‘What could that be?’
Wookyung thought for a second, then nodded.
Whatever it was, if Saheon said he’d explain later, he’d wait.
Just like Gil Woohyun had said—he trusted Saheon wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.
“Okay.”
Grabbing his bag, Wookyung walked over.
He half-sat on the edge of Saheon’s desk, and soon felt an arm wrap around his waist.
As a hand firmly covered his back, he lowered his head.
Their lips met with a soft smooch, and when he stood back up, Saheon looked at him wistfully.
“I’ll get going.”
“Mmh… I wavered for a second. Thought about just wrapping up and going with you.”
“If you can, you should.”
Wookyung replied playfully, mirroring Saheon’s tone shift.
Of course, he didn’t actually think Saheon would leave now.
“Wrap up quickly and message me.”
“I will.”
He replied easily, but his arm around Wookyung’s waist didn’t budge.
On top of that, his other hand gently stroked Wookyung’s thigh.
Still seated on the desk, Wookyung turned his gaze toward the monitor.
The screen was filled with English documents and flashing notifications from incoming messages.
All the chat names were foreign.
‘Doesn’t seem like company business.’
With the booth placement and layout finalized, all that remained was transporting the furniture and setting up.
Not something a division director needed to stay late for.
So maybe this was personal business.
He suddenly remembered Saheon saying he’d explain his “work” to him later.
“So that’s what it was.”
With that conclusion, Wookyung kissed Saheon once more.
Only then did the arms tightly wrapped around him finally let go.
Saheon’s gaze trailed after him as Wookyung smoothed his hand over his own face, still tinged with lingering emotions, and stepped out of the office.
And the moment his Omega disappeared from view, Saheon didn’t hesitate—he called Director Choi.
“Let’s meet for a moment.”
Wookyung found out the reason for Saheon’s recent busyness the very next day.
“Manager Min Kyowon will be receiving a personnel appointment tomorrow.”
“An appointment? Where to?”
“I wanted to send him off to some remote corner of Antartica, to be honest. But apparently, she couldn’t bear to send her only son that far, so we settled on something more reasonable.”
Saheon said he’d had a decisive talk with Director Choi yesterday.
They agreed to send Manager Min to an overseas post, and have all his shares and assets transferred to her.
If needed, Saheon had also promised to publicly support her.
“And she actually accepted that?”
Even a hedgehog won’t harm its own young.
Wookyung knew very well how much Director Choi had always protected Manager Min.
It was part of the reason he never matured.
“She had to, if she wanted to protect what’s hers. And I think she realized it too—that keeping Min Kyowon around wouldn’t change anything. That, in fact, it would only mean there’s no future.”
Hearing that Manager Min was being ousted, Wookyung couldn’t help but feel… somewhat relieved.
“What about Manager Shin?”
“He’s decided to leave at the end of this month.”
Saheon didn’t say more, as if wanting Wookyung to hear the rest from the man himself.
“So it’s come to that, huh.”
Wookyung quietly nodded, then turned to read the company announcement that had popped up on screen.
[Personnel Announcement: We inform you of the following position change and promotion.]
Name: Min Kyowon
Current Position: Planning Department Director
New Position: Head of Indonesian Operations]
At a glance, it looked like a promotion—from manager to department head.
But being sent to Indonesia, a lumber import source, clearly meant he was being sidelined.
Wookyung knew very well—this was something Saheon had done for him.
“The company’s going to be buzzing today.”
His prediction was spot on.
After all, it was the CEO’s own son being shipped off to an overseas branch.
Rumors spread fast, questioning whether Saheon was trying to oust Manager Min to take over the CEO seat.
Naturally, attention turned even more toward Wookyung, already at the center of various rumors.
People even started “accidentally” wandering onto the TF team’s floor—where no one ever had any reason to go.
“Assistant Manager Gil, haven’t you heard anything?”
During the rare occasion the whole team—minus their department head—was returning from lunch together, Assistant Manager Oh finally couldn’t hold it in and asked.
“Heard what?”
Thinking Wookyung was playing dumb, Assistant Manager Oh pouted his lips.
“About Manager Min getting kicked off to Indonesia. Come on, wasn’t that really the department head’s doing?”
“Assistant Manager Oh. If you’re going to talk about stuff we’re not interested in, please do it somewhere else.”
Before Wookyung could even respond, Assistant Manager Pyeon cut in.
She was already annoyed by the disruption all the gossip was causing in the middle of their busy schedules.
“Assistant Manager Pyeon, still, isn’t this something worth paying attention to?”
“Like what?”
“Don’t play dumb. Whether our boss becomes one of the real power players at this company or not—shouldn’t we at least care?”
“I don’t know. That’s their business. What we should be worrying about is getting our project done. Otherwise, that is the real disaster.”
Unmoved by her own argument, Assistant Manager Pyeon marched ahead with the rest of the team.
Assistant Manager Oh gave her a disgruntled look, then turned his attention back to Wookyung.
His eyes said: At least you tell me something.
But Wookyung had nothing more to offer.
Sure, he knew—but it wasn’t something he could just go around sharing.
“Assistant Manager Gil!”
Right then, a voice saved him from the awkward moment.
Manager Shin was approaching at a brisk pace.
“Oh, Chief. Did you eat—?”
“Do you have a moment?”
Before Wookyung could even finish asking, Manager Shin cut in, looking uncharacteristically anxious.
Wookyung guessed it had something to do with Manager Min’s overseas appointment.
“I do.”
He glanced back. The rest of the team was watching with curiosity.
“We’ll head back first. Take your time, talk things over.”
Assistant Manager Pyeon led the team back to the office.
Wookyung gave her a grateful look, then turned to Shin.
“Shall we head to the park?”
“Let’s.”
The two walked straight to the park.
A few people were out for casual strolls, but no familiar faces.
They walked in silence until they reached a bench near the vending machine.
Wookyung bought a barley tea for himself and a coffee mix for Shin.
“Here you go.”
He handed over the coffee.
“Thanks.”
Manager Shin accepted it with a nod.
For a while, they simply sipped their drinks without speaking.
“Sending Min Kyowon to Indonesia… That was Director Choi’s doing, wasn’t it?”
Manager Shin finally broke the silence.
Wookyung knew he wasn’t asking out of curiosity—he just wanted confirmation.
“Tell him thank you.”
That, however, caught Wookyung by surprise.
Manager Shin, who had been staring into his paper cup, turned his head as if he’d sensed Wookyung’s reaction.
“Thanks to him, I was able to end things cleanly with Min Kyowon. And… about his offer—I’m still thinking it over.”
“Offer?”
“Yeah. He asked me to come work at his company.”
“Oh…”
That was something Wookyung hadn’t even considered.
* * *
