Chapter Five

Tiffany arrived at the alley less than a minute after the short conversation with Yuri. The bag in Tiffany’s hand was automatically thrown to the ground when she saw Yuri struggled with a mutant in desperation.

Pulling out her blades from the scabbards, Tiffany leaped towards the struggling duo and shouted at her partner, “Yuri, move away!”

Yuri moved towards the opposite direction of the mutant quickly when she heard her partner. All the trainings she had during her trainee’s days taught her how to react instantly, and smoothly, to any situations under any circumstances.

This was just one of the examples.

“Done.”

Tiffany’s voice rang in her ears just as she stabled herself on the ground. Yuri thought that her jaw was going to touch the floor when she saw the mutilated corpse in front of her.

Was that a power boost or energy boost or uh… speed boost she gained from shopping? Goodness! Just how much had Tiffany improved within such a short period of time? And how did she even manage to do that?

Tiffany slid her blades back into their positions and asked, “Why is there a mutant here?” Taking out a box of matchsticks, Tiffany lighted up one of the matches and threw it onto the corpse, burning what should not have existed into ashes.

Yuri approached her partner and stopped right beside her, watching the flames grew bigger and stronger. She replied, “I have no idea too. I just smell something and found this mutant here. It was in the midst of transforming when we got here, but I have no absolute idea who did it.” Yuri lifted up her head and looked at the empty space above her. The alley was dark because of the buildings surrounding it. However, curiosity still questioned her. Why was the mutant moving in the middle of the day? Even if this was a dark alley with little sunlight, the mutant should not have survived.

This was a situation which she had never encountered before.

“Where are Yoona and Sooyoung?” Tiffany noticed the missing duo.

“We couldn’t get you, so they decided to run back to the headquarters to grab their weapons.” Now that Tiffany talked about this, Yuri finally recalled what happened earlier on. “Say, where were you before? I’ve been trying to contact you for the past thirty minutes, but I couldn’t find your signal at all!”

“I was in one of the clothing stores around the corner.” Tiffany frowned upon Yuri’s statement. She pulled out her communication device and did a simple checking. “My device is working perfectly fine.”

Yuri shrugged, “Well, that’s strange.” These communication devices are created by their I.T. genius. He made these devices for the hunters to communicate to each other just in case they got separated during the mission. These devices worked in pairs, they could only detect signal from the device that they were assigned to. Each and every one of them was able to capture signal even if the partners were in two different towns of different districts.

So the conclusion is… there was definitely no way she couldn’t contact Tiffany earlier on unless something went wrong.

“I think you should go to the I.T. Department later and get your device check. Maybe some of the cables went haywire or something.”

Tiffany kept her device back in her pocket and shot a discontent glare at Yuri, “You know how much I hate that place.”

Uh huh… She almost forgot, the I.T. department was one of the departments where most of the guys liked to  Tiffany with their eyes (Actually, any ladies who they thought were attractive became their targets as well). One unlucky guy actually got screwed up by Tiffany the other time and ever since then, Tiffany never stepped into the I.T. office anymore.

Yuri assumed the I.T. guys got too much stress from just working on machines and computers. It was similar to nerds, who always forced themselves to study and isolate themselves from the outside world, got desperate and became erted whenever they saw women.

Stretched out an arm towards Tiffany, Yuri suggested, “I’ll take it there for you then.” She didn’t like that place either, but she was more than willing to go through that hell for the sake of her very own partner.

“You?” Tiffany obviously knew Yuri was one of the potential victims too.

“Yeah, I’ll take it for you. No worries, they can’t do anything to me.” Yuri flashed an assurance smile at Tiffany.

The I.T. people were only capable of handling machines and computers, how could they do anything to her when, she believed, they couldn’t even handle a simple mutant?

Tiffany rejected her offer without a second thought, “No thanks, I think that’s fine. My device is working perfectly well, really.” The I.T. Department was filled with erts, she didn’t want Yuri to risk herself there just because of this.

“Oh come on Fany…” Yuri wrapped her arm around Tiffany’s waist naturally and pulled her into her embrace. “Don’t be so fussy! I’ll just put on more clothes alright? You need to get that device check before the same situation happens again. You know how bad it may be if we can’t find one another.”

“But––”

“No buts! Just pass me your device and I’ll take it to the I.T.’s. Anyway, let’s get out of here first. It is so hot and stuffy.” Yuri pulled Tiffany away without giving her a chance to say anything.

Tiffany followed reluctantly but paused for a second and turned her head back. She stared into the dark space intently.

What’s with that peppermint scent?

Before she was able to get an answer to it, Yuri already pulled her out of the alley. The moment they were gone, a familiar figure emerged from the dark and stopped right in front of the burning corpse.

“I’m so sorry…” A soft whisper echoed in the alley as the owner of the voice hovered her hand over the fire. “I know you will be of better use in other situation, but I hope you understand, sacrifices are always needed for luring preys into traps. Blame god if you want for being so unfortunate…” A gust of wind came out of nowhere, putting out the flames and blowing the ashes into the air.

… ‘Cause that is what I do almost every day.

Taeyeon watched the ashes flew away bits by bits, until it was completely gone from the ground, only then she picked up the bag which was forgotten by the girl who finished the mutant’s life a while ago.

Tiffany… Taeyeon let out a disappointed sigh and pouted. How can you forget my present?

*

Yuri, Tiffany, Yoona and Sooyoung were sitting behind the long conference table while waiting for Hyuk-Jun and the professor from the Research Department to arrive. Each of them wore a serious expression on their faces as their minds ran through the incident which took place in the city this afternoon.

Why and how did that mutant appeared in the middle of the day?

The door swung open and in came Hyuk-Jun with another guy in white cloak. They took a seat opposite from the girls and the meeting began.

“So what is the situation?” Hyuk-Jun asked.

Yoona answered, “We were taking a walk in the city when we felt the mutant’s presence. Yuri, Sooyoung and I rushed to the location immediately and we saw a human transforming into a mutant. Its skin was ripped off from head to toes, bits by bits… in a very slow pace.” Yoona painfully closed her eyes upon remembering the scene. “It is torturing.”

“Did you see anyone else there?”

Yuri frowned and shook her head. “No one else was there when we arrived. The only living body we saw is that human in the process of turning into a mutant.” She lifted her head and looked at the professor, “Professor, is it possible that mutant can move around freely in the day?” She was struggling with the mutant for almost thirty minutes, yet the mutant’s strength did not weaken a bit under the sunlight at all.

“Technically, no. All the reports showed that the mutant’s flesh dissolved under sunlight, there should be no way for them to survive in the daytime… Unless this is a new breed we’re talking about.”

Everyone became silent upon the said statement. If that was really the case, it only meant the situation had worsened.

“Tiffany, I heard you weren’t with them when they found the mutant?”

Tiffany was about to reply when Yuri suddenly grabbed her hand from below and stopped her. She answered Hyuk-Jun’s question on behalf of her partner, “We weren’t together in the first place, but as soon as we saw the mutant, I tried to contact Tiffany with my communication device. I have no idea what went wrong though, her signal couldn’t be detected at all.”

Hyuk-Jun shot Yuri an unpleasant gaze. He was just casually asking Tiffany a question, was there a need for that tension? He turned to Tiffany again, “So where were you when they found the mutant?”

Yuri tightened her grip on Tiffany’s hand and answered again, “She was––”

Hyuk-Jun threw a glare at Yuri and interrupted, “Yuri, I’m asking Tiffany.” This little sister of his is getting too worked up! He is merely performing one of the usual routines!

Yuri snorted, turning her head away from her brother unwillingly. She would definitely kill him if he made things difficult for Tiffany!

Tiffany was amused by Yuri’s reaction. She had no idea what her partner was thinking and why was she acting this way. It was not like Hyuk-Jun would eat her up, wasn’t he?

Tiffany patted lightly on Yuri’s hand with her other hand, comforting her as she replied to Hyuk-Jun’s question, “I was in one of the clothing stores around the corner when they were with the mutant. But strangely, I didn’t sense anything until I came out of the store. And that was when Yuri finally connected her device with mine.” Tiffany was well-known as one of the most sensitive hunters around. No mutants could escape from her even if they were at the opposite side of the town or city.

“Which means…” Hyuk-Jun tapped his finger on the table, trying to come out with a conclusion. “Something is wrong with that store. Did you see or met any strange things when you were there?”

That kiddy looking girl came into Tiffany’s mind immediately. Wearing white shirt and pants smiling at her innocently… Tiffany hesitated, biting on her lower lip unknowingly. She didn’t want anybody to know about that girl’s existence for some reasons. There was something within her which stopped her from revealing her encounter with that mysterious… yet charming girl.

“No…” And she lied eventually, decided to keep everything about that girl as a secret. “All I did was looking around and trying on the clothes. I didn’t see or sense anything strange things when I was there.”

There was a moment of silence until Hyuk-Jun let out a heavy sigh. He stood up from his seat and announced, “I guess that’s all for today. I believe all of you are tired, so go back and take a good rest. I’m not sure what is going to come out next, but something is telling me our peaceful days are going to end very soon. So try not to tire yourself too much before real business comes in. Alright, dismiss!”

Everyone stood up and left the room one by one, with the professor walking in the first place, followed by Yoona and Sooyoung. Yuri and Tiffany were still holding hands, until Hyuk-Jun suddenly blocked their way out.

“I’m sorry Tiffany, but can I borrow Yuri for a while? I need to talk to her.”

“Um… Sure, of course? You don’t have to ask me though.” It wasn’t like Yuri belonged to her anyway? And didn’t this just look weird? Why was the brother asking her for his sister?

Tiffany shrugged and hurriedly left the conference room. She had no time to think why this brother was acting so strangely. While they were in the meeting, Tiffany finally understood why she was feeling uneasy and empty after she came back from the city.

The dress… that present she received from that unknown girl, she left it in the alley after she killed that mutant.