Nayeon was to sandwiches as Bhuwakul was to soups. They were all enraptured by this god-tiered mana that Nayeon created.

  Of course, Suki broke both banishment and quarantine by getting back on the table to join the conversation again. All three had the same thought: Cats.

  As the three (four) were friends, the conversation never really stayed on one particur topic too long. They all talked about a wide range of things, not just work or the all too over-friendly neighborhood psychopath.

  They teased Seulgi and her mother’s never-ending attempts to set her up on blind dates. Yeji was mocked for actually being a closet party girl. They made fun of Nayeon for being Nayeon.

  Suki just got petting for an hour.

  They slowed down after eating. They all cleaned up, except for Suki who just watched them from the middle of the table. Once everything was cleaned up, dishes drying in the wash rack, and everything swept and tidy, Seulgi kicked them out. She told them to go home and go to bed. She would need them sharp tomorrow and in their best condition. They both sang a ‘Yes, ma’am’ at her, both knowing that she would be annoyed.

  She was. She shook her fist at them in mock outrage and they went scuttling out the door, giggling like school girls. Seulgi could not actually get mad at them, though she tried. Not too hard, but she tried to work up a righteous indignation and totally failed to do so. She started to kvetch to her cat but was ignored by the pompous thing.

  Defeated, she debated on watching something on the TV or reading a book. She wanted to be doing something that was easy to disengage from when Soo-Young called. It was a quarter past nine o’clock, so something mindless and vapid on TV was the order of choice. She didn’t want to get wrapped up in a good book for an hour and then get pulled out of whatever world she was in when she got a call. It was easy to get into a good story and hard to extricate herself from them.

  She plopped down on the couch, being followed by Suki. She turned on the TV to the scroll of avaible shows on which channel. She found exactly what she was looking for. A trashy romcom with absolutely no story or value. It was the perfect thing to disengage her mind and sense of morals and taste to be able to withdraw from easily. It might take twenty or thirty seconds to forget everything that she just watched after she turned the TV off. It was the kind of thing that she forgot the name of the show as she punched into it. She could feel her IQ dropping as the show loaded up.

  Once Seulgi was settled in pce the cat took her proper pce by curling up onto her p. As Seulgi stroked her, she purred in contentment. This was the perfect symbiosis between servant and master. Which was which was still up for debate between them. This was an argument that Seulgi frequently lost.

  The only thing missing to make her TV-watching complete was a bucket of popcorn. Being that she just recently ate, and the amount that she’s been eating recently without working out to combat the evil calories, she didn’t want to punch up the calories too far.

  Thinking about calories, she tumbled the cat indignantly off her p. She then went ahead and got out her yoga mat and started doing some light exercises. She left the TV on for some background noise. Normally, she put some music on, but now she was perversely invested in the nonsense on the TV. She didn’t know what was going on, who the characters were, who the actors were, or the storyline. But she was entertained by several pretty people on the TV for three-quarters of an hour.

  Time slipped past, the only marking of time was the frequent commercials. That was another reason to despise TV, the never-ending commercials.

  She felt looser, more limber, and her mind more rexed when ten o’clock came around with a new show that was basically the same thing. The only thing different was the actors. She managed to build up a light sweat, to her chagrin. She really needed to start working out again.

  After ten minutes, a cheese-y intro, and a few more commercials ter, she got the call she was expecting. She figured that Soo-Young was at work, so would take some time to change her shirt, spray some fresh perfume, and retie her hair before calling her.

  Seulgi could hear the restaurant noises in the background, so figured that the younger dy was in the breakroom after her shift had finished. This made the need for being quick even more pressing.

  Tonight, Seulgi was so burned out from everything that had been happening anyway that she was only good for a few pleasantries before getting to the reason for the call. She gave Soo-Young the quick and dirty details of what was going on. She answered every question offered.

  Soo-Young knew that she needed to be around people already and be at a higher level of being Aware, but now she had a more full reason as to why. With how many fans and sycophants she had, it would be more of a problem to get rid of a crowd than gather one.

  Seulgi was impressed with the ready acceptance of a fairly strange situation. And she could, perhaps even should, be indignant or angry at being involved in something that she had no business being associated with. The mental resilience of the young dy was formidable. Or she did not believe that she could be in mortal peril just by associating with her. Either way, she promised to be more vigint.

  Seulgi frowned because she was unsure if her warning got through or was taken seriously. She was trying to do her due diligence as she would do for any of her own. Well, she did her best to get through to her. So, she went ahead and said good night and disconnected the call.

  The only more hard-headed person in her life was her mother. And she knew that she had to call her family next. She cursed softly at this.

  Sighing, she dialed her home number. On the third ring, her brother answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey. Let me talk to Dad.”

  “OK, hold on while I get him.”

  About two minutes passed while waiting, but he eventually picked up the phone.

  “Seulgi? What’s up?”

  “Hi, poppa.” Something was up. He squinted at the phone in annoyance. His Little Girl called him ‘poppa’ when something was up.

  “What did you do now?” he demanded.

  “Actually, it’s bad. Really bad and I need you to listen. Do not get Mom as you know she’ll take over the call and nothing I say will get through to either of you.”

  He harrumphed in agreement. “So, what’s so important?”

  She forgot what she had already told him about the going on recently. So, she started with Jackson’s disappearance, Yeji’s wounding, and everything else until today's escapades. Well, not everything as her eating dinner with Bhuwakul was not germane to the situation, and she did not want to distract her father from what was happening with inconsequential details.

  Bhuwakul might be mildly put out to be considered an ‘inconsequential detail’ but he would still have understood.

  Since the dearest daughter was unloading straight facts without embellishments or hyperbole, he just let her talk. Her voice had magic that even he was not impervious to. So, he let everything wash over him and soaked in the important bits.

  Her father, who loved her deeply, so he summed up all of his questions with a very simple, “So, now what?”