The Supposed Alliance

Hana sighed for the umpteenth time, smacking her forehead on her desk. She was inside her room, her laptop and a few paperworks messed up atop her working desk. Apparently, she had been brain-storming for the past three hours, thinking of possible ways, proof, and comebacks for the next court trial. So far, she hasn't done much, nor thought much, primarily because she didn't have that much information, as the CEO hadn't given her the time to fill her in with what she need to know for her to "help" him win his reputation and the company's as well.

Stupid Park Chanyeol. Who does he think I am? Sherlock Holmes?

She didn't really want to blame her boss since he has the right to give her the information or not, but what could she possibly do? Yes. He did agree to let her help with the case but he only gave a mere approval. Did he expect her to dig up the information herself from square one. It wasn't like she was a investigator after all.

Sighing, she lifted her head that was leaning on her wooden desk and began to stretch her arms. After doing so, she sighed yet another time before determination creeped up inside of her. Inhaling a deep breath, she began to fiddle with the files that were scattered all over her desk, examining the paperworks that she had managed to copy from the company files, with permission of the CEO himself, of course.

After thirty minutes, she finally closed her laptop and plopped on her bed, groaning as she felt a headache coming. She massaged her temples, clearly stressed out and frustrated.

I don't think I'm going to get anywhere with this amount of information.

She couldn't just give up with that though. She had to conclude at least something for the night, as the upcoming trial would be on two weeks. Hoping for an SOS, she hesitantly dialled Chanyeol's number, hoping that he was still awake and not-so-frustrated to answer her inquiry.

Hence, she decided to call her boss. After three successful rings, the CEO picked up the phone, and Hana just had to roll her eyes at that. It has been pretty evident to notice the small things about the CEO if you were to be his secretary. An example of that would be for calls. The CEO would always answer his phone within the third ring, which was really weird and creepy for Hana's liking. Nevertheless, she was thankful that the CEO wouldn't be able to see how she rolled her eyes, because Chanyeol disliked the movement very much.

"What?" Chanyeol asked, his voice flat and stern at the same time.

Well, good evening to you, Hana thought, but of course, she wouldn't say that. "Good evening, sir. I'm sorry for the disturbance, but I was hoping that you can answer a few of my questions regarding the trial so that I can at least have more basis for my research," Hana said. She could here an exasperated sigh on the other line, which for sure, came from the CEO himself.

"What do you need to know?"

Hana fist-bumped the air, obviously feeling triumphant as the CEO agreed that easily for the first time. "Thank you so much, sir!" She spoke enthusiastically, which surprised the person on the other line. "Currently, I am in the middle of studying and researching Kim Jongin and Oh Sehun's case. I came across their files and I was unable to search anything suspicious, except the previous embezzlement that they did which caused their termination of contract in the company. However, I don't think that that was the whole picture though. I just want to ask if they had any other issues before."

"None, actually."

"Really?" Hana asked, surprised. If that was true, then something was definitely fishy. Why would they decide to embezzle all of a sudden, when they had been displeased of the CEO's treatment for a long time then? To prove that point, Hana has surveyed their department for the past month, and discovered that the two indivuals had been, indeed, displeased since the very beginning, when Chanyeol took his throne. That itself leads one suspect for Hana: Wu Yifan. Why would he hire those individuals oh-so-suddenly? Then again, it would be too obvious to just hire then all of a sudden when the issue has just been fired then. Even so, it was just too fishy for Hana's liking.

It was possible that there is an alliance.

"What about the incident with your office? You know, when Oh Sehun came to your office that day. He said that Kim Jongin wanted to speak to you that day. Isn't it possible that they did, you know, the thing you're accusing me of?" She asked hesistantly, a bit cautious since she was a part of that issue as well, primarily because she was fired because of that.

"No. They didn't. The Security Team had given me the full coverage that day, and the culprit had been caught the next day."

"What?!" Hana screeched, surprised and mad. She couldn't believe that the culprit was already caught, and even so, why did the CEO deem that it was her fault when he had already caught the culprit in the first place, even managing to send her a letter of compensation. "And I got fired for that? Why?" She continued, displeased. She didn't mind whether she was disrespecting her superior, as it was disrespectful for her as well that she had gone through a lot of things because of something bad that she didn't cause in the first place.

"Yes, you were. And to answer your question, it was because you offered to shoulder the damages. It was, in fact, your fault for not supervising my office."

She casted multiple curses at the CEO, giving him the middle finger mentally. "What the actual ?" She muttered, feeling extremely pissed off. She managed to breathe multiple times and eventually managed to calm herself after deep breaths. "If you don't mind me asking, who was the culprit?" She seethed, her fist clenching on her side. As much as she wanted to loath the CEO, he was a victim of the situation as well, even though he kept on acting like a .

"It's not your business, Miss Choi. And it's not even related with the court trial."

"Can you just ing tell me, sir? Please. I know that your probably want to sleep and shut me up right now, but those are not going to happen if you keep going around the bush. Let's just get this over and done with and just tell me who it was!" Hana exclaimed, feeling her demeanor wear off.

An ample amount of silence passed by as the two kept silent, for different reasons.

"Kim Joon Myun."

The CEO spoke silently, Hana not hearing him completely. "What?"

"I said, it was Kim Joon Myun!"

Kim Joon Myun. The COO. The one who Hana thought was "missing in action." What in the hell? "Oh," was her smart reply. The sudden revelation silenced her and her anger along, as it seemed a bit surreal for her, before she shook those thoughts off for a moment and began to speak again. "Thank you, s--" She was cut off when she heart the surprising beeps on the other line.

And that was that. That was when Hana's eyes went wide from both surprise and anger. Did the CEO just hang up on her? Just when she was about to thank him. It was improper, but then again, what was she to expect from the CEO?

This man seriously need to take Anger Management Classes.

Shaking her head in disapproval, her mind began to wander off to Kim Joon Myun's case.

It was too surreal for her liking. Why would the COO openly go inside the CEO's room, take a copy of the picture and spread it all over the Internet? Why would he when he knew that there were surveillance cameras around? He should've known how the security was, when he was an executive as well. It was too open, too simple and not to mention too doubtful. It was as if it was planned, even though it may seem not. Her mind flew off to another suspect that had also been missing in action since the incident.

What happened to Soeun, then?

*** *** ***

"Miss Choi, come to my office. Now." The CEO announced through the intercom, informing her. She stood up from her chair in a swift motion and went inside Chanyeol's office, keeping her pokerface on.

"What can I do for you, sir?" She spoke, her voice kept on monotone.

Chanyeol's ears perked up, surprised at the latter's tone of voice. Usually, she would respond in a hesitant manner, sometimes, in an excited manner, but most of the time, in an overly arrogant manner that Chanyeol hates -- that sarcastic tone that she uses whenever she felt like talking back to her superior. This tone though was new to him, as it was quite unexpected for her to speak in such a tone that was so unlike her.