I was so close to turning them in. Wouldn’t it have been nice to let the hammer of justice enact its vengeance on BTS?

But if I turned them in, they would’ve incriminated me, too- maybe even Sora. And how would I get information about my parents?

I need to keep playing this game.

So I tell the police officers that Sora and I wandered into the wrong part of town and we were just freaked out.

“We’ll be fine,” I say in a fluttery voice three octaves above my own. Sora is lying down on a cot near the back of the station. Occasionally, she takes a sip of water from a Styrofoam cup on the table in front of her. “We were just, like, totally freaked out! We got totally lost!”

The officers look down at me in worry. “That’s really dangerous, young lady,” one of them says. “You shouldn’t be near here at all.”

“It’s not safe for young girls like you in this area,” another officer says concernedly. “You have no idea how dangerous some of the thugs in this area are. I’ve been saying this for years: you kids should learn some self-defense.”

    I gasp, clasping a hand to my chest. “Me? Learn how to fight? I could never!”

    Sora snorts from across the station.

    Suddenly, a voice says, “Hyolin?”

    This time, my eyes widen for real.

    Officer Hwang Mirae is staring at me, her eyebrows raised. I shoot up.

    “Officer Hwang,” I say faintly. “How- how are you?”

    She gives me a long, long look.

    Then she turns on her heel.

    “Park. Follow me.”

    Crap.

Sora is rising, a wary look on her face. I give her a reassuring shake of the head.

And then I walk after Officer Hwang.

“We were never supposed to see each other again,” she utters, shutting the door to her office and locking it with a click! “You graduated from the Crime Relocation Program years ago. I thought you were good.”

“I was- I am good,” I say. “This was a mistake. My friend and I accidentally got caught in a sketchy part of town and we thought someone was after us- anyway, don’t worry. I’m not... involved in any gang activity or anything.”

Officer Hwang studies my face. I pray that she cannot tell that I am lying.

And then she sighs.

“Good. I’m relieved to hear that.”

I let out the breath that I had been holding.

We sit in silence for a few more moments. Officer Hwang heads to the coffeemaker in the corner of the room to make us both cappuccinos as I look around her office. Despite the fact that it has been two years since I’ve last been here, this place hasn’t changed a bit. Stacks of colorful binders sit in wooden bookshelves, labeled with different years and different case names. The whiteboards on the wall are covered in black marker scribbles that make no sense to me: I see prosecutor coming at 4 12/19 and suspect killed in busan- seoul PD contact? And amongst all the paperwork and police reports on her desk, there is a clear crystal globe. My lips curve up into a grin as I lean over and read the inscription on its base.

You’re doing a great job of making this world a better place.

- Kim Hyolin.

 “So,” Officer Hwang says, breaking the silence. “How’ve you been?”

    “Okay, I guess. College is going well. I never got that boyfriend, though.”

    She laughs. “Same here.”

    “Still consumed with work, huh?”

    “Of course. I thought you and that boy you would always talk about- what was his name-,”

    “Joonmyeon?” I say, dread rising up in my chest.

    “Joonmyeon! Yes. I thought you two would get together.”

    “Oh. Uh, no. Actually, we’re not really...  friends anymore.”

    Officer Hwang’s eyebrows disappear into her bangs. “Ah. I see.”

    We’re both quiet for a little longer.

    And then Officer Hwang says, “I’m happy.”

    I furrow my eyebrows. “Why?”

    “Because you don’t have that look in your eyes anymore.”

    “What look?”

    “The look you had when I first met you.” Officer Hwang takes a sip of her coffee. “When you were first assigned to my file through the Crime Relocation Program, I was scared. It was right after you had eliminated that gang ZE:A, and you had this hollow look in your eyes- I thought you would never be able to get over everything you had been through.”

    “But you look like you’re doing well,” she hums. “That girl you walked in with- she looks nice. And you’ve smiled more in these five minutes than you did than in that first year when you entered the Crime Relocation Program. “

    I blink in surprise.

    “Thank you,” I say. “I- I don’t think I told you how much you helped me, Officer. You pulled those strings to get me into Seoul National University, and you encouraged me to participate in the student council, and those late night talks- I wasn’t allowed to come back and truly thank you. That globe really wasn’t a good enough present for you-,”

    “Oh, stop. I think about you every time I see it. I love it-,”

    “Seriously, though. I don’t think I could thank you enough.”

    We spend a few more minutes talking. Just catching up on everything that’s going on. The guilt gnawing at me intensifies as every second passes.

    Officer Hwang and the Crime Relocation Program did so much to get me out of the gang world. I was supposed to stay away from organized crime forever- god, I got a second chance at life! Something so many people would kill for!

    And now what am I doing?

    You need to find out the truth behind your parents’ death, I remind myself. You have no choice. After this, though, you’re leaving and never looking back.

    “What was that about?” Sora asks after I have said my final- final- goodbyes to Officer Hwang.

    “Nothing,” I say absentmindedly. “Just an old friend.”

    “What a ed up day,” Sora mutters. We are lying in our dorm rooms, binging on gummy bears. “All I wanted was some ddeokbokki. Next thing I know, I’m lying in some weird room while BTS is doing- get this- karaoke. Those idiots forgot to take my phone so I texted you- but then they caught me recording them singing Christina Aguilera and-,”

    “What the ,” I mumble as Sora blabbers on about their wild goose chase around and out of the building- “Which was totally a club,” Sora says. “Half the people there were drunk off their . But they all had weapons! How is that safe?!”

    But then I gradually realize that there’s a nervous look in Sora’s eyes as she continues talking. It hits me: she’s antsy about something that happened today. She wants to avoid a certain topic.

    Oh.

Who was there for you when your brother died?

“Sora,” I say slowly, cutting her off. “Do you want to talk about... something else?”

She lets out a nervous laugh. “What do you mean?”

I simply look at her.

The smile fades off her face. She lets out a deep breath.

“You’re talking about what Taehyung said, right? About my brother?”

I nod.

“There’s nothing to it, really.” Sora rolls over in her bed. “My brother was shot four years ago. He was my best friend, as corny as that sounds. I don’t know- he was the one who always took care of me, since my dad pretty much buried himself in work after my mom died.”

“Wait... I thought I saw your mom at the Condu with you, that night you were with Taehyung-,”

Sora shakes her head. “That was my aunt. She’s the other person who took care of me- well, after my brother died and I started partying, she kinda... inched out of my life.”

“What the ? That’s terrible. She should’ve been there for you. She can’t have just left you while you were going through a hard time.”

“It just got too complicated to deal with me. I don’t blame her, though: I was a piece of work.” She gives me a bitter smile. “I did hard drugs- bath salts, LSD, you name it. I would be in a permanent state of intoxication all the time. Once, my aunt saw one of my outfits and nearly herself. I didn’t care. It was all a way to numb the pain, you know?”

Her voice cracks on the last word of her sentence, and I rush over and give her a huge hug. “I am so ing sorry, dude. No one should have to go through that.”

“Calm down, silly,” she sniffles. “Hey, isn’t it ironic that getting involved with gangs is the thing that toned me down? I haven’t partied in months.”

I groan as she giggles hysterically. “Oh, god, Sora. Stop.”

She laughs. “What Taehyung said is kind of true, though. Kind of. I mean, BTS were the only constants in my life while I was going through all that. Namjoon, Yoongi, Hoseok- they gave me so much for going out. Jungkook and Jimin would come out with me to try and watch me. I would shake them off every time, though. It was nice to know that someone cared, at least.”

“And Taehyung?”

Sora is silent for a little bit.

Then she grabs a handful of gummy bears from the bag and shoves them into all at once.

“He wouldn’t say anything,” Sora says through a mouthful of candy. “He would just sit with me, I guess. It doesn’t sound like much, but sometimes I needed it. But he stopped after I went off on him one day. We got into a big fight because he tried pulling a Namjoon and scolding me about the I did- I don’t know. I was just looking at someone to vent at.”

Whoa. I don’t want to admit it, but... that was really good of BTS to do. If I didn’t know all the criminal acts they had committed... I would have called them good people. Jesus. No wonder Sora’s so ed up over them being gangsters. If I had close friends like that, and they had turned out to be murderous criminals all along- coupled with the fact that I was engaged to one of them-

“Don’t look at me like that!” Sora exclaims, smashing a pillow into my face. “It’s honestly not that bad. I mean, it still really . But it’s not like I’ve known them for my whole life or something. They’re like the people I’ve been forced to hang out with since I was 14.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m serious! I still don’t like BTS, okay? They freaking lied to me for five years. How am I supposed to forgive them?”

Normally, I would tell her to look at all the good they had done for her in the past.

Then I remember that this is, of course, BTS we are talking about.

Jeez. What is wrong with me? Could I be growing a soft spot for them? I snort at the mere thought of that.

“Life , dude,” I say. “I find it really ironic that your dad works to decrease crime in South Korea, yet he unintentionally arranged a marriage between you and a gangster.”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me. He’s ing useless, honestly. You know the last time he wished me happy birthday is when I was 12?”

"The last time my parents wished me happy birthday was when I was 14," I say in a deadpan voice. "You know why? Because they 're dead."

“Life !” Sora shouts, laughing. “Everything’s !”

“Yes, yes, yes!” I shriek. “ the world-,”

Suddenly, there is pounding on the door of our dorm room.

Both of us freeze.

Slowly, I inch towards the door.

When I peer through the peephole, I roll my eyes.

“What happened?” Himchan hollers, brandishing a gun. “Where are they? Who do we need to kill?”

“You ers are going down!” Zelo hisses. He shoves past me and leaps into our dorm room-

And is faced with a stony-faced Sora slowly chewing on gummy bears.

“Great timing, you pieces of ,” I mutter.