Even as he pushed open the door of Cafe 'Sum-pyo' and stepped out, the sunset clung stickily to Jin-woo's back. A single cup of Americano was not enough to wash away the deep fatigue left by today's 'verification' procedures.
The steps heading back to the company were heavy.
Yet, Jin-woo curled the corners of his mouth slightly, out of habit.
If he didn't smile—
It felt as if his expression would be recorded.
Does that make sense?
At the company, it does. An unsmiling face is saved as 'Dissatisfaction,' and dissatisfaction is categorized as a 'Target for Management.' And a target for management soon undergoes a process called 'Additional Verification.'
Jin-woo knew that sequence all too well.
As he entered the hallway, he saw the intern, Lee Da-yeon, struggling on the other side, hugging an empty water cooler bottle. Waddling while clutching a bottle as big as herself, she looked exactly like an overturned turtle.
Jin-woo approached like a sly snake and naturally snatched one side of the bottle.
"Ms. Da-yeon, is this a water bottle, or is it your future? Why are you carrying something so heavy?"
"Ah, Chief! N-No! I can do it!"
Da-yeon, startled, tried to take the bottle back, but Jin-woo had already placed it atop the dispenser with a 'thud' and plugged it in using the leverage of his wrist. The sound of air bubbles—gurgle—echoed in the silent hallway.
Da-yeon bowed her head, her face flushed red. Fidgeting with her fingers, words seemed to keep slipping from her throat.
"Th-Thank you, Chief. You were startled because of the Team Leader earlier, right… It feels like you're suffering because of me…"
"Suffering? What suffering?"
Jin-woo shrugged his shoulders.
"Didn't you see me go out for 'On-site Verification' earlier and come back with coffee? Ms. Da-yeon, don't work too hard, either. If you work too hard, the system leaves a log saying, 'Ah, we can make this one do this much'."
At Jin-woo's silly remark, Da-yeon burst into a very small laugh, "Pfft."
That short sound was the most 'human' sound Jin-woo had heard all day.
Da-yeon stared intently at Jin-woo's back.
He cracks dad jokes and seems to treat everything like a prank… but he's a man who becomes a shield with a 'thud' at decisive moments. That back felt exceptionally large today.
Jin-woo felt that gaze but pretended not to know.
The word 'shield' shatters the moment it is discovered.
Inside the office, Team Leader Cha Do-il's emotional roller coaster was still in operation.
Fortunately, the excuse of 'IT log verification' Jin-woo had thrown earlier seemed to have worked, as the Team Leader had his nose buried in a stack of documents, albeit sighing with irritation.
As soon as Jin-woo sat down, Assistant Manager Yoon Se-jin from the next desk dragged her chair over with a rattle.
Se-jin was always in a hurry. She had a talent for turning the office air into 'Breaking News.'
"Chief, big news. After you left earlier, HR contacted us. They said a new recruit might be assigned to our team soon! The Team Leader must have made a fuss asking for more personnel."
"More personnel?"
Jin-woo tilted his head.
"Just you alone, Ms. Se-jin, already pushes our team's decibels to the limit. If we add more, I'm going to buy earplugs and bill the company."
"Ah, seriously! That's not what I mean… Anyway, I think the atmosphere is going to change completely!"
Se-jin was someone who used the word 'atmosphere' easily.
But Jin-woo knew. In a company, a change in atmosphere usually meant that a person was being ground down.
He let Se-jin's words flow half past him and turned on his monitor.
Work notifications rose ceaselessly at the bottom of the groupware.
[Please Check]
[Verification Required]
[Reply After Check]
[Disadvantage for Delayed Check]
Check.
Check.
Check.
Four letters, scratching at his throat like a knife.
Jin-woo suddenly recalled the mirror he saw in the morning.
Glass.
And a name he couldn't bring out of his mouth.
Choi….
Just then, the phone on the desk vibrated briefly.
It was a message from his younger sister, Da-woon.
[Da-woon] Oppa, tell Da-yeon unnie to come to our cafe after work. I promised to make her something delicious! Don't bully her, seriously.
Jin-woo turned his head slightly to look at Da-yeon.
Da-yeon was stuck close to her monitor, typing with all the strength in her fingertips. A person who breathes cautiously for fear of getting a single letter wrong.
Jin-woo tapped on his keyboard and threw a remark as if it were nothing.
"Ms. Da-yeon, if you don't have anything special after work today, stop by Da-woon's cafe. She's threatening not to set the table for me if you don't come."
"Pardon? Ah… Da-woon did? I'd love to, but… will you be okay, Chief?"
"What wouldn't be okay? Go and accept her chatter for me."
Jin-woo laughed.
"Think of it as acting as my proxy for work."
"…Proxy for work?"
"Yeah. Processing Da-woon's chatter logs. There are a lot of unprocessed cases."
Da-yeon's eyes sparkled.
The fact that she was meeting someone connected to Jin-woo outside the company made her small heart beat fast. Da-yeon nodded cautiously as if carving the word 'Joy' into an invisible log.
Just before quitting time.
An email from the head office flipped the office air once again.
[URGENT] Request for Re-verification of Security Logs for Joint Work Section
A single-line email subject on the monitor fell like a bomb on the entire office.
Team Leader Cha tore at his hair and shouted.
"Ah, this damn joint! Joint my foot, aren't they just pushing it onto us because they don't want to do it! Section Chief Kang! Can you check this within today?!"
Jin-woo looked at his watch.
5 minutes before quitting time.
To be precise—
It was 5 minutes before the time a human should leave,
but the time the system permitted leaving… had not yet come.
Jin-woo slowly stood up and picked up his coat.
And slyly, in a very polite voice, he said.
"Team Leader, security is 'life'."
"What?"
"Since life is precious, it's only polite to check it with the freshest mind tomorrow morning. If I do it now, I'll doze off and leave only a drowsiness record, not a log. I will process it at the 'speed of light' tomorrow."
"Hey, hey… Kang Jin-woo! Get back here!"
Leaving the Team Leader's shouting behind, Jin-woo sent a signal with his eyes to Da-yeon.
Da-yeon hesitated for a moment, but when Jin-woo gave her another look saying 'It's okay,' she hurriedly packed her bag and followed him.
The shadows of the two people exiting the hallway stretched long.
Looking only at the shadows, it was an ordinary clock-out to anyone.
But Jin-woo knew.
An 'ordinary clock-out' exists only when the company permits it.
When they arrived at Cafe 'Sum-pyo,' Da-woon welcomed Da-yeon as if she had been waiting.
"Unnie! You really came! Oppa didn't bully you, did he?"
"No, Da-woon. The Chief helped me today…"
Da-woon held Da-yeon's hand tightly and took care of her like a real sister.
Watching them, Jin-woo sat in a corner seat and took a sip of bitter coffee.
The voices of the two women, chattering noisily, filled the cafe.
Da-woon didn't hesitate to kick her brother, but to Da-yeon, she was a sweet sister like no other in the world.
Jin-woo looked out the window at the darkening street.
At the company, numbers and checks were everything.
But here—
A single human voice allowed one to live through the day.
"Oppa, don't just space out, come here and help with this!"
At Da-woon's scolding, Jin-woo pretended he couldn't win and stood up.
Da-yeon watched the siblings with a gentle smile on her lips.
Between the cold work logs that had piled up countless times today—
A very warm record was being quietly left behind.
And that warm record,
someday, might become Jin-woo's weakness.
Only Jin-woo knew that.