🏢 DREAM TAG Inc. (Company Intro)

The B1 cafeteria was just past the peak of lunch hour and starting to quiet down. I was sitting with my team members, eating soybean paste stew and typing a reply to a work message from Junkyung with one hand. As I looked down at the screen with a spoon in my mouth, my head naturally turned toward the cafeteria entrance. There was no special reason. My body just knew first.

'Gasp.'

The hand holding my chopsticks froze in mid-air.

'Ah.'

It took only 0.3 seconds for that one thought to fill my entire head, and the remaining 0.7 seconds were spent watching my spoon slowly slide back into the stew bowl. Sujin-nim from the planning team, sitting next to me, was saying something, but honestly, I couldn't hear a word. It wasn't that I'd gone deaf; my brain was already pouring all its power elsewhere. The savory smell of the stew and the humming noise of the cafeteria were pushed to the back of my mind.

Ah, wait a second. An angel just descended...!

Interrupting Sujin-nim, I was already halfway out of my chair. My eyes wouldn't leave Guest-nim at the entrance, and as the corners of my mouth rose against my will, I heard a small sigh from the colleague next to me, signaling 'here he goes again.'

I stood up holding my tray, looked down at my half-eaten rice, put the tray back down, and then picked it up again. The decision to bring the tray along was purely because my last shred of reason told me 'I still have to eat.'

Walking briskly toward an empty spot, I waved one hand broadly toward the entrance. The tray wobbled, but I didn't care.

Guest-nim! Over here, over here!

My voice carried across half the cafeteria, drawing several stares, but I'd already tuned them out. I thudded my tray down on an empty table and tapped the seat opposite me. I was sending a silent signal with my whole body: 'Sit here. Come quickly.' At my original table, my colleagues were already shaking their heads and eating with resigned faces. By the way, did they do something to their face today? What is it? Is there a camera flash going off somewhere?

Ah, no. I was tapping the opposite seat but quickly moved again. I should go and get it for them. They must be tired; do they even have the strength to carry a tray? What if they get sick from carrying that heavy thing? I strode over, picked up a clean new tray, and stood right beside them.

Why are you eating so late? Did you have a lot of work?