“Party, tonight at 10, Shinhwa club. There’s prize money.”

Ye Seul wondered why they had to look so grim at the mention of a party, playing with her sweat band that she had salvaged from the dance hall, once the boys left after receiving news of this party. She took her time walking down the road to her new home, even though it was nearing seven in the evening.

Ye Seul’s parents were definitely not pleased when she strolled into the house at fifteen minutes past seven.

“What kept you?” Mrs. Kang asked her daughter, looking at her through her frameless glasses, over the file that she had been reading, without any preliminary greeting.

“Extracurricular activities.” Ye Seul answered shortly, waiting for further questions.

“Don’t they get over at 6?” Mr. Kang asked grimly, putting down the evening newspaper, “It’s almost seven-thirty.”

“Actually it’s just seven-fifteen, dad.” Ye Seul said, staring her father right in the eye.

“Nevertheless, it shouldn’t have taken you more than twenty minutes to come home from school by bus.” Her father retorted, not missing a beat.

“I walked.” Ye Seul answered, sulking.

“So, you were just whiling away your time.” Mrs. Kang said, putting down her file and standing up.

“I wanted to look around this city.” Ye Seul muttered, frowning.

“There will be a lot of time to do that later.” Mrs. Kang said sternly, “You shouldn’t be wasting important study time exploring the city.”

“Sure, mom.” Ye Seul said coldly, “As long as we don’t move to another city just out of the blue one day. I’ll be in my room.”

With that, Ye Seul turned away from her parents and stomped up the stairs to her room, banging the door shut angrily. She flung her bag down on her chair and threw herself on her bed, frowning till it gave her a splitting headache. After around half an hour she slipped off her bed to change into something more comfortable before pulling out the homework she had for the day.

She worked till she heard her mother calling her for dinner. She popped an aspirin in to reduce the headache before heading downstairs. Dinner consisted of stir fried vegetables and grilled fish. They ate quietly for a while, till her mother decided to question her about her day. Ye Seul answered her questions coldly.

“Look, Ye Seul,” Mr. Kang began, putting down his fork, “I’m sorry we made you transfer, alright? But this was such a good opportunity. They made me head of the Busan branch of our law firm! Your mother got offered such an excellent position too! How could I have just passed this opportunity?”

“Sure dad.” Ye Seul answered, focussing on her food.

“I’m sure you will get used to things here soon enough, Ye Seul.” Mrs. Kang said, in a way she assumed was kind. It only made Ye Seul more irritated. She put down her fork and pushed away her plate of half-finished food.

“Thanks for the food.” She said, pushing her chair back and standing up.

“Wait, Ye Seul.” Her mother stopped her, “I saw in your prospectus that you could pick the extracurricular activities. I hope you picked something that won’t hinder your studies.”

Ye Seul closed her eyes in exasperation, “I picked dance, mom.”

“Ye Seul!” Mrs. Kang exclaimed, “Didn’t we tell you that we’ve had enough of your dance business? I thought having it as a subject should be enough.”

“I haven’t had enough of dance, mom.” Ye Seul said through clenched teeth, “and neither will I ever. No amount of dancing is ever going to be enough!”

“Fine.” Mr. Kang, who had been silent all along, spoke up, “Take dance if you must. But if your grades don’t pick up, I will personally step in and get your extracurricular activity changed.”

“I don’t give a rat’s about my grades!” Ye Seul muttered under her breath, stalking away from the dining table.

Back in her room, she could no longer concentrate on her homework. She laid back on her bed and closed her eyes, playing the whole day over in her head. She saw his face again, in her head. She wanted to see his face again. She felt reckless.

She remembered the name of the place they mentioned. Club Shinhwa. Ye Seul wasn’t new to clubbing. She has sneaked out with few friends – well classmates, they weren’t that close to her to be called friends exactly – back in Seoul, a few times. Of course, it had been all for the dancing. Ye Seul took care to always stay away from the alcohol, and to slip out once her friends started losing it.

 Ye Seul unlocked her phone and searched up Club Shinhwa on the Busan city map. It seemed to be quite a distance from her house, but she decided a bus would take her there easily enough.

The task would be getting out of her house when it was almost ten in the night. Her parents would be occupying the living room, watching the late night news on television. The front door was out of question. There was the back door that lead out of the kitchen, but she would have to pass her parents to go into the kitchen. And they would be highly suspicious if she walked into the kitchen in outdoor clothes. Or if she didn’t appear back from the kitchen.

Ye Seul slipped off her bed and ran to the window. The window didn’t have any grills. Ye Seul stuck her head out to see how far a jump it would be. It was quite a fall, she noticed and she didn’t exactly want to break her leg or neck right now.

Ye Seul wondered if there was something she could use, and her thoughts jumped to the gym ropes she used when learning areal dance choreographies. She had them tucked away somewhere in one of the unpacked boxes in her room, she was sure.

She sat down on the floor and pulled one of the boxes labelled ‘Dance’ towards herself. Swiftly ripping off the tape holding the lid down, Ye Seul feverishly rummaged through the box, tossing bandanas, sweat bands and ribbons all around the room.

“Ah!” she exclaimed in delight as she finally pulled out the entwined bits of the gym ropes. She quickly disentangled them and tied one end of a rope to the leg of her table tightly. She tugged at it to see if it held and was pleased to find that it held very well. The other end, she flung out of the window. There were no other windows on that side of the house, so Ye Seul didn’t need to worry about being seen. The rope didn’t go all the way to the ground, but it went low enough for her to be able to jump the remaining distance easily.

Ye Seul flung open her wardrobe and pulled out a black top, her black skinny jeans and her black jacket with a hood. If she was going clubbing, she might as well do it her style, Ye Seul thought, as she dressed. She finished her outfit with her pair of black knee length boots. She added a dark layer of eyeliner and she was ready to run.

Ye Seul locked the door of her bedroom, hoping that if her parents came up to check, they would assume she was still mad at them. She checked the time on her phone, before slipping it into the pocket of her jeans along with her wallet. It was just ten. It would take her twenty minutes by bus to reach this club. Hopefully, she’ll be in time for the good part of this party, whatever party the boys had been talking about. By good part, she meant the dancing, because what is a party without dancing?

Ye Seul carefully climbed over the window sill and swung her legs down, taking hold of the rope. Slowly she inched her way down, alert for any kind of sound that she had been discovered. Thankfully, she jumped the last bit of the landing when she reached the end of the rope. Crouching low, she ran to the front gate. She peeped in through the window of the living room to find her parents engrossed in the television. Quite as a mouse, Ye Seul jumped over the little side gate and let out a breath she hadn’t even realised she was holding.

Lips stretching into a wide grin, Ye Seul ran towards the bus stop.

Twenty past ten. Ye Seul jumped off the bus with the last remaining passengers. She took out her phone and opened the Busan city map again. She put in her location and began to walk in the direction the map directed her. She slowed down when the street turned dark, the lights dimmed and she heard drunken yelling from some place.

Pulling up her hood to hide her face, Ye Seul continued to walk like a ghost in the darkness, till she reached the club. The entrance was lit up in blue and red lights. There was a man at the door checking for IDs. He wore a tank top, displaying his bulging muscles, and every inch of his exposed skin covered in hideous tattoos.

Ye Seul took out her wallet and pulled out a card – a fake ID card that one of the boys, in the group she was part of back in Seoul, had gotten made for her, just for the purpose of getting admission into clubs.

Pulling her hood lower, Ye Seul handed the man her card, hoping it worked here as well as it had worked back in Seoul.

“Jen, 21.” Read the man, scrutinizing what was visible of her face, “You new around here?”

Ye Seul just held her hand out for her card.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you in tonight.” The man said, handing her back the card, “There’s a private party going on.”

Ye Seul frowned, as she grabbed the card. So it was some private party the boys had been talking about? She was about to turn away, when she decided to take a shot in the dark.

“I’m here for the party.” She said, with more confidence than she actually felt.

“Really?” the man frowned, “You’re not on the list.”

“They must have forgotten to add me.” Ye Seul bluffed, “Becau