INTERLUDE. 2 | Deep in the Willow

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“So? How’s Europe?”

Rina was on the other side of the screen on FaceTime with you. She was in London, the second stop on the European leg of Aespa’s tour. The cute angel looked tired, her hair loose and somewhat disheveled, already dressed in the blue pajamas she loved as she spoke to you at length about her recent experiences.

“And god, Minjeong has been clingier than usual!” Rina said in an exasperated tone. “Not having you around makes it a damn group task to keep her from going crazy.”

“Speaking of not having any of us around…” You took a moment to consider the words, aware of how sensitive the subject was for everyone. “How’s the new manager? I imagine the change hasn’t been easy.”

Rina’s expression darkened as she looked down. It pained her to remember that Jihye was no longer her manager as much as it pained you to not have her by your side.

“Well… he’s not Jihye, but he takes good care of us,” Rina looked up. “At least he doesn’t ask me to give him head. That’s good.”

You both burst out laughing at the memory.

“You can’t complain, though,” you pointed out. “That little favor led to those nights in Miami. I wouldn’t trade anything for it.”

“That’s true,” Rina smiled, and you heard her bedroom door open. “We have to do that again. You know, when the tide goes out a little.”

“Jimin-ah!” you heard Minjeong say. “It’s supposed to be girls’ night and you’re here. You said we’d watch Little Women!”

“Coming, coming!” Rina said. She squealed when one of the girls tickled her as a threat. “We were just catching up! We’re leaving now.”

Minjeong pulled Rina away from her own phone to say hello. Ning and then Aeri joined her on either side to do the same.

“How have you been, darling?” Ning asked.

Damn, what a question. How were you? Being in the eye of the storm day after day hadn’t let you stop and think about it. It seemed crazy, but it wasn’t. You didn’t really know how you were. That’s what happened when you were busy all the time: your mental health took a backseat, like going on autopilot through life. Honestly, you didn’t know if that was good or bad.

“I’ve been fine, dear,” you opted to say. “At least I’d like to think so.”

Minjeong took the whole frame to herself.

“Any news about Jihye?” she asked, hoping for good news.

Another difficult question. Only you were expecting that one, and you were dreading it. You couldn’t blame Minjeong for asking it; after all, she must still be feeling guilty about the whole thing.

Three months had passed since the events at the airport, and aside from rumors that were just rumors and the occasional leaked message from Gunwook, Jihye’s existence had come to feel like a mere dream. Something that was once too good and beautiful to be true. Something that had been taken away from you.

Because yes, she was taken away from you. From you and the girls.

You took a deep breath and searched your phone for the last message Gunwook had given you about her.

“And I quote: Jihye and Irene are fine,” you said. “She misses the girls and is constantly watching fancams and supporting them from Seoul. She also wanted me to tell you all that technically she was still your boss, just a few steps above you. So you better not disappoint her.”

When you exited the messaging app and zoomed in on FaceTime again, you were met with faces full of mixed emotions.

“Oh… okay,” Minjeong said. “Well, it’s good to know we still have her support.”

“I really miss her…” Ning added softly.

And a silence fell between you.

“I’ll keep you updated, I promise,” you said after a few seconds. “But right now you have a movie to watch and I have work to do.”

The girls said their goodbyes one by one, Rina being the last. And so, your video call with the girls ended.

Bringing you back to the harsh and exhausting reality.

Shortly after the pool party, work had you by the throat with a grip that wouldn’t loosen. Just as Gunwook and Jihye had anticipated some time ago, the level of paranoia among the upper management after the incident with the reporter had skyrocketed. Now they had you hunting down college boys and forcing them to cut off all contact with idols or trainees from their companies.

Interestingly, JYP was the complete opposite, considerably more flexible and permissive. They were somewhat strict, as you’d expect, but they were everything the other agencies weren’t: humane. That confirmed to you that all this time, Gunwook had indeed been on the right side of history and was truly putting his effort into his fight to give idols decent lives. Thank god he was winning it.

That was a relief, because over the past three months, the two of you had become more than just coworkers; you could now call each other a friend. It would have been a shame to throw that away if he had turned out to be another heartless maniac.

And speaking of JYP, ITZY started preparing for their world tour not long after the pool party.

The stress was making them all miserable, but it was Lia who, sadly, finally gave in to the pressure and requested a hiatus so she could take care of her mental health after so many years of working day and night nonstop. She would be close to her family, right where she needed to be to heal, so you remained calm about it, knowing everything would be okay for her.

But that didn’t mean you didn’t miss her like crazy. Lia was one of those rays of sunshine who always helped you move forward, and now it was the ray of sunshine who needed help to move forward. It broke your heart, and you couldn’t do anything but pray for her return as soon as possible.

Other than that, the only thing you could do while the girls were all on tour was throw yourself into your new job. Nayeon and Chaeyeon had been trying to distract you from that from time to time, and while they had usually succeeded, the most common thing was for you to joke about them having to make an appointment with your receptionist first.

The same receptionist who, at that time of the afternoon, was helping you with your notes. Being on the dirty side of the industry, Gunwook had suggested you keep a file as a burn book, and one of the day’s tasks had basically been to update the records to stay current.

Of course, you weren’t stupid. The file contained a long list of many things the agencies wanted kept secret that only a few of you knew, so the most sensible thing was to give code names to each of the idols involved in each case. Western names, mostly. And the password for that file was saved in a notebook in your personal safe.

You were just doing that last thing. But as you were entering the safe combination to store the notebook, your phone vibrated on your desk. Gunwook was the one calling.

It wasn’t uncommon for him to call at that time of the afternoon, so you quickly assumed he’d either invite you over for drinks and karaoke, or invite you over to his house to show off his collection of fine liquors. So you took the call without fear.

“Hello?” you answered, holding the phone to your ear with your shoulder as you continued doing what you were doing.

“Hey man,” Gunwook said. “Look, I hate to make this call, but it’s best to give you a heads-up.”

Well, and there went all your hope for a peaceful, normal call.

“You’re going to get a call soon, from my namesake at HYBE. I’m sure you remember him from the airport.”

“Uh… yeah, I remember him. Unfortunately,” you said, closing the safe and signaling for your receptionist to leave.

“Well, what he’s going to ask you to do tomorrow is probably the most messed up thing you’ve done so far.”

“Gunwook, you’re scaring me,” You sat up straighter in your seat and leaned back.

“Tomorrow you’ll have to go to the HYBE building, using the same underground parking garage as always so as not to attract attention. And listen to me carefully,” his tone became more imperative, but also lower. “You can’t, and you won’t, talk to the girl you’re picking up. She’ll be wearing a mask, cap and sunglasses, so you won’t know who she is.”

Suddenly, a chill ran through you. The words stuck in your mouth, and already feeling anxious, you stood up to pace slowly around your office.