Chained Up - A Jungkook Fanfic

1. Rains and perverted ahjussis

§ Sae Ron §

Three years.

That's how long I've been unemployed. I've seen my friends and my batchmates bagging jobs with good money, even those who did not have the best grades in school, if not the worst.

And here I am, absolutely jobless at the age of 24, stuck inside a sticky little apartment in Seoul, and struggling to make both ends meet. My life couldn't get better.

Fixing my black skirt, I take one final look at my reflection in the mirror. The concealer is doing enough to hide my dark circles but my eyes have lost the gleam they used to have once. The late-night part-time jobs are the only strings of hope I'm latching onto right now. So, even if my sleeping time is cut short, I have no way to let go of those low-paid jobs only to give myself a beauty sleep.

It's my fifteenth job interview this year. And chances are shy that I'll overcome my three years of successive failures today. But I can't give up. I have to keep going until I find a job good enough to fend for myself and for my omma whom I've left in the care of my dongsaeng in Busan.

I take a quick look at my wristwatch. It's 7:30 already. The interview is scheduled to take place at 9 am sharp. I'd better get moving.

I fasten the straps of my heels and braid my hair into a loose ponytail before flinging my bag over my shoulder. I shuffle out of my tiny apartment and start locking it from the outside when I hear a voice call me.

"Sae Ron-ssi, where are you going this early in the morning? Do you have an interview?"

I turn around to face my neighbour, Soeun unnie, who lives with her husband in the flat across from mine. "Annyeong, unnie," I greet her. "And yes, I'm going for an interview. It might not work for me this time either. But I don't want to lose hope. Pray for me, unnie. I'll take your leave now."

She smiles brightly at me and says, "Of course. I know you can do it. You have all the qualifications you need to be hired. You just need to find the right person to give you the right job and I have a feeling today's going to be the day."

"Thank you, unnie," I say before clambering down the stairs. Soeun unnie's words reach me from behind, "Sae Ron, fighting!"

I keep repeating the same words to myself. Sae Ron, fighting.

******

The slightly cold, vapoury air hits me as soon as I step out of the building. Is it going to rain? I hope not. I don't have enough time to go back to my apartment and look for an umbrella. So instead, I start walking along the footpath, looking for a cab. The office is not so close to my place as I'd have liked.

Time passes by swiftly and I'm still striding forward with these annoying stilettos on. My ankle feels like it's about to succumb to the pain and exhaustion, but I don't let myself falter. I am calling out to taxi drivers every chance I get but for some weird reason, they're barely responding, and in case they do respond, it's always a no. The fact that I'm probably going to have to walk the entire distance only adds to my frustration.

Then all of a sudden, it starts raining.

And it starts raining hard.

Not really knowing what to do next, I follow a bunch of people into a nearby department store. The place soon gets packed as more and more people swarm in with a view to saving themselves from the sudden rain.

I keep tapping my foot on the ground and impatiently wait for the rain to stop. But there's no sign of the downpour slowing down, let alone coming to a halt. It's almost 8:30 now and I'm not even halfway there. My fate is doomed.