Not having a particular response, she looked at Shin Jihoon, who playfully nodded. ‘See? I told you so,’ he seemed to say, even nudging another man and taking credit. Rather than helping, he was being a burden.
“Everyone’s good at their job. You know that among the staff, the president’s secretary has the most clout, right?”
Shin Jihoon chimed in again, giving a thumbs up. A sarcastic response quickly followed.
“Oh, come on. Are you already taking her side because she’s family?”
“If you’re jealous, come over to this side.”
“Who wouldn’t want to? But I need to be selected first.”
A strange dissatisfaction leaked from the eyes of the woman who spoke with her lips pouted.
“That’s right. This time, Secretary Jung…”
Another woman beside her abruptly continued before hastily covering her mouth. A chilly silence descended in that moment. Some turned their gazes away, and Seoyoung naturally followed suit. She noticed a secretary standing by the conference room door looking in their direction before quickly turning to leave. Only then did Seoyoung realize the cause of this subtle atmosphere. It seemed quite a few people had hoped for and been disappointed about the chief secretary position.
“Well then, I’ll be going now.”
Feeling uncomfortable, Seoyoung quickly turned around. Shin Jihoon followed and spoke to the secretaries behind them.
“Everyone, keep next week open. We’ll go out for meat.”
“Is Secretary Shin treating us?”
“Why are you all like this to a poor ordinary citizen?”
He laughed good-naturedly, but Seoyoung didn’t respond and walked away quickly. Behind her, laughter erupted as they continued their conversation.
***
“Secretary Shin, I’ve reviewed the keynote speech you mentioned.”
Seoyoung carefully handed over the document folder.
“Oh, you’re already done?”
“Yes. It fits well with the speech format received from the Marketing team. I also compared it with the materials from the Planning team, and the supporting figures are accurate. However, since our company will be missing from this demonstration, I wonder if you should review it once more…”
“Ah, it doesn’t matter. This is just a keynote speech, after all.”
Shin Jihoon took the documents with an unconcerned face and opened them. After briefly scanning the approximately five pages, a satisfied smile quickly formed on his lips. Seeing him adjust his tie, it seemed he would head straight to the president’s office with this.
“Aren’t you going to have the Director review it?”
“Ah, this time I was told to write it myself and report directly. It’s like a test, I guess.”
He answered with a smile and turned around. As Seoyoung watched him knock on the president’s office door and disappear inside, she thought: Still, it would be better to check with the Director.
He’ll handle it, I suppose. Returning to her desk, Seoyoung turned her attention back to her monitor. She was overwhelmed with the unfamiliar system and the endless stream of miscellaneous tasks. As she refocused on her work, the internal line rang. Confirming it was a direct call from the president, Seoyoung quickly answered.
“Yes, President.”
“Secretary Yoo, come in.”
The call ended with Kangjun’s cold voice. What is it? Did I do something wrong? Her heart began to beat rapidly.
After knocking and opening the door, the office scene came into view. Shin Jihoon was standing in front of Kangjun’s desk. His hands were neatly folded, and his stiff face was flushed red. Though he might have spared Seoyoung a brief glance as she approached, he was only looking down at the edge of the desk. The atmosphere was ominous.
“You called for me, President.”
Seoyoung bowed her head as she quietly stood next to Shin Jihoon. Kangjun picked up the document folder on the desk.
“Did you write this, Secretary Yoo?” he asked as he carelessly flipped open the document.
“That’s…”
What Kangjun held up was the keynote speech that Shin Jihoon had written and only asked Seoyoung to review. But why is he saying I wrote it? Confused, Seoyoung’s eyes shifted to Shin Jihoon. Only then did he raise his head to look at her. His narrowed eyes clearly sent her a message.
Ah. He lied. Kangjun had criticized the draft, and Shin Jihoon had shifted the blame to her. Although indignation welled up, she couldn’t expose Shin Jihoon’s lie here.
“Yes. I wrote it,” Seoyoung answered, tightly clenching her hands.
“Is this your first time writing a speech?”
“No…”
“Then why doesn’t it show? Is our company the only one participating in this demonstration?”
“I understand that all major defense companies will be participating.”
“Knowing that, you write like this? Our company isn’t even doing a demonstration—are you determined to embarrass me?”
Kangjun’s words flew like daggers. Although he didn’t precisely point out which parts were problematic, Seoyoung could roughly guess what he meant. In truth, she had concerns about certain sections, especially given Bantech’s absence from the demonstration. That’s why she had tentatively mentioned it, but when Shin Jihoon dismissed it, she had let it go. After all, she couldn’t confidently claim her judgment was better than her superior’s.
“Should I lower the tone a bit, then?”
“Don’t lower it—can’t you match it properly?”
“…”
“You’ve unnecessarily divided the core systems in too many ways. Are you writing a white paper instead of a speech?”
Kangjun mercilessly pinpointed another issue. Roughly understanding his meaning, Seoyoung’s thoughts became tangled. Don’t put Bantech at the forefront, but ensure it remains in the audience’s minds after the speech ends. And simplify the main systems of the demonstration, but then what should fill that space?
Seoyoung glanced at Shin Jihoon. He was blinking his eyes in bewilderment, as if he didn’t even understand what the problem was. Did he realize that Kangjun was providing the answer right now? No, could Shin Jihoon even make these corrections?
As questions arose in her mind, Seoyoung turned her gaze back to Kangjun. He was still looking down at the documents. His sharp gaze and intense focus created tension in his counterparts. His concentrated appearance exuded an even stronger aura than usual. Seoyoung understood why a man at the top could overwhelm others. Setting aside their bad blood and his unique personality, she couldn’t deny that he was an attractive person.
“…tary.”
“Yes?”
Seoyoung snapped back to reality at Kangjun’s call.
“Is my face distracting you from focusing?”
“No. I was listening to everything.”
Seoyoung’s face instantly turned red. Though she had only contemplated for a brief moment, he had already noticed her gaze. She felt Shin Jihoon’s strange glance on her cheek. Seoyoung straightened her posture, pretending to be calm.
“Is that so?”
Kangjun leaned deeply back in his chair and tossed the document folder onto the desk.
“Then revise it and bring it back. Personally.”
After finishing his words, he no longer looked at Seoyoung. Shin Jihoon nudged her, indicating they should leave.
Seoyoung bit her lip hard as she quietly picked up the document folder.
“Seriously, he tells me not to write it like this, then tells me not to write it like that either. What exactly does he want?”
Only after leaving the president’s office and reaching near her desk did Shin Jihoon start grumbling like a fish that had found water. When Seoyoung showed no reaction, he cautiously checked her mood and spoke.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to make you look good, but I didn’t expect the president to react that way.”
“It’s fine.”
Seoyoung answered briefly and turned her attention back to the speech.
She didn’t fully believe Shin Jihoon’s words. If he truly wanted to help her, he should have at least made a gesture to share the responsibility when the president’s criticism poured down. He probably didn’t deliberately try to shift blame, but it didn’t feel like pure goodwill either.
“I shouldn’t have interfered. Ah… what should we do about this?”
“If you don’t mind, I’ll give it a try.”
“Can you do it? I’ll help you.”
“Secretary Shin, you’re busy too. You have to accompany the president this afternoon. Since the president will probably ask me anyway, I think it’s better that I understand it precisely.”
“That’s true, but…”
Shin Jihoon shrugged his shoulders and let out a short sigh. Though he created this situation, he didn’t show an attitude of actively taking responsibility. Perhaps he was so excited about accompanying the president for the first time today that he couldn’t focus on anything else.
Nevertheless, Seoyoung had no desire to blame him. She had just realized that his sometimes thoughtless and careless sides actually helped her establish her position here. Viewed that way, his mistakes and indifference were even appreciated.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
