Jisoo woke up to the sun streaming through her bedroom window. She looked around and saw that Jennie and Joy were already up. She got out of bed, put on her dressing gown, and opened the bedroom door. Leaning out into the hallway, she called out "Jennie? Joy?"

"In the kitchen!" came Jennie's response. "Your breakfast is almost ready!"

Jisoo walked down the hall to the kitchen. As she passed by the dining room, she looked through it into the parlor and saw that the parlor rug had been rolled up and placed against the wall, with the furniture returned to its usual places. Walking into the kitchen, she saw Jennie stirring a pot of congee while Joy made coffee and squeezed orange juice.

"It smells delicious in here!" Jisoo exclaimed.

"We figured you'd need a hearty breakfast, since you didn't eat much dinner last night," Jisoo said, squeezing the last of the oranges and taking the juice and coffee to the dining room table.

Last night. Jisoo was silent for a moment, running through the previous evening's events, then planning what needed to be done about them. After a while, she noticed that Jennie and Joy were both looking at her. "What can I do to help with breakfast?" she asked.

"Go have a seat at the table," Jennie said, picking up the pot of dakjuk and carrying it into the dining room while Joy set the table with bowls, spoons, juice glasses, and coffee cups.

Jisoo sat down at the table and as soon as Jennie and Joy had joined her, she poured herself a cup of coffee, added sugar, and took a sip. "I needed that," she said. She filled her bowl with dakjuk and took a bite. Her eyes widened and she looked at Jennie. "This is delicious!" she exclaimed. "When did you become such a good cook?"

Jennie blushed under Jisoo's praise. "Madame Park apparently has a mission in mind for me that calls for cooking skills, because she's had me doing extra cooking classes for the past month."

"Interesting," Jisoo said. "I wonder what she's got in mind."

"I don't know," Jennie said. "She's not accompanying it with extra servant role classes, so I don't think it's something in that area."

"That leaves wife or restaurant cook," Joy said. "I doubt they'd want to waste your beauty in a restaurant kitchen, so I'd bet on wife. Be on the lookout for eligible bachelors who are noted gourmands."

Jisoo noted. "I think Joy's right." She reached over and grabbed Jennie's hand. "You're going to make a beautiful bride. I hope I'm permitted to come to your wedding."

"Of course you're permitted!" Jennie exclaimed. "Why wouldn't you be?"

Jisoo shrugged. "Maybe your future husband's status is such that a naval captain's wife wouldn't rate an invitation!"

"But that's ridiculous!" Jennie said. "You're my friend from school! Of course I'd be allowed to invite you!"

Jisoo shook her head. "It's possible that I might be allowed to visit you after the wedding for a few days but not rate an invitation to the wedding. You're underestimating class consciousness."

"At any rate," Joy said, hoping to head off another outburst from Jennie, "any discussion of the matter is just borrowing trouble. We don't even know that there's going to be a wedding, much less who the groom is going to be." She turned to look at Jisoo. "So what's on your agenda for today?"

"I've got to start the day with a visit to Mr. Kang's shop," Jisoo said.

"The grocer?" Jennie asked. "But I heard you tell Suyeon there was plenty of food in the house until the next time she works."

"Oh, there is plenty of food," Jisoo said with a nod, "but I need to speak to Mr. Kang for other reasons. He's my local contact, and I need to send an account of last night's events to Madame Park. Also, I need to ask him to recommend a rug cleaner."

A look of recognition lit up Jennie's face. "The Mr. Kang whose message intercepted our coach is a grocer?" she asked in astonishment.

Jisoo nodded. "You know there are people from our organization in all lines of work. Why should it surprise so that one is a grocer?"

"I just never imagined someone whose mission is to work as a grocer to have such an important role in the organization," Jennie said.

"But it's really a perfect cover," Joy said. "Everyone needs groceries."

Jennie nodded. "I suppose it is at that." She laughed at herself as she stirred her dakjuk. "Every time you think you've got this life figured out, it finds some new way to surprise you," she said.

Their visit to Mr. Kang's took a little longer than they'd expected - he'd insisted on bringing in his son the police officer to get all the details the police had so he could include them with Jisoo's report to Madame Park. Once the message was on its way, Jisoo asked him for a recommendation for a rug cleaner to deal with the parlor rug, he smiled broadly.

"No need to worry about that," he said. "I know one of the local rug dealers; I'll talk to him this afternoon have him take care of your rug and it won't cost you a single won."

"Are you sure?" Jisoo asked.

Mr. Kang nodded and smiled at her. "Absolutely certain. I know how much a rug cleaning costs, and also know how much a new captain makes. You don't need to worry about that, especially not since it happened in the course of business. I'll see to it that our mutual friends take care of the bill."

"That's very helpful of you," Jisoo said. "It takes a load off my mind knowing that this is taken care of. Next time I write to Madame Park, I'll be sure to mention how you've taken care of me."

"Oh, that's not necessary," he said, scratching the back of his head, "but it's much appreciated. Busan is so far from the action - or at least it was until you showed up - and sometimes I feel forgotten."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore," Jisoo said. "You've gone above and beyond to help me, and I'll make sure Madame Park knows about it."

"Well, thank you," he said. "Now if you'll wait right here, I'll be right back with something for you." He vanished into the back of the shop and came back a couple of minutes later with a package wrapped in brown butcher paper. "Here you go," he said, handing her the package. "It's some mandu and pajeon for you and your friends for lunch."

Jisoo bowed to him. "Thank you very much. Now if I can just locate my friends, we'll get home so we can eat this while it's still warm."

"I think I saw them over by the candy counter," Mr. Kang said. "And be sure to stay home all afternoon - I'll see to it that the cleaner's boys come by to pick up the rug."

After bidding Mr. Kang farewell, Jisoo located Joy and Jennie and they all returned to her house. Much to her surprise, she saw Suyeon waiting outside the front door.

"Suyeon!" Jisoo exclaimed in surprise. "You're not supposed to work until tomorrow."

Suyeon bowed respectfully. "I know ma'am," she said, "and I'm sorry for bothering you when you've got your guests, but there's something I need to talk to you about."

Joy started to snicker, but quick