“Huh? It’s the mister who found Kkokko! Mister!”
They had just stepped out of the supermarket when Seojin turned his head at the familiar childish voice calling out to him.
It was yesterday’s little client, tightly holding Shin Seyoung’s hand.
‘I really don’t want to get involved with him!’
Seojin swallowed a groan inwardly. Still, this was the biggest supermarket in the area, so running into each other wasn’t exactly impossible.
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello.”
Seojin and Shin Seyoung exchanged awkward greetings.
“Mister! Kkokko tried to run away again, but Seyoung hyung caught him!”
Even though they had only met once, the lively child looked delighted to see him.
“Uh-huh, I see.”
“But who’s next to you?”
His attention immediately shifted to Euni. Come to think of it, the two children were around the same age.
“I’m Dad’s daughter, Euni!”
“So you’re Euni. Hi. I’m Heo Jun!”
Euni and Jun quickly started talking among themselves.
Unable to simply turn his back with the children right there, Seojin awkwardly shuffled his feet.
“Thank you for last time. Thanks to you, we were able to find Kkokko quickly.”
“No, not at all. You took care of something I should have handled myself. And Jun told me you were originally supposed to charge us, but you just accepted our thanks and left it at that.”
“Ah, well. He was a little kid, after all.”
So he found out it was an information office.
Feeling awkward, Seojin scratched the back of his head.
“Right, well. If you ever need anything later, give us a call.”
Even Seojin felt a little awkward after saying it, but Shin Seyoung looked at him with a strange expression.
‘What’s with that look?’
Seojin blinked in confusion. After hesitating for a moment, Shin Seyoung finally nodded.
“I will. Thank you.”
It was an ordinary response, yet for some reason those few words settled heavily somewhere in Seojin’s chest.
* * *
By the time they arrived home, the setting sun had painted the interior in soft, warm colors.
Seojin changed into slippers and turned on the living room lights. Meanwhile, Euni neatly put both pairs of shoes into the shoe cabinet.
“Dad, are you making dinner? Should Euni help?”
“Mm. I’d appreciate that.”
“Okay!”
“But wash your hands first.”
“Okay, okay!”
The little girl dashed toward the bathroom, her pink rabbit slippers making adorable pattering sounds against the floor.
Listening to the sound of the slippers growing more distant, the corners of Seojin’s lips naturally lifted.
An evening like this was enough all on its own.
‘Yeah. So what if my workplace is a little weird? Just living in such a cozy home with my adorable daughter is enough.’
Exactly.
At least it wasn’t some terrible company that would delay his salary or suddenly fire him without warning.
‘Though I’m not sure it’s exactly stable either.’
He remembered the conversation he had had with Manager Kim.
Apparently, not a single secretary had lasted very long by Yoon Haegang’s side.
The shortest had lasted half a day.
The longest, two weeks.
What was even more absurd was that every resignation letter had blamed the secretary’s own shortcomings.
“Dad! Can Euni do this?”
A bright voice suddenly came from below.
When Seojin looked down, Euni was standing there with three strawberries cupped in both hands.
“Are you going to wash the strawberries?”
“Mm-hm! I want to cut them nicely!”
Apparently she had been learning kitchen play at daycare lately and had developed an interest in using a knife, because she immediately added her request.
Seojin looked into her sparkling eyes and smiled.
“All right. But you have to be careful not to hurt yourself.”
Seojin took the child-safe knife from the drawer and held it out by the handle as he warned her. He also remembered to place a cutting board on the child-height counter he had prepared for her.
“Okay!”
Euni nodded firmly, gripping the knife with determination.
Then she immediately turned around, washed the strawberries under water, placed them one by one on the cutting board, and started removing the stems.
“You’re really good at this, Euni.”
“Right! Teacher said Euni could become a cook too!”
“She did?”
Judging by the slightly crushed sections of strawberry she had cut, that seemed doubtful, but Seojin chose praise over harsh reality.
“What are you making, Dad?”
“First the rice. Then stir-fried sausage and vegetables, rolled omelet, and seasoned cucumber because you like them.”
“Wow……”
Her eyes sparkled again, probably because every dish was one of her favorites.
“Fish cake soup too!”
“Okay. Got it. Then Euni is in charge of the salad.”
“Okay!”
Euni nodded enthusiastically again and began arranging the fruit and salad with such concentration that even her brow wrinkled.
Watching her fondly, Seojin hurried to do his share as well.
He put the rice in the electric rice cooker and quickly finished the seasoned cucumber his daughter liked.
“It looks delicious……”
Euni stared at the badly cut fruit and vegetables with round eyes, her mouth practically watering.
“I’ll have it ready soon. Just wait a little.”
“Okay!”
“Euni, put the sauce on the salad later.”
Seojin, who had just started beating eggs in a bowl, stopped her when he noticed the squeeze bottle in his daughter’s hand.
“Can you taste the stir-fried sausage and vegetables and tell me if it came out well?”
Then he quickly gave her a different mission instead.
Euni hurried over to Seojin and opened her little mouth.
Seojin speared a piece of sausage with a small fork, blew on it several times, and gave it to her.
“It’s good!”
“Really? Great. Then can you put this on a plate?”
“Okay!”
When he took out a deep plate and handed it to her, the child happily started transferring the food.
Meanwhile, Seojin quickly poured the beaten eggs into the frying pan. Once they had cooked to a golden color, he skillfully rolled them up.
He also kept an eye on the soup bubbling beside him and remembered to add the fish cakes he had cut beforehand.
“Euni wants to do this too!”
As soon as he moved the rolled omelet to the cutting board and sliced it into bite-sized pieces, Euni raised her hand eagerly as though she had been waiting for the chance.
Seojin did not refuse and immediately handed the task over to her. Instead, he served the soup and rice and carried them to the dining table.
Once all the cooking was done, the two of them sat down in front of the generous spread laid out for each of them.
Euni seemed proud of everything she had helped with and happily swung her legs beneath the chair.
“Dad, why are you so good at cooking?”
“Because I have to make delicious food for Euni.”
“Hehe… Right? Euni is good at cooking too.”
“Mm. That’s right. The salad Euni made is really delicious too.”
Seojin praised her as he stabbed his fork into the salad drenched in strawberry dressing.
“Euni is good at cooking because she takes after Dad!”
“Right?”
“Mm!”
Sometimes Euni would say that she and Seojin were alike like this.
Because they were both good at walking.
Because they both smiled a lot.
Because they were both good at reading books.
It was so adorable that Seojin could barely stop smiling.
The two of them ate happily while chatting about little things that had happened at daycare.
As the empty dishes gradually began to pile up, Seojin found himself smiling for no particular reason.
As expected, his older sister really had known what he wanted.
Of course, that feeling changed again the next day when he went to work.
Arriving twenty minutes before the official start time, Seojin was about to tap his security key when he stopped and blinked.
The scene looked almost exactly like yesterday.
“Good morning, Boss.”
The moment he opened the door, he saw Yoon Haegang sitting cross-legged on the sofa, smoking.
Muttering inwardly, Of course, Seojin gave him a polite bow.
The person being greeted merely stared at him and gave no particular response.
‘Surely twitching his ankle isn’t supposed to count as returning my greeting.’
Seojin hurried over to his desk and needlessly fiddled with the corners of some documents.
His hands moved busily across the desk, but all his attention was focused on the sofa.
Maybe it was because of his conversation with Manager Kim, but every time Yoon Haegang’s gaze brushed over him, his shoulders kept stiffening.
‘But seriously, why is he here?’
As far as Seojin remembered, Yoon Haegang had another golf appointment with an executive director from a construction company today.
That side seemed to be asking to see him quite often lately.
Seojin had no idea why the owner of an information office would need to meet frequently with a construction company executive, but maybe they were simply personally acquainted.
‘No way.’
This was all probably just seasoning meant to help along the romance between the alpha-omega couple that Yoon Haegang, the sub yandere top, was destined to create.
The thought made his stomach ache a little.
‘No. They’re basically strangers to me anyway. Why would I need to get involved with them?’
As expected, staying uninvolved was best.
Though considering how he kept running into the main bottom, despite making that decision, it did seem like the plot was starting to flow in a strangely different direction.