JK

Not a single hair was out of place on Mr. Park's face or any perspiration on his brow when he told me he would go to jail. For two days, I couldn't keep his somber face out of my head. I wondered if he would've been so transparent with anyone else or used direct words like he did if someone else asked him the same question. 

Even when I told myself that my one-sided admiration for him was more than that and it had to stop, I was having difficulty following through. He was my boss and a fucking CEO. When I thought I was good at playing the professional game, he had a work ethic that would rival Bezos. And he was engaged. To a woman no less. He had unavailable written all over his aura in big, black, sticky letters, but my hazardous little heart still quivered at the sight of him.

I told myself I just needed time. I was making efforts to not overtly communicate with Mr. Park unless it was absolutely necessary. To my benefit, he hasn't called me in his office in days. I hardly saw him at lunch. I had no clue if he ate in the office at all. Moreover, we didn't stumble into the men's room either.

Mr. Park's assistant, Kyla, had created a report format to keep track of the million sold units for the recall activity. It was an impressive, detail-oriented dashboard where everyone was required to provide their progress updates. Mr. Park checked it every day, and that negated the need for daily meetings to see how we were doing. 

After weeks of relentless interviews, I'd also hired three people on my team. Two women aged twenty-five and a younger man. Aside from my daily work and the one we were required to do because of the government notice, I was also teaching my team members part of marketing projects so I could get as much help from them as they could provide. 

I didn't have any free time at the office, but I still managed to feel a constant presence lingering on my back. I always had this on my mind that Mr. Park could be watching me, which was doubtful. The man had more on his plate than I could imagine. I shook the notion away every time it overwhelmed me.

What I was feeling was one-sided. His caring touch probably meant nothing. His precedence to help me overcome the challenges was a professional thing to do as my boss, but I couldn't shake off this feeling that there was more. I didn't believe he was just helping me as my boss. I didn't believe that he didn't know who I was when he came to see me over coffee.

He was an incredibly optimistic, unapologetically adamant, and relentless man. He went after what he wanted, so I wanted to believe that he knew what he was doing. The man had a fucking fifteen year plan and he made it happen. If what I believed about there being more had any ring of truth, was it improbable that he was also terrifyingly impulsive? 

"Sir," Soobin called for my attention.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Jungkook, Soobin?" I asked him in a low tone, not reprimanding. 

"I am sorry. It's just- it feels disrespectful."

"I understand the cultural obligations, but we are working in a multi-national company. We have a decorum to maintain. I don't call my boss sir, and imagine if you call me sir in front of him, how would it seem? Wouldn't then I be in the light of disrespect if I don't refer to Mr. Park as sir?" I explained to him nicely. These were the small things that no one ever taught me, but I picked them up by observing and using common sense. 

"Sure, Jungkook," he said awkwardly. "I had looked through the portfolios of all the models. I think I found the top three of what you are looking for. What should I do now?"

"Send me over e-mail and go have lunch," I told him and turned to my screen to find one unread e-mail from Mr. Park. "Good job." I dismissed the boy.

Soobin happily walked away.

I had e-mailed Mr. Park last week that I wanted to run by my idea with him, and as I clicked on the e-mail, I saw his response.

Jungkook,

If you can provide me with brief details over the e-mail, I will look at it. If you need to do it face-to-face I have a free ten-minute slot at six. 

P. Jimin

I didn't mind writing an e-mail. Working with him was difficult as it was. It was better if I continued not to see him.

Dear Jimin,

I am thinking of proactively doing a campaign that would serve as a damage control measure for the brand image on top of Li's agenda. My idea is to hire models of all ages instead of showing twenty-somethings and rent a busy spot like a Subway or a mall or multiple locations all at once.

We'd pre-record those models in an ad in which they are paired with our oldest customers. Not the high-end celebrity customers, but the people who live pay-check to pay-check and still buy our skincare, even if it is on the expensive side because they trust in the 'quality' and see the 'results.' I can think of creative ad ideas.

We'll run those ads in public places and choose three surprise winners by the end of the day to give them a year's worth of supply.  We'll also commit to giving the same rewards to three lucky customers for the next few weeks if they share their GLZ stories on social media platforms with our premade hashtags. It will continue to create buzz and excitement. People will buy more. 

My thought behind this is that we as a company acknowledge that we had an issue, but also to show people that we have a legacy and we are regretful for what happened. And we will do everything to earn their trust again and correct our mistakes. 

I also have another idea. Aside from the lawful compensation we are going to give to the affected customers, we create a small gift box consisting of our best-sellers and pack them in sample bottles. We don't need extra inventory for that. We can use the product we utilize for the QC, packing them in samplers going ahead.

We take consent from a few of the affected customers to shoot them for the ads. When our sales associates go to their houses for the reverse pick-up of adulterated products as a part of the recall, they also give them the gift box. 

I have made a detailed project management slide on the cost and timeline for activity execution. I could also take Li-Ping's help with media-related aspects. You may review it and provide your input. 

Best regards,

Jungkook. 

I didn't know how many of my ideas would Mr. Park allow to be executed as a marketing project, or if he'd approve any of those, but I honestly hoped he would agree to do at least one campaign. GLZ needed it. 

After ten minutes, my inbox appeared with an e-mail and I clicked on it as if it were a red fabric and I was a bull. 

Go ahead.

P. Jimin

I grinned, my lips stretching ear-to-ear. They were two words, but they exhibited that he trusted my ideas. I loved nothing more than having the freedom to make decisions. Of course, as the company CEO, every idea had to be run by him, but it mattered a lot to me that he let me drive this. 

With more positivity filling in, I didn't feel tired anymore. 

Yoongi's voice ceased my silly grin. "Let's go?" He asked.

My eyes quickly peered at the bottom right corner of my laptop to see that it was time for lunch. I stood up. "You coming, Li?" I asked my neighbor. 

"I'll follow you. Go ahead."

I couldn't help the shit-eating grin on hearing those words again. "You okay?" Yoongi asked, amusement obvious in his tone. 

"Yeah," I tempered myself down before I could show more emotions at the workplace. "Just happy."

"Good for you, Maknae," he patted my shoulder, circling his arm around it. They all had nicknames for each other, and I got stuck with a literal one. They took a liking to Maknae and I couldn't even be mad. He leaned closer so no one could hear us. "At least someone is enjoying while we are being fucked up our asses." 

I couldn't help a loud rumble of laughter that came out of me. Things were stressful, but a little joke here and an inappropriate comment there made it all bearable.

The others joined us before we could reach the elevator. "How are things?" I asked Namjoon. 

He shook his head. "My entire team rebelled, man. That's what happens when you are not a strict boss. I had to promise them that I'll take them and their families out for lunch when it's all over."

"What?!" I chortled out the word. "Don't you have close to two hundred people on your team?"

"Yeah, but the sales team is affected the most. Poor people are running all over Korea to pick products. Some customers are not returning the products. Some are saying they already threw the serum away. My people work so hard in the field, listen to customers' nagging, and face their wrath. They deserve more than a day out. One customer bought the product from here and she flew back to India. Now we have to chase her there."

"Still," I liked that Namjoon was in touch with his humanity and hadn't completely surrendered his soul in the soulless corporate environment. But then again, the work culture at GLZ was much better than the organizations I've worked for before, and I realized that it came from the topmost ladder. Our leaders. Not only Namjoon, but everyone else was considerate and helpful. It was still not enough for me to open up to them and share my personal life — I preferred to have that boundary — but at least I felt comfortable opening up about my professional challenges. "Wouldn't it be heavy on the pocket?"

"Ah," he waved a dismissive hand. "I welcome all such occasions, sponsored by a company or not. We should all make a day out of it. You guys should join if you can."

"Only if I get to decide where we are eating," I joked. 

He responded by slapping my shoulder in a manner of showing affection. 

We ate without Mr. Park and Hoseok. While the rest of us worked together often, Hoseok wasn't always involved in our discussions. His nature of work was different than ours, but we still ate together at least twice a week. 

"I am so tired and it's only been two days. It's reflecting on my family, too. My daughter was asleep when I arrived home on the last two days," Taehyung complained. 

"Taking up big responsibility isn't easy, Taehyung. That's why most people don't want promotions. It's a sad reality but there are times when you have to prioritize work over family." Seokjin remarked. 

I listened while appreciating the crunchy butterscotch dessert. I could imagine it would have been tough on the guys, but at least I had no one expecting me at home, so I didn't have that same pressure as them. 

"Will you be staying in the office till late tonight?" Namjoon asked Yoongi. 

"I have to. It's better to work from here. If I go home, my daughter climbs on my laptop and doesn't let me work. I can't work from there, so I prefer to stay here until everything is done."

Namjoon nodded. He was the only one whose sons were young teens, but the rest of them had young children or toddlers. "What do you do after going back home, Jungkook?"

"Me?" I chuckled. Their question came out funny. "I work." I grinned, teasing them that there was no one to disturb me. 

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༻27 Jan 2025༺