Get Paid Before It Goes Under

"When you're choosing a company, what matters most to you?"

The paycheck.

I swallowed the words before they could get out. It was the truth, but say it like that and I'd sound as if I'd come for the money and nothing else.

"Somewhere I can stay for a long time would be ideal."

The Representative nodded.

"Of course. Stability is what counts, in the end."

I looked past his shoulder. Beneath the company name fixed to the wall, faint letters hung in the air.

Six years. It would hold at least that long. Enough. I could save in that span, or move on somewhere else. The way things stood, I didn't have the luxury of choosing a company with retirement in mind.

The Representative lowered his eyes to my résumé.

"You were at your last company a little over a year."

"Yes."

"May I ask why you left?"

"The company closed."

"Ah."

The hand about to turn the page stopped.

"The one before that went under, too."

I added it before he could ask. He would have seen it the moment he read the reasons for leaving written on the résumé.

He looked at me and clicked his tongue, softly.

"Bad luck."

"Yes. Something like that."

I'd heard much the same when I joined the second company. The president then had smiled and told me we wouldn't have to worry about anything of the sort.

Later, he smiled even when the wages ran late.

Doyun, would I really cheat you out of your money?

In the end, he did. Two months of pay I never received still turned my stomach whenever I thought of them.

"We've never missed a payday."

The woman seated beside the Representative said it. She was the one who had introduced herself as finance when the interview began. Assistant Manager Yoon Seojin, if I had the name right.

"We pay on the last day of every month. And the salary stays the same through the probation period."

"I see."

Only then did I ease a little.

The Representative tapped the lower half of the résumé.

"You've worked in a warehouse, too."

"At my first company I handled receiving and shipping. At the next, I took purchase orders and dealt with vendors."

"Then you already have a fair sense of our work. An order comes in, you check the quantity and set the ship date. Vendors do ask to change the date on short notice now and then."

"Sometimes the call comes the very day it's meant to go out."

"Oh — exactly. The goods are already on the truck, and then out of nowhere..."

The Representative laughed. I laughed with him. It wasn't funny, not really, but people who had lived ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through it somehow understood each other on stories like this.

"What program do you use?"

The name Yoon Seojin gave me was a familiar one. When I said my last company had used the same system, she asked a few things more, and I walked her through how I organized order records and the order I followed when returns came in.

Questions like that were easy. All I had to do was talk about work I had actually done.

"And you can drive?"

"Yes. I've driven as large as a one-ton truck."

The Representative made a short note on the résumé. Beside him, Yoon Seojin turned her head.

"Sir. This opening is for office staff."

"I know. I'm only asking because she's done it."

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it.

I looked from one of them to the other, then picked up the paper cup. While I drank, the Representative opened the next set of papers.

As I went to set the cup down, the hair at my temple brushed my cheek. I swept it behind my ear, and my fingertips met a small ear. The feel of it still wasn't familiar.

It had been about fifteen days since I became a woman.

The first few days, I couldn't do a thing. I looked in the mirror, took out my ID, dug through the photos saved on my phone. Everywhere I checked, it was this face.

I had even called my mother and asked her to send pictures of me as a child. What came back was a photo of a little girl in a pink hat...

Not one piece of proof remained that I had ever been a man.

I still didn't know how it had happened.

I couldn't shut myself in the house until it resolved, though. Rent was going out, and the card bills kept coming. A smaller body didn't shrink the cost of living along with it.

"Doyun, when can you start?"

I took my hand off the cup.

"I can start right away."

"We'll need a little time for the job handover. The person currently in the role goes on leave starting next week."

"I can match the date."

"Then would next Monday work?"

Before I answered, I glanced at Yoon Seojin. She slid a sheet listing the working conditions across to me.

"Look it over, and if you're all right with it..."

Did that mean I'd passed?

I didn't want to get ahead of myself, so I read the paper first. Annual pay, working hours, the probation period — all of it matched the posting.

"Yes. This is fine."

"Good."

The Representative smiled and set the résumé down.

I looked again at the company name on the wall. The numbers hadn't moved.

When company lifespans first began to appear, I had wondered why this, of all things. Changing bodies was already enough to rattle me, and then I was sure my eyes had gone wrong as well.

Then I saw a closure notice for a business whose remaining time had been less than a day. I checked it over and over, thinking I might have written the date down wrong.

After that, I looked up the company name before I ever sent in an application.

A company that lasted a long time didn't mean it would hire me, so it had been a grind — but that part, at least, was over.

Yoon Seojin explained the documents I would need to submit. When she said a copy of my ID and a copy of my bankbook would do, I took out my notebook.

"Anything else you'd like to know?"

I stopped the pen and looked up.

"If I start at the beginning of the month, is the first paycheck paid at the end of that same month?"

"Yes. Prorated for the days you actually work."

"Understood."

I wrote the payday in a corner of the notebook.

This time, I hoped I wouldn't have to chase anyone down just to collect money I had already earned.

On my first day, Yoon Seojin was crouched in front of my desk.

When I greeted her, she poked her head out from underneath.

"You're here? One second. The internet isn't connecting."

"Should I take a look?"

"No, I just need to reseat the cable. Set your bag down and start with the contract."

Two copies of the employment contract and a new pen lay on the desk. I put my bag down and sat. The height was wrong, so I pulled the lever underneath, and the chair dropped farther than I expected.

Yoon Seojin stood and looked at me.

"Isn't that too low?"

"I can ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠raise it again."

I laughed, a little embarrassed. I still moved as if I had my old body, and slipped like this now and then.

I set the chair height and read the contract. Yoon Seojin confirmed the internet had come up on my computer, then went back to her seat.

"You can put today's date as the start date."

I wrote the second. Once I had put down my name and finished the signature, I handed her one copy.

The other went into my bag. At my last company I hadn't kept my own contract, and it had caused me trouble later. I had no intention of making the same mistake twice.

"Lunch is usually at the Baekban Restaurant downstairs — the home-style set-meal place. We head down together at noon. Coffee and tea are in the pantry."

"All right."

"Associate Park Jihye is stopping by the hospital this morning before she comes in, so you can take the job handover in the afternoon. Until then, look over the product list."

A shared folder opened on the screen. Photos of airtight containers, bathroom shelves, scouring pads, and the like were laid out with their item numbers.

Familiar goods. Even so, pieces that looked alike had slightly different specs, so I had to look carefully.

I opened the notebook and started with the product numbers that shipped most often. When I lowered my head, my bangs fell forward. I adjusted the hairpin I had put in that morning and looked back at the screen.

Once my hands were busy, the idle thoughts thinned out.

The face reflected in the glass beside the monitor was still awkward every time I caught it, but not enough to get in the way of the work. My hands on the keyboard were smaller. The formulas were not.

Around nine-thirty, the Representative came in.

"Doyun, you made it in all right?"

"Yes. Good morning."

"Is the desk okay?"

"Yes. It's fine."

He glanced at my monitor, then nodded, looking satisfied.

"Saehan Retail is coming in today. You'll be dealing with them from here on, so introduce yourself."

Saehan Retail ran both hypermarkets and an online mall. Even vendors at my last company had often asked us to pull delivery dates forward to match orders from that side.

"So you do business with them."

"We're getting in with them this time. We've agreed to make private-brand products from our line and sell them."

He looked pleased even as he explained.

"If this one goes well, the volume should jump quite a bit. I wonder if things are about to get busy right from the start."

"I'll learn it quickly."

He laughed and went into his office.

I opened the company website. The way I had clicked through the product list a moment before, I checked the company name at the top of the screen.

Nothing had changed.

More work was fine. Better than a whole office staring at the phone because the orders had dried up. At the last company, days like that had stretched on for about two months, and then the pay fell behind.

A little past eleven, the visitors arrived.

Two men in suits. The Sales Team Leader went out to the entrance to meet them, and the Representative came out of his office as well. After handshakes and a brief greeting, the four of them went into the conference room.

Not long after, the team leader opened the door again.

"Doyun. Four coffees, please."

"Yes."

I was taking cups from the pantry when Yoon Seojin rose from her seat. She pulled a file from the cabinet, started toward the conference room, and called to the Sales Team Leader standing at the door.

"Team Leader, did you get the final contract?"

"It's inside."

"I'd like to check whether the payment terms changed."

"I already explained everything to the Representative."

"I need to know too, if I'm going to set the cash schedule. You said the advance payment ratio was being adjusted."

The Sales Team Leader glanced back into the conference room.

"Just bring the corporate seal first. I'll hand it over the moment we're done."

"I need to see it before anyone stamps it."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was firm.

I tore open a coffee packet and kept my eyes down. I didn't want to look like I was listening in on someone else's conversation on my first day.

Then the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Representative called the team leader from inside. He answered and went in, and Yoon Seojin stood a moment before returning to the cabinet.

How far had the payment terms shifted, for her to press like that?

I had no way of knowing. The advance payment might have been cut, or the date for the balance pushed back. Either way, it was the sort of thing a company that had to make the goods first couldn't ignore.

I set the coffees on a tray and carried them into the conference room.

A contract lay open in front of the Representative. The Sales ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Team Leader was explaining a line with his finger on it, and the distributor's man across the table was nodding.

When I set the cups down, the Representative introduced me.

"This is the employee who started today. She'll be handling orders."

"Han Doyun. I look forward to working with you."

"Yes. I expect we'll be in touch often."

One of the distributor's staff handed me a business card. I took it in both hands, checked the name, and slipped it into my jacket pocket.

"My cards aren't ready yet."

"That's fine. We can get your contact later."

Yoon Seojin came in after that. She set the seal beside the Representative, then took the remaining copy of the contract.

"I'll look at the payment terms first."

"Ah, I already heard the explanation on that."

"We still need to check."

"All right. Go ahead."

While Yoon Seojin turned the pages, the Sales Team Leader flipped the document in front of the Representative to the last page.

"Stamp here, and on the next page."

I gathered the empty tray. I looked once around the table to see whether anything else was needed, then stepped back toward the door.

That was when the company name on the wall caught my eye.

The Representative opened the lid of the seal case. He pressed the seal into the ink pad a few times, then stamped the bottom of the contract.

The numbers changed.

My steps stopped.

I looked at the wall again.

Seventeen days.

I hadn't misread it. The years and the months that had been there a moment ago were gone. Only a two-digit number remained.

"We look forward to working with you."

The distributor's employee held out his hand. The Representative stood and took it.

"The pleasure is ours."

The Sales Team Leader clapped. Yoon Seojin was still reading the contract.

I held the empty tray and counted the days in my head.

Today was the second. Payday was the thirty-first.

Twenty-nine days still stood between me and my first paycheck.