“Boss, did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That the little client’s place was Shin Seyoung’s home.”
Seojin chattered away as they headed back after returning Kkokko to the little client.
“When I saw the street address, I thought maybe, just maybe…….”
“Who’s that?”
“What?”
“Who’s Shin Seyoung?”
“Huh? The person we met for a moment earlier.”
Seojin was so startled that he actually stopped walking.
But Yoon Haegang kept moving, so Seojin couldn’t see what expression he was making.
Does he really not know, or is he pretending not to?
“You told me to look into Shin Seyoung.”
“I did?”
No, Manager Kim was the one who gave it to me.
Seojin knew the relationship between the two of them in the original novel, so he had naturally assumed Yoon Haegang must have ordered it.
‘Then why was he staring at him so intensely earlier?’
Wasn’t it obviously because he recognized him?
“No…. Manager Kim was the one who gave it to me.”
“So who is he?”
“Uh…… well.”
Manager Kim had only told him to familiarize himself with the information. Seojin hadn’t asked why.
More precisely, he hadn’t felt the need to.
Then Seojin suddenly realized something.
“Ah! Right! The timing is different!”
“What?”
Yoon Haegang turned around.
Only after Seojin met his eyes directly did he realize that he had misspoken.
“No, I mean… the time, it’s gotten late. Haha… lunchtime is already over!”
He desperately tried to change the subject.
“Boss, since we’re already out, how about we eat before going back? I’ll pay, I will! Let’s go! What do you want to eat?”
Yoon Haegang stared down at Seojin.
His gaze was so sharp that it felt like it could dry all the cold sweat off Seojin’s body.
“How about bunsik? Or jjajangmyeon…….”
Seojin frantically listed menu options while curling his toes inside his shoes in an attempt to fight off his fear.
“Let’s get sundae soup.”
“What? Yes, yes. That sounds good too.”
A yandere alpha who looked like he ought to order rare steak at some upscale restaurant and cut it elegantly with a knife wanted sundae soup.
For a moment, Seojin wondered whether that really fit his character setting.
‘Whatever.’
As long as he could safely get through the current crisis, he didn’t care what they ate.
And so, completely unexpectedly, Seojin ended up taking a seat with Yoon Haegang in a bustling sundae soup restaurant packed with customers.
“Oh, you’re here? It’s not Manager Kim today. The usual for both of you?”
The restaurant owner, wearing an apron, approached them familiarly.
Before Seojin could even say anything, Yoon Haegang finished the order with a small nod, and the owner immediately turned away.
“Uh…….”
Seojin was the only one left bewildered.
What was “the usual”? What exactly had he ordered?
His questions were quickly answered when the owner brought out the food.
Placed in front of the two of them were bowls of bright red sundae soup bubbling like molten lava.
“…….”
Seojin blankly stared down at the earthenware bowl, then slowly lifted his eyes.
Sitting across from him, Yoon Haegang dumped an entire bowl of rice into the soup, added perilla seed powder and salted shrimp, then scooped up a huge spoonful and put it into his mouth.
The way he chewed so powerfully was impressive enough that if someone filmed him eating like that, getting tens of thousands of views would be nothing.
“Why aren’t you eating?”
Yoon Haegang, who had been scooping up more soup, seemed to notice only then that Seojin was sitting quietly.
His voice was as leisurely as ever.
“It’s hot.”
“You can’t eat hot food?”
“Yes. It looks spicy too.”
“You can’t eat spicy food either?”
The more he answered, the more embarrassed Seojin felt, so this time he merely nodded instead of speaking.
He heard a small huff that could have been either a scoff or a snort.
Seojin looked at Yoon Haegang in disbelief and saw that the corners of his mouth had risen slightly.
“You’re a child.”
“I am not.”
“How old are you?”
“You hired me without even reading my résumé?”
“I don’t know. That’s not my department.”
What kind of boss says something like that so confidently?
Whether Seojin stared at him in disbelief or not, Yoon Haegang resumed eating.
And annoyingly enough, he ate so heartily that just watching him made Seojin hungry.
Why was some pointless sense of competition flaring up in him over this?
Seojin plunged his spoon deep into the soup.
But the only thing he managed to scoop out was a single piece of sundae.
“Hoo… hoo…….”
As Seojin blew on it to cool it down, Yoon Haegang glanced over at him.
The corners of Haegang’s mouth twitched again as though he were trying not to smile.
Seojin was too busy putting the sundae into his mouth with the most serious expression imaginable to notice.
“Ugh…….”
The moment it entered his mouth, the sharp heat spread across his tongue, making Seojin’s eyes squeeze shut on their own.
He couldn’t even think about chewing and simply swallowed it, but the spicy sting didn’t fade easily.
“Boss, one non-spicy sundae soup over here.”
Seojin was holding cold water in his mouth to soothe his burning tongue when he suddenly heard Yoon Haegang placing another order with the owner.
The instant Seojin thought, No way, a long arm swept the earthenware bowl in front of him away in one smooth motion.
“Hm? What’s with you ordering the plain one?”
“This customer over here has a child’s palate and can’t eat spicy food.”
“Oh, really? You should’ve said so earlier. I’ll take one bowl off the bill.”
“No need. I’ll eat this one, so just leave it.”
“Well, if you’re going to do that, I won’t complain.”
In front of Seojin, a new bowl of sundae soup was placed down, this one boasting a milky-white broth instead of molten lava.
The bowl Seojin had only managed one bite from became Yoon Haegang’s.
“What are you doing? Eat.”
When Seojin just stared blankly, Yoon Haegang urged him.
Then, as if remembering something else, he let out a short laugh.
“Ah! You said you can’t eat hot food either. You really are high-maintenance.”
Strange.
His tone sounded mocking, but his expression looked amused.
What was he supposed to call this?
Unable to define the oddly subtle feeling stirring inside him, Seojin pointlessly stirred the broth around.
It really was a strange meal.
* * *
“Huh? Shin Seyoung? Yeah, he’s one of the people we’re keeping tabs on.”
Manager Kim spoke while flapping the front of his shirt.
He had just returned to the office as if taking over the baton from Yoon Haegang, who had disappeared again saying he had business outside.
“Keeping tabs on him? Then you mean you know each other?”
And he had still shamelessly pretended not to know him?
“It’s not exactly like that. More like… he’s an omega the boss has been showing interest in lately?”
“Ah…….”
Seojin stared blankly at Shin Seyoung’s face on the monitor.
He had checked just in case, and it was indeed the same person they had met earlier.
‘This is ridiculous.’
Remembering even the mischievous smile Yoon Haegang had worn while taking away his earthenware bowl, Seojin shook his head.
“No, wait, I mean… Seojin, I’m only saying this because I don’t want you to misunderstand, but those are just materials I looked into in advance, just in case.”
Perhaps Manager Kim noticed the look Seojin was giving him, because he quickly added an explanation.
“It was the first time I’d ever seen our boss show that kind of interest in anyone. So I thought I should figure out a few things ahead of time.”
“Then why did you give this to me?”
“I figured the boss might bring something up about him soon?”
“Ah…….”
Maybe Seojin’s lukewarm response bothered him.
Manager Kim straightened himself in his chair and tried to explain further, but Seojin spoke first.
“So you’re saying the boss hasn’t actually started making a serious move on Shin Seyoung yet?”
“Huh? Well, if you put it that way, yeah?”
“When did the two of them meet?”
“Not long ago. Last Thursday.”
Seojin’s gaze shifted toward the calendar.
Today was Tuesday.
In other words, he had transmigrated at a point when it had only been five days since the two of them first met.
“Where?”
“Uh…. The boss and I had just eaten a bowl of sundae soup for lunch and were on our way back to the office.”
Manager Kim began describing the situation at length.
“He was carrying so many things that he couldn’t see in front of him, and then a delivery motorcycle came up from behind…….”
Seojin had no intention of listening to the entire story, so he cut him off sharply.
“The boss saved him at the last second?”
Usually, relationships like this began with one person helping the protagonist during some dangerous moment, so Seojin had naturally assumed that was what happened this time too.
“No? Shin Seyoung got startled and dropped everything he was carrying.”
“The boss didn’t help him?”
“He just stared at him like he was pathetic.”
Apparently, Manager Kim noticed the incredulous look on Seojin’s face, because he added one more thing.
“He did tell me to go pick everything up afterward.”
“The boss did?”
“Yeah. So I ran over there, and that’s when I knew right away. Omega!”
That alone made him think Yoon Haegang was interested?
As if reading the doubt in Seojin’s eyes, Manager Kim opened his mouth again.
“He’s an omega. I figured if the boss ever needed one later, I could set them up.”
“Set them up?”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t a face he’s seen once before be better than a complete stranger?”
So Yoon Haegang hadn’t thought of Shin Seyoung as anything special at all.
This entire situation had simply been the result of Manager Kim’s excessive loyalty.