Chapter 1

"Please clean this one," said a guest who came to the restaurant and pointed to a table that had just been empty and had not been cleaned.

Morel, who was arranging the tableware at another table, immediately approached the table. "Okay, just a moment." He answered quickly and cleaned the table immediately.

Morel wiped the table clean and then carried the dirty dishes on the tray he had brought. This was Morel's second job today after he had been a cashier at a small shop. Morel was eager to increase the number of part-time jobs he could do because he wanted to raise 8000 dollars as soon as possible.

With the 8000 dollars he had accumulated from his work, he wanted to buy a ring with a sapphire stone.

A few weeks ago, Morel saw the ring in a shop with Anna, a woman Morel had been in love with for three months. Anna was a beautiful, petite woman with a small face and a short haircut. Anna looked perfect to Morel.

At that time, Anna said that she wanted the ring. Meanwhile, Morel felt the ring would look beautiful on Anna's hand. So Morel didn't mind working harder to give it to Anna soon.

Not far from Morel, who was currently busy, a man had been watching Morel since earlier with a grim, annoyed look. he kept snorting while waiting for an opportunity. Then suddenly, he approached just as Morel was walking.

"Hey, watch your step." A man holding a dirty plate slammed into Morel, making Morel's body almost stagger and fall, but he managed to keep his balance.

Morel stood up straight while looking at her plate again, and then he turned his head and looked at the man. Morel looked at him in confusion, as it was evident that the person who wasn't paying attention to his path was his coworker.

The man gave Morel a sharp and haughty look. "You're doing very poorly. You're not careful when there's a lot of work going on in this place. You're deliberately causing a scene so that you can find an opportunity to be quiet, huh?" he showed his annoyed face.

Morel didn't accept it. He wasn't the one to blame. He had been working correctly all along. Constantly clearing tables and delivering food, he adjusted his pace to the crowds as it was lunchtime.

"I've been busy with my work, and you bumped into me instead of the other way around." Morel looked at him flatly, with his eyebrows and the center of his forehead slightly bent.

Another coworker who was nearby looked at Morel. He didn't like how Morel behaved, which he thought was haughty. "Hey, watch how you talk. He's more senior than you in this place. You are so rude. Your work is incompetent. You were just moving fast but pretended to be busy so that no one would ask you to do this and that." he looked at Morel with a dismissive gaze.

Morel looked at them in turn with a cold look in his eyes. This was not the first time this had happened to him, but he did his best to remain patient with them.

Then what they're saying isn't true at all. Morel was so busy that he didn't even stop and kept walking for over an hour to the front and back of the restaurant to deliver orders, bring them out of the kitchen, and carry dirty dishes. Now, when the lunch hour was ending, they deliberately kept him there when he wanted to take a break because both his legs and hands were sore and stiff.

The man then picked up the pile of dishes on the table and placed them on the tray in Morel's hand. "Take this inside and wash everything right now."

Morel stared at the pile of plates in his hands with annoyance. He hardened his jaw. He sighed again to calm himself down, remembering that today was the day his salary would be reduced. He didn't want to complicate things for herself, so she refrained from just staring at them staring at her.

He picked them up and walked away, but when he had only taken a few steps, the two of them bumped into him from behind again. Morel lost his balance, and the plates fell from his hands and broke.

Morel held onto his knees, which he used to rest on to hold onto the plates he was carrying, but his efforts were in vain. He stared at the broken plates with a pained and tired gaze. His lips pressed tightly together as his eyes closed. His back was cold and trembling with anger.

"What happened?" Someone from behind the counter machine, the place's manager, came over, looking at all the commotion.

The manager stared at the plates on the floor and then turned to Morel. "Is this Morel?" his face was annoyed at seeing the porcelain plates scattered across the floor.

"He didn't walk carefully when carrying the plates, sir. So the plate he was under fell and broke." One of those who had knocked him down was telling lies.

Morel got up. He ignored his throbbing knee and gave the two men a cold stare as he acted ready in front of the manager.

"No sir, I was watching my path. But suddenly he appeared-"

"Let's not talk so much!" The manager cut him off. The manager sighed, his face looking tiredly at Morel. "How can you work so carelessly?" he asked accusingly.

"You never work well." The manager believed the man's words.

Morel looked unhappy. "Sir, listen to me first. I didn't fall because of negligence. But since he bumped into my body, even before that, he was trying to make me fall."

"He's lying, sir." The other man spoke up. "I was here and saw him fall myself."

Their manager was getting visibly angry, his eyes glaring at Morel. "What a liar. This is you, huh? It's incompetent to even dare to turn on others. You think I'm so stupid, you can play me, huh?" He snapped at Morel.

Morel just kept quiet. He knew whatever he said at the moment would be useless because the plate was in his hand, and it did break because he fell. There were no CCTV cameras in that place that could prove his innocence. So, he had no choice but to shut up and accept his superior's babbling.

"You know that one plate you broke was worth fifty dollars." He looked at the floor and counted with his eyes how many plates were severely broken and partially broken but still unusable. "And you broke ten plates. You have to compensate for all of them."

Morel raised his face and looked at the man. He was about to protest, "Half of my salary?"

"Yes, I will deduct half of your salary." The manager spoke sternly. Meanwhile, the two people behind smiled faintly with pleasure. "Clean up all this, then you can go home. Your work time is over. I don't want to pay more for your time."

The man who was the manager of the place left. Morel sighed and quickly cleaned up. Afterward, he went to his manager and received his monthly wage of only 500 dollars.

Morel walked out of the restaurant. He stared at the crowded street with a flat gaze. "Seriously..." He complained softly with a lackluster look as he only managed to get half of his work this month.

By now, Morel was walking to another workplace. His third job today was as a food delivery boy. He stuffed his pay envelope into the inside pocket of his jacket and buttoned it tightly, then he took a deep breath to gather his spirit and quickly walked into the fast food restaurant.

Not long after, Morel came out of the fast food restaurant wearing a vest with the restaurant's name and carrying a box that he put on the back box of his scooter.

Morel got on the scooter and left there. He was on the night road as the night was getting late, and some of the building lights had been extinguished. The scooter Morel was riding drove on the road along with countless other vehicles. As Morel drove towards the big store, he stopped at an apartment to deliver their order.

Then, when he came out and was about to leave, Morel saw a figure he recognized, his eyes staring at the figure leisurely. "Isn't that Gia?" he spoke softly as their position across from Morel became uncertain.

He quickly got on his scooter again and crossed the street. The woman he saw with a man-made Morel's mind was messy. He left his scooter on the side of the road after pulling out the key, then hurriedly followed the woman from behind.

When the woman stopped at a large building, Morel was momentarily speechless. "What is Anna doing in this place with a man?" His hunch starting to sour, he walked back inside, following them.

Morel's hands were clenched into fists as he watched Anna enter the hotel room with a man hugging her hips. They looked intimate as they laughed at each other. When the door to the room was closed, Morel's silent steps resumed, and he stopped in front of the door. Then, I banged on it vigorously. Just as the door opened slightly to reveal a man's head, Morel pushed the door open before the man could even ask who Morel was.

"What are you doing?" the man asked, surprised, but Morel ignored him.

Morel stared at Anna, who was there with half of her top half undone, revealing her bra-clad breasts. Morel looked at her coldly and sharply with tightly clenched hands and a hardened jaw.