Jisung stood beside Changbin, gripping o to his friend for dear life. There were way too many people here, which wasn't helping with his already high anxiety. He didn't want to lose Changbin in the crowd, and he also needed him for emotional support. Changbin knew this, of course, Jisung is his best friend! He grabbed Jisung's hand in his own and Jisung clung to Changbin's other arm with his free hand.
"Ji, do you want some water?" Changbin asked. He didn't ask like his friend was a baby like you normally hear people talk to someone who is sick or hurt, but like normal, like an everyday conversation. Changbin knew that talking babyish to Jisung would only make things worse, kinda like a toddler who hit their head. If it didn't hurt but you react, they will cry forever, if it doesn't hurt and you don't react, they won't cry.
"Um, n-no thanks," Jisung replied quietly. He was thirsty, but he was afraid of letting go of Changbin as if the other would magically disappear if he did.
Changbin guessed this as well, and just help up his water bottle, which had a straw, to his friend's mouth. Jisung immediately started taking sips of the water and thanked Changbin.
Suddenly there was the sound of a trumpet heard.
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"Minho I swear, if you don't get up I will strangle you." Said Bang Chan. Lovely thing to hear first thing in the morning, isn't it?
"W-why so earlyyy" Minho whined after looking at the time. 6:30
"We have interviews today, remember? You've been freaking out about your welcoming speech for a week? After you make your speech you will meet us in the staff dining hall at 1:15, no later, to meet the employees we hire."
"It is way too early for you to sound so lively," Minho said deadpan.
"You know I never sleep, I've already had 4 cups of coffee since the sun rose," Chan said nonchalantly. "Now, I've set out your clothes, they are on the closet island, with accessories and shoes to match. Seungmin helped me and picked them out. I will be unavailable during your downtime, as I will be conducting interviews and tests. I've put a copy of the full schedule for the day in your closet next to the mirror on the south wall, in your office next to your computer, and I have emailed it to you as well." Chan listed formally. Minho sat up in his bed and stretched as he listened to his hyung. By the end, he was staring at Chan with a look that said, "you done?"
"Thank you for coming to my ted-talk," Chan said after a short pause, bowing. Minho chuckled as he dragged himself to the closet. Chan left the room and walked to his office to check some last-minute details for the millionth time.
When he made it inside he found Seungmin there waiting for him.
"How did you manage to wake him up for 15 years without smothering him?" Chan chuckled in a kind of appalled way.
"I'm telling you, once you've tried shaking him just get some cold water and spray him with it," Seungmin said with a shrug.
"You didn't ever actually do that, did you?"
"Why do you think there's a spray bottle in his bathroom?" Seungmin said with a mischievous smile. Chan shook his head at the dandy boy as the door to his office opened revealing Hyunjin, who was escorting Felix. Jeongin followed behind them.
"Ah, good you're all here! Now, we're going to split the interviewees into groups, and they will progress through each of us in a kind of assembly line. First will be more of a get-to-know-you, to determine where we think, by first impressions where they fit best. Second-"
"Channie Hyung, you've gone over this plan about 100 times in the last 24 hours, I think we can recite it from memory word for word at this point," Felix said, He was disguised by an employee uniform that Hyunjin provided, he wasn't wearing any makeup, which he always did when seen as the prince, and his hair had been bleached blond since the last time he was seen publicly as the prince, and it was curly.
"Yeah, Chan, we know you're anxious for this to go well, but it's gonna be fine! I can probably do this in my sleep, you've gone over it so many times."Jeongin said, smiling at Chan as he spoke. Chan smiled back, his anxiety calming down slightly.
"You're right. I apologize. Now I'm going to make sure Minho is ready for the welcoming speech, and you guys can get into your position." Chan said. He opened the door and held it, allowing Seungmin, Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Felix to exit before locking his office and making his way to Minho's room. When he arrived, he knocked on the door.
"Prince Minho, are you ready to go?" Chan called through the door. It opened revealing Minho. He looked stunning! Even in his simple black jeans and black button-up, he looked like a million bucks. He styled his black outfit with silver earrings, some rings scattered across his fingers, a silver belt chain that he clipped onto the belt loops of his jeans, black combat boots, and circle glasses with thin, silver rims.
"Yeah, let's go," Minho replied with an exasperated sigh.
"Hang in a moment," Chan said. He walked into Minho's closet and brought back a black velvet suit coat and handed it to Minho. Minho glared at the cost, and lifted his gaze to glare at Chan, "Just for the speech, then you can take it off." Chan smiled, and Minho rolled his eyes as he reluctantly grabbed the coat from Chan's hand.
"I'm not gonna put it back on later in the dining hall, so don't expect me to." All the older did was smile as he waited for the prince to button the jacket.
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As this was taking place, the other 4 boys made their way to the castle grounds, staying together so they could talk to each other, knowing that they would be able to hear everything m, and knew when they should split up.
"So Seungmin, how does it feel to be the palace ace?" Jeongin asked with a smirk.
"I told you to stop calling me that!" Seungmin said, turning to the thronged sharply.
"Well, what would you call it?"
"I am the Staff Trainer and Administrative Assistant. Basically, I can work anywhere, and I help train new staff, I oversee everything and I give reports back to Chan, And if you need help, I'm the one you contact," Seungmin replied. Jeongin rolled his eyes at his friend, who smiled at the younger in return.
"How did you ask Minho if you could change positions?" Felix asked.
"That was easy enough. I asked him if I could change to a position where I could help out around the palace, with all the positions, because I prefer to help out with the most I can. I told him that I wasn't saying being his servant wasn't helpful, but I wanted to do the most help the most people, and I felt that being in that position wasn't where I could do that. He was very understanding, and he even worked with Chan to create this position for me." Before any of them could respond to what Seungmin said, they heard a trumpet sound, and went to their stations.
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"Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome your prince and heir to the throne, Lee Minho." said a young man. Jisung looked up to the balcony, and his jaw dropped.
This is the prince! the one no one's ever seen! I wonder why he's never shown himself in public he's drop. dead. GORGEOUS! Snap out of it Jisung, he's the prince! He's never gonna notice me, or even know I exist.
Jisung came back to reality in time to hear Minho's speech.
"Thank you. As my advisor, Mr. Bang Chan had informed you, I am Prince Minho. I would like to thank you for applying and coming here today, we appreciate your time. Today you will be interviewed and tested so we can determine who to hire, and where you will fit best in our crew. Once again, thank you for your time, and welcome to the Miroh Kingdom Palace." With that, the prince bowed and walked back through the double doors behind him into the palace. As Jisung watched Minho turn around, he swore he saw the prince catch his eye and kept eye contact for like, 2 whole seconds!
"Ji? You okay?" Changbin asked
"Yeah, perfect. Why?" Jisung replied, not moving.
"Because you're still staring at the balcony where the prince was."
Jisung snapped his head towards his friend, blushing slightly.
"Sorry, I spaced out" Why am I blushing? Jisung thought to himself.
Changbin nodded at his friend and followed the large crowed of people who were moving towards the castle.
"Okay, we are going to split you up into 5 groups. When I call your name please come forward over to me." said Mr. Bang. Wait that's Chris! the one that offered us the job, how come I didn't realize it before!?
"Han Jisung."
Jisung made his way over to where Chris was standing. Next to Chris stood a beautiful man with prince-like features. He looked oddly familiar to Jisung...
"Okay, you guys will be with Mr. Hwang m, He is the head of the Cleaning and Grounds crew, He will give you farther instruction." Said Chris. He bowed, and turned to call out for the next group.
"Hello! I'm Hwang Hyunjin, but please, just call me Hyunjin." Hyunjin smiled and bowed slightly to the group.
"That's why I recognize you! You came to the Cafe with Seungmin last friday!" Jisung said suddenly, apologizing for his sudden outburst, he realized something. wait a second. If Hyunjin works here, and Seungmin was with him... does that mean- his thoughts were cut off by Hyunjin's voice.
"Yeah, that was some really nice coffee! I'm glad you're here, Jisung! We could really use someone like you here," Hyunjin smiled once again at his acquaintance before continuing, "Okay, if you all will follow me, we will begin with the interviews."
With that, the group left. Jisung was able to see Changbin (who had been placed in a different group, much to Jisung's dismay), and gave him friend a hopeful, yet terrified look. The shorter pat Jisung on the shoulder in reassurance before leaving with his group as well.
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Minho was walking back to his room. "That wasn't terrible." He told himself once the door was closed. They responded well, no negativity l? and that one in the front! He was adorable l! He looked like a little squirrel! He looked so nervous, they way he was clinging to his... boyfriend? brother?
Minho snapped out of his thoughts and went to the game room of the palace to pass the time
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"Okay, I'm going to start by calling you in one-by-one and get to know you" Hyunjin announced. Jisung breathed a sigh of relief.
I can handle this, just one-on-one. Not a huge crowd. Jisung was taking deep breaths to calm his nerves as the first person was called into the adjoining room. He just kept calming himself down until he heard his name being called.
"Han Jisung?"
Jisung stood up, smiled slightly at Hyunjin, and walked into the room. It was simple, a desk with two chairs, one on wither side, sat at one end of the room in front of a window, papers littered the desk, and a plant stood in the corner beside the door. Hyunjin motioned for Jisung to sit, and then started putting away the folder on the desk and he pulled out another one.
"So, Jisung, how are you doing today?" Hyunjin asked as he grabbed the new folder.
"I'm doing okay, I'm just a bit nervous." Jisung replied with a nervous chuckle.
"I totally understand, but you have nothing to worry about. When we received your file we saw that you are more than qualified to work here. We just have to put everyone through the interviewing process to determine where they fit best." Hyunjin smiled at the raven-haired boy, who gave a slight smile in return.
"Thank you, Mr. Hwang, I appreciate it."
"Please call me Hyunjin! We're going to be coworkers on the same level, no need for formalities." Hyunjin waved his hand in dismissal at the term and Jisung chuckled. After a short pause, Hyunjin spoke.
"I think it's been long enough to seem like we were actually productive, don't you?" He asked with a very serious look on his face.
"Um, yeah I guess." Jisung laughed, caught by surprise at the seriousness in the others face. Hyunjin laughed as well as he opened the door, letting Jisung out first.
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After what seemed like forever, when in reality it had only been 30 minutes, a palace guard collected the group to take them to the next station. Jisung took deep breaths to calm his anxiety which continued to rise. He hardly paid attention to the path, walking right behind the guide while lost in thought. Thankfully he snapped out of it in time to stop before running into the guard. He looked at the man standing in front of the group and he realized it was Seungmin!
"Hey Jisung! How've you been?"
"Uh, not too bad. I'm really confused-" Jisung had a shocked look plastered on his face, which made Seungmin chuckle.
"We will have time to explain later, but for now, it looks like our group is here," Seungmin then turned to face the whole group, "Hello everyone, I am Kim Seungmin and I am the Staff Trainer and Administrative Assistant here at the palace. We don't have a ton of time so let's get started."
Jisung waited for instruction, which he was able to carry out perfectly. The group was asked to solve inefficient problems, coming up with the best solution to the problem. Jisung's problem was this: The kitchen staff wasn't making the proper food due to lack of communication with the servers, and they were also behind schedule because they were goofing off.
"For the first part, you kindly tell both the servers and kitchen staff to communicate with each other, because they rely on the proper information to make good time and make the food that is supposed to be served, and not make too much, so you need to stress the importance of communicating properly. As for the second part, you need to make sure you let all your staff know that you can have fun, but there is an appropriate time for it. There is a time for fun, and a time to be serious and work hard. That is something we stress at the restaurant I worked at. A way you can ensure that they are communicating and staying focused when necessary is having a supervisor over the servers and kitchen staff. Someone who helps out both crews when needed and makes sure that the staff are working hard at the proper times and receiving the proper information from the servers." Jisung stated in a very formal manner without hesitating. Seungmin blinked a couple times before responding.
"Wow, that was very detailed! That sure would get the job done! Thank you, Mr. Han, that was a fantastic answer." Seungmin smiled at Jisung who smiled back, not feeling as nervous for the rest of the day.
It could only go up from here, right?
a.n. AAAAHHHH I'm so SOO sorry I've been quiet for forever, y'all have been so patient and I'm so grateful for that!!
I will try to be better at updating more frequently, but work is starting up, like the park opens in 2 weeks so who knows.
Thanks again, idk if any of it made sense but oh well.
next update soon I swear!!
Comment if you want, I wanna hear your thoughts so far!
bye~✨