ONE

Author’s POV

#1 Charismatic Puppy-faced guy

            A puppy-faced guy with a shiny black hair was seen standing in the middle of the room while leaning his right shoulder against a big cupboard. Sometimes he would brush off the non-existed dust on his oversized white shirt. The light blue ripped jeans he’s wearing completed the dark blue sneakers. He showed a pout while staring at a girl who’s sitting on a table a few meters in front of him. She has a pretty light brown long and wavy hair. Her high-waisted short was paired with a pretty blouse patterned with small blue flowers. She was crossing her arms and anger was radiating from her expression. Broken glass could be seen shattering on the floor in between them. The gloomy room was filled with silence as none of them produced a sound.

“Jiyeon, it’s not my—”

“Shut up Baekhyun!”

She shut him up before he could even finish talking. The guy heaved a loud sigh before he began massaging his head. He then confidently lifted up his head, looking like he’s done for.

“I don’t care anymore. I will—”

“I said shut up! I don’t wanna hear anything.”

“I said I don’t care. You don’t have anything left to throw. You threw all the plates, mugs, and vase. I was lucky that I didn’t get my head broken by you. There’s nothing I can do even if you keep insisting! This agency is done for and I will have to leave because I have nothing left with me after I invested all my money and bought this place.”

“You can live with me. You don’t have to go all the way to US to live with your sister!”

“I can’t live with you!”

“Why?!”

“Because you’re a girl and you live alone! I must be crazy I accept your offer. I’m a pure, innocent—”

“Stop with the nonsense. You’re not going anywhere. Let’s make a deal.”

“What now, Jiyeon?”

“If I was able to recruit three guys into this agency, we’ll be restarting business and you won’t be leaving. Okay?”

“Let’s make it five. I don’t think that will happen, but who knows. I’ll be leaving in three days but if you really find the five guys, I’ll cancel my flight and—”

“And I can keep staying by your side!”

“Park Jiyeon! Can you stop cutting my words?!”

“That’s a habit, sweetheart. I have to go now, because I need to find the five lucky guys. Goodbye!”

Jiyeon jumped off the table, grabbed her handbag, and swiftly running to the door. Just like that, she disappeared from the room. Baekhyun’s jaw dropped as he watched Jiyeon rushing away. He then slightly chuckled at the bubbly Jiyeon. You never failed to make my days Jiyeon. He thought. Suddenly, his eyes caught the broken glasses on the floor and his smiled disappeared right at that moment.

“You broke these all and you left me to tidy them up alone. You’re quite sly.” He complained as he made his way to the storeroom to take the vacuum cleaner.

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#2 An Eye candy Student

            Jiyeon was seen wandering along the busy downtown district while drinking iced milk tea. Sometimes, she looked around boringly, silently cursing in her head for not finding what she’s been looking for. She then lazily took a seat outside a coffee house while taking out a pamphlet from inside her sling bag before began fanning herself. The warmth of summer was restricting her energy as she began sweating for merely walking around.

“What to do? I don’t think I can live without Baekhyun,” She pouted.

 In the midst of resting, her sharp eyes suddenly caught someone approaching the café and stopped a few meters from her. His eyes were fixed on a note pasted on the café’s door. Triggered by the unbelievable sight in front of her eyes, Jiyeon quickly stood up with her eyes widen in awe, as if they were terrorized by the handsomeness of the guy. Jiyeon began fixing her hair and blouse before she made her way towards the guy who’s still watching the note on the door.

“Excuse me?” Jiyeon called as she approached him.

“Yes?” He curiously raised his eyebrows as he watched Jiyeon.

Jiyeon first observed the boy from his head to toe. She then took a look at the note on the door, which is a job vacancy announcement of the café. While holding her chin, thinking, Jiyeon nodded a few times, pretty sure she had found one of the lucky guys. He was watching Jiyeon strangely as she kept nodding, satisfied with the subject she just caught.

“Uhmm, can I help you?” The boy politely asked.

Instead of answering him, Jiyeon was still in her monologue mood, “Stylish, yet neatly done hair, handsome cool face with perfect features, tall and fine proportion, somehow nerdy but still chic appearance, looking for a job vacancy…”

“Miss?” The boy called again as Jiyeon didn’t answer and kept observing him.

“Perhaps… are you a university student looking for a part time job?” Jiyeon finally answered him with a question.

“Exactly… how do you even know th—”

“Today is your lucky day?!” Jiyeon cut him off, “My name is Park Jiyeon, and yours?” She said whilst holding out her hand for a handshake.

The boy then awkwardly took her hand, “H-hi, my name is Kim Mingyu.”

“I have a job to offer, and I think it’s very compatible for a student as you’ll be given a very flexible working time. If the agency becomes more known, you’ll be having a great salary for such an easy job. Are you interested?” Jiyeon enthusiastically explained.

“What… kind of job?” Mingyu sheepishly asked, still looking quite uncertain of Jiyeon.

“Come closer.” She then gestured Mingyu to lean closer, and when he did, Jiyeon then whispered something in his ear.

“WHAT?!” Mingyu gasped in shock upon hearing it.

“Come to this address next two days, on Friday.” Jiyeon said as she’s quickly took out a piece of paper and began writing an address. She then handed it to Mingyu, “Take it, and please come. I’m counting on you. Whatever the circumstances is, you just need to come and show yourself first. We’ll discuss anything else once we meet.” She convincingly stated.

Mingyu took the piece of paper while biting his lips, unsure of what he’s doing. In the end, he could only nod to Jiyeon. She happily smiled at Mingyu before wishing him goodbye and left to the next place, in search for another victim.

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#3 A y Bad Boy

“Why isn’t there any handsome guy around here? I saw some just now, but they were all with girls, probably on a date. I couldn’t scout someone who’s not single into the agency or we’ll get into a great trouble. But it’s getting hot now. I need to find at least one boy now.”

Jiyeon was silently complaining as she observed all the guys who passed by her. She was sitting on a bench at a park facing a big five star hotel. Sometimes she would stare at the hotel entrance, scanning if there’s anyone with the credibility she’s looking for. But the entrance was too far for her eyes to see clearly of what kind of guys coming out from the entrance. Sometimes in her mind, she doubted whether there’s any suitable person whom she could convince to join the agency coming out from such a classy place.

“Should I just go closer to the entrance so I can take a good look? Who knows?”

Jiyeon finally stood up and crossed the road towards the big hotel building. Once she arrived, she thought of going inside but her low confidence stopped her. Finally, she decided to stood somewhere near the entrance, pretending to be waiting for someone to pick her up. At times she took a glance over the entrance just to check whether she’d find a person she’s been looking for, at the same time struggling to not be obvious so the guards wouldn’t get suspicious. After a few minutes, two luxurious cars passed by and stopped right in front of the entrance. Right at that moment too, a middle-aged woman dressed in a very classy navy blue dress, charismatically walked out from the entrance right towards the car. Right behind her, a young-looking boy was tailing with a very cold face. However, he appeared contrasting to the classy woman, with only a pair of black skinny jeans, plain maroon t-shirt, and a simply-done dark brown hair.

“Damn, she’s pretty.” Jiyeon exclaimed as she watched the scene in front of her.

The woman looked so pretty from her hair to her stiletto although she’s obviously not in her youth anymore. The young guy politely opened the car door for her, and she shot a light smile as a thank you, and she looked so much better smiling, making Jiyeon couldn’t blink her eyes adoring the woman. Her every movement and gesture looked very classy. Once she entered the car, the guy then shut the door and kept standing there until the car left. His expression remained cold and tense, but of course, undeniably handsome. Jiyeon quickly looked away when she noticed the guy turned towards her way. As she was awkwardly standing there, the guy then walked passed by her as if she wasn’t there.

“He smells good.” Jiyeon whispered to herself once the guy passed by.

She then carefully followed the guy as he walked towards the parking area of the hotel while observing his every movement. He was taking out a box of cigarette from his pocket when Jiyeon’s phone suddenly rang. She silently cursed while struggling to find her phone inside her sling bag. Without her noticing, the guy had stopped walking while she wasn’t aware and she ended up bumping onto his back, causing her to fell onto the ground. The guy turned around, showing his expressionless face to Jiyeon.

“I’m sorry.” Jiyeon muttered while struggling to stand up while the guy was still watching emotionlessly.

“Why are you following me?” He finally talked, with his deep y voice.

“I wasn’t!” Jiyeon denied right after she finally stood up.

The guy took out a cigarette from the box and put it in between his lips before lighting it up, “I’m not gonna kill you. Just tell me what you want so I can get over this as soon as possible.” He talked quite arrogantly.

“Alright then, who’s the woman with you just now?” Jiyeon dared asking.

“Why do you sound like a jealous girlfriend? Do you…” He halted there, took the cigarette off his lips, and leaned his face closer towards Jiyeon, “like me?”

“Damn, his gaze is so y! No no come to your sense Jiyeon!” She instinctively shook her head to shake off the unnecessary thoughts. “Why would I?” She then took a step backward, “I don’t even know you.”

“So why did you ask? She’s a rich lady, who could have built your grave with her money once you’re dead. She’s the kind of woman I need to rely on in order to survive the world’s globalization. You get what I mean?” He smirked before he began smoking again.

“So this is what they call men’s ion?” Jiyeon talked to herself, half-whispering.

“Pardon?” He asked.

“Nothing. You know what? You should stop doing such a lowly job like this. I can offer you a better job, with better surroundings. Just come to this address this Friday and you’ll see, okay?” She wrote the address on a piece of paper like before and handed it to the guy.

Without any hesitation, he took the piece of paper from Jiyeon and read the address. He looked at Jiyeon strangely as she’s brightly smiling at him before excusing herself. She turned around to leave, but halted her step and turned back around facing the guy.

“What’s your name?”

“… Kim Taehyung, why?”

“Taehyung-ssi, smoking itself is bad for your health, but smoking publicly is the worst.”

After uttering that, Jiyeon finally left for sure. Taehyung smirked in disbelief as an unknown girl suddenly intruding his already-bad-day. However, he threw the cigarette onto the floor and stepped on it before proceeding to the parking lot while staring at the piece of paper Jiyeon gave just now.

“Park Jiyeon huh?”

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#4 A Charming Musician

            Jiyeon got off the bus as she arrived at Hongdae that evening, where people of her age always came to hang out with friends. She was somewhat certain that she’d find at least one suitable guy here, or if she’s lucky, she’d find a group of handsome guys she could recruit into Baekhyun’s failing agency. As usual, the people would gather around to watch any street performance there. Almost everyone there walked in groups or with their partner, making Jiyeon felt somewhat awkward, and lonely. She approached a big group of people who were watching a band performance, hoping that she could also take a look. However, these people were enthusiastically cheering and focusing on the performance, meanwhile Jiyeon was at the most back struggling to break her way through the crowd, but she failed horribly.

“I’ll just sit down and listen to the song.”

She eventually gave up and decided to find a sit. She looked around just to see all the benches were occupied. She caught the sight of a guy sitting alone on a bench with an empty space next to him. Her sharp eyes made their appearance, checking on the guy’s whole appearance. Messy hairstyle, leather jacket, ripped skinny jeans, and boots, carrying a guitar case. As she walked closer she observed his features, just to be surprised seeing a fantasy-like visual. She halted her step and placed her palm on her chest, feeling her heartbeat.

“Oh no, my heart fluttered. No no no think of Baekhyun, think of Baekhyun…”

She mumbled as she approached the bench. The guy who was staring at the background lifted up his face as he heard the mumbling sound Jiyeon made. Their eyes met and he curled a faint but warm smile, making Jiyeon’s heart almost exploded.

“May… may I sit here?” She asked.

“Sure.” He replied.

Jiyeon shyly took a seat right next to the guy while he continued staring at the ground, with a sad face at that. Jiyeon became concerned as she watched such handsome guy looked devastated, so she decided to start a conversation.

“Are you alone?” Before she could do so, the guy talked first.

Jiyeon was taken aback for a second but she quickly calm down, “Yes, I came alone.”

He nodded with the same faint smile as before, “You should come with friends here. Coming alone is not that fun, isn’t it?”

“Actually I didn’t come to have fun. I come to find suitable guys for my friend’s agency. You can join if you want to.” Jiyeon said laughing, half-joking as a part of her was hoping that they guy would take interest.

“Hahaha, so that’s why you’re alone. I see.” That’s it, his answer.

Feeling slightly disappointed, Jiyeon changed the topic, “So, do you play guitar?”

“Ah, yes.” He answered while caressing the guitar’s case, “Sometimes I sing too.”

“So why didn’t you perform then?” Jiyeon asked, curious.

The guy dropped his face and his expression changed to a gloomy one. He let out a sigh before answering Jiyeon’s question, “My group disbanded a few days ago.” And he curled a sad smile.