On Thursday of my second week at the company,
I saw a face I’d never seen before in the cafeteria.
Assistant Manager Jeong Won was smiling.
It was a table by the window.
Across from him sat a man I’d never seen before, and Assistant Manager Jeong Won was casually taking a piece of pork cutlet from his tray.
"Hey, that’s mine."
"You just told me I’d gotten fat earlier. I’m taking some off because I’m worried about you."
"What kind of logic is that."
"The logic of caring about a friend’s health."
Assistant Manager Jeong Won put the pork cutlet in his mouth without changing his expression.
The man across from him burst out laughing as if he couldn’t believe it.
I froze in place, tray in hand.
"Yeoju, aren’t you coming?"
Hyunseo grabbed my arm and pulled.
"Hyunseo. Is that really our assistant manager over there?"
"Huh? It is. The person with him is Assistant Manager Park Seonghun from the Strategic Planning Team. He and Assistant Manager Yang were college classmates."
"…So assistant managers can smile like that too."
"What, this is your first time seeing it?"
It was.
In college, and after I came to the company too. Assistant Manager Jeong Won had always been a quiet, neat person.
Not someone who stole other people’s side dishes and spouted nonsense logic.
Then Assistant Manager Park Seonghun spotted us.
"Oh, Jeong Won. Aren’t these new hires from your team? Come over here, there’s a seat here."
Hyunseo sat down first without hesitation. I carefully set my tray down beside Assistant Manager Jeong Won.
"Hello. I’m Kim Yeoju from the Brand Marketing Team."
"Ah, Yeoju-ssi."
Assistant Manager Park Seonghun said, glancing at Assistant Manager Jeong Won.
There was something oddly emphasized about that "Yeoju."
"Enjoy your meal, Kim Yeoju-ssi."
Assistant Manager Jeong Won said.
His voice was so proper it was hard to believe he was the same person who’d been stealing pork cutlet just moments ago.
The amusement, the teasing—it had all vanished cleanly.
Kim Yeoju-ssi. And polite speech.
"…Yes. You too, sir."
The whole time I ate, Assistant Manager Jeong Won only talked about work with Assistant Manager Park Seonghun.
Like the person from earlier had disappeared somewhere.
Assistant Manager Park Seonghun kept trying not to laugh as he looked at him.
"Why are you laughing?"
"No, nothing. It’s just, you’re really formal today."
Assistant Manager Jeong Won ate his soup without answering.
*
At four in the afternoon, I ran into Jongseong in front of the convenience store in the first-floor lobby.
"Hey, why do you look like that? Did your mentor chew you out?"
"No. It’s just……"
I bit the straw of my banana milk and hesitated for a while before finally blurting it out.
"I feel like the assistant manager is drawing a line with just me."
"A line?"
"He jokes around and talks casually with other people, but with me it’s always Kim Yeoju-ssi and polite speech. He’s my college senior."
"Isn’t that just how it is between a mentor and a new hire? Our mentor uses polite speech with me too."
"I guess, but still."
"Were you close with that senior in college?"
"……No. Not really."
"Then what’s the problem?"
Jongseong shrugged as if it was nothing and went back to the sales team.
He was right.
There was no reason for someone who wasn’t even close to suddenly act familiar with a junior.
And yet, that face from lunchtime kept coming to mind.
The face that’d tossed out jokes without changing expression.
A face he’d never once shown me.
*
That night, I worked my first overtime since joining the company.
A pile of revisions had come in for the report due to the team leader the next morning.
Eight o’clock, nine o’clock, ten o’clock. One by one, the people who’d been leaving work disappeared, and only I and Assistant Manager Jeong Won were left in the office.
"Assistant Manager, you can go ahead first. I’m almost done."
"I’ve got something to check too."
Assistant Manager Jeong Won said that and didn’t take his eyes off the monitor.
I believed him and went back to focusing on the materials.
Only the sound of keyboards continued in the quiet office.
After adjusting tables for a long while, one number kept being off.
No matter how many times I checked, I couldn’t figure out why.
"The total column range."
Before I knew it, Assistant Manager Jeong Won was standing behind my chair.
"You’re missing the bottom row."
It was true. Once I fixed the range, the numbers lined up perfectly.
"Wow, thank you. How did you catch that at a glance?"
"Because I’ve gotten it wrong a lot."
Assistant Manager Jeong Won said only that and went back to his seat.
I stared at his back, then brought out the words that had been circling in my mouth all day.
"Assistant Manager. Do you remember me from college?"
The sound of the keyboard stopped.
"……We were in the same department."
"Right. I remember you sitting in the corner at every department event."
"Finish it up. We’ll be late."
That was the only answer.
The keyboard started up again.
I puckered my lips and looked back at the monitor.
Eleven at night.
After uploading the last file to the shared folder, I stretched.
"Done?"
"Yes! I uploaded it."
Only then did Assistant Manager Jeong Won close his laptop.
The screen I caught a glimpse of just before he closed it was his inbox.
No new mail, no draft in progress.
"Let’s go. It’s late, so take a taxi."
"Oh, the subway’s still running for me."
"The last train time’s iffy. Take a taxi."
On the road in front of the company, Assistant Manager Jeong Won actually raised a hand and hailed a taxi.
After I got into the back seat, he took out his phone through the open door and snapped a photo of the taxi’s license plate.
"Text me when you get there."
"Huh? You don’t have to go that far……"
"I’m your mentor."
Assistant Manager Jeong Won closed the door. As the taxi pulled away, I looked back.
Assistant Manager Jeong Won stood there until the taxi turned the corner.
*
As soon as I got home, I opened my messenger.
My chat window with Assistant Manager Jeong Won was completely empty.
We always talked about work on the company messenger, after all.
Assistant Manager, I got home safely. Thank you for today!
The moment I pressed send and was about to put my phone down, the screen lit up.
Yes. Sleep well.
It felt like it had taken less than a second.
I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at that short reply.
The face smiling in front of Assistant Manager Park Seonghun at lunchtime.
The smile that disappeared the moment he saw me.
Kim Yeoju-ssi, and polite speech.
And yet he’d stayed at work until eleven with nothing else to do.
The hand that had snapped a photo of the taxi plate.
And the reply that came in one second.
"Why does someone who’s drawing a line reply so fast?"
The words slipped out on their own.
It was a night I couldn’t tell whether I was sad or thrilled.
