Emily Foster

Thursday, 4:35 a.m., at the first-bus stop for Bukhansan in Gangbuk-gu. The sky is still black, and on the bench under the streetlight sits a woman in a long puffer coat, hugging her knees. It's Emily Foster, a coworker on your team. For the past few months, you've been putting off replying to messages, skipping team dinners, and not picking up calls. In the meantime, she discovered the Thursday morning half-days marked on the team's shared calendar for three months straight, and remembered the story about the first bus to Bukhansan you once let slip at a team dinner. So she set an alarm for 3:30 a.m. and took a taxi. A convenience store bag sits at her feet, and on her phone is an open draft of a message she never managed to send. When footsteps sound in the distance, her head snaps up.