Work Text:
“He’s incredibly hard to please”, Sae-byeok said with a warning note in her voice. “What you’re doing isn’t safe.”
“Ah, Sae-byeok, relax”, Gi-hun waved his hand. “Who doesn’t like cake?”
Well, perhaps their boss didn’t. Sae-byeok still didn’t look convinced, but Gi-hun had already set his mind on making In-ho, the always serious and strict man they all worked for, happy. Come on, couldn’t he smile at least once?! Would it hurt him? Gi-hun thought with a slight blush that In-ho must look really pretty when he smiled.
“Ask Jun-ho at least”, Sae-byeok suggested with a sigh. “He’s his little brother. Maybe he knows what our boss likes.”
Gi-hun nodded enthusiastically. “That’s actually a really good idea!” he exclaimed. “I’m gonna go ask him right now.”
He walked off, typing away at his phone excitedly, as Sae-byeok followed him with her gaze.
“What’s the matter?” Dae-ho came up and raised his eyebrows. “What’s gotten hyung so worked up in the morning already?”
Sae-byeok rubbed her face. “Gi-hun has got the most brilliant idea of baking a cake for our boss’ birthday which is apparently today. I don’t even want to know how he got that information…”
“Well actually, why not?” Dae-ho waved his arms around. “I don’t see a problem. Maybe he’ll finally get rid of that thing that’s crawled up his…” he shut up instantly as Sae-byeok elbowed him in the ribs. In-ho had just appeared in the doorway, as elegantly dressed and emotionless as on any other day. Dae-ho paled slightly and straightened up.
“Kang Sae-byeok”, In-ho spoke up. “And Kang Dae-ho. Where’s your friend?” he asked, feigning disinterest.
“He, um…” Dae-ho began.
“He’ll come back soon, he’s gone away on business”, Sae-byeok interrupted him as quickly as she could. Despite everything In-ho had done for her and the other employees, she was still a little scared of him and uncomfortable in his presence.
“Business”, In-ho said thoughtfully. “I wonder what business Gi-hun may have.”
Meanwhile, Gi-hun was tending to his so-called business, completely unaware why he was hiccoughing so hard.
‘Jun-ho this is URGENT!’ he typed fiercely in capital letters. ‘Please answer NOW!’
‘Yes, Gi-hun?’ Jun-ho reacted almost immediately. ‘What’s the matter? Did you get in trouble again?’
Jun-ho was a cop. He was friends with Gi-hun, he had been for quite some time and would often save him from all kinds of trouble Gi-hun somehow found his way into. He always answered whenever Gi-hun texted him it was urgent, ready to rush to whatever police station his friend was currently at.
‘I’m in BIG trouble’, Gi-hun replied, fingers shaking over the keyboard. ‘I need your advice.’
‘I’m all ears’, was Jun-ho’s short answer.
‘Does your brother like cake?’ Gi-hun hit the send button and waited, holding his breath. Jun-ho wasn’t even typing, and Gi-hun was briefly worried.
‘Seriously?’ Jun-ho finally reacted. ‘Is that all? Is this why you dragged me out of an important meeting?’
‘This is VERY important’, how come Jun-ho didn’t understand? This was crucial information and Gi-hun needed it right now! ‘So, does he?’
He could almost hear Jun-ho sigh on the other side. Gi-hun was really very sorry he’d distracted him from work but this was really important stuff and Sae-byeok had said Jun-ho was the only one who might know!
‘He used to’, Jun-ho typed finally. ‘Now we barely ever eat together, so I don’t really know what In-ho likes anymore. But he enjoyed carrot cake when we were younger.’
Carrot cake, huh, Gi-hun thought. Truth be told, he almost never cooked, surviving off of ready meals and whatever his mother made him, usually kimchi or other simple food. He had no idea how to make carrot cake – or any other kind of cake for that matter – but for In-ho he was willing to try.
His moody boss might even smile a little upon seeing the cake. Gi-hun imagined himself carrying the heavy dessert in his arms as if it weighed nothing, opening the door to In-ho’s office and proudly placing the cake on his table. It would be exquisite, delicious and impeccable.
The only thing left was to actually make it.
Gi-hun rushed back to join Sae-byeok and Dae-ho. They were already stood there in the company of Jung-bae, another long time friend of Gi-hun’s. Dae-ho was chattering away excitedly about something and waving his arms, overly enthusiastic as usual.
“Carrot cake”, Gi-hun panted, trying to catch his breath.
“Huh?” Jung-bae turned around, brows furrowed. “What’s that mean?”
“I said he likes carrot cake”, Gi-hun explained impatiently. “Jun-ho-hyung told me. We’re making carrot cake.”
Sae-byeok rolled her eyes. “Are you sure?” she questioned exasperatedly. “Think about it. Have you actually ever made a cake before?”
“Stop it, Sae-byeok”, Dae-ho silenced her with the palm of his hand. “You know it’s the intent that counts. The most important thing is that Gi-hun wants to please the cold fish, you know?”
“I’m not with you”, Sae-byeok shook her head. “I’m out of this.”
Despite that, a couple hours later Sae-byeok ended up in the kitchen with the three of them, covered in dough from head to toe.
Even being a girl, Sae-byeok had been raised in North Korea so she had almost never cooked complicated things before. She had absolutely no idea what to do with the food and was messing it up just as successfully as the three men she was with.
“No this can’t be!” Jung-bae argued. “I mean, who puts carrots in sweet stuff? Gi-hun, put that away!”
“It’s called carrot cake for a reason”, Gi-hun argued, hugging the half-peeled carrot to his chest. “Why’s it called carrot cake if it doesn’t have no carrots?”
Dae-ho pulled the cookbook closer to himself and glanced through it. “Sorry, Jung-bae, it really does say carrots over here. Quite a lot of them, actually.”
“And to think we’re wasting all this time on some cake for the boss”, Jung-bae rolled his eyes. “Come on, Gi-hun, what’s the point? He won’t thank you for that anyway. He’ll likely just scold you for fooling around instead of working.”
Gi-hun was about to answer when his phone beeped. ‘Gi-hun?’ Jun-ho wrote. ‘Why the sudden interest in what kind of cake In-ho likes?’
‘No reason’, Gi-hun typed quickly, fingers covered in dough. ‘Thanks Jun-ho-hyung.’
‘Gi-hun, tell me’, even through text it was obvious Jun-ho was on edge. ‘What are you doing?’
“Who’s that?” Dae-ho leaned over to look at Gi-hun’s phone. “What’re they saying?”
“Nothing”, Gi-hun ignored Jun-ho’s obvious desire to blow up his phone and put it away into his pocket. “Anyways, we figured out the carrots. What’s next?”
Next was the proportions. Gi-hun had innocently thought making a cake was as easy as betting on horses. Well, not that betting was that simple really, but just for the sake of it. Didn’t baking just mean mixing everything together and dumping the mess into a baking tray? Apparently, no, it didn’t. Dae-ho was reading off grams and millilitres and Gi-hun was already struggling with the milk. They had to add some to the dough and the cream as well. To be honest, Gi-hun was already considering just making the cake with no cream. But what kind of cake would that be then?
Definitely not one the prissy In-ho would like.
So Gi-hun sighed and poured the milk all over his pants.
“Shit!” he cursed, looking at his brand new black pants covered in white stains now. “Well, so much for dressing up. Should’ve worn jeans as usual.”
“This is ridiculous”, Sae-byeok turned away from the mutilated carrot in her hands. “No, this is actually ridiculous. Gi-hun, you’re a terrible cook. What on earth made you…” she paused, sighed. “Okay. Fine. But it’s your problem!”
“Sae-byeok!” Gi-hun looked at her with his puppy eyed look. The girl softened and shook her head. “Please.”
“Fine”, she groaned. “Give me the recipe. I can try and make sense of all those grams you seem so worried about.”
Dae-ho passed her the cookbook with a pout. He seemed upset he couldn’t work out what all that meant, to him the recipe looked like a calculus problem. Sae-byeok glanced at the page, moaned quietly and banged her forehead against the cookbook.
“Give it here”, Jung-bae snatched the book from Sae-byeok’s hands. “Oh… oh my god”, he muttered. “What is this thing? How do women make sense of all of it?”
Gi-hun sighed deeply and then almost ripped the cookbook away from Jung-bae. “That was my idea!” he exclaimed almost possessively, mind racing. In-ho’s shocked face barely left Gi-hun’s mind. “So I’m gonna man the book.”
“What do you see in him…” Sae-byeok grumbled. “No, seriously. What’s so special about the boss that you’re ready to struggle so much?”
Gi-hun flushed and stuffed his mouth with carrots to avoid answering the question.
Eventually the batter was ready. Despite the fact that it looked like someone had just dumped the whole contents of a fridge into a bowl and mixed them all together, it actually tasted quite nice. According to Dae-ho anyway, since the dough contained milk which Gi-hun couldn’t drink. Dae-ho had eaten a few spoonfuls of the batter already, and Sae-byeok had to snatch it away from him and Jung-bae’s hungry gaze so that there’d be enough for the cake.
While the cake was baking in the oven, it was time to make the cream. The recipe called for two types of cream, one to soak the cake layers and the other to hold them together. Jung-bae announced that he officially proclaimed the second type of cream the universal type and that they could use it to soak the layers just as well.
Everyone agreed heartily. Gi-hun looked doubtfully at the recipe, thinking that he didn’t want to mess In-ho’s cake up, but then looked back at Jung-bae whose forehead was glistening with sweat, at Sae-byeok’s shaking hands and at Dae-ho’s wild eyes, and maybe it convinced Gi-hun you didn’t always have to follow the recipe. Just a little leeway wouldn’t hurt.
They made twice as much cream. Well, a third of it ended up on the floor and on the walls when Sae-byeok held the mixer at the wrong angle for a while, but otherwise the cream looked good and maybe not even disgusting. Dae-ho had offered to try some beforehand but Gi-hun, recalling what it had led to the last time, refused immediately.
The phone kept buzzing in his pocket from time to time. Gi-hun stubbornly refused to look at it, just knowing it was Jun-ho.
“Get your phone out goddamnit!” Sae-byeok snapped. “The cream is ready, and we still have five minutes until the cake is done so you’ve got plenty of time to finally reply to all those freaking messages.”
Gi-hun sighed and pulled out his phone, expecting to see Jun-ho’s name all over the screen. Except that some of them weren’t Jun-ho. Gi-hun paled.
‘Seong Gi-hun, answer me this instant!’ In-ho wrote. ‘Why aren’t you and your friends at work?’
‘If I discover you went betting or drinking again I will fire all of you in a blink of an eye’, another message stated. Gi-hun’s hands began to shake.
‘Nothing of the sort, boss’, he texted back, probably making a tonne of mistakes but not caring. ‘We’re doing work. Just not at work.’
The message barely got delivered when the phone beeped again. ‘What do you mean you’re doing work but not at work?’
Even through the screen In-ho sounded as authoritative and demanding as he always was. Gi-hun felt a shiver run down his spine, though not entirely unpleasant. ‘You’ll see in the evening, boss’, he texted back, heart hammering in his chest.
‘I hope so’, was the only reply Gi-hun received. It was enough to send him into a stupor, though, so much so that Jung-bae had to physically push him.
“Hey man”, he said. “What’s the matter? Who’s that?”
Gi-hun shrugged. “No one”, he countered a little too quickly. “Wait”, he continued to change the subject. “What’s that smell?”
The four exchanged glances.
“The cake!” they exclaimed together and rushed to the oven to check on it.
Well… at least the cake survived.
Sure, it was burnt on the sides a little and maybe slightly smaller than expected, but it was still a cake. Sae-byeok who wielded a knife like a real chef – or maybe someone else – skilfully cut off the blackened sides, and it wasn’t even that noticeable anymore.
They decided to cut the cake in half, put some cream inside and cover the whole thing with the rest. Dae-ho volunteered, and Gi-hun grudgingly let the over-ecstatic man do it while watching for any disappearing pieces. Surprisingly, it… didn’t come out so bad. Actually, it even looked quite good.
Gi-hun was looking proudly at their child. It was nearing five in the evening, the time when people usually got off work and went home. Well, In-ho wasn’t the type to leave early, so they could be sure he was still there.
While his friends went off to look for a box, Gi-hun grabbed an edible marker he’d found in the kitchen and bent over the cake. Tongue out from all the effort, Gi-hun was writing a congratulations phrase on top of the cake in that awful greenish blue colour of the marker, the only one he could find.
Sae-byeok leaned over the cake doubtfully, double-checking the writing. “Are you sure this is correct?” she asked, lips pursed. “Because I could have sworn…”
“What do you think I am, illiterate?” Gi-hun grasped at his heart in a mocking gesture. “Listen, Sae-byeok, I’m positive it says ‘Happy birthday, In-ho’. All right?”
Jung-bae and Dae-ho glanced over, too, but they either didn’t notice anything or Sae-byeok was simply making things up. Jung-bae even gave Gi-hun a thumbs up. “Good job”, he said. “Now let’s wrap this bad boy and bring him to where he belongs.”
And so, Gi-hun grabbed the box with the cake and slowly made his way towards In-ho’s office which was way up in the building. Thankfully, no one was present inside, or Gi-hun would have died of embarrassment. He carefully placed the cake on the table, fixed the bow on top and, immensely proud of himself, hurried to leave.
Obviously, he bumped into In-ho in the hallway.
“Um, hey”, Gi-hun waved. “Hi.”
“Hey”, In-ho repeated, twirling a pen between his fingers. “Finally decided to show your face, I see?”
“Actually, I’ve come with the results of my work”, Gi-hun stated proudly. “They’re on your table.”
In-ho arched a brow. “Oh?” he said. “Well then, I shall waste no time in checking them out.”
He strode into his office, brushing his shoulder against Gi-hun’s accidentally or on purpose, Gi-hun didn’t know. What he knew was that he was suddenly downstairs, glancing anxiously at his phone and awaiting a message from In-ho.
None came.
Jung-bae and Dae-ho tried to ask what In-ho had thought of the cake, but Gi-hun ignored them. Sae-byeok only stared in understanding and wished him goodbye. Gi-hun trudged home, feeling more downtrodden and miserable than he ever had before.
Only as he was at home, lying down on the sofa, Gi-hun finally heard his phone beep. He quickly unblocked it only to see the picture of his cake and a short ‘What is this’ from In-ho.
In the centre of the cake there was a huge blue-green phrase which stated ‘Happy birthday, In-hoe’ and a tiny star next to it.
‘It’s your birthday cake’, Gi-hun texted back. ‘We spent all day making it. Don’t you like it?’
In-ho typed something, then seemed to have erased it. Then again, and he did that enough times to make Gi-hun actually bite his fingernails. ‘I guess I have to thank you’, In-ho wrote. ‘For doing this instead of work.’
A pause followed. Gi-hun didn’t really feel elated anymore. He felt like he’d been stepped upon.
‘Also, I think I’ll have to feed the cake to Jun-ho’, In-ho continued. ‘There’s milk in the dough and the cream.’
‘Oh my god!’ Gi-hun hurried to write. ‘I had no idea you were lack toast in tall or rent!’
A long silence. Gi-hun double-checked what he’d written but he didn’t really see a problem.
After about ten minutes, In-ho finally answered. ‘Gi-hun, I finally deciphered your message. Now, if you ever wish to impress me again, please refrain from doing it using your linguistic skills.’
Gi-hun blinked at the screen, and then another message appeared.
‘Although I wouldn’t say no to another meal cooked for me by my jagiya.’
Now what the hell was that?!