Tsunami Advisory
Chapter 20
Chapter 20
“Team Leader…… are you all right? Open your eyes. Ha…… this is driving me crazy.”
Danbi whispered softly, shaking Hae-il, who was clinging to her wrist as if it were a lifeline. Incoherent, slurred mumblings continued to spill intermittently from his lips.
“I said…… I’d take you hooomme…….”
He kept repeating that he would take her home, but anyone could see he was in no condition to escort anyone anywhere. Was this his way of asking her to take him home? With every sigh-like breath he exhaled, the harsh reek of alcohol washed over her.
She had realized he was unusually drunk earlier in the alley, when he grabbed her and demanded like a child why she didn’t like him, but she never expected him to be this incapacitated. It was impossible to even guess how much he had drunk.
The young Han Hae-il Danbi remembered was never the foolish type to drink past his limits. As a perfectionist in everything, he had always been ruthlessly strict with himself. Had so much changed as he grew into adulthood? Or did this moment hold some special meaning for him?
“Ah, the Team Leader is totally wasted. What do we do?”
“I mean, I saw him earlier—he just kept drinking without a break. He must’ve emptied nearly three bottles on his own.”
“We should probably get him a room at a nearby motel. Ah, yes, yes, we’ll take good care of him. Head on home first~”
“Yes, yes, have a good night.”
The team members quickly handled the situation, sending off the rest of the company colleagues first.
In the end, it was up to his own team members to deal with the aftermath.
“Ugh, he’s so heavy. Because he’s so tall.”
“Does he work out? His body feels like a rock…….”
The team members struggled to lift Hae-il’s heavy frame. Even with two able-bodied men supporting him from either side, holding up his limp, massive build seemed daunting.
“Hey, the rest of you go home. Ki-hyun-ssi and I will…….”
Two of the relatively sober male employees stepped up to take responsibility for getting him home, but Hae-il still held Danbi’s wrist in a tight grip and refused to let go.
“I’ll walk you hooomme, I will……. Let’s go home…….”
His slurred rambling continued, the grip on her wrist never loosening. That relentless stubbornness unique to Han Hae-il, who always got what he wanted no matter what. In the end, Danbi had no choice but to step forward and offer to take him home.
“Ha…… I’ll just take him. All we need to do is lay him down in a nearby motel anyway.”
Whether he understood her words or not, Hae-il began stumbling forward precariously. Seeing him on the verge of collapsing at any second, Danbi reflexively reached out to support him.
At that, as if he had been waiting for the chance, he threw his weight onto Danbi’s shoulder and pulled her tight into his arms. Because of their sheer difference in size, Danbi instantly found her face buried in his solid chest. It was an unmistakable embrace.
At the sudden wave of intense heat and his familiar scent, her heart dropped straight to the floor with a heavy thud.
Witnessing this, the team members panicked for a moment and checked their surroundings. Fortunately, the rowdy crowd of coworkers from earlier had already dispersed like the receding tide.
“Ah, someone might really get the wrong idea if they see this.”
“Someone else should definitely go along. If someone sees a man and a woman walking into a motel together, imagine what kind of rumors would spread around the company.”
“Aside from that, how could sunbae-nim handle the Team Leader alone? Look at the difference in their sizes.”
Right then, Suhyeon, who had been quietly observing the situation all along, took Hae-il’s other arm and draped it over his shoulder.
“I’ll go with Danbi-ssi. My place is nearby anyway, so once we drop the Team Leader off, we can just share a cab back.”
Given the circumstances, Danbi readily accepted his uncomplicated kindness.
“Ah, thank you so much, Suhyeon-ssi.”
Thanks to his help, the other team members were able to head home with much lighter hearts. Danbi had planned to leave Hae-il at a nearby motel if he was completely unresponsive, but curiously enough, when asked for his home address, Hae-il answered with surprisingly clear and accurate pronunciation. Left with no other choice, Danbi and Suhyeon ended up taking him all the way to his apartment.
The address he gave led them to a high-end officetel boasting an imposing, gleaming exterior. Standing before the building as it radiated a cold luster, she was certain he had indeed given the right address despite being drunk.
After shaking Hae-il a few times in front of the digital door lock—he had been quiet as if asleep the entire way—he punched in the passcode with eerie precision once more.
“There are so many rooms.”
“I think this side might be the bedroom.”
Inside the dark, desolate, and cavernous home, the two of them miraculously managed to find the bedroom. Then, they practically dumped him onto the bed.
The spacious home was surprisingly bare. It felt almost like a model home before all the furniture had been moved in.
Is it because he only moved in recently……? Thinking it rude to look around someone else’s private space, Danbi forced herself to avert her gaze.
Suhyeon carefully slipped off Hae-il’s shoes and socks and wiped down the floor with wet wipes. Danbi approached the head of the bed, struggling to take off his coat. As she turned his body this way and that to peel off the coat, her eyes accidentally fell on the nightstand.
There didn’t seem to be much besides a luxurious table lamp and a charger, but a box of condoms sitting nonchalantly beside them stubbornly caught her eye. And not a small pack of one or two, but a large-sized box.
Why would he buy condoms by the whole box and keep them there?
Did he have someone he was seeing? Then again, there was no way a man that handsome and capable was alone. He had been so popular in high school, so why would now be any different?
Perhaps, having lived in the United States, he was living freely and switching partners every night. A private life completely different from hers—glamorous, and perhaps a little promiscuous. Imagining that scene somehow left a bitter taste in her mouth.
“Lee Danbi…….”
Whether talking in his sleep or drunkenly rambling, he kept calling for Danbi.
“I…… came to pick you up…….”
His words had shifted a bit in the meantime. Earlier, he clearly said he’d take her home, then told her to go to his house, and now that they had arrived at his place, he claimed he had come to pick her up. Although the ramblings of a drunkard were known to have neither consistency nor context, seeing it change from moment to moment drew an involuntary chuckle from her.
“Danbi-ssi, your Team Leader has been muttering to himself for a while now. Can you understand anything he’s saying?”
Suhyeon asked, rubbing his stiff shoulders. Danbi gave a light shrug and answered briefly.
“No. Not at all.”
After all, what meaning could there be in the ramblings of a drunk?
✶ ✶ ✶
The day after the company dinner, Danbi dragged her body, still heavy with the previous night’s exhaustion, to work. Taking advantage of the flexible working hours, she entered the office building at 10:00 AM, a bit later than usual.
She desperately needed caffeine to wake up her brain. Just as she stopped by the in-house café to order a coffee, someone lightly tapped her on the shoulder.
“Danbi-ssi, are you just getting in?”
Turning around, she saw Suhyeon standing there with a bright smile. He looked so neat and energetic that one would never guess he had suffered any aftereffects from the company dinner.
“Ah, Suhyeon-ssi. Did you get home safe yesterday?”
“Yes. Danbi-ssi, did you sleep…… I mean, did you get some sleep?”
“Um…… a little.”
The two comrades who had shared the burden of their heavily intoxicated boss caught each other’s eyes and chuckled. It was the kind of self-deprecating empathy that only people who had suffered through something together could share.
“You came for coffee, right? You helped me out yesterday, so it’s on me.”
“No, you don’t have to. Of course that was just…….”
Suhyeon waved his hands dismissively with a good-natured smile, but Danbi was already busily tapping the kiosk screen.
“Come on, it wasn’t just anything. You’re not even on our team, yet you helped out so much. What would you like?”
“Ah…… In that case, an Americano, please.”
“Iced?”
“Yes, iced, please.”
“Then two iced Americanos…….”
It was right at that moment. A hand suddenly cut in between Danbi and the kiosk screen, adding another iced Americano with practiced, unhesitating movements. Even before she could turn her head to check, the gleam of the expensive watch flashing on his wrist announced his identity.
Danbi turned her head very slowly, like a winding doll unwinding its spring.
It was Hae-il, just as expected. He was looking down at her with cold eyes. A fine chill crept up her spine, and the back of her neck went stiff.
“Ah, Team Leader. Good morning. How is your stomach feeling? You drank quite a bit yesterday, so I was worried…….”
Suhyeon was the first to greet him politely and warmly, but Hae-il didn’t give him so much as a proper glance. His gaze remained motionless, locked solely onto Danbi’s face.
Under that icy pressure, Danbi swallowed dryly. Only then did his gaze shift over to Suhyeon.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’ll buy the coffee. From what I hear, it seems I owe you two a very big favor for last night.”
Pulling a card from his wallet, he paid with effortless ease. His voice, pitched a tone lower than usual, was calm, yet it held a chilling sharpness akin to a finely honed blade.
The suffocating pressure made it hard for Danbi to breathe. She hadn’t done anything wrong, yet she had no idea why she felt so stifled.
“However, you two will need to be careful from now on.”
“Pardon?”
Behind Suhyeon’s puzzled question, the sharp sound of the receipt printing cut through the space. The moment Hae-il took the receipt, he pointedly clenched it in his fist and crumpled it with force. The crinkling noise grated uncomfortably against their ears.
“Because if a man and a woman who aren’t even on the same team stick together like this in the morning at the office, people might get the wrong idea.”
Having finished speaking to Suhyeon, he slowly turned his head a moment later. His gaze locked onto Danbi once more. The corners of his mouth were smiling, but his eyes were not smiling at all.
“Ah, or perhaps…… is it not a misunderstanding?”
