An office bonding trip to some natural hot springs was the best place and time to make new friends, and since it was Eunseo’s third year working for the Seoul Manuscript Museum, the task of acting as a bridge into the group for the new hires fell on her. And that was exactly what she was doing when she poked her head into the one of the interns’ room.

“Hey guys, we’re about to head down for dinner if you want to join. We’re meeting down in the lobby in about five minutes and then heading to the traditional place right across the street,” she told them.

“I was going to go get some wings,” one of the interns, a younger girl by the name of Jaeri, said. Her partner, Juri, elbowed her in the side, frowning at her words. Eunseo merely raised an eyebrow.

“You can do what you want, but, personally, I think Korean food is the best in the mountains, and the floor directors all seem to think so as well,” she said.

Jaeri blushed a light red and looked intently at the chest-of-drawers next to the elder. It seemed to Eunseo that she wanted to say something, but, when she did no such thing, Juri answered for her.

“We’ll be there,” the other intern assured her, “thank you for inviting us.”

Eunseo gave them both a twinkling, teasing sort of smile. “No problem. And Jaeri?” The younger girl looked up at Eunseo. “That’s a lovely color on you.” Jaeri turned an even darker shade of red, but Eunseo gave her no further acknowledgement and closed the door as she left, heading towards her own room to grab her purse.

The group followed the aforementioned plan to a tee, and they were seated not fifteen minutes later. They had been sat at a long table in the middle of one of the rooms, one large enough to fit all ten of the staff members and interns who had come. Another, similarly-sized table was adjacent to theirs, separated only by a few leafy plants in a box. Eunseo took a seat at the end by the plants, and she could see a table full of young men through the leaves. There were five that she could see, although she could only see the faces of two. She didn’t look at them for too long, however, as she did not want them to think she was staring. This attempt ultimately ended up not mattering; Jaeri and her twin brother Jaehyun giggled over them enough for the ones closest to notice.

The boy on the opposite side of the table from Eunseo but directly beside the plant divider nudged the boy to his right, nodding in the direction of their partner table. The second coughed, trying to cover a laugh. He stole one more glance before hiding his face behind one hand. Eunseo had already felt her face warming at his response, but then the first boy sent a wink over to one of the twins. Eunseo wanted to slide underneath the table right there. She was grateful that her superiors hadn’t noticed at least; she knew for a fact that a couple of them would not react to such frivolous behavior leniently.

Thankfully, they went on to order and receive their food without any other incidences. Eunseo quickly forgot about the boys on the opposite side of the plants, instead focusing on the rather large spread of Korean food on the table before her. Despite having been uninterested earlier, the interns were actually the ones to eat the most – and the fastest. They had to ask for extra kimchi barely five minutes into the meal. After a while, the archives manager, Kim Hyekyung, started ordering the table rounds of drinks.

“One shot!” they all cheered when it came time for Eunseo and her partner Taehee to do a shot together. Eunseo had already lifted the glass to her lips, but then Taehee held up both hands to signal they pause, and a hush suspended itself over the table. The woman cleared .

“Look me in the eyes while we’re doing it,” Taehee instructed with a gleam in her eye, “or it’s seven years of bad .”

A chorus of “oh’s” came from the rest of the group. Eunseo fought to hold back a laugh.

“I guess we can’t have that, now can we?” she replied, clinking her glass against Taehee’s. The two women then downed their drinks without braking eye contact, not even with a blink. They slammed their glasses against the table at the same time, and broke out into laughter just a second after.

At some point during that exchange, the boys at the table next to them had gotten up and begun scooting past them to leave the restaurant. Eunseo looked up just as one of them passed by the chair opposite her, and he returned her gaze. Although they maintained this connection for a solid five seconds, she could scarcely tell what he looked like by the end of it, having only noticed how remarkably dark his irises were. The longer she looked at them, the more she expected to see some glint of brown or hazel, but she never did find either. They were pools of pure black, even further accented by the tan of his skin.

She was soon pulled from the not-quite encounter by the voice of Hyekyung, who was asking where Taehee had learned such a toast.

“Ah, it was something we always said in Germany during my study abroad,” Taehee answered.

“You studied in Germany? What’d you do over there?” Juri asked.

“Well, part of it was that my boyfriend at the time was stationed there the year before and absolutely loved it, and the other part was that I was doing my bachelor’s essay on translations from the original Brothers Grimm fairy tales,” she said, a little bashfully.

“Whoa, that sounds so cool! I think I’m doing mine on the evolution of Dracula from a pure monster to a sympathetic character.” Jaehyun leaned forward against the table.

The rest of the party took turns sharing their own senior theses, but Eunseo missed the majority of the conversation, her eyes flickering back over to the door the men had just exited through.

The next morning found the museum group halfway up the mountain. The air had been generally cheery, with each member of the party taking their turn providing entertainment and, subsequently, a distraction from the burning several of them were feeling in their legs.

“I don’t think I’ve walked this much since I got an actual job and had enough money for the bus!” Ms. Kim declared, stopping to catch her breath.

“But what about last year’s retreat?” Hyelim asked. She tried to adjust her backpack so that it sat higher on her shoulders, but it slipped back down barely a second later.

Taehee snorted. “Yeah, what about last year’s retreat?” she asked.

Ms. Kim shot her a look. “Is that any way to speak to your elders?”

Hyelim glanced questioningly at Eunseo.

“Ms. Kim has left before hiking day every year for sixteen years,” Eunseo whispered to her and the other interns.

“Sixteen years?” Sunmi went wide-eyed and looked towards Ms. Kim.

“Im Eunseo! What are you telling them over there? Did those shots last night mean nothing to you?” Ms. Kim demanded.

“Sorry, sorry! It won’t happen again,” Eunseo managed to laugh out an apology. Ms. Kim opened to reply, but was cut off by the appearance of another group of hikers.

“That’s not even a valid argument, dickhead!” a male voice said from behind Eunseo. The young woman turned to see about half of the group of men from the night before. The one who had spoken froze and turned a dark shade of red once he realized the situation. Another of the young men quickly slapped him on the back of his head.

“Nice going, Baek,” he sighed and shot the museum group a tight smile, “I’m very sorry about my friend’s behavior.” He bowed towards Eunseo, and then to the rest of the group.

“Ah, it’s really not that big of a deal,” Eunseo waved her hand dismissively, looking towards Ms. Kim for help. The manager had frozen alongside the one called Baek, but she quickly straightened herself out upon being addressed.

“It’s really fine. We’re all adults here, and you did apologize,” she said.

The second man grinned broadly. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Do you think if I made out with him, my teeth would be as white as his?” Changsun whispered to his sister. Sunmi didn’t reply, but Hyelim shot him a weird look.

“That’s not even-“ She stopped herself with a huff, realizing that the twins were too far gone to hear her.

If the men had heard them, they did not acknowledge them – or, at least, three of the four did not. A small scoff from a man who had not spoken drew Eunseo’s attention; she had hardly noticed the other two men with them, but now that she looked, she realized that the one who had made the noise was the same one who had caught her eye the previous night. His lips were pulled up in a smirk that was strangely reminiscent of a cat and highlighted just how prominent his cheekbones were. His gaze was directed at the ground, and Eunseo averted her own eyes before he could possibly notice her staring.

“It’s no problem, really,” Ms. Kim said, “and it was nice meeting you, Mr…”

“Park, Park Chanyeol, actually,” the second man replied, “and this idiot is Byun Baekhyun. Our more soft-spoken colleagues are Chen and Yixing.”

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Park, but we really should continue our hike now.” Ms. Kim made to start up the mountain again.

“Oh, are you going to Lover’s Ledge too?” Chanyeol asked.

“Table Rock, actually. I’m not familiar with Lover’s Ledge,” Ms. Kim said, a slight tinge of distaste coloring her tone at the last two words.

This didn’t faze Chanyeol.

“Table Rock is nice, but you’ll have a hard time trying to take nice pictures – that’s where everyone goes. Lover’s Ledge is less popular, but it’s twice as nice, especially if you’re planning on having a picnic. You’d have more space to spread out and relax,” he continued. It was almost as if he was trying to convince her to go with them, but he had no reason to do so.

“I’d like to see what’s so special about it,” Sunmi said.

“It does sound nice,” Taehee added, “and Table Rock can definitely get crowded.”

Ms. Kim sighed. “How much farther is this place?”

“Just as far as Table Rock, but in a different direction,” Chanyeol told her.

She thought over it for a minute, then nodded. “Lead the way, young man. While you’re at it, if there are any superstitions about this place, let me know because I have a couple of daughters who need to get married soon.”

If it was possible, Chanyeol's smile grew wider.

"Perfect."

The first chapter is up!!! In other news, I evacuted school bc Irma and turned 20! It's really been a while, hasn't it, guys?

Love,

Emma

(cue the shock that I've stopped going by my French name after disappearing for two years)