The Demon In You

Hyuk Hyunjae was tapping his foot impatiently.

"Ghastly," he muttered. "Simply ghastly."

The model in front of him was frowning. She was wearing a purple, glittery dress with a diamond brooch in the middle of her c.h.e.s.t. It was designed by Armiola, world's most famous fashion label. Yet, here he was, calling it ghastly.

Moreover, this was the twentieth dress she tried on that day. The CEO discarded all of the dresses, citing them to be hideous and eye sore. God knows what was in his head.

"Sir, this is Armiola's design," she told him.

Hyunjae snorted. "Those idiots can't even thread a needle properly," he scoffed. "I mean just look at this."

He pointed at her dress. "Purple glitter? Oh please! My maid has a better fashion sense than this piece of garbage. Go back and wait at the trial room while I redesign this filthy old dress."

The model obeyed him and went back to change at the trial room while the CEO worked on the dress.

Hyunjae carefully laid down the dress on the table. He took out a pair of scissors and cut a perfectly straight line through its bottom half. He took colorful laces and sewed it into the dress. The purple glitter strips were removed and replaced. After an hour working on the dress, he was finally finished with the touch ups.

He handed the dress back to the model. She stepped out wearing a completely revamped dress. The traces of the old designs were gone. Instead, there was a breathtaking dress with a plain dark purple upper half but a rainbow patterned bottom half which interchanged colors with every turn. The glitters were stripped off from the whole dress. Instead, red sparkles were added to the borders of the hands. The brooch was torn off and an elegant black bow was sewed in to complement the dress.

The model was speechless. "CEO, how did you..."

"I can turn any hideous dress into a chic wear," the CEO proudly snapped his fingers. I did a good job, he thought inwardly patting himself. Sometimes, I surprise myself.

The door to the dressing room opened. A strict looking man in his mid twenties walked in. He was wearing a fully buttoned suit and every inch of his shirt was ironed. Even his tie was bound perfectly. Unlike his CEO, who was wearing a flamboyant neon green suit with leather pants and a long red scarf, Jung Jo Sun preferred to look professional at all times.

The CEO stared at him for a moment before turning to the model. "What are the symptoms of a heart attack?" he asked.

The model frowned in confusion. "Uhh... I think the left side of your c.h.e.s.t starts to pain," she said. "And your hands will feel shaky."

The CEO touched his heart and said, "I think I'm having one. I feel immense pain in my heart."

The model became fl.u.s.tered. The CEO was in his early thirties and his body was well maintained. How can he have a heart attack?

"Sir, are you alright?" she panicked.

"No," the CEO whimpered in pain. He pointed at Jo Sun. "His outfit is giving me a heart attack."

The model's head swirled in confusion. She was one of the newly hired models and this was the first time, she was working directly with the CEO. His behavior baffled him.

She looked at Jo Sun, her eyes pleading for help. Jo Sun calmly picked up a diary from the desk in front if him and made his way towards the CEO, who was now bent on his knee in pain. Without any warning, he smacked the head of his CEO.

"Ow!" the CEO rolled over in pain.

The model's mouth fell in shock. Jo Sun turned to her and bowed down respectfully.

"Please pardon our CEO," he apologized in an emotionless tone. "He is always overly dramatic. Thank you for your cooperation in today's dress trial."

He once again bowed to her.

"But the CEO..." the model started.

"Is perfectly fine," Jo Sun said flatly. "Aren't you, CEO?"

He looked at the CEO with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. Hyunjae rubbed his head and pouted.

"I'll cut your salary for that," he muttered.

"I'd like to see you try," Jo Sun said in a smug tone.

Hyunjae gritted his teeth. The damned secretary of his knew how to be cheeky with him. Why was he stuck with a secretary who had such a tacky fashion sense and a sharp tongue?

He cursed the heavens for his bad fate. They could have sent him a hot secretary with a whacky fashion sense. But alas! He was stuck with this stuck up.

The model, who was watching their banter with a confused expression, excused herself and escaped the room.

Outside, she headed over to the reception desk.

"Psst," she ushered towards the receptionist. Ms. Yang Shua, was a beautiful woman in her early thirties. She was always cheerful and warm towards the employees and guests alike. She was also one of the people in the company who can handle the big boss' tantrums.

"Ms. Yang," the model said. "Is the CEO...kinda cuckoo in the head?"

"Absolutely," Ms. Yang said unabashedly. "He's a crazy guy with a narcissistic trait which can piss people off in seconds."

She said all this with a wide smile. The model was taken aback. Seems like the employees who work directly with the CEO were brutally honest.

"Then how come people work for him?" she asked.

"Coz he pays us well," Ms. Yang said cheerfully. "We'd have thrown him in the dust long ago if he was stingy. Plus, he needs us to keep him at bay. Otherwise he'll probably land up in jail or worse, in hell."

The model was speechless at Ms. Yang's depiction of the CEO's possible fates.

"You've had a long day," Ms. Yang patted the model. "After dealing with the CEO's antics, you'll need some rest. Take the rest of the day off. I'll inform the HR to give you a CEO leave."

"CEO leave?"

"It's a special leave for those who had to go through the CEO's tantrums and need to recuperate after suffering his stupidity firsthand."

If the scene at the office was confusing enough, the model was now completely fl.u.s.tered. What did she get into?

She nodded in a dazed state and turned away. Ms. Yang waved at her in a cheerful manner.

"She handled it better than the last model," Ms. Yang told herself. "The last model almost choked the CEO with his own scarf. Too bad Jo Sun had to pull her off."

Inside the cabin, Hyunjae and Jo Sun were having an one to one standoff, each of their gazes throwing daggers at each other.

"You dared to hit my beautiful head?" the CEO asked coldly. He was giving off a menacing aura.

Jo Sun made a face. "Stop trying to emit the cold aura of those CEO's from romance novels," he snapped. "You're embarrassing me."

"You dare to compare me with those stereotypical fictional characters?" the CEO snorted. "I'm way more beautiful than them. I also have a likable personality. Women flock up to be with me."

He beamed with self-importance.

"And yet, you never had a girlfriend in your entire existence," Jo Sun countered.

"I-I'm just very picky!" Hyunjae stammered. "Not my fault, I can't find a female of my stature!"

"No, they just run away from you after learning of your silly actions," Jo Sun snapped.

"You-you dare insult your CEO? I'll fire you right now!"

"I'd love to see you try running the company without me for a day. Remember what happened last time?"

Hyunjae g.r.o.a.n.e.d in frustration. The damned brat, he fumed. The last time he 'fired' Jo Sun, all his investors ran off, unwilling to deal with the CEO directly because they did not want to deal with his narcissism. They preferred dealing through Jo Sun.

"Hmph!" the Hyunjae pouted. "I'll have my revenge someday."

Jo Sun rolled his eyes. Hyunjae has been throwing this threat around for many years and yet, never got around to carry it out.

"Go ahead," Jo Sun said. "Meanwhile, I need you to sign all these files."

He handed over a bunch of files to the CEO, who was frustrated by the number of files.

"I can't read all this!" he exclaimed. "Too many words!"

"You will sit and read through every line before signing," Jo Sun threatened him. "Or I'll add years to you-know-what."

"That's blackmail!"

"It's fair deal," Jo Sun replied. "Now start reading."

He turned on his heels and exited the office.

"Someday, I'll damn him to hell," Hyunjae promised. "Miserable git."

He looked at the files and threw a fit. Reading these will take him all night.

"Goodbye my beauty sleep," he lamented. He picked up the first file. It was the details of the new employees who will be joining that week.

He absentmindedly skimmed through them till his attention fell on one particular employee. Oh Rian.

"Oh Rian..." he muttered. "I know this name."

He scanned through her details and dimly recalled about this girl.

"So she's the one," he realized.