“Yah, you there! What makes you think I pay people for dozing off at the break of the dawn?”

The coal black straight hair fell over her face when she turned to a more comfortable position on the cashier counter, with an inaudible hum.

“Yah SEO INU!!!”

It woke the girl with a start, and she was on her feet within milliseconds, holding the barcode reader gripped in her hand.

The convenience store owner couldn’t scowl harder.

“I’m not responsible for the one-hour pay cut young lady.” The grumpy man in his late forties shrugged before walking back into the aisle of sanitary supplies.

Inu flopped back on her stool.

It’s always been like that, the not-so-old geezer would always cut her pay as much as he could, counting each three or four minutes she dozes off into one whole hour.

“Young loafers…go on clubbing all night long and then sleep on their jobs.” She heard his remark even from a good ten to fifteen meters away.

As if he doesn’t know that I work the night shift at a gas station.

And he even knows that I aided floor tiling at the construction site across the street all day long yesterday!

How could he-

Her phone started vibrating in the worn off hoodie pocket. Not wanting to take the risk of further pay cuts, she took it out after making sure the boss was out of sight.

From: Jinu

Noona, omma wants to see you. How about dropping by in the evening with some tangerines? You know how much she loves them.

Another text pulled down her notification panel.

From: Cashier Ahjumma at the Cinema

Inu-yah are you free this evening…? My granddaughter’s a bit sick, so I think I’ll have to take a leave. Can you fill in for me? Just for today please?

The girl shoved the phone back in her pocket without replying any of them.

“Part Time Jobs!

Any type! Any place and any amount of salary you’re asking for! Visit our site and see for yourself! TOP JOBS!!!”

Sick of seeing the same set of crimson block letters every single morning, Inu sighed and closed the laptop.

She was back in her little studio (a bit too little to be considered as an exact studio) after her morning shift in the convenience store had ended, and had two more hours before she had to be present at the cinema to fill in for her colleague.

And yes, she had decided to choose work over family.

It’s all for them anyways.

“Let’s get some sleep…it’s not like the job sites will ever give a job that actually suits my degree.” She muttered to herself with a sigh, before rolling on to a comfier position on her mattress.

* * *

Seo Inu, the girl who is now fast asleep on the very less than comfortable mattress on the floor, was proudly a fresh graduate six months ago, from quite a popular university in Seoul. Then ‘things happened’ (she always hid her shortcomings), making her mother bed ridden in a nursing home with uncontrolled asthma, and leaving all her treatment in Inu's hands.

Add her younger brother Seo Jinu’s tuition expenses to it.

And not a single interview seems to be going her way.

Before she lost the count of how many interviews she had attended (and failed), Inu remembered getting into a taxi accident on the way to one interview, then she slipped and fell in the rest room and sprained her ankle right before another, the ‘erted Jerk’ she told off in the subway appeared in the interview panel on another, and the chairman’s son directly offered her to sleep with him in order get the job so she left the interview room in another.

In a nutshell, life never happened her way.

That’s how she ended up sticking to part time jobs, though they didn’t pay much, given the amount of physical labor they required. Doing several jobs actually earned her quite an amount.

Enough to barely pay Jinu’s tuition after omma’s hospital bills, and manage the daily expenses.

“Can’t you at least drop by for a second noona?”

It was the morning following, and the boy’s voice was shaking with tears she couldn’t see. “I know you’re working your fingers to the bone for us! But…because your absence makes omma think you’re overworking yourself, she stays up at night and worries about you noona!”

“Is she still in the ICU?”

Inu asked, yelling at the phone which was on the speaker mode on her pillow as she pulled on her track pants.

“Still in ICU. And the nurses come and mention the due bill every time a doctor enters ICU with a new injection for her.”

“I’ll be there. In ten minutes. Yah stop crying Seo Jinu! I hate it when you cry without me around.”

* * *

“Noona, it’s her I told you about. The nurse who suggested me a part time job.”

Her younger sibling pointed at the pretty little nurse who was making her way towards the ICU entrance. Inu stood up and slightly bowed to the nurse who looked two or three years younger than her. Extremely polite, she bowed back, and gave the prettiest possible smile.

Kim Dahyun

Inu read the name tag on the left of her chest.

“Is this Jinu-ssi’s noona?” she asked, ever so politely, and Jinu replied at once, ever so smitten by her. “Yes Miss…my noona. Seo Inu.”

“Did Jinu-ssi tell you about the part time job Inu-ssi?”

“Well he only said it’s something regarding medicine…but he didn’t quite explain…”

“Clinical tests. It’s not quite right for me to promote another laboratory inside the hospital, but since I saw your difficult situation, I thought it’s the best way to help you.”

Inu took a bit of time to comprehend. “Do you mean…like, those labs who pay people for being subject to their drug tests?”

“Yes. They’re legally licensed, so you don’t have to worry.” She smiled. “The lab is run by a Canadian company so the payment is quite higher than the local ones.”

“Noona, let me go eh? They’ll pay well noona!”

Inu looked at her brother who was clinging on her arm.

How can I put the kid in danger?

“Not you. I’ll go okay?”

* * *

The building was a tad too luxurious for a medical laboratory.

Towering high in front of her, the sky high building shone silver in the afternoon sun. She could see quite a lot of young men and women walking in and out of the revolving doors, probably attending the mentioned clinical tests.

Taking a deep breath, Inu walked in.

It’ll be alright.

It’s for omma’s sake so it won’t harm me.

A tall youth, exceptionally handsome in his purple turtleneck and black jeans with the matching mauve work ID hanging off his neck, made his way to the few young people who were cluelessly st