Their hidden world was a delicate ecosystem, thriving on stolen hours and coded glances. But ecosystems exist within larger environments, and the corporate jungle of LX was never far away. The pressure, held at bay by their private joy, began to seep in through the cracks.
It started with the board. The old guard, though diminished, was not extinct. Director Park's suspension was a bleeding wound, and they watched Ha-ru's every move with renewed, venomous attention. They noticed the unprecedented autonomy given to the "Environmental Czar," as the press had dubbed Jin-woo. They noted the Chairman's quiet but firm shutdown of any criticism aimed at Lee's department. Whispers began, not about romance—that seemed too absurd—but about favoritism, about the chairman being "in thrall" to a radical, about the Kang legacy being hijacked by an idealistic, penniless upstart.
