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

Monday. The office atmosphere was eerily quiet.

Was it because people hadn’t fully recovered from their weekend revelry? Or was it a severe case of the Monday blues? Or perhaps the increased workload was adding to the pressure?

Well, the real answer was probably that someone high up in the company was in a very bad mood.

As the one who caused it, it was too easy for me to figure out.

Sunday. Lee Mina, after looking at job search websites, had broken down.

She grabbed me by the collar and shook me, or hugged me and repeated apologies.

I sweated bullets as I made excuses, saying I was just curious about the atmosphere at other companies, but she didn’t seem to believe me.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have believed me either.

Somehow, thanks to her coming to the office, I couldn’t even get a grasp on my work, and I had to answer her pointless questions every five minutes.

[Are things tough at work these days?]

[What kind of positions are you mainly looking at on recruitment sites?]

[Inho, do you need money for something recently?]

[You didn’t get much of a raise during the last salary negotiations, did you? I’ll definitely talk to the director about it during next year’s negotiations.]

[You haven’t received a scout offer, have you?]

[Was it Kim Nara who left the company last time? Did she scout you? Tell me. I’m asking you.]

The questions were roughly along those lines.

I kept telling her that I wasn’t thinking of changing jobs and that I just came out on the weekend because I couldn’t focus on work these days.

But her anxiety didn’t subside easily.

We went home in a daze, but I couldn’t rest.

She bought fried chicken, saying my body must be weak because I only ate porridge.

At first, I tried to pretend I wasn’t home, but she kept ringing the doorbell, so I had no choice but to open the door.

[Inho, you haven’t had dinner, have you? I felt like I didn’t see you eat properly today. I bought chicken.]

[I haven’t had dinner either, but…]

She was laying the groundwork to come inside, so I politely refused, and, contrary to my expectations, she quickly agreed and backed down.

I arbitrarily thought the incident was over.

But when Lee Mina came to work on Monday, I quickly realized that I was wrong.

Lee Mina, in a state of extreme low pressure, lightly ignored everyone’s greetings and silently did her work at her desk.

The employees who had been chatting in groups of three or five were also watching her and quietly sitting at their desks, chatting in their group chat.

‘Do some work, work.’

I wanted to say a word, bringing back my old personality, but I was in a tight spot, so I held back.

“Excuse me, Inho.”

Yuna, who was sitting next to me, whispered to me.

“Do you happen to know why Mina is in a bad mood?”

I do know.

“I don’t know anything either. She’s been like that since she came in.”

“Haa… The atmosphere is so bad from Monday.”

“I know.”

“Yuna.”

While we were talking, a stiff voice echoed through the office.

Everyone, like meerkats, craned their necks and focused their attention on our side.

Lee Mina was standing there, having arrived unnoticed.

“Yes?”

Yuna, who had been called out, felt that something was going strangely and asked back.

“Is the quarterly settlement ready? I told you to prepare the data, didn’t I?”

Lee Mina approached slowly, pressuring Yuna.

“Ah… well… I had so much other work to do. Not yet…”

“Not yet?”

As she muttered lowly, receiving the last word, Yuna lowered her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“When will it be ready?”

“Well, by Wednesday…”

“Please organize it and send it by email by tomorrow morning.”

“…Yes.”

Lee Mina, having sent one person away like that, gave me a glance and went to someone else’s desk.

“Hye-young. Please forward me what’s happening with the last order.”

“Jeong-hye. It seems like it’s been a while since you received the compound tech work, but there’s still no progress report?”

“Yunji. The documents you submitted last time…”

She goes around to each desk, checking on the work.

The people Lee Mina had visited started working on the tasks they had put off with dazed faces, and the employees who hadn’t had their turn yet were now hurriedly starting to prepare the data to report.

I passively observed this strange situation.

In the meantime, I heard Mina’s voice getting louder.

“Youngji. Say it again.”

“Well… I told Inho. It’s not organized yet.”

“Say it again.”

“Inho hasn’t given me the data yet.”

“Again.”

“Th-th-that is… There’s a part that Inho has to do.”

Was it because she was so flustered? She didn’t seem to know why Mina was repeating the same words.

‘Ah… if she does that.’

I’m completely screwed.

Mina, who had become a refrigerant emitting cold air, slowly approached Youngji.

“So. You’re saying you entrusted Youngji’s work to Inho? Without reporting to me, the team leader.”

“Ah…”

She realized her mistake only now and couldn’t say anything, just opening and closing her mouth.