They shook hands, and this time Hongbin didn’t try to up-macho Jaehwan with a death grip like last time, which was clearly for the best. The latter was all smiles as always with Hongbin being his bitterly subdued self, but he wasn’t as intimidated as before. This was his home court, his very own half-owned business, and he was feeling as secure as a kid in the dark wrapped in blankets, safe and sound from the monster under his bed. A very pastel monster.

But he was still self conscious. In the club he was surrounded by dozens of people minding their own business, but here… well, he was the business, and thus a performer in front of the crowd. Great, he grumbled; he was always somewhat frightful of the stage.

Jaehwan’s hands were as soft as his smile and his scent like his cardigan- lavender. It wasn’t as overpowering as it was… disconcerting. Did Hongbin put on cologne before he left?

“Hongbin-ssi.” Jaehwan acknowledged with a businessman nod, and Hongbin reciprocated, motioning for him to scoot onto the booth, cushioned by beige walls of feaux leather.

Hakyeon wasted no time and scampered over with two identical menus, despite being the host and definitely not a waiter. Jaehwan gave him an oblivious closed mouthed grin, thanking him politely. Hongbin all but stared him down.

“I’m glad you recommended this place for us,” Jaehwan commented as he scanned the laminated list in front of him. “It’s really homey.”

Hongbin knew his smile wasn’t reaching his eyes, but he couldn’t bother to fix that. He didn’t like that Jaehwan made it all seem too much like a date, and didn’t want him to feel too comfortable.

“Do you mind if we order first before getting to business?” Sweet as taffy, Hongbin wanted to gag.

“Sure.” He opted.

A silent moment went by as Jaehwan took his time going through the menu while Hongbin sat back with his arms over his chest. He stole a look at Hakyeon who arched his eyebrows impatiently at him, wiping another black hole into the granite of the counter. He sighed.

“I’d recommend the lemon tart with some apple cider.” Hongbin then said, somewhat reluctantly.

The latter looked up at him without lifting his head, making him look both coquettish and like a Kubrik villain, before setting his menu down with, what else, a smile.

“So you’re a regular.”

“You could say that.”

“Well, then the service should be great.”

As if on cue, Hakyeon appeared again, pad and pen in hand.

“You two gentlemen ready to order?”

“Two lemon tarts and two ciders, please.”

“Regular or spiked?” Hakyeon blurted, probably as a reflex, but Hongbin’s glare that followed was a figurative splash of cold water in his face.

“I’d actually like wine in my cider, thank you.” Jaehwan retorted, unaware of the true implication of the host’s question.

“Coming right up!” Hakyeon exclaimed, meeting Hongbin’s bug-eyed stare with an incredulous curl of the lips, and retreated to the kitchen with a chipper step.

 Jaehwan then turned to face Hongbin again, folding his hands into a tent on the table.

“So,” He began. “Would you like to hear what I’ve planned so far?”

Hongbin shrugged noncommittally. Childish, but nonetheless honest. Jaehwan didn’t seem to take offense to that.

“I think we should have a panel of judges. We’ll bring in someone who’s been a client to us both, I’ll bring a judge that isn’t familiar with your work and you bring one of your own.”

A quick glimpse at the counter showed that Hakyeon was practically his lips at what was conspiring. Hongbin prepared himself for the upcoming pestering; Hakyeon will not let down an opportunity to be in charge in any way.

“If you’d be comfortable with it, I will ask my judge to prepare the actual course of the contest, without my interference whatsoever, of course.” A pause for a reaction, which Hongbin humored with a neutral grimace. “He’s a seasoned entrepreneur and a loyal customer, so he’s bound to come up with something challenging for us to do.”

If he wanted to impress Hongbin, it wasn’t working. He’d already had his fair share of pompous businessmen in his lifetime as a Collector.

“How about we let two judges come up with their own legs of the race?” Hongbin offered. “And if we tie, the third judge would arrange a tie breaker. So it’s best out of three.”

“Sounds wonderful!” Jaehwan exclaimed, clearly pleased with the new premise. “Ah, and it’s settled just in time for the food.” He turned to smile at Hakyeon who had arrived in the meantime, holding a tray with their tarts and ciders somewhat haughtily.

“Bon Appetite!” He crooned before slinking away once again.

The more Hongbin thought about it, the more he enjoyed the idea of a three legged race. This way if he loses it won’t be a complete fluke… and it also would buy him time to say goodbye to his hometown.

“Mm, this is good,” Jaehwan’s full mouthed compliment shook Hongbin out of his thoughts, reminding him to blow on his scalding cider. “I can only imagine what this would taste like if it was spiked.”

Hongbin paused mid blow, looking up to meet Jaehwan’s gaze. It might have had been all in his head, but he could have sworn his look seemed more knowing than it should have been. Maybe he’d been giving Jaehwan less credit than he deserved.

The rest of the coffee date was fairly uneventful. They remained to chat for another forty minutes or so, keeping the conversation light and nonintrusive, but Hongbin did manage to learn a few new things.

For starters, Jaehwan had a major sweet tooth, that of which he quenched by adding two whole packets of sugar into his already sweetened cider, and sprinkled the remains lightly on the lemon tart. Hongbin bit his tongue from mentioning diabetes in any way.

Secondly, he would hum when he ate, like a cat purring at a delectable meal. It wasn’t consistent and thus came as a surprise every time it happened, regardless of the bites he had already taken out of his food. It was as if he was perpetually surprised by what he was eating. Hongbin couldn’t decide if it were more annoying or endearing, but for his own sake settled on annoying.

And lastly, he seemed at ease literally everywhere. Whereas Hongbin sweated out of every pore at the mere mention of a party, Jaehwan was unperturbed by the dancing masses at Hyuk’s club. He also seemed unfazed as he nonchalantly called a person who clearly disliked him, not to mention challenged him to a duel. And of course, he seemed perfectly at home there in Inyeon, munching on a lemon tart as if it was served to him by his own overbearing grandmother. Yeah, definitely annoying.

 They agreed to settle the rest of the technicalities by text, on account of it being best to take some time to think about the challenge and what it entails. It was also decided that the first leg of the race would be sometime next week, and would be judged by Jaehwan’s fancy acquaintance. Hongbin had the next two weeks to announce his judge and have him or her prepare their own challenge. This was beginning to feel like some kind of cheap reality show and Hongbin was left to wonder if he did the right thing agreeing to this.

They parted at around nine o’clock, both their orders being on the house (“It’s rude to only sponsor one of the diners… come again soon!”). Hongbin didn’t have the chance to sigh in relief because he was promptly cornered by the generous café owner and ushered back to the empty stall. How naïve of him to think that the stressful evening was over.

“So,” Hakyeon started. “For my part of the competition I thought you two should—“

“Whoa, whoa,whoa—“ Hongbin interrupted. “What makes you think you’re my judge of choice?”

“Oh please,” He groaned, leaning back into the padded backrest.  “Who else would agree to this nonsense other than me?”

Hongbin grimaced in recognition. He didn’t have many friends as it is, not to mention those who would play along with this act of apparent madness.  Also Hakyeon did pay for his food that evening.

“Fine. But you’ll be the tie breaker if it comes to it.” He agreed begrudgingly. “I don’t entirely trust you to keep me around.”

“Me?!” Hakyeon gasped in outrage, his hands flying to his chest defensively. “How could you say that to your own business partner slash employer?”

Hongbin ignored that last addition. “Yeah, I saw how eager you were to pay for Jaehwan’s meal.”

“Relax, it was just a cake and some wine,” He retorted. “But, I mean, he was pretty easy on the eyes.”

Absolutely shameless.

“See?” Hongbin pointed an accusing finger. “This is exactly why you’ll be the tie breaker!”

“But you don’t disagree with me.” Hakyeon smirked suggestively.

“Whatever, hyung.” Yeah, he was done. “It’s been a long day; I’m going home to pass out in front of the T.V.”

With that he made his leave, but not before waving goodbye to the waiters and giving his hyung a short, but grateful hug.

Hongbin glanced at the clock; he was actually going to be late. He barely had time to iron his button down and he was now frantically trying to recover the correct way to tie a bow tie from his bustling mind.

Was it pull and then tuck? Or tuck and then pull? Damn it! He swore audibly at the sudden incoming flurry of text messages. He did not have time for this right now.

Two days had passed since his meeting with Jaehwan and he was running late for that day’s opera Experience. He had spent the entire day in bed, suffering from another one of his infamous migraines, and completely forgot that he was working that night. And for a wealthy, influential client, no less.

He had to get his straight, and once again Jaehwan was coming for his salary, this time in the form of an untimely distraction. He ignored the flashing light alerting him of his unread messages and popped an Aspirin, washing it down with a shot of a vacation in Thailand (in the form of spiked apple juice of course; he wasn’t mixing drugs unless he was paid to do so).

Slightly flushed, he hailed a cab and entered it in somewhat of a storm. He directed the driver to the theater in question before finally relaxing in his seat; He will only be five minutes late. Only then in the quiet vicinity of the taxi did he unlock the screen and take a pensive look at what was awaiting him.

Hi!

Great, Hongbin moaned internally. He types one word a time.

So…

 I’ve talked to my judge

And he was more than happy to arrange a challenge for us!

Expect an email detailing how it will go down

Talk to you soon!

And of course- a smiling, rosy cheeked emoji.

Hongbin let the screen darken on its own, wishing he had taken his trusty flask with him. He could have used another Aspirin-Vacation cocktail.

Hongbin ended up enjoying the opera quite a bit, which was good because genuine enjoyment adds authenticity to the experience he was selling, so overall it was a good night… That is, until he turned his phone back on. Waiting for him was an e-mail from a source he did not recognize, which could only mean one thing.

“Hello gentlemen,

My name is Ro Jaesung. I was approached earlier by Jaehwan-ssi who requested I serve as a moderator of sorts in your competition, and I am honored to oblige.

For you, Lee Hongbin-ssi, I’d like to offer a quick introduction of me and my profession before I continue with what I had in mind for you two.

I’m the vice chairman of Shinhan Financial Group, and have been for the last ten years. You might know us from our banking services. I’ve been a client of Jaehwan’s for the last month or so and he truly opened my eyes to the amazing opportunities one can gain from these so called Experiences, both in a business sense as well as in a personal one.

In adherence to that, I’d like to arrange your challenge in a way that would profit me on both fronts. I am willing to offer and pay the full price of the Experience I eventually choose, as I would be more than happy to purchase the complete product and will not settle for a sample if it fits my criteria.

And finally, the details of the challenge are as follows:

I will be holding an international meeting with affiliates from Japan soon and I would like to come off as persuasive and confident as I can. These associates are a tough crowd. Furthermore, I will need to know as much about Japanese etiquette as possible and it has to be authentic. This will be more of a bonus than a requirement, but will definitely grant points in your favor.

Feel free to add anything else you feel would enhance the Experience, but do not subtract from the general guidelines I specified.

I have attached a file with the deadline as well as an online map of the area in which we will meet.

I look forward to working with you gentlemen, feel free to contact me about any questions you have regarding the subject.

Good luck to you both,

Ro Jaesung”

Hongbin almost sighed in relief but held his tongue. The mission itself seemed fairly simple, but given the high rank of the judge he felt like what he would normally offer wouldn’t really be enough. He had some thinking to do.

Moments later, in a cab again, Hongbin received a text from a nose emoji asking if he had received the e-mail from the vice chairman. Hongbin confirmed dryly, but upon short contemplation decided to add a simple “good luck”. He then locked his phone hurriedly, feeling suddenly embarrassed.

“Sorry Wonssik, no can do about concerts this week,” Hongbin spoke into the phone in the crook of his shoulder. He was walking home from a fruitful trip to the convenience store, hauling an expensive amount of groceries meant for his challenge. He hoped the money he potentially receives for his Experience would make up for the current hole in his wallet.

“I have a big project I’m working on.”

“Oh man that’s a shame.” Wonssik’s disappointed voice came from the other side. “I’ve actually got some guys here looking to buy.”

Hongbin frowned. This dumb competition better be worth it. “I know buddy, I’m sorry. But please keep me posted! Hopefully I’ll be free later on this month.”

“Will do, Bean.”

“Hey, how was the Grimes Experience?”

“It was amazing! It really felt like I was there! Like, my ears were ringing and the crowd was—“

Hongbin didn’t even mind that his arms felt like lead or that the walk to his apartment was excruciatingly long; Hearing Wonsik gush about his Experience was a very welcome boost to his ego. His opera Experience had also been received well by his client, which made him an overall happy Collector and gave him all the motivation he needed to get home and produce another kickass Experience for the vice chairman.

He hung up the phone upon entering his apartment complex, ending the conversation on a positive note. Wondering if Jaehwan was feeling this confident, he also pondered over the issue of whether or not he’d earned enough good karma to actually pull this off. Time will tell, and luckily for Hongbin he had an entire week to think of his diabolical plan… or, well, not so diabolical since he did need the universe on his side. He had a nice chuckle remembering the western saying “karma is a ”, until he noticed a freshly glued notice on the metallic elevator doors. To his utter dismay, the lift was out of order.

He then proceeded to climb five floors on foot, groceries in hand, casually entertaining the thought of repentance while doing his best not to swear in the empty stairwell.

Welp.
To be honest I am not 100% satisfied with this chapter, but I felt like this is the most I can do with it, thus its shortness.
I don't think I'll edit it any further, but if I do I'll make sure to add [EDITED] in the title for y'all.
Thank you as always for reading and for your patience.