Merry Christmas, everyone! 

Jungkook doesn’t know when his sister returned last night – he fell asleep waiting for her at around 2am – but he couldn’t stop beaming when he saw her sitting next to Jimin at breakfast. It relieved him to see that she looked unharmed and well. Granted, she looked like she was falling asleep in her seat despite the rowdiness of other members – particularly Jimin, Taehyung, and Hoseok.

The first thing he noticed upon approaching the dining table was that Jungyoon was still wearing her uniform. It made him ponder if she fell asleep in that attire and hadn’t bothered to change, or if she just returned recently.

He hoped it wasn't the latter.

“Jungyoon-ie! Good morning.” He chimed in and took a seat next to her.

“How rude of you to ignore your hyungs, Jungkook.” Jimin tutted disappointedly with a mock frown. “I thought we taught you better.”

He gave an apologetic bunny grin towards the other members, and then pointedly ignored them to ask, “When did you return, baby girl?” to his twin.

He blinked in confusion when he heard a series of muffled incoherent words in response. For the next couple of seconds, he tried to decipher that alien language, but he promptly gave up when all he got was a headache. It sounded like a mixture of various languages.

“Did any of you got that?” Hoseok questioned with a brow raised.

“Nope. I have no idea what you said, Jungyoon-ie.” Taehyung chimed in with a boxy grin.

“So, where did you go last night?” Yoongi interjected bluntly with an expectant look. “I believe you owe us an explanation explaining everything. And I mean, everything.”

Jungyoon massaged her temple as she sat up and rested her chin on her left palm. She wordlessly covered when she yawned, and sluggishly answered, “I came back somewhere between 5 and 6 this morning. I was having some polite conversations with that bastard.”

“How come we get the feeling that it was anything but?” Namjoon deadpanned with a shake of his head.

“Well, I didn’t kill him if that’s what you’re wondering.”

Jungkook doesn’t know if he should feel relieved or not by that statement. It alarmed and dawned on him that his baby sister had fighting capabilities to kill someone. He had already witnessed her sharp accuracy even though she was using Savant Syndrome – well, he believed it was that ability granted her pinpoint accuracy. He wouldn’t know what to do if such thing was Jungyoon’s prowess.

He snapped out of his musing when he saw her paused to take a sip of her cup of coffee, and resumed with her speech. “Regardless of circumstances, we cannot kill – of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t rough them up or scare them a bit. You know, play ‘good cop, bad cop’. It's all in a good fun.”

“Why do I get the feeling that you’re enjoying that a little too much?” Jungkook couldn’t help but ask with a frown.

“It’s not like they’ll die if I tell them that I’ll cut open their stomach and shove down their intestines down their throat if they don’t tell me what they know. Or if I tie them up and use them as a target practice – of course, I’ll miss my marks completely, but it’s very interesting to see their reactions. They usually beg for mercy and start babbling what they know. It’s an effective method, if you ask me.”

Jungkook openly gaped at what his sister said, and stared at her in astonishment. He couldn’t believe that she could do something like that or talk about it so casually. It didn’t help that her gaze was cold or that she had a ruthless smirk when she uttered those words. It was as if he was looking at another person altogether – that the person sitting next to him was merciless and unforgiving, and not an innocent baby sister he once grew up with. What startled him more was that expression disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

“You’re enjoying it a little too much.” Namjoon pointed out with a frown. “Isn’t it illegal to torture another person?”

“As I’ve said before, compassion is a dangerous tool...” She replied with a nonchalant shrug that left him baffled. “Besides, it’s not like I actually do it. It’s too messy, and I’m too lazy to clean up the mess afterwards. That’s why it’s enough to just make them think that I would. Mind games, you know?”

“Are you going to fill us in on what’s happening?” Hoseok’s question redirected their attention to the matters at hand.

“What’s this about Savant Syndrome? We overheard your conversation the other day, as well as the one last night.” Jin remarked and gave a pointed look to Jungyoon. “And don’t say it’s nothing – we all know it’s something vital. We overheard you.”

Jungkook looked at sister in panicked, knowing that his curiosity had caused the revelation. He paused in his inner meltdown when he noted that she looked calm – a bit too calm – at the news. It was almost like she already knew about it, which might explain why she looked completely unfazed by inquisitive gazes and stares.

“If you’ve heard the explanation, then you know what it is.” Jungyoon answered indifferently without giving a proper explanation. “As for recent events, I know it is confusing considering you have no idea what is happening. However, I can’t tell you anything other than the fact an Italian government official hired a mafia group to eliminate my team and me. I suppose you could say it’s an ordinary day for me.”

“How is being targeted an ordinary day?” Jin all but exclaimed in surprised.

“When you’re me, you know how to plan with pessimism and act with optimism.”

Her response didn’t clarify anything at all. In fact, it intensified Jungkook’s curiosity about how she planned things, and her line of thoughts. Ones such as how she planned these matters like it wasn’t anything complicated, and how she carried them out without any fear.

“So, what does Savant Syndrome do? Is it what I think it is?” Namjoon questioned with a brow raised, directing everyone’s attention on another matter.

He watched as Jungyoon paused momentarily like she was contemplating on her answer. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she was debating if she should tell or not. He had a feeling she doesn’t want to, but intense stares from everyone made that choice impossible. It wouldn’t surprise him if she decided to deflect the inquiry because he knew she could do that if she wanted to.

“What do you think it is?” Jungyoon rebutted with an amused smirk.

Jungkook took a long sip of his coffee and watched Namjoon for an answer. He had an inkling of what it meant based on what Jungyoon told him, but the more he dwelled on it, the more he realized that he doesn’t know what it entailed. He only knew how his sister came to that power… if it was a power of sort. There was many information that he doesn’t know, now that he thought about it.

“It’s a condition where a person demonstrates one or more profound and prodigious capabilities far more than what would be considered normal.” Namjoon’s answer was a standard response from a dictionary.

Jungyoon hummed pensively in reply as she ran a hand through her hair, “Correct. For us, it enhances our own abilities by several times whether we want to or not.”

“At a cost.” Jungkook reminded bitterly with a scowl.

He didn’t have to wait for other members to voice their confusion and disbelief, or look up to see that they were waiting for his sister’s explanation. He, too, would have voice it if he didn’t know about it, and doesn’t know what it demanded. He doesn’t want to think about it at all, but his mind kept referring to that ever since the two of them had that conversation.

He couldn’t stop feeling guilty about this whole matter.

Jungkook snapped out of his musing when he heard an unfamiliar melody, to which his sister sighed and groaned exasperatedly as she pulled out her cellphone. He watched as she stared at the screen for a couple of seconds and rolled her eyes at the name before she answered the call.

“Luka Hwang from Research, how rare of our leader to call me. You usually delegate such thing to Takuto.”

“Yuna Jeon from Assault. How mannerly of you to greet me.”

He stared at his sister in surprise when he heard the other party’s voice – a male – and the name the caller used. It didn’t dawn on him until now that she doesn’t use her birth name at school or for her identity as an armed detective. Then again, he supposed it was a smart thing to do, based on a handful of detective shows and anime he watched.

He watched as Jungyoon just gave a smile in response like it didn’t bothered her to let them hear the conversation, and put a finger on her lips, silently signaling everyone to remain silent during the call.

He supposed he could ask her about the name, and what the caller meant by Assault later. He had a feeling it was the name of department she studied at, but he wanted to be certain. He wanted to know what being in that department entailed because its name made him wary… more so, if it was what he thought it was.

“What can I do for you?” Jungyoon questioned as she placed her cellphone on the table.

Instead of giving an understandable response like he was expecting, all Jungkook heard was a series of numbers that he had difficulty deciphering. It sounded like the were speaking codes.

He looked over to Namjoon, who tended to be a master of difficult puzzles, but he saw that his leader looked just as confused with furrowed brows. Thus, he turned to his twin, and blinked in confusion when he saw her take out another cellphone to search for an answer.

Why does she have two cellphones? More importantly, why did she look like she knew the answer already?

Jungyoon repeated a series of long numbers, and added, “In 30240?” sounding as if she was trying to confirm the numbers.

When he heard a confirmation from the caller, he saw that his sister seemed to finish deciphering what the string of numbers meant. The first thing he noticed when she looked up was her eyes – they seemed to be a couple of shades lighter than normal, and he was positive she wasn’t wearing any lenses.

“Understood. Should I prepare, or will you?”

“I’ll do that. Just be there.” The caller responded, and bid farewell before ending the call altogether.

“What was that all about?” He interjected before anyone could utter a word.

Jungkook watched as his sister put away her cellphones, and heaved a long sigh before she clicked her tongue in an annoyed manner. “I have three weeks to brush up on Italian laws.”

“Italian laws? What do you mean?” Jimin voiced the confusion everyone in the room felt.

“Alright, that’s it. Explain yourself, young lady!” Jin declared as he slammed a hand on the table and then pointed a finger towards Jungyoon.

“I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing since I came here.” His twin replied in an unenthused manner. She heaved a sigh when her gaze met Jin’s firm stance with arms crossed, so she sighed and said, “You know me as Jungyoon Jeon, but I tend to go by Yuna Jeon when I’m working. Makes things easier if they can’t figure to whom I’m related to, and they can’t attack anyone close to me. I’m in the Assault Department, meaning I confront and arrest our targets. In addition to that, I also make court appearances – sometimes as a prosecutor, and at times as an expert witness on weaponries.”

Jungkook stared at his twin, trying to process what she just told everyone. He had a feeling she wasn’t revealing everything since she seemed to gloss over what she does in the Assault Department. Moreover, the fact she was in Assault made him realize that she used Savant Syndrome more often than he would’ve liked.

“Why are you putting yourself out there when you know the consequences of Savant Syndrome?” He questioned in a sullen tone.

“Is it true that your lifespan shortened because of it? We've overheard about it from your conversation with Jungkook, but it sounds farfetched, if you asked me.” Namjoon added with a frown.

He looked at his leader in shock that they overheard that part of the conversation. He supposed it shouldn’t surprise him anymore since they tend to stick together to avoid getting into trouble alone. He then looked over to his sister apologetically that he ended up revealing what was supposed to be their secret – at least, he believed it was a secret.

“I can’t just ignore my work just because I’m afraid of the consequences of Savant Syndrome. Second law for ICJ Armed Detectives: One must fulfill the contract in commission, no matter what.” Jungyoon replied with slight bitterness in her tone. “That’s why Savant Syndrome is both a blessing and a curse. As I’ve said before, it enhances my own abilities – that’s why no one saw me performed a quick draw or that I did a seemingly impossible feat of deflecting bullets with my sword and did billiard shots with my own bullets last time.”

“Does that mean you have pinpoint accuracy?” Hoseok asked.

Instead of giving a verbal response, Jungyoon simply gave a smile that doesn’t reveal anything at all. She then stood up from her seat and grabbed her jacket hung on the back of her seat, “Look, I appreciate your concern – really, I do. But I’ve already accepted my fate… so did my team. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You told me they’re making something to counter that. So, why are you giving up? It’s not like you, Jungyoon!” Jungkook rebutted stubbornly.

“As I’ve said before, plan with pessimism but act with optimism. There’s no guarantee that this new serum will work, no guarantee that they’ll finish before our deadline, and above all, we don’t know what side effects it’ll bring. It’s something to hope for, but I wouldn’t bet my future on it.” She gave a serious look as she explained her thoughts on this matter.

It wasn’t something he had thought about it before, and as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, he could see the truth in her response.