Anything
Gong Juhee slowly closed her eyes and opened them again. But the chaotic scene unfolding beyond her glasses was not a nightmare—it was reality.
The stifling heat in the air, the nauseating fishy stench, Han Taemin with his pants down, and Joo Haena with her skirt hiked up to her waist.
“Oh my, you’re here?”
Haena, who had her legs wrapped even tighter around Taemin’s waist, turned her head and smiled sweetly. Fortunately, Haena’s body hid the most explicit parts from view. Thinking that was a relief, Juhee calmly checked the watch on her wrist.
“I can’t wait more than five minutes. Shall I leave, or will you finish within five minutes?”
“Wait.”
Only then did Taemin come to his senses and push Haena away. With hurried hands, he pulled up his pants and straightened his clothes. The face that had remained unshaken even when shown the photo of him and Haena was now colored with embarrassment.
But Juhee simply turned around with an indifferent expression and left the executive office.
How long had she been standing in the hallway with her back straight and posture flawless? The door to the office opened, and Joo Haena approached, wiggling her hips.
“How can someone be so clueless? Can’t you tell what we were doing just by looking? If people are making love, you should have quietly left without interrupting.”
Her expression was beyond shameless—it was drunk with victory. It was almost impressive.
“I may be clueless, but you have no brain.”
“You—!”
Haena, who had stepped forward as if to slap her, huffed and retreated. She must have remembered they were standing right outside Taemin’s office.
“Ugh, whatever. I heard you got transferred. You’ll probably see this kind of thing often from now on, so why don’t you just quit? If you have nowhere to go, I can ask my dad to find you something?”
With an arrogant look, Haena slightly lifted her blouse and grumbled loud enough for Juhee to hear.
“Seriously, that oppa. No matter how much he likes it, he left another mark.”
She seemed to be expecting a reaction from Juhee, but it was pointless. Juhee had suppressed her emotions at the café, but now she felt nothing at all.
“I have something to report to Chairman Yang.”
“What could someone like you possibly report to Jeha oppa’s grandfather?”
“It seems your information is outdated. I now belong to Seohwa Holdings. The transfer was at the Chairman’s direct order.”
“……?”
“That’s why I’m reporting it. That Joo Haena has been causing a scene here, and that Executive Director Han forgot his duties and engaged in indecent behavior in his office.”
“What—what are you saying! Chairman Yang adores me! And I’m Taemin oppa’s fiancée!”
Juhee took one step closer to the reddening and paling Haena and spoke in a gentle voice.
“Last time I taught you how to make donations. Today, shall I teach you how to separate personal and professional matters?”
To Haena, who was trembling all over, Juhee calmly reached out and fastened the middle button of her unbuttoned blouse.
“Your attire should always be neat. If your lipstick is smudged and your buttons are undone, what will people think of you? Even your future husband, Executive Director Han.”
“……!”
“You’re old enough to start thinking and managing your image. This is advice from a friend.”
With a slight smile, Juhee breezed past Haena, who was practically snorting with rage.
When she entered the office, the sight of Taemin standing there awkwardly was almost comical. His neatly pomaded hair had fallen onto his forehead, his tie was missing, and his suit was wrinkled everywhere.
“Juhee.”
As Taemin closed the distance, Juhee instinctively stepped back. The strange smell she had never encountered before made her want to retch.
“Don’t come near me.”
Only then did Taemin flinch and take a step back. The two stood facing each other for a while. It was Taemin who broke the uncomfortable, awkward silence.
“That’s just how life is, Juhee. You can’t see what’s right in front of you.”
“……”
“I can’t guarantee what will happen before I get married either. One wrong move and I could end up like a dog chasing chickens.”
What on earth was he trying to say? He was beating around the bush in a way that was unlike him.
“It was a blind date I went on because Jeha refused. That’s what happened.”
With a face that couldn’t control its emotions, Taemin continued.
“Jeha suddenly says he wants to marry Haena again. That she suddenly looks like a woman to him. How could I possibly refuse Haena? I have to give her what she wants first and keep her from going to Jeha.”
The deep-seated inferiority complex toward Yoon Jeha that Taemin had kept hidden in his chest flooded his face. Even though Yoon Jeha didn’t spare him a single thought.
“You know it too. If Jeha sets his mind to it, stealing Haena would be as easy as eating cold porridge.”
Taemin’s words went in one ear and out the other. The only thing that rang clearly was the part about Jeha wanting to marry Haena.
“On the day of the blind date, I couldn’t bring myself to sleep with Haena while sober, so I did it while drunk. Today too, I thought I couldn’t do it, so I barely managed by thinking of you.”
“……”
“So what I’m saying is… haa, I couldn’t help it. I’m truly sorry you had to see something like that.”
Finally, the word “sorry” came from Taemin’s mouth, but it was already too late. Neither the apology nor the way he was watching her reaction could shake Juhee’s heart anymore. With eyes like a frozen lake in the middle of winter, Juhee looked at Taemin.
“I have no interest in who you do what with, Executive Director.”
Taemin looked surprised for a moment, then frustrated again.
“Gong Juhee, do you really not understand? Who do you think I’m enduring all this filthy work for—”
“I never asked you to endure it, nor did I ask you to do anything filthy.”
“……”
“Doing things someone doesn’t want is just a nuisance.”
“I finally calmed down and came to see you, and now I’ve made you angry again.”
They say misconceptions are free, and Taemin was clearly misunderstanding. He thought Juhee had become Jeha’s secretary because she understood his deep intentions. And that seeing this scene had made her angry again.
No longer feeling the need to continue the conversation, Juhee took out her resignation letter from her bag and held it out.
“This is why I came today.”
“You’re quitting the company?”
“As of yesterday, I no longer belong to Seohwa Motors but to Seohwa Holdings. I’ll work as a dispatched employee for a few months before signing a formal employment contract.”
Taemin spoke with a tired expression.
“…There’s no need for a resignation letter. Put it away.”
“It was you, Executive Director, who told the HR team that the previous submission was invalid and that I had to come in person to submit it.”
“Who said something like that?”
“Secretary Han…”
A thought flashed through her mind and Juhee stopped speaking.
She had thought the timing was too perfect. So this had all been Joo Haena’s scheme.
It made sense—she was desperate to turn Juhee’s stomach inside out.
It seemed Taemin had reached the same conclusion.
“Damn it. I’ll warn Haena.”
“Don’t bother. I am no longer someone worth your attention, Executive Director.”
Faced with Juhee’s flawless, unyielding attitude, Taemin looked bewildered.
“Juhee, I know you’re very angry. But…”
Juhee cut him off.
“I hope everything you do goes well.”
Juhee genuinely hoped Taemin would succeed. It would be a lie to say she didn’t resent him, but thanks to him, she had broken free from a terrible chain. If Han Taemin hadn’t betrayed her, she would have been used by him and his mother until the day she died.
And… there was no meaning in taking revenge on a man who had already fallen so low.
She hoped that a successful Han Taemin would regret betraying her for the rest of his life.
“I mean it.”
To Taemin, who stood there as if his soul had left his body, Juhee gave a faint smile and bowed politely. It was the final courtesy and farewell to the boss she had served all this time.
Left alone, Taemin violently swept everything off his desk. Even that didn’t relieve his anger, and he continued to huff and puff.
Juhee had finally calmed down, become Jeha’s secretary, and come to see him. Yet he had shown her exactly that sight and made her even angrier. What frustrated him most was that he had no idea how to calm her down.
After all, Juhee had never once gotten angry at him before.
“Yoon Jeha, that son of a bitch.”
If that bastard hadn’t tried to steal Haena, he wouldn’t have fallen for such a shallow trick.
Taemin decided this was all Jeha’s fault.
The moment she left Seohwa Motors, Juhee let out a bitter laugh. Both Joo Haena with her childish schemes and Taemin who had fallen for them—this entire situation was absurd.
But that lasted only a moment. The scene of Taemin and Haena’s affair was cleanly erased from Juhee’s mind. What rose in its place were Taemin’s words.
Yoon Jeha, who said Haena looked like a woman to him. Yoon Jeha, who said he wanted to marry Haena.
“His standards for women are incredibly low.”
She muttered to herself with a frown, then flinched. It almost sounded like jealousy.
She had never felt this way even when she first learned about Taemin and Haena’s relationship.
Staring at the cars on the road, Juhee let out a soft sigh. Her expression was complicated.
She had prepared a backup plan just in case. She would do her best, but if Jeha continued to hate her until the end, she had planned to leave the company without regret. But after seeing those two brazenly engaging in their affair even in the office, she no longer wanted to. Especially if Joo Haena wanted her to leave Seohwa.
Once her thoughts reached that point, the conclusion was clear.
She had to become the secretary to the head of Seohwa—a position that even an executive director wouldn’t dare ignore, and one that even the cherished granddaughter of Pine Technology couldn’t touch.
No matter how much Chairman Yang favored his grandson, he wouldn’t be able to ignore his wishes forever. After some time, it was obvious that the authority over Juhee’s personnel decisions would pass from Chairman Yang to Jeha.
It meant that from now on, she would have to win Yoon Jeha’s heart by any means necessary.
Having made her decision, Juhee first called Secretary Han.
“This is Gong Juhee. Please consider the contract I made with the Chairman as null and void. I want to become the CEO’s secretary through my own power.”
Secretary Han would have understood exactly what she meant. It was a declaration that she would no longer report Jeha’s every move to Chairman Yang. Surprisingly, Secretary Han didn’t say much. He only asked if she was confident she wouldn’t regret it. When she said yes, he replied that he understood and hung up.
With a determined expression, Juhee hailed a taxi.
Even though she knew the passcode, Juhee deliberately pressed the doorbell.
Maybe he wasn’t home. She pressed it again, and when there was still no response, she turned to leave. At that moment, the door opened from inside and Jeha appeared.
Wearing a white t-shirt and training pants, he looked comfortable yet somehow youthful. His hair was still wet as if he had just finished showering, and his eyes were as dark as the night. Perhaps because of that, his pale, almost white skin stood out, making him look like a beautiful vampire.
While Juhee stared at him as if entranced, Jeha leaned lazily against the doorframe.
“I believe not even a full day has passed yet.”
His low, growling voice brought her scattered mind back. Juhee barely managed to open her mouth.
“First disqualification: I have no relationship whatsoever with Executive Director Han Taemin.”
At the sudden topic, Jeha frowned but said nothing.
“Second disqualification: The CEO and I do not see each other as members of the opposite sex. Therefore, the CEO is not a man to me, and I am not a woman to him.”
Every time Jeha had called her Taemin’s woman, Juhee had neither confirmed nor denied it. Sometimes he tossed it out like a joke, other times he asked with eyes whose intentions she couldn’t read, which had made her wary.
“Third disqualification: On my way here, I called Secretary Han and told him to cancel the contract with Chairman Yang.”
Juhee played the recording she had made of her call with Secretary Han. Only then did Jeha raise an eyebrow with an expression that said, Well, look at that.
“I am currently unemployed. Therefore, I ask that you, CEO, hire me as your secretary.”
The expression vanished from Jeha’s face. His pitch-black eyes, impossible to read, were like hooks. As if trying to scrape out her thoughts.
“Give me just three months to prove my abilities. I will do anything you ask of me. If you still don’t like me after that, you can fire me.”
“You’ll do anything I ask?”
“Yes.”
Though his movements were casual, reading Yoon Jeha’s far-from-casual expression was difficult. Juhee’s spine stiffened with tension.
“Even if I say I want to lay you down on my bed?”
“Yes.”
Right now, Juhee was like a cornered mouse. She had no pride left to protect, nor any reason to keep her body pure. It wouldn’t matter if she used this body that would rot after death a few times.
Above all, there was no way Yoon Jeha would feel any desire for her.
This was clearly a test from Yoon Jeha. That was why Juhee’s answer held no hesitation.
“Even if I say I want to kiss you right now?”
Jeha’s eyes, completely devoid of playfulness, had sunk into a murky darkness.