Chapter : 8
Peace is always quiet, like the calm before a storm.
After replenishing my energy at yesterday evening’s Korean beef party, I went to work feeling refreshed.
At 10 a.m., a joint meeting between the Strategic Planning Division and the Marketing Team was scheduled.
The topic was <Launching a New Beauty Brand Targeting the MZ Generation>, a major project that could determine the fate of our company.
“Then, Marketing Team 1, please begin your presentation.”
Executive Director Kang Seo-jun, who was sitting at the head of the table, announced the start of the meeting as he flipped through the documents with a cold expression.
Looking at him, I almost wondered if he was really the same man who had been wearing sunglasses and choosing Korean beef yesterday.
Team Leader Park stood in front of the screen with a confident expression.
“Good morning. I’m Park Cheol-su, the team leader of Marketing Team 1. I’ll be presenting the key concept of this project.”
A flashy PowerPoint presentation appeared on the screen.
The title was <Project: UNIVERSE – Containing My Own Universe>.
‘Huh?’
For a moment, I doubted my own eyes.
That phrase. That concept. And the main copy, ‘My Own Universe.’
That was the proposal I had worked on for two weeks, staying up all night.
“These days, the MZ generation places great importance on having ‘their own world.’ Therefore, we decided to name the brand ‘Universe’ and propose customizable packaging.”
As Team Leader Park smoothly explained the concept, my mind gradually went blank.
It was my idea.
He was even using the exact same data graphs I had researched and analyzed for the market research, without changing a single word.
What… was he doing?
My hands trembled.
I remembered what Team Leader Park had said last Friday.
“Assistant Manager Lee, organize the ideas for this project and send them to me by email. I’ll review them over the weekend.”
I had sent them because he said he would review them, and now he had taken the entire thing and was presenting it under his own name.
“This concept is quite groundbreaking.”
Executive Director Kang nodded and picked up his pen.
“The target analysis is accurate, and the budget planning is reasonable. Team Leader Park, you’ve certainly put a lot of preparation into this.”
“Thank you, Executive Director! I put our heads together with the team members and worked on it all night. Haha.”
Team Leader Park shamelessly bowed his head.
Team members? No. I was the one who came up with it all by myself. You spent the entire weekend playing golf.
Hot resentment surged inside me.
If I just sat there and did nothing, all my achievements would disappear into thin air.
A year from now, when my contract ended, I would be alone again. What would protect me then wasn’t the 300 million won I was being paid, but a single line of ‘career experience’ under my own name.
And that man was trying to steal my future.
I couldn’t hold myself back any longer and raised my hand.
“Executive Director.”
Everyone sitting in the conference room turned their attention toward me at once. Team Leader Park’s expression instantly hardened.
“Yes, Assistant Manager Lee Da-eun. Do you have something to say?”
Executive Director Kang asked indifferently.
“The proposal that Team Leader Park just presented….”
My mouth was bone-dry.
If I said, ‘That’s my idea,’ here, it would be like committing an act of insubordination by stabbing my team leader in the back.
But I hated the thought of having it stolen from me even more.
“…May I add some clarification regarding the sources of the data? They’re materials I researched myself.”
I spoke as politely as possible, but there was a sharp edge to my words.
I deliberately emphasized that I had conducted the research.
Team Leader Park frowned and hurriedly grabbed the microphone.
“Ah, Assistant Manager Lee helped with the data research. You worked hard. We can go over the details separately later. Let’s not interrupt the flow right now.”
He cut me off and smoothly brushed it aside like a sly snake.
He made it sound as though I had merely run a few trivial errands for him.
“……”
If I said anything more, I would only become an oblivious subordinate who was ruining the atmosphere of the meeting.
With no other choice, I tightly shut my mouth and glared at Team Leader Park.
Before I knew it, the meeting had ended.
Executive Director Kang gave Team Leader Park his approval to proceed according to the proposal, and Team Leader Park, now the victor, left the conference room humming contentedly.
I returned to my desk, trembling with betrayal.
“Assistant Manager Lee, come see me on the rooftop for a moment.”
Team Leader Park tapped my desk a few times as he passed by.
So it had come.
On the deserted rooftop garden, in the secluded smoking area, Team Leader Park put a cigarette between his lips and looked at me crookedly.
“What was that about earlier?”
“Pardon?”
“Raising your hand and showing off during the meeting. Are you crazy? Do you think I’m a joke?”
Smoke covered my face.
Forcing myself to endure the acrid smell, I gritted my teeth and spoke.
“Team Leader. That proposal is something I spent two weeks preparing. How could you present it as your own proposal without even saying anything to me?”
“Your own proposal? Hey, Lee Da-eun.”
He snorted and stepped closer.
“What you wrote was just a draft. A draft. I’m the one who polished it and packaged it so that the executive director would approve it. That’s my ability. You just threw me the ingredients.”
“You used everything exactly as I wrote it, from the data analysis to the copy!”
“So? Are you whining just because your name was left out?”
As if he found me ridiculous, Team Leader Park poked my shoulder with his index finger.
I felt disgusted.
“Hey, have you only been working in society for a day or two? That’s how things work. When the people below work hard and bring something up, the people above get to bask in the glory. If I succeed, do you really think you won’t get anything out of it?”
“This isn’t riding on someone else’s coattails. It’s theft.”
“Watch what you say.”
His eyes turned vicious.
“How dare an assistant manager accuse a team leader of theft? Have you forgotten who writes your performance evaluation?”
“……”
It was a threat.
When performance evaluations came around, one flick of his pen could ruin an entire year of my work.
“I heard you’re having a hard time because of your loan payments. If you get the lowest performance rating this time and end up with zero performance bonus, do you think you can handle that?”
I didn’t know how he had found out, but he had pinpointed my weakness exactly.
What a despicable man.
My basic salary alone barely covered my loan interest and living expenses.
He knew that the success incentive from this project was my lifeline, which was why he was doing this.
“Keep quiet. If this project succeeds, I’ll mention during the company dinner that you contributed, too. So don’t create trouble for yourself for no reason.”
He crushed his cigarette butt into the floor, patted my shoulder a couple of times, and turned away.
“Let’s do a good job, okay? Learn to read the room.”
The rooftop door closed, and silence descended.
I grabbed onto my trembling legs and sank onto a bench.
I felt so wronged that it was as if my blood were boiling backward.
But all I could do right now was bite my lips until they nearly split.
After work, I was the wife of a chaebol family for 300 million won.
At the company, I was a disposable ‘weak party’ whose life was in the hands of a team leader with control over my performance evaluation.
That was my miserable reality.
At night, I had sold my soul to earn 300 million won.
And during the day, I was expected to surrender even the results of my blood, sweat, and tears.
“…There’s no bigger pushover than me.”
My private time and my professional time.
Why did my life feel like it was being taken away from me every hour of every day?
Today, more than ever, I felt utterly miserable about my situation.
When lunchtime arrived, the office became noisy as the employees paired off and headed out for lunch, but I remained sitting at my desk.
I was in absolutely no mood to eat, so I headed to the restroom as if I were escaping.
I entered the stall at the very end—the only refuge where I could keep anyone from seeing my emotions—clicked the lock shut, and only then did the breath I had been holding finally escape.
“Hng….”
The moment I sank onto the toilet lid, hot tears began to fall.
In front of Kang Seo-jun, I had confidently declared, “I’ll make sure you get your money’s worth.”
Yet here at the company, I was so pathetic that I couldn’t even make a peep while being bullied by my team leader.
Idiot. Pushover. Stupid fool.
That was when it happened.
The click-clack of high heels echoed from outside the restroom.
“Hey, did you see Team Leader Park’s presentation earlier?”
“I did. But wasn’t that something Assistant Manager Lee had been working on?”
“Yeah. She was working on it all week, staying late every night. Team Leader Park just snatched it up.”
It was female employees from another department talking.
Everyone knew.
They knew and were still keeping silent.
That fact was even harder to bear.
As soon as their footsteps faded into the distance, I weakly stepped out of the stall.
My face reflected in the mirror was a complete mess.
How am I supposed to work this afternoon looking like this?
I vigorously washed my face with cold water, then forced a smile while looking at myself in the mirror.
The corners of my mouth trembled.
“Pull yourself together. This isn’t the time to cry.”
I wiped my wet face and trudged down the hallway.
Then I saw a familiar shadow near the emergency exit.
It was Secretary Kim.
He was having a discreet phone conversation with someone.
“Yes, Executive Director. I’ve confirmed it.”
Executive Director?
I instinctively stopped walking and hid behind the wall.
“Yes. I compared Team Leader Park Cheol-su’s PC logs with Assistant Manager Lee’s cloud records. Based on the file creation dates, Assistant Manager Lee was two weeks ahead. It’s definitely Team Leader Park’s plagiarism.”
My heart sank.
Executive Director Kang Seo-jun… had ordered an investigation?
He knew I had been wronged?
The call must have ended, because Secretary Kim disappeared from view in another direction.
I was confused.
Why?
Why was he helping me? We were nothing more than contractual partners.
I couldn’t understand what was going on inside that man’s head.
As I stood there blankly thinking, my phone rang.
It was Team Leader Park.
[Team Leader Park: Hey, where are you? We need to make some supplementary materials this afternoon, so get your ass back here. Be prepared to work late tonight.]
The tiresome reality.
Whether Kang Seo-jun knew about my injustice or not, the person holding my leash right now was that man.
“Haa….”
A deep sigh escaped me, as if the earth itself were collapsing.
I wanted to run away, but then I remembered the loan interest and credit card bills that went out every month, holding me firmly in place.
Without saying a word, I shoved my phone into my pocket and walked back into that hellish office.
