Chapter 5: Chapter 5

It made me feel so miserable and hopeless. So unfair and shameful.

Since the manager abandoned me, I looked around to see if anyone else would help me. The other employees, who were usually close with me since we worked on the same floor, avoided my eyes. No one seemed to want to help me.

None of these people were on my side. I felt as if I was going to die of despair.

Seeing the mother side with the daughter, I wished there was someone who would be on my side no matter what.

I envied her even though I knew it was over-indulgence and that this indulgence made her spoiled.

“What are you doing? Apologize!”

The mother’s words finalized it. It was a sign that I could not avoid it, no matter how unfair it might be.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Everything was my fault.”

Eventually, on that day, I had no choice but to kneel and apologize in front of everyone, even though I knew it was unreasonable.

I will never forget how cold and hard the floor under my knees was. Even now, I can feel that chill, and my head throbbed every time I thought of it.

“Hmph! Since I’m kind, I will go easy on you. Remember this lesson.”

The overbearing mother and daughter then pretended to be generous and left after saying that I was forgiven.

I cried for a long time in the warehouse after that.

How much do I have to endure in the name of work? I tried to comfort myself by thinking that the world was just that horrible and unfair, but I couldn’t. I cried and cried at the injustice of it all.

And my only reward was a notice of dismissal.

“Why am I getting fired? This isn’t right!”

It was already unreasonable that I got into a fight. But his reply was too ridiculous.

“Don’t be so emotional. I’m doing this because I care about you. Those two come to this department store every week. They’re going to pick a fight with you every time they see you. Will you be able to handle that? Don’t bother and just move to another place. You’re still young and will soon get hired somewhere else. I’ll also give you the next three months’ salary. Other places won’t take care of the staff like this. Accept it and take care of yourself.”

The manager turned away as if he’d said everything he had to say. Wasn’t he basically asking me to accept some money and get lost?

Even though I knew it wasn’t right, I was too young to argue that the dismissal was not fair.

At that time, it had only been a few months since I started working. I was not well-versed enough to pluck up my courage and deal with the irrationality of society.

I cried my eyes out when I reached home. I missed my mom, who would side with me enthusiastically.

Of course, I knew more than anyone else that my mother’s support was not always unconditional. At best, she would say, “What can I do? It’s not easy to make money. Just hang in there,” in a resigned voice.

So I cried and cried, all alone. I put all my grief and resentment into those tears.

But that was not the end of the worst day in my life. After crying for a long time, my cell phone started ringing non-stop.

— Are you okay?

— I saw the videos. Are you alright?

— Oh my god! What the heck happened?

— Who are those mother and daughter?!

— I saw the video. People are raging against those two.

Video? An ominous feeling made me rush into the web portal. My heart sank as soon as I saw the most searched real-time keywords.

#1 Department store mother and daughter

#2 Department store abuse

#3 Department store kneel

#4 Department store girl

When I pressed #1 with trembling fingers, it directed to a video. I pressed the play button. It showed the entire incident – the mother and daughter ordering me to kneel. And the way I eventually did.

There were a lot of comments cursing the mother and daughter. But the more I read, the more I fell into despair.