10 rules of a Secretary chapter 22

“Originally, Doha, you shouldn’t be involved with someone from a family like mine, but it’s interesting how you are. Isn’t it fun?”

What’s so special about your family? Wealthy and a bit arrogant? To put it bluntly, Eunjoo’s family wasn’t ordinary.

Simply put, they were a gangster family.

It was astonishing how such a family owned hotels, ran resorts, and operated as a legitimate business.

Only those in the know were aware of this.

“Aren’t you curious why Doha met someone like me?”

“I’m not curious.”

Despite the ominous rumors, I knew one thing for sure.

Why?

Because of his face. CEO Han always dated beautiful men with delicate features that naturally evoked sympathy.

Given that CEO Han was also attractive, it made sense. It was a matter of matching looks.

“I’m just CEO Han’s secretary. It’s not my place to speculate on his intentions.”

“Doha really hates gifts and bribes. But he accepted them all. Why do you think that is?”

CEO Han didn’t accept them. They ended up as my bank balance. I half-listened to Eunjoo’s words.

“And Doha only meets people with black hair. Isn’t that quite an interesting story?”

Thinking back, all of the CEO Han’s beta lovers from the past three years had black hair.

Before that, he had dated both Western and Eastern omegas, but with betas, he only dated East Asians.

Well, people’s preferences can change, I guess.

I glanced at the time while my thumb idly brushed the surface of the plastic cup with only ice left. 1:20 PM.

Lunchtime was almost over, which meant the time for the CEO Han to throw a fit was approaching.

It was disheartening to have wasted my precious free time like this, but after all, I was just a worker bee.

Dealing with Ha Eunjoo was part of my job.

Besides, lunchtime was unpaid. Wasn’t this too much?

“They say you shouldn’t even bother with creatures with black hair, right?”

Today, Ha Eunjoo’s words were particularly strange.

Why did he have so much to say? I brushed my hair back, trying to hide my annoyed expression.

“…Mr. Ha Eunjoo. Shouldn’t we first discuss what we need to talk about?”

“Seems like you’re not curious. Then, let’s move on to something else.”

No, your face is the epitome of logical inconsistency.

The only reason CEO Han dated Ha Eunjoo was his face.

Yes, his face!

Suppressing my rising annoyance, I let Ha Eunjoo’s ramblings go in one ear and out the other.

Do you know why humans have two ears?

It’s to let nonsense go in one ear and out the other.

It’s the second kind arrangement from the merciful god, right after caffeine.

With a painted-on smile, Ha Eunjoo said, “Anyway, make sure to pass that along. You can check it midway if you like. Tell Doha I send my regards. Oh, and contact me if you get curious about anything.”

I opened the lid of my takeout cup and downed the ice-filled iced Americano in one gulp. It was so bitter without syrup, it felt like poison going down my throat.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”

“If you think of anything, call me, okay?”

His black business card had “Under Name” embossed in gold. It was hard to tell what kind of company it was.

Below that were Ha Eunjoo’s name, phone number, and email, among other small details.

Out of courtesy, I took the card and held it in my hand.

Returning to the office, I clung to the last three minutes of my lunch break and collapsed into the spacious lounge set up in the corner of the secretary’s office.

I set an alarm on my phone and exhaled heavily.

A junior staff member making coffee looked at me with concern and seemed about to say something, but seeing how exhausted I looked, hesitated and left.

Sinking into the plush sofa, I stared blankly at the immaculately ivory ceiling of the lounge.

In truth, the secretary’s office didn’t have a proper lounge.

Originally, this place served as a supply room and break room, and the only seating was a folding fishing chair left by a departed employee.

As bad as it seemed!

But since the founding of the company, the secretary’s office had never undergone a remodel.

As the company grew, teams in marketing, design, and other departments expanded, and offices were gradually updated, but the secretary’s office had no such luck.

Operating almost 24/7, it couldn’t afford any changes.

Then, out of nowhere, four years ago, a major remodeling began, including the CEO Han’s office.

Thanks to this, we had to work in temporary offices during freezing winter days.

A joke among my colleagues was that the secretary’s office was renovated because I complained about the tiny break room.

But it was just a coincidence. CEO Han had an ironclad heart that let any complaints I voiced go in one ear and out the other.

It was obvious he only remodeled the secretary’s office because he was already renovating his own.

So we got a larger break room, but I rarely got to relax there. The longest I stayed was around five minutes. The break room was more like a waiting room.

As I traced my memories, I recalled an incident from the beginning of the year. A sigh escaped me as I covered my eyes with my arm and muttered, “This year started off horribly…”

Who gets called out to drink with their boss on New Year’s Day?

Me, apparently.

I spent the night drinking with CEO Han, feeling nauseous, and even heard the Bosingak bell ring at midnight.

Listening to it from a fancy hotel bar near Gwanghwamun might seem romantic to some, but not to me.

I managed to drag my hungover body to work on the second day of the year.

The year was ruined from the start, and my luck was just terrible. Really bad.

The vibration from my chest woke me up groggily. Einstein’s theory of relativity was perfect. Three minutes of work near the CEO Han felt like thirty, while my three minutes of rest passed in what felt like thirty seconds. I pressed my eyelids firmly as I sat up.

I turned off the alarm, straightened my disheveled clothes, and tightened my loosely tied necktie. With a deep sigh, I braced myself and walked toward the hellish pit. Just before opening the lounge door, I stared at the documents in my hand, debating whether to open them, but decided against it.

It wasn’t because I was afraid of what might happen if I did. I just wanted to avoid being treated like a pushover.

I gathered the printed meeting minutes and my trusty tablet and hurried out of the secretary’s office.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door to the CEO Han’s office.

There he was…

“Ah, Secretary Seonyul.”

CEO Han was buried under a pile of documents. The desk, which had been tidy before the morning meeting, now looked like a bomb had hit it. I stared at it for a moment, then placed my tablet and documents on the reception table and stood beside him.

“May I ask what happened?”

“The chairman dumped a troublesome task on me.”

His sigh was laced with a rare tone of respect. I glanced at the document he was holding. ‘Sustainable Management Report.’ It wasn’t for external use but internal. The raw, unfiltered data gave me a peculiar feeling.

“Did Vice President Han receive this too?”

“He probably got the investor information as well. Do you think he wouldn’t have?”

“Do you think the chairman is really planning to step down?”

“That old man will probably stay until he’s on the brink of senility. This is just…”

CEO Han leaned back in his chair and smiled charmingly. The creaking of the chair’s joints was annoyingly loud.

“I’ll replace the chair by today.”

“Do what you need to. Hmm… It’s just an annual thing. Like, I haven’t decided which of you two to choose yet.”

“For an annual thing, it didn’t happen last year.”

I rolled my eyes at the creaky chair Han was sitting on. The noise was new since the morning. I wondered what he had done during lunch to cause it.

“It happened last year too. But we had a weekend’s worth of work piled on us. If I called you in on the weekend, you’d complain, and I didn’t want to hear it.”

Two years ago, I was dragged to Jeongdongjin to see the sunrise on New Year’s Day.

Imagine going to such a romantic place with your boss on the first day of the year. T

here can’t be anyone more unfortunate than me. Just thinking about it makes me feel sick to my stomach. If he hadn’t promised me a weekend off, I wouldn’t have gone.

Thankfully, he kept his promise. For the past two years, I’ve had my weekends completely free. It was worth the effort of going to Jeongdongjin with him.

Of course, even then, I had antacids with me, and now, those precious weekends are gone.

Come to think of it, he promised me something else back then.

“Still, if something like that happens again, at least give me a call. It’s something I should know about.”