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Being in Time
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[A/N]: Chapter Update 4/7; I highly advise to bookmark the last chapter you read since it might get confusing with the multiple updates I will be making.

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“I’m not gonna get a pay cut for this, right?” Yookyung asked, raising an eyebrow at Chorong since she suddenly decided not to open the club for the night. The two of them were the only ones left inside.

“Yep,” Chorong replied, popping the ‘p’ sound. “So just go ahead and have fun tonight. I’ll be the one to lock the door.”

“Okay.” Yookyung opened her umbrella by the door. “See you tomorrow then.”

Chorong dialed a number on her phone. “Make sure you go through the back door.”

“You’ve told me this plenty of times already, unnie. I’m coming.” Namjoo ended the call.

Hayoung was the first one to come inside the club. “How many are we?” she asked the redhead.

“Only five,” Chorong replied, gesturing for Hayoung to sit down beside the large round table in the middle of the club. “Is that enough?”

“I guess so. It’s not like we can readily ask anyone to participate.”

The next one to enter was the eye-smiling woman. “Where’s Namjoo?” Eunji asked while looking around.

“She’s coming,” Chorong answered.

“How?” Eunji asked.

“You forgot about the backdoor, didn’t you?” Chorong smirked.

“Oh yeah!” Eunji snapped her fingers.

“Seems like you guys are close enough to know about this secret door,” Hayoung teased.

Chorong masked an awkward smile in reply.

“Sorry guys I’m late!” Bomi made her loud entry. “I dropped Minah at my parents’ house.”

“Take a seat, Bbom-ah,” Chorong said smilingly, patting the seat beside her.

“Is she your girlfriend?” Hayoung whispered, the redhead nodded shyly in reply.

“You scared me! Where did you come from?!” Bomi pointed her finger at Namjoo who suddenly appeared. “How did you even-”

“Calm down.” Chorong giggled. “My house and the club are secretly connected at the back.”

“Not-so-secret anymore, I guess,” Eunji remarked laughingly.

“Well… so this is everyone,” Bomi stated.

“I’m really sorry for causing this trouble.” Namjoo bowed to everyone, expressing her sincerest apology.

“Yah. Don’t do that,” Eunji said. “You’re not the one who’s supposed to be sorry.”

“She’s right.” Chorong patted her sister on the back. “You did nothing wrong.”

Namjoo sat in between her sister and the tall woman with her head down. “Still…”

“Are you guys ready?” Hayoung asked, earning a firm nod from the rest. She rolled out a large piece of paper that almost covered the table; written on it was the hierarchy inside the company. The CEO was at the top of the pyramid, followed by the president, then the office employees, and lastly, the contractual workers at the bottom. “Our goal is to obtain the list of transactions the company made with their victims in their database.”

“To start, Hayoung and I are programmers, and she happens to specialize in security software,” Chorong said. “Hayoung and I tried to hack into their database, but I couldn’t,” she explained. “How about you, Hayoung-ah?”

“There’s a part of their database that I cannot enter no matter how hard I try,” Hayoung replied. “It needs to be accessed in a specific computer within the company, although I can do something about it. Recently, I’m interested in hardwares involved in security and this is what I’ve created.” Hayoung brought out seemingly small, black flash drives. “I call these slips.”

Bomi picked up one of the slips and studied it. “It doesn’t seem like it can do much.”

“When one of these slips is plugged into a computer, I will gain remote access to its core contents while using my own computer even if I’m not in the office,” Hayoung explained. “Since we can’t find the list directly in the office, we have to put these babies on all of the computers so we’ll know which one of them have the list we are looking for.”

“So what you’re saying is that we have to infiltrate the company to plug these things in all of their computers?” Eunji asked in concern.

“Yes,” Hayoung answered. “However, these are just prototypes. I don’t think I can produce a proper version until next month.”

“So?” Bomi raised an eyebrow.

“Since these are just prototypes, I need to be within a certain distance for these to work,” Hayoung explained.

“Like how close do you need to be?” Namjoo asked.

“Err… like just beside the building?” Hayoung laughed awkwardly. “I was thinking of renting a van so I could hide the equipment I’ll be using.”

“I can help you with that,” Bomi said. “My friend owns a van renting shop. If I asked them, they can lend one to me for free.”

“Alright. One down,” Hayoung said excitedly. “Now the problem is… how do we get inside the company?”

All of them turned around when they suddenly heard the front door creak open.

“Why are you all staring at me like that?” Naeun shook her umbrella and placed it beside the wall. “What are you all doing here?” It was odd seeing the people she did not know knew other sharing a table.

“I texted everyone that the club’s closed tonight,” Chorong said. “You didn’t receive it?”

“I left my wallet in my locker yesterday and I’m now running out of cash,” Naeun explained, biting her tongue in a playfully. “My bad.” She stared at Eunji then at Hayoung, confused. “What are you guys doing?” She approached their table.

“Planning how we’ll end Namjoo’s massive debt caused by an evil company,” Bomi said unconsciously, receiving piercing daggers from everyone. “Oops.”

“AG Linings Incorporated,” Naeun read the writings on the paper. “I know someone who works there. I think I can help.”

“Eh?!” Everyone shared the same surprised reaction.

“One of my previous patrons still call me every now and then,” Naeun explained. “Kinda annoying actually.”

“Huh?! I didn’t know about that,” Eunji said in a heightened tone.

“It’s not like I was entertaining the calls.”

“Even so, why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Stop it,” said Hayoung in a stern voice. “Naeun unnie, who is this person you’re referring to?” Naeun pointed out the word ‘CEO’ on the paper. “W-what?” Hayoung was extremely baffled. “T-the CEO?”

“Yeah,” Naeun replied.

“Isn’t he married already?” Hayoung asked.

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Myeonsshi
Apr 11 | 40 Upvotes and 400 Subscribers
Wow. My wig is gone. I really appreciate this. Thank you.

Comments

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prkchrng1991
#1
Chapter 26: hello! i just finished reading this story, and it's so good :(((((( would you be uploading more of your stories in the future? would really love to read more from you.



btw, (speaking as a reader lol) would like to emphasize (lmao) that you have written this so beautifully, and the story itself is equally beautiful. just love how you added seemingly random scenes that isnt as plot-heavy but what made them seem more human to me. i really loved the part when eunji and naeun first held hands, damn i felt that????? hahaha. also when they shared their ice cream. thats so.. idk i just love that. haha. thank u for this 2eun content lmao ❤ again thank u for sharing this amazing story to us!! really hoping to read more from you in the future (:
1016ckg #2
Chapter 25: i love this story!!
amy_sh
#3
Chapter 17: Reread again cause i miss apink so bad. But it makes me want more you write past stories about this. Especially sojin - hayoung relationships and eunrong. The story i pictured about sojin - hayoung maybe looks like teenager first love. But it's okay. This is just my hope :)
Thanks again for writing bit :D
Panda0619
#4
Chapter 26: Thank you for a great story.. I loved, in particular, the philosophical bits..
ChobomPanda
#5
Chapter 26: Oh damn. I finished it in one go. What a rollercoaster feelings I put myself into. Thank you for this masterpiece, it's really good. The foreshadowing, clues, connections etc. I love how you used the classic triple ships in Apink but at the same time didn't forget to add twist with it. Same with the plot. Such a plot wise story. Well I already expected it the moment I saw the chapter titles. "Being in time" ... Wise move there author.

And ofcourse thank you for the afterword. Explainations and such question and answer portion that clearly shows on how you really worked hard on this story. Too bad I didn't experience the excitement of waiting for an update since I'm a little bit late to find this. Hehehe. Anyway congratulations for this story. You really did a great job here. Thank you <3 really worth rereading over and over again.
Ms_Interesado
#6
Chapter 25: Damnnnnn, what a good story. Will definitely reread this in the future. A solid 100/10.
ckaz99
#7
Chapter 26: GODDAMN THIS IS AMAZING WTF. Absolutely marvellous! I knew this was going to be a whole new world the moment I laid my eyes on the front page foreword, because I have never ever come across this clever method for chapter titles. What the actual masterpiece.

I appreciate the final chapter on your insights immensely. I love author commentary, and especially so in a story made with such detail, passion and hard work as yours. I'm most blown away by all the symbolism, foreshadowing and depth of meaning that I regrettably would have glazed over and taken for granted had you not been so kind to have elaborated on those things.

Reading your thoughts ended it on a very high note for me and I don't find it selfish of you at all. If anything, I think it makes the reader really realise the great amount of effort put into the writing; like I already thought it was magnificent, but learning about the symbolism made my jaw drop even further. I mean, the half-empty & empty bottles!? I forgot about Eunji's clue!! And there's even a well-crafted timeline!? :O

Knowing about these makes the story stand out in its own right. It's like I'm back in my highschool English class studying a classic text and uncovering the motifs, or analysing a film and questioning why a scene is shot the way it is; finding greater meaning in little things.

Also all the couples are just so cute. You made me fall in love with all of them and their characters.
- I loved the opposite socioeconomic status with Hajoo. Namjoo is so lovable and Hayoung as a CEO might just be the greatest thing out of everything.
- 2eun as a perfect match of mystery. I cackled at the freelance artist excuse they both used.
- My Chobom is adorableee. I can only squeal and make unintelligible sounds as words decide to fail me. I love their portrayal here uwu.
Watching the group slowly get connected was very exciting. It really feels like six completely different individuals who happened to get tied together, their fates crossed.

UGH YOUR MIND and gosh I wrote an essay of a comment keke~ Thank you for writing this story, really thank you.
AegyoPRASH
#8
Chapter 25: This fic is just magnificent, I’m speechless, what took me so long to find you author. Thank you for this amazing story
Pandayum
#9
Chapter 26: I just binge-read everything while procrastinating on writing my own sh*t, and holy cow that was some experience alright.
The details, clues, references hidden within the words completely blew my mind- and to dedicate an extra page to elaborate on more details and answer peoples' questions... you are the coolest author ever.
Midnight_Stars
#10
Chapter 8: Back after a whole month, Oh God help me XD
Was so busy LMAO life is so hectic.

I know I said I won't comment till the end but was once more triggered. Minah X Eunji interactions is a whole mood, I absolutely loved it❤ We also got some HaNa in this chapter lol

As a gamer myself and a huge Tekken fan, I was quiet entertained by the references lol! My favourite character is Ling Xiaoyu, no one would dare play with me if I choose her haha.

Anyways, hope you're having a good day ^^