“Hold on, what’re you on about all of a sudden? Earnin’ money?”
The slime’s eyes lit up bright.
“There’s somebody I wanna see.”
“And what’s that got to do with earnin’ money... wait. Don’t tell me.”
Mr. Kim narrowed his eyes. He looked the slime over like he’d caught him at something.
“You’re tellin’ me you want to get hired at the company where this person you miss works?”
“Yes.”
“Hah... that won’t do. Your motives aren’t pure, you brat. You’re not plannin’ to get in there and make the poor fella uncomfortable, are you?”
Mr. Kim shot him a suspicious side-eye as he said it, and the slime, aghast, shook his head so hard it whipped back and forth.
“That’s...! No. Never ever.”
“Really, now?”
Nod, nod.
The slime nodded away for all he was worth. Mr. Kim studied the young man closely, then pulled a face that said he wasn’t happy about it. If anyone else had said that, he wouldn’t have believed a word of it... but this kid was a little different.
The man he’d been watching for a few weeks now was, quite literally, the kind of pure-hearted young fellow you hardly ever came across these days. There were times the purity ran all the way up into his brain, not a single wrinkle in it, and that worried Mr. Kim down to his bones. Still, he could say for certain the kid wasn’t one to hurt anybody or act out of malice.
And now, out of nowhere, he wanted to go get a job.
Mr. Kim felt a pang of regret, deep down. For once he’d had a good-natured kid who looked up to him, one he’d treated like his own child and guided along like a proper senior, and now the kid was saying he’d leave this place.
But here was a boy with all four limbs in working order, finally clearing out of the homeless life to go out into the world and earn a wage. Standing in the way of that would be nothing short of wicked.
Mr. Kim quietly took in the flushed color of the young man’s face, then turned away. He rummaged through a black plastic bag wedged among the boxes and pulled something out.
“Take this.”
“...?”
On a grubby, work-roughened palm sat a few blue and yellow bills, folded over and over into creases.
This is... that’s money. The slime took one look and shook his head hard, appalled.
“I’m gonna do labor and earn money now. This here’s your money, ajusshi. And there’s some of Mr. Park’s money in there too.”
He’d seen him sneaking cash out of Mr. Park’s plastic bag not long ago, which was why he said it, and Mr. Kim’s eyes went wide and furious.
“There’s no Park money mixed in here! It’s all mine! Quit yappin’ and take it when I tell you to take it!”
Then he shoved the filthy wad of bills roughly into the young man’s pale hand. After that he flopped over onto his side, away from him, and muttered like he was talking to himself.
“Go do good work, you hear? First off, anybody who looks like they’re above you, you greet ’em every single time, and keep a smile on your face, and say ‘yes, sir’ to everything. Get ’em to like you so you can stay a long while. Understand?”
“...”
“That person you want to see, now, that’s the only way you can meet ’em with your head up. You stand tall first, and then you’re standin’ tall when you look at ’em. You follow?”
Not that I’m one to talk. He tacked it on at the end in a mumble, then cleared his throat with a pointless little cough.
All at once the slime felt something welling up in his chest, bunching itself into a round little ball. What kind of feeling is this? He’d felt it before, when he was with Dojin, but this was somehow different, too.
For some reason no answer would come out, so he hesitated there, staring at Mr. Kim’s back, until he realized there was something he absolutely had to say, and opened his mouth.
“Thankyoo verymuch.”
“...If you’re goin’, then go already. You’re a pain in my neck.”
“Thank you. Really. Ajusshi.”
A deep bow. Mr. Kim wouldn’t turn around and look at him, so the slime bowed to his back instead. Every nerve Mr. Kim had was tuned to what was happening behind him, but he didn’t let it show and stayed perfectly still.
The slime got up slowly and headed for his own nesting spot. He folded the cardboard blanket that had served him so well into a neat square, and tucked the cute, oddly shaped pebbles he’d picked up here and there carefully into his pocket. Then he took out the one stone he treasured most, the one he thought was prettiest of all, blew on it to huff the dust off, closed it in his hand and shut his eyes. A pure white light swirled over the stone for a moment, then vanished.
The slime gathered up everything he owned and went pelting back to where Mr. Kim was.
He laid the stone down neatly in front of Mr. Kim, then collected up the folded boxes and every last expired item he’d been given at the convenience store and set them to one side.
“I’ll earn money and come back again.”
“Don’t you come back, you brat!”
“I’ll give you a stone, too. If anybody hits you, ajusshi, throw it at ’em!”
“What on earth are you on about?”
“Bye-bye!”
The slime waved and went scampering off toward the park entrance. Mr. Kim listened to those light footsteps, then glanced back over his shoulder. Boxes and a whole mountain of assorted convenience store cast-offs sat piled up there. He grumbled.
“Dumps all his garbage on me and clears out? Thinks this place is a landfill or somethin’.”
Even so, he stowed the boxes away in a corner and went carefully through the expiry dates on the discards. Last of all, he picked up the pebble the young man had left behind.
It had a mysterious tint to it, far too mysterious for something picked up in a place like this. A clear stone, the sort you’d expect to find on a beach. When he held it up to eye level, the sunlight caught it and the light bled out in rainbow colors.
“So this is what they mean by pretty garbage...”
For a good long while, Mr. Kim couldn’t take his eyes off it.
Another day with no room to breathe.
The employee assigned to building security fiddled with his tie and stared listlessly out at the street. Weather’s nice. This is exactly the kind of day you should be out having fun. And I just got dumped by my girlfriend.
Haaah.
On top of that, there was a mountain of work today, because the Seongun Guild interviews were being held right here, on the fifth floor of the Seongun Building. They were hiring cleaning staff on a large scale, and maybe that was why so many people had applied; just directing them all had left his throat sore.
Ugh, let me go home already.
He was kneading his stiff shoulder and settling his gaze back on the outside world when he spotted a man loitering out front.
Here for the interview?
The nerves were written all over his face, which drew the eye whether you meant to look or not.
...No, maybe that’s not the only reason.
The man was pretty good-looking. His face was small as a fist, with eyes and nose and mouth all sitting neatly in their places, and the whole effect was easy on the eyes.
He stood out in front of the building for ten minutes or so. He took deep breaths, muttered to himself, shut his eyes, and then at last moved his feet like he’d made up his mind. And then, with a bang, he slammed his face hard into the glass door and said—
“Wh-whoa!”
Startled by the loud noise, the staffer hurried over to the automatic door, but the man had already made it inside the revolving door next to it. And then he came walking into the lobby with both eyes wide as saucers, looking thoroughly shocked.
Both the man and the staffer stood there blankly. The staffer stared at the man, and the man looked around the inside of the building. And then he shouted.
“How did I get in?”
What do you mean, how... you just pushed the revolving door and walked in...
Swallowing his disbelief, the staffer walked up to the man and spoke to him kindly.
“Are you here for the Seongun Guild interview?”
“Ah... yes, sir.”
“Fifth floor.”
When he said that while pointing at the elevator, the man said yes, sir, and bowed his head. Watching from a distance, the staffer saw the man gaze vacantly at the elevator doors as they opened, and only when someone who’d already gotten on called out, Are you coming? did he scramble in. Without forgetting to look around at everything with a face full of curiosity, either.
After the elevator doors closed, the staffer cocked his head.
That guy is really something else... he probably won’t get in, right?
Recalling that oddly scattered manner of his, the staffer thought nothing more of it. One good-looking guy was about to get cut, that was all.
Haah.
The young man sat down in a chair and caught his breath. He’d finally made it this far. He squeezed the business card in his pocket and called to mind what the ajusshis had told him.
“Kids these days have no grit. No grit at all. Back in my day, let me tell you, we worked like we were going to bury our bones in the company! With an attitude like, just give me the job and I’ll work my hardest!”
Huh? But then why didn’t they bury their bones?
Swallowing the question that had popped into his head out of nowhere, the slime took one more deep breath.
Right, it’s fine. I’m good at cleaning, so I’ll get in!
He cast the spell on himself with total confidence and waited. Before long, he heard a voice calling his name.
“No. 25, Kim Minsu. No. 26, Lee Seoyun. No. 27, Park Dongho. No. 29, Yoo Jihan. No. 30. Shin Ain.”
Shillain! That’s me.
Ain shot to his feet. Then he followed along behind the people ahead of him. Slowly, calmly. Always watch what the humans do and copy that. Then there’s no problem.
He moved while repeating to himself, inwardly, the things he’d figured out over a few clumsy days of life in society. I can do this. A look of grim resolve settled over his face.
The interviewers rubbed their tired eyes. Running interviews for the first time in ages left them completely frazzled. And on top of that, the self-introductions were all much of a muchness anyway, every answer copy-pasted...
Since the posting wasn’t for office work but for cleaning staff, all sorts of people had applied. Seongun Guild had the strongest hunters of any guild in Korea, and the hunters who belonged to it were famous and had plenty of fans, so even the applications for custodial work turned into a bloodbath, as the saying goes.
Which also meant a lot of the numbers were padding — people applying for the fun of it. They’d once hired a stalker and a sasaeng by mistake, so the interviewers had to put real effort into picking people.
They checked over the next batch of interviewees filing in one after another. One, two, three... and as their eyes swept over the faces, one distinctive figure snagged on their gaze.
Old jeans, worn out and several sizes too big. Plus a white tee with ‘I♥korea’ printed on it. And grubby, enormous sneakers that looked several sizes too big.
The interviewers’ faces screwed up at an outfit so devoid of effort that it stood in stark contrast to the neatly dressed people beside him. It would have been simple enough to give him a cursory look and fail him, but the fussy interviewer in the glasses couldn’t do that.
