"STOP!" the choreographer snapped and whirled around, pointing an accusing finger at Namil, who flinched. "You're off, again."

Jiwook took in a sharp breath, but said nothing. This choreographer had been like this as long as Jiwook could remember. They called him Kyle Lee because he lived in America, and "Mr. Lee" felt that made him better than all of them (and evidently gave him the right to have a horribly done taper fade.) Never mind the fact that Jiwook was actually from America, but Kyle found an excuse to berate Jiwook anyway. That was the one thing about Kyle that Jiwook honestly respected - it didn't matter where you were from or what your gender was, he treated all of them like they were equally worthless.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lee," Namil said, eyes downcast.

"Stop apologizing, and start doing your damn job!" Kyle clenched his fists like he was going to hit Namil, but restrained himself and resorted to snarling instead. "Why the hell did you even try to get this job anyway, if you couldn't handle it?!"

No one said anything, lest the ire be directed towards them.

"AGAIN!" Kyle shouted. An intern pressed play on their sound system, and the music began again.

"Chin up, Nam-i," Cheolsu said, ruffling Namil's hair while they waited in the back alley of Cosmic Entertainment for their car. "His actions don't reflect on you."

Namil nodded, but Jiwook could plainly tell that the maknae didn't believe Cheolsu at all. He muttered, "Thanks..." before stepping to the edge of their group and playing something on his phone.

Jiwook felt a cold breeze brush his neck, and his blood became ice in turn. He knew that feeling. It had been in his apartment only a few days ago.

Cheolsu turned around and cocked his head. "Are you okay?" he asked sincerely.

"I...I have to go..." Jiwook said slowly.

"What? Are you sure? You look pale, we can go home instead of to dinner."

Jiwook shook his head emphatically. "No...no, I just remembered I have to do something. I'm sorry. Bye."

He quickly turned around and ran down the street, ignoring the concerned gazes of all of his bandmates, one in particular.

"You got my message, then," Yun Seo said to a panting Jiwook in an alleyway.

Jiwook glared at Yun Seo as he caught his breath. "Hard not to...you brushed against...the nape of my neck...with your Veil."

Yun Seo smirked (playfully?) and leaned against the wall. "Well, would you rather I walk up to you and say what we are up to and let your bandmates know?"

Guess he couldn't argue with that. Jiwook groaned and stretched his arms. "Well, why do you want to meet me in a back alley? If you didn't have literal dimension warping powers, this would look really bad for me."

The Listener's expression turned blank. Jiwook could watch as the wheels turned in his head. "I hadn't considered that. I will come up with something convincing so that we are not suspicious when my Veil is not active."

Jiwook blinked at him. "You...didn't think of that?!"

"I was...admittedly preoccupied." Yun Seo got off the wall and straightened his suit. "No matter. Not a problem for today. I investigated what we spoke of, and you were right. Six of the victims had direct connections with Listeners."

That was not good.

That was really not good.

"How...close?" Jiwook asked, swallowing hard. "How close were they?"

"That, I am unclear about. One was a Voice, like you. One was a business associate. The others...their connection is dubious, but they were reported directly to the Keep."

Jiwook had a non-supernatural chill go up his spine at that. As far as his research had gone when he finally had a name for Listeners, the Keep was the highest authority in Seoul. That was where he had become a Voice. He knew there was something higher for South Korea as a whole, but it was not really talked about with the Voices. There was a reason Listeners rarely showed their faces to Voices, anyway.

"The investigation led me here, to the business on the fourteenth floor." Yun Seo pointed to the building behind Jiwook. "It's a financial advising firm. They are small, but they have an impressively high net worth. Any guess why?"

"They work with Listeners."

"Precisely. They take human clients, but their...after-hours clientele is what brings in the most money. Incidentally, it was one of these human clients that went missing."

"The associate," Jiwook realized.

"Yes. Now, we have two choices. We can go in ourselves now, while their human clients are inside and their defenses are lower, or we can go in during the evening, when the defenses are higher."

"You want to...bust in?"

"No. I want to interrogate." Yun Seo's voice was so calm at that comment that it reminded Jiwook who he was dealing with. "What option do you choose? I brought a Mask to obscure your identity either way."

That was comforting. "I don't see why we can't do it now. What's our cover story?" Jiwook asked, stretching.

"Seojin told me you like acting."

"I'm an idol, half of us do. Now what's the story?"

"I am a representative of the Keep, and you're my Voice." Yun Seo pulled the mask out of his blazer pocket. Jiwook didn't question how it fit in there. "With your permission, of course."

"Sure, why not." Jiwook sighed and took the mask. It was solid white plastic, but he knew better - he could see the swirling frost underneath it. "God, you couldn't have gotten one that had a mouthpiece?"

"Do you honestly want people to recognize you from your voice?" Yun Seo asked.

"Touché. Okay, what's our safety system?"

"Blink once for yes, twice for no, three times for urgent help."

"Sounds standard. And you're not going to coil me, right?"

"Never without permission." Yun Seo began putting on black leather gloves. Jiwook guessed this was to cover up the sigil carved into his hand.

Jiwook frowned. "You're not wearing a mask?"

"Listeners of my station don't do that."

Well, that wasn't cryptic at all. Jiwook looked down at the mask, then lifted it to his face.

That's when the searing pain began. Jiwook could feel the mask pushing at his cheekbones, moving them to be lower than they were, turning his nose up, making his chin harsher, and moving his brow bone up. It melted his lips. Without coiling or a chemical anesthetic, there was no pain relief. He felt his bones break, reform, and break again, over and over...

And just like that, it was over. He lowered his hands. The mask stayed stuck to his face, disguising him both above and below.

Yun Seo gazed at Jiwook with...concern? "Are you all right?"

Blink.

Yun Seo sighed in relief. "Good, that's good. I have heard that's painful for humans."

Jiwook pointed at him once, aggressively. Then you wear it next time, asshole.

"Again. Not appropriate for me to wear one."

Jiwook pointed at himself. Oh, and it's fine for me, then?!

"Sorry." Yun Seo extended a hand. "Shall we?"

The idol rolled his eyes, but took his hand.

Yun Seo smiled. "Into the belly of the beast we go, then." He led Jiwook to the entrance of the office building, and Jiwook could feel the Veil subsiding around him. The mask eased his anxiety - honestly, he just was irritated that Yun Seo didn't get a prettier mask. If he was going to rearrange his face, he might as well have something fun on it.

They walked into the building, straight into a pristine lobby with a marble reception table. A few staff members and businesspeople gazed at Jiwook in confusion, but he took significant comfort in the confusion as opposed to the adoration he was used to. Being anonymous was nice.

"Hello," Yun Seo said gently to one of the receptionists, a younger college-aged woman with cat-eye glasses. His smooth voice drew the attention of both receptionists. "We have an appointment with AIF Consulting at 16:00. Apologies, we know we're early." Jiwook realized that Yun Seo had booked multiple appointments.

The receptionist directly in front of them nodded eagerly and smiled. "I-I will call them for you. Please wait." She pressed a button on her stark black desk phone. "Hello, yes, your 4 o'clock is here for you?" There was muttering on the other line before she said, "Okay, thank you." Finally, she hung up. "They are ready for you, just go up the elevator."

Yun Seo gave her an effortless smile. "Thank you...Mira, yes?"

She beamed, glancing down at her nametag, then looking up and nodding. "Y-Yes!"

"Well, thank you, Mira." He bowed slightly to show some respect and began walking to the elevator, Jiwook following close behind. Jiwook took it upon himself to press the elevator button, if only to sell the charade that he was an assistant.

Ding. Yun Seo stepped into the empty elevator first, followed by Jiwook. The doors closed, leaving the two of them with a blinking red light from a security camera.

Yun Seo turned his hand toward Jiwook. "Last chance."

Jiwook blinked twice. No. I'm not backing out now.

The Listener nodded, turning back towards the doors. They watched as the numbers climbed in silence. ...11...12...13...14.

Ding.

The doors opened to a shockingly normal office - rows upon rows of wooden doors to carpeted meeting rooms with glass walls, with a middle-aged woman sitting at a wooden reception desk. The insignia on the front said Achieve Independence Financial Consulting in gold letters.

The AIF receptionist looked up and smiled, though Jiwook noted it felt as much like a mask as what he was wearing. Her hair was graying at the roots, barely concealed by the layers of box dye. "Hello, are you Mr. Yun?"

"That would be me, yes." Yun Seo laid the charm on thick. "I hope you do not mind my associate joining us."

"Of course. We are experienced in these matters. Please wait a moment, someone will come to get you shortly. Make yourselves comfortable."

Yun Seo nodded, sitting down. Jiwook elected to keep standing - even though he would benefit from sitting down after the nightmare he had experienced earlier that day with their choreographer, he had to keep this charade up. He scoped out the surroundings, but the office was shockingly, deeply mundane.

That must be the point, Jiwook mused. The mundane is what protects you from the truth.

A middle-aged man came out of one of the offices. "Mr. Yun," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Please follow me."

Yun Seo nodded and stood up, gesturing for Jiwook to follow him. Jiwook nodded once and followed a few steps behind, trying to seem as imposing as possible.

They entered the nondescript office. The middle-aged man sat behind the desk while Yun Seo sat across from him. Jiwook's eyes scanned the room - no cameras that he could see, but he was unsure of listening devices. "Now, Mr. Yun, I understand that you and your associate were referred to us?"

"Yes. I was told that you can manage some of my more specific financial concerns."

"Of course. Well, we do need proof of your status."

Yun Seo gestured to Jiwook. "My Voice." Jiwook nodded his head in confirmation. "You will find that his Mask is authentic."

"Will you allow me to test?"

Yun Seo met Jiwook's eyes, and Jiwook blinked once. Let him. Yun Seo, in turn, nodded at the middle-aged man, who stood up once again and approached Jiwook. He held his hands up to the edges of Jiwook's mask and tried pulling. It remained firmly fused to his skin.

"Impressive." The man turned back to Yun Seo. "The Masking process is particularly painful for someone who is not coiled."

"He had no complaints," Yun Seo responded. Jiwook's eyes caught the faintest mist fading from vision. He's scanning the room for bugs, the idol realized.

"Once again, truly impressive." The man sat back down in his chair. "What type of wealth management are you looking for?"

"You have not given us your Signifier."

The man smiled condescendingly, his air of professionalism dropping. "Well, you have not given us yours."

Us. Jiwook had thought the man in front of him was human. His fingers were much, much too warm for a Listener. Now, this confirmed it. This was a human, and judging from the use of "us", a coiled one at that. Jiwook watched the smiling man more closely and realized his eyes were glassy, the pupils blown.

Whoever was in charge was actively jerking that man around like a puppet.

Yun Seo seemed unfazed, which Jiwook used to fuel his own resolve. "I am on business from the Keep. State your or I will rip the coils out of your thrall."

Thrall. That was used as a pejorative for Voices, though mostly towards their creators for how they treated them. I hope you know what you're doing, Jiwook thought to himself, hoping Yun Seo didn't get them both killed.

"Very well." The coiled man went slack in the chair, eyes closed. The door opened behind Yun Seo, and three rugged-looking men entered.

They brought the cold with them.

Three Listeners versus one Listener and one Human.

Jiwook wished he could say many expletives in that moment. Instead, Yun Seo spoke.

"Pleasure to meet you face to face," Yun Seo said with a dangerous grin. "Shall we begin?"