CHAPTER 05 

“There’s no way this is a warning”

After wondering around the unfamiliar neighborhood known as Lily Town, Seulgi finally arrives at the right house based on the address that Irene gave her. She peeks through the gate since she’s still in doubt about whether or not she should continue her purpose for coming, which is to give back the troublesome electric cigarette to its owner.

How stupid!

I came all the way here... I can’t back out now!

Seulgi continues to wonder in front of the closed gate without the courage to call for Irene to come out or even ring the bell. Out of boredom, she checks the mailbox filled with letters.

Her electricity bill is... $100?

After that, she takes all the written paper affixed with adhesive on the gate. And then, she angrily throws them all on the ground as she squats down.

Hey! I came just to carry out my responsibilities to my customers! What’s wrong with that?

Should I just leave it here?

No! If it’s lost, she would continue to haunt me until I agree to take a loan just to pay for a ridiculous compensation!

Are you scared?

No!

Then why do you have to go pee?

“Kang Seulgi?”

“Huh?” Seulgi slowly raises her head and turns to the voice that belongs to an unfamiliar girl, who just emerges through the door next to the main gate. As soon as she sees her, she immediately collects the papers and tries to affix them back on the original place.

The girl moves forward while pulling a suitcase, “You’re Kang Seulgi, right?”

Seulgi slowly turns her head towards the girl, looking at her with eyes wide open.

The girl grins, “I’m Krystal.”

She’s pretty. She’s pretty. She’s freaking pretty!

“Ah...” Seulgi ventures to face Krystal properly, “Do you... know me?”

“You know, the entertainment industry is small.” Krystal replies, “I was a trainee at your company for a bit too.”

Seulgi looks down after staring into Krystal’s eyes briefly, “Well, there are a lot of trainees that come and go...”

Krystal nods, “Anyway, I finally got to meet you.” She smiles, “I’ve heard a lot about you from Joo–”

“Heard about me?!” Seulgi becomes excited and unconsciously moves closer to Krystal, “What did you hear?”

No, no, calm down!

Seulgi shakes her head in order to continue being calm.

Krystal walks forward but stops when Seulgi raises her hand that’s holding an electric cigarette.

“Can you give this to Irene?” Seulgi asks rapidly.

“Ah...” Krystal seems to finally understand the purpose Seulgi is there, “I can’t give it to her right now because I’m in a rush, but she’s inside... oh! I think you can just leave it at somewhere conspicuous.”

Seulgi heaves a sigh of disappointment.

“Make sure you don’t touch anything else!”

Seulgi huffs, “What would I touch?”

“That’s not what I mean...” Krystal scoffs, “Irene is kind of sensi