“This way,” said Choi-san, as he ushered Yamaa-san and Junsu through a metal door. They found themselves inside a small garage, where a limo stood. Choi-san closed the door behind them, took out his car keys and clicked them twice. The doors of the limo slid open. Junsu wondered if they would wait for a driver, but Choi-san headed for the driver seat himself, waving them to follow him. Yamaa-san sat down in the passenger’s seat and Junsu climbed into the back.

As the limo pulled out of the building into the glistening streets of Ginza, the numbness Junsu had felt slowly left his body and anger filled its place.

He was angry at the news crew, angry at the Shiroryuu for not preventing them entering the building, angry at Yamaa-san for bringing him there in the first place and angry at himself because he had made nothing but mistakes all evening and he might have just caused himself, Jaejoong and Yoochun the loss of their record deal!

He was angry, because he was the injured party, but in the public’s eye he would be the wrongdoer! It was perfectly legal to go to a hostess club and border-line legal to enter it with cameras without a filming permit… the Shiroryuu could sue, but if he and Pearl Station sued, there was no guarantee they would win the suit and they would be in the public eye either way.

His mind began to register Yamaa-san’s and Choi-san’s talk, as he heard them surmise which news channel could have brought in the crew. Junsu didn’t think it matter whether it was a big or a minor channel – if netizens¹ caught wind of it, the whole world would know within hours. He felt like shouting at someone, but he knew it would only make things worse.

The other two men were taking notice of his silence and were nervously exchanging looks. Then Choi-san began apologizing again: “Kim-san, Yamaa-san. I am terribly sorry for what happened. I know that the Shiroryuu can’t repair any damage done, but at least let tonight be on the house. Let me also assure you that we will find whoever was involved in setting this up and that they will be fired immediately. Additionally we will do what we can to tighten security to make sure none of our guests are ever bothered again in the future.”

Yamaa-san and Choi-san began a polite argument over whether Pearl Station could accept this generous offer or not. Junsu felt like screaming. Did they have to be so polite now? Was anyone going to acknowledge the catastrophe? Was anyone going to tell him how they would handle this? He didn’t freaking care what the Shiroryuu did! He was never going to show his face there again! What he wanted was for Yamaa-san to come up with some plan. A really careful thought-through press statement – anything like that!

“Can you let us out at Shinjuku Station?” Yamaa-san asked Choi-san. “Of course. We should arrive there any minute now.” “Is that alright with you, Kim-san?” said Yamaa-san without turning around to look at Junsu. “Yes,” Junsu answered. “I’ll take a taxi from there.”

Again there was a silence, during which Junsu suppressed his anger, by distracting himself with the colorful lights flashing by outside the car.

This would have been a pleasant luxurious ride if not for the problem that he could feel pressing on him from all sides. The media, his fans, Jaejoong, Yoochun. His parents. Junho. How angry would they be? The image of Rie-chan singing into her microphone as though her life dependent on it came back to him. If not for her he might have gotten out of the Shiroryuu in time. But no, Takahashi-san had been so impressed by the German hostess that he had needed to give her his calling card.

German people². Wherever they crossed his path they brought nothing but trouble. He knew how ridiculous that sounded. But there had been the German guy – Fritz – who he had lost Kyungah to. And his reputation would be stained for a while, because of Rie-chan. He hated to call her Rie-chan in his mind. “Chan” was reserved for friends. It was as though he was affectionately calling her dongsaeng³! She wasn’t a friend! She was a curse!

Could she have been the one who called in the news crew? She must have had an accomplice, but maybe she was the mastermind…? He noticed his thoughts were becoming increasingly ridiculous. He was extremely tired and his mind was making conclusion that weren’t backed by any real evidence. She had been in the room the whole time. She hadn’t left once. He was surprised that he had been paying attention to her that closely. Yeah, he could clearly remember that she hadn’t left the room once. Additionally she hadn’t even been able to tell Dong Bang Shin Ki and JYJ apart, so it was unlikely she had realized how well known he was. Unless she had been acting. Again… ridiculous – he scolded himself.

“Where is the damn elevator!” shouted Chi-chan, who had lost her cool composure completely and resumed hammering the elevator button. Behind them the news crew had turned around and was coming back. “Chi-chan. They are coming!” shrieked Richardis, who felt a rush of fear. She didn’t know how bad it was if they caught her on camera. Chi-chan’s nervousness was making her increasingly scared. “I know!” said Chi-chan, hitting the button even more fiercely.

With a ‘pling’ the elevator finally arrived and its doors slid open. Chi-chan and Richardis rushed forward inside the elevator and Chi-chan pressed the down-button. Then they both covered their faces, until the doors had closed. They didn’t speak for while. Richardis remembered that her handbag with her cellphone was still upstairs. That was inconvenient, but at least she had her purse in the inside pocket of her dress.

She tried to remember how the news crew had come in and whether they had captured her on camera or not. Would the Shiroryuu fire every hostess that had been caught in camera? Could they afford to do that or would that cause a huge problem with the shimei customers? Would they maybe have to do that, despite the fact that it would ruin them?

“How the hell did they know about Kim Junsu visiting?” asked Chi-chan out loud. “I don’t know,” said Richardis. Chi-chan ruffled her hair in frustration. “Is anyone going to get fired?” asked Richardis. “Oh, yes!” said Chi-chan angrily. Richardis shoulders slumped. “Will I be fired?” “What, you? No! Whoever called them and told them that we had a major celebrity there – that person is getting fired!”

The elevator arrived at the lowest floor and its doors opened. “!” said Chi-chan, “I don’t have my jacket and my f**king money was in there!” “I have some money!” said Richardis. “I can lend you some, if you want.” “That would be great!” said Chi-chan. “Are you taking the subway? Where do you need to go? If we buy a combo-ticket it’ll be cheaper!”

Chi-chan had transformed quite a bit. Surprisingly the anger at the news crew and the unknown culprit had made her nicer towards Richardis. It turned out they could share a ticket –Chi-chan just had to get off a couple of stations earlier than Richardis – so they went together. Because they needed to make sure that the news crew couldn’t catch up with them, they didn’t go straight to the station, but went through the small byroads, rather than the big ones. At some point Richardis didn’t know where they were, but Chi-chan determinately lead the way, so she followed.

It was cold, so they were thankful whenever they passed between night-time restaurants and bars that oozed heat and the delicious smell of roasting noodles onto the street, which meant they were momentarily warmer.

Chi-chan seemed to know the streets extremely well, so they never turned back and still arrived perfectly at one of the many entrances of the Ginza subway station.

When they entered the brightly lit building, some people were looking at Richardis strangely. She didn’t realize why until Chi-chan pointed out, that she was still wearing the Karaoke Queen crown. Embarrassed Richardis took it off, but she politely refused, when Chi-chan suggested she should throw away the plastic tiara. They proceeded to buy a double ticket and Chi-chan continued to explain the situation.

“This is a really serious catastrophe! Not only are we going to have to find the person from our staff who is responsible for this – we are very likely going to lose Yamaa-san and his colleagues as clients! And once this hits the news many of our high-end customers won’t be visiting for a while… and might not return at all.”

“That’s horrible!” said Richardis. “It is!” agreed Chi-chan, who was covering her cleavage by crossing her arms now that they were out in public. “I hate this dress! I hate it, hate it, hate it!” She burst out. Richardis didn’t know what to say. She felt sorry for Chi-chan, but didn’t know how much comforting would be appropriate. “Maybe… ahm, Proffessor Omogi won’t be coming for a while, right?” she said, to say something at least. “I wish!” said Chi-chan, “But no way! He is coming for sure! He never gave a damn what people thought about him visiting hostess clubs! That old fart even tells his wife where he’s going! He’s a piece of work that one! If he had one day to live he would spent the night at a hostess club and show up with another y dress for me to wear.” “I’m sorry to hear that,” said Richardis.

“Nah, that’s okay,” said Chi-chan, “Omogi is the last of my worries… Loosing Yamaa-san is a problem… he only recently became my shimei and I have been totally relying on him. I’m saving to buy an apartment, you know.” Richardis nodded sympathetically. Chi-chan was much nicer outside work. And so outspoken. Maybe they could get along after all.

Their train arrived and they both went in and sat down in one of the free seats. “Besides loosing regular customers… well, there won’t be new ones coming for a while. I don’t know how long it will take for our reputation to recover. I mean, people wanna go to hostess clubs, but it’s supposed to be a private experience, not something you share with the world. And oh, f**k!” Chi-chan stopped talking as she realized something. “What is it?” asked Richardis worriedly. “The press will probably send in spies and what not! People pretending to be new customers, but they are actually reporters! That happened once before… f**k, f**k, f**k!” Chi-chan covered her face with her hands again, but returned to hiding her cleavage instead quickly.

“Do you think they have me on camera?” Chi-chan asked Richardis. “I’m not sure,” said Richardis, who was trying to remember who had been standing where, when the camera crew entered. “They definitely caught Kim Junsu. But I think you were standing next to Yamaa-san somewhat further away from Kim-san. There’s a chance that you’re not on the footage, I think.” Chi-chan looked a little relieved, which made Richardis glad. “I’m pretty sure they caught me, though,” Richardis added. “I was standing like 2 meters behind Kim-san. And Takahashi-san wouldn’t move when they came closer. I think they caught him, too.”

“That really !” said Chi-chan. “It looked as though you already caught a shimei – in just one night! Best you give him a call and apologize for what happened. It wasn’t your fault, but as his chosen hostess you represent the Shiroryuu to him, so you apologize for anything that went wrong. And you ask him if he will still be so kind as to consider coming back. I’ll be calling all my shimei tomorrow to explain what happened and to tell them we’ll tighten security and what not to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

They talked all the way to Chi-chan’s station, where they said goodbye on friendly terms. Richardis continued the journey home by herself with extremely mixed feelings. So many good and bad things had happened in one day and she wasn’t sure what was going to affect her future and what wasn’t. She was glad that Chi-chan had opened up and turned out really nice – even though it had taken a major professional catastrophe for that to happen. Well and that catastrophe… she didn’t know what to make of it. If the Shiroryuu would be making substantially less for a while, would they maybe not be able to afford her? Or did a fancy place like the Shiroryuu have some funds it could live out off if something like this happened? She remembered singing her training period contract. There had been no insurance clause. She wasn’t paid in case of sickness and surely not if she didn’t serve any customers.

After some time Richardis’s head became heavy from all the restless thoughts and she decided to just let her mind float and absentmindedly played with the plastic crown in her hands. She tried to shake them off, like one would get rid of a fly, but images of Kim Junsu’s face kept floating to the surface of her conscious. She didn’t understand why – the guy had been a huge nuisance. Yet he had been the only other person around who hadn’t joined in into all the fake happiness, who hadn’t submitted himself to playing the game of guest and hostess. But then, she didn’t know him. Maybe he had been playing some sort of game with her. Probably she was just remembering him now, because he had been so difficult to handle. Why did such a rude guy have to be so good-looking? But maybe he had just been really tired? Did any of it matter? She wasn’t going to see him again.

Richardis was pulled out of another heavy dose of thoughts, when the train arrived at her train station. Clutching the plastic tiara in her hands tightly, she left the train.

Junsu lay awake on top of his waterbed staring at the ceiling. His lids were heavy, but his thoughts were forcing them open again and again. Choi-san had handed his calling card to both him and Yamaa-san when they had parted at Shinjuku station. Not many words were said between the three of them and then they had gone separate ways. He was replaying the evening scene by scene. His headache after the sake had blurred the earlier parts, but he could recall a lot from the stay at the hostess club. The image of Rie-chan wearing the glittering tiara was firmly imprinted in his mind. He kept pushing it away and it kept coming back as though to mock him… as though to tell him that he was no longer a ‘king’ of the music business. A girl with a plastic tiara on her head was enough to plunge him into disaster.

Junho had been asleep when he had come home. He had been overly prepared for an angry rant, knowing that Junho would have the patience to listen to him. But he had been faced with an empty dark entrance hall and living room, until he checked his phone on which Junho had left messages, telling him he had gone to bed.

Junsu punched the waterbed and it wobbled under him. He enjoyed the sensation. It felt like he was being carried by a warm angry wave. His mind went blank while he just concentrated on the feeling. He hit the bed with both his arms several times to drown out his brain. Whenever the wobbling stopped, the thoughts returned. It was no use. He the lamp on his nightstand and opened its drawer to take out a pen and pencil. He began scribbling down his thoughts. In the morning he would turn this either into song lyrics or into a statement that he would publish online that would explain his actions to the netizens.

While scribbling, it hit him: He remembered the young hostess whom Kimura-san had sung with – she and Coco-chan had fought over phone usage! And then – despite Coco-chan’s disapproval – she had left the room to call someone – about an hour before the evening had ended. What was her name again? Right, Mayu-chan! There was no guarantee it had been her – she could have been calling anyone at the time… and her getting indicted wouldn’t save him from public shaming. But Junsu was angry and he wanted the person responsible for the mess to pay, so he made a note of calling Choi-san about Mayu-chan.

^{1 - netizens = word combination of internet + citizens = the internet community (most of you should know this term :P we are all netizens)}

^{2 - the passage is not a hateful statement against Germans. I am German myself.}

^{3 - dongsaeng = Korean; literally 'younger sibling', used affectionally for younger friends, too (again most of you prolly know this term, but just in case I put an explination)}