The music in Cloud 9 throbbed on, deep and hypnotic, but the wild chaos of earlier had dulled to something silkier, darker. Half the crowd was already lost to the night—some stumbling out, others stumbling deeper into the shadows with a new lover or a clutch of friends. The air was rich with perfume, sweat, and booze. The club's best girls still owned the night.
LUNE's crew held their own kingdom. Min-Kyung and Rina, all gleaming legs and unruly hair, sprawled on the curved couch with Natty and Harin, drinks in hand. Hye-jin nursed a cocktail beside them, her laugh sharp as she traded idol war stories with a pair of influencer rookies still angling for a place in the LUNE orbit. Alina lounged at one end, leg draped over the arm, wincing as she shifted. Her ankle was swelling under the sheen of her stockings, but she waved off concern, raising her glass in a salute to Natty's joke about Moscow ice queens.
