Day 3 - 03:21 PM

POV: Jaehee Mode

Jaehee's desk was currently covered in documents of many kinds. She'd signed off on so many different projects that her wrists were starting to ache. The sheer amount of emails that she had responded to was staggering. Checking the time, she noted that it was only half-past three. She would be here for at least another five and half hours.

Quietly groaning, she folded her arms over her keyboard and rested her head on them, knowing that once she got up again, there would be a slew of gibberish filling the document that she currently had opened. Jaehee didn't care, she was exhausted.

Thinking back on the day's events, a small smile graced her face as she recalled the moments she spent holding Zai and Zen's hands. The way their fingers had curled around hers, and the warmth and happiness that had exuded from the three of them as they talked over their meals as if they were living without a care in the world. She replayed most of her favorite parts in her head; Zen lifting up her hand and stating that all three of them were together, Zai defiantly calling Jaehee her girlfriend. She prayed that Mr. Han didn't come into her office to see her quickly reddening face.

Jaehee was startled out of her reverie by her phone ringing from its placement on the desk an arm's length away. Picking it up, she checked the caller I.D. and was surprised to see Zen's face and number staring back at her. She fumbled with the phone for a second before answering.

"J-Jaehee Kang, C&R International...how can I help you?" Why did she use her business call response? Weren't they friends?

"Jaehee! What's up? You know you don't have to be all formal with me like that right?"

"Ah..yes. I apologize. I was not expecting you to call me. Was there something you needed, Zen?"

"Yes, actually. I just got home and I haven't checked in with Zai yet. Did you call her after you got back to the office?" Oh, she'd forgotten to call Zai. Jaehee nearly dropped the phone in surprise.

"N-no! I forgot! I should do it now...but...Zen.." She heard a laugh from the other side of the phone.

"It's okay Jaehee! I get it. You call her, and I'll call her after you're done. 'Kay?"

"Okay... Thank you for reminding me, Zen."

"No problem, babe!" The call ended with a click, and this time, Jaehee really did drop her phone.

Babe.

Zen had called her babe.

Jaehee let her head fall against the keyboard as she felt her cheeks heat up to near boiling. She was in it deep.

When Jumin Han passed by his assistant's office a few minutes later, he noted her facedown position against the computer and the multiple paragraphs of nonsense that were currently filling up the screen due to multiple keys being pressed at the same time. He decided to leave her be while making a mental note to give her at least a short break sometime this week. Maybe he really was working her too hard.

Day 3 - 04:08 PM

Zai was in the middle of looking for a cheap laptop for sale on her phone when it buzzed. Her face brightened as soon as Jaehee's icon appeared on the screen, and she accepted the call immediately.

"Jaehee, hi! I was worried you weren't going to call me today."

"I'm sorry, I was busy with work as soon as I returned to the office, and then Zen called."

"Oh yeah, Zen called me a short while ago and told me that you were going to call."

"He did?"

"Mhm. Apparently, he was a little flustered for some reason. What did you two talk about?" There was a quiet squeal from the other side of the phone, and Zai worried that she might have broken Jaehee on accident.

"I..uh...hecalledmebabe."

"... What? Sorry Jaehee, I didn't hear that last part."

"Zen...called me babe." The line was silent for a few seconds before Jaehee's eardrums were almost shattered by the scream that came from her phone. "Zai!? Zai are you okay?"

"I'm fine Jaehee! But how are you? That's so cute! Why didn't I think of that?"

"What? Think of what?"

"Pet names, Jaehee! Zen calls us babe, but what am I supposed to call you and him? I think Seven has a monopoly on 'cutie' too." Zai was so focused on coming up with a nickname to use for her two favorite people that she didn't even notice Jaehee's stunned silence.

"Zai...aren't pet names for people who are dating?"

"Well, we're not dating and Zen uses pet names with us, and Seven and Yoosung aren't dating and Seven calls him pet names all the time. I think it's okay, Jaehee."

There were a few moments where Zai was worried that Jaehee would reject the idea, but her worries were assuaged when she said, "Alright, I...suppose it doesn't hurt. Come up with one if you'd like."

"Yes! Thank you, Jaehee! I'm not going to stop until I come up with something perfect. I hope your work goes well! I believe in you!" The call ended, and filled with enthusiasm and a new urge to brainstorm cute names, Zai quickly dug out one of her journals and began to write.

Meanwhile, in her office, Jaehee was sitting in her chair; stunned for the second time that afternoon. Zai believed in her.

With a newfound source of energy, she plowed through her work with record-breaking speed and left the building early for the first time in weeks.

Day 3 - 07:55 PM

It was somewhat late in the evening when Zai finally found the perfect (used) laptop and ordered it. She'd have to drive to the electronics store tomorrow to actually pick it up, but it was the only way she could get it without giving away the address to Rika's apartment, which was something she was often expressly told not to do. Even so, she'd replied to all the emails about the party, she had already eaten, and there was nothing else she needed to do immediately.

Lying against the headrest of the bed, she opened the RFA app to see whether anyone was on and was nearly startled enough to throw the phone across the room when she saw the wall of bright green scrolling text. Zai felt her heart speed up as she saw Unknown in the chat.

Learning forward almost imperceptibly, Zai eyed the chat and held her breath.

/ Unknown: ... /

/ Unknown: Traitor. /

/ Unknown: You can't save them. You can't save anyone. /

/ Unknown: ...You couldn't even save me. /

Almost as soon as he had arrived, he was gone, and the chat screen returned to normal. Zai noticed Seven was online and scrambled to tell him about the encounter even though her hands were shaking wildly.

Zai has joined the chat room.

/ Zai: s e ven? somethgi n ha ppen ed /

/ 707: Zai? What's wrong? /

/ Zai: h E got t in aga in. /

/ 707: ? ? Who got in again? The hacker!? /

/ Zai: y es... s evvn im sc ared /

/ 707: No! Don't be scared! That's just what he wants! /

/ Zai: iI ca an t he ! /

Taking a deep breath, Zai tried to get her bearings. She'd never responded like this to Unknown before, but after the messages she got before her last reset, she realized that she really didn't know anything about him. He'd tried many times to take her to Magenta or whatever that was, and he either succeeded, forcing Zai to reset, blew up the apartment (which also forced her to reset), or failed and blew himself up. If she were being honest, none of those results were looking very good to her at the moment, despite his threats and apparent vendetta against the RFA.

After she had sufficiently calmed down, she opened the chat once more. Unsurprisingly, there were several messages from Seven asking if she was okay.

/ 707: Zai? Zai!? Are you okay? /

/ 707: She isn't saying anything... /

/ 707: OMG what if she had a heart attack and died? /

Before she could reassure Seven that she was alive and well, the chat was interrupted once more.

Jumin Han has joined the chat room.

ZEN has joined the chat room.

/ ZEN: WHAT HAPPENED TO ZAI!? SEVEN DO SOMETHING! /

/ 707: AAAAA I DON'T KNOW AAAA /

The two of them traded shocked emojis back and forth multiple times before Zai started to get a headache from staring at the flashing images.

/ Zai: I didn't have a heart attack! Stop spamming and calm down! /

/ Jumin Han: I agree. This is all quite disorienting. /

/ ZEN: Zai! You're okay! /

/ Zai: Of course I'm okay. I was just a little freaked out. /

/ 707: That's understandable! I don't know how this guy is getting past my walls. I'll have to set up more fail safes. /

/ Jumin Han: Is this about the hacker? /

/ 707: Yeah, apparently Zai saw him infiltrate the app a few minutes ago and it rattled her pretty good. /

/ Zai: It's actually not that big a deal, I just wasn't expecting it... /

/ ZEN: That's no excuse! You shouldn't feel unsafe in that apartment! /

/ Zai: Thank you for caring about me, Zen, but it's really ok. Nothing bad happened, so don't worry, alright? /

/ ZEN: ..fine..But I still don't like it! /

/ 707: I re-fortified my firewalls and changed the algorithm for the chat lock, so we should be good for now. As soon as I figure out how he's getting into my system I can keep him out permanently. /

/ Jumin Han: Do you need any assistance, Luciel? /

/ 707: Aahh, well... I haven't seen my cutie Yoosung since yesterday! You should bring him here so he can keep me company while I work! /

/ Jumin Han: Fine. I'll send Driver Kim to pick him up after class tomorrow and drop him off at your house. /

/ 707: Wait, seriously?! /

/ Jumin Han: Yes. You just said he'd help you work. So I'm sending him to you. /

/ 707: Sweet! I should clean. /

/ ZEN: As if you would ever clean your house. /

/ 707: True! I have a maid for that! /

Zai sighed with relief as the tension over the hacker's break in slowly dissipated. His presence was wiped away the moment he was locked out of the app, but his last message still echoed in her head ominously.

You couldn't even save me...

She didn't know what it was Unknown needed saving from, but if someone else had failed before, the maybe it was her turn to try.