Chapter Text
It had been a long day at the office for Lee Jinki today.
He sure was a fool to have thought that his work flow would have slowed down after a few years of being a secretary. What was he honestly thinking, though? He worked for Choi Corporation, only one of the biggest companies in the world, based in South Korea, where they made almost everything that was staple to the regular South Korean household- cars, furniture, clothing, accessories- you name it; at least one of the appliances in every South Korean household-no, every household in the world, probably had something with the Choi Corporation seal on it.
Not that Jinki had any complaints about the company (okay, maybe when he was trying to unwind after a long day of work and noticed that even his 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner was from Choi Corporation, he felt just a littlebit like tearing out his hair). He was actually really happy to be here as a secretary, and Human Resources wasn't that bombarded with employee complaints, so he definitely had a decent work environment. Jinki had no idea how he was even excepted to work as a secretary, especially for the CEO of the company, when he had been fresh out of university with only part-time waitering as previous work experience. But hey, he wasn't about to question it, even less when the news of his job offer had made his parents cry in happiness where they expressed that they had "truly raised their son right," so Jinki accepted the job offer and faced the global corporation with a big smile on his face and some corny jokes up his sleeve.
But some days, Jinki had a harder time smiling. For some reason, today had been even more nightmarish than he could have anticipated.
The start of the day, to this last twenty minutes before he could finally go home and enjoy his weekend, had been going so horribly wrong. First, he must have had a really great dream or something, and his brain decided, "hey, why not sleep in a little bit more?" causing him to wake up 30 minutes (30 minutes!) later than he needed to be up.
He had always been at least five minutes early to the office for three years straight. Jinki already knew from the beginning of his morning that he was doomed.
And, to make matters worse, when he finally arrived at the office (thirty minutes late, because of course there was rush hour traffic that Jinki had successfully, up until this point, avoided for three years), he realized that there was that big, important meeting today that was happening with stockholders and board members, along with the CEO as the man of the hour(who he was supposed to accompany!). Oh gosh, there was nothing more embarrassing than coming into the meeting late as a secretary. Even worse, when CEO Choi Minho had only quietly passed along the laptop.
Jinki had made the boss take his own meeting notes.
Jinki's own boss was doing Jinki's job. And he was doing it well; the notes looked so well-organized that Jinki felt a little ashamed as his secretary when his CEO was so capable.
He thought he was officially going to be fired during the meeting. Luckily, Choi Minho must have been some kind of saint because he graciously said nothing, even as Jinki bowed his head in apology to every meeting attendee, as well as his boss, at least a million times. Jinki felt a blush coming onto his cheeks, but it's not like anyone noticed him anyway, given the atmosphere of the room.
On a normal meeting day, the atmosphere in the room was tense, but today it was like all hell had been set loose. The oldest board director, Lee Soo-Man, who had been a long time family friend of the Choi's, was still in partnership with Minho and probably stood as Minho's only ally in the room. Everyone else was skeptical of Minho, and tended to answer his questions or presentations with sarcastic and thinly veiled, condescending tones, just because Minho was extraordinarily young at the age of 27 for a CEO. Sure, it was out of the norm to be running such an empire of a company at Minho's age, but it didn't excuse the ageist comments. Normally, Jinki was used to the sight of Minho elegantly, yet firmly, brushing off comments that were simply attacks to his character.
Today, however, Jinki could sense the masked rage and frustration hidden behind the CEO's otherwise calm and friendly face. The meeting attendees were being particularly harsh today, doubting all of Minho's credibility as a CEO due to a significant drop in net profit of the company. This drop was mostly due to a brand partnership, where the original idol that had been contracted as the advertisement model had been embroiled in nasty rumours, leading to the netizen's boycotting of the idol as well as all of the products they advertised for, which included all of Choi Corporation's new make-up products. Of course, it had been an unexpected and unpleasant response to the brand new make-up line that had tediously been cultivated for years, and all of the effort was now going down the drain due to the dwindling reputation of their chosen brand model.
Netizens sure were ruthless, even when the rumours had not even been confirmed. And because the rumours hadn't been confirmed, Minho was hesitating on suing the idol's management company to pay for the damage that Choi Corporation was suffering from their idol's scandal. It was one of those grey areas at the moment, because if the idol really was innocent, then in no way had they actually breached the contract with Choi Corporation, and instead Choi Corporation as well as the idol's management company could collaborate to sue those who had intentionally started the false rumours to reap profit and reparations.
But unluckily, as the idol's management company was currently doing their own investigation to confirm or deny the rumours, and the truth probably wouldn't be uncovered anytime soon, Choi Corporation, and by extension Minho, was in hot water as they had already spent their allocated budget of 10 billion won on the creation, advertising, and promotion of their new make-up line, which had last been majorly updated 3 years ago, and now, there was no return, and even worse, a decrease in profit after all of the effort that had gone into the brand-new make-up line. So, to say that the investors were pissed, especially when Minho and Lee Soo-man had been the ones to first suggest this project after much rebuttal and opposition from these same old and snobbish board directors, was an understatement.
"Mr. CEO, how do you plan to fix this mess? This precious company which your family has built is suffering because of your decisions! Why did you choose that model anyway?" That was from Ms. Chaeyoung, an old-time investor who Minho could not get rid of because of her large stock percentage which she had of the company. Hearing her complain about the situation while offering nothing helpful made Jinki want to roll his eyes. Now that he thinks about it, she was the one who had gushed over the male idol when he had first been chosen, and now she was complaining about that same model. What a hypocrite.
And what were they expecting Minho to do anyway? They had deliberately poured over so many possible models for the make-up brand, and the majority of the board had voted for that male idol among many. If anything, they should also shoulder the blame for the net loss of the company's profit. Jinki had a fleeting thought that maybe the board directors had purposely planned Minho's downfall by choosing that model, but it's highly unlikely, because rich people hate losing their money.
Ugh, Jinki wondered, How had Choi Minho, the CEO, managed to stay humble and grounded amongst this sea of chaos and greedy rich people? He must be a saint among people.
But maybe Jinki thought too soon, because the room soon after Ms. Chaeyoung's blatant attack resembled some kind of brawl between 30 people and the CEO, who simply sat stone-faced at the head of the table, until he banged his hands on the table and stood up. Ms. Chaeyoung almost fell out of her seat. Jinki internally applauded Minho for being able to sit there for so long and not say a word.
"I am the CEO. That means that, no matter how much all of you may think you own this company, I am still the leader here and you will follow through with what I tell you, one way or another. And in this situation, I refuse to sign for suing U R entertainment, as our own preliminary screening of Mr. Lee had shown no signs of problematic behaviour, and we cannot break the contract either for risk of being sued an even higher amount. I have faith that we will bounce back from this, and suing U R entertainment will only make matters worse, and I am not willing to risk them suing back in the large chance that Mr. Lee is truly innocent. For the meantime, you can all respectfully do without the previous estimated bonus of 5 million won in your pockets this month that would have come from this collaboration. This will simply pass, as all things come to pass. We are Choi Corporation. A single misstep should not throw all of us off the ship. Or have you forgotten that I am the captain? This meeting is adjourned."
Wide-eyed, Jinki frantically saved the meeting notes on the laptop before attempting to catch up with Minho's fast stride to the exit, not quite making it in time as someone bumped into him, undoubtedly due to all of the investors (sans Lee Soo-man, who was still slowly getting up from his chair) angrily stomping after Minho and shouting at the back of his head. As a result of the push, Jinki staggered forward, his head feeling aching pain and his glasses came off and fell onto the floor, only to be stomped on by a passing board director among many who were still pushing and screaming after Minho in an uncivilized manner. Thankfully, Jinki was still holding on to his laptop, but inspection of his glasses showed that-Yup, those are definitely broken.... Jinki sighed internally, as he could already feel how painful his neck would be as he would have to read with his eyeballs glued onto the laptop screen to read properly.
"EXCUSE ME!" Shocked from his wandering thoughts, Jinki looked up from where he was still crouched on the floor and saw the CEO storming towards him.
And this is when I get sent to Human Resources for disciplinary actions... Jinki thought.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to ready himself to be humiliated, Jinki opened his eyes to then see Minho glaring at everyone in the room besides Jinki.
"How dare you push my secretary? Are you animals? Is this not a room full of directors? You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Minho scolded, the board directors looking miffed and sheepish, red in the face yet unable to answer back to Minho's scolding, getting embarrassed themselves about their own actions. After all, as much as they went against Minho for the petty reason of simply not liking him, they were still like sheep to Minho, who was a wolf in a suit. It was honestly amusing to Jinki, but he couldn't really appreciate it as Minho was still scolding them on Jinki's behalf. It wasn't like Jinki was some important person or anything anyway, Minho really didn't have to defend his honour.
Jinki was so wrong in thinking that Minho would request disciplinary action or even fire him for being late once. Jinki should have known better that this is the real Minho; empathetic, firm, and friendly, and definitely unable to tolerate any kind of injustice. And the main reason for why Jinki was even working at this company, even if the workload made him feel like he would need back surgery in the next few years.
"Are you alright?" Minho asked, as he gently pulled Jinki up from the floor where he had been crouching, the board members still frozen like statues at the fact that they had been reprimanded by a boy at least half of their age.
"Y-yes, sir, thank you." And why was Jinki so tongue-tied anyway? Minho had some weird powers with his eyes. Just one glance from the tall man's eyes could move something within you, the board directors' stock-still figures added proof.
"Your glasses..." Minho and Jinki glanced down at the destroyed lenses, looking very pitiful in Jinki's hands. Minho extended out his own hand and plucked them quickly from Jinki's fingers.
"I will get these repaired as recompensation for the horrible stampede which you have been caught in. I'm sorry, it is not in your job description to protect yourself during these situations. Consider the glasses a recompensation." To which Jinki simply blinked and nodded. Minho sure had a quirky sense of humour, even managing to put on a smile while reassuring Jinki and making sure he wasn't too shaken by the mob group behaviour. Jinki was touched by Minho's caring side.
Looking away from Jinki, MInho glanced around the room and noticed that the board executives were still there.
"Did you not hear me? The meeting is adjourned. You may leave." Finally, the board of directors and investors left (in an orderly fashion, thank goodness), leaving Minho and Jinki alone in the room. Fiddling with the laptop and his hands, Jinki felt awkward, especially when remembering that he had been late for the meeting today. But before he could wallow in any more negative thoughts, Minho loudly sighed and sunk back into the chair at the head of the table.
"Are you alright, sir?" Jinki felt it was ironic that it was now him asking Minho the same question; a reversal of the situation which had occurred only minutes before.
"Please, stop with the "sir" already, not from you too Jinki." Minho sighed, pouting up at Jinki. What kind of CEO pouted? In Jinki's opinion, it was unfair to be good looking, smart, good at your job, and a nice person, all at the same time, to which Minho excelled at all of these things greatly.
"We are at work, though, sir." Jinki calmly replied.
"Does it not frustrate you that you have to call me sir? Aren't you older than me?" Minho questioned. "I am not comfortable with you calling me "sir," Jinki-hyung. We have been over this same argument for three years already." Minho rolled his eyes.
"Sorry, sir." Jinki answered, only to gain a dirty glance from Minho. Yes, Minho did want Jinki to treat him as a friend rather than a boss, but Jinki could not do that. This was work. He needed his boundaries, and Minho was his boss. Also, what if he mistakenly called Minho by his first name in front of other business partners or investors? It would discredit Minho's position as CEO, and Jinki refused to let his own actions ever hinder Minho from getting the respect that he deserved, and that respect included Minho being addressed by his proper title or "sir." In the meantime, Jinki had always called Minho as "Minho-sshi" or "sir." He was an employee after all.
"One day, I'll get you to call me informally by my name, just you wait Jinki-sshi." Minho narrowed his eyes, and Jinki gulped because it had been three years and Minho still had not let up on this same topic, and Jinki could feel his resolve cracking each day that he worked here. But he would stay strong in the face of professionalism. However, Jinki couldn't resist rolling his eyes at the honorific that Minho had added to his name at the moment. Like he hadn't been calling him "Jinki-hyung" since they first met. Leave it to Minho to be stubborn.
"Sir, have you done your rounds to the departments yet?" Jinki asked, changing the subject to which Minho definitely noticed. Finally remembering that he was the CEO, Minho got up and dusted the non-existent dust from his suit and Jinki stepped forward to fix Minho's tie, ensuring maximum cleanliness and sharpness in Minho's appearance. It was kind of strange though, because Minho kept looking down at Jinki while he was fixing his tie. It wasn't as if Jinki was doing anything out of the blue either; he normally fixed Minho's tie but never under such an intense gaze which felt like the summer sun beating down Jinki's back even though it was October. Glancing up questioningly, Jinki stared at Minho as he finishing tightening his tie.
"Is there anything wrong, sir? Is the tie too tight?" Jinki asked, reaching back to loosen it. Minho brought his own right hand up and laid it on top of Jinki's hands, all while not speaking and still focused on staring at Jinki, for whatever reason.
"...Sir?" Jinki asked again, eyebrows scrunching. Snapping out of whatever that weird moment was, Minho shook his head.
"I just realized this is the first time I've ever seen you without glasses," Minho answered, eyes glancing back to Jinki's face again.
"Well, I like to be able to read what's in front of me, sir," Jinki replied. Minho amusedly smirked and raised an eyebrow, much to Jinki's confusion. It's not like Jinki's reply was wrong or anything, other than coming off as a bit of a smart-aleck response, but that was Jinki's brand of humour, anyway.
"Maybe you need stronger glasses then." Minho spoke, Jinki now completely lost. Staring at the CEO like he had lost his mind, Jinki retracted his hands, moving them from Minho's warm hold and stepped back.
"I will bring this laptop with me, sir, and I bring it back to your office after I have edited and transferred the files for my own records. I will join you shortly for the rounds." Jinki removed himself from whatever weird conversation had just been occurring seconds ago. Minho could be weird sometimes, and was suprisingly hard to read. Maybe it had to do with the whole "CEO" thing he had going for him.
"Understood. Meet me in 30 minutes in my office." Minho said, contrary to his actions where he was still rooted in place. Understanding Minho's comment as a dismissal, Jinki bowed and left the room to quickly attend to his work and catch up on the morning list of emails for Minho which Jinki still needed to sift through.
With Jinki gone, Minho slowly sat back down onto his chair, clutching his face in his hands.
"Lee Jinki, you....how can you look so cute even without glasses?" Minho groaned before laying back in his chair for a few minutes of rest.
<3
Minho and Jinki's department rounds had gone pretty horribly, especially when they visited those in charge of the new make-up line which was currently failing. The team members looked very down and Jinki's heart went out to them. Surely, they were the ones who suffered the most; their pure intentions and hard work was being dismissed all due to some shady online rumours, and as well, they were disheartened due to the slandering of the idol's reputation, as many had taken a great liking to the said idol. Minho spent the most time at that department, comforting the team members and ensuring them that no, the company would not completely scrap this project and no, the model would not be replaced, and to just wait patiently for good results. Jinki handed out biodegradable tissues to those who were crying, and tried to lighten the mood by asking about the environmentally friendly lip-balm which they created, which he was particularly interested in. By the end of the visit, the team members looked way more cheerful and rejuvenated, profusely bowing and thanking the CEO and the secretary, crying happy tears at the company's (more like Minho's) decision to not yet take any drastic measures.
As they eventually left and were in the elevator on the ride back to the CEO's office (which was of course on the top floor), Jinki spoke up.
"It must be hard to see your employees like that, huh?" Jinki asked, gauging for Minho's reaction. In the elevator with just the two of them, Minho now showed his true face; his furrowed eyebrows, slight frown, and eyebags, made all the more prominent by the dark shadows cast by the bright light in the elevator, told Jinki everything he needed to know.
"I just can't help feeling responsible. It was ultimately my decision which model we would go with, and my hands are tied in this situation. Waiting around for something to happen has never felt right for me. I would do what I can but it's really not my place as the idol is not under our company. I trust U R entertainment, and every celebrity we have worked with from this entertainment have been the most pleasant. I just want our team to feel good about all the effort they have placed in this long project."
Jinki had heard of CEOs who were much colder, and maybe that was were Minho could be at a disadvantage. CEOs who were colder could have gone ahead and sued U R entertainment. But Minho was empathetic, and against every other businessman, placed immense trust in whoever he partnered with. This could have been a disadvantage, yet Minho was incredible at discerning those who were trustworthy and loyal from those who weren't. So although Minho was unfailingly loyal, he had every reason to be as his intuition had never lied to him. And from what Jinki could see, Minho had most likely made the right decision to stick by his intuition. One valuable thing Jinki had learned from working with Minho was to never bet against the man. If he wanted something to happen, it would happen. It made Jinki admire Minho's strong will very much.
"It will work out, just as everything you do works out well in the end. You got this, sir," Jinki answered back confidently. Minho glanced at Jinki, the storm clouds slowly being erased from his face and sent a blinding and fond smile to Jinki, before stepping off the elevator, as it had finally arrived at there floor.
Blinded and dazed from Minho's bright expression, Jinki almost accidently got sent back down to the bottom floor, as the elevator had been called on; luckily, Minho reached inside the elevator, taking Jinki's wrist and pulling him out before it closed with him inside. In flustered silence, Jinki and Minho stood staring at each other before Jinki started giggling.
"Sorry sir. I spaced out a bit there." Jinki said, giggles still uncontrollable. He was imagining how funny it would be if he travelled all the way back to the first floor and then had to wait again to get back up to the top floor. What a waste of 5 minutes! When Jinki walked away to continue doing his work, removing his wrist from Minho's hold and walking away, Minho was still stuck in the same spot.
"So cute..." Minho muttered to himself, shaking his head and scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. He really had felt cheered up by Jinki's words, too. Jinki's constant reassurance really helped Minho power through his days, even ones as bad as these, and adding Jinki's giggling was like a serotonin boost for the worn out CEO. Not entirely snapped out of his thoughts, Minho bounded off the same way as Jinki, Jinki's secretary desk in front of his own office. It seemed like Jinki was still giggling quietly to himself though, making Minho try to hide his own smile as he passed him by onto his way to the office. For a couple of hours, both men worked in relative silence, Jinki coming into the office twice, once for lunch and another time for snacks.
Near the end of the long day of work, Minho finally saved all of his tabs and shut down his computer, while locking up all of his belongings and cleaning his office space. It sure was a headache to go through the hefty pile of progress reports and other complaints, which were still a large amount even as Jinki had filtered out most of his mail. Minho was already anticipating plenty interviews and meetings with partnered companies who had also worked together on the make-up brand, and he cut off his train of thoughts before it could get worse. Then, as he was stretching out of his chair in relief, he suddenly heard shouting and some noises of something crashing, before he bolted out of his office to see what the commotion was about.
There, on the ground lay Jinki, soaked in what looked like coffee, with an angry-looking businessman standing above him, still shouting profanities as Jinki was still on the floor, deadly silent.
"What is going on here?"