Minjeong’s heart was beating erratically, her palms were sweaty and a million thoughts were running through her brain as she stood before the front door of the CEO’s office.

From here, Minjeong felt tiny…

Even the door is intimidating me

The blonde had only been managing Jimin for just under 6 months now. The road were rocky at times, but she swears she was doing her job fine.

She supposes there was that one instance, when the girl had accidentally fallen asleep in her car whilst waiting for the actress to finish up. As a result she didn’t pull up in time to pick the latter up until 30 minutes later…

But that was just once! It was just one time!

And that was months ago!

No way that should warrant her jobless... surely they understand she's only human... so mistakes are prone to happen... 

So why... why was she asked to meet the CEO so abruptly today?

The blonde sighs and straightens her back. There’s no point in speculating about it now.. her answer was quite literally between her and this massive, over pretentious door.

Taking a gulp to calm down her nerves, she finally found the courage in herself to push open the barrier in front of her and step inside

“Hm?” A man, probably in his 50s looks up from the documents on his desk and adjust his glasses. “Kim Minjeong was it?”

His voice was deep and a little bit raspy, the man wore a dark suit, his graying hair was slicked back and he had a very familiar stern and cold look on his face.

Must be a common trend running within this company...

If the tag on his desk which read “CEO Lee Jun-Woo” didn’t give away his position, his aura definitely did.

The man was just sitting there but Minjeong could already feel his strong presence illuminating over her.

Yeah.. he was definitely built to be a CEO for sure.. and he’s hardly said anything substantial yet.

“That’s right- ah- sir!” Minjeong bows down a full 90 degrees, the beating in her ear getting stronger. “I heard you wanted to see me”

“That’s correct, I believe you’ve been managing Yu Jimin for the past 5 and a half months, is that right?”

“Ah- Yes” Minjeong’s body felt stiff under the gaze of the CEO, there was no other way she can put it, in this very office… she felt like an ant not worthy to even be standing in such a prestige atmosphere.. which by the way is like on level 20 on the company building…

Adding to the feelings of a hierarchy she was undoubtedly on the bottom of.

“So there are a few things that have come to my attention about you, I have a gathered a few insights here, reported to me by the people that work closely around you”

Report…?

“One of which was from Yu Jimin actually, 5 months ago, complaining that she was being driven in Sedan by her newly hired manager”

…

Ohh.. you have got to be kidding me..

“Sir I-“

“That had be written off since then by her, but I also see here, not too long ago, there was an incident where Jimin had a public encounter with a mob of fans, in which you handled, but never reported the incident back to the company”

“…” The blonde was so stunned by the CEO’s words, she couldn’t even formulate a sentence to respond with. During that time, her main focus was purely on Jimin, she didn't think reporting the incident would have served any favours for the A-lister so she chose to have kept it under wraps...

“Also from the staff on the movie set as well, they have recently reported that you two tend to argue quite a bit onsite, especially about food disagreements for Jimin, but recently more bickering had been involved in general”

“She was lacking nutrition in her diet.. I was just trying to get her to eat better..” Minjeong had to try to defend herself on one of those points at least once...

“They also said and I quote: They bicker so much recently like they are an old married couple, very comfortable with each other it seems” he continued, completely ignoring the blonde’s defence

..what..?

“Kim Minjeong” The CEO stands up and walks towards the shorter woman who felt the hair at the back of her neck stand up as the intimidating man approached. “About your management style with Jimin…”

Here it comes…

Minjeong tried her best to even out her breath.. she didn’t want to be too much of a mess in front of the CEO despite the fact that she’s pretty sure she was about to be let go from her position.

She closes her eyes in preparation.

“Thank you..”

“Huh..?” She opens her eyes, not sure if she heard what he said correctly.

The CEO grabs ahold of Minjeong’s hand and begins to shake it with both of his “Thank you so much, Minjeong”

“I- I’m sorry?”

“Jimin that girl.. huh.. She’s always been a bit of a tough one” He lets go and lets out a sigh “She a very sought out actress, but she really doesn’t hold back when it comes to staff… she’s a lot nicer than she seems on the outskirt I promise, but her attitude had been a big problem in this company. I was starting to run out of options if one more manager was going to quit… so thank you Minjeong, thank you so much for looking out for her, doing your job, but most importantly, finding your way around her and actually being able to take care of her despite her usual antics.”

“Oh no no no” She waves away the thanks like she didn’t deserve the praise. “It’s nothing.. I’m just doing my Job”

Am I dreaming right now..?

“Well you’ve hit a new record for the job, you’re officially the longest standing manager for Jimin by far! So please…” Minjeong’s eyes widen in absolute shock as the freaking Lee Jun-Woo, the CEO for god’s sakes, bows down before her “Please keep taking care of her, I know she’s a handful, but in you, for the first time, on behalf of our agency, we see hope. She’s not easy, she has constant temper tantrums and she’s very unrealistically demanding.. but whilst we’ve been observing from afar, in her own unique way, it seems she has taken a liking towards you… so please... don’t walk away from this role.. even if she makes it challenging.. Minjeong I mean this, you are by far the best manager we ever had for Jimin and perhaps you may even serve as a catalyst to change that girl's attitude around a little... at least for the remaining staff that's there to help her."

He smiles at her warmly… and for once since she’s been inside.. the CEO no longer looked like that tall intimidating, cold and ruthless scather anymore… and instead he’s starting to look more like a teddy bear more than anything.

“I wouldn’t dream of stepping down Sir” Minjeong responds, looking down with a small prideful curve of the lip. “I’ve put in too much effort with her already to step away” She looks up with determined eyes “I want be there for her and help her as much as I can, that’s my duty as her manager, but also, I want to see her succeed further along and be happy”

Smile never dropping from his face, Jun-Woo leans back on his desk and lets out a relieved sigh “I’m glad I took a chance on a random hire this time. Might be one of the better decisions I’ve made since starting this company, and please call me Jun-Woo”

Minjeong opened , about to respond when the door behind her suddenly opens, causing her and the CEO to looks towards the source.

“Jimin?”

“Minjeong?”

 

The two woman said in unison as their eyes locked with one another, before both slowly turned back to the CEO with a questioning look.

“Jimin, glad you can make it, I was just having a chat with your manager, glad you two are getting along fine this time”

“What’s going on? Why did you call me in suddenly and what is she doing here?” Jimin walks up and asks so casually, Minjeong felt terrified for a moment. She understands the woman is the face of the company… but should she really be barking at the  CEO out of all people like that.

Her unhinged mannerism really knows no bounds sometimes..

“Straight to the point I see” The man stands up straight and picks up a file on his desk. “Now that both of you are here, I wanted to discuss an important matter. Minjeong” He looks over to the blonde “This will mostly involve only Jimin, but as her manager, you should be aware.” Seeing the shorter woman nod he continued “As we all know, Jimin, the current movie you've been filming has just ended and we are finalising everything for the premiere.. hHowever, it has come to our attention that we will be releasing the film at the same time as another highly anticipated one: 'Hour's Rush Two.' They just unveiled the trailer and release date yesterday."

The man puts his file down and directs his gaze at Jimin unreadably. "We need a way to redirect the audience's attention to our film. It seems that your fame alone won't be sufficient this time; the other movie has generated too much hype, especially since the first film."

“So what are you proposing? You want to create another scandal?” Jimin asked so fast and coldy, Minjeong had to her head in astonishment.

Is this something she commonly has to do…?

The blonde instantly recalls all the times she’s read an article about Jimin, whenever the A-lister is on the headlines outside of a recent film or drama, it's typically about some form of scandal that usually fades away weeks later.

But now that she thinks about it.. there are usually a lot of rumours written about her… one’s that are never confirmed…

But having seen Jimin’s lifestyle now… Minjeong sincerely doubts that girl is actually going outside and causing trouble on purpose.

"We were contemplating paying an online media company to circulate a dating rumor between you and your co-lead, Kang Ji-Hoon, before releasing a statement ourselves to confirm it and generate additional buzz."

What..? No way this is okay… Jimin wouldn’t agree to something like that.. she shouldn't!

She looks over at the actress… but her expression was… just

Empty

There was nothing there.. no emotion.. or even a small reaction…

"I've discussed it with his agency as well, and they've agreed to go through with that plan. They should have already discussed the details with him," Jun-woo continued. "So, for you, please make the situation believable with him. Go out together in public, maybe—anything that can draw attention back to you and, consequently, your film."

“Is that all?” Jimin responds, eyes still empty and her words were as cold as ice.

“That is all”

“Then I’ll be leaving now” Turning on her heels, Jimin didn’t miss a single beat before walking right out of the CEO’s office, her eyes caught Minjeong’s as she turned momentarily... with a glint of... something written behind them... but it did not last longer than a second before she had disappeared in sight...

"Jimin—" Minjeong was about to run after her but realized the CEO was still right there, standing before her. "I’m— I’m sorry, but I should really go after her. I’m scheduled to drive her home now anyway."

“Please do” he sighs “This always happens… so don’t feel too inclined to try to wrap your head around her behaviour right now”

 

Always happens!? Do you mean you put her through fake rumours and allegations all the time.. for what..? To keep your stocks growing?

Ridiculous

Biting her tongue (She’s being doing that a lot since starting this job) Minjeong said nothing else before chasing after the A-lister.

⋇⊶⊰❣⊱⊷⋇

The drive home to Jimin’s house was in silence…

It’s something Minjeong should typically be used to by now…

Didn’t all their trips together usually resulted in silence?

It’s been like that since the very beginning really.

In exception to a few occasions… oh.. and recently too…

Ever since the incident with Jimin’s public meltdown… let’s just say… their relationship came to a bit of shift.

Don’t get her wrong, they still have their usual manager and actress relationship… but things really are no longer tense as they used to be.

They still have disagreement and Jimin still makes her life more eventful than ever on a daily work basis…

But it’s no longer the same.

Because Minjeong now bickers back.

Because Jimin’s complaint no longer carried the same iciness it used to.. rather it was replaced by something warmer… as if she’s doing that because it’s just a way she interacts with minjeong.

As if it’s their little inside understanding.

The usual “Oi! Get me my coffee” No longer felt like a Diva talking down to her staff, but more of a means of talking to someone that she was perfectably comfortable with...

Yeah…

Thing have changed between her and Jimin…

It was subtle..

But the impact was huge

They were comfortable with each other now…

There was a sense of trust… and there was understanding of each other’s characters

And because of that very understanding…

Minjeong knows for a fact… that this silence in the car was definitely not the usual expected quietness she had gotten used to...

It just felt damn off.

“Jimin” She called out, trying to break the thick tension in the air. “Are you ok?”
 

“Fine.”
 

And if there was one thing that the blonde learnt about women on this planet, it's that "Fine" usually never meant fine.

“Are you really alright being placed into a dating scandal like this?” She gave up on tip toeing around the woman and went straight to the point.

“What difference does it make, whether I’m alright with it or not?” The taller looked away. Her words felt final, like she didn’t want to continue the discussion.

“What difference? It’s your life and your reputation we’re talking about, you should have a say!”

Jimin tsked in response and chuckled bitterly, “I know you bleach your hair blonde, but don’t tell me that bleach sunk into your brain too, have you learnt nothing these past months?”
 

“Look you don’t need to be so rude about it, I’m just saying-“

“I wouldn’t be rude, if something smart came out of your mouth for once”
 

“Jimin-“

 

“Drop it Minjeong, seriously. Drop it.”

Her grip on the wheel tightened and her jaw felt tense as her eyes became more stern staring ahead on the road. J