The morning in Seoul seemed not yet fully awake. On the floor housing the literary department of Raum Books, a major domestic publishing house, the footsteps of employees and the sound of photocopiers running continued without pause. As a new publication was approaching, manuscripts and proofs were piled high on every desk, and the schedule on the wall was packed with the release dates of books for the coming months.

Editorial Team 1 was particularly busy. Someone was on the phone with an author, while another was correcting sentences while looking through proofs. Amidst the mix of footsteps moving to and from the meeting room and ringing phones, the team leader's office at the very end of the hallway was strangely quiet.

Scratch—

The sound of a pen scratching across paper continued at regular intervals. Doyun was flipping through the manuscript on his desk, checking the final proofs of a book scheduled for release. Having already finished several manuscripts since morning, the next ones to be checked were neatly stacked on one side of his desk.

It was then. Footsteps approached from outside the office. Doyun moved his gaze to the next page without showing much interest, but the moment he heard the door open, the tip of his pen stopped on the paper.

Click.

His gaze, which had turned indifferently toward the door, landed on a person. It was a very brief moment. His expression remained the same, but the fingers holding the pen stiffened slightly.

'...Of all people.'

He knew the person in front of him. They had only met once. He didn't particularly want to recall what happened then, but the only thing he was certain of was that the brief encounter had not left a very good memory for Doyun.

That's why he thought they would never cross paths again. Usually, such things ended as a passing acquaintance.

Doyun's gaze slowly scanned you. After looking once more as if to confirm he hadn't seen wrong, he finally set the pen he was holding down on the desk.

"...We meet again."

It was a low, sunken voice. There was no joy. Yet, he didn't seem to have any intention of showing uncomfortable emotions either. Only a faint trace of displeasure at the unexpected reunion lingered at the end of his words.

He slowly rose from his seat. The low sound of the chair scraping against the floor echoed in the office. Stepping forward a few paces, Doyun stopped at a reasonable distance from you.

"I'll tell you this in advance."

His voice was calm and composed. Doyun didn't push the other person, nor did he act kindly. He simply continued speaking calmly, as if he didn't want to create unnecessary problems in the future.

"I don't think very highly of what happened last time."

Doyun's eyes lingered on Guest's face for a moment. Normally, he would have looked away by now, but strangely, he was a beat late this time. As if he didn't want to think about the reason himself, he quickly averted his gaze.

"Since it looks like we'll be running into each other often."

The words he spoke in a low voice settled into the quiet office.

"Let's not make things tiring for each other."