"I told you it's not like this!! Argh, just wait!!"
Once again, my human alarm wakes me up. I look at the time on my phone and sigh. 4 am. It's nothing new, but I can't help but feel disappointed.
Slowly, I get up and walk to the office room. Ji-hun is there playing with his headset on and yelling at some friend. I keep asking him to close the door, but he always forgets it. It makes me wonder if my boyfriend really cares about me.
Without saying anything – he wouldn't hear me anyway – I close the door and go back to bed, hoping to sleep again.
For my luck, I fell asleep in seconds. Though it's obvious considering how I worked till late yesterday.
After waking up to the police siren – my shy alarm – I feel arms embracing me from behind. When I look back, Ji-hun gives me a kiss on the cheek.
"Good morning." He whispers in my ear.
His sweet voice was enough to make me forget everything that was stressing me out. Even though I wanted to stay there in his arms, the siren brought me back to reality – it's time to work.
Ji-hun let me get up but kept staring at me with a blank expression. Sometimes he looks at me like that and I wonder what's on his mind, but when I ask him he just smiles and says it's nothing.
Before going to change my clothes, I give him a small kiss.
"I love you."
"Me too." He smiles, returning to his usual self.
"Okay, gotta run."
This job was so hard to get and I can get fired anytime if I make a small mistake and they find someone better. A game company, a dream for some. Also, that's where I met Ji-hun, he was a beta gamer while I helped drawing posters for events. We met accidentally, he liked my style and even gave me tips, telling me what gamers would like. Afraid that my supervisors wouldn't approve, I drew a line between us and when I couldn't control my feelings anymore, we kept our relationship in secret, until he left the company.
Even though it's been 5 years that I work there, I do everything they ask, for example, one of my supervisors said he wasn't feeling well and asked me to finish a report he was in charge of. I'm pretty sure that he simply wanted to go home and was completely fine. Still, I agreed and stayed over my work time. It's unfair that I don't gain an extra for it especially because it's quite frequent.
Arriving at the company building, I look at the time on my phone. There is still time to have a coffee, which is extremely necessary.
"Good morning. One iced cappuccino please." I ask the young boy, who greets me with a sweet smile.
"Good morning! Just a moment."
Hm? Is he new? I don't remember seeing him…
While I was lost in thoughts, I hear a familiar voice calling me.
"Hyun-joo!!"
A blonde shout my name, tries not to run towards me, just to maintain the image of a normal person – that shout doesn't match – and grabs my hands with a big smile. I'm used to her reactions, but those around me can't help but stare.
"Seo-yoon… we aren't in a mall…"
"Whatever." She shrugged.
Seo-yoon is my best friend, also head of one of departments, a reason as to why she needs to keep a formal posture, but it's quite hard for her. Her personality is strong and even though she can level it a little with others, with me she screams, jump, run, do whatever she wants to.
"Are you ready?" Her eyes shine.
"Yes…?" I answer a little confused.
Is there something special today? I try to think but nothing comes to my mind.
"You don't look excited…" She frowns, confused. Just like me.
"I don't know why you are excited."
Upon hearing my response, she claps her hands and cover her mouth. The confusion changes to shock.
"Don't you think it's a big deal?"
Oh God, sometimes she makes me so frustrated I want to explode. It's a mystery if she does it on purpose or not.
"Just say it!" I do my best to not yell and look around. "What are you talking about?"
"How can you not know? I'm talking about the new MV." She pouts.
Oh, right. They're making a new MV of four characters, this time will be a male version. I heard they picked the singers but didn't hear the names.
"So?"
"You're part of the animation team."
I freeze with her words. It must be a joke, of course. Yes, it's a joke.
"Yeah, sure." I laugh a little uncomfortable. "Bad joke."
"I'm serious." She answers me with a straight face. "Didn't you get a text?"
Text? I pick my phone to check and my eyes widens when I see it.
It arrived while I was ordering the coffee and seems like my phone is on mute, but the text is there. My boss telling me to go to a reunion at 9 am… because I was chosen to be on the animation team.
"But I'm not a part of the animation department."
"So what? You've been chosen! Isn't that great? I mean, they saw your potential."
I'm not quite sure what to think of it. I've never worked with animation so my confidence isn't the best. Sure, everyone might think that this is an evolution, it's a higher level and you should be proud of it. In my case, I'm a little scared, it's a big change.
"Hyun-joo." Seo-yoon grabs me by my shoulders. "Don't let this chance go."
She honestly thinks this is great. Maybe I'm the only one who doesn't think so.
"Er…"
A third voice comes between us. Holding my coffee, the boy seems to be waiting for a long time for an opportunity to call me.
"Oh, sorry, haha… thank you…"
Then something hits me and I turn to Seo-yoon.
"How did you know? I just received the message."
"Ha." She lifts her chin, all cocky. "I have my contacts. Everything that happens here, I know."
Oh, I forgot. Even though she doesn't go around gossiping, she's very curious and sociable. People know that she won't tell anyone else, so they say it, doesn't matter if it's a different department.
"I need to practice." I take a sip of the coffee and focus on what's important. "If I'm going to do it, I better do my best."
"Exactly!" She smiles kindly. "The room 1-A on the second floor is free if you want somewhere to be alone."
"Thank you."
I return her smile and we say goodbye. She's right, this is a great opportunity that I might not get twice, so I need to give it my all.
At the room 1-A, I sit in front of the first computer and check the information of the MV. So, these are the characters… let's start by drawing them.
I was so absorbed that I didn't notice the door opening, much less the knock. A young man, very handsome, with blond hair stares at me a little lost.
"Excuse me… I'm looking for the recording studio…"
He looks around the room, seems like he thought it was here.
"Oh, and who are you?" I ask.
"Ah, my name is Won-shik, I'm here for the MV."
"Hmm, is that so?"
He must be one of the singers. He looks so nervous, as if it's his first time doing this job. Won-shik… I don't think I've ever heard his name... but then again, I don't know much about singers, although I listen to all kinds of music. With his appearance, he can be an idol, maybe a rookie?
I rest my chin on my fist admiring him and smile. Besides his face, his deep voice catches anyone's attention.
"It's the room 1-A on the third floor."
"I mistook the floor..." He runs a hand through his hair, messing it up a bit. "Thank you."
Instead of bowing and leaving, he just stood there looking at me, leaving me confused. Is there anything on my face or something like that?
"Ah!" He blinks a few times. "I should go, thank you."
When the door closed, a laugh escaped my mouth. He was so cute. If he doesn't have a bunch of fans now, he'll gain very soon.
Where was I again…? I look briefly at the clock and almost jump out of my chair.
"Oh shit!"
It's almost 9 am.! I can't be late on the first meeting!! Alright, calm down, let's pick my stuff and go!