Chapter Text
October 12, 2018
Sipping her non-alcoholic cocktail aboard the first-class suite, Hae-In watched as the familiar lights of Seoul came into view. First time back in Korea in 3 years. The last time she was home, her now divorced (for the third time) aunt was excitedly getting married (again). Hae-In never could quite understand how her aunt could trust men over and over when the impending doom was obvious to everyone who had eyes to see. Everyone in their family commented on how Hae-In was so much like her feisty aunt, but Hae-In never quite saw the appeal in marriage at least. Why bother when, all men had in common was greed and vanity and none had the guts to stay true to their word. Marriages work in as long as men can get to control, felt Hae-In, thinking of that creep at Stanford who she was happy to be finally rid of and had no intention of ever meeting again.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as you may see outside the window, the magnificent city of Seoul beckons us today. It has just stopped raining and the weather is a pleasant 12 C. We will be landing shortly; I request you to hold tight on to your seats as the landing maybe slightly bumpier than usual. Thank you for flying with us and we hope to have you back onboard soon.
Thump…
Men or not, she had a grandfather to impress, an empire to inherit and a sales record to set. And now, it was time to go home and get to work.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...
October 13, 2018, 8 am, Chairman Hong’s office:
“My dear granddaughter! 10 years in the United States, has that been enough time away home from you? Are you ready to shift some load off my shoulders?”
“Nae Haraboeji, I’m back for good. And I am ready to take Queens Department store into the trillion won club.”
“Department store? Who said you’d get department store? You’ll be starting as the Chief Technical Officer at Queens distribution.”
“But grandfather, you know I’ve always liked the department store! It’s always been my goal. I can step up for distribution at a later time, but I really want to start my career at department store!”
“I can’t just hand over a senior position at the department store simply because you are my granddaughter!”
“Then I will take in any junior position available! I can prove my worth to you no matter what job it is.”
Hong Man-dae sighed and picked up the phone to call his secretary. He knew his only granddaughter well enough to know that she wasn’t going to budge.
“Secretary Jang, have the intern positions at department store already been filled?”
“Yes Chairman, they were filled yesterday. All except one. There’s still one opening at the law department.”
“Secretary Jang, tell the HR that it’s also been filled. I have someone in mind for the job.”
“You heard that. You’ll start at the law department starting Nov 1 as an intern. It will be an unpaid internship position, you’ll be the junior most in the team and your job will be to help people keep track of documents. No input, no decisions- just do what’s asked of you. “ said Chairman Hong, half hoping that this would persuade Hae-In to reconsider, even though he knew it wouldn’t.
“Nae Haraboeji, understood”
“One more thing. You will be undercover. No one in the office except two security personnel shall know you belong to the Queens family; I will make sure everyone that already does will sign an NDA.” Surely this will make his granddaughter reconsider?
“Nae Haraboeji, understood”
“If you manage to keep your job and keep your identity a secret to every soul in the company until Jan 31, 2020. I will hand over the department store for you to run. Should you fail, you will move to Queens distribution and leave the department store behind.”
Hae-In knew all of these conditions were her grandfather’s ploys to dissuade her from taking up the job at the department store and she wasn’t going to give in without a fight. “Nae Haraboeji, understood. Since I have agreed to all your conditions, can I make a request?”
“I will do my utmost to stick to all the rules you have set. But I will need a space to be myself, just for 10 minutes from time to time. So, remember the emergency staircase in our building that leads to the rooftop garden?”
“Yes, what of it?”
“I need the app control to be able to lock the access and disable the camera of that staircase and the rooftop garden.”
“The staircase I can consider, but you cannot hog the garden to yourself whenever you please”.
“Okay, then the staircase for 10 minutes whenever I want. And the rooftop garden for 3 times until Jan 31, 2020.”
“Consider it done.” said chairman Hong. With her temper, Hae-In would get kicked out of the job by April, he had no doubt.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………...
October 31, 2018
She was starting the job tomorrow officially. But Hae-In likes to be prepared beforehand. If she was going to be the junior most person in the room, then she needed to know as much as possible about the other people in the room she was going to be with. Of course, she had already seen the C.V. and backgrounds of everyone in the department, but she needed to assess them in person too.
“Secretary Jang, It’s Hong Hae-In. Please inform the general manager of the legal department that the new intern who’ll be joining them tomorrow will be stepping in to the office today briefly to say hello.”
------
There was a strange buzz around the coffee machine. Normally Baek Hyun-woo was not one for gossip and never really cared, but he happened to hear his name floating around too so he had to know it now.
“What is the chatter all about?” Hyun-woo asked his teammates Kim Min-jun and Do Ji-hye.
“Oh, haven’t you heard? The new intern we were supposed to get tomorrow, she’s dropping by to say hello this afternoon apparently.” Said Ji-hye.” There are all sorts of rumours going around that she’s a special hire and all. Isn’t it strange though? I mean who wants to report to work a day early?” added Min-Jun.
The direction the conversation was going was not pleasing. Making sweeping judgements about people without even meeting them was something Hyun-woo absolutely detested “Well, we do desperately need a person in the team, and if that someone happens to be passionate enough to drop by a day early, then let’s just make it a nice place for them to stay.”
The air was punctuated by the sound of Hyun-woo’s phone ringing. It was general manager Ra Jun-mo “Baek Hyun-woo! Report to my office now. I need to introduce you to someone.”
“This is Hong Hae-In. She will be joining our department starting tomorrow as intern. She will be working to help everyone in the department, but her main duty will be to assist the junior division of the litigation team- that’s you, Min-jun and Ji-Hye. Please show her around the office and help her get acquainted.”
In front of Hyun-woo was an exceptionally pretty woman in her late 20s, a bit too old to be an intern. Perhaps she was entering the formal workforce after part-time studies? She was also wearing what seemed to be second hand clothing, and her handbag looked a bit dated too. Hyun-woo wondered what circumstances forced her to take up the job and could see why she was so desperate to be diligent at her job.
“Hong Hae-In sshi, our workplace is generally a very welcoming place to be in. And I will make sure you are treated with respect. Let’s start with the tour of the pantry, and that is also where Min-Jun and Ji-Hye are right now. The three of us usually deal with all minor litigation suits and are the busiest team in the department. Min-Jun and Ji-Hye may seem a bit harsh at times, but do not be discouraged by it. They are not bad people, it’s just that this is a fast-moving job.”
“Min-jun sshi, Ji-hye sshi. This is Hong Hae-In, our new intern.”
Hae-In recalled the employee bio data records she’d seen the day before, “Kim Min-Jun, son of a successful prosecutor, using the experience of working at a conglomerate to add to his portfolio before moving to a plum job at a corporate law firm. Do Ji-Hye, Yonsei grad, first gen lawyer, working to pay off student loans but would never let anyone think she came from poverty. Both likely to quit before the end of 2019. And finally, Baek Hyun-woo, the tall and handsome rookie lawyer of the litigation team, graduated at the top of class at SNU, not a Seoul native, liked by everyone, and has the best performance rating of any employee in the company in the past year, an achievement unheard of for a rookie. All those stories of his kindness were not exaggerated apparently, but who knew what was beneath those smiling bright eyes?”
“Annyeonghasseyo, I’m Hong Hae-In, the new intern in the litigation team. I look forward to working with you three.”
“Welcome, Miss. Hong. We look forward to working with you! We are just about to have coffee, would like to have a coffee with us now?” asked Ji-hye pointing to the instant coffee stick.
“Thank you, but no I do not drink mix coffee. Is there a Nespresso machine?”
“Ah, yes there is but its only for managers and above. Pity but you have to get used to the stick. But tell me this Miss. Hong, you must be really nervous to start work here, is that why you’ve come a day early? Do not worry Miss Hong!” Min-jun said.
“Nervous? Why would I be nervous? I was curious to see what kind of people I’ll be working with. That’s why I turned up early.” Replied Hae-In nonchalantly. Just then Hyun-woos phone pinged.
The litigation musketeers
“Wah, this woman is no joke! It’s like she’s our boss not the other way around. I guess we will have to teach her some manners or else our team will be in trouble with everyone else because of her”.
“You’re right! I smell a headache already”.
Hyun-woo closed his phone and sighed. “Come, Miss. Hong. I’ll show you your desk and introduce you to other members of the department.”
“Sincerity” said Hyun-woo, once they were out of the pantry and headed towards the main office.
“What?”
“I think what I see in you is sincerity. You must be really excited to start your job here. No one goes a day early to a place that makes them nervous. You go early because you can’t wait to start you job with all your sincerity. So, Miss. Hong! I look forward to working together with you.”
From everything she had read about Baek Hyun-woo, she was ready to meet an efficient and intelligent man. But his kindness and willingness to give people grace- that’s something she did not anticipate. “It is going to be interesting working here.... “She thought.