Chapter 2: What the Hell.

“Good morning, manager Geunsoo, here's the coffee” Daehyun carried a big smile and a tray with mugs of coffee as he entered his boss' office, but he shut down when he noticed someone, he never thought of seeing again, sitting in front of the manager.

    “Do you want a coffee? We don't have the foreign ones you're used though, Yoo-nim” Geunsoo said to the visitor politely.

    Youngjae gave a quick look at the tray that Daehyun carried before turning his attention to the older again.

    “I’m alright” Youngjae waved indifferently.

    What the hell is this airhead doing here? Has he come to complain about me breaking into his party? But he thought I was a girl and I left as soon as I could. Daehyun considered running away, but he was frozen right there, unable to make a move. The only thing he could do was to stare at Youngjae's back while manager Geunsoo talked.

    “Hey, Daehyun, can you tell Yoo-nim we don't have any girl with long black hair working in the paper?” manager Geunsoo asked.

    “What?” Daehyun mumbled in confusion “What girl? What hair?”

    “Yoo-nim is editor in chief of Ego, the popular fashion magazine. He came looking for a girl in her 20s with long black hair he met at his party. It seems she said to Yoo-nim she works here, but we don't have any girl like that on our payroll”

    Girl with long black hair? In her 20s? Is he talking about me? Is he looking for me? Why? Hell, I bet he isn’t content enough to have yelled me yesterday, so he wants to continue on yelling me.

    “I guess she isn’t here after all” Youngjae got up from the chair and buttoned his jacket “I leave you my card just in case” Youngjae took a card holder from his pocket and picked a card and placed it on the desk before leaving.

    “Rich people are so stubborn” manager Geunsoo said once he was left alone with Daehyun “I told that brat there’s no girl with black hair in her 20s working here a million times, I told him there’s only ajummas in their 40s, and he didn’t want to believe me! I thought he was going to trash the place in search of her!”

    “What does he want with her?” Daehyun asked tensely.

    “He wants to hire her, he said, as model for his magazine or something like that” the manager chuckled “I’m sure he just wants to bang her”

    “Bang her?! I don’t think so! No way! Never!” Daehyun got goosebumps just thinking about that.

    “Relax, it’s not like you’re the girl” manager Geunsoo shrugged.

    “I’m not” Daehyun shook his head heatedly “… Whatever… May I use the darkroom to develop pictures I took?” Daehyun asked, offering coffee to the older.

    “You still want to be a photographer”

    “Of course”

    “Good for you, it's important to have dreams... although most dreams are dreams...” manager Geunsoo said longingly.

    “So... the darkroom?”

    “Of course, but clean up the room after using it or Minchae noona will go berserk” he said about the lead photographer.

    “I will, thanks” Daehyun said eagerly, he couldn’t wait to develop the photos that nearly killed me.

Daehyun went home at midnight, he spent hours in the darkroom and to his disappointment the photos he took couldn't make any news. He took photos of two men talking and nothing else. They seemed suspicious, but it wasn't a crime to seem suspicious, they weren’t doing anything illegal.

    “I've blown my chance to capture a crime with the camera” Daehyun said as he entered the house and headed to his room, next to the kitchen that seldom had lights on late at night, plus he heard a female voice talking and laughing and that couldn’t come from his aunt, because that woman was always bitter, so it had to be a thief, a happy thief.

    Daehyun came into the kitchen with his backpack ready to strike the criminal, however he stopped when he found his aunt having a tea on the table beside a young woman doing the dishes in the sink.

    “Oh, Daehyun, you’re back” his aunt said reticently.

    Daehyun ignored her; he only had eyes for the girl that washed the dishes. More he stared at her more his heart beated nonstop.

    “Natalie, is you?” Daehyun said his friend’s name with excitement.

    “Daehyun-ah!!!” the girl abandoned the dishes and rushed to him “I’ve missed you so much!!!” she bear hugged him strongly.

    “Oh my God, it’s really you!!!” Daehyun said breathlessly.

    “Of course, it’s me” she giggled and punched him on the arm “I’m surprised you remember me, I haven’t heard from you for months”

    “I’ve been busy” Daehyun scratched his head clumsily.

    “It’s so hard to pick up the phone and call?”

    “Well, you never call either” Daehyun crossed his arms.

    “Whatever, I forgive you” she took a box from the table “I hope you still love cheesecakes because I’ve brought this one for you and only for you”

    “I do” Daehyun lied, he stopped loving cheesecakes too much after eating dozens in a row and getting stomach pain, but he didn’t care going to the hospital again for her.

    Natalie was his best friend and crush since kids although he never had the courage to confess his feelings, and then she moved to Andong and he thought he could get over her at last. However, having her before him again made his heart race madly.

    “I was concerned when it was past midnight and you didn’t come back yet” Daehyun’s aunt interrupted them.

    Daehyun rolled his eyes, his aunt always acted nice to him before visitors.

    “You missed the dinner and the proposal” Daehyun’s aunt continued talking.

    “What proposal?” Daehyun felt something bad was going to happen.

    “Your cousin asked Natalie to marry him”

    Daehyun felt a stab in the chest.

    “And she accepted” his aunt said.

    Daehyun opened his mouth, but there was a lump in his throat. The girl he was in love with was going to marry his cousin; he had no words for that.

    “Hey, Nat, I’ll take you to the hotel” Daehyun’s cousin showed up, he smiled to see Daehyun’s upsetting face “You’re here, it’s sad you missed the proposal, Natalie was so happy when I proposed to her” he wrapped his arm around her waist possessively.

    “Nat…” Daehyun said in a low voice, he needed to hear it from her.

    Natalie was going to reply, but his boyfriend cut her off.

    “Come on, I’ll take you to the hotel, you must be exhausted by the long trip”

    “I’ll call you, we have a lot to talk about” she said to Daehyun as her boyfriend dragged her outside.

    “Indeed” Daehyun said, skeptical.

    The last time he saw Natalie and his cousin together they were arguing and tossing things against each other because he cheated on her, so he couldn’t believe she was going to marry him. It had to be a joke, it had to.

    “Hey, Daehyunnie, we have a lot to talk about too” his aunt grabbed him by the arm and made him sit.

    “Now that my son is getting married, he and his wife will stay here while they get their own place. I think it's time for you to move out” she said “My husband had to take you in our family because your parents died, but you aren't a little boy anymore, you're an adult, we don't have to take care of you anymore”

    “But I'm not heartless; I give you one week for you to move out” that woman buried her nails into Daehyun’s skin as she spat out words poisonously.

    Daehyun paid her no attention, he was still thinking about the love of his life marrying someone else.

    “Are you listening to me? I’m not joking, you have one week”

    “Yeah…” Daehyun said lifelessly “Thank you for giving me one week, it’s nice of you for thinking of me” Daehyun got up from the chair and left for his room.

Daehyun threw the backpack on the bed and sat on the floor, he surrounded his knees and closed his eyes tightly and prayed for that day to be just a nightmare. The worst day of his entire life was when his parents died and the second worst day of his entire life was the one he was having right now; the damn photos, he thought that were going to be his breakthrough, were useless photos of two men talking with no proof of illegal stuff, and then he went home to find out the girl, he's into for years, soon will get marry.

    And his aunt had to make the final stab and kick him out the house. Daehyun only had one week to find a cheap and decent place to live and it was impossible, everything in Seoul was costly.

    “I can live in the park until the cops arrest me for sleeping in public places... Many people do that, don't they? Besides I'm not any Miss Universe, so nobody’s going to take advantage of me... Oh, God, what I'm saying? Of course I'll be murdered while I sleep on a bench! My life is like this!”

    Daehyun felt like crying, but he didn’t. He promised to his parents he’d be a strong boy and never cry, although it was difficult to hold that promise at those moments.

Daehyun stayed awake all night searching cheap places to live on Naver. The cheapest places were 50 or 100 dollars without the bills, with them’d be 500 or 1.000; he never thought that living alone would cost so much money. Maybe he should get a “real job”, the paper only paid him 160 per month, there was no way he could make it without selling his both kidneys.

    Daehyun sighed, he thought calling in sick to work, but he didn’t have the luxury of being fired, he needed the work more than ever, so he wore a sweatshirt and a smile and went to the newspaper.

    “Good morning, manager Geunsoo” Daehyun said, putting a cup of coffee on the table as the older seemed busy watching something that he hid behind a folder beforehand like he didn’t want to be seen with.

    “What are you watching? ?” Daehyun giggled.

    “Ego…” Geunsoo said, embarrassed.

    “The fashion magazine?”

    “Yes, I was curious after that brat came, I always thought this kind of magazine was stupid, so its readers, but it comes out there’s interesting articles…”

    “Like what?” Daehyun peeped over the manager’s shoulder “Ten ways to ask your crush out on a date, ten homemade recipes for perfect skin, ten ways to wear a scarf, ten affordable and delightful restaurants, ten foods that will make you irresistible… Yeah, these articles are very interesting” Daehyun said sarcastically.

    “There’s even an article about Ji Sumin”

    “Never heard of her”

    “She’s the most popular Ego model” Geunsoo said “She earns 100.000 dollars per month plus designer clothes and gifts from the products she endorses, and the magazine provides her cars and a mansion to live” Geunsoo flipped the pages “There’s pics of the mansion, it’s bigger than a hotel!”

    “A mansion to live?” Daehyun snatched the magazine unexpectedly and took a closer look.

    The mansion had four main bedrooms and four guest rooms, two pools, one garden, one garage full of cars and bikes, one sauna, one planetarium, one restaurant with professional chefs, etc.

    “This reminds me the girl Yoo-nim is looking, if he's serious about turning her into Ego’s new face, her life is going to change forever! I’m so jealous; I want to live in a mansion too!!!”

    “I’d settle for any place that I can call mine…” Daehyun exhaled deeply. During all his life he had lived in a small room at his uncle’s house, he couldn’t imagine just one girl having a whole palace for herself. “Wait… What did you just say?”

    “I’m jealous, who doesn’t want to live in a mansion with all the luxuries?”

    “I mean about the guy you call Yoo-nim…”

    “Oh, that brat, don’t you remember? You were right there when he came; he said he’s looking for a girl he met at the party he threw in Park Hyatt. She said she works here and just broke into his party to deliver camera equipment to our photographer, but you’re the one who delivered the equipment, didn’t you? So I told him he's wrong, there’s no girl working here, but he didn’t want to believe me”

    “Whatever, he wants her to be Ego’s model or bang her”

    “Say it again”

    “Bang her”

    “Not that part!!!” Daehyun shook his head; all of a sudden he pictured Youngjae trying to bang her.

    “He wants her to be Ego’s model” Geunsoo said “Maybe it’s a real deal or maybe he wants to use his status to get laid”

    “Why you keep saying that?!”

    “He wouldn’t be the first to use his money and looks to get a woman into bed”

    “Ew, please, shut up, don’t say those things”

    “Man, take it easy, I’m just joking, besides, you aren’t her, so you’re safe, no rich boy is going to take your innocence” Geunsoo chuckled as Daehyun blushed.

    “Please, stop the jokes” Daehyun said as he examined his boss’ desk out of the blue.

    “Did you lose something?”

    “Nothing… I just wonder… What happened to the card that that guy left? He left a card in case we have that girl working here…”

    “I think the cleaning lady threw it” he shrugged and returned to his reading.

    Daehyun went off to find the cleaning lady that was mopping the corridor.

    “Hey, ma’am, did you take the manager’s trash out?”

    “Just like everyday to the dumpster”

    “I see… Did you throw a card away, that was on his desk, along with the garbage?”

    “I think so, it was important?”

    “Not at all” Daehyun forced a smile before rushing to the dumpster in the narrow alley next to the building.

    He needed to find the damn card.