Seol Yoon-ah Vs The interview.
Seol Yoon-ah vs. The Interview: A Series of Unfortunate Events
Seol Yoon-ah strode into the sleek glass office of Galaxy Corporation, looking like she belonged there. She wasn't desperate for a job, but she wanted to work, and this seemed like an interesting challenge. She was totally going to ace this and she knew it. She was a born winner in life (trying to hype herself lol) she dressed the part too.
She was calm. Confident. Beautiful and Ready.
Until everything went wrong.
---
Round 1: The Chair Incident
The HR manager, a middle-aged woman with no-nonsense glasses, gestured for her to sit.
Yoon-ah did—and immediately regretted it.
The chair let out a high-pitched, drawn-out creak, loud enough to turn heads.
She froze.
The HR manager stared.
The chair, betraying her further, let out one final loud groan before settling.
Yoon-ah smiled like nothing happened. Dignity intact.
This.. this isn't bad..
---
Round 2: The Cursed Pen
Trying to recover, she took the pen provided for the written test.
Big mistake.
As soon as she started writing, the pen exploded in her hand.
Ink splattered across the pristine white table and—oh no—onto her own cream-colored blouse.
For a moment, she just stared at her hand, which now looked like she had just signed a cursed contract.
She casually tried to wipe the ink off with a tissue. It only made things worse.
HR Manager: "Do you need a new pen?"
Yoon-ah: (forcing a smile) "No, no. I got this." (She absolutely did not have this.)
She continued the test like a warrior, ink-stained and determined.
This.. really wasn't that bad.
---
Round 3: The Unfortunate Timing
As if the universe wasn't done playing with her, her phone alarm went off.
Loudly.
It was supposed to remind her to wake up from a nap—a nap she never took.
The HR manager raised an eyebrow.
Yoon-ah, scrambling, smacked the phone to silence it.
Instead, she accidentally turned on the speaker—and the robotic voice of her alarm cheerfully announced in English:
"That's not your banana. That's my banana. Where could your banana be? Hahaha only in your dreams mayb--"
Interviewer: "...."
Her alarm was quite... alarming.. and she felt thoroughly mortified.
The silence in the room was deafening.
She had never wanted to be erased from existence more than in that moment.
This is pretty bad..
---
Round 4: The Final Blow
Somehow, she made it to the final question.
HR Manager: "Why do you want to work here?"
Yoon-ah, still flustered from The Disaster Trilogy, opened her mouth to deliver a smart, well-thought-out answer—
And accidentally knocked over her cup of water.
The HR manager barely dodged the splash. Papers were soaked. The test she had just completed? Completely ruined.
A long, long pause followed.
Yoon-ah cleared her throat, carefully placing her hands in her lap.
"Would you believe me if I said I'm usually very competent?" she asked, voice even.
The HR manager just sighed.
"I wouldn't believe myself if I was in her shoes" she cried internally.
---
Aftermath: Walking Away With (Some) Dignity
As Yoon-ah left the building, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Nelly.
What r u up to???
She was too exhausted (mentally) to start a conversation with Nelly right now. She first had to wallow in shame to get this fiasco out of her system.
She exhaled, shook her head, and walked away.
This will probably be the worst interview of her life.
Nothing she can do about it though. When her dad comes back, she'll admit defeat and just manage the department store.
"Aren't you Seol Yoon-ah?" A crisp and girly voice brought her out of her reverie. She raised her head and stared at the person that might have spoken to her. It was a pretty long stare.
She stared for about a minute.
"Um... Excuse me?" The girl in pigtails and a freckled face said. She looked nervous and well.. she also had a why the fuck am I doing this expression on her face.
"You just said my name? Do I know you?" Yoon-ah replied. She didn't believe she knew anyone youngster in Seoul. Except from her former high school of course which is impossible because-- wait! High school?!
Her breath caught in her throat, her heart beat spiked.
Her stomach twisted, a cold sensation creeping up her spine.
Yoon-ah's fingers twitched, a strange panic bubbling in her chest.
"Don't you remember me? " The voice was warm, filled with genuine surprise and unmistakable fondness.
That was odd, her bullies weren't fond of her. This person wasn't a bully.
"I could recognize you, despite how.. different you look now.. it's me, Shin Min-ah"
She finally replied, a nervous smile.
She fidgeted slightly, as if unsure whether she should have called her name at all.
Suddenly the fidgety lady overlapped with the bubbly teenager that sha had once been friends with in highschool. She remembered her.
They hadn't been close friends, but she liked Shin Min-ah and had let her and Lee Tae Mo fade into the background of her past. A past she would like to forget forever.
Now she was here, looking at her like she wasn't sure she had the right to.
Her chest tightened, then she slowly smiled.
All signs of panic long forgotten.
"I-- wow. It's been a long time"
The lady smiled, relief flickered across her face followed by a very bashful laughter.
"Yoon-ahhhhh~ I've have missed youuuuu" that's right, she was one hell of a talker.
"Oh my god, it's really you!" Shin Min-ah clutched her chest dramatically, as if she might faint from sheer excitement. "I thought I was imagining things because, like—how does someone like you just walk around in public? Looking this good? In broad daylight? Among mere mortals?"
Yoon-ah blinked, thrown completely off balance.
Before she could respond, Min-ah gasped, covering her mouth.
"You've gotten so prettier. I mean-- you were a beautiful chubby girl back then but now you just look like a fairyyyyy"
Yoon-ah stared.
Then—laughed.
Because how could she forget Min-ah? The dramatic monologues, the relentless praise, the way she had clung to Yoon-ah like she was some kind of rare celestial being?
Min-ah physically swayed, gripping her chest. "Oh my god. Laugh again. No, actually, wait. I need to record it—"
Yoon-ah rolled her eyes, but she couldn't stop the genuine warmth spreading through her chest.
Some things never changed. And maybe, just maybe, she liked that.
"Do you have plans after this? We should totally hang out." Seol Yoon-ah proposed.