Ji-Won showed no reaction whatsoever. For a while, he silently continued to scroll the document on his computer. After a moment, though, he finally replied in a cold voice without even looking at her.
"I see. Very well then. If there is nothing else, you can leave for the night."
Su-Jin gulped, feeling her breath stifled by his lack of interest. Despite all that, though, she ignored the icy atmosphere that floated around the room and continued to speak quietly.
"Uhm, Director Kang, if I may. I… I wanted to talk to you about something regarding the documents I sorted."
"We'll discuss it later. Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until Monday morning." Ji-Won replied dismissively.
Saying that, his eyes slowly raised and he stared at Su-Jin from above the monitor. After a short pause, he used the same frigid voice as before to throw another sentence.
"If it's about the task you just finished, there shouldn't be much to discuss. I am sure you couldn't have done such a terrible job in organizing a few boxes filled with documents."
At his words Su-Jin barely repressed a shiver. She felt her entire body recoil from his icy stare. His black eyes that were trained on her face looked like a pair of black holes, sucking in all the light and warmth, leaving everything around them in cold darkness.
"Yes, of course." She said, repressing another shudder with difficulty. "It can wait until Monday morning, sir."
Though, deep down she was beginning to feel slightly annoyed by his dismissive attitude and even had half a mind to rebuke him for his insulting speech, Su-Jin was also unwilling to provoke her boss further. After all, she was merely an intern, so how could she dare
Therefore, after politely bowing her head, Su-Jin turned around to leave his office.
Just then, Ji-Won's voice stopped her.
"Tomorrow morning we are leaving at seven. We'll be riding in my car, so make sure you arrive here on time."
After he finished speaking, Ji-Won lowered his gaze back into the monitor.
With that, the conversation was naturally declared over and Su-Jin left his office.
As she did so, though, Su-Jin didn't forget to shoot one last glance at her boss.
Before the door closed, she could see Ji-Won's expression slowly becoming concentrated. As he returned to his previous work, his aura appeared slightly less colder, yet it still retained a certain sharpness.
The bright, white light from the monitor fell on his face, infusing his skin with a pale hue. It made him look like a jade statue, without warmth, yet beautiful to the extreme.
At the same time, the flashes of light caused his black eyes to appear even brighter. His pupils seemed to be dotted with little flickers, flashing brilliantly like tiny stars on the night canopy.
Seeing this picture of a cold beauty that was comparable to that of a male god, Su-Jin sighed ruefully. On the outside, she appeared silent and uninterested. Internally, though, she passionately expressed her strong opinions on the matter.
'Such a shame that his face is so handsome. But, what use is there for him to look like that, when he keeps giving off these arctic vibes? Who in their right minds would get close to you, Director Kang? Wouldn't they all be too afraid of being frozen to death by your aura?'
~~~
Due to some unknown reason, that night Su-Jin had trouble sleeping.
For the past day and a half, her mind had been successfully engaged in organizing the documents from the archive. Thanks to this, her mind was never allowed to think back at what had happened between her and Director Kang.
Now, with nothing else to employ her thoughts, Su-Jin's active mind stubbornly replayed the same movie over and over again.
Whenever Su-Jin closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep, she would see Ji-Won jumping to her rescue without a second thought. She could easily picture him holding the heavy frame of the rack, standing between her and the dangerous object like an immovable mountain.
When her mind finally reached the moment when he pushed the rack back into its place, Su-Jin felt herself blushing. During that time she might have been too shocked to react, but now she couldn't stop thinking about how his arms supported the weight as though it was nothing. The sleeves of his suit jacket tightened around his arms, highlighting the man's strong muscles.
This train of thought finally reached the point when Ji-Won had caught Su-Jin around the waist. Even without trying, she could still remember how his arms felt when it wrapped around her body. It felt strong and warm. It also gave her a sense of protection that she hadn't experienced before.
In a way, his grasp had felt so reassuring that Su-Jin's body almost betrayed her in that moment, making her want to lean on him. Fortunately, her mind quickly realized what she was about to do and sabotaged that traitorous intention. Thus, Su-Jin was able to step away from Ji-Won when she did.
Recollecting all this only made Su-Jin feel even more confused. She just couldn't understand what exactly she was feeling about everything. And because of that, she kept tossing and turning until early in the morning.
After barely four hours of sleep, Su-Jin finally couldn't stand it any longer, so she got up and went downstairs.
As soon as she reached the kitchen she found Min-Jun cooking breakfast.
Seeing the warm, familiar scene in front of her, Su-Jin's face broke into a smile. She stepped inside the kitchen and, after just a few steps, she stopped right behind her brother.
"Morning." she greeted him in a groggy voice.
Upon hearing the unexpected sound, Min-Jun's body flinched violently and he almost dropped the spatula he was holding. He had been so startled by his sister's sudden apparition that even the small hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
"For heaven's sake, sis, make some noise before you come this close." He breathed out, pressing a hand over his heart, massaging the area slowly.
"Sure, next time I come down for breakfast I will shout from the top of the stairs 'Her Majesty has arrived! Make way, make way!'. Is that better?" Su-Jin grumbled in irritation.
She even went as far as to roll her eyes at him, looking thoroughly displeased.