pairing: i.m (im changkyun) x gender-neutral reader
genre: non-idol!AU, boss/subordinate!AU, third-person POV, similar to the kdrama “Romance is a Bonus Book” (small book publisher setting), part of a series
word count: 1683 | next
content warnings: one mention of blood, one mention of alcohol
summary: you work as a copy editor at a publishing house, and you’re a genuine hard worker who never breaks rules—that is, until a new boss takes over your department. you find yourself magnetized and lusting over him, and vice versa, so perhaps your morals can bend just a little?
requested by: @livingwithmx
a/n: From here on out, I’ll be incorporating more Korean language and cultural things into my writing, but fear not: I will list a handy key each time with translations and pronunciations! To make it more universally easier to understand my included Korean, I’ll write the Romanized words in the story and add the Hangul in the key.
korean key:
⦿ biseonim (비서님) = secretary; pronounced “pee-suh-neem;” (titles follow one’s surname)
⦿ annyeonghaseyo (안녕하세요) = most common and formal hello; pronounced “on-yawng-ha-seh-yo”
⦿ pyeongjibjangnim (편집장님) = editor; reader’s work title; pronounced “pyung-jeeb-jahng-neem”
⦿ soju (소주) = clear Korean grain alcohol, similar to vodka; pronounced as it looks
⦿ jungyeok (중역) = executive director; pronounced “jung-yuk”
⦿ pyeonjibguk (편집국) = editorial department; pronounced “pyun-jib-gook”
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“Good morning, YL/N-pyeongjibjangnim!” Seoyoon calls out from behind the wide reception desk, her adorable chipmunk cheeks dimpling as she watches Y/N step off the elevator and onto the eighth floor, where their employer is located in the building.
“Annyeonghaseyo, Park-biseonim!” Y/N replies, throwing their hand up to wave briefly. They stop at the desk and peer down at Seoyoon. “How was your weekend?”
“Really good, actually,” she chirps with raised brows and blue-contacted eyes aglitter. She moves her hands off her keyboard to prop herself up on her forearms. “He finally kissed me!” she whispers excitedly.
Y/N’s mouth drops open in happy surprise. “It’s about time!” they say, matching Seoyoon’s excitement.
Seoyoon leans back in her swivel chair. “Right?! I still feel so good.”
Y/N smiles, bringing the black coffee tumbler in their hand to their lips.
“I even slipped some soju in my tea,” Seoyoon murmurs, raising her eyebrows again and jerking her head toward the dainty cup in front of her computer.
Y/N swallows their coffee hard and shoots Seoyoon a disappointed look with pursed lips. “Park-biseonim… You know alcohol isn’t allowed on premises,” they remind her softly, friend to friend.
Seoyoon exhales. “I know; I know… Just this one time?”
Y/N pauses, examining the secretary’s face. How could they alert their superior when the sweet girl was just so happy about her boyfriend finally kissing her?
“All riiight,” Y/N replies, turning toward the main doors leading into the office. “Only because of that kiss.”
They smile again before disappearing through the windowed double doors and making their way to their corner office on the far end of the floor. Y/N greets their coworkers, waving at those already submerged in their work and bowing to their superiors. Odd, they think, the entire executive board is here today. Something must be happening.
Y/N gets themselves situated at their modern Plexiglas desk, powering on their huge monitor and turning on lamps here and there. As soon as the computer hums to life, a loud two-toned chime goes off, signaling a high-importance email.
Smoothing out their slacks as they sit on their swivel chair, Y/N opens the email, which was sent to the entire editorial department. Something is happening, indeed.
In it, the department’s director had written:
Good morning, team:
Please meet in the conference room at 8 today to join me in welcoming a new employee to our department. I have important news to share, as well.
~Choi Jaeho-jungyeok
Y/N glances at the time on the computer: 7:57 AM. Yeet! they mentally screamed, shooting out of their chair and bee-lining for the conference room, situated between the editorial and creative departments.
Bursting through the large room’s white double doors, Y/N is greeted by a small symphony of good morning!s and annyeonghaseyo!s, and they bow their head to everyone while walking around to the last open chair at the corner of the rectangular table. Some coworkers have pads of paper in front of them; many have cups of steaming liquid; and others simply have their cell phones lying out. There’s one unfamiliar person sitting directly across Y/N in the other corner seat, though, looking like a stone with their elbows on the chair’s arms, hands clasped, and with nothing in front of them.
As soon as Y/N sits down and scoots in, they glance up to find this man already gazing at them.
Oh my God, they think.
The man across from them is young, around their age or older, and he looks like an Olympian god. Plentiful, chocolate-brown hair frames his intense, dark eyes, and his full lips are slightly pressed together in the tiniest of smirks. He’s wearing a crisp, white button-up with a skinny, dark purple tie. The lanyard holding a small placard hanging over it reads, Im Changkyun and beneath it, Jungyeok, Pyeonjibguk.
We have two directors now? Y/N thinks to themselves. Is that Choi-jungyeok’s big news?
Im Changkyun is still watching Y/N, and normally in a situation like this, they’d break eye contact. But something about this guy has started sucking them in, and the enigmatic glow of his eyes is not helping.
Jaeho causes both of them to snap out of it, though. “Okay, everybody, let’s get started.”
Jaeho is a fortysomething man, gray hair peeking through at his temples and his youthful face looking strangely alight today. He’s not normally this smiley, either. Standing at the head of the table, he clutches a large mug of fragrant coffee.
“You all got my email, evidently, so thank you all for being here and on-time. I mentioned that I have news, and I don’t intend to beat around the bush, so with that being said, I will be resigning as jungyeok, effective next Monday.”
A gaggle of gasps, what?!s, and nooo!s sounds from around the table.
“Order, order!” Jaeho dramatically raises his free hand like a judge, grinning at his joke. “I have been offered a wonderful opportunity on the other side of the city, and I spent a long time thinking it over, so this wasn’t an easy decision.”
He pauses to gulp some of his coffee, pocketing his other hand. “Many of you have already noticed the new face among us, and he’s here today to get acquainted with his new team, as he will be replacing me.”
Several of the surrounding executives collectively respond with an excited, “OH-ohhhhh.” No one seems really upset by this news, and even Im Changkyun has broken into a sheepish smile.
Y/N observes Mr. Im in the moment, noticing his sharp cheekbones and thick brows. His lips look the most tantalizing, totally full on the bottom with a perfectly curved Cupid’s bow above. They recognize a pair of silver hoops on his lobes, specifically from Cartier’s Love collection—ironically, the same design as Y/N’s gold ring on their thumb. Without realizing it, they emit a small hm in their amusement.
When Mr. Im glances at Y/N, they stiffen and immediately angle themselves toward Jaeho again.
“I have been training this employee both off-site and after-hours for the past week now because I, admittedly, wasn’t sure how you all would take the news. So I wanted to train him away from prying eyes,” Jaeho explains, occasionally looking down at the table. “For the next week, though, he’ll be in-house, sharing my office with me—’cause it’s really his now—and familiarizing himself with everyone as well as how you all work together. This is the last leg of onboarding for him and the last leg of Phenomenon Publishing for me. I’m very excited for both my and his future.”
Jaeho drinks more of his coffee and steps around his chair, pushing it in and resting his free hand on top. “I’d like everyone to get back to doing their magic now, and your new jungyeok will spend the day going around meeting everyone. Thanks, guys.”
And with that, Jaeho exits the conference room.
Everyone sits around for a moment, processing their director’s words, but more so trying to figure out if they should say something to Mr. Im, who’s still in the room.
Mr. Im speaks up, sitting upright in his chair. “Annyeonghaseyo, everyone. I want to make my introduction to you all a little more personal, so instead of doing it here and hiding with Choi-jungyeok the rest of the day, I’m going to spend a little time with each of you today. I don’t just want to know your name and role; I want to learn a little about you guys too because we’ll be working closely from now on. I hope to fill the jungyeok’s shoes, quite honestly,” he finishes with a deep chuckle.
Im Changkyun’s voice is like hot blood sliding down Y/N’s skin: unsettlingly appealing, deep, magnetic, and velvety. They gulp hard, fidgeting with their gold ring under the table as Mr. Im speaks.
Y/N’s coworkers rise from their seats, formally bowing to their new boss and making hush-hush conversation amongst themselves as they filter out of the brightly lit room. Y/N is the last to follow the crowd out, and as they send one last furtive glance toward Mr. Im while approaching the double doors, he turns to meet their curious eyes and raises an eyebrow.
Stunned at their unusually brazen behavior, Y/N nods politely before ducking out and speed-walking back to their office. They close the door a little too hard but only because they’re desperate to sit down and catch their breath.
What is happening to me, they think, drinking their own iced coffee.
Y/N spends the rest of their day immersed in their editing tasks, working diligently to keep their mind from dwelling on God himself and how heart-stopping-attractive he is, how entrancing his voice is. They respond to emails as normal, reference the same books as normal, listen to the same low-fi playlist as normal, field interns’ questions as they take turns knocking on Y/N’s door as normal, and they even spend their lunch hour in the cozy break room.
Im Changkyun is nowhere to be seen, and by the time 4 PM rolls around, the last hour of the workday, Y/N had calmed down. In fact, they’d had a spurt of productivity after lunch and were able to finish editing two of the larger manuscripts that’d been stressing them the past few weeks.
Y/N even debated taking off the last hour to quietly read at their desk instead of emailing the finished documents for Choi-jungyeok to skim over, as he gives final approval before the company convenes with the respective authors again. But that’s never been Y/N’s style, breaking rules. They were there to work—“do their magic,” as Jaeho had put it, and that’s how they’d spend the remainder of the day.
Wrong.
The all-glass door to their office swings open, and God himself walks in, plopping down in the small loveseat on the right side of Y/N’s desk.
“I saved you specifically for last,” he says, leaning back in the chair and freezing his eyes on Y/N’s.
They pause for a second before cannonballing into the unknown. “I figured.”
Hiii, I’m K and this blog is my attempt to express sexual frustration :) In this post, I’ll provide key info about me in general and as an author.
As a kpop author:
I write strictly for boy groups/soloists. I’m generally more “old-school” because of my demiromantic identity (and bc I’m nearing my 30s tbqh). I’m also a switch, so you’ll get content from both sides!
Biases and who I write:
THE BOYZ
My bias is Juyeon; however, my wrecker is Hyunjae (please note: I will refer to him by his birthname, Jaehyun; not to be confused with NCT Jaehyun). This group is alllll visual 👀
EXO
Undoubtedly the kings of [second-gen] kpop. I don’t write for past members, and my bias is Baekhyun. Another visually stunning group <3
MONSTA X
OG ULT GROUP <333 My OT7 bias is Wonho, whom I refer to by birthname, Hoseok, and my OT6 bias is I.M. Stan my hardworking babies!!!
NCT 127
Not a single member I don’t like here, folks. My bias is king Taeyong. I’ll write for all of them (except lil Jisung) because dAMn dass a whole lotta talent and sex appeal ✨
SEVENTEEN
Yep, same shit here—can’t stick with a bias to save my pathetic life, usually except for Wonwoo, my cute lil weirdo <3 Vocal unit always SLAYS.
STRAY KIDS
Ladies, gents, and theys: this here is my ult ult ULT. Changbin is my main, and Chan is my wrecker. Please leave if you don’t support OT8 because this blog is NOT for you.
WAYV
OOOffffff. I bias Kun, but the whole group wrecks me anyway lol. And their pets—ohmygoddd. How can you not love these crackheads?
