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Lee Juwon’s secretary, Kim Jiwoon, had been at his happiest for the last two months. Since a secretary’s schedule was adjusted according to the CEO’s schedule, Kim Jiwoon’s work-life balance could also be called the worst. But then, out of the blue, Lee Juwon, who, let alone take an annual leave, didn’t even leave work early, decided to take a Christmas vacation and didn’t come to work for two months.
He was flustered at first but soon got his thoughts together. He thought that he was only saying that and would pester people constantly through calls or emails, but…
Even he was quiet.
After one day, two days, and three days had passed, he felt that it was real.
There were all kinds of rumours going around the company. He was trying to sell the company to foreign capital, seven years was the best time to sell and dip, and he caught a terminal illness. No, he had already died…
For the first week, they couldn’t reach him, so they thought that it was certain. Only when the information that he was hospitalized in a car accident spread through internal information and Kang Inheon contacted them through a corded telephone did it quiet down.
The company was back in business, but somehow even the other employees were in a vacation mood. However, it was both a good and an uneasy feeling.
It felt like looking at an intranet bulletin board when he had a report due soon, like he was binge-watching Netflix when his major exam was the next day, like he was eating pork belly grilled by his dad after having broken and glued together mom’s favourite flower pot when he was a kid. In the midst of this peacefulness, the volatile nervousness wouldn’t leave his chest.
It wasn’t just Kim Jiwoon who felt this way.
All the employees he met in the cafeteria, hallways, and lobby were chewing their nails with anxiety as each day passed.
“W-what do we do?”
“Two weeks have already passed…”
“If only we could turn back time…”
But even with a broken clock, time still marched on.
Eventually, the day came.
Kim Jiwoon opened his eyes at four in the morning.
The highlight of an upbeat rock song blared. He turned off the song, which had become repellent after using it as an alarm, and got out of bed. Since it had been so long since he had to wake up early, he felt like dying.
As a secretary, he usually tried to make it to work by his boss’s time, but it was impossible because Lee Juwon went to work way too early. Even the fastidious Lee Juwon didn’t want him to go that far.
He usually got to work at around eight, but shouldn’t he still get to work first today and greet him? With a sense of duty as an office worker, or feeling like he was welcoming an uninvited guest, Kim Jiwoon went to work at 5 a.m.
Unlike the deserted and dark commute to work, the company was somewhat crowded with employees, of whom he didn’t know whether they had come to work early or stayed up all night.
It seemed like they all felt the same way.
Their eyes met in the elevator and hallway, and they shared a wordless smile of sympathy.
“Oh! I finally came first!”
Entering the representative’s office on the 18th floor, Kim Jiwoon wore a smile of satisfaction. The lights in the representative’s office were off, as if the early morning rush had been worth it.
Kim Jiwoon could count on one hand the number of times he had arrived at work before Lee Juwon in the three years since joining the company. With his shoulders stretched back in pride, Kim Jiwoon sat down at his desk and organized the things he needed to report on today. He had cleaned it yesterday, but after a simple reorganization, he straightened his back and waited for Lee Juwon.
But even though it was past six, Lee Juwon didn’t come.
“…Huh? It’s today, though?”
Kim Jiwoon checked Lee Juwon’s work situation on the work portal again. It was confirmed that he was coming to work starting today.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
After another half hour, his eyes gradually closed. Perhaps because he had gotten up too early, he unknowingly dozed off.
Then, clack, there was the sound of the door opening.
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“He’s not here yet.”
“…Still?”
“Ah, he’s a bit late…”
Team Leader Han tilted their head and went back, but that wasn’t the end of it. There were more visits from team leaders, as well as internal and external calls pouring in. Kim Jiwoon kept repeating that he hadn’t arrived yet.
“Should I call him…?”
With Lee Juwon’s personal number in front of him, Kim Jiwoon debated whether or not to call him. However, the official work time was at nine anyway, and he couldn’t pester someone who was on vacation until yesterday about why they hadn’t come yet.
Besides, Kim Jiwoon was Lee Juwon’s secretary in name, but… in reality, Lee Juwon didn’t share much with Kim Jiwoon. It was clear he only thought of him as a telephone operator or a walking schedule. Normally, for the CEO of a company that was December’s size, there’d be a sub-branch under the chief secretary, but Kim Jiwoon was all alone in the secretary’s office.
Kim Jiwoon didn’t manage Lee Juwon’s schedule but rather organized the schedule that Lee Juwon notified him of. Even with just checking the yeses and noes and taking care of miscellaneous stuff, he was swamped with work, but he had never once handled Lee Juwon’s private affairs.
Rather than being good at distinguishing private and public business, it just seemed like he didn’t have any private territory, but anyhow, he had never called for this type of thing before, so he was hesitant. In fact, he seemed to have contacted Kang Inheon more. Every day, he would send Kang Inheon his schedule and get another confirmation. Because he was a co-founder, and the secretary office was created at Kang Inheon’s insistence.
He was much more comfortable with Kang Inheon than Lee Juwon, but he couldn’t just contact Kang Inheon to find out when Lee Juwon would be at work, could he? Just as he was worrying about that, the door opened. Lee Juwon finally entered.
It was exactly nine.
“It’s been a while, Secretary Kim.”
“…What?”
Kim Jiwoon unintentionally asked back after greeting the long-awaited Lee Juwon.
He greeted him?
Even if he greeted him first, Lee Juwon was the type to ignore him and speed past him. But he greeted him while smiling? Kim Jiwoon just blinked, but soon got his mind together and quickly answered, “Ah, yes, Mr. CEO. Did you have a good vacation?”
“Thanks to you.”
Thanks to him? What did he do? He hadn’t even made him more money? Vacation… Where the hell did he go on vacation? No, rumour had it that he broke his leg, but was it his head that broke?
“Did anything special happen in the meantime?”
“Yes, I’ve organized everything.”
Kim Jiwoon quickly handed over the pad with the list of reports that had been posted and organized. He watched Lee Juwon flick through the screen, bewildered.
He was so… different from before.
It wasn’t just the way he spoke and acted that had changed. His appearance was completely different, too.
Lee Juwon was tall and had long arms and legs, so he originally looked good in anything he wore, but he wore clothes that Kim Jiwoon, who was very interested in fashion, thought were hip, to put it nicely, and to put it bluntly, made him look like he was wearing a piece of straw mat.
There were often cases where the top and bottom were made of different colours and materials, the fabric was worn and greasy, and the cuffs had loose threads. His fits were so bad that he felt regret and wondered why he dressed like that with such a physical appearance. It was a little tight on his shoulders and loose on his waist, the length of his pants awkwardly revealed his ankles, and what was certainly worst of all were his shoes.
It may look terrible at first glance, but wasn’t it said that fashion was all about the face? Anyhow, it was a good thing that his clothes were barely looked at because the eyes were drawn to his face.
But it was different today.
Were those the new clothes of Company Z?
Lee Juwon was wearing a tailored suit—the super cool-looking one Kim Jiwoon had drooled over as an editor’s pick in a men’s magazine when he’d seen it at the salon last weekend. The dark sapphire cuffs on the ends of the sleeves sparkled brilliantly in the light every time he flipped through the pad screen.
Even his shoes were handmade by Company P, limited to five pieces. It wasn’t a joke, it was a real brand-name product, painstakingly crafted stitch by stitch by a master Italian craftsman.
He had seen him in a suit every day for three years, but this was the first time he’d seen him dressed properly. From the shoulders to the sleeves, from the waist to the ankles, the suit fit him perfectly him. It was so artistic that he wouldn’t look inferior on the runway of Company Z.
“…You look cool today,” Kim Jiwoon subconsciously blurted out, letting out a lament on the inside. Lee Juwon looked up from the report. What he was going to say was predictable. According to the database accumulated over the past three years…
Why don’t you use that time to mind your own business instead of worrying about other people’s clothes?
“Thank you.”
“I apolo… what?”
“Jiwoon-ssi’s necktie is also pretty.”
“…What?”
Lee Juwon patted his own tie instead and smiled brightly. Then he walked into the representative’s office while looking at the pad.
Kim Jiwoon looked down at the tie he was wearing. The blue diagonally striped tie was brand new, bought not too long ago.
He put in some effort today, but… P-pretty?
He knew my name…?
W-what? Did my heart just flutter?
February 28th, the first day Lee Juwon came to work that year, was called ‘the day of revolution’ within December. Everyone who had encountered Lee Juwon in the representative’s office, in the hallway, in the cafeteria, and in the conference room all received a shock that made them feel like their world had been turned upside down.
These days, Kim Jiwoon felt like life was worth living. Was it possible for the commute to work to be this fun? If a salary increase and a 4-day work week made life so happy, why didn’t other companies implement them? Didn’t everyone have the right to be happy?
Someone had said that the food they ate at work wouldn’t taste good even if it was 1++ Korean beef, but wasn’t that because they hadn’t tried 1++ Korean beef at work?
Kim Jiwoon contemplated while slicing a steak in the cafeteria, which had been completely redesigned from the interior to the menu. It seemed to be the same for other employees passing by with trays.
“Jiwoonie, your face looks so good these days?”
“Ah, my intervertebral disc has healed.”
“Wow… As expected of Herman Miller, right? I think I’m hearing better these days.”
“Is the CEO not eating? He’s not going to eat a sandwich alone again after having laid out a cafeteria like this, right?”
“Of course not, he’s out.”
Lately, Lee Juwon had been eating his lunch outside. Kim Jiwoon was in charge of making reservations for the hotel restaurants, so it was a fact he knew. It was always for two, so he was secretly curious if he had made a friend, but when he realized he was going with Kang Inheon, he lost his enthusiasm.
Come to think of it, Kang Inheon had also changed a bit. He, who was gentle like a spring breeze, strangely seemed a little down.
Kim Jiwoon thought of Kang Inheon, who had come to the representative’s office today. Still, even though he was looking at a man, he had smiled brightly and greeted him,
‘Hello, Secretary Kim.’
‘Yes, Inhunter-nim. The CEO is waiting for you inside.’
‘Thank you.’
‘…Inhunter-nim.’
Kim Jiwoon called out to Kang Inheon as he was about to turn around. Half rising from his desk, he smiled and whispered,
‘Life is so good these days, isn’t it?’
Those were the words exchanged by everyone in the company these days. However, Kang Inheon just calmly shrugged his shoulders.
‘It must seem that way.’
‘…What?’
‘People don’t change that easily.’
He thought he’d be the one who liked it most if Lee Juwon changed… Kim Jiwoon was thinking about Kang Inheon’s back as he walked into the representative’s office when he suddenly came to his senses.
Riiing, riiing, riiing–.
Kim Jiwoon’s mobile phone rang repeatedly on the desk. A message was posted in a chat room between his university friends.
Cheoljju: jiwoon jiwoon is this true?
Cheoljju: lyon stocks?
Cheoljju:
Company D’s Hunter K finally appears on the FA
In contact with company L, company E, company J
The most aggressive of the bunch is as expected company L
Offered to meet all conditions and pay 7k+@ per week
Said to offer P for every clear
Will pay cancellation fee with Company D
Message that K made up their mind
orcinus comments:
short chapter today (good for me bc the next one is long)
kang inheon’s character… i like him a lot, he’s not a simple person
HAHAHAHA Kang Inheon still had his doubts, nonetheless, them eating together every lunch is so…\0/
Thanks for the chapter ❤️
The ceo : lunch date everyday ~
Hunter-nim : investigation time ~
Haha LJW confused so many people
Does KIH think that Juwoon is dying or smth? 😅
CEO trying hard to impress his love interest and gets rewarded with rumors of him switching companies. 🥲
aww lunch date everyday how nice