This Is Your Home Now

Half-asleep, Ye-seo shook her head and mumbled into the dark.

"Why… do you have to show up even in my dreams…."

Even in a dream he feels like a ghost. Standing there in the pitch black, staring straight through a person. What a strange man.

"Worst nightmare ever…."

She had been so unsettled she hadn't fallen asleep until dawn, only to be plunged into a nightmare this ugly.

The man looking down at her—Do Kang-hyun—drew closer and sat on the edge of the bed. Then he laid his large hand across her forehead.

Even when she flinched, he did not pull away. He stroked her brow and hair with deliberate care, then spoke to her in a low voice.

"This is your home now."

Ye-seo stared up at him with dazed eyes. It was too dark to see clearly, but she could tell he was smiling.

His long thumb gently smoothed a strand of her hair. He bent lower still and whispered against her ear.

"So sleep easy."

Ahh… what a disgusting dream. I want to wake up from this nightmare right now.

Yet as if his words were a spell, her eyes slid shut of their own accord.

"Secretary Jin, get ready and come downstairs."

An Yeo-sa's voice filtered faintly into her consciousness. Secretary Jin. The awkward title snapped her fully awake.

The moment she opened her eyes she saw a landscape that had changed overnight. A life completely overturned still refused to feel real.

"Breakfast will be ready in a moment. Come down and eat."

Ye-seo blinked her stiff eyes and turned her head. When had she fallen asleep? She must have failed to come down, so An Yeo-sa had come up to wake her herself.

"…What time is it?"

"Almost seven."

Time to prepare for work already.

"I, um, don't really feel like breakfast…."

"Ah…. The Executive Director specifically told me to bring you down…."

Because of that Executive Director I feel even less like eating.

But the housekeeper's troubled face made refusal impossible. Ye-seo climbed out of bed; she couldn't make an innocent person suffer.

"I'll be right down."

Only then did An Yeo-sa nod and leave. Ye-seo headed straight for the bathroom. As if a strange house weren't enough, it was time to experience a strange workplace as well.

Just like the night before, the meal was a stretch of silence and relentless staring.

When the ordeal of not knowing whether food was entering her mouth or her nose finally ended, Ye-seo went upstairs and brushed her teeth.

After that she had to drag herself to the dressing room. The man had ordered her to finish getting ready and come downstairs by seven-thirty.

With heavy eyes she peered inside. Suddenly a secretary…. She had never once considered what a secretary should wear, so the prospect felt overwhelming. Searching for something suitable for the office, she found several blouses and skirts hanging, along with a few neat dresses.

After long hesitation she tried on a cream blouse of inoffensive design and a toned-down Indian-pink H-line skirt.

At the vanity she fretted over how to tidy her hair, then simply pulled it into a low ponytail. She smoothed on nothing more than a thin layer of sunscreen, dabbed a pale lip tint on her mouth, and checked herself in the full-length mirror. It looked unremarkable enough, yet the style was one she had never worn in all her twenty-four years, and it felt strangely alien.

"Hah…. I have no idea. What even is this situation…."

She understood nothing, but the departure time the man had set was drawing near. Ye-seo chose a beige leather flap bag of roughly the right size from the shelf, dropped a few essentials inside, and went downstairs.

She was standing blankly in the first-floor living room when Do Kang-hyun emerged from his own dressing room. The instant she entered his field of vision he surveyed her transformed appearance with leisurely, almost contemplative thoroughness.

His gaze never left her as he approached, thick and sticky. When the large man stopped a single step away, Ye-seo's expression hardened. Unbothered, Do Kang-hyun looked down at her with arrogant eyes and spoke briefly.

"It suits you."

He forces me into the job of secretary and then says it suits me—is he mocking me? I didn't dress this way to impress him.

"That isn't a compliment to me. This isn't work I wanted."

She voiced her resentment in a quiet, steady tone, yet Do Kang-hyun only gave a short laugh. As if anything she said were simply amusing.

"Anyway, you're pretty."

Ye-seo hid her inner horror and looked away. The words sent a deeper chill down her spine than any threat. She had never known praise could be this terrifying.

She made no effort to conceal her discomfort, but the man paid it no mind.

"Shall we go, then?"

At the waiting car the driver opened the rear door for Executive Director Do. Ye-seo moved naturally toward the passenger seat, only for Kang-hyun to roll down the window and stop her.

"Get in beside me."

"……."

While she hesitated the driver opened the other rear door as well.

"Thank you."

The moment she was inside, Ye-seo fixed her eyes on the scenery beyond the glass and refused even a glance at the Executive Director sitting next to her. The car pulled away at once.

Executive Director Do Kang-hyun read the news on a tablet PC; Ye-seo said nothing. Everyone was silent, and even the engine was almost too quiet.

Her gaze stayed locked on the window the entire ride, yet none of the landscapes whipping past registered. Both her vision and her mind were a dizzy blur.

Only when a massive glass-walled building appeared did she realize they had arrived.

Museong looked every bit the prestigious corporation it was.

The busy morning scene unfolded around her. The employees moving briskly through it all seemed so ordinary that Ye-seo felt as if she alone existed in some isolated world under this strange oppression.

When she entered the secretarial office, two secretaries were already at their desks. One was Deputy General Manager Yoon; the other was the secretary who had confiscated Ye-seo's phone the other day.

They bowed politely toward Executive Director Do.

"Executive Director, you've arrived."

"Welcome, sir."

Executive Director Do merely lifted his chin in acknowledgment and walked straight into his office without a word. Left standing alone in the secretarial suite, Ye-seo watched Deputy General Manager Yoon approach.

"Welcome, Jin Ye-seo. You've met this one already, right? This is Jeong Ji-a, our in-office secretary."

"Ah…. Yes."

After having her phone seized and her body searched, there was no chance of a pleasant expression.

"Ye-seo. I'm sorry about the other day—it wasn't intentional. But since we'll be working together now, let's get along."

Jeong Ji-a held out her hand with a smile so easygoing it bordered on shameless. She said she was sorry, yet Ye-seo wondered whether a truly apologetic person could smile like that.

"Yes. I look forward to working with you."

Reluctant or not, Ye-seo took the offered hand and observed the proper courtesies. Whether by choice or force, she was stuck here now; knowing nothing about secretarial work, she would need these people's help.

At the polite words Jeong Ji-a's smile brightened further. Still holding Ye-seo's hand, she added,

"Ye-seo, I thought you were pretty even in casual clothes, but seeing you dressed so neatly today makes you even more beautiful."

"Thank… you."

Ye-seo answered soullessly and turned away. Deputy General Manager Yoon then showed her the desk she would use and gave a rough outline of the Executive Director's usual schedule, going into considerable detail about that morning's appointments.

"Inside the company, the only people who know who Jin Ye-seo is are the staff in this office. Of course, no one else knows what Chief of Staff Jin Jae-hwan did either," Yoon Tae-seok added.

"I see."

"If you don't want to become the subject of idle gossip, act naturally."

"This kind of work is completely new to me. How am I supposed to act naturally…."

"I'll teach you the details bit by bit."

"Yes. Of course you will."

Now even Deputy General Manager Yoon set her teeth on edge. The fact that he handled every sort of dirty business behind that courteous face only made it worse.

Just then Jeong Ji-a emerged from the pantry carrying a tray and handed Ye-seo her first task.

"Ye-seo. Could you take some tea and water in to the Executive Director first?"

My very first job is facing that man again. Manual labor would be better.

"Yes."

"Knock three times, please."

"Yes. Understood."

Ye-seo took the tray from Jeong Ji-a and walked to the Executive Director's office. Exactly as Deputy General Manager Yoon had done, she knocked three times.

Knock-knock-knock—

"Come in."

She opened the door to find Executive Director Do studying his laptop screen. Ye-seo approached without a word and set the tray down; only then did he snap those sharp eyes upward.

"Ah, Secretary Jin."

A smile spread across his face, so slow it was almost uncanny. The increasingly strange smile sent a chill down her spine, but Ye-seo pretended not to notice and simply placed the teacup.

Do Kang-hyun's languid gaze traveled from her pale face down to the slender fingertips she had folded politely over the tray. He looked thoroughly satisfied with the sight of her at the company.

Ye-seo's mouth felt as dry as dust. Still, this was the office and she had been told to play secretary, so she gave a light bow and stepped out.

The moment the door closed behind her a sigh escaped on its own. From the first instant she had met this man until now, every encounter left her feeling dragged under. He was clearly laughing at her, toying with her.

The very idea that a man like him would take a woman who had barely graduated from art school as collateral was absurd to begin with.

No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she had become nothing more than a rich young master's living toy.

Just as Do Kang-hyun had said, wherever his executive secretary Yoon Tae-seok went, Jin Ye-seo went too. She had to enter every meeting—even the executive board meetings—and stand watch at his side.

Each time, other executives and staff stole glances at her. Whispers floated past: Must be the new junior secretary.

Strangest of all was the fact that Do Kang-hyun kept looking at that junior secretary far too often, even inside the conference room.

Whenever he looked, others followed suit and sneaked peeks at Ye-seo. The embarrassment was acute.

After all those trials the afternoon finally arrived. Do Kang-hyun stepped out into the secretarial office and tossed a single word at Deputy General Manager Yoon.

"Let's go."

"Yes, Executive Director."

Yoon picked up his things and immediately turned to Ye-seo.

"Jin Ye-seo. We're heading out."

"Me too? Where… to?"

"An outside appointment. We have a meeting with a client."

"……."

Now field work as well. She still hadn't memorized the names of the executives she had seen inside the company, and now there would be clients too.

On the way to the meeting place, Executive Director Do took the rear seat of honor once more, and Ye-seo sat beside him. Deputy General Manager Yoon Tae-seok took the front passenger seat.

He's my superior, so why is he in the front…? Am I the only one who finds this whole situation strange?

No matter how she looked at it, the arrangement was odd. Inside the once-again silent car, Ye-seo finally broke the quiet herself.

"Um…. Executive Director."

The moment she called him she turned her head—and found he was already staring straight at her.

How long has he been watching? She startled inwardly but forced the fluster down and spoke.

"This may be presumptuous, but there's something I want to ask."

"What is it?"

"Why… go this far? Are you afraid I might try to contact my father somehow?"

The brazen question alarmed Deputy General Manager Yoon more than anyone; he rushed to stop her.

"Jin Ye-seo!"

"It's fine, Deputy General Manager Yoon."

On the contrary, Do Kang-hyun looked entirely unoffended, even relaxed. Emboldened, Ye-seo exhaled the breath she had been holding and pressed on.

"Or… is there some other reason?"