Click.
"What do you want to eat?"
"Miso again, like yesterday."
"No, you'll mess up your appendix."
Kijoo glanced toward the kitchen. Frowned, then gave up.
"Then you can have whatever you like."
She laughed briefly, then took the ingredients out of the refrigerator. The autumn atmosphere on a Sunday was indeed calming and serene. The asphalt road was littered with fallen orange leaves, and Kijoo took a sip of her coffee before glancing back at her laptop screen.
"Don't you want to close up the shop?"
"Why? Is it cold here?"
"No customers, nothing going on, so you decided to cook for me instead?"
"How dare you."
Haeon placed the beef sirloin steak on the table in front of Kijoo. "Just have beef, it's delicious."
"I like anything."
Haeon sat across from Kijoo, chewing on her gum.
"So you've been accepted into Bound?"
"I failed the selection process, they need 3 years of experience. That's crazy, right?"
"Obviously, they need someone with experience, not a fresh graduate. So, where else are you going to try? You've already been rejected three times this week for not having more than 3 years of work experience?"
Kijoo closed her laptop, put it in her bag, and ate her beef steak with mushroom sauce.
"I found it, but it's online. The salary is decent, around 1 million won, which is not bad, especially since I also work part-time at a cafe."
Haeon popped her bubble gum and became curious.
"What online work? Streaming online games?" She laughed jokingly.
"Something like that."
"Huh? Really?"
"Well, what can I do, that's all I get accepted."
Haeon burst out laughing. Clearly, she knew I really disliked gaming jobs, because I prefer physical work, not something that involves sitting in a gaming chair all day and getting sore. Kijoo finished his potatoes and put her fork down on her plate.
"It's more tiring than working overtime,"
"Of course, you'll end up moving less because you're just sitting."
"How can someone work full-time sitting without getting tired or bored?"
"You're going to have to get used to it, whether you like it or not."
Kijoo stood up, the chair behind her creaking slightly. She took out a 100,000 won bill and placed it on the table in front of Haeon, who was still chewing gum.
"I'll go back to the apartment first, it's getting dark."
Haeon chuckled and took the bill.
"You don't have to pay me, you hard worker. I cooked for you for free."
"It's okay, just think of it as me being kind today."
Haeon waved goodbye to Kijoo, quickly putting on her thin coat, and exited the shop, leaving Haeon alone, who was hurrying to close up the shop as it was almost nighttime. The cool autumn breeze gently nipped at Kijoo's hand as she sighed.
Autumn had just begun.