Standing in front of the steep building where she is about to work, Hyun Hae took in a huge breathe, exhaled, and say “Hwaiting!” once more before bringing herself inside the establishment.

At the reception area, a pretty girl with eyeglasses on is seated, her attention is on the computer in front of her, but immediately look up when she noticed that someone is standing in front of her.

With an honest smile, she greeted, “Annyeong haseyo, what can I do for you?”

Hyun Hae relaxed a little after that warm smile. She smiled back.

“Annyeong, I’m the new online writer for 10mag.com, I was told to come and report today.”

“Oh, is that so? I’m Jaymee, by the way”, she said with a smile and offered her hand.

Hyun Hae shook it, “Hi, Jaymee, I’m Hyun Hae. You’re not Korean? Well, your name…”

“Haha, I am, I just love the name Jaymee, it sounds unique, don’t you think so?” Jaymee said, guessing the trail of Hyun Hae’s thoughts.

“Well, yeah, it’s cute though”, agrees Hyun Hae. “Can I ask where the office is?”, she politely ask.

“Oh, yeah, right, walk through this corridor, the second door on your right, you’ll see 10mag.com posted in front of the door, the number 10 is colored red while the word mag.com is white, that’s it. A young man will greet you, don’t worry, he’s nice and you’ll be working with him, he’s an online writer like you”, she explains then smile.

“Thank you so much.. errr… what should I call you?” Hyun Hae shyly asked, she can’t tell the age of the woman in front of her, she seems young but she’s so professional.

Jaymee then smiled, and says, “Just Jaymee, no suffixes whatsoever, I’ll call you Hyun Hae-ah, then? I am pretty sure, you are younger than me”, she smiled again.

“Oh, really? Okay”, she smiled too. “Well then, later, Jaymee”, she waved goodbye before heading to the direction of the office.

In front of the said door, Hyun Hae took another deep breath, and then exhaled before knocking three times.

“Come in”, says a man’s voice from the inside.

He must be the man Jaymee is talking about, Hyun Hae thought to herself.

She turned the knob, and then entered the office. The office has off white walls. A short sofa is the first one you’ll see, then a wooden filing cabinet, and at the other side of that cabinet, a young man lifts his head up, looking at her while smiling.

Well, everybody seems nice, I think I’m gonna have a great time working here, Hyun Hae thought as she smiled to the young man.

“Annyeonghaseyo, what can I do for you?”, asks the man.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Shin Hyun Hae-imnida, I was told to report for work today. Ahm, Mr. Choi called for me”, she explains.

“Oh, chincha?”, asks the man who now stands from his table and approached her.

“Nice to meet you, Hyun Hae-ssi, Choi Jonghyun-imnida but you can call me Changjo”, says the young man who then extends his right hand to her.

“Nice to meet you, too, Changjo-ssi, I hope we become friends”, she shook his outstretched hand and smiled up at him.

This guy is tall, she thought.

“So, where can I see Mr. Choi?” she ask after letting go of his hand.

“Mr. Choi is in his office right now”, Changjo said pointing an office behind him with his head.

Hyun Hae followed the direction of his head, and saw an office with a gray door. It’s closed. She nods, and smiled a timid smile at him. She suddenly felt nervous; she quickly created an intimidating image of her would-be boss in her mind. Her nervousness crept back but she tried to shake it off. She walks in front of the door. Knocks three times. No response. She swallowed down the lump in and twists the knob before she enters.

The first thing that caught her eyes is the big table in the middle of the room with the name Choi Jonghun in bold letters, carved in a metal plate with the words, Editor just below the name. Books of different colors and thickness are on top of it, magazines, and of course, a desktop computer. A black leather bound recliner accompanies the well-polished wooden table, but no one is sitting on it. She quickly scans the room, searching for the man. She saw some more books, neatly sitting in a sophisticated book shelf; she also saw an acoustic guitar, hanging by the far off wall on her right, an electric keyboard, and a beat box by the floor. The musical instruments looked well kept; they looked to be in great condition. She turned her head on the left, to see yet another book shelf, full of books, and a man, standing with a book in his hands, his back facing her.

“Good morning, Mr. Choi?”, she said, not meaning to sound as a question but because of her nervousness…

The man then looked at her, smiled a small smile, and said. “Good morning, Ms. Shin, I presume?”, says the man that looked so pretty one wouldn’t believe he’s a man.

“Dae, you called for me?”

“Dae, I’ve reviewed the resumé you submitted, and I can say that I am impressed by your background. I would gladly have you work for us”, he smiled.

Her nervousness eases after hearing those words, she smiled and bowed. “Kamsahamnida”, she’s smiling now.

“I guess you’ve met Changjo? You’ll be working with him, the two of you will be writing the stories, and I’ll be reviewing them before posting them on our website. Basically, that’s how our work would go; I hope the two of you get along well. Welcome, Ms. Shin”, he smiled and shook her hand.

“Kamsahamnida, Mr. Choi, I will work hard and won’t disappoint you. Thank you for your trust”, she bowed and turned to leave the office.

Hyun Hae saw Changjo waiting for her to come out. As she does, the young man approached him with a smile.

“So, how was it?”, he ask.

“Well, we will be working together, I hope we get along just fine”, she smiled and bowed at him.

“You seem nice, I’m sure we will”, smiles Changjo.

Changjo then explains to her the nature of the job, some of the things she should know while working there, and a little gossip about the other employees working in that building. Hyun Hae found Changjo nice, and she’s thankful to have nice officemates on her first job. She’s looking forward for a great young-working-adult-life.

It’s still early so Hyun Hae decided to walk around. The sun is up, shining brightly, with enough wind to quench the heat of the sun, she found it the more reason to celebrate her having her first job.

She then spotted a book sale! OMO! Books! Shin Hyun Hae is a er for books. Even Hyun Hae couldn’t explain why but the thought of having new books really ignites something inside her, it excited her and just… gah! She runs inside the store. She quickly spots this red book, a paper back, with the title; The Vampire Lestat. She loves vampire novels and has a good collection of it at home but what she hasn’t completed yet is The Vampire Chronicles by her favorite author, Anne Rice. So, you could just imagine Hyun Hae’s happiness upon spotting one of the eight books of the said set of books.

She immediately run to the book and grabbed it; but when she does, there’s another hand that grabbed the book with her—a man’s.