Da Eun’s alarm clock rang and she bolted upright. “Can’t be late for work today,” she told herself as she got out of bed, but sat down suddenly as she remembered the events of the past day. “Oh…” She felt her eyes well up again, but resolutely squeezed them shut until she was sure no stray tears would escape. “Get a grip, Da Eun,” she told herself firmly. Sighing, she opened her eyes and got out of bed, placing a kiss on the panda’s head as she did so. She dragged herself into the bathroom, ready to start her daily routine, but stopped when she saw herself in the cracked mirror. “Ugh…” She groaned. Her eyes were so swollen that any passing stranger could tell that she had had a major crying fest. “Maybe I shouldn’t go out today,” she told herself hesitantly. “No! I can’t let Tony down, not to mention myself,” she said, resolutely looking away from the mirror.

Ten minutes later, Da Eun shouldered her bag and headed out, a woman on a mission. Her beloved Converse lay untouched next to the door.

***

“Yah, Yang Yoseob!”

Yoseob flinched and almost fell out of his chair, fumbling the diary shut. Who was this person using informal speech with him?

“Annyeonghaseyo,” Yoseob got up and bowed, halfheartedly trying to remember the girl’s name.

“What’s that you’re holding? Can I see?” She asked, already reaching for the small black book.

Yoseob suppressed the urge to bare his teeth at her and snarl. “No, sorry,” he refused as politely as he could, holding the book out of reach of her grasping hands.

She pouted. “But Seobie,” she whined.

Yoseob felt like throwing up. Who was this girl? She was disgusting! He curled his lip and turned towards his laptop, ignoring her.

“Yah! You, girl, what are you doing?” A harsh voice barked. The girl blanched and turned to flee from the top dog of the radio company. He glared at her retreating back, then turned to grin at Yoseob, who was still trying to recover from the oppressiveness of the girl’s presence.

“Still getting attention from the girls, eh?” The boss joked.

“I don’t even know her name,” Yoseob complained. “It’s not like I’m anything special. I wish they would go bother someone else.” Suddenly, a thought came to his mind.

“Hey, uncle, did you fire anyone yesterday?” Yoseob asked tentatively.

“Eh, yeah. A good-for-nothing girl. Always late. Had to clear a space for a new intern anyway,” the older man said dismissively. “How come you’re asking?”

“Oh, nothing. Just curious.”

***

“Aargh!” Da Eun crossed off the second-to-last residence on her list. It was just past midday and the sun was beating down on her. It was a good thing that she had a tendency not to burn, or else she would’ve been brick-red by now.

“I can’t believe that security guard had the nerve to imply I was a homeless person!” Da Eun said to herself in righteous fury. As the adrenaline from her anger burned out, though, she sagged dejectedly.

“Do I really look that bad?” She asked herself, but she already knew the answer to her question. “Who am I kidding? Of course I look like I’m homeless; I would be if Tony wasn’t such a good person.”

Da Eun pursed . “That’s it. I’m not doing this for myself, I’m doing it for Tony. I can’t let him down,” she told herself for the umpteenth time that day.

“Next stop: The Heights.” Da Eun grinned to herself. She had saved the wealthiest for last. There was no hope of her even getting in past the front gate, but with her new resoluteness, it didn’t hurt to try.

***

“So, Yoseob, I just came over to tell you we don’t have a lot of demand today, so I’ll let you go a little early. The listeners can live without your voice for a little while, assuming they don’t go into withdrawal.” The boss winked at Yoseob’s astonished face before getting up to leave.

“Kamsahamnida!” Yoseob finally found voice to thank the older man as he disappeared around the corner. As soon as he was out of sight, Yoseob grabbed everything he needed for the weekend and haphazardly piled it all into his bag. He was out the door and down the stairs before his office chair stopped spinning.

“Kwangie! Guess what? The boss let me out early!” Yoseob chattered into the phone as he hailed a taxi.

Gikwang yawned. “Eh? Oh, good,” he mumbled groggily.

“You better wake up before I get there or else I’ll do it for you,” Yoseob threatened happily, leaning back against the seat.

“Okaaay,” Gikwang agreed, trailing off into another gigantic yawn. Yoseob could just imagine his head nodding.

“Yah, don’t forget it’s Friday today. If you sleep too much your face will be all puffy when we go to the café,” Yoseob warned him.

“Café?” Gikwang repeated, brain not catching up.

“Yeah, the café we go to every week, where all the pretty girls are?”

“Pretty girls?”

Yoseob could hear Gikwang trying to sit up. “Yup, and you know how small your eyes get when your face puffs.”

“I’m up, I’m up!” Gikwang panicked.

Yoseob heard a massive thump. Wincing, he held the phone away from his ear as Gikwang proceeded to let out a tremendous “OW!”

“Fell off the bed,” Yoseob mouthed to the startled taxi driver.

“All woken up now?” He inquired kindly, stifling a laugh.

“Uuunnghhh,” Gikwang groaned.

“Yah, Kwangie, see you in a sec,” Yoseob said cheerfully and hung up.

Before he could talk about this mystery girl to the others, he had to know more about her himself. He retrieved the diary from his bag, handling it like he didn’t know whether to consider it dangerous or precious. Carefully, he flipped open to the page he had marked with a little ribbon.

Dear Diary, I was late to work again today. I can’t risk getting fired. I’m barely getting by as it is. I know my only option if I lose this job is housekeeping…

***

The security guard peered at Da Eun through the window.

“Annyeonghaseyo,” she greeted him timidly, her former bravado gone.

He nodded curtly in recognition of her greeting, then asked what brought her to the Heights.

Da Eun hesitated, then threw caution to the wind.

“Please, I’m behind on rent, and also I’ve just yesterday been fired from my job. I never went to college, and my social abilities are nonexistent, so waitressing is out of the question. My only option is to try and find work as a housekeeper, and I’ve already been turned away by so- so many places,” Da Eun explained in a rush, trying and failing to stop a little hiccupping sob from escaping.

“So you see,” Da Eun continued. “I need you to let me in. Please,” her last, heartfelt appeal seemed to strike a chord with the softer side of the grizzled guard, and he hesitated, then hit the button that opened the gate.

“Oh! Kamsahamnida,” Da Eun thanked him joyfully, bowing.

He wished her luck and watched her walk through, a slight smile on his lips.

***

Yoseob paid the taxi driver and got out, still holding the diary. He wondered briefly why the usually serious security guard had such a strange grin on his face, but dismissed the thought.

As soon as the doors of the elevator opened to the penthouse floor, a torrent of sound hit Yoseob in the face.

“You guys…” He shook his head. “No wonder the neighbors get annoyed.”

Too lazy to punch in the penthouse code which they all knew, Yoseob attacked the doorbell. The door opened immediately, making him take a step back in surprise.

“Dongwoon-ah!” Yoseob grinned. The hyungs were exerting authority and making the maknae open the door, as usual.

“Seobie!” Gikwang hurtled into him. “They’re bullying me! They say it’s all dirty!”

“Your place? I told you,” Yoseob replied matter-of-factly.

“Oh look! It’s that notebook again,” Gikwang said, sidetracked.

“I didn’t know you kept a diary, Seobie,” Junhyung smirked, coming up beside him. Hyunseung soon got up from the couch and followed, quietly peering over his shoulder.

“I don’t,” Yoseob protested, trying to hide the book.

Doojoon came up behind him and clapped him on the back. “What’s this I hear about a diary?” He asked, skillfully detaching Yoseob’s fingers from the leather covers of the book and flipping it open.

“The Diary of Da Eun,” he read aloud, then turned to Yoseob, quizzical.

“I was going to explain, hyung, before you snatched it,” the younger boy sulked, feeling strangely protective. He took the book back, holding it gently.

“What’re we all standing here for? Let’s sit down,” Doojoon proclaimed. When they were all settled, he nodded, curious, to Yoseob.

“Yesterday, when I was walking up the stairs to the office, this girl ran past me and dropped it,” Yoseob explained.

“That’s all?” Junhyung asked, incredulous. “Like… You haven’t read it or anything?”

“Well…”

“You’ve read it! I want to read it too,” Gikwang exclaimed, grabbing the book.

“Wait! I know she was fired, because the boss told me, and that she’s looking for work as a housekeeper now,” Yoseob said in a hurry, trying to snatch the book back. “And I was thinking, Gikwang needs one, right?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t want one,” Doojoon said, calmly taking the book and holding it away from the others’ reach.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Yoseob asked. “Yesterday, he said that if I found one that was young and pretty, he would hire her.”

“Oh really? How do you know this Da Hye girl is young and pretty?” Doojoon inquired, ignoring the whines of the younger boys for the diary.

“It’s Da Eun, not Da Hye, hyung, and I don’t. But it’s worth a try to call her, right?” Yoseob explained.

“You don’t have her phone number, though, and we’re going out to the gym and the café today, remember?” His hyung replied, sending the other boys a warning look to make them stop clamoring.

“But I do have it. It’s in the book,” Yoseob said, reaching for it.

“What are you gonna do, call her now?” Junhyung asked.

“Yup.” He answered, flipping through the diary.

“Right when we’re about to go out?”

“We don’t want her to get hired by someone else first, do we?” He said, already dialing.

There was a sudden hush as he held the phone to his ear.

“Speaker!” Gikwang whispered.

Yoseob rolled his eyes and punched the button.

For some reason, there was a strange quality to the sound. It almost sounded as if it was coming from…