CH 27

“Hah, I finally got the date for the meeting!”

The man who had just hung up the call raised his two arms up and cheered. His yells were filled with joy and the employees, who were busy working under the partition, turned their heads towards him one by one.

“Oh, finally? Congratulations Assistant Manager Kim.

“They’re so arrogant. What kind of meeting date takes this long to be finalized?”

“Don’t get me started on how often he said he was busy. Even being incredibly indecisive…”

“Good job Mr. Gyeongwoo. Make sure to contact the Team Leader.”

“I’ll see him when he clocks in.”

The man called Min Gyeongwoo, turned his upper half to the person sitting next to him after grumbling about the caller for a long time. He had a gruff expression but his lips couldn’t hide the smile threatening to spill out.

“It’s on the 28th. Youngwoo, I’ll make sure to inform the Team Leader, so prepare the documents and you can come with me. Although it’s a Korean branch, since it’s the main one in Asia it would be better if you could get a rough list of affiliated reporters. We have to decide whether their Asian representative will take the initiative to plan separately or whether we’ll do it by topic like before. Since it’s our first meeting let’s just go with a light sketch.”

“Yes, sir.”

Seo Youngwoo answered quickly and began to skim through the files with a busy hand. This was good news since they had been dragging out their own schedule for a while now due to the noncompliance from the TPA correspondents’ side. Once they get the in-person meeting over with, the work speed would definitely increase. There was a lot he had to prepare for.

His heart fluttered when he remembered the last Waiton photo exhibition that ended successfully. It was an opportunity to be in the spotlight once more. If possible, he wished to start and end it in a cool manner.

In a bid to spread the good news, he grabbed his phone but quickly came to a halt. He had typed out Kim Taejung’s number without realizing.

“…”

The unconcealable anxiety was evident on his face. Unlike the last Waiton, this TPA was a news agency affiliated with Ha Joyoon. He was mainly active in the Middle East civil war, so he may not be part of the Asia branch office. Still, the fact that he was directly affiliated with the place made it different.

He knew it wasn’t his activity area– plus he had heard Joyoon was currently resting and getting treatment, so he knew he wouldn’t get to meet him– but he still couldn’t calm his anxiety. Although he wasn’t officially in the list of wartime reporters since he was a correspondent at a civil war area, there was a high probability he would be included.

Looking at the picture of the report, he had thought of Ha Joyoon unintentionally. Even though he wanted to draw a line by saying it was just work, it wasn’t as easy as he expected. Even while planning for the Waiton photo exhibition, Seo Youngwoo was tormented by the afterimage of Ha Joyoon that followed each photo.

He could tell that Kim Taejung had not completely forgotten about that man. Regardless, Taejung was trying to do his best for him.

He was a nice person.

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Human emotions were quite selfish. He was afraid Taejung would be sympathetic or compassionate and give a little of his heart to that person, just like he had for him. He had only just finally decided to settle down with him. Youngwoo honestly just wanted to decrease the number of factors that could sway him.

“Seo Youngwoo, are you alright?”

The man, whose arm swung over the partition, looked at his complexion with worried eyes.

Seo Youngwoo returned to reality and quickly waved his hand.

“I-I’m fine. I just felt a little tired.”

“You can take a break. We have enough time.”

“It’s okay, I’ll continue for now.”

Seo Youngwoo hurriedly lowered his head to cover his eyes. Perhaps they could go on a trip together after the exhibition? A kind lover would definitely agree after little consideration. A forlorn smile formed on his slightly opened lips.

***

The office on weekdays was either complicated or quiet. The film he finished working on last night seemed different than usual in his eyes. Just as he was about to focus on his computer a bit longer, the phone atop his desk began to vibrate. Glancing at his phone to confirm the name, Ha Joyoon fixed his gaze on the computer monitor once more and answered the call.

[Yoon, have you headed out?]

The caller was a correspondent from England and was one of the journalists he was often paired with. They were supposed to meet again at the reporting site later in the afternoon.

[I’m still at work. I’ll leave soon.]

[I don’t think you’ll need to come. The interview got canceled so we’re currently returning to the previous reporting site.]

[Not even a postponement but cancellation?]

[It’s canceled for today. I think I’ll be able to get another interview within this week.]

His hand busily checked and went through the calendar atop his desk, eyebrows twitching at his messy schedule.

[Alright. Thank you for letting me know.]

[Well, I’ll see you at the office.]

After the call, he stretched his body out on the chair he was sitting on. Ha Joyoon looked at his schedule again, slowly blinking out the sleepiness that had come over him. He was initially going to take leave the next day, planning to go and get a check up and fill his prescriptions, but he’d have to take half a day off today. He wasn’t sure if he could make the hospital’s work hours since he hadn’t made an appointment for today.

Should I call?

Remembering his former classmate whose name was already vague in his memory, he began to worry. The medicine that was previously prescribed to him had long since run out because he took it each time he got a headache.

Ha Joyoon, who had been agonizing for a while, roughly organized his schedule and walked over to the editor’s area. The central desk was filled with piles of documents on the verge of collapse. In the middle of the documents, he saw the figure of a man curled into himself, alternating between looking at documents and the monitor. Knowing the man was tasked with selecting and distributing articles to be sent to headquarters, as well as articles to be distributed to the media, Joyoon felt bad for starting a conversation with him.

“Editor-nim.”

“Huh? What’s the issue, Ha Joyoon?”

The somewhat round-looking man looked up, fixing his glasses. He was just as gentle as his impression seemed. Ha Joyoon thought for a while, hesitating, before he continued talking.

“I just got a call from Edinor that the interview schedule for Min Kyunghwan Gate was canceled this afternoon.”

“Oh, really?”

“I heard it was postponed. It seems I’ll have to reschedule my plans for this week, so I wanted to know if it would be okay to take the afternoon off today?”

“This afternoon? Is there something wrong?”

“I’ll need to go to the hospital for my rehabilitation and check up. I made an appointment for tomorrow, but I don’t know when we’ll be able to get another interview, so…”

“Oh dear, I’m sorry. I should have been more considerate. You can go immediately. You could have just said you had a reportorial duty. Why do you have to do this much?”

“But still…”

The editor-in-chief cheekily smiled and waved his hand at Ha Joyoon who looked hesitant.

“When the director brought you here, he did say he was reluctant to bring you in since you needed rehabilitation, and to cut you a little bit of slack. According to him, you were supposed to rest for a few months, but due to the situation at our branch office, you overexerted yourself by coming here. You don’t need to worry, you can go. I’ll let the director know when he comes back later.”

Ha Joyoon quietly stood still as he recalled what he had just heard. He was definitely someone who wanted to keep moving forward even if he collapsed. When he first offered to work, that was something he had said himself. But now, he felt weird hearing his words from someone else.

“By the way, Ha Joyoon, are you free on the 28th of this month? It’s a Wednesday.”

He thought about his schedule for a while. There didn’t seem to be any problem working that day so he readily replied.

“That day seems fine.”

“Then could you leave your afternoon free? You know we’re working on this year’s Waiton photo exhibition, right?”

“Yes…”

The editor-in-chief pushed up the glasses that came down to his nose and sighed in relief.

“They also have a photo exhibition of foreign news agencies in rotation and we’re the next agency. It just makes no sense that it’s after the Waiton.”

His tone which had been stable now sounded slightly agitated. Ha Joyoon smiled and nodded at the sense of competition that appeared directly on the man’s face. Using all his strength, the man hit the desk loudly with his palm.

“That place is where finance thrives lately. We’re also the best at meeting the public’s n… Well, that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about… Anyways, the agency requested a meeting, so we’ll be having one with some people on their side and reporters working at our branch office. It’s mostly foreign reporters, but Reporter Ha, you’re a special case who has been both abroad and in South Korea, so the director and I recommended you. I believe you’ll be helpful at setting the direction of the Asian project.”

“But my activity area isn’t Asia.”

“Ah, it doesn’t necessarily have to be. They’re going to need hundreds of pictures from reporters anyway. Since we’re showing photos from reporters at our branch, the activity area doesn’t matter much.”

“Alright, I understand.”

He nodded in satisfaction when he heard the simple answer. Checking the time, the editor looked surprised and he waved at Ha Joyoon.

“Yes, thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow. Hurry and go now.”

“Thank you for being considerate.”

……

Before turning around, his eyes caught the office door of Shin Kwonjoo. Ha Joyoon soon returned to his seat after greeting the editor-in-chief, frowning while feeling odd. Half of the long day had already passed.