The Demon, The Angel, And The City of Sound (Chaelisa)

Chapter 3: Not Like Batman

[sorry for not updating for a while, I just got back from Japan and my sleep schedule is super messed up ]

Lisa quietly pushes open the door to her apartment, the light from the hallway spilling into room. It's around 2 in the morning and she's just finished her rounds for the shipment that came in this week. Lisa enters, closing the door behind her quietly as she flicks the lights on. Her cat Leo greets her, and she kneels down to give him a loving scratch behind his ears.

As much as Lisa loved to appear wealthy and professional with her fashion, her apartment demonstrated quite the opposite. Aside from the kitchen, the front room was barren, spare the clothes strewn about the floor and the leather couch in the corner of the room that belonged to the previous owner. Technically, this apartment wasn't hers at all, but she tried not to think about it too much.

Lisa strides into the bedroom to change into something more warm. She settles on an oversized black hoodie and some sweatpants. The apartment was always irreparably cold. Lisa tried to fix the AC herself many times, but she could never get it to work for very long before it broke down again. She just learned to accept that some things were going to be broken, no matter how hard you tried to mend them.

Lisa takes a deep breath in, falling backwards onto her mattress as she exhales, imagining as if she's she's plunging into unfathomable depths. It's morbid, yes; but it brings her peace. It's just enough to get her on the precipice of sleep....

Until she hears the muffled ring of her cellphone. Lisa's eyes shoot open, and she's quick to fish the phone out of the pocket of her trousers. The caller ID reads, Jennie. She picks up and presses it to her ear angrily.

"What do you want?"
"You know you could always settle for a 'Hello' instead of being fucking rude."
"Jennie it's 2 AM."
"Oh poor thing," Jennie whines sarcastically. "Was I interrupting your beauty sleep?"

Lisa sits upright angrily.
"You know, now that you mention it- "
"It's called a rhetorical question, Lisa."

Most of the time with Jennie it's like this. They'd grown up together, both of their families being part of the business. They even slept together a few times, but she found her a little to involved emotionally and it became exhausting after a while. She eventually told Jennie she couldn't do it anymore and the whole passive aggressive act just got more intense. They fought a lot more now, but Lisa knew she needed Jennie in her life regardless of what happened. She was important not only to her, but also as an asset to the Manobans.

The Kims took the approach of infiltrating the media- whether it be the journalism or, Jennie's trade, news reporting. If it weren't for the Kims, Lisa's father would've been denounced as a criminal across every news outlet and the entire Manoban family would be under investigation. She'd be forever indebted to Jennie for being able to live a carefree life.

"There's something pressing we have to talk about." Jennie starts up again, her tone solemn.
"Shoot."
There's a slight pause for a moment on the other end of the line as Jennie shuffles around.

"There's a new contender entering the business... and they're trying wipe out the Manobans' stakes entirely."

There's a moment of silence before Lisa erupts into a crescendoing belly laugh.
"Ah, that was a good one, whew." Lisa sighs, wiping a tear of laughter.
"Lisa, I'm serious." Jennie says flatly.
"And I'm straight."
"Lisa!" Jennie yells. Her voice is so loud, Lisa nearly drops the phone. "Just shut up and listen!"
"Okay okay, jeez. Calm down." Lisa relents. "What's going on?"

Lisa can hear some shuffling again before Jennie speaks.
"They call him 'the Joker.'"
"Like Batma-"
"No, not like fucking Batman. This guy is real and he's trying to cut off your distribution and steal your clientele."
"Jennie, that's not possible."
"Oh really? Have you even bothered to watch the news recently?"
"Not really, your face annoys me."
"Oh my god you are useless." Jennie groans. "Just google a name, will you?"
"Alright."

Lisa puts the phone on speaker and scans around in the dark for a moment, eventually affixing her eyes on her laptop. She grabs it and opens it up, the light jarring her vision slightly. Lisa opens up a new tab.
"What's the name?"

"Roseanne Park."

"Roseanne..." She repeats.
It only takes her first name for the Google results to pop up. There's a photo of a beautiful, strawberry-blonde in a stunning black dress attached to the headline.

"Wait a second..." Lisa pauses, her mind connecting the dots. "That's Park Chaeyoung."

"Mhm. Do you remember her?"
"Is that even a question? She was the prettiest girl to ever walk the halls of Yongsan."
"Yeah. And now she's about to completely gut it and turn it into her little philanthropy project."
"Shit... that's one of the only secure drop points we have in the city..."

Lisa opens up the article and scans the words quickly.
"Renovation on the old school building is scheduled to begin-"
"WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK??!!" Lisa cries. "Jennie you're just telling me this now?!!"

"I literally just found out this morning, what was I supposed to do?"

Lisa slams the laptop shut. She buries her face in her hands, letting out an angry sigh.

"Now hold on, drama queen." Jennie cuts in. "It's not the end of the world yet. We've still got other secure drop points in neighboring districts. It might be a little more risky to transport, but we're smart. The Manoban empire isn't going to collapse overnight."

"Well what are we going to do about Ms. Park?" Lisa questions.

"That's where you come in. There's going to be a big celebration with a lot of big investors attending and I need you to infiltrate, get close to Ms. Park, and see what you can find out."

Lisa weighs Jennie's words for a moment. Who'd be in charge of delivery? Well, she could put Jong-Hyuk on. He'd served her and her father for over twenty years. She presumed Jong-Hyuk was trustworthy enough. But then it occurred to her why this was hers to deal with anyways.

"Why me?" Lisa asks.

There's a pause for a moment, then Jennie answers, grumbling.

"You're the only one who can seduce a woman..."

Lisa immediately bursts into a fit of laughter, falling onto the mattress, clutching her stomach comically.
"Jesus CHRIST, none of you have fucking game! This is gold."
"Oh, shut up." Jennie whines. "If I could've chosen any other person in the world I would have in a heartbeat."
"You fell for it once too Jennie-poo, don't forget." Lisa teases, smirking to herself.

"You better shut up right now before I drive down there and kick your teeth in." Her words are forceful, as if she's pushing them through her clenched jaw.

"Okay okay, enough banter. When is this event exactly?"
"Two weeks."
"TWO WEEKS?!" Lisa bolts upright.
"Yup. So you'd better hurry up and find your dress before it's too late."
"You're really throwing me under the bus with this one."
"It's my job. Which, now that you mention it, I have to get back to, soooo yeah. KJ out!"

The other end of the line goes silent, and Lisa is left at the edge of the mattress; disheveled, exhausted. But a sly smile begins to creep across her face. She plugs her phone in and settles back down in a hammock position on the floor mattress, grinning uncontrollably.

"Roseanne Park.."

Lisa whispers to herself. She lets out a giggle, then shuts her eyes and lets the darkness envelope her.