Diamond Dust - 7

Yuni had her eyes on the captions and, as the two were chatting and didn’t notice, I couldn’t miss the new presence approaching the stairs.

Starting with the slender strands of hair, a distinct and deep-featured face appeared. A man in a sophisticated suit quickly ascended to the second-floor lobby. He was extremely… extremely large and extravagant.

“What’s the point of pouring your soul into sales? The soul is for the artists to put into their works.”

Yuni said sharply as she placed the last caption in its place. The huge man had arrived right in front of the workbench where we were gathered.

“Right on.”

The man joined the conversation with a smile.

“Director!”

Yuni’s face and voice were full of joy as she called him.

Ah, so this is the gallery director Juhan mentioned. The one who scared Juhan with stories of ghosts in the basement storage.

He was very tall. His physique was impressive, but his sleek build made him look refined rather than heavy despite his imposing height and broad shoulders. Although his exotic face made him seem like a foreigner, up close, it had a slight hint of Eastern features.

“I’m sorry I’m only just arriving now.”

“You know, those two wouldn’t let me go, using the reservation as an excuse.”

He was a very large and very handsome man. With his exotic appearance, which seemed improbable if he weren’t of mixed heritage, he had a dazzling and unique aura. It seemed like this was how people who were not observed but were the subjects of others’ gazes existed.

It was the first time I thought like that.

Is this person perhaps an Alpha?

“So, did you get the reservations?”

Yuni’s atmosphere suggested she would grab the man by the collar if he answered that he didn’t manage to get them.

“I got three. Here’s the reservation list; please put up the sold-out cards.”

As Yuni received the list from the man, she seemed very pleased, as if the profits from the sales of those works would go directly to her. She added the note from the man to a notebook that had grown about twice its original thickness with various receipts and documents.

“We almost died working so hard. We haven’t even finished moving the C-zone paintings. And Yoon is making a fuss about the pamphlet order.”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard. You’ve worked hard. Juhan will take care of Yoon, so let’s finish up here. Hmm… Let’s get it done in three hours.”

The man, checking the time on his wrist, suddenly looked at me. It seemed he wanted to find out who the outsider who had been here was since the important discussion was over.

My gaze, which had been glancing at this strange new type, moved to the man’s neck area in return.

“I was brought here by the manager earlier. He asked me to help today. Ihyun, this is our director.”

Even though I wasn’t facing him directly, his gaze was unbearable. It was as if he was scrutinizing me from whatever angle he desired, without considering how I would feel about his stare. His gaze tightened around me like a vice.

“Hello. I’m Seo Ihyun.”

I forced myself to greet him, trying to suppress my shrinking voice.

I wasn’t naturally sociable, but while I felt discomfort in new relationships, I wasn’t usually so intimidated. However, I was shrinking back now.

Whether this unfamiliar shrinking was due to the Alpha’s pheromones, which I had never experienced before, or the man’s presence and confidence built on his experience, I couldn’t tell.

But as far as I know, Betas can’t detect the pheromones of Alphas or Omegas.

If I were still in that rural village, I wouldn’t have guessed someone with such outstanding appearance and imposing presence to be an Alpha. But here, it seemed entirely possible.

I desperately thought about the ion drink Juhan gave me. Although I held it in my hand, I couldn’t open it to drink.

“How do you know the manager?”

The question was thrown at me, accompanied by a stare that seemed to tighten its grip. It was different from the indifferent and rigid voice Juhan or Yuni had used, with a hint of undisguised hostility.

“I’m working as a housekeeper at the manager’s place.”

The man’s lips twitched slightly as if he was displeased with my answer. Fortunately, that was the end of the questioning.

The man turned away from me and hung his jacket on a chair in front of the makeshift workbench. As he rolled up his shirt sleeves, he briefly received an update from Yuni on the progress so far. The responsibility was now switched: Juhan and the man would handle the transport of the artworks, and I would assist Yuni on the second floor.

When the man and Juhan disappeared up the stairs, the tense atmosphere relaxed, and it felt like I was finally getting enough oxygen. I realized my shoulders had dropped and that my muscles were tense.

After gulping down half of the ion drink, Yuni handed me a roll of thick double-sided tape.

“Let’s do our best, despite being shy.”

The work went smoothly. I put up all the captions next to the B-zone artworks and hung up the C-zone pieces as they were brought from the basement. By the time we finished displaying everything in the D-zone, the exhibition room floor was covered with various trash. While they prepared for the guests the next day, I took on the task of cleaning up.

When the first and second floors looked presentable, the manager returned with a late-night snack. Although it was close to dawn, it was more like an early breakfast.

We gathered around a large table in the office on the first floor, with sandwiches and coffee. There was a lot of noise about which sandwich belonged to whom.

Even though I was with the only acquaintance I had in the gallery, the sense of comfort was not greater than before. It was probably because of the man with a presence several times larger than others, who made me feel excluded from the space.

Such a person really existed. By simply not giving anyone attention or speaking to them, he could make me feel as if I was trapped alone in a glass cage.

It wasn’t like being completely ignored. He continuously conveyed an uncomfortable distance to me.

“Manager, Ihyun works well. Compared to when Kwon Juhan first arrived, you’d believe he’s an experienced worker.”

Yuni’s praise, which seemed far from being flattery, was somewhat comforting.

“Baek Yuni, didn’t you have a tadpole phase?”

“Oh, I was a frog from the start. Right, CEO?”

“Hmm, Yuni didn’t have a tadpole phase. That’s why I stole her.”

While mumbling over his avocado sandwich, the man nodded. He was a considerate boss to his employees.

After nearly five hours of work, the man’s appearance was considerably disheveled compared to when he first appeared in the 2nd floor hall. His hair, which had looked especially smooth, was now flowing down, not as fixed as before. His shirt and pants were wrinkled, and the traces of fatigue were evident on his eyelids and cheeks.

But he didn’t look shabby. He just looked a bit tired. So he looked a little sensitive and a little fierce.

“Thank you, Ihyun. If it weren’t for you, we might have stayed here all night, cleaned up at a nearby hotel, and then gone straight to the opening. If I hadn’t met you, I’d have been in trouble in many ways.”

The teacher next to me leaned her head on my shoulder and pretended to cry. Maybe it was just me, but the man’s gaze from across the table felt sharp.

“Are you tired? Do you want to take the sandwich and eat it at home?”

Perhaps due to mental strain, even though it was well past bedtime, I wasn’t feeling sleepy. That said, I wasn’t free from physical exhaustion. I was too tired to refuse the teacher’s offer.

I packed the sandwich into my bag and was about to say goodbye when Yuni, sitting at the head of the table across the corner from me, suddenly stood up.

“Ihyun! Could you come once more to the event tomorrow?”

Yuni seemed surprised by her own suggestion, as if it had just occurred to her. Her black eyes, which she had taken off her glasses and placed on the table, were still clear despite the overnight work.

“Why? We’ve been doing well with this team so far.”

She turned her head sharply to look at the man, her short hair flying. From my side, only her cheek was visible, but she seemed to be glaring at him intensely.

“We’ve been hanging on for dear life so far, you know? And CEO, I think the current schedule is quite inhumane.”

“…….”

The man pursed his lips and shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn’t help it. Everyone’s hopeful gazes, except for the man’s, were fixed on me. Standing there with the shoulder strap of my bag half on, I looked at the faces of the three people in turn without being able to respond.

Juhan, who was sitting next to the man, raised a finger and made a pleading expression with a pained face. The teacher was watching me with a faint smile.

“You can refuse if you’re tired or have other plans. But if, just if, you’re okay with it….”

“If it’s only about attending to the guests… I’ll help. I’m not very good at that…”

I don’t really know why I agreed.

Maybe I felt a sense of nostalgia from the teacher’s face, or perhaps the excitement of helping with art-related work after such a long time unconsciously played a part. It could also be a simple satisfaction of being needed and helpful to someone, a very twenty-two-year-old feeling.

But there was one clear reason I couldn’t deceive myself.

As I saw the man eating a sandwich with an indifferent expression, as if any decision was irrelevant, a sense of defiance arose. It wasn’t a powerful force, but it wasn’t so faint that I could dismiss it outright either.

With an indifferent expression and atmosphere, as if he couldn’t help it if the staff wanted something and decided it, the man ate his sandwich and drank coffee while I received the schedule for the next day.

When leaving the office, he simply tilted his head slightly over the shoulders of others, remaining seated. Before I could return the greeting, his gaze had already shifted away.