Within a well-lit, cool supermarket, with glistening white shelves and floors, behind its counter, stood a mature man of feathered hair, slender eyes and thin lips, inspecting the teenager in front of him.

“You must be Do Kyungsoo, right?”

The fair-skinned student, bearing a ruffled black bob hairstyle, a white shirt overcoated by a blue and green jumper with the symbol of the Municipal school, brown trousers and sneakers, nodded slowly, “Yes, sir, I look forward to participate in your test.” he replied flatly, bowing, bearing no semblance of enthusiasm.

“Truly? You don't sound like it,” the man leant forwards, giving the teen an inspecting look “by the looks of the you...” the mature man gestured to the teenager's eyes, “you look like you've been crying.”

“No, sir, I – I've not slept well last night. That's all.”

“If that's your answer...” smiled the man, one that took Kyungsoo by surprise for it showed no sense of understanding, but rather, tolerance “I'll have you conduct a couple of tasks, I will supervise how you carry them and if they are satisfactory, I will hire you.”

“Understood.” Nodded Kyungsoo.

“First things first, here,” The manager handed the student an a blue and white apron, bearing the logo of the establishment, “wear this and bag those items on the counter.” The manager signalled to a myriad of items resting atop the counter.

“Right.”

The first task of bagging items came naturally to Kyungsoo, seeing as how he dealt with the rush of the grocery store. Whether he dealt with the school rush, the sales battleground or the last minute sale dash, he always conquered something and left the field as swiftly as he came. Following his own logical rules, he placed the heaviest items, on the bottom, giving the lightest and frailest items, a leverage, should the shopper have a misfortune. However, he was also weary of placing too many heavies into the same bag, and so divided the items in two, as to balance the weight as appropriately as possible.

The end result, two full shopping bags of similar structure, weighing roughly the same weight, perfectly balanced for a long journey home, with two shopping bags on both hands.

“Nicely done,” The manager cheered, weighing both bags in both hands “swift and precise.”

“Thank you,” smiled Kyungsoo, proud of his work.

“Great, onto the next test.”

The pair stood before an shelf, with the low, middle and top spaces needed to be refilled. At their feet were the items needed in question – foodstuff, ingredients, and other food-related items, in two types of different containments, small carton boxes and tin can.

“Now, shelf these items. There's no indication of where they go, so use your instinct.”

Kyungsoo nodded and so he began.

Instead of immediately getting to shelving the items, he grabbed a basket, and placed some carton containers inside. Then, he approached the ladder close to him. It was then, that he began placing tin cans upon the middle shelf, organising them by what they were; whether they were canned tomatoes, peas, chickpeas, green peas. When it was all colourfully coordinated, he moved the ladder to the middle of the shelf and grabbed the basket and held it on on his arm. He climbed up the ladder and quickly placed the carton-boxed foods upon the top shelf.

With familiarity and confidence, he finished the work in a time that he even he did not expect.

“Okay, I see what you did. Tins at the middle, carton at the top. Why did you do that?”

“Well, glass at the bottom, for safety; the higher they are, the more likely they'll break. Tins at the middle because, if people were to try to reach them from the top, they're likely to injure themselves if the item falls, hence why I put the softest material at the top and most fragile at the bottom.”

“I like your logic.” Nodded the manager, beaming.

“It comes from experience.” Kyungsoo admits, rubbing a specific part of his scalp.

Back at the counter, the manager inspected the teenager once more, slender eyes narrowly gazing at the boy from every side and corner. Kyungsoo felt scrutinised under such a seemingly-stringent observation; did he seem outwardly inappropriate for the job? Did lying earlier affect his chances?

He shivered under the tense anticipation of the manager's decision.

“Well, Do Kyungsoo, I have made my decision,” stated the manager, hands joint behind his back, chest proudly protruding. Kyungsoo swallowed dryly, expecting the worst as to ease his heart, “I like your style,” the matured man continued “you are precise, swift and familiar with the setting. But I worry...” he retracted his bright tone, “oh, but nevermind.” he suddenly, nonchalantly, shrugging dismissed.

“Huh?” the fair student let out confused.

“Needless to say, you've got the job.” The manager beamed at the teenager, placing a welcoming palm forwards.

Kyungsoo, in his excitement, took the palm with both hands and shook it, nodding and smiling widely at the manager, “Thank you, sir, thank you very much.” He had just gotten his first job.

“Before anything, I want to establish a few ground rules – not official stuff, just for the people that work here.”

Kyungsoo straightened up and nodded.

“Don't call me sir, call me Jongwoo.”

“Understood, Jongwoo.”

“Second, there'll be no lying under this roof, are we clear?”

“Yes, si – I mean! Yes, Jongwoo.”

“Really, then why were you crying before, then?”

Kyungsoo choked silently at the question; never had he anticipated that unwritten rules would be used against him, in his job. They weren't kids, using imaginary rules to their advantage, “I... ugh ...Jongwoo,” Kyungsoo whined, truly not wishing to share his experience, both in fear of retaliation for his profane attractions and his puerile, sensitive weakness, “please, don't make me say it.”

The manager's shoulders shook, “I'm sorry...!” squeaked the man, laughing “I didn't mean to tease you too much, but I'm glad you're on board on not calling me sir.”

“Don't be mean.” pouted Kyungsoo childishly.

“I'm sorry, but I love having young people working here, it's always fun.”

“But you're not that old, are you, Jongwoo?”

“Well, I'm in my mid 30s, I guess, in this town, I'm still hip,” The man shrugged, “just a few years before I have to add 'replacement' to that.” he joked.

“You don't look it.”

“Ooh, complimenting your boss, you're on your way up the career ladder, aren't you?” asked the manager in a rhetoric and sarcastic way, corking a brow at the student.

“I can't be nice to you?” asked Kyungsoo, inquiring with the same light tone of jest.

“You can, you never know, it might help,” He winked, making the teenager chuckle, “Alright, when can you start?”

Kyungsoo took a moment to ponder on his timetable. He had drama club. Had. No longer. After what had transpired today, he reckon he'd bid the club and any other goodbye; he was going to be outed soon, rending any investments in any club, null – he now waited for the retaliation of the school against his preferences. The less time he spent in school, the better, “Whenever, Jongwoo, I'm free after school and weekends.”

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