Translator: Nox

Tsunami Advisory

Chapter 5

Danbi was relatively satisfied with the company she worked for. It was a well-known, prominent domestic conglomerate, the benefits were great, the cafeteria food was delicious, and above all, the people she worked with were wonderful. They say you meet your mortal enemies at work, but at least within her team, there was no one she clashed with significantly. Knowing what a massive advantage it was not to be stressed out by people, her plan had been to bury her bones here—as long as she didn’t get fired.

That mindset had recently begun to change. The reason was crystal clear.

Someone uncomfortable had appeared.

Han Hae-il. Back in their school days, they hadn’t been on bad terms. Maybe she was the only one who felt that way, but they had been pretty close friends. He was someone she felt grateful toward, someone who tugged at her heartstrings. Someone she wanted to greet warmly if they ever met again. To ask how he’d been. To tell him she always knew he’d make it big. To say that she had been doing well, too……

Provided, however, that they reunited strictly as “friends.”

Reuniting with an old friend as her boss at work was thoroughly uncomfortable. To be precise, the biggest problem was that her unease around a superior and her lingering tenderness toward the Hae-il of the past had tangled together into an utterly unmanageable mess. If he had just been demanding and foul-mouthed from the start, she could at least hate him in peace. But because she couldn’t even do that, she had simply taken to avoiding him at all costs.

Yet working at the same company and in the same team meant there was only so much avoiding she could do. What troubled Danbi most these days was how his lips would quirk into a grin whenever their eyes met, almost as if he were sending her a secret signal. His smile was playful at times, a bit sly at others, and occasionally seemed loaded with profound meaning.

That was precisely the problem. That covert signal, somehow feeling entirely personal, barging its way into their professional dynamic. Hurriedly tearing her gaze away and wiping off a cold sweat for fear that someone might notice had now become a daily routine.

At first, she tried to brush it off, telling herself she was just being hyper-sensitive, that it was all in her head or an overreaction. But as his inexplicable antics persisted and the moments where his gaze lingered unusually long on her grew more frequent, that faint anxiety gradually hardened into an unpleasant certainty.

Eventually, with his suspicious behavior continuing day after day, their teammates began to pick up on the strange vibe as well. Hae-il calling Danbi over from across the cubicle partitions was becoming a regular occurrence, not to mention those subtle glances and fleeting smiles directed exclusively at her in public settings.

After making sure Hae-il had stepped out of the office for a moment, Dongjun in the next cubicle slid his chair back and asked in a hushed whisper,

“Do you have something going on with the team leader?”

Being misunderstood like this was the hardest part. Smoke kept billowing from a chimney where no fire had been lit.

“No.”

“Really? But the vibe is crazy weird between you two.”

“What vibe.”

“Just… secretive and kind of ticklish.”

Danbi, whose eyes had remained fixed on her monitor as she answered, slowly turned her head to face Dongjun.

“Me?”

Dongjun looked straight at his colleague’s face, which had grown hollow under her eyes from sheer stress over the past few days, and swallowed a curse. This was by no means the look of someone flirting or in the middle of a romance.

“My bad. I misunderstood.”

“Good, as long as you get it. If anyone else talks nonsense, please tell them it’s not true.”

“Got it.”

Having replied, Dongjun immediately sent a message to the group chat that excluded Hae-il.

Development Team 1

They’re not dating, apparently

It seemed the team had already been gossiping behind her back.

Development Team 1

Not even flirting??

Danbi answered that question herself.

Development Team 1

I told you, no

Haa

Everyone

Stop watching so many dramas

With that, the chat was flooded with laughs.

Development Team 1

What a shame

Could’ve been a dopamine party

So they had just wanted to use someone else’s misery as entertainment. As Danbi fired off an angry sticker in betrayal, another messenger notification popped up with a ping.

It was her high school alumni group chat from the school she had transferred to and graduated from. The school Danbi graduated from was an IT-focused high school sponsored by the government at the time. Most of those who went on to college majored in computer science, and regardless of college, almost everyone became developers. Another notable feature was that the male-to-female ratio was like hardtack biscuits and candy stars, so the few star candies were close without anyone being left out.

Since almost all of them had the same profession, they shared a lot of common ground and actively exchanged information.

Lee Danbi, you’re looking to switch jobs?

When she said she was thinking of changing jobs because someone at work made her uncomfortable, the group chat was flooded with ‘……^^’.

Hey

Where in the world is there a workplace without an uncomfortable person?

Me and Manager Kim are constantly fighting and having a power struggle

Telling each other to quit ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Neither of us is quitting no matter what

You get out!!! Fucking bitch!!!

Unless that person is trying to kill you

Just endure it

Yeah, just endure it

While thinking about your credit card bill

She had sent the message hoping for some encouragement and a boost of courage, but every single one of them was trying to stop her. When she asked if the market was really that bad these days, the chat was spammed with ‘^^’ again.

You didn’t even look into it, did you?

I practically live on job boards

Openings have totally dried up

Nobody is hiring^^

Switching jobs is insanely hard right now

Look at me, quitting on a whim and ending up unemployed……^^

Can’t get rehired

At least you quit on your own

I got laid off……^^

Nowhere to go

You only say that because you’re eating warm, comfy conglomerate food

Right, your company is holding out remarkably well

Our salaries are frozen……^^

I’m just satisfied they still employ me and going to work

Seems like it’s the same overseas right now

Seriously, no workplace beats that^^

Just hold on until you get fired^^

Hang in there^^

Hold on tight^^

Suddenly getting pissed off……

Don’t even dream of switching jobs, go catch bugs ASAP fuck!!

Fuck, catch them with a grateful heart

At her friends’ painfully realistic advice, Danbi closed the job search site tab she had hidden in a corner of her screen.

If she weighed the discomfort Hae-il caused against the weight of her livelihood, her livelihood was obviously far heavier.

✶ ✶ ✶

Before long, a meeting for “that project,” which had been put on hold, was convened. Every team member was summoned once again into the center of hell.

Planning, front-end, designers, team leaders, and directors of each team—all the company’s core personnel gathered in the conference room. The atmosphere in the room was practically that of a funeral. The existing members, who knew what state the stalled project was in, all wore expressions as if they wanted to jump out the window, while the newcomers who had recently joined looked thoroughly intimidated by the ominous atmosphere.

Danbi exchanged a brief nod with Suhyeon from the planning team, who was seated across from her. Thanks to the company’s frequent collaboration system, he was a colleague she had already worked with on multiple projects. Though they occasionally clashed due to the inevitable friction between planning and development, Suhyeon had a delicate personality for a man, and a solid sense of camaraderie had formed between them.

Suhyeon, wearing an equally tense expression, gave Danbi a small nod as if to say, ‘Let’s survive this one, too.’

“They say he’s the team leader of Development Team 1. Team 1.”

“Insane…… Seriously……”

Right on cue, whispers could be heard from here and there as people stole glances at Hae-il. A fragrant, handsome man rarely seen in a development team. On top of that, an exceptional talent who had made waves abroad. His presence was already a hot topic among the female employees. Calling him a celebrity, a 2D character, and the like.

However, seeing the fond looks in their eyes, they clearly hadn’t heard about his personality yet.

She only hoped they would flutter as much as possible right now. Because soon, that admiration wouldn’t just shatter—he would become the star of their nightmares tonight.

Once everyone was seated, the conference room doors closed, and the meeting began in earnest. As expected, Hae-il led the meeting entirely on his own. Perhaps already aware of his formidable status as the CEO’s son, the team leaders and directors from other departments kept their mouths firmly shut, almost as if by prior agreement.

“From a user’s perspective, would anyone want to use this? Neither the UI nor the functionality is remotely satisfactory.”

At the word “UI,” the designers’ shoulders shrank, and at the critique of “functionality,” the developers swallowed hard.

“I understand the planning intent, but should the user have to study all of that one by one? The intuitiveness is remarkably poor.”

Lest the planning team feel left out, he thoughtfully added his critique.

His criticism spared no specific department or individual. From the direction of the planning to the aesthetics and usability of the design, and further to the efficiency of development and code quality, he probed sharply into every facet of the project as though examining it under a microscope. With every cold flick of his hand as he turned the meeting slides, and with every word in his low, calm, yet overwhelmingly domineering voice, the air in the conference room sank like lead.

As the protracted critique drew to a close, Danbi realized his true intention. This was not merely a matter of “repairs” or touching up a few areas.

He was currently proposing to scrap the entire project altogether. Rather than repairing a dilapidated, shoddy building, he meant to demolish it completely and rebuild from the ground up, starting from a brand-new foundation.

As anticipated, the final verdict fell from his lips.

“There is only one conclusion. We overturn this entire project and start over from scratch.”

A chilling silence enveloped the conference room. The seniors let out heavy sighs, as if the inevitable had finally come. Hae-il’s fit—or rather, leadership—as he took the reins dragged on through verses two, three, and four, until finally the rest of the staff were released with the decision that only the team leaders and directors would remain for a second round of meetings.

As everyone filed out of the conference room, their shoulders were slumped and worn out.

“You can tell just by looking at him that he’s going to be insanely picky. Haa……”

“Ugh…… I fucking hate this. Did you see that vicious look in his eyes?”

The two designers, who had shown subtle interest in Hae-il right before the meeting started, completely flipped within an hour and began to talk behind his back. Of course, they weren’t the only ones badmouthing Hae-il. Since Hae-il had dished out criticism evenly to everyone in attendance, it was only natural.

The teammates, already accustomed to Hae-il, cursed as they lamented their doomed fate.

“The scale is way bigger than I thought. No wonder so many damn people were gathered.”

“Did you see the director keeping his mouth shut? He’s called a team leader, but he’s basically the CEO.”

“He’s the CEO Junior, so he practically is the CEO. Our future master. Ah…… seriously, what are we going to do……”

Beside her teammates passing laments back and forth like a shuttlecock, Danbi let out a quiet sigh. She couldn’t even fathom how many nights she would be spending at the office from now on. The thought of switching jobs, which she had tried so hard to push to the back of her mind, kept flickering before her eyes. Right at that moment.

“Danbi-ssi~.”

Turning around at the gentle, sweet voice, she saw Suhyeon from the planning team running over with a bright smile, holding a shopping bag. When Danbi stopped in her tracks, the teammates walking with her naturally paused as well, looking back at Suhyeon with curious expressions. The members of Development Team 1 were also already acquainted with Suhyeon from collaborating on multiple occasions.

He offered a light nod to everyone, then handed the shopping bag he was holding to Danbi and explained.

“I saw earlier that you looked so exhausted. The rest of the team as well……. It’s nothing big, but please share it among yourselves. Well, I’ll be off then. Good luck on this project too!”

Suhyeon bowed slightly and waved his hand in cheer. After he hurried off with light steps, Danbi opened the shopping bag to find a box of premium energy drinks, well-known for relieving fatigue. Without a single thought passing through her mind, Danbi muttered reflexively,

“Cheonsanga……?”