OT 1

Overtime had become part of Suji’s everyday life.
It had been three months since she started at the company.

And she was pretty sure she’d been scammed into the job.

Climbing out of the subway, Suji ordered spicy tteokbokki through an app and headed home. Spending a precious Friday night watching dramas and eating tteokbokki—it made her pity her own life.

Back when she was job-hunting, she thought all her problems would vanish once she landed a position.
Yeah, right.
This damn company didn’t care one bit about work-life balance.

Not that many people in Korea actually got to enjoy “work-life balance,” but with every passing day of overtime, it felt like she—as a person—was slowly being erased. The harder office life got, the more deeply that feeling rooted itself.

Of course, she knew this was a privileged kind of suffering, especially compared to her job-hunting days.

Suji had graduated from a regional national university with a degree in English Literature. Her English wasn’t bad.
But once she graduated, it hit her—there were people everywhere in Korea who were good at English. Her only other qualifications were a basic computer proficiency certification and a TOEIC score just shy of 900. Hardly enough to stand out in a sea of applicants.

Sure, she could’ve lowered her sights and taken a job at a local small-to-mid-sized company, but Suji had always dreamed of moving to Seoul and living independently once she graduated.

Her hometown, while warm and familiar, also felt like a prison. No matter what she did, she could never escape her mother’s watchful eye.
Suji needed freedom.

If she got stuck working for a company near home, she knew she’d be trapped under her mother’s thumb until the day she got married.
She already missed out on the fun of college life thanks to commuting from home—she wasn’t about to let her adult life go the same way.

But with only slightly above-average grades, landing a job at a major company was laughable, and every time she made it to a public company interview, she got rejected in the final round.

As she was sinking deeper into the hell that was job-hunting, one unexpected person extended a lifeline—her older brother, Cheon Hotae, ten years her senior.

“Hey, Cheon Suji.
Quit this damn hikikomori lifestyle.
If you can’t land a job, just come work at my company.”

The brother she never thought would be useful for anything in her entire life…
actually reached out to save her.

The lifeline her own flesh and blood had tossed down didn’t exactly inspire confidence, but with no real hope in sight on the battlefield of job hunting, Suji had no choice but to cling to what might very well be a rotten rope.

Her brother’s company wasn’t a major corporation, but it was a solid mid-sized firm with a stable foundation. Rumor had it the salary was decent, too, so it didn’t seem like a bad place to start her career.

A year ago, she wouldn’t have even considered applying to a mid-sized company.
But after choking on bitter failure at interview after interview, her self-esteem had completely tanked—and now, she understood her place.

In her situation, landing a job at a mid-sized firm with a decent salary and good benefits was basically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

More than anything, the chance to escape her parents’ constant gaze and settle down in Seoul was what really sealed the deal for her.

It did bother her a bit that she’d have to crash at her brother’s apartment until she scraped together enough for her own officetel deposit, but she knew—deep down—that if she didn’t take this chance now, she might never get out of her hometown.

She wasn’t confident she could fool her mom, but her gullible brother?
Maybe.

And so, dreaming of freedom, Suji made her way up to Seoul.

She was full of hope, fantasizing about becoming a real Seoulite.

But, of course, life never goes the way you expect.
Before she even had a taste of that freedom, Suji had already surrendered all her nights to the company. Trapped in a swamp of overtime, she couldn’t claw her way out.

“The only joy in my life is tteokbokki. How sad is that?”

Nothing had changed since her school days. She was getting older year by year, but the meaning of her life still boiled down to spicy rice cakes.

Maybe it was enough, though—to order tteokbokki in the middle of the night with her own money and eat it without worrying about her mom scolding her.

Spending 20,000 won just flexing on tteokbokki was kind of legendary…
but without it, she might’ve genuinely lost her mind.

By the time she reached home, the food had just arrived. Suji plopped down in front of the sofa in her pajamas, cracked open a can of highball, and dug into the rice balls that came with the order—didn’t even bother rolling them properly, just mashed them with a spoon and shoveled them in. She turned on the TV.

The #1 rated romance drama was on. A bit of secondhand romance to soothe her soul.

That’s when the door opened with a cheerful ding-dong and the beep of the keypad.

And just like that—mood ruined.

Was that Cheon Hotae already?

If he caught her sprawled on the floor, drinking alone, he was bound to go off on her again.

“You’re back?”

Suji glanced toward the front door, cooling her tongue—scorched by spicy tteokbokki—with a sip of highball.

But the person walking in… wasn’t Cheon Hotae.

A tall, unfamiliar man stepped into the house.
Suji’s heart dropped in an instant.

If this was a burglar, she should scream—but her body was frozen solid. She couldn’t move.

“Long time no see, Suji.”

Then came a voice she recognized, and she exhaled in relief. She’d been so startled by the unfamiliar silhouette—and the fact she couldn’t see the guy’s face properly—that it had taken her a moment to realize.

He hadn’t even rung the doorbell—just typed in the passcode like it was his own place.
Of course, it was none other than Seo Jaehyun, her brother’s best friend.

Once the hallway light hit his face, Suji finally relaxed. It had been a while since she’d seen him, but Jaehyun was still just as handsome as ever.

“Jaehyun oppa? Hello! What brings you here?”

Setting her highball can down on the table, Suji jumped up, genuinely glad to see him.

Even though Jaehyun was the same age as her brother, he’d always felt more mature and dependable—unlike her childish sibling.
He’d been charming back then, and he was still attractive now. Suji welcomed him without hesitation.

“Went out for drinks with some friends, but I couldn’t get a cab, so I just came here. Hotae’s not home?”

Only then did Suji realize she looked like a total mess in her pajamas. She started cleaning up the tteokbokki, trying not to make eye contact.

“Cheon Hotae said he’s working late. Something about being stuck on code, so he’s staying overnight at the office. Might not even come home this weekend.”

“Don’t mind me. Just keep eating.”

“It’s okay, really…”

Jaehyun tried to stop her from fussing around, but she kept cleaning.

“Sorry, if I knew you were home alone, I wouldn’t have come. I’ll just head out.”

Suji glanced at the clock. Public transportation would be stopping soon.
Sure, it felt a little awkward being alone at night with her brother’s friend… but the apartment had three rooms.
It’s not like they were going to share a bed.

“It’s fine. You can just crash here tonight.”

Compared to Jaehyun, who looked dashing in a suit, Suji felt ashamed of her disheveled appearance—but it seemed silly to act all formal with her brother’s friend, so she just plopped down and took another sip of her highball.

“Do you want a drink too, oppa?”

Jaehyun gave her a quick once-over before stepping into the apartment and sitting beside her. They leaned against the back of the couch, clinked their cans together, and drank side by side.

“Never thought I’d end up drinking with you like this.”

“Me neither.”

“Do you remember? When I used to give you airplane rides?”

Suji let out a small chuckle at the memory.

“Of course I do.”

Back then, she used to think Seo Jaehyun was the coolest guy in the world…

Well, even now, he was still ridiculously handsome.

He was close to 190 cm tall, with broad shoulders. His eyes held a dreamy depth, his nose stood tall like it didn’t know the meaning of humility, and his sharply defined jawline looked like it had been sculpted.

In fact, Suji preferred the way he looked now in his thirties to how he had in his twenties, when his features were more delicate. His expressions had become slightly stiffer, more mature, exuding a raw masculinity that made him even more attractive. He’d always been good-looking, but now he had a presence to match.

That well-aged handsomeness caught Suji’s eye. Honestly, she’d been a sucker for a pretty face since she was a kid. She used to insist that she was going to marry Seo Jaehyun when she grew up…

So sitting alone with him like this was a little awkward, but whatever. It was all ancient history.

“I heard you’re working now. You living with Hotae?”

His absentminded expression annoyed her a little. The moment she clocked out, she liked to erase all thoughts of work from her mind. Sprinkling talk of the office over her spicy tteokbokki? Not even Jaehyun could get away with that.

“Don’t even mention work.”

“Why not?”

“I think I got scammed into this job.”

At her raw, biting tone, Jaehyun leaned in slightly, as if amused by the sudden entertainment.

“Scammed?”

Feeling a bit self-conscious under his focused gaze, Suji hesitated for a moment—then launched straight into her rant about the company.

“My darling mom’s son told me to join his company, so I went in clueless, and guess what? All they ever do is make us work overtime. They say it’s part of the company culture. Then on weekends, they drag us out hiking. And the directors, they’re all about bonding with Gen Z or whatever, so they sit with the new hires in the cafeteria and ask us if we’re planning to get married every time we eat. I’m only twenty-five! Is marriage even a topic right now?”

She had a lot to get off her chest. Jaehyun, watching her vent with a soft smile, nodded along in sympathy.