Chapter 8

Peace is always quiet, like the calm before a storm.

After replenishing my energy with last night’s Korean beef feast, I went to work feeling refreshed.

At 10 a.m., a joint meeting between the Strategic Planning Division and the Marketing Team was scheduled.

The topic was , a huge project that could determine the future of our company.

“Then, Marketing Team 1, please begin your presentation.”

Executive Director Kang Seo-jun, seated at the head of the table, announced the start of the meeting as he flipped through the documents with a cold expression.

Looking at him, it was hard to believe that he was the same man who had been wearing sunglasses and choosing Korean beef at the supermarket yesterday.

Team Leader Park stood in front of the screen with a confident expression.

“Good morning. I’m Park Cheol-su, Team Leader of Marketing Team 1. I’d like to present the core concept of this project.”

A flashy PowerPoint presentation appeared on the screen.

The title was:

<Project: UNIVERSE – Contain Your Own Universe>

Huh?

For a moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

That phrase.

That concept.

And the main copy, “Your Own Universe.”

That was the concept I had spent two weeks working on late into the night.

“These days, the MZ generation places great importance on having their ‘own world.’ That’s why we’ve chosen ‘Universe’ as the brand name and are proposing customizable packaging.”

As Team Leader Park smoothly explained the concept, my mind gradually went blank.

It was my idea.

He was even using the exact same data graphs I had researched and analyzed from the market research.

What… is he doing?

My hands began to tremble.

I remembered something Team Leader Park had said last Friday.

“Assistant Manager Lee, organize the ideas for this project and send them to me by email. I’ll review them over the weekend.”

He said he wanted to review them, so I sent everything to him.

And now he had taken the entire thing and was presenting it under his own name.

“This concept is very innovative.”

Executive Director Kang nodded and picked up his pen.

“The target analysis is accurate, and the budget plan is reasonable. Team Leader Park, you put a lot of work into this.”

“Thank you, Executive Director! The whole team stayed up all night working on it together. Haha.”

Team Leader Park bowed shamelessly.

The whole team?

No. I made it by myself.

You spent the entire weekend playing golf.

Anger burned inside me.

If I stayed quiet, all of my work would disappear.

One year from now, when our contract ended, I would be alone again.

At that point, what would protect me wouldn’t be the 300 million won I had received.

It would be my career, with my own name attached to it.

And that man was trying to steal my future.

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

I raised my hand.

“Executive Director.”

Everyone in the meeting room turned to look at me.

Team Leader Park’s expression immediately stiffened.

“Yes, Assistant Manager Lee. Do you have something to say?”

Kang Seo-jun asked casually.

“The proposal Team Leader Park just presented…”

My mouth was completely dry.

If I said, “That’s my idea,” I’d essentially be openly challenging my team leader.

But I hated the thought of having my work stolen even more.

“Could I add some explanation about the sources of the data? I was the one who researched them.”

I spoke as politely as possible, but there was a clear message behind my words.

I researched this.

Team Leader Park frowned and hurriedly grabbed the microphone.

“Ah, Assistant Manager Lee helped with the data research. You worked hard. We’ll discuss the details separately later. Let’s not interrupt the flow of the presentation.”

He cut me off and smoothly brushed it aside.

He made it sound as though I’d merely done a small errand for him.

“……”

If I said anything more, I’d only become an insensitive subordinate who was ruining the atmosphere of the meeting.

So I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut and glare at Team Leader Park.

Before I knew it, the meeting was over.

Executive Director Kang approved Team Leader Park’s proposal and told everyone to proceed according to the plan.

Team Leader Park, now the victor, left the meeting room humming happily.

I returned to my desk, trembling with betrayal.

“Assistant Manager Lee, come see me on the rooftop for a moment.”

Team Leader Park tapped my desk as he walked past.

Here it comes.

On the rooftop garden, where no one else was around, Team Leader Park lit a cigarette in the secluded smoking area and looked at me with a crooked expression.

“What was that earlier?”

“Pardon?”

“Raising your hand and making a scene during the meeting. Are you crazy? Do you think I’m a joke?”

Smoke covered my face.

I swallowed the bitter smell and clenched my teeth.

“Team Leader. I worked on that proposal for two weeks. How could you present it as your own without even saying anything to me?”

“Your own proposal? Hey, Lee Da-eun.”

He gave a mocking laugh and stepped closer.

“What you wrote was just a draft. A draft. I’m the one who polished it, packaged it, and made it appealing to the Executive Director. That’s my ability. You just threw me the raw materials.”

“You used everything I wrote, from the data analysis to the copy!”

“So what? Are you whining because your name isn’t on it?”

Team Leader Park poked my shoulder with his index finger as if he couldn’t believe how ridiculous I was being.

I felt disgusted.

“Hey, have you only been working in society for a day or two? When people below work hard and produce something, it’s normal for the people above them to get some of the credit. If I succeed, do you think you won’t get anything out of it?”

“This isn’t putting a spoon on someone else’s meal. It’s stealing.”

“Watch your words.”

His eyes became vicious.

“How dare an assistant manager accuse a team leader of stealing? Did you forget who writes your performance evaluation?”

“……”

It was a threat.

When performance reviews came around, one stroke of his pen could ruin everything I’d worked for that year.

“You’re having a hard time because of your loans, aren’t you? If you get the lowest performance rating and end up with zero performance bonus, can you afford that?”

I didn’t know how he had found out, but he knew exactly where my weakness was.

What a despicable man.

My basic salary alone was barely enough to cover my loan interest and living expenses.

He knew that the success incentive from this project was basically my lifeline.

“Keep quiet. If this project succeeds, I’ll mention during the company dinner that you contributed too. Don’t create unnecessary trouble.”

He crushed his cigarette under his shoe, patted my shoulder, and turned away.

“Let’s work well together, okay? Learn to read the room.”

The rooftop door closed.

Silence returned.

I grabbed my weak legs and collapsed onto a bench.

I felt so wronged that it was as if all the blood in my body were rushing backward.

But there was nothing I could do except bite my lips until they hurt.

At home after work, I was the madam of a chaebol family worth 300 million won.

At work, I was a powerless subordinate whose career was in the hands of a team leader.

That was my pathetic reality.

At night, I sold my soul to earn 300 million won.

And during the day, I had to hand over even the results I had created through my own blood and sweat.

“…I’m such an easy target.”

My private life.

My professional life.

Why was my entire life being taken away from me, twenty-four hours a day?

Today, my situation felt especially miserable.

When lunchtime arrived, the office became noisy as coworkers left in small groups.

But I remained at my desk.

I was in no mood to eat, so I escaped to the bathroom.

I went into the farthest stall, the only place where I could hide my emotions, and locked the door.

Click.

Only then did the breath I’d been holding finally escape.

“Ugh…”

The moment I sat down on the closed toilet lid, hot tears began falling.

In front of Kang Seo-jun, I had confidently declared that I would prove I was worth 300 million won.

But at the company, I couldn’t even make a sound against my team leader.

I felt pathetic.

Idiot.

Pushover.

Stupid fool.

Then it happened.

I heard the clicking sound of women’s heels outside the bathroom.

“Hey, did you see Team Leader Park’s presentation earlier?”

“I did. But wasn’t that something Assistant Manager Lee had been working on?”

“Yeah. She’d been working late all last week to put it together. Team Leader Park just snatched it.”

They all knew.

They knew, but they stayed silent.

That fact was even harder to bear.

As soon as their footsteps disappeared into the distance, I weakly left the stall.

My face in the mirror was a complete mess.

How am I supposed to work this afternoon looking like this?

I vigorously washed my face with cold water and forced a smile at myself in the mirror.

The corners of my mouth trembled.

“Get a grip. This isn’t the time to cry.”

I wiped my wet face and walked slowly down the hallway.

Then I saw a familiar figure near the emergency exit.

It was Secretary Kim.

He was secretly talking to someone on the phone.

“Yes, Executive Director. I’ve confirmed it.”

Executive Director?

I instinctively stopped walking and hid behind the wall.

“Yes. I compared Team Leader Park Cheol-su’s PC logs with Assistant Manager Lee’s cloud records. According to the file creation dates, Assistant Manager Lee created the files two weeks earlier. It’s clear that Team Leader Park plagiarized them.”

My heart dropped.

Executive Director Kang had someone investigate it?

He knew I had been wronged?

The call seemed to end, and Secretary Kim disappeared from view.

I was confused.

Why?

Why was he helping me?

We’re only in a contractual relationship.

I couldn’t understand that man at all.

While I stood there thinking, my phone rang.

It was Team Leader Park.

[Team Leader Park: Hey, where did you go? We need to make supplementary materials this afternoon, so get back here quickly. Be prepared to work overtime today.]

The miserable reality.

Whether Kang Seo-jun knew about my injustice or not, the person holding my leash right now was still that man.

“Haa…”

A deep sigh escaped me, as if the ground itself were collapsing beneath my feet.

I wanted to run away.

But then I remembered the loan interest and credit card bills that had to be paid every month.

They were holding my ankles firmly in place.

Without saying anything, I shoved my phone into my pocket.

Then I walked back into that hellish office.