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2.0

after four years,, here I am hehe UHHHH this chapter is 1984 words and it's currently 9:32pm on a Sunday night LONG STORY SHORT I didn't proof read

Lee Minhyuk

"Minhyuk?" I looked up at the mention of my name, Hyerim looking at me like I was some form of rare myth come to life. At that moment, other eyes in the elevator flicked briefly in my direction, before looking back.

"Yes?"

"Well-I-what are you-"

"Doing here?" I finished with an emotionless chuckle. "Taking care of business."

"No, I know, I mean-"

"Leave him be." Hyunwoo mused from the corner of the elevator; despite being new to the department, he was older than a good majority of us, and had some form of authoritative aura that he didn't even need to enforce. I offered him a smile, to which he responded with a firm nod, most of the elevator clearing out on the second floor, leaving the two of us.

"Glad to have you back." He pasuddenly back to his soft spoken self.

"Not for long, I'm afraid," I said. "I've come to resign."

"Wait, why? Because of all this?" Hyunwoo asked, the two of us walking out of the elevator. "You know Mr Kim, he will not make this awkward for you."

"He's not entirely to blame for this, although he's a part of it," I sighed. "it's the judging eyes, the comments, the fact that anytime I do something, the way he reacts is going to be biased. Either he'll be too kind or too harsh because it's his son. His abandoned son. I don't even know how the news got out."

"That's not true, and even if it is, it's not like you haven't faced worse. You were outed to the whole department, and they also found out you're studying to become a prosecutor," he reminded me. "is that what you'll do when you quit?"

"I think the fact Jooheon has a whole G-Class Mercedes parked at the bottom of our condominium indicates that if things were to get that bad, they could easily be fixed."

"Touché." Hyunwoo laughed.

"But still, I'm gonna start working somewhere else again, maybe another department or something. We'll be okay," I sighed. "one thing is for sure, I won't have an assistant as competent as you."

"Don't flatter me, but one way to make that happen is just by staying." He shrugged, bidding his goodbyes before disappearing around the corner. I smiled momentarily, before taking a deep breath to brace myself, entering the room where I usually worked at, eyes burning holes into every inch of my skin.

I ignored them, drowning them out as I walked to Mr Kim's door, knocking three times.

"What?" He swung open the door with force, the previous irritated tone replaced by a slightly shellshocked voice. "Minhyuk."

"Hi," I bowed quickly. "May I?"

I noticed him peer behind me, understanding that he was forcing everybody's attention away from us before letting me into his office. I wedged past, warily sitting on the chair before his desk as he came around, also sitting with a sigh. For moments, he said nothing, simply stating at me with an unreadable expression.

"What did you want to say?" I eventually mumbled, shuffling in my seat.

"You look thin, Minhyuk. Thinner than when I last saw you - are you eating well? Keeping up with your sleep?" I nodded mindlessly, knowing fully well that it was a lie - it had been days since I ate consistently through the day and since I slept more than 3 hours per night. "I know you aren't. You have bags under your eyes too."