Donghae sat idly on the clinical bed while Junmyeon tended to his injuries. Donghae has been in their medical infirmary far too many times, yet none of his previous injuries warranted him to be assigned a room to himself. Not that it’s something he should brag about, but sometimes he gets curious as to what the private rooms in the medical wing of their headquarters looked like. And honestly speaking, the room doesn’t disappoint.

“Your wounds seem to be healing well agent 86,” Junmyeon is now securing the fresh bandages around his chest after cleaning and examining his stitches, “but you still need to stay for at least three more days for observation. Your wounds may look like it’s closing nicely but we also need to make sure that your bones are healing correctly.” Junmyeon finishes up by tucking the end of the bandage safely over Donghae’s right shoulder. 

“Now, let’s address the elephant in the room. How’d your first official mission go?” Junmyeon asks with excitement in his voice, he pulls a chair right next to Donghae’s bed. As one of the few people that Donghae have confided with in the agency, Junmyeon knew of the struggles and grievances Donghae had experienced before passing mountains of exams and being promoted as a field agent. 

“God, where do I even begin?” Donghae still feels surreal every time his mind recalls everything that happened. Albeit he wasn’t placed on a mission the conventional way, he was still thankful and over the moon once he was told that the agency was sending him out for a mission. 

Usually, cases and missions were assigned based on difficulty. Seasoned and highly trained field agents were always given the hardest and more complex missions while newly inducted field agents such as Donghae were more for cleaning up collateral damages; this was common knowledge in their agency. 

Don’t get Donghae wrong though, even if he was leaps and bounds away from being in the same level of some of the seasoned agents he admires, he’s still very pumped every time he’s sent out to clean up any loose ends. 

Another common knowledge was that for newly promoted agents like Donghae to be assigned the same mission caliber as those senior to them, they would need to apply for a rigorous month-long evaluation that assesses their overall performance on the field. 

However, that wasn’t the case for Donghae. Due to a completely unforeseen breach of information, all the original agents assigned to Donghae’s case were recognized and targeted immediately even before they could even make their move on the target. Even agent 04, aka Lee Hyukjae, couldn’t swoop in and rescue the situation like he always did. 

So albeit unconventional, team Bravo unit reluctantly assigns agent 86 as their honey pot for the mission. And boy, was that a long and tedious deliberation.

Donghae wasn’t there at the start of the tension-filled meeting, but he was there to witness what he thinks was the height of a very heated back and forth.

“No, absolutely not! You could just send me in instead.”

“Are you deaf, or were you just not listening?! Every single senior agent we sent either came out nearly unscathed or at least had one minor injury, we’re not wasting any more valuable time by sending you out there.”

“But you’d be okay with sending a rookie on the field?”

“Agent 86 would only be required to extract information from the target, nothing he hasn’t been doing in his previous missions already.”

“This wouldn’t be the same, and he’d need to interact with closely with the target for an unknown time. That’s dangerous enough for a senior agent; what more for agent 86?”

“They’re all bound to do a mission like this eventually, or did you forget about your first mission as a senior agent?”

“You don’t understand what I’m trying to say—”

“Then make me understand agent 04 because right now it sounds like you’re making excuses just to stop me from giving agent 86 his first case when he’s clearly capable of doing the mission.” 

The tension inside the room is palpable. It isn’t every day you see agent 04 and the Bravo unit’s team leader, Jung Yunho, having a very heated disagreement. Nobody knows the exact story and two don’t seem to be refuting the claims nor correcting any of it; but the two basically grew up together. All Donghae, and pretty much everyone in the Commission, knows is that agent 04 and team leader Jung were orphans who left the system long before they were even legal.

“Speaking of, agent 86,” Donghae visibly jolts from where he’s standing, his face and neck immediately flushing from everyone’s attention on him, “congratulations on your first mission as a senior agent. Although this isn’t the ideal situation to be promoted, I’d like to commend you for your exceptional performance as a rookie agent.”

Now that it’s too late to even think of slipping out of the room, Donghae takes reluctant steps toward the middle of the room where team leader Jung and agent 04 are. Team leader Jung shakes him firmly by the hand once Donghae is close enough, the welcoming and ecstatic look on his face is a complete contrast to the stoic expression he was wearing just minutes ago. 

Donghae then looks over to his sunbae, agent 04, standing a little off the side. The hardened expression on his face has now softened just a tad, though his stance suggests that he isn’t in the mood for friendly greetings. So instead, Donghae settles by nodding his head toward agent 04. 

“Now that our field agent for this mission is here, we can all get started with the briefing. Zhoumi, your team may now take the floor.”

“Thank you, sir. Before we start, we’d like to offer our sincere congratulations to our newly appointed field agent, agent 86.” Zhoumi leads the round of applause while his other friends from the data analyst team start whooping and hollering the moment they see his face turn as red as a tomato. Looking off to the side, he even sees a shadow of a smile on agent 04’s face before the latter could look off to the farthest corner of the room. 

“Thank you, everyone, I’m looking forward to working with you guys. You can count on me, I won’t let you guys down.”

“We know you wouldn’t Hae. Now, we have yet to pinpoint how our other agents were identified but we’ve got good news; we were able to retrieve some data on who our target’s employer is.” Zhoumi then presses something on his tablet screen that causes the hologram projector to display their target’s profile. “This is your target, agent 86. Meet Oh Sehun, a well-known model and ambassador for Dior. However, that’s only a cover he uses for what rakes in his millions.” 

The image of Oh Sehun then changes to multiple stolen shots of the model mingling with notorious underground bosses at night clubs and photos of meetings with politicians and CEOs. It may not look like something the Commission should take an interest in, but the next set of images confirms Zhoumi’s team’s research. 

“Oh Sehun’s main clientele are in the drugs and arms business. However, those aren’t the goods he’s selling them,” the next set of photos shows Oh Sehun shaking hands with Kim Myungsoo, a well-known drug lord controlling most of the drug distribution and activity in Seoul. "According to numerous emails and calls we've tapped, Oh Sehun serves as a middleman between the underground and the people up top."

“Our goal is to find out where he gets his connections and up to how far back has he helped these people with their so-called businesses. We also need to know which of his connections has the Commission accidentally tangled up on since Oh Sehun seems to be familiar with some of our field agents.”

“Thank you, Zhoumi. Alright, that will be all for today. Agent 86, please wait for further intel and instructions regarding your assignment. Zhoumi, please inform me of any development with the mishap with our other agents immediately. Everyone else, please resume with your work in preparing for agent 86’s first mission. That will be all.”

Everyone disperses from the room immediately. Some of Donghae’s friends and close colleagues come up to him bearing wide smiles, even pulling him close for a hug or a teasing pat on the back. Despite the nature of his promotion, Donghae is immensely grateful that he was chosen to be promoted as a field agent. He waits for everyone to leave before he releases a big sigh and motions to leave the room as well.

"Agent 86, could I have a word with you, please?" 

Donghae jolts, that's the second time that day and it's starting to get embarrassing, especially when both times agent 04 has his eyes on him. "Of course, sir." He says after clearing his throat and straightening the nonexistent creases from his suit.

"I hope you don't take my 'outburst' from earlier as a sign of aversion to you being promoted." Agent 04 starts when Donghae is near enough to where he's standing, "I was only concerned for your safety as the circumstances that led to your promotion pushing through aren't very conventional. I only wanted to air on the side of caution." He then sees a ghost of an embarrassed smile on agent 04's usually stoic and flawless face, finding yet another reason out of hundreds why he is Donghae's favorite senior agent.

"Of course, sir. I wasn't offended in any way."

"I'm glad. Anyway, I believe congratulations are in order. I'm very proud of you; they couldn't have picked a better candidate to appoint as a field agent." Agent 04 then flashes him proud gaze and smile as he pats Donghae on the shoulder. It’s one of those expressions that makes agent 04’s eyes crinkle at the corners, his cheeks fill up and look rounder as a result from him smiling, making agent 04 look younger and more approachable. 

Out of the years being in the Commission, Donghae has only witnessed a handful of expressions on agent 04's face. Everyone is familiar with the stoic expression on his face; the number one reason rookies steer clear of him. His almond-shaped eyes are piercing; very observant and always alert to even the tiniest change in expression or movement. His lips are naturally pursed into a pout but don’t let that fool you since those pursed lips could turn into the most sinister sneer once he’s going for the kill. 

Everyone is familiar with the stoic agent 04 but what people rarely see is this version of agent 04. This carefree expression that slips once in a blue moon. The first time Donghae saw it, he thought he was looking at a completely different person. Technically speaking, Donghae doesn’t think we was supposed to see it such a rare expression on the senior agent’s face.

Donghae was on his way to submit his monthly performance report when he hears Director Lee’s voice escape through an open door. Curiosity got the better of him and Donghae sneaks a peak through the seams to see what is the cause for the director’s jolly mood. 

“Wah, I knew I saw incredible potential with the two rascals I brought in that faithful day. Who would have thought one of you would be the youngest to ever be promoted as a team leader and while the other is the Commission’s top performing field agent, even holding records that's close to breaking even my personal best.”

The two 'rascals' modestly smile at the director's praises. They were basically Director Lee's sons at this point yet the two agents always stood at least an arm's length from the director in respect for the older Lee's rank. 

"We were only doing our job, sir."

"Nonsense! You both have done above and beyond what is asked of you, and for that I'll always be proud and grateful." Director Lee then spreads his arms wide enough so that he could pat agent 04 and team leader Jung's shoulders in appreciation. "The Commission couldn't have produced better agents than you two."

Director Lee can't seem to hold in his emotions any longer and decides to pull the two agents into his arms in a tight group hug (well, as tight as his arms could wrap around the two taller and broader agents). Donghae feels embarrassed to witness such an intimate moment among the three so he clutches the files in his arms tighter and motions to leave and go back to his task at hand. 

Yet just when he was about to turn away, he catches a glimpse of something that stops him at his tracks. 

There through the little slit on the door, Donghae sees it clear as day; agent 04 openly smiling in front of two other people. And this wasn’t the tight-lipped smile he occasionally gives people when they see and greet him walking through the halls. This one showcased his pink gums and pearly whites, his usually pursed lips are stretched wide into a heart-shaped smile. His piercing almond eyes have also turned to crescents, the corners of his eyes crinkling from how high his lips are upturned causing his cheeks to fill up and become soft and round. 

Nope, this one was completely different from the usual; this was free and easy, and Donghae could just tell that agent 04 was genuinely happy. And at the back of Donghae’s mind, this agent 04 was the one he liked the most.

"T-thank you, sir. That means a lot, especially coming from you." Donghae answers as naturally as he could, albeit still a little awestruck.

"I look forward to working with you on the field, agent 86." agent 04 gives his shoulder one last squeeze before pulling away, although he doesn’t leave the room before delivering the final blow. “Oh, by the way, you can drop calling me ‘sir’. Just ‘agent 04’ when we’re on the field or with others here in the Commission. But when it’s just the two of us, I’m hoping you could call me Hyuk? Since we’ll be working together every now and then, we should be comfortable with each other. If that’s alright?”

“Of course, s—I mean, Hyuk.” Donghae feels himself flush though it’s not clear to him if it’s from embarrassment or excitement, or maybe it’s both. “Sorry, it’s going to take some getting used to.”

“No rush, just wanted to let you know.” Hyukjae flashes him one last smile before crossing the room, making his way towards the door to leave, “Good luck again on your first assignment, you’ll do great. But if you ever need anything, you know where to find me. All you need to do is ask.”

“Thank you, Hyuk” Donghae whispers into the now empty room, Hyukjae has left the room minutes ago yet Donghae’s mind was so wrapped up in everything that happened in that one encounter that agent 04 was long gone before he could even hear his reply.