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Mr. Kang Hates Everyone

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#Ch1 Poor guy

Nobody liked the top floor.

Not because it was quiet.

Not because it looked expensive enough to make employees nervous about breathing near anything.

But because Kang Jisung worked there.

Even the elevator ride up felt stressful.

People fixed their posture before the doors opened. Some checked their reflection. Others mentally rehearsed apologies for mistakes they hadn’t even made yet.

The executive floor operated differently from the rest of the company.

Phones stayed on silent.

Conversations stayed short.

Laughter barely existed.

And in the center of it all—

Kang Jisung.

Twenty-eight years old. CEO of JS Group. Cold enough to make grown men sweat during meetings.

People feared him for good reason.

He fired incompetent employees without hesitation.

He once made a senior manager redo an entire presentation because one slide was misaligned.

And according to office rumors, he’d walked out of a company dinner because someone tried touching his shoulder while laughing.

Nobody knew if the rumor was true.

But honestly?

It sounded believable.

Which was why the executive floor nearly stopped functioning the moment Lee Hyunwoo walked out of the elevator smiling.

Actually smiling.

Like he hadn’t unknowingly stepped into the most terrifying department in the entire company.

“Good morning!”

Several employees looked up at once.

Hyunwoo stood there with messy black hair, slightly wrinkled clothes, and two trays of coffee balanced in his hands.

He looked completely harmless.

The exact opposite of what belonged on this floor.

“Oh no,” Minji whispered immediately.

Jaeho looked genuinely concerned. “That’s the new secretary?”

“I think so.”

“He’s smiling too much.”

“He’s going to die.”

Hyunwoo blinked at the reactions. “Uh… should I not smile here?”

Nobody answered.

Which honestly answered enough.

He laughed awkwardly. “Wow. Tough crowd.”

Minji hurried toward him before anyone else could say something worse.

“You’re Lee Hyunwoo, right?”

“Yep!” He handed her a coffee immediately. “I got extra because I didn’t know what people liked.”

She stared at the drink.

Nobody had ever brought coffee for the executive floor before.

Mostly because everyone here was too stressed to think about kindness.

“You’re… really working for CEO Kang?”

“That’s what the contract says.” Hyunwoo grinned.

The surrounding employees exchanged looks filled with pity.

Poor thing.

He had no idea.

“You should go upstairs quickly,” Minji warned quietly. “Before he notices.”

Hyunwoo checked the time on his phone.

8:47 AM.

“…I’m early though.”

Jaeho nearly choked.

“Early?” he repeated.

“Yeah?”

“CEO Kang arrives at 8:30 every day.”

“…Oh.”

“Actually,” Sumin added, “he expects his secretary there before him.”

Hyunwoo stared blankly for a second.

Then sighed dramatically.

“So basically I’m already unemployed.”

A few employees accidentally laughed.

Immediately afterward, everyone looked nervous about laughing on this floor.

Hyunwoo noticed.

And smiled softer this time.

“It’s okay,” he reassured them. “He can’t be that scary.”

The silence afterward was deafening.

—

The walk to the CEO’s office suddenly felt much longer.

Hyunwoo adjusted his tie nervously while staring at the large black doors in front of him.

He could still hear the employees downstairs saying poor guy in their heads.

That was never comforting.

He knocked carefully.

“Enter.”

Low voice.

Cold voice.

Definitely scary voice.

Hyunwoo pushed the door open slowly—

—and nearly forgot how to breathe.

The office looked enormous.

Dark wood shelves lined the walls. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the city skyline. Everything looked clean, sharp, untouched.

Not a single thing out of place.

Including the man sitting behind the desk.

Kang Jisung didn’t look humanly perfect.

People shouldn’t look like that in real life.

Black suit.

Silver watch.

Sharp eyes focused on documents spread across his desk.

He didn’t even glance up immediately.

Which somehow felt scarier.

“Good morning, sir,” Hyunwoo greeted politely.

Silence.

Papers flipped.

Keyboard clicking.

Then finally—

“You’re late.”

Straight to the point.

Hyunwoo blinked. “It’s 8:48.”

“You were expected at 8:40.”

“…Right.”

No greeting.

No introduction.

Not even eye contact yet.

Just criticism.

Hyunwoo suddenly understood why the turnover rate for personal secretaries was terrifyingly high.

Still, he walked forward carefully and placed a coffee cup near the desk.

“I brought coffee.”

Jisung’s gaze finally lifted.

And wow.

Those eyes were brutal.

Sharp enough to make most people immediately apologize for existing.

“I don’t drink sweet coffee,” Jisung said coldly.

“It’s not sweet.”

“You don’t know my order.”

“It’s vanilla latte with one extra espresso shot.”

Silence.

For the first time, Jisung actually looked at him properly.

“…Who told you that?”

Hyunwoo shrugged casually. “The café downstairs.”

“You asked about me?”

“Well, yeah.” He smiled lightly. “I’m your secretary.”

That answer should not have affected him.

It absolutely should not have.

Yet something about Hyunwoo saying it so naturally made Jisung pause for half a second longer than usual.

Annoying.

Very annoying.

Jisung looked away first.

“Your tie is crooked.”

Hyunwoo immediately fixed it. “Sorry.”

“You were also talking loudly outside.”

“…Sorry.”

“You touched items on my desk.”

“I was moving the files into order.”

“I already had them organized.”

“…Sorry.”

Every sentence came out cold. Sharp. Distant.

Most employees would’ve been sweating by now.

Some cried.

One previous secretary had actually fainted during their first week.

But Hyunwoo only nodded each time without looking offended.

No fake nervousness.

No desperate attempts to please him.

Just calm acceptance.

It irritated Jisung for reasons he couldn’t explain.

“Sit,” he ordered shortly.

Hyunwoo sat immediately.

Then accidentally rolled slightly too far back in the chair because the wheels were too smooth.

He grabbed the desk to stop himself.

Jisung’s expression darkened instantly.

“Don’t touch my desk.”

Hyunwoo pulled his hand back so fast he nearly fell again.

“Right. Sorry.”

Silence filled the office.

The uncomfortable kind.

But Hyunwoo couldn’t help staring slightly.

Kang Jisung was honestly unfairly handsome.

Not soft handsome.

Dangerous handsome.

The kind that looked expensive and impossible to approach.

Even his hands looked intimidating.

Long fingers.

Perfectly straight posture.

Everything about him screamed control.

Meanwhile Hyunwoo had already almost fallen out of a chair in the first five minutes.

“…Why are you staring?”

Oops.

Hyunwoo smiled awkwardly. “Sorry. You’re just younger than I expected.”

“I’m twenty-eight.”

“That’s young for a CEO.”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“True.”

Another silence.

Jisung narrowed his eyes slightly.

Normally conversations with employees felt exhausting.

Everyone filtered themselves too much around him.

Too careful.

Too fake.

But this secretary talked naturally.

Like he wasn’t scared.

Which made absolutely no sense.

“You talk too much,” Jisung said.

“That’s what my friends say too.”

“I’m not your friend.”

“I know.”

Again—

No hesitation.

No awkward panic.

Just honest acceptance.

Jisung suddenly found himself unable to predict this person at all.

And he hated unpredictability.

“Your responsibilities,” he started coldly, “include organizing my schedule, managing meetings, handling calls, and ensuring there are no disruptions during work hours.”

Hyunwoo nodded seriously now.

“No unnecessary mistakes.”

“Understood.”

“No emotional behavior.”

“…What counts as emotional behavior?”

“Crying.”

Hyunwoo blinked.

“…Has that happened before?”

Jisung looked back at his documents.

“Yes.”

“…Oh.”

“That will not happen again.”