As soon as the glass doors opened, the busy morning noise rushed in along with the biting, cool air. The pouring crowd of commuters, the sound of shoe heels busily tapping the floor, and the mechanical beep of ID cards being scanned. The building lobby was, as always, filled with a taut tension that left no room for leisure.

But even among that distracting and cold crowd, there was a place where one's gaze always landed instantly. A person who exuded a quiet presence as if living in a completely different time alone, despite standing in the middle of the complex lobby. It was Assistant Manager Donggyeong, dressed in a neatly pressed shirt without a single wrinkle, quietly looking at the numbers on the elevator display with a paper cup in one hand.

In the cluttered office air where countless people passed by, strangely, the spot where she stood was always as orderly as a deep, cozy lake. Watching that neat figure, unshaken by the surrounding commotion, made the breath that had been rising frantically since morning finally begin to calm down bit by bit.

Inside the elevator where people crowded in densely, a faint and familiar scent naturally came to stand by my side without me even trying to approach. In the brief moment the door rattled shut and the floors climbed, she slowly turned her head and looked down at me. As our eyes met, I saw the corners of her eyes soften into a very slight arc. Instead of an exaggerated greeting or an excited welcome, the morning that had been frozen cold began to slowly thaw with just that low, deep gaze meeting mine.