The heat of the city pulsed beneath their heels as they spilled out onto the curb outside COEX, victory-thin and crackling from the high of the show. The crowd outside was a fever dream of models, stylists, fans, media, execs still hunting for a headline, and a line of idling luxury cars glinting beneath the streetlights. Someone's portable speaker pumped a bassline that bled into the hornet-buzz of gossip and honking horns. Every surface was alive, every face hungry for whatever came next.
Alina slid her phone open, already voice-messaging her circle of model friends: "Cloud 9 afterparty. Bring your A game. Leave the crypto bros and gold diggers at Down Under—tonight is ours." Her voice cut through the chaos, and it was answered with a string of immediate replies, half in Korean, half in English, all the international set rallying to her banner.
