“Wow. You would never guess this place houses a bunch of criminals.” Sarcasm drips from your voice. The building in front of you looks like it’s straight out of a cop show. The surrounding plant life devoid of any life – even if it’s currently the middle of spring. The only living plants are the weeks taking over the lawn. The walls of the building are old; cracks can be seen making webs around the building. The only new things about the building are the giant windows.  

“Ssh. You’re only supposed to judge the art work, not their living arrangements.” Jinyoung scolds you as he fixes his white button down. “Okay, run down before we go in.”

“We ring the bell. Hoseok will let us in and lead us to the room where this oh so magnificent painting is. The artist comes in. We talk. You and Y/N ask to look at other paintings while I stay and talk money with her. Hoseok leads you two to their office. You look for any plans they may have written down. In then out.” Taehyung lists out all the steps that Namjoon had planned out.

“Also don’t forget your names. Can’t let our real names slip.”

“Kim Mina.” You say.

“Park Jaeho.” Taehyung says.

“And I’m Choi Myungsoo. Don’t forget to address each other by these names.” Jinyoung reminds you.

Everyone nods and the three of you make your way towards the rickety stairs that leads to the front door. The three of you are in business attire, trying to play the part of art curators looking to buy art work for a museum that’s supposedly opening. The high tech security system stands out amongst the peeling paint of the building. A camera follows your movements. Jinyoung speaks into the speaker telling the person who you are. A few seconds later, the heavy looking door opens and a familiar face greets you.

“Hello. We are from the Museum of Recreations.” Jinyoung gets into character and takes the lead right away. All three of you pretend not to know Hoseok. He nods and invites you inside.

“Right this way.” He leads you to a large room; the spacious area looks larger with the large windows. Paintings hang from the walls; the vivid colours contrasting against the white. “I’ll go get Anna.”

You take this time to get into character. It always takes you a few minutes to get into the mindset of someone else. Taehyung walks around, stopping every so often in front of a painting. “Wow. These paintings are really good.”

“Don’t forget that these people are plotting the death of some big wig overseas. Gotta prevent an international dispute.” You remind him.

“Sssh. They’re coming.” Jinyoung’s power of sensing people often comes in handy, especially with scoping missions. As expected, Hoseok walks in, a petite girl by his side.

“Hello.” She says as she bows in front of you. “I’m Anna.”

“Hi Anna. I’m Mina. It’s nice to meet you.” You bow in return. Jinyoung and Taehyung introduce themselves before she leads you to the couch in the center of the room.

“These are beautiful paintings, Anna. Did you paint all of these?”

“Yes. I figured it’d be nice to put them up in the room for you to look at. I specialize in recreating works by Rembrandt, as you can see. Right now, I’m currently working on The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.” Her voice is full of confidence, nothing like how you thought she would be.

“That’s an interesting piece to paint. One of the stolen works from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.” Jinyoung replies. Of course, he had done his research when they had received information on the inner workings of the group. It was still early on in the mission – not much information could be shared, especially since the double agents currently spying on the group were too low in the hierarchy to know much.

“Correct. But I use the techniques that I know that Rembrandt used along with photos of the painting to help me recreate it. I wish I could use the original but that’s impossible.” You nod, slightly saddened by the story. You had done some research of your own – not as much as Jinyoung but enough to get by. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft was the largest in art history, having work stolen that cost around half a billion dollars.

Jinyoung decides to put the plan into action. “Do you have any other painting we could look at? Any different styles from the one you have up in this room? We’d like to see the full potential of an artist but we’d also like to start talking money. If it’s alright, Mina and I will look at your work and Jaeho can discuss the terms and conditions with you.”

She nods. “Of course. Hoseok can show you the way.” Hoseok appears by her side and nods when she tells him where to go. Of course, he’s not going to listen. The halls are empty and you pass no one as you walk through the long corridors. He leads you to a large office. A giant desk covered in paper is pushed against a large window. The other side is a small sitting area, probably used for small meetings.

You and Jinyoung get right to work. You go through the papers on the desk which are mostly bills and to do lists. Jinyoung tackles the drawers. Thankfully most of them are unlocked. Five minutes later you notice a scrap piece of paper with messy handwriting on it. You would have otherwise skipped it if it weren’t for the highlighted name.

EMILIA WOODS

Jackpot. The name of the person you were looking for. “I think I got something.” You tell Jinyoung. Hoseok hovers by the door, waiting impatiently. You show him the piece of paper which only reveals her name and other information on her that you could get off the internet. You two keep searching, frantically looking for a clue on their plans. The time was ticking. Taehyung could only talk about money and terms with a person for so long before they went looking for you. Jinyoung’s ability to sense other people’s presence was useful, but it wouldn’t help if someone were to come looking for you.

A moment later, Jinyoung finds a piece of paper with times and dates written down. You mentally capture a picture in your mind and send it to the computer Namjoon is using. “Come on, let’s go before they start looking for you guys.” Hoseok urgently ushers you back to the room.

“The paintings are amazing. But I do prefer your recreations of Rembrandt. A very impressive use of your skill.” You gush, pretending to have seen her other paintings.

A small smile forms on her face. “Thank you. I prefer painting Rembrandt anyways.”

“Well if that is all, we’ll contact you with more details in a few days.”

“Of course. Let me walk you out.”

The three of you walk out into the sun, thankful that the mission went without a hitch. “So Tae, what was she like? Does she have the personality of a killer?”

Taehyung looks into the distance, contemplating the question. “She has the personality of someone I used to know.”