By the time they arrived, Jinsu was fully alert and awake, and even more conscious of the mascara.  She considered herself extremely lucky that Saeeun had only had time to talk her into a little something to enhance the eyes, because if this was how jittery just one bit of makeup was making her, then having it all over her face would probably send her into a fit.

Intended or not, Sungwoo’s timing was so impeccable that the car slid to a halt outside the hotel just as Jinsu’s parents were getting out of the car ahead.  Bidding a hasty goodbye to the chauffeur, Jinsu scrambled out of the car and almost tripped trying to catch up with her family.  Her mother looked around at the commotion and pulled her father to a halt.

“I like that dress on you,” her father commented absently as she came alongside them and they began to walk again, Jinsu’s mother providing a steadying hand for the girl.  “It’s very bold.”

“I don’t feel bold in it,” Jinsu grumbled, self-consciously tugging the bodice part up, even though her cleavage wasn’t on display.

“Behave, Jinsu.  You have an image to uphold.”

Jinsu pulled a face at him behind his back before schooling herself into a more neutral expression.  “Sorry, Father.  Um, what exactly is the function today?”

“We’re celebrating,” her mother said, nodding to a waiter who was directing other smartly dressed guests – including a number of government officials, Jinsu noted – towards a ballroom on the ground floor.

“What are we celebrating?”

“Our success, darling.  The Attayear’s finished, thanks to your hard work on the interior last night.”

“F-f-finished?”  Jinsu stopped walking and almost tripped.  “Already?  But wasn’t there so much more—?”

“We’ve been keeping progress of various individual parts secret for security reasons,” said her father, accepting a glass of prosecco from a waitress passing by with a tray of them.  On second thoughts, he reached out and pilfered two more, passing one to his wife and one to Jinsu.  “The interior decor was just the last bit that needed doing, along with a bit of fine-tuning to some of the machine’s computers.”

“But isn’t it too early to celebrate if we don’t know whether or not it works?” Jinsu pointed out hesitantly.  “And how come you got all this organised at such short notice?”

“Kim Minhyuk’s nephew is on our engineering team.  That’s him over there.”  Jinsu’s father pointed out a young man – if he was even old enough to be called a man, because he barely looked older than Jinsu – talking to somebody who looked incredibly like the president, one hand clutching a glass of prosecco as he used his fingers to gesture every so often, and the other tucked into his pocket.  “He took the machine for its first hop today.  Fifteen minutes back into the past – worked perfectly, no problems at all.”

Jinsu’s eyes widened, but at that moment, somebody in military uniform with a dazzling array of medals on his chest approached and shook Jinsu’s father’s hand, and just like that, his attention was gone.

“I’m just going to nip to the bathroom, dear,” said Jinsu’s mother, straightening her faux fur around her collar, and she was gone, too, before Jinsu could say she wanted to go with because hanging around on her own was only going to be very awkward.  She scanned the gathering again, looking for people her own age, but the only possible candidate for that was the hotel owner’s nephew, and Jinsu wasn’t sure she remembered his name correctly.  She thought it was Min-something, but that was about it.

A tap on her shoulder almost had her screaming, and her attempt to whirl around to see who it was nearly landed her on the carpet with a broken ankle.

“Oh, sh*t, I’m so sorry!” exclaimed a heavenly familiar voice, accompanied by the sound of a champagne flute smashing on the ground as the person grabbed Jinsu around the waist to keep her from falling.  “I should have realised you were wearing heels because you’re actually taller than me tonight.  Oh, man, are you okay?”

Waiting a second or two for the rapid beating of her heart to return to normal, Jinsu nodded, and then looked up at the miscreant.  Kim Jongdae, heir to the Kim hotel chain, was standing in front of her and looking remarkably dishevelled for somebody in black tie.

“Y’all right, Jinsu?” he asked, letting go of her again.

“No.  You dropped an entire glass of prosecco, you knucklehead.  I’m physically pained you could do such a thing.”

“Broken glass is better than broken bones,” he said breezily.  “Anyway, wanna get away from all the fuddy-duddy adults?  Even my cousin’s no fun tonight.  I thought I was going to die of boredom until you walked in.  Still not even sure why I’m here, to be honest.  Dad just told me to get downstairs in black tie the second I walked in from school and help the staff set up.”

Escape sounded wonderful, and Jinsu gladly let Jongdae lead the way out of the room, the boy chatting ten to the dozen about anything and everything.  He was two years older than Jinsu and absolutely adored Jinsu’s big brother, because Jimin had been great at entertaining him at social gatherings when they were both younger.  Both Jimin and Jongdae had calmed down quite a lot since the days where they’d rampage around important people’s funeral receptions shaking up bottles of coke to blast at each other, but Jongdae still retained a fair amount of mischief that showed itself from time to time.

As they were passing through the hallway of the hotel to go further back into an area only Jongdae and his family had keys for, Jongdae stopped one of the staff and apologised profusely for broken glass on the floor in the ballroom, but the second the woman was out of sight, he turned back to Jinsu.

“Did you see the president was in the room?” he asked in a whisper.  “My cousin was talking to him.”

“Was that actually the president?”

“Yeah.”  Jongdae let them through a pair of locked doors.  They went down a passage near the kitchen that was staff only, and then he produced another set of keys for an even more private area of the hotel.  “We probably shouldn’t leave the function completely, so I’m going to take us up to the ballroom balcony – but yeah, the president came.  That’s why I’m still only really half dressed – only found out he was showing up about ten minutes before he did and I had to go haring around to make sure everything was okay with security.  They’ve actually got snipers placed on the roof and all that sh*t.”

Jinsu gave an involuntary glance upwards, even though she wasn’t going to be able to see the snipers, before accepting the arm Jongdae offered to help climb the set of stairs in front of them.  At the top, they doubled back the way they’d come along a long, thickly carpeted passage.

“Must be something pretty important for your dad to get the president along at such short notice,” Jongdae mused.  “I mean, it’s basically his function.  Minseok might have winged things so it was possible to put on at such short notice, but still. . . .”

“My father and the president are pretty good friends,” Jinsu admitted.

“What, so you get him coming around for dinner and stuff?”

“No, barely ever seen him. Not in person.  I think they went to university together.”

They halted in front of a door that had a placard on it declaring it to be the balcony.  Jongdae fumbled for yet another set of keys, but then stopped and peered closely at the handle.  Concluding it was already open, he pushed on the door handle, and they both stepped out onto the balcony.  A buzz of noise hit them at once, and Jinsu could see people standing around through the balcony balustrade.

“Hi, Junmyeon,” Jongdae greeted a teenager sitting just insi