Work Text:
I rushed into the building, my pace faster than usual, but nowhere near a sprint. I had woken up way too late, used to my life of unemployment and a terrible sleep schedule.
Perhaps trying to fix my sleep schedule one day in advance is not very effective, I'll note that for later.
My suit is simple, cheap, but gets the job done. My parents, who nagged me to get a job, didn't offer to pay for a suit once I snagged a position, but I didn't want to ask them to, so here I am.
As I open the door, a girl rushes past me, a coffee in hand, clothes noticeably wrinkly, and her hair tied up messily.
"Not even an excuse me?" I muttered, slightly off put.
I trudge on. As I glance around for the elevator, I see quite the scene.
"Serves her right" I mumble
There is the girl that rushed past me, and another man. He's dressed up very nicely, his clothing obviously very expensive. His clothing, all light colors, is now very wet, soiled by a brown liquid, coffee that also pools around their feet.
"I'm so sorry!" She exclaims, voice squeakily high.
The man grumbles something, angrily, and she continues mumbling apologizes.
"I'll pay for dry cleaning!" She promises
"You'll have to pay more money than you've ever seen." He opens his mouth as if to continue, but stops when the girl lifts her head, probably looking him in the eyes. His gaze changes a bit, but he scoffs, brushing her off and storming away.
I snap my eyes away, continuing to look around for the elevators. I spot them, and head over.
The guy who got coffee spilt on him is also walking over. Our eyes met briefly, but I looked away. He's actually really good looking what the heck.
Anyway, I'd hate for that to have been me, having to walk around drenched in coffee.
"Oooh what if it was burning hot" I shuddered at the thought.
I click the up button for one of the elevators and wait patiently, the guy beside me checks his watch. I pay him no mind, just hoping time didn't speed up in that moment. Being more than 10 minutes late would be a death sentence for me.
The elevator finally came, and the hasty clicking of high heels followed.
I stepped in and clicked my floor, stepping away from the buttons, and courteously held the elevator for the woman to enter.
Lo and behold, it was the same clumsy lady.
Just us three. I looked at the buttons as she moved to press her floor and noted that one of the top floors was selected.
The highest floors were reserved for those highest up and most powerful in the company according to my guide. I pressed my lips together. She's doomed.
The air in the elevator was tense, still, and I couldn't wait to get out of there.
Luckily, my floor is first, and I rush out onto the floor for interns, refusing to look back.
Just one week of a paid internship and then I'll be fully employed with full pay.
I breathe out, and head to the conference room, where we'll all be meeting.
About 30 minutes pass before we start. We're given a briefing and told what to do, then I begin today's workload.
I am not assigned a hefty duty yet, Just working in file management and organization alongside a few other interns and a more seasoned worker.
We talk a bit, but are mostly quiet aside from asking a few questions, some mildly personal, others about work.
Time passes, and eventually we are called to a meeting. This time, there is no chatter, whispers, infact. There's barely any movement.
A few moments of dead silence later, the door opens. A man walks in. His demeanor commanding attention. He's dressed very professionally, a stylish touch on his outfit.
Perhaps I'm staring far too hard, but I believe I saw some parts of his outfit in a random runway show. I think the outfit is marketed for women.
"He's so cool" I mutter, the sound much louder in than room than expected, due to the quiet but still barely intelligible
He begins to speak: I introducing himself, greeting us shallowly and all that, then begins to talk more about company expectations and whatever when the door bursts open.
There she is, the coffee spilling lady. She breathes heavily, as though she ran here from across the building.
The bows then heads to the nearest seat.
Mr. Choi continues yapping, his eyes trained sternly on her for just about his entire terribly lengthy speech.
I tune him out at some point.
Like 4 of the ceos have the surname Choi, I wonder which one this is.
I begin to daydream about going home and just playing games as sleeping at some point when I feel someone kicking my ankle. I snap back at attention and Mr. Choi's attention is now trained on me.
He looks away after a while and in a few minutes he's out the door.
The tense air seems to follow him out the room, the silence lingers for about 30 seconds before people begin to talk, and I turn next to me.
"Oh, hello Jiwoo!" I smile
Jiwoo is younger than me, still schooling, just here for some experience in the workforce for a short while. Out of all the people I've met so far, she's probably who I like most.
She smiles back "Did you not notice how Mr. Choi was looking at you? For a solid 3 minutes he didn't even blink."
"Uhh, it was probably because I was zoned out for like most of his little speech." I chuckle awkwardly, rubbing at my nape.
She hums. "Well, we have new tasks so let's get to it"
Our advisor waits by the door. Leading us through corridors into a new space.
I speed up, walking beside the woman.
"So, is this one company or multiple? Because from everything I've seen so far it seems like one."
She clears her throat "It's normal to be confused, but essentially, it's 5 separate companies working as one. A trust of sorts. The CEO's are in cahoots, what kind I don't know."
I nod, slowing down and joining the ensemble of interns again.
Our new task is harder, seeing as we are on the research and development department, there is much to do, and the more the merrier.
What feels like days pass before its finally time to get out of there. And I race home. Unfortunately, I'll be taking transit, all that's left is waiting however long it takes for the bus to come. A few of my coworkers are alongside me, which only makes me feel slightly better.
I note that lady, the late-coming coffee spiller is amongst us.
The information really doesn't benefit me in any way, so I ignore everyone around me and pull out my phone, counting down the minutes until I can reunite with my bed.