Oneshots Collection || BTS.

Promoted to Death || KTH. (1)

Slam!

"And don't you dare disappoint me again!"

Ha Eunbi flinched as the brick of papers banged onto her desk with a deafening crack, while her boss, a seething wrinkled woman, thundered out of her cubicle. She knew without having to stand up to confirm that everyone else in the office had heard every criticism, every insult, and every curse to her in the past ten minutes... and the dragging silence confirmed it. 

In the comfort of this humiliating silence, she ripped off her glasses, dropped her head into her hands, and finally released her tears.

I messed up again.

She didn't even want to look at the stack of papers on her desk that she submitted not even an hour ago. It seemed as if one day, every piece of work of hers was suddenly never good enough anymore, and her raise this year had been axed unlike the rest of her coworkers.

Where did everything go wrong? When did everything go wrong...?

Their office–an affluent yet uninspiring consulting firm wedged in the polluted streets of downtown Incheon, had remained stable up until last year, when they lost a few key customers and stakeholders. Eunbi, being their loyal marketer for four years, was tasked with writing weekly business reports, advertisements, and proposals for future financial and administrative insights, which had been their saving grace. Customers were returning, their profits were rising back up, and she was still submitting what she believed were quality reports...

So where did everything go wrong?

She lifted her head, gazing at her coffee mug, which had gone cold, heart slamming against her chest. Her cubicle suddenly felt very small, the walls encasing her in what felt like a prison, and she knew that another mini panic attack was on the horizon–

Tap, tap, tap.

Gaze whipping up, she spun around in her chair from the knock on the outside wall of her cubicle. Seeing his black slacks, white shirt, dark tie, tousled yet well-groomed tawny hair, thin silver-rimmed glasses, and round chestnut eyes, she recognized him immediately.

"Oh...Taehyung," she muttered, twisting back around. Kim Taehyung. The new hire from two months ago. A calm, reserved man who knew everything from Day One and obviously had his life under control. Unlike her.

"Eunbi," he said, taking a few steps into her cubicle. Another stack of papers were in his hands. "Did you finish your report?"

She didn't know if he was feigning ignorance to spare her from embarrassment (since she was confident everyone had heard that her report was apparently not finished), but because he was a coworker, she pushed back all her negative emotions and replied politely, "No, I submitted it to Boss, but she wants me to rewrite it. Sorry."

A silence stretched between them, but when Taehyung didn't leave, she peered back and assured him, "It'll be done by the end of today." Hopefully.

He blinked for a couple more seconds, not saying anything, before swinging his arm up, glancing down at his watch. "It's noon. Are you going to lunch?"

Eunbi pressed her lips together. "I can't. I have to rewrite this, remember?" Just like I did for the previous report, and the previous one, and the previous one, until it's "good enough".

Nevertheless, relief bloomed in her when Taehyung left without another word besides just another calculating glance. She hadn't really interacted with him much, given that he was one of the firm's consultants, supposedly using her reports as references of their business needs while meeting potential clients. Unfortunately, because her reports had gotten less and less approval from her boss, he'd been meeting with customers without any of her contribution, and as a result, she didn't really know much about him. Although he'd only been working here for two months, he'd fallen into place as easily as if he'd been working here forever.