xx. "The Company"

“He didn’t want to be on top, he didn’t want to have all the pressure on him...”

The day, or rather the week, unraveled like it always does. Moonbin signed the contract, being all too familiar with the structure of a contract because he was the one who has to look over them whenever the young boss wrote them. He knew all the clauses like the back of his hand and didn’t even have to read too in depth to know the benefits that Jungkook was offering.

Jungkook was basically giving Moonbin a bit more power. Since the boy was starting as a project manager, he had the final word with his own group’s ideas and projects but Jungkook gave him some freedom of being an overseer in other projects. The fact that he has Jungkook’s name branded onto his back should be enough to give him the respect he should have.

Jungkook still worries about the boy. The assistant contract wasn’t supposed to end now, Moonbin still would have roughly five months to prepare for a position, but Jungkook threw him at a job. And the fact that Jungkook has finally realized what makes Moonbin himself, the nervous and controlling personal the young boy has, he wondered if it was the right thing to do.

He didn’t want Moonbin to walk into the department like a shivering lamb in a wolf den. He wanted the boy to walk in and have enough confidence to take his team and take charge. He didn’t want the boy to cave under the gossiping and bullying he will receive. Moonbin wasn’t handed his position, he earned it, and many would state otherwise.

He felt nervous and he did in fact feel this hole in his stomach needing to be filled. Moonbin has acted and been the closest thing Jungkook has to a best friend. And that is something that Jungkook has come to realize about himself, he has no friends nor any connection with anyone quite like the one he has with Moonbin.

In his entire life, his friends were chosen for him. The friends happened to be strangers that his father or mother introduced him to or invited to his birthday celebrations and simply wanted to associate them with him. Those are not his friends, those are the people that he greets and simply makes bland conversations with at company parties.

But he has never had a friend that was truly genuine. And yeah, he could argue that Moonbin was only nice and simply friendly because that was his job, but Jungkook knew that they boy had become much more than an assistant, and from what Yein mentioned, Moonbin thinks the same way.

“I have this for you from Ms. Kang,” Junhong spoke, his voice echoing in the room as it spoke with confidence.

Junhong has been made a slight laughing stock the first day he was in the company. Many workers thought he was simply underqualified and a piece of spit out gum on the side walk. Everyone paraded around him as if they were superior, but Junhong never wavered. He carried himself strong and that tall figure of his, never bowed down to anyone who didn’t earn his respect.

Jungkook admired the boy’s boldness. He was not an elite member of society, he was not at the top of the pyramid, but he sure carried himself like he was. He knew he was worth something and that confidence made his presence and his voice a huge force everywhere he stepped.

“Kang?” Jungkook asked, eyes lifting from the monitor before him as Junhong nodded and handed Jungkook a small file that was in his possession.

The file was presented as if it was a project proposition. It was a stack of papers, creased on one of the edges by a plastic bar that held the papers and covered them with a thick and clear cover. The title was big and formal, it was in deed a proposition and Jungkook forgot why someone named Kang was even giving him the file.

“Moonbin mentioned you refer to her as ‘Ms. Yonsei Top Five.’ She told me to hand it over to you, to look at it whenever you have the chance,” Junhong spoke, his body simply relaxed at the side of Jungkook’s desk as he waited for any type of instructions from the young boss.

There was a slight light bulb igniting in Jungkook’s head as he remembered instantly who the girl was. It has been close to a month since he did in fact grant the engineer permission to work on an individual project. When she came to get the permission signed from him, he did tell her that she had three options.

Either designing a phone that will compete with the market, especially in their country that is titled The Republic of Samsung. Or patent a part that will enhance mobile phones or devises in order to produce and sell that part to companies who are in need of it. Or simply, create a technological device that can put the company in the market for years to come.

She seemed rather confident, not even wavering with the three options. She simply smiled, nodded and almost aggressively bowed to him as she took her leave with the signed permission in her grasp. The fact that he was holding the project proposition in his grasp, quicker than he would have guessed, was shocking in itself.

“Can you look over it, I need your opinion. As someone who has lived a simple life, I need to know if you’d want to buy this product,” Jungkook spoke, giving the project a quick breeze flip through and saw many graphics and blue prints along with some statements.

He handed the project back to the boy and simply got back to work. He could tell the older was a bit taken aback that he was not the least bit interesting in the project but then again, his reasoning is more justifiable.

If the company were to make a product for the consumers to want and buy, it needs to be able to win over one commoner. He didn’t want to use that word to describe Junhong, but the fact that the boy was a normal average citizen, who worked as a bartended and did in fact go to a university, he will likely have an input this company doesn’t have.

Junhong nodded, bowed with the littlest of interest, which simply amused Jungkook more than offended him, and took his leave.

Jungkook knew for a fact that whatever was in that project was amazing, the fact that that bold and confident girl already turned in the proposition means, she thought it was worth it. She was brilliant, he would never deny that because she had impressive achievements. But she could fail in one simple thing.

The entire company, its workers that staid on the top floors, to those who worked in the shops in the basements, were all out of touch with the real world. And that was something that Cinderella had made sure he thought about.

“When you become heir, what is your company going to do?” She had asked him, for some reason, that conversation seemed to have been ages ago. 

His company is very much the middle man. It creates products that many companies need for their products, their machines and their brand. They are a marketing monster, Jungkook had taken the marketing branch to the front lines in the course of a year. He is paid by many companies to promote and market their products. And as of the past few years, Jin has been trying to put the company in the front lines of the technological field by creating technology, rather than simply coding software, to put in the market.

But apart from working for other small companies and creating things for other small companies, they don’t really try and do anything else. And that was one thing he noticed Cinderella was hinting at.

Jungkook hated working at his company, he hated the paper work and the stuck-up snobs that kiss the floor he walks on. But he is good at it, and that is the thing that frustrated him even more, how can he hate what he is good at?

He took a deep breath and upon release, there was this huge tension in his shoulders that seemed to become more apparent. He didn’t even know what he was thinking about anymore, his thoughts were in one place only to end up in another.

The company worked for and with the elites, but they never cared to make something for the others. They were investing in a phone but what is a phone going to do for people other than become one more luxury item to own in Gangnam.

So, when Cinderella asked what he would want the company to do when he was in charge, he had absolutely no idea.

He didn’t know what it can do nor what it should do. And he didn’t even want to be in charge of it. He didn’t want to be on top, he didn’t want to have all the pressure on him because what if he decided to do something and put all of his workers out on the streets. There were many people and families that are supported due to the jobs the company gives and one wrong move could get them all fired.

For the longest time, Jungkook would have answered he’d shut it down. But now, he realizes that there are more people depending on him than he could have ever imagined. And the reason why he came into this realization is a simple document. And that document affected him more than he could have imagined.

All of the abstract thoughts and ideas that were being pieced into a mess in his mind all derived from a Janitor that is in charge of cleaning his office and his floor.

“Hello,” she spoke, her voice soft as always, but this time, it was a little more hushed than the times before.

Jungkook has made it a habit of calling her every day at two o’clock. It wasn’t because he wanted to make it a routine, but every time that he came back from lunch and he saw at his desk pondering on what to do with his work load, he began thinking.

He always found silence to be comforting, but as of lately, still silence that used to make him feel complete was suddenly haunting him. It was in silence where thoughts pulled him away from the real world and he would begin to think about everything and anything that came to his mind.

And with thoughts tracing back to events and conversations that happened before, silence suddenly triggered many feelings from him. Feelings that he wasn’t sure of what to do with and the easy solution to his internal conflicts was always her.

“Remember what you asked me the other day?” He spoke, his voice a bit rushed and exasperated as he could hear a door closing from what he assumed to be her end of the conversation.

“No, why would I ever ask you a question Mr. Jeon? Since when do I ask questions?” She spoke, her voice high pitched and emphasizing her nouns to show her teasing sarcasm.

“Shut up,” he spoke through an exhaling giggle that tugged on his lips.

“Hey, you had that coming,” she spoke, a light laughter trailing her words as he simply rolled his eyes and rested on his chair.

“I was thinking about what you asked me about what I would do with the company when I am in charge,” he spoke, his voice dropping a bit in tone as he was beginning to think more seriously about why he was even calling in the first place.

“Did you come up with an answer?” She asked as her question was meet with a long pause.

Jungkook didn’t actually have the answer yet, but he knew where he would like to take the company. He just didn’t know if it was possible in the first place.

“No, I know what I am not going to do with it though,” he spoke, his heart feeling heavy and weighing down his chest as this feeling of guilt begun to creep into his body.

She didn’t hesitate to ask what he meant, what he had decided that he would not do with his company. And he simply looked at the paper, the paper that felt like opened his eyes to everything they were and everything that he was a part of in the eye of a normal person.

“A janitor from my company came to me, asking for mercy because his daughter was hit by a car. The little girl was hospitalized and barely survived. The janitor just wanted the bills to be paid, he knew what was most important, or so he thought. The driver, was one of the company shareholders, and he used his money and influence to relieve his name from the accident and is threatening the janitor with a law suit of defamation,” Jungkook spoke, the words that were leaving his lips leaving a salty and uncomfortable feeling in his mouth.

He didn’t want to be head of a company who will wash their dirty hands on his name. That is where he was getting at with this story. And it only made him keep thinking, what was going on inside his head.

There were a million ideas, and many abstract concepts that all shouted as loudly as the next but, there was something inevitable. How he derived to this conclusion and where his mind took a detour didn’t matter in that instant, because he simply knew one thing.

“I want to have a clean company that, regardless of how ty the world and all the people are, will stop stepping on everyone under them,” he spoke, his voice powerful and simply gaining confidence as he remembered the innocent janitor having come to him with tear stained eyes and his heart spilling onto the floor.

“Jungkook,” a voice called his name, “your father called me in to your office,” she spoke, explaining he presence as her head peaked in through the door and her soft voice echoed in the office.

“Do you plan on helping the janitor?” Cinderella asked, her voice hinting at her interest in the story that Jungkook was providing.

“I have to go,” he spoke, his voice low, caught off guard and having anger lingering behind them.

He didn’t know why Yein was doing in his office, let alone why she walked in without knocking him nor telling him she was going to stop by. The frustration of it all was slowly brewing in his stomach again, and he simply looked at her with eyes flaring up.

“Why?” Jungkook spoke, biting his words as he was trying very hard to suppress his harsh and cold tone.

Yein looked at him, her hands grasping onto her backpack straps as it was clear she came directly from classes to the office. But the more he looked at her, with the question between them, the more he realized that she didn’t know either.

“To talk about your wedding.” The voice echoed inside the room with force and authority.

The words simply filling the office as it stirred confusion and fear in both the heirs that were thrown off guard by the presence of the CEO.

“Get out of my office, now,” Jungkook didn’t even dare wait one more second for his father to step into the office and explain himself.

The man simply shook his head, his strong features and dark hair giving him the exact same angered face that Jungkook was wearing, only with more aloofness.

“Stop yelling, you sound like a loon,” his father spoke, his eyebrows knitting in full annoyance as he didn’t even care to look at the fuming face of his son.

He simply strolled through the office, not caring about the effect that the sudden action and presence that is being reflected in Jungkook’s stiff body.

“You two are simply not taking this all seriously, Mr. Jung and I have decided that your wedding will be on June twenty second,” he spoke, his body landing on Jungkook’s chair and looking over at the two who were baffled at the situation.

“No, Yein and I choose the date, not you,” Jungkook spat, his voice raving as Yein flinched slightly at the booming voice.

All she could think of doing was simply gripping onto Jungkook’s arm, trying to sooth the anger that she knew will cause the boy to finally pop and see nothing but red. Jungkook felt tense and his arm was shaking due to every possible negative emotion mixed inside him.

“Jungkook, we need this partnership. Especially if you are going to be pulling more stunt like the bridge one. If you are planning something like that, tell me and we can have you married in a week.”

Those words, those heartless cold words that held no type of sympathy nor comprehension was all that the man needed to say to set off the boy. Everything that has been going on in his entire life, all of the criticism and controlling words that his father threw at him built up so much anger inside of him, but that was the end of it.

Jungkook felt his heart leave his body, his eyes saw nothing but red and his body knew nothing but fury and pure hatred. He saw the man that destroyed his life and all he felt like doing was scream and lash out with the only thing he could control, his body.

Quick explanation:

I had midterms this past week I genuinely forgot I didn’t edit nor upload the chapter when I was supposed to. So, I’m sorry, Chapter 21 should be posted on time, which will be this following Sunday March 4^th.

The chapter unravels the way it does because of Jungkook’s mind, that is why it’s all over the place at times.

Chapter 20 and I finally answered the biggest question next to Jungkook’s diagnosis, Is Yein Cinderella? I finally answered it, and I was not going to answer it yet but, I feel like in order to drive through the finale and main point of the story, its needs to be clear that it is not Yein.

Thank you for reading, have an amazing day you amazing human!!!