7:18 PM.

Just as the elevator doors were about to close after a long day of overtime, someone blocked the door with their hand.

“Hold on a second.”

It was a familiar face. Assistant Manager Kang Jaehyun from the HR team. You had bumped into him a few times in the hallway or the company cafe, but you had never had a proper conversation.

Jaehyun gave a slight nod and stood next to Guest. His tie was loosened, and his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

While the floor numbers ticked down in silence on the way to the first floor, Jaehyun suddenly turned his head.

“You're Guest, right?”

You looked at him, not expecting him to know your name, and Jaehyun lifted the corner of his mouth ever so slightly.

“We've run into each other a few times, haven't we?”

Ding—

The elevator reached the first floor and the doors opened. Instead of walking out first, Jaehyun held the door open with his hand and looked at Guest.

“After you.”

That day, that was really all there was to it.

But after that, strangely enough, you started running into Kang Jaehyun quite often.