Chapter 2
Ding.
An unfamiliar notification sound.
My body flinched at the alarm sound I had never heard before.
I had just spent what felt like forever crying after meeting my late grandmother in a dream.
I still had not fully escaped that happy dream when the strange sound interrupted me.
“What is that?”
My tear-streaked face had already dried.
I quickly reached over and picked up my phone.
It was 6:20 in the morning.
Normally, it was a notification I could easily have ignored.
There was still plenty of time before I had to go to work.
But I was a salesman for a food company.
That meant I could not simply ignore my phone.
It might have been an urgent message from the company or one of my clients.
If an item needed that very day had not arrived...
Or if there was a problem with a product...
I absolutely had to check.
“Who contacted me?”
The dark screen slowly lit up.
There was a single text message.
But the contents had absolutely nothing to do with work.
I frowned.
“What is this, spam?”
[“Why is everyone doing well except me?” Arson at Shinwoo Department Store in Gwangju... 17 hospitalized after smoke inhalation]
“Why would someone send me a news article through text?”
It was six in the morning, and I had randomly received a full news article.
I moved my thumb to turn off the screen.
Then one phrase caught my eye.
“...Wait. Shinwoo Department Store in Gwangju?”
I stopped and quickly opened the message.
[“Why is everyone doing well except me?” Arson at Shinwoo Department Store in Gwangju... 17 hospitalized after smoke inhalation]
[A fire occurred at Shinwoo Department Store in Gwangju Metropolitan City, resulting in injuries.
The fire began in the food hall on Basement Level 1 and spread to the luxury-goods section on the first floor.
According to fire authorities, the fire was reported at 12:33 p.m. Firefighters were dispatched, and the fire was completely extinguished at 1:58 p.m.
Seventeen citizens suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation and were transported to hospitals. Property damage at Shinwoo Department Store is currently being assessed.
The cause of the massive fire, which was only brought under control after significant effort, has shocked many citizens.
It was arson.]
...
...
...
[The arsonist was immediately arrested at the scene.
The suspect, a man in his forties, poured fuel stored inside a clear plastic soju bottle across the floor of a hallway in the food hall before using a lighter to...
The suspect repeatedly shouted, “Why is everyone doing well except me?” and claimed he committed the arson because he felt the world was unfair.
The suspect was revealed to be an employee of Shinwoo Department Store, creating even greater shock...]
[Photo]
Two photos were attached to the article.
One was CCTV footage taken while he was committing the arson.
The other was his employee identification photo, since he worked at Shinwoo Department Store.
“Maybe watching rich customers spend money every day made him bitter because he thought he was the only one struggling.”
I clicked my tongue while looking at the pictures.
“Then he should work harder and improve his life. Who commits arson over something like that? There really are all kinds of people in this world.”
You did not have to look far to realize there were plenty of people who lacked common sense.
But whenever I saw someone doing something outside the boundaries of the law, I could not help sighing.
“Still, do they send news articles by text these days?”
I tilted my head in confusion at the long article.
“Since this happened in Gwangju, maybe the city sent it like an emergency alert?”
Then I checked the time.
My body shot upright.
“Ah! I need to get ready for work!”
It had nothing to do with me, so I pressed the button to delete the message.
[This conversation will be deleted.]
[Delete / Cancel]
A confirmation window appeared.
I moved my finger toward Delete.
Then...
♪♬
A loud alarm suddenly exploded from my phone.
Startled, I dropped the phone onto the bed before I could press the button.
“Whoa! That scared me.”
It was the alarm I had set to wake myself up.
I picked the phone back up, quickly turned off the alarm, and headed toward the bathroom.
“I wasted too much time reading that article. I need to hurry and get ready.”
After finishing my preparations for work...
Instead of heading to the office, I went to a client located near my house.
Only one day had passed since the second quarter closed.
But the upcoming third quarter was far too important to me.
I needed to raise my sales so high that Lee Sejun could not catch me in a single move right before the quarter ended.
To do that, I had to generate far more sales than I had during the second quarter.
Most employees relaxed after a quarter ended.
For an entire quarter, they poured everything they had into their jobs.
Then all that sweat and effort was reduced to one number called sales.
And from that number, they were given a rank.
But it was not an absolute evaluation.
It was relative.
Naturally, employees who did not receive good rankings sometimes fell into disappointment and helplessness.
There were also people who pushed themselves even harder so they would never experience that disappointment again.
But if I had to compare the two groups, more people tended to relax.
At least I was different.
As someone who was always stuck in second place, this period was when I needed to focus more than ever.
Instead of resting, I needed to visit even one more client, make myself remembered, and approach sales more aggressively.
“...Thank you. Then I’ll organize the pricing once more and send it to you by email.”
“Sure. Assistant Manager Choi, take good care of our pricing. You know what I mean, right?”
“Of course. Like I said earlier, if you can consistently maintain your monthly usage volume, I can adjust the unit price.”
The client representative offered me his hand.
“We want to maintain that usage every month too. We’re always trying to sell more WG Food products than products from other companies.”
“Thank you, as always.”
“I should be thanking you. There aren’t many suppliers who take care of us as well as you do.”
His words naturally brought a smile to my face.
“Anyway, please take good care of the pricing.”
“Yes, thank you. I’ll contact you again.”
“All right. I’ll wait for your call.”
I bowed and left the client’s office.
The moment I got into my car and drove out of the parking lot, a tired sigh escaped me.
“Whew... Visiting clients from early in the morning really takes it out of you.”
Going from client to client and constantly dealing with different people...
It was nothing like chatting with close friends.
You had to constantly watch them.
What did they want?
What did they want to talk about?
Reading people like that was never comfortable.
My eyes were tired, and the back of my neck was stiff.
I pulled over to the side of the road and rubbed both.
“It’s twelve now, so I’ll eat lunch, then visit another client at one...”
As I muttered my plan...
Ding-dong.
The phone on the passenger seat rang.
I immediately frowned.
“Did my number get sold somewhere? Why am I getting so much spam lately?”
Even so, I reached over and picked up my phone.
The moment I checked the message, my frown disappeared.
“Oh, my salary came in.”
