Shin Lu closed up the Longshadows offices and took the short walk to the subway. The city was bustling as always, relatively clean in the fresh spring weather. But Shin Lu could hardly ignore the shambling homeless people cluttered in the alleys, urinating and vomiting, among other things.

Cars spat exhaust at one another, crawling down the overcrowded boulevard, the poisons collecting in the back of her throat.

Disgusting, she thought to herself, not nearly for the first time. Back in Seoul they don’t live like this. You urinate on the sidewalk? Jail. Vandalize a public wall? Jail. All these lurking muggers and rapists? Broken by the will of the State.

Shin Lu descended into the subway, the reek much worse, the rattling sound of the train echoing against the tiled walls and concrete tunnels.

Tia McBride never has to crawl down here like an animal, Shin Lu had to remind herself, burrowing through the earth like a mole. Well, she did found the company; she’s earned her success.

Shin Lu glanced at the dead-eyed passengers, staring straight ahead at nothing, futures empty of promise, pasts bereft of pleasure.

Shin Lu had to ask herself, Am I no better than they are? What pleasures do my memories hold? What do I have to look forward to, but more years of being Tia McBride’s servant, playing games with sexual deviants while she travels the world?

Shin Lu tried not to think about it.

To be loyal and faithful and diligent are what serve the State best; those are the responsibilities of the individual. Personal ambitions are corruptive; look what they’re doing to Tia. She used to be so disciplined, a woman of extraordinary personal power. I was proud to work for such a woman, and I still am. But she’s changing, it seems, distracted, showing weakness. And her enemies sense it, in the government, in her private world; something is changing, I can sense it.

The train paused at her stop, and she pushed her way out through a tide of taller, foul-smelling passengers shoving their way in without enough courtesy to let anybody step out first, overfilling the train and making her exit all the more difficult.

But Shin Lu finally pushed through the crowd and made it into the station and up the crowded stairs toward the street.

Even the great leader must serve the benefit of the State. And if the leader is weak, the State is weakened. When this happens, a new leader must emerge and take over, to repair the weaknesses and replace them with strength, with true and genuine might. That’s what the people crave; that’s what the populace needs to survive, to be led and governed with an iron hand.

Shin Lu looked around the funky little borough of Brooklyn, new and fancy cafés slowly replacing the shelled-out rat nests that once typified the area. Lovers sat at the tables, holding hands and sharing loving glances, beers and wines marking their private celebrations. Shin Lu tried not to scowl at them, knowing too well what inspired her bitterness.

They have a right to enjoy their lives, Shin Lu had to admit. They have every right, and so does Tia.

But so do I.

But that was another thought she pushed out of her mind.

No, I don’t.

She walked into the lobby of her apartment building, shaking her head to see the out of order sign on the narrow elevator door, so she took the stairs.

Again.

Once in her studio apartment, Shin Lu changed into a more comfortable kimono and fixed herself a bowl of raman noodles with a single poached egg. The broth was hot and steamy, the slices of pork delicately seasoned and slightly sweet.

She glanced at the framed photo she kept on the end table, a younger version of herself, smiling, in the embrace of a handsome young man she hadn’t seen in years.

Li, she thought to herself. Where are you now, my love?

Shin Lu felt the old feelings rise up from the depths of her soul, long buried but ever rustling just beneath the surface. When she closed her eyes, she could still smell his body, feel his black hair under her fingers, his lips on hers.

No, Shin Lu told herself, be disciplined, be strong. The past is gone, the future is not promised. There is only this moment, today, right now. And what I do now will dictate the future.

Which brought Shin Lu back to the notion of Tia McBride, of Longshadows. It was her only path, and Shin Lu was certain that whatever future awaited her, Longshadows would take her there. She’d already taken those fateful steps down that road, and she knew there was no turning back.