Lisa had learned a long time ago how to survive rooms like this.
Not because she was born into them like Wonyoung had been, but because she built herself into something these people couldn’t ignore. Fame had opened the doors. Money kept them open. And somewhere along the way, she became just as dangerous as the elites who used to look down on girls like her.
Now they invited her everywhere.
Wanted photos with her. Deals with her. Connections through her.
Standing near the towering ice sculpture with a champagne glass balanced loosely between manicured fingers, Lisa looked perfectly at home among the luxury and politics of the ballroom. Black silk draped effortlessly against her figure, diamonds flashing at her throat every time the camera lights hit. Untouchable. Expensive. Calm. Even if internally, she found most of these events painfully repetitive.
She noticed Wonyoung approaching before the younger woman even spoke. Lisa’s lips curved faintly around the rim of her champagne glass. "Aim for the investors first." she murmured smoothly. "The board members usually duck faster. " The reply came effortless, perfectly timed beneath the soft orchestra music filling the ballroom.
A camera flash went off nearby.
Lisa shifted automatically toward it. Polished smile. Graceful posture. Every inch the global superstar they expected her to be. The second it passed, the expression disappeared again.
"You lasted longer than I expected tonight."
That carried actual amusement.
Her eyes drifted briefly toward the crowd Wonyoung had escaped from. Older businessmen, luxury executives, heirs pretending they were more important than they actually were. Lisa knew the type too well. Men who suddenly acted enlightened because they discovered female idols could make them money. "What was it this time?" she asked lightly. "Somebody explaining the economy to you like you weren’t smarter than half this room? Or did they try to explain your own world to you like you weren’t the one they were here to impress?"
Then her gaze shifted across the ballroom again, scanning, reading, calculating without effort. People who thought they were subtle. People who weren’t.
A small tilt of her head.
"This place is getting predictable."
Her eyes lingered on a man laughing too loudly at something unfunny. His wife stood nearby with a perfect, practiced smile. Polished, composed, carefully maintained like everything else in this room. Not far off, his mistress watched the same scene with a sharper, quieter expression, the kind that didn’t bother pretending anymore.
Her gaze then back to Wonyoung. A faint, dangerous kind of amusement settled in her expression.
"We should make the best of the predicament."
She said it like it was the most normal idea in the world.
Her gaze flicked briefly to a passing businessman, then back to Wonyoung with a slight lift of her brow.
"Who approaches first. Who embarrasses themselves within five minutes. Who’s actually powerful enough not to. "
"Makes this whole thing at least a little entertaining."
Then, almost lazily, she swirled her champagne once.
"In a room full of people playing power games… we might as well be the better players. "
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