Hyena blinked while lying down and staring at the ceiling. Every time she closed her eyes, the image of Gunwoo she’d seen at the company came to mind. 

Hair swept back without a single strand out of place, thick eyebrows below a smooth forehead, sharply gleaming eyes and a straight nose bridge, even his reddish lips.

Even compared to the male celebrities popular these days, his appearance was outstanding.

And what about his body? It was no wonder he’d risen to become the envy of female employees after just one day at work. Even she, who’d seen him her entire life, felt her heart flutter at his suited appearance, so what about the other female employees?

“Pointlessly handsome.”

Hyena clicked her tongue and rolled onto her side.

“I was the only one flinching every time our eyes met.”

Every time she saw Gunwoo’s face, completely unaffected, she felt strangely choked up. Unable to overcome the emotions that suddenly surfaced, she sat up abruptly.

“So I need to confront him.”

She got up from the bed and prepared for battle.

Gunwoo returned home around midnight. Hyena, who’d been dozing on the sofa, opened her eyes in surprise.

“What’s this? You’re awake at this hour.”

The Gunwoo saying this wasn’t much different from the morning. He hadn’t even fully adjusted to the time difference yet, but after working over 12 hours, he was perfectly fine—truly the owner of monstrous stamina.

Hyena, who’d been staring entranced at him loosening his tie, flinched. At some point, Gunwoo had been looking at her.

Feeling needlessly guilty, she hastily opened her mouth.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to our company?”

At the question thrown without preamble, Gunwoo slightly furrowed his brow.

“How could I tell you something you didn’t ask? It’s not like I read minds.”

“Even if I didn’t ask, you should have told me in advance. Then I wouldn’t have been so flustered today.”

“If I’d told you in advance, would you have been unaffected?”

It was a question she couldn’t easily answer.

“Shocks are better when they’re short.”

It sounded exactly like he was saying he’d deliberately not told her out of consideration.

“You should have at least given me time to prepare mentally.”

“You would have worried more than prepared mentally.”

Gunwoo spoke while roughly rolling up his dress shirt sleeves. The arm muscles hidden beneath the shirt wriggled, tempting Hyena. Suddenly, she recalled the feeling of those arms wrapping around her.

Arms that bound her so she couldn’t move, the hot heat she’d felt from their overlapping bodies.

Just imagining it made her mouth go dry. Hyena moistened her parched lips with her tongue.

“Right?”

At the question that shattered her thoughts, Hyena raised her gaze that had been fixed on Gunwoo’s arms. Gunwoo was staring at her intently.

For a moment, she felt embarrassed. That she’d had such thoughts during a serious conversation.

‘Yoon Hyena, get it together.’

She tried to recall the conversation they’d just had while pulling together her hazy mind. Gunwoo opened his mouth a step faster than her.

“You do your work. I’ll do mine.”

She knew that was the right answer. That what she was doing now was useless whining. But stopping wasn’t easy.

“Easy to say.”

A comment finally burst out.

“Then what should I do? Should I resign?”

Hyena’s eyes widened at the conversation that jumped without brakes.

“Tell me. I’ll do whatever you want.”

She knew he was someone who kept whatever came out of his mouth. She also knew he was someone with just as strong a sense of responsibility. That’s why the words that had just come from his mouth were even more unexpected.

“You’re saying you’d even resign because of me?”

“If you want.”

Gunwoo answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Why…”

“Because you’re worrying so much.”

She wanted to know the emotion contained in those eyes whose depth she couldn’t fathom. But she couldn’t read anything, just like always.

‘Why do you say things like that? It makes me feel like I’m someone special to you.’

She swallowed the words she couldn’t voice and spat out different ones.

“Resigning for such a reason doesn’t make sense. I only said it because I was flustered by this situation, so don’t worry about it.”

Suddenly, Gunwoo reached out his hand. Fine hair was mussed this way and that by his large hand.

“I’ll keep work and personal life clearly separate, so don’t worry and go to bed.”

Gunwoo left those words and disappeared into his room. Hyena, left alone, quietly brought her hand to her hair.

Seemingly trying to feel again the sensation that large hand had given moments ago.

The next day, when Hyena woke up, Gunwoo had already left the house.

“He asked me to eat breakfast with him, but it’s been days of neglect.”

Grumbling, Hyena checked the note.

<Make sure to eat before you leave. I’ll check after work.>

“So typical of Do Gunwoo.”

Even as she said that, Hyena ate the meal Gunwoo had prepared thoroughly and left the house.

Unlike usual, the office atmosphere was unsettled.

“What’s going on?”

Hyena asked Heejin at the next seat.

“The team leader called a meeting. Thanks to that, everyone’s on edge.”

When she turned on her laptop, there was indeed a meeting notification, just like Heejin had said.

“He came in first today too. I felt it yesterday, but I have an ominous feeling he’ll be a difficult superior.”

“We just need to do our work well.”

Even as she said that, the person most worried right now was Hyena herself. They’d have to be stuck together almost all day at home and at work—would life with him really be smooth?

A long sigh escaped Hyena’s mouth.

An hour later, a bitter wind was blowing inside the conference room.

“I truly can’t believe you’ve been working like this all this time.”

Gunwoo’s face as he spoke was rigidly hardened. For him, who usually controlled himself with a poker face on the outside, to make such an expression meant he was incredibly angry.

‘He figured all that out in just one day?’

Even Hyena, who’d made the materials after Manager Lee dumped them on her, had spent a full week on them. 

Even roughly grasping just the main points would take several days, but Gunwoo had perfectly grasped everything from the team’s past achievements to current challenges in just one day. And it wasn’t just grasping them. He’d even conceived a portfolio.

Then and now, Do Gunwoo was a monster. A chillingly inhuman monster at that.

“Ideas with nothing new at all.”

The ideas team members had agonized over and submitted were thrown onto the desk.

“Materials not properly organized.”

This time, approval documents with red underlines.

“Preliminary research woefully insufficient.”

Finally, even the file gathering related materials researched for days.

“Just how do you work to make such a mess?”

“W-well, the team leader position has been vacant for months…”

Manager Lee hastily made excuses.

“Wasn’t Manager Lee the one who took on that vacancy?”

“That’s true, but…”

“I felt it yesterday too, but the conclusion is that you’ve been handling your assigned work complacently. Am I wrong?”

“I did my best.”

“Ah, your best. Isn’t that just a fancy way to package incompetence?”

Manager Lee’s face, truly caught in a desperate situation, colored with embarrassment.

“Show me proper results, not your best. I’m not generous enough to drag along employees who complacently collect paychecks.”

The conference room fell silent. Tension so thick they couldn’t even breathe properly, and through it, Gunwoo’s voice penetrated.

“Redo the ideas by tomorrow. The messy materials will need to be revised too. As for the research materials…”

Sigh.

At the following sigh, the employees all lowered their gazes in unison. An icy gaze swept over the tops of their heads.

“I’ll take that on for now. Let’s end today’s meeting here.”

Only after Gunwoo finished speaking and left did the quiet conference room become noisy.

“Does being team leader mean everything? He’s so young, where does he get off lecturing? Ugh, I’m so disgusted I should just write my resignation.”

Even after Manager Lee, who’d vented his resentment, left his seat, employees of similar ranks gathered in small groups.

“Wow, he’s really amazing. To grasp all that in just one day.”

“It’s chilling. Honestly, our team got slack after the team leader position became vacant.”

“I feel like I’ve gone back to being a new employee. Like meeting a tough mentor again?”

Heejin shuddered and sought agreement from Hyena.

“I know.”

She’d known he was a perfectionist, but seeing Do Gunwoo in action, he was more of a monster than she’d imagined.

Hyena stared intently at the materials Gunwoo had distributed to the employees moments ago. It was a report that hit only the key points without any excess, enough to draw admiration.

Enough to see at a glance just how slack the team had become.

It was natural for the employees to be so flustered now.

How many people could grasp months of a team’s behavior in just one day? And so perfectly at that.

Through Hyena’s thoughts, someone’s voice reached her.

“Deputy Manager Park, why are you spacing out like that? Our team’s ace can’t be shocked by this much.”

Raising her head thoughtlessly, she locked eyes with Deputy Manager Park.

“No, I feel like I’ve seen the team leader somewhere before.”

Hyena, momentarily startled, lowered her gaze pretending to look at the report.

Surely he didn’t remember Do Gunwoo who’d come to pick her up that day? 

He’d covered his face so much, right? She tried to think positively, but she couldn’t stop the chill running down her spine.

“He just arrived from America a few days ago, so where? Are you alumni by any chance?”

“Not alumni. I heard he went to S University.”

“Right, that’s right. I heard that too. I think he graduated at the top of his class.”

“Graduating top of S University—isn’t that totally overpowered? With that appearance and that ability. What about ordinary people like me?”

Even as everyone made sounds of distress, Deputy Manager Park’s pondering continued.

“It’s strange. Why does he look familiar? Even his voice sounds familiar.”

Deputy Manager Park furrowed his brow, seemingly frustrated that he couldn’t recall.

“You probably saw someone who looks like him.”

“Someone who resembles that physique and that face? That person must be a celebrity. A really successful one too.”

“Can’t our team leader be a celebrity? Instead of our headache-inducing team leader.”

At someone’s joke, the conference room filled with tension was filled with laughter. Hyena was the only one who couldn’t blend into the cheerfully changed atmosphere.

Hyena, who’d come out of the conference room mixed among the dispersing employees in small groups, moved stealthily while reading the room.

With movements reminiscent of a 007 operation, she didn’t forget to check her surroundings even after reaching the emergency stairs that employees rarely visited. 

After confirming she was alone, she let out a long sigh and took out the phone she’d been clutching in her hand.

<Do>

When she pressed and held the simply saved name, a signal rang. Once, twice, three times. And click.

—Yes.

“I’m calling as Yoon Hyena, not Assistant Manager Yoon.”

—Isn’t this the company?

At the blunt voice coming through the phone, Hyena pouted. He’d said he’d keep work and personal life clearly separate, and faithfully keeping that word was so like Do Gunwoo.

“It’s an urgent matter.”

—I’m busy, so just get to the point.

“Deputy Manager Park—I mean, Deputy Manager Park Joohwan seems to remember you. That day, he saw you come to pick me up.”

—That can’t be.

His response was calm, seemingly without room for reconsideration.

Hyena blew air to dishevel her neatly arranged bangs.

“No, do you think that physique and that face are easily forgotten?”

It was fortunate that thanks to the hat, glasses, and mask, Deputy Manager Park couldn’t be certain they were the same person.

—Sounds like a compliment.

Gunwoo’s voice penetrated her complicated mind.

“Now’s not the time to be saying such leisurely things. I’m telling you Deputy Manager Park seems to recognize you.”

—Are you that concerned about Deputy Manager Park?

The question was flustering.

“It’s not like that…”

—Not like that?

“Actually, I told Deputy Manager Park you were my cousin.”

Hyena confessed honestly.

—Cousin?

She imagined his expressionless face with raised eyebrows.

“Well, that day we were living together and whatnot, making a spectacle, so I couldn’t just say you were my mom’s friend’s son.”

—You cause the problem and I clean it up?

It was annoying how he pointed it out specifically.

“If you think about it, this is all because of you. Why did you come pick me up and create this mess?”

—You’re right. Now that I hear it, I was wrong. I should have ignored you whether you grabbed just anyone while drunk and threw a tantrum.

“…”

—Or should I have left you to your boyfriend?

At the added comment, her mouth went dry. The existence of her boyfriend, which she’d completely forgotten, caught her ankle again.

—Come to think of it, it’s strange. Your girlfriend drank enough to black out, but her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen…

His cool voice lodged right in her ear.

“H-he went on a business trip.”

Hyena made excuses without realizing it. An eon-like time passed before Gunwoo’s answer came.

—Ah… a business trip.

“Ahem. Now’s not the time to leisurely have this conversation.”

Hyena hastily changed the subject.

“You don’t want to be associated with me at the company either, so let’s cooperate so our relationship absolutely isn’t discovered…”

—Don’t worry about me, you be careful. I’m not the one whose emotions show all over their face.

Hit right on the mark, she couldn’t refute, and Gunwoo added more.

—Now go in and earn your salary. Assistant Manager Yoon.

Staring blankly at the phone that disconnected immediately, Hyena gritted her teeth.

“Fine, this time I’ll really give you the cold shoulder. Do. Gun. Woo.”

Clear determination showed in her brown eyes.

***

Idea meetings continued day after day. Most were rejected, but when a good idea occasionally came out, Gunwoo’s praise followed.

Praise in name only—in reality, it was just one simple evaluation comment.

‘This is usable. Let’s push forward with it.’

The problem was that the faint smile he made while saying those words drove people crazy. Since he usually only showed a rigid appearance with such a poker face, when he smiled like that, it made the person being praised feel like they’d accomplished something great. 

Was this what perfect synergy meant?

Gunwoo was unintentionally being evaluated as a team leader who perfectly wielded the carrot and stick.

He was equal to all employees, but there was one exception—and that was Hyena.

He’d only told her to be careful not to let their relationship be discovered, but when dealing with Hyena, Gunwoo was truly like the Siberian plains. The cold wind blew so fiercely that employees felt sorry for Hyena.

‘You really got on his bad side. They say first impressions are important—what are you going to do now?’

How bad must it have been for Heejin to say such things?