Inside the box was a brand new laptop, a brand new tablet and a box of headphones. I looked at him, questioning as to what I saw.
"The boss personally suggested that you use these for your job. He said it will be beneficial if you accompany him on business trips," he explained. He continued, "The headphones are for calls. I already incorporated a software into your laptop where you can receive and make calls. Please, make sure that your calls are exclusive for work purposes."
I nodded as I closed the box. I then asked, "Are you sure that this is for me? I didn't expect this to happen next. I'm still at the part where I'm questioning if everything right now is real."
"I assure you, Miss Ryuk, everything was planned meticulously for you," he replied. "We take pride in taking care of our employees, especially those who do heavier workloads. This is our boss' way of compensating for the abrupt start of your career, as well as the incoming heavy workload."
I nodded again as I smiled. I felt like a kid who just received everything on her wishlist for Christmas. I couldn't believe how much care the boss had for me. And I was just a new employee.
"Are those all your questions?" he asked.
"Yes," I answered quickly as I couldn't find the right words to thank him.
"Very well. Let us proceed to your workstation," he replied as we both stood from our chairs.
---*---*---*---
"Just to clarify, that would be for an eight-thirty dinner next week?" I asked the client on the other line as I wrote it down on the excel file. Right after I was shown around my desk, I immediately got everything settled and worked. The only thing that Mr. Kim reminded me that I couldn't finalize anything. Aside from that, everything would be fine and easy. I already received three bookings for the boss and so far, my job was easier than what I previously thought.
"Mr. Nam is currently on a business trip so I can't confirm the schedule now. Is it okay to call you back after an approval from him?" I asked another question.
"Yes, no problem," the client responded.
"Thank you very much for understanding. I have your name and number written down. I'll call you once everything is settled on our end. Thank you and have a great day," I replied. After the client bid his goodbye, I took out my headphones and incorporated everything in my file.
Seconds later, Mr. Kim stepped out from the main office and said, "I'll be away for a while, everyone. Make sure to finish half of your tasks before lunch break. If you need anything or have questions, Miss Ryuk is here."
"Yes, sir," they all answered in unison.
Mr. Kim turned to me and continued, "Miss Ryuk, the floor is under your care."
I stood and bowed with a smile. But on the inside, I was terrified. I was still a new arrival and immediately, I was put under such pressure to look after one whole floor. I sat back down as Mr. Kim walked away. I gathered all my strength, composed myself and went back to work.
My eyes were fixed on my computer screen when a group of ladies walked up to me. One of them asked, "So, you're the new secretary, right?"
I stood and bowed towards them. "Yes, I'm Ryuk Mingyu. It's very nice to meet all of you," I smiled at them.
They chuckled at one another before they turned back to me. The girl at the center replied, "I'm Chun Minju. These," she pointed at the rest, "Are my friends."
I bowed towards them once more.
"How do you find your first day?" she asked.
"Well, it's a bit nerve-wracking. But so far, everything's been going well," I said. I added, "I never worked for a big company before, especially in this kind of position. So, everything is new to me, really."
"Is this your first job?" she asked.
I replied, "First office job. I only worked at fast food chains before. So, it's quite a huge adjustment for me."
They looked at each other with a strange smile. No one said a word, they were just smiling at one another.
I broke the awkward silence as I said, "If you need anything, just let me know."
They returned to me and Minju said, "Actually, we do need help with a few things. Do you mind if you help us with it?"
"Sure, no problem."
She replied, "You see, I have a few files that need to be delivered to the fax room and other lower floors. I want to bring them myself. However, with the workload that I have, I can't leave my desk."
"I can help you with that," I smiled. "Do you have the files ready?"
"Yes, everything is on my desk."
"You can bring them here," I answered as I moved a few things from my desk.
"Are you sure it's okay? I don't want to disturb you if you're currently doing something," she answered with her doe eyes.
"No, really, it's okay. And besides, Mr. Kim did say that if you need anything, you can tell me," I said.
The ladies looked at one another again, giggling.
Minju returned to me and replied, "Okay, then, hold on for a moment. I'll get them from my desk."
"Sure. Take your time," I smiled.
They then walked away and I returned to my laptop. I opened the new e-mail from the finance department and it said I should review everyone's attendance, overtime and leave for an accurate paycheck.
'Perhaps, I should send an e-mail to Mr. Kim about his records for this,' I thought to myself. But before I could compose a response, three big piles of documents landed on my desk.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that," Minju said as I jumped from my seat because of the sudden arrival. "Here," she put her hand on top of one of the piles, "Is everything that needs to be delivered. You see these sticky notes?" she continued as she pointed the various colored papers on random places within the piles. "They indicate where they need to be delivered. It also has a few notes for the recipients."
My eyes widened at the amount of files that needed to be delivered. And the thought that this building had forty-nine floors! Why was she given this sort of task? If I was the one who got this position, I would be the fittest employee of this company. Just for the amount of time that I would need to go to different floors and to return here for the rest of the files.
I stood and stepped closer to the files. I looked at each sectioned compilations of documents. Some were only a few pages long and some were as thick as my old encyclopedia at home!
"Are you sure it's okay for you to do this?" Minju asked once again. "You don't have to do it if it's too much."
"Yes, I'm sure," I quickly looked back at her, even though I was already hesitant to proceed with this.
"Thank you very much. I owe you, big time," she smiled. She gave me a pat on the shoulder before she returned to her desk.
I returned to the stacked piles of documents and slowly let out a sigh. Since I wasn't doing anything much, I might as well get these done. I didn't want to be away from my workplace for a long period of time. Mr. Kim would not be pleased with that.
I groaned as the elevator bell dinged. I leaned onto the nearest wall as I dragged myself out of the damned elevator. Thankfully, this was the last time I was going to deliver files to other floors.I let out a sigh as I stepped into our production floor. But I was caught by surprise when I saw that there was no one there. I passed by the conference room but it was empty as well.I checked my watch and I couldn't believe what I saw. I spent most of my day delivering files! I rushed over to my laptop and was horrified that I had forty voicemails. I sat down and was about to listen to them when the glass door opened.It was one of my lady co-workers. She froze right on the spot as our eyes met. She checked her watch and immediately walked over to me.I fixed myself and ans
"Thank you for understanding. I'll make sure to give you a call once I have confirmation for your appointment. Have a nice day," I ended another call. Right after my lunch break, I immediately sorted out all the voicemails left on my laptop.As for the matter of Minju, I advised her to call someone from the lower floors to pick up their documents. Of course, she didn't want to and complained that she had a lot of work to do. So, I called in for her and thankfully, someone from each floor responded.To be completely honest, Minju wasn't fully occupied with her work. Most of the time, she would gossip with her friends. And even though I looked at them and waited for them to return to work, they would ignore me and acted as if they had nothing better to do than gossip.Moments later, Mr. Kim arrived and everybody immed
I turned to it and saw my whole exchange with Minju, as well as the times that I would go back and forth to my desk. I was also shown a clip where Soyoung pleaded with me to have lunch with her.Once the clips were done, Mr. Kim pulled his tablet back.I kept my head low as I didn't know what to say about the situation."I'm not angry with you, Miss Ryuk," he replied, which made me look at him. He continued, "I just want to understand what happened during your first hours here."Out of nervousness, I pinned my hands in between my thighs once again. And because of my discomfort, I shifted numerous times on my chair. And I proceeded to look around as I avoided Mr. Kim's stare."Miss Ryuk," I immediately turned back to him, "I d
The driver looked at me and I smiled hesitantly before I returned to the paperwork in my hands. I lived in this neighborhood for far too long. Long enough for me to be reminded that in every beautiful home, behind every wonderfully finished door, life wasn't as perfect as it seemed.Soon enough, we finally stopped in front of my house. As I gathered all of my things, my driver said, "I'll pick you up tomorrow around seven in the morning. Is that a good time for you?"I turned to him and smiled. I replied, "Seven sounds great. But do wait for me at the nearesf bus stop."His brows furrowed.I quickly reasoned, "I like going on walks in the morning. A small walk to the bus stop will be my exercise. I hope that won't be much of a hassle for you."
"And that was the story of Jack and the beanstalk," I smiled as I closed the book. I settled the book on the bedside table and returned to the little ones. "How was that for a bedtime story?" I asked as I looked at them from the top bunk to the pull-a-bed on the floor.Because of my sisters' unplanned pregnancies, I gave up my room for the kids. However, we couldn't afford separate beds so we bought a double-decker bed with a pull-a-bed underneath. Thankfully, my nieces and nephees never complained. Especially, when they always enjoyed having each other around."Is the beanstalk true, Auntie?" Yeonghee, the youngest of the bunch, asked. "And is there really a giant's castle in the sky?""Hm, well, other than Jack, no one has attempted to try again," I replied as I tucked them in one by one. I continued, "And after h
"I'll have everything prepared for your appointment with Mr. Nam. Should there be additional confirmation needed, I'll give you a call straight away," I explained to a client who was on the other end of the line."Thank you so much, Miss Ryuk. Thank you for taking care of my appointment," the client replied."No need to thank me, sir. I'm only doing my job. Have a nice day," I ended the call and typed in additional information onto my document file. It has been a week since my first day of working here. And thankfully, I was able to adjust in no time. With the help of Mr. Kim and Soyoung's informative advices, I didn't struggle that much.I wasn't overworked as well and that was such a big blessing. Back at my previous job, I had to work extra hours. However, my additional efforts weren't properly compensated so I w
I sighed as I turned back to Soyoung."That was a good one, Mingyu," Soyoung said as she composed herself. "That, she couldn't deny. She only entered this company because she's interested in our boss."She chuckled as I grabbed my utensils. I replied, "She may have stopped bothering me during working hours. But she will compensate for it during lunch." I looked directly at Soyoung and asked, "Doesn't she have any other hobbies? Other than to bother me and make me feel like I'm a worthless piece of trash?"Soyoung shrugged and said, "So far, degrading other people is the only hobby that I know she's good at." She took a bite from her chicken and added, "At least, we know she's good at something other than being an absolute pain."We shared a brief laugh together before we
Mr. Kim closed the door behind me, which caused me to hold my breath. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. So, I remained standing in the middle of the room. There was nothing to hear around us but silence.And of course, the sound of how hard my heart pounded onto my chest.I did my very best to keep myself standing up. By the manner of how hard my heart beated, it was enough to make me dizzy. And it didn't help that I returned to panic mode. Breathing became a struggle once again. I looked all over the room in an attempt to distract myself from… well, myself.Without looking, Mr. Nam finally broke the agonizing silence as he said, "Please take a seat, Miss Ryuk." He briefly gestured to the chair across him before he flipped onto the next page.I bowed briefl