Zero by One: Take Me Home

7. Vipaka: Ripening

Vipāka [Sanskrit.] :fruition of consequences (for one's intentional actions)

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CHAPTER 7
"Looming" Arc
EP: THREE

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　"Can't you go faster!"

　"No, idiot! I can't go past the speed limit! We're on the main road!" Yeosang shouted at his impatient brother from the driver's seat, praying that their rusty old banger won't break down again like it did not too long ago after they just dropped Hyewoon off at the airport.

Tuesday's traffic was being extra savage to them than any other day, it seemed to know that Taehyun was running late for his interview. A once-in-a-lifetime kind of interview at HYBE Group.

He did not spend all night in front of the mirror rehearsing his speech just to arrive there several minutes late in such unprofessional manner.

With stress getting the best of him at the moment, Taehyun watched helplessly from the back seat, doubting if Yeosang still knew how to drive after they had abandoned their car for so long to save maintenance costs. Every roll of wheels felt like ages, like he was riding the back of a turtle.

　I should've taken the bus, Taehyun clicked his tongue and readjusted his necktie, as he watched many buses zooming by their godforsaken car in the speed of wind in utter dismay.

When the watch on his wrist read 10:07, the 19-floor building finally came into view. Taehyun flung the door open and scurried to his destination before Yeosang even finished wishing him good luck.

　"Shit, which floor was it again?" He mumbled to himself after he passed the security gate. Once he got himself onto the elevator, Taehyun checked his phone and scrolled through his inbox to find the directions, and browsed for a bit before pressing the 7F button confidently.

Not aware of his eyes mixing up some numbers, he dashed out of the elevator and down the huge hallways of the seventh floor to find a particular auditorium as the directions read.

　Fuck, this ain't it. Why does this place have to be so huge!?

After stopping a person who was most likely to be an employee, he found out this wasn't the floor he was supposed to be on. So once again, Taehyun sprinted back to the elevator and quickly pressed the button to catch up with the chamber while it was descending from an upper floor.

　 C'mon, hurry the fuck up!

When the reflective metal doors slid apart, however, Taehyun's mouth hung open to blurt out an intense reaction for the appearance of his untimely doom.

　"What the fuck?"

　

　

　
ꔛ‬♡
　

　

　

　

Ten minutes earlier...

11th floor, HYBE building.

　"Team Leader Choi! Are you out of your mind, sir?" said the old man in disbelief from the other end.

　"Oh? Did you not hear me? I said you will give no. 47 Kang Taehyun an ultimate pass in the interview and place him in my team." Beomgyu repeated himself nonchalantly. The man on the phone did not seem to pick up the meaning of his precise Korean as he pressed on with relentless complaint.