personal assistant

A well-suited man sat on a white sofa as he went through the newspaper highlights.

"Another record in the field of baseball! Prodigy never ceases to amaze all."

"A 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck Hawaii."

"Yang pharmaceutical in a car crash! Decline of yang pharma?"

As he read the headline, his eyes widened, and his hands shivered simultaneously dropping the newspaper.

His breath became rapid and his heart thumped frantically, he looked for his phone placed on the nearest table and reached it with his shaky hands.

If it wasn't touch-locked, perhaps opening it would have been more challenging with his shaking hands.

"Did you really succeed?" he dialed a number and as soon as the man picked up the phone on the other side, he asked.

"Guess!?" the man on the other side said laughingly.

"Damn! You really succeeded. Those monsters actually died." he sighed in greatest relief.

He felt so relaxed at that moment that he felt like sleeping soundly after several months of restless nights.

"If they were alive for even a few more weeks, then they would have achieved what they were after. Just imagining that normal people could devise such plans makes me shiver as a sorcerer," the man in the suit exclaimed with a relieved smile.

"Don't celebrate too soon, the roots aren't been fully plucked yet. The assassin I sent after their elder son was found too drunk to initiate her task while the youngest escaped death by a huge margin even in a lethal crash like that," the man on the other side said with a serious tone.

"I don't even think we need to take action on them, those young ling can't compare to their parents in the slightest," the suited man said as he happily ended the call.

"Growing corpse flower on clones!?" he laughed hysterically.

As days followed, the day for Jun's discharge came too. On the surface, he still looked pitiful and needed help every now and then for every small task but on the inside he kept devising plans to exact revenge.

With plenty of devouring, he was able to walk just fine if not better. He still had no plans to tell his brother about his situation for the time being.

While Jun was busy devising plans, Kai had other plans for his brother.

Kai sipped from the cup placed on his table, "Angella, place a vacancy for a personal assistant. Make sure it's a 'she' and fairly young, even an intern would work,"

This started the beautiful woman standing on his side, "Did I misplace some files again? I will find them in a moment, don't fire me," Angella replied in a panicked voice with hints of buried tears about to surface.

Kai frowned, "it's for my younger brother. He does not like dating nor has shown any interest in any gender. It's a good time to introduce some romance in his lonely life now that he can't run away,"

Several years ago Kai tried to have jun blind date a girl but at the venue jun stared dead into Kai's eyes after which he ran away, that day he had to date two women at the same time and it ended with a slap from the girl jun was suppose to date.

Kai sighed reminiscing the scene and the heat on his face that day.

"You remembered something unpleasant, sir?"

After a long period of 15 days, jun returned to his parents' mansion, staying in a much smaller hospital room made him realize how big his house actually was.

As soon as he entered the main gate, he saw a young woman standing near the house entrance.

She looked too beguiling in the outfit she wore, even though it was just formal wear, one could see just how many corners were cut to make that outfit, maybe the tailor lacked the cloth at the end.

Jun dialed a number on his phone, "what the fuck is this?" he asked in annoyance.

"What!? You didn't like it?" Kai asked as he was expecting a call anyway.

"Like what? Is this supposed to be a hostess?" jun raised his voice slightly.

"Like if that's what you want! You would need someone to accompany you at all times in the condition you are in anyway. Why not just enjoy while at it?" Kai said with a teasing smile.

'I can walk on my own,' he wanted to add.

"I am not enjoying it. If you want me to have some company, then at least let me select them,"

"Seems fair to me. Do it your way. I will organize it for you," as Kai hung up the phone he looked in Angella's direction with a smile, "my 100 dollars?"

Angella pouted as she lost 100 bucks just like that.

"I told you he is a bit different, anyway organize it as I asked you before." Kai leaned into the chair and relaxed.

Meanwhile, the gruesome task of selecting a personal assistant fell on Jun's lap.

He was looking for someone easy to manipulate and who wouldn't hinder his plans and that person should be decently qualified too.

Easy said than done. Even after a dozen interviews, he never came close to his requirements as most of them just came with dating in their minds.

"This has something to do with that scum." Jun rolled his eyes as he laid his head on the table with exhaustion.

***

Life wasn't easy for Tara, started with poverty in a poor family when she lost her parents early.

She was sent to an orphanage, but that didn't last long as she turned 18, from there: student loans, rents, and other expenses just kept her peace in check.

Worse came to worst on the date as she lost her current job too, while the landlord knocked on her gate, with a scruffy appearance she opened the door.

Looking at her, the landlord frowned. Even though he felt pity for her, he couldn't overlook his few earnings that came from the rent, "not looking good. Are we?" he mumbled under his breath, "I came to give you this," handing her the eviction notice he said.

Tara knew she was going to be evicted as she hadn't paid rent for a year. Thankfully, the landlord was understanding of her situation and didn't take any legal action against her.

"You still have a week to move out. Hope you can find some arrangements that fit you," the landlord said, feeling sorry for her.

After the landlord left, she laid on her bed; she held it all for as long as she could though losing the roof over her head might just have been the last thread as she sobbed holding a pillow.

It didn't last long, but when she realized she still needed a solution, she took a step back and started searching for one.

She already had her profile on the employment sites, which didn't seem to work out. Her options were limited. She thought of searching for jobs in the newspaper if they also failed her, then she still could try approaching shops one by one for any small job she could get.

several days passed just like that, only 3 days left for her eviction now. though she tried her best to get a proper job, she failed.

"last try!" she stood up from her bed with baggy eyes, had no good sleep recently.

There were multiple ads, but they either paid close to nothing or she was just too overqualified for them. In them, one ad caught her eyes.

"personal assistant? qualification... i do meet them. accommodation included!?" she went into a deep thought reading that. It was likely tailored for her by the god himself.

***

Jun was exhausted and had a feeling that he maybe could lower his requirements or else who knew how long it might take to find the one he was looking for.

He raised his head for the approaching footsteps. It was the next candidate.

He looked at her from toe to head while raising his head. It was a young girl with shining black hair and a small face with four-eyes.

she was in formal attire, though it had more wrinkles than an old bark. 

"Hello, I'm delighted to introduce myself as a candidate for the personal assistant position with expertise in both law and business management. My name is Tara Salamar, and I bring a diverse skill set and a passion for organization and efficiency to the table." She spoke in a confident tone, though her body language didn't quite support her, making eye contact with Jun but soon got overwhelmed and looked at the desk while it repeated a few times.

Jun was silent for a few minutes, being consumed by his thoughts. She looked like someone he could manipulate and would likely not hinder his plans.

tara would still wonder what did she do in there that made Jun select her so fast.

On her first day, Jun called her early in the morning. She was well aware of his situation and expected that her work could literally be anything supertrivial to decently important.

But she wasn't expecting him to present a ring to her. For her, Jun was no less than a charming prince who rescued her from her situation.

though she was reluctant but still accepted and wore the ring, seeing the warm, caring smile on Jun's face.

as soon as she wore the ring, the ghost that was invisible to her became absolutely clear.

jun didn't even let her get express shock properly before he said, "Yin mei, possess her." the warm smile he had earlier was now nowhere to be found and an emotionless face was all that was there.

His words even shocked Yin Mei, though she frowned. She had no way of declining him, for she didn't want to become nourishment for him.

from the day he met Yin Mei, jun always questioned why she had such a clear appearance while the upper-floor ghosts had vague, foggy figures.

'she isn't revealing much about herself. There are more secrets she is hiding.'

Yin Mei was a similar variable like his own physique, and he had no interest in handling more variables than himself.

tara was a piece on his board that he used to check Yin Mei with, a piece that would be useful in the future.