Seokmin:

‘Seokmin, please, come in,’ Doogi Pd said to the boy loitering around the office door.

Finally having the courage, Seokmin walks over to the chair across from Doogi Pd and sits down. His knee shook from nervousness, his hands clamped up as he held them tight together. A sigh escapes his lips as he doubled over, holding on to his head.

Doogi Pd looked on frightened curiosity, ‘What’s wrong Seokmin?’

Sitting up, Seokmin sighs again, then said, ‘I know I’m no good. I know I at the job. Everything I do only hinders the group from doing their own job. I- I shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. All I do is mess everything up. I can’t even get a simple coffee recipe right. Jihoon always glares at me, Jeonghan is always taking over what I’m doing, Joshua just sighs and pats my shoulder. They all hate me, I just know it. You’re here to fire me, aren’t you?’

Shaking his head, Doogi Pd smiled, ‘Seokmin, I’m not here to fire you. Why would I fire you when you’ve actually done such a great job. Everything you are mentioning are things that happened at the beginning of you working here. You’ve been amazingly well ever since then. You were one of the few who had to teach everyone else how to bake all our pastries. You are a familiar face to all our regulars. If you disappeared from Seventeen, there would be a riot. From not only the customers, but from your co-workers too. You can’t leave.’

‘Are- Are you sure?’ Seokmin asked, teary eyed.

‘You can’t leave,’ Doogi Pd assured him, ‘You’re getting a dollar raise.’

Mingyu:

Mingyu was sitting in front of Doogi Pd, picking at the dough under his fingernails, waiting for the man to start talking.

‘You’re Mingyu?’ Doogi Pd asked.

Mingyu glanced up and said, ‘That is what my mother named me.’

Doogi Pd frowned and continued, ‘Everything on your papers looks good. All except one thing we do need to address.’

‘Is it true?’ Mingyu didn't wait for Doogi Pd to finish. He had more important matters to deal with. ‘Is it true you’ve never tasted one of my cookies?’

Mingyu glared at a blank blinking Doogi Pd. He sighed, ‘So it is true. This is so disappointing. I thought I would at least be talking to someone who has eaten one of my creations.’

Doogi Pd put their conversation on hold as he called out for a couple of Mingyu’s cookies to be brought in.

After Mingyu carefully watched Doogi Pd eat a few along with a cup of coffee, they continued.

‘So?’ Mingyu said, with his elbows on the desk and his hands holding his cheeks. He smiled and wanted to know, ‘How was it?’

Putting his coffee cup down, Doogi Pd said, ‘Your cookies do live up to their reputation. I like your pride in your job as well. Not many have that. But you could slow down with it. I hear you are quite offended when someone doesn't want one of your pastries.’

‘I put in all that hard work. Of course someone should appreciate it,’ Mingyu said with a giggle, trying to control himself as much as possible.

Doogi Pd nodded, ‘Okay. I see where you are coming from. Nonetheless, you are a wonderful member to the crew, as many of your friends have mentioned. You’ll be getting a dollar raise.’

Minghao:

Minghao pops his head into the room and searches the new surrounding. Seeing Doogi Pd sitting in the office chair, Minghao nods in greeting to the man.

‘Please,” Doogi Pd said, gesturing to the chair across from him, ‘Come and sit down.’

With a fluster, Minghao nods and enters the room. Sitting down, he frowns, not able to look at Doogi Pd.

“Minghao,’ Doogi Pd starts, ‘I’ve heard many things of you. You have a killer glare, you’re witty, and you like to nap in the-’

‘Who told you that?’ Minghao asks, interrupting the man. He now has a glare, ready to take on whoever said anything bad about him.

Doogi Pd shakes his head, ‘That’s not important. We need to discuss how you need to help out-’

‘Tell me their names,’ Minghao demanded.

‘You do know how much your co-workers like having you around, don’t you Minghao?’ Doogi Pd said, changing the subject.

The angry glare Minghao had softens, ‘Wha- Are you serious? What did Jun say about me?’

Seungkwan:

‘OMG, Doogi Pd,’ Seungkwan said as soon as he entered, ‘You’re here, you’re alive, you’re safe, you’re healthy, you’re here.’

Doogi Pd laughed, ‘Seungkwan. I hope everything has been well with you as well.’

Sulking now, Seungkwan plopped down in the chair in front of Doogi Pd. ‘I wish. Coffee filters are in the wrong place, so Jihoon is always complaining. Which isn’t in real words, but he sighs and huffs when he comes back with the filters. Seungcheol threatened the espresso maker, the espresso maker!, that if it sputtered one more time he would slam it on the ground. Joshua knows we don’t have have a swinging door, but he kicked it anyway, breaking the door handle. Which, if he asks, I didn’t tell you. Minghao whined of how we need a couch in the bookstore side of place, for customers to comfortably read their books. And Jun-’

‘Seungkwan,’ Doogi Pd said, raising his hand up, ‘Write down all the complaints and all the suggestions for the place. I’ll talk to the upper hands, tell them what you guys need. Espresso maker is definitely on top of the list, you can’t make coffee without that.’

Seungkwan leaves with a grin on his lips. He was given a raise, and also a new espresso maker!

Vernon:

‘S’up,’ Vernon said as he entered the office, seating himself across from Doogi Pd. He was barely paying the man any attention as he looked through his phone, bobbing his head to the music playing through his headphones.

‘Vernon?’ Doogi Pd said, trying to gain the attention of the distracted kid.

Vernon didn’t hear, singing to himself. ‘Boxed in, boxed in.’

Doogi Pd sighed, writing down what he wanted to say, and pushed the paper over to Vernon.

Vernon sees the paper, reads it, and nods his head over to Doogi Pd in acknowledgment. Smiling at the dollar raise he was getting, he gets up and walks out.

Chan:

Chan filed in with a lollipop in his mouth, and a stack of papers in his arms. Seating himself down in front of Doogi Pd, he said, ‘You’re finally here. You don’t understand how many things I need to talk about. First of all, the guys I work with, they’re a bunch of crazy weirdos.’

It went on like this for a while. Chan talked and talked about everything his co-workers did that bothered him to no-end. There were a lot of pent up frustrations.

‘Seriously,’ Chan said in exasperation, ‘I’m already 18, do they really still need to act as if I’m 5? Then when the hard work comes in, I’m all of a sudden the right age to take on all the hard work. It’s too much, Doogi Pd. If you don’t do something about it, I’ll ask Minghao to set the place on fire.’

Doogi Pd nodded in understanding, ‘No need to resort to arson. I’ll take care of the matter. In the meantime, if anybody does bother you, tell Seungcheol, he’s the oldest one, he should be able to take care of it.’

Then Doogi Pd smiles, ‘Chan, my boy, you literally hold up the name, Seventeen. This store can’t go on without you. We need you here. You’ll be getting a dollar raise, so go out there and make people happy.’

Chan sighed, ‘You better take care of it, otherwise I won’t ask for Minghao’s help. I’ll take matters into my own hand.’