No amount of apologies can ever make me forgive the lie that Mrs. Choi had made me get myself into. But maybe money can, because Mrs. Choi had quickly wired me a huge sum of money into my account the moment she started to feel threatened by my unhappiness towards the last twenty-four hour’s events, and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.

I stare at the number of zeroes that are listed on my phone’s screen right before my eyes, unable to process the fact that I’m ten million won richer than I was yesterday, and the richest I’ve been ever since I’ve opened up my own bank account. This much money isn’t even mentioned in my employment contract.

“Sweetie?” Mrs. Choi’s staticky voice from my Bluetooth headphones snaps me back into reality, and I have to set my phone down on a table to prevent it from falling out of my shaky hands. I’m used to the underprivileged plebeian life, you see.

“Here—I’m here,” I respond quickly, blinking out the stars that have seem to appear in my vision.

“Now that I’ve wired you the collateral, will you calm down already and have a levelheaded conversation with me?” she says very slowly, as if saying one wrong word would piss me off.

“I—is this legal? Did you just send me some hush money that would make me an accomplice?” the words blurt out of my mouth unfiltered, and I try to recall if there had been a body hidden inside the trunk of Byun Baekhyun’s car last night that I might have not noticed, or a body lodged under the car—

“It’s a bonus for being such a great sport last night, sweetie. It’s mentioned in your contracts,” Mrs. Choi pauses to chuckle, “and I’ve heard you’ve had your first meeting with Baekhyun this morning.”

I hated every single second of it, I want to say, but I keep my silence.

“About your meeting with Baekhyun, we have to discuss a lot of details we didn’t get the chance to talk about yesterday. Meet me in my office in about an hour, okay sweetie?”

The line disconnects before I get a chance to say anything, so I waste no more time in showering and getting myself ready to face the reality of the job I’ve signed up for.

***

Surprisingly, the air-conditioner problem has been fixed in just a day. It seems like yesterday was just not my day, and that’s fine because maybe today is.

Holding my cup of iced coffee firmly in my right hand, I push through the throng of people running around crowding the lobby, determined to not let anything spoil my mood today. Even though I literally woke up being kicked off a celebrity’s couch, I’d like to think that the money wired into my account today to be my turning point for the rest of the week. Hopefully.

I step into the elevator quietly, waiting for it to close quickly before anyone else enters it so I can enjoy my sweet alone time for as long as I can. But to my dismay, a hand reaches in between the elevator doors and stops it from closing as it does, revealing a panting woman with her hair falling all over her face, hands resting on her knees as she stops to catch her breath.

“Sorry,” she apologizes breathily, getting the hair out of her face and wiping her sweat along with it before entering the elevator.

“Oh!” a flash of recognition is apparent in her eyes, and the door closes, trapping me with the woman chaperoning the teenager I insulted yesterday. I send her a tight-lipped smile, and look the other way as she presses her floor number.

“I’m Son Seungwan,” she introduces herself, not seeming to care whether I’m listening to her or not. I clear my throat, telling her my name quietly in reply, uncomfortable that she sounds so cheerful when I expected hostility from her.

“I’m guessing Baekhyun must’ve done something last night if you’re already here so quickly after the interview yesterday, huh?” she replies, and I can even hear the smile on her face as she continues to blabber on.

“You don’t have to answer that. Mrs. Choi will probably tell you not to say things about him, but the things he does are considered public secret anyway, so don’t worry.” She says as if it’s a fun fact or a company trivia I should be excited to hear about, and I hate that the elevator is moving too slow for me to get out of it as fast as I can.

“I don’t know what to say,” I reply honestly, hoping that my face isn’t too red because I’m ashamed that I don’t have the social skills to keep up with the woman’s attempt to make a conversation. I don’t even know if she has any bad or good intentions behind talking to me, but I know that she clearly remembers what I did yesterday if she already knows what my job is.

“It’s okay,” she laughs as the elevator doors open to reveal her floor, “the first day can be overwhelming like that. Just prepare yourself for the worst—my Yeri you dealt with yesterday isn’t even half as bad as Baekhyun is!”

My Yeri? What a cute way to address her employer, guessing that Seungwan must be Yeri’s manager of some sort. Maybe, someday, I’d like to be on good terms with my own employer too.

But that’s seems way too unlikely for now, and I’m good with that too.

***

The meeting room I get called into is way too big for just five people to talk in. It consists of a huge oval table that can be used for more than fifteen people, and it makes me feel a little intimidated.

At the right end of the table sits Mrs. Choi, accompanied by two women and a man seated on each of her sides neatly, yet all looking like they’re ready to kill a man. It seems that despite her calm demeanor on the phone with me earlier today, she seems pretty unhappy with the whole stunt Byun Baekhyun pulled last night.

“You’re here,” Mrs. Choi sends me a tight-lipped smile, “p