According to Sunggyu, the first stage of REM lasts for about ten to fifteen minutes, each stage after getting progressively longer as sleep goes on. That offers a person more time to dream, where hallucinations that feel excruciatingly real take place. Unfortunately for Myungsoo, he was a heavy sleeper.  

“You left me.” She said, her voice heavily saturated with sweetness, and her lips crusted in what appeared to be blood.

Nightmares were seldom, believe it or not. But when they did, it ate him by the second, as if he were drowning in copious amounts of poison. Myungsoo scrunched his eyes together, grinded his teeth like a jackhammer, and tried to do anything but look up at her. That face, that innocent face once glowing and at the prime of true youth, scarred before him. It hurt him, he couldn’t help it, and he couldn’t help but blame her.

“Go away!” he cried out, his spit spraying the ashen ground. “I don’t want to see you!”

“But I want to see you,” she cooed like the broken porcelain doll she was, stepping forward. Her black shoes crunched slowly under the soot. “I couldn’t find you.”

“Stop talking!”

A pause. She carefully grinned, mocking him. “Only if you look up.”

Desperate, Myungsoo shook his head back and forth. He’s sweating, large, pearl-like beads which raced down his neck and into his collar, suffocating him. He has no choice but to look up at the mess he created. She was fifteen sixty-five. The little girl whose skin had been glazed by flame, perfectly coated throughout her arms and legs. Whose face was charred beyond repair, half her face raw and pink, the other black and crumbly. Her eyes were vibrantly alive, however, accompanied by her venomous smile.

“I can’t leave you, Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo jolted to the sound of himself crying, within his dream, of course. It felt about as hot as the virtual hell his mind had created, he proceeded to shed the covers off his bed and open a window. He sighed, running a hand through his damp hair. He didn’t hesitate to grab the glass of water by his nightstand, and downed  it in one gulp. While under the sheets, his hands immediately dove for his phone.

His thumb rested on Sunggyu’s speed dial, but he refrained. Late night phone calls with Sunggyu would always end badly, he slept like a rock. Instead, Myungsoo forced himself out of bed and walked out for some food. His bare feet padded lightly against the maroon fabric of their carpeting, as he drew his black tanktop back and forth to get some air circulating within his neck.

Plopping himself on his kitchen counter, he scrolled his phone once more. Accompanied by a bag of shrimp chips, he decided that he might as well call his new employee. He put it on speaker, considering there was no one home to disturb anyway. Thirty seconds passed, and his Galaxy switched to voicemail. He frowned, and pressed redial.

“Hello?” her voice was hushed, and expressed a tinge of annoyance.

“Hey,” he said smoothly, trying to swallow his snack as quick as possible. “Why are you up?”

“Why are you?” she asked, displeasure lacing her voice. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“Four-thirty.” Myungsoo replied swiftly, dusting his hands.

“Exactly, so you should go back to sleep. I told you I’d work in  the morning.”

“It is morning.” he resoluted. “So why are you up?”

“I have a research paper.” she gritted out, he could hear sharp typing in the background. “Two, actually.”

“Why didn’t you do them before?” he couldn’t believe himself. Calling Suji at four-thirty with no concrete reason, and he was actually making conversation with her.

“Because I had another two to do.” she exhaled. “I’m hanging up.”

“Wait!”

“What?” she half-whined.

“Text me your address, we’re starting at 7:30.” he heard grumbling in the background, probably either defaming his name, her research papers, or both for being so early. “Actually, nevermind. I have it in my files. Good bye.”

He enjoyed ending the call, pushing the red button with more force than needed. The four-A.M. Suji was less catty than the afternoon Suji, surprisingly. Calling her was probably a bad idea, either way, he was less lonely than he was five minutes ago, and a whole lot distracted.

The following morning, it took a few tries to find the remote location of Suji’s apartment, until he realized that he was running around in circles, where he simply should have looked up. He entered through the screen door, and trailed up the stairwell, the weather-worn steps screaming in protest under his leather soles. She lived in a subpar rooftop room, with bleached lead paint peeled from the heat and a paper-thin screen door that he could’ve easily punctured with his fist. He knocked on the metal door hinge, which appeared as the only thing keeping the house together.

Suji appeared, leaning against her frame. She was wearing cutoff shorts, the frayed edges not being the style, but after years of use and wear, and a plain white v-neck. “You can say it, you know.” she chipped off a strip of paint with her nail.

“Uh, it’s nice.” he said, forcing the corners of his lips to separate.

She scoffed, her ebony bangs nodding with her head. “You look really bad right now, but I’ll give you credit for trying to make me feel better.”

Myungsoo couldn’t help his impulsive pout at her statement, because no one really told him that he looked bad. He tried not to be so overly reliant on his looks, however it was hard not to when it’s all he’s praised for, and felt his pride drop two notches. He stepped inside with one foot on the inside (and just by him it seemed like two people was already overcrowded) and observed the empty countertops, empty walls, and bare bed sheets.

“I guess you’ve never heard of interior design.” he commented dryly.

She shrugged, “I like simplicity.” her eyes traveled across her four walls, probably reminding herself that her room was being inhabited by a man she met days ago, and she was working for him. “I don’t have much, but I make a mean instant coffee.” she tried in a lame attempt to be hospitable.

He shook his head, holding up a hand. “That won’t be necessary, but thank you. We should go now.”

Suji nodded, “Right. Doing the job that I still don’t know.” her eyes flashed dangerously, however she seemed intrigued by the fact that the answer was still prolonged. Was it that top secret? She scooped up her taupe backpack on one shoulder, bouncing out her door and slipping on a pair of marigold canvas sneakers. Myungsoo trailed behind, and he was starting to feel bothered by the fact he was going around like her puppy.

“Where’s your landlord’s office?” he asked, trying to speed up next to her.

“Why?” she said defensively.

“Gotta take care of some things.”

Suji shook her head, tired of his ambiguity and decided to just listen to her boss. Her heels spun to the door under the stairwell, and she flicked the knob open. “Take care of yourself.” she said wryly, backing away.

“Yah, Suji!” a middle-aged man in a greasy tanktop over a watermelon belly stepped out the well, the open door seeping of alcohol and cigar residue. Suji innocently nodded her head towards Myungsoo, jutting out her lip precariously.

Myungsoo swallowed thickly as the old man sized him up, probably offended that a young man in a pristine suit was before him. “Sir,” he bowed. “Good morning, I’m sorry to disturb you.”

“If you were sorry ya wouldn’t have disturbed me in the first place.” the old man reprimanded, lifting a hand over Myungsoo’s. He sharply faced Suji, who continued her front. “And don’t ya give me that look, missy. I know that you always pullin’. You either got the money or ya gonna beg again.”

The young man quickly came to the rescue, and magically pulled a white envelope out of his coat pocket. “I have her money.” he clarified.

The old geezer’s eyebrows flew to his greatly expansive forehead, “What the hell are ya? She has no money.”

“She must have some source of income, I administer it. I’m her employer.” Myungsoo replied curtly, holding out the envelope with both hands. “I have her rent up to the end of this season. In full.”

“In full!” the elder laughed roughly, genuinely amused. “The last time she paid in full was when she moved in! That’s damn right impossible.”

“No, in full. With interest, accounted for inflation over the past year.” this time, Myungsoo meant to sound snobby. He smiled when the landlord opened the white paper, finding a hefty check with appropriate calculations. He wasn’t very happy that he was proved wrong.  “And if you don’t mind, we need to get going. Have a nice day.” he tilted his head to Suji, who got the signal and followed him in a brisk pace to his car.

The driver was in the front, instructed to go straight to their university. Suji’s eyes went rampant throughout the vehicle, her eyes darting back and forth between the shiny dashboard to the refrigerator compartment below the armrest. Myungsoo watched her habits intently, wondering why she seemed so shocked to be here.

“Why did you do that?” she asked him, through refused to look at him by glaring out the window.

“It was going to be your money anyway, and you were going to use that to pay your rent, right?” he reasoned, rolling circles between the leather backseat with his pointer finger. “If you paid it now, you’d be paying less than you would a few days later.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.” she muttered stubbornly.

“I wasn’t asking for it.” he countered, “I did it so you’d have less to worry about.”

Suji pressed her lips together, her body tense in hesitation. He was genuinely, doing a nice thing for her. She in her teeth in culpability, wondering if she was being too harsh on him yesterday .

“Thanks.” she finally said, giving him a miniscule half-smile.

As quick as she said it, her head snapped back to the window, watching the effect of summer weather as they trailed down the road. Myungsoo couldn’t help but feel smug, because he got Suji to be nice for once. The rest of the ride was relatively silent, save for a few loud kids crossing the street when they stopped at an intersection, who were all immersed in the summer heat. Myungsoo and Suji were dropped off on campus, in front of Gyujanggak library.

“Here, why here?” Suji asked, rummaging through her bag for her school ID. She turned to Myungsoo, “It’s a weekday, do you have yours?”

“Yeah, let’s go inside.”

Gyujanggak was established during the Joseon dynasty, which explained the traditional calligraphy and ornate artifacts. Myungsoo watched his reflection bounce off the beige-marbled floor. “So, this is what a library looks like.”

“What, you’ve never been to a library before?”

He shrugged, “Not this one, I never needed to.” Because he had his own at home.

“Oh, well I study here a lot.” which explained the automatic twists and turns her body took to navigate the large hall. “The media center’s downstairs, most of the students are there.” She felt like his mentor for some reason, the way that Myungsoo would stay quiet and accept her sense of direction.

They entered a wide building with clear doors and long rows of shelves. Surprisingly, children were inside on such a beautiful day, reading books and drawing on the chalkboard in the youth section. Students however, continued to dominate the area in desks, corners of shelves, and in group studies. They found an empty table for two and relaxed. Suji played with her thumbs as Myungsoo soundlessly sifted through his briefcase. He pulled out an ebony folder.

“Before we get started, I want to see how well you can research. I guess you wanted to know what you’re job entails from the beginning, and I’m only explaining now, so.” Myungsoo sheepishly spluttered as Suji watched in amusement, egging him on. “I’m going to give you a mock assignment, the company assigns these for myself, however they’ll be useful for today. After I see your progress, we’ll complete it together and see how it goes from there.”

She nodded in understanding, opening his notes. “Doesn’t seem too bad.” The papers inside held a lot of nonfiction that would be hard to find, luckily for her she knew how to supplement that. A library was a limitless heaven for Suji, a heaven which expanded over intellectual humanity for hundreds of years. “I can  find almost anything here.” she claimed proudly.

“Then I guess you’re perfect for the job.” he complimented.

The two peacefully split up, going off to their respective parts of the library. Suji said that it wouldn’t take her long, and told him that it would be okay for him to wander around and explore his new surroundings. Her body instantaneously gravitated to what she needed to find, as she easily plucked texts on finances and the growing economy like it was second nature. She was going to check online archives as well, until a pale hand captured her wrist just as she was reaching for another book.

“Sungjong,” she huffed in a whisper, snatching her hand back. “what are you doing here?”

“Studying,” he said truthfully, holding up his tablet in one hand. A pearl white mechanical pencil was perched artistically between his ear. “What are you doing here, I thought you were working today.”

“I am working.” she confirmed, craning her neck to check the copyright on one of her book’s spines. “I did get a job, just not the internship. I’m working on the inside from one of GrandLens’ members.”

Sungjong’s brows knitted together in apprehension, and his thumbs immediately swiped and prodded against his silver tablet. “Who is that?”

“Kim Myungsoo,” she replied casually, her head swerving between the shelves in hopes to find his face.

Her friend paused and Suji felt her blood drop in temperature, “Kim Myungsoo?” he hissed in disbelief, his thumbs going faster and more urgent against his handheld. “Are you kidding me, you’re working for him? What the hell!”

“Why?” she pushed herself to Sungjong’s shoulder, trying to look at his tablet.

“You didn’t even consider thinking how weird that would be, working for someone like him. Geez, Suji.” If Sungjong’s hands weren’t full, he probably would’ve been pulling his hair out. He shoved his tablet in her face.

It was a simple, unformatted text article, pictureless and plain. In black and white, it stated how GrandLens has expanded over the past three years. Their CEO commented on his excitement on revolutionizing the future, and how exhilarated he’ll be when his first son, Kim Myungsoo, will work by his side.

His son, Kim Myungsoo.

“For god’s sake,” Sungjong groaned, who wished he had anticipated Suji’s continuous unavoidable troubles. “Your working for the CEO’s son.”

Which explained the fancy car and chauffeur, his money in full, the fact that everyone bowed at the sight of his presence. His aura resonated power, however it wasn’t enough for Suji to consider until then. Well, why couldn’t he say anything? Why didn’t he? Like how he couldn’t even give her a job description, why hide this?

“He probably didn’t want you to know his status because he has so much influence over others.” Sungjong answered with his own kind of  twin telepathy. He in his cheeks, discontented. “I don’t like this, Suji.”

“That may be the case,” she finally spoke, as she numbly handed her friend his tablet. “But he doesn’t seem threatful.” she admitted honestly.

Sungjong shook his head, “That’s what he wants you to think. People like him shouldn’t be trusted, I don’t think you should continue this job. Rich kids like him are selfish, they’ll use you and follow in the footsteps of their conniving fathers.”

Her heart palpitated softly, ringing against her chest in apprehension. Her eyes delicately traveled to the shelf behind Sungjong’s frame, where Myungsoo appeared at the far end, distracted by a colorful landscaping book. His eyes sparkled with interest as he carefully flipped each laminated page, his mouth opening in silent word, his lips upturned in fascination. As if he perceived her slight gawking, he looked up and made eye contact with her, smiled once, and continued with his reading.

“Hey, are you listening to me?” Sungjong cut in.

She looked away and leaned against her hip, tucking her stack of books in between her waist. Just when she was getting used to him.