You're Hired!
The next day.
Moon Si-yeon stared at the applicant who'd just walked into her PC Room, hardly trusting her own eyes.
"Good afternoon! I'm Ryu Ari, twenty-one years old, here for the part-time interview. Looking forward to working with you!"
The young woman bowed the moment she stepped inside, greeting her with crisp, polished courtesy. This was definitely the applicant who'd texted her yesterday.
And yet Moon Si-yeon's gaze settled, almost against her will, on the girl's face.
She was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that made even another woman stop and stare — beauty on an entirely different level.
Shorter than Moon Si-yeon herself, with glossy black hair cascading all the way to her waist. Skin so pale it looked as though it had never once seen the sun. Large eyes, clear and bright.
A face so striking it left her mouth hanging open.
"B-Boss?"
"Huh? Oh — right. Hello, Ari."
And on top of that face, a bold, confident greeting that somehow didn't match the looks at all. Moon Si-yeon's eyes lit up.
"Let's keep the interview simple. Have you ever worked at a PC Room before?"
"No, ma'am. But I've been hanging around PC Rooms since I was a kid, so I know what the job involves!"
"I see. And have you ever done any cleaning?"
The most basic question imaginable. It might have seemed pointless, but it was necessary. The last kid she'd interviewed had walked out the second she asked if they'd ever cleaned anything.
"Boss, I did my military ser—"
She'd been answering smoothly — then clamped her mouth shut mid-sentence.
"…I live alone. My cleaning is absolutely kick-ass."
A short laugh escaped Moon Si-yeon before she could stop it. Hearing the words "kick-ass" come out of that pretty mouth — if you only listened to the way she talked, she sounded closer to some neighborhood ajusshi than a young woman.
"Great. Then if you're free today, how about we work together through the evening and decide from there? I'll pay you for today's hours either way."
"Yes, boss!"
"I like that answer."
And just like that, Ryu Ari's on-the-job interview began.
The work was easy. Honestly — harder than a construction site? Not a chance.
Take food orders, make them, deliver them. When a session ended, clean the seat. That was the whole job. And on a sweltering summer day like this, they even ran the air conditioning? If it were up to me, I'd work here for the rest of my life.
"Ari, did you clean stations eighteen through twenty?"
"Yes, already done!"
"…Oh. Thanks."
Of all the habits I'd picked up in the military, the one that paid off the most was this: get the work done before your superior even has to ask. That one simple, minor behavior had completely changed my service life. Wherever you go, if you want to survive, this much is basic.
I knocked out the tasks without fuss, and before I knew it the clock was closing in on six.
"Ari, from here on the kids start pouring in, so stay sharp, okay?"
"Understood! Don't you worry, ma'am."
"Why does the way you talk sound so much like an ajusshi…"
Just as the boss was giving me a strange look, the PC Room door swung wide open.
A flood of boys poured in all at once. Their school uniform shirts were soaked through with sweat, and a few of them had their bags slung over one shoulder, shoving each other as they came.
"Welcome~."
They froze.
The students who'd been filing through the entrance locked up right in front of the counter. Every single one of them was staring at me. The boy in front stopped, and the ones behind him piled into his back one after another.
"Dude, why aren't you going in."
"Blocking the door is the worst."
"Hey, look up front."
"Ah…"
The murmuring voices gradually died down.
"Ah… welcome?"
I bowed again in greeting, and suddenly the students fell into perfect order. The ones clogging the entrance scattered into a single-file line and headed for their seats. A few of them, even after sitting down, craned their necks to peek back toward the counter.
"Boss, are they always like that?"
"…I think you might be the only one who doesn't know why."
I had no idea what she meant, but I didn't dig into it.
Once the customers really started stacking up, the work got busy in a hurry. Ramen orders and drink requests poured in without a break, and I nearly lost my mind — but it was still far easier than working outside. At the very least, I wasn't getting roasted under the sun.
"Ari, three ramens are up. There's a tray over there — take them all at once, please."
"Yes, ma'am. Heading out now!"
I set three bowls of ramen on the tray, gripping it with both hands to keep the broth from spilling, and walked the aisle. Every time I passed, the students' mice would pause for a beat, and faces that had been locked on game screens turned one by one in my direction.
What are you all staring at?
"Order for station eighteen."
"Th-thank you… whoa."
The ears of the student who took the ramen went bright red.
I was handling orders without any trouble when I felt the boss watching me — openly, with a faintly narrowed, assessing look.
What is it… Did I mess something up?
But thinking about it now wouldn't change anything. I just kept my head down and did the work I'd been given.
…
After working like that for a good long while, it was eight in the evening. Most of the students had cleared out — academy time, probably. Only a handful of customers still gaming remained inside the PC Room.
With things finally relaxed, I took my time tidying the empty seats. I checked that the trash can behind the counter was full, tied off the bag, and set it out in the hallway.
That was when the boss's voice called from the counter.
"Ari, come here for a second."
"Yes, ma'am!"
When I approached the counter, she took hold of my wrist and led me into the back room marked STAFF ONLY.
"Ari, you really work hard. Thank you so much. Let's sign a contract right now."
"Thank you for the compliment! Then right aw—"
"But Ari. There's one thing I want to ask carefully — and you really don't have to answer if you don't want to."
Huk. What is this.
Did I do something wrong?
I held my trembling nerves in check and answered.
"Yes, boss."
"Ari… are you being abused or hit at home? Or is someone taking all your money?"
I blinked at the completely out-of-nowhere question.
"Huh? No? I told you I live alone."
"Then why aren't you… you know…?"
"You know…?"
I tilted my head, not following, and the boss pointed at my body with her chin. Right at the pectoral region.
"Uh… how did you know?"
Suddenly embarrassed, I instinctively covered my chest with both arms — then hurriedly dropped them.
…What the hell did I just do?
"Ari, that… wearing two T-shirts isn't going to hide something of that size."
"……"
"If you don't have money—"
She set an envelope on top of my hands.
"Buy essentials with this first. I put a little extra on top of today's pay. Oh, and take this too. Food from an order that got canceled earlier."
She handed me a black plastic bag as well. It was fairly heavy.
"……Thank you."
The first time in my life I'd ever received kindness from a stranger. I felt like I might cry.
But I didn't. I'm a real man, after all.
"Good. In exchange, you've got to stick around and work for a long, long time, okay?"
"Yes, boss!"
"Then head home for today. Start coming in next week."
"Thank you!"
As I left the PC Room, I thought to myself: this place was an absolute goldmine.
The work wasn't hard, and it stayed cool even in the middle of summer. The boss seemed like a good person, too.
"Alright, time to head home~"
Carrying the black bag and the envelope the boss had given me, I started for home — grateful that tonight, at least, I could fill an empty stomach.
"…Is this for real?"
Moon Si-yeon stared at the day's settlement screen and checked it again.
Today's revenue was nearly a hundred thousand won higher than the same day last week. Food orders during the afternoon hours, in particular, had been absurdly high. Kids who normally would have ordered a single ramen had come back multiple times for other dishes.
"…Don't tell me it's because of the part-timer?"
She'd heard the rumor somewhere before — that if a part-timer was pretty enough, a store's sales would skyrocket. She'd even heard of a café whose revenue jumped fivefold after swapping out a single employee.
Remembering the boys' reactions today, it was hard to dismiss as pure exaggeration.
And Ryu Ari wasn't just pretty. Wherever she'd learned it, her hands moved at craftsman level. She'd operated the ramen machine with practiced ease — something a first-timer would have fumbled — and her memory for who ordered what was top-tier. On top of that, in the gaps between orders, she cleaned every seat the moment someone left. Fast, but thorough.
Aside from talking like a guy fresh out of military service, there was nothing to criticize.
"Have I finally gotten myself an S-rank part-timer?"
Filled with a swell of gratitude, Moon Si-yeon saved the new employee's number in her phone.
Just then, the PC Room door opened and someone walked in. Kwon Tae-o — the late-night part-timer whose shift started at midnight.
Except the time right now was 12:20 a.m. Twenty minutes late, and he had the nerve to stroll in like nothing was wrong.
"Tae-o, how can you show up late without even saying anything?"
"Sorrryyy~"
He apologized halfheartedly without even taking out his earphones. The comparison to the new hire who'd greeted her so loudly just a few hours ago came naturally. A sigh slipped from Moon Si-yeon's mouth.
"Ugh. Just get the midnight close done for now."
After finishing the settlement, Moon Si-yeon pulled out the trash bags. The most annoying stretch of the day — gathering all the garbage piled up in the kitchen and the floor and hauling it outside. For a woman doing it alone, it took a fair amount of time.
And Tae-o never lifted a finger, claiming any trash from before his shift wasn't his problem. She'd asked him once before; the look on his face had soured so fast that she ended up handling it herself most nights.
"Huh?"
But the moment she opened the trash can lid, Moon Si-yeon could only stare in confusion. Not only was the inside completely empty — a fresh bag had been fitted neatly over it. On a hunch she checked the kitchen, and the food-waste bin had been emptied too.
"…What?"
Unable to make sense of it, she stepped outside the PC Room — and stopped.
"No way."
Along one side of the hallway, a large general trash bag and a food-waste volume bag sat lined up in perfect order. And they'd clearly been packed down hard, as if someone had pressed every last scrap in to fit as much as possible.
"Tae-o, did you do this?"
"Huh? No, that's the boss's job."
Of course. No way it was him.
Which meant there was only one person who could have done this.
"Ryu Ari."
Moon Si-yeon pulled out her phone again, opened the contact she'd just saved, and edited the name.
And in the same breath, she made herself a promise.
No matter what it took — she was holding on to this kid for good.