It was shining bright in the morning at Seoul, Han seo-yeon was in her office reviewing documents that needed to be signed. She was wearing long black pants with a trench suit,her shoes were glass heels. The environment was silent as if it was beneath her. This moment was her favorite hour, she loves it calm in the morning before the world would start asking her of things she couldn't give out .
"You are late," said Han seo-yeon as champagne entered her office.
Han seo-yeon has never looked up whenever Champagne enters her office in the morning. Her eyes were still fixed on the documents in her hands.
"I'm not, I have never been late." Champagne answered with a little fainted smile.
"I apologize ma'am ", champagne replied smoothly, holding unto her tablet.
"Your nine a.m meeting has been rescheduled to 11 a.m. by the chairman,he requested a delay."
That got Han seo-yeon attention. She looks up with her sharp eyes flickering into champagne eyes, calculating what she just heard. Seo-yeon hates delays, especially when it comes to work.
"Why?" Han seo-yeon asked.
"Thailand," champagne replied
The word "Thailand" landed heavily on seo-yeon mind. Seo-yeon mouth tightens almost imperceptibly, a detail no one can catch. Champagne made a mental note about it, like the way she always does,old habit die hard.
"I mean, the Thailand boards haven't landed yet. That's what the chairman told me." Champagne said before seo-yeon could say anything.
Han seo-yeon exhale slowly "not again,how long will they keep doing this for every board meetings.
"This better be their last time because I will have them change."
Han seo-yeon knew the board was in Thailand because someone had been trying to sabotage the company, but she was waiting for the right time to strike.
Champagne has been working with her for a year and a half now,and she clearly knew what was going on inside the company. Since she was Seo-yeon assistant and all files and documents pass through her before reaching seo-yeon her boss. There have been several times scam documents came in, but champagne sort it out before taking them to seo-yeon, she has never told seo-yeon about them.
There was a day a document was sent that needed Han seo-yeon signature and it was sent at the rush hour if seo-yeon, Champagne found it suspicious on how the document was packaged, she took it upon herself to look into the document and found that if seo-yeon signature has been on it it would have lead the company to it biggest fall. Champagne took the document to Seo-yeon,showing her the content of the document. Han seo-yeon has been grateful to Champagne ever since that day.
Han seo-yeon stood up with her jacket already in her hands. Her movements were precise and practically endearing, Han seo-yeon was born knowing how to command a room full of the audience. Even at the moment, with no audience, she wears authority like a skin with no clothes.
"Have our legal boards prepared a response." Seo-yeon asked, "I want it airtight."
"I already did," champagne replied.
Seo-yeon paused.
That pause,that single heartbeat of silence, is the reason champagne chose to stand beside Seo-yeon instead of being above her.
"You anticipated this," Seo-yeon asked.
"Yes, I anticipated you," Champagne replied with no hesitation before she could stop herself.
Han Seo-yeon gaze sharpen,something old flickering, annoyance, curiosity, and something closer to memories. They have been dancing around that look since the day Seo-yeon hired Champagne as her assistant. Since the day Han Seo-yeon couldn't recognize Champagne.
"Be careful Champagne", Seo-yeon said quietly. "Confidence can be mistaken for ambition."
Champagne smiled softly, the way assistants were supposed to. "I have no ambitions beyond serving you." These words were half truth and half lies.
Han Seo-yeon turns away satisfied, Champagne gathered some files and her tablet while her heart was beating steadily. Most of the files were documents Seo-yeon signed, which were drafted out by Champagne. That was the trust system Champagne built between her and Han Seo-yeon.
Seo-yeon walked safely through threats champagne dismantle before the could ever reach her desk.
Twenty-five years old Seo-yeon was born into a family where love was measured in results.
The Han family is old money by Korean standards, industrial wealth built in the aftermath of war, polished into respectability through decades of strategic marriages, political favors, and corporate expansion. Their name is not flashy, but it is untouchable. People lower their voices when they say it.
Seo-yeon is the second child.
Her older brother was groomed as the heir from birth, sent to the best schools, praised loudly, and forgiven easily. Seo-yeon, meanwhile, was raised as insurance. The spare. The one expected to be excellent without expectation of reward.
Her father, Han Jae-sung, was a man who believed affection weakened discipline. He never hit his children, never raised his voice, but his silence could ruin a room. Praise was rare. Disappointment was constant. Seo-yeon learned early that approval came only when she was useful.
Her mother came from another powerful family, elegant and distant, more concerned with appearances than intimacy. She taught Seo-yeon how to dress, how to smile, and how to endure. Not how to ask for comfort.
At home, Seo-yeon was invisible unless she excelled.
She studied harder than her brother, spoke less, and listened more. She learned to observe adults to understand power before she ever held it. By the time she was a teenager, she already knew how to read a room and predict its outcome. It was survival disguised as ambition, She was also taught not to love and trust easily.
Seo-yeon grew up surrounded by people but fundamentally alone.
The family moved in elite circles, private schools, international conferences, and business dinners where children were expected to behave like adults. That's where she met Anong.
Anong was different. Sharp, defiant, unwilling to bow easily. Where Seo-yeon learned control, Anong challenged it. They clashed constantly, academically, emotionally, and morally. Frenemies, rivals, mirrors.
And for the first time in her life, Seo-yeon felt seen.
She never admitted that the rivalry mattered more to her than her family's approval. The sharp words, the competition, the tension,those were the closest things to intimacy she had ever known. They both met shortly outside the dinner night organized by the Han's, which was the Seo-yeon family. Nobody knew Anong was at the dinner except Seo-yeon.