Chapter Text
How can he trust a lawyer that won’t stop checking his phone?
Hwang In-ho, that damn lawyer. ‘The Greatest Lawyer in Korea’, bullshit. He couldn’t even control his own hands, it kept shaking nonstop—yet still managed to hold his phone under the table as if he’s trying to hide an addiction.
“Team leader Cho,” Gi-hun called out his best friend’s title to maintain respect for him at work. Sang-woo can also be known as head of Gi-hun’s corporate legal counsel and his personal lawyer. His voice cut through the chatter, drawing every gaze. “Outside.”
“Be quick.” As they got outside, behind the glass wall, Sang-woo demanded almost instantly.
“He kept checking his phone.” Gi-hun didn’t waste more of their precious time. Then, Sang-woo let out a dry laugh.
“You meant Hwang? Of course I noticed, all the time.” Sang-woo thought he doubted his observation—but he never did.
“Do something then. I won’t rely on a lawyer with severe phone addiction.”
“Severe is a strong word. All he did was checking the time on his phone—”
“Did you ask him if he only checked the time or you just guessed it?” Gi-hun cut through his words, his tone rising along with his temper.
“What do you want me to do then? Fire him after half an hour of his work? We’re trying to sort your very own problems out.” He hissed at him, just right after Gi-hun retorted him—frustration showed in his eyes.
“You can always sort it out without having to hire a new lawyer!”
“It’s different!” Sang-woo’s patience ran out, eventually. The glass walls were too thin, his bellowing voice got into the room, making people shift their attention to where the loud noise came from.
“Shut it!” He snapped back in hissing, making Sang-woo’s mouth shut entirely as they both noticed the stares from the room they left.
“Don’t y’all got work to do?!” Gi-hun’s voice echoed through the thin glass, making everyone fix their heads back to the files—except In-ho.
“Can’t you see how ignorant he is?! Staring at me like I owed him my soul!” He continued, his voice got lowered as he was making sure that only Sang-woo would hear him.
“Listen,” Sang-woo dragged him by his wrist further from where the room was.
“He’s better than me, alright? ‘The Greatest Lawyer in Korea’ is not an easy title to achieve. He could definitely win the case, you just got to be patient.” Gi-hun let out a scoff as the last sentence got out of Sang-woo’s mouth. Then, he shook off his wrist from his grip.
“Patience and I are like oil and water—it never mixed.” Sang-woo’s gaze turned into a disbelief one, he now genuinely wondered how stupid this man could actually be.
“Do you realize how terrible your situation is right now? If we lost, there’s a ridiculous amount of possibility that you’d get sentenced to life imprisonment!” A beat of silence as both of them just suddenly got speechless.
“But seriously, did you get that quote from Facebook? Oil and water thing.” The intrusive thought eventually slipped out before Sang-woo could stop it.
“H-How did you—”
“You sounded like Facebook millennial moms.” He interrupted Gi-hun, that got his mouth wide open, too stunned to speak.
“But… I am though, I’m 44.” He finally came up with something to say after a while of his mouth being wide open.
“You’re a mom then?” His reply was instant, like he’s been waiting to say this.
“You—” Gi-hun was left speechless once again, his eyes widened from disbelief of how could he possibly get roasted this much.
“How did we even get this far out of topic?” He tried to get away from being killed by the man in front of him, but failed miserably.
“You started it!” He shouted at his face, making the nonchalant Sang-woo jump due to fear.
“Okay, okay. I did. I’m sorry for offending you.” He made a gesture to stop Gi-hun from killing him.
“I’m not offended!” That lie left the listener frowning, having no idea what to say next.
“Sure… now, let’s just get back to the room, alright? They’ve been waiting for long enough now.” After a long time of fighting an urge to disagree, Sang-woo finally convinced him, and succeeded.
—
“Ah! Team Leader Cho, please take a look at this.” As soon as they arrived at the room they left 5 minutes ago, a guy from Sang-woo’s team immediately approached Sang-woo with a pile of files in his arms.
Gi-hun was left alone, standing there like he had nowhere else to go. After a while, he finally took a seat where they were working.
As he sat down, he noticed a coffee cup sitting on the table, must be In-ho’s. He got confused since when he was outside with Sang-woo, it was nowhere to be seen.
So In-ho must either move at the speed of light for a coffee in just 5 minutes, or he’s been hiding that coffee since he got in the room and got it out when Gi-hun’s gone. The nearest coffee shop was about 5 minutes away though, so the first thought won’t be the right answer.
That cup really, unnecessarily, got all of Gi-hun’s attention, as if he’s solving a complex equation. Until the same guy who approached Sang-woo grabbed that coffee and took a sip. Oh.
That made Gi-hun question his own sanity, why did he take all so seriously? Well, who’d hide a coffee cup or get a coffee in 5 minutes anyways… right?
Then, a big news for the most dispensable person in the room—Gi-hun, it just happened right in front of him. In-ho’s hands stopped shaking, in an instant. Just because Sang-woo handed him a file. And that somehow left Gi-hun staring at his hands like a creep, mouth wide open with genuine shock—his expression did not go unnoticed.
“Are you… alright, sir?” In-ho finally spoke for the first time since he’s in here while he looked at him with mixed feelings, can’t really tell if he’s scared of the look Gi-hun gave him, or just pure disgust—his now steady hands still holding the file.
“Need any help, sir?” The man with a coffee cup in his hand added, making the whole team stop their actions immediately, just to look at whatever’s wrong with Gi-hun.
“President Seong?” Sang-woo walked to the president, checking what happened to him. As he placed a hand on Gi-hun’s shoulder, in just a blink of an eye, Gi-hun jumped from his seat with shock in reply—making Sang-woo almost lose his balance by leaning and stepping back.
“President Seong?!” His voice got louder as he repeated the man’s name, demanding for a context of what just happened.
“Sorry,” This time, the entire room got their mouths wide open. Seong Gi-hun and the word ‘sorry’ would never sit on the same page.
“I mean— get back to your work! The future of this company is now in your hands. I will not let any of you get distracted by anything.” His demand made everyone in the room rush back to their work. Yet, In-ho still flickered his gaze on him constantly.
He noticed how In-ho’s glasses moved every time he turned his head around slightly, enough to take a brief glance at him. That lens was quite thick, he absolutely had terrible eyesight.
And those hands, it only shook when there wasn’t a file in his hands—like those hands even got a focus mode that’ll make his hands stop shaking whenever it comes to his work.
He flicked his gaze between In-ho and his phone. It was left on the table since the first time he got handed a file. Why didn’t he check the time on his phone again? It’s been a while now since the last time he touched his phone…
Or did he… just got nervous? Was Gi-hun being biased all the time? Hwang In-ho is the greatest lawyer in Korea anyways, how’d he ever had a phone addiction in the first place?
Thousands of thoughts drove through his mind, he’s now zoning out while still leaving his eyes on In-ho. He always knew that Gi-hun has been staring at him the entire time, how he shifted his focus between him and his phone.
After a while of ignoring Gi-hun, he finally lifted his head from the files to face him. His eyes were unreadable, but the eye contacts stayed for longer than they should ever be.
Eye contacts were exactly what In-ho needed right now.