Jennie had left on the coach for Madame Park's three days ago, and the rain had not let up since that time. It was as if the weather insisted upon mirroring Jisoo's mood. The only thing that seemed to take her mind off Jennie's absence was training Suyeon, but even that had to be curtailed once Jisoo overheard Suyeon saying to Joy "I do hope Mrs. Kim's mood improves soon. I know she's setting me all these extra lessons to try to take her mind off Miss Jennie, but she's been cramming me so full of new knowledge that I feel as if my head must surely burst open." After that, Jisoo eased up on Suyeon, and they'd passed an entire evening playing gin rummy, as that was one of the few card games that did not require four players.

But even if not at the pace which Jisoo had been administering them, Suyeon's lessons still had to continue, which is how the afternoon of the third day found them in the parlor, Jisoo tying Suyeon up in the various ways that this might be done if she was captured and then teaching her how to escape from each particular way.

Joy looked up from the rebus she had been trying to solve - rebuses having become quite the thing in the more fashionable literary magazines - and watched as Jisoo wrapped a rope around Suyeon, securing her extremities in various positions from which she must then attempt to extricate herself. "You know," Joy said, as she watch Suyeon struggle against one of the more secure methods of tying, "the Japanese have devised an art - or possibly it's a science - of tying people up."

"Is that so?" Jisoo asked.

Joy nodded. "It started out as a matter of law enforcement, for securing a prisoner until they could be brought to a place of confinement, but it since has been adapted for recreational and artistic uses."

"Recreational?" Suyeon asked incredulously as she struggled to find a way to free her left arm from its binding without dislocating her shoulder in the process.

"Quite," Joy said. "I must admit I had struggled to understand the attraction, but after watching you and Suyeon this afternoon, I find my understanding growing quite quickly."

"Do tell," Jisoo said, arching an eyebrow inquisitively.

"I'm afraid I can't tell," Joy said, "but I'd be quite happy to show you, once Suyeon frees herself from her current predicament." She looked down at Suyeon, watched her struggling for a second, then said "No dear, you're going to injure yourself if you keep trying to go about it that way. The key to getting out of this one lies with the placement of the right thumb."

"I told you not to tell her!" Jisoo said fiercely.

"And I didn't tell her," Joy replied lightly. "I merely suggested the direction from which the problem should be attacked." Suddenly Joy's attention was drawn back to Suyeon who, having freed herself from the rope, was standing up and attempting the stretch the kinks out of her muscles from having spent so long immobilized. Joy's jaw dropped in surprise. "Not even Yeri could have escaped that particular configuration that quickly." She turned to Jisoo. "Are you sure you tied it properly?"

"Quite sure," Jisoo replied. "You watched me." Turning to Suyeon, she said "It appears we have discovered another one of your strength. Not one that suggests a particular sort of mission we should be training you for, but certainly a useful one - there are any number of situations in which an agent might need to free herself from confinement."

"Tell me, how do you do it?" Joy asked.

Suyeon shook her head. "I really can't explain," she said. "I mentally trace the path of the rope, assigning numbers to it at certain crosses and turns, and looking at the numbers lets me figure out where and how I should be moving the rope in order to get it do to what I want."

Joy was crestfallen upon hearing this. Jisoo knew that it was because numbers had never been one of Joy's strong suits and so she despaired of ever being able to learn Suyeon's method of escaping ropes, which was obviously superior to anything the academies had to offer. "But I believe you were about to offer us a demonstration of the artistic and recreational possibilities involved in tying someone up?"

Joy nodded, a smile returning to her face. "Quite. And since Suyeon has spent most of the afternoon tied up, I shall have to demonstrate on you."

"Very well," Jisoo said. She stood up. Suyeon handed her the rope, which she had already neatly coiled, and then she handed the rope to Joy.

Joy stood up and made several experimental wraps of the rope around Jisoo's arms and torso. "You must forgive me if I'm somewhat clumsy at this," she said, "for I've never actually tied someone this way before, and I'm having to attempt to recreate wraps and knots that I've only ever seen in drawings. And one daguerreotype." She held Jisoo's wrists together and wrapped the rope around them, then frowned at her work and tried wrapping it the other way instead. Dissatisfied, she removed the rope entirely, took a step back and studied Jisoo intently while running the rope through her fingers. "The dress is the problem," she said finally. "It adds bulk where we don't want it, restricts your movement, and is just generally a hindrance to getting the proper effect. I shall need you to strip down to your chemise."

Jisoo looked to see that the curtains were drawn and then began undoing the buttons of her dress. Suyeon came over and helped her with it. "You seem quite eager," she said to Suyeon with a smile.

"It's only, I've never even heard of anything like this," Suyeon said. "It sounds quite exciting, and I'm curious to see what Miss Joy has in mind."

"Me too," Jisoo admitted, as she stepped out of her dress and laid it over the back of a chair, while Suyeon came around behind her and started unlacing her corset. As soon as Suyeon had her corset sufficiently loosened, Jisoo wriggled out of it and it joined her dress on the chair. Jisoo then stood in front of Joy. "Okay," she said, "I'm ready."

Joy tied a quick loop around Jisoo's wrists and then began constructing a latticework of rope running up Jisoo's arms. In a short time, Jisoo