0325 ⤅ stray kids leeknow

part two - privilege

Jeongin's POV; 0325

"Hyung, have you seen my blue socks with the panda bears on it?" I called from my bedroom as I dug through my dresser.

Seungmin — my practical brother — appeared in the doorway and groaned in reply. It was 7:35pm, and we were running behind for Seungmin's first job interview. Interning for a large corporate business as a teenager sounds incredibly impossible, right? But Seungmin's report cards and volunteer work — but most importantly the likely large amount of cash his father proposed when arranging the meeting — made this interview possible.

"Innie, I need to be there in twenty minutes, oh my god— let's go!" Seungmin whined impatiently.

"Even if you end up late, you're ensured this job. Your dad can just pay them more if it backfires," I mumbled. Seungmin sighed and grabbed the socks I was searching for off my desk, dangling them right in front of my face, and I snatched them from his annoying ass.

"Do you think I look alright?" Seungmin asked, straightening up his suit and fixing his hair in the mirror. I looked up at him, face flushing immediately when I saw how authoritative he looked in that suit. If he has everything, could he at least not be attractive?

"You look like shit." I lied, lowering my head so that he wouldn't see my red face.

"No, I look good," he turned to look at me with a smirk, "and you look like a kid whose mom 'fixed him up real nice' for his fifth grade Christmas Concert."

He wasn't wrong, but I still glared at him. "I look cute."

Seungmin bursted out laughing, "Yes, Innie, you look cute," he giggled as he made his way and wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling his cheek on top of my head.

"Gross!" I joked as I pushed him away.

Time passed — too much time — and we arrived at the building, taking in the tall ceiling and luxurious decor. "Your 8:00 interview has finally arrived, Sir," the lady at the front desk shot a glare up at me as I nervously smiled. The clock read 8:13pm.

After a few moments of waiting, a boy, who looked to be a bit too young to work here, came from around the corner and bowed politely. "Hello, my name is Hwang Hyunjin. I'll be interviewing you." His smile was warm and soft, a detail that I had immediately taken a liking to upon only the first glance. That same warm smile of his faltered a bit at our lack of response, "...and you two are?"

When we realized we didn't introduce ourselves, we ended up bowing and stating our names at the exact same time. We both tried once more, slower, but still ended up speaking over each other. Seungmin shot a glare at me, but Hyunjin bursted out laughing, "Ah, cute. So you're Seungmin?"

He pointed to my brother, who I noticed looked flustered all of the sudden. He stuttered over his words, "I-Uh, yes, that's me." Seungmin bowed for the third time, and I could tell he was actually nervous for whatever this meeting had in store. Maybe he actually wasn't relying on his father?

"Perfect, it's great to meet you. Shall we get started, then?"

We nodded, and Hyunjin led us around the corner into an office. A long table sat in the middle of the room with rolley chairs lining it. If it weren't for the fact that this was a professional meeting, I would have been squealing and spinning around in them.

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" Seungmin took a seat and folded his hands on the table. He tried a professional act to impress, but his red face and lip biting didn't aid in that attempt.

"Ah, I'm actually not much older than you, I'm a '00 liner, 18 years old."

At his response, Seungmin and I looked to each other stunned, "So how do you have such a high position in the company?" he eagerly asked.

"Ah well, my father is the Vice Chairman, and I'm a good student and hard worker, so it was pretty easy to land the internship," he blushed a bit, kinda shy to brag about himself. "Anyway, anyone can really land a position if you're up for it. I'm not anything special."

He sat back in his chair and rolled his eyes, "And please, refer to me as just Hyunjin, no 'sir' or 'mister'... ugh gross." The two of us giggled at that, taking note of it.

The interview began, and they were all simple questions, really — what activities are you involved in, what kind of student are you, do you work well with others? Seungmin was able to answer all confidently, throwing in a few jokes here and there that Hyunjin really seemed to enjoy. The boys bounced off of each other in a way I had never seen before, Hyunjin gave, Seungmin took, and they were grinning widely at each other by the time the interview was complete.

"Well then," Hyunjin spoke up, "I think we're done here, you really did well, Seungmin. I'm really impressed with how much you know as only a sixteen-year-old." Seungmin nodded happily in response. "And Jeongin," he turned to me, "Thanks for listening in, it was great to meet you."

He stood and bowed, and we did the same. We were lead back into the lobby, the clock now reading around 9:30pm, though the two of us didn't have a ride — Seungmin's parents worked long hours, and we didn't have a bus or train ticket. Hyunjin offered a ride home, but Seungmin declined, and the two of us headed home on foot.

Most of the walk was spent in silence, until Seungmin blurted out,"Do you think I was okay in my interview?"

"What? Seungmin, he loved you. I've never seen a connection better than that, not even between us. You guys are meant to be I swear." Seungmin hit my shoulder and giggled.

"I don't care about that, I care if my answers were alright."

"Of course they were, why are you worried," I reached over and wrapped my arms around his waist, "Don't overthink it too much, you did great."

"Do you really think that?"

"Yes, Minnie-"

BANG.

Seungmin and I shrieked and scrambled to hide behind a parked car. Both of us held on to each other, too frozen in horror.

BANG.

We flinched at a second gunshot after a couple seconds coming from the house directly in front of us.

"Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh oh my gosh— call the police!" Seungmin whispered as he started to cry. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and dialed 911.

Just as I hit the call button, loud and fast paced footsteps were heard behind me. I peered up to get a quick view at the perpetrator, but I only saw a boy who looked to be our age coming from all the way down the street. He ran up to the house and crawled through the front open window as fast as he could. Could he be an accomplice?

Minutes later, there was a horrific scream, followed by loud sobs. I could see the same boy through a different window, now, pacing back and forth and holding his head in his hands.

"911, what's your emergency?"

I almost didn't hear the dispatcher in absolute shock of what I saw next: the boy picked up a gun from the ground — what I assumed to be the murder weapon — held it to his head, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

"Hello?"

The boy cried and cried, absolutely disappointed that there were no bullets left.

There was one word I could make out from his sobs, "Mom!" he cried, and he collapsed onto the floor.

"There's been a shooting," I frantically told the dispatcher, "please get here as quick as you can."

~~~~~

I personally have an interview for a foreign exchange program this Saturday, and I'm freaking out a lot. Hope it goes well...