One Difficulty After Another (4)

“Yes, come on in!”

The Team Leader’s voice, brighter than ever before, filled the entire office. Soon after, the door opened, revealing a strange man. I offered a greeting.

“Welcome.”

“…Gasp!”

The man, who seemed to be casting his eyes around the office, sucked in a sharp breath the moment his gaze landed on this side—specifically on Kim Se-hyun. Observing his profoundly relieved expression, I looked over at Kim Se-hyun. He was staring back at the man with a face that made his intense displeasure structural.

“Hunter Kim Se-hyun!”

“Ah!”

I thought the voice sounded familiar, and then I remembered exactly where I had heard it. Right—this was the very voice I had heard over the video call when Kim Se-hyun was packing his bags trying to return to Korea. My eyes widened in surprise, and I ended up locking eyes with the suit-clad man.

“…Th-Hello.”

“Could it be, from back then…?”

I had only offered a greeting, but the other side seemed to have realized who I was instantly. I nodded at the man, who failed to hide his startled expression, and became flustered when he took a large stride forward and bowed deeply.

“Thank you so much for your help back then! The situation almost blew out of proportion, but thanks to you, it passed safely.”

“Not at all. I’m just glad it was of help.”

“It wasn’t just any help; it was the greatest help. Thank you again and again! This time, a truly catastrophic situation could have occurred.”

Receiving such an extravagant show of gratitude made me feel incredibly embarrassed.

I stood up from my seat along with him and bowed. As I straightened my back, he bowed deeply once more, so I followed suit before fully pulling myself upright.

“Catastrophic situation, my foot. You mean a catastrophic situation almost occurred for you personally.”

A cynical voice drifted over from the side. I looked at Kim Se-hyun.

“While it’s true that a problem almost arose for me, it was a situation where a national-level issue could have occurred!”

“As if.”

“It’s the absolute truth!”

Kim Se-hyun let out a snort at the assertion that a national problem could have arisen. Even at the mention that a diplomatic friction might have occurred, I didn’t expect him to react this way. As I stood flustered by Kim Se-hyun’s unbothered demeanor, Officer Kim approached me, covered his mouth with his hand, and I leaned my ear in toward him.

“Do you two know each other?”

“…A little bit?”

We had merely confirmed each other’s existence through our voices back then. I glossed over Officer Kim’s question and blinked at Kim Se-hyun’s sharp retort that followed.

“I told you I’d head over later, so why don’t you go back first?”

“You need to tell me exactly when ‘later’ is!”

“Since when were you so invested in my schedule? Stop pretending you care and beat it, will you?”

“You are well aware that Prince Edward is currently waiting for you, Hunter-nim!”

“Prince or whatever, I am the law around here, so tell him to adapt to me!”

“Wow.”

“He’s so consistently unhinged that I don’t even know what to say.”

The team members watching the situation unfold chimed in one by one. The thought of keeping a prince from another country waiting began to creep into my mind. I called out to Kim Se-hyun, who was shooing the man away with his hand.

“Um, Se-hyun-ssi?”

“Yes, Hyung.”

“…….”

Though I had experienced this a few times before, it was still hard to adapt to how instantly Kim Se-hyun turned into a gentle lamb. He had been scowling just a second ago, but now he was looking at me with an utterly mild face. I took a breath and spoke to him carefully.

“This gentleman must have his own circumstances, so I think it would be good to at least give him a specific time.”

“…….”

“If there is a reason you aren’t going, shouldn’t you communicate that so he can cover for you?”

Right—it was beneficial for both sides to give a definitive answer on whether he was going or not. Kim Se-hyun, who had been staring at me silently, shifted his gaze back to the man.

“That won’t do.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“You truly must go this time. …Even the Association President has stepped forward.”

“So what do you want me to do about it? When have you ever seen me listen to the Association President?”

“But still.”

The man, attempting to persuade Kim Se-hyun, shifted his gaze precisely toward me. His eyes, laden with helplessness and something else, shook erratically. The moment I felt a strange sense of pity radiating from him toward me, the temperature in the office plummeted.

“…Are you trying to test me right now?”

Kim Se-hyun’s voice was colder than I had ever heard it. Watching him speak to the man with a frigid face I had never witnessed before, goosebumps broke out all over my body, and I rubbed my forearms with my palms.

“Kim Se-hyun, if you’re going to fight, take it outside.”

As if displeased by the standoff between the two, the Team Leader suggested they take the fight outside. I didn’t expect him to tell them to go outside and fight, rather than telling them to wrap up the conversation amicably. Startled, I looked at Kim Se-hyun, but I flinched at how completely unbothered he remained by the Team Leader’s words.

“Do you have any idea who is tolerating you right now, for you to harbor such pathetic thoughts?”

“…….”

Though Kim Se-hyun was someone who frequently ignored what people said, the danger radiating from him right now was on a completely different level. He simply stared at the man, completely silencing his own breath. Capturing him in my sight, I looked back at the Team Leader who stepped into the confrontation between the two once more.

“Why don’t you mind the location?”

“Move, big guy.”

“Didn’t you hear me tell you to go fight at your own Association if you’re going to fight? If you unleash that here, civilians will get hurt.”

“I said move.”

The stride Kim Se-hyun took as he approached the Team Leader standing between them was menacing. Standing at point-blank range with the Team Leader, he delivered another threat, making me realize the situation was spiraling downward. I forced my frozen feet to move.

“Se-hyun-ssi!”

“Hyung.”

Blinking slowly, Kim Se-hyun called my name in a low, quiet voice. I nodded and spoke to him gently.

“Would you like some cold water?”

“…Yes.”

I was worried he might say he wasn’t craving water, so this was a relief. I walked straight to the water dispenser, poured a cup, and handed it to him.

“The water is very cold, so drink it slowly.”

“Okay.”

Nodding, the man slowly drank the water from the cup I handed him. Watching him drink at a pace even slower than when he drank hot coffee, I turned my body at the sound of a sharp intake of breath behind me.

“…Ha.”

The man, who had been wracked with tension and walking on eggshells just a moment ago, was now staring in this direction blankly, as if completely losing his wits. Just as I was looking at him in a daze, I was suddenly pulled away by a hand wrapping around my waist.

“Deliver a message that if anyone touches anything related to this person, I won’t stand idle.”

“Gasp!”

“If you play any more ridiculous tricks, it will truly be a matter of life and death between us.”

I heard Kim Se-hyun’s voice growling once more, but that wasn’t what mattered right now. Shivers ran down my spine at the breath brushing against the nape of my neck every time he opened his mouth. Consequently, the warmth of Kim Se-hyun’s body felt against my back and the heat radiating from the hand encircling my waist began to spread to every corner of my body.

“…….”

When fooling around with friends, this kind of physical contact was bound to happen. Right—to boast about who was taller, we would drape ourselves over each other’s backs or offer a piggyback, but this was entirely different from that.

With my eyes trembling faintly, I stared ahead. The moment the man’s eyes met mine, he began to move frantically.

The man looked back and forth between me and Kim Se-hyun, took another deep breath, and then began to slink away somewhere. Catching his gaze constantly darting toward the exit while pretending not to look, I blurted out.

“Um, please get back safely.”

“Gasp!”

Startled by my voice, the man hastily bolted out of the office. He had appeared quite quickly, but his departure occurred at a speed that couldn’t even be compared to his entrance. As I stood in silence, I flinched at Kim Se-hyun’s voice coming from right behind my back—or rather, from behind my waist.

“Ha-neul Hyung.”

“…Yes.”

“Do you know that guy?”

“I recognize his voice.”

“His voice?”

“I heard it during our phone call last time, Se-hyun-ssi.”

“…And that’s all?”

“Yes.”

I was someone who frequently heard that I lacked situational awareness, but that wasn’t true. If I truly lacked awareness, I wouldn’t have recognized that the owner of the voice I briefly heard back then was that man.

“But Hyung.”

“Yes?”

The cold voice from just a moment ago had vanished without a trace. I was startled by the words that followed his usual call.

“I think I’m in a bit of danger.”

“Danger?”

I didn’t understand why he was suddenly bringing up danger out of nowhere. Turning halfway and raising my head, I realized Kim Se-hyun’s face was right in front of my nose.

‘…Inhale.’

I hadn’t anticipated the distance to be this close. It was close enough that if either of us made even the slightest movement, our faces might collide. As I froze completely on the spot and Kim Se-hyun’s face drew closer, my eyes widened at the force of another hand wrapping around my waist and pulling me away.

“Alright, that’s enough!”

As Kim Se-hyun exhaled a ragged breath, the Team Leader quickly separated him from me. Breaking free from Kim Se-hyun’s embrace, I directed my gaze toward him.

“…Hyung, I’m in pain.”

“Where do—”

“That’s enough out of you! You, go back to your desk. Kim Se-hyun, stop pretending to be hurt and figure out how to calm that breathing of yours.”

“I think I’d feel much better if Hyung blew on it to make it better, though.”

“…That’s a bit much.”

If he were a young child, it might be a different story, but asking to blow on a wound to make it better was uncalled for. I refused firmly.

“I’m hurt, and you won’t even blow on it for me?”

“Asking to blow on it is a bit embarrassing.”

Hearing him ask for something like that so openly, even if I wanted to do it, I wouldn’t be able to out of sheer embarrassment. I shook my head once more. Though his drooping eyes weighed heavily on my mind, what’s wrong was wrong.

“Hyung, I’m hungry. I want to eat the ramen made by Ha-neul Hyung.”

“Why don’t you go somewhere else to eat?”

“Mix in two eggs for me! And four packs of ramen.”

“I will.”

Right—I had promised to cook ramen for him.

I had briefly forgotten due to the sudden chaotic turn of events. Breaking away from the Team Leader, I walked straight to the sink.

After setting the pot filled with water to boil, tearing open the ramen packs, and pulling ingredients from the refrigerator, I chewed over the events that had just transpired.

I knew Kim Se-hyun belonged to the Association, but seeing the standoff earlier, it didn’t seem like he had completely given his heart over to them. Right—if that weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have been able to tell the Association President that it was a matter of life and death between them.

…Of course, it felt like something possible precisely because it was Kim Se-hyun.

In any case, what just happened was quite surprising.

Since he was part of the Association, I assumed he maintained a reasonably decent relationship with its people. But it seemed that was merely my own assumption. Recalling the indifferent and sharp attitude he displayed toward the Association member, a sense of apology toward Kim Se-hyun involuntarily welled up within me.

Right—not everyone could be close with their coworkers like I was, so it was only right to correct my behavior of assuming it would be the case and almost pushing Kim Se-hyun into it.

With apology taking the lead, I put more than double my usual effort into cooking the ramen.

Finally, after cracking in the two eggs Kim Se-hyun requested and stirring them through, I carried the ramen over to the round table. Lastly, I gathered chopsticks, a spoon, and a small side plate, setting them down in front of him as he moved over to the table.

“It’s hot, so eat slowly.”

“I will, Hyung.”

Meeting my eyes, he smiled radiantly and nodded. At that, I went back to the water dispenser, poured a glass of cold water to place next to him, and as Kim Se-hyun began his meal, I returned to my desk to resume working on the files I had been handling.

“But Hyung.”

“Yes, Se-hyun-ssi.”

The man who had been quiet while eating the ramen suddenly called out. I raised my head and met his eyes.

“Be careful from now on. Try not to walk around alone if possible.”

“…….”

“Because they are truly malicious bastards.”

“We’ll take precautions on our own end for that, so why don’t you mind your own business?”

The Team Leader cut in at Kim Se-hyun’s words. Kim Se-hyun seemed to steal a glance behind me before meeting my eyes again with a beaming smile. It was his usual smile, but looking at it made me feel like I absolutely had to answer. I nodded my head.

“Yes, I will.”