Even if he stamped the contract, nothing would change.
Not yet.
There was still time left on the contract, and it would take quite a long time until the headquarters building was set up and the establishment was completed.
He would leave that part to Vincent.
And Hyunseung decided to do what he could do right now.
For example…
Working he had always done, or teasing Kim Woohyun, or even working out with Executive Park.
It was quiet, as if no rumors had spread inside the company yet.
Ah.
To be precise, it couldn’t stay quiet for a different reason.
“Right?”
He had secretly passed it over to the distributor, but somehow the engineers had heard it and came grabbing him to ask.
“This is the Division Head… right?”
Instead of grabbing the person involved, Kim Woohyun, and asking him, ah— it must have been hard to ask since he was their direct superior.
“Secret.”
If so, he should keep the secret for him too.
“Then it is.”
“I’m sure.”
“I told you it is.”
Well, it didn’t seem like it was being kept.
“It’s noisy, so hurry up and go.”
He had no intention of adding anything more.
“But did you record the narration yourself, or did you direct it? No matter how I think about it, you don’t seem like the type to record something like that yourself….”
But the engineers didn’t look like they had any intention of leaving.
As if they planned to sit here until their curiosity was satisfied, they each fully claimed a seat on the sofa.
“Go and ask him directly.”
When Hyunseung answered them as if annoyed, groans burst out from here and there.
“How do we ask the person involve?”
“Right.”
“And he’s the Head of Division…”
Even so, Hyunseung had no intention of taking their complaints to heart.
“If that’s the case, you can’t ask me either. He’s also clearly my superior and Head of Division.”
“Still, the Head of Division goes easy on you, Hyunseung.”
Hyunseung’s eyebrows twitched at that. Is that so? He had never really thought about whether Kim Woohyun treated him differently.
“Hmm…”
Come to think of it, it seemed like that was true. Maybe he was a bit stiffer with other people?
Not easy, not soft, not a good impression.
But it wasn’t like Executive Park, loud and rough, or like some wild stallion.
More like he seemed stiff, sharp, and decisive.
Of course.
Except with him.
“Huh?”
“Yes?”
“Ah?”
The engineers looked at him, who had fallen into thought, with desperate eyes.
They probably thought he was debating whether to tell them Kim Woohyun’s “secret” or not.
“No. Go back.”
Not a chance. Hyunseung kicked them out with a single stroke.
However, the engineers acted like they didn’t hear him and just continued their deductions.
“Doesn’t he have a girlfriend now?”
“Or is it unrequited love again?”
“Then are those lines basically a love letter?”
They were sharper than he expected.
Somehow, he had a feeling it was only a matter of time before rumors spread around the company.
Several days passed.
Hyunseung, as always, had tea time with Kim Woohyun every morning.
“Is the handover going well? Vincent contacted me yesterday. It sounds like the internal construction will be wrapped up soon too.”
“It really is right in front of us now. As for the handover, well, Team Leader Han will soon become the manager, so he’ll lead it well. And Director Choi is there too.”
In both their hands was coffee from Habit, the kind that felt empty without it now. They really chose the name well.
Habit.
Yeah, these days Kim Woohyun went to that café like a habit.
Still, it seemed like he hadn’t even confessed, and couldn’t even properly talk much with her yet.
He was a grown man, so Hyunseung wanted to think he would handle it himself, but he couldn’t help worrying. He was such a complete novice. How was he ever going to get married like that?
‘Of course, I’m not one to talk.’
Hyunseung took a sip of coffee, left a beat, and continued.
“Come to think of it, you can’t feel entirely at ease leaving Director Choi behind.”
“Well, that’s true, but the people who stay have to stay too.”
He nodded at that.
“Oh, you’re pretty composed.”
To lighten the mood that could have gotten heavy, he poked Kim Woohyun in the side and spoke playfully.
“I was always composed.”
Kim Woohyun must have noticed Hyunseung’s intent, because he quickly cleared away the cloud that had been hanging over his face.
“No, you weren’t very composed when it came to unrequited love…”
“Hey. It’s not unrequited love.”
“Is that so?”
“Danbi has been smiling at me more often lately, and she asks first if I ate, and she tells me not to skip meals and gives me bread more often too, you know? You don’t even know, seriously.”
Hyunseung looked at Kim Woohyun with a horrified expression.
“You really think that?”
“W-what?”
“Isn’t that just the kind of service she gives to a customer who comes often? No. Even someone like me who doesn’t know dating well… I feel like I could tell the difference at least that much…”
“It’s really different!”
“Division Head, you’re way more naive than I thought.”
“I’m telling you it’s not! Seriously!”
The way he shouted like he was having an attack whenever this topic came up was funny, and Hyunseung smiled.
Then, as if something occurred to him, he continued again.
“But really, you never know what’ll happen.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I sold a demo track to LS Entertainment, and you came looking for me, we never expected it would turn out like this.”
At that, as if he remembered, Kim Woohyun shuddered.
“Back then, I couldn’t tell if you were really a dangerous guy or a guy who’d become someone great, so I was sweating every day.”
No, but is that something you say while reacting like you’re grossed out?
It felt oddly unsettling, but Hyunseung decided to let it go.
“More than anything…”
Hyunseung slowly traced back his memory as he continued.
“When Jung Arin released her album, the one who interfered was Executive Director Park and the one who helped was Director Choi, but the one we ended up deciding to work with was Executive Director Park.”
“That’s why people say you never know what the future holds.”
“Right. Somehow it ended up like this combination.”
“No matter how I think about it, I don’t understand how you managed to win Executive Director Park over. Unless it’s his direct juniors, he doesn’t even let anyone near him.”
Kim Woohyun added, shaking his head like he was genuinely baffled.
“Even me and I’ve been under the same company roof with him for over ten years. He never let me get close….”
Hyunseung, who had been listening quietly, smiled slyly and said, “With a song?”
Then he rubbed his hands together lightly and continued.
“And now I have to win you over with a song too, Division Head.”
“Speaking of which, I won’t tell you to cancel the release when you already handed it to the distributor. But can’t you at least remove the narration?”
“That’s the main part. How could I take it out.”
“I’m begging you, please.”
“Be composed and accept it.”
Hyunseung refused firmly and shamelessly pressured him to accept it.
If Hyunseung had a bad habit, it was enjoying watching Kim Woohyun make that deathly face.
“By the way, Division Head, you know some English, right? You’re going to the U.S. and even taking a director position, so if you can’t speak English, it’d be a problem.”
The moment he opened his mouth to tease him again, Kim Woohyun cut him off and answered boldly like a native speaker.
“Hi, I’m Woo Hyun, Kim. and I am currently single…”
“You don’t need to mention you’re single during an introduction.”
“Ah, right…”
Of course, that didn’t mean Hyunseung wouldn’t tease him.
“And you never know.”
“What?”
“You might escape being single because of this song?”
As Hyunseung teased him persistently like he was working on a track, Kim Woohyun looked like he was about to cry, clasping his hands together and sparkling his eyes desperately.
“I’m really asking one last time.”
“What?”
“Please just take out the narration.”
Hyunseung pretended to think for a moment.
“Didn’t you say you were jealous of Executive Director Park earlier?”
Smiling, he held out a business card case. It was clearly leather, sleek, and stylish at a glance.
“Director Kim.”
“Huh…?”
“Be composed.”
Inside was a business card with the VINCIS logo on it.
“Because now you really are a director.”
On it, the words were clearly printed:
[ Director Woo Hyun, Kim ]
He had planned to give it after everything was finalized, but a small thing like a business card could give a sense of duty, loyalty, and strengthen unity.
“Th-this, what is this? No, what is it? CEO?”
“What else? It’s Director Kim’s business card.”
Kim Woohyun stared back and forth between the card and Hyunseung with wide eyes.
“Ha…”
As if emotion swelled up too much, he covered his mouth and held back tears.
Seeing how happy he was, it seemed like giving it early had been the right call.
“Seriously…”
Hyunseung looked at Kim Woohyun and scolded him for no reason.
“Now that you’re a director, you need to be composed.”
With a face full of smiles.
Kim Woohyun stopped by Café Habit every morning on his way to work, like a habit.
6:30 a.m.
Even at this hour when few people were coming in, the café always opened early and started preparing for business.
How could someone with such a pretty face be that diligent too?
“You’re here? Two iced Americanos, right? I prepared them in advance.”
And she was kind and overflowing with sense too.
She definitely wasn’t human. If she were human, nothing could be that perfect.
“Thank you.”
Kim Woohyun, trying hard to act calm, fidgeted with his reddened ears and took the carrier with the two coffees.
“Have you eaten breakfast? I happened to try making today’s new menu, baumkuchen. Would you like to try it?”
“It looks good. But what do I do if I keep getting treated like this every day…?”
“Oh come on, you’re our first customer and a total regular. Of course I should give you this much.”
As she spoke with a gentle smile, Hyunseung’s face suddenly overlapped in his mind. More precisely, Hyunseung’s words came back to him.
“Isn’t that just service for a customer who comes often? No. Even someone like me who doesn’t know dating well… I feel like I could tell the difference at least that much….”
No, that can’t be it.
Kim Woohyun shook his head like he was trying to deny it and looked at her as she packed the baumkuchen into a bag.
Yeah.
Yoo Danbi— these days she was the person who lifted his happiness.
Just looking at her made him happy enough for the whole day.
Could it be that because of him, she too started her day just a little— yeah, even just a fingernail’s worth— happier?
Right then, as hope swelled, the song playing in the shop ended and it moved to the next track.
─ ♬ ♬ ♬
A familiar melody flowed out.
And at the same time, she finished packing and held out the bag.
“Here’s the baumkuchen.”
“Thank you for the coffee, and the baumkuchen.”
But what was this strange sense of déjà vu?
─ Coffee starts with ‘co’.
Why, at the exact moment he said “coffee,” did the song say “coffee” in the same voice?
─ Latte starts with ‘la’.
So why, of all times….
─ Why does happiness start with ‘you’?
Of all the songs…
The song released yesterday…
Why, at this exact moment, is it playing in this café?
─ And why does pain also start with ‘you’?
As if she also felt something odd, she looked at him.
And when their eyes met, a thought suddenly came to him.
Ah.
So this is how my unrequited love ends again.
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