Vanna had seen CEO Quynh Lê in photographs and on the news countless times. Naturally, she had acknowledged that he was rather good-looking whenever she saw him in passing. No big deal; he was just another beautiful, wealthy individual that she'd probably never encounter in real life.
She had no idea how much more handsome he would be in person.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, and Vanna stepped out only to lay her eyes on him, she knew that he was easily the most attractive man she had ever seen. He was standing casually by the expansive window in his office with his arms crossed. The stranger turned around, and his eyes captured Vanna's instantly. His gaze was intense, and his dark irises were unfathomable and bottomless, like pools of ink.
Quynh Lê was a tall man with broad shoulders and long legs, with sculpted facial features that could only be described as otherworldly. He wore a dark burgundy dress-shirt and black suspenders that accentuated the triangular shape of his upper body. A dark suit jacket was draped lazily over his shoulders, not being worn correctly at all. Each step he took, and every move he made as he walked forward to meet them, was fluid and graceful – almost serpentine in nature.
"Vanna," the man greeted in a deep voice, his tone flat and completely unreadable. He held out his large hand in offering, looking down his nose at her. "I am Director Quynh Lê, but you are permitted to call me Quynh. I'm pleased to see you."
Vanna smiled sheepishly and politely took his hand. "I guess you already know my name, so… it's nice to meet you, too?"
"Naturally," Quynh replied. He turned to his assistant and added, "Shizuka, seat her."
The director made his way back behind his desk and sat, kicking both of his feet up onto the wooden surface. Shizuka ushered Vanna into the seat that was placed before his desk, then backed up silently. It seemed that her harsh words and domineering presence were greatly diminished in front of Quynh.
With the man's back turned to her, Vanna was able to actually observe the rest of his office without distraction. Its entire western wall was made of windows, which provided a beautiful view of the city. Although it was only one skyscraper out of many, it was still taller than around half of the others, which allowed for the tops of the majority of the buildings to be visible from the office.
Quynh's desk was made of sleek black granite and decorated with a few red flowers and several stacks of papers that were presumably awaiting his signature. The legs of the desk flowed nicely into the dark mahogany floors that seemed to be polished within an inch of its life. Vanna almost felt bad for even walking on the hardwood given how beautiful it was. Her thoughts returned to the present when the man spoke again.
"I am sure you have questions," he continued with a sigh. "However, we will get to them later. I would like to ask you some questions of my own, first."
Vanna felt the blood drain from her face. Was this it? Was he going to interrogate her about the incident?
"…Sure, go ahead," she answered nervously.
Quynh looked at her through narrowed eyes. "Do you remember anything that happened on the train before its… incident?"
Vanna bit her lip. She had tried countless times to recall details about it, but there was really nothing strange that came to mind. All she had been doing was drinking tea and minding her business, then everything in between that and washing up on the shore was missing.
"I… I really don't remember anything, honest," she lamented, her hands clenched into fists. "No matter how hard I try, the memories between before the incident and waking up on the riverside are completely blank. I don't even know what happened to the train—"
"That's wonderful news," Quynh hummed in approval, then closed his eyes thoughtfully.
Vanna's mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to process his reaction. Was he… pleased? She mustered the courage to speak, "Excuse me..?"
"I said that's wonderful news. Everything's in order, then," he doubled down as if that were the most normal response in the world.
Vanna turned to look at Shizuka for clarification, but the woman was as stoic as ever and revealed nothing. Her eyes were hidden by the reflections in her glasses.
"I will go ahead and tell you what's happening. Remain silent until I finish, unless I ask you for a response, in which case you're free to ask clarifying questions. Am I clear?"
"I–" Vanna honestly had no idea what to say, so she frowned. "Yeah, I understand."
"Excellent. I will start from the beginning," Quynh started with a tired sigh, as if what he was about to say was rehearsed and bothersome to repeat. "You have likely never heard the legends of the divine beasts, but that is the foundation of everything you are about to learn. Allow me to summarize it. In the natural world, and without guidance, humans are notoriously lawless and selfish, which often leads to war and strife. Due to these shortcomings, the gods decided to send divine beings to the earth as a means to mediate and act as guardians for the mortals.
"These divine beings are the aforementioned guardians. There is a natural hierarchy, as their strength and role varies based on the spirit — but the first tier, which is the most powerful, consists of the Golden Phoenix, the Crimson Dragon, and the Azure Dragon. The second tier is made up of the Black Qilin and its counterpart, the White Qilin. Then, finally, in the third tier, is the White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Vermillion Bird.
"Is this making sense to you so far?" the man asked, taking a break from the explanation.
"I guess?" Vanna said. She was unsure what any of this had to do with the situation they were currently in, but Quynh's attitude wasn't particularly welcoming, and she had promised to remain silent, so she simply agreed.
"Great. Continuing on," he said succinctly. "Although they are beasts, they take the form of humans in order to walk amongst them and better understand them. The second and third tier beasts are essentially under the jurisdiction of the first tier. Anything a primary guardian says is law. Together, they watch over the mortals and prevent any major catastrophes from occurring.
"Despite being creatures sent by the gods themselves, the beasts are not immortal. It is difficult to kill a guardian, but not impossible. So, unfortunately, as time went on, the very beasts that were sent to protect the humans became no better than the people themselves.
"They were affected by negative emotions and became susceptible to greed and ambition, which ultimately pitted them against one another. So, due to infighting, the deaths of the beasts became more common. Although they don't die of old age and can technically be immortal forever, if they are killed, then their spirit transfers itself to a new body that the spirit itself deems suitable…"
Quynh's lips lifted into a self-deprecating, sad smile. "Which is where things begin to tie into your situation, dearest Vanna."