NADO SARANGHAE

Part 18 ♡

The next day, the office buzzed with an unusual intensity, as if the entire building had awakened with unfinished battles waiting to be fought. Several employees had fallen behind on their deadlines, and the pressure of incomplete work seemed to hang heavily in the air, making every movement feel sharper and more urgent than usual.

As Yn stepped onto her floor, she immediately sensed the change.

The atmosphere felt different from the previous days—tenser, quieter, yet somehow louder at the same time. Everyone around her was deeply immersed in their work, their eyes fixed on glowing screens, fingers moving rapidly across keyboards without pause. Conversations were scarce, replaced by the steady tapping of keys and the occasional sharp ring of telephones.

The friendly warmth that had slowly begun to form over the past few days seemed to have vanished overnight, dissolving into a strict, businesslike silence. It was as if the office had collectively decided that today was not meant for smiles or casual exchanges—only for efficiency.

Yn walked carefully to her desk, her steps instinctively softer than usual, as though afraid to disturb the fragile focus surrounding her. She placed her bag down and settled into her chair, trying to steady herself before beginning the day.

But the moment she turned on her computer, her breath caught slightly.

Her mailbox was already overflowing.

Emails flooded the screen in rapid succession, notifications blinking insistently in the corner—task requests, revisions, new assignments, updates marked urgent. The steady stream of incoming messages made the screen seem alive, pulsing with responsibility.

For a brief second, she simply stared.

Surprised.

Not frightened—just overwhelmed by the sudden weight of expectations waiting for her before the day had even properly begun.

Slowly, she exhaled.

Then, gathering her focus, she moved the cursor toward the first unread email—

And began.

Though the sudden rush of work had taken her by surprise, Yn's calm demeanor never truly wavered. She steadied herself with a quiet breath and turned her full attention to the tasks before her. One after another, she moved through them with steady patience, as if swimming through strong currents—careful, controlled, refusing to be dragged under by the force of the waves.

Time slipped past unnoticed.

The steady ticking of the clock faded into the background, replaced by the relentless rhythm of typing fingers and the faint hum of overworked systems. When Yn finally lifted her gaze from the screen, the sunlight filtering through the glass windows had softened into a warmer shade.

It was already afternoon.

Yet the tasks before her showed no sign of ending.

Each time she cleared one assignment, another followed almost instantly, stacking themselves like waves refusing to settle. The tension that had filled the office since morning now made sense—this was not an ordinary workload.

A major disruption in one of the core coding tools had thrown the entire workflow into chaos.

That was why everyone had been working so strictly since morning.