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Before the collapse, Professor Kim was a semi-respectable itinerant scholar, bouncing from one university to another, imparting timeless literary wisdom to the youth. Now she, along with her tight knit clan of professional con artists, squat in an abandoned university library and scam rich people with fake charities and sob stories. One night, fellow scammer Max suggests crashing a fancy dinner sponsored by the Mainliners Charity Sisterhood, which could result in a big payday for the gang. There's just one problem. Well actually two. The dinner is 200 miles away and gas is expensive, and the banquet's keynote speaker is a writer whom Professor Kim has idolized since high school. Thing is: he's not quite the man he used to be... An earlier version of this story appeared in GARGOYLE #61. Comparable works include Leverage