Ice-heart

Ch-2 cover letter

Taehyung's pov

"Mr. Kim, your one o'clock is going to be fifteen minutes late. Should I push your later meetings?"

I press the intercom button to speak with my assistant harder than strictly necessary. When did being on time become a thing of the past?

"No, I'll cut his meeting short." If you're late, you're late, and you pay the consequences.

My assistant chirps back. "Would you like me to order lunch?"

"Yes. The regular."

"Will do."

She's effective. Always on time. Knowledgeable. And working her last week. The decision to leave had been hers, but it still left me in the same awful position I always seemed to find myself in. Looking for another assistant. Somehow, they never seemed to last, even when they were terrific. I'm not a terrible boss, either. Demanding, perhaps. Exacting. But not terrible.

I dial Mi-hee in Human Resources. The ad for a new personal assistant went live just yesterday, but patience is a virtue I don't possess.

"Mr. Kim?"

"Have you received any applicants for the new position?"

"Yes," she says, "a handful. But the ad hasn't even been live for twenty-four hours yet. I'm expecting more."

"Send them over."

Brief hesitation. "I haven't vetted them yet. Would you like me to send you a selection? I could go through them in a few hours' time."

"No, send the ones we've already received."

She's perplexed, that's clear, but she doesn't argue. "They'll be in your inbox shortly."

Perfect. Something productive to do during the fifteen minutes I'm now forced to wait for one of my head architects.

Mi-hee's email appears. Seven applicants are included, each in individual files with all their supporting documentation. Excellent. I scroll through the list and open the first one. Jeon Jungkook.

His CV is excellent. Valedictorian. A bachelor's degree in architecture. Worked five years at E. I. Interprise. I grit my teeth at the name-Eun il-sung -he is no friend of mine-but his firm is undoubtedly successful.

I click open his cover letter and can't believe my eyes.

Dear Mr. Kim ( Isn't it sounds like a kind of fancy-pants name?): You're not going to hire me, you old stooge, and let me list the reasons why. Intrigued? You should be. I'm about to tell you everything that's wrong with this industry. You're welcome.

Firstly, I don't have any professional recommendations. That's not because I didn't work somewhere nice-because I did-but because my former boss is a lecherous creep. Terribly, terribly lecherous. That's a good word. Well, it's a bad word, but it's forceful. He refuses to give me a recommendation because we had a so-called difference of opinion. I'll give you a clue: I was in the right. So here I am, without a recommendation. It's not because I'm not good at my job. It's because I was too good. I'm the best damn architect you'll ever see.

But you won't believe me when I say it, because you need proof, and I can't supply it. It's a catch-22. That's another good term, a reference to a literary classic. As you can tell from this beautifully written letter, I am very highly educated. But you won't hire me anyway, because I didn't go to an Ivy League type college. I'm sure you did, and all the other architects at your firm. You probably only hire other super duper alumni. An unspoken rule, right? I know how THE architect firms work. Well, I couldn't afford to. WASN'T MY FAULT!