I Believed One Sentence for 18 Years

This is a story about someone I know.

I’ll tell it from her point of view.

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I. Where did it start to go wrong?

The work never ends.

And somehow, I’m packing my laptop again.

After feeding the kids, doing the dishes, and finishing the laundry,

it’s already 10 p.m.

That’s when I start working.

My body has been unwell for a while.

1 a.m.

“I have to go to work tomorrow… I should sleep.”

At the company, I’m considered the core person.

Everyone assumes my salary must be huge.

But what I actually earn is among the lowest for my age and title.

“Because I’m not a developer?”

“Because I’m married?”

I worked at a tax accounting office for over ten years.

When I joined this company, my first responsibilities were accounting and cash management.

Then HR tasks got added.

Then general affairs.

Now I even support sales.

Contract management. Renewal date checks. Collections tracking.

Every meeting, I have to create quarterly P&L reports and year-over-year comparisons.

And now they want me to make company promo content—on YouTube.

The most stressful part?

Whenever I try to work quietly, the CEO asks for “just one more” document—any time, all the time.

Everything I plan to do today gets pushed to tomorrow.

After becoming a team lead, it got even more chaotic.

“Why do I have to join the development meeting?”

“And why the sales meeting too?”

So again, today,

I pack my laptop—because I couldn’t finish the work.

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II. The one thing I quietly expected anyway

The sales director had 20 years of experience.

I had worked at this company for 18 years.

I’ve known the CEO since before my second child was even born.

Always neat and polished.

Considerate toward others.

A diligent person who put family first.

There were hard times—like making collection calls to clients.

But the company never delayed salaries. Not once.

When the business stabilized, they started hiring outsiders into executive roles with high salaries.

But unlike what we hoped, those highly paid hires couldn’t even last a year.

One by one, they left.

“You could’ve paid the existing people that much…”

It would be a lie to say I never felt hurt about pay.

But whenever the CEO and I talked here and there, he always said the same thing.

“I’m going to keep you two with me for life. I’ve got something separate in mind.”

Even on vacation,

even during my mother’s funeral,

I opened my laptop.

Because I believed that line: “I’ve got something separate in mind.”

If you’re a human being—

if you’ve said something like that—

wouldn’t there be something?

I didn’t think expecting that was strange.

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III. The company was sold

I often prepared documents related to a potential sale, so I knew the mood, at least vaguely.

Still—

I never thought it would actually be sold.

I ran all the meetings with the acquiring company’s legal, accounting, and HR teams.

I organized every requested file and sent it immediately.

“We’ve never seen a company with documents managed this well.”

“You’re incredibly good at what you do.”

I heard those words, too.

An executive from the acquiring company said, “Send materials directly to the person in charge.”

But the CEO always insisted, “Send them to me first. I’ll deliver them myself.”

Even in practitioner meetings, the CEO was always there.

One day, the CEO called me in.

I knew the sale price was close to 10 billion KRW, so I thought I would finally hear what “I’ve got something separate in mind” really meant.

But this is what came back.

“The acquiring company will take over the work you’ve been doing. Still, I’ll make sure you can keep working somehow.”

“And their standards are very high. You’ll have to match their level.”

That was it.

No explanation for “something separate.”

In the end, what remained was simply:

“If you want to stay, do better.”

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IV. Resignation

I didn’t want to see the CEO’s face anymore.

Two months ago, I told them I was quitting.

There were attempts to stop me.

Sometimes gentle.

Sometimes forceful.

Sometimes almost like pleading.

I repeated only one sentence.

“My health isn’t good. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t want to be tangled up anymore.

I didn’t want to talk.

I didn’t even want to set foot in that space.

The only reason I could endure those two months was because of the coworkers I had worked with.

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V. Four months of handover

They originally told me to hire a replacement and hand over the work.

But the experienced hire quit after only a few days.

Eventually, we decided to transfer my work to the acquiring company’s admin team.

An executive there said, “Please help with the handover for just one month.”

I had already announced my resignation two months earlier.

I wanted to say, “This isn’t my job.”

But he didn’t seem political—just a person trying to do his work.

“Then I’ll do it as a part-time contractor. But I’ll come to your office for the handover, not my old company.”

“If it’s part-time, severance pay can’t be processed…”

“That’s fine. I just don’t want to be involved with that company anymore.”

“Understood.”

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VI. At the end of four months

My work began to split apart.

Accounting.

HR.

Cash management.

General affairs.

Legal.

The things I had done alone were finally being divided, one by one.

The lead person said,

“Wait… you did all of this by yourself?”

I answered,

“The routine tasks aren’t the real problem. The problem is the CEO’s constant requests for materials—at random times.”

After one month: “Please, just one more month.”

After two months: “One more month, please.”

After three months: again, “One more month.”

Somewhere along the way, I became familiar with their managers.

People greeted me—me, the “part-timer.”

Near the end of the fourth month, the request came again.

“We’re still a bit anxious. Could you do remote part-time work for two more months— four hours a day— for 50% of what you’re paid now?”

I said,

“Now the people in charge should do it themselves. I’ll stop here.”

I’m writing this at length because of one sentence— the one the CEO used to gaslight me until the very end.

“Their standards are very high. You’ll have to match their level.”

Did money change him?

Or was he always like that, and I just failed to see it?

Even now, the most bitter part is this:

I believed one line—

“I’ve got something separate in mind.”

And for 18 years, I worked like a slave.