The white hallway stretched far and wide. The wall on my right was decorated with large photos of different Korean pop groups managed by Aether Music Entertainment. On the left, tall windows loomed, stretching past the floor I was on. I had worked in Aether Entertainment for about two years and had never come up to the fifth floor. The only reason I was there at the moment was that the usual tech support wasn't available.
Was I excited? Hell, yes. I was hoping to meet some idols on my way up. But the hallway was empty. I could only hear my footsteps, which were almost traumatising. It felt like I had been dropped straight into a horror movie, and we all know the cute black girl always dies first. The only thing missing was a monster or chucky, but the black girl was already present. My heart pounded in my chest as I made my way to the recording studio five. It was not that I feared being crept on by chucky, but rather, I found it exciting. What were the chances of me meeting an Idol? But the logical part of my brain was already mocking me. The chances were slim. It was rare to find them in the studio. I had worked in AME for two years and had never seen an idol. It felt like being close to the moon, only to realize it was impossibly distant - unreachable, even with an S24 Ultra. To make things worse, I was so busy at Aether that I barely had time to go to a concert, and whenever I took a leave day, I would definitely sleep in my bed. I was just one of the fans who bought the merch from my favourite group, SKYLINE. Skyline was one of the groups that Aether Managed, and I had never seen them walk through the company door. I finally reached the recording room and knocked. It had been secured with a fingerprint or card lock that needed clearance that I didn't have. You would think it was the FBI, but in cybersecurity, it's never a bad thing to have extra security. The door opened, revealing a man around his late 20s. But with Koreans, it was hard to tell their age. His forehead was pressed in between the door and the frame.
"You are the support? " he asked, his brows drawing together. It felt like a scene from a spy movie. It was like he was asking for a key pass, which i found amusing.
"Yes." I replied curtly. He opened the door further, allowing me to go in. I went to check the computer situated in the middle of the table. I tried to click it open, but it didn't.
"I need to take it to the hardware room." I said as I dismantled the computer.
"How long will it take?" he asked impatiently.
"I'm not sure. I'm not on the hardware side." I exhaled as I took care of the wires.
"Then why are you here?" he asked angrily.
"Everyone else isn't around, so I had to come up. But I'll make sure they fix it in no time. " I answered. He then mumbled to himself in Korean. To be honest, my Korean was limited to 'Saranghae'. I had been making some effort with my vowels. Thank God, Aether didn't really care about languages. Otherwise, I would be toast. He went and sat on the couch while furrowing his brows. He looked worried.
"I can ask them to replace this monitor with another one." I told him.
"How will that help?" he asked arrogantly.
"I mean, it looked like you couldn't view anything, and I had already checked the VGA. It's fine, which means it's the monitor. " I explained.
"Oh." he said loudly, but I had a feeling he didn't understand.
"What about my data? " he asked.
"Contrary to popular belief, your data is stored in the C.P.U, not in your monitor. " I replied as I finished up. I carried the black monitor in my arms.
"Is that heavy?" he asked
"No. It's okay. " I replied. He came and opened the door for me. I thanked him and made my way through the eerie hallway. I quickly walked to the elevators, then to the second floor and to the hardware room.
"Here it is!" I announced as I leaned on the door frame smiling. Lexy looked up at me with bright eyes. She worked in hardware and was the only friend I made at Aether. I gave her the monitor.
"Mmm." Alex, but I call her Lexy, had a heart-shaped face, was blonde, and had deep blue eyes. She was beautiful and radiating.
"So did you meet your SKYLINE up there," she teased as she looked at a bunch of documents on her desk.
"I'm destined not to meet them in this lifetime." I replied disappointedly while leaning on the door frame.
"I forgot!" I almost shouted, making Lexy look at me. "They need a replacement for the monitor."I added.
"I already sent someone. The man in the recording studio called and said it was urgent." she explained. I nodded and smiled.
"I'm going to go." I informed her. She nodded before stopping me at the doorway. "Don't forget, we have karaoke night." she reminded me.
"I'll try to make it this time." I replied, knowing that it was an empty promise. I was not going to make it. Not many people in Korea are as open-minded when it comes to different races. I never wanted to deal with that, so I chose to be absent.
"You liar!" she shouted after me, making me laugh. I found my way through the office to my seat in the development team. Almost everyone had left, and I was alone. It seemed that even if I wanted to go for karaoke, I had no choice. Someone had to finish the pending work. I sat down, rolled the sleeves of my coat above my elbow, and started looking at the codes that had been written. A lot of time had passed - it was almost 6.30 - when Lexy startled me from behind.
"Working overtime again?" she asked in disbelief. I just nodded.
"Yeah. Sorry, " I started. " I can't make it to Karaoke. " I confirmed.
"Your loss, Maria." she said, walking away, her footsteps causing me to miss her already. She told me it was my loss, but maybe I secretly preferred working overtime. I looked back at the code my colleagues had written, going through every line. The higher Ups wanted websites for each group. My team and I decided that we should work on each website together, but the work had been overwhelming. I honestly would've suggested everyone to do a certain group, but in that way, the product delivered might not be up to the standards. As a coder, we mostly separate different functionalities and tie them together. The database had already been formed. The front end was all that was left. Everyone had their own page to work on. I, on the other hand, was looking through the codes and doing security checks, especially on the forms, to make sure they are unhackable. I had finished earlier with my side of the code and the security checks, but if we didn't finish a certain part or put it aside, we would never finish any of the work. Around 7.00, a phone on the table rang. I put it on speaker.
"I have no access to the network. " A deep, raspy voice came through. I sighed.
"Let me restart the servers." I walked towards the networking room. I opened it and restarted the router. I checked my phone to see if it was working. I called back the number that came through the phone.
"It's working now. Thank you." he replied and instantly cut the phone. I sighed when I saw the time. I hadn't even made it halfway. I took a small Snickers bar and made my way to the rooftop. I sat next to the balcony. Millions of thoughts plagued my mind as I staredat the stars that faintly illuminated the clear, dark sky. I sat for a while before the scent of smoke intoxicated my nose. A chill ran through me as I realized I wasn't alone. My lips trembled, but I knew what to do. That was to show no weakness. I looked behind me. A man was seated at the far end in the corner. The scent of smoke was sharp in the cool night air, making my nose wrinkle. The man was draped in a black hoodie over a dark grey cape that concealed his face. It felt unnecessary and odd, considering it wasn't that cold. It was a working environment. Regardless, he shouldn't smoke around here. I was pretty sure it was against the Korean laws. I hate myself sometimes. Instead of running all the way to the second floor, my feet moved towards him to warn him about the no smoking in the building rule.
I stood a few steps away from him at a distance where I could run if he turned out to be a murderer or worse. He didn't bother to look up. He ignored me as if I didn't exist. I cleared my throat, hoping to get his attention, but he still looked down at his feet as if they were the most interesting thing on the planet. He flicked the cigarette before placing it in his mouth, smoking in small drags, as he puffed it in and out, creating a smoke that engulfed my face. I almost choked and started coughing. I tried to clear the air by waving my right hand while trying to beat the smoke with my left hand hovering on my chest.
"You shouldn't smoke in here. " I said my voice a bit foggy.
"You don't get to tell me what to do." he replied rudely with a deep voice that I recognised from the speaker.
"You are the guy who called about the network issue." I pointed out.
"You are the girl who rudely interrupted me from my thoughts," he snapped. " I'm not interested. " he said flatly.
"Who said I was interested? " I said, rolling my eyes and folding my arms.
"I was just trying to be a nice person and look what that got me, a bunch of rudeness that I didn't need in the first place. " I complained as I turned to leave.
"I don't need your kind notions. " he replied angrily.
"Then you shouldn't have smoked here specifically." I said firmly.
"Do you even work here?" I asked in frustration.
"For a tech girl, you are pretty dumb." He started with the insults again, almost angering me to a fault. "How could I get up here without working here?" he questioned me as if he was talking to a doorbell.
"You can hack your way up." I replied as I smirked, turning to face him. His eyes plastered on the floor, and he chuckled.
"I work here. " he admitted, which was unbelievable.
"In a hoodie, right!" I exclaimed. There was no way that was true.
"What else should I work in?" he asked, seemingly annoyed.
"I don't know, maybe a suit, but a hoodie and jeans, is a far reach. " I replied.
"A far reach. " he repeated as he inhaled the cigarette and spinning it in between his fingers.
"I'm a producer." he said confidently and assuredly to try and convince me that it was true.
"Okay. Mr. Producer, how about you show me your ID?"
"What are you, the police?" he asked sarcastically.
"No. I'm a responsible tech worker at Aether." I replied, and I swear I could sense him rolling his eyes. "What? The pay is good." I finished as I sighed. Even in the darkness, I could've sworn the air around him shifted. I could almost sense a smirk or amusement radiating from him.
"Anyway, you shouldn't smoke in here."I said as I pointed to the CCTVs right above him. "It won't be pretty if you get caught," I added. He completely ignored my warnings. He didn't bother to look up.
"I know there are cctvs above me. " he replied, his voice a bit groggy from the smoke, making it a bit deeper. I sighed. There was no way helping his case. He just didn't care enough, or maybe I cared too much.
"I have to go, Mr. Producer. " I kind of sarcastically said that last past to make him aware that I didn't believe his story.
"I was wondering when you were going to finally leave me alone." he rudely stated.
"Why do you have to be rude?" I asked under my breath as it began to get cooler around us. As I turned, he replied, "Do I have to be nice?" he snapped again. I was about to reply when my ringtone busted through my coat, skylines song, of the same name skyline, probably one of their only fully English songs.
I wrote this song for you,
For when things get heavy
When you are tired too
Let it hold you steady
When self-love is far
Remember, you're the moon, I'm the star
Together, we light up the night
We make the skyline, skyline
Shine so bright, so bright, so bright, yeah
I rushed to check who it was to see my roommate and best friend April was calling me. "Mari, where are you? I'm worried." her melodic voice burst through the phone
"I'm working overtime, and I'm on my way," I replied.
"Okay, leave the office now! It's not safe out there. " she said worriedly, then hung up before I could respond. As I threw my phone into my inside pocket, the man cleared his throat, "So Skyline." he stated.
"What about it?" I asked, almost ready to snap at him.
"Should you even be working here, considering you are a fan of Skyline? They really need to check if you are a saesang or something." he said almost jokingly.
"I am a fan, but I've never even seen one member walk through the front door. And since you know Skyline, shouldn't I say the same about you?" I questioned. He laughed as if it was impossible.
"Let me guess, Kim Taeyoung is your bias. " He guessed.
"Loud and wrong," I rolled my eyes. "Taewon is my bias. "I confirmed. When I mentioned Taewon, his fingers tightened across the cigarette just for a second before he took another slow drag.
"Really?" he asked, almost surprised.
"What? Is it that surprising?" I asked. "His voice saves lives, you know." I added.
"I don't know about saving lives." He paused for a moment, taking in another puff. "I've worked with him. " he confessed. I was half-surprised, half- amused, and eager to know more.
"Okay, now you have my attention. How is he like, dreamy?" I asked, crouching down. I couldn't see him properly. I only took a qiick glance at his sharp jawline, and as if sensing it, he turned. I saw nothing else.
"Dreamy?" he questioned, almost amused.
"Yeah. What else could he be?" I asked confusedly, as I tried to peek at him, but I still couldn't see him clearly.
"Uh, he could be the most terrible person in the world, antisocial, utterly blunt, rude, and the most imperfect person in the world." he answered.
"Oddly specific. But I must correct you." I stated.
"But you've never met him before. " he complained.
"And you may have. I don't know anything about him. But being imperfect is kind of stating the obvious." I stated.
"But of all the terrible things in the world, including people, Lee Taewon couldn't be one of them. " I told him
"But you don't know him, though. " he reminded me.
"I don't. " I accepted. "But this I do. " I added.
"How?"
"Because I know it in my heart. Someone who writes songs like 'Skyline' could never be bad. " I said, making him chuckle.
"People change too. " he said, and as if sensing my annoyance, he relented.
"He is not that bad. But I'm not a fan of skyline or K-pop, really." he finished.
"And you're a K-pop producer?" I asked.
"Yeah. I'm a K-pop producer, but I wasn't raised here, and I can also produce something but also not like it." he explained. "So my tastes, " he cleared his throat. "are different. " He finished. It explained why his English was somehow better and how he didn't break out to Korean, like other people I met before.
"But you know skyline." I reminded him.
"Only because I work with them. " he replied shyly.
"Who are you, really?" I asked in disbelief.
"I'm nobody. " he answered almost sadly, his voice breaking. " Shouldn't you be going? It's not safe to walk at night. " he said, making me look at the time from my phone.
"Yeah, I should go. " I turned and walked a few steps. But before I left, I turned to him and shouted, "Hey Stranger, Mr. Producer guy!" he sort of turned his head to the side as if listening keenly, but I still couldn't see him clearly, but I knew he was listening.
"Someone who works with Skyline couldn't be a nobody!" I shouted. I walked a few steps towards him to have him hear it clearly.
"You are somebody. " I told him.
"Sometimes, you just need to acknowledge it yourself, and sometimes you need a stranger to remind you. " I said before walking away. He didn't reply. Instead, he continued to smoke. But it didn't matter. At least I told him something that mattered. I went back to the second floor and packed my bags for home. At least I had done some part of the work left. I sighed as I shut down my computer. I walked out of the office building, and before I left, I tried to see the highest part of the building to see if he was still on the balcony. I couldn't see properly, but I could've sworn, I could see a shadow. He was leaning on the balcony, smoking before he turned and left. I took a cab home and found April waiting for me. I was in big trouble.