When the door chimes rang for the 100th time that day, Doyeon didn't expect her customers to be National fricking Intelligence Agents, turning her life upside down. Instead of running away as she should have, had she known, Doyeon greeted the two men with a smile.

"What can I grab you guys today?"

"You," the shorter, blond man said curtly, and Doyeon only gawked at him.

"Oh my god, Mark," the taller, dark haired man hissed at his friend. "You can't just say it like that."

Doyeon's eyes flickered to the blond man—Mark—'s own dark orbs. He was almost a head taller than her, and though he didn't seem angry, she couldn't help but feel intimidated under his deep gaze. Although handsome like a sculpture, something made Doyeon become rather wary of him. Doyeon just knew this man was not asking for her number. He wanted something else from her.

"Can I grab you guys anything to drink?" Doyeon asked again, hoping the good-looking-but-scary man and his equally-scary-and-good-looking friend in the leather jacket would say "no," and leave.

"We're from the National Intelligence Service," Mark announced with a small smile, his gaze never leaving Doyeon's eyes. "Can we have a moment to talk to you?"

Mark studied the girl that stood nervously in front of him as his words left his mouth. Mark could tell his words had made the girl uncomfortable. gaped, and a slight gasp escaped . He would be nervous too, if he was a student being questioned by a NIS agent.

Doyeon could feel the lump in when Mark's words registered in her brain— oh my god, they were here to arrest her. She was going to go to jail without graduating with her ing Bachelor's degree. The horror.

"Uh," was the only intelligible thing Doyeon could murmur before she looked behind her "Youngjae, can you come cover the till?"

At her words, a young man walked out from the back of the store, and Mark flicked his eyes up and down his body. The man, Youngjae, raised his brows but didn't question Doyeon or the two man standing somewhat menacingly over the counter. Grabbing a small plastic cup full of coffee and pumping three shots of syrup before walking around the bar, Doyeon met Mark and Jaebum at the table near the secluded corner of the café.

This had to be a ing joke.

Doyeon sipped her iced americano-turned-mocha as she took in the scene in front of her— two NIS agents were sitting ahead of the green wall with the words 'Aren't ya glad I matcha?' painted on, probably to question her about her illegal side job.

It was almost comical.

But Doyeon wasn't laughing. Rather, she couldn't stop shaking her leg though she tried to keep her composure in front of the two men, and continued to cross, uncross, cross, then uncross her legs again.

Mark stared at Doyeon intently and pursed his lips. There was no reason for anyone to be this nervous, even if it was a secret service agent sitting across of them. Did the girl know something?

"If it's because of the 50,000 won I picked up off the street earlier this week, I swear I was going to return it," Doyeon started, slamming her drink down on the table, allowing some of it to splatter on Mark and Jaebum.

"It's not about the 50,000 won," Mark answered calmly, wiping the coffee drops off his face lazily with his handkerchief and shooting Doyeon somewhat of a reassuring smile. "We're here to ask about your friend— Kim Jooeun."

It was for a moment, but Mark caught Doyeon's face falter. Was it a look of worry that flashed across the girl's face?

Doyeon caught herself as a breath of relief hitched at — so they weren't here because of her hacking the database. Then, her face fell. Why were they asking about Jooeun?

"What about Jooeun? Is she okay? Is she in some sort of trouble? I mean, why would a NIS agent be here asking about her?" Doyeon asked frantically, pulling her hair loose from her tight ponytail.

"We can't really tell you any details—" probably because they didn't know enough details to tell "But we need to know anything that may help us find Miss Kim."

"So she's missing, is that what you're saying?" Doyeon asked as a matter-of-factly, though her eyes darted between Mark and Jaebum nervously. "Well, why is NIS handling a missing person case? Shouldn't the local police handle that?"

"We can't let you know of the details of the case," Mark repeated softly, watching Doyeon's dark brown hair curl around her pale neck and shoulders as she shifted slightly in her seat.

"Well," Doyeon started, trying to hide the hint of nervousness through her tone. "I'm going to need to see some identification before I start sharing anything."

Jaebum raised a brow at Mark. That was a first. All the other people they had talked to the whole day were satisfied with the glance at the NIS badge the pair had flashed. The two pulled out their badge, a card with their number, photo ID, and name were printed with a barcode.

Mark Tuan. NIS. Cyber Security.

Im Jaebum. NIS. Cyber Security.

Doyeon made sure to make a note of that. Seeing that the badges were legit— as far as she could tell—Doyeon slid them back to the respective pair.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to tell you," Doyeon said with a much more vulnerable voice.

Mark noticed that Doyeon's strong façade was fading. The corner of her lips were turned down, and she was fiddling with her fingers beneath the table, occasionally picking up her drink off the table to sip on it and chew on the straw.

"Did she have any known enemies, ex-boyfriends, anything?" Jaebum questioned, leaning forward with his hands clasped on the table.

"Enemies? Do normal people usually have enemies?" Doyeon couldn't help but wonder out loud. "Of course she didn't have enemies. We barely have friends in Korea, let alone enemies."

"You guys were friends since high school in Canada?" Mark asked, and Doyeon opened to question how he knew she was from Canada, only to close it when she realized that he was a ing NIS agent, he probably knew A to Z about her by now.

Doyeon suddenly felt small in front of the two agents that looked back at her, expectantly.

"Since elementary school, actually," Doyeon corrected Mark rather passive-aggressively, though she didn't mean to come off that way. "And no, she didn't have a boyfriend. Her agency didn't allow her to pursue relationships."

"Her agency?" Jaebum perked up at the new information that they were unaware of. "I thought Miss Kim was unemployed."

"She doesn't get paid from her agency," Doyeon muttered, stabbing her straw into her drink. "She pays them to train her— she's trying to become an actress."

"You don't seem too fond of them, Miss Baek," Mark noted, having observed Doyeon's slight grimace as she mentioned her friend's company.

Doyeon only narrowed her eyes at the man who called her by her last name, though she didn't recall giving them a name. It was only natural— for the National Intelligence Service to have data on everyone, Doyeon didn't know why she was so aggravated by the presence of two agents. Maybe it was because she just found out that her only best friend was missing, or maybe Doyeon was more so anxious that her illegal performance would be found out.

"I'm not really fond of the idea of paying a company to take my youth and mold something else out of me, no," Doyeon snarked. "But I supported Jooeun on whatever she wanted to do— it's been her dream since forever."

"Do you know the name of the company?" Jaebum asked, pulling out his laptop as he figured the conversation was worth noting.

"Koreana Entertainment," Doyeon answered, all of the sudden losing her anxiousness and complying more willingly.

Afterall, the agents were only here to do their job and find Jooeun.

"It's been about 7 months since she transferred to this one. Jooeun told me that she was going to star in her debut project soon. She was all excited."

on her straw, Doyeon looked at the clumps of mocha syrup that sat on the bottom of her cup as her drink drained out. Thinking of Jooeun, her stupid happy-go-lucky best friend, Doyeon lost all of her fight. She should be feeling lucky that the NIS was investigating into Jooeun's disappearance.

"Was there a reason Miss Kim decided to leave the old entertainment company?" Mark asked this time, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning forward on the table.

"They were barely giving her any roles, even as an extra," Doyeon answered, a weak smile on her face. "PJM Entertainment— that was the old one. She was there for more than 3 years, I think."

"Did she say there were any other troubles between her and her old company?"

"No, not that I've heard of," Doyeon responded, running her fingers through her long locks rather nervously. "Look, she's not someone to wind up in trouble. I know Joo, and she's always been smart with her money, smart with her life choices, and if she was certain about one thing in her life, it was that she would become an actress. So I don't necessarily see her putting herself in a situation where she'd be in danger."

"We have a reason to believe this is a targeted crime," Mark murmured. "Just because she's not putting herself in a dangerous situation, doesn't mean the dangerous situation can't find her."

Doyeon gulped, taking in the situation more seriously than before. Jooeun could be in serious danger. What had Doyeon been doing this whole time?

"God, I'm such a bad friend," Doyeon rested her head into her palms. "I should've checked up on her more often, and I should've—"

"It's not your fault," Mark said firmly, his gaze hard, but somehow comforting to Doyeon. "This is not your fault, Miss Baek. You have nothing to do with her disappearance."

"You shouldn't worry too much," Jaebum spoke with a sympathetic smile as he related to Doyeon with his sister's disappearance, and Doyeon only sighed. "We'll do our best to find your friend. Try to take your mind off the case."

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