While Yuri was busy thinking about who Yena really was, Wonyoung returned her attention to Yena. Wonyoung saw a clear difference in Yena’s behavior when Yena met Yuri as she entered the room. The once cool and cheerful personality she met at the restaurant was replaced by a quiet, reserved one in the room. The aura of confidence that the older girl had when they met at the restaurant was replaced with an air of uncertainty and hesitation, as Wonyoung observed in the way that Yena was hesitating about sitting next to her girlfriend so she offered the one in the opposite side of the room.

“Ms. Choi, should we talk business now?”

Yuri suddenly came out of her trance and asked her girlfriend, “Business? Are you buying something from my friend?” She then leaned over the table and whispered to Yena’s ear, “Can you even afford it? This girl’s got no cheap stuff.”

Surprisingly, Yena ignored her question and just put her briefcase on top of the table, making Yuri sit back down to her seat in embarrassment.

Sensing her friend was in an awkward situation, Wonyoung playfully slapped Yuri’s leg and said, “Actually, it’s the other way around. I’m buying something from her.” The young CEO followed the statement with a wink, a gesture that she made to make people feel secure around her.

It may have worked for some people, but not for Yuri. Yuri was still dazed and confused by the situation. There was just too much contradicting information in play. Her brain couldn’t wrap around the thought of Yena owning something that would interest her filthy rich friend, while living in a small one-bedroom apartment in Seoul. How can a CEO of a real estate company be living in a one-bedroom apartment with occasional leaks in the ceiling?

Yena unlocked the briefcase and was about to open it when she suddenly stopped and asked, “Is it okay if Yuri sees this? I mean… I-I understand if you want your friend to see it too, but I-I also understand if you want everyone to see it first time during your party.” Damn it, I stuttered again. Yena had been hesitant about the whole thing because of Yuri’s presence. The younger girl was an unexpected variable to their plan because Yena couldn’t lie when Yuri is in the same room as she was. For this stage of the con to work, she had to be convincing enough in front of Wonyoung, which would be hard to do if she’s always flustered.

Wonyoung put her hand on her chin in a thinking pose and replied, “It’s fine, Ms. Choi. Yuri-unnie here is my best friend since birth, so she deserves to be one of the first people to see the crystal.”

Tough luck, Yena thought. On the corner of her eyes, she could see Yuri glaring at her, but her girlfriend kept silent. Yena quietly sighed in relief.

[COMMS]

 Hitomi: Heose-unnie, just play it cool. You’re doing well. Don’t speak too much, you’ll only blow your cover that way.

Sakura: Hiichan is right. Play it cool. Also, where’s the bodyguard? They should be there by now.

Nako: I dropped Kwangbae off an hour ago, so they should have been there by now. What’s going on?

Yena let go of the box, hoping to buy some more time to compose herself and asked, “Didn’t you say that you were going to authenticate the crystal? Did you find an appraiser---”

The door opened right on cue; it was Wonyoung’s bodyguard Yujin with a familiar girl with long black hair wearing a black blazer over her white dress that reached a few inches above her knee. She was undoubtedly a visual to behold, and she strutted towards the center of the room knowing that fact.

Yujin walked to the spot next to her boss and introduced the newly arrived guest, “This is Kang Kwangsoon, an expert on the IZ* crystal. I had to make sure she was a legitimate expert, so we went to the jeweler office that she was affiliated to confirm her identity. I apologize for our tardiness.”  Upon saying the last sentence, Yujin turned to her boss and bowed as part of an apology.

Yujin continued, “This is Ms. Jang Wonyoung, CEO of Jang Industries. The woman beside her is Ms. Choi Yena, CEO of P48 Holdings. She says she owns the IZ* crystal that you’re going to examine today.”

Wonyoung waved off the apology to tell the bodyguard that it wasn’t big of a deal. She stood up and shook the appraiser’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Kang. Thank you for helping us today.”

[COMMS]

Nako: KWANGSOON? Who thought of that name? Yabai! It doesn’t suit her, it’s too sweet. Chaeyeon is here nodding in agreement too.

Sakura: I did. Well, Kang-chan is such a sweet girl after all.

Nako: Kang-chan? KANG-CHAN? You call that weird heartless monster who beat us up the first time we met, KANG-CHAN?!

Sakura: Yes. I don’t know why you’re so disapproving of Kang-chan.

Nako: But Hyewon’s scary af--- Chaeyeon what are you doing to my comms?

Chaeyeon: Sakura. Need I remind you that you’re mine.

Sakura: Ch—Chaeyeon---

Hitomi: Everybody shut up! Focus on the job! I can’t hear what’s going on in Yena’s comm.

Yena was tempted to turn off her comm just to have a moment of peace and quiet; her colleagues were being unnecessarily loud and it was not helping her in any way. A couple of minutes more and the con will be complete. Kwangbae just needs to do her job well. She really hasn’t seen the fighter’s bluffing skills yet, but Hitomi trusted her with the job so Yena did the same.

Hyewon replied after shaking the young CEO’s hand, “It is nice meeting you, Ms. Jang. I look forward to working with you.” Hyewon then turned to Yena and gave her a slight bow. As Hyewon raised her head back up, she blinked twice; it was the signal that the two agreed on which meant that everything was going to plan.

Yena responded with a slight bow and turned to Wonyoung, “Prepare your eyes for this.”

She opened the briefcase and showed a clear colorless crystal about the size of her palm. Its shape was just as advertised in the articles about it; it had a trigonal bipyramidal shape, but with different angles of inclination per side. Its unusual but well-engineered shape gives rise to its special characteristic that the crystal can reflect 12 different colors when shined upon by white light on one of its sides. This optical property made the IZ* crystal one of the most expensive crystals in the world, and one of them was right in front of their eyes.

Or at least, that’s what Yena and Hyewon want them to believe.

The crystal that they brought in was a clever work of forgery made by Chaeyeon, Hitomi, Sakura, and Hyewon.

[FLASHBACK]

Yena and the crew were at their headquarters after securing the IZ* crystal.

“What’s the plan Unnie?” Chaewon asked Yena just after everyone has taken a seat around the conference table in the headquarters. “Are we really selling the real crystal to Jang Wonyoung?”

“Psh, like Chaeyeon would agree with that,” Yena snobbishly replied. She knew her thief best friend all too well. “No. We are going to sell her a fake one.”

“But how?” Hitomi asked with a hint of curiosity and apprehension in her voice, “I’m sure Jang Wonyoung won’t fall for that. Surely, she would have someone verify the crystal first before making a purchase.”

Yena walked towards the whiteboard they use to discuss plans and began to write out her plan, “We--- I mean maybe not Newbie but--- we all know that Chaeyeon is also a master forger, but even I know she’s not that good to forge the IZ* crystal with limited time. However, we can take advantage of the fact that there aren’t a lot of people who have held the IZ* crystal before. Most people have only seen pictures of it and what it does.”

Yena wrote three words on the board and then slapped it for emphasis, “And so, this is what we’re going for.” The three words that she wrote were,

[FORGING THE APPRAISAL]

Once she was certain that she still had everyone’s attention, Yena continued to talk about her plan, “Basically, we are going to sell her a counterfeit crystal. Hitomi, you and your crew will help Chaeyeon acquire the materials that she needs to make a replica of the IZ* crystal.

Once she’s hooked with the IZ* crystal, she will look for an expert to verify the crystal’s authenticity. That’s where you come in, Nako. You are in charge of surveillance of both Wonyoung and Yujin. Check the phone logs and emails coming from their office and collect all of them that include the mention of the crystal. When they send out criteria for recommendations, we look at their requirements and create a website tailor-made for their needs. We are going to boost that website so it would appear as one of the top search results, and hopefully they click on it. I’ll trust you with that, Kkura-unnie.

Once they do click on the link, Kkura-unnie, I also want you to develop a tech that can mimic the optical property of the IZ* crystal based on the material Chaeyeon will use. We just need to show it for demonstration, but it should be convincing enough for Wonyoung and Yujin. I’ll help you if you need an additional set of hands.”

Sakura grinned as she nodded and said, “Are we going to see your clumsy cream bread hands and chubby fingers in action?”