“It would not work. If you were to give the senior staff more authority in the selection of their team members, they would bring in people who they like and that might just result in useless and resource wasting manpower!” 



Junhyung lowered his head and nodded, shifting uncomfortably on his seat as he mumbled, “What if we allowed them to at least be part of the interview and selection process?” He had spent the previous night planning all the smart comebacks or arguments that he would give if anyone were to reject his idea. However, the moment he entered the meeting room today, he doesn’t feel that sure about himself anymore. 



“That is just a waste of time. As the leaders of their own sections, they have enough things on hand and they would dislike you even more if you made them do more than they already have. Is it not enough that they already have such little respect for you?”



The young CEO crossed his legs and straightened his back, hoping to portray himself as someone more dignifying but all he really wanted to do was to retract back into his chair or maybe just walk out of the meeting room, “I guess we shouldn’t do that then. What would you suggest then?” Lie. It was all a lie. He felt that his idea was a better one and that the Human Resource department’s head was just throwing his weight –or many years of experiences in this case, around. 



“Leave the hiring and managing of workers to me. Oh, and give me a higher budget to hire better people who ca—“



“That wouldn’t be necessary”, an even voice cut through the room. 



The seated shareholders and department heads stared curiously at the fair male that had just entered the meeting room as he settled comfortably into an empty seat beside the young CEO. He gave an assuring nod to the latter before shifting his focus to the rest of the people in the room. He narrowed his eyes when he spotted a man. 



“I believe that you are heading the Human Resource department?”



“Yes and who are you to deem my suggestion unncessa—“



“I’m Yang Yo Seob, the CEO’s personal assistant. And these”, the fair male half-heartedly threw a whole pile of paper onto the middle of the table as he casually leaned back against his chair. “These are what allows me to say that what you are saying is irrelevant, untrue, unreliable, selfish—“



A slam of the table with his hands and the HR department head stood up, shooting daggers at the unfazed male with his eyes, “You have no right to speak to m—“



“Not credible, pointless, redundant, unhelpful…”



At the sight of the red faced and huffing department head, Junhyung felt laughter bubbling in him but swallowed it back in as he kicked Yoseob under the table and muttered, “I think he got your point.” 



Yoseob merely shrugged and pointed to the papers strewn on the table, “If you are literate enough and actually read through all of them, or maybe your head is too high up in the clouds to do so, you would see that many team managers have been requesting to participate in the selection of staff for their own team. Many times, they do not know who is coming in and are unsure themselves if the personality or attitude of the person matches the team. If they get a wrong fit, it takes them almost a year to get the person transferred out to a more suitable position. We shouldn’t be spending money to hire better workers. But rather, are we even utilizing the staff that we have to their maximum potential?” 



The head stuttered and stumbled on his words as he tried to give a rebuttal. However, the fair male was too quick for him. “Dig further into that pile and you would see that in most successful companies, the hiring process includes the direct supervisors of the employee-to-be. Let’s not drag this meaningless discussion any further when the answer is clear. Moving on… CEO Yong, what’s next on the agenda?” 



“Reforming of the sales and marketing department due to poor sales and hotel occupancy in the recent months.” The moment the words left his lips, a common look of outrage formed in two older looking females and Yoseob scoffed, pretty certain who the ladies were now. He eyed Junhyung resolutely, wordlessly conveying a message over to the CEO to fight back to the two women whom he was sure would begin their lengthy harangue in a matter of seconds.



True enough, it came.



“That’s ridiculous. It’s not our fault that the hotel does not have enough pull factor and that tourists, businessmen, or anybody else would prefer to go to other hotels for their stays.” The one with a curly whirly fringe, which involuntary caused Yoseob’s hand to twitch in wanting to pull on it, defended herself shrilly. The other lady was took a less offensive approach as she placed her arms closer together, squeezing her lumps together to form an even deeper valley on her chest, and fluttered her eyelids at Junhyung. “We really have tried our best, CEO Yong”



Yoseob swore that a whole rock could disappear in that forced valley and could not see how that woman could even think that that was remotely attractive. He snapped his attention back to the CEO and almost kicked the table in frustration as he saw the look of apprehension on Junhyung’s face now. He leaned towards the taller male and whispered through gritted teeth, “You better not be intimidated. If you are, I’m going to whip that useless booty of yours the moment we are alone in your office.”



Junhyung bit on his lips to prevent the shout of laughter that almost escaped from his lips. The smaller male’s choice of words were still refreshingly amusing even after the meeting and long chat they had the previous night before. If he dared, he would even say that Yoseob had a mildly violent tendency but of course, that should never be broadcasted to the smaller male or Junhyung would probably end up with something harder than a metal chopstick hitting him on the head. 



He gripped the side of his chair and straightened his back while shaking away his wariness, a tad braver now that Yoseob was supporting him, “The hotel is merely a building. It contains no life nor no ability to make resounding decisions. Therefore, the failure or success of it should not be its responsibility. The low occupancy rate is not something uncontrollable. If it has no pull factor, give it a pull factor. If the customers prefer other hotels, make the hotel more preferable. And your best is not really your best since you failed the main objective and role of your department.”



The fair male grinned as he saw the disapproving glares from the rest of those present in the meeting. He knew that they were so used to having a conceding CEO, someone whom they have gotten used to pushing around from the start. It was time that their CEO started behaving like one and it was never too late to start. Yoseob would make sure of that. 



Before anybody could actually find the words to counter the young CEO, Yoseob brought out another file filled with wordy-looking pages and pages of documents. He flung it towards the two ladies lazily as he leaned casually on an elbow, “Here are some examples of what you have been doing wrong or what you have not been doing. Let’s not drag this meeting any further than it already has been. Read through it, gain some inspirations from the notes I added here and there, and then, implement the changes as soon as possible. We will give you one week for the changes to be in place. If not, CEO Yong here will not hesitate to switch around your roles and maybe even remove you from your positions.”



A little smile crept up Juhnyung’s face as he looked at the smaller male but was kicked in the shin under the table. Clearing his throat, he put on his best stern CEO face and regarded the staff in the meeting room. “Since we’ve set things straight and make everything clear, I expect to see results. Meeting is adjourned.”



He reached to gather the files that Yoseob has haphazardly strewn on the table but he felt a persistent tugging on the hem of his shirt and saw the urging eyes of the smaller male. Ignoring the files, he walked right out of the meeting room door and never stopped till he reached the safe and private confines of his office room. A click on the door signifying its closure made him turn and he broke into a wide smile at the smaller male.



“That went well!”



The taller male dodged a smack on the head and made a cross with his hands in front of himself as a form of defence from the irate small male. “Well?! You almost allowed them to step all over you again! What did you say when you went ahead for the meeting? And you were so confident too, going all like, ‘I’m sure I can manage them, you can go ahead for your job orientation session.’ I don’t even want to i