Chapter 5

Chasing Xiumin
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“Please, you don’t understand!”

Yoojung was near tears, slamming the coffee table with her fists. Unfortunately for her, the policewoman in front of her was clearly a seasoned officer and remained unswayed by her emotional display.

“I’m sorry, but department procedure requires you to wait twenty-four hours before we can process your missing persons report. Have you checked everywhere your sister might be?”

“I didn’t need to, that’s what I’m telling you!” Yoojung’s fists clenched. “She’s always home when she says she will be, and she told me to call the police if she’s ever not. Chaeyoung said she would be home by one, and it’s already nearly nine in the morning!”

The policewoman sighed. “Look honey, I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything yet. Contact us again in sixteen hours, and if your sister’s still gone, we’ll start the investigation right away, I promise.”

“But I can’t just sit here and wait while my sister is in danger!” Yoojung's voice broke, her fingernails leaving angry, red half-moon indents in her palms.

Although she rarely saw Chaeyoung for more than an hour at a time these days because of her job, Yoojung still knew their shared apartment would feel terribly empty without her. Neither sister had close friends, with Chaeyoung being too busy with work and Yoojung staying at home at all day, and their parents had died long ago. Without Chaeyoung, Yoojung was well and truly alone, something she had never been before.

Swallowing the terrified lump in , she stared up at the policewoman. “What do I do for the next sixteen hours?”

“Well, for one, don’t call 119 and demand they come over to your apartment,” the officer said, fixing Yoojung with a stern look. “We can’t do anything yet, and making us come is a waste of public resources. Instead, start thinking where your sister could be or who might hold a grudge against her. It will help our investigation, if it is necessary, if you have thought about this already.”

Feeling terribly small, Yoojung shrank and gave in under the older woman’s gaze. I’m being troublesome, aren’t I? There’s nothing she can do for me. The frustration faded into embarrassment.

“Alright. Thank you for coming,” she said, bowing her head. “I’ll call the precinct tomorrow.”

The officer patted her hand and stood up. “Just come in person; it’s faster and more efficient when it comes to filling out the paperwork.”

Uncertain if she was more relieved she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone on the phone or anxious about being surrounded by reprimanding, judgmental police officers like this one, Yoojung agreed and peeled herself off the couch to walk the officer to the door.

“Thank you again, Officer. Have a good day.” Better than mine, hopefully.

She closed the door behind the policewoman and promptly dropped to the ground, head cradled in her arms. “What do I do, Baekbaek?” she asked, not looking up. “Where could Chaeyoung be?”

Hearing no answering bark, she lifted her head. The pile of white fluff snored on, oblivious to her misery. “You too, Baekbaek?”

And in that moment, with the force of an eighteen-wheeler, it hit her just how alone and miserable and helpless she was. No parents. No friends. Sleeping puppy. No idea where her only remaining family member was or if she was ever coming back. She had been abandoned, left to be spun around faster and faster on this carousel of life, feeling more sick and frightened and alone the more it accelerated.

The tears Yoojung had so valiantly suppressed while talking with the policewoman overflowed, and there was no stopping them now that they had started. Loud, ugly gasps for air wracked her ribs, pumping her lungs like bellows, and she choked on the terror, cold and overpowering, swelling into a lump at .

“I can’t do this.” She clutched at her chest, struggling desperately to control her breathing. “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!”

Curled up into the fetal position, she hated herself for being so weak. Chaeyoung would never be so fragile. Chaeyoung would think through things logically. Chaeyoung would know what to do.

---

Chaeyoung didn’t know what to do.

After several minutes spent exploring the windowless room, she had concluded that there was only one way in or out of the room: the door. From what she had observed, Luhan and Tao each had a set of keys hanging off their belts, but both of them were far too aware of her every movement for her to stand a chance at stealing a key. Escaping didn’t seem like an option, but neither did sitting here and waiting for her captors to return.

Further complicating things, after disappearing for hours, Tao had returned to her room thirty minutes ago and dumped a body unceremoniously on the floor, not bothering to offer an explanation, before promptly exiting the room again. The body, face smushed in what looked like a terribly uncomfortable position, hadn’t moved aside from occasional breaths, and Chaeyoung didn't think it would any time soon.

Tao probably overcorrected on the tranquilizer dosage, she’d thought with a sympathetic wince. This poor guy is going to have one hell of a headache.

The sympathy had evaporated the moment she recognized the unconscious man as Kim Jongdae.

Now Chaeyoung was perched upon her cot, which she had pushed from the center of the room to what she had mentally designated as her half of the space. Feeling like some sort of vulture but unable to bring herself to care, she glared down at the lump on the ground.

“You little rat.” She sneered at the unconscious comedian. “You took my briefcase because you were mad I stood up for myself, huh? Because I didn’t let you have your fun?”

Jongdae didn’t respond. He was unconscious, after all.

“You know you’re doubly responsible for my impending firing now?” she demanded, eyes narrowing. “First you ruin our negotiations with the Minister, and now you steal my briefcase. What did you even do with those papers?”

“That’s exactly what I want to know,” Luhan said from the doorway, looking distinctly unamused and giving Chaeyoung the fright of her life. “The surveillance cameras showed him taking the briefcase, and we found him with it, but it’s empty.”

He strode over to Jongdae’s body, digging his toe into the comedian’s ribs. “Hey! Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty.”

Jongdae didn’t respond. Luhan frowned, and Chaeyoung couldn’t help but smirk. Typical Kim Jongdae. Still pissing people off, even when he’s out cold.  

“Tao,” Luhan called through the thin apartment wall, eyes not moving from the body on the ground. “Just how much tranquilizer did you put in this one?”

A pause. “Some.”

This time, Chaeyoung laughed outright, earning herself a glower from Luhan. Tao’s ambiguity was surprisingly amusing when it was directed at someone else’s questions, she noted to herself.

Luhan grumbled to himself and turned back to the door, leaving Chaeyoung and Jongdae behind. “Tao, we really need to talk about learning to estimate people’s body weights more accurately.”

---

Halfway across the country, Yixing found himself hesitating outside Yoojung’s door again, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. But instead of a bugged trash bag full of ramyun, he clutched a simple note in his hand, and this time, he had no intentions of meeting with Yoojung face-to-face.

He had debated with himself for nearly two hours before taking the subway to her apartment complex, and he still wasn’t sure this was a good idea. If Luhan found out, he’d be in for a very long lecture, that much was clear. But after listening through the bug to the poor girl sobbing her heart out, Yixing couldn’t help him

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Chasing Xiumin is one of the many fics on AFF that have been plagiarized on another site (see blog section for more info). Please don't read CX on that other site - my work can only be read here on AFF, so if you see it anywhere else, please report it to me.

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comrades
#1
Chapter 22: I just realized this story hasnt been touched in two yrs and now im in mourning :(
vampwrrr
#2
Chapter 21: Oh, wow. That killed one of my theories that little boss was Chanyeollie. I think that Big Boss is Xiumin.

...or not.

Something's up with Xiumin, anyway, though. An experienced secret agent crying over torture? Or...hm, there's something to the fact that Luhan hears machinery in the calls. Maybe they're recordings?

Anyway. RIP, poor Fluffers.
vampwrrr
#3
Chapter 20: I really like how Chaeyoung has decided, even though Jongdae is...the most annoying man on the planet, to stick with him because no one deserves to be alone and defenseless and falsely accused of a felony.
vampwrrr
#4
Chapter 19: I don't trust Henry, I don't trust Chanyeol--shoot, at this point, I don't even trust that Xiumin has actually been kidnapped.
vampwrrr
#5
Chapter 18: Awww, Yixing has a crush...
vampwrrr
#6
Chapter 17: Is Jongdae starting to let down his clown guard?
vampwrrr
#7
Chapter 16: Awwww! Taotao packed them snackies?!
vampwrrr
#8
Chapter 15: I caught the showtime reference and my heart cooed.
vampwrrr
#9
Chapter 14: I love being right.