“That’s a quick change of heart.” Jisoo muttered as Joonmyeon went back to his desk to take the code and gave it to Jisoo. “When you’re done, find any one of us. Only us. No one else. Understand?” Joonmyeon said in a stern voice. Jisoo nodded and Joonmyeon told Sehun to untie Jisoo.

“Sehun will show you where you can finish your work.” Joonmyeon said as he walked out with the others. Jisoo was finally free to move her limbs and stretched. “Stretching had never felt so good. Thanks a lot, by the way, for untying me and convincing your boss to keep me alive.” Jisoo said. “No problem.” Sehun shortly replied.

Sehun lead Jisoo to another room, which was smaller than the previous room. “This is my office. You can sit on the sofa and solve the code.” instructed Sehun as he and Jisoo stepped into the room.

There were five black sofas arranged in a V manner. Jisoo sat on one of the sofa and took the paper with the code from Sehun. “Do you need anything?” asked Sehun as he went over to his desk. “A piece of paper and pen would do. Thanks.” Jisoo said as she looked at the paper. 8.1.12.1.14.11.19  was scribbled across the paper. Without much hesitation, Jisoo started working on the code. Within moments, she quietly finished and wrote down the answer on another paper and gave it to Sehun.

Sehun was shell-shocked at how fast Jisoo solved it. “H-how?” Sehun’s voice trailed off at the answer. “Look, I know the answer seems like some bull I made up but it actually exists.” Jisoo opened her phone and showed Sehun her research. “Sakhalin Isalnd,” Sehun muttered, “how did you solve it anyway?” he asked.

“I just start with the very basic cipher: Ceasar’s cipher. It’s like each number holds a certain alphabet. Sometimes, it can be very complex, depending on the person encrypting it. Thankfully, this one was very basic. It’s just following the position of the alphabets. A is the first alphabet, so A equals to 1, so on and so forth.” Jisoo explained, “When I solved the cipher, the word I came up with didn’t make any sense but I realized that it was an anagram and came up with Sakhalin, which is a remote island in East Russia. I did try other words but they don’t make any sense.”

Sehun was speechless. He could only stare at the paper with his mouth gaping open. He quickly took the black telephone sitting on his table and dialed a number. “Hyung, tell everyone to come to my office now. It’s important.”

>> 

“Sakhalin Island? Are you sure?” Minseok looked at the paper skeptically. “What would he be doing on a remote island in Russia?” Kyungsoo muttered in confusion. “Maybe he needed to hide something somewhere no one can find?” Jongdae theorized.

“I don’t know why, but I have a feeling we need to go there. Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Sehun, you are going there with me. The rest of you, stay here. Keep the business running as usual to avoid suspicion,” Joonmyeon instructed, “Jongin, call Taeyong. Tell him to come to the hangar tomorrow morning at four sharp.”

“Joonmyeon hyung, Taeyong’s on another mission, remember?” Chanyeol reminded Joonmyeon. “.” Joonmyeon muttered under his breath. Of all times, why did Taeyong have to be unavailable now?

“Wait—didn’t Jisoo say she can fly a plane?” Sehun piped in. The room grew quiet and all pairs of eyes fell on Jisoo. Jisoo widened her eyes and said in panic, “I can fly short distances but all the way to Russia?! You’re asking for a death wish!”

“It takes around four hours from Seoul to Sakhalin.” Kyungsoo read off his phone. Jisoo’s eyes changed into a more relieved mode and said, “Four hours? I think I can handle it.”

Joonmyeon looked at her with doubt, not sure that his life was in good hands. Jisoo caught his eye and rolled her eyes and said, “I learned aviation in Swiss for three years. I can fly any kind of plane. I’ve flown people and none of them died. I’m a good pilot.”

“Hyung, I think we should just let Jisoo fly us there. We don’t have any more time to waste.” convinced Baekhyun. Joonmyeon could only sigh. They could not just hire any pilot to fly them to Sakhalin Island, a place so secluded that people don’t know it.

“Alright, we’re flying at six in the morning tomorrow. For now, you come and stay with us. We have female servants who live with us so you don’t have to worry about you being the only girl. I’ll have them go and buy you some clothes and whatever you need.” Joonmyeon said.

>> 

“.” Jisoo muttered as she rummaged through her bag for her phone. She totally forgot about calling her mom. Her mother would probably be panicking on why her daughter was not coming back.

“What are you doing?” Joonmyeon, who was sitting next to her in a BMW X5, asked as he saw Jisoo holding her phone. “Calling my mom—damn it my phone’s dead. May I borrow yours?” asked Jisoo casually.

Joonmyeon looked at her with hesitation and handed her his phone. “I know you don’t trust me, but can you just please stop giving me that look? You’re a mafia boss and I’m an ordinary citizen, yet I trust you to the point I’m going to your house. Can you trust me too?”

“Fine.” Joonmyeon grumbled. Jisoo proceeded to typing in her mother’s phone number and dialed her.

“Hey mom! I know I know! I’m really sorry! School has been really hectic and I decided to go on a solo trip to the countryside, release some stress.” Jisoo said to her mother. It was all lies, anyone could see that.

“I’m actually not sure when I’ll be back, but probably Monday? An old lady was kind enough to lend me her phone because mine’s dead,” Sehun, who was sitting on Jisoo’s other side,  along with Chanyeol who was driving and Kyungsoo who sat shotgun, struggled to hold their laughter at Jisoo’s description of Joonmyeon.

“Alright, it’s getting late. Yes mom, I’ll be careful. Bye mom! Love you!” Jisoo quickly ended the call with her hysteric mom who thought her daughter was kidnapped or dead. Which was partially true, considering that Jisoo actually offered to help a gang of criminals.

“Really? Old lady?” Joonmyeon muttered as he got his phone back.

“You actually lied to your mom.” Joonmyeon looked at Jisoo with astonishment. “You think I would tell her I got kidnapped and tell her to save me? I would’ve been dead by then.” Jisoo said.

“As much as you are a chatterbox, you actually have some common sense.” Joonmyeon mused, which earned him a hit on the arm from Jisoo.

“Fun fact, you’re the only person who dared to hit him in the arm, aside from the eight of us.” Sehun said while chuckling. “Honored to be the first person to do so.” Jisoo said while laughing, earning a small laugh from Joonmyeon.

That was the first time in years a female made Kim Joonmyeon laugh.

>> 

After having one of the best sleeps in her life, Jisoo woke up at four in the morning and quickly took a shower and changed into her new clothes. She grabbed the luggage filled with all the necessities for who-knows-how-many-days trip. She rushed downstairs and saw that the boys were all waiting for her and felt guilty.

“Did I keep you waiting? I’m so sorry.” Jisoo apologized. “No worries, most of us just went down.” Sehun assured. Baekhyun raised his eyebrow, because all of them were already downstairs since four. This was a new side to Sehun he saw. Does he have a crush on her or something? Baekhyun thought, but quickly dismissed it for he knew Sehun was rather a playboy.

“We didn’t miss anything, did we?” Joonmyeon checked around. It seemed that everyone brought everything they need, “We don’t know how long we’re staying in Sakhalin Island, so I hope you guys brought stuff for three days at least. Bring enough bullets too, that’s extremely important.”

Jisoo could only stand awkwardly while the boys loaded their guns with bullets. After making final checks, they all headed outside to the garage that looked like a showroom with cars of all shapes and sizes.

They walked towards the BMW X5 and hopped in. Baekhyun was designated as the driver with Chanyeol in shotgun. Jisoo, Sehun and Joonmyeon sat in the middle row, retaining the same position they had yesterday.

The ride was mostly silent, since everyone was on their phone. Before they knew it, they arrive in the hangar. It was a private hangar, filled with three private jets and five helicopters. Damn they must be filthy rich to afford all these. Jisoo thought as they went to one of the private jets.

“You can fly this?” Joonmyeon asked Jisoo as he turned the latch to open the door. “Stop doubting me Joonmyeon.” Jisoo replied as she rolled her eyes. Joonmyeon’s doubt in everything she did was slowly becoming annoying. Is he underestimating me? What a . Jisoo scoffed internally.

As they stepped into the plane, Jisoo marveled at the interior of the plane. The seats were cream-coloured, with a few bottle of wines standing on the tables. A woman then entered the plane and greeted the boys familiarly. She then turned to Jisoo and introduced herself.

“Hello there! I’m Rose Park and I’m the stewardess here. Nice to meet you!” Rose said cheerfully while extending her hand. “I’m Kim Jisoo, pleased to meet you.” Jisoo returned Rose a warm smile while shaking her hand. Jisoo internally cringed at her use of “pleased to meet you”.

While the boys settled in, Jisoo went to the captain’s cockpit and started getting jitters. In flying any plane, there should be a pilot and a co-pilot. It is the golden rule in aviation. Apparently Jisoo would be acting as pilot and co-pilot today.

Nervous that she would crash the plane without a co-pilot, she decided to go tell Joonmyeon, regardless of the consequences. She went out of the cockpit and found Joonmyeon, sipping a glass of champagne while scrolling through his iPad.

Jisoo cleared nervously and meekly said, “Hey Joonmyeon, I need a co-pilot.” Joonmyeon spitted out his champagne and yelled, “What?! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?! !” Jisoo could only bow her head in embarrassment, feeling very guilty of not telling Joonmyeon sooner.

Truth to be told, Jisoo intended on asking Joonmyeon for a co-pilot, but being the forgetful person she was, it completely slipped off her mind.

“Woah what’s going on here?” Sehun asked as he saw Joonmyeon swearing loudly and Jisoo standing there with her head hung low. “She didn’t ing tell me she needed a ing pilot earlier! She only told me just now!” Joonmyeon hollered. Jisoo could not help but flinch at Joonmyeon’s words.

Seeing Jisoo scared to her wits, Sehun stepped in and said, “I’ll be your co-pilot.” The whole plane turned into a cabin of silence. “You want us to die?” Baekhyun said, his voice laced with absurdity.

“I can fly helicopters, pretty sure I can fly a plane.” Sehun said confidently. “Oh God I hope I don’t die.” Chanyeol muttered, his head buried in his hands.

>> 

Miraculously, the plane landed safely in Sakhalin. Joonmyeon, Baekhyun and Chanyeol all breathed a sigh of relief as they stood up and collected their belongings. Sehun and Jisoo exited the cockpit and also went to grab their things before exiting the plane.

Since the place where they landed was miles away from the city, and they did not bring any of their men, they resorted to walking. On the way, Jisoo felt hungry as she had not eaten anything after a light breakfast of sandwich.

She saw a diner and nudged Sehun who was walking beside her. “You hungry?” she asked. “A little. Why?” Sehun replied. She pointed to the diner and said, “Let’s grab something there.”

“Are you guys hungry? Sehun and I are planning to go to that diner and buy some food.” Jisoo said to the remaining guys. “Why don’t we just sit and eat lunch for a while before continuing? I’m actually getting tired.” Chanyeol suggested.

The group crossed the street to the small but welcoming diner. A huge sign with the writing Olga’s Diner hung over the diner. The bell chimed as Joonmyeon opened the door.

It looked like an old place but there was a sense of warmth enveloped within. Baekhyun spotted an empty booth and beckoned the others to follow him.

After they settled down, a lady, presumably Russian, came over to their booth and smiled warmly. “Welcome to Olga’s Diner, what would you like to order?” said the woman as she handed out the menu. As she gave the menu to Joonmyeon, her gaze changed and stuttered. “W-wait here.” She hurried back to the kitchen, leaving everyone confused.The lady came back with a photograph in hand andcompared it to Joonmyeon’s face.

“This is you, isn’t it?” she asked as she showed Joonmyeon the photograph. No doubt it was Joonmyeon in the photograph. But the question is: how did the woman get a picture of Joonmyeon?

“Ma’am, how did you get this photograph?” inquired Sehun. “An old friend of mine told me if anything happens to him, I should find the guy in this picture and give him this music box,” the lady explained as she gave Joonmyeon an antique music box, “I got the word that he died so I tried finding for you. But then I remembered my friend told me to wait for you to come to me instead so I followed his words.”

“Who told you he died?” asked Joonmyeon. He might not know who this “friend” was but he had a pretty good idea.

“One day, as I was closing up, a man who introduced himself as Zhang told me if I’m well acquainted with my friend. I told him yes but it has been a while since I saw him and Zhang told me he died. I didn’t believe him at first, but he showed me a death certificate that bears my friend’s name. I was about to give him the music box but I didn’t, since my friend instructed me to give it to specifically you.” the lady replied.

She stared at Jisoo for a while before her eyes twinkled in excitement. “My dear, you have the same eyes as my friend’s!” she exclaimed. Jisoo was stunned but nonetheless smiled back for the sake of manners.

“May I know your friend’s name?” Joonmyeon questioned, trying to confirm his suspicions. He beckoned the lady to whisper it to him. She complied and whispered a name that changed the course of everything.

A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the amazing repsonse to the first chapter! I hope you'll love this one too!