Chapter 02

Dayeon reached out and abruptly shut the window.

Her connection with that guy had begun that very day.

And even after more than ten years had passed, there was one scene that would occasionally come back to her mind.

The smell of water lingering around the tip of her nose.

The cold droplets of water falling from the ends of his wet hair.

And his hot lips wrapping around hers.

When she opened her closed eyes, she had seen his long eyelashes trembling ever so slightly.

A first kiss that had been both cold and hot.

“You two… know each other?”

At Kim Team Leader’s question, Jian leaned back against the sofa and answered instead of Dayeon.

“We know each other very well.”

Jian wore an expression as though he found this situation incredibly amusing.

“You owe me a debt. Don’t you remember?”

A debt? I don’t remember owing him anything.

At the word “debt,” Dayeon furrowed her brow and stared at him.

“What debt?”

The moment Jian started speaking informally, Dayeon dropped the formal speech as well, regardless of the technology cooperation contract or anything else.

Jian kept his gaze fixed on Dayeon and pulled up one corner of his mouth with a smirk.

“You took my money and ran off without paying me back.”

At those words, Kim Team Leader stared at Dayeon with his mouth hanging open.

Perhaps thinking that Dayeon had committed some kind of fraud after hearing that she had taken his money and run, he hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

“Ah, I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but… we’re modern people who know how to keep business and personal matters separate, right? Let’s talk about business.”

What? If the conversation ends like this, I’m going to look like some woman who took his money and ran!

But there was no way she could say, Wait a minute. Even if your mouth is crooked, at least speak the truth! What exactly did I take from you? and continue the argument.

She was here for a meeting about a technology cooperation contract, after all.

Kim Team Leader took out the documents with an expression that seemed to say the contract was already doomed.

“Our CEO has offered you an unprecedented contract payment to bring you on board, Mr. Lee Jian.”

He handed over the contract with one billion won written on it.

“The rest of the contract conditions are the same as last time. If there are any other requirements, please let us know. We’ll accommodate you as much as possible.”

Kim Team Leader took the laptop Dayeon had been carrying and opened the proposal file.

“Ah, the next-generation artificial intelligence robot we plan to unveil at WFS in the United States the year after next…”

Kim Team Leader began giving the proposal presentation that Dayeon had originally been supposed to handle.

Now that the situation had turned into she took his money and ran away and so on, he apparently thought Dayeon’s participation in the meeting would do more harm than good.

Jian looked through the printed proposal, then abruptly closed it and leaned back against the sofa.

Now, everything depended on Jian’s decision.

Kim Team Leader seemed to think the deal had already fallen through, because he began slowly closing and packing up the laptop.

After all, Jian had already rejected their cooperation proposal twice.

“Should we sign the contract?”

Kim Team Leader froze while putting the laptop into its case and stared at him.

The man who had flatly refused them until now suddenly wanted to sign the contract?

Kim Team Leader pulled himself forward in his seat with a face that looked as though he had just won the lottery jackpot.

“Oh! Are you serious?”

“And earlier, you said I should tell you if I had any other requirements, right?”

“Of course. Please, tell me.”

“I heard you were going to make me the head of the Development Strategy Office. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s right. Are you asking for a different position?”

Kim Team Leader answered with an expression that seemed ready to make him chairman if that was what Jian wanted.

“No. I need a secretary to assist me with my work.”

“Ah, a secretary. Of course, that’s possible.”

His servile expression practically screamed, We’ll provide you with the best service possible, sir!

“I’d like you to give me personnel authority over the secretary.”

“Personnel authority?”

Jian slowly shifted his gaze toward Dayeon and said,

“I want Assistant Manager Han Dayeon to be my secretary.”

Dayeon’s round eyes grew even rounder.

What did he just say? What did I just hear?

Kim Team Leader’s confused gaze met Dayeon’s.

“But Assistant Manager Han is an employee of Development Team 2.”

“That’s why I’m requesting her as my secretary. She’ll already be familiar with the work.”

Kim Team Leader slapped his knee and said,

“Ah, then rather than a secretary position, you mean something like a senior and junior working arrangement?”

“No. Her official position will be secretary. It’s an all-around position where she’ll handle everything from professional work assistance to managing my personal schedule.”

Kim Team Leader slowly turned his head toward Dayeon.

Dayeon glared fiercely at Jian.

“Ah, if you stamp the contract first, we can discuss that at the company.”

Kim Team Leader, eager to get the contract signed, immediately pushed the contract toward him.

“No. I’ll stamp it once Assistant Manager Han’s personnel transfer is confirmed.”

Kim Team Leader glanced at Dayeon.

Dayeon glared at him with murderous eyes.

Surely you’re not actually planning to make me his secretary, Team Leader?

Her eyes seemed to be firing those exact words at him.

“Assistant Manager Han, could I talk to you for a moment?”

Kim Team Leader intended to persuade Dayeon somehow and get the contract signed.

“I’ll just have a quick word with her.”

Kim Team Leader stood up and gestured for Dayeon to come outside quickly.

Dayeon glared at him before reluctantly getting up and following him.

Once they were outside, Kim Team Leader turned to her with a serious expression.

“Assistant Manager Han.”

Knowing exactly what he was about to say, Dayeon cut him off.

“I’m not doing it! I can’t be a secretary! I didn’t join this company to work as a secretary.”

“I knooow, I knooow!”

“Then go back in there and tell him we’ll hire a professional secretary for him.”

“But you heard him earlier. He said he won’t sign the contract unless it’s you.”

“So you’re trying to sell me off?”

Dayeon snapped at him angrily, and Kim Team Leader raised his palms as if telling her to calm down.

“No, no! Sell you off? Why are you putting it so sadly?”

“I’m the one who’s going to determine whether this contract succeeds or fails!”

“Exactly! The survival of our company depends on your decision. I know this is confusing, but can’t you think about it carefully instead of looking at it so coldly?”

Kim Team Leader pleaded with her, bringing up the company’s very survival.

“So you want me to become that guy’s secretary?”

Kim Team Leader leaned closer and asked, apparently curious about this from the beginning.

“But how do you know Mr. Lee Jian? What’s your relationship?”

“We went to high school together.”

Kim Team Leader’s face immediately brightened, and he nodded enthusiastically.

“Ohhh, you were classmates?”

He had an expression that seemed to ask whether they could use their school connection to get something out of Jian.

“He’s a classmate I’d rather not acknowledge, so don’t make that face.”

“But he seems happy to see you.”

“You don’t understand just by looking at him? He’s telling me to be his secretary. He’s obviously trying to put me under him and act like my boss.”

Just then, Kim Team Leader’s phone rang.

“Ah, it’s the CEO. He must be calling because he’s curious. Yes, CEO! Everything is going well.”

Kim Team Leader began talking to the CEO on the phone.

What do you mean everything is going well?!

Dayeon glared at him.

“He said he wants to sign the contract. But the problem right now is that he wants personnel transfer authority as one of the contract conditions…”

Kim Team Leader explained the whole situation to the CEO, going on about this and that.

Soon, his face lit up, and he hung up.

“Assistant Manager Han. The CEO says he’ll increase your annual salary by twelve million won.”

What? Are you trying to buy me off with that little bit of money?!

She wanted to quit on the spot and throw down her resignation letter.

But…

The temptation of numbers was a powerful thing.

Dayeon rolled her eyes and quickly calculated.

That means I’ll get an extra one million won a month, right? Then I can pay off my loan quickly and save enough for a deposit to move out on my own this year.

Dayeon was currently staying at a friend’s house.

The savings she had accumulated over six years to get a jeonse apartment had all gone toward her older brother’s business funds two years ago.

She couldn’t keep living off her friend forever, and the independence she had originally planned for next year might actually happen this year.

The stiff expression on Dayeon’s face gradually brightened.

“I’ll go back to my original duties as soon as the project is finished.”

Kim Team Leader noticed the slight wavering in Dayeon’s eyes and began persuading her.

“You know how it is. Development work will take four months at most? Five months? Just put up with it for a few months. After that, you’ll still have the increased salary. Hmm?”

“Okay, stamp here, here, and here.”

Kim Team Leader and Jian sat across from each other, stamping the contract.

Of course, the contract also included the provision transferring Dayeon to become his secretary.

She would be responsible for duties as an executive secretary and personal secretary, report directly to Head of the Development Strategy Office Lee Jian, and provide support to improve her superior’s work efficiency.

As Jian stamped the contract, Dayeon glared at him and silently engraved the Chinese character for patience into her heart.

Just a few months. Just a few months. I’ll consider myself dead for a few months and do whatever he tells me to do.

After finishing the contract, Kim Team Leader held out his hand.

“Then I look forward to working with you, Head Lee.”

“I look forward to working with you as well.”

“We’ll get started on the practical preparations right away.”

“According to the information I received, I heard that a major corporation is preparing a similar service. They’ll be making a massive investment, so we can’t afford to delay either. We need to develop the service quickly, ahead of the major corporations.”

Kim Team Leader’s eyes sparkled as though he were moved by Jian’s ambitious declaration.

Jian then held out his hand toward Dayeon.

“We should keep business and personal matters separate, right? Let’s speak formally to each other while we’re working.”

Should she at least be grateful that he wasn’t going to speak informally to her just because he was her superior?

“Yes, Head Lee.”

It annoyed her to attach the honorific sir to his title, but she endured it while thinking about her twelve-million-won salary increase.

“Let’s do a good job together, Secretary Han.”

“I look forward to working with you too.”

Kim Team Leader, who had been watching them with satisfaction, picked up the envelope containing the contract.

“Then when can you start working? Whenever it’s convenient for you. Come to the company sometime, take a look around the office, and have a meal with us.”

“I’ll go to the company tomorrow. I should meet the CEO again and introduce myself properly.”

“Oh, will you? We’ve prepared an office for you, Head Lee, but I’ll tell them to clean it thoroughly today.”

Jian waved his hand.

“There’s no need.”

He then pointed toward the space where a desk, bookshelf, and three computers had been set up.

“As you can see, I’ve already created a complete working environment here at home. Because my work often requires me to work through the night, I plan to work from home most of the time.”

Work from home?

Without anyone noticing, Dayeon clenched her fist under the table.

Nice!

“I’ll mostly work from home and only come into the office once or twice a week for meetings.”

Dayeon wanted to run outside right that moment and shout Hooray! three times.

He mostly works from home!

He only goes to the office once or twice a week!

Then that means I’ll only have to see that guy once or twice a week as his secretary!

Kahahaha!

Dayeon was so happy that the corners of her mouth twitched.

She tightly pressed her lips together, rolling them inward to keep herself from smiling.

“So, Secretary Han Dayeon will come here to work.”

Huh?

Dayeon raised her eyebrows and stared at him with wide, round eyes.

“Since I work from home, Secretary Han should come here and assist me with my work at home too.”