Chapter 1 — The Cold-Blooded Boss

Julian: When your followers hit a million, didn't you crossplay as a girl once? Did it feel awkward?

[Jordan]: Not really. It was mostly for the memes anyway, and I've cosplayed female characters before. Why are you suddenly asking? Don't tell me you're finally getting into cosplay?

Julian: …Something like that.

[Jordan]: HOLY SHIT. You finally gave in? I've been telling you forever—letting a face like yours go to waste should be illegal. Whatever you need, just ask. Don't be shy.

Julian: Ah… okay.

But Julian had lied.

He didn't want to cosplay.

He just wanted to wear women's clothes.

It wasn't a fetish.

Work pressure had simply built up so violently lately that he wanted to do something reckless for once in his life.

Bars were too chaotic.

Street racing was dangerous.

Tattoos hurt.

Julian had spent twenty years being the perfect student.

And now that rebellion finally came knocking, he realized he didn't even know how to misbehave properly.

Until one night, while doom-scrolling online, he came across a crossdressing video.

A slim pale boy in a skirt danced to a trending song.

[Baby looks SO pretty!!!]

[Do you people understand how heavenly this is??]

[My smile hasn't dropped since I opened this video.]

The clip had exploded with popularity.

The comments were overflowing with warmth, praise, and excitement.

Julian stared at those compliments for a long time without moving.

Honestly…

he envied him.

He couldn't even remember the last time someone had sincerely praised him.

A month earlier, Julian had received an offer from Apex Capital through campus recruitment and was now interning there.

Apex was one of the most prestigious investment banks in the industry—a powerhouse involved in IPOs, equity financing, wealth management, private equity, and high-profile corporate acquisitions.

Rumor had it the average annual salary there exceeded seven figures.

But the money came at a brutal cost.

Full-time employees worked well over ten hours a day.

Phones stayed on twenty-four seven.

Three hundred business travel days a year was considered normal.

During his first month, Julian practically lived at the office.

Just when he had finally started getting comfortable with the workload, the company launched its rotational training program and reassigned him to another department.

Unlike ordinary summer interns, Julian had entered Apex as a management trainee.

They were expected to rotate through different divisions before officially settling into their long-term positions.

There was a trainee group chat where everyone exchanged gossip and complained about assignments.

The moment the new placements dropped, the chat exploded with hundreds of messages.

People shared which departments they were moving to and warned each other about difficult managers.

Julian also shared some of his experience from the Equity Financing Division.

[Leo]: By the way, Julian, where did you get assigned this time?

Julian: Managing Director assistant.

[Leo]: Do you know who your boss is yet?

Julian: No idea. But I'm still in Equity Financing.

[Ayla]: Wait—Equity Financing MD? Isn't that Samuel Frost? God help you, Julian.

[Emma]: …Okay that's terrifying.

[Leo]: Why are you all being so negative? Julian, I believe in you. You'll survive!

[Lucas]: Seriously. That's an amazing opportunity. If you don't want it, give it to me.

Julian: Hold on. You all know him?

[Lucas]: Dude, are you the only person at Apex who doesn't?

Samuel.

God was listening—what an absurdly untouchable name.

Julian didn't feel comfortable judging a superior he hadn't met yet, so he politely replied with a simple:

Unfortunately, Lucas seemed personally offended by Julian's lack of enthusiasm and immediately launched into an obsessive breakdown of Samuel's achievements.

Samuel Frost.

Grandson of the chairman of a Fortune 500 corporation.

One of Apex Capital's largest shareholders.

And somehow, that wasn't even the most impressive thing about him.

He entered Harvard Business School at sixteen.

Earned his PhD in Economics at twenty-three.

Then climbed through Apex headquarters at terrifying speed until becoming Managing Director at only thirty years old.

[Lucas]: Do you people understand how insane a thirty-year-old MD is?! Sure, investment banking has plenty of nepotism babies, but connections can maybe get you to VP. Not MD. You know how many promotions there are between those positions? Every single step is built on actual performance.

[Leo]: Oh God, is he the guy from the training case study? That's honestly offensive levels of talented.

[Lucas]: It's not just equity financing either. His investment performance is terrifying too. One of the funds he managed at a branch office returned over twelve percent annually. He's also doing economic research through the Apex Institute and publishing papers nonstop. I heard universities are already trying to recruit him as a visiting professor.

[Ayla]: Everyone knows he's brilliant. The problem is his personality. He's ridiculously harsh. He's already driven two assistants away in the past month alone. One of the rotation interns quit crying after only a week.

Julian: Wait… crying?

[Ayla]: I shouldn't say too much. Just… good luck.

Suddenly, Julian remembered the strange look his previous supervisor had given him when informing him about the transfer.

Like he wanted to say something.

In the end, the man had only patted him on the shoulder and sighed.

"I trust your abilities. Just… take care of yourself."

Julian hadn't even met Samuel yet, but unease had already started coiling in his stomach.

And the moment he officially began working under him—

that unease became real.

—

Julian met Samuel Frost for the first time during a departmental meeting.

Minutes before the meeting began, the assistant who had originally been assigned to Samuel suddenly broke down emotionally and resigned on the spot, leaving Julian and the executive assistant staring at each other in silence.

Thirty seconds later, Asher Quinn shoved a prospectus several hundred pages thick into Julian's hands.

"I'm really sorry to throw this at you on your first day," Asher said gently, "but your supervisor resigned five minutes ago. So you'll be presenting the report instead."

Julian: …What?

The meeting was starting in half an hour.

Julian held the massive prospectus in his hands and briefly considered death.

Now he finally understood why nobody lasted long in this department.

If this had happened to him on day one of a rotation, he'd want to quit too.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of walking away.

Julian took a deep breath and reminded himself the rotation only lasted two months.

He just had to survive.

He forced himself to skim through the prospectus as fast as possible, memorizing the critical information.

People gradually entered the conference room.

The meeting soon began.

It was a large roundtable room.

As an intern, Julian technically shouldn't even have been sitting there.

But now that his boss had abruptly quit, he was shoved into the position whether he wanted it or not.

Asher pushed open the conference room doors.

The quiet chatter inside stopped instantly.

Everyone straightened.

The atmosphere sharpened.

Julian instinctively looked up too—

And a tall man walked in.

Black bespoke suit.

Cold elegance.

Sharp features so handsome they almost felt unreal.

…That was Samuel Frost?

He looked nothing like the terrifying monster Julian had imagined.

Samuel's features were refined and devastatingly attractive, carrying the polished arrogance of old money and absolute confidence.

The meeting began.

Samuel sat at the head of the table and started speaking.

Even his voice was unfair.

Low, magnetic, perfectly controlled.

As he spoke, his hands rested lightly on the table, exposing part of his wrist.

Long fingers.

Prominent veins.

A faint flush against pale skin.

Exactly like the thirst-trap influencers Julian occasionally stumbled across online late at night.

This was his new boss?

He was so attractive Julian almost couldn't look directly at him.

Julian lowered his head quickly, ears burning.

"Julian," someone whispered beside him, "you're up next."

Julian nodded and silently rehearsed his report one last time.

Asher stood first.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, Jim from the Equity Financing Division is unable to attend today's meeting. Management trainee Julian Hale will present the project update in his place."

Julian glanced nervously toward Samuel.

But Samuel's eyes remained on the projection screen.

As if situations like this happened every day.

Julian's throat tightened instantly.

Public speaking had never been his strength.

But there was no backing out now.

He forced himself to stand and begin the presentation.

Thirty minutes hadn't been nearly enough time to familiarize himself with the project.

Thankfully, the slides were there to support him.

Julian relied on fragmented memories and key figures as he stumbled through the report.

It wasn't impressive.

But at least he didn't completely humiliate himself.

"That concludes my presentation. Thank you."

Julian bowed slightly.

The moment he straightened—

Samuel finally looked at him.

Their eyes met.

Julian's heartbeat skipped violently.

"You're Julian?"

That was the first thing Samuel Frost ever said to him.

"Yes."

Samuel's cold, beautiful eyes lingered on him.

His voice remained calm. Elegant.

"Next time you hand me garbage like this," he said softly, "submit your resignation yourself."

Julian froze.

Heat exploded across his face instantly.

—

"Samuel, I literally explained he's an intern," Asher complained after the meeting ended. "Jim disappeared last minute and Julian had to cover for him. Couldn't you dial your temper back a little?"

"I don't care about the reason," Samuel replied coldly. "And I don't care whether he's an intern."

His voice was sharp enough to cut glass.

"I have no use for incompetence."

Garbage.

Incompetence.

Only now did Julian truly understand why the previous assistants had broken down so quickly.

"You heard that, huh?"

A gentle voice interrupted his thoughts.

Julian looked up into a pair of green eyes.

Asher Quinn was half Italian, with naturally curly hair and striking emerald eyes.

Unlike Samuel's cold cruelty, Asher was warm, approachable, and endlessly patient.

"Don't take what he said personally," Asher said apologetically, holding Julian's hand lightly. "Samuel isn't targeting you. He's just like that. He's hard on everyone—hardest on himself."

"…."

Julian twitched the corner of his mouth but said nothing.

His opinion didn't matter anyway.

Asher seemed genuinely afraid he might quit and continued persuading him.

"Even if his personality sucks, his abilities are incredible. If you stay beside him, you'll learn more than anywhere else."

Julian stared at him for several seconds before finally saying:

"I'm not planning to quit."

Relief visibly washed over Asher's face.

"Thank God. I was worried you'd leave too."

Julian wanted to quit.

He simply couldn't afford to.

Other people had families to fall back on.

Julian still had bills to pay.

Apex Capital offered some of the best salaries in the industry.

This was his best chance.

Seeing Julian genuinely willing to stay, Asher added:

"You saw what happened earlier. Samuel's assistant resigned and I can't replace him immediately. So for now, you'll temporarily take over the role."

And just like that—

Julian's nightmare officially began.

Samuel Frost was a terrifying boss.

Not only because of his cold personality and vicious tongue—

but because his stamina was genuinely inhuman.

Working twelve-hour days was normal in investment banking.

Samuel clearly operated beyond human limits.

He was the kind of monster who could work through the entire night, hit the gym for an hour the next morning, shower, and still arrive at the office looking perfectly composed.

But the thing that truly broke Julian—

was Samuel's impossible standards.

And his absolute intolerance for mistakes.

Julian poured every ounce of energy into each task.

It was never enough.

Not good enough.

Redo it.

Revise it.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Every draft returned covered in corrections.

Every effort dismissed coldly.

No matter how hard he worked, there was never any positive feedback.

The tiny bit of confidence Julian once had was slowly ground to dust.

During that period, he slept barely five hours a night.

The moment he opened his eyes, work swallowed him whole again.

And even then—

he still couldn't satisfy Samuel.

Making money was hell.

Living like this felt even worse.

Countless times, Julian wanted to give up.

But every time, he forced himself to endure a little longer.

Like Sisyphus pushing his stone uphill, over and over again—

only to watch it roll back down every single time.

Was there even meaning in this anymore?

And just when Julian was on the verge of resigning again—

he finally realized something.

No.

He couldn't keep bottling this up.

If this continued, either he or Samuel was going to snap first.

Julian began craving some kind of release.

Something safe.

Private.

Rebellious.

Something that could finally make him feel seen.

And somehow—

crossdressing started to make perfect sense.

Julian barely hesitated.

The moment another impossible task notification arrived from Samuel—

he opened Amazon and ordered a JK uniform skirt.