Chapter 1
10 Weeks until JapanJungsoo’s eyes widened so much they threatened to pop out. “Are you serious?!” He asked in disbelief, slamming his hands on the table in front of him. His boss looked him up and down uncomfortably. Jungsoo took note, blushed, and let out a “Heh, sorry...” before removing his hands off the wooden surface and placing them on his lap. “It’s just-..” He grinned and looked out the window onto the bleak streets of Seoul. “I- I’ve always wanted to go to Japan, but I’ve never been able to afford it...” He looked back at his boss.
The boss smiled grimly. “You’d better. I chose you especially, because of your hard work. But also, you can be really annoying at times, so I decided to send you out for that aswell.” He chuckled humourlessly at the way Jungsoo’s enthusiastic expression quickly dimmed to a frown.
Sometimes Jungsoo really wanted to punch his boss in the throat. “I’m not annoying...” He sulked. Although, as much as he resented his boss, he was also kinda grateful his boss didn’t like him back and therefore didn’t care if he left. He shuddered as he remembered what had happened to his friend Cho Kyuhyun, who had worked at this business for god-knows how long – he was pretty much loved by the boss, and so therefore the boss had jumped on him every second; and when Kyuhyun almost left, the boss had actually cried and got down on his knees and begged Kyuhyun to stay. Their boss never cried. Ever. So Kyuhyun of course, was under so much pressure he had to agree to stay. He was probably hiding in a corner right now trying to avoid being flirted with by his boss.
“Ah, whatever.” The boss said, straightening up, jolting Jungsoo out of his thoughts. “You can’t transfer right away; obviously, so you have to work here for an additional two months, and then once everything’s sorted out, we’ll let you go, alright?” Jungsoo nodded half-heartedly. Two more months? Seriously? “Well then, I’ll see you tomorrow, and- Oh!”
Jungsoo looked at his boss. “..Yes?”
“There’s a new guy coming to take your place, but he’ll be starting tomorrow.” His boss said matter-of-factly, wringing his hands together.
“..Eh? Then how am I going to work...?” Jungsoo questioned, frowning. His eyebrows creased together in blatant confusion and he cocked his head to the side a little.
“Oh, you’re just gonna guide him around; let him help you, or whatever. He won’t be paid until you leave, however, so I’m pretty sure he’ll want you off his back as soon as possible.”
“Ah, I see. Well, I’ll be going first,” Jungsoo stated as he got up from his seat and bowed his head. “See you tomorrow, Siwon.”
“Hey!” The boss’s voice became stern. “It’s not Siwon, it’s boss to you!” He huffed and picked at a nail. “Aish... I’ll be really glad when you leave.”
Jungsoo scoffed and walked towards the office door. He didn’t really care about this new worker to be honest; he just wanted to get out and leave this place. To Japan, a place where he could have a fresh start, and rebuild his boring as life.
***
The next day, Jungsoo woke up to the ear-splitting sound of his alarm. Groaning, he raised an arm without opening his eye and felt around for the ‘Snooze’ button, before pressing down on it and returning his arm under the warm covers.
But then he opened his eyes.
He looked around his plain room, and smiled to himself. In two months he’d be on a plane to Japan; and he wouldn’t be living in this bland room anymore. He yawned and pulled down the covers – he had work, and that new guy would be coming that he’d have to guide around.
“..But it’s not like he needs directions on how to file paper...” He mumbled to himself, before chuckling softly and pulling the duvet back over him, shutting his eyes and snuggling into the warmth. He let sleep overtake him once more, as, well it wasn’t like he’d be fired, just transferred quicker. Hopefully.
He seemed to be wrong, however, when he was re-awoken by his phone ringing. Groaning, he reached out to his bedside table and picked it up, pressing the ‘answer’ button and holding it up to his ear. “Yeah?”
“Where are you? We can still fire you for slacking off, and besides; the new employee needs you, Jungsoo. Get your out of bed.”
“Whatever..” Hanging up the phone, Jungsoo stepped out of bed after a few moments of thinking, and began walking over to his clothes – almost tripping on some file papers on the way. “He’ll probably need those..” He muttered as he picked them up and tossed them over to his faded brown desk. Then he yawned, opening his cupboard door and pulling out a sky blue button-up shirt, some boxers, a plain dark tie, and some black trousers, tossing them onto his bed as he began to take off his nightwear.
Slipping his boxers on, he looked over to the window, glancing at the drizzly weather; grey clouds were blanketing the sky and heavy rain was pelting harshly on the windows as if they were stones. Heaving a sigh, he began to slip the rest of his clothes on.
--
It was 9:50am – he’d missed work by 1 hour 30 minutes, but was sitting in a secluded café next to his workplace drinking a black coffee and scrolling up and down through his short contact list aimlessly – all he had on there were emergency numbers, family members and close friends. He was wondering how angry Siwon would be if he’d be any later, but then again, his boss probably wouldn’t care as he’d either be: 1) Sleeping on his desk, 2) Talking to Kyuhyun, and 3) Looking for Kyuhyun. The corners of his mouth raised a little as he took another sip of the steaming beverage in his hands.
He went to take another sip not moments later when he brought his lips to the cup, raised it up and found out only a trickle of coffee ran down his throat. Groaning, he drummed his fingers lightly on the cup’s material before setting it down on the table and checking his phone one more time, before putting it in his coat pocket and ruffling his damp hair with his hands slightly – he’d had a shower and had also had to half-walk half-run to the restaurant in the awful weather.
Everyone outside the glass window in front of him was rushing around; eager to get to work – either that, or eager to be on time. They looked like a swarm of ants, Jungsoo concluded.
He put his hands on the table and pushed the chair back, before standing up and grabbing a hold onto his briefcase, clutching it tightly as he set a pace to walk out the café.
-
As he walked into his dreary work-building, his co-worker and closest friend at the desk called him over, and so Jungsoo followed suit.
“1 hour, 35 minutes,” his friend – Eunhyuk - said very slowly. “You... you do realise how pissed off Siwon’s gonna be, right?”
Jungsoo shrugged, placing a hand on the counter. “If anything, I’ve probably arrived before him. But yeah, pretty sure he’s out for Kyuhyun.”
Eunhyuk let out a small snort, and focused his attention onto his computer briefly. “You seriously have the intellectuality of an idiot...” he mumbled as he typed a few things. “Anyway, there’s a new kid around here, and a little birdie told me you’re helping him out. And when I say ‘a little birdie’, I mean the new kid himself. He’s in your office, probably looking through your stuff.”
“Seriously? Ugh..” Jungsoo grimaced slightly. “I hate it when people go through my stuff, and you of all people know that, Hyuk.”
At the mention of his child-ish nickname, Eunhyuk grinned. “I was kidding, geez. You’d better hurry up though, before he gets snarky and grasses you out. I have a feeling you’ll find him... interesting.”
“If he ‘grasses me out’, I’m pretty sure he’ll be dead by tomorrow,” Jungso grumbled, straightening his tie with one hand and running a hand through his hair. “How old does he look?”
Eunhyuk was the type of person to feed on gossip; receiving and giving, so Jungsoo automatically knew that he was beginning to find this conversation interesting. “Few years younger than you, I guess. Don’t remember, but he’s pretty bright.”
“Ah. Okay. I’m, uh- going to go see him now, so seeya.”
As Jungsoo turned away to walk to his office where this new person would be, he wondered if there was a deeper meaning to what Eunhyuk meant by ‘don’t remember’.
"Bull," he mumbled through his teeth.
A/N: GODDAMN THIS TOOK A LONG TIME TO POST. I'm gomen >//< (jenny you can kill me now go ahead I deserve it) but yeah. To make up for my unacceptable laziness, I finished chapter 2 soooo I'm going to publish that later today!!!!!!!!!! because I haven't re-read it for errors but yeah. Guess who we're meeting in the next chapter! GAH everything seems so confusing so far, doesn't it. OTL it should make sense soon.
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