When the Team Leader is Obsessed, There are Many Late Nights

The family was poor, but she was exceptionally talented.

That’s why she couldn’t spend a long time looking for a job. She had to earn her keep as soon as possible.

And so, Lee Mina got a job at her current company, sending most of her income home.

The place she belonged to was too pathetic to be called a department.

It was a nominal organization headed by an executive who had been politically sidelined.

The executive, having lost his support base, wasn’t passionate about his work, and all sorts of miscellaneous tasks fell to her.

Thus, her superiors and colleagues left, and she was left alone.

The exceptionally talented Mina’s pride was deeply wounded, but she couldn’t resist.

The meager monthly salary that came in at the end of each month was her only consolation.

So went the repetition of each day.

A series of meaningless tasks. A body and mind growing increasingly weary.

‘Was this the life I struggled so hard for?’

Question and answer.

Her world was gradually turning monochrome.

Then one day, a new employee joined the department.

One executive, one Mina, one new employee. A state too embarrassing to even call it a department.

“Hello, I’m Kang In-ho, the new employee. Please take care of me.”

Even though a handsome new employee had arrived, she didn’t think much of it.

She simply thought that there would be more work to do.

“Inho, why did you apply here?”

It was a few days after he joined the company when she asked him her first personal question.

“I thought that here, my efforts would be reflected in my performance.”

He answered naively.

She smiled inwardly, thinking it was just the clumsy ambition of a young professional.

But she soon changed her mind.

The new employee was enthusiastic in everything he did, and his affable personality earned him a good reputation in other departments as well.

The image of the organization as a dumping ground for the company’s unwanted personnel gradually began to fade, and the proposals he occasionally brought were somewhat crude, but full of brilliant ideas.

For the first time, she began to find the company interesting.

She began to spend a little more time at the company, and sometimes she and the new employee would voluntarily come to work on weekends and work all day.

She still remembers the taste of the coffee she shared with him in the empty office.

Iced Americano, bought to quench their thirst in the hot summer.

She loved the bitter, cold drink so much.

Just as she was becoming happier and happier with him, a change came.

As the organization she belonged to began to produce results, the higher-ups began to take notice.

They pushed out the existing executive and appointed an executive who was likely to succeed. And they began to replenish the staff.

Sometimes through reassignment, sometimes through new hires.

As the organization grew in size, she became the team leader. But he refused the position, saying it was too much of a burden.

“Shouldn’t you at least be a section chief?”

She asked when he refused the position even in an interview with the director.

“I’m not the type to manage anyone. I know my limitations well. I’m just a hands-on type of person.”

“I see. It would be a loss to the team if we sent someone as good at practical work as you are somewhere else.”

She smiled faintly, subtly revealing her true feelings.

“Hey, where would I go? Don’t worry, I’ll keep working with Mina. When you think about it, it’s the result of the two of us working together.”

He smiled brightly at her words.

She loved the word ‘us’ and her heart was filled with emotion.

She thought this time would last forever.

She firmly believed that only she and he would be within the boundaries of the ‘us’ he spoke of.

But it wasn’t.

Remaining just an ordinary employee, he was increasingly overwhelmed by the work that was piling up, and she was often called to leadership meetings for organizational management rather than practical work.

The time she spent with him was gradually decreasing, and she didn’t like it.

And she didn’t like the vermin who spoke to him in a friendly manner.

He was her refuge, her healing.

He was the trophy she had earned after overcoming the monochrome days.

But the vermin, unaware of this, were eyeing her property with a light heart.

Because he was handsome, because he was kind.

She didn’t like it.

But she wouldn’t show it. She resolved to do so.

That’s why she gave him excessive work. The longer his overtime, the longer he would spend with her.

He looked tired, but she thought it was an unavoidable sacrifice.

Then one day, his attitude changed.

He, who always smiled at her, looked at her with an emotionless face.

He, who was always positive, was now terribly cold.

‘Is it because of me?’

Could he be angry? She was suddenly afraid. Her heart started racing like crazy at the thought of him suddenly leaving.

‘I have to apologize.’

Only that thought came to mind.

When she found him and talked to him, he didn’t seem as angry as she had thought. He just looked a little tired.

She was glad she had the courage to go and talk to him. Thanks to that, she even heard him call her ‘Nuna’.

She would rebuild their relationship and get closer to him.

She vowed as she returned after giving him the porridge.

But it was her delusion.

Weekend. An alert came to her phone. An alert that an employee was working on the weekend.

Knowing that he had come to work, she hurried to the company.

Her face was full of undisguised joy as she headed to the company.

But only for a moment.

She sat at his desk, which he had left for a moment, and noticed something strange while looking at the screen.

“Recruitment site?”

This is… a job change?

Why? Why? Weren’t we getting better?

You said we’d be together forever. You said we’d work together forever.

Why did you change your mind?

Since when have you been thinking about this?

Thoughts invade and violate her mind.

The headache in her head is getting stronger and stronger, and she looks at him as he just returns to his seat.

Snap.

It sounded like something broke.