1
“You’re getting promoted.” The manager tells me. “But there is a new contract.”
He slides the stack of papers to me. “Read them carefully is all I can recommend.” He glances to the top right corner of the room, behind me.
I follow his gaze and see a security camera looking directly at us.
It’s red light flashes twice as if saying hello.
“Take it home with you, I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night.” The manager rushes me out of his office.
I change my clothes and go outside from the workers’ exit, seeing the all too familiar car and the man inside.
I slide into the back sit, hugging my backpack.
“How was your day?” He asks in his rough and uninterested voice.
“Well, father.” I answer quietly.
“Did anything special happen?”
“Nothing special.” I think about the contract I just got, but I’m not going to tell him about it. From the first few sentences I read I understood it means I’ll be the official and only housekeeper of the penthouse.
I remember the old penthouse housekeeper. I think her name is Boyoung.
One day she didn’t arrive to work anymore.
I’m very certain it includes a raise, which I would really appreciate.
Half of my salary goes to my parents’ account.
The other half to my secret account.
I would take the money from the raise and one day will run to another city, maybe another country, and become a doctor.
I am on my fifth year of medical school, two years away from finishing.
Although I am very skilled and finished all the books they assigned to the seven years of learning there are no shortcuts there and I can’t skip.
I finished school at the age of 16 and immediately enrolled to medical school.
As my father demanded.
He parks the car in the driveway, turning off the engine.
We both get out of the car and into the house, I take off his coat and rush to my bedroom.
His voice causes me to stop with my hand on the handle. “Be ready at six, I’ll drop you off earlier, I have business to attend to. Also, you’ll walk by yourself to the hotel. I hope you will find your way and won’t cause problems.”
“I understand father, good night.”
I change into pajamas and rush to bed.
Since he will drop me off at about 6:45 I will have more than an hour to do nothing at school.
Not only the class starts at eight, they open the gates at 7:15.
More time to read the contract.
“Dismissed.” The teacher tells us.
We all rush to the sinks, washing off the death.
Today class was “here’s a corpse, whatever you do to it, reverse it.”
So, digging, cutting, stuffing, sewing, everything was allowed.
I love those classes.
I take my backpack and rush to the hotel.
Even if I wouldn’t know the way, I could find the hotel very easily as it’s the tallest building in the city.
The Monster Plaza.
One of the Kim’s hotels.
This one specifically his son’s hotel.
I change my clothes to the hotel uniform and walk to my manager’s office.
I knock on the door and open it as I hear a ‘come in.’
He has a red, fresh cut on his right cheek.
A cut too perfect to be an accident.
“Ah, (y/n). Have you decided?” He asks, tired eyes.
“Yes. I will take the offer.”
As I say those words, the door opens.
I turn around to see a young man, dark blue suit, brown hair styled perfectly.
A poker face.
“This is Mr. Jeon. He is one of your new bosses.” My manager, ex manager, says, gesturing to the young man.
I bow to Mr. Jeon. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Jeon. My name is (y/n), I am your new penthouse keeper.”
His voice is very pleasant. “Nice to meet you.” He mumbles.
Snobby? Not in the mood?
“He will take you to the penthouse where you will get a key and meet the others.” Manager says.
Mr. Jeon hold the door open for me as I walk out of the office, followed by the young man.
I follow him to an elevator I never saw before, it’s frame is gold as it’s doors and there’s a red carpet before it.
How didn’t I notice it?
He sweeps his card in the special slot and the doors open with a ‘ding!’.
We enter the fancy looking elevator and go up in quiet.
Since it’s the tallest building in the city the ride up is a bit long.
Long in the company of Jeon.
The elevator stops at the top floor.
The doors open to
A small room with another door?
That’s not what I expected. I’m not sure what I expected but it’s not it.
Jeon goes to the other door, followed by me, and takes a key out of his suit’s inner pocket.
The penthouse is basically a house on top of the hotel.
From the entrance I can see the entrance to a kitchen, a living room and a staircase that goes up.
Jeon continued walking without me, so I rush after him, his longer legs making it harder to catch up.
He goes into the living room, stopping and clearing his throat.
“Hyung, I’m back.”
The silver haired man turns his head to us.
His full lips turn into a smile as he looks at Jeon.
“Jungkookie~” He says in a bit of a high voice. “Welcome back.”
“Where are the others?” Jungkookie asks.
“Some here, some there.” The beautiful man says, looking at me for a second before returning his gaze to Jungkookie.
“I understand. I’ve brought (y/n). Should we wait for Namjoon?”
“Mmm...” The beautiful man thinks for a minute before answering. “Yeah, I think we should.” He stands up from the couch he sat on and straighten his emerald green blazer.
He walks over to us and takes my hand in his. “I’m Jimin.” He says and kisses the back of my hand.
I quickly pull my hand back and hold on near my chest with my other hand. “I’m (y/n).” I say as I meet his gaze.
His smile is something I haven’t seen before and I don’t know if to like it or to be afraid. “Come and sit with me.”
Jungkookie follows him to the couch and I sit on one of the armchairs.
“Oh, you shouldn’t sit there. This chair is taken by a scary person.” Jimin says and I quickly get up, straightening my uniform skirt.
As on a cue a person comes into the dark room.
The ex-dark room.
His smile is as bright as the sun.
“Oh, Jungkookie I see you’re back.” His eyes shift to me. “And brought company.”
I turn to him and bow. “I am (y/n), I am your new penthouse keeper.”
He bows a bit too and smile wider. “I’m Hoseok! Nice to meet you!”
I smile to myself. Mr. sour face and Mr. flirt made me nervous, luckily, I’m no longer alone with them.
“So How are you (y/n)-ssi?” Hoseok asks me, sitting next to his friends.
“Fine, thank you. How are you?”
“Tired.” He laughs to himself.
When he mentions it, I can see the dark circles under his eyes.
The big television displays a news channel.
“...the suicide of the business man, Mr. Choi. The police are investigating the scene and his close circle but have found nothing...”
Another business man.
It’s the third one this month.
“A girl’s body was found in the southern part of the forest by two travelers. The identity of the girl is still unknown. If you know someone is missing please come to Dongge Hospital to try and identify the...”
“Shit.” I hear someone says.
I turn my gaze to the three and see Hoseok and Jimin glaring at Jungkookie.
They notice my gaze and clear their expressions.
“How about we change to something less depressing?” Hoseok suggests and the two others mumble their agreement.
He turn the channel to a movie one. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’ is played.
We all watch together, awkward but not awkward silence between us.
Until I break it. “Umm... sorry to interrupt but do you want me to clean something or...?”
They share looks, then look at me, then at each other again. “Uhh...” Jungkookie starts. “Maybe you can clean my room? Only if you want to.”
“Sure. I just need to bring a cart from downstairs.” I stand up.
“No need. We have one here.” Hoseok goes out of the room.
I follow him and see him open a built-in-wall closet door and take out a cleaning cart, like we have downstairs in the carts room.
“Thank you.” I take the cart from him and return to Jungkookie. He takes me to an elevator, a different one then the one we came up with.
The ride takes less than a minute, the room on the second floor.
We exit the elevator and roll into a dark corridor.
We pass two doors and stop at the third one.
He opens the door to a fairly bright room, unlike the rest of the house.
The sheets of the double bed are white, like in the rest of the hotel rooms.
The walls are creamy yellow, and the floor is light butter tiles.
A flower painting above the bed and a wooden nightstand on each side of the bed.
A normal looking hotel room, except the expensive looking computer on the desk.
“Sorry it’s not really tidy...” Jungkookie says as he scratches the back of his head.
“Don’t worry.” I say as I start to pick up things from the floor, putting the shoes in one corner, the dirty clothes in one pile, the empty snacks packs in the trash bag.
“I’m Jungkook by the way.” He says after a few minutes of standing in the corner, feeling awkward.
So, it’s not Jungkookie, it’s Jungkook. “I’m (y/n).”
“I know.”
“Like wise.”
“...” he continues to stand in the corner, looking at the ceiling.
“You can, sit or something. When I’ll get to the bed, I’ll tell you.” I tell him as I vacuum the floor.
He sits on his chair next to the computer and says nothing.
Shocking.
As I go to open one of the closet doors a hand suddenly stops mine. “Don’t open it.” Jungkook says from right beside me.
How did he move so fast?
I lower my hand, leaving the closet and taking new sheets for the bed.
I start to take off the old ones, only to be interrupted again. “Do you need help?”
“No thanks. I have a way of doing it already.” I say and continue my work.
I’ve worked here for a while, I can handle my job myself.
I finish cleaning his room, take my cart and start rolling out. “Thank you for cleaning my room.” Jungkook mumbles.
“That’s what I’m paid for.”
He walks behind me, following me to the elevator.
It seems like he’s hiding something.
Maybe they all do?
As I put the cart in the closet, I see there are more people in the living room.
Great. It’s showtime.
