Deception • Woosang

1

"You're fired"

Wooyoung widens his eyes in shock "what? But I-"

"I'm not changing my mind Wooyoung, you've tainted the image of my company, everyone is demanding to have you gone" His boss lets out a frustrated sigh. "I'm sorry but it's out of my hands now, you should have thought twice before writing that article with no evidence whatsoever"

Wooyoung watches his boss leave the room, wincing as he slams the door, a clear order to quickly pack up his things and leave. He groans loudly, hitting his head on the desk and cursing himself for writing that article. He knew it was risky but he didn't think it would get him fired.

He blames himself for believing the call he got earlier in the week, he had gotten an anonymous tip from someone claiming to work at Crush, a world renowned make up company. They'd told him about a huge scandal the CEO had been involved in and Wooyoung bought it, and wrote that dammed article.

It got taken down as soon as it was uploaded though, staff from Crush were quick to call up his workplace and force him to take it down. His boss had been so embarrassed, forcing Wooyoung to apologise then firing him straight away, as requested by Crush and his colleagues, no one wants a careless writer on their team.

Wooyoung sulks as he clears his desk, leaving the room while trying to avoid the deadly glares directed at him.

What makes it worse is that he's fresh meat, straight out of university, they're no doubt reacting even worse because he's 'young and clueless'. He tries staying optimistic though, he can just get hired at a different news agency, this was just the practice round, there are plenty more opportunities to be the journalist he's been dreaming of since he was young.

He quickly exits without any goodbyes, knowing he's not welcome anymore so he leaves his first ever real job with a heavy heart.

~

As he's reaching out for his keys, a familiar voice calls his name. Wooyoung turns around to see his neighbour, who looks like he's about to leave in a rush. "Hey Hongjoong hyung, leaving for work?" Wooyoung smiles at him, but saying this makes him feel sad, since he's just come back from work after being fired.

He nods, but then looks at him in confusion "Shouldn't you be at work too? Did you leave something at home?" Wooyoung just smiles sadly, looking down and fiddling with his keys "No, I've been fired"

Hongjoong widens his eyes "What in the world happened?" He looks like he's ready to comfort Wooyoung, which he takes that as an indication that he looks like he's about to burst into tears.

Wooyoung just dismisses him, shaking his head "I'll tell you later, you should get to work otherwise you'll be late" he quickly shoos the reluctant man away before releasing a shaky breath.

Usually, he wouldn't have told Hongjoong that he'd been fired, they're only neighbours after all, he doesn't want everyone to know that his first ever job was a failure. But, he and Hongjoong were actually very close, ever since the older had moved in a year ago, Wooyoung was all too happy to have someone around his age living next door to him. They had quickly got along and now have a somewhat sibling-like relationship.

The emptiness of his apartment welcomes him as he walks in, going straight to the couch and plops himself down comfortably, he had a long day so he lets himself just relax and not think too much about being unemployed, he knows that if he thought about it too much then he'd drown himself in his sad emotions.