"Thank you for understanding. I'll make sure to give you a call once I have confirmation for your appointment. Have a nice day," I ended another call. Right after my lunch break, I immediately sorted out all the voicemails left on my laptop.
As for the matter of Minju, I advised her to call someone from the lower floors to pick up their documents. Of course, she didn't want to and complained that she had a lot of work to do. So, I called in for her and thankfully, someone from each floor responded.
To be completely honest, Minju wasn't fully occupied with her work. Most of the time, she would gossip with her friends. And even though I looked at them and waited for them to return to work, they would ignore me and acted as if they had nothing better to do than gossip.
Moments later, Mr. Kim arrived and everybody immediately went on their best behavior. I watched him enter and as he approached me, he wasn't amused.
I quickly stood and bowed, "Mr. Kim."
"Miss Ryuk," he started with a stern voice as he reached me. "I heard from a couple of staff members that they saw you running all around the company. What were you doing, away from your desk this morning? It's the busiest time of the day," he continued.
I froze. I stole glances from the whole floor and they were all laughing at me, especially Minju. As for Soyoung, I could tell that she was holding back her tongue. And I prayed that she wouldn't say anything because I didn't want to cause trouble for her.
Suddenly, Minju stood from her chair and said, "Oh, Mr. Kim, your new secretary is very unreliable. She's always away from her desk and she's always on her phone. I tried to stop her but she didn't listen to me." She added, "I was going to try and take over her job. But that's against our rules. She's not fit for her job."
I was about to say something when Mr. Kim turned to her and remarked, "And you're not supposed to meddle into things that aren't of your business, Miss Chun."
Minju rolled her eyes as she sat back down. She replied, "I was only trying to help. The new employee you hired isn't worthy to be a secretary."
Mr. Kim chuckled and spatted, "I wasn't asking for your help. And just because your father is a partner of this company, you'll expect special treatment. Also, before you judge someone to be unfitting for their roles, focus on your job. The lower floors are complaining about certain papers not being delivered on time."
He added, "Our boss has asked me to curate a list for those he will let go. Would you like to be the example for everybody here?"
Minju scoffed and returned to work with a scowl on her face.
"Miss Ryuk, please come with me," he turned to me before he entered the boss' office.
---*---*---*---
With my tablet in hand, I sat on the chair across from him. For a while, he didn't say anything. He checked and grabbed a few papers from the drawers. As well as read a few papers.
The silence between us only added to the fear and anxiety within me. With my tablet on my lap, I discreetly clutched onto it. I also controlled my breathing as it already started shaking when I was called into the office.
"You can relax now, Miss Ryuk. You did nothing wrong," Mr. Kim suddenly spoke whilst his eyes were still on a contract.
My eyes widened as I stiffened. I didn't know if I should believe him or not. For all I knew, he would be testing me and my attitude. I didn't want to be seen as a slacker just because I got this position without any sort of effort.
He looked up at me, dumbfounded. He then let out a smile and added, "Everything's okay, Miss Ryuk. You're not in any trouble. You can relax."
I looked at him for a bit more as I waited for him to say something else. Something that would contradict what he just said. But after he nudged at me, I finally let out my breath and calmed down.
He chuckled. "You didn't do anything, Miss Ryuk. So, be assured that I didn't summon you here to be scolded."
I nodded as I swallowed the lump in my throat.
He put away the contract and turned to me. He put his hands on the table and intertwined them. He then asked, "How is your first morning here, Miss Ryuk?"
I hesitated for a bit before I replied, "Everything is going smoothly, Mr. Kim. I don't find my job draining or confusing."
He nodded. "And how do you find your co-workers?" he asked another.
"Everybody has been very welcoming. And I admire everybody's work ethic. They all do their jobs so well," I replied with a firm smile.
"Has anyone treated you unkindly today?"
I stopped for a moment as I heard his next question. I held back my tongue as I shook my head. With a faint smile, I explained, "No one has treated me harshly, Mr. Kim. And I'm very thankful for that."
He stared at me for a bit before he asked, "Are you sure?"
I nodded. I didn't want to be that person in a company who was a blabbermouth. As much as I wanted to complain, I still believed that the way I helped Minju was a part of my job. Mr. Kim did say that we should help one another. And I was given the authority to help my co-workers during his absence.
He took a deep breath in as he moved away. He grabbed his tablet and said as he tapped on it, "So, does that mean that what Minju said was true? That you were busy somewhere else instead of working?"
My heart raced a little as he asked that question. I wanted to defend myself but I didn't want to cause trouble for other people. I was only a new employee here. I didn't have the right to act all holy and perfect.
"You do know that in this company, we are very lenient with our employees. But when it comes to working hours, we're very strict. And if you're found slacking off during working hours, you're immediately fired," he explained before he returned to me. He repeated, "So, is it true? Was Minju telling the truth?"
My eyes widened in horror. Should I tell and risk being bullied by my co-workers? Or should I lie and lose my job?
I was about to answer when Mr,Kim continued, "We have security cameras on this floor. So, even if you don't answer me, I already know what happened." With one final tap on his tablet, he turned it around to face me.
I turned to it and saw my whole exchange with Minju, as well as the times that I would go back and forth to my desk. I was also shown a clip where Soyoung pleaded with me to have lunch with her.Once the clips were done, Mr. Kim pulled his tablet back.I kept my head low as I didn't know what to say about the situation."I'm not angry with you, Miss Ryuk," he replied, which made me look at him. He continued, "I just want to understand what happened during your first hours here."Out of nervousness, I pinned my hands in between my thighs once again. And because of my discomfort, I shifted numerous times on my chair. And I proceeded to look around as I avoided Mr. Kim's stare."Miss Ryuk," I immediately turned back to him, "I d
The driver looked at me and I smiled hesitantly before I returned to the paperwork in my hands. I lived in this neighborhood for far too long. Long enough for me to be reminded that in every beautiful home, behind every wonderfully finished door, life wasn't as perfect as it seemed.Soon enough, we finally stopped in front of my house. As I gathered all of my things, my driver said, "I'll pick you up tomorrow around seven in the morning. Is that a good time for you?"I turned to him and smiled. I replied, "Seven sounds great. But do wait for me at the nearesf bus stop."His brows furrowed.I quickly reasoned, "I like going on walks in the morning. A small walk to the bus stop will be my exercise. I hope that won't be much of a hassle for you."
"And that was the story of Jack and the beanstalk," I smiled as I closed the book. I settled the book on the bedside table and returned to the little ones. "How was that for a bedtime story?" I asked as I looked at them from the top bunk to the pull-a-bed on the floor.Because of my sisters' unplanned pregnancies, I gave up my room for the kids. However, we couldn't afford separate beds so we bought a double-decker bed with a pull-a-bed underneath. Thankfully, my nieces and nephees never complained. Especially, when they always enjoyed having each other around."Is the beanstalk true, Auntie?" Yeonghee, the youngest of the bunch, asked. "And is there really a giant's castle in the sky?""Hm, well, other than Jack, no one has attempted to try again," I replied as I tucked them in one by one. I continued, "And after h
"I'll have everything prepared for your appointment with Mr. Nam. Should there be additional confirmation needed, I'll give you a call straight away," I explained to a client who was on the other end of the line."Thank you so much, Miss Ryuk. Thank you for taking care of my appointment," the client replied."No need to thank me, sir. I'm only doing my job. Have a nice day," I ended the call and typed in additional information onto my document file. It has been a week since my first day of working here. And thankfully, I was able to adjust in no time. With the help of Mr. Kim and Soyoung's informative advices, I didn't struggle that much.I wasn't overworked as well and that was such a big blessing. Back at my previous job, I had to work extra hours. However, my additional efforts weren't properly compensated so I w
I sighed as I turned back to Soyoung."That was a good one, Mingyu," Soyoung said as she composed herself. "That, she couldn't deny. She only entered this company because she's interested in our boss."She chuckled as I grabbed my utensils. I replied, "She may have stopped bothering me during working hours. But she will compensate for it during lunch." I looked directly at Soyoung and asked, "Doesn't she have any other hobbies? Other than to bother me and make me feel like I'm a worthless piece of trash?"Soyoung shrugged and said, "So far, degrading other people is the only hobby that I know she's good at." She took a bite from her chicken and added, "At least, we know she's good at something other than being an absolute pain."We shared a brief laugh together before we
Mr. Kim closed the door behind me, which caused me to hold my breath. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. So, I remained standing in the middle of the room. There was nothing to hear around us but silence.And of course, the sound of how hard my heart pounded onto my chest.I did my very best to keep myself standing up. By the manner of how hard my heart beated, it was enough to make me dizzy. And it didn't help that I returned to panic mode. Breathing became a struggle once again. I looked all over the room in an attempt to distract myself from… well, myself.Without looking, Mr. Nam finally broke the agonizing silence as he said, "Please take a seat, Miss Ryuk." He briefly gestured to the chair across him before he flipped onto the next page.I bowed briefl
My eyes widened at his sudden question. My cheeks burned once more. My ears rang as I panicked. "Oh, um, please don't mind that, Mr. Nam. That was a mistake on my end," I replied as quickly as possible."That only means you had a reason to stare. You can tell me," he insisted.I stared at him as I hoped that he would change his mind. But to my dismay, it seemed that he wasn't about to give up on this conversation.He added, "Miss Ryuk, I'm not mad if you stared at me. I just want to know the reason why. Everybody has their reasons when they do something. Even if it was as odd as staring at somebody."I stood frozen and contemplated on what to do. Should I really tell him what I was thinking when I stared at him a while ago? Wouldn't that be a weird way to start my connec
"Oh, wow, I didn't know that something still scares you," she said, sarcastically.I sighed as I returned to my laptop. "What do you want now, Minju?""I'm surprised at how brave you are to even look at Mr. Nam directly. A low life like you don't even have the right to be in the same room as him," she replied."Minju, I didn't force myself onto Mr. Nam. I didn't ask to be called into his office," I answered, still not bothering to look at her. I continued, "And the only reason why he talked to me is because I'm a new employee. Most managers and bosses do that to make their newbies comfortable.""Your courage to talk back to me is getting bigger as the day passes," she chuckled. She leaned closer to me and whispered, "Perhaps, you have forgotten your place here. Don't for