Chapter 70: Neglect of Duty [R-18]

10:12 AM, 39th floor of the I.A Group headquarters.

The office, where all employees had been seated since before 9 AM, was filled with a mixture of the grumbling of the hungover, envious of their director who had yet to arrive after a night of heavy drinking, and the crazed laughter of office workers who, beyond shock, were now anticipating what the owner’s son would say on his second day.

Just then, from down the hall, ding. The elevator doors opened.

The man they had been chattering about walked slowly down the hallway, accompanied by the young female secretary from yesterday.

A dark navy suit fell over his frame without a single crease.

His lightly swept-back hair had a semi-wet sheen, and his polished black shoes made him shine like an actor who had just stepped off an awards show red carpet.

He crossed the center of the hall without a word. His eyes, still half-closed, looked tired. When he let out a yawn, it was the woman beside him who chided him.

“Honestly, if you’re going to be late, you could at least try not to make it so obvious.”

The director, a nepotism hire who looked more like a movie star on a business trip than an office worker, and the young woman, who seemed so young one might question if she’d even been to college, let alone how she’d landed a job at a company like this.

“Director, welcome.”

As the incongruous pair opened the door and stepped inside, a few employees cautiously offered their greetings.

Rio merely lifted a hand in response, not even turning his head toward the voices.

Then, he slowly sank into his chair and leaned back, loosening a button on his shirt.

“…Ah.”

He glanced at Seojin before speaking nonchalantly to the entire office.

“Starting tomorrow, our team will have a casual dress code.”

The sound of typing stopped all at once.

Someone blinked over their monitor. Someone else froze, a coffee cup suspended in mid-air.

“A dress… code… sir?”

As someone quietly asked for clarification, wondering if they had heard him correctly, Rio propped his chin on his hand and opened his tablet.

“It’s stuffy. Suits are expensive, too. Why bother wearing them?”

At his words, Seojin squeezed her eyes shut.

Here we go again…

As if to prove he was serious, Rio added, “I don’t get why we have to coordinate outfits every morning.”

Meanwhile, someone mesmerized by his looks felt a pang of disappointment. He might have been the man who looked best in a suit in the entire company, after all.

But he just spoke with a look of annoyance.

“I’m planning to change other things I don’t like, so if you have any, send me a DM. Work methods, report formats, meeting styles, all of it.”

“Things like that should be sent through official email…”

“I don’t want to. I have enough to look at without having to check for something that just says, ‘I don’t like this.’ Oh, you can just tell me in person, too.”

Everyone was speechless.

The director’s second day of work had already become a legend, surpassing yesterday’s.

Still, work was an inescapable shackle.

As expected, the CEO and marketer of a new brand were seated in the conference room, ready for their presentation.

Neatly arranged leaflets and samples were laid out before them. Across from them, Rio, sprawled in his chair, glanced at his watch.

“We still have ten minutes, but everyone who’s coming is here—shall we start?”

“Ah, ah. Yes.”

Seated beside him, along with a few department heads, Seojin clutched an iPad in one hand while secretly tugging on the hem of his suit jacket under the table with the other.

Rio leaned back leisurely, his arms crossed. Even as the presentation began, his gaze merely flitted over his tablet screen or toward the coffee cup next to Seojin.

The presenter moved past the bland opening remarks.

“The brand we’ll be introducing today—”

A logo appeared on the screen, and the CEO began reading his prepared script.

“The concept originated from the changing consumption patterns of the MZ generation, with sustainable values as its core…”

Seojin glanced at Rio.

His eyes were half-closed, a finger slowly swiping across his tablet through the gap in his crossed arms. The indifferent curve of his lips. In short, he was the very picture of ‘not listening at all.’

Seojin took a small breath and tugged his jacket hem a little more insistently.

At the touch, Rio’s gaze followed her hand. He gave a small smile and leaned forward. His long legs remained crossed, but he unfolded his arms and rested his chin on his hand.

“So, what’s the point?”

The CEO paused.

“…Ah, yes. The solution we’re proposing is—”

“In one sentence. Just the key point.”

“Yes, so, it’s to ‘naturally weave ethical consumption into daily fashion’—”

“Hmm.”

Rio nodded for a moment as if in agreement, then leaned back again and said, “That’s enough.”

The conference room fell silent.

“Um, if you could perhaps give us a chance to explain further—”

“No. It’s fine.”

The meaning was clear, but his voice wasn’t particularly sharp. It was just one of the many judgments he made. That was all.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

He spoke without even looking at them, and Seojin quickly rose from her seat and headed for the door.

“Um, this way…”

The CEO, having failed to secure the investment, pressed his lips together, closed his laptop, and followed the diligent guide.

Rio remained seated while Seojin alone quietly escorted the CEO’s party to the elevator at the end of the hall.

She gave them a polite bow, held the door open, and only turned back after watching it close completely.

Returning to the office, she closed the door and glared, searching for his golden-brown head. It seemed everyone had returned to their desks after the scuttled meeting, but he, the most conspicuous one, was gone.

On a hunch, Seojin went back to the conference room and found him just as she had left him. Only his personal tablet was on; the main screen had been turned off by the staff.

“……Director?”

There was no response. Seojin sat down carefully beside him, tilted her head, and called to him again.

“Rio.”

This time, he turned his head, but his eyes were looking somewhere else, as if she weren’t even there.

His expression made her heart ache. Finally, trusting that no one could see, she reached down and gave his thigh a firm—press.

At the touch—unclear if it was a polite protest or a secret comfort—Rio’s eyebrow twitched.

And their eyes met.

“…Don’t do that.”

Seojin gasped in surprise and pulled her hand back. So this kind of thing is a no-go, huh? Feeling awkward, she placed her hands neatly on her lap and studied his expression.

Was he okay now? His face was still hard to read.

Then Rio spoke again, his voice low and slow.

“Opening the door for people on their way out, escorting them. That kind of thing.”

“……”

“That’s not your job. At least, I never told you to do it.”

Seojin blinked. It sounded like he was saying it for her sake, but was he really acting like this over something so trivial? She, too, had something to say. Making herself even smaller, she looked at Rio.

“But, this is a company. Everyone’s watching—”

“I don’t care if they’re watching or not.”

Rio reached out and turned off his tablet. The screen faded to black.

“And that was just… being polite. You of all people should know I don’t have much else to do here.”

“I didn’t bring you here to be polite, and I didn’t seat you here to do the same work as them.”

His sullen eyes held no trace of a smile.

In that moment, an emotion she couldn’t back down from surged within Seojin.

“—You might not get it, but I have to do something like this just to feel like I’ve earned my lunch.”

She didn’t want to be treated like a smiling doll or a freeloader anymore.

It wasn’t as if she, knowing nothing, could stand out among these office workers with their impressive qualifications. This was the best she could do.

A brief silence fell. But Rio didn’t let it pass.

“And yet you abandoned the most important part of your job to go do that.”

Seojin’s hands twitched on her lap.

“The most important part?”

“You left me.”

She thought it was a ridiculous thing to say, but she could no longer see his eyes. He had buried his face in her chest, making it impossible to tell if he was sulking like a child or criticizing her.

Seojin let out a small, “Ugh,” and turned her head slightly. Through the glass wall of the conference room, she could see the flickering shadows of a few employees. Anyone could walk by at any moment.

Despite that, Rio showed no sign of pulling away.

She had no choice but to place a hand on his head, as if carefully soothing a pouting child.

“…Let’s… think about this a little more.”

His soft hair brushed between her fingers. Rio remained motionless in her embrace.

“I’ll try to find more things I can do. You know… things that aren’t just for your pleasure.”

At her words, Rio finally lifted his head. The warmth that seemed to linger from his embrace, and the words that had come from within it.

“Pleasure?”

When he repeated the word, Seojin narrowed her eyes.

“You didn’t just hear what you wanted to hear, did you?”

Rio pouted at her, then took one of the hands that had been stroking his hair. Without a word, he placed it on his own thigh.

Seojin blinked, then her breath caught at the shape she felt beneath her palm.

“…What are you doing—”

“You were the one who touched me first while I was just sitting here.”

He said it in his usual nonchalant tone, but now his characteristic playful smile, complete with dimples, was on his face.

“You were sitting still, yes… but that was a kind of protest, wasn’t it?”

Unable to hide her flustered expression, Seojin quickly pulled her hand back and protested in a whisper, afraid someone might hear.

In response, Rio buried his head in her chest again.

“Then I’ll protest again.”

“I’ll protest too! And I won’t comfort you this time!”

“Neglect of duty—”

As Seojin chided him in a hushed voice, Rio nuzzled his head against her, seeming to enjoy her reaction as he spoke.

In the end, the protest ended with Seojin firmly lifting his chin and placing a kiss between his eyebrows.

He was always like that.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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