The Secretary's Power (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9
“Well, since you told me to be at ease, I’ll ask you something candidly.”
For the first time, Hye Won met his gaze with unwavering firmness.
“There’s actually been one thing I’ve been curious about all along.”
Since joining the company, she’d never once shown interest in office politics or anything of the sort.
She’d only ever wanted to become a valuable employee and a member who wouldn’t tarnish the prestigious image of this renowned airline family.
She’d always thought she ought to repay, in some form, what she’d received.
But repaying it like this—she’d never even dreamed of such a thing.
“Managing Director.”
When Hye Won called him now in a different tone and with a different expression, Tae Beom tensed up this time.
A clear glimmer lit up her dark eyes. In that gaze—transparent and radiant like a black gemstone—there was no trace of tension left.
To Tae Beom, who was used to jaded eyes hardened by corporate politics, her clear, earnest look felt exceptional.
“Managing Director Ha Tae Beom.”
Not knowing what words might spill from those crimson lips, Tae Beom swallowed hard.
His heart pounded heavily, swelling as if about to burst.
Even those few seconds of silence felt suffocating.
“What do you think of Kim Yang?”
…What?
His tension instantly deflated. Tae Beom unconsciously leaned back, nearly losing his balance.
Only now did he realize he’d been clenching his fists all this time from sheer nervousness.
“W-What do I think of Kim Yang? What kind of question is that?”
“I’m just curious. You said I should ask anything I’m wondering about, and I tried not to pry, but…”
What do I think of Kim Yang?
Hmm…
“How on earth should I answer that?”
He’d never even considered the thought before.
“Well, if I had to give an overall assessment—someone to spend a lifetime with, I suppose.”
Whoa. A lifetime companion…?!
Hye Won’s eyes widened at this unexpected bombshell confession.
“Are you going to get married?”
M-Marry? Now it was Tae Beom’s turn to tense up his eyelids.
Out of every question he’d ever been asked in his life, this was by far the most absurd and utterly speechless-making.
Me marrying that male Kim Yang Hoon?
So you really have zero prejudice, huh? Not even this much?
“Assistant Manager Yoon Hye Won, I’m someone who extremely, intensely prefers what’s conventional. I don’t know what image you’re conjuring up, but that’s simply out of the question.”
“Oh…”
Hye Won let out an indistinct sigh and slowly nodded.
He’d just called Kim Yang his lifelong companion, yet within seconds flatly declared he wouldn’t marry him.
Then what was it? Some secret lover kept hidden in the shadows? Is that why he couldn’t even save the name properly in his contacts?
Was this what they showed in dramas—some chaebol’s mistress or something like that?!
“Right. I won’t ask anything more. Thank you for answering honestly despite your hesitation.”
“Hesitation? It’s just Kim Yang we’re talking about—why would I need courage for that?”
Hye Won turned her head slightly as if unwilling to continue the conversation and took a sip of her drink.
She’d thought their lifestyles were merely different, but now realized the chaebol mindset was fundamentally foreign—making him feel far more distant than she’d imagined.
“Was that really what you were curious about? My relationship with Kim Yang?”
“Yes.”
“Any other questions? Nothing else?”
“Huh? Other questions? Not really…”
Heh. Tae Beom twitched his eyebrows.
She’d puffed herself up as if about to drop some grand, earth-shattering inquiry—and the only ridiculous thing she asked about was Yang Hoon.
Was this her way of saying, “I’ll find what I need myself—don’t bother me unnecessarily”?
Annoyed, Tae Beom filled his glass to the brim.
He’d half-expected something profound, so this vague, playful question from Hye Won left him deeply deflated.
Just then, as he refilled his glass, Hye Won’s empty glass suddenly appeared in his line of sight.
He looked up.
“Want a drink?”
“Yes, just one more, please.”
Still wary, Tae Beom filled her glass halfway.
Come to think of it, they hadn’t once clinked glasses since the dinner began.
Since they weren’t exactly close, he hadn’t offered—but her reaching out first caught him off guard.
“Wanna fill it all the way?”
“No, it’s not that—I just wanted to…”
She hesitated, then raised her glass for a toast. Tae Beom instinctively clinked his against hers.
The corner of Hye Won’s lips, which had been set in discomfort all evening, lifted slightly.
It lifted a bit more—and a moment later, she was smiling brightly.
“Managing Director, I sincerely congratulate you on your appointment.”
…Suddenly, something hot surged up from the very bottom of his heart.
Tae Beom let out a long-held breath all at once.
“I truly, truly welcome you back to Korea. I mean it.”
“Well… if you say so, then okay.”
Tae Beom turned his head and gulped down his drink.
Was his fluster due to her sudden toast, or because of your face regaining that smile you’d lost for a while?
Neither thought pleased him.
Yang Hoon, who’d said he’d be right back after a quick phone call, hadn’t returned even after thirty minutes, then an hour.
In the meantime, two more bottles of alcohol had been added to the table.
Tae Beom, who’d been drinking alone all evening, now began clinking glasses with Hye Won across from him.
“Shouldn’t you stop drinking already?”
Though he’d kept refilling her glass as requested, Tae Beom asked while topping off her drink again.
“Kkuk—it’s fine.”
“You don’t look fine at all.”
One full bottle was Hye Won’s absolute limit.
She downed each glass the moment he poured, then abruptly rested her chin in her hands and started giggling to herself.
Tae Beom grimaced in alarm.
Neither knew the other’s drunken habits.
“Hey. Hey, are you okay?”
“Ah… ah, it’s tough. Ugh, so tough.”
She giggled while shrugging her shoulders, yet her words said the opposite.
Worried she might cry, Tae Beom peered through the curtain of hair covering her face.
Ah, thank goodness—she was just laughing alone.
Clearly, Kim Yang had foreseen the future and fled in advance.
“Hey. Hey! Are you alright?”
“Ugh, seriously—it’s so hard.”
As if left alone in the world, she didn’t respond no matter how many times he called.
Hye Won leaned her head against a pillar, blinking slowly—eyes closing, then opening again.
Dizziness suddenly crashed over her, making it hard to open her eyes properly. This was exactly why she usually avoided drinking.
She could’ve stayed sober and gotten up fine…
…She’d felt sorry for Tae Beom, as if he’d been abandoned by his family.
She didn’t know his backstory or conflicts—yet all day, she’d pitied him as someone cast aside by his own blood.
Ji Seok’s guarded hostility toward Tae Beom had already felt intimidating, but with even his family ignoring his inauguration, his position now seemed precarious.
Had his parents emotionally disowned him? Did his whole family secretly wish he’d just disappear?
“But I thought we weren’t supposed to worry about chaebols…”
“Are you talking about me right now? That sure sounds like it’s about me.”
That’s why she’d wanted to drink with him.
After such a grand inauguration ceremony, he sat alone—and somehow seemed unusually small. Probably because she understood the weight of familial absence better than anyone.
Because she’d lived through it. Because she was still living it.
Because she knew exactly how hollow it could make a person feel.
“I’m really ridiculous…”
At that thought, Hye Won let out a soft chuckle.
How absurd was this? She, who should’ve been wary of Managing Director Ha Tae Beom, was now leading the charge in pitying him.
And even if that wasn’t the real reason, the very act of pitying him felt utterly pointless.
Even if he fell off a cliff, he’d land safely—because his rock bottom and hers were worlds apart.
“I’d really appreciate it if you drank some water and sobered up a bit. There’s no one to take care of you if you pass out.”
The bottom of life.
A place he couldn’t even imagine—a depth of existence he’d never witness even if resurrected from the dead.
…You know, Managing Director?
I came from there.
Slowly, Hye Won lifted her head and stared at Tae Beom, her eyes glazed with alcohol.
“Staring at me all drowsy like that won’t help—I’m not planning to take care of you.”
His words had grown terse.
As she squinted hard at his blurry face, a new curiosity suddenly struck her.
Her very first real question. Though she’d already missed her chance to ask it.
Managing Director. Managing Director.
“Managing Director… do you happen to know my nickname?”
“I don’t care, so I don’t know—and I don’t want to.”
Then why did you come back to Korea, where no one even welcomes you?
“My nickname is…”
If I asked, would you actually answer?
“…The Sleeping Princess in the Booze.”
“Hey! Hey, wake up!”
Hye Won’s eyelids slowly slid shut.
What is rock bottom in life?
A time when nothing is chosen by your own will—a period where currents of self-loathing flow beneath the surface.
A drifting phase with a broken rudder, unable to steer any direction.
A life sustained amid others’ utter indifference and your own inability to save yourself.
All you’ve done is grow older. There’s no cherished memory or nostalgia to hold onto.
At every meal, you wonder if you’ll even get to eat tomorrow.
Surviving itself felt like an overwhelming assignment—
you never even dared dream of anything else.
“Oh my goodness, you startled me!”
At six years old, Hye Won learned deeply just how heavenly the word “ordinary” really was.
Crying alone in the pitch-black night was a luxury. When thirsty, she had to drink water—because there was never enough tissue to wipe away tears—so she naturally learned to empty her grief without weeping.
Rock bottom in life.
Hope reflected in the distant sky—a single ray of light seeping through a fingernail-sized crack.
At six years old, she already understood that light would never reach her unless she were reborn.
“Miss! What if you catch cold sleeping here? Oh dear, I can’t bear it!”
Just recalling it made her body stiffen, chilled to the bone, muscles aching—this was what rock bottom truly meant.
Frowning deeply as she tried to sleep, Hye Won snapped awake at the sensation of someone shaking her.
She’d slept so deeply that even after opening her eyes, her mind didn’t return right away.
“Goodness, what if you catch cold sleeping here? Oh dear! Go home to sleep!”
What? What’s going on?
Hye Won hurriedly sat up. Her lower back cracked loudly—pop, pop, pop.
She barely opened her eyes halfway and scanned her surroundings. The scene looked familiar, yet her thoughts wouldn’t connect.
…Ah.
After blinking a few times, she finally realized—she was in the office, near her own desk.
Early dawn, before morning had fully arrived.
The cleaning lady, who’d started work before any employees arrived, had just woken her up from the floor.
“Do you work so hard you don’t even have time to go home? Goodness! I’ve never seen someone sleep on the floor before.”
Whoa. Why am I here?
“You must’ve been freezing—how could you sleep like that? Kids these days! What if you wake up with a crooked mouth?”
Startled by the woman’s scolding, Hye Won sat up further, running her hands over her head as she looked around.
She’d been lying atop an English newspaper carelessly spread out on the floor. Her neatly removed heels sat beneath her feet.
Her stiff limbs, chills, and muscle aches weren’t from “rock bottom”—just from sleeping on the office floor.
This is insane. Ugh.
As awareness returned, a headache struck—Hye Won squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again. The cleaning lady, emptying a trash bin, glanced over at her.
“At least your mouth isn’t crooked.”
“Yeah. Sorry for scaring you.”
“I thought you’d died! Oh dear—hurry up and get up before others see you.”
“Okay…”
Hye Won struggled to her feet. Her stiff arms and legs protested in pain.
“Now that you’re awake, can I toss this newspaper you were lying on?”
“Ah—yes, sure.”
She turned to gather the English newspaper she’d used as a mat—and slowly exhaled.
A jacket carelessly tossed on the floor. Clearly, a man’s suit jacket she’d been covered with all night.
“What kind of newspaper uses such squiggly writing? Do big corporation folks read squiggly script too?”
“It’s not mine…”
It was Tae Beom’s.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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