Chapter Twelve

My eyes widened at his sudden question. My cheeks burned once more. My ears rang as I panicked. "Oh, um, please don't mind that, Mr. Nam. That was a mistake on my end," I replied as quickly as possible.

"That only means you had a reason to stare. You can tell me," he insisted.

I stared at him as I hoped that he would change his mind. But to my dismay, it seemed that he wasn't about to give up on this conversation.

He added, "Miss Ryuk, I'm not mad if you stared at me. I just want to know the reason why. Everybody has their reasons when they do something. Even if it was as odd as staring at somebody."

I stood frozen and contemplated on what to do. Should I really tell him what I was thinking when I stared at him a while ago? Wouldn't that be a weird way to start my connection to him as an employee? Wouldn't he takr me to be similar to my other co-workers? This situation could go in many different ways. And I wasn't seeing anything positive that could come out of it.

"Well, Miss Ryuk?" I jumped as I snapped out of my thoughts because of his voice. I looked at him and he seemed very eager to hear my explanation.

I smiled nervously and asked, "Can't we simply forget about that, Mr. Nam? I mean, it's really not that important."

"Hm, it may not be that important. But I'm extremely curious as to what your reason is," he smiled as he intertwined his hands on top of the table once again.

I sighed as I looked down to my feet. I guess there was no other way around this. I had the growing suspicion that Mr. Nam wouldn't let me leave this room - this building, even - without an explanation to my previous action.

Ugh! Why did you have to stare at him for that long, Mingyu?! I thought to myself. You're the one that put yourself in such a situation.

I took a deep breath in and stood back upright. I closed my eyes and blurted out, "I was staring at you, Mr. Nam, because you felt similar to me. Nothing more. I'm very sorry if what I did was strange or offensive towards your person." I immediately bowed and remained in that position. I opened my eyes and panted silently with my eyes wide open.

I replayed my words over and over again in my mind. And I couldn't help but be frustrated with myself. I could've worded it with a bit more class. But there was no other way to say it. And I didn't want to linger in that situation any longer. I couldn't take the embarrassment any much longer.

I heard a slight snicker from Mr. Nam before he said, "You're too scared of nothing, Miss Ryuk. Please, stand up properly. There's no need to be too formal and too apologetic for something such as that."

Slowly, I stood back up but I still held my breath. I clutched onto my tablet as I kept my eyes on the floor. I didn't want to look at Mr. Nam. I didn't even know how to look at him after my horrendous admission.

He continued, "Like what I said earlier, I'm used to people staring at me. When you're a businessman at such a young age, people are truly in awe of you. And besides, your reasoning is different from what I hear most of the time. Most people will say either it's so cool to see a young billionaire. Or that I'm blessed with such good looks."

I gazed back at him and to my surprise, there wasn't a trace of anger or disgust on his face. Even his eyes were on the same page. He was totally fine with what I said. And that was a bit confusing and a blessing as well. At least, I didn't have to face some sort of punishment for my stupidity.

"Just out of curiosity, when you said I have a sense of familiarity to you, what did you mean by that?" he asked. "Have you seen me from somewhere?"

I was able to calm down, as well as stabilize my breathing when Mr. Nam asked another question. Perhaps, he was truly curioud about what I was thinking when I did that.

"I can't understand it as well, Mr. Nam. I don't think I've seen you before. But your aura, your presence felt familiar to me," I explained. "I wish I had a better explanation, Mr. Nam. However, that's all I have to say."

"Ah, I see," Mr. Nam nodded. "Well then, at least I know why you stared at me. Thank you for your honesty," he answered with his calm, formal voice. "You may return to work now," he continued as he grabbed another contract.

I bowed and left the room.

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As soon as the door closed firmly, I turned around and everybody on the floor stared at me. The guys waited in anticipation. Soyoung stared at me with a blank expression. And the ladies, especially Minju and her group, glared at me as if there was no tomorrow.

Whilst I returned their stares, I slowly made my way back to my desk. When I sat down, I immediately turned to my laptop and prepared for a new session of work. I reassembled my setup whilst I tried my best to ignore the stares that landed on my back.

I couldn't understand why they looked at me in such a manner. Was it an uncommon thing for Mr. Nam to call for his previous secretaries?

I pressed the "On" Status for my phone and immediately, a call came in.

"Good afternoon, this is Nam Corporations. How can I help you today?"

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It has been a while since Mr. Nam arrived back from his business trip. And because of that, no one even dared to slack off during working hours. It was as if I was in a different universe. There was nothing to be heard in the room but the random ringing of telephones and the clacking of keyboards.

The ring leaders of chaos were surprisingly subdued. And were very focused with their work, too. Heck, even Minju was immersed into her work and I couldn't believe it myself. I guess that was how motivated she was to catch Mr. Nam's attention. But I could only hope that she would do the same even in his absence.

After Mr. Kim informed me that they had hidden cameras all over the floor, I couldn't help but wonder: perhaps the reason why Minju hasn't reached the position that she wanted was because of that alone. Perhaps Mr. Kim and even Mr. Nam would review the camera footage and would see her work ethic when they weren't around.

And it was such a shame. Because I always believed that everybody has the potential to be great. As long as you work with dignity and honesty, you could reach the summit. If Minju could only take her job seriously, I would bet a year of my own salary that she would be one of the people that Mr. Nam would meet in the conference room.

I snapped out of my thoughts when Mr. Nam's office door clicked. I looked up and saw Mr. Nam stepped out with Mr. Kim right behind him. Through the corner of my eye, everybody looked directly at Mr. Nam. The ladies' stares were glued tight onto him as they anticipated if Mr. Nam would say anything. Minju was extra diligent in doing so.

I, on the other hand, preferred to return to my laptop. I didn't want to catch any unwanted attention. What I got a while ago from them was enough for me.

"I'm headed for a meeting, everyone. I expect that all of you will be on your best behavior. And I also expect your output today," Mr. Nam started as I focused on my Excel file. He continued, "If you need anything, if you have questions, Miss Ryuk is here to assist you."

My head shot up as I heard my name. My terrified stare was immediately met by Mr. Kim.

Mr. Nam added, "However, do not - by all means - disrupt her work with your questions and requests. And if you need help in regards to your work, ask her. But don't make her do it for you. We work as a team here and we all must work in harmony and fairly. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Mr. Nam," the whole floor responded.

Mr. Kim turned to me discreetly and nodded with a faint smile.

I wasn't comforted by Mr. Nam's words. Not at all. The last time someone left that warning was Mr. Kim and Minju didn't listen to him. Now that Mr. Nam was the one who gave instructions, I wouldn't trust that Minju and her circle would listen to that as well. I could already tell how much she hated me just because I was greeted by Mr. Nam.

Who knows what else she could do because of that?

Mr. Nam turned to me and lowered his voice, "Miss Ryuk, I have a conference meeting. The floor is under your care. Do your best. And if anything goes wrong or if anyone takes advantage of you, don't tolerate it. And if they don't listen, send Hyeongu a ping. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Nam," I nodded.

Mr. Nam smiled at me for a second before he went on his way. As I watched the two men leave, I still wasn't assured of everything. For the past seven days, Minju stopped at nothing to make my life miserable. A week was already enough for me to know what her true colors were.

She would never listen to anyone. And if someone asked why she acted in such a way, she would depend on her family background and status to justify such actions. Her physical beauty didn't match what was within her. It was almost helpless to hope that Minju would even change. And I was proven to be right.

Not long after Mr. Nam and Mr. Kim left, a hand banged onto my table. Incredibly startled, I jumped from my chair and made the whole floor snicker. I turned to my left and as expected, it was Minju.