Seen

Kim Hana started sampling the food before her without care. She was so hungry, she did not care how she was eating and stuffed her face.

"Be careful not to choke," he said, letting go of her foot, "It is not that I am controlling, it is that I have found Hana-ssi is careless. You forget simple things and never think things through. If you do not heal well before we get recalled into that..." he gave up as he saw the annoyed look in her eyes.

"Yes, I forgot the mask. Yes, I forgot to get treated before going to work, yes, I still wore a heel instead of letting my wounds heal. Kang Seo Joon-ssi. You are not me. I have worked really hard to get this job, I can't lose it even if the world wants to end. It is my fault for being more focused on the job I just got that could change my life than remembering to wear a mask or get treated or not put on the only good shoe I have so that I make a good impression at work." she said so calmly, if not for her steel gaze, on would have mistaken her for asking what he was planning to do for the day.

"So, what is happening to us is not important?" he asked.

"I saw you made time to get on a meeting this morning. Why did you not stop everything so we could research this phenomenon? I have thought this through. If we could get dragged in the first time, we would probably be dragged in a few more times before we figure out what is happening. And going by precedence, we will always return to reality at some point. So, even if we are facing hell tomorrow, life will continue without us. I don't want to come back and lose track of every day. So, I will concentrate on what I can control. I will come out with a mask regularly and make sure to get treated so that I do not hold you back when..." she explained.

"That is unnecessary. I will bring you a mask and get you treated when necessary," he said and she stilled.

"Kim Hana-ssi. It seems I have not considered the fact that you are still processing what is happening to us and you are not taking it well, afterall, you have not slept since the incident," he said and she almost felt it was an apology.

"You haven't slept either, so you..." she started to respond.

"But my habits make me more adapted than you are. So, since you will most likely forget important things, you should be more flexible to my decisions. I will make sure you always have your mask, I will make sure you are always treated when injured," he said and she took a deep breath to calm her anger and looked away. She learned one more thing about him. Apart from controlling, he is absolutely stubborn. The waiters soon returned with a glass of juice for her and Kim Hana took a mouthful of the chilled drink and continued eating.

"You are angry," he seemed to notice.

"No, I am eating," she responded.

"I will need your ID tonight," he said and finally joined her to eat.

"Why?" she raised a brow.

"It is one thing for us to hide our identity from the world so that we may not get into unfavourable situations because of these simulations..."

"We are calling it simulations, now?" she asked.

"We also need to make sure whoever is on the other end of these simulations does not know who we are,"

"Is there a chance they do not already know?" she asked.

"Yes. There is a chance that we were chosen at random, some sort of mistake. We don't know who they are, if there is a chance they don't already know who we are, we have to keep it that way." he said and she nodded.

"You are going to make me a fake ID? Is that possible?" she asked.

"With enough money, I can make it legal," he answered.

To this, she responded, "I'm sorry,"

"Why are you sorry?" he asked.

"I am still too ignorant of the power of money," she answered.

"We need to decide on our identity so that I could have it handled. We will talk about this tonight," I have a meeting soon, so hurry up with your meal." he said and she nodded sourly. They finished their meal in silence and left the restaurant together, not noticing they were being watched. Inside the car, he handed her a pair of flat shoes Assistant Jang had bought and she took one look and swallowed hard.

"You don't like it?" he asked and she threw him a judgemental look. Of course, she liked it. The nude flat shoes were encrusted with a large shiny stone flower. It was something she could only stare at when she went shopping.

"You can get another one later," he said and her judgement eyes rolled as she wondered how she could ever buy something like this later.

"I am sorry, I just picked what the shop attendant recommended," Assistant Jang seated in front said and she waved his way.

"No, it's beautiful, there is nothing wrong. Thank you," she said while throwing a small grateful smile his way. She quickly took off her heel and put on the flats. It was the right size. The car rolled back into the underground garage with a few minutes left to spare.

"I will see you later," he said and she nodded quickly and rushed out, shutting the door behind her. Just as the elevator door closed behind her, she heard her phone ring.

"Miss Kim, where are you?" she heard the familiar voice of Leader Lee and stood straighter.

"I am on the elevator, sir," she answered.

"Come up to the office," he ordered and dropped the call.

Kang Seo Joon watched the elevator door close behind her before the car pulled away. The next moment, his phone rang and picked up the call.

"Seo Joon-ah, do you have time to stop by the clan house today?" a voice asked from the other side.

"I am inspecting a factory. I am not sure when I will be back," Kang Seo Joon answered.

"Ah, I see. Maybe next time," the person on the line said and dropped the call. He looked at the tail lights of Kang Seo Joon's car leaving the underground garage, opened the group chat and left a message. It read; Seo Joon was having lunch today, Old madam, there is no need to worry to much. The message was acompanied with a photo of Kang Seo Joon dining with a young woman.

At closer inspection, one could see Kang Seo Joon holding her leg on his lap under the table. The group chat soon became busy. But the culprit had long run away.