SBS ‘My Perfect Secretary’ Han Ji-min collapsed in Lee Joon-hyuk‘s arms. The hug ending with Lee Joon-hyuk, who appeared as the only ’my side‘ in a place where there was no one on my side, induced an ’internal scream‘ and raised expectations for the next episode.

The second episode of ’My Perfect Secretary‘ (directed by Ham Joon-ho and Kim Jae-hong, written by Ji-eun, produced by Studio S and Io Contents Group) that aired on the 4th depicted the full-fledged office life of Ji-yoon (Han Ji-min) and Eun-ho (Lee Joon-hyuk), whose relationship changed from being bitter enemies to CEO and secretary. Eun-ho’s painstaking efforts to be reborn as the perfect secretary despite Ji-yoon‘s cold treatment broke down that iron wall and fueled expectations for the intimate care romance that will begin in earnest in the future. On this day, the viewership ratings rose to 6.7% in the metropolitan area, 6.5% nationwide, and a peak of 7.7%, riding the upward trend. The 2049 viewership rating recorded 1.7%. (Provided by Nielsen Korea)

Mi-ae (Lee Sang-hee), who was on the verge of developing a neurosis because of Ji-yoon who only says “Moving Here!” all day, catches the eye of Eun-ho, her husband Kang-seok’s (Lee Jae-woo) college junior. He was an overpowering talent who had the perfect specs for Ji-yoon, such as excellent organizing skills and the ability to take special care of troublemakers, as well as the human resources knowledge necessary for a search firm. Mi-ae had a hard time persuading Eun-ho, who was hesitating due to her bad relationship with Ji-yoon, by offering him exceptional conditions such as guaranteed childcare time and a 1.5x salary increase. However, Ji-yoon was not pleased with him. In the past, “Someone who causes trouble by stealing key personnel from other companies. Ji-yoon clearly remembers Eun-ho‘s sarcastic remark, “Do headhunters work like this without even the slightest conscience?” Ji-yoon wanted to work with someone who at least respected her work.

But Eun-ho was desperate. It wasn’t easy to change jobs because of Manager Song (Song Young-gyu), who harbored a grudge and ruined reference checks, and she had no other choice but ‘People‘s. So she shouted, “I’ll work hard,” to Ji-yoon, who ignored her, and she stayed up all night to adapt to the secretarial work that Ji-yoon wanted, such as figuring out the list of clients and key candidates, organizing the optimal meeting route and schedule, and scraping newspapers. In fact, all the employees of ‘People‘s’ except Ji-yoon were captivated by his outstanding skills, warm personality, and artistic visuals. Despite this, Ji-yoon‘s feelings did not change easily, and she eventually openly urged her to resign, saying, “Stop wasting your time.” Eun-ho did not give up. On the contrary, she bowed her head and said, “I will erase my prejudice against headhunters and learn from the beginning. Please teach me, CEO,” and asked to be judged only as a secretary.



Eun-ho studied hard about secretarial practices and headhunting even after work. He catered to Ji-yoon’s taste of drinking only the right temperature coffee at a restaurant crowded with tourists, and immediately brought her the materials she needed. He also took good care of Ji-yoon, who was a mess in everything except work. He always watched her from the front, back, left, right, and he approached her quietly to give her a hand cushion so she wouldn’t bump into him. He also installed guards on the corners of all the furniture, and he fixed the door to the CEO’s office so that it could open in both directions because she was confused about whether to ‘push or pull’. Eun-ho, who has grown into a proper secretary like this, has reached a level where she can even keep up with Ji-yoon’s schedule.

It seemed like they were getting along well as CEO and secretary, but there was a problem on the anniversary of Ji-yoon‘s father’s (Cho Wan-ki) death. Ji-yoon still has a deep wound that causes her to have nightmares. Her father, who promised to protect his daughter who grew up without a mother, passed away, leaving Ji-yoon alone in this world. That‘s why Ji-yoon became upset when she was that age. In the midst of this, when Eun-ho explained the reason she took parental leave from her previous company by saying, “I kept my promise to be by your side,” it ended up hurting Ji-yoon’s feelings. In the end, she said, “The secretary I need is not someone who meddles like this, but someone who does what I tell her to do,” and scratched him while he was taking care of her when she was sick.

In the meantime, the fact that ‘Career Way’ CEO Hye-jin (Park Bo-kyung) was intentionally intercepting candidates was revealed, and Ji-yoon‘s anger rose to the top of her head. But Hye-jin provoked Ji-yoon, who had barged into the CEO’s office, saying, “A person died because of you, so how could you walk back in here on your own feet?” Ji-yoon, who had been stubbornly saying what she wanted to say, wavered. Even the criticism from her employees, such as “CEO Lee, isn‘t it because of Kang Ji-yoon?”, “You killed someone and now you’re crawling in”, and “Traitor” poured down like hallucinations, making her stagger to the point where she couldn‘t even walk properly. This was a part that amplified curiosity about what had happened in her past.

Ji-yoon, who had been enduring the voices of criticism, felt like she was about to collapse. There, Ji-yoon was completely alone. At that moment, she saw someone running towards her. It was Eun-ho. Ji-yoon, who had been holding on with difficulty, collapsed in the arms of Eun-ho, who appeared as her only ‘my side’. It was a heart-fluttering ending that gave us a thrilling premonition that Ji-yoon, who never gives her side to anyone, will have a strong hill she can lean on. ‘My Perfect Secretary’ airs every Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at 9:50 p.m. on SBS.

Choi Yoon-na, Donga.com reporter yyynnn@donga.com