𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗞𝗶𝗺?✓

episode 5

October 31st, 3 PM.

“Do you not know it?”

“N-no. I know it very well.”

“Then sing it.”

“With such a will, such a spirit, loyalty, heart and hand,
let us love, come grief, come gladness, this our beloved land.”

“Alright.”

“Phew.”

“Let’s move on to some economic knowledge. Explain the Nash equilibrium to me, please. Keep it short.”

His pronunciation of “Nash equilibrium” was fluent and buttery smooth. But the fact was, there was no way a Korean literature major could know the answer to that.

“What?”

“Do you not know it?”

“Well, no, actually...”

“Then what about game theory?”

“Uh...”

“Who won the Nobel Prize in 1993?”

“Cough.”

Taehyung was seated languidly at a huge desk, chin cupped in his interlocked hands. He was much more attractive, and much nastier, than the rumors had made him out to be.

The person in front of him was the last of the applicants permitted a final interview; the odd mismatch of his personality and charm and the impossible questions made her break out in a cold sweat. Had all the interviewees who’d come before her answered these appalling questions?

“How do you make holy water?”

“Oh! I know that one! You boil the hell out of it!”

Interviewee #3, who’d blurted out her answer in excitement, felt her eyes well up in tears and shame. Her already flimsy morale collapsed.

She began to sob.

“We're done here.”

The woman trudged out of the small conference room. taehyung massaged his aching temples and lowered his head onto the desk. He felt dizzy, and his entire body hurt like someone had given him a sound beating. He’d always lacked sleep because of his insomnia, but since a week ago, he'd been unable to catch a single hour of sleep.

“Who did win the Nobel Prize in 1993?”

It was jisoo's voice coming from above him. He hadn’t noticed her coming in.

Taehyung propped himself up, looked at her, and retorted, “What kind of person memorizes that sort of thing?”

“Oh my, you’re completely right. Ohohoho!”

The ends of her mouth twitched as she smiled.

The three applicants had all stepped out with beet-red and muddled faces, asking questions like, “What is the capital of Antigua and Barbuda?” or “Who in the world does the ‘invisible hand’ belong to? It sure isn’t mine!” The final applicant had complained, “Do you know who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1993?”

She knew none of the answers to the questions, other than the fact that the invisible hand was a concept created by Adam Smith. She could tell, however, with what intentions these questions were asked.

jisoo sighed.

After that deep sigh, she was about to say something when she sensed that something was wrong. She took a step closer to Tahey and looked him closely in the face.

“Vice-Chairman, are you really alright?”

“What do you keep going on about? What are you asking?”