“It is almost a year now since I started working for this company.”, the woman slowly started.

“Woah...You really work for that company?!”

Sakura quickly lifted a finger to her lips.       

“Be quiet Seungyoun-ah!”

Seungyoun immediately lifted a finger to his lips and apologetically nodded.

It was a bright Monday morning in a big city. A woman neatly dressed with a white blouse and black pencil skirt was hastily running downward an inclined paved sidewalk in her black stilettos. She continued running with determination ahead the cars which are stuck in traffic, passing by fancy decorated stores and shops until she came to a halt in front of a humongous building. 

“T-Thank goodness! I’m not late!”, she said while panting.

She quickly fixed the creases in her attire, put on her ID which she took out of her shoulder bag and headed inside to begin yet another one of those exhausting days.

“Here…This belongs to you. I removed it earlier.”

Sakura handed the ID to the woman and her name is Kim Eunseo.

The company was deemed a presentable, clean and teeming with smart professionals but it was gradually rotting in its core because of exploitation of labor, abuse of power, ual harassment, toxic competition, discrimination and so on. Eunseo was not new to these kinds of horrible acts, she just wanted to live with an ordinary office life and a stable income so she was always passive in those situations and careful not to get involved in any way like her co-workers.

“See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.”

A woman barged in the department where Eunseo was working.

“Kim Eunseo!!! Come out!!!”, she angrily called.

Everyone was startled and Eunseo quickly ran to her with a worried look.

“I’m Kim Eunseo. What can I ---“

Before Eunseo can finish what she was about to say, her face was slapped with a heavy hand and was scratched by a long fingernail.

“W-Why did you do that?!”, Eunseo confusedly asked.

“You ! How dare you flirt with my husband!”
“What are you saying?! I don’t even know who your husband is!”
“Ah…You don’t know who he is?! Look at this!”

The woman threw a photo of Eunseo hugging her superior Mr. Kang in a karaoke bar’s narrow corridor and her husband’s hand was placed on Eunseo’s rump. 

“No! There must’ve been a misunderstanding! Mr. Kang was drunk that night! I was only helping him! Ask the others! They were there too!”

She desperately looked at her co-employees who all avoided her eyes and went back to doing their respective tasks.

“I saw it!”, a female employee shouted with a raised hand.

“See! She saw it!”
“I…I saw you smiling while caressing Mr. Kang…”
“W-What? Why are you lying? You must’ve been mistaken. Please tell ---“

Eunseo was interrupted when Mrs. Kang pulled her hair out of rage and jealousy.

“You witch! You liar!”
“Stop! Please stop!”

Eunseo was helplessly dragged out of the room, and no one helped her. After the long ruckus and what seemed to be an endless day, she was left sitting on the floor and staring into space.

“So that’s how you got those bruises and that scar on your face…”

Seungyoun pointed the scar with a sad look on his face and Eunseo lightly touched it with a pained expression.

“I-I have to find Mr. Kang.”, Eunseo willfully decided.

She slowly stood up and started her search for Mr. Kang. She looked everywhere but she can’t seem to find him anywhere but instead, she saw the female employee earlier walking away in a hurry and exited through the door to the stairwell. Eunseo dashed after her to ask why she lied and even before she can turn the doorknob, she heard two people talking inside, one voice was from the female employee and the other was definitely Mr. Kang’s!

“Oh! Mr. Kang! Stop it! You’re tickling me!”
“Are you sure my wife is gone?”
“Yes…So you can have all of me.”

Eunseo was disgusted by what she was currently hearing.

“Wait, what about Kim Eunseo?”
“She doesn’t matter anymore. I took care of her.”
“How did you do that?            

The female employee proceeded in telling how she took the picture of Eunseo and Mr. Kang on the night in the karaoke bar, and how she anonymously delivered it to Mr. Kang’s wife.

“Really?”
“You just have to fire her immediately.”
“I can’t do that yet.”
“Why?!”
“You know why!”
“Ah…Because of her business proposals. Well, she has been quite useful in making me look good.” 
“Yes, that’s why the higher-ups were impressed.”
“Okay, fine! Make her quit later.”
“Okay…Okay…”

The two went back to what they were doing, an affair shrouded with black lies. 

“Woah!!! What a bunch of trash they are! Woah!!!”
“Kura, calm down! Calm down!”
“I’m so stressed!”

Sakura rapidly fans herself with her own hands while Seungyoun and Eunseo both chuckled because of her outburst.

Eunseo was flabbergasted about what she discovered. The sleepless nights she went through and the efforts she made to perfect her proposals were all just in vain, that’s why she was always brushed aside whenever she asked about  her work. She was seething with anger but above all else, she lost the hope she had of an ordinary office life. She knew that her suffering will only worsen in this hell hole of a company.

“That’s why I decided to just…die…”, Eunseo slowly confessed.

“What about Eunjae?”

The name “Eunjae” struck a chord with Eunseo. The feelings of shock and guilt upon hearing that name made her burst into tears.

“Eunjae-yah…My son Eunjae…” 
“Eunjae must be waiting for you.”
“Please, help me…”
“This will help you.”

Sakura reached for a vial containing a blue liquid substance and gave it to Eunseo.

“Drink this, it will greatly help you.”
“What is this? Is this safe?”
“It’s just medicine brewed from a Borage flower.”

Seungyoun gestured to drink it all and she drank it all without hesitation since she thought it came from people who were kind enough to listen and help her. The taste was extremely bitter that it made her frown. After several seconds, she began feeling sleepy all of a sudden as a scent of rose traveled throughout the room. Seungyoun helped her lie down on the bed. Her eyesight became blurry once again but she can somehow see Seungyoun and Sakura’s eyes glowing with hues of blue and violet, respectively as they look at her with smiles in their faces.  

“Kim Eunseo-ssi, listen well.”
“You will forget us today but you will be a better version of yourself tomorrow.”
“W-Wait! I haven’t thanked you yet!”
“It’s okay, this is what you wanted in the first place.”
“This is what you wished for.”
“T-Thank you…”
“Sleep well…Kim Eunseo-ssi…”
“Goodbye…”

The last thing Eunseo saw was the bright color of their eyes before everything went black.

Moments later…

“Mom! Wake up!”, a small voice echoed through the dark.

“Mom! Mom! Mom!”

Eunseo instantly opened her eyes with tears in her eyes and she was drenched in her own sweat as she catches her breath. She slowly sat up on the bed and her son Eunjae hugged her tight while crying his eyes out.

“Eunjae-yah…I’m sorry…You must’ve been afraid?”
“Mom…Don’t leave me alone…”
“I promise that I will always be with you…”

Eunjae nodded in agreement and quickly climbed up the bed. The two never took their arms apart from each other as they sleep through the cold night.

Two monarch butterflies in colors blue and violet were fluttering outside the Kims’ house by the window and vanished soon after into the darkness.