They woke up to her screaming in the middle of the night. It was a blood curdling, shrieking kind of scream that was going to make their ears ring for the next few hours. And sadly, it was a very familiar scream. Every few weeks Chaelin would be consumed by horrible nightmares of scientists running their dirty hands all up and down her body; their dull razors shaving scales off of her tail, glass rods probing her orifices like she was a dead frog waiting to be dissected. It made her nauseous even as she slept.

And so every few weeks, her unnies would crawl up into her bed and try to ride it out with her.

"." Dara mumbled, stumbling out of her bedroom.

"I'll go grab a glass of water!" Bom called from down the hallway.

"Thanks..." 

Dara continued stumbling down the dark hallway of their apartment, tripping over her robe every now and again, until she reached the source of that horrible shrieking sound. She twisted the doorknob and peered inside.

"Chaelin. Chaelin-ah!" She rushed over to the younger girl who was tangled up in her own bedsheets. She leaned over her and started rubbing circles into Chaelin's back.

"Shh, shh, shh! You're alright, you're alright..." Dara cooed. "Chaelin-ah, I need you to wake up now. C'mon, c'mon..." she said while shaking her dongsaeng gently. Eventually CL's screaming changed to sobbing, and as she slowly came out of her nightmare, her eyes peered open to see her unnie standing over her.

"You're safe now; Dara's not gonna let anything happen to you." She slipped under the covers and curled up behind Chaelin. Her smooth feet brushed against CL's exposed scales. 

"Poor thing, you must have been so scared. But no one's gonna hurt you with me around, understand?"

She wrapped her arms around Chaelin and continued assuring her, holding her tight and feeling her sobs rack through her small body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Somewhere else, far, far away, five middleaged men in business suits crowded around a laptop. 

"G-I-Z TO THE I-B-E, Nan nappeun gijibae, can't you see~?"

"This video was published in the spring of 2013, sir. We can say with near certainty that it's her.

A decrepit man with thick white hair and a cane glared at the screen.

"Is that so...?"

He watched her gyrate and prance around a small stage, rapping in a mix of English and Korean. He rested his elbows on the table and laced his fingers.

"Well then...," he sighed. "Let's go get our little mermaid."