After arriving in Korea and stumbling off the freighter in very bad health, Taerim had to meet a contact of PIranut's who he dealt with occasionally. Drugs weren't much of an industry in Korea, at least compared to Thailand, but this guy seemed to do all right for himself. The address she was given wasn't in a great part of town, and the office was above a pawn shop. It was the last place she wanted to be. Butshe had to get money and a place to stay as soon as possible. It was one of the hardest things she had ever done to swear that she wouldn't deal drugs again. Drug regulation was much more stringently enforced. Of course, when the risk was higher, so was the reward. When she met Piranut's contact in his dingy 2nd-floor office, he offered her work right away.
 

“We need runners,” he said. “Runners that won't stand out. We've got high schoolers coming out of our ears who are willing to do anything for a few thousand won, but they're idiots almost to a man. I know you've got what it takes. And I know you need the money.”
 

Taerim had never wanted to say yes more. He'd given her a shower, a change of clothes, a meal, and the equivalent of about two hundred dollars, and she knew right now she was at her weakest.
 

“I can't,” she managed to say. “Running almost got me killed in Thailand. I can't.”
 

The contact shook his head. “Then what are you gonna do?”
 

“I'll get a job,” she said. “Make something of myself.”
 

He shook his head. “Get a job without speaking Korean? Without a work visa?”
 

“I'll find a way.”
 

He wasn't convinced. “Come back when you've changed your mind. There's money here.”
 

“I'll keep that in mind.”
 

Even though she quite literally had no idea where to go or what to do, she stood up. “Gotta go,” she said.
 

The contact shook his head. “Not so fast.”
 

Taerim's heart sank. “What?”
 

The contact motioned to the chair she'd been in. “Sit down. I think I've got something for you.”
 

“I already told you –“
 

“It's not drug running,” he said. “I swear to God. Just sit down.”
 

Her desperation made her sit back down, even though the chair was too close to him and he was fairly leering now. “What is it?”
 

“You're a minor, aren't you?”
 

“No.”
 

“Doesn't matter. How about losing a few years and going back to school?”
 

“Back to school?”
 

He leaned closer to her. “Listen. Last year we had this runner who was a god-damned star. A great eye, thin as a pole, a little scruffy and completely invisible.”
 

“Why are you telling me this? I already told you, I don't want to be a run-”
 

“Will you just listen to me? Okay, this kid I'm talking about, he ended up getting killed in a bad situation. Completely not his fault, just in the wrong place at the wrong time... and with a fortune's worth on him, too. You know how it goes.”
 

“So?”
 

“So he was a high school student. Far as I know, he was alone. Emancipated minor or something like that. It's rare, but it happens. Didn't ever hear about parents. When he went missing, he went missing. No one really cared. Well, I cared, because he was pretty valuable and I haven't been able to replace him since. But his identity is still out there. His death wasn't ever reported, and his high school hardly cared enough to go to the police about it. What I'm saying is, as far as anyone's concerned he could pop up anywhere and go on with his life with no one making a bother about it.”
 

Taerim was beginning to see what he was getting at. Against all her better judgment, she began to hope. “You're saying... I could get papers?”
 

He leaned back, satisfied. “I'm saying you could get papers. And with papers, you can get a job, go to school, ing get married, I don't give a .”
 

Desperation took over. “Give them to me, then,” she said. “I need a new life. I ing need a new life now.”
 

She fidgeted while the contact went to rummage through a file tower, thinking about how horribly possible it was that he was lying and he didn't have enough loyalty to Piranut to allow her to get out of this in possession of all her limbs and organs. But when he came back a few minutes later, he dropped a pile of papers into her lap.
 

“Best not fix up the passport unless you've got a whole new number on you,” he said. “Since he's a missing person it'll probably raise a few red flags if you try to leave the country on it. Everything else is good though.”
 

Taerim picked up one of the ID cards in the pile of papers and looked at it carefully. The name was Lee Taemin. In the picture, he didn't even look like a high schooler. His face was really a bit mousy. If he was clever, Taerim could see how he could be valuable. She gathered up the papers, holding them carefully to her chest. This was her new identity. She could care less if it was the wrong gender. It would help her survive.
 

“Okay,” she said. “I've gotta go now.”
 

“Not so fast,” he said again. Again, Taerim's heart sank. “You've go to pay for that. Piranut asked me to help you, but I'm not running a ing charity, all right?”
 

“I told you,” she said, feeling fearful tears prick at her eyes. “I can't run for you –“
 

He grabbed her wrist and held it like a vise. “So what can you do for me?”
 

Tears did come. “Anything,” she said, hardly able to keep from sobbing. “I'll do anything else.”
 

His breath was hot on the side of her face as he pulled her closer. “That's what I like to hear.”
 

She gave him what he wanted. Fifteen minutes later, she wasn't able to cry any more. The papers and cards were strewn all over the floor where she had dropped them, and she had to reach under the disgusting couch to get everything. She ran out as fast as her shaking legs would take her.
 

-------------
 

Taerim woke up crying. She felt a body next to her - Piranut's contact. With blind horror, she struck out at it, choking back terrified sobs.
 

"I gave you what you want!" she screamed, pummeling him with her weak fists. She stumbled backward out of the bed and scrambled away on the floor, getting as far away as possible. "Please! Please.... leave me alone..."
 

"Taemin... What's wrong?! Taemin!"
 

She was still half-asleep, bewildered. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she realized that she was in a tiny dorm room, not in the grimy office of Piranut's Korean contact. The bed she'd just fallen out of was Minho's, and he was scrambling out of it to get to her. He knelt in front of her, holding out his empty hands to show that he wasn't going to hurt her.
 

"Taemin..." he said, confusion and worry wrinkling his forehead. "It's me. What's the matter?"
 

Realization struck her. It was a dream. And the person she'd just repeatedly hit in fear had been Minho.
 

"No.... Oh God, Minho.... I'm so sorry. I'm so..." she felt the hot tears coming again, and cursed them. "I shouldn't have...."
 

He thought it was safe to hug her. His body was warm and comforting - how could she have hit him? "Don't worry about anything, Taemin..." he cooed softly. Though he had no idea what was the matter, he knew enough. Taemin was upset. He had to comfort her. That was all that mattered.
 

Even when he embraced her, the memory of what she'd had to do to get papers made her tremble uncontrollably, so close on the heels of what she had done with Minho. How could that horror taint a moment that was supposed to be so perfect? Would she experience that terror forever?
 

God help me. What am I going to do?