Red Cloak - Chapter 3

T/N: This novel is r19. There’s a possibility to read swear words without sensor, violence, sexual assault/tension, intercourse and others for 19+. This is not called r19 for nothing.

It’s because it’s been so long since I broke up with my ex-boyfriend. Five years since we broke up when I joined the company. It’s because I haven’t dated a man in five years. I never thought I’d be nervous about my boss.

“Because you’re different from the others.”

Ha-eun brushed her teeth violently and turned all the blame to Joo Won.

I just want a person to have a good-looking face and to be tall. What’s the point of having good skills?

Besides, the fact that he doesn’t flirt like other old men was another reason for Joo Won’s popularity in the company.

It’s ironic, too. Ha-eun rinsed her mouth and thought as she left the bathroom.

Joo Won didn’t seem interested in flirting with female employees but other old men wanted to be popular somehow.

“Miss Kim Ha-eun.”

When she entered the office, Joo Won called her. Then Ha-eun flinched and was surprised because she thought of Joo Won until just now.

For a moment, an expression as if something was wrong passed over Joo Won’s face. But he soon said, sticking out the file as if it didn’t matter.

“Please find last quarter’s performance data for this product.”

You want me to find last quarter’s performance data? Ha-eun hesitated to find the file. He checked and found out that she’s in charge of it.

“How long should I give it to you?”

“As soon as possible.”

With a brief answer, Joo-won hurriedly returned to his seat.  Ha-eun looked at the file folder and made a frowning expression.

It’s been a week since I came to the sales support team, so it’s true that I’m in charge, but I don’t know where this data is. Maybe it’s in the documentation room of the sales support team.

If Joo Won asks for it as soon as possible, it literally means to ask for it right now. Ha-eun headed straight to the document room right across from the office.

The small library had iron shelves on both sides, and a dusty box of data was placed on it. Passing through the nearest unused photocopier toner or new A4 paper, she found data last quarter. A box containing last quarter’s data was placed on the second shelf from the top, as if the former employee was tall.

“Where did the footstool go?”

Ha-eun bowed her head to find a footstool.

The former general affairs team also had a footstool in the document room, so it should be here. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t see it.

“Did they take it?”

Ha-eun tilted her head and approached the shelf. The cleaning lady on the second floor sometimes asked her if she could borrow it for cleaning, so she told her to do so.

She found an empty A4 box, although she could have used it at other times. Ha-eun’s hand, which turned the box upside down, touched the box she was looking for.

That’s it. As soon as she thought so, her vision fell sharply as the box collapsed. The box, which was touched by her hand, was shaking.

“Kyaa!”

Ha-eun bowed her head reflexively.

It’s okay to fall but it was scary if the box fell on my head.

Soon after, there was the sound of something banging against the shelf, followed by the sound of files falling off.

It strangely didn’t hurt her. There must have been a pile of files and boxes pouring down over her head or back, but nothing came.

That’s weird. Ha-Eun looked up in confusion. Then she found a neat face frowning.

“Team…”

“Are you all right?”

Before Ha-eun spoke, a question came out of Joo Won’s mouth first. Only then did she realize that Joo Won was stretching his body.

When she bowed her head, she heard the sound of something hitting the shelf, probably the sound of Joo Won preventing the shelf from collapsing.

“A-are you all right?” Ha-eun shook off the files on Joo Won’s shoulder and asked.

I was surprised and didn’t think of anything. There was a pile of paperwork pouring under her and Joo Won’s feet. It would have been quite painful if all of this had happened to him.

“Are you hurt?” Joo Won took his hand off the shelf and asked.

He looked at Ha-eun’s body with his head down as if to make sure she was not hurt.

“W-what?”

“What’s going on?”

Only then did the sales support team members come running after hearing the loud noise.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, my gosh, did it fall off?”

Joo Won sneaked away from Ha-eun as people got crowded. Once again, there was a good smell with the scent of mint. Ha-eun stared blankly at Joo-won.

What perfume do he use?

“Ha-eun, are you okay?” Ha-eun’s head turned towards Ji-young, a member of the same team, and asked

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. It’s all thanks to the Team Leader.”

Joo-won arrived when it was close to fall.

At Ha-eun’s words, one of the assistants tilted her head and said, “The Team leader is fast. He was in his seat until a moment ago.”

“Yeah.”

Obviously, Joo Won was in his office until Ha-eun went to the library. When the box sounded falling, people turned around and Joo Won was already out of his seat.

“Miss Ha-eun, if it wasn’t for the team leader, something would have happened.”

“I-is that so?”

Ha-eun asked because she was puzzled.

It would have hurt if it had been hit by a file file or a box, but I don’t think it would have been a big deal.

One employee said when she gave a look she didn’t understand, “This shelf, it almost collapsed.”

“Oh, really?”

“Aigoo, that was close. Miss Ha-eun.”

As the employee grabbed and shook it, the shelf shook with a squeaky sound. While everyone was saying something, Ha-eun’s eyes grew.

I didn’t know the shelf almost collapsed. Did Joo Won know?

Such a question came to her mind.

At that time, Kyung-joon, a member of the same team, shouted, “What’s this?”

“What is it?”

Where Kyung-joon pointed, the shelf was crushed. It looks as if it’s squeezed by a robot or a machine.

“It must have collapsed before.”

“I’ll have to ask for a replacement.”

Just in case, people took all the data off the shelves and went back to the office. Ha-eun turned off the light in the document room and looked at the shelf once again. The height at which the shelf was crushed looked just like the height at which Joo Won grabbed the shelf to protect her.

“Ah, maybe.”

However, there is no way that a human hand can crush that iron shelf. When I came back to the office shaking my head, I heard an assistant manager talking to Joo Won.

“I need to replace the shelf with a new one.”

“Do we have any budget left?”

Ji-young shook her head at Joo Won’s question.

“I think I’ll have to buy it next year.”

There are only three months left this year. There was no way there was a budget left to buy a shelf.

The budget for the first half of next year will be executed one month later, so if you want to buy it, you have to buy it a month later.  Or buy it in advance and pay the money a month later.

Joo Won nodded and said to Ha-eun.

“Miss Kim Ha-eun, you must have been very surprised, so please go to the infirmary. The others, go back to work.”

2. Even if you go into a wolf’s den, you can live as long as you are alert

“I think your team leader is okay, though.”

Ha-eun’s face hardened just as she was eating sandwiches at the sudden remark. She took a bite of the sandwich, looked at Seoyeon, and began chewing.

“What made you think that all of a sudden?”

Seo-yeon grinned at Ha-eun’s question. Last month, she heard that Ha-eun almost got in trouble in the library. Even if Joo Won saved her. But that’s not the only thing.

She took a sip of the warm coffee she ordered with the sandwich and said. “I heard your team finished early today.”

Today is the last Wednesday. Last Wednesday was Culture Day, so each team could use the afternoon shift at the discretion of the team leader. Some teams leave work early, but most of them had to work according to the team leader’s preference.
(T/N: In Korea, Cultural Day is the last Wednesday every month, where over a thousand stores, museums, etc. open to the public for free or have discounts.)

Ha-eun asked with a sorry look on her face, “Is your team climbing a mountain again?”

Seo-yeon’s face wrinkled. she hated it, she added irritably, “Where will our team leader’s taste go? An old man, ugh.”

Climbing a mountain is totally that old man’s liking. Seo-yeon grumbled and took another sip of coffee.

I don’t even want to finish early like the sales support team. You could go to the movies at least of all right?

Come to think of it, Hae-eun smiled bitterly as if she was sorry to see Seo-yeon eating a sandwich with a frown.

“Well, let’s all get off work.” After lunch, at two o’clock, Joo Won got up and said.

At that sight, others turned off their computers one by one and began to clean up their seats.

“What will the Team Leader do today?” Jiyoung looked at Joo Won and asked.

Joo Won picked up his coat from the hanger and looked at Jiyoung and said calmly, “I’m going to sleep.”

“Eyy, it’s such a nice day.”

“Don’t you have a girlfriend, Team Leader?”

This time, the employees also joined in. Ha-eun unconsciously pricked her ears and waited for Joo Won’s answer.

However, Joo Won’s expression on his coat remained unchanged.

“I don’t have a girlfriend to marry.”

After saying that, Joo Won left the office saying he’ll see them tomorrow at work.

Ha-eun, who was sitting on a chair with her ears closed, sighed.

“If he doesn’t have a girlfriend to marry, does that mean he has a girlfriend he won’t marry?”

“I don’t think it’s that kind of relationship yet?”

When Joo Woon left, the employees stood up, throwing words one by one. Everyone wondered if Joo Woon, who is handsome and capable, had a girlfriend. However, whenever someone asked, he would always give such a vague answer or avoid his seat with the phrase “privacy”.

Don’t you have a girlfriend? Ha-eun tilted her head and stood up from her seat.

It seems that a man the size of Joo Won never ceased to have a girlfriend.

Other staff members were already leaving the office.

Ha-eun picked up her bag and put the chair below the desk.

Then, her phone started ringing.

Ring, ring. Ring, ring.

The intense worries filled Ha-eun’s head. Should I take it or not? I’m about to get off work. If they ask tomorrow, should I pretend not to know and say I left work early because it’s Cultural Day?

But Ha-eun couldn’t bring herself to do that.

‘What if someone calls me for urgent business?’

She sighed and picked up the phone.

“Yes, I’m Kim Ha-eun from the sales support team of Lee Sung-sa.”

“Miss Kim Ha-eun?”

A familiar voice flowed over the phone. The person on the phone kept talking before Ha-eun could even answer.

“This is Yoo Yeongdeok.”

It’s from a sales team. Due to the nature of the sales support team, Ha-eun knew all the members there.

When she answered, Yeongdeok said in a relieved voice, “Sorry, could you do me a favor?”

I got caught wrong. Ha-eun’s eyes turned on the clock. It was almost 2:30 already.

It seemed like it would take a long time.

Yeongdeok, who noticed that her voice was shaking, said in a pitiful voice, “It’s really, really urgent. Alright? I’ll make sure to repay you later.”

I can’t say no if you ask me to. Ha-eun sighed inwardly.

“What is it?”

“You know our warehouse, right?”

“You’re not talking about an outside warehouse, are you?”

“Yes, that’s right. The outside warehouse.”

Ah, really. Ha-eun dropped the phone far away and sighed.

I heard that there was a new contracted building because the company lacked warehouses a while ago.

The problem is that the building is about an hour’s drive from here.

It was only then that it was almost impossible to leave work on time, let alone leave early.

Yeongdeok’s voice changed desperately when Ha-eun seemed to disapprove again.

“I’ll buy you a present the next time I go on a business trip. Something good.”

“Okay, what should I do in the warehouse?”

“If you go to Building A, there’s a server inside. You just need to turn it on.”

“Is that all you have to do?”

“Yes. I have three, so please turn on all three. Thank you.”

Perhaps in a hurry, Yeongdeok muttered with gratitude and hung up the phone.
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PS: If I’m not wrong, in english, it’s “Oh” But in Korea and in my country, it’s “Ah” so some basic error might occur since “Ah” is more suitable for me rather than “Oh” because I grew up in my country lol.