#beyinuo

— COMPANY NOTICE

ZHOU YINUO has joined lime entertainment as of JULY 30, 2025.

ever since becoming a trainee, there's a list of people she hasn't been able to spend time with. the first is her own brother, but changmin seems busy with his own thing ( which she will interrogate him for at a later time, that's a promise ). another person would be @beyinuo, company that she dearly missed—not just because of the puppy looks yinuo would always give her, not because of the way compliments easily stumble out of yinuo's lips as soon as claudine walks into the room either! the other girl has a colorful personality that claudine enjoys being around, it's no doubt that yinuo simply has this aura that brings out the warmth in people—although claudine does like teasing her too.

"i know it's been a while since we met up, and i promise i'll make it up to you," claudine says, gently holding onto yinuo's wrist as she flashes her a smile. "you name it! i'll treat you today, okay? whatever you want. don't be fooled by the fact that most of my income is trainee allowance lately." on top of school and the general trainee woes, she hasn't been able to do much else—claudine is more fortunate than most though, so she has been surviving just fine on her own.

"or are you going to tell me that you'd rather spend your time indoors instead?" claudine questions with a raised eyebrow, remembering how yinuo tried to convince the two of them to stay in the last time they met up. "with how my limbs have been aching lately, i wouldn't stay no to that, and i would've asked you to massage me—just kidding! besides, i meant it when i said i want to make it up to you this time! maybe next time, we could go to a spa together." right now, that sounds like a dream.

< w. @beyinuo >

yinuo is a crazy good bartender, don't get him wrong-- but stevie's been subjected to some...conconctions the older has made. some pretty good, and others that have left him ill in the next few hours. her creativity is impressive, he will admit, but she jumps leaps and bounds behind the possible realms of normal drinking that stevie never expects. he never knows what he's going to get.

it's why his smile's both parts nervous and excited when she pushes the drink towards him with nothing other than a grin that only speaks trouble. is she psyching him out before he even drinks it? one look at the glass she's given him has stevie pausing. he swallows, suddenly apprehensive.

she doesn't know a damn thing this man is saying.

he's drunk as a skunk, and sua's in the process of helping him out of his chair and into the car waiting outside for him. she casts a critical eye to the pile of money he leaves for yinuo, nodding her head in satisfaction when she sees a good amount of bills there. gesturing a quick brb to the other vaguely before she focuses all of her attention to the man. he's switched the topic to something about finances and company policies that sua can't make heads or tails of. she's all too happy to stuff him into the back of a cab, scribble a fake number on his arm and see him off.

joomi was, oddly, happy at first.

but as is always the case, especially for jung joomi, happiness does not last.

at least this time it makes sense. who is ever happy over a breakup they didn't want? who ever wants to lose one of the best parts of their life?

joomi was originally in his "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" era.

it took about a week for that to fade and leave absence in its wake. now, it does feel like he's missing something. where does he go when he's sad now? who does he trust to cheer him up, or keep him safe? where does he go when he needs a reminder that he isn't alone in this world?

he doesn't have answers to those questions. joomi hates not having answers. the right answer is probably himself. he should make himself happy – keep himself safe and cheer himself up. but he did that for the first 18 years of his life. he's sick of it now. he doesn't want to, especially now that he knows what it's like to not be alone – to love someone worth loving.

maybe it's bad to not want to be alone. maybe it means he's a pathetic and incompetent human being who can't function without a romantic interest to revolve around. or maybe it's normal. joomi doesn't really know. he doesn't really want to think about it so much, either.

so he decides to kill two birds with one stone, or at least try. he'll find some company and maybe drink enough to not think so much anymore.

it's a little embarrassing to drink at a bar a guy who was once in love with him owns, which just so happens to be in the restaurant jinyoung worked at, but it's also easier. at least everyone that works here knows what happened without him having to explain anything. he submits to the mortifying ordeal of being known in favor of not having to justify himself for being weird.

in some ways it's nice to be among friends, too. it also hurts a little, because there are more traces of jinyoung in this place than most, but he's pretty sure any bar would remind him of jinyoung, so whatever.

he doesn't know if he and yinuo are really friends yet. he does know she's a good bartender, that she's pretty upbeat, and that she is not attracted to men. all of those qualities make her about the best person he could spend time with right now, in joomi's opinion.

so it brings him to her bar after training on a thursday. it is, thankfully, not too crowded, so he won't feel guilty for yapping yinuo's ear off if that ends up being what he decides to do.

"how much do i have to pay you for a glass of soju?" he asks, "or can i leech a pity drink off of you for free?" he's mostly kidding. maybe half kidding. he could really use a drink and his savings are not looking too hot these days.

jindallae is busy.

then again, so is nayoung. it's what brings them to now, nayoung sitting at the bar at her friend's restaurant, waiting for him to finish up his duties as manager on a saturday night.

she doesn't mind waiting, really. in some ways, it's nice to be somewhere other than sr media, the axis building, or her apartment. she can enjoy the change of scenery without actually having to talk to people, which she has not particularly wanted to do lately. jindallae is one of her least annoying friends, and someone she hasn't seen in a while, so he's an exception, apparently. at least today.

she sits for a while, though, alternating between checking her phone and waiting in silence. her notifications have started slowing down now that next gen is behind them, nayoung slowly fading back into obscurity again. that's what it feels like, anyway. she knows it'll be different in time, though. sr media wouldn't have trusted her to represent their company on the show if they didn't have bigger plans for her.

it's just a lot of waiting. but luckily she's good at that.

she gets thirsty, though. she underestimated how long she would have to wait and didn't bring any water with her.

she is sitting at the bar, though, so she says, "excuse me," to the bartender – a girl who seems exceptionally energetic, based on nayoung's observations of he interactions with the other patrons. "can i get some water? do i need to buy something?" she wouldn't mind if she had to, but she prefers to save money where she can. "i'm jindallae's friend, so..."