When Mae was about to leave the area, she saw the assistant manager talking on the phone outside the building. She slowed down her pace and came to a halt when the assistant manager cut the phone.

The assistant manager raised her head up, eyes widened, startled by Mae's sudden appearance.

"Hi." Mae slightly bowed, facing her.

She bowed back, looking at her in an addled manner.

"Can I talk to you?" Mae asked, gazing at her with sincerity floating in her eyes.

The assistant manager did not reply quickly, she took her time in making a judgment before finally nodding.

She then led her into the agency building.

Employees of small entertainment companies are often less suspicious and defensive in front of fans. The pre-debut fans who start stanning before they become famous usually get all the advantages. Often times, they become close to the employees and might even share some "secrets" as well.

The assistant manager asked Mae to call her "Jihye Unnie" as she gave her a cup of instant coffee.

"Thank you," Mae slightly bowed her head as she took the paper cup, her lips curved upwards.

"Do you know why I let you in?" Jihye asked as she sat down across her on the sofa.

Mae shook her head even though she knew the answer.

"You seemed different from other fans," she mused.

"How so?" Mae rested her chin on her palm as she eyed Jihye.

"I don't know exactly," Jihye replied after a brief silence, "It's about the vibe you give off...Or, or something in your eyes."

"It's just, you seem different," Jihye concluded at last.

Mae let out a gentle smile and nodded her head.

After chit-chatting about the boys for a while, Mae finally brought out the topic she wanted to discuss earlier.

"How is the advertisement going?" Mae asked as she leaned back on the sofa, narrowing her eyes to gaze at Jihye.

"It's going pretty well honestly, given that we are in a small company," Jihye smiled as she replied, her face lightened up with pride.

Mae sighed under her breath, then fixed her posture and looked at Jihye more intently, "They are doing better on the global market instead of the Korean market."

"If they can't go on any award shows here, their exposure on the global market will also decrease. They will keep losing fans," Mae added at the end as she carefully observed Jihye's expression.

Jihye's eyelashes fluttered, she was taken aback by her approach.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Jihye narrowed her eyes as she leaned forward, staring deep into Mae's eyes.

Mae went through the key points in her head again before explaining her thoughts.

"I really really appreciate how the company has been taking really good care of them. As a fan, I know I am greedy and I believe the company is ambitious as well. I believe you also understand my wish to see them blowing up the industry," she tried to sound as genuine as she could, softening her expression as she eyed Jihye, "which is why I was thinking about different ways to get them out there."

"Today, it just hit my head," she continued, "Why not make a webtoon about them?"

Jihye's pupil dilated, yet she let no expression show on her features.

"You do know that every agency has a certain budget," Jihye reminded Mae, peering at her.

Mae nodded and let a faint smile crawl up her lips, "I know, but it doesn't hurt to try. We both want the good for them I believe."

"I will think about it if I should discuss with the company or not," Jihye folded her arms.

Upon leaving, as if remembering something, Mae turned her heels to face Jihye again.

"I just remembered, if there's any problem with the budget, we have our own talented artist. I don't think she will mind being paid late or even just the minimum wage," Mae intoned, yet her eyes couldn't hide the sparkling confidence she had while she made eye contact with Jihye.

Even after Mae left, Jihye couldn't help but ponder upon the idea Mae infused her mind with; she couldn't help but stare at Mae's number that was left on a piece of paper.

When Mae went out of the TK Entertainment building, her eyes widened as she saw Caroline. Caroline was leaning on a car with her arms crossed in front of her chest. The red Audi was polished and seemed new and suited Caroline's aura fairly well. Her black outfit collocating with the red behind her, making her look like one of the high society socialites. She slightly tilted her face, scrolling through her phone through the red Gentle Monster sunglasses she wore.

Mae looked at her, speechless. She slightly scratched her face and turned her heels to inch away from Caroline while praying that she doesn't notice her.

"Ya, Mae!" Caroline gushed as she advanced towards Mae, her black high heels clicking on the ground, composing a fashionable melody.

Mae finally came to a halt and let out a small sigh. She then turned around to face Caroline, "Hi, Jie."

"Oh, you still remember I am your sister? How nice of you!" Caroline mocked and then, suddenly, her tone changed as she glared at her and wrapped her arm around Mae's neck, "Why are you trying to avoid me?"

"I am not," she slurred, holding onto Caroline's arm, "Let's talk inside the car, please."

Caroline loosened her grip and stepped backward.

Mae panted before she followed Caroline towards the car.

"I swear to God you are going to murder me one day," Mae, sitting on the passenger seat, glowered at Caroline as she used her palm to massage her neck.

Caroline shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. She took her sunglasses off and threw it in the backseat, then gripped on the steering wheel as her foot pressed the accelerator.

"I remember telling you not to come," Mae narrowed her eyes to look at Caroline.

"Well, I got off work early and I really have nothing else to do."

"Where did you get this car?" Mae asked as she scanned the space they were in.

"I bought it yesterday."

"I thought you wanted to be independent. I don't think your work pay you this well."

"I believe we both know how hard it is to achieve 'independence' growing up in a family like this." Caroline deadpanned, still eyeing the road.

Mae nodded in agreement. She then took out her laptop to work on her assignment. Being a full-time student and a part-time professional fan isn't something easy. On top of these two, Mae also has a social life to handle, resulting in her lack of sleep.

"You should seriously get some rest, sis. Your skin is also sacrificing when you are giving up sleeping," Caroline reminded when she saw Mae yawning while typing in all the codes on her laptop.

"Well, you shouldn't have called me out to eat hotpot if you really wanted me to sleep," Mae replied sarcastically.

"As if you don't miss hotpot and its heavenly taste."

"I don't actually."

Caroline's lips curled up at Mae's reply.

When they reached Myeongdong, Mae already fell asleep on her laptop.

Caroline parked the car in the parking lot and turned to face Mae. She didn't wake her up instantly; instead, she waited for fifteen minutes to let her take a good power nap before calling her name gently to pull her up from her dreamland.

Mae opened her drowsy eyes and tried to sit straight. Her head was heavy and it took a good minute for her to become conscious of where she was. She flexed her neck and stretched her back before looking at her laptop screen to turn it off, and when she did, she cursed loudly: "It's messed up! Now I need do this shit all over again!"

"Is it that bad?" Caroline looked over at her laptop screen.

"Yes!" Mae shrilled, glaring at the laptop as if that would make the poor laptop realize what it did wrong.

Caroline looked away, biting her inner cheeks to hide her soft chuckle.

"Stop laughing, Jie, I can hear you," Mae snapped, looking at the screen with her eyebrow furrowed, her fingers moving swiftly on the keyboard, trying to fix everything. Her failed attempt caused her to groan and shut the laptop close, the metals yelped as a protest against her violence.

This time, Caroline didn't even try to hide her laughter as she giggled.

Mae went out of the car with her face grim, "Let's go, I am hungry."

"Sure, sure, as you wish, your Highness," Caroline chuckled as she locked the car.

Jie(姐)/Jie Jie(姐姐)－ In Chinese, it literally means older sister. It's the same as "noona" and "unnie" in Korean.

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