"Jin Eunjung, fighting!" Eunjung mustered all the bravado she could manage and gave herself a cheer. It hadn't been the perfect start to her new job, but after three years away from the working world she had to find the courage in her to see this one through to the end. The trial period of three months was the most crucial, since it would determine whether or not Global Group would sign her on as permanent staff.
After having gone in and out of the hospital for both physiotherapy and psychological treatment over the past three years, the hospital fees had pretty much sucked her and her family dry and she really needed this job in order to tide them over tough times. If there was one thing Eunjung felt guity about, it was having to make her mother and younger brother suffer along with her throughout these three years. Now that she had picked herself up again, she was determined to get a fresh start and to work hard to create a better future for the entire family.
She tied her clean, white apron around her waist and did her hair up in a neat bun, walking over to the work station that she had been assigned.
Since I'm specialising in pastries and desserts, I don't suppose I'll have to cross paths with the anal head chef much will I? she wondered to herself.
Her fingers were crossed. After being caught late for work, she had already used up one of her three chances. Another two strikes and it would be out of the door with her and she had no doubts that D.O. would immediately send her packing without so much as a "sorry, goodbye".
"Eunjung, did you offend the head chef? Why did he say that to you earlier in the morning?" Misoon, the other trainee patissiere came over and asked curiously. It had not gone unnoticed by everyone that she seemed to have stepped on the toes of the new head chef and that he had already placed her up on the dartboard. As a result, few of the new trainees were willing to speak to her and even the regular staff tried to keep their distance in fear of being implicated.
Eunjung pulled a face and said, "I was late this morning remember? He happened to catch me. That's strike one for me!"
"That's so unlucky of you!" Misoon exclaimed, feeling sorry for her new friend.
"It's alright, I'll just make sure that I don't step out of line any more for the rest of the next three months and everything will be fine!" She smiled in response. She liked Misoon, who seemed like a jovial girl with a happy-go-lucky nature. After wallowing in pain and sorrow for the past three years, she was now willing to take as much happiness as she could get.
"Ahem," a hoarse voice coughed behind them, causing them to jump up in alarm. Behind them stood the chief pattisiere, a plump man with a curly moustache who looked like he definitely enjoyed his sweets. "Enough gossiping now, get to work. We have custard tarts that need to be baked and meringues that need to be whipped in time for the lunchtime crowd!" Despite his stern tone, Eunjung could tell that he was harmless and he gave them both a cheeky wink before turning around and heading off to his own workstation where a three-tier cake waited to be iced.
All in all, with the exception of the stuck up head chef, her new work place didn't seem all that bad.
Eunjung was just about putting the final touches on her last custard tart when her phone started ringing. Embarassed at the fact that everyone was looking in her direction, she quickly put down her piping bag and hurried out of the kitchen and into the corridor. Wiping her hands on her apron, she fished into her pocket for her phone and answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Eunjung, it's me! How's your first day at work? Everything going well?"
Eunjung smiled as she recognised the familiar deep voice that was coming from the other end of the line. It was Park Chanyeol, her senior from high school whom she had kept in touch with ever since.
Chanyeol was the only son of Park Siyoon, one of the original founders of Global Group. Unfortunately for him, his parents had died in a car accident when he was only five and he had been adopted by Global Group's chairman Do Yongshin since then. Being a member of one of Korea's wealthiest chaebol families, albeit only the adopted son, Eunjung had always been surprised at how amiable and down-to-earth Chanyeol was, with none of the chaebol attitude whatsoever. They had first met over a cup of spilled coffee in the school cafeteria, and had been close friends ever since. Even though she hadn't told him what exactly happened three years back, he never asked any questions and had always been a steady pillar of support by her side throughout those difficult times.
The only reason why she had managed to get a trainee position at Global Hotel was also thanks to Chanyeol, who was now working as the personal assistant to Chairman Do himself at the Global Group headquarters. Although she hated having to pull strings to get in, it was difficult to get a job nowadays, and her family needed the money.
"It's fine, the job's great, everyone's really friendly!" she lied cheerily, not wanting to worry Chanyeol by telling him about the new head chef who had pretty much branded her as an outcast.
"That's good to know, if anyone bullies you, you make sure you let me know alright?"
Eunjung laughed. "Yeol, if you so much as show your face here then my life would be truly over. How do you expect me to continue working at the hotel if everyone knows that the person who recommended me the job is the personal assistant of the chairman himself!"
"Alright alright, I get your point. I will stay far away from Global Hotel and the restaurant so you can work there happily without having to worry that anyone will discover your little secret, alright? But seriously, if anyone is giving you trouble, let me know and I will try to find a way around it."
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. I'm Jin Eunjung, the indestructible weed!" she replied confidently. Chanyeol was always like that, worrying over little things unnecessarily. She knew that he was worried because this was her first venture out of her little cocoon after the incident, but he really didn't have to be so over-protective. If she dared to step foot out of the house, it meant that she was ready to face the world again and whatever challenges it might bring.
"Miss indestructible weed, I believe this isn't time for your break," a familiar cold voice came echoing from behind her, causing Eunjung to almost drop her phone onto the ground.
"Yeol, I'll call you back later." Eunjung quickly ended the call and stuffed her phone back into her pocket. Turning around, she found D.O. standing behind her, his arms folded across his chest, looking decidedly displeased with what he had just seen. She plastered an awkward smile on her face and cursed her own bad luck. She had only stepped out for two minutes, and he was already on her case - was he a stalker or what!
Kyungsoo walked up to her until he was about two inches away from her face, his large eyes boring straight into her head as though he was going to burn a hole right through it. "Jin Eunjung, I believe you've already made a rather bad start to your first day on the job, I'm sure you don't wish to make it any worse."
Eunjung leaned backwards slightly to put some distance between them and shook her head vehemently. "No sir," she replied timidly.
"Good, don't ever let me catch you doing that again, or else..." Or else it'll be strike two. He flipped the whites of his eyes before turning around and storming back into the kitchen, with Eunjung trailing behind him, her head hanging limply from her neck. As Kyungsoo re-entered the kitchen, he stood smack in the middle and tapped a fork against a metal pan, calling everyone to attention.
"Rule number four. No using of mobile phones while on duty - if anyone is caught using their phones indiscriminately, then I will consider that as one strike, is that clear?" his voice rang out loud and clear across the entire kitchen. Everyone nodded obediently, before going back to their jobs.
"Is that clear, Jin Eunjung?" he turned to Eunjung and repeated himself calmly in a tone that was enough to turn boiling water into ice.
Without saying a word, she nodded her head miserably. Something told her that if she wanted to survive three months without getting three strikes, she was going to need a miracle.
#
"Hello? Eunjung?" Chanyeol said into the phone. All that answered was the dull ringtone. Eunjung had already hung up the call within a split second. Replacing his phone into his pocket, Chanyeol mumbled to himself, "I wonder what just happened..."
He couldn't help being worried for Eunjung since she had had minimal contact with the outside world for the past three years, the hospital being pretty much the furthest distance she dared venture from her home. She seemed pretty much back to normal now, but Chanyeol was still worried nonetheless. That was partly why he had recommended her the job at Global Hotel, since it was a place where he could watch over her more easily. The other part of it was because she held a special place in his heart and he didn't want her venturing too far away where he couldn't protect her, just like how he couldn't three years ago.
"Mr Park, the chairman can see you now," the secretary outside the chairman's office said with a bright smile. Chanyeol had always been the ladies man here at the Global Group headquarters, with many a girl dreaming of becoming his wife one day.
He smiled and nodded in acknowledgement, adjusting his black jacket before knocking on the door and walking in.
Located on the top floor of the seventy storey building, the chairman's office was a huge semi-circular room that was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass windows, allowing the room to be illuminated by natural light. There was a solitary figure seated at the desk at the moment, an elderly gentleman with a Cuban cigar between his lips.
"You called for me, sir?" Chanyeol said as he walked up to the desk. Even though it had been close to twenty years since he had been taken in by Chairman Do, he still addressed the man as 'sir', nothing more, nothing less.
"Ah Chanyeol, have a seat," the chairman said with a wry smile. He picked up a folder and slid it in front of Chanyeol. "Take a look at this."
Chanyeol sat down and flipped through the documents in the folder. "This is a very impressive resume..." he mused as he studied each page.
"You think so too?"
"Are you hiring for a particular position?" Chanyeol asked.
"You know how I've been wanting to acquire Alpha Enterprises for a long while now..."
Chanyeol nodded. Alpha Enterprises was one of the leading players in the tourism industry with numerous successful tour agencies under their flag, which would no doubt tie in nicely with Global Group's hotel business. It had been the chairman's long time wish to establish Global as the monopolising power in South Korea's hospitality industry. Right now, the only missing link was a dominant presence in the tourism front. The problem was that Alpha Enterprise's boss was a shrewd and calculative man who would not drive an easy bargain. They had been negotiating for years, but still there was no outcome.
"Alpha Enterprises have recently hired a new negotiator who will be dealing with us," the chairman said thoughtfully, his eyes flitting across the table to the file that lay open in front of Chanyeol.
"This is the man that President Kim is sending over?" Chanyeol frowned.
The chairman nodded solemnly. "Also, President Kim is stepping down soon, and his son will be taking over. I believe the decision to hire this man was made by him."
Chanyeol's brows furrowed even more deeply when he heard this. The news had been rampant that President Kim would soon be handing the family business over to his son, Joonmyeon, and it was also no secret that the younger Kim was an even harder nut to crack than his father. Chanyeol had only met Kim Joonmyeon once, but already he didn't like the man. There was something unreadable in his expression that worried Chanyeol, as though he had plans buried in his mind that no one knew about.
"Is that why you got them to check out his background?" Chanyeol asked, taking a second look at the information in front of him.
The chairman nodded. "What do you think?"
"His track record is impressive. Did he do all this within three years?" He was referring to the long list of companies and businesses that lay in front of him, all of which had been brought down to their knees by the man in question.
"He did all of it while studying for his MBA at Harvard. Impressive isn't it?" the chairman flipped the file back to the cover page, where the face of a dashing young man with a cocky smile stared back up at them. "Kim Jongin - although I believe he has been going by the name of Kai while he has been in America. His reputation precedes him, in three years he has established himself as one of the top mergers and acquisitions specialists in the world."
"I don't like the look of this. Kim Joonmyeon is planning something, and whatever it is it won't be in our favour," Chanyeol said seriously. Previously it had always been Alpha Enterprise's legal representative who had been handling the negotiations, yet now they were switching to a mergers and acquisitions specialist? One would think that Alpha were the ones who wanted acquire Global, and not the other way around.
"I agree," the chairman replied. "Either way, we need to monitor the situation carefully. Let Lawyer Lee know about this so that he can be prepared for any unforeseen circumstances. We need to close this case by the end of the year, it's doing us no good to drag it out. When this man arrives in Seoul, I want you to keep a close eye on him. Inform me the minute you sense anything suspicious about what they are doing."
"Understood. When is he arriving?"
"I believe he should be on the plane as we speak..."