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@Nam Dongju Christian waited for Yena to do her translation, and then added in Korean on behalf of the residents who had been so diligently protesting for this cause, "We will only stop the protests when our needs have been addressed and the exploitation stops. Yena-ssi, tell him what I just said." He turned back to the residents, all of whom had lowered their signs when Keith's concession had been communicated to them. "Everyone, we will have a proper discussion at the next month's meeting. You've worked hard. Please, let's all get some rest. Good business to you all." As of now, this was a success. Their fight wasn't over completely, but it was a good step in the right direction.

@Christian Yu Keith stumbled when Christian bought up the legality of the rent increase. Of course, there were many ways around it if it came to that, but Keith was hoping all the tenants would just be scared into paying the increase without much trouble. He spluttered, but when he was unable to come back with something on the spot without compromising his future plans, he held up his hands to stop Christian from getting up in his space. "Okay, you know what? You win. Next tenant meeting, we can discuss something and hopefully we'll come to an agreement then, /if/ you stop the protest now. Yena, tell them what I just said."

@Nam Dongju Keith was a bumbling mess, which was pathetic considering that Christian was communicating with him in his native tongue too. He could feel Dongju's finger jabbing into his shoulder, but when Christian was fixated on something, nothing was going to tear his attention away. ["Yes, we agreed to the price of rent at which it currently is,"] Christian continued, even stepping forward when Dongju's poking started to annoy him, ["But I'll remind you now that what I signed was a two year lease at this rent price. Maybe you haven't lived in Korea long enough, or maybe you haven't been keeping up with the news, but did you not know that the Constitutional Court already ruled that the maximum rent increase is capped at 5%? /And/ if this doesn't ring a bell, let me add on by saying that this rent increase can only be put into place during contract renewals. Many of the tenants here just renewed their contracts with you, and I myself am barely two months into my lease. So you tell me, where do you see your legal case? What are your grounds for evicting us? Huh? Do tell us, so I have you on record for trying to break the law."]

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@Christian Yu As startled as Dongju was, Keith looked even more taken aback. He blinked, then looked to Yena, then back at Christian, his mouth forming silent words. In the end, as dignified as he could muster, he said, "N-now, you see, if you take a look at the contract you've signed, sir, you agree to the price of rent and commit to being responsible for any future rent increases. It is also in the terms that non-payment or overdue rent can and will result in termination of the contract and thus the closure of your business and eviction as a tenant. Yena, tell the rest of them that."

Upon hearing the translated segment, Dongju hugged Lori a little tighter. He /knew/ this whole strike thing was a bad idea from the start. Although he didn't quite understand what Christian was saying to Keith now, he didn't think it was going to help their situation, with how aggressive he was. "Yah, stop it," he said, giving Christian a poke over his shoulder. "They're going to sue us!"

@Nam Dongju For someone as young as Dongju was, he was oddly passionate about flowers. Christian supposed everyone had their own interests and hobbies, but it just seemed rather outlandish that a pretty boy would be so invested in what could best be described as a middle-aged to elderly hobby. Christian huffed his loose strands of hair out of his face when Dongju continued to berate him for not liking his flower. At least, if there was one good thing the younger knew how to talk about, it was Lori. Christian was pretty sure he wouldn't be getting to hold his baby girl until this strike was over, at least not if Dongju was around.

When the commotion spiked again with Keith's arrival, Christian surged forward to the front, wanting to hear the terms for himself. He wasn't the most financially literate, but a ten percent rent increase was enough to understand how substantial the impact would be on them. The tenants on strike went silent as they all considered the terms, some of their jaws dropping as the sheer ridiculousness of Keith's audacity spoke for itself. Amongst them, the grandma, Madame Im, was the first to speak out, "Now that's not fair!" Hearing her, everyone echoed in agreement, and soon, Yena had a crowd of angry tenants yelling at her again.

"Please, everyone! We must understand that on legal terms, you are not allowed to protest like this! If this doesn't stop, you could be sued!" Yena tried to interject.

["You're joking right?"] Christian asked her, scoffing as he stood forward in the crowd and conversed with her directly in English, ["In what world would you have the grounds to sue just because we're expressing unfairness? Is this not enough of a wake-up call? Should we put it on the newspapers to broadcast just how much Keith is exploiting us? Or even get reporters involved? A ten percent rent increase in less than two month's notice? DO tell me,"] he demanded, turning his focus to Keith himself, ["If this isn't exploitation and abuse of power, then what is it?"]

@Christian Yu "If you don't like it, just don't celebrate your birthday. Gosh. The flower association dates back to Ancient Rome." Of course, Dongju shouldn't have expected a man as uncultured as Christian to understand any of this. He finished his second piece and reached for a third, helping himself freely. "Huh? Then her birthday should be her adoption day." Nine was quite old for a dog, Dongju thought as he looked down at Lori still sitting complacently inside his coat. She was still spunky as a pup, though, so if Christian managed to raise her for nine years, then maybe he did know enough about her fried chicken tolerance. As he was finishing up his lunch, Dongju spotted their landlord with Yena hot on his heels approaching the scene. He hugged Lori closer, afraid of what Keith was going to do.

Yena spoke first, as his translator-slash-assistant. "Residents! This has to stop. The plaza can't be closed every Saturday without official notice. You are all in violation of your rental contracts, but we're willing to work something out. We want to offer additional supportive services, including marketing, as part of the rent increase. Please gather to see our proposed terms."

Dongju didn't get up until Christian did. They huddled around Yena's printed conditions, but from what Dongju could see, it was minimal advertising around the directory signs of the plaza, which sounded extremely basic—every freaking mall did that. That kind of advertising was worth nothing, and certainly not worth a 10% rent hike.

@Nam Dongju "Aster and morning glory?" Christian repeated, having heard of neither of them. "Isn't morning glory another name for-" he started, then cut himself off when he realized that Dongju might not be old enough to understand colloquial English slang. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "No, no," he decided, shaking his head, "Isn't there another flower for September?" he asked. He didn't know many flowers by name either, so he'd have to look into the aesthetic that he liked later too. He supposed he could vibe with the morning glory's symbolism for faith and strength - though god knew he needed more of both of that. When asked about Lori, Christian reached out to scratch her head with the hand that wasn't eating, "I don't know when her exact birthday is. I adopted her when she was a puppy, and she's about nine years old now. We celebrate our birthdays together," he admitted to Dongju, smiling as he said so, "She makes every birthday more special."

@Christian Yu "Eo, there's flowers for birth months. Birth years would be ridiculous," Dongju said with a snort. "When's your birthday?" After Christian revealed it, Dongju took another bite of his chicken first before he answered. "September has two flowers: aster and morning glory. Asters are kind of like daisies, and they mean wisdom and faith. I recommend them for graduations, promotions, birthdays, and weddings depending on the colour. Morning glories stand for affection and deep bonds, and also strength, because they bloom again and again, every day." Not too interested in Christian's birth flowers, though, Dongju asked, "When's Lori's birthday?"

@Nam Dongju While Dongju was trying to keep Lori away from Christian, his hand persistently followed with the half-bitten piece of chicken that Lori clearly wanted. "You're going to upset her," he warned Dongju, finally managing to feed her the last of the chunk that he had ripped off. Seeing Dongju trying to withhold his own chicken from Lori had him chuckling in amusement, which he didn't know that he was capable of feeling around this insufferable neighbor of his. "Flowers for any occasion huh?" Christian repeated, nodding his head as he followed along. He ate the crispy chicken skin that Lori couldn't have before digging into a drumstick that was untouched in the box. "Then, do you know about flowers that match birth months or years or whatever? What kind of flower am I?"

@Christian Yu "No she can't!!" Dongju cried, angling his body away to try and keep her away from the chicken. "Stop feeding her fried chicken!" Now that she was out of reach of the body, though, she tilted her head up to try and eat from Dongju's piece, resulting in him needing to eat with his head tilted back. He wasn't expecting Christian to try and talk to him about such a civil topic, so when Christian did speak, Dongju's mouth was stuffed full of chicken. He took his time chewing first. "Why would I want him to die... I just want him to stop raising the rent. Anyway, black roses are death, not irises." Of course, though, a simple-minded oaf like Christian wouldn't know a thing about flowers. Dongju snorted, returning the bone to Christian's box and picking out another piece. "There's about a flower for just any occasion and meaning. Birthdays, weddings, funerals. There's not really a time where flowers are inappropriate."

@Nam Dongju Dongju seemed to have a lot going on his mind when he saw the box of fried chicken again. Perhaps he was the picky type of eater, given how much food went into his drain to the point that his pipes got clogged. Christian almost wanted to add in, "It's fine if you don't want it," but the younger had accepted his offer just a second before he was about to rescind it. Crouching down to let Dongju choose, Christian set the box on top of Lori's kennel, then picked out a piece of that had a lot of white meat on the inside. "My girl can," he told Dongju, peeling off the layer of crispy skin in one fell motion before pulling off a big chunk of meat. He gave it a bite to make sure there were no seasonings on the inside before holding it out to Lori, who ate it enthusiastically, "You just worry about the strike," Christian said, "Lori will eat well too." As he was feeding her, Christian's mind suddenly wandered back to a question he had earlier, "So rebellion huh? I didn't know flowers could have such dark meaning too. I thought you just brought black flowers to symbolize death to Keith."

@Christian Yu It took Dongju a moment to realize Christian was talking to him. He looked up from where he was loving on Lori, making a face when he saw the Kyochon logo on the box. Although the chicken itself wasn't bad or anything, it was knowing that it came from a very thirsty woman that Dongju was wary of. Since she probably gave it to Christian directly, Dongju didn't want her to think he was eating up all her affections for him or something. After a quick glance around for Boa, he sat down—he was pretty hungry, to be honest, and in this economy Dongju wasn't stupid enough to turn down a free meal no matter who was offering it. He still shot Christian a nasty glare for something else, though. "What's wrong with you? Dog's can't eat fried chicken. There's a lot of oil and seasoning that they can't have. After I eat, I'm going to buy Miss Lori lunch." His fingers danced over the open box of chicken before selecting the juiciest thigh piece. "I'll eat well."

@Nam Dongju With so many people around him to keep him occupied, Christian didn't have to go through the stress and anxiety that he experienced on his own last night. As he kept busy with passing out snacks and water while also reminding the tenants of their purpose for going on strike, he noticed Dongju staying in his own little bubble just on the outermost part of the strike. At least the younger was here. And when Dongju started making his way towards Lori, Christian took note of that too. It was as though there was an invisible force compelling him to make his way over to the younger to hold some kind of conversation, and the perfect opportunity came up when Boa from the chicken store brought over some lunch for Christian again. He smiled and thanked her, though he brought the entire order right over to where Dongju was. "Hey, want some lunch? I'm going to share this with Lori," he said, holding the little box of chicken up, "Feel free."

@Christian Yu Since Dongju had extra for the visitors and shoppers of the square, he supposed coming out to give them away wasn't a bad idea, since there were quite a few people who were interested in visiting his store after strike day. Business was business, no matter where Dongju garnered it from. After chatting with Dejun for most of the morning, their conversation consisting mostly of laughing at Sicheng's troubles, Dongju decided to check on whether Lori was awake yet. He ignored Christian as he crouched in front of the chair beside him, lifting the towel again to check, delighted to find her large brown eyes blinking up at him. With a happy squeal, he unlatched the kennel door to lift her out, stuffing her down the front of his coat to keep her warm. "Aigoo, baby, next time you come out, I'll bring a sweater for you."

@Nam Dongju Christian stood a few paces behind Dongju as he went to mull over Lori. Once again, he was not surprised that his best girl would catch the heart of even an ice prince like Dongju, but it was rather interesting to see that Dongju did have a soft side to him. When the younger stood back up, Christian was surprised to be on the receiving end of flowers. "What's this?" he asked, accepting the flower from Dongju. He had not thought about flowers having meaning and how it could be useful during a strike. "Thanks darling," he grinned, accepting the flower, "I'll put it over my signage." As more people started to show up, Christian took charge of corralling them towards the center, gesturing towards the black iris in his hand for them to grab one from Dongju if they hadn't yet.

@Christian Yu "Why would I want to talk to you?" Dongju brushed past Christian to kneel in front of the kennel beneath the chair. Her little nose was resting quite close to the bars of the door, so Dongju gave her long snout a quick before straightening up again. "Well, come get me when she wakes up." He turned to look for Dejun, but after taking three steps away, he turned back to Christian, holding out one of the wrapped flowers to him. If not for the fact that he had extras, Christian would not be getting one, of course. "It's a black iris," he said. "It's for the strike. They represent rebellion."

@Nam Dongju On what was supposed to be a normal Saturday that was welcomed a lot of business for each of the plaza's establishments, the strip was dark once again, and there was a crowd in the plaza center. Christian had learned from the first strike to bring more signage for the tenants who didn't want to explain to each passing potential customer what exactly the were protesting about. On top of that, he made sure to set up more folding chairs for the elderly to sit in throughout their long days. Keith was slated to come to the office today too, which meant that he would have to face his tenants head on. As Christian was setting up cones to the side of the parking lot to direct traffic away from their road, he heard a familiar voice. Whipping around to see Dongju staring up at him pointedly, Christian ran a hand through his curly hair and grinned, "Oh good morning to you too," he greeted the younger. "You miss Lori that much, or is she an excuse to come talk to me?" he teased, going over to a little box that was covered by a towel. Under the towel was Lori, sleeping in her travel kennel. "She came today, going to share with us her fighting spirit," he told Dongju.

@Christian Yu Since Dongju hadn't exactly intended to fit in the strike for this upcoming weekend, he woke earlier to clean up his store and dig out his signs that Christian made for him last time. As nine approached and Dongju wrapped up, he bunched up his black irises that he had been intending to sell today. They would begin to wilt if Dongju left them for one more day, so he brought them with him to the strike. At nine on the dot, there were only a few of the storeowners already on the scene, with the rest slowly trickling in. That Christian wasn't lecturing others when it came to being late, Dongju thought with a huff. He greeted the tenants who were already there, handing them each a flower, and left a flower on each empty lawn chair as well for the rest of the tenants. Christian was already there, messing with something at the front, but there was something crucial missing. Dongju marched up to him, his cardboard sign dangling from his fingertips. "Yah. Where's Lori?"

@Nam Dongju Christian wasn't surprised that Dongju had fallen in love with his sweet Lori, since she was always such a darling to everyone around her. "Mm, if she's up for it," he responded to Dongju's suggestion, finally retrieving Lori after his entire evening of arduous labor. He supposed that bringing Lori to the strike wasn't the worst idea, since that meant he'd get to spend more time with her and let her get more sunlight. "See you tomorrow then," Christian said, returning to his own apartment. For the sake of their strike being successful, Christian had set aside his own prejudice against his neighbor for the time being, though that still didn't excuse Dongju from acting so immaturely as to put rotten meat in his store. He hoped that his act of kindness would've somehow convinced the younger to think thrice before doing something so petty once again. But, that night, as he started to think over and over again about the usefulness of his act of kindness, other thoughts arose. Those thoughts were much darker, and he began to doubt that doing good towards others would bring him the same kind of good treatment. As the thoughts took over, Christian felt himself falling into the shadows.

@Christian Yu Dongju slapped Christian’s hand out of his face when it came a little too close. He hadn’t meant to use so much force, but he had been startled, not expecting Christian to come so close. “I got it, I got it,” he said, tightening his arms around Lori once more as he followed Christian downstairs again, letting Christian take care of everything as Dongju watched. He refused to let go of the sweet puppy until they were back upstairs, standing in front of Christian’s apartment. With extreme reluctance, as if Lori were the biggest diamond unearthed, Dongju set her down at her door. “You should bring Lori to the strike,” Dongju said, casual as he could manage. “She’s going to be bored at home.”

@Nam Dongju Once again, Christian was seeing that humans were innately persuasive. With just a simple push in the direction that he wanted, all while threatening to take away something that Dongju needed, he had gotten a very heartless thanks from the younger. It was better than nothing, he supposed, but it didn't convince right away to finish the other's job. Seeing how defensively Dongju was holding onto his baby girl, Christian raised a brow, "Lori's my dog, you know?" he asked with an amused chuckle. "If you don't remember where it is, you better come with me then," Christian said, reaching for the trash bags that he had moved to the top of the counter when he cleared out the area below the sink earlier. "I'll walk this to the trash for you, but only if you agree to show up to the strike tomorrow. On time." he said, waggling a finger in Dongju's face, "Not a minute late, do you hear?"

@Christian Yu "Ah, wait!" Dongju turned his entire body to shield Lori from being taken, hugging her tightly when Christian tried to take her back. He didn't want to let go of the sweet dog so he could deal with the budget of foul-smelling sludge now sitting in the middle of the kitchen, and as much as he hated Christian, Dongju supposed he could spare a little bit of gratitude, even if he didn't mean it. "Please... can you help me with the trash? And I... don't remmeber where the water is." The second admission was the truth—Dongju couldn't even recall the way to bring himself back to the maintenance room, let alone remember how to turn the water back on. "And thanks... I guess." There was an unspoken 'For doing a half-assed job' in Dongju's mind, but he knew better than to say it now.

@Nam Dongju "Sure you do," Christian agreed noncommittally, as if he were trying to coax a child to build up their confidence. Using the wrench to secure everything back into place, he finished with replacing the parts under the sink and stood up, wiping off the sweat that had formed at his forehead (from the anxiety of having to sniff those possibly toxic fumes) and glanced over at Dongju. "Oh you're welcome," he interjected, getting ever so slightly annoyed that this youngster didn't have any manners at all. He glanced down at the greyish sludge in the bucket, and chuckled, "It's your sink, why aren't you taking it down to the dumpster?" Christian asked, grabbing a paper towel off the counter to wipe his hands with before he reached over to retrieve Lori from Dongju's arms, "As your good neighbor, I've done everything I needed to do to help," he said, "All without a word of please or thanks too, so instead of going through that extra thankless trouble, I'll just be heading home to wash my hands and turn in for the night. Oh by the way, don't forget you don't have running water until you go and turn the water meter back on."

@Christian Yu "I know what's supposed to go down the sink," Dongju muttered under his breath, bouncing Lori in his arm when she was rebuked by her owner. Basically, anything that could fit had to be allowed, otherwise they wouldn't make the whole so big, right? Dongju watched without another comment until Christian finished putting everything back together. "What are you going to do with that?" Dongju asked again after the cupboard door was shut, reiterating through implications that Christian was to take care of the sludge. "Do you want a garbage bag to put it in? Then you can take it down to the dumpster."

@Nam Dongju "And why should I help my neighbor who didn't even want it when I first offered to help?" Christian quipped right back. A part of him wanted to ask Dongju if he realized how unreasonable he had been. Lori seemed to sense their tension, so she strained her neck out, at Christian's wrist as he was working, "No baby girl," he gently shooed her away, "Don't me, this grime is filthy." He shot another disgruntled look at Dongju at the younger's wishful thinking. "Sir, this sink is not a living being. It does not have a stomach or bladder to digest the food that you throw down it. After this, I'm giving you a lesson on what can go down the sink. You have to take this course, no choice." After saying that, Christian finished cleaning out the pipes. "Alright...it should be better now. Let's put the pieces back...here first..." he mumbled to himself.

@Christian Yu "Well, maybe don't spend two hours obsessively cleaning your store, and you'd have time for other things, like helping your neighbours out of the goodness of your heart," Dongju said, finding Christian's OCD a little TMI. Surely, unless someone died in his studio, there was no need to clean for that long. His face darkened when Christian talking like Dongju put those things in the drain /on purpose/. "That was an accident," he said, tiring of holding the flashlight. He switched Lori and the light so that his right arm could get some rest. "I was washing it and it just slipped down the sink. That was a long time ago, though... I thought the sink would've digested it by now."

@Nam Dongju What a character! "What do you mean no?" Christian repeated, dumbfounded to the point of laughing at Dongju's answer. "This is /your/ sink that /you/ used! It's not like you're paying me or even formally asked me to help you, so why am I cleaning up after you?" Christian asked, shaking his head in shock as he turned back to cleaning through the pieces of the pipe. "Besides, I'm already doing all this free labor so late into the night. I have a strike to prepare for and my own shop to run you know, especially since I did spend two whole days deep cleaning it." His nose wrinkled behind the two layers of masks as something solid dropped out of the pipes, "You must really like cooking up whole produce or filets," Christian noted, pointing it out to Dongju, "You see that? That's not supposed to be in the drains. No wonder it was spurting out."

@Christian Yu Dongju was /not/ touching that sludge sitting in his wash basin. "No!" he cried, mortified Christian would even suggest such a thing. "Where's your sense of responsibility? You started this, so you better clean up too." Hooking one of the masks over his face, Dongju pulled the second one over Lori's face. It didn't fit so well, considering her long nose, but her large ears helped to keep it on. Dongju crouched by the sink's cabinet again, aiming his phone's light the best he could with one hand while he bounced Lori with his other arm. "Is this okay? Can you see?"

@Nam Dongju Normally, a regular 3-ply safety mask was good enough for most settings that required some barrier from the outside environment, but that wasn't the case for Christian, who had to get up close with the...muck that was in Dongju's sink. He had to double mask, and he even brought a set back for Dongju, not giving him the excuse to sit out of this situation. "Here," he said, handing over two masks and speaking under his own, "Put these on. Then come back and hold the flashlight." Christian would simply have to clean out the pipes with a brush and run hot water through the pipes to clean it, so he nodded to Dongju, "It's fixable, but you're going to have to find a way to deal with that toxic sludge on your own," he said. Lowering himself back to the pipes under the sink again, he began to take each smaller piece apart, bringing them to the basin and dumping out the contents trapped within as best as he could. This was Dongju's karma, Christian thought to himself, for leaving rotting meat in someone else's workplace.