The City of Stars, Part 1
Episode 3: The City of Stars, Part 1
An hour later, the Boss texted Yuna and Soyul to come to his office. Yuna was in her room and Soyul was just about to spar a bit with Sihyeon. They met each other outside of his office. Soyul said, “Do you often get called to the principal’s office?”
“I didn’t before you showed up,” Yuna said with a bit of snip in her voice.
Soyul looked at Yuna, her brain trying to figure out the difference between ‘I hate you’ Yuna and ‘pleasure me’ Yuna. Soyul said, “Earlier, you were rolling your eyes at the poor guy quite a bit, it isn’t really fair to blame it on me…”
Yuna made it clear she was in ‘I hate you’ phase, giving Soyul a very threatening glance; well as threatening as you can get from a kitty cat with puppy dog eyes. She opened the door and forced Soyul to go in first.
The Boss said, “Sorry, I only have one chair,” genuinely curious to see what would happen next.
Soyul said, “No worries, I’ll stand.”
Yuna said, “Me too…”
More certain that his overall plan was valid, he said “I think it is best if Yuna has some time away. For her safety and sanity…”
“I’m NOT leaving my girls in danger,” angrily barked Yuna.
“See my point? It will only be for a few days. You have to trust me that we will keep them safe.”
Soyul said, “I’ll watch over them if it makes you feel better.”
“NO, it does NOT,” said Yuna.
“I’m sending both of you to America. Together. Quick unrelated mission. Do not talk back to me, it is already done. Since neither of you sat down, it will be even quicker for both of you to leave my office now.”
A bit shocked, but playing it cool, Yuna turned and walked to the door and left. Soyul quickly followed, disappointed it appeared that she was a few steps behind Yuna.
They stopped outside his door. Soyul whispered to Yuna, “A honeymoon? With your new object?”
Yuna snarled back at her. “Fine…”
***
Later that afternoon, Sihyeon gave them their brand new fake passports and sent them home to pack. She explained, “This is very simple. You two are going to fly from ICN to LAX on a commercial flight, you know, like normal travelers.” Yuna looked at her, dismayed that her day kept getting worse, “Eh?”.
“Are you really complaining at me? Itzy doesn’t fly commercial anymore?”
“Usually, but…”
“You have an entourage and such?”
“No help… and I’m going to be alone with her?” She pointed her thumb at Soyul.
Soyul took it in stride, “I can be your entourage…”
Sihyeon smiled, sighed, and continued, “Head home and get packed, you are leaving ICN at 20:30. The driver will pick you up…”
This time Soyul interrupted, “I’m very capable of getting to the airport myself, there is no need to inconvenience the poor driver.”
Yuna said, “Yeah… fine, me too…” making sure Soyul didn’t make her look bad.
“Okay… you both can make your way to the airport alone, don’t be late. You can find each other at the gate, I got you seats next to each other. A North Korean we have been watching has been making his way to various celebrity parties in LA. His actions are odd and disconcerting, we have no idea what his goals might be and it is worrisome. There is a huge Malibu beach party tomorrow that he will certainly be attending. The mission is simple, find him at the party. Figure out a way to get his wallet and take a picture of the current alias he is using. You two will be on your own, no in-ears. You’ll have to rely on each other. I’m going to focus on Itzy’s security detail here. I think you two can handle this easily.”
Yuna said, “If it is so easy, why am I not doing it alone?”
Sihyeon shook her head, never shy she said, “Where did ‘delightful Yuna’ go? I’m not really a fan at ‘bitches at every little thing’ Yuna…”
Soyul grabbed Yuna’s arm, “Don’t worry, I’ll teach her a thing or two.” Yuna badly wanted to throw Soyul to the ground, but knew that it would be a fight she couldn’t win.
***
Yuna and Soyul both went to their respective apartments, packed a small bag, and changed into sweatpants, hoodies, and baseball caps. Usually Yuna would be a bit more fashionable at the airport, but Yuna walking around ICN would certainly be recognized eventually. They both made their way to the airport and found each other after passing through security.
Yuna smiled at Soyul warmly. Soyul thought to herself, ‘Oh, I guess ‘I want to be pleasured’ Yuna is back…”
Soyul grabbed her hand and asked carefully, “Delightful Yuna?”
“Yeah… I’m sorry about earlier. All of this is so much…”
“Don’t worry partner…”
Yuna almost snapped back into ‘I hate you’ Yuna at the word partner, but fought it off. “We have some time, should we get some food? Get to know each other better?”
“We are going to be stuck next to each other for eleven hours for the ‘get to know each other’ bit, but sure, I would love some food.”
“Eat in silence so that we don’t want to kill each other when we are stuck on the plane and physically cannot?”
“I obviously don’t hate you as much as you hate me.”
Yuna started to growl at her.
Soyul squeezed Yuna’s hand and pulled her to the nearest moving walkway and down the terminal to the first restaurant they saw.
They had a bite to eat, mostly in silence, only occasional conversation about some funny travel stories they both had. Even Soyul had traveled quite a bit, to much of Asia, and even Europe for various shoots and events, so they both had plenty of things to share.
After eating, they sat at the gate and got caught up on social media on their ‘real’ phones and then boarded and the plane took off on time.
After reaching 10,000 ft, and the announcement they were allowed to use electronic devices, they both pulled out tablets.
Soyul giggled at their similarity. “Oh funny, what are you going to watch for ten hours? I would hope we can spend at least one hour chatting.”
Yuna got very excited but ignored the chat request, “DISNEY! I usually do a marathon of Lion King, Mulan and Moana, but I’m open to others if you would like to suggest and watch with me.”
Soyul looked horrified. “Are you nine?”
“…teen?”
Soyul still looked horrified.
“What are YOU going to watch?” asked Yuna.
“Golf videos. Always trying to improve my swing and putting.”
Yuna looked horrified. “For eleven hours?”
“No, ten, I requested an hour for chatting,” answered Soyul.
They both had the realization that they may be the two most opposite girls in all of Korea.
Soyul, realizing things already weren’t going well, decided to see if she could exploit Yuna’s obvious weakness. She leaned over to a startled Yuna and whispered in her ear, “Did you ever want to be a member of the mile high club?”
Yuna was confused why she needed to be whispered to when she was sitting right there. Then she thought for a minute, and realized what she meant. “OH… YES!”
Soyul smirked at Yuna’s weakness, apparently working every time; well, so far... She kept whispering, “I’ll go to the bathroom. Come down to the bathroom. At exactly five minutes after I get up, I’ll unlock the door.”
Yuna nodded and checked the time on her phone.
Soyul got up and meandered down the aisle to the bathroom at the back of the plane.
Four minutes later, Yuna followed her. Just as she made it to the door, she heard it click and she pushed it open and went inside.
It is cramped for one person in an aircraft bathroom, two people makes a special kind of cramped. Soyul grabbed her and guided her to stand on the toilet seat. Yuna had to bed her neck awkwardly, but put both hands on Soyul’s shoulders to steady herself.
“You have to be QUIET,” said Soyul softly. Yuna nodded.
Soyul pulled down Yuna’s sweatpants and panties and dove into her pussy with her tongue. Soyul standing normally was perfect height with Yuna standing on the toilet. Yuna instantly moaned loudly. Soyul stopped and looked at her. Yuna looked annoyed she stopped already and nodded again. Soyul dove back in.
Yuna just whimpered this time. They couldn’t be in the bathroom long, but that was okay because Yuna didn’t usually take very long. Just before she was close to cumming, Soyul pulled her down from the toilet seat. In a mass of legs and arms, Soyul sat on the closed toilet herself and guided Yuna onto her lap. She finished her with her fingers, keeping her other hand over her mouth like she was a bad guy, in an attempt to keep her quiet. After she came, they quickly cleaned her up and got her pants back on. Yuna left the bathroom first, and Soyul followed her about two minutes later. All of the passengers seemed way too distracted to notice anything odd.
After Soyul sat down, Yuna put her head on Soyul’s shoulder and arm around her and made herself comfortable. “Why are you so good to me in bed?” whispered Yuna.
Soyul smirked and pointed to her tablet. “Still in the mood for Lion King?”
“Shut up and let me cuddle on you.”
***
With the limited sleep the night before, Yuna fell asleep across Soyul’s chest, Soyul slept much of the trip as well. As the plane started its descent into LAX, and flight attendants began bothering everyone and Yuna finally woke up.
“You are the best pillow ever. Sorry I drooled all over your shoulder,” said Yuna.
Soyul patted her on the head. “It’s okay, Kitty Cat. You needed the sleep.”
The pair cleaned themselves up a bit, straightened their hoodies and checked their makeup after stowing their tablets. Forty minutes went by for an estimated twenty minute descent. Soyul stretched her neck over Yuna to look out the window. “What’s wrong?”
“Not sure, we’ve circled twice. I’m getting annoyed.”
She pecked Yuna on the cheek. “It will be okay, we’ll get there.”
“We can’t be late for our first American A-lister party!”
“I’m sure A-listers are always late for their own parties.”
“I guess…” lamented Yuna.
They finally landed, now 16:00 LA time, and maneuvered their way through LAX. Yuna had been several times before, but it is still daunting, with everything in English and people everywhere. They also weren’t particularly used to not have their own ‘special’ rides. They didn’t need to check any luggage, so they headed to the nearest exit out of the international terminal. After exiting the airport and taking a whiff of the fresh Pacific air, only slightly tainted with jet exhaust, they asked three unhelpful people for help where to get a taxi. A Japanese man who knew a bit of Korean finally helped them by explaining they needed to take a shuttle bus to the taxi and ride-share pick-up area. The bus finally arrived ten minutes later and they got in the short line for a taxi.
The taxi driver was Middle-Eastern and barely spoke English, and obviously didn’t speak Korean. Yuna showed him the address for the hotel that Sihyeon gave them. The driver said, “Downtown? LA Live?”
Yuna said in Korean, “Downtown? Why do we have a hotel downtown when we are going to a party in Malibu, this is going to take forever.”
Soyul shrugged at her.
The taxi quickly ran into traffic as it was nearing rush hour. “Sorry, interstate closed, we be slow.”
Yuna huffed at him. Soyul said, “Ok ok, we understand.” She turned to Yuna, “you always this tense… when traveling?” asked Soyul.
Yuna looked at her angrily. “I hate being late.”
“Princess doesn’t have her entourage to help her get where she needs to be on time?” asked Soyul jokingly.
That one thoroughly pissed off Yuna. She just sat there fuming.
After about five minutes, she said, “Look, this is the first time I get to travel like a normal person. It is VERY stressful.”
“Yuna, we’ll get there when we get there.”
“Is that always your attitude? Are you ever on time for anything?”
“I was early for the meeting the other morning, you were late. I made it to the airport the exact same time you did today?”
“I WASN’T LATE!”
The taxi driver had no idea what they were arguing about, but looked at them through the rear view mirror.
“Look, when I get there on time, I’m on time. You have no control over LA traffic, why would you stress about things you can’t control?”
“You might be the most frustrating person on the planet.”
“Ditto, girlfriend,” barked Soyul.
“YOU ARE NOT MY GIRLFRIEND. I hate you.”
Soyul rolled her eyes.
***
Eventually they made it to the hotel downtown. The taxi driver dropped them off at the Marriott, right across from the Crypto.com arena. Yuna greeted the man at the hotel desk in broken English. “Reservation for Kim Jiwon, two rooms.” The man click clicked on the keyboard for a bit. “I’m sorry Ma’am, I see your reservation but it is only for one room.”
Yuna looked confused, “Ok, fine.”
“Guess you’re sleeping with me tonight,” joked Soyul.
Yuna turned and stared at her, still pissed. Soyul saw the tension suddenly leave her eyes as a thought popped into her head, “Hey… you don’t think they…”
Soyul sensed where she was going with this thought. “They wouldn’t, would they?”
Yuna shook her head ‘yes’. What was Sihyeon up to this time?
They each got a copy of the room key and walked around the corner to the elevators. There was a series of six elevators, three on each side of the hall. Yuna pressed the button and they waited for the elevator. Soyul looked quite nervous, something Yuna hadn’t seen before.
“You okay, Hon?”
Soyul rolled her eyes, “My god, you switching personalities is really giving me a headache…”
“I’m sorry it seems like I’m switching, they are both in here simultaneously…”
“How is that better?”
Yuna put her hand on Soyul’s shoulder, “Look, I haven’t known you for long, but I’ve never seen you look like that, and I’ve seen you being shot at, and you still didn’t look like that.”
The elevator ‘dinged’ and the pair of them got on. Yuna scanned her keycard and pressed the button for the 18th floor. Soyul ignored the line of questioning and just stood in silence, eyes closed. Although it was 18 floors, it was actually a very quick elevator ride. They both exited and followed the numbers on the wall to their room. Soyul finally said, “Look, I just really hate elevators…”
“Oh, okay…” Yuna filed that bit of interesting knowledge for later. She scanned her key at the room and they went inside and threw down their bags on the king-sized bed.
Anticipating that Soyul would not be efficient at getting them out of this room in an acceptable amount of time, Yuna grabbed Soyul’s wrist and squeezed. “NO DALLYING, we are going to change fast! We can still make it to the party almost on time. Do you hear me?”
“Yes Ma’am,” said Soyul, trying to review the choices in her life that got her into this hotel room with this girl.
Soyul took her bag into the bathroom. “I’ll take the bathroom. I don’t need you objectifying me while I’m changing.” She pointed to her chest and then slammed the bathroom door shut.
“I’M JUST GOING TO DO IT MORE LATER,” yelled Yuna.
Soyul came out of the bathroom in a stunning blue patterned dress with a halter over one shoulder, cinched along one side of her waist with a high slit on that side.
Yuna was wearing a white top with black mesh over it with a tiny black skirt over long grey safety shorts. She also sported dark grey arm warmers and light grey leg warmers.
Yuna was stunned by Soyul’s dress. “Dear objects…”
Soyul ignored Yuna staring at her chest and barked at her, “What the fuck are you wearing? We’re going to a beach party?”
Yuna said, “This is what Itzy wears to the beach. Also, it isn’t a beach party, it is a fancy party at a mansion that is perhaps on a cliff potentially overlooking a rocky beach.”
“Why the furry things? And oh… I thought every LA party involved a beach.”
“No… but LA gets cold at night, but my wrists and ankles will be warm!”
Soyul showed Yuna her bikini bottom under her dress and flower in her hair. “BEACH party.”
“Do you have a bra on?” asked Yuna.
“No?” responded Soyul. “Stop thinking about them…”
Yuna resisted the urge to throw her on the bed and jump on her, that wouldn’t mesh well with her currently bitching about not wanting to be late. “Let’s GO!” she shouted instead.
As soon as the elevator rose to the 18th floor and ‘dinged’, Soyul turned pale. Yuna watched her closely as she got in, held her breath for most of the ride, and returned to normal color when they got out at the bottom.
***
The taxi ride from downtown to Malibu took another hour, making them about an hour late for the party, but it was otherwise uneventful. They sat mostly in silence, not really sure what to say to each other.
When they arrived at the Malibu mansion, both girls were shocked at the level of luxury. The building was very modern, but somewhat Spanish style with white stucco walls and clay roof tiles. It was fairly far from a beach, although it did have a view of the ocean. There was a line of various Uber cars unloading guests. Soyul wanted to make a comment about not being that late, but thought better of it.
They waited patiently in line until it was their turn to unload. They paid the taxi driver and walked toward the front door. It was massive and made of dark mahogany wood. The bouncer at the door scanned a code they had been sent on their phones and let them inside.
There was a small foyer and then the heart of the house was a massive open living area. There was loud music playing, two dozen people standing around, some eating and drinking, some dancing. Most seemed American, very nicely dressed. The females were wearing a variety of dresses, some even just designer denim and nice tee shirts that probably cost more than an average Korean’s entire wardrobe. Even Yuna and Soyul’s mixed garb didn’t really look out of place. They seemed to be the only Asians in the room, certainly the only Koreans; finding their mark shouldn’t be too difficult.
A staircase led to the upper level and a balcony overlooking the living room. A hallway led back to some first-floor bedrooms and the back entrance. The open kitchen was off to the side, various staff using it to prepare food.
Both girls were amazed at everything going on around them and stood together mesmerized. “How are we going to find this guy?” asked Soyul.
“Mingle!” said Yuna.
“How about… I mingle… by going up those stairs by myself to that balcony, where I can see the entire crowd and try to find him?”
“Whatever…” said Yuna and she walked away from Soyul. A server, wearing a skimpy, yet elegant, French maid outfit offered Yuna a drink. She gladly grabbed a glass of champagne and now seeing that these circulating servers were a thing, walked to another carrying some hors d’oeuvres. “Always will be better working alone, especially when there is free food,” she whispered to herself. “I could get used to this!”
It didn’t take long for an attractive Caucasian man to approach her, “Aren’t you cute?”
Yuna was very familiar with the word ‘cute’, “Of course, I am,” she said cutely.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked, holding out his hand.
She knew the word ‘dance’ but it took her a minute to understand exactly what he was asking before he already grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. They ‘slow’ danced for a bit, but it didn’t take long for him to start putting his hands in places she didn’t appreciate. About ready to ‘accidently’ flip him onto the ground, a familiar finger tapped him on his shoulder.
“Why is your hand on my girlfriend’s ass?” asked Soyul.
He quickly let go of Yuna and walked off with his tail between his legs.
“Why did you do that?” asked Yuna.
“You needed help.”
“I didn’t?”
“You wanted his hands on your ass?”
“Maybe I did?”
“I’ll go get him,” Soyul said, pointing to him.
Yuna flicked Soyul on the nose with her thumb and index finger. “Did you find our guy?” she asked.
“Owww… Yeah, of course, follow me. Let’s get this done and get out of here. Not my scene.”
“You’re a supermodel?”
“I’m not this super…”
Yuna giggled, but then returned to acting pissed.
They made their way around two drunk guests making out in the middle of the room and walked over to the North Korean man.
Yuna took lead, “You are a sight for sore eyes!” she said in Korean.
“Oh, hello… Fellow Koreans?”
“Yeah, my friend…”
“GIRLFRIEND…” added Soyul.
“…and I are feeling a bit out of place here.”
“I’m not, she is…” said Soyul.
Yuna eye’s made it clear how hard she was about to slap her.
“You two are like an old married couple?” asked the man.
“Young annoyed couple,” said Soyul.
Yuna’s well-engineered plan for this encounter kept disappearing with Soyul’s random comments and she was truly getting pissed.
“My friend has never been out of Korea. I was telling her how funny American money looks. Do you have a bill I can show her? We just normally use our cards everywhere.”
The Bosses’ North Korean friend tried to decide if he should mess with Yuna a bit, but she seemed to be in a fairly bad mood, so he decided to just let them have their way with his wallet. He pulled it out and opened it, pulling out a few bills. While he was intently looking through them to pull one out, Soyul managed to grab a half emptied drink from a coffee table next to her, drop it as though she was holding it to start with, and wave her arms as though she was startled. She then punched the wallet out of the man’s hands making it fly across the room.
Yuna just gasped at how amateur that move was, but nonetheless the wallet landed between a group of various guests chatting in a circle. She jumped between them, grabbing the wallet, now on her knees. While it and she were on the ground, she opened it and snapped a picture of his ID with a microcamera hidden in her arm warmer. She stood up between three people. “Sorry sorry,” was the best English she could think of.
However, there was a tap on her shoulder, she turned to look and Selena Gomez was standing right next to her. Yuna was rarely star-struck, but she had just embassasingly dove on top of a random wallet at her feet. Yuna blushed… “Oh, Selena Gomez.” Yuna bowed.
“How did you lose your wallet?” asked Selena. Yuna didn’t understand. The North Korean man and Soyul had made their way over to Yuna by that point. He said in Korean, “She asked how you lost your wallet?”
He then addressed Selena Gomez, “Sorry, her English isn’t very good.”
Selena nodded, “Tell her I know Jennie Kim! I worked with her.”
Yuna heard Jennie Kim and giggled and nodded. Of course, any Korean at a party would know Jennie Kim. She wasn’t sure what to do, Selena may have heard of Itzy, but she probably shouldn’t mention it. She wanted to stay incognito. Hopefully no one would recognize her.
“I don’t know Jennie personally, but my… friend… knows her quite well,” said Yuna through the man translating.
Yuna was wondering why Soyul hadn’t rudely inserted herself into this conversation yet.
Selena said, “Zendaya and…” she whispered in Yuna’s ear, “Miley Cyrus… are upstairs. Would you like to meet them?”
Yuna quickly nodded yes. Soyul understood that these were Disney girls, and clearly Yuna grew up with them, so she stayed back and let them have her time. The Korean man went with Selena and Yuna up the stairs.
Soyul sighed. North Korean man, fluent English, and not the slightest bit shy around American stars. She wasn’t as perceptive as Yuna, but obviously they had been set up. For what purpose though? She shook it off and looked around, “Hmm, what to do?”
She wasn’t too excited about having a guy, or girl, for that matter, feeling her butt. She decided to avoid everyone and spy for a bit. She went back to her high vantage point on the balcony and scanned the crowd for anything out of the ordinary, “So much money in this room, someone has to be doing something interesting.”
After five minutes, she finally found two men exchanging notes rather than talking. That screams illegal activity not to be overheard. “Look at me putting spy school to good use,” she said to herself. After a few minutes of this, the two people walked up the stairs in her direction. She let them pass by and then followed them and saw them go into an upstairs bedroom just down the hall.
She waited a few minutes for the men in the room to actually be doing something and until no one was in the hallway. There was no lock on the door, so she pretended to be drunk and burst into the room. One man was holding a briefcase that must have been stashed in the room, but he had not opened it yet. Both men were very startled and but then saw the tall, chesty, female wearing beach-ware that mistakenly opened the door.
Soyul pretended like she was drunk, falling down just inside the door. The man who was not holding the briefcase helped her to her feet. “Sorry, wrong room I not know.” She said in broken English. He helped her out of the room. “It is okay ma’am, be more careful.” Once she was outside, he closed the door and she heard him move furniture in front of the door to block any future drunk guests.
“Wow, they are definitely up to no good, they didn’t even try to flirt with me or accost the drunk girl.” She went back to her spot at the top of the stairs looking down on the party. She casually got out her phone and dialed the miniature camera and microphone she stuck on the bottom of the door when she fell.
The camera view was partially blocked by the chair, but she could still make out some of what was going on, One-Wiz had also installed an automatic translator. She giggled to herself about her new job, “Nifty!”
Focusing back on what was happening in the bedroom, the man obviously bought the briefcase from the other man with cash. It was full of silencers, very illegal in America. She was just about to anonymously forward it to a police line when she heard three very loud bangs, though quite far away, and below her, maybe in the basement? ‘Fireworks? No, they were definitely gunshots,’ she thought.
The rest of the crowd must have wondered the same as many party-goers started screaming and running out the front and back doors. Her first instinct was to stand and watch, but then her intuition flashed with images of Yuna charging into a gunfight. She sighed to herself about her new partner and ran down the stairs to look for where those shots could have come from.