Chapter 4: If you smile, good fortune will come

Seo Hanbyeol’s evaluation as a person was generally not bad wherever she went.

189cm, a huge height that makes you tilt your head up, a pretty face that doesn’t quite match, and a soft and gentle personality.

She doesn’t have any special skills or talents, but she’s a kind person who always smiles brightly and never says anything bad, no matter what happens.

Even now, after becoming a woman for some reason, that assessment hasn’t changed.

In the first place, the fact that he, or rather she, was able to keep her position despite the bizarre phenomenon of her appearance and gender completely changing overnight was largely due to her good reputation based on her usual behavior.

“Hanbyeol, do you want to have lunch together today?”

So, it’s not just Cha Hyewon, there were many people who wanted to enjoy a meal with her.

Some of them were purely because they got along well and were comfortable with each other, and some had more than that kind of feeling.

“I’d love to―“

“Unfortunately.“

Of course, either way.

“Seo Hanbyeol already has a prior engagement with me.”

It seemed like someone wasn’t willing to accept it.

”…Yes? Ah, yes, I understand. Please enjoy your meal.”

The startled employee, embarrassed by the fierce gaze of the person who suddenly appeared behind Seo Hanbyeol, who was either a superior or a guardian, ran away.

“….Today, too?”

” 4||. “

What’s left is a harmless and weak pushover, trembling like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.

I found out by chance that the team leader hates fish very much.

To be precise, she seems to hate most things that come from the sea, not just fish. Should I call her a seafood hater?

Not only fish, but also shellfish and oysters. Cephalopods and crustaceans.

She even hates seaweed. I’ve never seen that woman eat even a single piece of that common seaweed.

Well, most seafood has a unique sea smell, a fishy smell, so it’s not strange to hate it. It’s a bit unexpected that she doesn’t even touch seaweed or kelp, which even babies like.

Actually, the more surprising thing, or rather, the annoying thing, than the fact that the team leader hates seafood so much, is the reason why I found out about her taste.

I only fully grasped her taste two weeks ago. In other words, I didn’t know her taste before that.

What does that mean? It means that I didn’t notice it for the whole year we were pretending to be lovers.

Unlike now, when the team leader suggests meals to me first, back then, I was the one who suggested having meals together, and I was the one who chose the menu. It’s not that I unilaterally decided alone because I wanted to ignore the team leader. What am I supposed to do when she just says it’s okay no matter what I ask her to eat or what her favorite food is?

Come to think of it, I managed to avoid seafood for a whole year.

Anyway, I found out about the team leader’s taste after my gender changed to female. That’s when the team leader started taking me out every lunchtime.

It also means that the team leader had meals with me so often that I learned her taste, which I couldn’t find out in a year, in just three months.

It’s often, but it’s almost every day. On days when I go to work, I’m dragged out by her eight out of ten times.

“Um, Team Leader.”

“Yes, Hanbyeol.”

“…Why.”

“….“

I just, I just can’t understand.

“I…I’ve been wanting to ask you something for a long time..”

Why is this woman being so kind to me now?

We’re no longer lovers, and I’m no longer a man.

“Why are you being so nice to me….It might be a spoiled complaint, but I want to know the reason.”

Nevertheless, the team leader, or rather Cha Hyewon, is being openly kind to me, even to the point where a clueless person would notice. Even though there’s no reason to be.

If it were someone else, for example, if I were treated to a meal by the general manager or other team leaders, I would feel grateful, but I wouldn’t think it was strange.

But this woman is Cha Hyewon. She’s a cold-hearted person who doesn’t even give the common courtesy of praising her subordinates.

“It’s also very burdensome to be treated to meals every time…I feel like I’m getting some kind of special treatment….”

That kind of person treats someone to a meal? She even buys a subordinate’s meal, not a superior’s? Setting aside this person’s inner thoughts or anything else, I’m wary.

The people I work with are all nice people, but a subordinate who spends time alone with their boss every time, it looks suspicious.

Simply thinking, it can be seen as receiving favoritism over other employees, and in the case of a person with a little imagination, they may suspect an office romance. Well, maybe in the past, but now that we’re the same gender, there’s no reason to suspect that.

“Does it feel like special treatment?”

Cha Hyewon, who had been quietly listening to my rambling for a while, opened her mouth for the first time.

”I didn’t think there was any reason to consider it special treatment. At least I don’t.”

“But this kind of situation itself…”

“Is there a problem?”

The same cold and inorganic voice as usual.

“Rather, I think there will be less suspicion now than before.”

” ?”

Cha Hyewon’s eyes, which usually look down, met mine.

“The old Seo Hanbyeol was a popular man in many ways. Especially among female employees.'”

“…Was I?”

Was I….popular?

“Even if you weren’t particularly popular, if you spent a lot of time with a member of the opposite s*x, that alone would probably have been enough to arouse the kind of suspicion that Hanbyeol is talking about.”

Although the beginning was a bit difficult to understand, the team leader’s explanation had a point.

The fact that a man and a woman spend a lot of time alone in the workplace is enough to raise suspicion. Even if the rumors that arise as a result are not true, it’s human nature to like to gossip.

“But now Hanbyeol is a woman like me. Regardless of whether you were a man in the past.”

”….That’s..right?”

“If we’re the same gender, there’s no suspicion even if we spend time together openly like this. They just think of it as normal socializing.“

However, such rumors rarely circulate between men and men, or between women and women.

Although the times have changed and the internet has become commonplace, and there is no one who doesn’t know the meaning of the word homosexual, same-s*x love is not something that easily comes to mind.

No matter how often they spend time together, they’ll probably just think of it as socializing between people in the same line.

“And as Hanbyeol knows, I’m not someone who would do that.”

And considering the team leader’s image, there are probably few people who would think of it as normal socializing, let alone official favoritism or discrimination.

Considering the sympathetic looks I get every time I return to the office after lunch, I think they probably think of it as a time when an employee who is firmly caught by the devil-like team leader is being scolded.

“So whatever my intentions are, people won’t be suspicious.”

“I see..”

….That said.

“So why are you being so nice to me…? “

A proper answer to the question, hasn’t come back yet.

“Honestly, I still don’t understand.”

The time when the team leader started to be friendly to me was exactly when I became a woman.

Not when we were dating, not after we broke up, but why after I became a woman.

To my question, the team leader remained silent for a while.

“…Well, why is that?”

And the words that came out of her mouth after a brief silence.

I could quickly understand the meaning of those words.

“..I understand.”

She doesn’t want to talk. Even if she explains and makes excuses, there’s no chance that it’s true.

The team leader chose to hide her true intentions, her inner thoughts. She didn’t want me to find out what her true intentions were.

Then I can’t ask her any more. I’m a subordinate, and she’s a superior.

There are manners to be observed between superiors and subordinates, and this country is more sensitive to such things.

“Thank you for the meal, again today.”

“Go ahead.”

In the end, I had no choice but to leave the seat first without any gain.

Maybe it’s rude for a subordinate to leave the seat before a superior.

Whatever, she hasn’t said anything so far.

“Seo Hanbyeol.”

At that time, the team leader’s voice stopped me as I was about to return to the company.

“What do you think is the reason I’m spending time with Seo Hanbyeol like this?”

“The words “How would I know” almost came out of my throat, but I barely held them back.”

“I don’t know..”

“I asked because I don’t know.“

“I think Seo Hanbyeol will probably never know.“

“Is she teasing me? No, she’s not someone who would tease anyone.”

“Still, on the other hand, I also hope that you’ll find out someday.”

No emotion can be read from the stiff expression or the inorganic voice.

You say I’ll never know, but on the other hand, you hope I’ll find out someday.

What does that mean, can’t you just be frank and tell me your true feelings?

“I think so too.”

I don’t know.

She’s a person I can’t understand at all.