Pig Government Official

-27-

Secretary Oh held back a sigh as he looked at the approval documents that had remained unchanged since earlier. He had always respected his boss, who was charismatic, never deviated from plans, and was perfect in everything from work to personal life. But lately, he sometimes doubted if this was the same person he knew, and occasionally… he couldn’t help but sigh.

The day before yesterday, his boss had suddenly asked to be taught how to use Instagram. Yesterday, he went down to the cafe a full 10 minutes early after arriving at work. Others might think 10 minutes isn’t much, but Won Junjae’s 10 minutes were different from others. In those 10 minutes, Won Junjae could make and handle more than five major decisions with his extraordinary mind and power. The Won Junjae he knew until now never wasted even a single minute.

But he spent those 10 minutes not working, just watching Kim Jeonggwan make cakes. Others thought Won Junjae was really going there to use his phone or rest, as he didn’t spend much time looking up at Kim Jeonggwan. However, Secretary Oh, who had been by Won Junjae’s side for six years, could tell immediately. All of Won Junjae’s attention was focused there.

“Director, I need your approval for the wearable line.”

“…Ah.”

Today was the same. Since seeing Kim Jeonggwan in the morning, Won Junjae had taken out his tablet, which he had never used for anything other than work, and was on Instagram. At first, Secretary Oh guessed he was looking at Kim Jeonggwan’s Instagram because he saw him biting his lip a few times, but now it seemed it wasn’t Kim Jeonggwan’s. He was curious about who he was looking at, but he couldn’t go over and peek, so he just assumed it was someone from Won Junjae’s personal phone contacts. However, as time passed, the way he furrowed his brows made it clear he was looking at someone related to Kim Jeonggwan. Lately, only Kim Jeonggwan could make Won Junjae’s mood fluctuate like this.

Won Junjae picked up the approval documents and examined each item, but he kept glancing at the tablet. His face showed that something was really bothering him, even though he wasn’t saying anything. Secretary Oh, who had tried to pretend not to notice, finally approached Won Junjae.

“Director, is there a problem?”

“…”

Won Junjae’s gaze flickered briefly to Secretary Oh before returning to the approval documents. Usually, such a glance meant his mood wasn’t good, but it wasn’t something for Secretary Oh to worry about, implying he shouldn’t interfere with his business. Secretary Oh slightly bowed his head and took a step back. It seemed it wasn’t as serious as he thought…

“Find out who TAE_GEON_J is.”

“Pardon…?”

“How and where they met Kim Jeonggwan, and how close they are.”

“…”

“Also, where they are now and what they’re doing.”

It was more serious than he thought. Although his boss often had a bad temper, this was the first time Secretary Oh had seen him look so sensitive and urgent. He almost nodded unconsciously before catching himself and responding with a short, “Yes.” However, Won Junjae seemed too on edge to pay attention to such small actions.

By the way, Taegeon? This was a name Secretary Oh had never heard before. Was it a new acquaintance of Kim Jeonggwan? Or an ex-lover? But if it was an ex-lover, it was someone he had never heard of when investigating Kim Jeonggwan’s background. In any case, he needed to quickly find out about this person to satisfy his irritated boss’s curiosity and improve his mood so they could get back to the piling work. With this in mind, Secretary Oh left Won Junjae’s office.

“So it’s you today, Taegeon J.” Secretary Oh thought as he sat at his desk in the secretary’s office and opened PowerPoint.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jeonggwan couldn’t stop giggling at how smoothly things were progressing, beyond his expectations. And Jihoon, who had left work with Jeonggwan and had been watching the situation unfold from the beginning, was holding his cheeks in astonishment, like Munch’s “The Scream.”

The events unfolded like this:

“Today’s perfect for gop-tteok.”

“That gop-tteok again. Let’s go. Come on.”

Jeonggwan had been obsessed with gop-tteok for months, constantly asking Jihoon to go eat it. Today, they finally went together. When the food arrived, Jeonggwan took a photo as usual and posted it on Instagram, and that’s when it all started.

Ding-

[TAE_GEON_J liked your photo]

“Damn. Did he turn on notifications for my posts? He liked it right away.”

“I told you he’d come looking soon. You should’ve seen his eyes back then.”

“No way. He’ll just keep lurking like this…”

Ding-

[TAE_GEON_J commented on your post]

Jeonggwan and Jihoon froze with their chopsticks raised, staring at the phone’s preview screen. What did he comment? A comment? Jihoon was the first to break the silence. “Hey! Come on! Quick, open it!” he exclaimed, shaking his hands excitedly. Jeonggwan unconsciously put down his chopsticks, swallowed hard, and opened his Instagram app.

[Pig_goeni – I wonder how long the iron rice pot of the person who thought of eating gopchang and tteokbokki together is. #LearnedPerson]

(Comment)

TAE_GEON_J – You said you only eat salt-grilled gopchang when I suggested it before

Jung Taegeon, for whatever reason, boldly left the very first comment on Jeonggwan’s Instagram post. And it was full of memories, saying “Remember when we…”. Jihoon was hitting Jeonggwan’s arm repeatedly, exclaiming “Oh my! Oh my!” like a trot singer, while Jeonggwan was momentarily stunned.

Wait… How many years ago is this guy bringing up?

It was a story from five years ago. But Jeonggwan was surprised at himself for remembering it so vividly. Five years ago, when they were in the midst of their innocent romance. Although Jeonggwan was chubby, he wasn’t the type to eat just anything. His taste was so picky and sensitive that when Taegeon suggested, “Shall we go to this restaurant?”, Jeonggwan would reject it two out of three times.

‘How can you eat patjuk with rice cakes? Patjuk should have kalguksu noodles!’

‘Then I’ll look for a patjuk place that uses kalguksu noodles.’

‘I heard a famous dumpling place opened in the neighborhood the other day. Shall we go there?’

‘You think I haven’t been there already?’

‘A gopchang and tteokbokki place opened next to the academy. Have you tried it? They serve gopchang and tteokbokki together. You like both, so shall we go there?’

‘Gopchang should be salt-grilled. Who eats it with tteokbokki sauce!’

No, he rejected it three out of three times.

“He remembers.”

But he remembered it. Both Jung Taegeon and himself. Jeonggwan felt strange and considered deleting the comment. This was partly why he didn’t want to accept the follow request. He didn’t want old memories to resurface. Some might say it’s not a big deal to remember a childhood romance, but the power of first love was great. And since the handsome and fit Jung Taegeon was his first love, those memories were even more powerful.

“It’s love-hate. Love-hate.”

I should delete the comment. Jeonggwan slid Taegeon’s comment to the side without hesitation, intending to delete it. Just as he was about to press the trash can button,

[1_WonJunjae liked your photo]

Won Junjae had pressed the heart button.

“Eek!”

Jihoon screamed in a frenzy as soon as he saw it, while Jeonggwan quickly moved his finger away from the trash can button and pressed the reply button next to it. Tap tap. Jeonggwan, who had replied to Taegeon, laughed mischievously. This might get a response faster than expected.

He didn’t expect Won Junjae to see the recent post so quickly. Isn’t he supposed to be working right now? He really does love me, huh? Oh, it’s burdensome. Jeonggwan shook his head and put down his phone.

Jihoon shook Jeonggwan’s arm, asking what he was going to do, how he would handle this.

“What do you mean, what? Let’s eat first. The tteok is getting soggy.”

“…Is tteok important right now?”

Jihoon looked at Jeonggwan with slight contempt, as if to say, “You’re only thinking about eating even in this situation?” Jeonggwan, having received such looks from Jihoon countless times before, retorted without the slightest hesitation.

“There’s a famous actor’s quote, you know.”

“…Suddenly?”

“He almost got married when bread would have sufficed.”

“…And? What does that have to do with this…?”

“It means flour is the best. Better than love. Flour comes first.”

“What nonsense… Really…”

But Jihoon’s words were cut short. Jeonggwan was already inhaling the long tteok like noodles. Jihoon picked up the scissors and cut it in the middle. If he hadn’t, Kim Jeonggwan might have eaten all the endlessly long tteok by himself.

“By the way, what did you reply?”

“Mmm… Just.”

“Just?”

“I said I should have tried it back then.”

TAE_GEON_J – You said you only eat salt-grilled gopchang when I suggested it before

└ Pig_goeni – Yeah, if I had known it was this delicious, I should have tried it back then

Ding-

Pig_goeni – Yeah, if I had known it was this delicious, I should have tried it back then

└ TAE_GEON_J – Want to go eat it?