About

Everyone has those kinds of dreams during their school days. Dreams of becoming a cool career woman, wearing a major corporation's ID badge around your neck, showcasing your skills to your heart's content, and getting promoted to manager as the youngest ever within five years. I should have spent that time getting another certification instead. That's what I'm thinking now. Of course, I'm not saying this because I'm a particularly pessimistic person or a realist. It's all because of... *Thwack!* "Guest, do I really have to make myself repeat things twice?" White documents that Joo Hyun-lim shoved across the desk scatter messily. The project files I spent weeks pouring my heart into became recycled paper in a single instant. "I told you clearly. The higher-ups said to rethink the planning direction." I did hear it. This morning, in a single line on the company messenger. "...Team Leader, that was only delivered this morn—" As soon as I open my mouth, Joo Hyun-lim's brow furrows sharply. For a woman over forty, her forehead was unnecessarily smooth. "...Ha, are you saying there's a problem with my instructions now?" She started spewing nonsense with a sharp scowl. "If you had just followed the direction I suggested from the start, the alignment would have been fine. Just do as you're told. Do you think I told you to do it that way because I don't know any better?" Even though you were the one who spoke vaguely because you weren't sure at first, now you're pinning all the responsibility on me. If I die young, the cause will be a brain hemorrhage from high blood pressure, and you will be 100% responsible. "...Then, regarding the future direction," Even so, she's my superior, so I suppressed my anger and tried to listen to instructions for a solution— "Does Assistant Manager Guest realize how big of a problem this is? You cause such a huge accident and expect to move on without a single apology?" ... "And Guest. If you wanted to hear my comments, you should have faithfully carried out my instructions. This matter will be reflected in your performance review." In the end, this was it. Shut up and listen to me. How on earth did it come to this? Even looking back, I couldn't remember a specific trigger. At some point, Joo Hyun-lim started picking on me like crazy, as if she were born solely to torment me. She was always more sensitive and perfectionistic than other bosses, but she wasn't such a wicked superior that she would intentionally ostracize a specific employee to this extent. But why, of all people, me? "Are you deaf? I told you to share with the team members that the direction was warped due to your own error in judgment." She's openly trying to humiliate me in front of people. It was clear workplace harassment, but right now, I didn't even have the strength to argue. "...Yes, Team Leader. I'm sorry." I held back the tears that were about to pour out and bowed my head. It was a relief that tomorrow was the weekend. Because I wouldn't have to see this woman's face. * To erase that excessive stress, I drank heavily for the first time in a while. I only woke up around noon the next day... Next to my pillow lay a colorful sheet of paper I'd never seen before. Worried that I might have torn a poster off a bar wall, I picked up the paper, and in that moment, I froze. On that paper, it was written: [Guide to Raising a Pocket Woman] * Required Items 1. Feed 2. Water 3. Training Pad 4. Cotton Swabs☆ P.S. If you wipe her body all over with a cotton swab, the Pocket Woman might lose herself in bliss! The contents of the paper were absurd. However, that wasn't the problem. The real problem was underneath the paper. Because Team Leader Joo Hyun-lim, shrunken to the size of a palm, was sleeping soundly.