00 - 00 - 00

Mark walked through the revolving doors into the company’s main building in Seoul. His office was located somewhere on the third floor, but that was not where he was headed today.

“Hi, Yewon. I’m here to see Jaebum. I have a case report to give him.”

The lady at the front desk nodded her head. She quickly phoned Jaebum and then waved Mark through the doors to the first floor offices. The offices of the area managers and other administrative employees, as well as all the meeting rooms, were located on the first floor. They threw all of the other grunts on the third floor, squashed together in small, cramped cubicles. Mark was of course blessed with Jackson right across from him, the other always popping his head over the divider every five minutes to distract Mark from his work. That was why he tried to schedule his office work on days where Jackson was on call and not in the office.

When Mark pushed open the door to Jaebum’s office, he was instantly greeted with the sight of his haggard-looking boss, hair disheveled from a long night of work. Or, by the looks of the pillow and blanket strewn on the small couch in his office, probably disheveled from waking up not too long ago.

Mark walked to Jaebum’s desk and set the envelope containing his recent case report materials down on it. His boss just grunted in acknowledgement as he stared blankly at the envelope.

“You can open it, you know,” Mark said dryly after a prolonged awkward silence.

“Right, right.”

Jaebum slapped his hands on his face to wake himself up. As he opened up the envelope, Mark took a seat across from him.

“Fixed barking men, okay. Lady was intoxicated and may not remember events, send bill immediately. Yeah, nothing new there,” Jaebum muttered as he scanned the documents.

“Third page under ‘Memrase Usage’ is what I wanted to talk to you about,” Mark clarified. He waited as Jaebum flipped to the section and read it, carefully studying his boss’s face.

“I was recognized,” Mark offered, too impatient to wait.

“So you were.”

“You don’t seem very concerned.”

Jaebum sighed and rubbed at his tired eyes.

“Look, maybe you remind him of someone he knows. Or went to school with him when you were younger. I don’t know. These things happen sometimes.”

“But this felt different.”

“Yeah, well...I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Grabbing the pen next to him, Jaebum signed off on the bottom of the case report proving he had went over it before putting it into a file marked ‘For Regional Manager.’ He then practically fell onto his makeshift bed in the corner, head facing the back of the couch.

“Now if you could please let me get back to my nap, I would be very, very happy.”

Mark continued to stare at the back of his boss’s head until the other’s snores broke the silence. He should really remember not to talk to Jaebum about serious issues when the other just woke up. While his boss’s snarkiness was usually welcome amidst the monotony of daily life, today it just made Mark even more irritated over his encounter last night. Rolling his eyes, Mark exited the room, shutting the door maybe a tad too loudly and causing Jaebum’s snores to stutter in surprise.

Leaning against the closed door, Mark pulled out his company phone. While it looked like any other smartphone – and functioned as such – its main purpose was in the Memrase it contained. Just as he did last night, Mark opened up the app in order to look once again at Park Jinyoung’s picture.

Was Jaebum right? Was it just a coincidence that Mark was recognized? It was the only reason that made sense, though, so Mark hesitantly decided to accept it as truth. With one last look at Park Jinyoung’s face, he pocketed his phone and headed back toward the building’s main entrance.

Mark nodded to Yewon at the front desk on his way out. His mind was already dreaming of his apartment bed, ready to sleep the day away after a long and confusing night of work. Those thoughts were cut short, though, when he felt an arm suddenly being slung around his neck.

“Hey-yo, Markie Mark! How’ya feeling this fine, fine morning? Did you get some nice sleep? Oh wait! You had work all night, huh? Man, must to be you!”

Jackson burst into a fit of laughter at his own teasing. He only stopped once Mark punched him none too lightly in the stomach and doubled over in exaggerated pain.

“You owe me, bastard.”

“I think...oof...we’re even now.”

Mark scoffed and patted Jackson on the back in slight sympathy. He was just about to head out of the building before he remembered his previous conversation.

“Jackson...” he began hesitantly, turning back around to face the male.

“Yeah?”

“Did we go to school with a boy named Park Jinyoung?”

Jackson looked off to the side as he thought it over for a moment. Though him and Mark had gone to the same school up through high school, they had not known each other until they started working at the company.

“Uhhh...I don’t think so. Why?”

Mark’s eyebrows furrowed slightly at Jackson’s response. If Jackson of all people did not recognize the name, then there was little chance that Jinyoung was a school acquaintance. So why did this Park Jinyoung recognize Mark, then?

“Someone thought I looked familiar, that’s all.”

“Weird, man.”

“Yeah.”

00 - 00 - 00

Two weeks later and Mark had done his best to forget the incident with Park Jinyoung, shrugging it off as a strange coincidence. He also