AUTHOR'S NOTE: Figured I'd put it up a couple days earlier than what  I was planning :)  Again sorry if it feels a little off, like I said I've been away from writing a while so I might be rusty for a bit (especially coz I'm busy with final uni stuff etc.). Anyway, hope y'all enjoy! 💕

Four Little Diamonds

Part II

Coming out of the little rental office with the keys in hand and seeing the splay of white and grey Hyundais across the parkinglot reminded her very suddenly of one of the first days she had ever met Irene. She remembered talking with Hongki about the dead bodies on the floor of an apartment not an hour away and coming outside and looking for Irene and seeing that she had decided to take a wander. To just go off on her own. Yet when Seulgi thought about it now she did so with a sort of wistful smile, like a sourness softened by the passage of time and events since, the graceful aging of a certain wine, something she had become almost accustomed to.

She read the leaflet the nice woman at the desk had given her and found the car and waved Irene over. She was stood with her arms folded by the lone entrance and she looked rather uninterested in everything. The afternoon wind made a gentle mess about her face and Seulgi had to squint in the cold pale light to see much of anything. The car she had rented was a five-year-old Hyundai coupe in gunmetal grey. She unlocked it and dropped the paperwork and the Thank You card on the dashboard and stood a moment looking at it while Irene came over.

‘This it?’

‘Yeah,’ Seulgi said.

‘How long did you get it for?’

‘A fortnight. Just in case.’

‘In case of what?’

She thought about it for a second and then she realised she didn’t know, in honesty. She said: ‘I don’t know, in honesty.’

‘Fair,’ Irene said. She paced the passenger’s side with her arms folded and looked at it in greater detail. ‘Was the bird an optional extra?’

‘What?’

‘Here.’ She pointed to the roof. ‘Or does that come with the car?’

‘It’s fine,’ Seulgi said.

‘Sure. Looks a bit poor, though, you know? But whatever. It isn’t my money.’

‘We should get going.’

‘You’re very eager.’

‘I just want to get this sorted.’

‘Relax,’ Irene said, stepping inside and closing the door. ‘It’s not like it’s going anywhere. I mean, it’s your job and . And what are we getting sorted, exactly?’

‘I thought you were going to figure that out.’

‘What? Me?’

‘It’s your friend we’re visiting.’

‘So? Doesn’t mean I know what I’m doing. Doesn’t mean this is gonna work out or anything. I mean, honestly speaking, the chances of her knowing anything are probably pretty ing low. Just to be realistic.’

‘Why did you recommend her then?’

‘You got a better idea, genius?’

Seulgi was quiet. She opened the glovebox and made a face as if concentrating on something else and closed it again.

‘See?’ Irene said. ‘It’s this or nothing, really. And you know what? Those robbers? Pretty ing smart, if you ask me. Like, properly so. Outsmarted all of us.’

‘We weren’t even on duty, so they didn’t outsmart us.’

‘Well you decided to chase them, and they’re not currently in a jail cell. And have the police found any dead bodies out on the Han River lately?’

‘No.’

‘Well I guess that means they didn’t drown, which then means – and I’m sorry to say this – they outsmarted you. They got away.’

‘They shot bullets at me.’

‘As opposed to shooting something other than bullets at you?’

‘You get what I mean.’

‘Sure,’ Irene said, fiddling with things that shouldn’t be fiddled with. ‘But the point remains – they beat you. Sort of. In a very roundabout way, at least.’

‘Are you going to rub it in all day?’

‘I think I deserve to, no?’

‘Why?’

‘It was your idea to get up and chase them. I was perfectly content sitting and finishing that lovely meal. Your meal, by the way, and you owe me another one, before you forget.’

‘What? What for?’

‘Uh, for ruining it?’

‘Sorry,’ Seulgi said. ‘Next time I’ll make sure to book a restaurant with no prior history of clown robberies. Sound good?’

Irene looked at the grimace of irritation on her face and stifled a laugh. ‘Did you at least remember the name of that wine?’ she said. ‘Because it was pretty good stuff. Really good.’

‘I’m not getting that again. Not for that price.’

‘You didn’t even pay. We just left the bill.’

‘The point stands.’

Irene was quiet a second. Then she said, ‘No. It actually doesn’t. Like…at all.’

‘Whatever.’

‘Do you remember where it is?’

‘Sinsa.’

‘Woman of few words today, aren’t ya, babe? You okay?’

Seulgi started the engine and shrugged and pulled out into the road.

‘So,’ Irene said. ‘When we get there, do you know what we’re doing?’

‘No,’ said Seulgi.

‘Neither do I.’

‘What? But it—’

‘Was my idea. Yeah, yeah. I know. But, like…still. I kinda just said it because I thought it all sort of added up. And I think it does. So I guess we just, dunno, ask around a bunch? Ask her if she knows anything? I’m sure if anyone does, it’s her.’

‘And then what?’

‘ if I know. You’re supposed to be the detective. What was it again? Seoul’s Best Detective?’ Irene giggled. ‘I’ll never get tired of hearing that. Hey, babe, can I ask you a question?’

Seulgi nodded.

‘Do you realise how lucky you are?’

‘What?’

‘Not with me or anything. Although…but whatever. I mean with Hongki. With having a guy like that as your boss. Like, do you ever just stop and think about all the you’ve done? Or that we’ve done, if you’re gonna be pedantic about it again. Even just then, you know? How many police officers do you know that go around chasing bad guys through streets and firing their guns and then ing blowing up warehouses? Oh, ! I almost forgot you blew up a warehouse! Jesus. I mean, seriously. Just think about it for a second.’

‘I was just doing my job.’

‘You could’ve just waited.’

‘Waited for what?’

‘To do things properly, I guess? Like, no offence or anything, babe, but I’m not sure any of this has ever been in your job description.’

‘I didn’t know you were so worried about doing things by the book now.’

‘Yeah,’ Irene said. ‘Right. That’s supposed to be your whole thing. I’m not saying I’ve got a problem with your methods or anything, babe. I’m just saying, maybe next time don’t go doing such crazy , yeah? Wait. God, listen to me. I sound like an old woman.’

‘A little,’ Seulgi said.

‘Being with you has aged me a thousand years.’

Seulgi ignored her. When they pulled up across the street from Yeri’s house in Sinsa it had just gone six in the evening and the traffic had kept them hemmed out for a long time. There were already two dozen or so expensive cars lined along the sidewalk and valets stood across the street and a white Ferrari pulling up two spaces down in a wicked throaty murmur of engine notes.

‘Looks a bit like yours,’ Irene said. ‘Your old one, I mean.’

‘It’s not as nice.’

‘What’s the matter? You jealous or something?’

‘I just said it’s not a nice.’

‘Yeah. That’s what they all say.’

They sat a moment watching people coming and going. The house was more a mansion but they both remembered it well. Remembered having been before. ‘Well,’ Irene said. ‘I have it to hand it to ya, babe.’

‘What?’

‘Your dress sense is pretty practical.’

Seulgi just looked at her.

‘I mean, for real. Day-to-day job? White suit, white shoes. Casual acquaintances? White suit, white shoes. Romantic candlelit dinner interrupted by thieving clowns? White suit, white shoes. Fancy evening party attended by a bunch of stuck-up rich kids and trust-fund babies? White—’

‘Suit, white shoes. Uh huh. Thanks.’

‘I’m serious. Mostly.’ When Seulgi said nothing she leant over and kissed her and ran a hand down the crease of her suit. ‘You look great,’ she said. ‘Really.’

‘Thanks,’ Seulgi said. She wanted to say So do you. You look incredible, as always. But instead she opened the driver-side door and stepped out into the cold with the wind wimpling in her hair and creasing her trousers and closed it behind her. Irene stepped out after her. She was wearing a black strapless dress and her lips were done so finely and so distinct against the pale of her skin that she looked almost like a chinadoll. She nodded to a group of men in tuxedos stood by the door smoking cigarettes.

‘What?’ Seulgi said.

‘You think they’re talking about this bad boy and saying: Nice wheels?’

‘Probably not.’

Irene pouted. ‘You’re no fun,’ she said. She held out her arm and Seulgi took it and they went on up to the door and rang the doorbell and waited. The men had shuffled off to one side to smoke in peace.

‘Are we going to get in?’ Seulgi said.

‘Why do you have so little faith in me? We’re on the VIP list, remember?’

‘I thought you said we weren’t, and you were just guessing.’

‘Did I say that? Huh. I honestly don’t remember. Time goes so quickly. Anyways, whatever. It’s not important. What’s important is we look rich and classy and attractive and Yeri knows me. Just don’t look at the car. Because the car is, well, none of those things.’

When Yeri answered the door they could tell immediately how far gone she was. She could barely stand. She stood wobbling against the doorframe and laughing at nothing and speaking far too loudly to somebody behind her. It stank of smoke and champagne. She looked at Irene and giggled and pulled her in for a hug tight enough and close enough that Seulgi could smell the delicate lilt of her perfume from three feet away. She drew back and looked at Seulgi and smiled again and nearly toppled over.

‘You,’ she said. ‘Nice to see you again! You brought your friend!’

‘Yeah,’ said Irene. ‘This is Seulgi.’

‘I thought her name was Wheein.’

Irene and Seulgi looked at each other. ‘She, uh, changed it,’ Irene said.

‘She changed it?’

‘Legally, I mean. For, uh, reasons.’

‘Yeah?’

Seulgi nodded. Yeri seemed to regard this with a queer curiosity for a second. Then with a tilt of her head she nodded and smiled and let them in. They stood in the main room looking about at the sight before them. It was as if they had never left, one great opulent gathering, people in white formfitting suits and black cocktail dresses and wearing diamond studs and diamond earrings and smoking cigars from brassclasped cases and pretending to have a good time, red wine and white and little squareglass tumblers of bourbon poured over cured and kept ice, people draped in authentic furs from animals probably almost extinct, people in shoes worth more than the Hyundai parked across the street outside, people smiling in the way people do when they’re not really sure what else to do.

Irene picked a sushi roll from a silver tray on the table to the right of the door and chewed it and her lips.

‘I’ll leave you two in peace,’ Yeri said with a smile.

‘No. Wait.’

She turned and looked at them. Or looked somewhere near them, but it was rather hard to be sure. ‘Wait,’ Irene said.

‘What’s up?’

Irene looked at Seulgi for an answer but Seulgi was silent. ‘Uh, just wait,’ she said. ‘Just, you know…hang out with us for a bit.’

Yeri looked about. It was hard to hear much of anything in the commotion. There were people on the balcony upstairs sipping glasses of champagne and laughing and waving at something entirely irrelevant to them. She turned back with a lazy smile. ‘Alright,’ she said, ‘Sure. Whatever. It’s been so long! So long.’

‘Uh huh.’

She led them to a room where they were alone save a couple of people in the corner and there was no door. So that they could still back into the main room. Could still hear all of it. Could still smell the smoke and the perfume and the men’s aftershave and everything else all at once, almost intoxicating. They sat with glasses of wine and they all drank as if they were in the middle of demonstrating various stages of alcoholism, Yeri rapidly finishing two glasses and spilling a third and Irene sipping her own and Seulgi looking down at the bubbling liquid in the bottom of the glass and squinting at in the low light and deciding politely to not drink at all. She watched Irene and Yeri talk and laugh with a sort of awkward apprehension.

‘I honestly can’t believe it’s been so long,’ Yeri said, laughing at nothing in particular. ‘It’s been like, what, a month? Two? Three?’

‘Something like one of them, yeah.’

‘Since I saw you in that restaurant. Oh my god, what was it called?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I was so drunk!’

Irene laughed.

‘I thought I was going to die, and not the first time either. I mean, the first time I thought that. Not the first time I was going to die. Or whatever. God, listen to me.’ She looked at Irene. ‘I haven’t died before,’ she said, ‘in case that’s what you were thinking.’

‘I have.’

‘What?’

‘Yeah,’ Irene said. She sipped her wine. ‘I drowned and then was brought back to life.’

‘Oh my god. Get the out of here!’

‘I’m serious. I fell in a river. Well, kinda. Then I drowned. Then I was alive again.’

‘You’re ting me!’

‘I’m serious. Honest. You can thank this one over here for that. Seriously.’

Yeri looked at Seulgi and Seulgi shrugged and sipped her wine with a grimace.

‘So,’ Irene said. ‘What’ve you been up to?’

Yeri drank and finished the last of her third glass and poured herself another. The bottle was almost empty. ‘Not a lot,’ she said. ‘Seriously not a lot. Just…this, I guess. Partying. Living my life how I wanna live my life, you know?’

‘What about your dad?’

‘What about him?’

‘What does he think about all this?’ Irene said.

‘ knows. He doesn’t really talk to me all that much anymore.’

‘Uh huh.’

‘Why?’

‘Just curious.’ She looked at Seulgi and looked back at Yeri again. ‘Listen,’ she said. ‘There’s a reason I came tonight.’

‘Well, yeah. For fun.’

‘Sure. And a little something else as well.’

Yeri made a motion for her to continue but she looked at Seulgi. As if knowing there was something Seulgi wanted to say but could not. Seulgi tipped her glass a slight in her hand. The wine bobbed and wobbled and righted again, a pale golden white in the glass. She thought about coming true and speaking her mind but it wasn’t the time nor the place and she knew it. She looked at Irene with an awkward half-smile. ‘I’ll go and, uh, do something,’ she said. ‘Go and find something to do, I mean.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah. I can, right?’

Yeri shrugged. She reached for the bottle on the table and missed it entirely with her hand like a mimeshow act gesturing for an invisible prop. ‘Be my guest,’ she slurred. ‘Do whatever you like. Just don’t be boring – that’s the only rule around here.’

‘Uh huh. Don’t be boring. Got it.’

‘Go and enjoy yourself!’

Seulgi looked at Irene and Irene nodded. As if to say: I’ve got this, don’t worry.

She stood and waved awkwardly at Yeri and shuffled out into the main room with the glass in her hand. She thought about getting something stronger and thought against it. Perhaps being sober was for the best. Upstairs someone was playing the Jackson 5 in one of the dancerooms and if Irene were with her she would’ve pointed at nothing and said: Hey, that’s the Jackson 5! That’s Blame It On The Boogie! Or something of the sort. Instead Seulgi stood and sipped at the wine and wandered upstairs looking for something to do.

It was strange in a sense she couldn’t quite explain, was how she felt. It had come over her rather suddenly in the past few weeks and there was no explanation for it and perhaps it was rather foolish of her but the mind is its own ruler and she couldn’t shake it no matter what she did, what she thought. She sipped the wine again. It tasted of expensive diamond necklaces and rose-gold Rolex Submariners and menthol cigarettes. It tasted above what she and Hongki and Wheein and the three newbies made in years and the thought of that fact made her wince for a moment.

‘,’ she said to nobody, and nobody paid her any attention. In her white suit and her white sockless loafers. Perhaps elsewhere she’d have been the centre of the party but in the land of checkered suitjackets and mustard rollnecks and purple blazers she was just another well-dressed fool among well-dressed fools. In the back room at the far-right end of the upstairs hallway they were playing Tina Turner now. She shuffled past a handful of people with an apologetic smile that told them she was an outsider and dipped left down another hallway and further into the house.

She found herself a minute or two later in an empty room at the end of the corridor with no windows. It looked like an exhibition room. There were paintings arranged on plinths and paintings in ornate gold frames lining the far wall and a bust of some ancient Roman emperor stood to the left of the door and a number of items of jewellery encased in glass boxes on the right. Briefly they reminded her of the disappearance at the Leeum museum. Reminded her how long ago that felt. Like another lifetime.

She stood a while looking at them awkwardly. Not quite knowing what to do. They looked to her just like paintings. There was nothing special about them and nothing to mark them as different from any other and nothing at all she liked the look of. There was one in the middle of the room on a low plinth, so that standing in front of it she had to look down to decipher it properly. It was the only one she thought was remotely interesting, a delicate watercolour portrait of a young woman sat at a table in front of a bowl of oranges. There was no nametag anywhere but it didn’t matter because Seulgi didn’t know her Van Goghs from her Van Persies and a name would only serve to make her go: Oh, cool. Whatever.

In the room back along they corridor they were playing the Jackson 5 again. She heard somebody laugh. She thought about Irene downstairs chatting away with Yeri. Then she thought about Irene chatting with Wheein and Dahyun and the other two and even talking with Hongki on occasion and soon she was sipping her wine again. The music played on and on. She thought about exploring some more but she had never been much of a talker, never been one to socialise beyond what was necessary for the job at hand. She sipped her wine again. She put the glass to her lips and drank with a wince and before she could stop herself it slipped through her fingers and went dropping to the floor in a dull thud along the carpet.

‘,’ she said, aloud. The last of the wine had stained the poor woman’s face on the painting in a pale mess of bubbles. She looked about and found she was still alone and that was good but the wine was dripping down the painting and that was less good. She thought briefly about the Jackson 5, for some reason. Thought: I wonder if I could blame this on the boogie. I wonder what that even means.

The wine dripped and soaked and fell. The painting looked perhaps a hundred years old and surely authentic and the woman seemed now to be weeping wine from her watercolour eyes and the bowl of oranges on the table had been daubed in it too. She thought about just turning around and leaving but that wouldn’t solve anything. Instead she took a tissue from her pocket and dabbed gently at the woman’s wet face, her cheeks, the table. What came away was a streaked blur of archaic colours and a ruined portrait. No longer did she look as if she was crying. She looked like some Eldritch abomination slowly melting.

‘,’ Seulgi muttered. ‘Oh .’

‘There you are.’

She turned around to find Irene with a glass of wine by the door. ‘What?’ Irene said.

‘It’s, uh, nothing.’

‘Babe.’

‘Nothing.’

‘What’s that in your hand?’ She looked at Seulgi and leant to the side and eyed the painting and looked at Seulgi again. ‘What the have you done?’ she said.

‘It was an accident.’

‘Did you do this? Seriously?’

‘I didn’t mean to.’

‘What the happened?’

‘I just spilt it. I don’t even know how. It slipped out of my hand somehow.’

‘So you decided to mop up her face? Jesus, look at her!’

‘Is it expensive?’

Irene looked at her again.

‘Is it?’

‘Well, yeah,’ Irene said. ‘Of course it’s ing expensive. It wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t expensive. Jesus, what have you done?’

‘I said it was an accident. I’m sorry.’

‘Forget it. Look, we’ve got bigger concerns.’

‘Like what?’

Irene studied the woman’s poor melting face again. ‘Jesus,’ she said.

‘Irene.’

‘Yeah, right. . So, yeah – we’ve got bigger things to talk about.’

‘Where’s Yeri?’

‘Okay, so, she’s downstairs, and the good news is she knows about these missing diamonds. Or, at least, she says she knows someone who knows about these missing diamonds. Or probably knows, but I figured that’s the best we’re gonna get, right? A probably. Nobody’s gonna just come out and say it or whatever.’

‘What’s the bad news?’

‘Jesus, babe, she’s melting!’

‘Irene.’

‘Right. Yeah, sorry. The bad news is she’ll only tell us who this mystery person who might know about these diamonds is if we bring her along with us.’

‘What?’ Seulgi said. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I kinda had to tell her about us and everything. Well, I mean, I didn’t have to…I just did it.’

‘What do you mean, about us?’

‘Being cops and .’

‘What the ? Why?’

Irene shrugged. She looked at the portrait and grimaced. ‘I figured with her being drunk and all, it’d be the easiest way to get her to say whatever we needed her to say. And I figured the only way we’d ever properly learn about all this crazy illegal is if someone was kinda forced to tell us about it, you know? I thought it was quite smart of me, personally. Maybe not.’

‘No, it was. It’s just—’

‘Sweet. Glad you agree, babe. So, about this whole thing…I’m guessing we just take her along for the ride with us? I don’t know. I didn’t think that far ahead. I thought you’d figure it out or something. But apparently not. What the are you even doing in here anyway?’

‘I figured I’d go and look around.’

‘I thought I was supposed to be the clumsy one, and you were supposed to clean up after all the I make go wrong.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like everything we’ve done together for the past, what? Three months? Since I met you, honestly. It’s pretty much a routine. Surprised you don’t notice it. Or maybe you do and you just pretend you don’t.’

‘Irene.’

‘Jesus, look at her.’

‘Did you know this one?’

‘No,’ Irene said. ‘I know a lot of artwork and from my less-than-legal days, but not all of them. Not this. It looks expensive, though. Or, did, I suppose. Not anymore. Now it just looks like a bunch of smeared on an old canvas. Jesus, babe. Why’d you have to ing wipe it off with a tissue? Why couldn’t you have just left it?’

‘I thought maybe it’d work.’

‘Didn’t think much then, did you?’ Irene looked at it again and sighed. ‘Come on. We should go find her.’

‘Where is she?’

‘You probably wanna see this for yourself.’

They went back downstairs and into the room Yeri had led them into before. When they found her she was laying on the black leather couch dribbling on herself and laughing in her sleep. The glass on the table was empty.

‘Well,’ Irene said.

‘What the ?’

‘She did drink a lot, to be fair.’

‘So you told her she could come along with us and then let her pass out?’

‘What else did you expect me to do? Keep her awake? How is this suddenly my fault?’

Seulgi studied her sleeping form. She seemed oddly at peace with the world, smiling and giggling and dribbling. The sort of state Irene had been in many a time before. ‘We can’t take her along with us now,’ she said.

‘We have to.’

‘Why?’

‘She said she knows someone who can lead us to these diamonds, right? Or, sort of said it.’

‘Okay.’

‘But obviously she didn’t tell me. Because she wanted to come along.’

‘Why?’

‘Dunno. Guess she just gets bored easily. It’s a terrible problem to have, trust me. I know from personal experience. So, yeah. Either we wait for her to wake up and talk to her properly – which’ll probably take a couple days, seeing as she drank about twice her own body weight in red wine – or…’

‘Or what?’

Irene shrugged. ‘Or we just take her with us now.’

‘No.’

‘What?’

‘No.’

‘It was just a suggestion.’

‘We’re not ing kidnapping her.’

‘Is it really kidnapping, though?’

‘What?’ Seulgi said. ‘Of course it is.’

‘She would be a willing participant. She wanted to come along!’

‘We’re not kidnapping anybody else ever again.’

‘Please, babe?’

Seulgi looked at her. She looked at Yeri, still asleep. ‘No,’ she said.

‘Then what do we do?’

‘We’ll just have to leave a note on her or something.’

‘A note.’

‘For when she wakes up.’

‘Great idea,’ Irene said. ‘Sadly I left my ballpoint pens and my sticky notes in my other purse.’

‘Well what do you suggest, then?’

‘You mean aside from taking her with us?’

‘We’re not.’

‘How about you go and use some of the paint from that portrait you ruined?’

‘It was—’

‘An accident.’ Irene laughed. ‘Yeah. You’ve said.’

Seulgi looked around. ‘I’ll be right back,’ she said.

‘Where are you going?’

She came back a minute later with a goldtipped fountain pen in her hand.

‘Where the did you get that?’

‘I just asked around,’ Seulgi said. She took a clean tissue from her pocket and opened it out on the walnut table and scribbled a hasty note in it and held it up for Irene to look at. ‘Is that okay?’ she said.

‘Sure. I mean, I guess so. You gonna write your number on there or anything?’

‘I’d rather not.’

‘Alright then.’

Seulgi studied Yeri again. ‘Do we just leave her now?’ she said.

‘Sure.’

‘Will she be okay?’

Irene shrugged. ‘I’ve seen worse.’

‘Not really giving me a lot of confidence.’

‘I’ve seen her in worse. Better?’

‘Not particularly.’

‘Well, she won’t die, if you’re worried about that.’

‘I wasn’t. But whatever.’

‘Are you okay?’

Seulgi nodded.

‘You sure? You’re looking a little—’

‘I’m fine,’ Seulgi said. ‘Come on. We should get going. I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.’

‘Why? The wine is amazing. Oh. The painting. Yeah, I get ya.’

‘You won’t tell her, will you?’

Irene stepped around the table and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. ‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ she said with a wink. ‘Just let me grab a couple bottles to go on the way out, yeah?’

♣  ♣  ♣

She was oddly quiet the entire journey to the hotel. She sat in the back of the Hyundai on her own and fiddled with her nails while Seulgi drove in silence and Irene sat in the passenger seat watching the afternoon go by. When they pulled up across the street from the Ibis hotel in Gangnam it had just gone three and the day was strangely cold. Seulgi cut the engine and leant over to Irene’s side and opened the glovebox and took the Glock and a spare magazine. She cocked the slide back and checked the magazine already loaded and stashed the spare in the pocket of her jacket.

‘Why the have you got that?’ Irene said. ‘Actually, never mind. Probably better I don’t even ask. You good back there?’

Yeri looked at them. ‘Oh,’ she said, seemingly unaware of the gun in Seulgi’s hand. ‘Yeah. I’m Gucci.’

‘You sure?’

‘Sure. Why? What’s up?’

‘Nothing. You’re just being quiet, is all.’

‘I’m tired. And hungover.’

‘You didn’t have to do this today, you know?’

‘Yeah, well. I thought it’d be fun.’ She looked at Seulgi and looked at the gun and back at Seulgi again and nothing on her young face seemed to give any indication of it whatsoever. She wore a black leather jacket and black jeans and her hair was tied back and she yawned and rubbed her pale forehead. ‘,’ she muttered. ‘You got any painkillers or anything? My head.’

‘No,’ Seulgi said. ‘Sorry.’

‘Damn it.’

‘Who are we meeting anyway? And why here?’

‘You sure you’ve got nothing for this headache?’

‘No.’

‘Can you talk a little quieter then?’

‘What?’

‘I feel like I’m gonna explode or something. And my house is a ing nightmare, by the way. Dunno what happened last night but some decided to ruin one of my favourite pieces of art.’

‘Really?’ Irene said.

‘Yeah.’

‘What happened?’

‘Dunno. There’s just this big ing smear on it. Like someone pissed on it or something. I dunno.’

‘Was it expensive?’

‘You kidding me? My dad got it for me a while back. It’s legit and everything. Properly authentic.’

‘Who is it?’

‘Huh?’

‘Who’s it by?’

‘ knows.’

‘What?’

‘Yeah,’ said Yeri. ‘I dunno, really. But I know it cost more than the car he was gonna get me, so there’s that.’

‘What car?’

‘A Bugatti.’

Irene and Seulgi looked at each other. ‘How much more expensive than a Bugatti?’ Irene said.

‘Like…thirty times, I think? I dunno. A lot. Are we going or what?’

‘It’s your friend,’ Seulgi said, running a hand through her hair and pressing a knuckle to her reddening cheeks.

‘Who is it?’ Irene said. They opened the doors and stepped out onto the pavement and stood looking up at the great towerblock Ibis on the corner of the street across from them. There was a light wind in that afternoon cool. ‘She’s an acquaintance of mine,’ Yeri said. ‘Or, kinda. Like, I know her and . Sort of.’

‘And?’

‘She’s a jeweller. Or she works with jewellers. , I dunno. But she’s foreign, I know that, and she knows her way around necklaces and . Diamonds, rubies. Yeah, the whole shebang! So, if anyone knows where your diamonds are, it’ll be her.’

‘And she’ll help us?’

‘Sure.’

‘Yeri.’

‘I said sure.’

‘Yeri.’

‘God, what’s with you?’ Yeri gave a nonchalant shrug. ‘She’ll have to, right? With you being cops and everything.’

‘Did you tell her we were cops?’ Seulgi said.

‘No. Why?’

‘Just…let us do the talking. After you introduce us, I mean.’

‘Sure.’

‘Why are you helping us, anyway?’

‘Dunno,’ Yeri said. ‘I do a lot of when I’m drink. Agree to practically anything. Then I wake up and I'm like, Woah! You know?'

'Why'd you choose to come along, though?'

'Look, if there's one thing about me you've gotta know, it's that I'm loyal, yeah? I say I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna ing do it. And I said I'd help you last night. At least, I think I did.'

'You did.'

'Thanks for writing me a note, by the way. And not kidnapping me.’

‘We were thinking about it,’ Irene said.

‘Yeah. Wouldn’t be the first time.’

‘What?’

‘Shall we go?’

She led them through the lobby and asked at reception for someone while they stood waiting. They didn’t catch the name she asked for. A moment later she gestured for them to follow her to the elevator and up to the eleventh floor. By the time they were at seven Irene was already humming the background song. Seulgi looked at her. She seemed to be in her own little world for a moment.

‘Well?’ Seulgi said.

‘What?’

‘Aren’t you going to tell me who it is?’

‘What?’ Irene said.

‘The music. You always say: That’s so-and-so. It’s whenever a song comes on that you recognise.’

‘Do I?’

‘We’ve had this discussion before.’

‘Huh. Couldn’t remember.’ She started humming again. When they hit the tenth floor she nodded and said: ‘That’s the Noveltones.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Great song.’

‘Sure.’

Yeri led them along the corridor and to the room at the end. They could tell from the carpetwork and the ceilinglights and the smell of jasmine in the air that it wasn’t some cheap overnight hostel or anything even remotely close. The door at the end bore 73 in gold lettering. Yeri knocked and patted down her jacket and smiled and waited. She turned to them and rubbed her head as if to say: This hurts, you know?

‘Your friend,’ Irene said. ‘She nice?’

‘I guess. I don’t really know her that well. She’s a bit like me. Except smarter.’

‘Smarter than you?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Woah.’

Before Yeri could respond the door opened. They were greeted by a small and slender woman with a striking face, a sort of homeliness to her brilliant eyes and her playful lips. Her hair was a pretty auburn down about her shoulders and she wore a jacket similar to Yeri’s that fit her rather well, Seulgi had to admit. When she looked at Irene she saw Irene was gawping too.

‘Hey,’ Yeri said. The girl looked at them. She looked out into the corridor as if they might not be alone and looked at Yeri again and nodded to none of them.

‘Come in,’ she said, a delicate high lilt to her voice.

The room was of lavish decoration and smelled of perfume. There was a big glass table in the middle on a cream cashmere carpet and a couch either side and a small minibar and en-suite kitchen to the left and no wall along the far side of the room, just glass windows wide and raw to the cold pale glare of the sun and Seoul beyond. The woman sat on one of the couches and drew up a briefcase from underneath the table and set it on top and said nothing. She didn’t even turn to them. Yeri looked at Seulgi and Irene and nodded to the other couch and with some reluctance and a little confusion they sat.

They sat in silence while the woman fiddled with the briefcase and turned the pinlocks and then set it down again on the carpet without opening it. As if she were checking something beforehand for them. She looked at them and smiled a slight, a sort of cautious smile in greeting. Then to Yeri.

‘Oh, ,’ Yeri said, palm rubbing her forehead. ‘Uh…Rosé, this is Irene and Seulgi. Irene and Seulgi, this is Rosé.’

She held out her hand and they shook and smiled and said it was nice to meet her.

‘Nice place,’ Irene said. ‘Is it yours?’

‘It’s a hotel.’

‘Well, yeah. But is it yours?’

‘Is it my room, you mean?’

‘I dunno what I meant. I was just being polite.’

Rosé smiled. She spoke in a soft voice with a very slight accent that was almost captivating. ‘Why did you want to meet me?’ she said to Yeri.

‘These guys had something they wanted to ask you.’

‘Is that right.’

Seulgi sat forward. She had her hands folded in her lap and she shifted her jacket when she made to speak. ‘We’re—’

‘Cops,’ Yeri said. ‘They’re cops.’

Rosé looked at her and looked at them and was quiet.

‘Sorry. It’s the truth. I figured be truthful, you know?’

Seulgi glared at her. She thought Yeri was rather like Irene and Wheein but wouldn’t say as much. Rosé laughed dryly and nodded at nothing and shifted on the opposite couch and said, ‘You’re cops.’

‘Yes,’ Seulgi said.

‘And why are you here?’

‘We need your help.’

‘You don’t even know who I am.’

‘Got a point,’ Irene said. ‘But still. We need your help.’

‘With what, exactly?’

‘Finding something,’ Seulgi said.

‘Go on.’

‘We need—’

‘Diamonds,’ Yeri said. ‘They’re looking for a bunch of stolen diamonds. Crazy . Sure you’ve heard about it. You got anything to drink? Or anything to get rid of this headache? Or maybe that’ll work, actually. I dunno. You know, I read once that the cure for a hangover is to just keep drinking. Eventually it goes away. Or. you die, I suppose. Dunno. Either way, suppose it works, yeah?’

‘No,’ Rosé said. ‘I don’t have anything. You’re looking for diamonds?’

‘Yes,’ said Seulgi.

‘Stolen diamonds.’

‘They were taken from—’

‘A jeweller in Jongno. Yeah. I know. I know the place.’

‘How did you know they were gone?’

‘Everybody knows they’re gone. It was a big thing.’

‘Ignore her,’ Irene said. ‘She doesn’t watch the news or anything. She’s very, uh…behind the times, y’know?’

‘What do you need my help with, then?’

‘Well, getting them back, presumably. Right, babe?’

‘Yes,’ Seulgi said. ‘We need to get them back.’

Rosé shifted again. ‘I don’t have them,’ she said. ‘If that’s what you’re implying.’

‘If we thought you had them we would’ve just arrested you on the spot.’

‘I see.’

‘But do you know where they are?’

‘Why would I tell you if I did?’

Irene laughed.

‘What?’

‘No offence,’ Irene said, ‘but did you not hear what she just said? Or do you not mind the idea of being arrested on the spot?’

‘Arrested for what crime?’

‘For…babe?’

Seulgi was quiet. Rosé looked at her and turned to Irene and gave a slight smug nod as if in acknowledgement of some minor victory. ‘Well,’ Irene said. ‘The point still stands.’

‘Not particularly.’

‘Where are you from?’

‘What?’

‘Are you Korean?’

‘I was raised in Australia.’

Irene turned to Seulgi. ‘You like Australians, babe? More than the Mexicans? Or the Thais?’

‘Ignore her,’ Seulgi said. ‘Can you help us or not?’

Rosé studied her for a moment. Her hair fell a curious blonde in the white room light. ‘You’re very forward,’ she said.

‘I just want to do my job properly.’

‘Is that right.’

‘Can you help us or not?’

‘Find your diamonds.’

‘Find our diamonds.’

She looked at Yeri but Yeri was picking her nails and whistling to herself at the end of the couch and she wasn’t much help. ‘What do I get out of it?’ Rosé said.

‘Well,’ Irene said, ‘if you know where those diamonds actually are, you get to not go to jail over it. I’d say that sounds pretty fair, don’t you?’

‘Do you have the authority to arrest me?’

‘Sure.’

‘You’re a cop?’

‘What, you never seen a cop this pretty before? You got a problem or something?’

‘Not what I meant.’

‘Woman of few words, aren’t ya? What is it with everyone speaking in two or three words? Language was invented for a reason, guys. Use it!’

She smiled. She looked at Seulgi again. Almost as if measuring her up properly. There was an awful silence in the room punctuated occasionally only by Yeri coughing or humming something. Rosé sat forward. ‘I know where your diamonds are,’ she said. ‘You’re in luck.’

‘Why?’ Seulgi said.

‘Because the person in charge of this isn’t anything special. He’s nothing you can’t handle, I don’t think, although I don’t know what you’re like.’

‘Oh, believe me,’ Irene said, ‘she can handle it. We’ve handled a lot worse.’

‘Uh huh.’ She nodded to Seulgi and Seulgi shrugged. ‘The guy you’re after is called Kim Byungjae. He’s an art dealer, comes to a bunch of parties all the time. Yeri’s met him before.’

‘What?’ Yeri said, not listening at all.

‘Kim Byungjae.’

‘Oh, yeah. Tall guy? Real .’

‘Sure.’

‘It’s all one man?’ Seulgi said. ‘This whole operation?’

‘Yeah.’

‘That doesn’t make sense. There were five robberies happening simultaneously, and then a sixth at that jewellers.’

‘Must be a very fast man,’ Irene said.

‘There were four men at our restaurant.’

‘Very fast.’

‘He’s the mastermind behind it all,’ Rosé said. ‘He orchestrated the whole thing. At least, I assume he did. They’re just hired goons.’

‘Hired goons.’

‘He’s rich. Old-money rich. He can afford to throw a bunch of cash around to get people to do his dirty work for him.’

‘Got a point,’ Irene said. ‘Hey, babe, you remember those guys we questioned, like, way back? About the missing Leeum painting? Remember how they said they’d done it for money once they got out?’

‘See? You’d be surprised what people do for the guarantee of a quick payday. The problem with people like him – people too rich for what they’re worth – is they’re never satisfied. They always want more. So.’

Seulgi was quiet a minute. ‘So, you’re saying that this Kim Byungjae orchestrated a city-wide heist scheme to steal some diamonds for himself to sell? And got away with it?’

‘You know how much those diamonds are worth?’

‘Too much,’ Yeri said. ‘No, trust me, I mean it. You know how this whole artificial inflation works, right? Crazy.’

They all looked at her in silence for a moment. As if none could quite believe she was actually making sense for once, at least in passing and without relevance. ‘Where is this Kim Byungjae, then?’ Seulgi said. ‘And if this is all true, how do you know about it and we don’t? How come we haven’t heard anything?’

‘You’re cops,’ Rosé said. ‘I don’t expect you know. It’s not your…area of expertise, shall I say.’

‘She makes a good point,’ Irene said.

‘I can get you a meeting with him. But what happens after that is up to you. Just promise me you won’t lead it back to me. I don’t want to be caught up in this any more than I already am. I shouldn’t be talking to you in the first place.’

Seulgi studied her a moment. ‘What do you get out of this, then?’ she said.

‘Maybe your partner was right. Maybe I just don’t want people like you on my back all the time. Breathing down my neck. Maybe I want to do my business in peace.’

‘And? What’s the truth?’

Rosé smiled. ‘I’ll get you that meeting,’ she said.

‘Where, and when?’

‘How about tomorrow night? There’s an old parkinglot under Jamsil Bridge. I’ll meet you there. Sound good to you?’

‘What time?’

‘How about ten?’

‘Okay,’ Seulgi said. Irene was eyeing her but she refused to tear her gaze away from Rosé. Sat there smirking, sizing Seulgi up, getting a measure of her still. She had been doing such since she had first opened the door to them. Yeri picked at her nails. She seemed not to be paying attention at all. It seemed to be one of her defining traits as far as Seulgi saw it.

‘Ten tomorrow, then.’

‘And you’ll meet us there.’

Rosé nodded. She looked at Irene briefly. ‘I’ll bring my friend along and then you can go about your business. I’d bring a weapon or something, if I were you. Just for protection. I don’t know what sort of story I can spin to get him to come alone, so he might be with others. He likely will be. What about your backup?’

‘We don’t have any,’ Seulgi said.

‘No?’

‘Just us.’

‘The three of you?’

‘Two of us.’ She glanced at Yeri a moment but Yeri was elsewhere, humming to herself. ‘Just the two of us.’

‘Alright. I’ll see what I can do.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Irene said, ‘what was your name again?’

‘Rosé.’

‘Like the wine?’

‘If you like.’

‘It’s my favourite. You got any?’

Rosé smiled again. It was a smile neither of them liked very much, for a reason they couldn't quite explain. ‘No,’ she said, and said no more. They looked at one another. Then Seulgi rose and shook Rosé's hand. ‘Tomorrow night,’ she said.

‘I’ll see you both there. Yeri.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Thanks for stopping by.’

When they were by the car with the wind blowing through their hair again they stopped and Irene leant against the passenger side door and tapped the roof a couple times with her hand.

‘Don’t do that,’ Seulgi said.

‘Do what?’

‘Touch it like that.’

‘It’s not even your car! It’s a rental!’

‘You know what I mean.’

‘Not when you speak in riddles, I don’t.’

‘Come on.’

‘Babe.’

Seulgi stopped and looked at her.

‘Do you trust her?’ Irene said.

‘Who? Rosé?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Why would I not?’

‘That’s not what I asked.’

Seulgi was quiet a moment. She said: ‘I trust her.’

‘You sure?’

‘I trust her. Why?’

‘I don’t know,’ Irene said, pursing her lips. ‘There’s just…I don’t know. I can’t describe it. Are you okay?’

‘What?’

‘There’s something on your mind.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘Promise me?’

Seulgi smiled. ‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Come on. We should get back.’

‘What about me?’ Yeri said.

‘What about you?’

‘Can I come with you?’

‘Where?’

‘Dunno. Wherever. Just let me tag along. I promise I’ll be quiet. I’m just ing bored, you know?’

Seulgi and Irene looked at each other.

‘Hey, wait,’ Yeri said. ‘Can we get something to drink, please? Some wine or something? Some rosé. It’s got me in the mood, you know?’

‘Well,’ Irene said. ‘I think that’s about the first intelligent thing anyone’s said all day. And babe, you can pay.’

‘What? Why?’

Irene flashed a mischievous little grin. ‘You owe me, remember?’ she said. ‘And a dinner, too, before you forget.’