With inevitability, the time of this afternoon passed as it has on innumerable other occasions.

  Seulgi spent all of her time, as she frequently did, in front of her computer doing research. She found each of the parts that the contract called for, and she also found the schematics for the parts.

  She was not an engineer, so she had a lot to research. She knew that she was going to have to tap some of her contacts to expin what a lot of what this stuff meant. She could guess or intuit most of it, but the nitty-gritty of how and why the things work still eluded her. Then, trying to get all of these things to work together was beyond her. It was like trying to work on a Swiss watch blindfolded. She knew that she was out of her depth, so she was making a mental note of who to call to have them expin it to her.

  She got some more tea, performed her ablutions, stretched her back and neck, got a quick energy fix with a power bar, and got back into some deep research.

  There were people who assumed that she was meditating because they kept hearing her say “Ohm.”

  She buried herself in research. It was a good thing that she was an avid reader and used to sitting in pce and reading for long periods. She was able to get through most of the information with ease. But, as she was not a specialist in this field, she had to dig deeper into specific information. Once again, she marveled at this Font of Wisdom

  There were all sorts of things that she had a basic knowledge of already. Pstics, ceramics, metals used for leads, heating, baking, and the bare facts of how these things combined make a number of different things. She had seen many schematics on how they make the circuit boards that you pce the components on and they bake the boards.

  She had called one of her friends that knew someone that knew someone who made various circuit boards. She actually set up an appointment to tour the facility to have a much clearer idea of what happens. After all, reading everything that should be is great for theory. But practical knowledge was equally important. Who knows, they might actually let her py with the machines making the boards! She doubted it, but she could dream.

  When she came up on something that the internet could not break up into easily digestible chunks, she would make a phone call to some of her more technically minded colleagues.

  Some of these people that she contacted were used to her and her ways of calling up at random and asking archaic questions. Normally, they’d just ugh and think “Seulgi is being Seulgi,’ and that would be that.

  Occasionally, she’d ask a question so bizarre that they’d have to go to some books and look it up themselves. Rarely, these masters of their field would ask to get back to her because whatever she was working on was just too technical.

  Granted, fair being fair, they would occasionally call her for information or advice.

  There were even times that she had to tell them that she’d have to research something for them and get back ter.

  This one such time. She had one of her oldest business friends on the phone and was asking about how a specific circuit worked on a rey. Despite all that she had read, this was still a cross between Greek and Gibberish to her. This friend said that he would find out but for a price. She would have to take him and his wife to dinner. It had been over a year since they spent any time together and his wife missed her as much as he did.

  Laughing, she accepted the condition. She told him that as a matter of fact, remembering Soo Young, she found a new pub that she wanted to take them to. They agreed to meet up next Friday at this pce.

  After the time and location were confirmed, they ended their call.

  About this time, she twitched, noticing the time. She started saving everything she had been working on and shutting down her system for the night.

  She started gathering all of her things, but to her shock, she found everything already gathered neatly on the table in her office. Her tea mug was already washed, too. She blinked at this. She was so wrapped up in her research that she didn’t even notice people in her office doing things. She gathered everything that she was taking home and headed out.

  She entered the elevator to exit in the lobby, rather than do the stairs as per her normal routine. She was still a bit tired for over exertion. She’d take it easy for the next few days. Or, easy for her, at least. She wondered what Wendy was doing tonight. She stopped and fired off a text to her and asked for her pns for the night.

  If she was the protagonist in an isekai manga, she’d be that heady character who was too oblivious to the rest of the world that she’d be a danger to herself. And others around her. While pondering this, she thought about how everyone is the protagonist of their own lives, so it’s not too far off the point. She wondered if anyone would find her story interesting.

  The more that she thought about it, the more ludicrous she got.

  She crossed the lobby, waving at all the security guards and saying good night to her friends. She seemed distracted as she headed out for the night because she was having a borderline existential crisis. She wondered that if she was a character in someone else’s story, what would a fourth wall break be like for her?

  Stopping near the exit, she surprised everyone by throwing her head back and letting forth a burst of ughter that was a peel of golden notes. Both startling everyone and charming them at the same time. Seulgi just shook her head and kept walking.

  The universal consensus was: Seulgi being Seulgi. And they were right.