JIAH POV
"I got suspended," she says flatly.
"For insulting Daeyeon's Chief Executive Director."
"What?" The word flies out of my mouth before my brain even catches up with what she just said, and the shock hits so hard I actually take a step back like someone shoved me.
My eyes stay locked on her face, searching for some hint that she's joking or exaggerating, but Bora just drops onto my couch like her entire body suddenly weighs a hundred kilos.
"That bastard called my company before I even got back to the office," she says, dragging both hands through her hair while leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.
"Filed a complaint directly with the partners, said I verbally assaulted the Chief Executive Director of Daeyeon Holdings inside his own office."
My chest tightens.
"My boss didn't even let me finish explaining," she continues, laughing under her breath in disbelief.
"He handed me a suspension letter and told me to remember my professional ethics. Professional ethics, my ass."
I sit down slowly on the chair across from her, the guilt hitting like a punch to the stomach.
"I'm sorry, Bora," I say quietly, the words feeling heavier than they should. "Because of me you lost your—"
"I'm fucking happy about it."
Her head snaps up so fast the sentence dies in my throat.
"I mean it," she says, leaning back against the couch now with a crooked grin that looks half irritated and half amused.
"I was already tired of that damn firm and planning to quit anyway. At least now I get a break and a story worth telling."
I stare at her.
She's doing it again.
Pretending this doesn't bother her so I don't feel worse than I already do.
Bora exhales slowly and shakes her head.
"But seriously," she mutters, rubbing her temple, "I still can't understand how someone turns into that kind of person."
I frown. "What do you mean?"
She scoffs loudly.
"He became so damn handsome, ridiculously muscular, rich as hell and somehow even more of an asshole than I imagined. That combination should honestly be illegal."
A quiet breath leaves my chest.
"He became everything he wasn't before," I say.
Bora watches my face carefully for a second before nodding slowly.
"Yeah," she mutters. "He really did change."
The room goes quiet for a moment, the tension sitting there between us like something unfinished.
Then suddenly Bora straightens up like someone plugged electricity into her spine.
"I'm not letting that bastard win," she declares, pointing a finger at me like she just made a life decision.
"I'm going back to our old high school and digging up the student records. I'll show him exactly who he used to be and shove it right in his face."
I blink.
"Are you sure about that?" I ask carefully. "What if he tries something worse after that?"
Bora snorts.
"I don't care. I've got nothing left to lose anyway."
A loud car horn echoes outside the apartment building.
She glances toward the balcony and groans.
"That's my ride."
I nod slowly because I already know who it is. Bora's boyfriend always comes to pick her up, but he never steps inside and he has never once spoken to me since everything that happened ten years ago.
We both stand up.
"I'm sorry, Bora," I say again, quieter this time.
She grabs my shoulder and shakes it once.
"If you apologize one more time I'm putting you in a headlock, bitch," she warns with a crooked grin.
"You need to bring back the high school version of yourself. This depressed office-worker version is boring as hell."
I actually laugh.
She waves at me once before walking out the door.
A minute later I step onto the balcony and look down at the street where Bora is climbing into the passenger seat of a black car.
Her boyfriend is leaning against the door with his arms crossed, and the second he notices me standing above them his eyes lift toward the balcony.
The glare he sends my way could burn concrete.
Then he gets into the driver's seat and the car pulls away.
I stay there for a few seconds before going back inside.
"Because of Enhyeok," I mutter quietly, cracking my knuckles as I walk toward the desk. "I've got a whole list of people who hate my guts now."
The laptop screen lights up as I open it.
Documents flood the screen instantly.
Agenda. Reports. Director attendance confirmations.
Tomorrow is the first board meeting with the newly appointed directors.
And unfortunately for me.
Enhyeok will be sitting at the head of that table.
___________________
ENHYEOK POV
The boardroom feels different.
Three days ago this same marble table was occupied by men who believed their positions were permanent.
Their voices had been loud, their confidence unshaken, their years inside the company worn like armor.
Now those chairs belong to someone else.
Ten directors sit along the length of the table, files open in front of them, tablets glowing faintly under the recessed lighting.
Every one of them arrived early. Every one of them has already read the restructuring documents.
No one speaks.
The silence is deliberate.
From the glass walls behind them, the skyline of Seoul stretches across the horizon, steel and glass towers rising through the morning haze. From this height the city looks small.
Power tends to do that.
At the far end of the table, Seo Jiah sits beside the documentation console, a tablet balanced neatly in her hands.
Her fingers move quickly across the screen as she records the meeting minutes with quiet precision.
She does not speak.
She observes.
I close the report in front of me.
The sound of the folder clicking shut draws every pair of eyes to the head of the table.
Good.
"Before we begin," I say evenly, "there appears to be some confusion regarding the restructuring that occurred earlier this week."
No one interrupts.
Across the table, shoulders straighten almost instinctively.
"The five directors who previously held seats in this room were removed for operational negligence and repeated failure to meet the performance standards expected by this company."
My gaze moves slowly around the table.
Watching.
Measuring.
"They were not removed because of age."
A brief pause.
"They were removed because of stagnation."
No one reacts outwardly, but the tension shifts slightly.
Everyone understands the message.
"Daeyeon Holdings does not lack workers," I continue calmly. "We do not lack applicants. We do not lack executives capable of sitting in these chairs."
Several of the directors nod subtly.
What we lack, I think, is competence that scales with the size of the company.
"This corporation provides the highest executive compensation packages in the country," I add. "Those salaries are not charity."
I rest my hands loosely on the table.
"They are payment for competence."
The room stays silent.
Good.
"When a company invests that level of capital into its leadership structure, the expectation of performance is not optional."
Another pause.
"Respect that."
The word lands quietly, but its meaning is clear.
Director Lee from Finance inclines his head slightly. "Understood, Executive Director Yu."
I gesture toward the table.
"Introduce yourselves."
Director Kim begins.
"Kim Hyunsoo. Strategy Division. Previously senior analyst overseeing international mergers."
Director Lee follows.
"Lee Dongmin. Finance Department. Former deputy financial controller for East Asia operations."
One by one the introductions continue.
Logistics.
Public relations.
Internal audit.
Risk management.
Each director speaks clearly, outlining their responsibilities while Seo Jiah's tablet fills with meeting notes and timestamps.
She rarely looks up.
But when she does, her eyes move across the room with careful attention, cataloging every word, every reaction, every shift in posture.
Efficient.
Director Kang from Strategic Planning eventually leans back slightly after finishing his introduction.
He studies me for a moment before speaking.
"Executive Director Yu," he says carefully, "there is something many people in the corporate world have been discussing recently."
The room grows quieter.
He continues.
"There is a rumor circulating among investors and financial media."
A few directors exchange brief glances.
"They say the Chief Executive Director of Daeyeon Holdings is only twenty-seven years old."
No one speaks.
"They also say," Kang adds calmly, "that before the coronation ceremony five days ago, almost no one in the corporate world had ever heard your name."
The question sits on the table.
Polite.
Careful.
But unmistakably curious.
Where were you?
I study him for a moment.
Then I close the file in front of me.
"The company's financial projections for the next quarter will be distributed to your departments by the end of this week."
Director Kang pauses, slightly caught off guard.
I stand.
The directors immediately follow.
"This meeting is over."
_____________
JIAH POV
My fingers move steadily across the tablet screen as I record the minutes of the meeting, documenting every introduction, every title, every department assignment exactly as protocol requires.
The quiet tapping of the stylus is the only sound near my seat while the directors speak one by one, their voices calm but carefully measured under the weight of the room.
From where I sit beside the documentation console, I can see everyone at the table without turning my head.
Director Kang's voice cuts through the room again when the introductions finish, his tone polite but layered with curiosity that feels heavier than the question itself.
He speaks about rumors circulating among investors and financial media, mentioning the strange fact that the Chief Executive Director of Daeyeon Holdings is only twenty-seven years old.
The air in the boardroom changes.
He continues speaking carefully, adding that before the coronation ceremony five days ago, almost no one in the corporate world had ever heard the name Yu Enhyeok.
The question is never asked directly, but the meaning hangs in the room clearly enough for everyone to understand.
Where were you before this.
My stylus pauses against the tablet for half a second because it is the same question that has been sitting quietly in the back of my mind since the day he appeared in this company like a storm.
I lift my eyes from the screen and look toward the head of the table.
Enhyeok is already looking at Director Kang.
His face does not change, but something in his eyes settles into place with a cold stillness that makes the space between them feel suddenly dangerous.
It is not anger, not even irritation, but something darker that carries a silent message strong enough that even I feel it from across the room.
How dare you ask that.
And do not repeat it again.
A long second passes.
Then he closes the file in front of him with quiet precision.
"The company's financial projections for the next quarter will be distributed to your departments by the end of this week,"
he says evenly, his voice calm enough that someone unfamiliar with him might think the question never mattered.
He stands.
Every director in the room rises immediately.
"This meeting is over."
The chairs move softly as the directors begin collecting their documents, but I am already standing and walking toward the door because that is my role whenever he leaves the boardroom.
By the time he reaches the hallway, I am already ahead of him, pushing open the glass door to his office.
He walks past me without slowing down.
The moment he steps inside, I close the door quietly behind him and return to the desk outside his office, placing the tablet down while the meeting files finish syncing into the company database.
My phone starts ringing.
Bora's name flashes across the screen.
I answer the call and press the phone against my ear while leaning back in the chair.
"Hello."
"Jiah," Bora says immediately, her voice sounding like she just finished running somewhere. "I went to our school to get his reports."
I straighten slightly. "Did you get them?"
There is a brief pause on the other end of the line.
"There's no such reports saying Yu Enhyeok studied there."