Sighing for the fifth time today, Yena stretched out her back and stared at the monitor in front of her. That’s another three emails addressing some ignorant people who couldn’t understand how customer service worked and a file report about something regarding the logistics and marketing of some contractors that reached out to their company. The file itself was nothing to be marveled at, just some mindless typing and putting in numbers that were already explicitly shown on the file. She was fine with doing it, except for the fact that a coworker had to pass it over for her to complete because, “Oh, my dog needs me to pick up some chicken from the store.” Since when did four-legged animals start talking and asking for grocery pick-ups?

Not that it mattered, Yena was already working overtime anyway so she might as well take the extra work; even if she didn’t get paid for it. She slinked into her chair and yawned, looking at the time at the corner of her computer. She might have to stay late again today, for the third night in a row. Maybe she could rest her eyes for a bit...

“Unnie, you’re still here?”

Yena opened her eyes and fought back another yawn that threatened to escape her lips. She gazed up at the intern standing in front of her, “Hey, Yujin-ah. Why are you here so late? Interns aren’t supposed to be here at this hour.”

“I asked you a question first,” Yujin frowned, her eyebrows furrowing like a puppy.

Ahn Yujin was a paid intern, a hard-working one at that, who started just a few months ago and already amassed quite the following in their workplace. She was boisterous, energetic, and friendly; suffice it to say that she was fun to be around despite signing up for an internship so she could learn the ropes recently. In fact, the younger employees in the office would not-so-subtly flirt with the young girl who was fresh out of college. Some would even make up excuses to come down to their floor just so they could talk to her while Yujin tried her hardest to not snap at them for disrupting her work.

The intern placed a cup of coffee in front of her, something that Yena hadn’t even noticed that Yujin had in her hands. Hell, she had one for herself too; but it was nice to know that Yujin was looking out for her in spite of the circumstances they were in at this ungodly hour.

“So, why are you still here?” the younger repeated.

Yena sipped her coffee, bland and cheap but a welcome reprieve from the stress, “What other reason would I be here for? Work and more work.” She took another sip and began working on the last tasks she needed to do, “And what about you? I don’t see anyone else here who wants to boss you around for coffee and to print off reports.”

Yujin scratched her head, “Well, I had to help someone out, she told me she needed help organizing the filing cabinet.”

“Pray, do tell who this ‘she’ is.” Yena straightened up and leaned on her desk towards Yujin, “Could she be a certain Kim Minjoo?”

“Jesus, unnie, we were talking about you.” Yujin sipped her coffee to hide her face, but Yena could see the red on her ears clearly.

The older wiggled her eyebrows, “But I was right, huh?”

Kim Minjoo was a relatively new employee in the company, having only joined a few weeks before Yujin came. Minjoo, like Yujin, gained a fanbase; but unlike Yujin, it was her shyness and beauty that caught the office’s attention. Her meek nature earned her many suitors, men and women alike, and for Yena (who was the one to be supervising Minjoo) was unfortunate enough to have to fight off those people so that Minjoo could actually do what she needed to do.

The good news was, Minjoo and Yujin clicked almost immediately after they first met. Perhaps it was due to their shared experiences at work, from being chased by coworkers and being new to the whole company. They were kindred spirits in a sense, and Yena was glad that both of them didn’t have to wade through everything all alone.

“Anyway–if we’re done talking about whatever it is you brought up–I’ve been meaning to ask if you wanted to go on a trip.”

“A trip? Just us?” Yena finished up her last email and sent it, “Look, I’m flattered that you think of me that way, but I’m not looking for a–”

Yujin nearly spit out her coffee, “No! Oh, God no! Of course not, it’ll be me, you, and another two people.”

“Who are the other two?’

“Well,” the younger began to turn crimson again, “Minjoo unnie and whoever you want to invite.” When she saw Yena snickering she added, “Hey, the only reason why I’m flustered is that you brought up Minjoo unnie in a weird topic earlier!”

After a few more moments of bickering back and forth, Yena finally calmed down and gave a coherent answer, “I appreciate the thought but I have work and all…”

“Unnie, you probably work harder than most of us here. You need a break, use some of the vacation days that you’ve saved up.” Yujin picked up their empty coffee cups and threw them in the nearby trashcan and picked up her bag as she watched Yena pack up her belongings, “C’mon, it’s just for a few days.”

She thought for a moment: It’s no secret that Yena was willing to work overtime even if sometimes she wasn’t paid for some of those extra hours. Although, no one really knew why she would deliberately take on the tasks of others if there was nothing for her in return; but if she was asked, she would say she didn’t know either. She never thought of herself as a workaholic, in fact, she would lounge around in her cubicle if there was no work to be done at the moment. Perhaps, she was looking for something meaningful to fill her life with. And for some reason, she chose to fill it with work.

So maybe–just maybe–a few days of rest would help her clear her mind from work and stress that came along with it. She might even find the meaning that she was looking for; if not physically, at least mentally she would.

“Alright,” Yena stuffed her laptop in her bag, “I’ll come, and I know just who to call.”

-I-

Yena dropped her bags as she entered the front door of their accommodation in Sokcho. It was a beach house that they rented from some old landlady who no longer lived there and listed it out to rental sites for those who wanted to go on a retreat. Apparently, Minjoo had been the one who paid for their living space for the duration of their four-day stay; how she got that kind of money despite being an office worker, Yena didn’t ask but she sure as hell would like to know. The young woman didn’t seem like she had a lot of money with the way she dressed modestly and simply, but maybe she had been saving for a while so Yena couldn’t say for sure.

“Hey, Yena! Can you lend me a hand here?”

Hearing her name, she turned around and looked for the person who called her; and it was none other than Kang Hyewon, her best friend and the woman she invited to be her plus one.

Hyewon was someone that let her actions and expressions do most of the talking for her, only hearing her speak the most would be when she was around those she felt comfortable around. If someone had the privilege of getting closer to her, one would find that Hyewon had a really loud laugh and was probably one of the sweetest people on earth. Most people assumed that Hyewon was just another case of a cold-hearted beauty who thought she was better than everybody else but Yena and Hyewon’s coworkers at the photography studio would say otherwise.

Yena went back outside and to the trunk of their van. The van was owned by Minjoo, saying that she had inherited it from her aunt who frequently traveled and went on long trips around the countryside of Korea. Her aunt had given it to her since she was “too old to be going on adventures that lasted for months” and that her bones weren’t able to keep up with it any longer. The way Yena saw it, that woman lived an eventful life; definitely better than the one she was currently living.

She peered inside the open trunk and looked for Hyewon’s bags. “Hyewon, which one of these are yours?”

Her best friend appeared next to her and scanned the luggage. She pointed at the ones that were hers, “That one, that one, that one, and that one.”

“Yah! Why’d you bring so much?”

“Hey, it’s only my bags with clothes and stuff,” she replied while pointing at her rolling suitcase. “You have a suitcase too.”

“Because I have clothes like you too. And anyway, why do you have these,” Yena lifted up two smaller bags.

“Camera and camera equipment.”

“Couldn’t you have put them inside the bigger bags?”

Hyewon shrugged, “I’m a photographer, what do you want me to do?”

“Whatever man…”

Yena and Hyewon began hauling their luggage into the house, bringing them as far as into the beach house’s living room. They offered to take in their other companions’ belongings but were waved off saying that they should unpack first.

Hyewon shrugged and brought her stuff further into the house, whistling along the way, “Jeez, where’d your work buddy get the money to rent this? I wouldn’t mind working at your job if I paid a lot.”

They examined the spacious and cozy living room. Next to the fireplace were two linen loveseat sofas facing each other with a glass coffee table between them; soft carpet situated below the furniture set. A flat-screen TV with a slideshow of coastal photos was hooked up above the fireplace. Now Yena wasn’t into techy stuff, but judging from the high-quality resolution on the screensaver, this was an OLED television. There were plants–plastic or not, she didn’t know–placed strategically to make certain areas not too empty but also not too cluttered. Off to the side, there were armchairs of the same theme and type as the couches and they surrounded a smaller table.

The kitchen itself was also something to be marveled at. It was sophisticated yet laid back, and it fit the whole beach theme to a T. It wasn’t the type of kitchen where one would cook a lot in, though, as there was only enough counter space for less complex recipes and dishes. The kitchen was definitely more cosmetical than it was functional.

“If Minjoo got the money from our work, then I wouldn’t be working overtime, right?” Yena opened the door to their shared room. “I’d be eating at a fancy restaurant every night if that was the case.”

When they entered, two twin-sized beds on one each side of the room and the bedside drawers next to them caught their eyes. The covers and the pillows on them looked exquisite and Yena couldn’t wait to lay down on it when the day ended.

“I call dibs on this one!” Yena announced as she dropped her bags and jumped on one of the beds.

“They’re literally the same.”

She adjusted her position and sat up against the headboard, “Yeah, but calling dibs asserts my dominance over you.”

“What?” Hyewon furrowed her eyebrows, “That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“Doesn’t have to, it’s vacation time.”

“Weren’t you the one who said that your intern forced you to go on this trip? Look at you now, you don’t seem reluctant to have a healing trip at all.”

The younger of the two clicked her tongue and then closed her eyes, “You should be happy that I’m even taking a break at all.”

“Of course I am.”

Before Yena could speak any further, she felt a weight press down on her upper torso and stomach. It took her a while to realize that Hyewon had jumped on her and was pinning her down with their body weight.

“Get off of me!”

“Ouch, my foot!”

---

“Minjoo, how’d you manage to rent us a nice beach house?”

After they settled in, Minjoo told them about this local restaurant that sold the best samgyeopsal in the area. Hyewon being the foodie that she was, became immediately enamored with the idea of eating and practically forced Yena and Yujin to go check the samgyeopsal place out. Thus, they found themselves sitting at a table tucked away at the back corner of the store eating and drinking to their hearts’ content for lunch.

“Well,” Minjoo started, “the landlady owed my aunt a favor and she made it even by giving our family a discount whenever we rented out this beach house.”

Yujin wrapped the pork with lettuce and a perilla leaf and stuffed it in , eating it before talking, “You’re aunt must be one cool lady to have traveled so much and have someone owe her favors.”

“Oh, she was definitely an interesting character,” the young woman replied, an odd but reminiscent tone present in her voice. “She used to tell me all the time that she never wanted to be tied down to the same boring place, but I never understood her until now.”

“Why’s that?” Yena asked, intrigued now.

“I lived in Sokcho for a few years with my aunt. My parents needed to sort some work stuff out before I could move back in with them.”

Hyewon hummed, “So that’s why you knew about this place.”

“Anyway, we stopped hearing from her after I moved back in with my parents. Nowadays, she only calls me if she wants to invite me on one of her trips,” Minjoo took a sip of her drink, largely avoiding the topic of being tied down to the same place.

They continued conversing, ordering more servings when there wasn’t enough left on the table to satisfy their bottomless stomac