Unlike regular employees who have a sense of belonging to their company, whether they like it or not, the workers who road from one construction site to another were fiercely independent. Though they carried dirt, shared als, and drank together daily, the bonds they ford were fleeting and temporary.
Because construction always ends eventually.
Thus, even if there seed to be so camaraderie, breaking it wasn’t difficult. The key was figuring out how deep those connections truly ran.
I need to start by digging into this guy’s background.
As Junyoung ntally noted down her next steps, a grumbling voice interrupted her thoughts.
“What can a young lady like you even do? Do you think the company will actually listen to you?”
“People with real power wouldn’t bother coming to a place like this,” she replied nonchalantly to the old man’s remark.
Twelve pairs of eyes, now twisted in irritation, glared at her. Junyoung wiped the rainwater off her face and continued calmly.
“They don’t look at people. They look at reports. And I’m the one who writes them.”
The previously hostile gazes softened slightly, though the old man, still frowning, glanced behind him and asked, “Where’s Kim? Where’s that guy at?”
“That guy? Probably snoozing again in the west attic or sothing.”
“Always with the sleeping, huh? Soone go fetch him.”
A worker standing in the back grumbled as he walked off. Though his expression appeared neutral, Junyoung sharpened her focus.
Who’s this Kim, and why are they looking for him now? So the white-haired guy isn’t the leader after all? Is there so hidden mastermind here?
To ease the tension, Junyoung calmly asked, “After the accident, Deputy Park must’ve been handling things with extra care. Was there anything in particular that bothered you?”
“Deputy Park? Who, Park Hyungjun?”
The white-haired man sneered, his tone far from reassuring. A cold dread crept along Junyoung’s spine as he raised his voice, his words cutting through the rain.
“That guy only cos down here to fool around with his girlfriend. Do you think he gives a damn about our work? He drives up to the site entrance, glances around like he owns the place, and then spends all day drinking. Don’t even get started on how he treated Mansoo after the accident!”
Junyoung’s eyes narrowed. Park Hyungjun’s polished face surfaced in her mind. Although they were on the sa team, she didn’t know him well enough to gauge his personality.
“Did he do sothing inappropriate to the accident victim?”
“Inappropriate? Try downright disrespectful,” the white-haired man spat.
“Strutting in here to talk about compensation like he’s doing us a favor—don’t even get started on the attitude. He acted like he was paying out of his own pocket! If it weren’t for my restraint, I’d have clocked him right then and there.”
As the topic of the victim ca up, the workers, who had been muttering amongst themselves, began adding their own comnts. It was clear the victim had been well-liked.
Though their words were loud enough for her to hear, the workers kept their eyes on each other, avoiding Junyoung’s gaze. She listened carefully, noticing two figures erging from deeper inside the site.
One was the worker who had gone to fetch soone earlier. The other had to be Kim.
Junyoung wiped rain from her face and frowned slightly.
The man with shaggy hair covering his forehead was tall and broad-shouldered. While most workers here had strong builds from manual labor, his sheer fra was distinct.
He stood a full head taller than the others and wore a dusty black T-shirt and jeans, giving him a youthful appearance despite his surroundings.
Black T-shirt and jeans.
There was a ti when Junyoung couldn’t help but stare at n dressed like that.
Unintentionally, she let out a quiet chuckle as mories of her younger self surfaced—mories she’d tried to ignore for years.
In truth, checking the faces of n with that build and outfit had beco almost second nature to her. Not that it ant anything anymore. She had long learned not to expect anything.
The man scratched his stubbled chin and yawned lazily. His overgrown, unkempt hair obscured much of his face.
“What’s with all this summoning? Did you call to make ran or sothing?”
His rough voice carried a sluggishness, as though he were still half-asleep.
But why?
As Junyoung watched him closely through the rain, her instincts kicked into high gear. It was an almost primal sense of recognition.
The workers laughed at his remark.
“Kim’s ran is pretty damn good, though.”
“It’s amazing. Doesn’t even need anything special, yet it always tastes great. How many bowls has he made to get that good?”
“Stop making excuses; I know you’re just lazy.”
The man, waving his shirt to cool off, yawned again and replied nonchalantly, “Didn’t I already solve that deposit refund issue for you?”
His unapologetic tone made the white-haired man’s expression twist further as he gestured irritably.
“Fine, the company sent soone, so just talk to her and get it over with. No way I’m dealing with her chatter.”
“What do you an, a young lady? Where’s Park Hyungjun?”
The man turned his head, his gaze landing squarely on Junyoung. Though his hair still obscured his eyes, the mont their gazes t, she knew.
The sound of rain vanished.
Ti seed to slow unnaturally.
Junyoung stared at him, stunned.
A na she hadn’t spoken aloud in over a decade instantly seized her thoughts.
Why.
“…Why is it Kim?”
Ridiculously, that was the first thought that crossed her mind. Without blinking, Junyoung stared at Beomjin. His expression didn’t betray much, but he, too, stood completely still, looking right at her.
For a mont, the tension between them was so sharp, it felt like the world had fallen into a vacuum.
It was the white-haired man who broke the silence.
“What are you staring at? Did you fall for her at first sight because she’s pretty?”
Beomjin, snapped out of his trance, exhaled sharply as though waking from a dream after being smacked on the back. He briefly lowered his gaze before abruptly striding forward. The murmurs around them grew louder.
“What’s he… what’s he doing…?”
Junyoung, transfixed, watched as he approached, removing his T-shirt. She rembered this about Kwon Beomjin—just his way of walking toward soone could make the other person feel small and overwheld. It hadn’t bothered her once she’d gotten used to it, but she rembered how tense she’d felt the first ti.
It was him. Kwon Beomjin.
The fully grown man before her, far removed from the maturity she’d thought he had back then, made her laugh inwardly at her younger self’s naivety.
She couldn’t close her slightly parted lips as she stared in disbelief. Suddenly, his damp T-shirt was casually pulled over her head. The faint, woodsy scent mingled with the musty sll of rain clinging to the fabric. She felt sothing crack in the part of her chest that had been frozen solid for so long.
Only after the warmth of the shirt wrapped around her did she realize how much her body temperature had dropped. As she stood frozen like a statue, Beomjin gave her back a gentle push, drawing a few wolf whistles from the workers. A wrinkle ford on the bridge of his nose.
“If soone’s standing in the rain, maybe give them an umbrella or sothing. Honestly, you old n have no sense.”
At his reproach, the white-haired man snorted.
“She could’ve just co inside. What’s the point of stripping to show off your muscles, trying to impress her?”
“She didn’t even seem to realize her clothes were soaked,” Beomjin retorted coolly, shaking the rain out of his hair and walking ahead.
Junyoung’s gaze fell on his back, specifically on a long scar running along his side.
She’d inadvertently seen him shirtless several tis before, but that scar hadn’t been there. She was sure of it, even though her mory of those monts was distant.
The mories of Kwon Beomjin remained vivid, like they had happened yesterday. If she had to na the clearest period of her life, it would undoubtedly be then.
“So, you’re from Hankyung, sent here because of Deputy Park Hyungjun?”
Still following Beomjin with her eyes like she was in a trance, Junyoung flinched at the question directed at her. Beomjin, now standing under the roof, grabbed a towel from a basket in the corner, sniffed it, and tossed it to her.
She caught it reflexively but stood awkwardly holding it, unsure whether to dry herself. As she hesitated, Beomjin glanced at her and muttered under his breath.
“You’d be better off getting the full story from him.”
His businesslike tone snapped her out of her daze. She quickly adjusted her expression, gripping the towel tightly.
“I can’t rely on just one side of the story. It’s my job to verify the facts.”
“If that’s all your job entails, you’re not much use to us.”
The curt response made Junyoung’s damp eyebrows twitch upward. Hands shoved into his pockets, Beomjin leaned casually against the wall and spoke.
“This happens all the ti. You get a bidding war going between staffing offices to drive construction costs down, then cram impossible deadlines down their throats. The staffing offices cut corners on safety asures to et those deadlines, the workers are overworked, and eventually, soone gets hurt. When soone ends up disabled from an accident, they make a show of ‘caring.’ But even that gets swept under the rug once the police investigation is watered down through personal connections, and nothing changes at the site.”
Junyoung was stunned in more ways than one. She had never heard him speak so much before. What shocked her even more was how smooth and articulate his explanation was, like he was reading from a script. His low voice delivered the damning truth with startling clarity.
“That’s the reality of it. And I told Deputy Park Hyungjun the sa thing several tis.”
Park Hyungjun, you bastard. Cleaning up the situation, my ass.
Of course, such issues were common at construction sites. But most workers didn’t know what to do or were too afraid of being blacklisted to speak up. They endured the hardships, focused on their wages, and kept their heads down.
This site was different. The fact that the construction division had sent soone out again after things seed to have quieted down suggested that one of the workers might have filed a report.
Soone wanted to escalate this.
And whoever that person was…
“Excuse , but what exactly is your role here?”
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