5:01PM.

Seulgi was silent all the way up the stairs and across the balcony and Irene was silent too, right behind her, almost close enough to reach out and hold her hand. And the thought did cross her mind, strange as it was. Down at the far end of the balcony was a corridor leading further into the house in both directions, obscured from the landing by a wall. The first room far to their right was an empty lounge room that they both ignored. The second was Mr Kim’s office, the third his study. The room at the very far left end of the corridor was a single door to a spare bedroom and it was here that Seulgi stopped for a moment and glanced about and then tried the doorknob and nudged the door quietly inward. Irene followed her in and closed the door behind them. It was when she turned around to ask Seulgi what they were doing that she realised Seulgi had been lying and exploring the house very much had been a euphemism for something indeed.

Seulgi’s lips were already on her, pushing her back against the door, cupping her face, smiling against Irene’s lips. She tasted of salt and whiskey and faintly of rainwater and of peppermint mouthwash and she smelt faintly citrusy just like her perfume and Irene remembered that smell all too well. Seulgi grinned and giggled, almost like a teenager. Irene pushed back against her and kissed her in return and closed her eyes and fumbled about with the front of Seulgi’s jeans and almost started laughing herself.

‘I missed you,’ Seulgi mumbled. ‘At least a little bit.’

‘I missed you too. I just wanted to say—’

‘Oh, shut up and kiss me.’

‘Do you mind?’

They stopped. Seulgi pulled back so suddenly it was if she had been shot. The glimmer in her eyes was purely of terror. Sat to their left in a small velvet chair beside the empty bed was a small woman no older than twenty or twenty-one with her legs folded and a dogeared paperbook in her lap.

‘Jesus,’ Seulgi said.

‘Yeah, exactly. Jesus. What would Jesus think about what you’re doing? Keep that in private. Unless you’re into that public , but still…I’m not. So.’

‘Who the are you?’

‘Who the am I? Who the are you?’

‘We’re guests,’ Irene said. She glanced at Seulgi awkwardly but Seulgi’s eyes were on the girl in the chair.

‘Yeah, no . I can see that. Do you mind?’

‘What?’

‘Coming in here and doing…that in front of me. I’d rather not see it, thank you very much.’

‘We didn’t know anyone was in here.’

‘Well, news flash. I am. And I’m busy. I’m reading.’

‘I’m sorry, who are you again?’

‘What’s it to you?’

‘It was just a question.’

‘Well,’ the girl said, and went back to reading. Seulgi and Irene looked at each other. ‘Hey,’ Seulgi said.

‘What?’

‘Who are you?’

‘God, you’re nosy.’ She looked at them and sighed and set her book down in her lap again. On the table behind her by the bed was a bottle of water and her phone and nothing else.

‘Are you Yerim?’ Irene said.

‘It’s Yeri.’

‘Right.’

‘How do you know my name?’

‘Someone downstairs said someone called Yeri was here. As in, here in the house. Not this room specifically. Otherwise we wouldn’t have come in. We didn’t know it was occupied.’

‘Right. Well, that’s me.’

‘Who are you?’

‘I’m Yeri.’

‘No, I mean – who are you?’

‘Are you deaf?’

‘Answer the question,’ Seulgi said.

She looked at them closely, squinting as if to see them better. Then she leant forward a slight in her chair and said slowly, ‘I’m Yeri.’

‘Very funny.’

‘I’m family.’

‘Everyone’s someone’s family.’

‘Well…you’re not wrong.’

‘You live here?’ Irene asked.

‘No. I don’t. But I’m still family. And I was invited.’

‘You’re related to Mr Kim?’

‘His great niece. My mom’s his niece.’

‘Why aren’t you downstairs?’

‘Why should I be? Do I have to be?’

‘No, but—’

‘Well then.’

She started reading again. Irene and Seulgi glanced at each other uneasily.

‘How old are you?’ Seulgi said.

‘What’s it to you?’

‘I was just—’

‘Twenty-one.’

‘Why are you here?’

‘You gonna ask me that again and again or what? I’m here because my granduncle invited me for dinner, that’s why. Is that enough of a reason for you, or are you gonna stand there and babble on all night? Because I can’t be bothered with that . Seriously, I’d rather you just kill me or something. I’ve already got a headache and I’ve had, like, eight aspirin. God, they just go down like water. It’s actually scary, when you think about it. My liver must look like the inside of a turkey. Wait. I know you. You’re Bae Irene, aren’t you?’

‘What?’ Irene said.

‘The P.I.’

‘How do you know what I look like?’

‘So you are.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Must’ve seen you somewhere before. What time is it?’

Irene checked her watch. ‘Three minutes past five.’

‘Got an hour, then.’

‘Are you going to sit here and read?’

‘You got a problem with that?’

‘No.’

‘Well then. Guess I will. Why are you here anyway?’

‘I was invited.’

‘You too?’

Seulgi nodded.

‘I’m guessing either you know each other or you’re both just kinda freaky.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Coming in here and having in front of me.’

‘We didn’t know you were in here.’

‘And we weren’t going to have ,’ Irene said.

‘Uh huh,’ said Yeri. ‘Save it for the judge.’

‘What?’

‘Look, are you gonna keep annoying me or what? I’ve got a book to read.’

‘Why are you not downstairs?’

‘There you go, asking that again. I’m allowed to be wherever I want in this house, you know? It’s my granduncle’s.’

Irene studied the room for a moment. The bed looked lived in, the covers creased a slight. A pair of jeans on the floor at the far side of the bed. A small suitcase propped up against the wall.

‘Well?’ Yeri said, tilting her head a slight, modestly impatient.

‘Well what.’

‘Are you leaving? Or no? Just gonna stand there watching me read or something? Do you get off to that ? Watching people. Having people watch you. Is that why you were planning on ing in front of me?’

‘We didn’t know anyone was in here,’ Seulgi said. ‘We’ve just been through this, for Christ’s sake.’

‘Yeah,’ Irene said. ‘And we weren’t—’

‘Yeah yeah. Blah blah.’ Yeri uncrossed her legs and crossed them the other way and picked up her book again. She gave a nod towards the door that seemed to ask them to leave without ever saying anything and so without further ado they did. When they were outside again Seulgi said, ‘Man.’

‘Yeah.’

‘What a piece of .’

‘She’s a bit rude, isn’t she?’

‘Yeah. Hey. Irene. Yoo-hoo, earth to Irene.’

‘What?’

‘What are you thinking?’

Irene looked at her. There seemed to be no shame or embarrassment about what had just happened and for some reason that felt oddly comforting. As if their time apart had not really been time apart at all – had just been a sort of frozen interval, as if both were waiting to be unstuck in time again, to come back to one another.

‘Irene.’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘There’s something about that girl I don’t like. She’s strange. And not just in a rude, standoffish sort of way.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I don’t know,’ Irene said. Then without another word she turned and opened the door again and stepped back into the room with Seulgi behind her.

‘Hey, Yeri. Can I ask—’

At first she had to blink a couple times to fully understand what was going on. Things seemed to get very dark very quickly. Something either outside or deeper in the heart of the house whined electrically and ceased again. The glow of the little lamp on Yeri’s bedside table was immediately extinguished and the only remaining light in the room was from the pale glare of the day on the rainmottled windows at the far end of the room, partly obscured by the curtains.

‘What in the world?’ Seulgi said.

‘Don’t panic,’ said Yeri.

‘I’m not panicking.’

‘I said don’t panic!’

‘I’m not panicking. Jesus. What is wrong with you?’

‘What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you, you freaky, voyeuristic, pest?’

‘What did you just say to me?’

‘Hey,’ Irene said. ‘Settle down. Please. Just…relax for a minute. Yeri.’

‘What?’

‘What’s going on?’

‘Well, I’m no expert, but I’m guessing the power’s out.’

‘I guessed that too.’

‘Great deduction skills. Guess that’s where being a private investigator comes in handy. Must’ve really struggled to settle on that outcome.’

‘What I meant was – why?’

‘Why what?’

Irene sighed. ‘Talking to you is impossible,’ she said.

‘I do try.’

‘Why has the power gone out?’

‘What, do I look like a ing electrician to you? I dunno. Go ask my granduncle if you like. Maybe it’s because this place is so remote or something. Or because of the weather. It’s meant to be a storm this evening. And through the night. Maybe that’s it.’

‘That’s a good point,’ Seulgi said.

‘What is?’

‘Why are we all the way out here anyway? Why couldn’t we have this dinner in Seoul?’

‘Because my granduncle doesn’t live in Seoul? Not hard to figure that one out.’

‘Look, why do you have to be such a—’

‘Student,’ Irene said.

‘I was actually going to say—’

‘You’re a student, aren’t you?’

Yeri just looked at her. In the dark without the bedside light on it was hard to see her properly at all.

‘I can just tell when someone’s a student. They’ve got that aura about them, like they’re invincible or something. Like the whole damn world owes them something for some reason. Yeah, that’s a student alright. What do you study?’

‘What’s it to you?’

‘I was just asking a question.’

‘What, are you a private investigator or something?’

‘Well…’

‘Oh. Right.’

‘How long did it take you to get here?’

‘Woah woah woah,’ Yeri said. ‘One question at a time, yeah? Which one do you want me to answer?’

‘The latter.’

‘I study classics.’

‘That’s the former.’

‘Took me a while. To get here, I mean. Why? You gonna stalk me or something?’

‘What? I just wanted to know. When did you arrive?’

‘A few days ago.’

‘You’ve been sleeping here? In this room?’

Yeri sat forward again. The look on her face seemed to be of great intolerance for Irene and Seulgi and she made no show of hiding it. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘I don’t appreciate you asking me all of these questions like this, okay?’

‘I’m just passing the time.’

‘Yeah, I bet. Listen—’

She was interrupted by a muted electric hum and the flicker of the bedside light behind her filling the room. Something out in the darkness thunder cracked. The rain beat on. She winced against the light and rubbed her eyes and smiled a false smile and said, ‘There you go. Power’s back on. You happy now?’

‘Three minutes.’

‘What?’

Irene was talking to herself. ‘Power went out at five oh five. It’s five oh eight now.’

‘Ooh, aren’t you cool?’

‘Is that sarcasm?’

‘I’ll let you figure that one out,’ Yeri said with her most patronising smile.

‘You sound like you don’t really wanna be here,’ Seulgi said.

‘Does anyone?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know anyone here. Well, apart from the obvious. And Mr Kim. Why does he live out here, anyway?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t talk to him.’

‘What?’

‘We’re estranged,’ Yeri said, and glared at them.

‘Will you be down for dinner?’

‘What’s it to you? Do you care? You gonna eat all the casserole if I’m not there by six thirty or something?’

‘I was just asking a question. God, you’re rude.’

‘No, you’re just overly polite. Same as your friend here. Same as everyone downstairs. Always stepping on eggshells, always skirting around things, acting like you’re all pally-pally and chummy-chummy and buddy-buddy. Putting on those false smiles and hugging and shaking hands and saying Nice To Meet You and pretending to be something you’re not. Makes me sick just thinking about it. How can a group of people be so shamelessly plastic? If you ask me, they’re the rude ones. I just tell it like it is. I’m not afraid to do that. You think a group of powerful businessmen and women like the people here tonight get to be as powerful as they are without stepping on a few heads?’

‘Stepping on necks.’

‘What?’

‘Isn’t that the saying? Stepping on a few necks?’

‘Who gives a what body part?’ Yeri said. ‘What I mean is – don’t trust them. Any of them. They’re all snakes in the grass. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Lions in—’

‘In various other places or items of clothing,’ Irene said. ‘Yeah, we get it.’

Yeri eyed her up. They thought she might continue with her little tirade but instead she took her book from her lap and began reading again in silence. Irene and Seulgi glanced at each other and then at her. As if to say: Do you want to ask, or shall I?

‘Yeri,’ said Irene.

She huffed and set her book down and looked at them with a stare that could turn stone weak. ‘What?’ she said. ‘What could you possibly want now? Haven’t you annoyed me enough already?’

‘Where do you study?’

‘What?’

‘What university?’

‘What are you, the police?’

‘Well.’

‘Am I under suspicion of something?’

‘No.’

‘I don’t smoke weed, before you ask.’

‘I wasn’t going to.’

‘Gave it up earlier this week.’

‘What?’

‘Had some real crazy dreams.’

‘I—’

‘All paranoid and . Not good. Not good at all. Nah, I’ll stick to heroin, thank you very much. That was a joke, by the way. The last part, at least. But you won’t find anything, so if you’re planning on charging me, good luck with that.’

‘I wasn’t.’

‘Well then,’ Yeri said, and made a motion to seal her lips.

‘Why don’t you get along well with Mr Kim?’

‘Who says I don’t?’

‘You said you were estranged. So why don’t you get along?’

‘We just don’t. No particular reason. You can’t like everyone in the world, even if they’re technically family.’

‘I suppose not.’

Irene glanced at her watch again. It read 5:15PM. ‘Alright,’ she said, turning to Seulgi. ‘We should, uh…go back down. Talk to the others. Make friends. Sorry for disturbing you.’

‘Uh huh.’

When they were by the door Yeri said, without looking up, ‘Instead of going left and back downstairs, go straight ahead from here. Then it’s the first door on your left when you turn the corner. It’s literally, like, right outside this room and across the hall.’

‘Sorry?’ Irene said.

‘There’s a closet there. Nobody uses it except the maids, for stacking laundry and . And maybe for keeping their stash or something, I dunno. Go do your business there. And quietly, please. I don’t wanna hear you or anything like that. Not while I’m reading my book. And certainly not over dinner either. Best way to lose an appetite, that.’

‘We weren’t going to—’

‘Yeah yeah. God, I hate people like you.’

‘Lesbians?’

‘What? No. Why would I— whatever. I meant people who don’t respect privacy.’

‘For the last time, we didn’t know anyone was in here.’

‘So? It’s still my granduncle’s house. You go around having in old people’s houses often, do you?’

‘Why does it matter that he’s old?’

‘I dunno. Just feels creepier, don’t you think?’

Irene and Seulgi looked at each other again. Then without another word they opened the door left.

‘Man,’ Seulgi said.

‘Yeah.’

‘Sorry about…you know.’

‘Kissing me?’

‘Uh, yeah.’

‘It’s okay.’

‘I missed you.’

Irene smiled softly. ‘I missed you too. We’ll talk later. After dinner. About things.’

‘Sure.’

‘We should get some canapés. Apparently they’re really good.’

‘Lead the way.’

When they were by the staircase someone called out behind them for them to wait. Irene turned and smiled at Mr Kim. He had a look on his face that seemed strangely at peace and tense at the same time, a sort of weird dichotomy that didn’t quite sit right with his smile. He and Mr Jae were coming down the hallway behind them and Mr Kim held his glass of whiskey up and nodded to them at the top of the stairs and said, ‘Wait a second.’

‘Oh, Mr Kim,’ said Seulgi. ‘We were just heading back to get something to eat.’

Irene checked her watch. It read 5:17PM. Time appeared to be moving much slower than usual, as if drawing her away from dinner.

‘What was that about?’ Seulgi said.

Mr Kim gave a sort of curt shrug. ‘Something to do with the weather,’ he said. ‘You know what it’s like with phone signals and electricity out here, don’t you?’

Seulgi said that she did not.

‘Well, it’s not great. We’re a very connected country, Seulgi, but out here it’s different. When you’re not in the cities, things can go wrong. Sometimes it gets bad during storms. There was one day last year where the power went out for a whole night. And the backup generator didn’t work either.’

‘You have a backup generator?’

‘Yes. Why? What’s that face for?’

‘Nothing,’ Seulgi said. ‘I just didn’t know anyone had those outside of movies anymore.’

‘Well. You learn something new every day. Do you want a drink?’

‘Sure.’

Irene glanced at Mr Jae over his shoulder and he looked at her back as if something were off about her. She nodded toward the hallway they’d come from. ‘What’s through there?’ she asked. ‘Up the stairs.’

‘Oh,’ Mr Kim said, ‘I was just showing Mr Jae here my priceless collection of Qing pottery.’

Seulgi giggled.

‘What?’

‘Do you have any Ming vases either?’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Oh, uh…. nothing. I just…I thought you were making a joke.’

‘No, I really do have a large collection of priceless Qing Dynasty pottery. It’s my favourite of the old Chinese dynasties. The one I’ve done most of my research on. I just find it fascinating. Truly fascinating. Especially the formation of it. Such an interesting period of history. Would you like to see it?’

‘I’m sorry, I can’t tell if you’re implying something or not.’

‘No,’ he said.

‘Oh. Then, sure. After dinner.’

When they were halfway down the stairs and one of the maids was passing them Mr Kim said, ‘What were you two doing upstairs anyway?’

‘Oh, uh…nothing. We just ran into Yeri.’

‘Ah,’ he said, and said no more.

‘She seems nice.’

‘Yes. That’s one way to put it.’

‘Very upfront.’

‘That’s another way to put it.’

‘Is she coming to dinner?’

‘Well,’ Mr Kim said. ‘There a seat for her, if she wants to. Come on. I’ll get you that drink.’

‘What about the canapés?’ Irene said.

‘I’m sorry?’

‘Someone said something about canapés early. I’ve kind of got a craving now.’

‘Oh. Well, you can find them in the kitchen. Come on. I’ll introduce you to the maids.’