THE whole meeting room was covered with tension. The Section Manager of the Advertising Design Section stood there frozen after Director Bae asked him a question that he should be able to answer.

“What’s the matter, Shin-chajang?” Director Bae asked, leaning back to her chair as she crossed her arms. “I am asking which works were designed by this famous person that you just mentioned. I thought you were the one who did the research yourself? You should be able to answer this, am I right?”

The man gulped before forcing a laugh to lift up the mood. “S-Sorry, Director Bae! I just can’t remember now. It’s because of aging…” He then sent signals of help to Team Manager Yoon but the guy rigidly shook his head, wishing that no one saw him do that.

“Interesting.” Director Bae’s right eyebrows rose up but quickly went down. “At least you should have a note or anything to remind you if you’re getting forgetful like this.”

The other managers included in the meeting were just looking at each other, all backs were straightened and frozen. They couldn’t believe that their new director, who was just 32 years old, was already grilling them in her first week at work. She wasn’t just poking someone, she’s dealing with the biggest clown and bully of their department. Section Manager Shin, the boomer among boomers. Take note that the guy is already in his mid-forties.

Heck, almost all of the managers are older than her.

“Director Bae…” the annoyance in the tone of the said man couldn’t be hidden but he still tried to smile at the Director who was years younger than him. “I’m sorry, let me just check my notes.”

He then used his laptop which screen was currently being mirrored at the huge monitor screen of the said meeting room. He started searching for the works of the person that they were talking about, sending the other managers into the pit of second-hand embarrassment and agony of constrained laughter.

“Shing-chajang, I hope that you remember that your laptop’s screen is being casted in our monitor. We can see what you are doing.”

That comment from the Director flushed all the blood off of the man’s face. He hurriedly closed his browser’s window. It was too late though. He didn’t just show them that he was lying about his notes, he also showed them all the bookmarked pages that no one should ever see.

Joohyun took a deep breath. She looked at her watch before looking back at the said guy. “Be honest with me, Shin-chajang. Are you really the one who made this report?”

“Y-Yes, Director!” The man shamelessly answered, he was sweating so hard while the AC was blowing the coldest wind.

The Director sighed while shaking her head. “Then why can’t you present and defend it properly? I just asked about the designer that you mentioned yourself.”

The woman tilted her head to the side, obviously annoyed of what’s happening. She couldn’t believe that a section manager actually stole the work of an assistant manager and presented it in front of their department’s meeting without any shame at all.

The man wasn’t able to answer at all. He was caught and his mind just turned black. It felt like his mind was reformatted into a clean usb stick. Normally, he would be able to find his way out to situations like this during the time of their former director but Director Bae is completely different.

She’s very intimidating despite her young age. It is really rare to see someone in their thirties becoming a department director in a huge company. It won’t be weird if this is a small company of some sort but this is a huge corporation. For Director Bae to land in such a position in her young age, the woman sure has an exceptional background. May it be educational or whatever it may be.

But everyone in that company knew that she didn’t get there with the help of anyone. She already had a name for herself before she even entered the company. She’s an alumna from the prestigious Yale University and graduated with flying honours. She speaks four languages and is widely known for her competitiveness. In addition to the brains, Joohyun also has head-turning beauty that doesn’t seem to be taking any damage from her hectic lifestyle. Her beauty together with her strong personality do not fail to get her features in any form of media.

Joohyun took one more look at the man with those dark brown, intimidating eyes. She then turned to Team Manager Yoon. “Please call the one who did the report in.”

Joohyun was sure she saw jaws dropping. Even Team Manager Yoon was surprised, he even got a slip of the tongue. “S-Seulgi-ssi?”

Section Manager Shin turned to him as if was trying to shoot laser with his eyes. The younger guy knew he messed up but who can blame him? Joohyun’s glare was really scary and it was really Seulgi who wrote the report in the first place.

“Seulgi?” Joohyun acted innocent despite knowing the truth. “Call this Seulgi-ssi inside. Now.”

“Y-Yes, Director!” Team Manager Yoon hurriedly went outside and he soon came with the fidgeting Kang Seulgi. Joohyun had never seen someone as nervous as Seulgi. Her eyes were literally restless and she kept on gulping. She was bowing to the managers but it looked like she would be fainting with each bow.

“Director, here’s Assistant Manager Kang Seulgi.”

The Team Manager gave her a tap by the shoulder to greet the Director.

“D-D-Director, y-you called f-for me?”

Seulgi’s stammering was very concerning, her confidence is obviously nowhere to be seen. What’s even more concerning was the faint smirk it brought to the face of Section Manager Shin. That made Joohyun’s eyebrow raise again but Seulgi thought the eyebrow raise was because of her. Her heart felt like it was going to explode.

“Kang-daeri,” Joohyun called, leaning forward. She placed her chin on the back of her hand. “Will you tell me anything about this graphic designer called Sheila Levrant de Bretteville?”

“A-A-Ah?” Seulgi turned to her Section Manager as if asking what was happening. The man was obviously threatening him by glaring at her but Team Manager Shin gave her some push.

“Seulgi-ssi, the Director wants to know about the said designer. Please answer the Director’s question.” The man told her with a cheerful voice. Seulgi, still confused about what's happening, tried to compose herself and answered.

“S-S-Sheila Levrant de Bretteville… D-Director, I thought you were from Yale University? Y-You should know about her! She’s a very famous graphic designer and the Director of Yale University Graduate Program in Graphic Design. She’s famous for being the pioneer in feminist designs…”

Joohyun nodded while smiling. She was relieved when Seulgi’s stammering somehow disappeared in the middle. She also seemed very enthusiastic when talking about the said designer.

“Of course, I know her. I’ve met her many times back in uni.” The smile on Joohyun’s face disappeared when her stare transferred to the man beside Seulgi. “But Shin-chajang was reporting here and mentioned about Director De Bretteville but when I asked him about her, he couldn’t even say anything at all. It appears that he wasn’t actually the one who wrote the report.”

Seulgi gulped. She was then reminded that the Director saw her working overtime just for that report. Did she see the contents and realised that Section Manager Shin was lying?

“Are you the one who wrote this report, Kang-daeri?”

Again, there was silence in the room. Seulgi scanned the whole room. It felt like she saw heads nodding, as if convincing her to just tell the truth to the Director. She took one look at her Section Manager but she was shocked to see him wearing a face of defeat. It was the first time she saw the said man like that.

“Y-Yes…” Seulgi wet her lips and gulped once more. “I-I-I was the one who did the report but Shin-chajang-nim guided me with the report. H-He—”

Seulgi stiffened when Joohyun rolled her eyes. “Then why is your name not written as the author of the report? I will just let it go if the Section Manager just came here to present the work a subordinate did. It would be reasonable if he didn’t know a thing or two since he was just reporting on your behalf like some group school project that’s full of .”

Eyes widened once more when they heard the director cuss.

Joohyun took another look at her watch once more and stood up from her seat. “We’ll get back to this later. I have a meeting with the Chairman.”

The managers also stood up as soon as she left her chair. She stopped by the section manager and his favourite subordinate. “At the very least study the material first if you’re going to claim it, Shin-chajang. That’s very unprofessional of you.”

With that, Joohyun left the room and as soon as the door closed, Sec.Mgr. Shin turned to Seulgi and T.Manager Yoon. “You two, follow me to my desk.”

The man then rushed outside leaving the other managers making fun of him. He has been doing it for a while now–robbing works, taking credits from others. The former Director knew of his bad working ethics but didn’t say anything about it since they were close but finally! The man just met his match.

But that doesn’t mean it would be good for Seulgi.

JOOHYUN was greeted with a wide smile by their CEO when she entered his office. Together with him are the directors of the other departments. Joohyun was confused. She didn’t know that it would be an executive meeting.

“Please have a seat, Director Bae.” the CEO said which Joohyun immediately obeyed. She gave nods to the other directors as she took her seat.

“How was your first week at work, Director Bae?” the CEO asked, the smile on his face wasn’t faltering.

Joohyun actually wanted to complain about that one section manager but now she couldn’t because of all the other directors present. She decided that she would do it some other time. The CEO won’t have anything to do about it anyway. If she would like to complain, she must go first to the HR Department.

“The workload left by the last director was really something. I wanted to go around and know more about the employees in the department first but the work keeps me locked in my office.” Joohyun answered with a hint of disappointment. “But I am sure to finish cleaning the mess by Wednesday.”

The other directors nodded at each other. Indeed, Bae Joohyun is operating in accordance with their expectations. This woman’s career is really something to look forward to.

“If you really want to get to know more about your subordinates then you should all go to an M.T.” One of the directors said. “We will help with the expenses. I believe the Design Department needs it the most.”

“Thank you very much. I really appreciate the concern.” Joohyun said.

The CEO also agreed with the suggestion.