"Park Heung Soon you... very nasty word!" Hei-Ryung growled as she scowled at the television, where the preview for next week's episode had just come to a close. "I know that he broke your leg and everything, but... come on! Can't you two just make up already?! I like you too much to hate you!" As she started getting more and more worked up, Hei-Ryung jumped off the couch and began bouncing around the living room. Then she scrambled back onto the couch, teetering as her toes clung to the edge. "If I were there I would knock some sense into the both of them! The idiots..." she flopped backwards with a sigh as she realized she would now need to wait an entire week for the next episode.

     Frustrated with both her her inability to save Go Nam Soon and Park Heung Soon from themselves, and the long wait she was about to experience, Hei-Ryung rolled into a sitting position on the couch with a huff and glared at the commercial that flashed across her television screen. Some girl group- Hei-Ryung could never tell them apart- was currently endorsing coffee. Or tea. Hei-Ryung didn't drink either, which meant that the commercial was meaningless and off went the television.

     Just as soon as she found the remote control.

     Exhaling dramatically through pursed lips, Hei-Ryung contemplated just how much she wanted to get rid of the inconsequential and, admittedly, annoying commercial. As she thought of the pros and cons of going on a search for the televison remote, she caught a glimpse of the screen as the camera took a particularly flattering shot of the girls' legs. Then she looked down at her own legs, clad in three-day-old sweats and about as shapely as a leaky water balloon. That was enough to instigate a determined hunt for the television remote. She tossed aside cushions, searched behind the television, patted down the tops of her bookshelves, scanned every surface of her desk, and futiely combed anywhere else she could think of. In the end, the only place she hadn't checked was the dark underside of her overstuffed couch.

     "Flashlight..." Hei-Ryung mumbled under her breath, repeating the single word like a mantra as she carefully searched for the required light source. After five minutes of fruitlessness, she gave up and returned to the couch. Now it was a different commercial that starred idols of the opposite of gender, but featured equally flattering shots of their bodies and faces. For half a second, Hei-Ryung considered the positive side of not being able to find the remote: the television remained functional, and she was able to see the boys. Then she remembered that they were on the other side of her television, and didn't even know she existed.

     The search for the remote began again.

     Careless, careless, shoot anonymous, anonymous. Heartless, mindless, no one who care about me The garbled English of her cell phone ring tone would have been an ear-sore to a native speaker of the language, but to Hei-Ryung, who had never paid much attention in school, it was just a bunch of already meaningless words sung by a bunch of attractive guys. In short, it was amazing poetry and deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.

     As though those first few syllables had been the starting gun for a race, Hei-Ryung sprinted to her cell phone in record time- she timed herself by how many words Exo managed to sing before she could flip open the phone. Panting slightly from the unfamiliar exertion, Hei-Ryung barely managed to stammer out her answer: "He-" pause for breath, "-hello?"

     Under normal circumstances, the rules of ettiquette would suggest that now was the time for the caller to answer by stating their business, but their was a very pointed silence coming from the other end of the line. If she concentrated, however, Hei-Ryung could faintly hear carefully measured breathing, so the call had been connected. Which would mean that whoever was calling her was, for whatever reason, taking a dramatic pause before speaking. "Hei-Ryung-" grimacing, Hei-Ryung wished she had checked the caller ID before answering, "where are you?"

     Hei-Ryung didn't have a good answer as, suddenly, yesterday's flawless excuse just wasn't able to articulate itself in her mind, and Hei-Ryung found herself floundering in deadly, shark-infested, electrified waters. With a meteor coming right for her. And zombies. Can't forget the zombies.

     Groaning inwardly, Hei-Ryung took in a deep breath before attempting to convince both her and Seulki- the woman demanding to know where she was at the moment- that she had a good answer. There was no need, however, because Seulki was supplying a surprisingly accurate one for Hei-Ryung. "You 'forgot', didn't you?" Lee Seulki- assistant editor for Nalgae Publishing Company- demanded quietly as she held the phone pressed to one ear. The other was busy listening to the impatient coughing coming from Kang Ji Suk as he fixed her with that infamous I'm-really-annoyed-with-you-right-now-but-I'm-pretending-I'm-not stare of his. One eyebrow up, eyes slightly narrowed, and a permanent frown scuplted onto his face. It wasn't often that Seulki, a surprisingly competent employee despite her youth, was the target of that stare, but when it did happen it was usually because of the 'genius' she was currently speaking with.

     "Sorry," Hei-Ryung mumbled, honestly feeling guilty about putting her editor in this situation. The woman had never been anything but nice to her, but Hei-Ryung always seemed to make life difficult for Seulki. "I... I don't eat in public," she pleaded after an uncomfortable pause in the conversation while Seulki waited for her to start making excuses.

     Closing her eyes, Seulki exhaled slowly and nodded her head. She had spent enough time with Hei-Ryung to understand the little quirks that made her such a difficult charge, but it wasn't her that Hei-Ryung had to convince. "I tried explaining that to him. Mr. Kang didn't buy it," Seulki explained, smiling apologetically and bowing slightly to her boss, who waved her off with a forgiving- if only in appearance- wave of his hand.

     "B-buy it? But... it's true," Hei-Ryung whimpered as her heart started pounding in her chest. Not only was she was causing trouble again, but now someone was thinking of her as a liar.

     Seulki pulled the phone away from her ear and closed her eyes for a moment of quiet thought- away from the critical gaze of her boss and the desperate words of her... whatever Hei-Ryung was to her. On the one hand, it was her responsibility to make sure the boss got what the boss wanted, and what the boss wanted was to meet Hei-Ryung in person and go over how the company planned on promoting her upcoming book. On the other hand, it was also her responsibility to make sure that Hei-Ryung was well-taken care of- an abnormal task for an employee to be assigned.Usually, a publishing company wouldn't take such an interest in one of their authors, but Hei-Ryung wasn't a usual writer, and an exception had been made because of Seulki's persistance in pointing this out. The girl wasn't well in the head, anybody who spoke to her for five seconds could see that, but she had an immense amount of creative talent that would tragically languish in disuse if someone didn't force Hei-Ryung to use it.

     "Curse my inability to let something like that just take its course," Seulki thought, returning the phone to her ear. All was quiet on the other end, and it was only because of the faintly heard sharp, agitated breathing that Seulki knew Hei-Ryung hadn't hung up on her. "Do you think that you could make an exception just this once?" she coaxed in as gentle a voice as she could manage under the circumstances.

     "No."

     Gotta give the girl credit for being honest.

     "Hei-Ryung, just this once. You don't even have to eat. Just come and talk with Mr. Kang and I'll take you home as soon as it's over. We've rented a private booth, even," Seulki tried again, throwing in every possible lure she could. On the other end of the line, Hei-Ryung hesitated for a moment and Seulki's heart- despite her better judgement- soared with hope. "You remember that nice cardigan I bought you? You can wear that and use the hood! Then nobody can see your face- you will have to take it off when meeting with Mr. Kang, though."

     There were no more logical excuses for Hei-Ryung that would get her out of going to the meeting. Seulki had her, as Hei-Ryung had known would happen the moment she realized who was calling. The woman always seemed to get her way, no matter how hard Hei-Ryung fought against it. Swallowing hard, Hei-Ryung tried to steady herself as the nerves took over and she began shaking, then nodded her head. "I-I'll be there soon," she muttered, barely audible as her heart sank deep into her gut, where it was dissolved by the frothing stomach acids there.

     Seulki beamed, and flashed Ji Suk a thumbs up- a completely unprofessional move, and she quickly tried to disguise it as a random wave of her hand. He smiled indulgently and nodded, then began adjusting his tie. Next he would play with his hair, and then he would politely excuse himself from the meeting- it was a time-tested process. Seulki could already hear his voice- "perhaps she'll be available at another time?"- and see the inevitable announcement that Cha Hei-Ryung would no longer be published under the Nalgae company. It was a future Seulki wanted to avoid seeing come to fruition.

     "I don't mean to rush you, but... hurry up, will you?" and Seulki hung up the phone, leaving a very agitated Hei-Ryung to sort things out for herself.

     First, she took in a shaky breath.

     Then she unsteadily made her way to the bathroom.

     Staring into the mirror, Hei-Ryung wondered just what she had gotten herself into; not only this time, but all the times that had led to this time, as well.

Author's Note:

It's so short! TT-TT

I guess this is more like a teaser than an actual chapter. Still, it's something, and I figured if I posted it then I wouldn't be able to chicken out and give up on this story. It's still very roughly plotted out, but hopefully I can manage to scrape something together (especially after the disasterous final chapter of Jelly Beans...)! If you want to see more then please subscribe ^-^ Or even just comment and tell me you hate it. Any feedback is good feedback!

Updated (December 22, 2013)

First chapter is edited and refreshed! I was trying to change my typical writing style during these earlier chapters, but the later ones aren't like that so apparently I gave up. Now I have to change these ones to match better, hehe