"Dude, one of the grad students in my ethics seminar was talking about how a friend of his was looking for someone to run accounts and do the business side of things for the company he works for and I told him I knew someone graduating soon that could help him okay so stop livestreaming Starcraft and update your resume because I'm working with him for our final presentation and I can't have him pissed off at me because I didn’t find him that person I need a good grade for this course."

Kyuhyun pauses the game, messages Kyungjong to tell him he'll be AFK for a little, and decides to ignore Changmin’s run-on sentence. "Is this that Yunho guy you were talking about earlier?"

He knows a bit about Yunho. Everything he’s heard is good (it’s like the man’s made out of puppies and flawless). If anyone would have connections to help him get a legitimate job, Yunho would be pretty high up on the list. Plus Changmin's been raving about how well he phrases himself in class discussions, so honestly who else would his roommate be working with?

Changmin nods and nags at him until he pulls up his resume, making sure everything's up to date before he sends it in to [email protected]. The brief cover letter just says that he's the person Changmin mentioned, and he sends it off with a sigh, now doubting Yunho's connections after all. Between hotmail.com and the address itself, Yunho’s fast losing credibility with him.

Either way, it can't hurt to have a personal reference (even if it is third-hand). It doesn’t matter if this falls through because career fair is next week and his portfolio’s good enough for him to get interviews and offers after graduation anyway.

ㅎㅎㅎ

Kyuhyun’s pulling at the neck of his dress shirt and Changmin’s ing about not having a tie when someone bounces up to them in the entryway, the sounds of desperate new graduates surrounding them. He has the air of a college student around him and he looks young enough to pass, but he’s got a recruiter’s nametag pinned to his suit jacket and his voice is surprisingly calm when he addresses them.

“Changmin, it’s been a while. You recommended a candidate to me through Yunho, and we decided we liked the look of him.” Kyuhyun feels little bubbles of accomplishment fizzle through him. It’s so nice to feel wanted, he gloats to himself, patting himself on the back. Two steps into the job expo and he’s already got people interested.

Yunho’s friend goes on. “We’d like to speak with him now, if he’s here.”

Changmin subtly shoves Kyuhyun forward and says, “This is him, actually. I’ll see you later, Donghae-hyung – I’m going to go look for Yunho-hyung, okay?”

The last thing Kyuhyun sees before he gets pulled away is a computer science recruiter jumping forward and asking Changmin what languages he’s proficient in.

His best friend’s confused “Korean…and Japanese?” follows him as Donghae leads him through the crowd.

ㅎㅎㅎ

“…um, Donghae-ssi, are we going anywhere in particular?”

They’re standing outside the hall where the career fair is taking place. Only now does Kyuhyun realize that Donghae’s actually wearing a just patterned t-shirt underneath his suit jacket (is that his own face on it?), and he questions the logic of following up on this job offer.

Donghae’s patting his pockets down before he finds a cell phone crammed inside. He pulls it out and starts to dial, but stops before pressing call.

“I’ll be honest with you, Kyuhyun-sshi. We really liked the look of your resume, so the next – and last – step is talking to the boss. Zhou Mi wants to talk to you, but he was busy in the office today. I’m going to call him now, okay? Don’t worry, this should be short.”

He hits call and puts it on speakerphone immediately. It rings twice before the line clicks and sound filters through.

‘Don’t tease me because I’m young’, I was too shy even to say those words~

A light male tenor is singing a capella. Kyuhyun blinks. It’s certainly an interesting choice of hold music, but before it can stop, Kyuhyun grabs the phone and hangs up. Donghae looks part-surprised and part-affronted, but Kyuhyun cuts him off.

“Donghae-sshi, could I have some more information about your company first? I haven’t heard anything from Changmin or Yunho-hyung. What kind of company are you? What industry are you in?”

Donghae looks less offended now, understanding covering his features and turning into excitement. “We’re an architecture company based out of Seoul!”

Kyuhyun gives him a look.

“What kind of architecture? Like…computer architecture, or…some other kind…” He’s so unsettled by this unorthodox method of employee-screening that he’s thrown his professionalism out the window, it seems, but honestly…for an up and coming company based in Seoul, what kind of architecture could they do? Did they work in construction, maybe?

“Oh, no, we definitely work in the physical realm. Our products are applied and used around the world!” Donghae cheers, looking suddenly like an enthusiastic child and Kyuhyun can’t help but smile at this image. The older man’s phone rings again though, cutting off any follow-up questions.

When he picks up, there’s the absent-minded singing again, to the same song.

My face got red and my shocked eyes got big, my nervous lips were blue like the waves~

The last word cuts off – “Donghae-hyung, you picked up? Did you just call the office?” Whoever’s talking is obviously annoyed, because they start off at Donghae, whining about irresponsibility and childishness and trying to sweet-talk his way out of trouble in the building because it doesn’t work all the time and can he please stop flirting with the SNSD girls on the office lines because it’s really quite awkward to deal with their calls, especially when Sooyeon stops sounding shy and skips straight ahead to the threats.

The singing came from person? Kyuhyun assumes that this receptionist must be a fan of Lee Seung Chul, but when he mutters that, Donghae shakes his head, still fielding the complaints, and whispers ‘Bada, Ryeowook’s absolutely crazy for her’ out of the corner of his mouth.

“What was that?”

This Ryeowook sounds dangerous now and Donghae seems to agree, because he quickly changes the subject. “Ryeowook, I’m trying to get through to the bossman. I have the person that may be joining us, and Mi said he wanted to speak with him.”

Ryeowook connects their line with a grumble, and they wait.

And keep waiting. Kyuhyun’s stomach rumbles and he tries to clench his nonexistent abs to keep his body in line. Donghae eventually speaks up.

“Ryeowook, did you send me to his secretary or straight through to his desk?”

Kyuhyun, who’s honestly got more than half a mind on lunch after all of this, looks up when Donghae sighs in frustration. “Ryeowook, I am his secretary, of course nobody’s picking up! Just patch us through directly, okay? This is taking too long! I have to get back, I have lunch with – with a friend,” he says unconvincingly, but neither Kyuhyun nor Ryeowook care about his dalliances anymore.

“It’s going through to Mi, he’s picking up.”

ㅎㅎㅎ

“Hello?”

“Hello?”

“…Donghai, why are you calling me now, shouldn’t you be looking for that candidate?”

Kyuhyun swallows and then coughs. This lightly-accented voice is lilting through the Korean words with relative ease, but it’s just different enough for a part of his mind to focus on that instead of the actual conversation. It stutters a bit over certain sounds, the r’s almost slipping into l’s at times, pronunciation harsher than he’s used to hearing. But it’s endearing, the little slips in intonation here and there.

“This isn’t Donghae, this is…I’m Cho Kyuhyun, I am the candidate.”

There’s a second of silence. He hears a slow intake of breath.

“Well, Cho Kyuhyun.” Kyuhyun’s too caught up in how that sultry voice sounds wrapped around his name to hear the question that follows.

“Er, sorry – sorry, there’s really bad service here,” he lies, wondering if he should fake static to corroborate his lie. “What did you say?”

There’s a hint of suppressed laughter and he’s intrigued by that too until he firmly slams the door on thoughts like that. He’s here to get a job, not fantasize and let people’s voices send shivers up his spine, especially when those people will be his employers.

“No worries.” The voice sounds like dark chocolate in his ears. “I said I only have one question for you. Your resume stated that you have some proficiency in Mandarin. Is that the case?”

, , Kyuhyun can barely remember how to string Korean together now, let alone another language that’s not intuitive at all. “Yes, Zhou Mi-sshi, that’s the case. I’ve studied it for a number of years and I’ve been told that I speak it decently well – at least, I’ve been told that I have an excellent accent.”

“Really? Say something for me,” his maybe-future boss says.

“Uh…wo shi Kyuhyun,” he says, frantically going over even that simple sentence in his head, not wanting to mess up. I am Kyuhyun.

He takes in a breath when Zhou Mi hums in approval, finding his composure at last. He’s always been good with interviews, confident and charming enough to get by. He’ll be good.

ㅎㅎㅎ

He gets the job.

AN: Originally supposed to be a one-shot, but it got ridiculously long. Chapter one should be up tomorrow or the day after!

References:
Seo Kyungjong = Starcraft pro-gamer, one of Kyuhyun's BFFs
Why Yunho's email address = firstly, hotmail.com; secondly, what an unprofessional address lmao
Changmin at career fair = computer science students like me put what (programming) languages they're comfortable/good with on their resumes, and recruiters can and will ask you about them and make you prove proficiency with technical questions/interviews. Shim Chwang is apparently not a computer science student, because he thought the recruiter was talking about natural (human/speaking) languages and answered appropriately. (A non-CS friend of mine did this last week. It was unfortunate.)
Ryeowook's singing = he's such a Bada fanboy that I had him singing Bada's cover of Girls' Generation, originally by Lee Seung Chul.