Nayeong woke up the next morning to the shrill ringing of her alarm. She expected her living room to be empty. Completely cleared out. She was wrong. There she was. Tiffany. Still sound asleep.

Smiling to herself, Nayeong started to prepare breakfast, humming as she worked. Tiffany, unbeknownst to Nayeong, had actually woken up the moment the older woman had opened her bedroom door. But she had decided to laze around a little more before she got up.

When she heard the unmistakable sound of two plates being placed onto a wooden surface, she swiftly got up and plopped herself onto a chair and dug in, giving no acknowledgement to Nayeong’s presence whatsoever.

Nayeong knew she should be angry at the girl’s rude behavior, but the fact that the girl was still here was preventing her from being too upset.

“You weren’t really asleep this whole time I was up, were you?” Nayeong asked with a knowing smile.

Tiffany shook her head and continued to shovel food down , head bent down and refusing to meet the older woman’s eyes. Nayeong watched as the younger girl demolished her plate of food within ten minutes. Then Tiffany stood up and brought her plate to the sink. She made quick work of washing her plate before grabbing a few items of clothing from her duffle and changing right in the living room.

Nayeong felt her face heat up as she saw the girl half- under the morning rays of sunlight. She looked even more beautiful than last night, if that was even possible.

Bruises, stitches, scars and all. Beautiful.

Then without another word, the girl slung her backpack over her shoulders and strode out the door. Nayeong stared at the closed door for a moment before a huge grin appeared on her face.

Tiffany had left her duffle bag and her guitar.

She would be back.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tiffany wandered aimlessly down the streets of Seoul, wracking her brains as to what she could do to make more money. Absentmindedly the business card Nayeong had given her last night, she decided to give it a try.

She arrived in front of what appeared to be a solid black wall with DaMasque scrawled diagonally in flashy silver fluid font. The place had no windows.

What in the world…

It was still early in the morning so the place was unfortunately closed. She was about to turn to the side to check operation hours when she felt a presence behind her. Whipping around in a flash, Tiffany turned to face the registered possible threat.

Before her stood a strikingly stunning looking woman. There was something almost regal about her, queenly even. But there was a hint of something else beneath the stately appearance. Tiffany could sense an underlying smoldering air, a sensuality that bled through the composed demeanor in subtle pulses.

“Are you looking for something?” the woman asked. Her voice was rich and sultry, like black satin.

“I’m looking for Miss Park Kahi? A friend referred me here to look for a job,” Tiffany answered.

The lady raised her eyebrows and Tiffany stiffened a little as she felt the woman scrutinize every inch of her body, giving Tiffany the 'once over'. Moving towards the side of the solid black wall of the storefront, the lady took out a key and unlocked a solid black metal door that blended in entirely with the black wall. Tiffany hadn’t even known it was there till the woman had opened it. The mysterious woman swept inside and beckoned for the perplexed Tiffany to follow behind her.

Inside, Tiffany found herself in a black room, with extremely low red lighting that allowed her to just make out a tall form moving its way confidently across the room floor, only to disappear a moment later behind a flow of black. Tiffany felt her senses heighten. What kind of place was this? Swinging her head from side to side, trying to sense out the environment around her, Tiffany slowly followed to where the woman had vanished and felt satin sheets between her fingertips. Black satin.

Pushing that aside, Tiffany stumbled into what appeared to be a classy high-end club, complete with a huge dance floor, a stage, a massive bar that ran the side perimeters of the entire club, and expansive spiraling stairs that led to lounges on the second floor. Sitting down in a nearby chair, the lady gestured for Tiffany to sit in the chair in front of her.

“Down on your luck aren’t you?” except it really wasn’t a question. Tiffany was acutely aware of how battered she looked. Anyone could see that the girl was poorly used. So the young girl simply nodded stiffly and kept shut. She felt no need to explain her circumstances.

“We don’t sell here, make no mistake. This is no brothel. But we do provide the art of seduction, and every single one of my girls are old hands in the art of temptation and allurement.

I only hire girls, no males are allowed on the premises other than male patrons and my bouncers. This is to ensure the safety of my girls. The bouncers are like overprotective older brothers to the girls here, so you will have no problems from them. We are all very close-knit here and we protect each other. As long as you are here, no one will lay a hand on you in a way you are not comfortable with. I get many battered and mistreated girls, and many of them start to rediscover their confidence working here.

We protect our own. No one can hurt you.

The pay is more than great and you are given free lodgings and food. But since the benefits are many, so are the services you must perform for me. All my girls are multi-talented. We have three categories: waitresses, bartenders and dancers. You need to be able to excel at all three as you will be rotated to perform all three roles. On average, bartenders and dancers make the most, so we rotate to keep income balanced. However, girls with more seniority will get more preference over newbies. Newbies can move up rank quickly by performing well.

Regardless of your role that night, if a patron pays the designated fee for you to give them a private session, you will take it and someone else will fill your spot. If for some reason you feel your safety is in danger with a certain patron, don’t hesitate to find a bouncer, one of the more senior girls, or even myself and we will deal with the situation. If you have good reason to have a particular dislike for a specific patron, you will not be required to serve them. However, turning down a patron simply for baseless dislike is not tolerated