A girl stood alone in the dark, holding a fancy high heel in her hand. The strange part was the blood. It kept dripping off the shoe, drop by drop, onto the road.
Seo told herself, in shock, that she had just sent someone to meet their maker. This was the first time in her life she had ever done anything like this. The feeling at that moment was exactly like the time she was a kid and got scolded by her mother for breaking her favourite toy. Scared and guilty, both at once.
So who exactly was she, and how had she ended up in a situation like this?
Seo was a lowly contract worker at a company. Even though she was only hired help, she was forced to work like a dog. The full-time employees looked down on her openly, pushing every difficult and miserable task onto her. She worked a lot, her pay was peanuts, and she had no status at all, while the pressure of the job weighed her down day after day.
The pile of bills at home was also calling her name constantly. Phone bill, credit card, rent, every kind of bill in the world.
Seo always remembered what her mother told her. Don't live a miserable life like me. You must live happily and comfortably, okay?
But looking back at reality, she was still struggling to make ends meet, with no bright future in sight. After working for a whole month without seeing her paycheque, Seo took a risk and went to the accounting department to ask, only to get a blunt answer.
"You are a contract worker, not full-time. If you want your pay, tell your boss to approve the list."
Seo went to see her manager feeling dejected, but he didn't even bother looking at her. He just said, "Take it easy. Go make me a cup of coffee first, and then we'll see."
Just then, she ran into Jian, an extremely arrogant full-time employee. Jian scolded her for not answering her phone, even though Seo explained that she had it on silent so she didn't know. Jian announced that the superstar Dohyun was about to come to the company to sign an advertising contract, and ordered Seo to immediately go buy the snacks and drinks he liked.
So Seo had to run like crazy through the crowded streets, pushing and shoving to buy the items for the big star. She kept telling herself that she should just try her best. Maybe one day the company would take pity on her and promote her to a full-time employee.
As for Dohyun, he was an extremely famous star with fans as numerous as ants. In front of those fans, Dohyun always played the part of a warm idol, protecting them with all his heart from rude security guards.
But what was the reality? Dohyun was a guy who was quite stubborn and hard to please. When his assistant reminded him of the schedule to sign the contract with the advertising company where Seo worked, Dohyun didn't seem interested at all, and even threatened to disappear if he kept being forced into things. Even the CEO of his management company had to personally show up and talk him round before he finally agreed to go.
Meanwhile, back at the office, Seo was worried sick. This contract was extremely important to the company. If it fell through, her hopes of becoming a full-time employee would vanish into thin air.
Just as she finished getting everything ready, Jian basically kicked her out.
"Now that you're done, go somewhere else. You're not a full-time employee, so don't expect to stay and welcome the VIP guests."
Seo walked out feeling dejected. Right then she noticed something was wrong with the building's electrical system. The lights kept flickering, as if there was about to be a short circuit.
At the same time, the big star Dohyun walked into the meeting room with the coldest look on his face. Right from the first sentence, he made a blunt announcement.
"I don't want to sign this contract."
When the manager heard that, his face turned as pale as a ghost.
Then, in the meeting room, the superstar Dohyun suddenly said he had to use the bathroom. The manager was worried sick that the guy would take the chance to sneak away, so he carefully sent an employee to follow and keep an eye on him. But Dohyun wasn't someone to mess with. He used a clever move to lose the employee, then sneaked out the back door, planning to escape.
Right then, Seo was standing blankly by the door, worrying about whether the contract would get signed. Seeing Dohyun appear, she naively thought he was lost.
When Dohyun saw the door was locked, he asked her how to get out.
Seo honestly replied, "You can just use my employee ID card to open it."
Hearing that, Dohyun rushed her to open the door immediately. But Seo suddenly remembered something and asked, "Wait. Did you sign the contract yet?"
Dohyun put on an arrogant look. "Sign what? I have no intention of signing anything."
Seo was devastated when she heard that, because this contract was the lifesaver for her job. Seeing her stalling, Dohyun got bossy and started yelling at her to open the door.
At this point, in the meeting room, the boss and everyone else realised Dohyun was missing and were scrambling to find him. Hearing the sound of heavy footsteps, Seo was about to shout to let everyone know Dohyun was there, but he quickly covered her mouth. The two of them struggled and pushed each other for a while. Then Dohyun roughly grabbed Seo's employee ID, pushed her down, and casually swiped the card to escape like the wind.
What was the result? The manager blamed everything on Seo. He chewed her out.
"You couldn't even do one simple thing like holding him back for a moment. What kind of work is this?"
And so the death sentence was handed down. Seo was officially fired.
It's true that misfortunes never come alone. When she got home, a neighbour named Namu brought bad news of his own. He had secretly eaten five of the cookies her mother sent, because he was too hungry on the way up.
Even though Seo was furious, she still had to sadly take the remaining cookies to bribe the manager, hoping to save the situation. After eating them, the manager seemed to calm down a bit.
But life isn't like a dream. Right then, the CEO barged in, yelling about the failed contract with Dohyun. To save his own skin, the manager flipped his stance faster than a pancake and blamed everything on Seo.
And just like that, Seo was officially gone from the company.
Feeling so frustrated and heartbroken, Seo invited the manager and Jian out for drinks. While she cried her eyes out over losing her job, Jian kept making sarcastic and mocking remarks. On top of that, the manager warned her, "Don't go spreading this story on social media, okay?"
The more Seo drank, the more bitter she felt, and with the alcohol, she got more daring.
On the way home, passing through a deserted and pitch-black road, Seo saw a figure walking ahead of her. In her drunken state, at peak anger, she was one hundred percent sure it was her useless manager.
No sooner thought than done. She pulled off her high heel and used all her strength to whack that shadow right in the head with a deadly blow.
"This is for setting me up. This is for not approving my pay. You make me work like a dog and then fire me."
Seo cursed and hit him at the same time to vent her anger. The person collapsed, and blood started flowing out.
She was about to throw in a few more curses and leave, but suddenly she felt something was off. When she got closer to take a good look, Seo almost fainted on the spot.
The person lying on the ground wasn't the manager. It was the superstar Dohyun.
Seo's drunkenness vanished in a heartbeat. She was trembling all over, and seeing no one around, she turned and ran for her life.