One day after returning from his office job, a young guy has a large envelope with his mail. Opening it up, he finds that he’s in the will of an unknown woman claiming to have been his aunt. He calls the lawyer listed and she confirms that the woman was indeed his aunt and while he didn’t know about her, she has willed him her business. She lived a few cities over, so the man packs up for the weekend and drives out to meet the lawyer and see the business.
Upon arrival, the man finds that his aunt was running a salon and fitness club. It’s small, but the lawyer assures him that it always turned a small profit and it’s been run well. Our protagonist is thankful but knows nothing about the industry, so he asks the lawyer to start finding companies willing to take over the business or to buy out the land and just put something else in its place. The lawyer says that’s a bad idea and the salon has been a community staple for generations, but the man stays firm in his choice.
At the end of the weekend, our lead is packing up at the hotel when he hears a knock at the door. Going to see who it is, the door suddenly unlocks, swings open, and he’s tackled by a number of people. They stick a hood over his head and he’s forced into a car. When the hood is removed, the man is in a limo faced against three figures in the dark. Ignoring his protests, the figures explain that his aunt ran the business but answered to the investor group. They had special needs for the salon so it’s going to stay open and it would be best if it stayed within the family to avoid any unnecessary drama. Like the drama our lead has caused.
The limo pulls up around back of the salon, now empty at night. The group opens the door and forces the man inside, explaining it would be best if he experienced some of the business’s services. They shove him onto a plush chair and pull a hood hair dryer down that latches on and forms a seal around his head. One of the investors unlocks a cabinet and takes out several bottles before shaking them up and pouring them into a reserve on the machine. The dryer heats up and thrums with loud whirs that block out all other noise, then our lead feels the seal around his head filling with thick goop that’s rapidly warming up.