Future Services Team
[Director Han So-eun, Director Kim Tae-joon is calling you; please come up to the office].
Mr. Kim Tae-joon's secretary, Ms. Song Moon-kyung, paged them at the beginning of the morning routine. So-eun's face, which she had been reminded of thanks to her boyfriend, suddenly became cloudy.
Was it the fire yesterday or the alcohol?
"Probably both.
So-eun stood up from her seat with a dejected look in her eyes.
'I've already told you to clean up your act, and now you're going to get kicked out for your behavior yesterday.
"But I'm not fair! I didn't ask you to take my drink, nor did I grab a passerby.
No. Did I grab him?
The sporadic, not entirely clear memories drove her madder, and she feared there was something more to it than that. So-eun barely made it to the seventh-floor office with heavy steps.
The secretary, Ms. Song Moon-kyung, opened the door to the office without giving her a chance to catch her breath.
"Hello, Ms. Lee."
After greeting her, So-eun remained stiff and didn't look up.
Meanwhile, Tae-joon, who had been sitting at his desk, stood up and walked toward So-eun. Slowly. The slow pace of his steps made him even more terrifying. His chest puffs caught her eye. She swallowed dryly as she watched his shirt tauten with his steady breathing. She swallowed hard as she watched his shirt tighten with his quiet breathing.
She wished she could strike first and that he'd just take out the dragon now, but he didn't make a sound as she stepped closer. She slowly raised her head with a trembling heart and was stunned. Even though she had already known he was close, meeting his eyes directly made her feel momentarily suffocated.
He was like a seasoned predator, sitting at the entrance to a cave, watching the wild beast that had entered his territory and wondering when he would prey on it. He wondered when he'd eat him.
The door to his office opened, and Han So-eun entered.
Despite her cheerful voice, she looked helpless.
Tae-joon stood up and walked over to her. Her shoulders slumped with each step.
She didn't lift her head until he was completely close, so he stood still and stared at her. She didn't make a sound, and after a few moments, her head slowly looked up. She looked surprised when their eyes met.
The glasses that had covered half of her face were gone, revealing her gaunt face.
Tae-joon, too, felt as if his stomach had been cleared of its cloudy, stuffy feeling.
His thin face and well-proportioned eyes and nose looked like they were in full bloom.
The glasses were a disguise for his severe nearsightedness, which made his eyes enlarged.
His dark brown eyes sparkled like dew on a fruit in the light. It was almost too tempting to look at it.
There was definitely something about Han So-eun that made people possessive. There was something about her that made me feel possessive, and I thought it was an instinct based on memory, but there was more to it than that: she was small and dainty, her skin was white and smooth, and she made me want to touch her everywhere, to fantasize childishly about how she would react if I did. As I watched, heat gathered in my palm.
I want to have her in the palm of my hand if I can.
After a long moment of silence, he spoke.
"Before we talk about work,"
"......."
"Don't you have anything to say?"
Tae-joon asked teasingly, and So-eun's tightly curled lips fell.
"I'm really sorry about yesterday."
Since he was the first to speak, she apologized quickly.
"Sorry for what?"
"Well, I was drunk, and I said something rude to the director."
"And do you even remember what you said that was rude?"
She hesitated, as if she couldn't bring herself to say she didn't remember, but also as if she couldn't say she remembered everything.
"......Rarely, rarely."
"Rare, rare."
"Yes......."
"Rare, rare; I don't know how to be rude from memory."
"I don't know... but I'm sorry."
"Never mind. Let's move on."
Taejoon decided to play it cool. That wasn't the point.
"You're not wearing glasses."
"Yeah."
"Are you wearing contacts?"
"Yes."
Yesterday I was frustrated by her glasses, and today I was frustrated by her tone. I asked for Han So-eun, but they brought a yes-bot that looks like her. He was much funnier and more human when he was drunk. Tae-joon was bitter, thinking that if he returned the glasses in this state, he would look and sound stuffy.
He thought he should at least give something back, so he moved his arm a little, and the Yesbot spoke to him cautiously.
"Mr...., have you ever seen my glasses?"
Taejoon's lips lengthened slightly.
"I don't know; I don't remember. Are they expensive?"
"Not really; they're precious. My boyfriend gave them to me."
"Weren't you in a fight with your boyfriend?"
So-eun's eyes fluttered as she stared at Tae-joon, as if she could hear her mind saying, "Did I even tell this guy that yesterday?
"...... Yes, we had a brief argument yesterday, but we've made up."
"......."
"Anyway, have you seen my glasses? I think I was wearing them when I left the bar last night, but when I looked for them this morning, they weren't there."
I'm still giving short answers, but now I'm adding a whole bunch of explanations to these questions. What do you want me to do?
"I didn't see it."
Tae-joon pulls his hand back from the desk. The urge to return it vanished.
"I'm sorry for your loss, and I hope you find them."
I was about to say something more about the glasses, about how they didn't match, when he changed the subject.
"And now, I have to talk to you, Ms. Han."
I preface my statement with a look of intense concentration, and So-eun squares her shoulders and takes a deep breath.
"I told you to clean up everything you're doing, remember?"
"Yes. I remember."
Hearing So-eun's answer, Tae-joon immediately reached for the door handle. Tae-joon opened the door with his own hands, and So-eun stepped out without a second thought. After letting So-eun out, Tae-joon followed suit.
Tae-joon's office was at the far end of the hallway on the seventh floor. In front of it was an annex where Song Moon-kyung worked, and next to the annex was an empty room occupied by a support team. Tae-joon opened the door to the empty room.
"Ms. Song?"
Tae-joon called out to his assistant, Moon-kyung Song.
"Yes, Ms. Song, Mr. Director."
"Right here."
"......."
"Make a desk here."
So-eun turned to ice, and Moon blinked and wrinkled her nose.
"And tell HR that I'm going to create a team with So-eun Han as the head of it."
Mungyeong slowly turned his head to look at So-eun. The pretty woman, whose face was pale, looked nothing but hard.
She should be held accountable for causing the fire, but she shouldn't be pushing the new director this hard. She's trying to make an example out of the new director so she doesn't look bad.
Moon asked, rolling his eyes.
"Yes. Okay, so what about team members?"
"Do you need a teammate?"
"Ah, so what about the team name?"
"Does that matter?"
"......."
"I guess we can call it the Future Services Team."
Taejoon's decision made Soeun feel like she'd been hit over the head. They can't even handle the current service, let alone the future service.
"You have until Monday morning, and you don't have to approve it. I'll report to the CEO."
Tae-joon turned to Moon and then to So-eun.
"You heard him, So-eun. You'll report to this position next week."
With that, Tae-joon threw down the gauntlet and walked into his office. So-eun stood in front of him for a long moment, then turned to Mungyeong and bowed. Mungyeong nodded with a pitying expression.
She had read about this kind of bullying in news articles and online communities. It's a despicable way of harassing people by creating a team name that they've never heard of and then making them quit. It was just like the stories I'd read on message boards.
Add in an accident and a drunken rant to top it off, and it's a very possible scenario.
*For example.
"Hey, boss, what did the director say?"
Park Bo-bae, the employee next to me, asked as I returned to my seat with a stunned expression.
"From Monday......."
But there was no time to answer. As soon as Soeun returned to her seat, work hit her.
Yesterday, a woman with a 10-year-old phone came in to pick up her repaired phone.
Soeun handed her the perfectly repaired phone.
"It took me a long time to repair it because it's old, so I had to look for parts, and the battery died during the repair, so I replaced it with a new one. I replaced the battery for free."
"Ouch. Thank you, sir. I'm so grateful."
The woman thanked So-eun and stroked the phone as if it were a pet. Soeun made a mental note to tell the woman.
"But now, if it breaks again, it might be difficult to repair, and the data stored on it might be lost. I recommend that you back up your data frequently and, if possible, replace it with a new phone."
"I don't know how I can replace it; my driver worked so hard to fix it."
"Well, you're going to have to change it at some point, and there are a lot of apps that don't support older versions anymore."
"Anyway, thank you; I'll take care of it. And this."
The woman nodded at Soeun's request and pulled something out of her bag. It was a drink. Soeun waved both hands.
"No, no, no, thank you."
"It's because I'm so grateful. It's not much, but eat it as if it's from me."
Sometimes customers give unexpected gifts like this. Although the company's policy is not to accept anything from customers, it was tacitly accepted, as it would be too humble to refuse such a gift.
So-eun couldn't help but accept the drink and bow her head. It was not the drink, but the customer's heart, that was beautiful. She felt proud that she had healed the customer's heart by fixing the device well.
He also felt like he received encouragement from the customer.
Feeling energized, I started to think differently about my new life.
I thought, "Okay. Maybe they don't necessarily want me to leave. Maybe they'll keep a close eye on me, and if I'm sincere, they'll let me back in.
Wherever you go, work hard. They can't kick out people who work hard.
So Eun decided to accept her fate. She decided not to be too afraid.
"You've survived much worse things, Han.
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