The two teams had gathered together for an early start, they were seated around the conference table: Sang-wook, Seo-jin, Soo-hyun, Min-su. As they looked over notes and chatted among themselves waiting to start, Hyun-woo entered, a printout in hand, and offered a quiet nod to the group. They greeted him similarly.

He took a seat at the table and slide the printout to Sang-wook. 

"I revisited the tone logic on the utilities page," Hyun-woo began, his voice clear and concise. 

"It was about segmenting user stress points; high-pressure steps needed a sharper voice, everything else stayed warm."

He laid out the breakdown, presenting his findings with his usual clarity, but there was a noticeable tone change in his delivery making him sound warmer than usual. 

Seo-jin listened carefully, her expression thoughtful. Sang-wook read over the notes again, nodding in agreement.

"That tracks. It holds intention," Sang-wook confirmed, looking around the room. "We keep it. Just needs a transition anchor in the copy."

Seo-jin immediately jotted that down in her notebook without prompting.

"I can finesse that into the narrative," Soo-hyun offered. "Give it about 30?"

"Take your time," Hyun-woo replied smoothly. "I’ll flag all the assets in the shared folder."

A beat of efficient silence passed. Min-su looked around, satisfied with the progress.

"Clean execution, people," Min-su announced. "Let’s keep pace."

As they began to pack up their materials, Seo-jin gave Hyun-woo a brief glance, curious, perhaps even grateful. He met her gaze, a fleeting connection, but didn't linger. They both turned back to their respective tasks.

In the late afternoon Seo-jin was at her desk, reviewing assets, her pen tapping absently against the edge of her notebook. Do-yeon appeared behind her, holding a coffee cup like a peace offering, her eyes questioning.

"Heard from Sang-wook Hyun-woo resurfaced like a responsible adult," Do-yeon commented lightly. "Said he was borderline pleasant."

Seo-jin didn’t look up right away. She just smiled a little, a soft, imperceptible sound escaping her. "He was measured. Clear. Didn’t overstep."

"That’s practically affectionate, coming from you," Do-yeon teased gently.

Seo-jin flipped to the next page of her notes, trying,and failing, not to smile openly.

"You okay?" Do-yeon asked, her voice softer now.

Seo-jin nodded. "Just... surprised it didn’t feel strange."

"Maybe the strange part’s behind you," Do-yeon suggested, a quiet wisdom in her tone.

A moment settled between them. No dramatics. Just the steady beat of something gently shifting.

In the late evening the team reassembled in the meeting room. A project schedule was projected on the wall, glowing faintly in the fading light. The director stood at the whiteboard to its side, gesturing with a marker. 

"Final deliverables go live next Thursday," he stated, underlining the date. "That's seven days. Deployment window opens 9 AM, rollout must be clear by 2 PM, because the client’s launching their campaign on Friday."

He circled the final box on the screen: "Handoff + Implementation Walkthrough: In-person at HYUN GLOBAL HQ."

"Min-su will be presenting alongside their execs, but someone on their team will coordinate the visual and UX transitions." 

Min-su now picked up from the director, turning towards the table. "That means presence. Clarity. No surprises." He nodded to Soo-hyun. "You’ll be point. Any conflicts, flag them early."

Soo-hyun gave a confident nod, but a faint shadow seemed to fall under his eyes. Seo-jin glanced at him, something wary stirring behind her calm expression. A thin beat of tension settled in the room, just enough for the audience to feel the weight of responsibility shifting.

Much later in the evening the office was mainly dark, the odd desk light still illuminating workstations manned by diligent staff. Soo-hyun stood at the copier, watching a thick document roll out. His phone buzzed with a notification from the team group chat. He rubbed his eyes and winced, a flicker of exhaustion on his face. He reached for the water bottle on the table to his side, but it was empty. He leaned against the machine for a moment, head down, the kind of moment you tell yourself is just a pause, as long as it goes unseen..

Do-yeon stepped in to grab printed proofs and immediately noticed him. He quickly stood as if being caught doing something he shouldn’t, drawing even more attention.

"Jesus. You sleep this week, or are you just mastering the dead-eyed designer look?" she asked with a small smile.

He managed a weary smile in return. "It’s all eyeliner. Hides the decay."

She tossed him a protein bar from her pocket. "Eat. Pass out for at least four hours. Then come back and pretend to be human."

He nodded, offering a thumbs-up. “You’ve obviously been here before if you stash these in your pocket,” he was unusually downbeat in his respond.

She simply smiled. Took her documents and left. But once she was gone, he sat down slowly on the bench and just stayed there for a while, the hum of the copier his only company.