Yun Sola had always taken sincere pride in the fact that her résumé was practically flawless. Yet even she was so nervous before the interview that she merely poked weakly at her food with her chopsticks. Meanwhile, Cha Jiham, sitting beside her with an utterly peaceful expression as though nothing in the world could trouble him, was enjoying his lunch with great appetite. Unable to suppress the curiosity that had overtaken her, she decided to speak to him.
“Cha Jiham, aren’t you nervous at all?”
“Hm? What?”
Yun Sola glanced at the lunch box in his hands and continued,
“You know perfectly well why I’m asking.”
‘Hot blood runs through my veins too, so why wouldn’t I be nervous?’ Jiham thought. However, the reason he was eating so carefree was because he had already accepted everything in his mind. Among the two hundred and one competitors gathered here, there was probably not a single person whose résumé looked worse than his. Even so, his wounded pride would not allow him to answer Yun Sola honestly.
“Haha, we Koreans draw strength from a hearty meal. Besides, we all work just to live and eat well, don’t we?”
“Even so... I’m so nervous I can’t get anything down.”
“It’s all about your mindset. Besides, you’re so skinny, all bones. You should eat better even on ordinary days. Well, I’ll be going.”
Jiham stood up, carried his empty container to the corner of the hall, and threw it into the trash. Then he headed to the restroom, rinsed his mouth with the mouthwash by the sink, and carefully looked at his reflection in the mirror. His hairstyle was perfect, but the dark stains left by the rainwater on his suit and white shirt ruined the whole look.
‘No, this won’t do. I have to do something.’
Having made up his mind, he opened the restroom door and stepped outside. But just as he headed toward the elevator, a man sitting behind a desk called out to him.
“Cha Jiham, where are you going?”
“Well, before the interview this morning...”
Jiham briefly explained how he had been splashed with water from a puddle and stated his request.
“...So I wanted to use the lunch break to buy a new shirt.”
“I fully understand your situation, Cha Jiham, but if you leave the building, we will be forced to disqualify you.”
“Excuse me, but I don’t quite understand why.”
“The interview started at eleven this morning. The thirty-two candidates who have already completed it have gone home. The questions asked by the interviewers hardly change.”
Only then did Jiham realize the true meaning behind the organizer’s words. Those who had already been interviewed had all been asked essentially the same questions. If they wanted to, they could easily pass that information on to the applicants still waiting for their turn. To eliminate such risks entirely, the company strictly controlled the candidates and forbade any contact with the outside world. Understanding the company’s intentions, Jiham did not stubbornly insist.
“Ah, now I understand. All right.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you, Cha Jiham.”
Jiham politely bowed and returned to the hall. As soon as he entered, he was greeted by a rather peculiar sight. Almost all the applicants had their noses buried in printed materials, frantically reviewing information. They were clearly calculating how they would answer the interviewers’ questions. The large hall was so silent that it felt more like a central library. Trying not to disturb anyone, he quietly slipped back to his seat.
Yun Sola, who had been watching for his return, asked softly,
“Did you decide to give up on the interview?”
“What makes you think that?”
“I saw you arguing with the organizer and trying to leave the building.”
“Oh, that? There were reasons.”
“And what were they?”
‘Why is she so curious?’ Jiham thought and pointed to the dried rain stains on his clothes.
“These are driving me crazy.”
“Ah, I see now.”
“So don’t worry about me and focus on preparing for your interview.”
“And what about you? Aren’t you going to prepare?”
‘What’s the point of preparing now when I’m bound to fail anyway?’
“You prepare for interviews ahead of time, in your daily life, not at the last minute.”
“Well, you do have a point,” Yun Sola replied with a faint flirtatious tone and returned to her papers.
Time passed, and at one o’clock the interviews resumed. Since Jiham had number 202, his turn would not come until around half past four. He sat lazily in his chair, absentmindedly looking around, when suddenly something unbelievable happened.
An overwhelming drowsiness struck him.
‘What... What’s happening to me?!’
As he panicked and tried to understand what was going on, a perfectly logical explanation flashed through his mind. The ingredients of the traditional Korean sedative — the ox gall elixir he had taken — had probably not been fully absorbed yet, and now a wave of sleepiness was hitting him.
Even if failure seemed inevitable, this was still an interview with the famous Hangang Group. And regardless of the promise he had made to Chairman Park Yeongil, he simply could not afford to fail in such a stupid and humiliating manner. If the organizers saw him sleeping, they would throw him out before the interview even began.
He pinched his thighs desperately, struggling against the sleep, but...
Tap, tap!
Jiham felt someone gently touch his shoulder.
Startled, he opened his eyes and discovered that his head had been resting on Yun Sola’s shoulder.
Straightening up immediately, he hurriedly apologized.
“Yun Sola, please forgive me! I absolutely didn’t do that on purpose.”
“All right, I’ll pretend I believe you, Cha Jiham.”
“Thank you. By the way... how long was I asleep?”
“Well, you leaned against my shoulder about twenty minutes ago, so altogether you slept for at least thirty minutes.”
“That long?! I’m really sorry. This is so embarrassing.”
“It’s fine. What were you even doing last night to be falling asleep like this? Were you too nervous to sleep?”
There was no way he could admit that he had blacked out because of the sedative elixir. Besides, even if he told the truth, Yun Sola would never believe him.
But at that moment, Jiham noticed something strange. He had always considered himself fairly smart, but never a genius. Yet now the perfect lie came to him in less than a second.
‘Could this... also be the effect of the ox gall elixir?’
Surprised by such mental clarity, he calmly answered,
“Haha, no, not because of nerves. I just spent the whole night reviewing materials and checking information for the interview.”
“But didn’t you say at lunch that interview preparation should be done beforehand?”
“...I said I wasn’t preparing, I was checking. Those are different things.”
“If you lie often enough, eventually you become too good at it.”
“I’ll be sure to take your advice to heart.”
“But weren’t you scared at all?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if the organizers had caught you sleeping?”
Jiham himself knew perfectly well that they wouldn’t even have listened to him before sending him home. But how could an ordinary mortal fight against basic human instincts? Even so, for some reason he desperately wanted to maintain his dignity in front of this girl.
“Well, Hangang Group isn’t the only company in this country.”
“Well, at least you’re not lacking in confidence, and that’s nice,” Yun Sola said with a smile, and for a moment it seemed to Jiham as though the entire world had become a little brighter.
‘I wonder how happy the guy dating her must be,’ he thought.
“Cha Jiham, do you like me?”
“...What?!”
“It’s written all over your face, so I asked.”
“Ahem... Why would I? Excessive self-confidence is an illness too.”
Jiham began fanning himself with both hands and practically ran out of the hall. After wandering the corridors for quite some time, he finally returned to his seat, but Yun Sola once again seized the opportunity to tease him.
“Cha Jiham, you’re still a virgin and you’ve never had a relationship, right?”
“How rude. Why are you asking such personal questions all of a sudden?”
Any other man would have been seriously offended. But looking into Yun Sola’s mischievous, alluring eyes, Jiham realized he could not even bring himself to be angry with her.
“You blushed from my innocent joke like a ripe tomato, so I drew my conclusions.”
Naturally, he could not leave such a provocation unanswered.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I have a girlfriend.”
“Oh, really? What a shame.”
“...What?”
“I’m kidding.”
‘What a fox... A truly cunning fox,’ Jiham thought.
Thanks to Yun Sola’s teasing, time flew by unnoticed, and eventually his turn arrived. Following the organizer, he entered a room where five interviewers sat behind a table. After politely bowing, the candidates took their seats.
The interviewers leisurely examined the résumés and questionnaires before them. The applicants sat frozen with tension, not taking their eyes off the panel.
About five minutes later, the man seated in the center suddenly directed an unexpected question at Jiham.
“Cha Jiham, tell me, what meaning is contained in the saying, ‘Beautiful outside, rotten inside’?”
Jiham instantly understood the interviewer’s true intentions. He was openly mocking his pathetic résumé. Even so, publicly humiliating someone like this was incredibly tactless. Jiham wanted nothing more than to put the insolent man in his place, but unfortunately, he was in the vulnerable position of a petitioner.
“As far as I know, it means that outward beauty or flashy wrapping does not necessarily correspond to one’s inner substance and actual worth.”
“You understand why I asked you that question specifically, don’t you, Cha Jiham?”
“I’m not stupid, so why wouldn’t I?”
“Well, I’m glad you realize it.”
At that moment another interviewer cut in.
“Cha Jiham, do you know what the expression ‘Casting pearls before swine’ means?”
‘What’s wrong with these people? Did they decide to gang up on me?’
“If you’re referring to the stains on my shirt, I had good reasons.”
“And what were they? Tell us.”
“On my way here, right after leaving the subway station, I got showered with dirty water from a passing car.”
Jiham recounted the events of the morning without embellishment.
“...I tried washing it with water, but the stains remained.”
“You know, Cha Jiham, I think your true calling is writing novels, not building a career in business.”
In other words, he was openly being accused of lying.
“I’m only telling you the truth.”
Then the situation took a completely unexpected turn.
Yun Sola suddenly stepped into the conversation.
“Sir, I personally saw Cha Jiham being splashed.”
“Yun Sola, it seems you have an opinion about everything.”
“I’m only saying this because you’re unfairly portraying Cha Jiham as a liar.”
“Yun Sola, are you eager to be thrown out of the internship competition?”
“I fail to see how telling the truth has anything to do with being disqualified.”
“Hm... Well, if you want to get yourself eliminated that badly, there’s nothing we can do.”
Muttering indifferently, the interviewer turned away from the girl and addressed the next candidate.
“A question for Kim Juwon. Explain in thirty seconds why you wish to become an intern at our company.”
“Hangang Group is a leading international corporation representing our country on the world stage, and...”
Candidates number 199 and 200 answered the panel’s questions without hesitation. The interviewers conversed with them with obvious satisfaction.
But the interview with Yun Sola, who had somehow landed herself on the panel’s blacklist, took a completely unpredictable direction.
“Yun Sola, your application states that you earned an MBA from Harvard University at the age of twenty-three. Tell us how you managed that.”
“I entered Harvard’s business administration program at nineteen. Since I skipped grades twice, I completed my bachelor’s degree in just six semesters. Then I completed my master’s degree in four semesters.”
“Do you have documents proving this?”
“If you give me one hour, I can provide my diploma.”
“Let’s agree that you’ll bring it after you’ve been accepted into our company.”
“Agreed.”
The interviewer nodded with satisfaction.
At that moment, the organizer approached and handed her a transparent folder.
The interviewer watching her spoke again.
“Yun Sola, open the folder and summarize the contents of the document inside in foreign languages.”
Yun Sola opened the file, quickly scanned the contents, and confidently began.
“The economy of South Korea...”
Jiham, watching her carefully, was genuinely amazed.
And for good reason. One after another, she switched flawlessly between six foreign languages, including English. He had always suspected she was intelligent, but even in his wildest imagination he had never thought she was such a genius.
On top of that, she possessed the appearance of a popular movie actress and an almost perfect figure.
While Jiham lamented his own miserable situation, the language test came to an end.
“Yun Sola, I apologize for doubting your language skills.”
“It’s fine. You had every right to.”
The interviewer ignored her answer and turned to Jiham.
“Since we’ve gone far beyond the allotted time, I’ll ask Cha Jiham just one question. You know perfectly well that, unlike the other candidates, your résumé is extremely lacking. So why did you even apply for an internship position?”
‘Damn...’ Jiham cursed inwardly.