That day was the best and worst day of my life.
“Congratulations, Director General.”
“A Director General from the Secretariat, isn’t this a first in Lee & Yeon’s history?!
“Thank you, everyone.”
The moment the first snow falling outside the conference room window looked even more beautiful.
I raised the shimmering golden glass high into the sky.
It was the day I reached the highest position as a secretary, no, as an employee.
Director General of Lee & Yeon Law Firm, one of the top 5 law firms in Korea.
It was a position that not only employees but also most affiliated lawyers could not easily ignore, and at the same time, it was the position of secretary to the representative lawyer of Lee & Yeon.
I had become the kind of person who was not easily seen, except for team leader-level senior partner lawyers and partner lawyers with performance in the top few.
Considering that a law firm is a lawyer-centric company, I could see how unconventional my promotion was.
The position of Director General was created specifically for me in the first place.
Litigation Department, Finance Department, Secretariat, Compliance Team, etc.
There were directors for each department, but the title of ‘Director General’ was new.
That’s why the employees are rushing to congratulate me.
Because now is the moment I received my reward for 22 years of loyalty to the company, no, to the representative.
It was also the moment I slightly broke free from the limitations of being a mere employee.
“I will also try to become like the Director General in the future.”
I gave a slight smile, looking at the section chief of the Secretariat whose eyes were sparkling.
‘Effort’.
When I thought about what I had been doing for 22 years, those two simple words, effort, weren’t enough to describe it.
“Haha, Manager Yoon. It’s not easy to become like the Director General.”
The head of the Litigation Department, whose hair was now thinning, shook his head and said.
He was one of the people who knew best how I had lived, and he was also my colleague from when I first joined the company.
“That person dedicated their life to our law firm.”
“It’s not that much.”
“Oh, everyone at Lee & Yeon knows that, so you don’t have to be modest.”
That person is a workaholic.
A complete work addict.
The head of the Litigation Department clicked his tongue and said.
‘Indeed.’
Close to fifty, I went to work at dawn and left work watching the moon.
Associate lawyers, who are employed by the company, eat overtime for breakfast because they have a lot of work, but it was rare for an employee to do so.
But I worked harder than any associate.
As compensation for a dream I had to give up.
Our family ran a small fruit store, making ends meet day by day.
So, even after bubbling in the wrong answers for the last part of the CSAT English section, I couldn’t even dream of retaking the exam.
‘I’m sorry. Mom is really sorry…’
Anyway, I lacked the skills to go to a prestigious university’s law department.
Comforting my parents that way, I entered a local national university near my home.
Failing English was the biggest factor, and the realistic reasons were that tuition was cheap and I wouldn’t need to pay for off-campus housing.
After entering, I only looked forward to the bar exam and worked all sorts of part-time jobs.
Believing that was the only way to escape this miserable poverty.
[However, I had terribly bad luck with exams.]
Four years of university and half a year of leave of absence.
I got the opportunity to prepare for the bar exam at the cost of nearly five years dedicated to part-time jobs.
But did I use all my luck by passing the first round in the first year? Starting with a disappointing score in the second round, and then failing the first round by one question.
In the end, I turned 27 without achieving anything.
During that time, the fruit store that barely sustained my family went bankrupt.
On top of that, there was the debt remaining under my parents’ names.
Even the exam fees I had saved from part-time jobs ran out.
So, I gave up my lifelong dream of becoming a legal professional and was driven into the job market.
At that time, 27 was old for a female rookie, but thanks to my experience passing the first round of the bar exam and my major, I was able to join Lee & Yeon Law Firm.
However, the reality after joining was not easy.
Because even with the experience of passing the first round of the bar exam, I was still tagged as being from a local university.
‘Our company has improved a lot. They even hire people from the sticks just because it’s a national university.’
‘What’s so great about passing the first round of the bar exam? If you study for a few years, you’ll pass it once.’
‘She’s a secretary. It’s not the first time they’ve hired someone based on their looks. She’ll probably quit on her own after working for a while and getting married. Our company’s reputation is good for getting married, isn’t it?’
To the eyes of the company people, who were mostly from prestigious universities, I was good prey.
Good to bite and chew.
So I wanted to show them even more.
That I didn’t come here to get married.
That I would boldly prove with my skills that their nonsense was wrong.
And now.
From my fourth year at the company until today, after 18 years of hard work under CEO Go Jong-tak, I proved that I was right.
In fact, CEO Go was an even more legendary figure than me.
From the bottom, through becoming a construction team leader, to reaching his current position as CEO.
He rose to the head of one of the top five law firms, surpassing formidable individuals from wealthy families and prestigious universities in Lee & Yeon, which was full of people with silver spoons.
That was possible because Lawyer Go Jong-tak had an excellent ability to read people like a ghost and work them hard, and I was one of them.
‘Analyzing cases and handling documents is comparable to a lawyer. Since you know a lot, it’s also easy to handle clients.’
‘It’s thanks to having taken the bar exam multiple times.’
‘That’s what I like. I’ve never seen a secretary like Secretary Kim among secretaries.’
It couldn’t be otherwise.
In the first place, I was the only secretary with experience passing the first round of the bar exam.
‘With this level of skill, you must be thinking about the bar exam again.’
‘I’m not. And I can’t afford to.’
I hadn’t even paid back half of my parents’ debt yet, so how could I even think about taking the bar exam?
The moment I quit the company and focused on the exam, my family would be out on the streets.
Lawyer Go, knowing my situation, completely entrusted his work to me.
In addition to secretarial duties, he started assigning me tasks that a lawyer would do.
On the condition of giving me 10% of my salary as an incentive.
Although the working hours were murderous and it was far too little for the work I did, for me, struggling with debt, even that was desperate.
Of course, I didn’t work to death for that reason alone.
Lawyer Go dangled an irresistible carrot in front of me for his own goals.
‘As expected, it’s clean. Your organization is better than a lawyer’s.’
‘Thank you.’
Lawyer Go Jong-tak, whose goal from the start was to become a CEO, aimed to catch up with ‘Law Firm Aso,’ the industry leader.
To achieve this, he received reports on recent cases from lawyers ever since he became the head of the construction team and now as CEO.
In short, industry trends.
From various court precedents to the legal community, the Financial Services Commission, the Fair Trade Commission, and the Board of Audit and Inspection.
He collected all available information, and I organized it.
The sheer volume of data made it a waste of time to go through each one individually, and the industry couldn’t afford to use highly skilled lawyers for document work that didn’t even show immediate results.
Thanks to this, at some point, I gained control of all the law firm’s information.
Of course, in return, my life was completely dedicated to the CEO.
This was because the CEO refused to entrust such sensitive information to anyone else.
If there were more people, I might have found some personal time, but the CEO never assigned anyone to assist me.
CEO Go didn’t even trust his direct subordinate lawyers’ staff.
The secretarial duties themselves were substantial, so I never even took a vacation, which every employee gets.
‘If I reach the top position, I promise you a better position and wealth than passing the bar exam.’
CEO Go’s words weren’t wrong.
The moment I paid off my family’s debt and could finally breathe, I was already in my mid-thirties.
Even if I passed quickly, it would take at least 2 or 3 years.
Considering graduation from the Judicial Research and Training Institute, my destination at forty was obvious.
A sole practitioner in a small office.
With absolutely no sales skills or connections necessary for opening a practice, I couldn’t even be the head of a snake.
So, CEO Go’s offer was enough to become my life’s goal.
It was.
‘A position that even lawyers can’t easily covet.’
Days I devoted to CEO Go, looking only forward.
And today.
Finally, all my hard work was rewarded.
Or so I thought.
At least at this moment.
“Director, the CEO gave you a whole month of vacation. What are you going to do?”
“Indeed. What should I do?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve never rested before, so I’m not sure.”
“Oh, right. Director General, you’ve never even used vacation before.”
The section chief of the Secretariat, who had just said she wanted to be like me, trailed off her words.
Along with the thought, ‘It’ll be hard to become like the Director General after all.’
Indeed, even I thought it had been too much.
If they said it was urgent, I’d rush out to work even on holidays.
Perhaps it’s because I had no one by my side.
I was so consumed by work that I missed my chance to marry, and my parents died in an accident 10 years ago.
On their first couple’s trip.
Now our family could live like normal people, but they passed away so vainly.
In the end, all I have left is this position.
But I have no regrets.
I did my best, and this is the result.
It’s clear, but.
“Uh, Director. Are you crying because of the vacation?”
“What nonsense are you talking about, ah…”
I felt my face, wondering what they were saying, and then I knew.
My cheeks were damp.
“Indeed. What’s the big deal about vacation?”
I couldn’t say I was crying because I missed my parents, could I?
I quickly wrapped up the celebratory gathering and left.
And for the first time since joining the company, I left seeing the sun.
Without knowing it would be my last time leaving work in my life.
“Ugh.”
“You’re conscious. Your life thread is long, which is a pain.”
“…Who are you?”
Strange.
I was clearly on my way home in a taxi just a moment ago.
Why am I in a place like this?
I traced my last memory.
A late afternoon in early winter, with white snow falling like flowers.
I left the company and rolled my eyes.
“I… I have nowhere to go…”
What would a normal person do at this hour?
“Work?”
It seems this life is a lost cause.
To only think of such things even after leaving work.
“Think. There must be something else to do besides work!”
Tick-tock.
Snowflakes settled on the wristwatch I was staring at.
And finally, I could come to a conclusion.
“First, let’s go home and think.”
Whether it was vacation plans or anything else, I decided to sleep on it first.
I had stayed up all night organizing my work due to the sudden promotion and a month-long vacation, so I couldn’t even see straight.
So, I dozed off in the taxi.
It was partly because I had stayed up all night, and partly because drowsiness overwhelmed me after standing in the cold and then entering a warm interior.
‘Clearly, it was like that, but why?’
I looked around the dark interior.
In a vast space like something out of a movie, the only light was the lamp above my head.
More than anything, my body felt strange.
I was sitting in a chair, my whole body battered as if I had been in a car accident.
My last memory was simply getting into a taxi.
Even if an accident happened while I was dozing, wouldn’t it be normal to be in a hospital if my body was in this state?
I looked up at the man in front of me with confused eyes.
“That look seems to be asking for an explanation.”
“Wouldn’t anyone be like this if they just dozed off in a taxi and ended up in this state?”
“Well, you can probably guess. There must have been a traffic accident.”
“To be precise, there was a traffic accident, but why am I here?”
“Because I brought you here, right?”
“So why…”
At my words, the man just grinned without answering.
I quickly spun my head, which was aching as if it would break from the accident, and said.
“It seems someone hired you to dispose of me. And that someone is…”
The man nodded as if telling me to continue.
Seeing such a relaxed expression in this situation, the man is a skilled professional adept at such tasks.
In other words, a hired expert.
There aren’t many people in South Korea who would use someone like this.
Especially among the people I know.
“Go Jong-tak.”