Kim Se-hyun’s Man (4)

Clatter.

Roll, roll…

In the suddenly silenced office, the only sound was that of something rolling across the floor. I glanced around, startled to find that everyone shared the same expression.

I couldn’t fathom why they looked like that. Their faces were pale, as if they had seen something they shouldn’t have. I was also puzzled by their stiff, unceasing gazes that darted back and forth between me and the guest. Wondering if the guest had brought something strange or made a mistake, I turned toward him.

“Ha-neul Hyung.”

The moment I turned, our eyes met. Hearing the soft curve of his eyes, the lift of his lips, and that incredibly affectionate call, a part of my heart began to tickle. Fearing my emotions might leak out, I gave a small reply.

“Yes.”

“I came to drink coffee. Please give me some coffee.”

“Ah! Please wait a moment.”

Come to think of it, I did promise to treat him to coffee while we were texting yesterday. I nodded quickly and headed straight for the water dispenser.

“…Whew.”

Smiling like that with such a handsome face was cheating. After desperately trying to calm my racing heart, I grabbed a coffee cup and walked toward the round table, surveying the office.

“…….”

The team members hadn’t changed at all since I looked a moment ago. If I had to pick one difference, it was that the range of their shifting pupils had grown wider. As I scanned the room again, my eyes met the Deputy Team Leader’s.

The Deputy Team Leader, who had been staring at me silently, blinked rapidly several times before suddenly flinching. That caused me to jump in surprise as well.

“Gasp!”

Of all times, why did my body have to react right as I was stepping forward?

I hurriedly regained my balance, narrowly avoiding a disaster where I would have spilled the coffee, and let out a sigh of relief.

If I had spilled it here, the coffee definitely would have splashed onto the guest. I almost left a stain on such a perfectly dressed man. I clutched the paper cup with both hands to ensure I wouldn’t drop it again and handed it to him.

“Here you go.”

“It seems your stamina is really low, Hyung.”

“Ummm.”

Stumbling didn’t seem to have much to do with stamina, but I didn’t feel like pointing that out. I simply nodded as the guest brought the cup to his lips and spoke.

“I’ll enjoy the drink, Hyung.”

Since instant mix coffee tastes about the same regardless of who makes it, his words were likely just a polite greeting. Even so, it didn’t mean there was no effort involved.

He seemed like a broad-minded person who would say thank you for even the smallest things. It felt unbelievable that I had spent the night exchanging messages with someone like him.

Pretending to touch the bridge of my nose, I covered my lips—which kept trying to curl upward—and watched as he took a sip and nodded with a satisfied face. I nodded along with him.

“Hyung, don’t just stand there. Sit here.”

After taking another sip, he pulled out the chair next to him and patted the seat. I looked at the chair, which was practically touching his, and shook my head.

“I’ve just started my workday. And, well, I have to give you the cooperation fee documents.”

It was tempting—very tempting—However, snapping up the offer felt like it would put too much strain on my heart. And as I told him, I really did have a lot of work. The moment I declined, I saw disappointment cloud the guest’s face.

“…Do they dump all the work on the rookie here?”

“Gasp, no! I only do what’s assigned to me!”

I didn’t expect my words to come across that way while trying to handle the situation. I hurriedly waved my hands to correct the misunderstanding, then looked to the side as a hand draped over my shoulder.

“The chick is probably struggling because of you more than us.”

“…Team Leader?”

It was the Team Leader, who until a moment ago had been looking on with the most horrified expression. Having watched us with wide eyes, he now let out an awkward cough and patted my shoulder, which felt strange.

Has the Team Leader ever been this gentle?

Usually, every time I received a touch from him, my waist would fold and my knees would buckle. I stared silently at the Team Leader, who was patting my shoulder with incredibly weak force, only to realize late that his ears were beet red.

Occasionally, the Team Leader’s ears would flush, but that was usually only when he was angry.

“…….”

If he were angry, he’d be breathing fire by now, but his tone, actions, and expression were all far from anger. Right now, that expression looked more like embarrassment than rage.

My wonder didn’t last long. The moment the Team Leader’s hand gripped my shoulder, a sharp sound of friction drew my attention.

“…Guest?”

The guest, who had been sitting just a second ago, was now standing. The chair he’d been in was sprawled on the floor. I looked back and forth between the guest and the chair, then stood up straight at the sound of a low growl.

“Take your hand off him, will you?”

It wasn’t just the voice; my body reacted instinctively because of that cold, frozen expression.

The way the guest stared at the Team Leader with a face devoid of any emotion was nothing short of predatory. I swallowed hard, but the hand patting my shoulder helped ease my tension bit by bit.

Right, he wasn’t an enemy, so there was no need to be this tense. Or, since the guest belonged to the Association, was he an enemy?

Whatever the case, I didn’t need to be this nervous. I relaxed a bit more.

“Should a money-grubber really be going to the police station for property damage?”

“Your arrogance ends here, beardy. Don’t think your chin-scruff will save you.”

“It would be quite a sight to see you go down for property damage! Wow, wouldn’t it be a scoop if an S-Rank was interrogated for that?”

“There’s a limit to an A-Rank acting up. If it weren’t for that beard, you’d have been in the afterlife long ago.”

“Oh, really! Come to think of it, there are a lot of old-timers grinding their teeth over the website crash recently. If I give them a poke, I bet plenty of people with cameras will show up at the police station!”

“Since you brought it up, shall I send you on a trip with that beard? A trip to the afterlife doesn’t cost a dime. It’s free, but I guarantee it’ll be a fun one.”

“I knew there was a reason you were dressed up like a peacock! You really want to stand at a photo line in front of the police station, don’t you!”

They were both busy snarling at each other as if they were ready to devour one another, each spewing out whatever they wanted to say. I was stuck in the middle, unsure of what to do. Then, I froze at the Team Leader’s next words.

“While we’re going to the station, let’s get you investigated for crashing the Seoul City website, too! It’ll be quite the show when that ridiculous, threatening ‘angel’ talk gets investigated as stalking!”

“…Pardon?”

What was he saying now?

I had no idea why the website crash was being brought up, or why the ‘angel’ story was being mentioned. I let out a sound of confusion involuntarily, and when the Team Leader looked over, I asked again.

“Why are you suddenly talking about the website?”

No matter how much I thought about it, bringing up the website here made no sense. I met the Team Leader’s eyes, seeking an answer. Then, I looked over at the sound of the guest calling me.

“Ha-neul Hyung.”

“Yes, Guest.”

The guest, whose eyes met mine, gave a radiant smile. The grin, more brilliant than ever, was beautiful. I wondered how my heart could race this much even in the midst of such confusion. Curling my fingers to compose my emotions, I waited for his next words.

“There are flowers, too.”

“What?”

“The flower basket and the wreath.”

“…….”

The guest might have known about the website through TV and the news, but the flower basket and the wreath were top secrets known only to the team members.

The guest knew about that?

It was shocking that the guest, of all people, knew. I was so stunned that I couldn’t find the words. As I stood there with my mouth agape, I heard whispering and glanced to the side.

“…He’s actually saying that with his own mouth?”

“Do you think people call Kim Se-hyun a madman for nothing?”

“By the way, our youngest looked like he was in bad shape earlier. Isn’t it because that parasite harassed him all night?”

“That’s why the Team Leader is supporting him from the side! He’s worried our youngest’s back will hurt! Didn’t you see him swaying like a sick chick earlier?”

“What a brute! To do that to our weak youngest all night…”

“…….”

What on earth were they talking about?

With the guest in front of me and the team members behind me sharing such a conversation, my mind couldn’t have been more cluttered. Plunged into chaos, I tried to understand the situation as quickly as possible, but the more I thought, the more complicated it became.

But only for a moment. As I replayed the first conversation with the guest and chewed over the words the team members were sharing, my eyes widened as I realized an unthinkable situation had occurred.

So, the team members had misunderstood because of that greeting, and the person who caused that misunderstanding was…

“Hyung, now you can call me by my name. Right?”

He cut in as if he had read my inner thoughts. I gaped at the ‘guest’—no, at Kim Se-hyun—feeling a cocktail of indescribable emotions begin to churn at high speed.

“…….”

I had always thought that if I ever met Kim Se-hyun, I would definitely want to thank him. Yes, I was certain I would at least say thank you.

But…

Thinking that all the ridiculous things I’d been through were Kim Se-hyun’s doing, I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

My lips were faltering a lot today. As our eye contact lengthened, a mysterious light shimmered in his eyes.

“Sigh.”

It was natural for a person’s breath to be warm, but the breath that just drifted from Kim Se-hyun’s mouth seemed hotter than anything else.

His slightly reddened cheeks, his moist-looking eyes, and his heavy breathing.

“…….”

Looking at him like that made me want to avert my eyes. I didn’t know why, but the warning bells that had been ringing in my head for a while now were bothering me. I watched him, not letting down my guard.

“Ha-neul Hyung, you even look pretty when you’re surprised. Hmm, I can make you even more surprised. Shall we go somewhere where we can be alone for a bit? I’ll show you something very amazing and big that you can’t easily see anywhere else.”

“No, I’m fine.”

He gestured for me to follow, claiming he’d show me something, but I didn’t feel like it at all. I felt like I absolutely should not follow him. I voiced my refusal the moment he finished speaking.

“Hmm.”

Rubbing his chin, he righted the fallen chair as if nothing had happened and sat back down at the round table. One moment he was asking to go somewhere, and the next he was sitting back down after being rejected; his behavior was so alien. I stared at Kim Se-hyun in silence.

“Ha-neul Hyung.”

“Yes.”

“The coffee has gone cold. I’d like another cup, please.”

He asked for coffee in a voice that was perfectly calm, as if nothing had happened. He looked so natural that I wondered if what had just occurred was even real. When I turned my head, I saw the Team Leader was also dumbfounded.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who found this situation bizarre.

I had wondered if my lack of sleep was making me slow, but…

“Hyung?”

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

Prompted by the request for more coffee, I immediately moved my feet.

“Maybe it’s because Ha-neul Hyung brewed it, but this coffee is really delicious.”

Kim Se-hyun, drinking the second cup I brought, nodded in satisfaction.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll come by every time I want coffee from now on.”

He shook the paper cup and gave a wide grin; I truly wondered how a person could be this handsome. For a second, my mind went blank. I snapped back to my senses at the Team Leader’s shout.

“…Do you think this is a cafe?”

“I have to come when I want to see Hyung’s face, too.”

“Ugh, if only that guy weren’t an S-Rank!”

He was busy spewing whatever he wanted to say, completely unfazed by the Team Leader’s shrill voice.

Frustrated by the constant ignoring, the Team Leader began thumping his own chest with his fist. The force was enough to make me worry if he’d hurt himself. I watched him with concern until a voice called me back to Kim Se-hyun.

“Hyung, the coffee was so good I finished it all. I can ask for one more cup, right?”

“…Yes.”

I wondered if he was drinking too much too fast, but since he’d only finished one cup so far, it wasn’t a problem. I nodded, brewed the coffee, and handed it to him again.

“It’s good.”

He blew on it a couple of times and then drained the cup in one go. Looking over the paper cup, he called me once more. I answered a beat late.

“Hyung, could I have just one more?”

“…Go ahead.”

Since he hadn’t had the first coffee, drinking a couple more cups wouldn’t cause any health issues. And of course, the pantry stock was no problem at all.

At Kim Se-hyun’s request, I handed him another cup. Kim Se-hyun blew on it a few times again and then emptied it in a single draft.

“Hyung.”

I didn’t know why he was calling me again. But I couldn’t just ignore him. I looked at Kim Se-hyun and gave a nod.

“Hyung, one more.”

Meeting my eyes, he gave a bright smile and called for another. At that, my eyes began to twitch.