After the tense introduction to Noon Mool Fortress was over, Kim Taehyung guided Ava and Shae to a suite of Noon Mool's main floor that the ladies were to share during their stay.

When they walked from the grandiose hallway of towering white ceilings and plush indigo carpet, into what were to be their living quarters, they felt a touch of soothing relief.

Shae and Ava both acknowledged to themselves that the suite they'd just entered was like a drawing room pulled from a Jane Austin novel—which did play a factor in calming their nerves a bit. The tray of teas and cakes that Tae left for them before giving them a bashful farewell didn't hurt, either.

Naturally, the Shae and Ava stayed up all night talking about the crazy situation they found themselves in. By the end of their talks, no tea or cakes remained.

The young women were both were equal parts disturbed and intrigued by their situation. For a hot minute they considered their escape plan options, but quickly realized that it would take understanding this new world more to form any serious schemes.

A couple of things were clear, though: Ava really didn't trust Joon; Shae really didn't trust anyone that wasn't Ava.

____

The next morning, while Shae and Ava reclined in their drawing room area and enjoyed their overly extravagant, servant-delivered breakfast, there was a knock on the door of their suite.

The door opened, and there stood Tae looking positively transformed. He wore a set of golden wire rimmed glasses with large frames, and a flowing white top tucked into skinny tan pants.

At the sight of him, Ava made a giant gulp, the lump of Danish in her mouth going down heavy.

"Good morning, ladies. I hope you've rested well." Tae lingered in the doorway and clasped his hands delicately together.

While Ava had uncharacteristically lost her words, Shae answered pleasantly enough, "We did. Did you need something in particular, Tae?"

"Yes. I've come to bring you two to your first escort lessons. If you would be so kind...."

Shae and Ava exchanged curious looks. Ava couldn't help but rise to her feet and submit to the amicably delivered request from Tae with a grin. Shae followed Ava's lead, wiping her buttery fingers carefully into a napkin from remnants of the scone she'd just eaten. Shae felt a bit little less enthusiasm, more skepticism, as the two young ladies exited their cosy suite.

"He's so much nicer than that Joon guy," Ava mumbled into Shae's ear as they followed Kim Taehyung down the maze of hallways with vaulted white ceilings and bright lights.

Shae blinked. An image of Joon's boyish smirk bearing down at her when she was lying on the medical table flashed into her mind, along with a fuzzy feeling she didn't want to name. She shook her head angrily to get it to go away.

Tae's velvety voice cooed, "This way, please."

Turn after turn they went, and a few times they encountered clusters of people about their own merry way that morning who would part ceremoniously around the three of them, or who would stop altogether to stare and whisper as they gawked at Tae, Shae and Ava's passing. In these moments, Ava held her head a little higher and smirked with mild amusement at these lesser beings. In these same moments, Shae tilted her chin down slightly and felt her ears burning.

Eventually, Tae led Shae and Ava through a set of large double doors, into a new kind of suite... and their mouths fell open in shock.

Inside the expansive space, there hung on glistening racks rows upon rows of more clothes than Shae and Ava had ever seen before. The floors were red velvet, the walls glistening gold, and the ceilings dripped with icy crowned chandeliers.

This wasn't a department store. This was a high fashion library.

Tae cleared his throat to get their attention, then gestured toward a short row of barbershop style chairs arrayed before a vanity wall.

In one of these barber shop chairs sat Doctor Jin with his chin in one hand. He looked bored beyond belief. He was clad in a white blouse shirt and black pants, and had one leg cross lazily over the other.

Next to him sat a golden haired man with piercing eyes and a smile as soft and radiant as twilight, who wore a glittering silver jacket over an all-white ensemble. This second figure ran his hands through his swoopy golden hair and smiled brilliantly at Ava and Shae, warm with enthusiasm.

This radiant young man was Park Chimin.

"What delightful helpers you and Joonie have delivered to us," the golden man beamed. Shae and Ava felt the suspicious tension in their chests melt away a bit from the genuine warmth of the man's voice.

"You would say that—as you're the one who picked them out in the first place," Jin grumbled.

Park Chimin sent a satisfied smirk at their chief medical officer. "I am the master treasure hunter for a reason. I have an eye for the truly valuable."

Jin eyed Ava and Shae suspiciously. "I've seen better, Chimin." Then the sasspot doctor jumped to his feet and walked forward, beginning to circle Ava and Shae where they stood. He shrugged and admitted, "I've also seen worse."

"Well aren't you the gentleman," Ava sassed, her eyes narrowing at Jin.

"Someone has to be the realist."

"Or in your case, the asshat," Ava clarified.

"Well I never...!"

Shae stepped forward between the electric glare that Ava and Jin were now exchanging. "You're the doctor, aren't you?"

Jin puffed up beneath his prideful smirk. "Indeed, indeed. I am the one and only."

"One of many," Tae mumbled as he stepped more fully into the room, closing the double doors behind him.

Shae chose her words carefully. She wanted to make a good first impression on these new faces. Friendliness could be key to survival, she thought. "I just wanted to say thank you. I heard you were responsible for making sure I was in good shape yesterday after I... yeah."

Jin's eyebrows arched high in pleasant surprise. "Someone around here knows how to appreciate greatness." Then Jin stretched his hand towards Shae and, to her horror, began to pull her by the forearm towards the ocean of clothing racks.

Ava snapped, fists clenched, "Hey, whatcha think you're doin', handsy?"

Shae sent Ava an SOS look over her shoulder as the sasspot Jin led her to a small circular platform, then helped her step upon it. A row of three standing mirrors arched around it and now glistened with Shae's long reflection.

Jin peered at Shae's stature in the mirrors, holding his face in one hand and thinking. "Chimin, I'm thinking the Cleo style for an evening gown. What do you think?"

The golden man flowed gracefully from his chair to stand next to Jin, also assessing Shae's figure inside of the mirrors. He said with a sugary voice, "Oh no, I'm thinking Demarco. Far more elegant and suitable to her long features."

"Bold choice. I like it." Jin snapped his fingers, and a small army of attendants appeared out of nowhere and started their way through the menagerie of clothing, miraculously knowing exactly what the men were asking for.

Shae looked at the captivating golden haired man through one of the standing mirrors, as she stood and waited for the attendants to return, "If Jin is a doctor, what is it that you do around here... it was Chimin, right? Are you a stylist or something?"

Chimin laughed, and it sounded like breaking wind chimes. "You're welcome to just call me Chim. And no I'm not a stylist or anything, I only find this fun. My main job around here used to be as a treasure hunter, always scouting fresh resources for Noon Mool. These days I do a lot more with coding and security. But I'm very good at finding things." He winked, and Shae couldn't help but blush a little bit. "Joon requested I lend a hand today with the two of you, so here I am."

Shae noticed that this Chim fellow bubbled over with enthusiasm as he spoke, but she couldn't help but grumble, "Does everyone do what Joon tells them to do around here?"

A stiff tension fell over the room at her words. The girls glanced at each other in confusion.

Chim smiled apologetically after a slight pause. "Joon is our leader. Where he leads, we follow—and where he is unsure, he is gracious to seek our counsel."

Jin scoffed from where he stood on Shae's other side. "Gracious, indeed."

The comment earned doctor Jin a frightfully scathing look from Chim. Shae wondered how a man with such a warm voice and inviting smile could have such terrifying eyes.

Jin folded his arms and walked back towards the barber shop chairs, sulking at the rebuke from his subordinate.

Chim's features turned baby-soft quickly again as he smiled into the mirror towards Shae. "It's a bit early for you to be worrying over the headache that is Noon Mool politics, don't you think? There's a lot for you to learn before you can really grasp all those dynamics."

Shae thought to herself, Well, I do love defying a man's expectations.

On the stylist work and pampering went until....