The bodyguard had been right. It was hell.

It wasn't the early starts, long hours of standing around and late nights. No, that she could handle fine after years in the military and in the private sector.

It was the client herself.

Every action was questioned, every protocol blatantly disregarded, every day included an argument with the idol, Miss Solar. 

The first few weeks of her new job had been absolute torture for the bodyguard.

Irene and Seulgi had insisted that Moonbyul needed to slow down and have a decently paid but less dangerous assignment once in a while.

Instead it was dangerous for her blood pressure.

Byul almost missed the bullets and explosions.

     It had started almost immediately on her first official day on shift. As any decent security worth his/her salt would, Byul planted herself at the door of the dressing room and checked IDs and bags before allowing them in. Within less than an hour, she was dragged to one side and scolded by an exasperated Solar that she knew all of her staff, thank you , so she was just wasting her time and could she please just go away . Byul had merely responded politely, “I’m just doing my job, Solar-ssi,” and ended up having to go through the entire Nam Entertainment staff database and memorise faces, names and backgrounds so that she wouldn’t have to check IDs for anyone moving in and out of Solar vicinity. 

She had had to do this many times before, so she just took it as an opportunity to keep up the skill. As for the bags, she ended up loitering until Solar was out of the dressing and go through them all to look for suspicious devices and packages - trying very hard not to look like a common thief herself.

     Then a few days later, Byul had intercepted fans’ gifts and with Wheein’s blessing, had thrown out all food items and opened some of the larger packages, again to exclude suspicious items. However, she received another earful from Solar about wasting food, being inconsiderate of her fans’ feelings and invading her and her fans’ privacy. Byul had again meekly responded, “I’m just doing my job, Solar-ssi” and the next day, turned up with a military borescope* so that she could inspect the inside of packages without needing to open them and quietly asked Wheein to release a statement through the company that food gifts were not going to be accepted until further notice. Luckily (or unluckily), a male idol had recently made headlines for needing to be rushed to hospital after a sasaeng fan had sent him a drink spiked with superglue** and a lot of agencies had been releasing similar statements in fear of copycats. 

     And then there was the time that Moonbyul had delayed Solar from leaving her dressing room immediately as there had been a sudden influx of fans outside and had narrowed the route to their cars. She wanted to go ahead to check the route before returning to the idol to her car but Solar had had a trying morning - the day was meant to have started with a simple interview and performance but there was a technical problem on set, leading to delays and more delays as they sat around, getting further and further behind schedule. To top it all off, the lunch that they had ordered had arrived at the other filming site where they would have been, had the filming gone as planned. So, Solar was cold, bored and hangry; and having a bodyguard, she never asked for , further delaying her merely worsened her mood. Cutting Moonbyul off as she was explaining her plan to the staff by pushing past her and storming down the corridor, she barely spared her entourage a glance as they scrambled after her. Her bodyguard jogged past them all and catching up to Solar, protected her from the shoving and jostling from the crowd of enthusiastic fans that had packed out the lobby of the broadcasting centre. Once she had plopped herself down on her seat in one of the cars, she watched as Byul rushed back into the crowd to help extract her entourage one by one until they were all safely out in the moving vehicles. But before Byul could even catch her breath, Solar brazenly asked, “I didn’t stick to your stupid security protocol, Moonbyul-ssi, and did anything happen to me?” 

When the bodyguard wisely didn’t rise to the bait and reply, she ploughed on, “We were already behind schedule and none of us had a chance to eat or drink today. So, read the room, Moonbyul-ssi and realise that you were making us more late than necessary.”

Byul bowed her head and replied the only way she could, “I’m just doing my job, Solar-ssi.”

     The next morning, when she was picked up from her flat, Solar was surprised to find that the bodyguard had not joined them and mentally rejoiced that perhaps she had finally given up and quit. Her hopes were dashed however, when they arrived at their first location of the day, Moonbyul was already there and opening the door for her and leading her to her dressing room. She did notice an unfamiliar set of motorcycle helmet and gloves in the corner of the room next to a now familiar military backpack and Wheein asking about it. 

“It’s how I got here.” A husky voice replied. “I borrowed one of our company motorbikes so that I can skip traffic and get to places ahead of you guys, so that I can check the site and the perimeter without delaying the schedule anymore.”

Solar wasn’t sure why but something swirled in her chest that felt way too suspiciously like guilt and she viciously stomped on it, preferring to revel in her anger at the annoyingly persistent bodyguard.

     Naturally, Wheein often ended up trying to mediate between the two; feeling terribly guilty about the fact that Solar being blissfully unaware was making Byul's life a living hell. To be honest, along with the rest of the staff, Wheein was astounded by Solar's completely out of character behaviour towards the bodyguard. So one afternoon, after a tiresome morning of listening to Solar sniping at Byul, she had pulled her friend to one side and called her out on it, “Yongsun-unnie… this isn’t like you.”

“And it isn’t like you to go hiring people behind my back, Wheein.” Solar had bit back.

As guilt and shame returned tenfold, Wheein had simply clammed up and never brought it up again.

Solar could be really stubborn if she wanted to.

Instead over the past few weeks, she had watched as Byul would try to do her job, Solar would inevitably throw a tantrum and Byul would find a way to continue doing her job but without Solar noticing. Wheein had gotten so good at sending the bodyguard apologetic looks, she wondered if her face would be stuck that way. Byul however, would merely shrug, find a suitable alternative and give Wheein a small reassuring smile. She didn’t once complain, lose her temper or argue back but did calmly and constantly remind Solar that she was doing her job. The other members of staff had already taken a liking to the strong and silent ex-soldier (who always appeared almost out of nowhere to help load/unload the cars, carry the heavier cases for the female staff or reminding them all to eat/drink/dress warmly/etc) but kept quiet about it around Solar for fear of her wrath. 

     Then one morning, the city was hit by a rainstorm. It had rained throughout the night and continued into the morning causing some minor flooding on the roads that led to Solar arriving late to the broadcasting studio but fortunately, it was to be their venue for the whole day as she was filming an interview and a variety show in the same building. It was still pouring as they pulled up and Wheein wondered if the bodyguard had gotten caught in the rain. Just then, the door slid open and revealed said bodyguard soaked through to the bone, who reached in to grab the large umbrella they always had in the car and opened it up to shield Solar and Wheein from the rain and them in. Even Solar paused to eye her drenched form before allowing herself to be walked to the entrance of the building without getting wet. Wheein nodded automatically when Moonbyul quickly told her that the route was checked and safe and she distractedly looked back at Byul jogging back to the car and handing the umbrella over to the staff whilst she started grabbing the equipment to carry over since she now didn’t mind getting wet. 

     Wheein and the rest of the staff felt terrible every time they went past the damp bodyguard standing guard by the dressing room door, creating a puddle where she stood. Byul had sheepishly explained to Wheein that after arriving ahead of them to perform her routine security checks, she had waited out in the rain for Solar but had forgotten her umbrella and had missed the text about them getting delayed. 

     As soon as Solar was called to set, Wheein dragged Byul into the dressing room and tried to soak up as much rainwater from her and her suit using towels and asked the stylist unnie to see if she could find something for her to change into. Luckily, the stylist was able to find a light grey suit and white shirt that had been left behind by an idol boy-group that she advised was just about Byul’s size. She also offered to take Byul’s soaked suit and see if she could rescue it with dry cleaning, which Moonbyul was very grateful for. The bodyguard peeled off her jacket so that it was one less wet item to carry back as she picked up the clothes she was going to change into. Seemingly unaware of how all pairs of eyes were currently fixed on her, she strode out of the r