A whisper between two women in the comfort room of the National Assembly Hall is where it all started. The news that was shared in confidence , now wandering aimlessly in an employee's mind, waiting to be blurted out as a casual topic of small talk with other people.
The workplace seemed so serious and the employees were craving even the tiniest excitement and amusement that any piece of juicy gossip or a rumor gets passed around almost efficiently, spreading like a sexually transmitted disease from one person's lips to another.
A young man in a suit ran hurriedly across the building, not minding the senior officers who begrudgingly shot him a look for running in the National Assembly Building. Couple of minutes ago the young intern was having dinner in the building's cafeteria together with the other interns of the other assemblymen, powering through the overtime, when one decided to share a news that he heard from somewhere who heard it from someone.
Now five doors away from their office, he hastened his speed to reach it quickly. Panting and out of breath, he counted into ten as he fixed himself and waited for his breath to get even, before opening the door leading him to the Chief-of-Staff.
He had to report everything he heard, because rumour has it that the speaker of the National Assembly will now informally endorse Rep. Ri Jeong Hyeok for deputy speakership.
If what he heard was true, they would have to face the aftermath of Rep. Yoon Seri's wrath, for that endorsement was initially promised to her.
Several moments later and the assemblywoman was practically seething with anger when the intern entered her office, his shaking hands slowly putting down the glass of water on her mahogany table in an attempt to calm her down. Meanwhile all her senior staff had their heads bowed down a little, afraid to look into her eyes. Yoon Seri was going on and on about how the endorsement is rightfully hers, how she fought tooth and nail to get that, and now it was served on a silver platter to that stupid assemblyman named Ri Jeong Hyeok, not letting her staff hear the end of it.
There are 300 people in the National Assembly, why in the hell does it have to be him?
Representative Yoon Seri picked her bag up, raised her chin and walked out of the room, refusing to take any of this shit.
***
"Sir, I'm sorry but she really won't take no for an answer." His staff pleaded, half panicked and half afraid of the assemblywoman bulldozing her way to his office. Her seething anger had dissipated, leaving traces of detest in her face in the form of her icy-cold aura. She looks scarier in this state, where her high heeled shoes kept click-clacking on the floor and her subtle winged eyeliner so sharp it could kill a man.
"Leave us and go home," Jeong Hyeok commanded. His junior staff was retreated after proving her boss' visitor with a beverage; relieved that she wouldn't get in the middle of the warzone. Closing the folder he was reading from and hiding it underneath all his files lest Seri tries to take a peek. "Please. Make yourself comfortable."
Pointing to the chair in front of his desk, his offer was met with graceful nonchalance as she remained standing up, poise and composure elegant yet motionless.
He shifted his seat on the leather executive chair, leaning back a little for comfort. "What brings you here?"
"You know why I'm here." The assemblywoman retained her ice-cold demeanor, threatening him wordlessly with her gazes.
A sheepish boyish smile crept up to his face, making the well-dressed man look like a bashful teenager teasing a girl, "I don't."
But charms never fazed her. "Cut the bullshit, Ri Jeong Hyeok. I don't have time to play games with you."
Schadenfreude. A laugh was heard from across the room, he was clearly finding amusement in her predicament. On the otherhand, her jaw clenched and her eyebrows creased— her inability to hide how much she fucking hate his guts was just plain hilarious for the man.
"The Deputy Speakership is mine and you snaked it right under my nose." Her words were sharp as a sword, aiming to scathe his huge ego filling up the room.
Yet the grin in Ri Jeong Hyeok's face didn't falter. He spoke in a matter-of-factly tone, as it was his turn to harm her with his words. "It was never yours, not until the entire parliament cast their ballot."
"Don't you think I'm aware of that? You know what that endorsement meant!"
"You cannot blame me for your own incompetence. Maybe they realized you're not capable enough for the job, Seri-ssi." Jeong Hyeok leaned into his massive table, intertwining his fingers in front of him.
Seri shut her eyes forcefully, breathing hard and counting up to five to calm herself. "You have no right to call me that."
"What, 'Seri-ssi'?" Eyes met in a fierce stare off, until Ri Jeong Hyeok decided to break the tension lingering in the air. Voice laden with seriousness, devoid of any silly antics he was playing, he asked. "What do you want?"
Seri never left the stare, speaking her words slowly so he could digest every bit of it. "I want you to decline the endorsement to the deputy speakership."
It was as if she had made the funniest joke, Jeong Hyeok laughed. Seri's expression was still on the borderline between frowning and straight face, telling the assemblyman that she was not in the very least kidding. Jeong Hyeok inwardly scoffed at how incredulous her words were. "And what would make you think i will do that?"
Seri bit her lip, as if contemplating whether to continue with her plan. Once she opens this pandora's box, there's no stuffing the monsters back.
Then something clicked inside her, probably Greed, who got out of the box when she took a peek.
"..I have dirt on you."
The room fell silent. Jeong Hyeok tried to gauge the assemblywoman in front of her, searching her face for any hint of apprehension. Instead he only saw anger, laden with contempt.
Yet he couldn't fall victim to her threats, which are and will remain empty until she's got evidence— and considering the amount of effort to hide his dirty laundry, he's certain that there's nothing to worry.
"Believe me, Seri-ssi. Whatever you have is nothing. You cannot scare me."
"I am not trying to scare you off." Seri's voice took on a playful tone, realizing that she has the upper hand in this conversation. The assemblywoman made her way to him, leaning back to his mahogany table for support. Afterwards, her face moved towards him to whisper, speaking to him sarcastically. "Afterall, who would even care about your multi-dollar offshore accounts under the name of 'Kim Tae Pyung'?"
Ri Jeong Hyeok's eyebrows furrowed, agitation clearly brewing inside him. "What did you say?"
"Now you know I'm not kidding." Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she laughed and moved away from the man, returning to her earlier position across the table, in fear that someone might come in and see them in their compromising position. Seri leaned again in his table, forward this time, with her two palms pressed against the surface. "Drop it, Ri Jeong Hyeok."
His patience is running thin, refusing to believe that she actually is in possession of what can ruin him, and she uses it to blackmail him. However, Ri Jeong Hyeok, who is known as one of the ruthless members of the National Assembly, would never give up without a fight.
If she wants to play dirty, he will give her dirty. He will never go easy on her.
"You think I have nothing on you, Seri-ssi?" Meeting her halfway, he also leaned on his table so he could whisper to her ear, "You're not as clean as the public perceives you to be. Have you forgotten that you slept your way to the top?"
No, he refused to be controlled by her cunning ways.
"Yoon Seri, do you remember how you seduced me into co-authoring your bill because it wasn't getting any traction?" The sound in her ear was breathy, as if he was deliberately doing this to make her uneasy. "You were young, idealistic, and naive. On another note, you can be considered a hero, Seri-ssi. Willing to sleep with anyone for the Motherland. How noble."
She moved away from him so fast she got a light headache. His condescending words, coupled with the clear amusement in his face at the sight of her being uncomfortable, were starting to get the best of the usually calm and composed assemblywoman.
"That night wasn't about the bill," She said, voice lightly breaking and eyes glinting with emotion for a split second. Is that real, or was he imagining things? The emotions she showed disappeared as fast as it showed itself. "..and it's nice to know that's how you felt about it."
She said sarcastically, soulless eyes staring into him, as if ready to turn him into stone.
Ri Jeong Hyeok ignored her remark. He doesn't have the patience nor the interest to deal with other things right now. Instead, he sternly replied to her remark, "I won't decline it."
"I worked hard for that and you know it."
"Who do you have to endure sleeping with to be offered the endorsement in the first place?" Jeong Hyeok says.
The emotion in Seri's eye shifted. The nerve of him.
Next thing he knew, he was soaked.
"Fuck you." She says. Seri had grabbed the glass of water on his desk that was offered earlier to her and had thrown the water to his face. Apart from his face, there were stains of a darker shade of black in his clothes, indicating his suit is also drenched.
Jeong Hyeok took a handkerchief in his inside pocket, wiping the water off his face with obvious anger.
"I worked hard for where I am right now, Ri Jeong Hyeok."
Seri doesn't have the slightest idea where he got the audacity to speak to her that way. She had worked her way to where she is right now- working as a staff for an assemblyman in Daegu, she rose through the ranks and decided to run for office. She owes no one, not needing any kind of favors from anyone. She had built her career in between toughening herself up and working hard to prove her worth in a male-dominated workplace.
..and no one had ever spoken to her like this.
"You really do have some nerve to tell me that. You? Of all people?" She said condescendingly, "You, who was given the political machinery and support the moment you expressed the slightest interest of running into office. You, who treated your position in the government as your god's given birthright. You, who had everything served on a shiny silver platter."
She let out his venomous words relentlessly, like a boxer attacking his opponent jab after jab, eager for victory.
Ri Jeong Hyeok ignored her offensive words, focusing entirely on his own.
"Don't kid yourself, madame. You are flourishing because they let you. You are just a mere political ploy to get the confidence and votes of the minority— A poster girl for feminism and equality, if you may."
"That's not true." She said confidently.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Jeong Hyeok, who was getting tired of their pointless argument over something he doesn't have control of, "Anyway, it's out of my hands, Seri-ssi. "
Yoon Seri refused to believe that. She will yield now, but this is far from over.
Suddenly the cellphone on the table rang; slicing through deafening tension in the air.
Jeong Hyeok nodded into the call, as if the other person on the other end of the line could see his assent. Then she heard him speak, "Why is Seo Dan here? Okay. My meeting is ending anyway."
He dropped the call.
"I'm leaving, looks like your fiancée needs you."
She picked up her bag and walked towards his door when he heard him speak.
"And please stop threatening me, even if I know you can never do me dirty like that." Ri Jeong Hyeok says. He really needs to remove his giant stupid head out of his ass, she thought with disdain.
She turned around to give him a final look. "You don't know me, you sick bastard. Not anymore."
Then the door opened, revealing a poised and well-dressed woman who was smiling too much to her liking. Her eyes turned to her, and she smiled some more when she recognized her.
Seri's manners and upbringing prompted her to return the smile, albeit forced, to the woman in red. "Hi, Rep. Yoon Seri. It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard so many great things about you." Seri took her held out hand, and the graceful woman pulled her into half hug.
"Really? Oh, I'm glad." Seri replied in a softer and sweeter tone, one that he doesn't even imagine using in a million years. "I was just leaving. I had to discuss some matters with Ri Jeong Hyeok-ssi."
It amazed Jeong Hyeok, how the seething woman who barged into his office can transform from a roaring tiger to a purring kitten within seconds.
He opened the door for her to see his 'visitor' out, when the assemblywoman spoke in low voice so his fiancee on the couch, busy using her phone, won't hear a thing, "We're not done here, Ri Jeong Hyeok."
"Who told you we are?"
Ri Jeong Hyeok asked, before Yoon Seri passed by him, making sure to hit her shoulder with his on the way out.
Never in a million years, did both of them ever imagine they would become like this.
——
A/N:
I finally got this out of my system. Woohoo! Promised myself i would limit my rambling and try to shorten my chapters. Reading about SK's type of government while writing this brought me back to my college days as a political science student. Ahhh, how I miss. 😭
Thank you to the ever so talented clytetistic for this cover! It's so beautiful 😭😭😭
Anyway, hoping everyone is safe wherever you are. Praying for you all.
xo,
M