Chapter 31: The Unspoken Rules and an Unexpected Nap

Why?

Had I done something wrong again? He had only told him the truth, without exaggeration, yet he couldn’t understand why Ryu Yishin was making such a face.

Jung Hanseol, who had been gripping the cup with both hands and gnawing at his lower lip, belatedly began to stammer out an explanation.

He suspected Ryu Yishin had misunderstood his words.

“I-I just felt a bit eerie and scared at the time… that’s all it was…”

“…”

“They said there’s nothing wrong with my body, so… I can do it… If the team leader orders it, of course…”

Jung Hanseol glanced nervously at Ryu Yishin’s expression as he carefully continued speaking, only to see his brows furrow fiercely.

‘Had I misjudged the situation?’

‘I was trying to fix it, afraid it sounded like I couldn’t perform effective direct guiding…’

His insides twisted with growing anxiety, leaving Jung Hanseol unable to utter another word.

Then, Ryu Yishin broke the prolonged silence with a sharp voice.

“Who was the first?”

“Excuse me? The first…?”

“Who was the guy you first guided through physical contact?”

“Ah… oh, it was Jinwoo hyung…”

Jung Hanseol, who had answered without understanding, watched Ryu Yishin’s expression harden even further the moment the name ‘Jinwoo’ left his lips.

“Jo Jinwoo?”

“Yes…”

He couldn’t fathom why he felt as if he kept making mistakes, even though he had simply answered the questions truthfully.

Jung Hanseol, fidgeting with his cup of ice, closed his eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them, as if suddenly understanding Ryu Yishin’s overreaction.

‘The two of them never got along well…’

Considering Jo Jinwoo’s extreme reaction to Ryu Yishin’s name, it was clear Ryu Yishin harbored a similar, intense animosity towards Jo Jinwoo.

While Jung Hanseol didn’t know the specifics of what had transpired between them, he knew he shouldn’t have mentioned Jinwoo’s name in front of Ryu Yishin.

‘I can’t take back what I said… How am I supposed to fix this situation?’

‘Should I say it was Joo Youngmin and I got confused? Or…’

“Did you kiss Jo Jinwoo?”

“…What?”

Jung Hanseol, whose mind had been vigorously churning, now felt a sudden, throbbing headache as he stared at Ryu Yishin in utter shock.

His cheeks, which had only moments ago borne a faint flush, instantly burned a vibrant crimson.

“Did you kiss that bastard?”

“N-no, I didn’t! Why would I…!”

Every eye in the cafe swiveled toward Jung Hanseol and Ryu Yishin’s table.

A kiss? And with Jinwoo, of all people?

Flustered by Ryu Yishin’s preposterous imagination, Jung Hanseol clapped a hand over his mouth and shouted loudly.

His voice, booming even in the spacious and noisy cafe, was enough to draw everyone’s attention.

Only after making eye contact with a customer at the next table did Jung Hanseol regain a shred of composure.

“S-I only held his hand… like this…”

“…”

“I didn’t do anything else…”

“…”

“It’s true… I fainted the moment we touched, so how could I have kissed him…?”

As if to reenact the moment, Jung Hanseol took his hand from Ryu Yishin’s mouth and placed it over Ryu Yishin’s hand.

He wasn’t sure why he had to offer such an explanation, but Jung Hanseol firmly clasped Ryu Yishin’s hand, just as he had when guiding Jinwoo, then released it.

Or rather, he *tried* to release it.

That is, if Ryu Yishin hadn’t intertwined their fingers tightly, seizing his hand once more.

“You only held hands like this?”

“Yes…”

A chilling cold, transmitted through their clasped hands, instantly enveloped Jung Hanseol’s entire body.

He shivered, feeling an untimely winter chill penetrate to his very bones, as Ryu Yishin, who had been silently watching him, tightened their intertwined fingers even further.

The furrow in Ryu Yishin’s brow remained, his thoughts still inscrutable.

“Damn it.”

“…”

“But why do I feel so disgusting?”

Ryu Yishin, muttering a slightly loud soliloquy as if unable to comprehend himself, tightened his grip on Jung Hanseol’s hand.

Frozen by the sharp tone, Jung Hanseol could only roll his eyes, subtly observing Ryu Yishin as he enveloped his other hand as well.

All Jung Hanseol could do was meekly surrender his hands to Ryu Yishin’s grasp and pray for the moment to pass quickly and safely.

“Don’t ever mention that bastard Jo Jinwoo in front of me again.”

“Yes…”

“And don’t go looking for him like last time.”

“I won’t look for him…”

“Don’t even think about that bastard. Got it?”

“…Yes.”

Jung Hanseol, who had unconditionally cowered and tried to appease him, finally saw the slight relaxation in Ryu Yishin’s brow and quietly exhaled a sigh of relief.

Ryu Yishin kept his gaze fixed on Jung Hanseol, beginning to knead Jung Hanseol’s hand, which was still captive in his grasp.

As time passed, his earlier fury gradually subsided, replaced by an inscrutable smile that now spread across his face, unsettling Jung Hanseol even more.

‘It seems I might never fully adapt to the team leader until I resign.’

For the first time in his twenty years of life, Jung Hanseol floundered in such negative thoughts, offering an awkward smile back at Ryu Yishin, whose eyes still met his.

Thankfully, Ryu Yishin didn’t find any more fault until they left the cafe and returned to the office, but Jung Hanseol had to surrender his hand to him for the rest of the workday.

****

Days now followed a pattern where Jung Hanseol would ‘commute’ a second time to Ryu Yishin’s office immediately after Ryu Yishin arrived for work.

As if to prove that humans truly are creatures of adaptation, Jung Hanseol was slowly growing accustomed to this routine.

Jung Hanseol’s daily routine was remarkably simple.

When Ryu Yishin arrived, he would follow him directly into his room and settle onto the sofa.

Unless Ryu Yishin issued a specific command, Jung Hanseol would quietly pass the time, reading a book or browsing on his phone.

If Ryu Yishin didn’t leave his office, they would eat lunch together.

Occasionally, Ryu Yishin would issue vaguely unsettling commands, like ‘Come closer’ or ‘Give me your hand,’ which Jung Hanseol would obey without complaint.

Finally, once Ryu Yishin had left for the day, Jung Hanseol would return to his own desk, upload his work log, and then clock out.

Upon returning home, he would collapse into a sleep akin to unconsciousness.

With this routine repeating daily, Jung Hanseol found himself unable to enjoy any leisure time after work.

While his overtime days had significantly decreased and his average departure time was earlier than when he was in Team 7, the constant tension at work left him utterly exhausted the moment he got home, rendering him incapable of doing anything.

It felt like an eternity since he had last savored even a warm piece of chicken with a refreshing sip of cider.

Jung Hanseol checked the time, lost in thoughts verging on self-pity, as he waited for Ryu Yishin, who had left the office with a deeply furrowed brow, claiming an unexpected meeting.

Perhaps because the meeting had been called by the notoriously nagging Director, Ryu Yishin seemed even more irritated.

He had given Jung Hanseol a precious reprieve, telling him to wait a bit and then simply go home if nothing came up, convinced the Director merely wanted to deliver another pointless lecture.

Jung Hanseol diligently replayed Ryu Yishin’s words, fervently hoping the meeting would drag on for ages, allowing him to return home early.

“…”

How much time had passed while he waited for Ryu Yishin?

Suddenly, a sensation of his head snapping forward jolted Jung Hanseol awake, his eyes flying open and squinting against the merciless onslaught of light.

He unconsciously made a soft ‘swoosh’ sound as he swallowed, then quickly shook his head to clear his hazy mind.

Feeling an unknown tension in the quiet atmosphere, Jung Hanseol’s head whipped towards Ryu Yishin’s desk.

Thankfully, the seat was empty.

Jung Hanseol, calming his pounding heart, belatedly picked up his phone to check the time.

Ryu Yishin had left the office for his meeting around four o’clock, so Jung Hanseol had assumed only thirty or forty minutes had passed at most—but he was sorely mistaken.

“…Half past eight?”

Too startled to stop a whisper from escaping his lips, Jung Hanseol shot up from his seat and frantically scanned his surroundings.

The team leader’s office was always lit with the blinds drawn, making it difficult to discern whether it was day or night from within.

Approaching the window cautiously, Jung Hanseol parted the blinds and, seeing the darkness that had settled over the company grounds, realized he had been asleep for over four hours.

‘Surely he didn’t just leave me here and go home?’

Even if the Director loved to unleash his nagging, he wouldn’t have kept people captive for over four hours.

The meeting must have ended by dinnertime at the latest, and Ryu Yishin would undoubtedly have stopped by the office.

Of course, Ryu Yishin must have been bewildered.

Returning from a tedious meeting only to find his subordinate sound asleep, oblivious to the world, would certainly have been exasperating.

“…”

‘Couldn’t he have at least woken me up?’

Jung Hanseol massaged his stiff neck, pulled his gaze from the window, and let out a deep sigh.

While this outcome was certainly preferable to bowing his head and begging for forgiveness before an enraged Ryu Yishin, he couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

There was no reason to remain guarding the office, so Jung Hanseol decided to hurry home.

Gathering his belongings, he exited Ryu Yishin’s room, carefully closed the door, and extinguished all the lights before lightly stepping out of the office.

Though it was late, Jung Hanseol was contemplating what to eat for dinner as he exited the main company gate, when a soft gasp escaped him, stopping him in his tracks.

He had just remembered that he hadn’t written his work log before leaving.

“Haa…”

It was annoying enough to make him sigh involuntarily, yet Jung Hanseol had no choice but to turn back towards the company.

While each team leader checked their members’ daily work logs, there was also a separate management team that reviewed the logs of investigation headquarters staff to assign tasks, making the work log a crucial document.

Furthermore, due to security concerns, only team leaders and above were permitted access to the external intranet, meaning Jung Hanseol, as an ordinary employee, had to complete his work log at the office before leaving for the day.