Chapter 56: Bait

  **WARNING: This chapter contains sexist slurs. Reader discretion advised.**

  It was a few days after her lunch with Jesse and Rich that Miyeon received a text from an unknown number. Miyeon was the type of person not to take calls from random numbers and would typically wait for these callers to leave a voicemail. She was wary of phone scams that seem to be quite popular in asian countries. During one of her work trips in Japan with Shu Li, she even became the recipient of one of those 'ore ore sagi' calls.

Author's Note: Ore Ore Sagi or It's me! It's me! scam is quite popular in Japan, mostly targeting the elderly. The scammer calls from an unknown number and tries to convince the person that he is in dire need of money and gets them to wire the money to a specific account. Since the caller is referring to himself as Ore Ore  (it's me, it's me) the person answering the phone psychologically assumes that the caller is someone familiar, likely his or her son, which is why the scam tends to work mostly on the elderly. 

At that time, Miyeon had just started university but was none the wiser. Being her usual indifferent self, Miyeon had simply responded, "Who is "It's me?" I am not familiar with anyone in Tokyo. You have the wrong number." Then without missing a beat she continued, "For future reference, it will be best to introduce yourself first when you call someone." "It will be much easier to get your point across and will also make the conversation much more efficient," Miyeon stated in casual Japanese before promptly hanging up the phone. She had not learned the polite or formal ways of speaking the Japanese language. 

Shu Li, who had been sitting beside Miyeon at the cafe, nearly rolled on the floor in laughter after witnessing her friend's conversation. "Miyeon-ah! You do know you just gave a lecture to a scammer right?!" "Puahahah! You said you didn't know him but you spoke to him so casually in a familiar tone only to tell him off! That kid must have been so confused! Oh boy! You crack me up!" she said out loud, wiping the tears that had formed at the corner of her eyes. Afterwards, Shu Li excitedly spent the next 15 minutes explaining different phone types of phone scams to Miyeon but not before mimicking Miyeon's phone call with the scammer. 

"Yeon-ah, do you want me to get you a Japanese tutor?" Shu Li asked nonchalantly as she sipped her iced coffee.

"No. It's fine," Miyeon answered. 'I don't want to owe you anymore that I do,' she silently thought.

Back to the present, Miyeon opened the text from the unknown number and was shocked to discover the identity of the sender. It was Su Tian. 

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: Miyeon, it's Su Tian. I got your number from Jesse. Can we meet? 

[IamIrene]: Hey, Su Tian. What for?

In fact, Miyeon wasn't too keen on meeting up with Su Tian, she distinctly recalled that the girl was always hostile towards her so she would rather Su Tian communicate everything via text. However, Su Tian's response caught Miyeon completely off guard. 'The incident 10 years ago? How does Su Tian know about this?' she thought, feeling conflicted.

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: It's about the incident 10 years ago. 

[IamIrene]: You! What do you know about this?!

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: Got your attention now?

[IamIrene]: Su Tian!

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: Let's just say I know much more than you do.

[IamIrene]: That's impossible.

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: Is it?

[IamIrene]: Then prove it. Tell me.

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: Sure. But not on the phone.

[IamIrene]: …

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: It's best we meet in person to discuss.

After a few minutes of deliberation, Miyeon decided to hear what Su Tian had to say. To be honest, she didn't trust that girl but if she truly knew something, then Miyeon was willing to take the risk.

[IamIrene]: Alright.

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: This Sunday Sydney Loft #401 District 1, 11am

[0139-xxxx-xxxx]: Come alone.

[IamIrene]: Got it.

After making the appointment to meet up with Su Tian, Miyeon willed herself to recall the events from 10 years ago. Yet despite all her efforts, Miyeon simply drew a blank. It was as if there was a blanket of thick haze over her memories. Even her many appointments of hypnosis, guided imagery, and therapy using sedative-hypnotic drugs with Dr Robinson were unable to bring back the previously forgotten past from her subconscious mind. Each time Miyeon would only be left with a throbbing headache as a blatant reminder of the fruitless results of all her sessions.

Is it really possible that Su Tian knew something? Would she finally be able to remember what happened during that month before she was summarily sent off to the UK? How could she possibly know when no one in Y City knew or even dared to speak about it?

These questions raced through Miyeon's mind and she forced herself to refrain from jumping to conclusions. 'I should wait to hear what Su Tian has to say. She could simply be baiting me. Her dislike for me was obvious from the start,' Miyeon concluded.

...........

Su Tian looked down at her phone screen with a malicious grin. Things were finally moving along. At long last, Miyeon that stupid little whore will get her comeuppance. As Su Tian thought of how Guo Feng had suffered during this past 10 years, her heart ached. Her lover had been ostracized by his family and was unable to return to his home country just because of an orphan harlot. Su Tian saw how Miyeon acted around men, how she used her feminie wiles to get them obsessing over her. Seeing how Jesse Evans and Rich Taylor would hang on to Miyeon's every word filled Su Tian with disgust. Su Tian simply couldn't understand why Miyeon was being treated by everyone as if she was some sort of treasure. 

These men are only attracted to what they see on the outside. They don't know what a dirty little slut Miyeon was. Why does Guo Feng have to pay the price for such a person's provocations?

An intense feeling of loathing bubbled up from Su Tian's chest and spread throughout her entire being. And before she realized what had happened, Su Tian saw her hands stained red, covered with broken pieces of the wine glass. How wonderful would it be if she could see Miyeon's body thoroughly wrecked and stained red? That would be a fitting retribution.

Su Tian sent Guo Feng a text to confirm the progression of their plan and proceeded to get ready for the day's shoot. 

[SuTian]: The b*tch has taken the bait.

......…...

Meanwhile at the Lu Corp headquarters, Lu Minzhe was thoroughly immersed in reviewing the mountain of reports atop his mahogany desk. It appeared as if he was possessed by a workaholic ghost. Seeing CEO Lu conclude his meetings with twice the efficiency than usual, struck fear in the hearts of the senior management and Secretary Jin. Did this spell more overtime for them? Why does CEO Lu have such a scary smile on his handsome face? Is he planning to open an office in Africa and is currently choosing a poor soul to send there? 

Little did these managers know that their venerated CEO Lu merely wanted to complete his work for the day to invite himself for dinner at a certain lovely lady's place.