Chapter 05

The officer covered herself in her brown coat while she walked into the park. As she kept walking to the place of her appointment, she met with this person sitting alone on the table with her black hoodie on. Tiffany knew immediately who it was and approached her. It was as if her instinct told her who she was.

“…Taeyeon.”

The figure didn’t respond but slowly turned to her. Tiffany made an eye contact with that heartless glare and eventually went to her side. However it was somewhat odd today since the coldhearted thief seemed to be quieter than usual. It made the officer curious and put her hand onto her shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

“…!”

Taeyeon flinched slightly and that was when Tiffany caught a glimpse of a red fluid all over her right arm. The officer rushed to held her arm gently and examined the wound with worries. It was a short cut across her arm but it was deep into her flesh. Then the next thing she saw was the shiny black ball on the floor. She picked it up and its coated with blood…it was Taeyeon’s blood. That’s when she realized that the thief was shot in the arm and she took the bullet out by herself…

“What happen…? Tell me.”

“Tell what? Tell that it was you guys that shot me in the arm?”

She glared ferociously at Tiffany and the officer realized that she was to take the blame indirectly. Her colleague shot her. That glare just reminded her and Taeyeon’s status in society. They were enemies, they were supposed to be more than prepared to kill each other on the field any second. Instead of Tiffany carrying the feel of guilt, she remained in silence for a short while.

“What did you use to take the bullet out?”

“…What else could it be aside from a knife?”

“Isn’t that painful?”

“There’s nothing I could do. Plus, I’m used to it already.”

Tiffany sighed softly and then spotted this bloody pocketknife beside Taeyeon. It seemed to be the knife she used to take the bullet out. She knew it that it must be painful for her yet she didn’t make a single tear out. The officer asked Taeyeon to sit on the chair properly since she’s going to treat her wound. However, it seem the thug was refusing to do so.

“It’s none of your business, you’ll just add more anyways so what’s the point helping me here. Aren’t you supposed to be glad that I’m injured?”

“How could you say such things like that!?”

Tiffany raised her voice with anger towards Taeyeon. She couldn’t believe what she heard and it was such a heartless word, yet tinged with sadness in it. As if she had lost all hope in humanity and everyone around her. Just hearing those words pained her heart.

“You’re injured…whatever status you have, you’re injured! I still have sense of humanity okay? So, are you going to sit properly or you’re going to force me to?”

Taeyeon remained in silence and simply got off from the table and went to sit properly. She did not say a word, and didn’t refuse Tiffany’s offer. The officer sat down opposite from her and took out the first aid equipment she had in her pocket just in case anything happened. She was glad that it came to be useful today. She cleaned the blood out with her handkerchief and disinfected the wound that Taeyeon forced the knife in to take the bullet out. She bandaged around the wound carefully and tenderly so she wouldn’t apply too much pressure that it would inflict more pain to what she had now.

“Is it okay?”

“…Why are you doing this? What are you gaining for helping me here?”

“What’s wrong with helping an injured person?”

“When I’m the one out there killing your colleagues?”

Taeyeon’s question struck her immediately. However, Tiffany wanted to trust the thief even it’s just a tinge of light in the darkest tunnel. It didn’t change the fact that this person is Kim Taeyeon, the older sister of Irene. There were just too many dark secrets being hidden and it was yet to be known. It would take time for things to be better. Instead of answering, Tiffany avoided it.

“…I don’t think you will kill someone if you’re not forced to.”

“How so?”

“Because…I guess I want to believe in you. I want to believe in that kindness that Irene always talked about until now.”

Taeyeon didn’t respond a word, as she couldn’t still understand what Tiffany would gain from being gentle to her. The thief expected the woman to express her anger and grudge towards her despite all the abuses she had done. However, the silence between the two of them broke off as Tiffany’s cellphone rang out loud. The officer excused herself and picked up the call and realized that it was from Jessica.

[Tiffany! I know it’s your day-off but we need your assistance! Right now the thieves are heading towards the park, are you close by?]

“A-Ah…yes.”

[I’m sorry, but I’m leaving it to you!]

Jessica hung up the call as she was tailing on the thieves at the moment. Taeyeon overheard the conversation so clearly that the officer did not have to explain anything further to her. They only stared at each other and Tiffany had a feeling she understood those eyes very well.

“…You still have time. Get out from her as fast as you can.”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you good at running? Please leave.”

“…Why? Isn’t it beneficial if you just capture me here?”

“Stop questioning and just go, will you? Isn’t it obvious that I don’t want you to get hurt more than this!?”

Tiffany shoved Taeyeon away and told her to run away when she could. It just reminded the officer about both of their status once again. They were together only due to the contract they made…Despite she knew that one day she would have to capture, or at most shooting her down, she couldn’t help but to be worried about Taeyeon. She felt that the younger girl didn’t deserve such unfairness of the world like this.

“…”

Taeyeon took off while Tiffany watched her from behind. That was when the officer had to head back to work with her colleagues to catch the criminals. Such an irony that she’s trying to befriend a thief while trying to catch them, sometimes Tiffany couldn’t understand herself on what she truly wanted to do with herself.
 

-

Taeyeon finally ended up at the border of the park. She couldn’t hear any suspicious sounds and assumed that the police officers weren’t close by. However, she was still confused with Tiffany’s actions. Hwang could’ve captured her but instead she let her go. While she kept musing about this officer, her eyes accidently caught upon this scene that a group of boys were surrounding an elder woman. With her sharp senses, she could tell that they were trying to rob her. How pitiful and filthy the world was… Taeyeon wondered to herself and threw them off guard by using her powerful kick in the hip. It caused the boy to grumble in pain on the floor and made all his friends stayed alert.

“W-Who are you!?”

“How pitiful robbing an elder, do you have any shame as a human?”

“Who gives a crap of that!?”

The boy replied as he rushed towards Taeyeon in order to fight back against her. However, it was futile. The boys seemed to be quite younger than her and they couldn’t overpower the well-trained thug that easily. Taeyeon dodged all the attacks smoothly and struck her kicks right into their weak points without mercy. One by one collapsed onto the floor in pain and only the elder was left dumbfounded with what she had witnessed.

“…Are you alright?”

Taeyeon extended her hand towards the elder in order to give her a hand to stand up. The elder could feel that kindness via that touch and stood up with a smile across her face. She thanked the hoodie girl back for helping her and furthermore, Taeyeon told her to head towards the direction she came from in order to go meet with an officer. At least she would be safe from the thugs around here for quite a while.

“You’ll meet an officer there, a long raven haired woman.”

“I see…thank you little miss.”

The elder smiled before she took off towards the direction Taeyeon gave her. She should eventually meet with the officers and Tiffany as she kept heading towards that direction. Also, it’s about time she had to flee from the park before she would be caught by anyone else.
 

-

She kept going through dark corners of the building to make sure she couldn’t hear any suspicious sounds coming of officers anymore. Coincidently on her way back, she accidently met with her energetic partner whom appeared from the corner of the dark alley. They almost bumped into each other as she was in a big rush as well and their eyes stared upon each other with surprise.

“Oh! Didn’t know you went out at all. Went off the hunt some bounties?”

“…Where did you go, Byul?”

The older girl refused to answer Moonbyul’s question and literally threw the question back at her. The young one told her that she went to visit Seohyun’s pharmacy store as well as getting some medicines that Yuri asked her to get. Also, Moonbyul passed her a small bag that contained the meds and everything that Taeyeon would need if she had another concussion . It seem what Moonbyul told her was true after all and they headed back home together to their dark hideout.

“Hey Taeyeon, where did you go actually?”

“Shut up Moonbyul, stop asking.”

“Mou~ Tell me! I’m curious! Did you hunt bounties without me again!?”

“I said shut up.”

Taeyeon was glad that they finally arrived back at their home and the older one went straight to her room while ignoring countless questions from Moonbyul. The girl shut the door tightly and locked herself in the dark room. She threw herself onto the bed and realized this object in her pocket. It was actually a pen and it just reminded the girl that there was no letter exchange today due to unexpected situation came up. It was a call of the devil as she was thinking about the officer; she received a text that turned out to be the one she was thinking about.

[Subject: Today]
I forgot to give you Irene’s letter…can we meet in few days at usual place and time?

The Kim girl replied back without further ado and threw herself back onto bed. Such a moment like this, the cunning thug wouldn’t miss a chance. The more she meet with the officer, the more she would be able to approach her heart. Taeyeon smirked silently and decided to wait patiently for her next meeting with Tiffany at the park…she’s one step closer to revenge.

 

~XXX~

By the time Taeyeon arrived, Tiffany was already there and seemed to be in her officer outfit as well. However she put on her coat in order to hide her outfit from people around her. As the thief girl approached her, they went straight to business as Tiffany passed the letter to her without saying any words. As usual, it would be Taeyeon’s job to read and write back the letter to Irene. While she was trying to wrap up the content she wrote on the paper, Tiffany couldn’t help but to throw a question at her.

“…I have a question to ask you.”

“What?”

“I tried to look it up but I couldn’t find it at all…as if it’s preventing anyone from knowing, but I got a feeling there’s something behind it!”

“What the hell are you blabbering, get to the damn point.”

Tiffany gulped before she continued where she left off. She wondered whether it was a right decision to actually say it or not but there’s no turning back with this. She looked up into Taeyeon’s eyes and she could see that the younger thief was waiting for her to speak.

“…On that night…what happen to your family?”

Her eyes grew wide with surprise and Tiffany could tell how shocked Kim was. Her widened eyes slowly turned into a glare of anger towards the officer. So much hatred pierced through Tiffany’s heart as she made an eye contact with it. She could feel Taeyeon’s hatred through it clearly.

“What do you ing want…? Do you DARE say further than that…”

Her voice changed as it gave chills down Tiffany’s spine. Her voice was filled with anger, hatred, as well as despair. However, the officer didn’t like this disturbing feeling in her chest. She had a feeling that there was a story behind this, if not then there would be full information regarding the tragedy. Taeyeon was the survivor along with Irene from the incident…unfortunately Irene couldn’t remember the incident much after she was saved by Taeyeon. Therefore, the one that held the key to the truth behind the tragic murder would be the eldest sister of Kim…it’s only her.

“Why do you even bother asking me when you can ask Irene?”

“She remembers nothing…until the part you saved her.”

The thief argued but officer Hwang was not backing down that easily either. She told her how Irene was could only remember to the part that Taeyeon saved her from the murderer. Until now, Irene regretted that she ran away with fear without turning back to save her sister. She carried that burden with her until now and that’s why she decided to become an officer. After the older sister learned about her younger sister’s agony about that incident, it seemed she was a little relaxed down and opened herself slightly to Tiffany.

“Taeyeon… what happen on that day?”

“It’s NONE of your business…”

“Taeyeon please!”

“Why are you so desperate to know this!? When it’s frigging none of your business at all! Officer Hwang…”

Tiffany bit her lips as those cold harsh words were uttered from Taeyeon’s lips. Then again it made her questioning herself why she was so desperate to know the truth when it’s none of her business as Taeyeon mentioned. She seemed to have faith in what she believed in. She knew that if there’s no such stories behind the scene, then Taeyeon would’ve return to Irene already…but Taeyeon’s current self was a complete opposite of what anyone could’ve expected. As Tiffany spent time with the thief…she could tell that Kim’s eyes were filled with hatred and hunger for revenge. She had a goal in mind…that did not wish to share it to anyone.

“Tch, if you’re that frigging desperate…put your own life on it.”

“Huh?”

“I swear that the data is there…in the Criminal Investigation Department database. Since the officers are so DEEPLY involved with this crap.”

Taeyeon spat and glared at the officer without blinking. Tiffany didn’t felt that good with that sly across the thief’s face and it seemed her instinct turned out to be true. She had a choice to believe Taeyeon’s words or not…however, she had a feeling that the younger girl didn’t lie to her. As a thief, Taeyeon did give an advice in a thief’s style to obtain the information.

“You can do it anyways, breaking through the security system to access the database…you’re the head of department’s daughter after all.”

“W-Wait…How did you know that I—”

Tiffany froze with shock that Taeyeon knew about her father, Hwang Steve, being the head of Criminal Investigation Department. The thief’s reply was just a silent smirk to the officer. It gave Tiffany a chill down her spine when she really did underestimated Kim Taeyeon from not knowing her origin.

“Now you’re giving me a foul mood…leave at once, filthy officer.”

That ticked off the officer slightly and she left without saying a word. She had to tolerate this in order to learn the truth. As Tiffany got onto her car and headed back to her office, she couldn’t help but to question herself why she’s making herself going through this. Maybe she didn’t want Irene to experience the same pain she went through…she lost her older sister in the mission after all when she’s around Irene’s age. But was that the only motivation that made her willingly to go through this entire burden? She sighed again and finally arrived at her destination, the department’s office.

 

~XXX~

“Ah, glad that you’re still around…”

Luckily, Irene was still working at the office so Tiffany was able to pass the letter to her. Her younger junior got excited every time she received a letter and would always ask whether Taeyeon was doing okay or not. As usual, Tiffany’s answer would be ‘she’s doing okay and safe’ in order to not make Irene get over worried with her. Obviously, the older senior couldn’t just tell her that an officer shot Taeyeon in the arm today. That was one of the fears that both Irene and Tiffany carried as they thought about Kim Taeyeon. With their status…there was nothing that both officers could do at all.

“When are you heading back? Jessica-unnie and I planned for a dinner and wanted you to join us.”

“Dinner eh…?”

“Yes! It would be a pleasure if unnie will join us tonight.”

Tiffany remained in silence and seemed to be having thoughts in her mind. As she made an eye contact with Irene, she shook her head to refuse the offer. The officer had made up her mind in order to do something very serious. Officer Kim could tell the nervousness and seriousness in Tiffany’s eyes and it made her a little worried about her.

“Ah…are you okay unnie? You look worried.”

“I-I’m fine! Don’t worry. Sorry to refuse today.”

“All good. Don’t overwork yourself again unnie.”

“I won’t.”

It wasn’t that long until Irene had left the office. Tiffany had a glass of black coffee before she continued doing her research regarding Kim’s tragic massacre on websites as usual. She still didn’t want to use the method that Taeyeon suggested and refused to commit an act of treason against her colleagues, especially against her father. She desperately search articles online and in the department’s database. However, she couldn’t unlock the lock that was protecting the information within the database. She needed a password and an authorized username in order to open the full data.

“UGH! Is there anyway to know about this at all?”
 

(Taeyeon: You can do it anyways, breaking through the security system to access the database…you’re the head of department’s daughter after all.)

Taeyeon’s words replayed in her head but she shook it off immediately. But when she put her thoughts into it…the username and password that she could use to access this database would be her father’s. He’s the head of department after all…it’s obvious that he would be able to access to all the data in the database including this Kim’s massacre 20 years ago.

“…Is this leaving me the only choice?”

Tiffany sighed softly as she remembered her father once gave her his username and password in cases of emergency if she needed something. She never knew that this would be coming in handy in such situation like this. She decided to secretly sneak into one of the computer rooms so to ensure no one would be seeing what she was doing. As Tiffany sat at the furthest computer from the exit door, she took another deep breath before she entered her father’s password to log in into the database. Every act she was doing was going against the regulations of the department. She finally clicked onto the Kim’s massacre incident information and she was able to access to it without any issues anymore.

“It worked…!”

As she scrolled down…she couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. The information was altered from the articles online. It was like as it it’s a complete different set of information. Was this the truth that actually happened to Kim’s family? It was something that she couldn’t believe or accept it at first sight. Her eyes were widely opened with shock and devastation as she slowly read through the paragraphs…

“N-No… how could this…!”

The massacre was planned by the officers themselves to annihilate Kim Hyun Jong, he’s a forensic scientist for the department and was invited into SuperSoldier project that was newly promoted back then. However, he refused to do so and the only way to prevent any information from leaking out was to assassinate him. One of the elite officers from the C.I. Department was sent to kill him, including the wife. Furthermore, it was planned out that the children would be used as a 1st generation test subjects in the SuperSoldier project.

However, the youngest sister, Kim Joohyun (5) escaped successfully. As for the eldest sister, Kim Taeyeon (7) was taken into custody and was escorted to the laboratory. However, that officer that escorted the child went missing in action and its known that the child didn’t arrive at her destination as well. She had disappeared without any trace and was recorded to be dead.

“What the hell is this…”

There were too many facts running through Tiffany’s mind. She couldn’t process all in time and started to understand the hatred that was hidden within Taeyeon’s beautiful eyes. Did Taeyeon know about this? Was that the reason she had so much hatred and anger towards officers and humanity? Too many questions regarding the younger thug spammed through her head but before she could react to anything. She felt a presence close by to her and when she turned around she saw a gun pointed at her closely.

“Don’t move.”

“…!”

He declared with a strong merciless voice. He wasn’t the only one that was in the computer room with her. There were other 4 more officers in here as well. Tiffany recognized them very well and it seem they knew who she was too. They were actually her father’s men…

“You indeed surprised me…Tiffany.”

A mysterious man appeared from the darkness and made a calm eye contact with the young lady officer. She couldn’t believe her eyes as she stared at him with fear and frustration. His calm smile mentally freaked her out and she bit her lips strongly to prevent her from trembling in fear.

“…F-Father.”

“I never knew you would use my username to search for such a confidential information like this.”

“F-Father is this all true!?”

One of Steve’s men held firm to his gun as if he was ready to pull the trigger anytime, but the old man Hwang stopped him from shooting his daughter. If it were to be anyone else he would’ve killed them without mercy, but since she was his own blood and flesh daughter…he couldn’t simply commit such a heartless act like that.

“Well then, now that you’ve known about it…join with me.”

“H-Huh??”

“SuperSolider project is the future. We will revive this project once again. This will save humanity in the future…this will prevent our men from dying pointlessly in the field, just like Michelle.”

“A-Ah…”

Tiffany froze and confusion had started to take over her conscious. Michelle was her older sister’s name and she died during her mission to arrest the serial killer she’s hunting. She was killed while trying to save the victim. Everything that her father said sounded so persuasive especially when it’s also regarding her dearest sister.

“We both suffer from that lost…join with me, Tiffany.”

“…”

He approached her and extended his hand to Tiffany. He gave his invitation to her daughter to join this project after she had discovered the dark truth of the C.I. department. After the persuasion, she slowly moved her hand towards him as she had her reminiscing about her older sister. She didn’t want such a loss like that to repeat again…not with anyone anymore.
 

(Taeyeon: …Why are you doing this? What are you gaining for helping me here?)

Taeyeon’s face flashed into her head as she recalled the meeting few days ago in the park. She was shot in the arm and Tiffany was treating her wounds. They really did have an unpleasant talk with one another regarding their position in society. The officers were ones that were supposed to be hunting people like Taeyeon…but Tiffany ended up saving her instead…

 

-///-

“It’s none of your business, you’ll just add more anyways so what’s the point helping me here. Aren’t you supposed to be glad that I’m injured?”

“How could you say such things like that!?”

Tiffany raised her voice with anger towards Taeyeon. She couldn’t believe what she heard and it was such a heartless word, yet tinged with sadness in it. As if she had lost all hope in humanity and everyone around her. Just hearing those words pained her heart.

“You’re injured…whatever status you have, you’re injured! I still have sense of humanity okay? So, are you going to sit properly or you’re going to force me to?”

Taeyeon remained in silence and simply got off from the table and went to sit properly. She did not say a word, and didn’t refuse Tiffany’s offer. The officer sat down opposite from her and took out the first aid equipment she had in her pocket just in case anything happened. She was glad that it came to be useful today. She cleaned the blood out with her handkerchief and disinfected the wound that Taeyeon forced the knife in to take the bullet out. She bandaged around the wound carefully and tenderly so she wouldn’t apply too much pressure that it would inflict more pain to what she had now.

“Is it okay?”

“…Why are you doing this? What are you gaining for helping me here?”

“What’s wrong with helping an injured person?”

“When I’m the one out there killing your colleagues?”

Taeyeon’s question struck her immediately. However, Tiffany wanted to trust the thief even it’s just a tinge of light in the darkest tunnel. It didn’t change the fact that this person is Kim Taeyeon, the older sister of Irene. There were just too many dark secrets being hidden and it was yet to be known. It would take time for things to be better. Instead of answering, Tiffany avoided it.

“…I don’t think you will kill someone if you’re not forced to.”

“How so?”

“Because…I guess I want to believe in you. I want to believe in that kindness that Irene always talked about until now.”

 

-///-

Tiffany paused for a second and caught her father’s attention. She retracted her hands back with instinct and started to realize what if she took her father’s hand…it would meant that she left Taeyeon in the darkness of hatred and revenge. Now that she learned the one behind the massacre was actually her father…and Taeyeon knew that Tiffany was Hwang Steve’s daughter…she bet that the thief knew that she was the daughter of the murderer that killed her family. She was no longer surprised that Taeyeon would be using her as tool for revenge…maybe she would do the same or far worse if she was in Taeyeon’s position.

“What’s a matter Tiffany?”

Her father asked and the daughter bit her lips softy. A huge dilemma she had in her head. It’s either to go onto her father’s side…or not. She didn’t realize how she had grown to attach to the  thug after spending time and realizing many things regarding about her. Taeyeon was in pain and she could feel it…if she sided with her father would it mean that she had to shoot Taeyeon down? Tiffany couldn’t bare herself to commit such an act upon her like that…but it was a dilemma she had to choose…

(Tiffany: What am I going to do—!)

“…Tiffany.”

Her father called her again and she looked up to him. She could see the warmth from his eyes and he’s waiting patiently for Tiffany to accept his offer to join him. As the young officer was taking her time to decide, she couldn’t afford to abandon Taeyeon at this state.

(Tiffany: I-I…I’m so sorry…Taeyeon, I…)

She placed her hand back down onto her lap and stared down onto the floor. Her actions didn’t give much of an answer to Steve and then he placed his hand onto his daughter’s shoulder.

“I know this is tough to learn at first time…but believe your father, it’s for the better future of humanity.”

Tiffany’s lips were trembling and she curled her fist tightly before she made a decision that could’ve change her life completely. She simply shook her head and looked up to her father for one last time.

“…I can’t…I’m sorry.”

The young Hwang refused her father’s invitation to join him. In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to side with him by abandoned Taeyeon, despite she might be using her as a tool for revenge. However, what she hated the most was to go against her heart said. She rather die than regret for the rest of her life. Tiffany gulped and realized that her decision was the worse answer she could’ve give to her father. But he simply smiled back at her and her head.

“I understand you…Tiffany. It is hard. I guess you need some time to understand.”

He raised his hand up and his men seized to arrest her. She was pinned onto the floor and was locked by handcuffs. A part of Tiffany had a feeling that this would happen and then her father ordered his men to take her away.

“F-Father…!”

“Tiffany, you still need time…do take your time and father will show you that this project is very important to both of us…and humanity.”

Steve’s elite officers used a sleeping injection on the young officer and caused her to fall unconscious in few seconds. She tried to resist but failed…the men carried her away and taken her somewhere that no one would find her again. The best that Steve could do was not to kill his very own daughter just yet. He would do his best to convince her to join with him…if it didn’t work, then he would have to do whatever it takes to protect the secret of SuperSolider project from leaking out…one of the last option he would pick was to commit the same act he did upon Kim Hyun Jong and his wife.
~

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There you go! Double updated!!

Sorry i have been missing for weeks. I dont know why, i dont have the mood to do this.

Well,  please tell me your tought ^^