Yoohyeon took a deep breath before walking through the doors of the club.

Even though she felt entirely uneasy not working on the case, she had to admit, Sanghyuk was right. She was getting obsessed with the case, to the point where she was neglecting her real world friends.

You knew something was wrong when she was getting advice from a ghost.

And besides, perhaps a little distance would do her good, rest her mind a bit, and then perhaps it would be able to work enough to figure out what the hell she was missing.

But whatever, she promised herself she wouldn't think about the case tonight. She was just going to drink a bit, laugh with her friends, and celebrate Handong's birthday. 

Ken spotted her from across the room, immediately putting his glass down and waving her over to where the group had sat itself in a corner. She maneuvered through the crowds of people dancing to the ear pounding music and went over to her friends. Luckily, they seemed to feel the same way she was, and had chosen a corner that was relatively quieter than the rest of the place.

Handong got up to greet her and she couldn't help but let out a gasp. "Oh my god, you look like a goddess!"

Handong looked down, blushing as she tucked a lock of her now two-toned hair behind her ear. "I-It's nothing," she said.

"Now don't say that," Yoohyeon quickly told her. "You look beautiful and you should, especially on your birthday." 

Siyeon beamed. "It's all thanks to my handiwork," she said. "Well, Jiu helped," she added as an afterthought."

Jiu stood up, grabbing Handong's shoulders from the back. "My aunt owns a salon," she explained. "We forced Handong to spend a good three hours there before bringing her today to let my aunt work her magic."

"Magic is the word," Yoohyeon laughed. 

When she took a seat, Ken got up. "Let me take your orders," he proudly proclaimed. "I'll bring them to you."

The girls all shared a look before rattling off their specific wishes. Siyeon decided to mess with Ken, by asking for an extremely elaborate cocktail in such detail that it forced him to take out his phone to note it down. Jiu followed up with an even more elaborate drink mix, making Ken complain that it was only a gesture and that he wasn't their waiter. 

To relieve Ken of his misery, Handong simply ordered the same whiskey that he'd been drinking (it seemed he'd gotten there first to set up for them) and Yoohyeon ordered a plain vodka in the same spirit, despite Ken's suspicion.

As he trotted off to the bar to get their drinks, the girls relaxed and chatted a bit.

"So, any plans for tonight?" Jiu directed the question to Handong. 

Handong shook her head. "What plans would I have except to enjoy with you guys?"

"Come on," Jiu nudged her friend. "There probably has to be somebody, right? Somebody who would've asked you out tonight?"

"If somebody would've asked me out tonight I definitely wouldn't be here celebrating with you guys," Handong pointed out, earning laughter from the girls. 

"So, anyway," Siyeon turned to Yoohyeon. "We haven't seen you in a little while. How's your project going?"

Handong nodded. "Yeah, I'll admit even I was getting a bit curious about that case." 

Yoohyeon's frustrated sigh was enough to tell the girls all they needed to know. Jiu crinkled up her nose. "Reached a stalemate, have we?" she guessed.

"Can we just...not talk about it for tonight?" Yoohyeon softly pleaded. "I just don't want to think about it right now."

SIyeon smiled, placing her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Alright," she said. "We won't talk about class tonight. We'll just drink ourselves silly and dance the night away and talk about boys." 

Ken chose that moment to return with their drinks, placing the tray between them. "So," he asked, standing up. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing," Yoohyeon quickly said.

Handong quickly reached out for her glass, holding it up in an effort to brighten up the atmosphere. "To us surviving college!"

The others took their cue and grabbed their drinks, clinking the glasses. "To surviving college!"

Jiu got up, toasting Handong, followed by the others cheering. 

The next hour was a blur. Putting all thoughts of the case to the back of her mind for the night, Yoohyeon indulged in the fever dream with her friends. While she was able to control her intake because she wanted to talk and enjoy, the others seemed to just want to lose themselves, which she was considering as she finished her second glass. 

The girls hit the dance floor, and Yoohyeon was actually surprised by how good a dancer Handong was. She also definitely didn't miss the looks some of the guys were throwing at her. Also, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Jiu and Ken dancing together.

She smiled. It seemed like things would finally kick off between those two.

She moved to the wall so she could keep a better eye on her friends. While she wasn't drunk, she was a bit tipsy, and the club's pounding music wasn't helping at all.

She watched Ken and Jiu dance for a while, then watched Handong get up on one of the tables to dance. She spotted a couple of guys hitting on Siyeon who had retreated to the bar for another drink. 

She then spotted something she wished she hadn't.

In order to make sure that it wasn't a hallucination in her tipsy state, she made her way to get a closer look, and for once she wished she wasn't right as her stomach fell.

Over near the edge of the bar, surrounded by a few guys and accompanied by another girl, was Gahyeon.

Rage overtook her as she stomped across the club to where her sister was sitting. However, as she got closer, she paused, as the situation seemed to be different than what she had imagined previously.

"Listen, you asked for the services, now you pay. So cough it up, !"

"Hey, can we work this out? Perhaps a few drinks should cover our tab?"

"No, you've been skimping out on payment for weeks. The only reason we even came out here in the first place was because you said you'd pay us."

"You must have misunderstood. We only said that we were paying for tonight, not to settle the entire bill." The guy cast a look at the other girl. "Speaking of which, we want another night's service."

"No, not anymore."

Yoohyeon quietly pulled herself onto the barstool next to the arguing group to observe them. 

Gahyeon was dressed in a short black dress, which she definitely knew was hers, and her makeup was done up, also hers. The other girl accompanying her seemed to be around the same age, except that she was sitting with her palms folded in her lap and teary eyes. They were surrounded by four young men, around Yoohyeon's age, so she surmised that they must be college students.

Why was Gahyeon arguing about services with a bunch of college men?

Oh God, Gahyeon, what did you get yourself into now?

As the situation seemed to be spiraling out of control, Yoohyeon leaned further. "Excuse me," she said, her sharp voice somehow cutting through the music and making all of them stop in their tracks. "Is there a problem?"

One of the boys scoffed. "Mind your own business."

Another snorted. "Yeah, who're you, a cop?"

"I guess you could say that," Yoohyeon said.

Gahyeon looked positively shocked at the appearance of her sister, but the boys didn't seem to care, instead advancing towards Yoohyeon.

"Listen, I don't know who you are and why you're poking your nose in where it doesn't belong," one of them, the biggest, from what she could tell, spoke, "but you'd better keep out of our business unless you also have services to offer."

"Oh, I've got services to offer," Yoohyeon casually said. "For one, I offer you the service of not calling the manager of this fine establishment to let him know that the four of you might be ing with minors," she pointed out.

They looked shocked as they turned to gape at Gahyeon and the other girl. "What's with the faces?" Yoohyeon asked. "Didn't you know this? Also, didn't you know that it would be extremely easy for you to be charged with statutory , not to mention hiring the services of illegal escorts?"

The biggest guy, probably their leader, seemed to panic. Quickly gesturing to his cronies, they quickly made their way past them. 

"Don't forget to pay your tab!" Yoohyeon called after them in good spirits.

She then turned back to the other two, the smile falling from her face. "You two, come with me," she said, gesturing to the both of them. "You have a lot of explaining to do."