Choi Woojin cleverly sent me a picture of Kwon Ikseong personally picking up food at the handmade burger joint and a picture of me entering the office holding a milkshake from that same brand.
If he thought he could blackmail me with this—
I’ll have an Iced Vanilla Latte. Extra whipped cream.
…He thought correctly.
I’ve been completely blackmailed.
Feeling defeated, I ordered my menu.
Soon, Choi Woojin came into the Special Task Force office carrying coffees from the trendy brand White Bottle, buying one for everyone who was working overtime.
Isn’t that the brand where a cup of coffee costs over 20,000 won…?
“Hello. Everyone, come grab a coffee.”
“…When did you go and buy all this…?”
Baek Sangjin was about to speak informally but switched to polite language.
It was a remark deeply conscious of the fact that Choi Woojin was Choi Jungu’s grandson.
Even though he used informal language with me from the moment we first met.
‘…This dirty capitalist world.’
“Ah? I skipped dinner because I do intermittent fasting, so I just went to Cheongdam-dong and bought coffee instead.”
To think he’s getting through working overtime by substituting dinner with coffee from a Cheongdam-dong coffee shop.
Saying that, he spun a car key, said to be worth the price of a house, on his finger.
As if possessed by that sight, Byeon Gudo picked up a coffee and bowed his head.
“Thank you. Hahaha. To think you’d even consider lowly investigators like us. As expected, built different, built different.”
Byeon Gudo wasn’t much different from Baek Sangjin either. It was at a level where his head might touch the floor at this rate.
It was then.
The exact moment Byeon Gudo was about to put his hand on the Iced Vanilla Latte among the numerous Americanos.
With elegant hand movements, Choi Woojin smoothly snatched the Iced Vanilla Latte and held it out to me.
“Ah. This one is for our Investigator Lee Yuji.”
“…?”
At those words, everyone looked at me.
It was understandable.
Because for the rest, the menu had been uniformly unified to Iced Americano without asking or questioning.
Avoiding the burdensome gazes of the team members, I smiled awkwardly and accepted the Iced Vanilla Latte.
“Thank you. Administrator.”
“There’s no need to thank me. Investigator Lee Yuji has done much more for me, after all.”
Saying that, Choi Woojin pointed to the bridge of his nose, where the gauze had been replaced by a band-aid.
Watching this, Pi Sowon intervened.
“Youngest.”
“…Yes?”
I subconsciously responded to that title, but I wasn’t the one Pi Sowon called.
“…Me?”
“Then is there a younger punk than you here? Whether you look at seniority or age, aren’t you the youngest?”
“Ah… is that so?”
As always, Pi Sowon’s eyes looked languid as if a screw were loose, which made her scary because you never knew what she’d do next, but even in front of such a Pi Sowon, Choi Woojin just smiled brightly, his face completely devoid of fear.
“From now on, during working hours, bringing things like this…….”
I thought she was going to say ‘Don’t bring them’.
However—
“If you’re going to bring some, check the menu for all employees before bringing them.”
…?
Pi Sowon continued speaking without relaxing the intensity in her eyes.
So there was a momentary cognitive dissonance between her words and her expression.
Pi Sowon looked at the others and said.
“You all heard that, right? Since our youngest is graciously going to be our coffee shuttle using his personal card from now on, order your coffee from the youngest. Morning. Lunch. And evening.”
Saying that, she stared quietly at Choi Woojin.
Only then did I roughly understand the meaning of Pi Sowon’s words.
This was how she was saying she would exclude him from work.
It meant, ‘You just stick to running coffee errands’.
However, Choi Woojin grinned as if he didn’t care much and said.
“Wow. That sounds good? People need some coffee in them to get energized, after all.”
I frowned for a moment watching their psychological warfare before returning to my seat.
I don’t want to get intensely involved in that kind of psychological warfare.
It was when I was thinking that and trying to sit down.
Pi Sowon called me.
“Ah, and you have to go to the Hunter Administration Bureau tomorrow, so get ready, partner.”
“…Me?”
Why me.
To the place where those high-and-mighty higher-ups of the Hunter Administration Bureau are?
It was when I was standing there dumbfounded with those thoughts.
“You’re my partner, aren’t you?”
Saying that, Pi Sowon subtly glared at the Iced Vanilla Latte I was holding.
“You are mine. So you have to listen to me, right?”
Pi Sowon smiled faintly as she said that, and when a smile formed on her face, which usually defaulted to a blank expression, goosebumps broke out all over my body.
* * *
However, whether looking at seniority or age, and above all! looking at money, I was unmistakably the maknae, so I had no choice but to do as the Team Leader ordered.
‘Choi Woojin, Kwon Ikseong, there are just too many people targeting my partner.’
A moment ago, Pi Sowon had grumbled as she handed me the car keys.
It’s true they’re both targeting me, but I don’t think it’s that kind of targeting.
‘Do you think Kwon Ikseong will treat you well if you join Team 1? I’m telling you, he subtly has a knack for cornering people.’
Is that really just Ikseong’s problem, though?
I became doubtful, but Pi Sowon’s clinginess didn’t end there.
‘Are you going to go if they tell you to come in and they’ll make another special department for you when you go to the Hunter Administration Bureau?’
No, if you’re that anxious, you could just not send me?
‘The Bureau Director said you absolutely have to come.’
Ugh.
I furrowed my brow recalling the Bureau Director, who had continuously snapped photos with a good-natured face the last time I saw him.
It was then.
‘I know you love money so you rolled around in a uniform in the front yard of the HIB and stuff, but—’ ‘T-t-t-t-t-t-t-that waaaas!’
My nostrils flaring at my dark past, I tried to rebel, but Pi Sowon continued speaking.
‘Are you going to crawl into the tiger’s den just because they offer a bit more money? You’re already firmly stamped as an HIB person anyway, so even if you go, you’ll just be treated as a rolling stone.’
Watching Pi Sowon grumble to the very end, I tilted my head.
‘By any chance….’
‘What by any chance.’
‘Are you still afraid I might change jobs?’
‘….’
‘Because you’re afraid you won’t be able to find another partner like me?’
At my words, Pi Sowon’s face completely hardened.
That reaction brought an automatic smile to my face.
‘Eyy. You’re too jealous.’
‘…You…!’
‘Hehe. Then I’ll be off!’
To think the great Pi Sowon liked me this much.
I’ll have to tease her more next time.
As I drove while smiling brightly, Ji Wongil, who was in the passenger seat, asked.
“Is there something exciting?”
Ah, right.
Ji Wongil was here.
This guy hitched a ride in the official vehicle I was driving, saying he had something to report to the Bureau.
“No, just…. But what are you reporting to the Bureau?”
As expected, is he going to leak the Special Task Force’s actions to the Bureau Director’s side?
Is that why you were dispatched heeeeere!
Was Choi Woojin planted by Choi Jungu for that reason too?
No, but is Choi Woojin the kind of person to just be planted simply because Choi Jungu plants him?
And regardless of how well Choi Woojin used his tricks in the original work, currently, the setting is that Choi Woojin has taken a leave of absence from his status as a student studying abroad and returned to Korea.
‘Yet he causes trouble like that despite that status….’
If you plant someone like that in the Hunter Administration Bureau, isn’t it obvious that our side would be on guard?
Did Choi Jungu really make such a sloppy move? It’s hard to believe.
“Well. I suppose he wants to gauge the mood of the Special Task Force?”
It was when I was having such thoughts.
Ji Wongil gave an expected answer.
“And he’ll probably tell me to sound out Choi Woojin too.”
“Choi Woojin?”
When I asked, Ji Wongil scratched his forehead looking somewhat tired.
“The ones who planted Choi Woojin were the Hunter Association side. The Bureau Director originally only planned to plant me in this team, but Choi Woojin suddenly tagged along—”
Ji Wongil trailed off, but I could roughly guess the rest of his sentence.
Meaning, even the Bureau Director doesn’t know why Choi Woojin was suddenly planted there.
“That must be doubly annoying.”
“It is, but what can you do. If they tell you to do it, you do it. We’re civil servants, aren’t we?”
A place where this entire dog-awful situation can be explained by the magic word ‘civil servant’.
Don’t ask for reasons, just do as you’re told for now.
A place where that works.
Haha. The beauty of bureaucracy.
It was when I was having such thoughts.
My phone rang with a vibrating sound.
Iced Vanilla Latte again today? Should I add drizzle to the whipped cream too?
…Choi Woojin, who was serious about coffee errands, and—
I have decided on salmon sushi for today’s menu. Although it ranked high on the list of menus preferred by women, I understand that preferences regarding seafood can vary, so I am inquiring in advance.
…Successive messages from Kwon Ikseong, leaving me unable to tell whether he’s serious about dating or serious about tracking down the Gamer.
Seriously, where is my life heading?
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