Prologue

"Woojin, could you replace the water cooler bottle?"

"Yes."

"The break room's out of paper cups, by the way?"

"Yes."

"Please straighten up the conference room chairs before the CEO gets here."

"Yes."

At the office, my replies never went beyond three words.

Because I was just a temp who'd been parachuted in.

「Serin Cosmetics」

My father used his connection to the CEO of a company he knew through someone else to shoehorn me in here.

My parents couldn't stand watching me bounce between convenience store jobs and day labor, then turn into a total NEET.

I wasn't oblivious to how they felt, so I swallowed my protests and came here, but…

…the beauty industry, of all things!

I had no background in this field, and no desire to learn, either.

Ah, well. Can't be helped.

I'll just kill time until I can get out.

───Maybe my true feelings were so obvious I didn't even need to say them, because the workaholic assistant manager singled me out from day one.

"You can't even tell the difference between toner, lotion, ampoules, and serums? How did you get hired here?"

"I'm sorry."

"You don't know what SPF and PA are? Isn't that common knowledge?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't the point. Honestly…"

At first, I was given simple tasks.

I found out later that they were a test to gauge my abilities.

Assistant Manager Kang Seoyoon sighed over and over, trying to figure out what to do with someone who knew even less than she'd expected.

'So I got a deadweight way below expectations.'

She didn't even try to hide the contempt in her eyes.

An incompetent, deadweight new hire.

That role became mine in an instant.

I didn't know even basic industry jargon, and I couldn't speak a foreign language.

Even I couldn't figure out what use I was.

In the end, all the tasks that only required a functioning frontal lobe landed on me.

"Make copies of this."

"Yes."

"Bring me a box."

"Yes."

"Coffee."

Hmm, though, it wasn't so bad.

Even as useless as I was, I had to at least pretend to work if I wanted the company to let me stick around.

The pretty assistant managers and managers kept tossing me little jobs, telling me to just handle this or that.

And I got paid a little, too.

Though the way they looked at me seemed to brand me 「a useless moron pathetically wasting his life」, and that label followed me around…

I didn't mind feeling like capable women were raising me, and I was getting used to playing their lackey.

Then a month passed, and in the final week of my contract…

An overseas business trip was suddenly scheduled.

"Woojin, you're coming with us to the overseas expo."

Manager Han Jia (K-cup or larger · married · 37)

had given the order.

"Manager! Wait a second. Why is Kim Woojin going? It's not like we're asking him to interpret."

"It's nice to have one strong guy around~. We need someone to carry the boxes."

"……Sigh."

Assistant Manager Kang Seoyoon let out repeated, exaggerated sighs, as if she really didn't want to go with me.

An overseas business trip with a female boss who despised me. This was gonna be fucking fun.

"Woojin, take this. A temporary business card."

『Serin Cosmetics Co., Ltd.

Global Marketing Team

Kim Woojin』

Now I had a hastily made business card to go with the employee ID I'd had until then.

Not that I'd have any reason to show it to overseas buyers, but you never know.

'This'll be my last assignment.'

As if being made to run one more obstacle course at the tail end of my military service, I boarded an international flight from Incheon to Singapore.

An ordinary flight full of business travelers, tourists, passengers in transit, and international students.

With Assistant Manager Seoyoon by the window and me crammed into the impossibly narrow middle seat, the plane gradually lifted off.

"Did you take pictures of the samples?"

Assistant Manager Kang Seoyoon spoke without even looking at me.

"Yes. But I don't see the manager."

"The manager's in business class, taking care of VIPs."

As you'd expect, we didn't have any unnecessary conversations beyond work.

The cabin lights gradually dimmed. Outside the window, there was nothing but clouds. An ambiguous blue glow, neither day nor night, spread faintly along the wingtip.

Then, the plane shook slightly.

"?"

I grabbed the armrest without thinking.

- Passengers, we are currently passing through an area of light turbulence. Please fasten your seat belts.

The announcement came over the cabin speakers amid the ominous atmosphere.

The captain's calm voice made it seem like nothing serious, but my unease wouldn't go away.

"Fasten your seat belt."

Assistant Manager Seoyoon's voice snapped me back to my senses.

"Oh, yes?"

"Honestly, you're such a klutz."

Seoyoon fastened my seat belt roughly, as if she couldn't stand watching me fumble and had to do it herself.

At that moment, I caught a glimpse of something outside the window.

Something inside the pitch-black clouds…

It seemed almost alive.

"What is that?"

"What do you mean? Aah!"

With a thud, everything around us went dark, and the plane suddenly plunged downward.

The passengers' bodies lifted from their seats, and screams erupted all around us.

Kang Seoyoon's laptop, still open, slid across the floor.

"Are you okay?! Assistant Manager!"

"Aah!"

Seoyoon grabbed my arm with a pale face, and I instinctively pulled her close.

──The cabin lights flickered once.

Twice.

And then they went out.

In the darkness, yellow cup-shaped things tumbled down all around us. When I realized they were oxygen masks,

my mind was already imagining the worst.

I tried to grab an oxygen mask somehow. Why was it so hard to snatch the one dangling right in front of me in this shaking plane──

I missed twice, but finally managed to catch one and put it on the flailing Assistant Manager Kang Seoyoon first.

"Mmph!"

The assistant manager's eyes went wide, and she stared at me.

'All right! Now I can, too───.'

A flash of light came from outside the window. It wasn't lightning.

Was my life flashing before my eyes? In the instant every sound vanished, the first person who came to mind was Mom.

I remembered what Mom had said that morning.

「Go and don't make any mistakes, and be nice to people」

"Ah."

The next moment,

with a deafening roar like the world tearing apart, everything shattered to pieces.