“God, I hate traffic…” a tall, dark-skinned woman mumbled to herself as she stumbled out of the bus she was riding and started walking hurriedly down the sidewalk. As she was walking, she saw the seemingly endless line of cars, buses and trucks stuck in their daily morning traffic jam. On usual days, she would have rode out the traffic, maybe even sneak in a nap while riding the bus, but she didn’t want to risk it. The woman knew that if she stayed longer on that bus, she would surely be late. And today was one of those days that just didn’t have room for tardiness, because today, Kwon Yuri is going to have the most important interview of her life.

            A few days ago, word got out that there was an opening at The Chronicle, one of Seoul’s leading daily newspapers. Yuri was, of course, ecstatic about the news and immediately sent her application. It has been her lifelong dream to work as a writer for such a respected newspaper. She wanted to be the Korean Lois Lane, and become a strong, independent woman who was respected by the people she worked with. This is exactly why Yuri was now almost running down the street in 3-inch stiletto heels.

            She still had 5 minutes to spare when she finally arrived in front of The Chronicle’s building. “This is it!” she told herself, “This is where my future’s going to start!” She confidently walked up to the front desk and inquired about her appointment with the receptionist. Moments later, she was sitting on the couch outside the office of the editor-in-chief, Choi Sooyoung. She was another reason why Yuri wanted to work for this particular newspaper. Yuri has always been amazed at the fact that The Chroniclehad a female at the top, and it gave her hope that one day she too can rise up the ranks and maybe even become editor-in-chief herself.

            The door to Sooyoung’s office suddenly opened and a very frustrated looking man walked out. “He must be one of the other applicants,” Yuri thought to herself. She flashed a smile when the man walked by, but her smile was returned by a mocking laugh. “Don’t get your hopes up kid” the mad said to Yuri. “If I didn’t get the job, I doubt you’ll have much of a chance either. That woman is a monster, I tell you!” With that, the man bolted out of the room, mumbling something about making a mistake to himself on the way out. Yuri’s confident exterior was now deteriorating a bit. She knew that Choi Sooyoung was known to be very serious about her job, but now Yuri was starting to realize that serious might actually mean scary.

            “Ms. Choi will see you now.” the secretary told Yuri. She stood up, straightened out her clothes, and started towards the editor-in-chief’s office. “You can do this, Yuri! Fighting!” she said to herself. Ignoring the strange looks the secretary was giving her for talking to herself, she swung the door opened and saw the Choi Sooyoung sitting right in front of her.

            She was nothing like Yuri imagined. She thought that she would resemble a middle-age librarian a bit, but instead she saw an exquisitely beautiful woman not even in her late thirties. Yuri gave a polite bow and introduced herself brightly. “Annyeonghaseyo! My name is Kwon Yuri. Thank you for giving me the chance to be here today!”

            Choi Sooyoung looked at Yuri up and down and told the latter to take a seat. “So,” Sooyoung started, “you want to be a reporter for The Chronicle.”

            “Yes ma’am. It’s been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl.” Yuri replied.

            “Hmmm, is that so? Then why should we hire you? You’re already the fifteenth applicant I’ve met today, and all the other contenders have excellent credentials. What is it about you that you think will set you apart from the rest of them?” Sooyoung asked.

            Yuri was a bit taken aback from the question given to her. To be honest, she didn’t have that many experiences as a news writer. She always had it rough in her life because she had no one to depend on but herself. She was orphaned at a young age and this meant that she had to work harder than most people to achieve her dream. She put herself through college by becoming a working student, taking all jobs that she can because at the end of the day, she not only has to earn enough money not only her tuition fees, but also for things like rent and food.

            She has written a couple of freelance articles for some local newspapers, but truthfully, the money she earns from writing is far from being enough to support her. This is the reason why Yuri had to shift some of her focus from writing to other things, in order to make enough to live life day to day. Make no mistake though, writing has always been her passion and she was sure that this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, but now she was having doubts as to she can actually achieve this dream. Who would want to hire someone who had very little experience anyway?

            But Yuri had to stay strong and confident. This is a once in a lifetime experience, and she’d be damned if she was to let this opportunity go. She may not have that good of credentials as her competition, but she wasn’t just going to give up that easily. She was going to fight for herself till the end.

            Yuri raised her head and looked at Sooyoung in the eye. “I know I may not have as much experience as the other people before me, but I have more passion than all of them combined. I want this job more than anything in this world, and if given the chance, I am confident that I will be able to do excellent things for this newspaper. I learn fast, I work hard and I am very serious about what I do. I am absolutely sure that this is where I want to be for the rest of my life, and I am willing to do anything to convince you that hiring me will not be a mistake.”

            A small smile escaped from Sooyoung’s lips. Feisty,she thought. She just might be the girl we need.

            “Anything, you say? You’re willing to do anything to get this job?” Sooyoung asked.

            “Yes ma’am. Absolutely anything.” Yuri answered.

            Sooyoung stood up and walked towards Yuri. She held out her hand, “Very well then. You’re hired. Come back here tomorrow at 8am. I’ll give you you’re first assignment then. You can get the contact information from my secretary outside.”

            Yuri was confused and delighted at the same time. “Wait…I’m hired? But you haven’t even looked at some of my works yet!”

            “Don’t make me regret my decision Ms. Kwon. As you may see, I’m a very busy woman and I still have a lot of things to attend to. I’ll just see you tomorrow” Sooyoung said as she started at the stack of papers on her desk.

            As Yuri walked out of Choi Sooyoung’s office, she still can’t tell if this was reality or just a dream. She took the piece of paper the secretary handed to her. She was just hired by as a reporter for The Chronicle. Slowly, the realization hit Yuri and by the time she stepped out of the building, she was fully aware and excited at the prospect of her new job.

            “I’M FINALLY A REPORTER‼‼” Yuri screamed at the top of her lungs.

            She got a few weird stares as she skipped down the street, but that didn’t bother her. She just got her dream job, and no one can take that away from her.

Author's Notes:

OMG! I'm spazzing right now! Hahahaha...is it weird that the author is the one spazzing? Well, it's just because I posted the first ever chapter of my first ever fan fic! *applause*

Anyway, I'm really sorry if the first chapter is such an uneventful one...but you guys have to understand that I need to build up the foundation of the story first before I put in any of the awesome twists, right? ^^

Truthfully, Chapter 2 is already done...I'm just going to put it up once this story gets enough views/comments/subscriptions (enough meaning not zero, like I'm expecting it to be :( ) So please, please let me know what you think! Should I keep writing, or should I just stay as a silent reader of other fics? :D