ANOTHER dreaded Monday meeting has just finished and Joohyun was relieved that their Chairman was still in a good mood due to the band’s performance. His mood was even boosted up by seeing good reports from each department as well which concluded the meeting way earlier than it should be. 

When she got back to their department, Joohyun was welcomed by Shin-chajang’s loud voice. He was on his phone, shouting at someone. The young director just rolled her eyes and went straight to her office. She had to organise the minutes of the meeting and pick the things she should relay to the managers.

She took out the tea that she made for herself at home and poured herself a glass before she started going through her mails. She then noticed a leave application that needs her electronic sign. 

“Who files a leave right on the day of…” Her voice trailed off when the document opened. The day-off was filed by Seulgi. The reason for it was that she was sick. Joohyun let out a sigh believing that Seulgi really did get sick after what happened last Friday. But two days have already passed…

“Is she still really sick or just…” Joohyun shook her head. “Why am I being worried? Things like this happen. Resting for one day won’t be that bad.”

The document has to be signed by their Section Manager but it seemed like Shin-chajang was still busy fighting with someone on the phone. It would look weird if she just signed it without the said guy’s signature so Joohyun waited for a bit only to be surprised that the application was returned and cancelled by Shin-chajang himself. 

“What the—”

The young director immediately stood up and went out of her office. She was then welcomed by the chaos coming from the Advertising Design Section. A representative from the Marketing Department was there with his arms crossed and foot tapping. He was obviously looking very disappointed. 

“What is happening here?” Joohyun’s presence brought the said section into silence. 

“Director Bae!” The representative of the Marketing Department immediately gave her a respectful bow. “Good morning, Director. I am Manager Byun Baekhyun from the Marketing Department. We have requested for a poster to be used for an online advertisement long before your move in the department, Director. It seemed like our request was forgotten.”

Joohyun brows furrowed deeper. “Can you show me that request you’re talking about, Byun-gwajang?”

“Yes, Director!” The said guy was quick to find the said document from his tablet. Shin-chajang was already gritting in anger. He knew well that the director’s stare would be on him the moment she sees the document. 

“Shin-chajang.”

There it went, the call from the director. The said guy stepped forward in response. “Yes, Director Bae?”

“Didn’t I ask you about the progress of this project from you last week?” Joohyun’s glare made all the other employees gulp. “Didn’t you tell me that it was already done?”

The Section Manager’s fists balled. “I-I’m sorry, Director. I think I mixed it up with other small projects.”

“Don’t make me laugh.” Joohyun crossed her arms. She looked at every one in that section. They were all standing from their desks with their heads down. “You call this a small project when you can’t even do it in time when it was requested months ago?”

There was no answer from the employees. Even the person who should be representing them was dead silent. 

“What should we do now, Director?” Manager Byun asked, looking so dispirited. “The poster needs to be sent to the online market by today for their 3 o’clock sale. The promotion will run for two weeks. If we can’t submit our poster then our products might get removed from the promotion list. Shin-chajangnim assured me that it was just an easy one so I placed my trust with him and didn’t check about it but now—”

“Just shut the hell up, Byun-gwajang!” The guy ran his fingers through his hair, trying to think of a solution. 

“See, Director? We are the ones aggrieved here but Shin-chajangnim has the nerve to speak like that to us—”

“Byun—”

“Enough!” Joohyun raised her voice. That was the first time they heard Joohyun raise her voice and the whole office fell dead silent. “I am in utter disappointment now, Shin-chajang. Do you really think it’s time to fight when we are in the wrong here? Instead of running your mouth, why don’t you just start with working with the poster that you were claiming to be so easy?”

“...I…” The Section Manager let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

Joohyun rolled her eyes and then turned to Manager Byun. “Byun-gwajang, when do you need the poster?”

“T-The sale will be at 3PM. The latest we can submit the poster will be at 12NN. I will try to negotiate with the other company and apologise for the late submission.”

“Alright then. I’m really sorry for this. I will make sure to have the poster done by—”

All attention turned by the door when they heard someone coughing. Joohyun’s eyes widened when she saw Seulgi coming in. Her hair was in an even messier bun than usual. She was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and sweatshirt. What was more concerning was that she couldn’t even stand straight and had to find support in anything that she could grab onto to remain standing.

“G-G-Good morning…” She greeted them in a very hoarse voice. “I-I’m sorry I’m late…”

“Kang Seulgi-daeri.” 

The masked girl winced at that call from her department head. She tried her best to look at Joohyun but even her glasses couldn’t assist her since her eyesight was much more blurry that day.

“D-Director Bae, s-sorry—“

“What the hell are you doing here!?” The director shouted at her, surprising all the other employees once again. “Have you ever seen yourself!? Do you think you can even work in your state!? I thought you already filed a leave!?”

Seulgi felt awful. She couldn’t believe that she’s being scolded when she was forced to come down to report. She was scolded when she responded to the call for duty after her leave application was returned. She got scolded for filing a leave but still got scolded for reporting despite her high fever.

“Shin-chajangnim called for her, Director.” The disappointed Marketing Manager dropped the bomb. Joohyun’s eyes widened after realising that it was Seulgi that Section Manager Shin was shouting at the phone earlier.

“What the actual ?” Joohyun turned to the said section. Her face was full of disbelief. “What the hell? Do you guys really need to call in for a sick person to do this? Can’t you even solve this by yourselves!? Just how many of you are left here!?”

No one was able to answer. Not really being able to process the right thing to do because of her fever, Seulgi went to her computer and booted it up. All eyes were on her.

“Byun-gwajangnim—“ She coughed right after calling his name. “I-It’s about the 3PM Mega Sale event, right?”

The guy’s eyes widened and went straight to Seulgi’s desk. “Y-Yes, Kang-daerinim! It’s that—Oh my gosh!”

Everyone felt confused by whatever Manager Baek had seen on Seulgi’s monitor. Their necks were stretching out to that one place.

“I-I’ve seen the request b-but there was no p-proper order for it… I m-made some drafts for it before j-just in case but t-totally forgot about it. I-If you w-want, you can—“ Seulgi was halted by another set of coughing. She had to gulp hard to somehow relieve . She even had to tell the manager to not get too close to her since she caught quite a serious flu.

If only she