Chapter Text
His heart stings a little when he said those words because SHE put in most of the effort.
She couldn’t stand how maligned she was last night. The whole night she spent sobbing silently. Feeling so hurt, so unreasoned. How can he think of her that way and where did he even get that idea from.
There must be a reason and the only way to speak up for herself was to investigate, to track herself that night.
“Miri, after tonight’s wrap up, can you help me with something else?”
——
“Ms Hong,” Marco pokes his head in from her office door.
“Oh good afternoon Marco” she smiles at her boss.
“See you tonight!” He winks and leaves.
She drops the fake smile immediately and stones, feeling tired already. Whatever anticipation she had, has gone down with her mood.
-
Time flies and it’s time for Chayoung to leave the house again after returning for a shower and getting ready for later on.
‘It’s just walking around. No need to be nervous. What could happen? I hope my mic doesn’t fall out.’ Her mind wanders and she stops herself then, sighing out loud and looking away from her own mirror reflection. “Focus, focus Hong Chayoung!” she prep talks to herself and rubs her face harshly before leaving the bathroom.
Gathering her things, she proceeds to strut out of the room.
“Have you got all the communication devices ready?” She heard the man on the bed talking to her for the first time today. In a very polite tone she notes.
Not even turning to glance at him, she replies with a short and cold hum.
——
“Oh?” Marco voiced out in mild astonishment, fingers gesturing towards his face and Chayoung’s as she neared him and Sebastian (her other boss).
It took her a short while to get what he meant and she thought fast “Ah, I removed my contact lens. I usually remove it after the day ends”, wryly grinning as she explained.
Not in her confident moment currently, it feels as though she might get anxious easily for the whole of tonight and she is dreading it. Adding on to her stress is the supposedly mild chance of her getting caught for the secret cam on her spectacle, where the whole family is behind, seeing whatever she is seeing.
“Let’s go!”
The family could never find the secret place if they had no one working inside.
It is just a short journey down the staircase where they totally disregarded - because how can there be any rooms in the already enclosed area? There wasn’t. But Sebastian kicked a mounted-on door stopper and stepped a few steps out into the underground car park to face a machine. One would think it is purely an ATM.
He continues to fiddle with the touch screen before gesturing for Chayoung to stand in front of the ATM.
“Come over Ms Hong, we need to register you.”
She trudged over.
“Take off the specs”
She hung it over her collar so the rest could still see.
Soft green light lines start to zoom around her whole face, scanning her until hehe sees herself appearing on the screen.
“Done.” Sebastian smiled widely and gently pulled her elbow to follow on. Marco had already gone forward into the lift lobby.
In the lift, Marco pressed two buttons for a few seconds and two arrows - one up, one down - suddenly appeared/glowed out from the bronzy surface. Her eyes grew wide and a soft “Wow” escaped from her lips.
The two men beamed at her, smug. Marco pressed the down ‘button’.
The lift moves very smoothly, like it is of high quality. “We did not explain but you would be able to remember the steps. It’s easy. To register, - oh you wouldn’t really use it but just for your knowledge, just kick the door stopper so the system will get activated on the ATM.
To get to where we are going now, just press number 1 & 3 for a few seconds and face the number panel because there is something to recognise your face, your iris,” DING The lift door opens, “before the hidden arrows appear” Sebastian continued.
Marco and Sebastian walk out and she follows behind.
The team viewing the live screen from her hidden camera hears her inhale deeply as the two big guys in front of her split apart to let her see. They followed suit and breathed in, hard, in awe of what they saw.
It was beautiful, the seemingly lobby. The two guys were beaming again at her reaction.
Classic polished marble surfaces of emerald green, dark brown and beige.
Dark maroon satin drape curtains with thick gold rope ties.
Intricate crystal and gold light furnishings.
She tilts her head up to get even more mesmerised. The super high ceiling, it’s a galaxy - with the midnight blue and shining spot light stars.
It feels like a whole grand hotel down here. “Imagine seeing the whole thing in actuality. Ahh Chayoung is so lucky!” Yeonjin commented aloud.
“Wuauw I know it’s a secret place but I never expected this!” Park Seokdo added on excitedly.
The trio strolled over to another area. And Chayoung stutters, “Why…W. Are those cages?” She looks apprehensively at the thick golden bars. Fancy cage rooms aligned in a semi circle.
Servers bow to Marco and Sebastian, then at her. They explain while walking around as Chayoung tries hard to be nonchalant in learning about this shady place and her new job scopes.
She feels a shiver down the spine when a trail of young ladies floundered past them, hands tied together on a long silk rope. It’s annoying that she has to protect monsters from now onwards.
——
“Before you leave for the weekend, come up to my office for a while Ms Hong”. Whether she had too much for the night that made her imagine or Marco’s grin seems weirdly sly, she doesn’t know.
3 minutes in his office, she knows he is sly, glad he made it short and sweet because she almost couldn’t keep her spectacles in time.
She calls Miri after the brief meeting, “I believe you know you don’t have to check for me anymore. I won’t be going home tonight, I’ll be fine. Just…need some time alone. Goodnight.”
——-
Vincenzo rushes Miri to get Chayoung’s location. She cannot be alone tonight.
His grip on the steering wheel gets harder as he recalls Chayoung’s meeting with Marco just now. That bastard drugged her, raped and recorded everything just to threaten her and the family now.
— “I’m sorry Ms Hong. But we have to keep these confidential, and this is usually the way we do it, as you can see from the line of our business. I hope you can continue to work well so you and your family may be well. Have a good weekend and I'll see you next Monday!” -
He can make out how much she flustered when she saw and heard herself through Marco’s desktop monitor, how she struggled to remove her specs and touched her chest where the mic was - but had no choice but to leave it because she couldn’t possibly put her hands into her bra to remove it.
Guilt, ache, worry and anger all clouding him and what he wants is to be by her side right now.
——
Chayoung lethargically requested for a room in a high end hotel. She had ignored and pushed all her thoughts away, her only goal being finding a nice place for her to soak in a tub and drown sorrows in. That’s the best thing she can do for herself now. Things always go wrong when it starts to get better. She worked so hard to survive, definitely deserves to be pampered when in extreme misery.
—
“Why can’t I have a peaceful life?” She huffs out indignantly and laughs at herself, stretching out in the tub first before tucking her knees to her chest, hands wrapping them.
The past despair can be waved away, but the one that happened just now keeps repeating in her mind.
When she thought she heard herself but really saw herself in that video, the air in her got completely sucked out. That drop in her heart when she realises her everything got made use of - mentally, physically. That dreaded anxiety when she gets trapped in a threat and her family gets dragged in. “Stupid. Stupid.” She starts to hit herself with fists on her head, repeatedly scolding herself. The accumulated tears start to flow then she chokes and coughs a little. The nausea that arises when she thinks of the mess she has to clear, how to clear, and why the fuck does the universe like to fuck with her when she does everything so diligently, treats people nicely.
Sobs grow into wails. “Eomma…. Appa….” She keeps crying out. It makes her crying session a little better, that nostalgic comfort. When she was younger, calling her parents always made her feel better, protected and more courageous to face things because she know she always had them to back her up. But now..
In a night like this, with nobody to cry to, she misses her parents so much, so so much.