Jang Min-Seo looked out of the misty window of the bus she was seated in, and gazed at the sight of street lamps whizzing by, a blur of red and white combined with the orange of the traffic on the street. She opened the window for a better look and was greeted with a gust of wind that flew in, the slight dampness to it indicating a drizzle.
She outstretched her arm and immediately felt the wetness and watched as the droplets of water accumulated on her arm. One, two, five, seven, ten….
“Yah! Min Seo- ah!”, came a shriek that made Min Seo jump out of her skin and spill the hot latte she was drinking onto herself. “Shit!”, she thought as she grabbed a pair of tissues and proceeded to wipe away the coffee stains before she rushed out of her seat to answer her boss’ frantic call.
Kim “Sahjangnim” was prancing around his office with a look of deep dissatisfaction on his facewhen Min Seo walked into his office. She wanted to walk right out. Like a deer caught in it’s predator’s glare, she nervously swallowed the lump in her throat and proceeded to bow to him in greeting.
He turned around with a huff and shoved a file of papers at her whilst asking, “Yah! What the hell is this?? Is this the kind of trash you submit and expect me to approve?! You must be crazy!”.
She took the file titled, ‘Despair: A Lonely Woman’s Road to Self Satisfaction’ and glanced up at her boss who was now ranting about how creatively retarded she was.
“Three years of working as an assistant director and you haven’t produced a single good idea! Is this what i have taught you? Huh? What a waste of money on folks like you!! Did you not think twice before submitting trash? Do you want to be demoted?!”, he yelled, making her visibly shrink at the harsh words.
A good ten minutes later, he dismissed her, but not before demanding a hot cup of espresso from the pantry. Min Seo felt smaller than she’d ever before, when she saw her juniors taking important calls and working on projects, while she was to run around like a personal assistant.
She slumped back to her seat and stared back at the harsh glare of her computer, hurt and dejected.
Hours passed.
It was now 1 AM.
Min Seo trudged out of her now barely occupied office. She had spent the last couple of hours wracking her brain for a good idea. An idea that would sell. An idea that would improve her status in the office. An idea that would finally stop her from being the verbal punching bag that she was to her superiors. The easy target. The pushover. That naive 27 year old with no money, no boyfriend and a job that hung by a thread.
The bus screeched to a halt at four stops away from her’s, waking her up from her daze. Her hand was soaked. She pulled it back hastily and glanced at her watch. It was now nearing 2 AM.
Late nights were regular in South Korea. Seoul was a city that came alive at night and the bustling traffic was proof of how hard and long the population worked. It was also a slight reminder of the cut-throat competition that thrived in Korea, a workforce that was hell bent upon advancing ahead of itself. Life was a race and everyone from students to office goers were part of it. The people were willing to sacrifice just about anything to get ahead and beat each other. Do more. Earn more. Be more.
Jang Min Seo was tired of running. She wanted to stop competing with someone who refused to even give her a chance, refused to acknowledge her intentions. She was tired of working her ass off, wracking her brains for proposal after proposal only to have them be rejected, all the while sprinting around the office doing chores for her superiors.
The thought of quitting frequently plagued her mind, but she dismissed it away, as she always did. What would she do with no job in this big city?? Where would she get a new job and how fast??
She was a single woman come to live in Seoul from her small quaint town in the countryside, hoping to make it big in the city. But this big bad city had started to throw more curveballs at her than she had signed up for.
Work, rent, bills… the list of difficulties never ceased to end.
Her family back home were dissatisfied with the way she lead her life, barely earning and boyfriend-less. They were keen that she should quit and go back to her town to get married and lead a comfortable life in the midst of those who cared for her.
But Min Seo didn’t want marriage. She didn’t want comfort. She wanted this city, to take it by it’s throat and make it choke in the presence of her sheer genius.
Min Seo, though tired of running the same unyielding and unrewarding race over and over and over again, never committed to the thought of quitting.
If Seoul was a rock, then she was a blade. She was willing to be ground over and trampled upon again and again until she was sharp enough. The rock would hone this dull blade until just it’s slight graze could draw blood.
She was prepared to sacrifice her youth in struggling to make ends meet.
The days were long and dreary, she barely had days when she smiled, her work was hard and her bosses cruel. But she always liked the nights. The dark of the night enveloped her and hid all her flaws, her weaknesses from the world that was clamouring to point them out.
She felt comfortable being herself, safe even, at a time of the night when most people were desperate to get to the safety of their homes. But not Min Seo. She enjoyed the long bus rides from work at night, enjoyed the faux brightness of the street lamps, the slow hum of the slowly ceasing traffic, the playlists she listened to, the coldness in the air….
Everyday was a rush of papers strewn about and hurled insults, rushed coffee runs and skipped meals, but there was always the night to calm her down. To soothe her, to remind her of herself.
They say the Sun always rose, bringing with him a new dawn, a new day, a new opportunity.
But she looked forward to the Moon. Her faint jade white in a sky blanketed in ink blank brought with it a renewed sense of hope, a new reason to strengthen oneself.
Min Seo dreaded the day ahead but as long as the night lasted, so did the smile on her face…
Here’s Min Seo’s late night playlist:
1. Starry Night by SUHO (EXO)
2. Made In You by SUHO
3. One Last Time by Girl’s Generation
4. You Were Beautiful by DAY6
5. With You by Samuel ft. Chung Ha
6. One Of These Nights by Red Velvet
7. Angel by NCT 127
8. Week by Chung Ha (I.O.I)
9. Da Ra Da (Song by Whee In (Mamamoo) Jeff Bernat and B.O)
10. Automatic by Red Velvet
11. 11:11 by TAEYON ( Girl’s Generation)
12. Sweet Night by V aka Kim Taehyung (BTS)
13. Eight by IU ft. SUGA of BTS
14. What If.. by EXO
15. Baby Don’t Like It by NCT 127
16. Time by AOA
Happy Reading and Listening folks!
Without Wax,
vodkandcokeplease 😉
vodkandcokeplease 