Seulgi was having an iced americano and a honey-topped Monte Cristo sandwich as a breakfast inside SM’s cafeteria when she felt an intense familiar gaze staring at her directly. She lifted her head up and saw Bae Irene walking through the corridors, her eyes never moving anywhere else other than Seulgi’s.

When the singer quietly pulled a chair and sat at her table, Seulgi felt the needle pressing inside her chest once again. Great. The day was just beginning and there was Bae Irene to make it more difficult.

“If you think you can carry on with your attitude in here, just forget it, Monolids…” Irene said firmly, but still in a controlled tone to not make the others passing by able to hear their conversation. “You watch your mouth or Lee Sooman-Sennim will cancel your contract.”

Seulgi just sighed, slurping some of her iced americano. “No, he won’t.”

Irene squinted her eyes. “You wanna bet?”

Seulgi scoffed. “I’m one of the best dancers in Century Dance. If you make him fire me, that’ll be a downgrip for your solo project. Our crew will need to look for another back-up dancer, and she’ll need to completely learn the choreography from scratch and that will delay all your schedules and activities.” She said calmly. “I thought that your solo comeback was more important to you than an invisible back-up dancer like myself. If your solo comeback doesn’t perform well, SM stakeholders won’t fund another project and you’ll be just another flop solo artist out there.”

Irene clenched her fists so hard, her knuckles became pale white. “You’re very rude for a back-up dancer, did you know that? Especially towards the people you should be respectful to.” Seulgi just looked at her, mildly annoyed that she was having her breakfast time ruined by that idol.

“And you are very rude for an idol-celebrity. It’s a shame you have so many fans. Majority of them think of you as a kind and reasonable person, it’s sad that you are a completely different person on and off-screen. You should fix your attitude.”

“Ain’t a monolid back-up dancer who will tell me what to do.” Irene said, cold and dry. “You bug my feet one more time, Monolids, and you’ll see who’s the one fixing up their attitude!”

“It’s Kang Seulgi.”

“What?”

“My name. It’s Kang Seulgi, not Monolids.”

“You think too much of yourself, don’t you? Thinking that I’ll remember your name one day somehow.” Seulgi just shook her head in a negative sign. “Be careful, Monolids, or I’ll make your dance crew meet its ending in the industry.”

Seulgi squinted her eyes at Irene, her arms dared to hug them across the chest and place confidently on top of the small table. “Gonna whine to your old guardian Lee Soo Man that my monolids bother you that much?” Seulgi just scoffed, trying to attack Irene’s pride because she really didn’t want to get Lee Soo Man involved in anything. “Rather than wasting your time with me, I think you should practice your dancing routine better. The results of your comeback being successful or not will depend on you, rather than us, Bae Irene. I thought that you, an idol with so much experience, were already aware of that.”

Irene didn’t waste a single second at that table any longer, standing up, her eyes looking disgusted at the Monte Cristo Sandwich Seulgi was eating. “Such a pig eating those junky foods. You should come back to the cesspool you belong to.”

With no more words to say, Irene left Seulgi at the cafeteria, and went to continue her day. Seulgi gulped, feeling her hands clenched into fists angrily. “ing prick.” Seulgi called her. Such an awful person. All Irene did was to put people down and humiliate them. How can she pull that crap in front of everyone when cameras aren't on?

“3 months, Seulgi.” She recalled herself. “Just hang ‘on for three months.” Irene’s solo project will eventually come to an end, and after that hell is over, Seulgi and Century Dance would be free from that demon.

~~*~~

Seulgi really made peace with herself and her dancing while working with Irene. The other dancers from Century Dance, however, were not okay with that idol singer. Those devil’s eyes sneered at all of them for any minor mistake and Kyung-Ri, the maknae of their dance crew, was the one losing its focus the most.

It’s been days since Seulgi has really made any action that would call Irene’s confrontation, so Irene’s favorite subject to torment has shifted from Seulgi to Kyung-Ri. Here and there, Seulgi would defend her friend or even take one for the entire dance crew, but it wouldn’t be really enough. Not nearly enough.

Kyung-Ri lost so much confidence that she would finish a day literally bursting in tears.

“Never in my entire life have I worked with a person as awful as her.” The girl couldn’t dry her tears after the practice was over and Irene had left the room.

“Just hang ‘on, Kyung-Ri. It will end eventually.” Cherry tried to ease her.

“Eventually…” Kyung-Ri screeched. “Never wished so hard that this word would mean tomorrow! She’s the devil, sunbaenim! How can we just keep doing our job when she treats us like that?”

“Seulgi is handling herself quite alright.” Cherry recalled. “We all should do the same.”

All eyes have turned towards Seulgi just then. “How do you do it?”

“What?” Seulgi blinked, obliviously to their question.

“Handle Irene the way you are doing?”

Seulgi was confused with the way they used the word “handling alright”. Because she wasn’t really handling anything. Seulgi was just ignoring Irene’s gaze and remarks and focusing on what she was hired to do. “I just ignored her.” Seulgi said, shrugging her shoulders. “I realized she isn’t a better dancer than me and I