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CA-23: ARCHIVES[07.03.2015]
Afternoon in the office room is always awkward. For someone who is pretty much a model student, offices always looked like a slightly nightmarish idea for her. The mahogany walls and arching beams perched on the white ceilings plastered above her. A watercolor painting was hung across her, and she'd rather study the whole details than hopelessly trying to interact with the man just below it.
He was a stark difference from her — with hair still cut barely above his eyebrows, slightly messy, although he had a loose black overcoat covering the rest of his skin. He was mulling over the rest of the papers given to him, similarly to the eleven she was holding. She could see a small cut at his nose, uneasy about what happened.
She mused over the papers, and managed to find one with a similar picture of his. Soon Jookyung. As far as his profile went, he didn't have charges on any kind of crime. It was probably an accident, for all she knew.
"Song Hyosung?"
A firm voice reached her ears, and she immediately perked up at that. Jookyung also stood up and turned his head towards the door. A middle-aged man gently closed it, and had a calm smile as he reached up, squeezing his hands firmly at theirs. His felt genuinely different than the much younger man, who had immediately let go as they shook earlier.
"Yes, Headmaster Shin."
"Well, firstly, good afternoon to both of you," the Headmaster said. "Please, take your seats."
She awkwardly sat back, gripping the twelve papers with her firmly.
"As you had seen, a few days ago, one of our agents have, unfortunately, passed away in line of duty," the headmaster sighed, pressing his lips into a thin line.
"But this morning, I received the news that two more kids disappeared, and one of them is a military official's daughter," his expression suddenly hardened as he passed over two thin folders towards them. The first page contained a profile of a young girl, her name listed as Kim Rohee. The next page contained several screenshots of a conversation from a website similar to text messages.
"...in accordance to witness' accounts, their descriptions of a 'something' that attacked the two children matched those of victim Park Miyeon's description. With fear to further encased a damage against both agents and officers alike, we came to an agreement with the police department — and came up with a team. Not much, just of eight, but you both had the rights to discuss who would be certified enough to do so."
Hyosung bit her lip. All had came down to this. Last hour, she was talking to a young girl out of her problems, and now, she was supposed to create a team. Of all people. Of any representative that could've gone here instead of her.
"Song Hyosung, you would be helped by Sun Jookyung, right over here," the headmaster pointed out at the younger male across her, who only nodded when he looked up to her. His eyes looked droopy, and for all she knew, he might've been there with a wrong purpose. Like he wasn't interested, but his arched eyebrows told the otherwise. From the looks of it, maybe the case papers were more interesting than her. Not a social person, at all.
But for her, when she opened the folders again, her eyes looked straight at victim Park Miyeon, whose photo was attached with a paperclip at the edge of the folder. She might've been bruised for all she knew, wounded, and the recent shot must've traumtized her. She could see the glassy eyes of the victim, and in turn, couldn't help but felt the pity coming out from her. A swelling urge to finish the mission was stronger than anything.
"and the same goes to you, Jookyung. Do both of you agree to this?"
"Yes." Hyosung said, her voice firm. She didn't want this to continue, after all. Jookyung didn't respond, his eyes focused on one part of the page. Both the headmaster and Hyosung looked warily at him, a thick looming air clouding the large room. The headmaster cleared his throat, and Jookyung looked up, saying, "Do you have any involvement in our candidates?"
"That could be arranged, hence in case some things didn't match what we wanted, we may ask you to replace the candidates," he said. "but overall, all candidates must be here in the next five days to be declared official. Do you agree to this?"
"Yes." Jookyung said.
"Well then, good luck. I rest my case in you."
The canteen at Johak's school was much quieter in the evening, where most of the students would be resting around the accomodations, anyway. Both her and Jookyung quietly sat down near the windows, where they could see a crowded basketball ring below. Several young boys were playing, but from the looks of it, they recently finished their biggest exams — thick books left scattered around wooden benches — and just having the time of their lives. Or not.
"So, we get to pick, but somehow at the end they also gave us suggestions," Hyosung picked up a sheet of paper from hers. Some students and operatives were listed, but she flipped the pages over, unsatisfied.
"It doesn't really feel free, doesn't it?" Jookyung looked down below.
"Never is," Hyosung sighed. "But I guess they do want the best not to fail. At least it sorts us out from having to file in for everyone in Johak."
Jookyung looked over to her, about to open his mouth, but decided against it. She could hear a small gruff coming out of him, like it was a begrudging acceptance to her answer.
"I suppose we should start right now, shall we?" Jookyung nodded, eyes still focused on the ongoing game. She couldn't help but peered below — someone was interesting him.
"Someone below interest you?"
"You knew well, miss. What's his name?"
"He is..."
notes : i would've joked about who he is, but right now i'm freaked out that i accidentally splashed water on my samsung s5 (hopefully their waterproof magic comes to work, although i had it loose from the casing.). yay for lousy reveal, i guess. congratulations to wishiwasazn and her character song hyosung! hopefully to see a better future with the next teaser.
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