Jin straightened the collar of his shirt before opening the door and walking inside.
A young man was wiping down the counter directly in front of him, various foods resting in the displays nearby. He glanced up as Jin entered.
"Yes, sir. What can I do for you?"
Jin cleared his throat. "Hey, my name's Kim Seokjin. I'm here for the interview."
The young man paused, eyes narrowing slightly. "Interview?"
"Yes. I know I'm early but--"
"Could you hold that thought for me?" He turned his head to the side. "Soonyoung!
Another employee popped his head out of the back kitchen. "Hey, Cheol. What's up?"
"I thought I told you to stop inviting strangers here to interview. We're not hiring."
"I didn't invite anyone."
"Then who's this?" He asked, gesturing at Jin who was growing more uncomfortable by the minute.
"I'm telling you, I didn't invite anyone."
"Then who did?"
At that moment, a third young man came walking through the front door, drink cup in hand. "Cheol, I'm back from my break!"
"Yoon Jeonghan! Did you invite someone here for an interview and not tell me?"
Jeonghan chewed thoughtfully on the end of his straw. "I could have sworn I told you about it."
"Look," Jin interjected, "if you're not hiring, that's fine. I can show myself out."
"No, wait!" Jeonghan exclaimed. "You're the guy I emailed, right? You should at least stick around until the boss gets back."
Jin frowned, turning back to the guy behind the counter. "You're not the boss?"
"I'm one of the owners. But our hiring guy is also on break." He sighed. "You're welcome to wait if you want."
"Thank you."
"I'm Choi Seungcheol. Sorry if I was rude before, I've got three employees here that have minds of their own," he explained as Jeonghan passed him on his way to the back.
"It's okay. Is it just you three and the hiring manager?"
Seungcheol shook his head, placing his rag on his shoulder. "Thirteen employees, including myself."
"Thirteen," Jin repeated. "That's a lot." He also felt his hopes sinking. There were already plenty of employees here, they probably didn't need to hire anyone else. But another thought occurred to him.
"If there are only thirteen of you, why are you called Seventeen Catering?"
"There are two meanings. First, one company, thirteen employees, three distinct points of service. Seventeen total. Or," he smirked, "for large enough clients, we do offer seventeen-course meals."
"You do not."
"We do! It's obviously not our most popular option because that's a lot of prep work and you have to have a lot of people to take on that much food. But we do offer it."
"I'd love to have an event like that," Jin sighed. "Too bad I'm not rich."
Seungcheol smiled and went to toss his rag in the back. "So why did you want to work here? Catering isn't usually something people go for unless they have some similar experience."
"My family works in hospitality. Up until recently, I was a personal driver. But I quit because I wanted to find my own passion and mine is food. I want to give people great meals and incredible service. See the smiles on their faces when they really enjoy it. I want to do something like this."
"Jeonghan found a passionate one this time," someone commented. Jin turned to see a taller young man grinning down at him. "Kim Mingyu, I'm the head chef."
"Chef?" Jin repeated.
"Let me guess, I don't look like one."
"Y-you look too young." He immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"
Mingyu chuckled. "You're not the first to say that. So, are you the interview I'm supposed to be meeting?"
"You're the hiring manager?"
"A good chef has to have a good team behind him, right? Come on, we can talk over there."
And without waiting for a reply, Mingyu was already walking to a table in the corner of the room. Jin could only imagine these were usually used for customers to wait for smaller pick-up orders. But now Mingyu sat across from him, an expectant look on his face.
"Mr. Kim Seokjin--"
"Jin is fine."
"Jin. You have a family that works in hospitality. You also worked in your father's hotel for a small length of time before switching to become a personal driver."
"That's correct."
"So tell me what sets you apart."
And it had obviously been far too long since Jin had ever been interviewed. Because his response was simply: "What?"
"What is the reason that I want to hire you?"
"I can cook really well so I think I'd be an asset to you."
"It takes more than skill in the kitchen to make this kind of job work. What else?"
"Hard work. I'll take on anything that you can throw at me. Even if it's not cooking, if it's something else entirely. I'll do my best every day to improve."
Mingyu hummed thoughtfully. "I'll be honest with you, Jin. I like you and I think you have a lot of passion. Right now, I'm just not sure we need anyone else on our team."
"I understand--"
"But, one of our guys is about to take a break for a few weeks. I'll take a closer look at your references and if everything seems good, I'll put you to work in his place. We'll consider it a trial run to see if we need to change up our numbers."
"Really?" Jin stood up, bowing from the hips. "Thank you, I won't let you down."
"Thank you for coming by." Mingyu shook his hand. "We'll let you know shortly."
It took about twenty minutes for Jin to remember that the reference he had submitted was Mr. Min himself, not Yoongi.
"Damn it. He doesn't even know I'm quitting."
And so Jin did the only thing he could think of - call Yoongi.
"Why would you put his name and not mine?" Yoongi demanded. "Technically, I'm your boss."
"Sorry Yoongi, but your dad has clout. Even just having him as a reference would help me land a lot of jobs."
"You realize if they call him, he's going to tell them he didn't know you were quitting. And then that will reflect badly on you."
"I know! What do I do?"
Yoongi sighed. "Give me ten minutes."
"Hey, call this number and pretend you're my father's secretary."
You glanced up from your lunch. "Why would I do that?"
"To help Jin get a job."
You took the scrap paper Yoongi handed you and dialed the number.
"Hi, is this Seventeen Catering? Yes, this is Mr. Min's secretary. We understand that Kim Seokjin came in for an interview earlier and you wanted to speak to his references. Unfortunately, Mr. Min is on a business trip and left his cell phone here."
You listened for a second. "Yes, we can connect you through the company number if you'd still like to speak with him. Mr. Min would really hate for this to reflect poorly on Jin."
After giving them your company number, you wished them a nice day and hung up.
You set the phone down and took another bite of your food.
"I guess you really were a secretary," Yoongi commented.
"What do you mean?"
"Your voice did that thing. It got all bright and cheerful as soon as you got on the phone."
"It's called a customer service voice."
"It's called creepy."
"You got my help, now let me eat in peace."
"Fine." He sighed. "Where are we going for dinner?"
You glanced up. "I said you'd owe me if he gets the job."
"Please. Jin's going to weasel his way into their good graces in no time. He's got the job."
"How do you know?"
"That's how he started working for me." He stretched. "Come get me when you decide what you want."
A few days later, Jin was confirmed to start working with the catering company.