Makino seems to be a career woman with years of experience and possibly a past of heartbreak (judging by the rumors about her) while Seo is 18 and works part-time while attending a musical arts university. I'm interested to see where this story will go and am liking it so far.
There was a particular part early in the chapter that bothered me though. How did Makino’s coworkers (or junior coworkers? not sure what to call them) not notice her? Or were they speaking ill of her regardless? Anyhow, I’m glad that Seo stood up for Makino, even if Makino found it troublesome. Seo didn’t do so because it was right, rather, she simply spoke her mind. She seems to be a very straight forward, honest person. The type to speak her mind despite negative reactions doing so might cause. Which I think is great by the way, at least in this context.
Makino on the other hand seems to be the type of person to take her work very seriously and to stay out of personal relationships. Although rumors obviously aren’t to be taken completely seriously, there is probably some truth to them. Perhaps some sort of heartbreak or hesitation in Makino’s past has given her reason to distrust other people.
Despite the fact that Makino gives proper instruction, others do not always listen to her. They see her as being too serious. On page 12, she thinks “she didn’t follow my instructions here, or here, or here either, how many times have I told her? And she still gets it wrong!” This shows that her coworkers do not pay enough attention to her instruction. It could even mean that they are actively ignoring her advice in order to frustrate her or slow her down.
Seo seems to not take her advice for granted though as after Seo hands her work to Makino, Makino looks at it and thinks “did she listen to me properly?” and tells her “you can go home now, this is done.” This is also quite sad though as Makino is so used to others not listening to her, she is legitimately surprised when someone does, and of all people Seo is probably the youngest person there (although there are other part-time workers as we see in the earlier part of the chapter, some of which may be younger than her).
Makino looks annoyed by Seo though, and thinks “those eyes, I’m not good with them. I feel antsy.” It could be that when you have interacted with so many two-faced people for so long, finally meeting someone who is honest will make you extremely cautious. Makino might even sense Seo’s straightforwardness and become wary of it simply because she is so unfamiliar with that kind of person or attitude.
Makino sends Seo home at 2:56 PM. Seo spends this time practicing with her band. It isn’t until 8:14 PM that Makino clocks out. Seo says that her rehearsal “just ended” and that she only “waited a bit,” thinking that it might be time for Makino to leave for home. She was probably telling the truth, especially given her previously introduced character traits (i.e. being honest, straight forward), however, there is the possibility that she was purposely waiting for some time (although she most likely didn’t wait for 5 hours).
This makes me wonder if she set up the rehearsal time prior to her work day, planning on finishing her work early, or if the band members were just available at that time. This might seem like an insignificant detail but it could prove that Seo holds some kind of strong interest in Makino. Whether this is romantic or not is still unclear.
