Being a nine-to-five worker was already hard, but having a boss that turns your nine a.m. to five p.m. into nine a.m. to five a.m. is even worse. Cha Eunji is a slave to the corporate life as well as the tyrant boss of hers who would make her work past the office time. Eunji hates the tyrant with all her heart so much that she would pray for his downfall every day. She rants about the monster she had to face every day to her best friend Jo Minsoo as she listens. The only thing Minsoo could do was buy her more soju. Minsoo works in the same company as Eunji but in the strategic planning department, while Eunji works in the tiring marketing department of SJ Company. Minsoo pities her friend as she rants about the team leader of hers giving her a ton load of work and still finding ways to scold her and blast her ears off.
"Minsoo-ah! Who does he think I am? Am I a superhuman woman with six hands, seven brains, and work at the speed of bullet trains? He is an insane maniac who would torture you just because he wants to get his work completed. No, I don't think he even wants that to be complete, because if he did, he would have lesser reason to scold me!" she complained while taking shots of soju.
"Eunji, drink slowly! You'll burn your throat," Minsoo worriedly pats her friend's back as Eunji coughs.
"Minsoo-ah, I wanna escape from this monster!" Eunji, drunk, sobs in front of Minsoo as she looks at her helplessly.
"Eunji, I'm sure that man will get his karma. Honestly, I pity whoever is and will be his partner, because handling a guy like that is so much of an effort."
Eunji, wiping her eyes and nose, nods along with her friend.
"I hope the heavens give them the strength to handle this maniac."
Eunji and Minsoo continued drinking as they talked about their work and life. It was past nine, and Eunji and Minsoo passed out in the restaurant. They woke up as the owner told them they were about to close. Eunji, who sobered up quite quickly, carried Minsoo, who was drunk and passed out, outside. Her face was flushed red, even though she had slightly sobered up. Her hair was now a mess.
"Minsoo-ah!" a voice called out from behind.
As Eunji turned, it was Minsoo's boyfriend who came for her.
"I knew she was with you, Eunji-ha. She wasn't picking up her phone, so I was worried. She passed out already? Oh lord, this girl," he spoke as he regained his composure after running.
As Minsoo's boyfriend gently took Minsoo from Eunji's arms, she collapsed onto his shoulder. Eunji shuffled her already messy hair as she was preparing to head back.
"Eunji, come with us. We will drop you off," he said.
Eunji was about to answer when she got a phone call. Her eyes widened after seeing the caller ID.
"The Maniac!" she exclaimed.
The ID showed his name, "Maniac," that she had saved for him. Eunji frowned at his call and unwillingly took it.
"Hello... Team Leader Park... Is there any issue?"
From the other side of the phone, a cold, deep voice replied with a tint of annoyance.
"Eunji, if you're nearby, then come quickly to the office. There is a huge issue with the file that you submitted. It's an absolute mess. How can I decipher things from this messy file? This has to be submitted in the next two hours."
He spoke with slight anger. Eunji's mouth was wide open with astonishment as she heard his words.
"But Team Lea—"
"Be quick if you don't want to get fired."
He hung up with that.
Eunji turned to Minsoo and her boyfriend, Sungmin.
"Sungmin-ah, there's an emergency at the office. I have to go back to check with the errors. You guys can leave without me," she replied with a helpless smile.
"Eunji, but it's past 12 now. Why would you be needed now?"
"Haaa, Sungmin, what can I say? It's quite hectic. I should get going now. See you guys later."
"Alright, Eunji, take care."
Eunji stared at the empty sky, devoid of stars. The shops slowly began to close. She had to go to her office... that hell hole again. Eunji was frustrated and stomped her feet in a sudden pang of anger and walked toward the building which was her workplace. She knew that her boss knew Eunji always went to the restaurant near their workplace, but she couldn't confront him all because of the fact that he was basically her boss.
"Park Do-Hyun... I'll end you one day," she muttered as she rushed to her workplace.
Eunji rushed towards the elevators, but the doors wouldn't open. Frustrated, she had to use the stairs to get to the 6th floor. She was sweating profusely and was almost going to puke as the alcohol in her stomach was churning. As she was about to step inside the cabin, the door opened before she even walked in. A man in a black suit with messy hair stepped out. He towered over her as he glanced down.
"Team Leader Park. What is the issue? I'm sure I had set everything in the right way and the files are ordered properly," Eunji spoke, trying to catch her breath.
"Properly? It was a huge mess, Eunji. What were you even doing? I asked for the Q4 campaign budget breakdown and instead you submitted an unlabelled spreadsheet full of raw data! I can't send this over to the Finance Department; they need a clean, summarized final report by the end of the night. Do you know how much paperwork this is going to create if it's late?"
"Team Leader, you are wrong. I've absolutely given you the labeled spreadsheet. Hyuna was tasked with uploading it. You can ask her,"Eunji replied, her voice shaky but firm.
"Hyuna is the one who found the error, Eunji. Because of her, I found it at the last minute," he retorted, his cold stare unwavering.
Eunji was surprised hearing his words, as she remembered Hyuna saying how excellent the spreadsheet was. She rushed in with Do-Hyun, who was now waiting for the elevator. She started speaking.
"Team Leader Park, I'm absolutely sure about this and I stand by my word that I've made no mistakes in submitting the right data," Eunji stated.
"Eunji, your confidence is good, but do you have the proof to back it up? You can submit your resignation if you're that confident, Eunji," he challenged.
Eunji's eyes widened hearing his arrogant words. The elevator door opened as he stepped in. Eunji also got in with him as she spoke.
"This is not fair, Team Leader Park. I have the proof. I don't know what Hyuna told you, but I worked my ass off to complete that damn spreadsheet of yours. You can check the freaking CCTV or whatever else is there."
Do-Hyun spoke nothing.
Seeing his annoying silence angered Eunji to the point that she finally snapped. She removed the identity card that hung on her neck and threw it on the ground.
"ALRIGHT, I QUIT NOW! I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN WORK UNDER YOU ANYMORE AS A SLAVE ANY LONGER!" she spoke in anger.
Do-Hyun was surprised seeing Eunji angry and looked at her with a stunned expression. As he opened his mouth to say something, a sudden banging noise was heard. The lights started to flicker as the noise was heard. Due to a sudden jerk, Eunji accidentally fell on Do-Hyun, who had his back against the elevator mirror. The lights flickered in a longer interval, as it was gone for a longer period than the slight flicker before. Eunji knew she fell on her boss, but she also realized something: her lips were against his mouth.
Her eyes widened in realization, and as she tried to move away, her eyes caught the glance of the mirror behind her in the slow flickering light. She saw a pair of black, furry ears and a tail sprouting behind her boss. She was sure that all of this was the result of the shock from accidentally kissing her boss. But as the lights slowly became more stable, she saw the actual sight of furry ears and a fluffy tail behind Do-Hyun, who was now unconscious on the floor.