Chapter : 08
The HR representative looked Sojin up and down from head to toe.
Then, with an awkward smile, she approached Sojin.
“Ah, uh… Are you Team Leader Lee Sojin, the one who texted earlier?”
“Yes, that’s me. I’m a little late, aren’t I? There was traffic.”
“Haha… Yes. I’ll show you around.”
The HR representative guided Sojin while barely managing to hide the expression that was about to twist into a grimace.
The two of them got into the elevator. The HR representative pressed the button for the sixth floor.
“Your office will be on the sixth floor. Your employee ID card and the handover documents should be at your assigned desk.”
“Okay.”
“For now, I’ll take you to Director Kang Dohyun, who is your direct superior.”
Sojin’s shoulders trembled slightly.
Damn, the male lead is kind of scary.
Sojin subtly lowered her eyes and looked at her outfit.
If Dohyun saw her dressed like this…
She didn’t even want to imagine it.
Whatever happened, this was something she had to go through at least once. Sojin decided she had to act even more shamelessly.
“That’s as far as I’ll be guiding you. Director Kang Dohyun will take care of the rest.”
As soon as the HR representative finished speaking, the elevator doors opened.
She immediately stepped out of the elevator, as if she were avoiding something troublesome.
Sojin and the HR representative headed straight toward the door of the director’s office.
A secretary was standing in front of the director’s office.
Jihwan’s eyes wavered when he spotted Sojin. However, they soon returned to an expressionless state.
“You must be the new Team Leader of Planning Team 2.”
Because he had often seen Dohyun’s fiancée, he recognized her immediately despite her glamorous appearance.
“The director is inside. You can knock and go in after informing him.”
At Jihwan’s words, the HR representative knocked on the door.
“Director, the new Team Leader of Planning Team 2 has arrived. May she come in?”
A moment later, a low, cold voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
The HR representative gestured for her to enter.
“You can go in. Then I’ll be leaving now.”
The HR representative quickly left the area.
Sojin watched the back of the HR representative as she hurried away.
“Is it really that shocking?”
Sojin turned her head toward the door. She swallowed hard.
After taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on the doorknob.
When she opened the door, she immediately saw Dohyun working.
A neat black suit that fit his body perfectly, long, straight fingers, and lips pressed together coldly.
Everything about him looked like a painting.
Dohyun’s deep, dark eyes turned toward Sojin.
He looked over Sojin’s outfit without the slightest change in expression.
Sojin felt so embarrassed that it was as if she were standing there naked.
She clenched her fists tightly.
‘Lee Sojin, get a grip. You decided to be shameless.’
Sojin straightened her shoulders and walked inside with a faint smile.
“It’s been a while.”
Dohyun casually ignored Sojin’s greeting and threw a document toward her.
The document hit the desk and fell to the floor. The papers scattered in all directions.
“These are the handover documents. Take them yourself.”
Sojin froze as she looked at the scattered papers.
He really is this openly hostile.
‘What a nasty personality.’
She felt terrible, but instead, she smiled seductively enough for her dimples to deepen.
After all, this was all an act, and this world was a lie.
Which meant that the Dohyun standing in front of her was nothing more than a character in a drama.
There was no reason for her to take it personally.
“You could have handed them to me nicely. You’re making things unnecessarily troublesome.”
I’m the villainess—the one who absolutely has to get fired from this company.
She repeated those words to herself several times.
Sojin crossed her arms, pretending to be confident.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t bow my head to anyone. Was it Secretary Ahn outside? I’ll ask him separately.”
“Do that.”
“Who’s going to show me where my desk is?”
“Secretary Ahn will tell you if you ask him.”
After their brief exchange, silence filled the director’s office.
Dohyun neither moved nor spoke. He simply focused on his work.
It was as if he treated Sojin as something less significant than even the air around him.
Unable to stand it any longer, Sojin spoke.
“…Aren’t you going to introduce me to the team members?”
At Sojin’s words, Dohyun’s fingers stopped.
He let out a quiet scoff, as if asking whether she dared to think she was in a position to request such a thing.
Dohyun slowly lifted his gaze from the computer. Then he looked at her coldly and spoke.
“Introduce you?”
The single word, spoken in a low voice, flew toward her like a blade.
“Do you really think you’re in a position to ask for an introduction?”
Sojin looked straight into his eyes without avoiding his gaze.
“Yes, I do.”
“Leave. I have nothing to say to you.”
“Why? I was recommended for this position, after all. You should at least do what you’re supposed to do.”
Dohyun’s eyes instantly turned colder.
Sojin hid her trembling hands behind her back.
His murderous presence made her feel as though her entire body might start trembling, but she somehow managed to endure it.
Dohyun looked her up and down before speaking.
“I will provide you with nothing—not work, nor anything else. So quietly leave. And stay out of my sight.”
“If that’s how you’re going to treat me, why don’t you just fire me? Instead of threatening me like this.”
Please, just fire me.
I want to stop acting here too!
Sojin suppressed the urge to shout and stared at Dohyun with eyes full of expectation.
Dohyun asked incredulously,
“Hah. You really are shameless. After pulling strings behind my back.”
Sojin’s eyebrows rose ever so slightly.
“What did you say?”
“I finally understand what kind of despicable person you are.”
“No, explain properly what you mean!”
“Both the marriage and getting a job. It’s incredibly easy when all you have to do is flatter my father, isn’t it?”
Sojin’s face stiffened.
“Are you saying… that I asked the chairman for something?”
Instead of answering, Dohyun lowered his head again and returned to his work.
His attitude made it clear that he didn’t think she was worth talking to anymore.
“If you want to quit, submit your resignation yourself. Then leave.”
“Hah!”
Sojin spun around and walked outside.
Leaning against the door, she tightly bit her lip.
‘Just as I thought?’
Dohyun couldn’t fire Sojin.
Then…
Chairman Kang.
Sera’s words flashed through Sojin’s mind.
“You can’t do this to me. Besides my father, I have a powerful backer behind me…!”
It seemed that Chairman Kang really did like this engagement very much.
Sojin had thought that this, too, was just another one of Sera’s exaggerations.
‘But Sera never actually flattered the chairman or anything like that in the drama.’
Maybe Chairman Kang simply liked this marriage and had forced it through.
Just then, Jihwan approached Sojin.
“Are you all right? Your face…”
“Ah…”
Sojin touched her face.
Did my expression look that serious?
She pulled the corners of her lips upward.
“I’m fine. By any chance, could you give me the handover documents? I couldn’t get them from the director.”
“I’ll put them on your desk. And I’ll introduce you to the team members as well.”
“Thank you.”
Just as Sojin was about to walk away, Jihwan added,
“And there will be a meeting at three tomorrow afternoon.”
“A meeting already?”
“Yes. You need to familiarize yourself with the work.”
Three tomorrow afternoon.
Her first meeting.
Sojin raised the corners of her lips.
A formal gathering with the members of Planning Team 2.
‘What a perfect opportunity to make them hate me properly.’
Sojin added another item to the list she had stored in her head: ‘Ways to Get Fired.’
Act unlike a team leader.
No, more precisely…
‘I need to become someone the company can no longer ignore. Someone whose behavior will reach the chairman’s ears.’
Something bizarre and ingenious.
Her heart was beating quickly, but strangely, her mind felt even calmer.
‘I need to behave so ridiculously that the team members won’t even want to put up with me as their team leader.’
Even as she followed Jihwan, Sojin was already planning her next move.
How she would ruin things.
How she would become infamous as a complete troublemaker.
At the end of the hallway, Sojin slowly turned her head and looked once at the door of the director’s office she had just left.
Her life depended on this.
‘I will definitely escape this hell.’
