Shin Hye didn’t know how long she’d been in the beauty salon. Two hours, she guessed. At least.

Ara, the youngest of six hairdressers working today, had taken her by the hand, led her to one of the chairs at the back, and sat her before the mirror. “So, what do you think we should do?”

Shin Hye was at a complete loss. The smell of chemicals made her dizzy. They were going to gas her with something and turn her into a monster, but of course that was absurd, they would do no such thing. She might be a bit naive around the girls, but she wasn’t stupid. Psychotic maybe, just a tiny bit, but not stupid. Still, she couldn’t stop the thoughts ramming the inside of her skull, trying to get out.

Ara took Shin hye’s hair and pulled it back. She was a young woman with a head swimming in short dark curls. One of those magazine faces painted with makeup that reminded Shin Hye of Yoo bi.

 “Why don’t we cut it off?” , the young woman said.

“ANI.”

“You don’t think? Oh, I think your hair would be adorable short.”

Just the thought of those scissors snipping around her neck was too much. “I’d rather not.”

“Arrasso… Well, I can do whatever you want. It’s your hair, not mine. What do you think, Unni? She doesn’t want her hair short.”

An older woman called Si Young walked over, smiling warmly. “Well, let’s just take a look at you, Eun Sang-ssi.”

It was the name she’d given them, afraid to be caught. Cha Eun Sang.

She slipped out of the chair and stood, keeping her eyes on the scissors in Si Young’s hand. At the centre, the sight of a woman with shears wouldn’t bother her, but it was different here.

Si Young must have seen her eyeing the scissors, because she set them on a shelf next to neatly stacked white jars of hair product. “You want a complete makeover, right?”

“I need to look beautiful.”

“That pretty much means a complete makeover. The hair, the face, a manicure, pedicure… What about your clothes?”

She looked down at her jeans. “I want to cut my jeans off. Short.”

The two beauticians exchanged smiles. “Okay, I think we can do that. But you’re going to need some new clothes. What’s this for? You have a date?”

The question brought the killer to mind, and it took some concentration to keep from unraveling in front of them. “De. I have a date.”

“Kure? then we need to make you very beautiful.” She  walked around Shin Hye, nodding. Both women were probably doing everything in their power to keep from bursting out in laughter.

“Okay, flip-flops, shorts. But the T-shirt has to go,” Si Young said.

“I don’t have another shirt.”

“We’ll worry about that later. But you have to put on something that doesn’t smell like you rolled in it.” She played with Shin Hye’s stringy hair. “Let’s give her a y sophisticate look, Ara. Highlights, a little texture. Not too much makeup, just a healthy glow and some lipstick. What do you say we keep you looking natural? Bring out your natural beauty.”

She nodded, lost.

“French manicure, not too long, Ara.  Red toenail polish.” She stooped over and lifted her left jean leg. “You need a wax, honey. You okay with that?”

Did Eun Hye unni wax? Shin Hye wasn’t hairy, but she knew that most girls shaved their legs and their underarms. Min Ho oppa would approve. So she nodded.

“Perfect. Get her into a robe.” She touched Paradise on her cheek and smiled. “Don’t worry, Eun Sang, you’re in good hands. Just sit back and let us pamper you.”

Shin Hye blinked, frightened but certain that she had little choice.

She stripped out of her smelly T-shirt and jeans and put on the long white robe they gave her. First the shower. She’d never heard of taking a shower in a beauty salon, but then she didn’t know much about these kinds of places. Ara insisted she wash off the smell, so she did, using what they called an exfoliating scrub. It smelled like flowers and made her whole body tingle. Under any other circumstance she might have found the hot shower relaxing.

But she couldn’t get rid of the killer’s voice in her head. Or the hollow pit in her gut, the gnawing sense that she was somehow ing herself, cleaning herself on the outside but being dirty on the inside. Yet what choice did she have?

Then they went to work on her. Washing, scrubbing, painting, polishing, waxing… They decided they didn’t have to wax, thank goodness. Instead they shaved her legs and underarms. She kept thinking that the aliens had captured her and she was in their experimental room where they prodded and poked to better understand the human specimen they’d taken.

A white facial mask. Hair color, cut, and style. Makeup.

All the while Ara and another young woman, who did both nails and makeup, kept commenting on how she was really beautiful. Her strong nails, her healthy hair, her porcelain skin…

Shin Hye sat back and accepted the torture, mind lost on the haunting voice that had spoken to her on the phone. The killer. Who had Min Ho oppa.

Really, she was doing this for him. For both the killer and Min Ho oppa, however ashamed she was to admit this to herself. For the killer because he would hurt oppa if she didn’t follow his directions to the letter. For Min ho oppa… No, not for him. He wouldn’t want her to go through this just to look more beautiful.

Her mind couldn’t process the whys of what was happening to her. The aliens, the demons, the killer. And worst of all, her Abeoji’s voice, back from the dead, demanding she come out of her hiding or he would kill her omma. As he had.

She looked down at her new white-tipped nails, which looked more like claws. Ara put her file down and took her hand.

“Are you okay, Eun Sang-ssi?”

“De,” she’d answered, startled.

“You’re hands are trembling.… Is it a problem with drugs?”

She was talking about substance abuse, but Shin Hye immediately thought of the antipsychotics in her medicine cabinet. Because her mind was bouncing around like a rubber ball. The chemicals, the uniform-like robes, the scissors, the painting of nails and faces all frightening snippets from a horror movie.

She almost stood and fled then.

“Ani. I’m just a bit scared.”

The woman glanced around. “Are you in danger?”

“Aniyo,” Shin Hye answered too quickly.

Ara patted her hand. “Arrasso. It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t okay, and Shin Hye continued to fight against an almost insurmountable urge to run out, bathrobe and all. She refused to look in the mirror, terrified of her own reflection.

Si Young had returned from her lunch with a shopping bag just as Ara finished painting her face. “I hope you don’t mind, I took some of your money and bought you a few things.”

Money? “I don’t have any money,” she said.

“You overpaid us. Now we’re even.” She pulled out a pair of frayed jean shorts, a red blouse, and a pair of white sandals with silver buttons on the straps. “What do you think? I hope this size fits you. Aren’t they adorable?”

Shin hye had no clue what to think.

“Well, go on,” Ara said. “You know where the dressing room is. Show us your new y self.”

“Put them on?”

“That’s why I bought them.” Se Young replied smiling gently. 

“Now?”

“You wanted shorts, I got you shorts, but I can’t put them on for you.”

They were all looking at her expectantly. So she took the bag, beating back stray thoughts of how foolish she was, and put them on in the dressing room.

When you’re done, take a picture of yourself and send it to me so that I know you’ve done exactly as I’ve asked. Then go across the road to the park and wait for me. I’ll call you and tell you what I want you to do next.

The voices echoed in her head. What if she was too late? What if he was waiting in the park now?

Despite their pampering, or perhaps because of it, she was more nervous now than when she’d first walked in. Keeping her fingers from trembling was now impossible.

Shin Hye grabbed her dirty jeans and dug out the cell phone. No calls. She stuffed it into the right pocket of the shorts and hurried out into the main room.

Seven or eight heads turned to look at her, freezing her with their stares. She looked at the mirrored wall directly in front of her. The girl facing her was an alien.

Same height, same face, but that was it. Her dark hair hung around her face to her shoulders like a picture-perfect wig. Dark eyelashes curved up into light pink eye shadow, and dark brows had been thinned to half their former thickness. Blush colored her cheeks, just enough to change the stark white face she was accustomed to.

And the lipstick. Red lipstick, like apples for lips!

Her first instinct was to rub it all off before her transformation into this alien was complete. “What… what did you do?” she stammered.

“OMO,  look at you!” Si Young unni was all smiles. “Now that’s what I call y.”

A chorus of oohs and ahhs agreed, and Ara went on about how unfair it was that she could look so pretty in nothing flat.

The red shirt hung to the top of Shin hye's jean shorts, which weren’t long enough. She knew they were right, though, that she looked way too much like  people Yoo Bi would point out as pretty or cute or y.

But all Shin Hye could think was that this woman staring back at her wasn’t actually her. She was an imposter! And even as the thoughts pummeled her mind, she knew they weren’t the right thoughts.

She was on the verge of a psychotic break.

Her head spun and she was suddenly convinced that if she didn’t get the monster off her, it would take over. She rushed over to the nearest station, grabbed a white towel, and had almost taken a swipe at her face when she remembered his words again. When you’re done, take a picture of yourself and send it to me so that I know you’ve done exactly as I’ve asked.

“Eun Sang-ssi?”

Now they were all watching her as if she had lost her lid. She was in a box. She had to get out before she made a complete fool of herself and ruined everything.

Get out here or I’ll shoot your omma…

She fled. Past Ara and Si Young, past three customers now seated for their turn. Through the door and outside into the bright sun where a new reality greeted her.

Parked cars. A road. And across the road, a large park.

She was shaking so badly now that she couldn’t seem to get her legs started again. This was what she had to do, right? She had to get over there and take a picture of herself and then…

The door swung out. “Eun Sang-ssi, are you sure you’re okay?”

“De.”

Si young eyed her skeptically. “Maybe you should come back inside.”

She got her legs going then, tearing away from the spa, past the parked car on her right. I have to get out, I have to escape! She got halfway across the lot and ran behind the green garbage bin.

Immediately she realized that Si young had seen her, and she was trapped like an alien back here.

She ran around the bin and headed across the road in a full sprint.

The cars started honking halfway across and she pumped her legs faster, right into the green park. Straight toward some trees fifty yards away.

Shin Hye reached the first large tree and threw her back up against the far side for safety. Breathing like a hurricane. Her mind was shouting at her, scolding, instructing, splitting, crying, begging it all to go away so she could stay in the closet.

She got her wind and snuck a peek around the tree. No one chased her. So she’d made it. She was okay.

Now what? Now she had to take a picture of herself to prove she’d made herself beautiful.

She pulled out the cell phone and fiddled with the controls, searching for the camera button. Both Yoo Bi and Jae Suk oppa had cell phones, and she’d messed with them some. She dropped the phone in the dust once, grabbed it back up, and rubbed it on her red shirt, hoping she hadn’t damaged it.

By the time she finally figured out which button operated the camera, her heart was racing again. She was going to establish communication with the killer. Where would this all lead? What if he wanted something else from her? Why had he wanted her to look pretty for him? What if he actually wanted her? The thought was terrifying.

Pushing past the fear, she managed to hold the camera out and take a picture of herself. Figuring out how to send it was much easier than she would have guessed—there was only one number stored in the phone.

Now what?

She sank down to her seat, trembling. Then go across the road to the park and wait for me. I’ll call you and tell you what I want you to do next. Her mind was twirling like a ballerina in outer space.

“Min Ho oppa.” She