Total Cost to Hire K Workers

class Solution {
public:
    long long totalCost(vector<int>& costs, int k, int candidates) {
        int n=costs.size();
        priority_queue<int,vector<int>,greater<int>> pq1,pq2;

        long long ans=0;
        int hired=0;
        int i=0,j=n-1;
        while(hired<k)
        {
            while(pq1.size()<candidates && i<=j)
            {
                pq1.push(costs[i]);
                i++;
            }
            while(pq2.size()<candidates && j>=i)
            {
                pq2.push(costs[j]);
                j--;
            }
            int min_pq1 = pq1.size()>0?pq1.top():INT_MAX;
            int min_pq2 = pq2.size()>0?pq2.top():INT_MAX;
            if(min_pq1<=min_pq2)
            {
                ans+=min_pq1;
                pq1.pop();
            }
            else
            {
                ans+=min_pq2;
                pq2.pop();
            }
            hired++;
        }
        return ans;
    }
};