red string | jay

five

the next day, ina walked into her section and spotted juwon talking to heeseung and jay about something. as soon as juwon saw her, she waved her over with an excited expression.

"what's up?" ina asked, glancing at heeseung and juwon, purposefully ignoring jay's presence as she stopped beside them.

"lucy just assigned the idol travel show to the four of us," heeseung said, holding up a thin folder. "she wants us to leave all our current projects and focus solely on this one."

ina's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "what? i can't do that! i worked my ass off on another show just last night," she said, clearly irritated.

"you're not the only one who worked their ass off," jay cut in, his voice edged with sarcasm. "we all had our own projects going on."

ina shot him a sharp glare, jaw clenched.

"stop fighting, you two. we need to talk to lucy about this before freaking out," juwon said quickly, trying to cut the tension.

heeseung nodded in agreement. "yeah, let's hear it from her directly."

"alright, then what are we waiting for?" ina muttered, already storming toward lucy's cabin with the others following behind.

long story short — thirty minutes later, they walked out of lucy's office with slightly deflated egos and a very firm scolding echoing in their ears. in the end, they'd caved and agreed to take on the travel show as a team.

now back at their desks, each of them was hurriedly wrapping up loose ends, preparing to hand off their previous projects to other colleagues.

"i can't believe i have to work with that jerk for a whole month," ina groaned, typing aggressively on her laptop.

"girl, you've been working with him for the past six months already," juwon replied dryly without looking up.

"yeah, but that was just him sitting across from me—minding his own business. now i have to actually coordinate with him. ugh, and god knows how many meetings. lord, just strike me down now," ina said dramatically, flopping back in her chair for effect.

juwon chuckled, shaking her head. "i'll never understand your hate for him. i mean, he seems like a gentleman. and not to mention, he's smoking hot."

ina choked mid-sip of her coffee, breaking into a fit of coughs. she turned to juwon with a look of horror. "lim juwon, you better get your eyes checked."

"oh, come on, kim ina. you're seriously telling me that—putting your 'i-hate-jay' agenda aside—park jay isn't even a little bit of an eye candy? not even a smidge?" juwon teased, eyebrows raised in amusement.

ina scoffed, then muttered under her breath, "okay, maybe he's not bad to look at, but that doesn't make up for his stinky-ass behavior. he makes me want to slam my head against a wall at least three times a day."

"still not that bad," juwon replied casually, eyes already focused back on her screen.

ina grumbled something incomprehensible before sighing and getting back to work.

••••••••••

"alright, now that we're all on the same page," lucy began, placing four thick files in front of them, "i want the four of you to ditch your desks for the next month and use the conference room on the third floor until this show's planning is complete."

the four of them exchanged glances, files now in hand.

"make the most of that space. i want complete focus, no distractions. this project is bringing in a lot of money and credibility for our agency—that's why i've picked the four of you specifically. understood?" lucy looked at each of them pointedly.

all four nodded silently, trying not to wince.

jay and ina exchanged a sideways glance—both already dreading the month ahead.

sharing a room with each other five days a week, plus weekends, sounded like a nightmare wrapped in a headache.

"this is an idol travel show," lucy continued. "you know the kind of attention and viewership that brings. that's why i wanted young blood on this. divide the work however you want—but keep me in the loop, got it?"

they all began scribbling mental notes as lucy paced in front of them, still firing off instructions.

"i'll have someone move your things to the conference room. i'll be dropping by at least twice a day for updates. all the best, alright? give it your best shot!"

with one final smile, lucy dismissed them.

"no sleep for us this month, then," heeseung sighed, hoisting his backpack over his shoulder.

the others chuckled, each dragging themselves back to their desks to gather their things.

"but i'm highkey excited," ina said, eyes twinkling. "this is like... a dream project."

the brightness in her smile made the other three momentarily forget their exhaustion—even jay. as much as he hated agreeing with her, he couldn't deny it. this was a golden opportunity.

even if it came at the cost of spending an entire month working closely with kim ina.