NHL 52

When the elevator finally reached its destination, Joeon rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand to smooth out his rigid expression.

“Hello, I’m here for an interview today. My name is John.”

As he approached the reception and explained his business, an employee with a warm, gentle impression pointed to a sofa.

“Could you wait for a moment? Someone will come out to guide you shortly.”

Joeon followed the employee’s gaze and glanced at the glass door. He could see that the small office was packed with people. His heart began to pound as if it would burst from the tension.

Perhaps that was why?

Later, whenever Joeon recalled the view of that strange office, he would ruminate on that short, intense, and failed interview.

He would tell himself that he didn’t like the company atmosphere anyway.

🏒🥅

“One hot Americano, please.”

Since he had left work early, Joeon settled into a café that offered a view of Nathan Phillips Square, flanked by the old and new city halls, and decided to finish reviewing job postings. His email was overflowing with job listings sent by headhunters and recruiting firms.

“This one asks for too much experience, so that’s not it.”

Even if they put in their own effort and trouble, they didn’t always send postings perfectly optimized for Joeon’s career, so he needed to carefully examine whether a position was truly the right fit for him.

“The job responsibilities look perfect, but it’s in a completely different region….”

Eventually, Joeon selected only a few from the countless postings and sent out his resume in reply. Although the company he interviewed with today seemed to have no hope of progressing further, this was just the beginning.

He wasn’t disappointed.

Failure is a valuable lesson. Everyone experiences failure anyway. It means it’s something that happens to anyone. If you live in constant fear of it, you cannot learn anything.

Even though this interview ended in failure, it was good practice and an experiment for Joeon. It had been a long time since he had worn a mask that wasn’t his own, so he needed time to adjust. It wasn’t exactly his dream company he had been dying to join, either.

In that case, he could just improve his skills through experience and then give it his all when a place he truly wanted to go appeared.

If it were the Joeon from three years ago, things might have been different, but the current Joeon didn’t feel as anxious in the face of uncertainty as he used to. His heart had become much firmer and more stable than before. Perhaps this was what people meant when they said one was becoming an adult.

It wasn’t that there was some surprising moment of enlightenment that made him realize he had finally become an adult, the way one feels when leveling up in a game.

Growth happens slowly over a long period, without warning or notification. Then, on an ordinary day, one suddenly looks back at their past self and realizes it. The change in oneself, having become able to hold such a different mindset toward the same thing.

Even the calmest waves, without rough tides, eventually wear down the pebbles on the shore until they are round, with no sharp edges. And as much as that, the grains of sand brought in by the waves stack layer by layer, creating a firm ground upon which one can stand.

Joeon suddenly realized that the miracle of time had visited him as well.

Unlike the past, when he didn’t know what kind of person he was, now, his true self was clearly visible.

Unlike how others saw him, Song Joeon, who was less delicate and more blunt than people thought, was not a highly methodical person, nor was he a man with a firm vision; he was just a rough man who had lived life as it came, seeking only stability.

It seemed that when he was with Dylan, he had revealed that natural self without hesitation. Strangely enough, this was the exact opposite of how Joeon would describe Dylan.

He was more delicate than he looked, knew how to be considerate of others, and was full of charm and talk. He was someone whose perspective on life was vastly different from his own.

Song Joeon, who was in a rush to stand on his own feet, viewed life as a survival mission he had to endure, but Dylan was a delicate craftsman who purely knew how to enjoy his life and, furthermore, put care into sculpting it to make it even more beautiful.

Joeon constantly learned something from him. At the same time, it felt like he was finding his true self by his side. Dylan was the kind of person who made Joeon that way.

He felt a bold, overwhelming impulse to share these surging emotions with Dylan. However, Joeon hurriedly cooled his chest, which felt as if a heavy stone had been placed upon it. He must have been crazy for a moment because of the stress and pressure. To think he would go as far as to dump his detailed worries on someone he’d only had sex with a few times. It would be a terrible thing to do to an athlete who was busy doing his own work.

Dylan would continue to repeat his road trips, and once the time they spent together inevitably decreased, the interest he had in Joeon would someday fade as well. Both of them simply hadn’t put it into words, but their current relationship was nothing more than friends who occasionally had sex.

If Dylan were to get a girlfriend one day, he felt like he might feel a little bit disappointed, lacking the self-awareness to know his place. Therefore, he shouldn’t get too attached.

Joeon made this resolution while watching the colorful lights flickering on the TORONTO sign visible outside the window.

🏒🥅

//【Invitation: Confirmed — Interview: Thursday, January 27, 6:00pm—7:00pm Eastern Time】

Hello, John.

The interview will be conducted via the link below. Please join 5—10 minutes before the scheduled time to ensure the video conference is working properly.

Thank you.

HR Team

Angelica

Joeon took a quiet breath as he examined the email, which included a calendar attachment for confirming the schedule.

Just as the email instructed, 10 minutes prior, Joeon clicked the link to join the interview. The program worked without issue, and after waiting another 10 minutes until the appointed time, he was connected to the interviewer.

“Nice to meet you, John. I’m Bonnie, the manager. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too. Did you have a good day?”

“It hasn’t been that busy today. How about you, John?”

“I’ve been fine, too.”

John felt puzzled by Bonnie’s remark about not being busy and asked:

“If it weren’t for me, you would have already left work by now. What should I do?”

Bonnie suddenly burst into laughter.

“That’s funny. Even if there hadn’t been an interview, I wouldn’t have been able to go home early anyway. Come to think of it, what time is it now?”

Joeon hesitated, then quickly checked the clock on his computer without letting his mechanical smile slip, and answered:

“Six o’clock.”

“Oh, I see. It is quite a late hour for an interview from your end, though.”

“No, not at all. It’s fine. It’s still bright out.”

As Joeon said that, he glanced out the window. Bonnie, who followed his gaze, erupted into her signature throat-rasping laughter again. It was because the video conference screen was clearly reflecting the outside world, which had turned pitch black with night. Six o’clock in January was darker and deeper than midnight in summer.

“All right. Today’s interview will be held just between the two of us, so shall we start as planned?”

“Yes. I look forward to it.”

Joeon, who answered questions naturally as if nothing were wrong, quickly scanned his email inbox positioned behind the video conference screen. A flash of embarrassment crossed Joeon’s face as he confirmed the location of the workplace. However, he couldn’t show his emotions, if only for the sake of the person who had gone to the trouble of making time for him.

“Shall we start with a brief self-introduction?”

Turning his eyes to the screen so as not to make it obvious, Joeon began his self-introduction, which he had become so familiar with that he could recite it in his sleep.

The interview continued for over thirty minutes, repeating questions and answers.

Bonnie, with her warm and gentle impression, seemed to be someone far removed from sensitivity, as her way of speaking and her expressions reflected a personality that cared for others. There could be no better boss to work with than this.

“…Well, this is the last question. As you know, our office is a bit far away—what are your thoughts on that part?”

Despite it being a one-on-one interview, the interviewer seemed to have taken a liking to Joeon, as they had devoted a long time of over 40 minutes to it.