My Company Is Black

#029

During his repeated cycles, Lee Gyo-ha lived a moderately indulgent life. He didn’t live like a complete mess, but unlike Hwi-kyung, he wasn’t so consumed by work that he couldn’t even experience the ‘ㅇ’ of romance.

He was a handsome, flawless, and impressive chaebol man. Even if he stayed still, the world wouldn’t leave him alone. Given his sociable nature, casual encounters as a normal adult were only natural.

Honestly, after living that long, it was stranger to only work at a company like Hwi-kyung did. Gyo-ha found it more surprising how Hwi-kyung panicked every time he was misunderstood.

At first, he thought Hwi-kyung disliked being mistaken for a homosexual in conservative Korea, but it seemed Hwi-kyung just didn’t like getting involved in deep relationships with others.

“It’s troublesome to get involved with an employer in such matters.”

“We’re not really in a romantic relationship.”

“Still, others’ perceptions are important. Even in the last cycle, we weren’t anything, but rumors forced us to regress.”

“The black company criteria are really strict.”

“That’s the Korean way. Even if I’m fine with it, if others’ evaluations are bad, everything falls apart…”

Condition Not Met: You’ve been hired by a company that can’t be found online.

Condition Not Met: J-Korea search failed

Condition Not Met: J-Planet search failed

Condition Not Met: Insaram search failed

Hwi-kyung expanded the system window he had been minimizing.

“J-Korea?”

“It’s a job search site. All of these are.”

“Wait, isn’t business registration enough… does it need to be searchable online too?”

“That’s separate from being searchable by business number. The ratings here are important too.”

“Can I say one harsh thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“This is really fucking ridiculous.”

“I think so too.”

Still, this level of noise was expected. Hwi-kyung’s regression system window had subtle criteria. It nitpicked about everything, like an aunt you meet during holidays.

You got a job at a company, right? Auntie was curious and looked it up, but it doesn’t show up on the internet? It’s not a big company, is it? You didn’t fall for a scam job, did you? No, dear… Auntie’s not trying to criticize, it’s all out of concern for you. You know how many absurd companies are out there these days…

Hwi-kyung had given up on pleasing the regression system window since it wouldn’t even count part-time jobs as employment. Even when he got hired by a major corporation, this system window would constantly shout “Condition Not Met” at every moment. The person who created this system window had clearly never worked in a company before.

The problem was that ignoring the system window like this increased the chances of forced regression. Office romance was one of the black-actions the system window hated the most.

Hwi-kyung had no intention of forming new relationships with colleagues or employers. Many people had approached Jung Hwi-kyung, who was presentable and competent, but Hwi-kyung rejected them like an iron fortress.

Want to meet people while regressing? And you call yourself a regressor trapped in a company?

This statement would prick the conscience of Lee Gyo-ha, who had been dating just fine on the opposite side of the world. However, Gyo-ha felt somewhat wronged. Just as someone who’s worked at a few companies does better, and the same goes for graduate school, shouldn’t it be the same for interpersonal relationships?

What’s wrong with trying various things when you have the chance? By shutting everything out like that, he takes even trivial improvisations (this is entirely by Lee Gyo-ha’s standards) so seriously.

“It’ll be fine as long as we don’t get entangled with my brother…”

“Lee Sung-ha?”

“You know Lee Sung-ha?”

“I’ve worked at BK International twice, so it’s hard not to know.”

Hwi-kyung decided to stay calm, following the example of the seemingly thoughtless Gyo-ha. There was no point in getting worked up alone when things had already happened. Being mistaken as the fated same-sex lover of the BK Group chairman’s youngest son might be better than falling into a low-paying work hell.

Moreover, because of Yoon Marcia who had thanked him, he couldn’t easily say, “I can’t do this after all.” Jung Hwi-kyung was too weak to older women.

If he said, “I’ll just go to a regular company,” what would happen to Yoon Marcia? That question made Hwi-kyung more resilient. Wasn’t this a situation where many good things could happen if he just went along with it?

“Hwi-kyung-ssi.”

“Yes.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m not thinking about anything.”

Gyo-ha quietly observed Hwi-kyung, who remained silent for a while. The so-called “meet-the-parents free pass” look. A neat and clean appearance with a detached impression from fourteen regressions, overlaid with some kind of determination.

Although he hadn’t observed Hwi-kyung for long, Gyo-ha felt he understood a bit of what Hwi-kyung was thinking. Wasn’t he the one who first worried about Manager Kang Moon-chul, who wouldn’t remember anything even right after regression?

“It might sound funny coming from someone who’s always causing trouble, but…”

“So you’re aware that you cause trouble.”

“Yes… Anyway, it might sound funny, but I want Hwi-kyung-ssi to think of yourself first. You’re the one suffering the most right now…”

“I am.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Below his graceful eyes, his stubborn lips set firmly. This obstinacy and defensive attitude were also part of Jung Hwi-kyung, created by repeated regressions and failures.

Gyo-ha unconsciously reached out towards Hwi-kyung’s face. As his fingertips lightly brushed against the tightened lips, Hwi-kyung frowned and tilted his head back.

Despite receiving a displeased look asking what he was doing, Gyo-ha couldn’t easily withdraw his hand. He felt a bit strange. Somehow, he felt like he had seen such a closed-off expression a very long time ago.

* * *

Being a housekeeper turned out to be Jung Hwi-kyung’s unexpected calling.

It might sound unbelievable, but Hwi-kyung was naturally good at maintaining the house and cooking with Marcia.

“Hwi-kyung-ssi must be a genius.”

“It’s all because you taught me well, ma’am.”

“How do you speak so beautifully? I really wish my son was half as good as Hwi-kyung-ssi.”

Jung Hwi-kyung generally got along well with his immediate superiors in all cycles. Except for one or two times when the superior’s personality was overwhelmingly nasty, Hwi-kyung, who could handle any task effortlessly, was his superiors’ hope and joy.

A new employee who does ten things when taught one? That’s truly a unicorn. It was so rare that everyone lost their minds when he appeared. It was suspicious enough to wonder if Hwi-kyung was emitting some kind of pheromone unique to competent people.

Moreover, Marcia was a middle-aged woman to whom Hwi-kyung was particularly weak. Hwi-kyung did his best for Marcia, drawing on his experience of sucking up to superiors in other workplaces. If Manager Kang Moon-chul from the previous cycle had seen this, he might have said, “What about me?”

“Actually, at first I thought you were just our young master’s lover, so I wasn’t going to make you do this kind of work.”

“Ah… that damn lover thing…”

“Hm?”

“It’s nothing. Please continue.”

“But I didn’t know you’d be this good. Did you cook before?”

“I lived alone, so I did some basic cooking. I was also a cook in the military.”

“Oh my!”

Marcia seemed to really like Hwi-kyung, happily listening even to his military stories. Hwi-kyung was grateful that talking about the military didn’t send him back to the first day of training camp. If he had to go back to that point, he would have really gone crazy.

Just then, the sound of someone entering the door lock password was heard. Hwi-kyung reflexively checked the time. It was only 3 PM, so it wasn’t time for Lee Gyo-ha to return, who had been dragged to BK Entertainment by Lee Jung-hye.

“Is the young master back already?”

Marcia, who was hanging hand-washed clothes on the drying rack, stretched her body towards the entrance. Hwi-kyung, who was helping Marcia fold dry laundry, also reflexively turned his head towards the entrance.

Although seeing him five days a week was no different from the last cycle, for some reason, Gyo-ha wasn’t as annoying this time. Maybe because he knew they were both regressors, sometimes Gyo-ha even seemed okay.

For instance, when he included an incentive clause in the contract, he looked like a really good person. Thanks to this, instead of thinking about killing Gyo-ha like before, Hwi-kyung was in a state where he could moderately welcome Gyo-ha when he came home.

It was a huge improvement for an attitude towards a former work superior. Anyway, in the vast sea of regression, Gyo-ha was Hwi-kyung’s only companion, so it was inevitable for Hwi-kyung to be glad to see him anytime.

However, the person who flung open the front door wasn’t Gyo-ha, but someone else. At that time, Gyo-ha was being pinned down by his sister Jung-hye and appointed as an executive director of BK Entertainment.

While Gyo-ha was thinking, “Can’t we stop with the executive director thing?” Hwi-kyung was thinking, “What is this?”

“Are you Jung Hwi-kyung?”

Hwi-kyung swallowed hard as he saw shoe prints being left on the carpet he had spent all day sweeping and cleaning. Jesus. Do I have to practice patience here too, not just at work?

The man, who somewhat resembled Gyo-ha and was reasonably handsome but looked more like a thug than a chaebol heir due to his deeply furrowed brow and slouching posture, pointed at Hwi-kyung.

Hwi-kyung inwardly muttered “shit.” Just after Gyo-ha said, “You just need to be careful of my brother,” that very brother showed up at the house. It seemed Jung Hwi-kyung was truly unlucky while Lee Gyo-ha was on a lucky streak. Otherwise, it didn’t make sense for nothing to go as planned like this.