A brunette was sitting at her desk in her office, sighing exasperatedly.

The interior of the office was a mess. Papers were scattered all over untidily, dustbunnies danced in the corners of the room and empty boxes of takeaway food sat on the floor waiting to be thrown away. It looked as if the owner of the place had given up on cleanliness and hygiene long ago.

The walls were decorated with maps and posters of wanted criminals. On the maps were scribbles and notes at pinpointed locations. Yes. Other than her daily job of nabbing baddies, especially chasing after a certain assassin on the loose, this was what she had been doing throughout the years. This was what she truly became a cop for.

Ever since she lost her best friend due to an unfortunate incident ten years ago, she was determined to go to the ends of the earth just to bring the latter back.

She leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes, thinking of her next move.

----
"Found ya!!"
"What?! How do you always find me that fast?"
"Because catching criminals is what a cop's best at! I'll be the best cop in the world!"
"Whatever, but since you didn't tag me yet I'm still free! HAHAHA!"
"Hey! Come back, thief! Jung Eunji!"
----

Jung Eunji. That was the name of her best friend. 
She could still remember that one day a truck arrived, indicating her new neighbours had moved in.
She could still remember watching the small family of three greeting each household warmly.
She could still remember seeing that hyperactive kid smiling brightly at her, her eyes curving into perfect crescents.
And she could still remember, vividly, how her best friend had been cruelly taken away from her.

----
"Hello! My name is Jung Eunji!"
"Yoon Bomi."
"Let's be friends!" The girl stuck her hand out.

Bomi always found it hard to open up to people, and the other kids in the neighbourhood were afraid to approach her because of that. Ever since then, she pushed everyone who wanted to be friendly to her away as she thought that it would be better that way. She became a cold person. However, she found it hard not to smile back at the grinning girl in front of her.

"Okay." 
And she took her hand.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
----

It has only been a month, and Eunji had somehow managed to get Bomi to open up to her fully.

"Hey, let's play a game!"

"What game?" Eunji piped up.

"Mmm...Police and Thief!! The thief hides and the police will find the thief. I'll be the police and you be the thief, how's that?"

"Why do you always get to be the good guy," Eunji pouted. "But okay!"

Soon, they were playing their newfound favourite game for hours and Bomi has been winning consecutively.

"That's not fair! How'd you always find me?"

Eunji grabbed Bomi's shoulders and shook her furiously, left to right.

"Because we're best friends! We have a connection. I'll always find you, no matter where you are!"

"Hmm...sounds reasonable enough for me."

They both grinned widely and walked back home, with their arms slung around each other's shoulders. 

----

It was past midnight. Bomi was already deep in slumber, dreaming of her favourite budae jjigae.

Suddenly, several loud bangs resounded through the neighbourhood, breaking the dead silence of the night and waking Bomi up.

Gunshots. Bomi had watched enough television to recognise that deadly sound.

Slowly, curious little Bomi peeked out the curtains of her window. 

She could see several armed men clad in dark clothing coming out of Eunji's house. Anyone could tell that they were dangerous. Bomi continued watching quietly, until the last one walked out with an unconscious Eunji slung over his shoulder. Bomi gasped. The men hopped into a van and drove off, to God knows where. Bomi had so many questions in her head. Who were they? Where did they come from? Where are they taking Eunji?

Bomi's eyes slowly filled with tears.

Will I ever see Eunji again?

At that moment, Bomi swore to find her best friend. Regardless of what.

'I'll find you, Paboji. Like how I always did.'
----

Bomi's eyes sprung open. When did she fall asleep? 

Ever since that day, she had been experiencing recurring dreams of that exact moment when her best friend had been taken away from her. 

She ruffled her hair in frustration and got up from her desk, throwing a few darts onto an enlarged photograph of a very familiar assassin to vent her frustration.

In the photograph, the mischievous assassin was perched on a tree branch and staring right into the camera while showing a very obscene gesture with her fingers, obviously mocking the photographer.

"Ugh. Just where could you be, Jung Eunji?"