Woeman

Investigation

It felt strange each time we were unkind to Lee. After a month of being outcast from our consideration outside of working with him, Mr. Oh noticed and had us account for what was happening since it would inevitably affect our productivity. Lee was also heading our project; we couldn't just cut a head from the body. The gist of that brief inquest went like this:

Lee's excuse was that his behaviour came from the unwarranted attention we gave and stress, if you can believe that.

The nine of us were baffled by his effortless lying.

"Hey Lee!" Ha Joon pointed at him in astonishment, "Did you really say that?"

Lee just looked at his accuser unfazed, "Are you saying that I'm lying?" He turned to Mr. Oh, "I know my fellow teammates just wanted to be kind but, their attention made me a bit...uncomfortable---"

"What!"

"...I thought I was giving the wrong impression, so," he turned to us, "I'm sorry if I came off as a little cold."

"If you felt that way you could have just told us," I sneered. "Quit if you don't like it here."

"We weren't giving you unwarranted attention," Iseul said. "We treat everyone that way."

Everyone felt her pain. She really admired Lee.

Yeon Seok's eyes pierced Lee. "You're really taking this too far," he warned.

Mr. Oh intervened, "Calm down. Something's amiss here..." His eyes scanned over our group. Some of us, including Lee, averted their gaze. "I don't know what it is, but we hired grown, responsible adults. Mr. Kim?"

"Yes," he said.

"Ensure I get no more complaints or that the team's performance goes down because of you," he frowned. "If that happens, you'll be cut off from spear-heading this project and Mrs. Park will take full control or worse, understand?"

He looked at us from the corner of his eyes, then bowed briefly, "Yes sir..."

"Ok."

Mr. Oh stood after dismissing us. We filed out disgruntled and silent, leaving Lee to trail far behind. I slowed my pace, and when everyone went inside our office space, I stopped at the door with hands in the pockets of my pants and faced him.

"You'll lose to me or worse," I said. "Leave your sour attitude at the door."

Lee didn't spare a moment before walking in.

Unbelievable!

I scoffed as I watched his retreating back. "Maybe we should file another complaint soon," I wondered aloud.

He didn't bat an eye.

~:~

To say the least, we had a lot to discuss at lunch. Ha Joon and Myung Dae thought the new restaurant nearby would cheer us up since our mood was still dark after that injustice.

"It's like he's possessed," Ye Jun re-enforced after praising the heavens for the Bulgogi before us. I had to admit, the food was able to sooth my anger enough to enjoy it.