Tsunami Advisory
Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Danbi stepped away from his desk as if she were being practically chased out. Carrying a heavy load of stress, she slumped into her seat, only for the team chat window flashing incessantly on her monitor to catch her eye. As though they had been broadcasting the recent storm in real time, the conversation was already in full swing.
Development Team 1
I thought they were filming a drama or something…
Now that we have a Team Leader straight out of a K-drama,
this company is just…
How should I put it?
It’s becoming unrealistically ideal.
Whether it’s a conglomerate or an SME, isn’t scrambling to fix things after a fire breaks out the universal law?
What kind of company, before an issue even happens,
goes through everything this thoroughly,
rips someone a new one,
and points out the exact problem in advance?
Usually, people only figure out who messed up what after everything blows up.
The previous team leader hadn’t even cared who was at fault as long as the issue was resolved. If a problem occurred, you fixed it. Everyone had followed that rule without complaint.
Han Hae-il, however, was different. He wanted to prevent problems ‘before’ they ever arose. It was ideal, but in the process, the team’s workload had multiplied several times over. Perhaps this was the divide born from the difference in mindset between a salaried employee and an owner.
Development Team 1
Don’t you have to be at that level to make a name for yourself in Silicon Valley?
And honestly, from the start,
the very existence of a suit-wearing Team Leader in a development team is unrealistic.
A developer who wears a suit every day?
Never heard of such a thing.
Hae-il was pulling off that very unreality. There was a common prejudice that developers who dressed up like that lacked technical skills, but Hae-il shattered that stereotype with flying colors.
Development Team 1
Right. Developers are all natural nerds to begin with,
so we can’t speak aggressively like that.
When developers have a complaint, they grumble under their breath instead of getting angry. That’s a true developer.
I bet that man has never held back his temper once in his entire life lollll
He’s not a developer; he’s an owner who naturally inherited development skills from his dad… ^^
She could relate. The company’s horizontal culture had shattered with the arrival of the CEO’s son. By now, there had been more than enough time for them to get close, yet everyone found the CEO’s son uncomfortable and intimidating. In this space, he existed strictly as a ‘boss’ rather than a ‘colleague.’
Development Team 1
Lately, I feel like I’m dreaming.
Even when I get scolded, I just feel like an extra on a drama set.
Oh lollllll me too
Now, if romance just comes into play,
it’ll be complete.
Ah,
earlier, he was chewing someone out about dating and private life, wasn’t he?
Who is Lee Danbi dating?
Apparently, everyone had been keeping their ears open while pretending to work. In an instant, every arrow flew straight at Danbi. The cursor blinking on the monitor seemed to urge her to reply at once. Danbi typed out a brief response.
Development Team 1
Do you really think I am?
The sound of the Enter key, struck with all her pent-up rage, clacked unusually loud.
✶ ✶ ✶
Haah…
Someone’s heavy sigh weighed down the office. At the very center of the low-pressure system known as Han Hae-il, Danbi felt as if she were taking the brunt of the storm completely bare.
“Danbi-ssi, a moment.”
The summons was now practically part of her daily routine. Once the technical reprimand via his meticulous code review was finished, his twisted repertoire invariably followed.
“Your private life is none of my business, Danbi-ssi, but shouldn’t you make sure it doesn’t interfere with your work?”
Private life, again. Had eating a late-night snack before going to bed yesterday caused a problem? In Danbi’s daily life, which consisted solely of home and the office, there was nothing as dramatic as his accusations implied.
“Did you leave out the test case because you were tired from dating over the weekend?”
“Um… dat—”
“Are you trying to make excuses?”
At his chilling gaze, Danbi clamped her mouth shut. He had no interest in the facts. He simply needed an excuse to attack her.
“No. I apologize.”
She merely prayed for this hellish project—and his even more vicious hysteria—to end as soon as possible.
When had it begun? When had his gaze, his tone, and everything about him directed toward her turned this sharp? Danbi unraveled the tangled thread of her thoughts as she stared at the blank monitor. At the end of the swirling reflections, the scene from that noisy company dinner that night inevitably surfaced.
‘Just as a team leader and a team member.’
The words she had spoken returned to her like a boomerang of regret. If she had known she would be trampled underfoot so thoroughly as a subordinate, she would have leaned on old sentiment instead.
I should have just asked him to treat me as an old friend instead…
She had only wanted to keep personal feelings from complicating professional matters, but the outcome was the absolute worst. Under the whip Han Hae-il brandished behind the mask of a superior, Danbi was being helplessly worn down.
Glancing up slightly, she saw his profile, unmoving as his face remained buried in the monitor. His features, already sharp, looked even more precarious lately with his bloodshot eyes and hollowed sockets. He worked like a madman, and with a boss obsessed with work, the team members were having their very souls ground to dust.
When lunchtime arrived, the team members exchanged silent glances as if by prior agreement. They crept out of their seats, treading lightly so as not to ruffle the Team Leader’s feathers.
Hae-il still did not budge. Though the response was predictable, the senior member, Yunseok, bit the bullet and stepped forward.
“Team Leader, aren’t you… coming to have lunch?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me and go ahead. I have a few more things to look over.”
A gaze fixed to the monitor, a voice devoid of emotion. At the expected response, Yunseok stepped back sheepishly. Only after they had completely left the office did the team members let out the breath they had been holding.
“Why does he skip lunch every single day?”
“They say geniuses are high-strung by nature. Maybe he’s the type who loses his appetite when working.”
“I mean, it’s more comfortable for us to eat by ourselves, but… won’t he really collapse at this rate?”
“Exactly. That man is the key player in this project. If he collapses now, we’re all finished.”
The team members’ conversation struck right at the core of Danbi’s anxiety. Yes, he was a boss she had to resent, yet simultaneously a genius she couldn’t help but acknowledge, and their only exit from this hellish project. If he collapsed and left them to finish the work on their own, that was a worst-case scenario she didn’t even want to imagine.
This was not human compassion or sympathy. It was strictly a matter of her own liberation and survival.
Though his words were razor-sharp, they always pierced straight to the heart of the problem. Resentment aside, the fact that Han Hae-il was the heart and engine of this project was undeniable. The team members, too, recognized his undeniable competence. Even if having a domineering boss was grueling since it was their first time, they could see with their own eyes that Project B—the very headache that had plagued them—was actually coming together properly.
To use a soccer analogy, he was like an ace striker whom you couldn’t bring yourself to like because of his terrible personality, but whom you absolutely had to start if you wanted to win. Knowing the team grew stronger with him, an unavoidable attachment sprouted amidst the resentment. At the very least, standing behind him allowed them to quell their fear of failure.
Danbi thought about trying to persuade Hae-il herself, given their past connection, but after being chewed out again today, she couldn’t muster the courage. In the end, she stepped into the elevator with the rest of the team.
Throughout the meal and over coffee, Danbi’s mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Hae-il left alone in the office. As if she wasn’t the only one worried about his health, conversation naturally drifted to the Team Leader across the table.
“By the way, doesn’t it look like the Team Leader has lost way too much weight?”
Ki-hyun, sipping his coffee beside them, spoke up. Dongjun chimed in as well.
“Working with him, it really feels like he has the kind of personality that makes it impossible to gain weight. Seeing how he grills Lee Danbi, he’s just sensitive, high-strung—I’ve never seen anyone that on edge.”
“Ah, seriously… Danbi-sunbae, I feel so bad for you…”
“Why is he particularly hard on Lee Danbi, anyway? Did you make some kind of mistake with the Team Leader?”
Lately, Danbi had been tormented by him to the extent that the entire team could feel it. Until recently, she had wondered why on earth he was acting this way, but now, even thinking about the reason was exhausting.
“I guess my work is just the crappiest.”
“Hey, don’t put it like that…”
At her resigned reply, her colleagues couldn’t press further and quickly steered the conversation to another topic. While grateful for their consideration, Danbi still couldn’t break free from the prison of thoughts surrounding Hae-il.
Was he always this high-strung when working? Had he been like that when he was in Silicon Valley too? What if he really collapses like this?
It was just as worry filled her head.
“Did everyone enjoy lunch?”
A familiar, soft voice. Suhyeon, who had approached unnoticed, looked down at them with his characteristic, good-natured smile.
“Ah, Suhyeon-ssi. Hello.”
When Danbi greeted him warmly, the other team members offered slight nods of acknowledgment as well.
“What did you have for lunch?”
“We just ate at the company cafeteria.”
“Our team went to the new sandwich shop that just opened out front today, and it was pretty good. You should try going sometime. They’re doing an opening event with a ten percent discount through this week.”
Sandwich.
The moment she heard that word, Hae-il’s gaunt face starving at his desk and the concrete solution of a sandwich merged into a single picture. A primal worry—that she had to feed him something, anything—compelled her into action.
Rather than sitting around worrying, she wanted to buy him something and put her mind at ease.
“Where is it?”
“You go around the company building and… ah, it’s hard to explain.”
“In this direction? I’ll just head out and look for it.”
Having made up her mind, Danbi rose from her seat.
“Um… I’m going to step out for a bit. I want to buy something for the Team Leader to eat.”
With Danbi biting the bullet, the team members nodded with relieved faces. It was proof that deep down, everyone was worried about Hae-il. Of course, it was the kind of worry reserved for the captain who had to steer the ship they were riding on again tomorrow.
Just then, Suhyeon stepped forward with a gentle smile.
“Ah, are you heading to the sandwich shop? Shall I show you the way? I was just about to get some fresh air to help digest my food anyway.”
Could a person really be this kind? The more she saw him, the more he seemed like a genuinely good person. Before Danbi could even answer, a chorus of teasing jeers erupted.
“Ooh~! Are things going well between you two?”
