Jikook Oneshots

63. Ive been the archer (Ive been the prey)

By: @islandbreeze

Jimin can't remember the last time he was actually excited to go to work.

When he had first been hired, fresh out of university, he was bright-eyed and naive. Getting hired as an account manager at this company was a big deal — it was one of the biggest firms in Korea and the perfect place to start his career. He didn't realize, at the time, that he would just end up being a tiny cog in the machine, doomed to deal with the same bullshit over and over again, every single day, until he quit. Or died. Whichever came first.

It quickly became apparent to him that he wasn't necessarily a cultural fit for the organization, or even for the role. It was cutthroat — everyone was desperate to climb the corporate ladder and didn't seem to care which of their colleagues they trampled on along the way. Jimin only has one coworker that he'd actually consider a true friend: Taehyung, who keeps him sane. They'd met early on, both graduating in the same year and hired in the same cohort at the company, and they stuck by each other's side from the very beginning, looking out for each other, a welcome reprieve from the ruthlessness that seemed to permeate every interaction otherwise.

There's enough worthwhile about the job that has led to Jimin sticking around. It's not like there aren't any aspects he enjoys. His sweet, personable nature makes building relationships with clients easy, and talking to them has always been enjoyable. That part hardly feels like work to him. His salary allows him to live comfortably in the city, and the benefits offered by the company are unmatched. It's just enough to keep him hanging on for now. Although he wakes up every weekday morning with a tiny pit of dread in his stomach, wondering what stupidity he's going to have to deal with at the office that day, the feelings haven't grown so strong that he can't bear them anymore. So he keeps going.

And that's what he's doing on this particular Monday morning: keeping it going, despite the pressing urge to climb back into bed, snuggle under the covers with his Nintendo Switch and call in sick. Mondays always came with their own extra-special, dramatic flair. It was like being home from the office for two days made all his coworkers start to lose their minds, even moreso than they already had. By the time they return to work at the beginning of the week, they all have a crazed look in their eye, out for blood.

Jimin just wants to do his job and be left alone.

He sighs as he appraises his reflection in the mirror perched on top of his bedroom dresser, shrugging a stark white dress shirt over his bare shoulders and buttoning it from the top down. He's sporting faint purple bags under his eyes, and his straight black hair hangs low over his ears, desperately in need of a trim. He's been so busy with work, he's hardly had time to think about it.

The rest of his routine is so predictable, he could probably do it in his sleep: the shirt is carefully tucked into his slacks, black and slim-fitted today. A black dress sock is pulled onto each foot. He's not sure if they technically match. He rummages around in his top dresser drawer until he finds a tie that doesn't offend him — this one is navy blue and slender. He looks in the mirror, carefully knotting it around his neck and brushing his hair back away from his forehead before he steps out of the bedroom and heads towards the kitchen. He grabs his bag and his thermos filled with coffee, picks up his jacket, slips on his black loafers at the door, and then he's on his way.

It's a fifteen minute subway ride to work, and he usually spends it ruminating over whatever ridiculous thing happened at the office the day before. He wasn't at work the day before this, though, so he finds his mind wandering back to Friday, which offers a fresh and predictably annoying memory.

Although it feels like most of his coworkers would be willing to throw him under the bus for their own benefit — and most of them actually have done so at one point or another — Jimin doesn't usually take offense to it. It's just the way they are. It isn't personal. It doesn't have anything to do with him.