Spirit Animal[Jiyoo]

Masked

Handong's POV

The weekend is over once again. It's time to check into work and help guide people through their problems! It sucks that mental health still carries such a heavy stigma, but I'm happy to be a part of the effort actively changing that. My entire family lineage is closely tied with abilities relating to the mind, for better or for worse. Thinking back, I first went to the magical realm's equivalent of Korea when I tagged along on my parents' business meetings and negotiations. Then I fell in love with the music scene and begged my parents to let me stay. When I eventually convinced them, I was ecstatic. I braved through many things on my own. The language barrier, life away from my parents, the trainee life that I quickly became disillusioned to...and the downfall of the company my parents worked for via life threatening attacks. At least my parents are still alive...well they should be. They couldn't have contacted the Korean division of the SWPP if they died in the attack.

Reaching inside my purse, I pull out the fragile key given to me. It's bittersweet, but I smile. At least I met Minji and Sally this way. Although Minji and I shared a supervisor, I ended up spending more of my time in the human realm with Sally, by virtue of us living closer together and having no significant language barrier. She lived with her uncle, who became like a third father to me, outside of my foster family and birth family. At some point in time, I ended up falling for both Minji and Sally: an eonnie who took good care of me and a Chinese friend I spent many of my formative years with. Getting over Minji was pretty quick once I realized that I was just trying to redirect my feelings away from Sally. Needless to say, that one secretive date I had with Minji did not go so well. It's become a bit of an inside joke between us. As for Sally, I never quite stood a chance anyway, but getting over her did take a bit of time. Embarrassingly long actually. Now there's Gahyeon...

"Handong-ssi? What are you daydreaming about?"

Minah's voice snaps me out of my deep reflection. Oh right, she's speaking formally because we're at work. As I'm about to respond, my phone pings with a notification.

Yesterday, Sunday 10:32 PM

[Sally]: Hey dummy. Nannan keeps walking over to your empty room and meowing. She clearly misses you. She is YOUR cat after all. I can't believe you just left her to me :(. You should visit after work. The code to the door is still the same.

Today, Monday 9:00 AM

[Sally]: Dongie I'm outside. You didn't visit yesterday, did you? I checked the special Nannan cam we bought. Nothing. Sooooo...I brought her here!

"Who messaged you?" Minah asks.

"Xiening. Sally, I mean. Asked me about my housecat Nannan. She's outside with Nannan actually. Brought my cat to work."

"Oh, I remember you guys showing me pics of Nannan. Real cute! Let's go meet her then."

As Minah and I head outside, we can already hear the myriad of cooing and people fawning over Nannan. Seeing me amidst the crowd, Sally happily waves, Nannan resting cutely in her arms. Navigating through the small crowd, we eventually make it through and end up in my office. Ah, some nice peace and quiet. Giving Minah a slight nod while Sally's back is turned to us, she takes the cue to give us some privacy.

"Sorry. Was pretty busy last night. Work took more out of me than usual."

"Yikes. Rough crowd?"