Chapter : 09
“This is the new team leader of Planning Team 2.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Sojin.”
The team members exchanged glances, sneaking looks at one another. They seemed unable to believe that Sojin was their team leader.
Sojin continued speaking with a bright, confident smile.
“I don’t like stiff atmospheres. Let’s work freely and flexibly.”
The team members awkwardly smiled and greeted her, saying they were glad to meet her.
“Then, I hope you’ll get to know each other gradually…”
Jihwan smoothly cut in.
“First, I’ll show you your seat, Team Leader.”
When he turned his gaze, the team members’ heads moved along with it at the same time.
All their eyes turned toward one place.
It was by the window, positioned so that she could look down over the entire team.
Two monitors, a neat drawer unit, and a clean desk.
‘It’s pretty similar to the place I used to sit.’
For some reason, she felt strangely unsettled. Sojin walked toward the desk.
She was supposed to look like an ‘immature team leader’ in the eyes of the team members, yet her heart felt strangely heavy.
Jihwan lightly pulled out the chair for her and said,
“You can sit here. You can use the registered account.”
“Okay.”
Sojin sat down while maintaining her smile.
The leather chair sank softly beneath her, supporting her body. The familiar sensation made her fingertips tingle for a moment.
Jihwan turned on the monitor and placed an employee ID card on top of the keyboard.
“You’ll use this employee ID card to enter the company.”
Jihwan added in his matter-of-fact tone,
“And I should let you know in advance that any approvals from the team leader must go through the division head first.”
‘So they’ve restricted my approval authority…’
To say something like that so openly.
It was basically saying that although she was the team leader, they had no intention of treating her like one.
Sojin clicked her tongue inwardly.
‘Dohyun must have ordered this. The chairman put me in this position, so they can’t do anything about it, but they can’t exactly fire me either.’
Jihwan bowed his head slightly toward Sojin and said,
“I’ll bring the handover materials shortly. You can take your time looking through the work processes.”
“Okay.”
Jihwan returned to his original seat.
Just as Sojin was about to stand up and greet each of the team members individually, a woman came walking from far away.
Sojin turned her head and looked at the woman. Her eyes gradually widened.
‘The female lead?’
If a peach were turned into a person, would it look like that?
Sojin couldn’t close her mouth. Yuna was simply too pure and beautiful.
Yuna had a strange charm that naturally drew people’s attention even when she was doing nothing.
She noticed Sojin and approached her with a bright smile.
A sweet fragrance brushed against the tip of Sojin’s nose. Yuna casually spoke to her.
“You’re the new team leader who joined Planning Team 2, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m the team leader of Planning Team 1. Let’s work well together.”
Sojin clasped Yuna’s hand. Her soft, warm hand wrapped around Sojin’s.
Sojin said,
“Thank you. I look forward to working with you too.”
Yuna also wished her well and then left.
Sojin stared blankly at her own hand.
Unlike when she looked at the male lead, there was a strange, warm, fluttering feeling when she looked at the female lead.
Perhaps it was because she had rooted for her so much while watching the drama.
‘It feels like someone from inside a painting suddenly stepped out right in front of me.’
Sojin clenched the hand that still retained Yuna’s warmth.
The next day, Sojin gathered with the team members for a meeting.
She showed off another bold fashion choice today, but the team members seemed to have already grown accustomed to it.
Sojin greeted them brightly.
“I introduced myself yesterday, but let me introduce myself again. I’m Lee Sojin, the team leader of Planning Team 2. Then, could each of you introduce yourselves?”
A woman with short hair and cold-looking eyes raised her hand first.
“I’m Kim Eun-ha. Please call me Assistant Manager Kim.”
Next, a man with short, sporty hair raised his hand. He spoke in a boyish voice.
“I’m Kwon Min-jun. I haven’t been working at this company for very long. Please call me Associate Kwon.”
Finally, a woman in her forties with brown wavy hair raised her hand. She spoke in a gentle voice.
“I’m Song Hyun-joo. I’ve been working here the longest. Please call me Manager Song.”
Sojin nodded. Then, in a cheerful voice, she said,
“It’s nice to know everyone’s names. Then, let’s end today’s meeting here.”
“Huh?”
Min-jun asked in surprise. Hyun-joo’s expression stiffened slightly. She cautiously asked,
“Did the division head give you any separate assignments?”
Sojin hummed and pretended to think, tapping her chin with her long fingernails.
She hadn’t been given any work in the first place, and she had no intention of actually acting like a team leader either.
“No, there aren’t any. If you’re working on something right now, just keep doing that.”
“W-What does that mean?”
Before the team members could say anything else, Sojin once again announced the end of the meeting.
“Then the meeting is over! Everyone can go back to work.”
Sojin stood up and opened the meeting room door. Then she turned around as if she had just remembered something.
“Ah! Right.”
Expectations appeared on the team members’ faces. They expected her to have something to say after all.
But Sojin destroyed those expectations with a smile.
She spread out her glamorous fingernails and showed them to the team. The nails, decorated with large rhinestones, sparkled brightly.
“I recently got my nails done. I also had extensions, so it’s difficult for me to type.”
“……”
“So if you have something to say, call me or come directly to me and ask. Talking is faster anyway, right? That’s all!”
And with that, Sojin disappeared like the wind.
The team members stared blankly at the spot where Sojin had disappeared, their faces filled with disbelief.
As soon as the meeting room door closed, the atmosphere sank in an instant.
For a while, none of the people left behind could say anything.
Min-jun was the first to speak. He glanced once at the meeting room door before opening his mouth.
“Is this… really okay?”
Eun-ha gave a thin smile. It was too dry to really be called a smile; it was simply an expression where the corners of her mouth had lifted.
“The team leader said the meeting was over and left.”
Hyun-joo silently closed her laptop. She looked calm, but a cold aura was radiating from her.
“Shouldn’t we tell the division head? The team leader is being completely unreasonable…”
When Min-jun asked timidly, Hyun-joo spoke in a low voice.
“It won’t do any good even if we tell him.”
“Why?”
Hyun-joo paused for a moment before adding,
“Can’t you tell just by looking? Someone put her in the team leader position in exchange for something.”
At those words, Eun-ha’s eyes trembled slightly.
What Hyun-joo meant was that Sojin was a parachute hire.
Eun-ha vaguely knew it too. Someone like her taking a position called ‘team leader’ could never have happened by coincidence.
Min-jun couldn’t hide his uneasiness as he said,
“Still… if she’s a parachute hire, would she really make it that obvious? She’ll probably work properly starting tomorrow.”
She was so obviously a parachute hire that, paradoxically, it almost made her seem like she wasn’t one.
Where in the world was there someone who openly advertised the fact that they were a parachute hire like that?
Hyun-joo couldn’t say anything in response to Min-jun’s words.
From that day, the seed of anxiety had been planted in the team members’ hearts.
They tried to convince themselves that it was only like this today.
But starting the next day, Sojin’s bizarre behavior easily crossed that line.
No, it went far beyond anything they could have imagined.
The next morning, the team members turned on their computers at their respective desks as usual and began working.
9:05 a.m.
9:20 a.m.
Min-jun cautiously asked,
“Team Leader… she is coming in, right?”
Eun-ha abruptly stopped typing on her keyboard. She checked the clock.
“She’s already late.”
Just as the team members continued sneaking glances toward the team leader’s desk—
9:35 a.m.
Only then did Sojin appear.
Today as well, Sojin walked down the hallway as though she were walking down a runway, dressed as extravagantly as an actress.
She casually waved her hand as if nothing had happened.
“Good morning~”
Hyun-joo asked Sojin in a chilly voice,
“Team Leader, did something happen? You’re a little late.”
“Ah.”
Sojin casually waved her hand.
“I overslept.”
