“Phase 3 is mostly complete.” Kyungsoo said, “We managed to identify all the pets’ owners except for one. He doesn’t have a certificate on the database.”

 

Sehun frowned, “Can you locate his breeder?”

 

“We’ll have to ask around. He doesn’t have a brand or any significant marks on him.”

 

“Alright, thank you. Have you asked the pet yet?”

 

“He’s in fragile condition.” Kyungsoo said, slightly impatient, “He can’t coherently speak, even with a lot of persuading.” 

 

Kyungsoo nodded, “Noted. I’m not sure if the pet is from the area, but I’m sure someone will recognize him.”

 

“Why do you think that?” Sehun asked, curious about the surety in Kyungsoo’s voice.

 

“Sehun, have you seen the boy yet?”

 

Sehun shook his head.

 

Kyungsoo nodded knowingly, “I’ll have him sent in. Just make sure to use a soft voice and be patient. He’s skittish.” He then pulled aside the curtain in Sehun’s makeshift office and walked down the hallway.

 

Sehun sighed and returned to the small mountain of paperwork on his desk. This was the aftermath of the big auction house bust about a week ago. After getting all the pets out, Sehun and his crew took the ones who needed medical care to the hospital. As leader in the operation, he was responsible for the pets' well being until they were placed back into their owners' care, and the office told him that he had to watch them while finishing all his reports. The staff at the hospital had been cooperative, agreeing to let him him to have a corner in the room many of the pets were staying in and even setting him up with a desk inside the curtain. 

 

Not even a few minutes in, someone knocked on the wall next to the curtain and he swiftly looked up from his form. Standing in front of him was a small, brown-haired boy that barely looked like he was old enough to be out of training. Kyungsoo stood next to him, gently guiding him to sit down on the chair in front of Sehun’s desk.

 

“This is Lu Han.” Kyungsoo introduced with a slight coo to his voice, “He’s been a very good boy despite the trauma he was under. He is twenty-years-old, without distinct markings of any sort, and has extremely good training.”

 

Sehun smiled, “Nice to meet you Lu Han. You can look up at me if you’d like.”

 

“Lu Han, are you okay to speak?”

 

The pet shook his head and pulled gently at Kyungsoo’s sleeve.

 

Kyungsoo nodded to the pet and explained, “Lu Han has been in a lot of trauma, so he can’t form words very well at the moment. And he doesn’t want to talk unless he can speak clearly.”

 

“That’s alright Lu Han.” Sehun smiled softly at the pet, “You’re very beautiful.”

 

Lu Han’s eyes immediately dropped to the ground and his face lit up a tomato red. He squirmed around for a second before suddenly stopping, as if he remembered a scolding he had gotten for that offense. That made Sehun uncomfortable. The whole commanding thing with pets never quite sat right with him. Even if they had been specifically trained to be fully submissive, they were still humans.

 

Lu Han shook his head.

 

“But you had a master?”

 

A nod.

 

“Was he, or she I suppose, your master for a long time?”

 

A more eager nod this time.

 

Sehun frowned and took a stab in the dark, “Have you not been sold before?”

 

Another nod.

 

Now everything made sense, “Oh I see. Your master is your trainer, am I correct?”

 

Lu Han excitedly nodded, actually looking into Sehun’s eyes this time. There were tears in them.

 

Something pulled at his heartstrings, sending a jolt up his chest. Sehun pulled Lu Han to him in a hug, “I’m sorry Lu Han, I know you must miss your master a lot. I’ll find…” He stopped because he heard a murmur from the boy perched on his leg, “What was that?”

 

Sehun lifted his hand to cup Lu Han’s cheek, “Zhou is it? Do you know the first name?”

 

Lu Han nodded, and with visible effort, whispered, “Mi.”

 

Sehun immediately snapped his head over to his second-in-command, “Kyungsoo, could you find a trainer Zhou Mi and give him a call? Tell him we got something that belongs to him.”

 

Kyungsoo nodded and promptly left the room, closing the curtain behind him.

 

“You’re such a good boy,” Sehun cooed at the pet on his lap, “we should be able to locate your owner soon."

 

The boy looked visibly brighter and nodded, adjusting himself on Sehun’s lap before letting out a yawn.

 

Sehun gently placed his hand on the back of the pet’s head and guided him to his shoulder, “You can take a nap if you’d like, I’ll wake you when Kyungsoo comes back."

 

Lu Han nodded and buried his head into the crook of Sehun’s neck.

 

Just as Sehun was about to move his hand away, the pet made a little sound, so quiet that Sehun would not have heard it had he not been right next to his ear. Sehun looked confused for a moment, but brought his hand back to Lu Han’s head. The pet gently leaned back against it, and Sehun finally understood what was going on and began gently rubbing Lu Han’s scalp.

 

Evidently this is what the pet wanted as he let out a noiseless sigh and completely collapsed his weight onto Sehun. Smiling, Sehun adjusted his weight until he found a comfortable position to do work—right hand for his paperwork, left hand to rub Lu Han’s head. The pet’s hair was very silky smooth and pleasant to touch, and the effect was very relaxing. It must have been the same for Lu Han, because before long, the pet had fallen asleep, soft breaths fanning over Sehun’s shoulder. For the first time in a while, Sehun’s mind settled and he was able to clear-headedly complete his work.

 

An hour later, Kyungsoo came to the room, “Sehun, we’ve contacted the Mr. Zhou Mi and he wants us to come drop Lu Han off."

 

Mr. Zhou had been delighted to hear that Lu Han was alright and invited them over to his residence to drop off Lu Han and have a little chat. When Lu Han was gently shaken awake and told the news, he was so excited he almost jumped out of Sehun’s lap if it weren’t for his training. Instead, he hid his bright grin in the investigator’s shoulder and clenched his fists together to hold himself back.

 

So as soon as Sehun got approval from the office to go visit the Zhou residence, he, along with Kyungsoo and, of course, Lu Han, drove to the breeder’s home a few hours away.

 

“This is Mr. Zhou’s home.” Kyungsoo informed as he pulled up to the cottage, which was a lot smaller than Sehun expected, particularly for a breeder. He knocked on the door and a young lady answered.

 

“Oh hello!” She managed to get out before Lu Han jumped onto her, wrapping his arms around her neck, “Oh darling I’m so glad you’re back! Poor little thing, you must’ve missed us dearly. Now I'm gonna talk with these lovely people who brought you back, but Mr. Zhou is in the living room. Go ahead and see him, alright baby?”

 

Lu Han nodded and unlatched himself from her and bounded into the house.

 

The woman turned back to Sehun and Kyungsoo, greeting them and inviting them inside. She introduced herself as Jia, caretaker of the pets in the house, and immediately directed them toward a small seating area not very far from the entrance. The three took a seat and the woman offered the two some of the refreshments laid out for them. Pleasantries over, she began to ask questions.

 

“Sorry about sitting you guys out here, but considering the time Lu’s been away, I think it would be best to give him and Mr. Zhou some alone time before you talk to him. Is everything alright with Lu?"

 

Kyungsoo nodded, “He managed to go through the events physically unscathed, although a little mentally thrown. But nothing hugs couldn’t fix, I’m sure."

 

“Oh thank goodness.” Jia sighed, “I would never been able to forgive myself if he had gotten harmed."

 

“Could I ask how Lu Han got caught up in all this mess? The raids were mainly on training yards and wealthy households who kept a lot of pets. This place doesn’t seem to fit into either of those categories.” Sehun questioned.

 

“Oh, I’m afraid this is all my fault.” Jia looked down sadly, disappointed in herself, “I left Lu outside by himself for a second and by the time I returned, he was gone. Apparently the raiders had seen him as they passed by and—well, it isn’t too hard to see what he is—just decided to take him with the others. Mr. Zhou is an elite trainer, so it’s unlikely that any of the people involved would have known about the pets here."

 

Sehun had once heard about elite trainers before, but this was his first time coming across one. Rumor had it that they produced extremely high quality pets who were sold for outrageous prices. Buyers of these pets were often rich individuals who wanted companionship, unlike some others who preferred having a large number of pets to show off their wealth. But exactly what the difference between the two was, he wasn’t too sure of.

 

Apparently Kyungsoo didn’t know either, as he asked Jia what the difference was.

 

“Well, I’m sure you two investigators are well-informed about the typical training process.” Jia responded.

 

The system was extremely effective to meet the demands of the public, but the more “uncooperative" pets will sometimes die or come out extremely scarred, in almost unsellable conditions. However, due to the large numbers of pets the trainers handle, such casualties are calculated in the cost. The pets produced are submissive, obedient, and have learned how to pleasure their masters in many different forms. Other than that, they are quite uneducated, often lacking abilities to read or write anything other than their name.

 

“Elite training,” Jia explained, “involves a very individualized and time-consuming process. Each elite trainer has their own system. For Mr. Zhou, he visits the caretakers every few years to hand pick about 5-10 pets around age 6 to train. He usually will have 2-3 litters at one time, all of different ages. At that age, they haven’t been completely grasped the concept of their place in society yet, and this allows the trainer to have complete control over how their submissiveness is ingrained. These trainers will often take on caregivers, such as myself, to work for them, since the younger pets require different care than ones who are post-pubescent. When the pets are sold maturity, they have the desirable qualities of the mass-produced pets, but are more suited to be companions. Mr. Zhou never scars his pets, and insists on advanced education and training in the arts. He encourages each pet to pursue their hobbies and teaches them proper communication skills. The people he sells to must also have never had history of abuse or crime to humans or to pets."

 

Sehun wasn’t too fond of pet training to begin with, thinking that it was absolutely ridiculous to choose certain humans to be submissive to others, but elite training didn’t sound all that bad. It seemed like the most humane way to go about this business, since the pet market certainly wasn’t going away anytime soon. The government often turned a blind eye to the ethicality of the system because the highly-taxed transactions brought in a lot of needed revenue.

 

Jia, noticing the time, stood up and motioned to the hallway, “I believe Mr. Zhou and Lu Han should be about finished by now. If you have any other questions, you can ask him personally."

 

She lead the others toward the main living room, explaining all the photos in the hallway, “These are pictures of the litters Mr. Zhou has trained over the years. He’s a pretty sentimental trainer."

 

Sehun and Kyungsoo glanced at the pictures as they passed by. The earliest picture seemed to be from 50 years ago, and the numbers of pictures were pretty scarce to what they imagined. The trainer certainly was exclusive.

 

Upon arriving to the room, they were met with the trainer hugging a curled up Lu Han in his lap, giving him affectionate head rubs and whispering softly into his ear.

 

 

The pet nodded and ran for the stairs.

 

After Lu Han had disappeared from his sight, Mr. Zhou turned to face the other three, “Oh please sit down, I’m not really one for formalities anyways."

 

The man gave off a comforting aura, like a father. He was aging, maybe in his 80’s, but still had a youthful sparkle in his eyes. It was hard to see how he could be a trainer—in Sehun’s experience, trainers were usually buff, hardened guys—but this man was everything opposite of that.

 

“Thank you so much for bringing our little Lu back.” Mr. Zhou said as soon as they sat down, “The whole house has missed him dearly. I’m sorry I couldn’t go pick him up myself, but I didn’t want to leave the babies and I had a feeling you might want to ask some questions."

 

“Babies?” Sehun asked.

 

“If you don’t mind me changing the topic sir,” Kyungsoo interrupted politely, “I’ve been wondering why Lu Han is 20 already, and hasn’t been sold."

 

 

“I didn’t know how to raise a child, honestly,” Mr. Zhou said, solemn look on his face, “so I inadvertently ended up training Lu Han without realizing. He was eight years old when his concerned teacher contacted me about his odd behavior. It was then that I came upon the realization that he wasn’t a child, he was a pet."

 

Sehun and Kyungsoo looked at each other. Lu Han wasn’t originally supposed to be a pet. Not something unheard of, to take children from normal families to be pets, but they’d never thought that someone could accidentally raise their child to be a pet.

 

 

“Why not then?” Kyungsoo asked.

 

Mr. Zhou sighed again, “It’s difficult to find buyers that fit my criteria to sell to in the first place. I may be in the pet business, but I have my morals too, and I only sell to people I feel completely comfortable with.”

 

“And since Lu Han is special to you, it’s even more difficult.” Sehun finished, completely understanding the reason why he put off this activity. He’d dealt with many pet buyers—some of them were truly vile people.

 

Mr. Zhou looked over, surprised at Sehun’s words, “Investigator Oh, is it?”

 

Sehun shook his head, “Please, just call me Sehun.”

 

 

Readjusting in his seat, Sehun sighed, “Short answer: family."

 

Mr. Zhou looked as if he was contemplating something, “What is your stance on pets?"

 

“They’re not for me,” he said, “I have seen examples of well-cared-for pets, but establishment never sat well with me. With all due respect Mr. Zhou, I think it’s inhumane to treat humans like the way pets are treated. They simply don’t have the choice to—"

 

 

Taking the interruption as a chance to leave, Kyungsoo stood up and bowed, “I’m also afraid we’ve overstayed our welcome.” He handed him a business card, “We’ll be leaving now. All our information is on that card in case you need to contact us for any reason. Have a nice day Mr. Zhou."