Zero by One: Take Me Home

28. A Bait to Lure, a Coupon to Use

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Chapter 28
'ACTION' Arc
EP: THREE ‹pt.2›

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The following morning, Beomgyu's team's office was crowded with a couple of riled members of Team 3 led by Hoseok, whose face seemed just as unpleasant as he talked to the noirette.

　"I must say, this is unprofessional of you, Leader Choi. If you didn't have time to keep your intern in check, then you shouldn't have taken them in your care. He ought not cause such a hassle while we're in the heat of an investigation unless he wanted to gain our suspicion."

Before the witness of both team's staff, Beomgyu solemnly gave him a bow, leaving everyone's jaw hanging except for Taehyun who couldn't help but cringe a little.

　"I apologize for my carelessness, Leader Jung. It'll never happen again. My intern will be kept under suspension until things are clear for the both of us." Beomgyu then flashed a dark look at the brunet. "Hey, don't you have anything to say?"

Taehyun opened his mouth before letting it fall shut to swallow his saliva and then spoke in a pitch faintly weird and raised.

　"I'm sorry for causing a mess, Team Leader Mr Jung!"

~

Ten minutes before disaster, Beomgyu abruptly summoned him to his private office, hand still holding onto his phone with a call in progress, uttered a string of orders that almost flew past Taehyun's head if he wasn't paying attention.

"We're going to make a scene. Pretend you don't have an alibi and take the blame. No time to explain. Go with the flow. Got it?"

The next thing was Team 3 barging into their office looking like they were about to lynch him, literally.

~

Taehyun had put two and two together only when the two leaders started arguing. He almost lost his shit when Beomgyu suddenly shone the spotlight onto him like that, leaving him no choice but to follow his secret orders. As long as it wasn't to that nagging bastard, he was comfortable with apologizing to anyone, more so when it was staged.

The whole time until at long last the Team 3 members took their leave, Taehyun was cursing at whoever that clowned the two teams by making him a goddamn stepping stone.

　"When you're finished being idle and inquisitive, go back to working. If any of this spreads, each of you will be sleeping here working overtime for weeks."

Seeing their boss's lowering expression, the Team 1 employees scattered in a hurry to pick up the nearest thing available to work on.

A hissing noise almost escaped Taehyun when he felt a grab on his shoulder before Beomgyu's warm breath tickled his ear.

　"Stay behind today. We'll cross over to Senior Jung's office around 7 after everyone's out."

And so he had to endure a whole afternoon adjusting himself to the sudden changes. His workload was taken away by Beomgyu due to the- quote, suspension, along with his office gadgets (he even took away his personal cellphone). Thus, he had plenty of time not only to perceive how the employees he had barely interacted with were strangely keeping a distance from him, but also to make several assumptions in his head regarding the company's flaws and secrets.