Late that evening, Minhyuk returned to headquarters to find a very angry and disheveled Ilhoon throwing a fit in the middle of the control room.

 

“What do you mean Minhyuk’s gone? Are you ing kidding me?! I need to see him this instant!” Ilhoon demanded.

 

“Ilhoon calm down he’ll be back soon.” Eunkwang said consolingly.

 

“Well soon isn’t soon enough!” Ilhoon raged.

 

“I’m here, what’s going on.”

 

Their heads turned as Minhyuk entered the control room.

 

“Oh Minhyuk you’re back! You’re just in time.” Said Eunkwang with a sigh of relief.

 

Ilhoon immediately stalked up to Minhyuk.

 

“Where the hell have you been!?” He yelled furiously.

 

“Personal business.” Minhyuk replied.

 

“Oh. Lovely. Fantastic time for a vacation in the middle of a crisis.” Said Ilhoon in a sarcastic tone.

 

“It was important.”

 

“Well I don’t care. The stocks are plummeting and I’m being bombarded with phone calls left and right from the press and I have just had it up to here with this mess that you guys can’t seem to keep under control!”

 

Ilhoon pointed to the main screen which was displaying a very shocking news headline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the time Minhyuk finished reading the article his knuckles had turned white.

 

“This doesn’t make any sense. Why would the NIS suddenly go public with the case?”

 

“I don’t know. You tell me!” Ilhoon huffed as he glared back with his arms folded.

 

Suddenly they were interrupted by an announcement from Penelope.

 

“Forwarding urgent phone call from ZONE Inc. Corporate Office. Ilhoon, would you like to receive this call?”

 

“Ugh. Must be another nosy news outlet badgering my secretary.” Ilhoon groaned under his breath.

 

He raised his voice slightly and gave Penelope the command to accept the call.

 

“Sir.” Came the voice of Ilhoon’s secretary. “There’s a gentleman from the NIS requesting to speak with you.”

 

“The NIS?”

 

Ilhoon and Eunkwang turned to look apprehensively at Minhyuk.

 

“Take it.” Minhyuk whispered.

 

Ilhoon nodded.

 

“Put him through.” He instructed.

 

“Yes sir, right away.” His secretary replied.

 

A moment later a low raspy voice spoke over the phone.

 

“Mr. Jung, I was beginning to think you weren’t going to answer my call.”

 

“Who is this?” Asked Ilhoon.

 

The man chuckled.

 

“My apologies I should’ve introduced myself first. I’m Chief Kim of the NIS. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

 

“Likewise.” Ilhoon replied curtly.

 

Minhyuk and the others listened intently while Chief Kim continued to speak.

 

“Mr. Jung I’m sure you’ve already been made aware of the position your company is facing so I won’t reiterate what I’ve said to the media. I would however like to offer a quiet compromise which will be beneficial to the both of us.”

 

“What kind of compromise?”

 

“Well, more of an exchange of sorts. You see we lost an agent working undercover at your semiconductor plant and we are highly interested in learning the nature of her disappearance, as I’m sure you would understand.”

 

“An undercover agent…?” Ilhoon asked, glancing towards Minhyuk again.

 

A heavy silence blanketed the room as everyone simultaneously shared the same thought.

 

 

“Yes.” Chief Kim confirmed. “Unfortunately, I cannot reveal any more about her or the mission for reasons of confidentiality, but it would be of immense help to have access to your CCTV footage to aid in determining what happened to her.”

 

Ilhoon gave a shallow exhale and rubbed his forehead.

 

“Chief Kim. Our manufacturing processes are proprietary. We cannot allow anyone outside the company to discover our trade secrets through the footage.”

 

A dark chuckle could be heard on the other end of the line as Ilhoon finished giving his response.

 

“Trade secrets eh?” Chief Kim laughed. “Well. I should’ve expected as much from an accomplished businessman like yourself. Although I will say, your handling of the media situation is reflecting quite badly on your stocks and if I’m not mistaken you might soon be out of a trade altogether.”

 

Ilhoon’s eyebrow twitched slightly as he fought to keep his cool.

 

“…which is where my side of the deal comes in.” Chief Kim continued. “In exchange for the CCTVs, the NIS is willing to clear ZONE Inc’s name with the press and manipulate the public sentiment back in your favor.”

 

Minhyuk gave Ilhoon a meaningful glance.

 

 

Ilhoon nodded then cleared his throat.

 

“I’m sorry can I put you on hold for a moment? I need to consult with the board.” He said stiffly.

 

“Of course.” Chief Kim replied.

 

After making sure the call was muted, Ilhoon turned to Minhyuk and Eunkwang for help.

 

“What do I do?” He hissed.

 

“I don’t know…they’ve really put us in a tight spot.” Eunkwang sighed. “Is there any way we can get out of it?”

 

Minhyuk shook his head.

 

“We’ll lose the company.”

 

“!” Ilhoon cursed.

 

“But you can’t give them the security footage. It captured everything including you and Peniel fighting those guys and the Hutazite…” Said Eunkwang worriedly.

 

“What if we doctor it first.” Minhyuk suggested.

 

“Can Changsub do that?” Eunkwang asked.

 

The three peered over at the other side of the room where Changsub was slumped over his keyboard sleeping.

Minhyuk approached the quietly drooling Changsub and gently shook him awake.

 

“Changsub? Hey! Wake up.”

 

Changsub groaned.

 

“…I wasn’t supposed to fall asleep…wait when did you get back hyung?” He asked, blinking groggily at Minhyuk.

 

“Just a few minutes ago. But that’s not important right now. We need to know if you can sanitize the CCTV footage from the break in at the plant.”

 

“How good does the editing need to be?”

 

“Good enough to fool the NIS.”

 

“The NIS? Seriously?”

 

Changsub sighed loudly and rubbed his bloodshot eyes.

 

“Give me a day. I’ll get it done.” He said weakly.

 

Minhyuk gave Changsub a grateful squeeze on the shoulder then nodded to Ilhoon to resume the call.

 

“Have you reached a decision Mr. Jung?” Asked Chief Kim once the call was reconnected.

 

“We’ll submit the footage tomorrow.”

 

“Excellent. I’ll have an agent drop by your office tomorrow to pick up the files.”

 

“And the media?” Ilhoon pressed.

 

“We will take care of it as soon as we’ve had a chance look at the videos.”

 

“You’d better.” Ilhoon muttered under his breath.

 

After finishing up the formalities he ended the call and proceeded to loosen his necktie.

 

“I didn’t sign up for this .” He spat as ripped off his tie and collapsed into the nearest chair.

 

“Do you need a drink?” Eunkwang asked.

 

Ilhoon sighed in resignation.

 

“Yeah why not.” He mumbled.

 

“Hyung could you get me a Red Bull too?” Changsub called from his computer.

 

“Sure.” Eunkwang replied kindly.

 

He turned then turned to Minhyuk.

 

“Minhyuk do you want anything? You must be tired after your trip.”

 

Minhyuk shook his head.

 

“No, thank you though.” He said with a tepid smile.

 

He waited until Eunkwang had left the room then let his smile fade back into a brooding frown.

 

“What are you going to do about the girl?” Ilhoon asked.

 

Minhyuk shrugged.

 

“I’m not sure. I think I’ll have to question her again though. I’m starting to think she wasn’t telling the whole truth about what she knows.”

 

“Ha! I wouldn’t be surprised.” Scoffed Ilhoon. “You really never should’ve brought her back.”

 

Minhyuk didn’t answer but remained lost in thought as he replayed the phone conversation again in his mind.

 

Something was off about the whole thing. If only he could pinpoint why…