Max jumped to her feet. "That's the girl from Inkigayo," she exclaimed, pointing at the TV. (One of Hailey's brothers - she didn't know or care which - had paid for it.) "The one I spoke to. Remember?"
"She wasn't lying," Edie murmured, eyes fixed on the hangul characters scrolling across the bottom of the screen. "Shit, that's fast."
Jessica Chang turned to Hailey. "You didn't tell me about this?" she demanded.
Hailey shifted uncomfortably.
"It's not that bad," Hailey's creepy brother said from behind Max, who jerked and turned to glare at him. (She hadn't bothered to learn his name, but mentally, she referred to him as "the creepy one".) He squinted down at her, leering, then looked back up to meet Jessica's gaze. "Dad's going to use this to drag your name through the mud, but it's not like he wasn't already trying to do that in the first place. The trick is to link this to Astute so we can pull him down at the same time."
Hailey stared at him, visibly discomfited, but Jessica narrowed her eyes. "Yes, that might work. He's the one who recommended Mr Park as CEO, anyway." She unlocked her phone, nails clacking as she typed. "And I only appointed him on the strength of that recommendation. Who knows how far down the rot goes at Astute? The company's culture needs to change..."
"And we're just the people to do it," Hailey's creepy brother finished, still pacing. "I'll get Arstan on the line."
Hailey finally found her voice. "You've got a perfectly serviceable living room," she said. "Couldn't you two use that one instead?"
Jessica uncrossed her legs and smiled condescendingly down at her. "I told you earlier that we were expecting visitors. You said we could use this living room. Anyway, don't you have work? It's about time you left. Shoo."
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THUNDERDOME: @sugrjangz real talk
THUNDERDOME: would ur sister hv done anything abt this if u'd told her
sugrjangz: idk
sugrjangz: idk anything anymore
sugrjangz: lol
spookyscaryskeletons: thats p fucked up
not_ur_power_bank: language
fides1104: cant wait to go back to kyoto tbh
spookyscaryskeletons: real
THUNDERDOME: same
not_ur_power_bank: yea
sugrjangz: fuck this
Mr Jeon was a grey-haired ghost of a man with wireframe spectacles and a port-wine stain on his neck. He was visibly ill-at-ease sitting behind Jess's desk, but Hailey didn't really care if he was comfortable or not. As she started levitating his dustbin, he sighed and (finally!) looked up. "Is something the matter, Ms Jang?"
"Yeah," Hailey said. "Give me something to do."
Mr Jeon removed his spectacles and massaged his temples. "I was under the impression that you were off gallivanting with your rebellious siblings."
Hailey sneered. "They were getting on my nerves."
"Well, I don't have anything for you to do. Your sister took you on as a trainee attached directly to her. Now that she's gone, your services are no longer required."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"That's none of my business." Mr Jeon slid his spectacles back on and returned his gaze to his computer. "I have a dozen fires to fight, Ms Jang. I'm busy. Get out of my office."
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sugrjangz: the fucking nerve of this guy
fides1104: u can come down if u want
fides1104: the cubicle nxt to me is empty
sugrjangz: i want his fucking head
not_ur_power_bank: mayb when ur dad hits u up again
sugrjangz: ugh dont remind me
THUNDERDOME: btw im off tonite
THUNDERDOME: fashion show w riwon n sunghoon
spookyscaryskeletons: wtf
spookyscaryskeletons: get us tix???
THUNDERDOME: sry. its invite only
THUNDERDOME: also its nt some high fashion thing. j a bunch of uni students pretending 2 be designers
THUNDERDOME: "sibling bonding"
Riwon elbowed her. Edie sighed and locked her phone. This was one of the few times that she resented being skinny. Her bony ass simply could not find a way to be comfortable, perched as it was on a hard plastic chair. Stylish, edgy music blared from the speakers mounted on the walls as pouting models strutted out from backstage. This "fashion show" was taking place inside an artfully dilapidated warehouse on the sprawling campus of Seoul National, which was south of the Han river and therefore practically in the wilderness.
A cheer rose from the rowdy college students behind them. "Why aren't you with them?" Edie mumbled.
Riwon's smile was starting to look distinctly plastic. "Because we're supposed to be bonding," she hissed. "I thought you liked fashion?" This was directed at both Edie and her older brother, Sunghoon, who was on Edie's right.
Sunghoon examined his fingernails. "None of them are really my type," he drawled. Edie was kind of curious as to why he'd started painting his fingernails and wearing eye-shadow, but her parents were extremely uninterested in talking about it, and so was Riwon. So she'd decided that it was probably none of her business.
"That's not a dress," she said. "That looks more like, I dunno, one of those inflatable costumes."
"Minseo, you can't say that."
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THUNDERDOME: image.png
THUNDERDOME: does this look like an inflatable costume
sugrjangz: yea
fides1104: wow its sparkly
spookyscaryskeletons: the future of korean fashion...
not_ur_power_bank: i'm sure whoever made it put alot of thought into it
sugrjangz: its shit
spookyscaryskeletons: lmao
fides1104: more pics?
"Faith?"
Faith thought longingly of the immense, roaring fireplace in her parents' house. "Oh, nothing." She locked her phone and slipped it into her pocket, then rubbed her hands futilely. "You were saying?"
Snow fell all around her in great plumes. She and her sister were trudging down a gentle incline, somewhere in affluent northeast Seoul. Like most of her friends (except Hailey, who had an entire estate somewhere south of the capital), she'd spent her formative years in a residential enclave much like this, built on or near one of Seoul's many mountains, where cars only showed up when they were being driven by the family chauffeur.
Charity was silent for a while. "You know, you could head back if you wanted."
"What?"
"Like, if you wanted to sleep in your old bedroom tonight, Mom and Dad certainly won't complain." Charity exhaled, her breath a thick cloud in front of her face, and brushed irritably at the snowflakes clinging to her eyelashes. "It's not snowing that heavily, but it's going to be a while until we reach the pick-up point."
"You could come back with me."
"Eh. Don't think I will." Charity checked her watch.
Faith raised an eyebrow. "See what I mean?"