“Could you make your way to the back of the stage, ma’am.”, a waitress reminded the Queen.

“Hmph. I’ll be right there.”, the Queen nodded to the waitress and made her way toward the young heiress. Most guests had already started leaving but some were still behind to collect their items. 

“That was a good fight you put up there.”, the Queen extended her hand out to the heiress.

“As the same to you. I got you to drop some major figures out there.”, the heiress shook her hand and gave a cheeky grin.

“You really did, Ms Ahn.”, the Queen calmly shook hand back, repressing the urge to tighten the handshake.

“I must go and collect my item now.”, the Queen took a bow and turned around. She took a couple of steps before Ms Ahn spoke again.

“Could I ask why did you buy that item, Ms Miyawaki? I think a pharma would get more use out of that girl than a bank, don’t you think?”, the Queen answered without turning around.

“Who said I’m buying it for the bank?”, and continued to walk ahead. 

The secretary caught up to the Queen and asked:

“So am I writing this down as a personal expense?”

“Yep, but wait before you made any drawings. I don’t want people to notice too much money being drawn out.”

“Yes…it would be strange to see one trillion disappearing.”

“Relax, I’ll withdraw maybe…five hundred, max.”

“You said the same thing while bidding before.”, the secretary rolled her eyes.

“Nako, I didn’t hire you to judge me on how I spend my money. And beside, doesn’t Yena has her account with us?”, the Queen shrugged her shoulders.

“What if she want the full payment now?”, the secretary questioned.

“Then I’ll just give her a special discount on her loan or something. Or I’ll raise her deposit limit, she’ll definitely need that now that I paid her that much.”, the Queen chuckled. They reached the stage and Nako pulled the curtain aside for the Queen.

“You guys stay outside. Me and Nako and take it from here.”, the Queen turned to her guards. The women made their way backstage while the guards stood near the entrance. A waitress took the two to Yena’s office. Upon opening the door, the guests can see a small room with stacks of papers in every crevices. 

“Ah! Glad you to see you here, Sakura.”, Yena popped out from behind the mountains of paper she had on her desk.

“Of course you would be glad to see me after I paid you that much.”, Sakura rolled her eyes as she took a seat along with Nako.

“Aish come on~ that’s just business~ why do you gotta get so cynical, talking about money when we barely catch up.”, Yena whined.

“Maybe you should invite me to more of your “exclusive” events.”, Sakura smiled at Yena’s pouty face.

“As much as I love your spending habit, I would be a bad friend if I fuel your collecting addiction.”, the three of them laughed at how true that was.

“Yena-si, how would you like us to pay this time?”, Nako asked.

“Ah! That wouldn’t be a problem. I’m in no rush to receive it. I have too many receipts I have to forge right now anyway.”, Yena pointed to the piles of paper in front of her.

“I just need you to make a five hundred millions deposit for her.”

“For who?”, both Sakura and Nako asked.

“For her. The item.”, Yena casually answered back.

“She sold herself!”, Nako exclaimed.

“Well yeah, since no known person who was affiliated to Project Eternal is alive and I presumed…well, she told me that she was all that was left of the project. Do you want to read her conditions for doing this auction?”, both two women nodded. Yena reached behind her to grab a contract and gave it to Nako. Nako read the content out loud for Sakura.

“I, Subject 001, relinquish myself to whomever is the buyer at the auction. I will be completely under the authorisation of my buyer. If the price exceed the five hundred millions base line, I will be grant five hundred millions as payment to myself and the rest of the proceed will go to the auctioneer (i.e. Ms Choi Yena). I will not have access to the five hundred millions payment for as long as I am under the ownership of my buyer. This ownership can be passed on to any other entity beside the buyer. Only in the event that I, Subject 001, is no longer under the ownership of any entity will I have access to the five hundred million payment.”, Sakura thought deeply at the sub-clause the item herself had included.

“But if you signed her as a property of Miwaki Bank, she will forever be owned and she will never get her money.”, Nako said.

“I appreciate that you think my family’s empire will last forever, Nako, but even one day, Miwaki Bank will shut down. Everything in this world will crumble in the future…and she will outlive it all.”

“Not necessary.”, Yena added. The other two looked at her dumbfounded.

“Wait what! How much are you not telling us about this girl?”, Nako asked.

“A lot. Here, follow me.”, Yena stood up and walked out of the office.

“See? Didn’t I say that she was gonna pull some tricks.”, Sakura sighed and followed Yena.

“How can you be so calm after hearing all of that?”, Nako muttered as she followed Sakura.

Yena walked further down the narrow passage backstage and reached a metal vault. She typed in the combination and the piston locks snapped opened. She pulled the heavy metal door aside to let the other two come in first. The previously emotionless girl was now munching on a drumstick while sitting behind a table that was littered with other food wrappings. She  wasn’t rushing to eat but her eyes seemed to have more life in them now that she was eating. 

“Is this how much she eat?”, Sakura asked in disbelief.

“If you are going to have her regenerate her body parts like before then yeah. It takes a lot of energy and resources to make hands, yah know.”, Yena answered as if that was common knowledge. Nako walked toward the girl and had a closer look at the food that is…or was on the table. A couple of burger boxes, some chips packets, three boxes of chicken…

“Wait. Where are the bones?”, Nako picked up one of the box and turned to Yena. Yena pointed back at the girl and Nako heard some crunching coming from the girl’s chewing. Nako shuddered at the sound.

“She’s gonna be a handful, isn’t it.”, Nako sighed.

“Can I take her today?”, Sakura asked Yena.

“Sure. But maybe wait until she finish her food.”, the two women looked at the girl eating another drumstick and a disturbed secretary stood on the side. 

“Nako, transfer Yena the five hundred millions deposit now.”, Sakura told Nako.

“Yes ma’am.”, Nako pulled out her phone and prepared the transaction. Once Yena received the money, she turned to the girl.

“Subject 001, I’ll put this under a proxy account runs by me. Do you want to choose a name for it.? ‘Subject 001’ doesn’t exactly sound like a name of person.”, Subject 001 thought quietly for a moment and spoke for the first time that evening.

“Kim Minjoo. Please save it as ‘Kim Minjoo’s’.”