UJ: Indiana Jones, where did you find the air you were trying to get?

SB: Indiana Jones??

UJ: We can talk about your treasure hunt later. Where are you?

SB: At the E-café. You heard that?!

UJ: No. I just happen to read minds. Of course, I heard it. Why are you at the café?

SB: I asked Yerin-eonnie to drive home without me.

UJ: I’m starting to believe you find pleasure in stating the obvious.

SB: Tsssss

UJ: I have your keys. I can pick you up when you’re ready.

SB: Oh, you know how to drive??

UJ: No. I was just planning to push your car until I reach the café. It’ll take approximately 5 days and 8 hours without sleeping and heavy traffic.

SB: Tsk. I didn’t know you could drive.

UJ: Obviously.

SB: I can commute back, don’t worry.

UJ: Who said I was the one worrying?

SB: Tell Sowon-eonnie I’ll be back soon.

UJ: Sowon-eonnie will not be interested to know that.

SB: Why?

Umji didn’t reply after that. She probably reached her limit at tolerating my nonsensical responses.

When I entered the café earlier, it was evident that all of the crew members were just pretentiously preoccupied with work. No one was waiting; no one was ready to chat; and no one greeted me with their usual eagerness. It was force of habit that Eunseo was always by the receiving area; but when she saw me, she did not direct me to my favorite table. Instead, she walked me toward the elevator that brought us down to the firing range.

By the time I reached the place, I have already regained my composure and I decidedly put an end to my yelling streak. I knew that the mission was part of Uncle JD’s plot to persuade me to abort my plan. He tried to intimidate me by giving me a taste of the reality waiting for me if I remained stubborn enough to continue to tread the path I’ve chosen.

“SinB-yah.” Eunseo started while retrieving a pistol from one of the shooting booths. “You know why father did that.”

“Uncle is not going to change my mind.”

“That wasn’t his purpose.” She quipped. “He just wanted you to see your father.”

“What for?? That did not change anything. If it did, it was that I felt more resolute to end the monstrosity he started.”

“Like I said, changing your mind wasn’t the reason.”

“What did the flash drive contain?”

“We don’t know. But we’ve been monitoring your father’s activity and we found it unusual that he personally took interest in hiring that man instead of having his cronies do it for him.”

“Why did you want the data destroyed?”

“We just thought probably it was a big transaction or it was something personal to him.”

“You should have told me, Eunseo-yah. We promised that we won’t hide things from each other.”

“Would knowing it change anything?? You said so that it didn’t!”

We both knew undoubtedly that it would have changed everything and turned the situation for the worse. If I knew, I might have prematurely acted on my anger. I’m certain that I would have disregarded the protocol and just did what my untamed mind would do.

The time I had with Eunseo was spent mostly in contemplative silence. I somehow reflected on how strong my heart was to endure facing the grim future I was choosing for myself. The danger that accompanied my plans felt so real that I was beginning to actually doubt myself again, but my internal deliberation was interrupted by Umji’s text.

UJ: I’m detecting encryption signals from the chip.

SB: Ahhh... They’ve looked at the drive?

Obviously. I was expecting Umji to torture me again with the sarcastic truth but she didn’t.

UJ: Where are you

SB: I told you, at the E-café.

UJ: Stay there until I get you

SB: I’m leaving soon.

UJ: STAY THERE

SB: Fine. But why??

It was odd that Umji was replying hastily. I have known her to detest the omission of punctuation marks, but that time, she wasn’t using any. I felt she was in a hurry or was too engrossed with the activity of the virus she created, but then, she did not respond until thirty minutes later.

UJ: I’m picking you up right now

SB: I told you, it’s okay, I’ll go home soon.

UJ: We need to talk

SB: Don’t tell me Eunha-eonnie made a mess in the kitchen again??

UJ: I’m driving

SB: What??

UJ: Wear your hood. Don’t get out of the café

* * *

Umji was outside the coffee shop before I could even tell Eunseo that I was being picked up. I was hoping that the haste she exhibited earlier was just part of her ploy to surprise me. But I disappointed myself by expecting that Yerin would be in the backseat reading a book because Umji came alone.

She continued to drive my car to bring us to a nearby supermarket. She did not say a word until we settled at the farthest section of the parking lot.

“Tell me the truth. Did you have plans of telling us… Hwang Eunbi?”

I was alarmed by her vindictive tone. But I was more concerned that she called me by my birthname that was never disclosed to any of them. Something was going on and I didn’t know exactly how to respond.

“Speak before I entertain the thought of shooting your brains out in this very car.” Umji’s words were everything but empty threats. It wasn’t foreign getting a gun pointed at my head but I sure wasn’t ready to get my organs splattered onto my car’s interior.

“H-How did you know about my name?”

“It’s common courtesy to answer a question first before asking your own.” She said while pulling a gun out of her back pocket. . She’s serious.

“Yes. Yes, I was going to tell everyone. Before we start with the real missions, I was going to talk to the team.”

“I know I probably should shoot you right now but I cannot get myself to be angry to a point where I could pull the trigger.”

“Umji-yah, I’m sorry.”

“I hope you know the repercussions of putting the entire team on the blind side.”

“I’m really sorry. But Umji-yah, how did you find out?”

“The mission we did earlier... It wasn’t a trial, was it?” After her question, her anger instantly turned into concern. Something was telling me that whatever she expunged from the drive was the only reason why she has not shot me dead yet.

“H-How did you—”

“SinB-yah, someone is looking for you.”

“What do you mean??”

“I have a feeling that you’re in danger.”

“WHY?? Umji-yah, I don’t understand a thing you’re saying.”

“The data that was in the memory chip.” She unbuckled and turned to me. “It contained numerous information about you, like your pictures from here and the US when you were a kid and a teenager. It has your registration records, academic records, pages and pages of police reports on your mother’s accident and your death certificate.”

“WHAT?” It was only now that I’ve pieced together why I saw my father in the car and Eunseo’s speculation of a personal transaction that we had to interfere with. He, for certain reasons, was searching for me, his supposedly dead daughter.

“The guy at the hotel lobby was a hired investigator of some sort. There were no recent documents in the chip but the amount of information that was there might have taken him months to collect.”

“I-I don’t know what to say… Or think... But how did you know what the chip contained?? I thought it would delete everything??”

“The virus I created was meant to erase the contents once the flash drive was connected to a computer. But I also designed it to be able to send the data to my laptop if the computer to which it was inserted happened to be hooked to the internet…”

“… And it was.”

“Yes. But who would want this information, SinB-yah? And why do you have a death certificate??”

“During the mission, I saw the founder of the Academy inside the car where the second target came from.”

“You mean the Academy we worked for?”

“Yeah.”

“But how did you know? No one knew who he was. And why would the founder want your information??”

“The founder of the Academy is my father…” At that point, I knew I had to tell Umji everything- my identity, my connection to the Academy, Uncle JD, Eunseo, my childhood, the accident, my staged death, my hiding, my mission and the possible reasons why my father wanted to know if I was still alive.

“Then I was right. You are in danger.”

“Was the data successfully erased?”

“Yes. But I did something else. I thought that rendering the drive empty would cause suspicion, so, I tampered the data. I replaced it with a different person’s. A person who have already died.”

“You’re such a wise , Umji-yah.”

“I do not wish to be addressed as a body part.”

“Okay, smarty pants.”

“... Much less as an inanimate object.”

“Fine.”

“But in spite that, we can never be sure how much the foun— … your father already knows about your existence. He might have gotten a prior partial report and tampering the data might actually be useless.”

“You’re right. But you said there wasn’t anything recent?”

“Yeah, nothing from Korea. But SinB-yah, you are putting everyone in danger with the mission you want to complete. I, for one, wanted to destroy the Academy but I knew it was impossible.”

“Uncle JD and I have prepared for it. And you trying to shroud my identity is the biggest help you could give me.”

“But how about our identities? SinB-yah, we were former trainees and employees of the Academy. At some point, they will recognize us.”

“We have removed you from their database. Trainees do not know each other individually unless you are in the same group. If anyone was aware of your identities, that would be the top management. But having your files taken from them would make it difficult to single you out in a crowd.”

“You have to educate me more about this plan. And you have to inform everyone about this sooner than later.” I could see from Umji’s expression that she was still skeptical about the whole situation but she returned the keys to me and I understood it was her way of implying her trust in me.

* * *

Happiness overtook the dread I have been suppressing the whole ride home when I saw Yerin’s face as I opened the apartment door.

“Eonnie, I’m back in one piece!”

“Umji-yah.” But that was Yerin’s response to my enthusiasm. URGH. Was I wearing my invisibility cloak and I just didn’t know?? “Help me to the bookstore.” From her tone, she seemed to have been impatiently and solely waiting for Umji’s return. She was in fact by the door with her shoes on.

“I can drive you there.” Since I regretfully sent her off earlier, I thought probably I could spend time with her now. So, despite the certainty that I could gain myself more embarrassment if I went with her, I still offered. But she did not even acknowledge it. Instead, she focused her gaze at Umji with her eyebrows severely furrowed that they could actually switch sides. But her expression did not indicate annoyance; it was as if she was sending ten thousand signals to my fellow maknae that only she could understand.

“Commute it is.” Umji decidedly replied.

I felt the familiar jealousy but I knew better than to insist, more so to react. Because the last time I felt envious of her attention, I got my slapped by Yuju and I wasn’t ready to get my pride slaughtered that way again.

“Okay…” Everything that day was far from okay and I all wanted was to exist in the fragile bubble of Yerin’s presence. But it didn’t seem like we had a mutual yearning. They were gone in a minute and did not return until Sowon and I were asleep.

The next day, I learned that they decided to head to the 24/7 Library after being at the bookstore. That place unearths a barbaric vibe in me that once I enter its doors, I instinctively ball up a fist and prepare myself to be escorted out of the building while screaming ‘I’m not done with you yet, creepy guy!’ while enduring a sore wrist and probably a busted lip. Hence, knowing that they were there squashed my heart more.

That morning too, I woke up to Yuju’s singing. Eunha just got back from work and immediately started snoozing on the sofa. Sowon was out relishing her simple hobby of disposing trash and the students left early for university.

“Hi there, sweet cheeks!”

I wasn’t quite sure if Yuju was pertaining to my face or my buttocks. More so, I wasn’t certain when she started calling me pet names.

“Hi. You’re back...” I realized that Umji was right about my fondness of stating the obvious.

“Why? What happened to my back?” And there’s Yuju who made the obvious unnecessarily complicated.

“No, I mean you are back.”

“No. I am front. Haha!” She couldn’t stop laughing to her own joke while clumsily flipping the scrambled eggs. I was half-asleep but I knew I had to prepare myself to inevitably eat weirdness as a side dish for breakfast.

“Hey.” Was Sowon’s opener. I was ready to hear questions about why I was suddenly out of it during the second half of the mission. But she seemed to have completely overlooked that episode of ineptitude and she focused on something else. “Do you have plans for your birthday already?”

“I DO!” Eunha suddenly woke up and everyone’s eyes darted toward the sofa that partially engulfed her small figure. “I have plans, so don’t sweat about it.” Immediately after declaring that, she was back to Neverland.

Before I could react to the fact that Eunha has taken over my birthday plans, my phone vibrated to an intentional missed call. Umji wanted my attention and it was urgent.

UJ: SOS.

SB: Need help?

UJ: In any part of the world, that’s fundamentally what SOS means.

SB: What happened?

UJ: The university is not allowing Yerin-eonnie to go to class. She did not pay for the miscellaneous fees due.

SB: But I heard Sowon-eonnie giving her money.

UJ: That’s true. But she has backlog and I’m thinking she did not pay at all. Her mom started another round of chemo.

SB: I’m coming

I wore my cap and hastily left the apartment without explaining. I drove to the university almost with teleportation speed and when I got there, I found Yerin sitting on the steel benches in front of the accounting department crying. Umji was beside her awkwardly her back. That sight both broke and angered my heart but I did not approach them and went straight to the main office.

“How much does Jung Yerin owe?”

“Miss.” The lady’s irritated tone instantly drilled through my ears. “I told her alre-”

“I asked how much. I didn’t ask what you told her.”

“Fine.” Raising an eyebrow, her computer mouse clicked incessantly. “She owes 3,660,120.50 KRW that was due six months ago. Since she star-”

“I don’t care about your story. I’m here to settle the account.”

“And how do you want to pay for it??”

“With this.” I wanted to slap her annoyed face with my card but I decided to just hand it over to her in peace.

“I’m sorry, we don’t accept credit cards for big transactions like this, it can only be through debit or cash.” She sneered even before taking the card from my hand.

“I don’t know how you landed this job without knowing how to read.”

“EXCUSE ME??” The lady behind the window almost jumped off her chair as she raised her voice.

“IT’S A DEBIT CARD. A few more minutes looking at your face can cause me to develop a so, settle the damn account right now.”

I could see that she clenched her jaw in embarrassment since everyone behind the desks already had their eyes, ears and probably even their noses on our conversation. “Straight payment or installment? If installment, there’s a mi—”

“Straight.”

She annoyingly huffed, swiped the card and promptly got an approval from the bank. I could have paid her with bills but it was too much hassle to be carrying that amount of money in my pocket.

“Sign here. Is there anything else I can do for you.” Her tone did not suggest that she was asking. She just wanted the transaction to end but I did not want to give her that relief.

“There’s actually one more. Would Miss Jung have any more bills after this?”

“Of course.” She rolled her eyes. And I could have just gouged her eyeballs out of those tiny sockets but I held the fury in.

“Put this number in her financial file.” I took out a 50,000 KRW bill and wrote my phone number on it. Everyone’s eyes grew wide, confused and discombobulated. “Call me when a bill comes up. The only paper you will give her will be a paper that says her bill has been paid. IS THAT CLEAR?”

“O-Okay.” She nervously went back to her computer and typed in the numbers.

“Good. And you can keep the money.”

“Here is her clearance to enter class.”

“Great.”

I immediately stepped aside to make way for the person behind me who was equally stunned. But when I turned, Umji was standing by the door.

“Umji-yah, give this clearance to her. I’m leaving.”

“I’m not sure if you would want to step out right now.” Umji hesitantly said.

“What do you mean?” Like reflex, I glanced through the door’s window. Despite the blurriness of the glass, I could see that Yerin was still seated on the benches across, but some guy was hovering at her. “Who the fck is that??”

I might have slightly detached the door from the wall when I hurriedly swung it open.

“Come on Yerin-ah... Let me at least buy you lunch, I don’t like seeing you sad like this…” It was unquestionably the voice of the creepy guy from the library. I almost forgot he went to the same university.

“I’m not hungry.” Yerin was motionless in her seat clearly not fancying any form of conversation. That’s my girl.

“Okay, then we can just talk…”

“I’m okay.”

“But you don’t seem—”

“Leave her alone.” I tried to be temperate and diplomatic about the whole situation even if I wanted to just toss him off the third floor onto the ground floor without using the stairs.

His mere presence infuriated me but when I saw him carelessly grasp Yerin’s wrist to try to stand her up, hell broke loose. I rashly seized his arm while Umji quickly grabbed onto the back of my shirt in her effort to restrain me. If anyone was seeing that scene, it may have seemed like a love triangle square in a primetime drama happening in broad daylight.

“Oh hi, you also go here?” He looked at me but my eyes were glued to the part where his hand touched Yerin’s skin.

“I don’t have time for a getting-to-know phase with you.”

“Excuse me??”

“GET YOUR FILTHY LIBRARY HAND OFF HER.”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!” I knew that every word was clear to him except that he wasn't acknowledging the part where he had to stop holding Yerin’s wrist.

“I’m giving you three seconds. You can turn around now or you can start thinking about what you want written on your tombstone’s epitaph. GET. THE. FCK. OFF. YERIN.” I am not sure where all the anger was coming from but I felt extremely possessive of her and I couldn’t contain it.

“What the hell is wrong with you??”

Yerin reluctantly stood up, and I could see from my periphery that she wanted to stop me but I was too enraged that even she got scared. I knew that if I continued talking, it could either just lead to a cursing contest or end in a bloody fist fight and so, I yanked the library boy’s hand off Yerin, took her hand and pulled her behind me.

“Consider this the last time you’ll ever come near her.”

“And who the hell are you to say so??” He had the guts to answer despite my fatal glares at him. He must really like Yerin.

“And who the fck are you to think that I can’t??”

“I’ve known Yerin since—”

I was ready for a rebuttal but I fell silent when Yerin cut him short of his speech.

“V, I know she's a bit short-fused, but don't talk harshly to a girl. Especially to my girlfriend."

"She's your what??"

"Please just leave us alone.”

I felt the warmth of my blood crawl up my ears that turned them red. I suddenly couldn't move my body. I don't know exactly what happened but there was fire in my chest that screamed happiness.

I didn't realize that Yerin was holding my hand until she walked between us and tugged me to follow her down the hallway. As we walked away, all I could hear was the library guy’s disconcerted breathing and Umji’s footsteps who just trailed behind in silence.

When we were passing by Yerin's classroom, Umji’s steps halted and I felt my shirt being pulled back. That's when it dawned on me that she never let go of her grasp.

“Yerin-eonnie. You have to go to class.”

“Umji-yah, I can’t.”

“Here. Give it to the prof. We will see you later at the apartment.”

Yerin did not utter a word after she was handed the clearance which she studied briefly. She looked up and met my eyes; still, there was no sound nor a flinch that could hint some sort of message. But just by the way she looked at me, I knew exactly what she wanted to say. For some reason, I did not want her to thank me out loud and so, I nodded and gestured her to go in. But instead of turning to the door, she walked gingerly toward me. I just watched her as she slowly wrapped her arms around my waist before she tenderly laid her head on my shoulder. There was a familiar air. The scent, the gentleness of the hug, the way she comfortably rested her body against mine and the yearning she made me feel were similar to when she did that same by the bathroom door on Eunha’s birthday.

She knew it was me that night. The hug was really for me.

It took a few seconds before I could move my trembling hands to respond to her embrace. I her back lightly, leaned forward and intoxicated my senses with the softness of her body and the smell of her hair. I couldn’t care less that she might feel my heartbeats drum against her chest; I wanted to stay that way until her weariness faded in the warmth of my arms.

“SinB-yah…” The silence ended as her sweet whisper reverberated in my ear. But I feared that there was hesitation in her voice.

“Hmm…?”

.

.

.

“That’s my you’re touching.”

FCK! @#$%^&*!!!

She pulled away from me and entered the classroom without saying anything more. And I was left in the coldness of the hallway with Umji who was biting back a roaring laughter.

“Umji-yah, there’s a possibility that I might have peed my pants.” I was still dazed looking through the nothingness that cowered at the end of the hallway.

“It doesn’t smell like it. But SinB-yah, I think I need to walk you to your car.”

“You heard everything, right?” I asked as I absentmindedly walked toward the wrong direction.

“Yeah.”

“You saw everything, right?”

“Even the touching, unfortunately.”

“Did I really touch it?”

“You might have squeezed it even, once or twice.”

.