At the question, "Did you need to be consulted for this?"
Director Park Jin-hee slowly lifted her head and looked at Manager Lee Hyuk.Their gazes clashed sharply in the air.
The neighbor-aunt warmth on Park's face vanished, replaced by the fierce glare of a fighting dog about to lunge.
Lee Hyuk immediately realized he had stepped over a line he shouldn't have crossed.
He lowered his eyes slightly and turned toward the two new interns sitting across from him.
Sensing the chill thickening in the air, Yoojin and Dongha pretended to focus elsewhere.
If Director Park was taking this stance, then babysitting these two was unavoidable.Lee Hyuk clicked his tongue.
The tower-building exercise had been impressive, yes—but to him, it still looked like a game.
Real work was nothing like that.
Samho Apparel dealt with sudden production issues, endless paperwork, and factory coordination.
When production problems broke out, someone had to be sent to Vietnam, China,
Myanmar, or even Peru or Nicaragua—sometimes for one or two months straight.
Without grit, no one survived Samho Apparel.
He had already picked out a few strong candidates.
The type who screamed "all-boys middle and high school, army service completed," just by standing there.
Those were the ones he preferred—young men who wouldn't break down crying when things got tough.
He had even told Director Park which interns he wanted.
But instead, she had brought these two.
A sigh burst from deep inside his chest.
As always—when the higher-ups made a mess, someone below had to clean it up.
Lee Hyuk's expression twisted, and Yoojin instantly sensed his open displeasure.
How was she supposed to respond?
He was, after all, her future supervisor.
Next to her, Dongha had been quietly staring at the table.
His face remained cold and emotionless, but his fists opened and closed repeatedly on his lap.
His sensual lips curved into an elegant line.
Then, in a soft yet unmistakably stubborn tone, he spoke.
"Manager Lee, I have a question. Did we need your approval to intern here? Weren't top-scoring teams allowed to choose their placement?"
Lee Hyuk's face contorted. He shot a glare at Dongha—but Dongha raised his chin and met his eyes without flinching.
Their gazes locked sharply midair.
Lee Hyuk sensed it instantly—the raw, dominant instinct coiled inside this young man.
The kid sitting across from him was one of those types.
A natural leader.
The kind who instinctively commanded a room—like Chairman Yoon Taeyoung.
This intern was a tiger cub.
Director Park let out a long sigh as she watched the two men silently battle for territory.
Twenty years in the industry had made her an expert at mediating masculine, territorial power struggles.
…But this one looks like a handful.
The baby-faced intern glaring at his "superior" looked far too dangerous.
Then, like a bell cutting through ice, a clear voice softened the tension.
"Manager Lee, may I call you my mentor?"
It was Yoojin.
Her single line neatly diffused the hostility between the two men.
Even so, a faint crack—an emotional fissure—remained beneath the surface.
Still glaring at Dongha until the very last moment, Lee Hyuk finally turned to Yoojin and gave a curt nod.
"Sure. That's fine."
"Thank you. We still have a lot to learn, so please feel free to speak comfortably," Yoojin said with a gentle smile.
Nearly forty years of lived experience—including her "previous life"—slipped naturally into her tone.
"Ah… I've had employees complain when I spoke casually, so…"
Lee Hyuk muttered, the corner of his lip twitching.
"It's really okay."
"How old are you two?"
"We're twenty-one this year. We'll be twenty-two next year."
Twenty-one.
The sharp edge of tension vanished; shock cracked open Lee Hyuk's face.
Twenty-one?!
That was practically a disqualifying age.
He turned to Director Park, baffled.
"Director, our part-timers are twenty-one. Aren't they too young for full-time hires?"
"I checked their résumés myself. They're new graduates, and this one—Yoon Dongha—successfully ran a major project at Samho Entertainment. And Han Yoojin speaks English and Chinese. Dongha speaks English and Russian."
"…Ha."
The mention of foreign-language skills silenced him.
Despite being the head of overseas trade, Lee Hyuk had always been self-conscious about languages—he was a former PE major.
At this rate, the department would turn into a daycare…
His insecurity, irritation, and frustration tangled together, leaving him visibly uncomfortable.
Ignoring his mood entirely, Director Park rose from her seat with a bright smile.
"Let's eat. Come on, let's go get food."
With a stiff expression, Lee Hyuk stood and followed her.
Dongha and Yoojin rose to follow behind them.