Mystic Messenger FanFiction Kill for Me Chapter One

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way affiliated with Cheritz, this is purely fanfiction, and I do not claim that these characters are my own, except for Ella Song and any other character that is not related to Cheritz.

Notes about the story: I took the basic storyline of Mystic Messengers and took creative license, meaning, I changed the plot a bit to fit my version of the story.  There are also spoilers in this story, as I use parts from chats and VNMs from casual and deep routes. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am enjoying writing it!

Stay tuned for future chapters as I slowly write my way through.

Check out my Archives page for Mystic Messenger related posts or to peruse my blog.

 

Chapter One
Mysterious Phone Call

 

Ella Song looked up at the tall building of C & R and felt a wave of panic rush through her. Somehow she had managed to land this job, though she had no idea what she had done to deserve it. She found it difficult to find a job after graduating and had to resort to working at the bookstore that was only a few blocks from where she lived. She had waited all her life for this pivotal moment, though now that it was here, she wasn’t sure she could go through with it.

At that moment, a black car pulled up front and the back door opened. A tall and slender young man got out of the car dressed in crisp black dress pants, black blazer, and pinstriped collared shirt. His hair styled to perfection, an expressionless look on his face. It was her boss, Jumin Han. Ella gulped, her heart pounding against her ribcage, threatening to leap into her throat. She watched as he walked towards the building without even giving her a second look. She wasn’t used to people not looking at her. On the contrary, people always looked at her. However, he was the Executive Director of C & R and next in line to inherit his father’s company so she couldn’t blame him for not noticing one of his own employees.

Taking a deep breath, Ella straightened her black blazer and smoothed out her black skirt. She then lifted her head high and walked towards the glass doors of the building, her heels clicking on the pavement as she walked.

Upon entering the building, she had to scan her identification card at the next set of doors in order for them to slide open, allowing her access to the elevator. She made her way to the top floor where her new cubicle waited for her. While other employee’s desks had pictures of their families and other things that identified with their personalities, hers was bare. She just had a desk, computer, chair, phone, and small filing cabinet. There was nothing else on her desk. Then again, it was her first day.

Ella felt the other employees staring at her as she walked past their desks and she avoided their eyes and double-takes as she strode purposefully towards her desk and set her purse down just under the desk. She turned on the computer and used her new login ID and password to enter the system so she could get to work.

Once she logged in, she received an alert on her computer notifying her that they had a meeting first thing. She had half an hour to gather materials and information that she would need for her first meeting. She smiled to herself and opened up the internet browser, finally feeling in her element and forgetting all the eyes that were still staring at her until their own computers beeped at them.

 

….

 

Half an hour later, Ella was following the other employees to the meeting room where Jumin’s assistant, Assistant Kang was setting down all the necessary materials. Ella found an empty seat near the door and sat down, setting her folder down in front of her. The other employees filed in and sat down, talking among themselves and casting her curious looks. She ignored them, staring straight ahead at the blank whiteboard.

Once all the employees were settled, Jumin walked into the room and made his way towards the front of the room. All talking died down the moment he walked in. Ella could feel the tension in the room as Assistant Kang stood next to Jumin.

“As you can see by the reports,” Jumin started without as much as a greeting. “We have maintained our sales this quarter. I would like to see an increase in profit for the next quarter of at least fifty percent,” Jumin continued. Ella heard the woman next to her inhale sharply. Ella quickly shuffled through the reports in front of her as she continued to listen to Jumin talk. Fifty percent was a lot.

“Each of you has been given areas where I’d like to see improvement. If you have any further ideas, let me know.” The entire room was quiet. Ella could sense the anxiety coming off of the people in the room. What were they so afraid of? She wondered to herself as she looked Jumin straight in the eye.

“Sir, my recent search indicates that there’s a huge spike in wine and coffee sales overseas. Have you thought about focusing on developing those two areas in a franchise?” she asked. Everyone’s eyes turned towards her, including Jumin’s grey eyes. He regarded her coolly, she ignored it.

“Also, from my research, it appears that you have your own winery. I think it would be profitable to produce different kinds of wines that are currently trending right now.”

“And how do you suggest we advertise such wine?” Jumin asked, his eyes still looking coldly at her.

“More people are using electronics as a way of connecting with the world, so I think it would be a good idea to use social media and commercials, especially if you can make the commercial appealing to a wide audience between the ages of twenty-five and sixty-five.”

The entire room was dead silent as Jumin continued staring at her. He looked down at the papers in front of him thoughtfully.

“That’s not a bad idea,” he finally said. The other employees stared at her with wide eyes, though she had no idea why. “I’d like a full report on how you think sales will improve with this, as well as how you plan on executing this idea by lunch.”

“Yes, sir,” Ella nodded her head.

“Anyone else have anything to add?” Jumin asked, searching the room with his eyes, but everyone avoided eye contact with him.

“In that case, I want each of you to come up with a way to improve sales in each department, and I’d like those reports on my desk in two hours.” Jumin briskly walked out of the room with his assistant following him out leaving everyone else in the room in full panic mode. They groaned as soon as Jumin and his assistant were out of earshot. Panic was on their faces as they gathered their materials hastily and made their way back to their cubicles, leaving Ella wondering why they were acting the way they were.

 

….

 

Ella stretched her arms over her head and glanced at the clock. She had finished her report with half an hour to spare. She made her way to the staff room to make herself a cup of coffee, then returned to her desk to look over her report for any errors, including grammatical and punctuation mistakes.

Once she finished, she printed out her report and made her way to the printer. She checked the report over one more time, nodded her head in satisfaction, and placed the report inside a folder. She made her way over to Jumin’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” she heard him say from the other side. Ella pushed the door open and found Jumin sitting at his desk drinking a cup of coffee. He didn’t look up at her from whatever it was he was working on, but he was frowning.

“I finished my report, sir,” Ella said stepping into his office.

“Put it on my desk,” he instructed. Ella moved in closer and placed the folder on his desk, glancing down at the papers he had in front of him.

She could see that he was currently going over one of the reports from another employee. From where she was standing, she easily found an error in punctuation. It wasn’t obvious to most people since they often made the mistake in writing. She quickly moved away from his desk and stood back.

“Is there anything else you require from me?” she asked him.

“Yes,” he said. She waited as he placed the report he was reading back in the folder. He handed it to her with a strained look on his face. “Please return this to Ms. Choi and ask her to fix her mistakes.” Ella took the folder in her hands and nodded her head. She wanted to know if he had also noticed the punctuation mistake, but knew better than to ask her boss something like that.

“Excuse me,” she said as she bowed to him and left the office. She shut the door quietly behind her and stood staring at all the cubicles in front of her. Now, who was Ms. Choi? She quickly scanned the names on the cubicles, but since she wasn’t wearing her glasses, she couldn’t see the names. Ella sighed and made her way back to her desk to grab her glasses so she could finish her task.

Again, she scanned the names and found Ms. Choi’s cubicle near the back of the room. Ella made her way over to the woman with long brown hair cascading over her shoulders and her pale white face. On closer inspection of the woman, Ella noticed that her nose looked unnaturally small. It wasn’t uncommon for Korean women to get plastic surgery to improve their appearance. Her cherry red lips were pursed as her brown eyes met Ella’s.

“Excuse me, Mr. Han asked me to return this to you,” Ella started. “He would like you to fix your mistakes.” Ms. Choi took the folder from her with horror.

“What mistakes?” she asked with alarm as she flipped through the report again. She glanced at the clock and sighed heavily. “I’m going to miss my lunch!” she exclaimed in a high-pitched voice that made Ella’s ears hurt.

Ella returned to her cubicle and grabbed her purse. She hadn’t made a lunch, so she was going to have to go out and get one. She waited for the elevator and when the doors opened, a chef got out pushing a tray with something that smelled delicious. She couldn’t see what it was since it was covered with a silver cover, but whatever it was made her mouth water and her stomach growl as he wheeled the tray past her. Ella got on the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. Just as the doors were closing, she saw the chef knock on Jumin’s office door.

 

 

The day ended and Ella walked to the train station, catching the train just before it left. She stood and watched the scenery pass by, stifling a yawn. She wasn’t used to getting up so early and leaving work so late. At the bookstore, she had worked eight hours, but today, she had somehow pulled a thirteen hour day and it wasn’t over yet. She still had to stop at the grocery store to pick up a few groceries for her dinner.

Ella got off the train once it arrived at her station and made her way to the grocery store just a few block away from her apartment. She picked up the necessary items she would need, paid for them, then walked home, lost in her own world. She hadn’t even realized that she was home until she found herself staring at her front door. Snapping out of her reverie, she pulled out her keys from her purse and unlocked the door.

The smell of onions permeated from her neighbor’s apartment, wafting over to Ella’s nostrils. Her stomach growled, though her mind was tired. Nonetheless, once Ella got inside her apartment, which smelled of Japanese incense, she began cooking her dinner.

After having a successful and productive first day at work, Ella rewarded herself with her favorite food: bibimbap and a large glass of red wine. She put on some relaxing classical music and sat down at her small table to eat her meal, savoring every bite.

 

….

 

The next day at work was just as productive. She found her folder on her desk with a post-it note attached to the front that read: provide a more in depth analysis of advertisements, types of wine, and the best grapes to use. Ella immediately began to work on her project, easily finding the information that she needed. She was glad to finally be able to put her research skills to good use. She easily found the information she needed and immediately began typing up her report into carefully planned sections. She even created a poll and sent it to liquor stores across North America, posted it to social media sites, and did some extra sleuthing online from different wine communities. She even went so far as to call some other wineries in North America to ask for their expertise on types of grapes to use for each particular wine and scribbled down notes in her purple notebook.

By the time she had finished the first seven pages of her report, it was late. Jumin hadn’t said when he wanted it handed in to him, so she continued working even after everyone else in the office left. The only two people that remained in the office were Jumin and his assistant.

She hadn’t seen Jumin all day today, but she had seen Jaehee, his assistant, leaving his office frequently with a stack full of reports in her arms. By the expressions and whispers of the other employees, Ella took it that Jumin wasn’t impressed with their reports and wanted them to fix their errors or to re-write them. Ella couldn’t blame him. It was his father’s company after all and this was Jumin’s department. It was impossible to accept anything other than the best of the best. She understood that since she was a perfectionist herself when it came to work.

Ella’s eyes were beginning to hurt when she finally finished editing her report. She printed it out, checked it over, then stuck it inside a folder. She headed towards Jumin’s office and knocked, but didn’t receive an answer. Frowning, she went to Jaehee’s office and knocked. Jaehee looked up at her with surprise.

“Sorry to bother you,” Ella started. “I have the report Mr. Han asked for. I knocked on his door, but there was no answer.”

“He’s probably on the phone,” Jaehee said softly. She had short brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses. She was also very pretty and slender.

“Can I leave it with you, or should I wait until Mr. Han is finished his call?” Ella asked.

“You can leave it with me,” Jaehee said tiredly. Ella looked closely at Jaehee and noticed that she had dark circles under her eyes. Either she had trouble sleeping or work was keeping her from sleeping. She then noticed the large stack of papers on the table behind Jaehee and wondered if those were all the things that she had to do before the end of the day.

Ella nodded her head and handed the file to Jaehee, she paused at the door, hesitating, but Jaehee had gone back to work and hadn’t noticed that Ella was still lingering at the door. Not wanting to disturb her further, Ella turned and exited Jaehee’s office, making her way towards the elevator and her small apartment.

 

Ella lounged in the bathtub with her book, a glass of wine resting next to her. It had been a long time since she had soaked in the tub, though she couldn’t think of any reasons why she hadn’t had one sooner. Ella was sipping her white wine when her cellphone rang. Odd, she thought. She looked at the caller ID and realized that it was an unknown name and unknown number. She furrowed her eyebrows as she answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Hello Ella,” a male’s voice greeted her. She didn’t recognize the voice. “Are you enjoying your bath?” he asked her. Ella’s eyes darted around the bathroom, though she knew that it was impossible for anyone to see her as there was no window. She set her wineglass down and slowly sat up.

“Who is this?” Ella demanded.

“Well that’s no way to greet an old friend, is it?” he asked. She had no idea what he was talking about.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“Well, that depends,” the voice said playfully.

“On what?”

“On how well you play your part.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t worry. I will tell you all in good time. For now, just keep doing what you do best and don’t mention this call to anyone…” his voice trailed off. “Though, you don’t have anyone to tell, do you?” he laughed and the sound sent chills down her spine. “I’ll be in touch,” he said.

“Oh, and Ella?” he asked.

“What?”

“You better answer my calls.” With that, he hung up. Ella pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the screen. What the hell was that about? Suddenly feeling dirty, Ella drained the bathwater and took a scalding hot shower, scrubbing at her skin with her loofah sponge until her skin was red and raw.

Immediately after her shower, she wrapped her satin housecoat around her curvy body and searched the house. She lifted up every item, looked under every table and surface, checked all her clothing, shoes, and lamps, but found nothing. How had the man known her name or that she was in the bath? On top of that, how had he gotten her number? Perhaps it was a prank, she tried telling herself, but she knew that was impossible. How had he known that she didn’t have anyone to talk to? She shivered and moved towards the windows, checking that they were shut properly. She double-checked the front door and the balcony door to ensure that she had locked them, and then padded barefoot into her bedroom.

She turned off the light and let her robe fall to the floor, slipping into bed in her underwear and a t-shirt. Her hand reached over to turn the light on, but stopped halfway. She wasn’t in the mood to read now, instead, she turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling in the dark, wondering who had called her.