8

                                    

                                          
She had flashbacks from yesterday. Yesterday ... It felt more like ... last week.
 Neve stifled a yawn as she lugged a box filled with what felt like a metric ton of paper up the narrow staircase, her arms shaking under the weight. It was only her first day at Pledis Entertainment and it wasn't even lunchtime yet, but she already felt as if she had been run over by a lorry. The box threatened to slip from her grasp, and she adjusted her hold, gritting her teeth as she made it to the top of the stairs and set the box down with a soft thud.
"God," she muttered to herself, leaning against the wall and wiping the sweat from her brow. Her legs felt like jelly, and she could feel the familiar, dull ache in her back that came from too much bending and lifting. Who knew an entertainment company needed this much paper?
She glanced around the small storage room where she'd deposited the box, the shelves lined with reams of paper, stacks of empty folders, and rows upon rows of promotional materials. The entire space smelled faintly of dust and ink, and it was so cramped that she had to twist sideways to navigate between the shelves.
Neve took a deep breath, steadying herself. This was the fifth time she'd been asked to carry boxes up from the basement today, and she wasn't sure she could feel her arms anymore. Is this really my life now?
She'd arrived at Pledis that morning, still reeling from the realization that Seventeen, of all groups, was under this very roof. The same group she'd had a series of humiliating encounters with. It had been a long, uncomfortable night as she lay in bed, going over every cringe-inducing detail of the past few weeks. The zombie mishap, the accidental black-out... and now, she was here, reduced to running errands and carrying boxes like a glorified intern. She felt like she was living in some bizarre sitcom.
Fantastic, she thought bitterly. Just what I needed. More chances to embarrass myself.
The day had started off with a rude awakening. As soon as she arrived, she'd been given a badge with "Intern" scrawled across it and a list of tasks that seemed never-ending. First, she'd been sent to the marketing department to help sort through endless stacks of promotional materials for upcoming releases. It had been an hour of filing posters and flyers, her fingers smudged with ink and her patience wearing thin.
Then, she'd been sent to the costume department to help organize racks of stage outfits for the various groups under Pledis' management. The room was a kaleidoscope of colors and fabrics, sequins glittering under the harsh fluorescent lights. She'd spent another hour squeezing past racks of clothing, carefully placing each outfit in its designated spot and trying not to knock anything over.
And now, she was back in the storage room, hauling boxes of supplies up and down stairs like some kind of pack mule. Her shirt was damp with sweat, and she could feel a headache brewing behind her eyes.
Neve sighed, wiping her hands on her jeans, and made her way back down to the basement, where the storage area looked like a maze of cardboard and plastic wrap. The whole place was dimly lit and stuffy, and she had to duck under the low ceiling beams to avoid hitting her head.
As she navigated the narrow aisles, she couldn't help but think longingly of her old office with ist neatly organized desks, the soft hum of computers and the comforting blue light of multiple monitors. She missed the feeling of solving problems, the satisfaction of finding and fixing vulnerabilities in the system, the quiet focus that came with coding. She missed the stability and predictability of her IT work. I'd even take a 'Nice try' glitch right now, she thought miserably.
The realization hit her harder than she expected: she was completely out of her element here. She didn't know the first thing about marketing or costumes duties. She was a techie, someone who was more comfortable with lines of code and firewalls than with boxes of promotional material and endless errands. The stark contrast between what she was doing now and her previous role made her stomach twist with frustration.