New Normal - Chapter 24

Morning broke, the sky brightening into a clear dawn.

Office workers on the street moved sluggishly, as if each carried a heavy load on their backs. Park Jongmin of RSTA was no exception.

He hadn’t had proper sleep for days, buried under endless tasks until dawn. The exhaustion was clear on his pale, drawn face.

His destination wasn’t the main office, but a joint project office on the top floor of a building in the middle of Seoul. A hastily printed sign at the door read: “Authorized Personnel Only”.

The project was the Hansong Cultural Foundation’s Jeju Second Art Museum.

RSTA handled the design, while HS Engineering took on the construction. Structural, electrical, and mechanical partners were all dispatched, forming this joint office.

Those countless overnight study sessions already felt like a past life. Now, Jongmin was practically living here, like a worker ant — no, a slave — just to submit the soul-draining bidding proposal on time.

When he’d first joined the project, he hadn’t expected the work to be this brutal. But as the deadline approached, the workload kept multiplying. The official working hours were meaningless now.

When he pushed open the office door, the harsh fluorescent lights lit up a mess of scattered documents and people’s shadows tangled together.

Even now, the printer whirred like mad, spitting out endless pages. Staff who’d pulled all-nighters were sprawled among piles of paper, forcing themselves to move.

“Good morning, Chief.”

Senior Engineer Chun Guhyeon, his hair a mess, half-awake and blinking sleep from his eyes, mumbled a greeting.

Jongmin, just as exhausted, raised a hand in response instead of bothering with words.

He dropped his bag like dead weight, stretched, and scanned the room. Everyone was busy preparing materials for the morning meeting, though it was barely past seven.

He let out a long sigh. He needed to pull himself together, thinking of the meager extra pay that would show up on his next paycheck for this joint office hell.

That’s when he heard it.

“Good, everyone’s here.”

A firm tone — smooth, low, and far too familiar. Jongmin jerked his head up in surprise.

He spotted Chae Juwon, offering his usual brisk morning greeting.

“Director…?”

“Chief Park, you’ve been working here without even going home, haven’t you? Looks like you’re still wearing the same clothes as a few days ago.”

“That’s not— Sir, wait. Weren’t you supposed to be in Jeju until today? How did you…?”

“I came back early.”

“Sorry? But… why—”

“I finished up in one day. No point wasting time when there’s a mountain of work here.”

Juwon answered curtly as he headed to his desk, which just happened to be right across from Jongmin’s. He tossed his jacket over his chair and turned on his computer without another word.

Juwon had flown to Jeju just days ago for an on-site analysis. It was meant to be a three-day, two-night trip over the weekend, but he’d cut it to one night, then showed up back here after doing it all in a single day. The rest of the site visit team — including people from the construction planning division — would still be in Jeju.

This man is insane, Jongmin thought.

Insane — but only when it came to work. The realization sent a chill down Jongmin’s spine.

And yet, oddly enough, the sheer shock cleared the fatigue from his head for a moment.

Did Juwon even know what tired felt like? His stamina and mental endurance were inhuman. But more than that—

“Alright, we don’t have time, do we?”

Juwon, now armed with documents, rolled up his shirt sleeves just like always — neatly, exactly twice.

He looked less like someone who’d flown in from Jeju last night and more like he’d just strolled in from the café downstairs with a coffee.

Every time Juwon moved, the air in the room seemed to tighten. He crossed the room in a few long strides and picked up a fresh stack of papers still warm from the printer.

Jongmin noticed his knuckles were scraped. Did he get hurt? Or… hit someone?

While Jongmin’s mind wandered, Juwon’s fingers flicked through the pages at lightning speed. His sharp gaze locked onto each line with surgical precision.

“This won’t get done in time like this.”

Juwon tossed the stack down and pressed his fingers to his forehead, frowning.

“You all read the report I emailed last night, right? If not, check it now. Chun, clean up the civil plan data again and integrate the survey results properly. Chief Park, tighten the entire framework for the proposal and reorganize the mechanical and electrical sections to match the main structure.”

Within minutes of arriving, Juwon had the entire joint office dancing in the palm of his hand. It was impressive every single time.

“Younghoon, you still haven’t got the final curvature values from the site, right? Call Manager Lee and get those stress distribution numbers confirmed. If the curve changes, we’ll have to redo the load balance.”

Jongmin stared blankly at Juwon until something tugged at his mind. Something felt… off.

Juwon’s tone was the same as ever — cold, precise, rapid-fire — but sometimes, his words tripped.

He’d pause mid-sentence, or let his eyes drift into empty space for half a second before snapping back.

It was subtle — just a beat, half a second — but Jongmin’s weary brain caught it.

What was that?

Then Jongmin noticed Juwon’s hand hovering midair, still gripping the papers he’d thrown down.

He was staring right through the blank cover page like he’d lost track of everything. Jongmin almost rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

What the hell…?

Seeing Chae Juwon zoning out like this — that had never happened. And when he did look away, his expression was strained, as if forcing himself to snap back.

“Mm… and Seokho, you sent the air flow data to Manager Hwang, right? Make sure we can apply it by noon. Also, double-check the HVAC efficiency simulation for the exhibition hall. If the floor area’s changed, the heat load needs recalculating.”

Juwon flipped through the report like nothing was wrong, his voice calm as ever. But there were cracks — little gaps where his mind drifted off.

“Youngjin, the wiring plan — the new lighting position updates still aren’t in. Fix that now, and check that the emergency routes and sprinkler layout match the updated traffic flow.”

Again, as he spoke, Juwon’s gaze flicked once to a mug by the printer, then to the pale morning clouds beyond the window, before snapping back to the page.

He pulled himself together instantly, but those tiny lapses kept happening, over and over.

“Ah, and Chief Park. The CAD and the section drawing aren’t syncing right now — fix that. They’re misaligned and look like sh1t.”

Leaning back against a desk, one hand pressed to his lower back, Chae Juwon scratched at his chin.

Then his eyes fixed on the meeting room door for a good while, as if caught on something. He gave a small shake of his head.

“This… hmm… No, forget it. I’ll just do it myself.”

He’d started to say something, then swallowed it and simply took the task himself. Jongmin just stared, blank.

And when Juwon’s eyes met his, he curled his lips up into a smile. It was closer to a dead grin than anything warm — the kind of smile he’d never make on a normal day. Goosebumps crept up Jongmin’s arm.

…Is he out of his mind?

While Jongmin stood frozen, the rest of the staff looked equally stunned.

Juwon just raised his eyebrows as if nothing was wrong. He snapped his fingers with a crisp pop, then clapped his hands once, gesturing with his chin.

“What are you all doing? Get back to work.”

***

Under the midday sun, Juwon leaned against the rooftop railing, blowing out a long drag of smoke.

Gangnam Avenue spread out below him, dull and lifeless from up here.

The facades stretching skyward were just numbers — profit ratios clad in glass, racing to serve speed and consumption. All those cookie-cutter exteriors looked like clones no one would ever claim to have designed.

And those ugly, chaotic signboards — scattered without a hint of order — were the highlight of this conceptless mess of a commercial district.

— “Chae Juwon, how’s the joint office? Hanging in there?”

He’d come up to the roof after the meeting to steal a quick smoke. He’d hoped it might clear the tight knot in his chest — but he didn’t feel any better for it.

— “Hey, you there? Chief Chae? Hey, Chae Juwon. Are you listening? Did this punk hang up on—”

“What’s there to ask? It’s just fucking bullshit.”

Juwon spat the curse out without hesitation. On the other end, Lee Youngguk barked out a laugh, rough, unfiltered.

— “Yeah? It’s that bad, huh?”

Lee Youngguk — a notorious chain smoker himself — had a voice so harsh it sounded half-burnt. He was like an uncle to Juwon, but also the chairman of RSTA Architecture.