Secretly Meeting With My Boss

What's wrong… with him?

As soon as her smile was about to disappear from So-young's face, Taekyung returned to his familiar smile as if he hadn't acted strangely. Then, without hesitation, he took a big step.

"Sorry for being late."

Participants' attention was focused on Taekyung. He approached Mark and asked for a handshake in a fairly friendly manner. Both hands held together moved vigorously up and down.

"Good morning, Mark. How are things? When was the last time we met?"

"Townhall conference, I guess. Everything was pretty good. How about you?"

"Couldn't be better. So…… I believe So-young has given you a great presentation."

"Yes, right. It was really helpful."

Taekyung and Mark's eyes were on Soyoung. Mark smiled at her and nodded gently. So-young dyed her cheeks red and returned her thanks. Taekyung still opened his mouth, keeping his eyes fixed on her.

"I'm sure this collaboration will be the first step for our big success."

Thus, the meeting resumed in earnest. Taekyung led the negotiations with a confident attitude.

So-young, who did her part, felt a little exhausted and rubbed her cold hands under the desk. Her whole body was drowsy and her fingertips trembled as she relaxed.

"Good job."

Taking advantage of the disturbance of a few minutes, Taekyung, sitting next to Soyoung, lowered his upper body obliquely. Then he whispered in a small voice enough to be heard only by her.

"I don't think I properly evaluated your capabilities."

"…Thank you."

Why does the team leader's compliment make me so excited?

So-young bowed her head and returned her clumsy greeting to Taekyung. Her ears were red under her slightly tangled hair because she was busy moving around from morning.

* * *

The meeting, which was feared, ended safely with the desired results. The conditions for collaboration were adjusted in favor of CH Electronics, and partners also expressed their willingness to actively support it.

So-young was completely exhausted at the end of the day. The nerves, which were sharped all day, were tattered, and only the desire to be relaxed was left. When dinner, which had been boring with corporate people, was over, she wanted to shout with a cheer.

"Great job today, everyone."

The hotel was not far from the dinner place. The three people who got off the taxi faced each other. Deputy General Manager Shin scratched the back of his head at what Taekyung said with a smile.

“The hard work was done by the team leader. Anyway, I'm glad it was worth flying so far. I will organize the minutes so that you can review them by morning.”

"I'm not cold-blooded enough to urge you to work overtime on a day like today. Let's wrap it up tomorrow. Rather than that…."

Taekyung, who checked his wristwatch, mumbled a hmm and started talking.

"It's been a long time since we finished our work and it's still early in the evening, so shall we have a drink? It's a small after-party between us."

Taekyung usually did not host the company dinner unless there was a clear reason, and he did not hold private drinking parties with people. Both Deputy General Manager Shin and So-young opened their eyes wide at the unexpected suggestion. How he interpreted such a reaction, he added with a smile.

"Of course, I'm not forcing you."

"Sure."

Deputy General Manager Shin, who likes to drink, raised his hand with a bright smile. Even if it was not necessarily because of alcohol, he was not the type to miss the opportunity to drink with Taekyung. Taekyung turned to Soyoung.

"If you're tired, you can go in and rest."

"I…"

It was a strange thing. So-young was tired to death, and from the moment she finished her work, she just wanted to go back to her room and sleep. But… she didn't feel like rejecting Taekyung's proposal.

Soyoung eventually nodded.

"I'll join you."

The three-headed straight to the lounge in the hotel lobby. It was a weekday evening, so the inside of the bar was quiet, and innovative interiors and decent selection created a fairly plausible atmosphere. The three people sitting at the table ordered whiskey, beer, and glass wine to suit their tastes.

Taekyung opened his mouth lightly, touching the whiskey glass.

"I think it ended well thanks to you two doing better than expected. I think the superiors will be quite satisfied if I go back and report it.”

"No, thanks to the team leader's active support.”

Deputy General Manager Shin returned his humble greeting to Taekyung's compliment, but he could not hide his emotional expression. Perhaps because he made mistakes several times before, it seemed even more emotional.