Work piled up from early morning. Thanks to that, she could escape a bit from the many thoughts floating through her mind. For her, it was very fortunate.

She was checking materials with more care than usual when a grating voice reached her ears.

“Assistant Manager Yoon.”

At Manager Lee’s summons, like that of the grim reaper, Hyena let out an inconspicuous sigh. She worried about what fault he’d find to torment her with today.

“Yes, Manager.”

Unlike her true feelings, her answer came out refreshingly.

“Can I see you for a moment?”

Hyena, who’d equipped her business smile, stood up from her seat. When she approached Manager Lee’s desk, he gestured at it with his eyes.

The three characters that read <Contract> caught her eye first.

“What’s this?”

“What else? It’s the bet we made yesterday, written up.”

For a moment, she thought she’d heard wrong. She couldn’t understand why he’d bother documenting a bet made at a company dinner.

Whether her emotions showed on her face, Manager Lee added an explanation.

“It’s better to make everything clear. I’ve signed it, so Assistant Manager Yoon should read it and sign too.”

It was absurd, but she didn’t object. She’d learned through experience that one word could come back multiplied.

In the end, she skimmed through it roughly and signed both sheets of paper containing identical content in turn.

She grabbed one sheet and was about to return to her seat when—

“Since you’re already here, Assistant Manager Yoon, clean the team leader’s office.”

Unexpected words reached her ears.

“Pardon?”

“I went in earlier and it was a mess.”

She’d watched him harass the cleaning lady all morning, being picky about cleanliness, and now he was saying it was a mess. Something smelled fishy.

“You want me to do that?”

“Assistant Manager Yoon is so neat.”

Her brow furrowed involuntarily. She’d seen people who made messes and were told not to clean, but this was the first time someone asked her to clean because she was neat.

“The new team leader will be here soon, and we have our department’s image to think about. That state is a bit much, right? So Assistant Manager Yoon…”

The irritation surging up made Hyena involuntarily cut off Manager Lee’s words.

“I don’t think that’s my job.”

“There’s no ‘my job, your job.’ Someone who can do it just does it.”

Coming from Manager Lee, the most idle person in the office, those words had no persuasiveness at all.

‘Then you should do it, Manager. You look very free.’

Her blatant true feelings showed on her face. She only regretted not being able to say it out loud.

“I have urgent matters to handle right now. Documents to pass to other departments, and materials you asked for, Manager…”

She deliberately put an accent on the latter part, but Manager Lee didn’t care.

“Just clean it quickly and then do that. Don’t you have enough experience by now?”

“I’m really sorry, but what I’m doing now is time-sensitive.”

It was true. She didn’t have time to leisurely waste emotions like this.

“Then I’ll return to my seat.”

Hyena, who’d spoken firmly, turned around. A crooked voice followed her back.

“This is why kids these days don’t work out. When a superior tells you to do something, you should say yes and move quickly, but why do they have so many excuses? In our time, we couldn’t even imagine such a thing.”

At that d*mn “back in my day” story that appeared whenever she’d forgotten about it, a sigh escaped involuntarily.

‘Should I just snap back at him?’

When her internal conflict reached its limit, a decisive comment reached her ears.

“Women should have a gentle touch. Being so stiff, would men like that? Assistant Manager Yoon, that conviction or whatever about not having office romance—it all comes from that calculation, doesn’t it?”

The thread of reason she’d been holding onto with difficulty snapped.

Hyena turned around, blowing air to dishevel her neatly arranged bangs.

“Men should have some substance too.”

At the unexpected retort, Manager Lee’s face instantly hardened.

“What? Are you saying that for me to hear?”

“Why are you getting so worked up? I’m protecting you, Manager.”

“What? Protecting?”

“You know there’s a lot of noise about workplace s*xual harassment these days, right? I understand Manager’s true intentions, but other people might not think that way.”

“Making things up. What did I even do?”

“Exactly. The world is so cold.”

When she argued point by point with a beaming smile, Manager Lee couldn’t say anything and just coughed awkwardly.

“But Manager, I think you should be a bit more careful. Sometimes your words go too far. Enough that even I, who understand your heart well, might misunderstand.”

“Ahem. You’re taking it too far.”

“Then I’ll really go handle that urgent matter and finish the materials you asked for, Manager.”

The smile from moments ago couldn’t be found on Hyena’s face as she nodded and turned around. Walking back to her seat, Hyena vigorously raised the middle finger of her right hand at an angle Manager Lee couldn’t see.

Even if her work life became more difficult because of this, she had no regrets. It truly felt like ten years of indigestion had cleared.

Hyena, who’d safely returned to her seat, pretended not to notice Manager Lee’s gaze glaring at her persistently and began concentrating on work again.

“Yes, I just sent the materials. There were a couple of mistakes, so I corrected them. The corrected parts are marked, so please check once more. Yes. Yes.”

After finishing the call with the sales department employee, Hyena sank deep into her chair. Staring at the monitor without moving for two hours had been killer.

“Ah, my blood sugar’s dropping.”

She muttered weakly and habitually opened her drawer. But the snacks that should have been there weren’t visible. She rummaged through the drawer diligently, hoping maybe one remained, then closed it with a clack.

She remembered eating the last chocolate bar before going to the company dinner yesterday.

Hyena glared at Manager Lee’s seat. The root cause of all this was, as always, leisurely looking at his phone after passing his work to subordinates.

‘He’s probably obsessed with stocks.’

“I hope he loses big.”

Hyena, who’d muttered quietly, stood up from her seat. To go buy snacks that would help her forget harsh reality.

She was filling a basket with her favorites at the first-floor convenience store when her phone vibrated. It was from Heejin.

‘She always has good timing for food.’

Grinning, she brought the phone to her ear.

“Yeah.”

—Where are you?

“Convenience store. Should I buy you some—”

—Come quickly. The new team leader’s here.

“What? He said he’d come in the afternoon.”

—I don’t know. Manager Lee’s looking for you like crazy, so come quickly. Quickly.

After hanging up, she was dumbfounded. Leaving her seat was wrong, but she couldn’t understand why they were looking for her so urgently.

‘What is this ominous feeling?’

Hyena, who’d been tilting her head and walking toward the register, hesitated.

“Ah, the materials.”

She remembered she hadn’t yet passed the materials for the new team leader to Manager Lee.

“I’m screwed.”

Hyena, who’d voiced her thoughts out loud, left the entire basket with the employee and rushed out of the convenience store.

When she arrived at the office, panting with breath rising to her chin, the first thing she saw was Manager Lee, unusually flustered. A tall man stood in front of him.

‘Is that person the new team leader? Judging by how Manager Lee’s flustered, it must be.’

She’d only seen his back, but it was completely different from her imagination.

‘If he’s a capable, handsome young team leader, good luck with that.’

She recalled what her mom had said on the phone a few days ago and tried to sneak back to her seat when—

“Ah, Assistant Manager Yoon.”

The devil’s voice stopped her. Hyena creakily raised her head.

“Bring the materials I asked you for earlier.”

She was dumbfounded at the honorific speech she was hearing for the first time since meeting Manager Lee. It was a moment that revealed Manager Lee’s character—strong to the weak, weak to the strong.

‘But materials he asked for? Who painstakingly made it from start to finish, caring about every single word? Should I just not give it to him?’

Internal conflict arose briefly, but she couldn’t do that. This wasn’t just Manager Lee’s personal problem but the entire team’s problem.

In the end, Hyena, who’d sided with reason, reluctantly answered.

“Yes.”

The materials she’d suffered to create for days passed into Manager Lee’s hands.

“Here are the materials you requested.”

Manager Lee respectfully presented the materials he’d received from Hyena to the man presumed to be the new team leader with both hands.

‘He’ll definitely say he made that himself, right?’

Thinking her effort would go to Manager Lee of all people made her feel a bit wronged. So she couldn’t return to her seat and just stared at the new team leader’s hands as he received the materials.

The hand that had been flipping through several pages in succession stopped.

“The explanations are too long and detailed.”

A pleasant low tone, perfect pronunciation. A voice she could distinguish immediately anywhere was definitely Do Gunwoo’s. She’d heard it almost her entire life—there was no way she couldn’t recognize that voice.

She tried to avoid reality, thinking it was just someone with a remarkably similar voice, when the man who’d been standing with his back turned around. Hyena’s mouth fell open.

Do Gunwoo stood before her eyes. Unlike the shocked Hyena, Gunwoo didn’t show even the slightest disturbance.

“Reports should be brief, just the main points. Don’t you know such basics?”

The harshly pouring criticism didn’t register in her ears. How could he be so unaffected? She was newly impressed by Do Gunwoo’s poker face.

“Did you make these materials?”

At the question directed at her, Hyena finally came to her senses.

“Pardon? Yes.”

“Your name?”

“I’m Assistant Manager Yoon Hyena.”

Hyena deliberately stated her name clearly while straightening her chest so the employee ID dangling at her chest would be visible to Gunwoo. Gunwoo’s lips, which had glanced at the ID, rose slightly.

Even if others didn’t know, Hyena could clearly perceive that change. She’d seen Do Gunwoo’s face almost her entire life.

‘What, did he know in advance?’

Suspicion with basis swelled. But she couldn’t know the truth right now.

“An assistant manager, not even a trainee, can’t write a proper report?”

Sharp criticism poured out. Manager Lee, who’d been quietly listening to Gunwoo’s words from the side, slyly interjected.

“Right, Assistant Manager Yoon. I told you repeatedly. Reports should be written simply. Listen to what I say. It’s all advice that becomes part of you.”

Manager Lee’s lips twitched as he said this.

It was a moment to personally experience the saying that the sister-in-law who stops the fight is more hateful than the mother-in-law who hits.

“Entrusting something this important to an assistant manager who hasn’t been here long. I must have looked easy.”

Unable to even meet the cold gaze pouring toward him, Manager Lee mumbled excuses.

“Pardon? That couldn’t be. I had too many things to handle as acting team leader, so I only asked her to finish it up…”

“So you’re saying the framework itself was wrong from the start. You must have thought you could do a sloppy job because your superior is young.”

Manager Lee’s face, who’d dug his own grave, turned ashen. But that wasn’t the end.

“I’ll receive a report on everything you’ve done as acting team leader until now. Since you did the work yourself, an hour should be enough to organize it, right?”

“Ah, Team Leader—”

“Let’s meet in my office in an hour.”

Gunwoo left those words and entered the team leader’s office. Manager Lee sent an SOS to Hyena with pitiful eyes.

“Assistant Manager Yoon, you’ll help, right?”

“You just heard. I’m an assistant manager who can’t even write reports properly. Manager, who can write them perfectly, should set an example.”

Hyena left those words and exited the office. She needed something to calm her confused mind. Like the snacks she’d left at the convenience store moments ago.

At lunchtime, the hot topic was naturally the newly appointed team leader.

“We’ll really feast our eyes from now on.”

“I know, right? Like an elegant orchid growing in a field of weeds.”

“Coming to work will be worthwhile.”

Everyone chimed in with a comment, but only Hyena was quiet.

“Why is Assistant Manager Yoon so quiet today? Don’t tell me it’s because the team leader scolded you?”

“It was too much on the first day.”

“…”

“But watching Manager Lee get it was totally satisfying.”

Ha ha, ho ho. Hyena, who’d been quietly listening to the female employees’ endless conversation about how good things were, carefully asked Heejin sitting next to her.

“How did they say the new team leader’s hiring route went?”

“Are you finally interested?”

If the new team leader weren’t Do Gunwoo, she honestly wouldn’t be interested even now. But she felt she should at least roughly know what the situation was.

Hyena hid her true feelings and nodded. Only then did Heejin begin to spill information.

“He was the person in charge on their side during the last joint project.”

‘Ah, of all things?’

“Originally the vice president was supposed to handle the contract, but he took it over due to unavoidable circumstances. Just a few days before the project started too.”

“And then?”

Hyena urged.

“It became a huge hit. Executive Director Han, who’s famous for being picky, picked him right away. Rumor has it he even visited three times to recruit him?”

It was very like Heejin, who was known as the company’s information network.

“But I didn’t know he’d be so young. I thought at most he’d be a year or two younger than Manager Lee.”

“By appearance, doesn’t he look over twenty years younger?”

‘Do Gunwoo looks younger than he is, but it’s actually exactly a 10-year difference.’

Through the thoughts that arose naturally, another female employee’s voice could be heard.

“Manager Lee must be burning up inside. Even a year or two younger would hurt his pride, but there’s an even bigger gap.”

Hyena let out a small laugh. She wanted to shout that there was someone whose insides were burning more than Manager Lee’s right here.

“Really. Can you already smell something delicious?”

Among the female employees who’d entered full-scale Manager Lee bashing mode, only Hyena couldn’t laugh.

Hyena, who’d dragged her tired body home, jumped onto the bed still in her clothes. She was physically and mentally exhausted.

In the morning, the disaster of waking up in the same bed as Gunwoo. In the afternoon, the unbelievable event of him being appointed as team leader.

Unable to escape from the successive shocks, her mind was still dazed.