[M] (ii) (1/1)

She held her breath and curled into her small, eight years old body just like her father told her to do.She watched the men’s feet move in the room from where she was hiding under her bed, terrified and shuddering. She counted: three men. They wore fancy shoes and black suit pants, unlike her father who was in his pale sleepwear. One of these strangers was whistling a distinct tune, a tune that sounded vaguely like Für Elise – she hated the noise.“Please,” she heard her dad plead. “Not in my daughter’s room.”“Oh, it’s okay, since you said she wasn’t here…” The speaker had a deep, husky voice. He was standing in the middle of the room, right in front of her father as they talked. Joohyun brought a hand against her mouth to stop herself from gasping in fear when she noticed the ax he was holding. “Don’t worry. We’ll clean up after ourselves.”He had a sentence tattooed on his forearm in bold, italic lettering: ‘if, then, nothing else.’The little girl wondered what that could possibly mean.“Please... Listen to me,” he begged. “I didn’t disobey – I swear I closed up your case. I took care of the loose ends, the evidence, the witnesses… everything.” He was whimpering. “You have to believe me. You have to… I—I cleared up your boss’ name. Please. Let’s not talk here.”The man who spoke earlier didn’t reply. Instead, he kicked his victim in the shin to make him kneel down. Joohyun could see her father’s face, now; the fear in his tired, dark eyes as they refused to shed tears.“I told you not to mess with me, Chief Bae,” he sighed. Turning to his men, he smirked. “I did warn him, didn’t I? I am not at fault here, right?” They hummed their affirmation collectively. He turned to the older man, smug. “It was either you stop your men from meddling with my business, or it gets messy. Why do you always have to make me so angry?”“You—you have to believe me. I made sure to stop further inquiries and follow ups on the case. Don’t do this, Jaew—”Joohyun’s eyes snapped wide open, taking in the ugly sight of the ax as it embedded itself in her father’s skull with an ugly crack. Blood spurted out messily, leaking to the floor. The man laughed out loud, extricating his weapon to let the body drop to the ground, quivering. The blood continued jutting right on Joohyun’s face.She gaged soundlessly, the smell penetrating her lungs. Her father’s widened eyes met her fearful ones. It made her tremble harder.“Dirty dogs who think this country is worth shit,” the assaulter swore to his companions, grimacing. “And now I ruined my new shirt. Fucking great.”“Boss. His daughter is still—”“I know,” he hushed him quickly. Letting a loud and heavy breath, he walked to the bed and took a seat, legs crossed. He wiped the blood off his ax on the purple bed sheets. They were undone when he arrived, he had noticed. “I wonder where she is,” he singsonged, grinning with a sickening glint in his eyes.Joohyun was still fixated on the face of her now listless father.So when a hand suddenly reached to pull her out by the hair, she couldn’t help but scream out loud. __ Three men (two clad in military attires while the other fitted his black suit proudly) and two women sat by a large wooden table, subordinates surrounding them to assure their protection.They all had a South Korean flag pinned to their chests, but they were executives from different national organizations. The sole purpose of the meeting was to discuss urgent matters regarding the security of the nation whether outside or inside the borders.The room they were occupying was dark, solely illuminated by the big screen hanging on the wall. The video of a woman in a hospital gown snapping the neck of a man twice her size, surrounded by a sea of dead corpses, was on loop. A small window popped up, and her file came into view.“Bae Joohyun,” the youngest woman of the bunch read from her seat. “25. She’s the daughter of the ex-Chief of the Seoul section of the Korean Intelligence Agency, Bae Haneul. After his tragic death, Kim Taesung, an ex-Marines turned entrepreneur from Insadong, took her under his wing. He had one biological daughter named Kim Yerim. The daughter, although young, showed remarkable skills when it came to handling a computer. Her file is nice and clean: stellar A+ student and obedient citizen. It has been reported that the Kim family met their death three months ago, though. The stunt Miss Bae Joohyun pulled was unquestionably an act of revenge, so we suspect Jang Hakyun had a hand in the matter of their death.” she shared in one go, only pausing to let them digest the intel she just offered them. “We forwarded you all we’re allowed to share, for now, in the files we sent you respectively.”“What do you mean, ‘all we’re allowed to share’?” The other woman present in the room, noticeably older, asked.A smile. “We’re still uncertain whether Kim Yerim is really dead. It’s confidential investigations we’re not able to share until further notice.”“Besides that,” she continued, clasping her hands together on the table. “That doesn’t explain Bae Joohyun’s fighting skills. Haneul died when she was eight, there is no way he trained her.”“We have our suspicions, but we’re still looking into that.”“What makes you think the daughter of a betrayer would join your team, Operative Jung Eunji?” This time, one of the men spoke, leaning back against the backseat of his leather chair and bringing his cigar to his lips. “She’s a criminal.”“We don’t know what happened to Bae Haneul, and we don’t know who she is, exactly.” Eunji looked at him and studied how he filled his military outfit perfectly, gray hair so as to speak for his long experience in the field. She smiled wider. “The offer has been forwarded to her and now, it’s just a matter of time. I know that because here, we handle things differently, General Lee.” she quipped and ignored the frown that painted his features. She turned to the screen just as the video replayed and showed Joohyun as she first woke up in the room she was held captive in by Jang Hakyun. She looked as guarded as ever, ready to eliminate an army if it came her way. “Here, we don’t use force. We use weaknesses.”(Eunji wondered if this was the woman her father wanted her to become.) __ It’d been a week since she woke up, and her muscles were itching for movement. Perhaps it was the lack of action, or the weariness of staying in one place for too long. Wendy had thankfully requested another room for her; larger this time and with a few weights to lift along a treadmill. It made Joohyun wonder why she trusted her so much when she could very easily use the lifts to punch Sooyoung with a 5 kg barbell in the face for all the times she annoyed her. Or murder Seulgi with it, because the woman made it a habit to visit her whenever she wasn’t busy.(That, unfortunately, meant: all the goddamn time.)Seulgi munched on her Pringles chips distractedly, sitting on the floor against the wall with crossed legs as she watched the hottest woman alive work out. “Are you sure you’re already allowed to do push ups? You’re still hurt, you know. You’re going to tear a stitch or something.” She said, tone easy and lazy. Her eyes were on the capable biceps that displayed strength with every movement. She licked her lips.Joohyun disregarded her remark and continued counting. 92 down. 8 more push ups to go. Come on.“I mean, I’m not saying I want you to stop. Because,” she gulped loudly, smirking as she eyed her like a prey. “Phew. But gut wounds are a pain in the a—”“Shut up,” the assassin finally huffed in an exhale, annoyed. 3 more and it’s 100. Her muscles were aching familiarly good.It only took Seulgi another mouthful of chips before talking again, though. “How about you shut me up, then?”Joohyun sat up, heaving after finally finishing her last set of reps for the day. “If you don’t zip it, I’m going to shoot you. In the head. With a Glock.”That seemed to light fireworks in Seulgi’s eyes. “Speaking of shooting me in the head with a Glock. Your Glock’s with me. You had it on you when we found you so I guessed you didn't want to lose it.” She whistled appreciatively. “Nice shooter. I expected nothing less from you.”“We?” She questioned, since no one gave her a follow up on what happened that night. She was still trying to catch her breath – the last couple of days really messed her shape up.“Sooyoung and I,” the agent informed, discarding the can of Pringles she’d just finished. “We found you in a pool of your own blood in that building.”And in true Joohyun fashion, she smirked smugly. “You should have seen the other guys. I kicked their ass.”But perhaps that was a very bad thing to say, she realized a little bit too late. Because it only spurred Seulgi into crawling impossibly closer to her, invading her personal space without fearing for her life. (The assassin could’ve effortlessly eliminated her with a punch to her sternum, since she was so careless.) Seulgi bit her lip, teasingly hard. “Oh I saw ‘em. I can’t wait until you put your hands on me.”Very, very bad idea. __ “What are we going to do with the kid, boss?” The man looked back at his employer from the front seat.The said employer smiled widely, looking over at the girl who sat silently on the seat next to his. She looked lost in thoughts, her face covered with dried blood and expressionless. “Don’t worry about that, just drive to the mansion.”Joohyun couldn’t get the sight of her father out of her head.Blood. Blood. Blood.She felt nothing.Blood. So much blood. Everywhere. __ A guard was strolling around the villa he was looking out for, whistling a random tune absentmindedly. He dipped his chin and raised his hat to greet his fellow colleague who was sitting by the main entrance as he passed by him. It seemed like an ordinary night shift to him. A few steps later, he took a turn, intending to patrol the back entrance of the house. His phone beeped in his pocket, and he slipped it out to check his notifications out as he walked.As he thumbed it open, the picture of a beautiful girl popped up in his dating profile’s inbox. She was naked. “Oppa… I wanna talk to you. It’s the girl from the café, earlier.” The message said.He grinned widely, typing a quick reply as he did.When he finally looked up to greet the other guards he knew were placed by the back entry, he was met by the sight of yet another beautiful brunette instead. She was smiling at him.She looked a lot like a cat.By the time he processed that thought, hands sneaked to cup the back of his head, bringing him down to connect with the woman’s knee. Hard.He blacked out instantly.“Did you really have to send him a nude?” Seulgi turned to her friend, huffing.Sooyoung grinned. “Relax, mom. It’s just a nude. Besides, it wasn’t even mine.”“Yeah but still.” She argued childishly. “I don’t even want to know how you got his number. Or the nude.” She dragged the body of the man she just assaulted and pulled zip ties from her back pocket to cuff him up. She threw him on top of the two other men she knocked out earlier, letting them pile up right behind a tree and out of sight.“I think I’m hungry,” she confessed, a few seconds later as they opened the door to a dark, empty kitchen. “Do you think they have Pringles in here?”The younger girl didn’t even bother with that anymore. “You’re embarrassing me.”Seulgi pouted.They seized their knives from their thigh-bands as they wandered further into the house, silent and careful steps. The kitchen was thankfully directly connected to the stairways that led to the top floor. Sooyoung stayed behind and made sure that no one was following them while Seulgi inspected the hallways up there.This villa was pretty poorly guarded, Sooyoung decided. Perhaps it was because the man they were targeting didn’t feel endangered, since his name scared many in the underground world. Ahn Jaewon. Arrogance blinded many. They still had to be careful, though – she pulled her gun and turned off the safety lock. Just in case.She heard a whispered ‘hey’ and looked behind her to find Seulgi gesturing for her to come upstairs with her.“Are you sure it’s clear?” She whispered back, following her friend nonetheless.Seulgi nodded, “no guards in there.”...Well.Ironically, the moment they stepped into the hallways of the second floor, a loud scream echoed. They stilled, instantly crouching down in position as they guarded their front and their back expertly, their weapons drawn and ready to fire if anyone came their way.Except, right after that, a louder moan followed suit.Sooyoung’s jaw locked.“Are they seriously fucking right now?” She complained angrily. Checking the time on her watch, she rolled her eyes. “At four in the morning? Men don’t even last that long.”Seulgi snorted.However, they needed the loud distraction no matter how disgusting. It was the perfect opportunity to get this done discreetly and quickly. She reached for her earpiece to check that it was still on. “Handle the lookout. I’ll go check his office for the files,” she pointed at the door of the said room, already walking there with cautious steps. (They studied the blueprints of the house as they planned their mission out the night before; they knew the rooms and the fast exits.) “Notice me if someone comes your way. Don’t hesitate to kill if necessary, the priority here are the documents, not the target,” she spoke in her earpiece.“Copy that,” the taller girl yawned. She watched as Seulgi’s back disappeared behind the door. “She always gets all the fun parts,” she whined to herself quietly, leaning her weight on her other leg as she checked her surroundings again.

__ A few minutes later, still no man showed up to put up a fight. Sooyoung was feeling tired, bored and kind of disappointed.You’d think a mafia boss would handle his security better and put up a challenge. Hah, men.At least the moaning stopped, she comforted herself. Clicking on her earpiece to check if it was still on since Seulgi made no sound, she huffed: “is this gonna take all night?”Heavy breaths greeted her. “Look, I’m doing my best. The man is even messier than we are, this is impressive,” Seulgi replied. “And annoying. Can’t find the goddamn files anywhere.”“Maybe it’s on his laptop?” She wondered distractedly, taking two steps down the stairs to check if someone was coming up. Nothing, she frowned.A pause. “That’s… actually not a bad idea. Maybe we had a false lead.”“Yeah, yeah, just do the thing,” Sooyoung groaned. She hated missions like these. It felt like babysitting grownups. No one was bleeding, and no guns were firing – why the hell was she included in this mission in the first place? Did they take her for a rookie file thief paid for the lookouts?She infiltrated Russian air bases with nothing but a Nano* and her pair of heels as weapons, for god’s sake.But maybe whoever was in charge up there actually had enough of her complaining and decided to end her suffering.Freaking finally.Footsteps echoed in the dead of the night – Sooyoung grinned. She pocketed her knife and hid just behind the wall, waiting for whoever was coming upstairs.Just as the newcomer took the last step, she elbowed him then reached for his neck and sprained it. She wrapped her arm around his waist to protect herself from any upcoming gunshots and fired two bullets at the man who was waiting for his colleague downstairs, unaware. Her weapon, however, had no silencer.“We’ve got company,” she told her friend, grimacing as the woman in that damned bedroom screamed again. In fear, this time. “Can I shoot her, please?”“Yes,” Seulgi decided because she was in the room adjacent to the suspect’s bedroom and she was turning deaf. “I’m almost done anyway,” she informed her, as she was 80% into downloading the data he had on his laptop into her backup hard drive.(Every agent carried one of those for unexpected incidents like these.)Sooyoung squealed happily at the sound of more guards coming her way. “I’ll handle the guards.”Looking up from the laptop inattentively, Seulgi spotted a shiny object peeking from under the mass of papers scattered on the desk. She picked it up to examine it, only to find it was a USB disk. She frowned. It had a label on it.Kim Ye Rim.Wasn’t that Joohyun’s sister’s name?The laptop made a sound to alert her that the download was 90% done. She barely had the time to pocket the newfound USB, and the door already flew open, a muscular man coming into view.In his boxers.A Gyrojet* in his hand.“Are you for real?” She grimaced. She was equally appalled by his looks as she was by his choice of weaponry. “Even my grandma carries a better gun!”His jaw hardened, aiming at her just like she did. (With her beautiful Colt 1873*, he really looked like he had a water gun in comparison.) “Who sent you?”“The good guns police,” she deadpanned, glancing at the laptop screen. 95%.“Look. You put down what you took right where you found it, and I won’t hurt you,” he threatened, flexing his muscles. “Not too badly, at least.”“Funny, that’s what they all say before they get their ass served,” she laughed. He didn’t appreciate her wits. She pouted.Seulgi was a skilled agent with long years of experience. When she threw herself on the floor to the side, she knew for a fact he’d miss her for she took him off-guard. And he did, because he fired in vain. From where she was lying on the floor however, she had a clear shot. The one bullet she shot hit him in the kneecap, making him kneel to clutch the injury. He tried to aim at her again but she was faster as another bullet hit him in the shoulder, finally disarming him.She rose to her feet, eyes on her target as he tried to stop the bleeding. She disconnected the hard drive from the laptop since it completed its purpose and pocketed it. Finally, she took the said computer in her hands and grinned at him. “I’m so sorry for your porn collection,” she faked a sad scowl at him. Sprinting towards him, she made one jump and smashed the device right on his head.He blacked out instantly, limp.“Well that was quick,” she huffed, hands on her hips as she looked at his lifeless body.“Kang Seulgi! Bring your ass out here and stop fooling around, I’m out of ammo!” Came through her earpiece.She yelped. “On the way, Miss Park.” __ In a quiet hotel room in downtown Seoul, two figures laid comfortably in each other’s arms.Wendy couldn’t wish for a better home than her girlfriend’s embrace. She snuggled closer, draping an arm around her waist to pull her in. The thin bed sheet covering them dropped to their hips, but they found nothing but warmth in each other’s presence.“I love this,” Eunji spoke first, breaking the comfortable silence that dawned on them after their love-making heights. Her smile was evident in her tone.“Yeah, me too,” Wendy shifted, looking up at her girlfriend to quickly peck her chin. “It’s been a while since I’ve had you like this.”Both were very busy women; Eunji was the current Head Operative of the Division Red of the Seoul section of the KIA, and Wendy was the supervisor of three subdivisions of agents under the same section. (Seulgi and Sooyoung were a mess on their own, if the blonde was to be honest.) Lately, it’d been more hectic though. Significant factors indicated there was something going on in the underground world, and they couldn’t quite put their hand on it. They also lost contact with some of their spies.It was worrisome.Letting her hand slip to Eunji’s jaw, Wendy leaned up to connect their lips in another passionate kiss. She was so hungry for her; she was always so hungry for her. However, just as she went to deepen their kiss, her phone rambled on the nightstand to indicate an incoming call.She groaned loudly in frustration, rolling to the side to answer.It was one of her agents.Eunji’s eyes stayed on her the entire conversation. This was the woman she loved, and the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her days with. She was all she had now that her mother died. She was all she wanted the moment she laid her eyes on her, eight years ago: a small, nerdy Canadian who had somehow hacked into one of the KIA’s servers for fun on summer break.Wendy hung up and put her phone back where she found it, turning to her lover with a small smile.“It was Jongin. Joohyun-unnie wanted to talk,” she told her, passing a hand through her hair with a deep inhale. “She said she’ll do it. As long as we give her the name of her father’s murderer first.”“Ah, really, that woman is so frustrating,” Eunji whined, sighing. “Even the higher ups are concerned. We know nothing about her. Literally nothing. She’s a ghost.”Wendy simply smiled at that. “She’s really something else, yeah.”Sighing again, the Operative shook her head, leaning to cup Seungwan’s cheeks with both hands. “Ah, whatever, we’ll deal with that later,” she connected their foreheads. “I just want to love you now.”(Eunji knew this was the only version of herself she wanted to be. Seungwan’s.) __ “Who’s there?”“Just open up, oppa. It’s not like you have any other friends anyways.”The sound of (too many) locks and (too many) keychains rustling filled the empty hall as he attempted to unlock the door. She sighed loudly, rolling her eyes. It was seven in the morning, and she was sweaty and tired. She parted ways with Sooyoung thirty minutes ago, leaving her with the hard drive the agency wanted them to retrieve and this – this man’s excessive paranoia was ridiculous, it unnerved her.He opened the door midway, looking at her with a frown. “Manners. Do you even know what that means?”“Unless it’s food, I’m not interested,” she waved off the jibe, yawning heavily just to show how bored and tired she was of the conversation already. She pushed the door open and entered the dark apartment, hitting his shoulder in process.The man sighed loudly, closing the door behind her even though he wanted nothing but to kick her ass out of his house. “What if I had someone over?” He asked her, irritated by the way she always seemed to barg in unannounced.Seulgi looked at him like he was weird. “What?” She wondered, because the idea that this man – wearing his superheroes jammies with long, ruffled hair – had a life in the outside world never crossed her mind.He threw his hands in the air, giving up. “What do you need, Seul?”She threw him the USB she found on the desk, the one with Joohyun’s sister’s name on it. “I want to know what’s in that thing, and I need it to be quiet,” she told him, plopping down on the sofa of his living room. Looking around, she noticed his new setup and whistled. “Looks like a nice gear, Heechul-oppa. It’s new right?”That, finally, made him smile. “Yes. Thanks.” He went to his desk and got to work immediately, fingers hovering over the keyboard expertly. Seulgi yawned. “Why do you look so beat up?” He asked again.“I can tell you but then I’ll have to kill you,” she quipped, grinning.He rolled his eyes. “Anyways, this USB is encrypted. It’ll take time to—”“Yeah, yeah, nerdy talk. All that stuff. Just call me when you’re done,” she cut him off, standing up to stretch. “I’m going to go take a nap or something.”“Okay.” Heechul didn’t even bother anymore. “I’ll walk you out,” he told her.And he wanted to tell her to take better care of herself, because she looked even thinner than she did one month ago, and it worried him. He kept mum though.He feared for his life because he’d seen her fight and he didn’t want a missing limb. __ Joohyun walked behind an agent as he led her to the training hall like she requested.She wasn’t allowed out of this place yet, but Wendy had assured her she could use all the facilities in the building meanwhile since she was now considered an agent too. When she checked up on her this morning, bringing her a badge and a contract to sign away, she also told her to quickly get in shape so she could accept missions again. She had abandoned the idea of running away from here.They still had to give her the name of her father’s killer, though.Still, she was itching to go back to her workout regimen, and eventually to the outside world. She had matters to attend to.Not that she missed any of the huge mess that was humanity.A familiar toot fell on her ears as the person that exasperated her the most on the face of Earth joined her side, walking with her. “Fancy meeting you here, unnie.”Joohyun ignored her. It was stupid to engage her.“Going to work out?”She huffed, “don’t you have anything better to do? Save the world or something.”Seulgi shrugged, looking so honest as she replied, “nope.”“Are you planning on pestering me all day?”“Yep.”She stopped talking. Because after having the girl show up at her room with food every single day of the past week she’d been awake, she knew that was the wisest choice.They took another turn, and then walked past the entryway of a big hall. Joohyun expected extravagance but this surpassed her expectations by far. The room, or more like the floor, had boxing rings, press benches and a handful of training gears – you name it. She could make use of these.“I wish you’d look at me the way you look at those punching bags.”She turned to look at the younger girl and was met with a wink. She grimaced, “are you always like this?”“Only for you,” Seulgi singsonged playfully. She turned to the man who led them to the hall and smiled warmly. (Joohyun looked away, not wanting to admit she found the curve of her lips so beautiful she wanted to taste it.) “Thanks Jongin-ah, you can leave the rest up to me.”Joohyun almost begged him not to leave her alone with this ball of… flirtatious innuendos and hindrances.She didn’t. Instead, she approached a free bench press and sat down, throwing her bag (the bag Sooyoung had gifted her in ‘truce’) on the floor. She leaned down to tighten her shoelaces before lying on her back against the bench. The weights on the barbell were already to her fit, so she didn’t bother with them.Of course, before she could even grasp the bar Seulgi was already by her side. “You have really nice arms,” she complimented. “Can I touch them?”Joohyun snapped, sitting up to glare at her better. “Okay look. You come near me and I’ll break your fingers one by one. With a hammer. Got it?”“Fine, no touching the art,” Seulgi relented, raising her two eyebrows and her two hands in surrender. Then, she smiled widely. “Just so you know though, I'd work just as good with my tongue.”Throwing herself back onto the bench in frustration, she growled. “Just kill me now.”If possible, Seulgi smiled wider. “With pleasure, unnie.”Joohyun considered all the ways she could murder her with, but chose to wait till the most painful one came to mind. __ Sooyoung crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, looking at her unnie, Seulgi, as she gazed down at Joohyun dreamily. Beside her, Wendy mirrored her soft expression as she admired the pair, too.“I’ve never seen her like this,” the taller girl shared, a fond undertone to her words.“Same,” the supervisor admitted. “It would have been nicer to see her this happy, if only the object of her attention wasn’t a highly trained person we know nothing about, and who is possibly an assassin-for-hire.”It took her a pause, but eventually, Sooyoung spoke her mind. “I’m warning you, Seungwan-unnie. If I were to choose between the agency and Seulgi, I’m with Seul.”Wendy smiled, looking at the determined glint in her friend’s eyes and wondering what led her to think of that in the first place. “Okay,” she said. She wanted to say that she, too, could vow Seulgi her life but the image of Eunji flashed in the back of her mind and she decided that that could be a lie. So instead, she settled for: “I love her too, you know.”“I know you do.”Joohyun threw her towel at Seulgi, yelling as the girl dodged it. From where they stood, they could see her roll her eyes and that made their lips curve. __ A twenty years old Joohyun smiled at her eighteen years old sister. They were in a tattoo parlor, waiting for their turn to meet the tattooist.“Does it hurt?” Yerim wondered out loud, her tone overflowing with cuteness as she scrunched her nose in a grimace.Joohyun laughed. “No. I don’t think it does.”“Really?”“Yeah,” she said, leaning to ruffle the younger girl’s hair. “If you’re so afraid, why did you drag me here, Kim Yerim?”“Because,” Yerim puffed her chest, looking proud and satisfied. “I wanted us to get each other’s initials as tattoos. It’s pretty cool.”“What would I do without you?” Joohyun’s tone turned soft, and so did her gaze. She joined their hands, in need of physical contact.The tech genius grinned. “You don’t have to figure that out, unnie. Never.”