Lamb to the Slaughter || Lookism

011

She raises her eyes from the copping machine in front of her and sees the scared face of one of the receptionists. She immediately sighs, annoyance fluttering in her veins as she imagines what the interruption was about. She had been gone for ten minutes, just ten minutes. What the fuck was their problem? "Yes?"

"Your... bodyguards." Her words are said very unsurely as if she either didn't believe that they could truly be bodyguards or if the notion of those two being bodyguards was ridiculous. She was fidgeting and avoiding to look directly at her face, it just made Soo Jung wonder what the fuck had they done now. She should have learned by now not to leave them alone... But they had promised that they would behave. Liars, both of them. "They're causing a ruckus in your office again... Could you please..." She wrings her hands together, shoulders hunching and firmly looking at the ground. "...make them stop?"

Another sigh leaves her lips. "They didn't destroy anything, right?"

"They didn't leave your office," the woman mumbles timidly. "But they are making a lot of noise... it's scaring everyone."

She completely forsakes what she's doing and walks to the door. She fights the urge to sigh deeply as she considers that once again Goo had derailed her day by merely appearing. "I'll deal with it."

"Thank you so much." The words had so much gratefulness and relief made Soo Jung feel sorry for her and the other workers. Ah, it wasn't just her day that was derailed, was it? By scaring the staff, Goo also derailed their day...

She knew exactly what the others were feeling, even if she had grown a bit desensitized to the violence of those two, it was always frightening seeing them fight. It was something knowing that they were violent beasts and another thing to witness it, and it didn't help that they always seemed inhuman when they fought each other – or together. Breaking furniture and other sturdy objects with their feet and hands as if everything was made of cardboard. It never failed to make her consider just how fragile a human body turned in their hands, because if they could crush sturdy objects easily what hopes could a mere human have against them?

It all started a little after that lunch she had with Yong Ji, Gun and Goo.

Four months ago, Soo Jung had been in her office with Gun during the day – something that was now part of her routine. The day had announced itself to be boring with the news that she was to analyze the current business strategy of Paprika TV and see how could they improve it for more profit. She was also tasked with studying the stars that composed the top earners and see if there was any way to recreate their success and how could they attract similar people to the website to work for them. And for a couple of hours that was exactly what she did. Everything was fine till the receptionist knocked on the door in a frenzy announcing that a strange man was wanted to see Gun. Said man was none other than Goo and he didn't wait for some sort of confirmation on her or Gun's behalf, entering the office and plopping right next to Gun in the sofa before the woman even stopped speaking to Soo Jung.

"I fucking hate you," he immediately tells the other man, propping his feet on the coffee table in a complete disregard of everyone.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

Ignoring the animosity between the two teenagers, she turns to the receptionist. The woman looked a bit scared and like she was waiting for guidance – or for the instruction to call the security team to remove Goo from the premises. "You can go. It's fine..." The woman bows deeply and leaves sending an unsure glance towards the two male teenagers.

At first, she hadn't dreamed that it would turn so sour. Sure, they were borderline arguing but no punches had been thrown... They were even drinking and eating snacks. Everything looked fine and even if she was a bit on edge with Goo there, she continued with her work. Stupidly, she thought that everything would be fine. Because what she knew of him wasn't the full picture – a webtoon and reality were two different things – and there had to be more dimension to him, since people weren't merely three personality traits (in his case, violent, sadistic and greedy) there had to be more. There was more dimension to everyone than what could be transmitted, and he hadn't been a focal point so most of his character was a mystery. She tried very hard to convince herself that like with Gun, what she knew of Goo wasn't the complete story and that having him in her office with Gun wouldn't be that bad. It would be okay, even if uncomfortable.