"If this isn't perfect, all of you are out on the street."
Kang Hyun-woo didn't lift his eyes from the screen as he spoke those words. His voice was quiet but sharp enough to make everyone in the room hold their breath. The meeting in the conference room of Kang Enterprises was coming to an end, and the atmosphere was as tense as a courtroom before a verdict.
"That's all. You have three days."
As the employees hurried out, nervously clutching their folders, Hyun-woo carefully adjusted the cuffs of his impeccably tailored suit. He was a man who didn't tolerate mistakes – not in business, not in his life.
As he stood, his personal assistant, Lee Dong-min, entered with a fresh schedule for the day. Dong-min, a man in his early thirties, always trailed a step behind Hyun-woo, his face perpetually lined with worry.
"Mr. Kang," Dong-min said cautiously, making sure not to overstep any boundaries. "You have a meeting with the minister at two, and at four, the review for the new collection."
"I know," Hyun-woo replied. "What else?"
Dong-min hesitated. "Your housekeeper quit."
Hyun-woo raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"She said she can't work in a house with a rule requiring 'eight different cleaning cloths'."
"That rule exists for a reason," Hyun-woo said coldly. "People are messy. Rules are necessary."
Dong-min swallowed hard. "In any case, the agency will send someone new by tomorrow."
Hyun-woo simply nodded, dismissing the matter as unimportant. People came and went, but the rules stayed. His home was his sanctuary – a place where everything was under his control.
---
Across the city, in a much smaller, messier apartment…
"This isn't your problem, Ha-rin! It was the boss's dog, not yours! Why did you even defend the dog?!"
Yoon Ha-rin stood in her tiny kitchen, holding her phone between her shoulder and ear as she washed dishes. On the other end of the line was her best friend and former coworker, Kim Soo-jin.
"Soo-jin, you didn't see how he was yelling at that poor puppy!" Ha-rin defended herself. "It was small and terrified! The boss was treating it like it was being punished for not being perfect!"
"Yeah, and now you're the one being punished. What are you going to do now?" Soo-jin sighed. "Unless you plan on becoming some kind of superhero for dogs."
Ha-rin rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about me. I already sent an application to an agency for domestic work. I'll have something by the end of the week."
"Ha-rin," Soo-jin said softly, "I know you're resilient, but… don't you think you deserve better than cleaning someone else's house?"
Ha-rin paused for a moment. "Of course I deserve better, but I don't have a choice right now. And honestly, Soo-jin, maybe it'll even be good for me to clean up my life – starting with someone else's."
"The irony," Soo-jin quipped.
Ha-rin laughed. She was a fighter, someone who didn't shy away from tough situations. "We'll see where this takes me."
---
The next day, at Kang Hyun-woo's luxurious villa
Dong-min was carefully reviewing the new staff's schedule as Hyun-woo walked past him.
"Mr. Kang, the new housekeeper will be arriving in half an hour."
"Good," Hyun-woo replied coolly. "Just explain the rules to her and let her do her job. I don't want any disruptions."
As Hyun-woo walked off, Dong-min murmured to himself, "Disruptions? In this house? It's like a robot cleaning for another robot."
Of course, neither Hyun-woo nor Dong-min could have imagined that the new housekeeper would bring more disruptions than they had ever anticipated – all with a smile.