Chapter 19

            The whole club shook with every boom of the bass.  The walls rumbled and the wine glasses barely kept from shattering as loud music filled the room.  Not one inch of space could be found on the dance floor as people from all over Seoul moved rhythmically about it.  Ritzy socialites and music stars chatted at the bar about their latest investments and albums.  This was the life of the Got Seoul Night Club.

            Leaning against a wall near the bar, Ellin carefully watched the feisty crowd.  Though she was grateful to be wearing something besides her Bar Bar Bar outfit, she wished she could wear a more colorful dress.  Both she and Gummi had been doomed to dark colors for the sake of undercover work.  If she was going clubbing for any reason, certainly something a bit more glamorous would have been perfect.

            She quickly forgot her fashion dilemma when she spotted Hyoyeon dancing in the crowd.  The Dancing Queen was especially skillful tonight, mixing in Mr. Mr. choreography with her dancing.  Every once in a while, she would look out from the dance floor and beckon a lonely Jessica out onto the floor.

            Jessica, who stood by the wall opposite Ellin, wasn’t very enthusiastic about the club life.  She seemed somewhat intimidated by the mass of vivacious people, and she surveyed the whole room with cautious eyes. 

            Ellin never liked being assigned to Jessica.  It had nothing to do with the icy personality so many people thought she had.  Jessica was actually a very kind, bubbly person.  But Jessica always seemed to bring problems with her wherever she went.  It was only a few months ago when Ellin was secretly escorting her through the Hong Kong airport when a bodyguard pushed her to the ground.  At that terrifying moment, Ellin only froze and forgot all the training Ah Ba and the Captain had taught her.  She clutched desperately to her first aid bag, but stood idly by as Jessica and the rest of Girls’ Generation was swiftly taken away.

            Though she was forgiven for her behavior, Ellin never forgot that moment.  Many weeks after it, she relearned standard protocol and effective anemia treatment methods.  She promised to never fail Jessica or any of the other girls again.  Though she genuinely wanted none of The Nine to get hurt, she had personal motives.  If she proved to be a failure again, the Captain would have a completely valid reason to expel her from the group.  How would she cope with that?  How could she live without her members?

            Ellin opened her purse and looked through all her materials.  There were iron supplement pills, as well as syringes with neurotoxin antidote.  She ran through all her training once more in her head.  Nothing could make her fail tonight.

            “Ellin?”

            Closing her purse quickly, Ellin already knew who had called her name.  She closed her eyes tightly, knowing he would complicate her mission.  His laughter would surely give her away.  Certainly he would attract hundreds of fan girls.  Why did he have to be here?

            “Hi, Dongwoo,” she smiled weakly, finally looking up at him.  “What are you doing here tonight?”

            “Oh, you didn’t know?”  He shook his head and gave a silly grin.  “There’s an SM Entertainment party here tonight.”

            She forced herself to look intrigued, as if she hadn’t known about this party for weeks.  “Really?  Aren’t you with Woolim Entertainment, though?”

            “We merged with SM a few months ago,” he informed.  “Now we’re just seven more utters of Lee Sooman’s cash cow.”

            Both of them let out their loud, identifiable laughs, which Ellin regretted immediately.  She knew the most compromising feature of his presence would be his ability to make her laugh.  At every award show, he had always greeted Crayon Pop excitedly, calling the members sunbaes and acting like a common schoolgirl.  Whether he was joking or not, he always caused Ellin to laugh beyond her control.

            “Aigoo, Dongwoo, why aren’t you partying with the SM people?”

            “Ah, they’re no fun, noona.”

            Crayon Pop and Infinite had become good friends over the past few months, but Ellin couldn’t stand Dongwoo’s new habit of calling her “noona”.  They were barely eight months apart.  He was a bold man.

            “Well, dongsaeng,” she began spitefully.  “Maybe they’re avoiding you because you’re too boring.  Did you ever think of that?”

            His started to let out his signature guffaw, and, with much effort, she kept herself from joining him.  “Don’t act like that, noona.  Why are you here by yourself?  You should come dance with me.”

            Ellin had watched the dance floor all night, wishing she could join the fun.  Very inconspicuously, she had even observed Hyoyeon’s dance moves and tried to imitate them from the edge of the dance floor.  But she couldn’t risk becoming distracted.  Jessica and Hyoyeon deserved her undivided attention.

            “I don’t feel like dancing right now,” she sighed.  “You’re free to go dance if you’d like.”

            “That’s okay.  I think I’ll stand here with you.”

            That was the last thing she wanted to hear tonight.  He leaned against the wall next to her and stood still.  To keep herself as discreet as possible, she didn’t utter a word.  She didn’t need to participate in their usual playful banter and attract attention.  And she didn’t need his ridiculous laughter to scare away Jessica and Hyoyeon.

            As she tried to stay focused, Ellin noticed from the corner of her eye that Dongwoo was staring at her.  His eyes weren’t necessarily focused on her face, and she began to feel frustrated by his wandering gaze.  Nothing made her more furious than erts.  She finally turned to face him, forcing him to meet her eyes bashfully.

            “Can you keep your eyes to yourself?” she requested crossly.  “Aish.”

            “I’m sorry, Ellin,” he assured quickly, awkwardly turning to the dance floor.  “I’ve just…I’ve only seen you wearing your track suit.  This is different.  You’re very…pretty.”

            Ellin stopped breathing as her whole body tensed up.  His words swirled around in her head faster than bullets, and she couldn’t properly understand them.  This must have been another one of his jokes.  He would never say something like that to her.  No one would ever say something like that to her.  She finally took in a deep breath and attempted to look up at him.

            “That’s funny, Dongwoo-ah,” she chuckled nervously. 

            He stared at her in confusion.  “What?  I wasn’t trying to be funny.  I was just telling the truth.”

            Nothing he said made sense in her brain.  Why would he say such a thing?  Was he playing with her?  But his eyes were so sincere.  She watched carefully as he cleared his throat and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt.

            “Um, I’m going to go dance,” he told shakily.  “Bye, Ellin.”

            “B-Bye.”  Her voice quivered as she called after him, and she looked back down at the ground to try to regain her composure. 

            Her bewilderment slowly turned to fury.  Why did he have to be here?  Why was he spewing such nonsense?  The sincerity he displayed reminded her of her old dance teacher, and she grew even more furious.  She could feel hot tears filling her eyes, and she quickly shook her head and wiped them away. 

            As Dongwoo’s stupid laugh rang in her head, Ellin looked back up at the dance floor.  She noticed Jessica on the other side of the room gesturing for Hyoyeon to stop dancing.  Jessica’s sad, pleading face reminded Ellin of her mission, and she forgot about Dongwoo for a moment.

            When Hyoyeon left the dance floor and met with Jessica, she rolled her eyes.  Jessica spoke a few words and pointed towards a small staircase in the corner of the room.  Hyoyeon finally nodded her head and followed Jessica to the staircase.  They spoke to a very tall, terrifying bodyguard at the foot of the stairs, then passed him and climbed the staircase.

            Ellin walked along the wall of the room and made it to the staircase.  The bodyguard stared at her curiously, and she felt her heart race at the realization of how tall he really was. 

            “I have a note,” she informed anxiously, reaching into her purse.  She handed him the slip of paper Earman Kim gave her earlier, and he looked it over carefully.

            “What is this?” he asked.

            “It’s my invitation,” she explained, now doubting Earman Kim’s forgery skill.  “To the SM Entertainment party.”

            “There are no invitations to this party,” he stated plainly.  “This party is for SM personnel only.  And I know you don’t work for SM.  You’re from Crayon Pop.”

            She stared at him with wide eyes.  “You recognize me?”

            “My daughter loves your Jumping Song,” he sighed.  “She plays it throughout the house all day.  All day.”

            “Oh…”  She could tell she already had a negative reputation with this man.  Time was passing, and she had to reunite with Hyoyeon and Jessica quickly.  She would have to call in Soyul or one of the twins to enter through a window or else sneak into the party herself.

            “Hi, Choi-ssi.”

            That vile voice entered Ellin’s ears again, and she worked hard not to turn to Dongwoo and slap him immediately.

            “Hello, Dongwoo-ssi,” the bodyguard greeted with a grin.  “Are you going back up?”

            “Yes,” Dongwoo smiled.  “Ellin-ssi will be joining me.”

            “Oh really?”

            “She’s my date.”  The audacity of his words made Ellin shiver with anger.  “Mr. Lee said we can bring dates, right?”

            “Yes…”  The bodyguard suspiciously looked over Ellin’s forged invitation again and gave a worried look towards Dongwoo.  “Are you sure she’s your date?”

            “Why are you asking so many questions, Choi-ssi?” Dongwoo laughed.  He took Ellin’s hand and swiftly led her up the stairs.  “Goodbye, Choi-ssi!”

            As soon as they made it up the stairs, Ellin yanked her hand away from Dongwoo.  “What makes you think you can drag me anywhere you want to?”

            He retracted his hand awkwardly and looked at her inquisitively.  “It looked like you wanted to get into the party.  I was just trying to help you.”

            “Are you sure you weren’t trying to help yourself?” she mumbled, tearing her fuming glare away from him. 

            She vigilantly observed the dark room in which the party was held.  There was a full bar shaped like a circle in the middle of the room.  Against the walls of the room were long, red couches and a few chic tables.  A high-tech disco ball hanged from the ceiling, but it only added an element of tackiness to the design of the room.

            Ellin tried to keep calm as she noticed members of Super Junior, f(x), Infinite, and TVXQ around the room.  They calmly sat and chatted with one another as if they weren’t the biggest names in the Korean music industry.  Even after international fame, Ellin couldn’t consider herself as equal with any of them.

            “What do you mean ‘help myself’?” Dongwoo questioned.  “Did I make you angry, Ellin?”

            “Oh, you don’t even know the half of it,” she growled.  Looking around the room, she spotted Hyoyeon, but failed to find Jessica.  “Hey, is there a bathroom around here?”

            “Sure,” he said slowly.  “It’s right down that hall on the right.  Ellin, I-”

            Before he could continue his obvious charade, Ellin left him and rushed down the hall.  It was long and plush, the red carpet below giving a very glamorous style.  Voices of the SM artists started to fade as she continued down the hall.  When she reached the bathroom door, she heard another pair of voices from a room at the end of the hall.  She crept closer, carefully listening through the barely open door.

            “How could you go to his birthday party, Jessica?” a man asked lividly.

            “We needed to go!”  Jessica’s voice was shaky and enraged.  “Jaejoong is our friend!  No feud can keep friends apart!”

            “He’s a traitor!” the man exclaimed.  “All three of them are terrible traitors.  Don’t ever associate with them again.”

            “Jaejoong oppa is leaving for the military soon,” Jessica whimpered, sniffling helplessly.  “All of them are leaving this year.  We needed to see them.”

            “It’s a good thing that they’re leaving.”  A cell phone rang loudly, and its ringing stopped abruptly.  “Hello? … A problem?  What happened?"

            Ellin ran for the bathroom door as she heard the man’s angry footsteps.  She slipped into the bathroom just as the man exited the room, and she warily listened to his words.

            “Deleted?  Deleted?  An entire portion of the footage is gone?  Are you kidding me?  How could that have happened?”

            “What happened, manager-nim?”  Ellin could hear Jessica’s soft voice just outside the door.  It was so cheerless and broken; Ellin couldn’t bare the sound of it.

            “Footage from the video shoot last week has disappeared!” the manager cried.  “The editors say this happened during their dinner break.  They’re liars!  How could whole portions of footage suddenly disappear?  Heads will roll!”

            “We have to film it again, then?” Jessica questioned miserably.  “Aish, I don’t want to do that.”

            “Of course you don’t,” he sighed.  “You never want to do anything.  Aigoo, I manage such lazy, ungrateful idols.  I can’t stand this job.”

            Ellin could hear the manager stomp down the hall, but Jessica was unmoved.  The only sound that could be heard now was Jessica’s delicate sobbing.  Her high-pitched hiccups were pitiful and heartbreaking.  Ellin couldn’t take it anymore.

            “Hi,” Ellin greeted as she slowly exited the bathroom.

            A startled Jessica jumped back and observed Ellin with her teary eyes.  “Oh, hi.”

            “Are you okay?”

            Jessica looked at Ellin curiously.  “You look very familiar…Jumping!”

            Ellin smiled as Jessica slowly lost her inconsolable frown.  “Yes.  I’m from Crayon Pop.”

            “Wow!” Jessica exclaimed.  “I’m running into all of you!”

            “All of us…?”

            “Your song makes me happy,” Jessica grinned, wiping the tears from her face.  “It’s hard to find a group who likes to be silly.  How refreshing and hopeful.”

            “Oh…thank you.”

            “Well, goodnight,” Jessica sighed suddenly.  “I think I’m done for the night.  These parties are dumb, don’t you agree?”

            “I suppose,” Ellin replied reluctantly.  “Goodnight.”

            Jessica gave one last broken smile before she made her way down the hall into the party room.  Ellin watched as she took Hyoyeon’s hand and led her to the staircase.  Ato was now in charge of getting them home, and Ellin had a special report to make.

            “Ellin.”

            With her mind on her mission, Ellin didn’t even notice Dongwoo rushing into the hallway.  He stopped in front of her and stared at her anxiously.

            “Dongwoo?” she asked in surprise.  “Why are you following me?”

            “Ellin, I don’t know why you’re so mad at me,” he began.  “What did I do?  Just tell me what I did.”

            “I don’t talk to players,” she insisted, pushing him aside. 

            He grabbed her hand as she started to walk away.  “Ellin!  You think I’m a player?  How did you get that idea?”

            “Why else would you call me pretty?” she replied angrily.  She tried to jerk her hand away from him, but this time he held her tightly.  “Would you let go of me?”

            “What?  Why else would I call you pretty?  Can’t I simply state a fact?”

            “There you go again!” she screamed.  She was sure the people in the main room could hear them now, but she didn’t care to consider them.  “This is part of your little game!  You flatter me so I bend to your will!  There’s no other reason!”

            “Of course there’s another reason!”  His voice was so stern and thunderous that it frightened Ellin.  He released her hand, but she was too frozen by fear and confusion to walk away.

            “Why else would you call me pretty?”  As she asked the question again, she realized it was no longer rhetorical.  She genuinely wanted to know if any other reason existed.  She wanted to know if there was any man in the world who could think she was anything other than ugly.  Tears filled her eyes again, but she didn’t care to wipe them away.  “Why else?”

            “Because…you are.”  His cheeks turned red as he gave a bashful grin.  “You are pretty, Ellin.  You’re beautiful.  Is it so hard to believe?  And I don’t want anything from you.  Sure, you can probably guess by now that I have a crush on you.  But I don’t have any sinister motives.  I just like to make you laugh.”

            “You…You really mean that?” she stuttered in shock.  “Everything you just said: you really meant all of it?”

            “Of course,” he chuckled nervously.  “I’m sorry if I scared you.  Ellin, why did you think I was lying?  Why couldn’t you believe that you were pretty?”  His eyes filled with anger.  “Did someone tell you that you weren’t?”

            Every memory from junior high, high school, and her old community dance academy filled her head.  All the words that made her feel worthless painfully reentered her heart, and she couldn’t make them go away.  Dongwoo gently grasped her arms as she began to sob.

            “Ellin?  Did I say something I shouldn’t have?  I’m really sorry.”

            “No, it’s nothing that you said,” she assured, placing her trembling hand on his cheek.  “Your words aren’t the ones that hurt.”

            “Who hurt you?” he questioned urgently.  “Ellin, please tell me.”

            She finally forced a smile onto her face.  “Dongwoo-ah, it’s nothing you should have to worry about.  I just want to say…thank you.”

            “For what?”

            “For saying those words.”  Though he was obviously hungry for more information, she slowly backed away from him and down the hall.  “Please say them again sometime, okay?”

            “I’ll say them every day,” he promised quickly.  “Every hour.  Every minute!  Every second!”

            His excitement pulled a laugh out of her, and she didn’t want to leave him.  “Goodbye, Dongwoo-ah.  I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”

            He looked down at his wristwatch.  “Ellin!  You’re beautiful!”  Her tears turned so quickly into jolly laughter.  “You’re beautiful!”  She reluctantly turned away from him and walked towards the staircase.  “Ellin, you’re so beautiful!”

*          *          *

            An hour later, the Captain and Earman Kim had called all of the members to an urgent meeting in the conference room.  When Ellin had reported to the Captain about the missing Mr. Mr. footage, he had reacted with a certain fear.  This meeting was going to be incredibly important. 

Ellin, still wearing her dress from her mission, sat to the right of the Captain.  She had time to change her clothes since she returned to headquarters, but she didn’t want to lose all the memories of the night with this dress.  She never wanted to forget that someone had called her beautiful in this dress.

            The second member to join the meeting was Gummi, who had been out to the Han River to look after Yoona and her boyfriend.  This past week Gummi had appeared gloomy and anxious.  Each of the members had tried countless times to find out what was wrong and cheer her up, but she only assured them that nothing was bothering her.  Ellin gave a bright smile, but Gummi sat down beside her silently.

            Choa and Soyul walked in together, having just come from the SM dorm.  The Nine had moved back into the dorm for Mr. Mr. purposes, making things a little easier for the Chrome staff.  Soyul rushed over to Gummi, sat beside her, and wrapped her arms around her.

            “Unnie,” she grinned.  “I missed you a lot.”

            Gummi gave the strained smile she had developed over the past few days.  “Did you two stay warm at the dorm?”

            “Sunny left freshly baked cookies on the fire escape,” Choa informed happily, taking a seat beside Soyul.  “They were nice and warm.” 

            “Can you expect anything less from Sunny unnie?” Way asked, skipping into the room.  “Sometimes she takes better care of us than you do, Earman Kim.”

            “Take a seat, Way-ah,” Earman Kim ordered sternly.

            Way looked at her members fretfully and hurried over to Choa.  She sat next to her sister and leaned on her tensely.

            “What’s going on?” Gummi questioned.  “Did something happen?”

            “Ellin overheard Girls’ Generation’s manager speaking with the SM video editors on her mission tonight,” the Captain explained.  “It appears some of the Mr. Mr. footage filmed last week was mysteriously deleted.”

            “Deleted?” Choa exclaimed in amazement.  “On accident?  How could they do something so stupid?”

            “They claimed that the footage went missing while they were away eating dinner,” Ellin explained.

            “Certainly that’s just an excuse,” Soyul insisted, shaking her head.  “They’re probably fired by now.”

            “Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions,” the Captain requested suddenly.  He looked at each one of the members with his solemn stare and took a deep breath.  “With today’s technology, it’s literally impossible to delete footage on accident.  There are so many backup programs out today.  I had Earman Kim check if SM installed these programs to their computers, and they have.”

            “How could this have happened, then?” Way asked.  “It must have been deliberate, right?”

            “That’s the only way it could have happened,” the Captain agreed.  “And if that’s the case, we have to assume the worst possible scenario.”

            “What are you thinking, Captain?”  Gummi’s eyes were filled with worry.  “What’s the worst possible scenario?”

            “Well…We believe the same people who shot Ellin with the neurotoxin have deleted the Mr. Mr. footage,” he replied.

            “Why would they delete this footage?” Choa inquired in frustration.  “What do they have to gain?  Even if there’s a delay, Mr. Mr. will still be released.”

            “This wasn’t an attack,” Soyul suggested slowly.  “This was…a warning?”

            The Captain nodded his head.  “That’s what we think.”

            “We believe that they’re planning something big,” Earman Kim said grimly. 

            “Do we have any idea what they’re planning?” Gummi asked restlessly.  “Do we have any clues at all?”

            “I’m afraid not,” the Captain sighed.  “But we must be vigilant.  And we must be stronger.  Ah Ba has designed more strenuous training exercises for your comeback, and I think you ought to work on them right away.”

            “But we have no information!” Gummi cried.  “We’re just going to work harder and hope we’re prepared?”

            “Don’t be so hysterical, Gummi,” Earman Kim interrupted.  “If you think about it, we’ve always been clueless.  With Ellin’s attack, we now know a little more about who we’re up against.  We’re far more prepared than we were before.”

            Soyul squeezed Gummi tighter and looked at Earman Kim pleadingly.  “Earman Kim, do we have any new equipment?  Is anything new being developed?”

            “We’ve developed antidotes for toxic plants found in the same area as the one used to attack Ellin,” Kim assured.  “We’re garnering a lot of information from different sources.  And the team is always developing new technology.  We aren’t helpless; trust me.”

            As she held Gummi, Soyul could feel her unnie’s heart beating quickly.  She knew Jaejoong was on her mind, and she wished she could promise his safety in some way.

            “Do you think they’ll try to hurt the girls?”  Way’s shaky voice filled everyone’s mind with apprehension.  “Do you think they’ll try to…kill them, Captain?”

            “I…I don’t know.”  The Captain rose from his seat and gazed uneasily down at the table.  “I need to…I need to do some research.  Let’s go, Kim.  Hurry.”

            As the Captain and Earman Kim left the room, Choa pulled Way into a hug.  “Sunny will be okay, Way-ah.  Please don’t worry about her or the rest of them.  We’ll take good care of them.”

            Gummi pushed herself out of Soyul’s arms and got up from the table.  “I need to go.  I need to call someone.”

            “Unnie, please don’t leave.”

            Ignoring Soyul’s plea, Gummi rushed out of the conference room.  Soyul gave a long sigh and leaned back in her chair wearily.  She peered over at the twins and patted Choa on the back.

            “Can you imagine a dance more strenuous than Bar Bar Bar and Lonely Christmas?” she laughed quietly.

            “Not at all,” Choa grinned.  She looked down at Way who whimpered helplessly, trying not to cry.  “Way-ah, don’t cry.”

            “I’m not!” Way stated, giving a small hiccup.  “I’m not…”