The "Hall of Editors"- as the employees at Nalgae Publishing Firm called it- was experiencing an unusually drowsy calm as those who worked there began their morning. The usual hum of ringing phones, muted voices, scratching pencils, and clacking keyboards had faded into the background, creating a monotonous tune that those who worked here had long gotten used to. As the clock ticked away the seconds, another instrument in the business' symphony, the time drew closer to when the morning song's crescendo would arrive. It was the same process every morning, and yet a small gasp of surprise was heard from behind every office door as the company's Senior Editor kicked open the door- his hands were busy holding two cups of steaming coffee- and strode inside to begin his day.

     First, he stopped by the Commissioning Editor's office. Poking his head inside the door, the Senior Editor greeted his co-worker with a broad grin. The man, heavy set and in his late thirties, nodded absentmindedly in response before bending over the notepad he had resting on his desk and scribbling down a few more notes. As the man in charge of purchasing manuscripts for the company to publish, he would often be on the phone from the second he got to the office to the second he left for the day, and so was the only one exempt from the Senior Editor's high-volume morning greetings. To say this was simply a happy coincidence would be a lie, because the Commissioning Editor- never having taken well to his co-worker's energy- would sometimes fake calls just to get out of being involved in the ridiculous ritual.

     The Senior Editor knew this, but had never pressed the subject. There were plenty of other people happy to see him in the mornings. Like the woman who occupied the next office, across the hall from the Commissioning Editor's. The door was hanging slightly open- the lock had broken several months ago after a particularly irate author had slammed the door behind him- so the Senior Editor poked his head in through the gap and smiled brightly at the Desk Editor. She, too, was hard at work, thoroughly dissecting the poor manuscropt that sat on her desk with one of the many bright red pens she owned. She pressed down so hard on the paper that the ink would occasionally pool into a small puddle, turning the already gruesome scene into a frighteningly realistic portrayal of blood- the destruction of a writer's heart and soul.

     "Good morning, Ms. Baek!" The Senior Editor greeted cheerfully, a charming smile appearing on his face when she looked up at him.

     Nervously she brushed aside a stray strand of hair from her face, leaving behind a red streak on her forehead from the ink that had smudged onto her fingers. "G-Good morning, Mr. Kim," she stammered, her full, red lips forming a petite smile as she straightened up in her seat. Chuckling, the Senior Editor tapped his forehead and then continued down the hall, leaving Ms. Baek to fretfully rub off the mark. It was nothing new for him, making the hearts of women everywhere flutter after just one look, but still the Senior Editor couldn't help but feel a little swell of pride as he moved on to the next office door.

     Another female this time, but the Copy Editor was so engrossed in her work that she only absentmindedly waved hello to the Senior Editor after he greeted her. A little put off by this flippant way of acting, the Senior Editor hovered in her doorway a few seconds longer to see if he could get a more satisfying reaction out of her. "You look very sharp today, Mr. Kim. Is that a new tie?" The Copy Editor asked, her eyes barely flickering away from the glow of her computer screen to take a cursory glance at his outfit.

     "Thank you! You look lovely as ever, as well," he replied, not really answering her question. Not that either of them cared, of course. He was just glad to receive a compliment, and she was happy to send him on his way so that she could focus on her work. It was hard enough trying to properly format this disasterous paper without the Senior Editor chirping away at her door. Still, the faint blush on her cheeks betrayed her actual feelings towards the man- feelings that were shared by most of the women in the building.

     The next office belonged to the person the Senior Editor enjoyed seeing most in the mornings- his Assistant Editor. Although she hadn't been working for the company for long, Lee Seulki had proven herself to be very capable on many occasions. She was smart, confident, caring, and- although this might not be professional of him to say- extremely attractive. It was this quality of hers that had led the Senior Editor to be so surprised when, during their first meeting, he had found out that she wasn't seeing anyone, and it continued to happily surprise him that she had remained single ever since.

     It didn't seem that the lovely lady had arrived for work yet, though. The door was locked- which the Senior Editor discovered after jiggling the handle with his elbow- and all the lights were off inside. Not even a faint blue glow of a computer screen could be seen through the small window embedded in her office door. A little further down the hall, however, her voice could be heard coming from the other side of the only door left. She never had been the type to avoid wandering into his office whenever she felt like it. Sighing, the Senior Editor put on the most professionally aloof face he could before nudging open his door and entering the office.

     "Himchan," was the first word out of as his face appeared. She was the only person who didn't refer to him as Mr. Kim, and the only person who didn't get in trouble for it. "Tell me, sir, what is this?" She drawled out the "sir", an obvious sign of how irritated she was with him, as she held out a thick stack of papers for him to examine. Setting down the coffee, Himchan freed up his hands and accepted the papers from Seulki. Crossing her arms over her chest, Seulki watched his expression go from confused to mortified as he perused the first few pages.

     "Three days," she growled, not giving Himchan any time to come up with a quick excuse. "I have been looking everywhere for this manuscript for three days, and it's been sitting in your desk drawer this entire time. Do you have any idea how-"

     "How's Hei-Ryung?" Himchan asked, interrupting Seulki before she could really get into scolding him. He knew that this particular author was the only person who would be able to take the heat off him right now, because next to Himchan she was the person who frustrated Seulki the most. "Did the meeting with Mr. Kang go well?" He continued pressing, pointedly ignoring the dark look Seulki was giving him as he pulled out a chair for her to sit down in.

     Giving up on getting through his thick skull, Seulki let out a long sigh and flopped down into the offered chair and changed her expression from one of frustration to one of helplessness. "She spilled coffee on him," she bemoaned, and then launched into a vividly detailed account of the disastrous meeting. Himchan listened quietly to everything, only interrupting long enough to offer one of the two coffees he had purchased to her, and sat down on the corner of his office desk. "I just don't know how to handle her, Himchan. One minute things seem to be going fine, the next she's locked herself in the bathroom and refuses to come out. I thought she was going to start living in there with how long it took to get her out!"

     As she looked up to him for support, Seulki was surprising to see Himchan trying hard to not burst into laughter. "She actually locked herself in the bathroom?" He asked, wiping away a tear from his eye. Unappreciative of how carefree Himchan was being about the situation, Seulki nodded and slouched down in her seat to childlishly pout. "Oh come on now, you have to admit that's funny. Honestly, it's impossible to tell what that girl is going to do next, isn't it?" Himchan asked, nudging Seulki's shoulder supportively. He knew that Hei-Ryung's difficult nature was driving Seulki up the wall, but he really couldn't help laughing about it all. The story was hilarious.

     "I just don't know what I'm going to do," Seulki sighed, burying her hands in her face and slouching her shoulders. After letting out a few more chuckles, Himchan sobered up and slid off the corner of his desk so he could rest a supportive hand on Seulki's shoulder.

     "Honestly, I'm not sure anyone would," Himchan admitted, trying to think of the right words to say. "Hei-Ryung is by no means an easy person to handle. She isn't a bad girl, though, and she isn't deliberately trying to cause trouble. She just needs someone to be a little patient with her," he assured Seulki, patting her back. "So don't worry, everything is going to turn out just fine. I mean, if you think about it, she at least went to the meeting. The last time we spoke about her, she wouldn't even do that much," he pointed out.

     Unburying her face, Seulki clasped her hands in her lap and nodded. It was true that Hei-Ryung had been making progress, but it was such a painstakingly slow progress that Seulki wasn't sure she could really count it as a victory. Taking in a deep breath, Seulki closed her eyes and pushed away all thoughts of Hei-Ryung's disasterous meeting with the CEO. It had happened, and- short of building a time machine- there was nothing Seulki could do to fix it. At this point she just needed to keep plugging forward and hope that things worked out in the end, no matter how far away that end might be.

     "How about we go get dinner after work, take your mind off of everything?" Himchan suggested when the tension had ebbed away from Seulki.

     "We're working late," Seulki reminded him, pursing her lips to try and keep back any further reprimations. She knew that underneath his easy-going exterior Himchan was just as stressed out as her, if not more, and that her scolding him all the time for forgetting things wasn't helping. Not that he would never tell her that, the man was too nice to say something like that directly to her.

     "Alright, how about lunch?"

     "I'm planning on skipping my lunch break today. There's some things I have to catch up on," Seulki sighed, standing up from her seat. What she didn't say was that what she was catching up on was the work she had been unable to get to while on Himchan's wild goose- or wild manuscript- chase. "So, if that's everything, I think I'll get started on it," she informed him, already on her way out his office door.

     Pouting with disgustingly forced cuteness, Himchan followed her close enough to practically be stepping on her heels. "You really should start acting your age, Seulki. Other woman are out embracing their youth, and all you can do is sit behind your desk and work all day. Get out and see the world sometime! Maybe even get yourself a boyfriend!" Himchan suggested, holding the door open for his Assistant Editor despite wanting her to stay.

     "I would if I knew any guys that I actually wanted to go out with," her brutal honesty stung Himchan, and he couldn't help but frown sourly at Seulki as she left his office.

     "Then go on a blind date!" He snapped, swinging the door shut behind her. Surprising by his outburst, Seulki turned around to explain why she didn't like the idea of blind dating, but bit her tongue when she realized he wasn't interested in listening. Although she had been working under Himchan for a while now, she had never been able to understand what kind of a person he was. One minute he was her kind mentor, a man years ahead of her not in age but in experience, and the next he was acting like he had just now. The two contrasting personalities, when juxtaposed so suddenly like they had just been, always left Seulki's head spinning. Why did everyone in her life have to contain so many different sides to them? Couldn't everyone just be one person, instead of giving Seulki head aches by showing all sorts of different people?

     Shaking her head to clear it of all confusing thoughts, Seulki sipped at the coffee Himchan had gotten her and headed towards her own office. En route, however, she was intercepted by Mr. Kang's secretary. Smiling, the two women bobbed quick bows to one another before the secretary pulled out a slip of paper from her pocket and passed it to Seulki. "Mr. Kang asked me to give this to you, and to ask if you will be free this afternoon. He would like to try conducting another meeting with Ms. Cha, and thought that perhaps if he stopped by her apartment she would feel more comfortable," the woman explained, managing to get it all out in one breath.

     Hope fluttered in Seulki's chest, and it took all her self-control to restrain herself from jumping for joy. "Of course! What time should I meet him?" She asked eagerly, her voice sounding like it belonged to a little kid who had just been told they were getting the world's greatest toy. If Mr. Kang was willing to go all the way to Hei-Ryung's apartment, it meant that he really wanted to keep her around. Even with all of her problems, Hei-Ryung was apparently worth enough to him to put forth an extra effort.

     "All of the details are on that paper. Mr. Kang parks his car on floor 2 of the parking garage," the secretary explained, smiling one more time at Seulki before turning on her heels and hurrying back to whatever it was that secretaries do. As soon as she turned the corner, Seulki allowed her relatively calm exterior to break for a brief second and did a little happy dance. She was quickly back to professional business woman, though, and began reading over the paper as she let herself into the Assistant Editor's office.

     "Yeah, you're real busy," Himchan thought, cursing how thin the office walls were.

Author's Note:

     I'm just going to bemoan about my lame chapter titles every time, okay? (TT^TT)

     Hm... and I'm not sure if this chapter is as good as the others. It's kind of a filler sorta thing, I guess.

Updated

Oh gosh, I just noticed that the "P" is added into the wrong spot! *facepalms*