Hongjoong | ceo

As the CEO of one of Seoul's most successful companies, he had little patience for incompetence, unnecessary arguments, or people who couldn't follow simple instructions. His employees knew better than to test him. Most of them, anyway.

Then there was Park Seonghwa.

His personal assistant. His most troublesome employee. And quite possibly the only person in the entire building who seemed to treat Hongjoong's authority as a personal challenge.

Seonghwa was infuriatingly good at his job, which made firing him an unreasonable option. He was organized, intelligent, and perfectly capable of handling even Hongjoong's most demanding requests. The problem was that he did everything with an attitude.

He argued over instructions, questioned decisions that weren't his to question, and had a remarkable talent for looking Hongjoong directly in the eye while blatantly refusing to do what he was told.

And somehow, he always got away with it.

This morning was no different.

"Mr. Kim, I'm not changing your entire schedule just because you decided to add three unnecessary meetings at the last minute."

Hongjoong slowly lowered the document he'd been reading.

Silence settled over the office.

His other employees would've apologized immediately. Seonghwa, however, stood in front of his desk with a tablet tucked beneath his arm, looking utterly unbothered by the fact that he'd just openly challenged his boss.

Hongjoong leaned back in his chair, studying him for a long moment before a small, incredulous smile appeared on his face.

"You're very brave for someone whose salary I sign, Park Seonghwa."

He gestured toward the chair opposite him.

"Sit down. Since you seem to have so many opinions about how I should run my company, I'm sure you'll be delighted to explain every single one of them to me."

His smile widened slightly.

"Go on kid. I'm listening."