North - South

Fighting

Swiss, two years after Se-ri's graduation

The alarm rang at 6, Se-ri threw a hand to the nightstand to stop it. She had forgotten to turn it off, again. Or maybe it wasn't forgetfulness, maybe it was the hope for the alarm to turn into useful, one day or another.

Pills had to be changed, the girl took a mental note about calling the doctor, the pills he had prescribed had stopped working yet, and the only reason why she was procrastinating was that the doctor had told her to not take them every night but only when needed. But the fact was: she needed them every night.

11/11, the calendar on her desk announced while the young woman checked her emails. A lot of advertising. November was a discounts month, between single day and Black Friday/cyber Monday.

The year before she had avidly scanned everything. Watching was free, no? Then she had realized that it wasn't a good idea, and now the only reason why she still received newsletters was that every good economist knew that receiving as much advertising as possible was the best way to save money. It was from there that all her food, soap, makeup, and underwear came. But about the rest, there was no point in having desires.

However, every time she received the newsletter of a special sale, she looked for the item with the cheapest price, tasting the illusionary pleasure of being on point to present herself something. Then she decided she didn't need anything.

100 francs, her heart got heavy while thinking about the sum she had hardly gathered to pay the plumber's bill. It had needed months to save those money. Months counting the tiniest coin, buying 99-cent food and rationing it. And she still needed 100 francs. Who knew if the plumber who had sent her that astronomic bill knew what did it mean, having to calculate how much she could eat?

Luckily, work was a good help against those thoughts. Se-ri shook her head, closed all the unnecessary tabs, and started her day. A couple of hours later, she could say she was ok.

There was a client's equity portfolio which had to be re-checked before the client's appointment. Se-ri looked at the clock, it was 12. She would have started before lunch.

1 PM. Too much work, she would have lunched later.

2 PM, the client was about to come.

Good job, Se-ri, continue like this and you'll be able to open your own office in a couple of years, the girl encouraged herself. The clock signalled that it was 4 PM, there was no sense in lunching now, she would have had something for dinner.

11 PM. Se-ri turned off the pc. The little bag of almonds in the desk's drawer was a lifesaver, she had to remember to restock it.

Swiss, S. Yoon financial consultancy agency, 5 years after the graduation

Se-ri left her desk with a sigh. She wasn't precisely anxious to go home. When she stopped working, she started thinking, and thinking was never a good idea. The calendar signalled the 23 of December. One day more, and then she would have worked from home for the next two days.

She didn't feel like eating, and turning on the TV would have meant wasting precious electricity. Snuggling on the couch, Se-ri decided for a short Instagram surfing and then going straight to sleep.

The small smiling face of her younger brother appeared on the screen, arm over the shoulders of his new prey, an uber-rich witch she really didn't know how he had managed to ensnare. "Christmas weekend in the snow," the caption said, the geolocation was St. Moritz.