The Villainess Reports for Duty
The HR manager looked Sojin over from head to toe. Then, with an awkward smile plastered across his face, he stepped toward her.
"Ah, um... You're Team Leader Lee Sojin? The one who texted earlier?"
"Yes, that's me. I'm a bit late, aren't I? Traffic was awful."
"Haha... Right. I'll show you the way."
Barely managing to keep his expression from crumpling, the HR manager led her to the elevator. He pressed the button for the sixth floor.
"Your office is on the sixth floor. Your employee badge and the handover materials will be at your assigned desk."
"Understood."
"For now, I'll take you to Division Head Kang Dohyun — he's your direct superior."
Sojin's shoulders flinched.
Ugh, the male lead is scary as hell.
She stole a glance down at her outfit. If Dohyun saw her dressed like this... she didn't even want to imagine it. But whatever happened, this was something she'd have to get through one way or another. She resolved to march in there with her chin held high.
"That's the end of my part. Division Head Kang Dohyun will take it from here."
The moment he finished speaking, the elevator doors slid open. The HR manager stepped out immediately, as if fleeing from something unpleasant.
Sojin and the HR manager headed straight for the Division Head's office. A secretary stood posted outside the door.
The moment Jihwan spotted Sojin, his gaze wavered — then snapped back to its usual blankness.
"You must be the new Team Leader of Planning Team 2."
Despite the dramatic makeover, he'd recognized her at once; he'd seen Dohyun's fiancée often enough.
"The Division Head is inside. Announce yourself and go in."
At Jihwan's words, the HR manager knocked.
"Division Head, the new Team Leader of Planning Team 2 is here. May we come in?"
A low, cold voice answered almost immediately.
"Come in."
The HR manager gestured for her to enter.
"You can go in now. I'll be off, then."
And just like that, he was gone.
Sojin stared after his retreating back.
"Am I really that terrifying?"
She turned toward the door. She swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and placed her hand on the handle.
The moment the door opened, Dohyun came into view, hard at work. A sleek black suit tailored perfectly to his frame, long, elegant fingers, lips pressed into a cold, unyielding line. Every detail of him looked like something out of a painting.
His deep, dark eyes lifted to Sojin. He swept his gaze over her appearance without the faintest flicker of expression.
Sojin felt a shameful urge to shrink away, as if she'd been stripped bare. Her fists clenched.
Lee Sojin, get a grip. You decided to be shameless, remember?
She squared her shoulders and stepped inside, a light smile playing on her lips.
"It's been a while."
Dohyun brushed off her greeting as if it were nothing and tossed a folder across the room. It smacked against the desk and clattered to the floor, papers scattering everywhere.
"Those are the handover materials. Take them yourself."
Sojin froze at the sight of the scattered pages. So he's going to be hostile this overtly, huh.
What a filthy personality.
But the dirtier she felt, the deeper the smile bloomed on her painted lips — a smile as seductive as it was venomous. None of this was real anyway. This world was a lie. The Dohyun standing before her was nothing more than a character in a drama. There was no reason to be hurt.
"You could hand them over nicely, you know. Making things so complicated."
I'm the villainess — the one who absolutely has to get fired from this company.
She repeated it to herself, over and over. Then she crossed her arms, projecting all the confidence she could muster.
"Sorry, but I don't do the head-bowing thing. Isn't your secretary out there — Jihwan? I'll ask him instead."
"Suit yourself."
"Who's going to show me to my desk?"
"Tell the secretary. He'll point you to it."
With that brief exchange, a heavy silence settled over the office. Dohyun neither moved nor spoke, devoting himself entirely to his work — treating Sojin as a presence worth even less than the air around him.
Unable to bear it any longer, she spoke up.
"...Aren't you going to introduce me to my team?"
At her words, Dohyun's fingers stopped moving. He let out a soft, derisive laugh — the kind that asked whether she seriously thought she was in any position to ask such a thing. Slowly, he pulled his eyes from the computer screen and looked at her, his gaze like ice.
"Introduce you?"
The single word, low and drawling, flew at her like a blade.
"Do you actually believe you have the standing to say that word to me?"
Sojin didn't look away. She met his eyes squarely.
"Yes. I do."
"Get out. I have nothing to say to you."
"Why not? I came in with a glowing recommendation, you know. The least you could do is your due diligence."
Dohyun's eyes went cold in an instant. Sojin hid her trembling hands behind her back. His killing intent made her whole body want to shake, but she held on — barely.
He swept his gaze over her from head to toe as he spoke.
"I will provide you with nothing — not work, not anything else. So leave quietly. Stay out of my sight."
"If that's how you feel, why not just fire me? Instead of threatening me like this."
Please, just fire me.
I don't want to keep acting in this place either!
Hiding the urge to scream, Sojin stared at Dohyun with eyes full of desperate hope. He shot back an incredulous look.
"Ha. Shameless, aren't you. After all the scheming you did behind the scenes."
Sojin's eyebrow twitched — just barely.
"Excuse me?"
"Now I finally understand what a conniving little creature you are."
"What — explain yourself! What exactly do you mean by that?"
"The marriage, the job here. All it takes is a little flattery toward my father, and everything comes so easily to you, doesn't it?"
Sojin's face froze.
"Are you... saying I asked the Chairman for something?"
Instead of answering, Dohyun simply lowered his head again and buried himself in his work, his attitude making it clear she wasn't worth another word of his time.
"If you want to quit, submit your resignation yourself. Then you're free to go."
"Unbelievable!"
Sojin whirled around and stormed out. Leaning against the closed door, she bit down hard on her lip.
So it's true, then.
Dohyun couldn't fire her. Which meant...
Chairman Kang.
A line of Sera's dialogue flashed through Sojin's mind.
"You can't do this to me. My father isn't the only powerful backer I have...!"
So Chairman Kang really had been over the moon about this engagement. And here she'd assumed that was just Sera blowing smoke.
Though Sera never actually fawned over the Chairman in the drama...
Maybe Chairman Kang simply liked the marriage and forced it through on his own.
Just then, Jihwan approached her.
"Are you all right? Your face is..."
"Ah..."
Sojin touched her cheek. Did she look that grim? She tugged the corners of her mouth upward.
"I'm fine. Could you get me the handover materials, by any chance? I wasn't exactly able to collect them from the Division Head."
"I'll leave them at your desk. And I'll introduce you to the team as well."
"Thank you."
The moment she turned to go, Jihwan added,
"There's a meeting tomorrow at three in the afternoon."
"A meeting already?"
"Yes. You need to get up to speed on the work."
Tomorrow at three. Her first meeting.
Sojin's lips curled upward.
An official gathering with all the members of Planning Team 2.
The perfect opportunity to make my teammates hate my guts.
She added one more item to the mental list she'd been building — Ways to Get Fired.
Act nothing like a team leader.
No — more precisely:
'Act so outrageous that the company can't possibly ignore it anymore. So outrageous it reaches the Chairman's ears.'
Outrageous. Inventive. Unforgettable.
Her heart was pounding, but her mind had never been colder.
'I have to act like such a disaster of a team leader that my teammates will be begging the higher-ups to take me off their hands.'
As she followed Jihwan down the corridor, Sojin was already planning her next move. How to botch it. How to become the most legendary screwup this company had ever seen.
At the end of the hallway, she slowly turned her head and looked back — just once — at the door of the Division Head's office she'd just left.
Her life was riding on this.
I will get out of this hell. No matter what it takes.