Byulyi sat on the bed in the living room, twiddling her thumbs as she waited for Yongsun. She rocked back and forth, occasionally glancing at the closed door of the bedroom that Yongsun and her older sister were in. She could hear them whispering in hushed tones, and knew that if she really wanted to, she could’ve eavesdropped on their conversation.

But there was definitely a reason why the girls had to talk in private, Byulyi knew. If time allowed, she might ask Yongsun about it later. For now, however, she would just sit on this tiny bed, sweating buckets in her warm suit. It took her less than two minutes before she gave up wearing the suit jacket. As she shrugged it off, extracting her arms from the tight sleeves, the house intercom buzzed.

“Yongsun?” Byulyi narrowed her eyes at the familiar voice. “Yongsun, are you home? It’s me, Eric.”

Byulyi tiptoed to the intercom unit. True enough, Eric was standing outside the apartment building and staring into the camera. She pressed the microphone button to reply, purposely raising the pitch of her voice. “So sorry, Yongsun-sshi isn’t home right now. Is there anything urgent?”

“O-oh, hello.” She noticed Eric’s eyeballs wavering and giggled quietly to herself, realising that he didn’t recognise her altered voice. “Um, no, nothing urgent.” He leaned back and spoke to someone off-screen, and Byulyi strained her ears to listen in. “It seems Yongsun’s not home.”

His companion shifted slightly into view, and through the pixelated screen Byulyi caught a glimpse of a barrel-chested man in black. The man whispered something to Eric and pointed at the camera. “Then, how about her older sister?” Eric leaned back in to ask.

Byulyi was on high alert at the sight of the suspicious man in black. A woman’s intuition was a force to be reckoned with, and her gut feeling was telling her that the man was dangerous. “Oh, she’s also not home. Do you want to leave a message?”

Eric shifted his gaze to his companion, who shook his head and walked away. “Um, if you could tell Yongsun that her boyfriend dropped by, that’d be great. Thank you,” he said, and smiled at the camera before leaving. Byulyi sneered in response. No way I’m telling her that, you idiot.

She jolted back when Yongsun and Yonghee came out of the room. “Are you both okay?” she asked upon noticing their worried faces. Yonghee sighed and looked down at her feet, then muttered a few words to her younger sister. Yongsun nodded and cracked a small smile at the younger woman.

“Byul-ah, let’s go out for a while.”

************************************************

Byulyi carefully balanced a tray laden with various dishes as she navigated her way to Yongsun. Placing plates of vegetables, barbecued meat, and rice cakes onto the table, she nervously peeked at the brooding older woman. She sat down in her seat opposite Yongsun, watched, and waited until her friend noticed her presence.

“Ah, sorry. My mind was elsewhere,” the brunette sheepishly said. She looked down at the spicy rice cakes in front of her and stabbed them one by one with a fork.

Byulyi was concerned, but she was even more upset by the fact that the older woman looked so glum. The silence wasn’t helping, so she took it upon herself to attempt to cheer Yongsun up. While Yongsun was distracted, Byulyi slid a pickle slice into the woman’s plate. To her delight, Yongsun picked it up and, upon eating it, promptly spat it out.

“Oh my gods what was that?” The brunette grabbed a glass of water to rinse and stuck her tongue in disgust. She glared at Byulyi, narrowing her eyes at the latter’s -eating smirk. “What did you do, Moon Byulyi?”

Byulyi pressed her lips together to stop her laughter. “Nothing,” she sang, and put another pickle on the older woman’s plate.

Yongsun stabbed it and put it back on Byulyi’s plate.

When she was about to take a mouthful of bulgogi beef, Byulyi took the pickle slice and stuck it into Yongsun’s mouth along with the meat.

The older brunette swatted Byulyi’s hand away.

On the girl’s third pickle endeavour, Yongsun grabbed her hand and shoved the offending vegetable into Byulyi’s mouth instead, and dissolved into a fit of giggles when the younger girl’s facial features contorted unattractively at the sour taste.

Once Byulyi rinsed the undesirable flavour out of , she grinned at Yongsun. “Feel better now, unnie?” Yongsun nodded and laughed softly, touched at Byulyi’s attempts to cheer her up.

“Byul-ah, I’m sorry about my attitude just now. You were probably wondering why we were acting like that.”

“Yeah,” Byulyi blurted. “Wait, no. I mean, yes, but you don’t have to explain it if you don’t want to.” Yongsun smiled at her gratefully.

“Explain what?” A body slammed into Byulyi, nearly tipping her off the chair. Wheein grinned at Yongsun and waved. “Hi, unnie! Eric sunbae was looking for you just now, and-” Her smile faded when she noticed Byulyi frowning at her. “Did I interrupt something?”

Yongsun shook her head and smiled at Wheein, but Byulyi was distracted by what the younger girl had said. “Wheein, did you say Eric was looking for Yong-unnie?” Wheein nodded. “Was he with someone? Did he say why?”

Wheein laughed. “Unnie, they're kind of, you know, dating, remember? Isn't it normal to look for your girlfriend? Also, I didn't see anyone with him, why?”

Byulyi frowned; was she thinking too much into this? Nevertheless, she leaned towards Yongsun, whispering her worries. “Unnie, when you were talking with Yonghee-unnie just now, Eric was looking for you too.”

Yongsun raised an eyebrow. “And you didn't tell me?”

“That's beside the point,” Byulyi waved Yongsun's and Wheein’s accusing stares away. “He came with another man, muscular and fierce-looking. They were looking for both you and Yonghee-unnie.”

“Both of us?” Yongsun asked quizzically, and Byulyi nodded in return. “That's strange. There's no reason for Eric to seek out my sister. But do you remember anything special about the other man, like whether he had any tattoos or markings?”

“Well,” Byulyi stared into the distance, her habit when recollecting information, “he had a large black cross tattoo running down his right arm, and a scar through his right eyebrow as well.”

Yongsun tensed. She knew exactly who Byulyi was talking about. “A-and do you know where he is now?”

Next to Byulyi, Wheein suddenly whimpered and shrank in her seat. The silver-haired woman's eyes turned dark as she stood up, glaring at something behind Yongsun.

The voice that Yongsun heard next made her skin crawl, and she turned around in her seat to see the very man standing behind her with arms crossed. He grinned malevolently.“Hey, Kim Yongsun-sshi. How have your parents been?”