One of Six

An unreserved question from a composed face. Kang In-ho’s mouth fell open involuntarily.

“Pardon?”

He asked again, implying, ‘It can’t be, right?’ but the answer that came back shattered his expectations.

“You were talking about a woman’s appearance. I’m a little curious too.”

Lee Mina crossed her arms. It was a minor change, but it created an overbearing atmosphere.

Thanks to a senior whose thoughts are as light as their mouth, I’m getting burned. That’s what he thought.

“Mina, that’s… um…”

The frigid atmosphere continued like the cold of March, and he could only swallow dryly.

Unorganized words and syllables repeatedly clumped together and scattered.

He couldn’t easily move his tongue.

“Ah, I’m not trying to make an issue of you talking about appearances.”

Lee Mina said, seeing Kang In-ho’s stiff face.

“Then, you’re really just asking because you’re curious?”

Kang In-ho’s face became complex and subtle.

“Yes.”

“Mina is?”

Confirmation again. Lee Mina smiled at Kang In-ho’s distrustful appearance, frowning between his brows.

“Really. Inho, you’re a man so you might not know, but women are secretly sensitive about this kind of thing.”

She lied without wetting her lips at all.

“Haha….”

Only then did the tension ease, and Kang In-ho and his senior’s faces relaxed slightly.

“So, who’s prettier?”

And it stiffened again.

“Ah… well, I don’t really remember the face….”

“If you answered ‘pretty’ right away to the question of whether she was pretty, wouldn’t you remember well?”

“You were listening to that?”

“You were speaking so loudly.”

‘It’s all because of you.’

Kang In-ho glared at his senior at Lee Mina’s muttering.

Did he notice his stinging gaze? The senior began to distance himself from him.

Lee Mina and Kim Sung-ah approached like building a wall, into the space the senior had opened.

Soon, surrounded by the two of them, the senior winked and then hurriedly ran to the company.

‘Bastard.’

Watching the senior’s back getting further away, he closed his eyes.

“Please tell me.”

Kang In-ho didn’t even question Kim Sung-ah’s interest in this conversation, and to escape Lee Mina’s persistent pressure, he opened his mouth.

“M-Mina was a little bit prettier, I think.”

Long hair tied up high, eyes with rubies embedded in them.

He once again recalled the mysterious woman he had seen in front of the convenience store.

Kang In-ho moistened his lips just a little.

“Is that so? But if it’s just a little bit, then there wasn’t much of a difference.”

Lee Mina, who had been pressuring him with a cold face, relaxed her expression as if she had never done so.

It was the warmest feeling among the faces of Lee Mina he had seen so far.

“…Yes.”

He brought his finger to his moist lips.

Well, it’s just a slight difference, so it doesn’t matter.

He rationalized.

“But in what areas did I have extra points?”

Lee Mina’s follow-up attack.

“…Atmosphere, perhaps?”

“Well, I do have a somewhat mature feeling.”

“…I think this is the first time I’ve seen Mina talk so much.”

As Kang In-ho’s eyes narrowed, Lee Mina cleared her throat and distanced herself.

“Ah… I think I asked too persistently.”

Lee Mina, letting out a satisfied nasal sound, bowed slightly and returned to the company.

Watching her receding figure, Kang In-ho took the straw out of the drink he was holding and gulped it down.

“Um, Inho.”

While he was soothing his throat burning with caffeine, Kim Sung-ah called him with sparkling eyes.

“…Yes?”

“What about me? If you compare me to that person, what’s it like?”

“Um… Seong-a is cute, right?”

Kang In-ho shrugged and began to return to the company at a faster pace.

“Ah! What kind of answer is that? I asked if I was pretty! Did I ask who was cute?”

He ignored Kim Sung-ah’s sharp voice grabbing at his back and increased his speed.

Kang In-ho didn’t want to be lumped together wholesale as gazes gathered at Kim Sung-ah’s loud voice.

Returning to the office, he went straight to his senior’s seat, delivered an elbow strike, and returned to his seat.

He continued his work, trying not to give as much attention as possible to Lee Mina, who was already seated, and Kim Sung-ah, who followed.

He had sent the probationary employee evaluation, so it was time to return to his original duties.

He was assigned to support work that another employee was in progress.

Kang In-ho scanned the requirements requested by the client and noted down information that might be helpful.

“There are too many requirements….”

He thought he could just send a simple sample, but there was a lot of content.

“Ah-young, what exactly are they asking for?”

He called his colleague to understand the history in more detail.

The employee who had been working on the task came to his seat.

“Ah… I was going to organize it and tell you. They asked for a sample that meets those specs.”

“Um… weren’t we supposed to use only one product from the start? I wouldn’t mind if they were similar types, but looking at the requirements, they’re all different.”

The other person nodded as if agreeing with his point.

“Yes, I told them that, but that’s…”

“That’s?”

“It seems they haven’t decided which one to choose yet.”

“Isn’t their order deadline right around the corner? What are they going to do if they still haven’t decided on a product?”

“I know. It’s strange because they’re not usually like this.”

“Where did it go wrong?”

“It seems they’re having a lot of trouble deciding because all the samples are good.”

“If it was one or two, it would be okay to use them together, but six.”

“Right… it’s hard to choose all six.”

“They’ll have to choose one out of six… what are they thinking?”

Kang In-ho shook his head and leaned back in his chair.

“I know. They have to choose just one.”

Kang In-ho tilted his head at the employee’s words.

‘They have to choose just one… what is it, it feels like a very important thing to say.’

Maybe it’s just my imagination. Maybe it’s because my body is weak these days.

He thought.