Chapter Text
Life can be magical sometimes, did you know that? I don’t mean literally, though I suppose that, too. But sometimes life has its own magic. When I was fired from my job a few months before my thirtieth birthday, I had no idea that it would turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to me, or that the next year would change my life forever. My name is Woo Tae-Kyung and this is the story of my first love.
“Well,” Mr. Seo pauses to flip through a stack of papers, “how about this one?” He pulls out a single sheet of paper and slides it across the desk to Tae-Kyung.
Tae-Kyung does his best to swallow a sigh. It’s been two months and three days since he started looking for a new job. His mother, well-meaning as she is, had set up this appointment with a recruitment agency to help him when he didn’t find anything immediately, and even though he didn’t have high hopes, he agreed to go, just to placate her. Things are rough everywhere, it’s why he got laid off. Companies are just not looking to hire right now.
He skims the listing quickly. Small company, looking to hire an accountant to go over their books, but small enough that he’d be doing a little bit of everything, right on down to cleaning. Guess they hadn’t hired a janitor yet. His eyes catch on the deadline to apply, a date almost a full week ago.
“This one has expired,” he says, and he tries to hand it back.
“No, I know that’s what it says, but I’ve been personally overseeing that one, and I happen to know it would be a great fit for you. The three men who run it are around your age, all very friendly and accepting, I’m sure they’d love to help you get back on your feet.”
“I’m not looking for friends, Mr. Seo, I’m just looking for a job.”
Mr. Seo blinks and looks up from his sheaf of papers, studying Tae-Kyung for a few moments.
“Why was it you were let go from your last job, Mr. Woo?” he asks finally.
“They needed to make some cuts.”
“Sure, but you’re young and able-bodied, and you seem very diligent. Why you? Why not some sixty year old about to retire anyway?”
Tae-Kyung thinks for a few minutes.
“I guess… I don’t know.”
“Do you mind if I give you a bit of advice?” Mr. Seo asks, but before Tae-Kyung can even acknowledge the question, he presses on, “They tell you in school that what people care about are qualifications, but once you get the job, people want to work with people they can get along with. You don’t have to be best friends with everyone, but you should at least try to pretend you care about a few people, so that when layoffs come up, people don’t wonder who you even are in the first place.”
Tae-Kyung blinks a bit. The advice is, well, a little brutal, but it’s coming from a place of honesty, and he can appreciate that. Perhaps he doesn’t understand what Mr. Seo is saying - why would you need to like the people you’re working with, you just need to be able to do your job - but there are many things that he doesn’t understand about other people.
“Besides,” Mr. Seo adds when the silence has stretched longer than most people would be comfortable with, “You never know. You might enjoy having friends.”
And so I found myself promising to try something new, and standing outside the company, resume in hand, just a few days later. Mr. Seo had called ahead to let them know I was coming. I had no idea what to expect. Nevertheless, I’d promised both my mother and Mr. Seo I’d try.
“3...2...1…” Tae-Kyung mutters under his breath, hand poised to knock on the office door. He’s trying desperately to get his heart rate under control. He’d nearly been late and had to dash up the stairs rather than wait for an elevator, just because he’d bumped into someone on the street, resulting in them both being drenched in coffee. He’d done his best to help, but the man had just shoved him away. With the interview, he hadn’t wanted to show up in a coffee-stained shirt, and he’d only been a few minutes from home, but the time it took to change had cut things far closer than he’d have liked.
At precisely ten o’clock, he knocks, once, twice, three times, sharply. Then he lowers his hand to his side and straightens his shoulders. A few moments later, the door swings open.
“Hello, I’m Woo Tae-Kyung, I’m here for the…” Tae-Kyung trails off. Staring him back in the face is the man he’d knocked over on his way here. He’d taken off his suit coat, but the navy plaid shirt underneath still shows a dark stain where the coffee had spilled.
Behind Tae-Kyung, the elevator dings, and the door slides open.
“I’m telling you, we have to go get barbecue tonight, I don’t care how busy you are,” a voice says.
“Nam-goong, I… alright, we’ll see how it goes, and maybe we can get barbecue. I think So-Hee had planned dinner, though. Oh hello!” This last is directed at Tae-Kyung, and he looks up, “Woo Tae-Kyung, was it? I thought I remembered your name! Saebit Boys School, no?”
Too much is happening at once, and Tae-Kyung is having a hard time processing, so he just nods numbly.
“Yes, of course, I was a couple years ahead of you, but I still saw you around, it’s nice to see you again!” Tae-Kyung isn’t sure what to say, so he just gives a stiff bow. He has no memory of whoever this is, and no idea how to ask his name now that he’s established they should already know each other.
“Shin Da-On,” the man says, taking pity on him, “In case you’ve forgotten. Can you believe it's been nearly twelve years since we graduated!” Tae-Kyung attempts a slight smile, and then takes a shaky breath.
“Come in, come in! Shin-Woo, why are you standing in the door like that, let us in!” Mr. Shin adds. The one he called Shin-Woo blinks a few times and then steps back.
They lead Tae-Kyung into a small conference room, probably the only one they have, and all three of them take seats around the table. Tae-Kyung stands in the doorway, unsure whether he should stand off to one side to present himself. They’d sat around the table instead of all on one side, so if he chooses one side of the room to stand on, then he’d be slighting those with their backs to him.
“Ah, we don’t stand on ceremony here,” the one Mr. Shin called Namgoong waves him over, “It’s just us, just sit, sit.” Tae-Kyung gives a half bow, and then goes quickly to sit in the indicated chair.
“We’re so lucky you’re interested,” Mr. Shin says, leaning forward onto his elbows, “Our initial search was a failure, you know. Too many people who were more interested in working for a startup than the actual accounting part of things. But here you are, and you have accounting experience! Now. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?”
Tae-Kyung does his best to make himself sound desirable, but he knows it’s a hard sell. He’s very good at his job, and that is certainly something he can emphasize, but he’s not good at much else. Most interviews he’s been to don’t let him get much past the first round of questions before sending him home. But as the interview drags on and on, he starts to believe that’s not going to happen. After nearly half an hour the questions stop, and Mr. Shin sits back in his chair.
“Well, I’d say we need to deliberate, but I think we all know what the result is here, yes?” he asks, “Namgoong? Noh Shin-Woo?” Tae-Kyung mentally files away the name so that he can address Shin-Woo more politely once he starts working here.
“I’m against it,” Mr. Noh says after a very long pause. The other two let out breaths they’d been holding.
“Why?” Namgoong whines, “And why did you wait so long to say so?!”
“Because I was thinking.”
“Are you sure you were thinking carefully?” Mr. Shin chimes in.
“Oh, forget it,” Namgoong interrupts before Mr. Noh can say anything, “It’s not like you’ll change his mind.”
“May I ask why?” Tae-Kyung asks. The rest of the table falls silent, as Mr. Noh meets Tae-Kyung’s eyes for perhaps the first time all interview.
“There are many reasons. Are you really asking me to list them all?”
“Yes. I’ve been job hunting for two and a half months now. I cannot improve if I do not know what I am doing wrong.”
“And why is it my job to teach you?”
“Hey, hey, that’s okay, we can take a few minutes-” Mr. Shin tries to interject, but Mr. Noh cuts him off with a look.
“There’s no reason for us to take responsibility for his job hunt.”
Tae-Kyung should have known better, really he should. But after the morning he’d had he didn’t particularly care about burning one bridge at a very small startup that probably wouldn’t outlast the year anyway.
“I’m not leaving until you tell me why you’re against hiring me,” he says insistently, staring Mr. Noh straight in the eyes.
Mr. Noh’s mouth twists as he considers.
“Fine. For starters, the application deadline was a week ago. If you really wanted the job, you should have applied then, just like everyone else,” Mr. Noh starts.
“But that search failed!” Namgoong protests, “Shouldn’t we keep taking applications if we haven’t found someone yet?”
“Two,” Mr. Noh pushes on, “We don’t really need the help.”
“Then why put out the hiring notice at all?” Tae-Kyung wonders, half to himself.
“Da-On can do the books, he’s been doing them so far.”
“That’s actually, I mean, I could, I have been, but it would be nice-” Mr. Shin blusters.
“Fine,” Tae-Kyung says, standing, “I understand when I’m not wanted.” And with that, he stalks out of the office.
As he reaches the street level, his phone rings. He digs it out of his pocket, and answers.
“How did it go? When do you start?” asks Mr. Seo from the other end of the line.
“I don’t. I’m sorry Mr. Seo, I don’t think this job will be a good fit for me.”
“Ugh. Who was it? Was it Noh Shin-Woo? He’s stubborn, but he’ll warm up-”
“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I know you’re getting paid to do all this. But maybe it’s for the best. I’ll get a job in a factory somewhere, they’re always needing someone, even if it’s third shift-”
“No wait! Listen, I haven’t known you for long, but I can already see that a factory job wouldn’t be right for you. Besides, didn’t you want this job? You told me you wanted to try something new!”
Tae-Kyung fell silent. He had thought something new would be good. And he’d promised his mother. Both Mr. Shin and Namgoong seemed quite kind, and the atmosphere was good. It would have been perfect.
“Look if you don’t want it, then that’s fine, but if you’re willing to try it, let me just talk to them okay?”
“Okay.”
That should have been that. I failed the interview and so I should have gone back to job hunting. I honestly don’t know what Mr. Seo said to them, but a few hours later I got a call from Mr. Shin saying that they would hire me on a probationary basis… if I was willing to do most of the cleaning, as well as the bookkeeping. I agreed.