Chapter Fifty-Five

It was the next day afternoon when Yuri was asked by Hyuk-Jun for the discussion of their encounter the previous day. He didn’t ask for Sooyoung because he thought that the hunter needed more rest, even though Sooyoung was very assured that she was as strong as a bull now.

Yuri had just finished her story and conclusion of their encounter. Hyuk-Jun was tapping his fingers away as he tried to digest the information which Yuri had just shared with him.

“You suspected the both of you were ambushed?”

Yuri nodded her head sternly. “The number of mutants was comparable to the size of a village, and Sooyoung did mention that she saw someone before she chased after him. However, I have no idea what happened to them, how Sooyoung became traumatized and forget everything.” Yuri went to the ward last night after entrusting Jessica to Yoona. Sooyoung looked perfectly fine to her, except that she kept on denying that she saw anyone. Yuri wondered if it was because she had received a huge blow or something which caused her to momentarily forget everything.

“My instinct is telling me this mysterious someone may be the key factor to the mutants’ crisis.” His tapping came to a stop suddenly. “If only we knew who Sooyoung saw…” There was nothing they could do when they didn’t have a single clue.

“Oppa, don’t you dare to do anything to Sooyoung.” Yuri warned Hyuk-Jun with her rare serious voice. None of them had any idea how frustrated and desperate she was when she found Sooyoung lying on the ground lifelessly.

Now that Sooyoung had recovered, she certainly does not wish to see anyone do any (harmful) thing to her friend again.

Hyuk-Jun rolled his eyes at his sister, “Do I look like a bad guy to you?”

Yuri answered honestly, “You do.”

“Yah!”

“Our discussion stops here.” Yuri rose from her seat. “I need to go back to my dormitory now.”

Weird. Hyuk-Jun thought to himself. He raised an eyebrow at Yuri as he watched her paced towards the exit. “What’s with the rush?”

Yuri paused in her track upon hearing Hyuk-Jun’s question. Nibbling onto her lip unconsciously, she hesitated for a few seconds before walking back to Hyuk-Jun again. “Oppa, do you know if anything had happened when Sooyoung and I went for patrolling?”

“Anything like what?” Hyuk-Jun was confused by Yuri’s out-of-blue’s question.

“Jessica and Tiffany.” Yuri sat on the chair again and stared into Hyuk-Jun’s eyes. “I knew Tiffany never like Jessica since day one, but all she does was to ask me to stay away from Jessica. But after the patrolling yesterday, I sensed something else in Tiffany.”

Hyuk-Jun frowned.

“I have a feeling she wants to kill Jessica.”

“That serious?”

Yuri nodded her head firmly.

Hyuk-Jun pulled his hand to his chin and scratched it thoughtfully. He pondered through Yuri’s words before looking back at Yuri with a conclusion, “Maybe there’s something wrong with that girl?”

“Oppa!” Is he trying to piss her off too?

“Look Yuri, Tiffany is one of us. She has been here ever since she was a child, and had accomplished many missions given by us. There is no way I will suspect her of anything. Whereas that Jessica girl, she is just a victim who popped out of nowhere in the middle of the woods. If you really think about it, that alone is suspicious enough.”

“Jessica will not harm us!” Yuri opposed to Hyuk-Jun’s conclusion almost immediately. She glared at her brother angrily.

Hyuk-Jun, however, ignored those penetrating glare and continued with his argument, “I know she is a victim. But Yuri, think logically. What is she doing in the woods in the middle of the night? And you said this before, you felt someone controlling the mutants when you were at the scene. Maybe it was Je––”

Hyuk-Jun failed to complete his sentence as Yuri slammed her palms against the wooden desk and rose up from her seat, narrowing her gaze at her own brother.

“For the last time I’m saying this, Jessica will not harm us! Do. Not. And stop suspecting her!” Tiffany alone was enough to make her frustrated. She didn’t need another negative opinion of Jessica, especially from her very own brother.

She swore she was going to go crazy because of them soon.

Yuri’s outburst had startled the usually calm Hyuk-Jun. He observed his fuming sister intently as his eyebrows subconsciously knitted closer towards one another.

“Why are you so protective of her?” He asked. He remembered Yuri wasn’t even close to this agitation when he was trying to question Tiffany’s whereabouts the other time.

Yuri sat back down on the chair. The room was filled with the sounds of her heavy breathing.

“Yuri?”

His intent gaze never left Yuri.

Hyuk-Jun may be a nice guy, but there are times where he decided being nice may not be the case for solving problems.

Yuri huffed in annoyance eventually and flipped the strands of hair which were covering her face partially to the back.

She returned Hyuk-Jun a stern look.

“She’s my girl.” She announced firmly. “We are in a relationship now.”

*

“Sooyoung-ahhhh!”

Sooyoung was busy stuffing her late breakfast plus lunch down when Jessica suddenly barged into her ward and dashed towards her with an arms-folded Yoona following behind leisurely.

“Ufffmm?!!”

And it just so happened that a big lump sum of rice was about to receive its fate of being crushed by the set of white stones in Sooyoung’s mouth when Jessica threw her arms around Sooyoung.

“Sooyoung-ah! I’m so worried about you when I learnt about your mishaps! I’m glad you’re safe now! Soo––Um… Sooyoung?” Jessica released Sooyoung when she felt a force pushing her away. She looked at the hunter confusingly, watching her thumping her own chest with one hand, while pointing at a particular direction frantically with the other.

Before she could turn and check out what Sooyoung was pointing at, Yoona suddenly slipped in between them with a jug of water and stuffed it into Sooyoung’s panicky hands.

Ah! She was choked.

Jessica finally realized the critical situation.

…

“What are you guys doing here?”

The commotion finally died down after Sooyoung gulped down the whole jug of water and successfully ‘flushed’ the rice into her gastric.

Jessica diligently took the empty jug away from Sooyoung’s hands and placed it on the cabinet next to the bed. She sat on the chair which was besides Sooyoung’s bed, while Yoona sat on the edge of Sooyoung’s bed as there were no extra chairs.

“Jessica unnie said she wants to visit you, so I brought her here.” Yoona explained. Sooyoung had pretty much recovered and could return to the dormitory any time now. Yoona would not have visited her partner if Jessica hadn’t asked her with her innocent puppy expression.

Seriously, a Jessica with puppy expression was too much for her to handle. Yoona wondered how Yuri survived through this.

Jessica glanced around the room and found the bag of junk foods, which she brought with her, on the ground near the door. She probably threw it there when she dashed into the room. “Sooyoung-ah, I brought you some snacks!” Jessica got up from the chair and skipped to the bag.

“Really?” Sooyoung’s eyes sparkled at Jessica’s good news.

Yoona nodded in silent, but Sooyoung was too focused on Jessica and the bag that she failed to notice that gesture.

“I don’t know which one you preferred, so I just randomly grabbed them from your room.” Jessica said as she took out the snacks and placed them on Sooyoung’s laps.

“This is more than enough! I’m really touched, Jessica-ah!”

God knows how much had she been craving for these! Even though she was only here for less than a day, her deprive of snacks grew tremendously – especially after the nurses discovered she had a spicy ramyum yesterday and banned her from eating them again until she discharged. She had been eating those so-called healthy foods, which tasted worse than baby foods (technically speaking, it is bland).

Sooyoung randomly picked a packet and opened it up. She studied the two ladies in front of her. Something seemed to be missing here…

“Where’s Yuri?”

That’s right! Why is Yoona the one here with Jessica instead of Yuri?

“Hyuk-Jun oppa called up Yuri unnie for a discussion. They should be talking about your encounter with the mutants.”

“Oh…” That makes sense. The mutants have been missing-in-action for about a month, their sudden appearance does make people feel suspicious.

Sigh… Sooyoung sighed inwardly to herself. Let’s hope this is not for the worse.

“What about Tiffany?”

Sooyoung hadn’t seen Tiffany after she left her ward yesterday. She remembered that hunter promised to buy her hamburger, fried chicken and grilled fish before she went for the patrolling, but… none had been fulfilled!

A frown crept onto Yoona’s forehead immediately. She pressed her lips into a straight line before replying her partner, “I have no idea. I hadn’t seen her after she left your ward yesterday.”

“She went to the training ground.”

A voice interrupted them suddenly and two pair of eyes landed on the blonde sitting on the chair.

Jessica looked at them with innocent eyes and explained, “I overheard her conversation with Yuri yesterday. But I’m not too sure if she’s still there.”

*

Breeze was singing in her ears.

Tiffany opened her eyes and was greeted by the bright blue sky above her.

She had fallen asleep in the training ground.

Tiffany blinked her eyes several times to brush off the drowsiness in her away. She tried to sit up, but her body was still aching from the intense self-training she had yesterday. Tiffany frowned and decided that she should relax her body instead.

Tiffany closed her eyes.

She should really stop forcing and pushed herself into the state of agony.

Then, she opened her eyes and stared into the sky.

But what is she going to do with that Jessica girl?

Tiffany pulled out one of her blades from the scabbard and pointed it at the sky. She squinted at the light reflecting on her face.

To kill or to wait, it makes a lot of difference.

If she kills Jessica, Yuri may hate her for life.

But if she waits and does nothing, she may put all of them into dangers.

Tiffany sighed and dropped her arm back to the grasses.

Maybe she should focus on gathering more evidences before taking action. Sure, she didn’t want to put any lives into dangers, but she didn’t want to be hated by Yuri either. It would be better if she finds any evidence to prove her suspicion first. By then, she believed Yuri would encourage her rather than stopping her.

Well, hopefully…

Tiffany inhaled a deep breath and got up from the ground. She slid her blade back into its respective scabbard and swept off the grasses which were sticking to her clothes.

Whatever decision she was going to make, she should put it to a hold first.

Tiffany lifted up her head and gazed into the sky.

She had no idea why but… she had a bad feeling for the coming patrolling with Yoona tomorrow.

“Tsk.” Tiffany snorted to herself suddenly. “Stop thinking negatively, Tiffany Hwang.”

Just eliminate any obstacles you encounter…

She squinted and clutched her fist.

… And make sure that none will return to this world ever again.