episode 1

Jun Kwon doesn’t make mistakes.

That’s rule #1 at K Innovations, and rule #1 of being Jun Kwon. You don’t slip. You don’t crack. You don’t accidentally send a 2:17 AM breakdown to every employee in the company.

Except he had.

The email had been titled “Q4 Profit Margins.” The body was supposed to be spreadsheets and quarterly projections. Instead, half-asleep and running on three hours of rest and too much cold brew, Jun had typed:

_I’m tired.

I’m tired of boardrooms and fake smiles and everyone calling me ‘Ice Prince’ like I don’t have blood in my veins.

Do any of you ever feel like you’re screaming into a void?

God, I need a vacation. Or a drink. Or someone to tell me it’s okay to not be ‘on’ 24/7.

Delete this. Don’t tell HR._

Then he’d hit send. To _all@kinnovations.com_.

By 2:18 AM, he was lying on his penthouse floor, contemplating whether it was easier to fake his death or move to Jeju and become a tangerine farmer.

By 2:19 AM, his phone buzzed.

An unknown number.

_CEO-nim? You good?_

Jun stared at the screen. He doesn’t give his personal number to employees. He barely gives it to his own mother. His first instinct was to throw the phone across the room. His second was to recall the email, issue a company-wide apology, and resign before the board could fire him.

_Who is this_, he typed back.

_It’s Tae Hyun. From Creative. You left your phone in Conference Room B yesterday. I was gonna return it at 9 but... well. I read the email._

Jun closed his eyes. Of course it was him.

Tae Hyun. The new creative director with paint perpetually under his fingernails. The one who wore oversized cardigans to investor meetings and had once told the CFO that K Innovations’ branding was “boring but make it fashion.” The one who pitched campaigns like they were poetry and looked at Jun like he wasn’t made of glass.

_Delete it_, Jun sent.

_Already did. From my inbox. Can’t delete it from my brain tho. The ‘screaming into a void’ part was very poetic._

Jun’s jaw clenched. _I’m firing you._

_For reading an email YOU sent to everyone? CEO-nim, that’s not very legal. Also you approved my PTO last week. I’m untouchable until Monday._

Jun could hear his own pulse. The penthouse was silent except for the hum of the city forty-seven floors below. He should stop this. He should put the phone down, fix the mistake, rebuild the wall.

Instead, he asked: _Why are you awake._

_Couldn’t sleep. Pitch deck for the Han Corp campaign is due at 9 and your ‘profit margins’ email made me spill coffee on my laptop. Why are YOU awake?_

Jun’s thumb hovered. He could lie. He could say _work_. He could say anything but the truth.

He didn’t.

_Couldn’t sleep either. Kept thinking about your tagline. “For the quiet moments.”_

The three dots that meant Tae Hyun was typing took forever.

_You... remembered that? I pitched it 3 months ago and you said ‘it’s too soft for our brand.’_

_I was wrong_, Jun sent. _It’s the only line I remembered._

The silence after that was heavier than the email. Jun could almost hear Tae Hyun breathing through the phone.

_You don’t have to be ‘on’ 24/7, you know_, came the reply. _Even Ice Princes melt._

_Don’t call me that._

_Then stop acting like one 😗

Jun looked at the clock. 2:31 AM. The city was finally quiet. No pings, no board members, no expectations. Just a man who’d accidentally told the truth and the one person who hadn’t used it against him.

His next text was reckless. He knew it was reckless.

_Meet me on the roof. 10 minutes. We need to discuss the... Han Corp campaign._

_At 2 AM? On the roof? That’s against like 7 company policies. ...do you have hot choco?_

Jun was already pulling on a coat. _Two cups. And a blanket. It’s for team morale._

_Right. “Team morale.” CEO privileges sure are something 🥵_

_Shut up. See you in 10.*

Jun ended the call and exhaled. It was the first real breath he’d taken in years.

He’d probably be unemployed by noon. The board would see the recall notice, they’d ask questions, HR would have a field day. His reputation as the Ice Prince would shatter.

But for now, there was hot chocolate. And a blanket. And someone who read his breakdown and texted back instead of running.

For the quiet moments.

Maybe Tae Hyun was right.

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