A week had passed since she finally drafted something that she felt proud enough of to submit to Embrace’s editors. But knowing that if she sent it to Dara, her beloved manuscript would never see the light of day, she had cheated a little by sending her draft straight to Julie instead of going through her most immediate supervisor.

Dara was so busy, anyway, Jisoo doubted she would miss it. 

It was nearing the end of Jisoo’s shift. She was in high spirits as she sat at her work station, reading over submissions and checking the formatting for the proper submission guidelines. It was a quick way to weed out the unlikely ones, since anyone who truly merited being published in Embrace would care enough to make sure their manuscript followed the guidelines. Normally, this was a tedious job. Jisoo would sit at her desk measuring font size and wishing she was doing something else.

But today was different. She had actually done something, had actually taken action, and she was glowing with pride in herself and in her work. Measuring text font size no longer felt like a job she only deigned to do. She was happy to be of service.

Then it all ended when Dara slapped something down over her work. 

Jisoo gasped, startled as she looked up and met the ire in Dara’s eyes.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Dara shouted, causing everyone in the office to look up at them. Jisoo’s heart started pounding. All at once, she started zooming back through the recent past, making sure she hadn’t messed up on any tasks.

“Excuse me?” Jisoo said, shocked and a little scared. Dara leaned in, bringing her furious glare closer to Jisoo’s shaking form.

“You think I don’t see you sneaking around behind my back,” Dara hissed. “Snuggling up to Julie and changing your title? What is this? Are you after my job?”

Jisoo’s voice shook as she spoke. “What? No! I… I don’t understand what you’re talking about—”

“This!” Dara shouted, pushing the stack of paper closer to Jisoo on the desk. “I’m talking about this! Look at the byline! Read it out loud, new girl.”

Jisoo’s felt frozen in her chair, but she reached a hand out, took the paper from the desk. It was the mock-up of the upcoming issue. For just a moment, Jisoo surged with pride seeing that the story printed on it was the one she had sent to Julie. But then she read from the byline as Dara instructed. Jisoo swallowed.

“Kim Jisoo, Editorial Assistant?” she said. She looked up at Dara, who was still seething.

“I don’t understand,” Jisoo said. Dara scoffed and leaned in again.

“Editorial Assistant?” Dara said, spitting the title out as if it were vinegar. “What game are you playing at? Aren’t you the optimist?”

Jisoo looked around at all the people who were staring at the Associate Managing Editor yelling at the new girl. But she still didn’t understand what had made Dara so angry.

“But… I am the Editorial Assistant,” Jisoo said quietly. Dara flushed red with fury.

“You’re not an editorial assistant yet, missy!” Dara shouted. “You’re just my assistant, my secretary!”

“Dara, that really is my title,” Jisoo said, trying to keep herself calm, but her heart was pounding and her breathing was getting hot and heavy. “I’ll even go down to HR with you to confirm it—“

“Are you calling me stupid?” Dara said, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at Jisoo. “Do you seriously think that I don’t know my own assistant’s title?”

Jisoo swallowed a painful lump in .

“But I really am the Editorial Assistant! Julie said—”

Dara gripped the edge of her desk as she brought her face dangerously close to hers. Jisoo had never seen Dara so angry.

“That’s Ms. Kiyoko to you!” Dara said. The look on her face was so ripe with fury that Jisoo could do nothing but sit in her chair and tremble under her stare.

“Stay out of my way, alright?” Dara hissed in a low voice. “This is my job and I worked my pretty little off for four years to get here. I gave up too much, and I’m not about to let a naive little piece of plastic like you take this from me. Stay out of my way and stay in your place. You’re just an assistant around here, keep your head down and pay your dues like everyone else, or else I’ll fire you. Do you understand? And say goodbye to that short feature project, you’re manning my inbox and fetching my dry cleaning until further notice.”

Jisoo pressed her lips together to keep from crying. “You can’t do that,” she whispered.

“Can’t I?” Dara said, standing up. “I’m your supervisor.”

Jisoo felt a sharp stab of pain in her chest as she felt her dream slipping away, crushed under the tyranny of Dara’s supervision. She swallowed again and tried one more time to fight back.

“Dara, please,” Jisoo said, voice breaking. “I’m telling the truth. I really am the Editorial Assistant. I’ve