Jisoo's days in Busan were pleasant enough, if all a bit the same. Every morning she started her day with practicing her combat skills - it would never do to let those get rusty - followed by spending the rest of the morning on her correspondence and keeping up with the news. After lunch, she'd usually go for a walk, sometimes including a stop off at Chungha's to keep up to date on the latest styles and the latest neighborhood gossip. Mrs. Baek had stayed true to her promise to introduce Jisoo to the other navy wives. She had hosted a garden party a week after Captain Lee's ship had sailed, and after that Jisoo could count on several invitations a week for dinner and socializing. On the nights she didn't have any social obligations, she discovered she rather enjoyed cooking for herself and dining alone. She and Jennie had managed to convince Madame Park that allowing Jennie to visit Jisoo in Busan would be a good thing, because after all, Jennie had never been to Busan, and you never know when familiarity of a city might come in handy on a mission. Jennie had sent a letter about a week ago saying that she would be coming soon, so Jisoo was expecting Jennie to arrive any day. In fact, she was just finishing her correspondence when she heard a knock at the door.

A smile came over her face at the thought of seeing Jennie again. She got up and rushed through the house. She opened the door and stopped short when she saw Hong Jin-Young standing outside her house. The last time Jisoo had seen her former teacher, she was being escorted out of Madame Park's academy by the society's agents. Jisoo had never expected to see her again - there were even some rumors among the students that she might have been executed.

"Good morning, Jisoo," Jin-Young said. "I'm sorry to show up unexpectedly like this, but I had never I really couldn't trust to the post. May I come inside?"

"Oh, um - yes, of course." Started out of her immobility, Jisoo stepped aside and let Jin-Young into the house. She looked up and down to the street, which was empty, as usual for this hour, then shut the door. When she turned around, she instinctively made a mental note of which items in the room could be used as weapons and how close Jin-Young was to any of them. Perhaps because she was expecting this surveillance, Jin-Young had taken care to stay in the middle of the room and to keep her hands in clear view.

"Please, have a seat," Jisoo said, indicating one of the chairs. Once Jin-Young was seated, Jisoo crossed the room and rang the bell. Fortunately, this was one of the mornings that Suyeon was in to cook and clean. In a matter of moments - it wasn't a terribly large house, after all - Suyeon had appeared in the living room doorway.

"I have an unexpected guest this morning. Would you prepare tea for us?"

"Certainly ma'am," Suyeon said. "And will your friend be staying for lunch?"

Jisoo turned from Suyeon to Jin-Young and raised her eyebrows interrogatively. "Will you?" she asked.

"I should very much like to," Jin-Young said, "if you'd be agreeable to having company. I do recognize I've put you in a bit of an awkward situation, turning up to unexpectedly like this."

Jisoo turned back to Suyeon. "Yes, she'll be staying," she said. "If we need any additional ingredients for the meal, I have an account with Mr. Kang, just bring your list to me beforehand so I can sign it."

Suyeon smiled, "I'm sure that won't be necessary, ma'am. You always do such a good job of keeping the pantry stocked. Now, if you don't need me for anything else at the moment, I'll go get started on that tea."

"That'll be fine. Thank you, Suyeon," Jisoo said. As soon as Suyeon had left the room, Jisoo turned back to Jin-Young and sat impassively, waiting for her former teacher to begin the conversation.

"Well," Jin-Young said, "after seeing you in my class, I had worried about your ability to manage servants when the time came. Apparently I needn't have worried - you're quite the natural."

"I learned a lot in your class," Jisoo said, "but then you had to leave so suddenly."

Jin-young looked momentarily flustered, surprised that Jisoo would bring this up so early in their conversation, but recovered her composure quickly. "Yes, about that I-" she stopped suddenly as Suyeon brought in the tea.

"Will there be anything else, ma'am?" Su