Ji Hyo woke up to her alarm clock’s ringing, effectively drowning the peacefulness of her sleep. Her hand unconsciously searched for the loathful piece of machinery, only to find herself face first on the floor instead. She put a hand on the side of her head in distress, and with still hazy eyes, she finally located that awful alarm clock. She pressed the button at least five times, screaming “Okay! I got it!” at the loud object. She grabbed her phone to check for new messages, and saw a notification for voicemail. She listened to it and smiled lazily when she heard his voice.

“Hey, what’s wrong? I’m sorry I couldn’t pick up the phone earlier; I was in the middle of a meeting with some clients. To be honest, that wasn’t even at least a bit interesting. Anyway, I’m guessing from the sound of your voice that something happened. It wasn’t something that involves bugs or zombies, right? When can we talk? Oh, should we talk later during your lunch time? Email me, bubby!”

It was so typical of him to ramble on and on even in voicemail. She then composed an email telling him that, yes, they can talk during lunch, where it’s past midnight where he is. Ji Hyo yawned and stretched one more time and finally stood up to get herself ready for work.

~                                                                                 

Suk Jin was the last one to enter the office, a cup of coffee in his hand and a messenger bag slung across his chest. “Welcome to hell,” he announced.

The others groaned in unison at his greeting. “Suk Jin, I don’t think that’s a proper way to greet anyone this early in the morning,” Jae Suk said, flipping through the draft that the office put together. The magazine was almost done, but of course, there are still bits and pieces that were still needed to be looked at.

Suk Jin was about to walk past the sleeping Kwang Soo on his desk, but instead, he hit the young man on the back of the head, causing him to jolt up from his slumber. “Hey, Kwang Soo, it’s not the right time to drool!”

Kwang Soo wiped the side of his mouth. “Sorry, I just had trouble sleeping last night. I think I have insomnia?”

“‘Insomnia’ my ! You went home late last night again, didn’t you?” Joong Ki interrupted. Two cups of office coffee on his hands. He put one down on Kwang Soo’s desk, who was grateful, but still somewhat embarrassed.

“It wasn’t like that—”                                                        

Soo Hyun stood up from his chair and yelled, “I didn’t know Kwang Soo was also a party animal! Woot-woot!” And he started dancing right on the spot, then moved quickly to where Kwang Soo was groggily standing, his mouth wide open while watching his co-worker in action. Soo Hyun put a hand on Kwang Soo’s shoulder and started dancing against him, “night club style”, and the latter then joined him, causing the whole office to laugh.

“You two, stop that. If Mr. Kim walks in and sees you dancing like two drunk clowns, you’ll probably get a beating,” Min Hee warned as she typed away from her computer.

The two stopped immediately and went back to their stations. Ji Hyo called to Joong Ki, who swiftly went to her side to help her. “Joong Ki, can you upload these for me? I have to edit some of the pictures so I can finally put it on the spread. I already have the captions written on my notepad, and I’ll just have to type it later.”

Jae Suk looked up from his computer and said, “Ji Hyo, are you working on the page about the street food?”

Ji Hyo confirmed, and Jae Suk showed her the article he wrote for it. Ji Hyo gave him a thumbs up.

“We really need another editor, guys,” Soo Hyun complained. “I never knew I’ll hate reading this much!”

“Hey, you have to be patient,” Ji Hyo said. “It’s not like we all can’t do it on our own.”

“If only Ha Dong Hoon was here,” Suk Jin wondered. Then they all fell silent, all absorbed in their own responsibilities.

Everyone looked up from what they were doing when they heard the office door opening. Kim Jong Kook walked in with seriousness plastered on his face while on the phone and didn’t notice anyone— not even Ji Hyo who said “good morning” to him.

~

Ji Hyo, from the other side of the glass partition, saw how Jong Kook harshly hung up the phone that he received from what she believed is from someone higher in the company. She witnessed how he knead his forehead because of another possible problem. She was mindlessly puzzling over why Jong Kook was in such a slump from one phone call when Jo Min Hee approached her.

“Hey, look at what you’re doing to the poor sticky notes,” Min Hee said, laughing lightly.

She glanced down, and she found the sticky notes all over her desk instead of the pages of the draft. She giggled, “I was just distracted there for a while. Oops.” She peered at Jong Kook’s office, but now, the back of his swivel chair was now facing them.

“He’s just very serious about his work,” Min Hee explained to her. “He’s the only son who’s working in the company, so he’s pressured to do better than ‘best’. What’s worse is, his own father doesn’t even fully support him, along with his aunt and uncle. Only one of his aunts actually takes a liking for him.”

Ji Hyo nodded, grasping the news. “Have they always been so hard on him?”

Min Hee sat on the chair next to Ji Hyo. “I started working for his aunt, Kim Hae Sook. She’s the one who favors him the most, not having a child of her own. She sent me to work for him, to help him sort out the new company, and here we are. But all I can say is, it just gets worse for him. I feel sorry for Mr. Kim most of the time, but I just don’t know what else to do.”

“Wow. I thought they were just hard on him for not being at number one,” Ji Hyo said, her eyes still looking at the back of Jong Kook’s chair.

“It was a bit better when his best friend, Mr. Ha Dong Hoon... do you remember what we said about him? It was better when he was here because Mr. Kim had someone to talk to after being ridiculed and scolded by his own family.”

Ji Hyo was processing what Min Hee said when Min Hee stood up, hearing her office phone ring. She watched as she answered the phone, grabbed a folder, and went in Jong Kook’s office.

~

Everyone in the office had gone off to lunch, and Ji Hyo went to the restaurant that sells toast. She ordered herself a ham and cheese toast, and a cup of raspberry iced tea. When she was called to get her order, she set off back to the office to eat her lunch there. Ji Hyo went straight to the pantry and placed her lunch on the table.

She then set up her phone to call him, who was currently based in New York. It took about three rings when suddenly, his face popped up on the screen.
“Hey!” she said, taking a bite of her toast.

“What happened?” he immediately moved closer to the camera. “Tell me all of it.”

She gulped. “Well... I saw her. You know, my father’s...” She whispered, “Mistress.”

His eyes widened, concern was written all over his face. “What the hell did she do to you? Do I need to get my back to Seoul and teach her a lesson or two?”

Just then, Jong Kook, who was only getting a snack as his lunch from the pantry, walked in on Ji Hyo. He was about to greet her when he saw her, but he heard a man’s voice coming from her phone. He stopped completely in his tracks when he heard her giggle.

“Bubby, come on. You’re overreacting.” She giggled some more, biting a chunk of her toast. Ji Hyo then went on to tell him about what the mistress had done and said.

Bubby?

Jong Kook looked down and walked back to his office, feeling as if he’s intruding on some personal business of Ji Hyo’s. But... “bubby”? Who the heck is bubby?                                                        

“I’m okay now. Sort of,” Ji Hyo said. “I had a chance to talk with someone and he... he made me feel okay. Somehow.”

He made a shocked face in front of the camera. “Song Ji Hyo! Have you replaced me as your favorite soundboard in your life?”

“Sort of?” She grinned when she saw him pout. He crossed his arms, too, making her grin even bigger. “You’re still my number one! Stop that!”

“That’s good to hear.” He smiled at her. “Bubby, by the way, I’ll be heading back to Seoul soon, okay?”

Her brows shot up. “How soon?”

“It’ll be a surprise!”

~

Lee Kwang Soo was the last to leave the office before Ji Hyo and Jong Kook. He organized all of his belongings back into his bag and said his farewell to Ji Hyo. “I’ll get going. You should, too. Good night!” And he was off.

Ji Hyo stretched her arms and massaged her nape. She yawned and looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. They had been in the office for far too long because of “hell week”. Ji Hyo instinctly glanced up and sees Jong Kook with his head resting on his knuckles while reading some of the final drafts of the magazines. She then stood up and headed to the office pantry and made a steaming cup of tea for Jong Kook. She grabbed a sticky note and wrote on it, and stuck it on the side of the cup.

She knocked on the door and opened it. She walked in and put the cup of tea in front of him.

“You looked like you needed it,” she said, smiling at him.

He gladly took a sip. “Thank you. You should go home.”

She nodded. “Good night, Jong Kook.” She left his office and grabbed her things before heading home.

Jong Kook finally noticed the sticky note on the cup after his second sip of the tea. He took it off, read what she wrote, and smiled to himself.

Stop frowning too much. You’ll get ugly lines on your forehead if you don’t stop.

P.S. Don’t stress out too much, commander! Fighting! ;)

Hey, all! Thank you to everyone who's still reading this story even though it's not the best written or the best plot-wise. It's basically just a lot of my rambling, hehe. Thank you for all the comments, too! Oh, and also, yeah, I'm trying to incorporate their moments from Running Man into the story, even though it's in an office setting. I still apologize for not updating daily/sooner because my writing skills is still mediocre. Blergh. xD