There was once an ignorant thought that if you can make it in the city you can make it anywhere. Where the rich and famous dwell, lights and cameras follow. With that thought engrained, and the pursue for greed consumed, was the creation of a talent vacuum. Built on the backs of nobody's, and filled with talentless everybody's, the city continues to twinkle like diamonds that were as real as the authenticity of how they were obtained.

Powerful and dangerous, is what tainted the air as soon as the group of men walked into the clubhouse. Arrogance painted their stoic faces, their glare stained eyes stayed upfront and menacing, staring down anyone who dare stand in their way.

Opportunity is what wafted in right behind them. Eyes that weren't quivering with fear flashed with hope, because once ignorant now knowing, the truth found in the city was if you have power in the city, you can make it anywhere.

Behind the red velvety curtains that hide the ugliness of showbiz from the stage, is a young woman of 20, whose head was still filled with the lies of climbing the socialite ladder with talent and talent alone. Seulgi sat in front of a finger smudged vanity mirror, the light bulbs that lined its frame burst or flickering out of existence, true to the nature of the many talents that sat before it before Seulgi even came to be. Slathering on her second face, she accentuates her lips to match the dress she adorns for tonight's show, completing her costume.

"Red really is your colour."

Her role model takes shape in the form of a woman not much older than her age wise, but decades ahead of her in her wisdom and knowledge. Having knocked on the city's door years younger than Seulgi is now, she had learnt of the grimy truth that underlay the flashy products when the devil answered her instead. Sooyoung leans in from behind her shoulder, cleaning up the smears of lipstick that rubbed past her lips with the pad of her thumb. Her eyes travel from her reflection to Seulgi's gazing peepers, catching her stare before she could break her obvious gaping. No one could blame Seulgi, though.

There was a quality that Sooyoung had that many girls didn't. In between seriousness and humorous, she danced along the two lines until waltzing effortlessly in its grey area that was flirtatious. Her eyes would lock onto you, almost seizing you in its stare, and then her voice that sunk so low, wriggled through your ear and rumbled in your soul. She was the personification of those mythical sirens, luring in prey through their beauty and voices.

Sooyoung only has to stare at her for her chest to burn enough to enflame her cheeks with them. The compliment she gave her before was one for her and another tip of the hat to herself, because Seulgi sat in borrowed clothing, taken off the hanger of Sooyoung's own rack. When she first arrived in the big city with hope burning in her stomach, Sooyoung had taken her under her wing after she had auditioned to be one of the clubhouse's girls. Being dressed up by Sooyoung was by no means an easy feat. Seulgi still questions how she fell onto the woman's radar when many other talented girls didn't make so much as a blip on it.

Seulgi stares at Sooyoung through the mirror for more reasons than the obvious. The absolute mess made of her usually pristine lipstick leaves nothing to the imagination. When the men in black suits saunter into the clubhouse, a flock of girls who fell to drape themselves over their arms, or laps, came plenty. But Sooyoung never had competition.

"Y'know, I could introduce you. I think they'll take a liking to you."

"I don't think I share that liking."

Her murmurs draw Sooyoung's attempts of cleaning to a halt. She smiles and Seulgi sees it to be a real one, as it reaches high past her cheekbones and swims in her eyes. And it's that warmth that she sees that makes her feel unique because only she bears witness to how they could genuinely gleam. A puff of laughter lifts like a feather from Sooyoung's chest and the delicate way it vibrates from her lips to Seulgi's ears has her smiling too.

"Oh, baby girl, there's no liking of that sort at all."

The warmth she felt freezes over, and it is her who halts now. Sooyoung falls into her from behind, her arms encircle around her shoulders, almost as if Seulgi is wearing her like a cape. Her laughter thunders on, but they don't feel delicate no more. And she does it, uses her voice just the way she knows how to, and Seulgi feels it sink somewhere in the pit of her stomach.

"It's just show business."

Sooyoung is years ahead of her in her wisdom and knowledge that surround the wonders and success of the city. Blanketing her on that small stool that bruises her tailbone, she whispered a truth that would shape Seulgi's future.

💋💋

In the deep depths of the alleyway, where the bright lights of the city can't touch, the sound pollution of cars wheezing the demands of angry honks, and the chit-chatter of people painting the town red, all hollow out. She exhales a breath through the clenches of her teeth, watches it mingle with the line of smoke emitted from the lit end of her cigarette and dissipate into nothing with the air. Her breaths alone create little white clouds, combating against the chill of the winter's night. Next to her, along the brick wall, was a furnace twice her size, spitting out clouds of its own, so large it forges a wall of mist around her.

She usually takes a cigarette break before her stage, just to calm her jitters. Tonight, she had planned to do the same, if only Sooyoung hadn't decided to fiddle with her nerves. She had never judged Sooyoung for what she indulges herself in, whether it be a whiskey glass too many, or that she enjoyed herself a fella or two. Seulgi accepted it all, if that was what made Sooyoung happy. But now knowing that there was a hidden agenda behind these indulgences, it made her feel a certain way. A way she didn't want to dwell on, but oh how it made her nerves bounce around rampantly.

"Alleyways ain't a safe place for a doll like you."

Words as vulgar as a man's, but voice as enticing as a woman’s, Seulgi didn't realise she had company until they walked out from behind the mist. In a pristine white suit appears a woman, hat worn low against her eyebrows, Seulgi has no chance of seeing her face, especially in this darkness.

"I could say the same for your suit."

"Gorgeous and funny. Does it have a name?"

"That it does. But you'll have to watch my stage to find out."

Sooyoung may have a hard time teaching her about what real showbiz is, but what she had taught Seulgi well was how to lure in a potential customer. So, she'd be damned if she didn't put the older woman's alluring ways into action. She lets her words linger in the icy air, streams out another breath of her cigarette before offering it to the stranger. The woman takes it without question, but Seulgi doesn't stick around long enough to see if she takes a puff or not, before turning around and entering the clubhouse's side door for employees only.

A low laugh echoes from behind her, slips between the crack of the door before it closes, and burrows into her. There's something about it, humorous but dark, hushed from a stranger she's met in the murk of an alleyway. It evokes something from her, something even Sooyoung hasn't achieved.

🚬🚬

The clubhouse holds a lot of reputation. One for the girls and another for the people who fill up their seats. The bustle of gossip and excitement never runs out, especially behind the curtains. But there was something about tonight. The room became charged almost spontaneously, one after another, something had set the girls off. Talk became erratic, past the normality of clubhouse gossip. So much so, it caught the attention of Sooyoung who never joins in on petty conversations.

Seulgi, too, never cared for such words. They never interested her much, because more often than not, the whispered words passed around was nothing but hearsay. And usually then it only spread to five or so girls before it died out. However, tonight, it washed over them like wildfire, setting ablaze from one girl to the other, before inevitably it reached her. And who by but the only woman in this clubhouse that has a hold of her.

She's never seen Sooyoung so visibly taken. Whatever it is that's been said has obviously stirred the woman up. A far away gaze set in her eyes, she comes to a stop beside Seulgi, who's by the curtain, waiting for her stage. Her arms are crossed, and by the constant little raps of the floorboard, she's tapping her toes fitfully. It's more than uncharacteristic of Sooyoung to do so, so much so, it's almost like Seulgi's witnessing a new person altogether. So, she bites.

"Something the matter?"

Sooyoung stops her tapping, looks at her, bites her bottom lip, looks away, then she taps again.

"There’s a big fish here in our small pond."

"Excuse me?"

"The head honcho has finally made an appearance."

Seulgi didn't understand her the first time, and it's safe to say that she didn't the second. Nerves shot through the roof; it seems Sooyoung has little effort to spare in playing the game of spelling it out for her. Hand placed on her waist, she's led to the end of the curtains where the glittering stage and reality meet. There, she can see the vast sea of customers, all seated, waiting for the next act. Her.

"There."

Following Sooyoung's finger, she spots the black suited men from before, taking up the large table, front and center from the stage.

"Yeah. I know they're important. But they're always here."

She feels the grip on her waist tighten, almost nudging her forward. Sooyoung leans closer into her, as if trying to get on stage to get a better look herself, and her voice dips just that little bit deeper, like she’s sharing a secret with her through her whispers.

"No. There."

Seulgi leans too, squinting to see out in the dark. And from behind large square backs and broad shoulders, reveals like from the mist before, an all too familiar stranger.

"The one in the white suit."