Talisman

In a coffee shop, the managers of both department stores were debating over an issue. The manager of our department store always had an encounter with the manager of our rival department store, especially when there was an ongoing sales promotion.

All the time, our manager won but on this occasion it seemed like he would lose. The two were seated in a face-to-face manner. My manager, a short sly man in his forties was in an orange suit which he liked to wear since it made him stand out. Our rival department store's manager was a female. She was in a simple shirt dress.

The two were drinking coffee whilst discussing the usual topic.

Our rival's manager commenced the attack. She intentionally asked our manager: "Manager Heo, how were sales today?"

Our manager stopped drinking his coffee and gently placed his cup on the saucer. After crossing his legs and folding his arms, he whisked a smile across his face and said to the attacker: "Miss Bong, looks like you are quite confident today."

Miss Bong, our manager's rival then gave out a hearty laugh and concluded it by asking: "Is it so obvious? Perhaps, something interesting might be going on."

Our manager smiled back and asked: "So is that what explains your mood today?"

"Yes. Thanks to the unexpected turnout of events, I'm so happy", she replied. But seeing that our manager looked quite out of it in response to her statement, she asked: "Don't tell me you don't know what's happening?"

Fixating his eyes on his rival, our manager asked, "Why is something grand happening today?"

Miss Bong sat comfortably and sipped her coffee slowly. She finally places it down on its saucer and replied: "Yes. A K-pop Boy's Group will be having a concert at the theater behind our department store. Because of that, their fans are patronizing a lot of our products."

Our manager immediately freed his legs and moved his head a little closer whilst resting his right arm on the table. He asked with great shock, "Really?" After which he sat back, crossed his fingers and said whilst nodding his head constantly: "Wow, that's amazing."

Miss Bong smirked at his expression and said: "This is why you need employees who know the latest happenings."

Looking so amazed, our manager responded, saying: "You're right. Currently, it's good to be up to date all the time."

He then relaxed his shoulders and smiled. Looking unexpectedly confident, he said to his rival, "That being said, Miss Bong, can I ask you a question."

Still glowing with confidence, Miss Bong said: "Sure. What's it?"

Now she had given the go-ahead that she should never have given. The expression on our manager's face changed drastically. Crossing his legs once again, he asked: "Miss Bong, when was the last time you contacted your employees?"

Miss Bong smirked at his question and reluctantly asked: "Why does that concern you?"

Since she didn't receive any reaction from our manager, she went ahead to reply. "Just a few minutes ago", she said.

Our manager now turned back to his old self. Without batting an eye, he asked: "Really? If you don't mind, can you contact them again and find out what's going on?"

Miss Bong found his question a little suspicious. But since she didn't want to seem nervous, she asked: "And why should I do that?"

Our manager shrugged his shoulders whilst giving her a carefree response. "Just because", he said.

Miss Bong started to feel anxious. "Why is he looking so confident?" she wondered. Our manager went ahead to sip a bit of his coffee and awaited her reaction to his request. But, it wasn't arriving. He then placed his cup of coffee down and asked with a worried look: "Why aren't you calling? Perhaps, are you no longer confident that you made enough sales?"

Miss Bong knew at this point that she had been cornered. She knew that Manager Heo was sly, but never did she imagine him to be so cunning and deceptive.

Our manager, knowing that he had won their duel, went ahead to explain what had just occurred to Miss Bong.

He told her: "Earlier, you were right when you made claims that your department store was booming with sales. But after you left, there was a sudden twist of events. Thanks to the arrival of our department's talisman, we somehow overturned the cards. You can call your staff for confirmation."

Miss Bong had just received an overly embarrassing defeat. Our manager, Mr Heo, then stood up and straightened up his orange suit. He then said to Miss Bong: "Then, I will be leaving first to see how much sales we have made."

After he had left, Miss Bong tightened her fist whilst thinking about Mr Heo's earlier statement. "Their talisman. Couldn't be her right? She wasn't there earlier on. But what if that girl came and messed it all up?" Miss Bong wondered. She then picked her cup of coffee and drank it up quickly. Dropping the little object with mighty force, she mumbled to herself, saying: "I need to get her to our side at all cost."

At the department store, we were all busily managing the customers who were bountifully arriving.

Our manager returned but stood at the entrance of the store whilst smiling unendingly as he saw us handling the crowd with perfection.

Since we were so busy, we didn't even realize when the three hours were over. Even fans of CREW were stolen by time. But when the production crew sent one of their staff to make the notification, they all rushed out to meet their handsome oppas.

Once they left, I dropped myself onto a bench in front of the store. Soon, my junior came in with an energy drink.

"Sis, have this", she said as she gave me the can.

"Thanks a lot", I mentioned. She sat next to me and simultaneously we opened our canned drinks. The fizzing sound was not allowed to settle when we both gulped down half of the can's content in one shot.

"Ahhh!" we said after being soothed by the gaseous liquid which traveled down our hearts.

My junior then directed my attention to something thrilling.

Seeing Miss Bong arriving, she told me: "Sis, their manager is coming. Check out her expression. What does it look like?"

Looking at the intense fury beheld by the approaching woman, I had no better way of answering my junior's question than saying: "She looks like an overheated kettle fizzing with vapor."

"That's right. Her gaze is so scary", my junior agreed.

Miss Bong finally entered her department store. The first thing she did upon entering was to grab a bottle of water and drink it in one go. Afterwards, she changed her expression so swiftly and placed a smile on her face. Trying to sound nice, she said to her staff: "It seems like all the customers have gone in to watch the concert. Then, can I see how much sales we made?" she asked an obvious question which now sounded scary. She walked to her office and crossed her legs after comfortably placing herself in her favorite swivel chair.

However, outside her office, her employees were deliberating on who should be the sacrificial lamb. Although the door was locked, she could hear them whispering and was trying her best to keep her cool.

Finally, the door of her office opened and all her employees slowly entered. Nonetheless, none of them was ready to submit a report, hence she asked them: "Why aren't you showing me the report?"

"Ma'am actually…" one started but had no way to end his statement.

His lips were trembling and his feet were also shaking.

Miss Bong, seeing the climax of her absence, then said with a scary smile: "I am really trying to be hopeful. I know what happened but I don't expect you to tell me that the sales you had when I left three hours earlier is the same as what you have now. That's not the case, right?" she asked, still maintaining her earlier expression of calm.

One of her female employees took over. She said: "Ma'am, we are sorry. We couldn't increase…"

With a soft voice, Miss Bong interrupted her apology. "Be quiet. I don't want to hear anything", she said.

However, the male who tried to speak earlier said: "But ma'am, the sales did increase…"

Instead of making the situation better, he had unlocked the door: the door that had a pile of heated anger behind it. And this was indicated when Miss Bong fired at her employees.

She said: "Didn't you hear me? I said I don't want to hear a word, YOU BUNCH OF WEASLEY, DUMBIE, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING IDIOTS! I want to fire you all at this moment but since today's Monday morning and we have a week before us, I am controlling my temper."

Her words were so loud and well said that at our end, my junior asked me: "We just heard what she said right?"

I replied: "Yes, she just called them a bunch of weasley, dumbie, good-for-nothing idiots."

"Woah, she can really be harsh", my junior stated.

If we were feeling this way, then how would those present in her office react?

With the speed of light, they all dashed out of her office when she said: "Get out! All of you get out."

Miss Bong was really angry, but more than that she was thinking about something else.

At that time, my manager came to sit by us and said to me: "Amy, can I have a word with you?"

"Yes of course", I replied. The next moment, we were in his office.

After hanging his orange suit on a coat hanger, he took a seat and told me, "Take a seat", whilst directing his hands towards the chair before his table.

Putting on a smile, he said: "Amy, you have been a great employee in the last five years you have worked here. For that reason, you have received an offer from the Head Office."

"What?" I asked with a mixture of surprise and joy.

He continued to explain as he said: "Your long awaited dream to become an office worker might come true today. They called and told me that they want to see you at Headquarters right now."

I was so shocked that I couldn't say a word. But, I managed and asked: "Really?"

After he confirmed with an eye blink, I said with excitement: "Thanks so much manager."

He looked at me and asked with a chuckle: "Are you that happy?"

"Yes", I replied.

He said: "Just look at yourself. You will be leaving us here and yet you look so happy."

He had an expression of joy and yet there was a little sadness attached. I therefore said to him: "Manager, come on! Don't you want me to be promoted?"

He replied, saying: "I do. But make sure to visit regularly."

"Sure thing", I replied.

Working under him had been great and I knew that I would miss him and my junior from time to time. However, I had to move forward in life since finally, the work I had dreamt for was going to come true.