A Thousand Purple Stars (JinJi)

Telling the Truth

It had been about a month and a half since Jisoo's first interview for Embrace, and she was about a week and a half into her new position as an editorial assistant. At first, Jisoo thought she would be working mostly with Julie Kiyoko the managing editor, but Jisoo found herself mostly reporting to the associate managing editor, Sandara Park, whom everyone referred to simply as Dara.

She was a thin, wispy girl who was actually quite pretty and had a solid taste for fashion, but she struck Jisoo as a no-nonsense kind of person. She was younger than Julie and really only a little bit older than Jisoo. She was constantly stressed and tense and was constantly asking her staff for some piece of paper or another. Jisoo's work station was on the far left side of a long table right outside Dara's office.

"Hey, Jaesu," Dara said, strolling out of the office and stopping in front of Jisoo's work station.

"Oh, actually, my name is Jis—"

"Whatever," Dara said. She closed her eyes and began massaging her temples. "So, I know this is like your first day or whatever, but just to let you know, we're kind of in the middle of crunch time."

"Oh," Jisoo said. "Can I help with anything?"

"I told Julie I wanted the lit major who got published in Thread, but I guess you'll have to do," Dara said and Jisoo shrank in her seat. "Anyway, I know you're still in training, but I seriously need some help with some stuff."

"Lay it on me."

"Okay, well first off," Dara said, putting her hands on her hips and starting to run through a list of tasks in a rapid-fire voice. "I need you to call the printer's office and tell them we need 1,500 more copies of the winter issue, 2500 copies of the fall issue, and put in an order for 3500 more copies of the upcoming spring issue, and make sure he got my email for the pamphlet, and I want those before this weekend for the lit fair uptown."

Jisoo grabbed a notepad and started scribbling all of this down. Dara didn't pause between tasks.

"I also forwarded you an email from one of our writers, she's having an issue accessing her online account, walk her through it," Dara said. "We also have a new round of manuscripts coming today because four of our writers dropped. Go through them, read them, find four good ones, and send them my way. Don't even think about sending me shitty manuscripts."

"Uh, okay," Jisoo said, still scribbling in a hurry. "Anything else?"

"Yes," Dara said. "There's a redesign meeting next week, but I'll be at the lit fair, ask Seungri if you can sit in on it and take notes for me. Also, I'll need you to sit in on a meeting with me later today with Julie, we need to discuss ideas for the short feature. She wants your input for some reason."

Jisoo perked up a little at that news. Had Julie asked for her specifically? Dara paused to catch her breath and clenched and unclenched her fists. She looked at her assistant and seemed to read her thoughts. She scoffed.

"Don't get too hopeful," Dara said. "Editorial assistants don't write short features, so you're better off just forgetting about that. Julie always just lets new girls sit in to make them feel included."

Jisoo's smile faded, and she packed down her ballooning sense of optimism as Dara said. Her supervisor cleared her throat.

"Anyway, you're clear on your tasks?"

Jisoo nodded.

"Good," Dara said. "One more thing. Don't forget about the publication party this weekend. It'll be your first staff party, right?"

"That's right," Jisoo said subordinately.

"Then you'd better make it and bring your boyfriend. Or girlfriend," Dara said. "It's kind of a company tradition, getting to know you and your story and your significant other. Everything is about love at Embrace."