She sips from her tea.

("Is that flirting? I think that's flirting. Should I just mind my own business?")

"I hear German has those fancy nonce compound words, though, are those hard to learn to do?"

"Yeah. I still get tongue twisted sometimes."

"I was about to say I don't know a speck of German but that's not true, English steals words too, I've got, like. 'Angst'. 'Zeitgeist'."

"Not 'gesundheit'?"

"My dialect uses 'bless you' but I do understand 'gesundheit'!"

"I bet it's a pretty big cultural shock, coming from Germany to here, in terms of the politeness expectations." Did he hit the nail on the head, time to find out.

She purses her lips and looks away, pulling an escaped hair behind her ear. "Yeah. Very different expectations."

"I mostly just run around ignoring that kind of thing but I guess you don't have that luxury."

"I really don't. Perhaps Kang Jaehyuk-nim can, but I don't think even my mother could."

("Not when all of the other men would see it as a sign of weakness.")

"What's it like in Germany? I've never been."

"People are a lot more..." ("Shit how do I continue this sentence in a polite way.") "...direct."

"Blunt and straightforward, almost immune to the layers upon stacked layers of subtext and deferential hierarchy Koreans are used to, sometimes sounding downright rude. Is that about the size of it?"

"...yeah."

"And you got used to that?"

"Yeah. The way Koreans treat each other is..."

"-nim this, -mnida that, having to keep track of levels of seniority not just for you but for everyone else, all the time. Having to always take it lying down when someone is more powerful. And I can't imagine they don't give you a hard time at Hyundai for being a nepo baby."

"I went through the normal application process and everything," she says, lamely.

"But probably it wasn't, like, blinded."

"Probably not," she sighs.

"But I'm proving myself," she continues, more firmly. "And I'll keep doing it. I'm not just Nam Hee-seo's daughter."

"I wish you luck."

"I believe in you," Jaeha agrees. "And I think I'm starting to get a feel for how I could be of help. I'm not sure why Nam Hee-seo-nim thought I'd be the best for the job but I think she could do worse."

("I'm gonna make a businesswoman out of you, you'll see.")

"—well, I hope you're right, and I'll do my best not to disappoint."

("You're surprisingly confident, but if Mother trusts you, I suppose I'll have to, too.")

"I'll be looking forward to it."