Taeyeon looked down, pondering her decision. She looked back at Jessica. "I'm going. I think this is the right thing for me to do..."

Jessica took a deep breath. "I'm going too. You're not gonna get all the credit of getting her back. This was my idea in the first place."

Jessica took a bag from under the couch of the living room and slung it over her shoulder. She faced Taeyeon once again. "We going, or what?"

Taeyeon cocked her eyebrows. "I was planning on leaving to tell you the truth... c'mon, Sunny's waiting for us!" She pushed Taeyeon out of the door and locked the door behind them. 

"Let's go," Taeyeon said.

They were travelling on foot, hopping from roof to roof. It was taking quite a long time, the sun rising further into the sky. Finally, however, they made it to the outskirts of Seoul.

They took rest on the roof of the KBBQ, Taeyeon's favorite spot. She hadn't been there in quite a long time.

She sniffed the air, taking in a large amount of meaty smoke coming from the ventilation. She smiled, the nostalgia hitting her.

"I really missed this place..."

"Hm?" Jessica asked.

"I always came here to ditch classes when I was younger. I got caught a few times by Sunbaenim though."

"Delinquient."

"Hey!"

"Haha... I'm just kidding. I can see why you'd like it here... reminds me of the food I used to eat at home."

"You can cook?" Taeyeon looked at her with an unbelieving expression.

"N-no... you know, before-"

"Oh. Yeah..." Taeyeon cleared awkwardly. "U-uh, which way do you want to search? We've got to hurry before the girls wake up... they'll probably report us missing or something."

"Yeah... well... obviously we should head towards Gaeng-Port again. It's surrounded by mostly water, and I expect there to be some kind of base either under or on the sea."

"I guess that'd be a great starting point... but what if she isn't there?"

"I told you, didn't I? I'd search the entire world for her."

"Let's take this chance then."

"Yeah."

Taeyeon got up, brushing her hands off on her pants. She adjusted her bag and started running off the roof, jumping down to the gate post structure, marking the end of town. "C'mon, let's go already," she jumped down on the ground. Jessica promptly followed.

"Damn..." BoA ruffled her hair, "why the hell did they have to turn up now?"

There was a knock at the door.

"Yeah, yeah, come in!"

The door opened, and slowly came out a very tall figure with long hair. He was handsome, well-built, and wore a v-neck with a high collar. "BoA, you know I'm a busy person," he teased.

"Shut up, Max," BoA didn't look up from her paperwork. "Sit down."

Max promptly did so, tapping his foot impatiently.

After a few minutes of waiting, his tapping got louder, finally getting BoA's attention. He raised an eyebrow, "You look like a mess."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." 

"What's the emergency? You know I'm busy."

BoA nodded and sighed, grabbing the slip of paper from her drawer. She walked over to Max and gave him the paper. His eyes widened at the letters at the bottom of the slip.

"It's been quite awhile since I've seen this name."

"Yeah, that's what I said."

"Why the hell did they decide to turn up now? It's been a decade."

BoA took a few steps, "Also what I said."

"So what exactly got them involved with you?"

BoA's face contorted in expressions of anger and disappointment, "They have one of our agents."

"You don't mean that-"

BoA turned her back to Max and grabbed a file from her cabinent. She handed it to Max.

"Lee 'Sunny' Soonkyu. Niece of the founder and head honcho himself."

"No..."

"Yeah... I know. I really failed those girls. They deserve a better sunbaenim than me," she plopped into her chair.

"Ah, you don't mean that. You remember all those times when we were their age, don't you?"

BoA cracked a small smile.

"Yeah, and remember how badass you were?"

"Ha, I was pretty badass, wasn't I?" she placed her hands behind her head casually.

"...er, yeah," BoA took a swing at Max, "Okay-yeah, you were. You even beat me up a few times, I remember. Let's move on from that... Now... let me know what I have to do. I want to help get Sunny back."

"Not like you have a choice. I was gonna force you into this anyways," BoA smiled.

"Shouldn't have expected any less-"

"So here's what you need to do for me..."

Yuri crossed her legs at the breakfast table. She chugged her smoothie and took a breath. "Have any of you noticed that it's been really quiet this morning?"

"I agree, it's really nice..." Seohyun took her eyes off her book for a second.

"YOONA-YA! WHERE ARE MY PINK JEANS?!" Tiffany yelled down the hallway.

"Well... minus Tiffany," Yuri smiled.

"Oh, unnie, could you give this to Jessica unnie after breakfast? I need her to read this," Seohyun handed a book titled How to Make a Sleeping Schedule.

Yuri raised an eyebrow, laughing a bit to herself. "Sure thing."

Yuri swallowed the last of a piece of peanut butter toast and headed towards Sooyoung and Jessica's room, knocking on the door before entering.

"Sica, the Maknae wants to- Sica?" Yuri checked under the bed's covers. No Ice Princess in sight.

"Sica?" She called, searching every bit of the room. Her mind started to think up the worst solution as she ran out the bedroom into Sunny and Taeyeon's room.

"Yah, Kid-!" She said as she opened the door. No one here either. Even the bed was made... With Sunny gone, there'd be no way Taeyeon would've gotten up so early and clean her room.

"Damn you two..." Yuri cursed under her breath and headed to the living room where the rest of the girls were.

"Have you seen Kid and the Princess anywhere around here?"

"I wouldn't expect Jessi to be up so early," Tiffany reasoned.

"And Taeyeon's probably watching some anime in her room as always," Hyoyeon said, not taking her eyes off the television. 

"Sh-"

"Unnie! No cursing!" Seohyun scolded.

"The two little fu-fudgers aren't in their rooms!" Yuri remembered to mind her language around the Maknae.

Tiffany started to look worried. "Well... Where else could they be?"

"That's just it! Those two mother...fathers probably went out by themselves to look for Sunny!"

Silence as the reality hit the five other girls.

"Omfg..." Tiffany hit her head on the coffee table.

"Those two... And they're the oldest..." Hyoyeon stood up.

"What are you-"

"Imma go look for those two fu-fudgers before they kill themselves!"

"You can't just-"

Ring ring ring!

Hyoyeon sighed as she picked up the phone. "Squad 9, Dancing Queen reporting."

Hyoyeon hung up after a few minutes. 

"Let's go girls."

"Where? Who was that?" Yoona questioned.

"BoA sunbaenim. She needs us at HQ ASAP."

"C'mon, let's hurry!"

The six girls quickly checked into HQ and ran to BoA's office. The said their greetings and all sat down. 

"Squad 9! Reporting!" Tiffany shouted, going through the regulations of the agency.

"We don't have time for this now. We need you out in the gym as soon as possible."

"What's going o-"

"We know the agency that had Sunny kidnapped."

BoA went into quick detail on the Core agency, explaining their past crimes and involvement with SM Agency. The girls started to get nervous as to how dangerous this agency appeared to be.

"Why do you look so scared?" BoA prodded. The girls looked to one another, when Seohyun stepped up.

"Taeyeon and Jessica unnie went out to search for Sunny unnie sometime last night," she explained.

BoA sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. After a few minutes of thinking, she pressed her call button.

"Get in here now."

A few minutes later Max entered the room, immediately surpirsed by the large amount of girls in the room. "Um?"

"Kids, this is Changmin, codename Max. He's gonna prepare you for your search for the two idiots who left without permission..."

"I am?"

"Yes, yes you are."

"I need you leaving by 4:00 sharp. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Good. Now go get your things from your lockers. You too Max."

The girls left as ordered.

"Why are you having me do this?"

"Just do it for me, Max. Please?"

"…alright."

At least 100 miles outside of the inner gates of Seoul, Jessica and Taeyeon reached a more rural part of Korea. There was dirt everywhere, no concrete in sight. They past the glowing homes of the ajummas and ajushies in the village-escue town. It was a huge contrast from their home town, but it was a great place to start looking. The quiet, open fields would be the ideal hiding place for an illegal HQ.

"It's getting dark, Taeyeon," Jessica pointed out.

"Yeah, I know... but we've got at least a couple more hours, right?" Taeyeon asked, wanting to keep on looking for Sunny.

"Taeyeon, as much as I want to keep looking, you can't push yourself."

"Bu...I guess you're right."

"Do you think an ajumma would let us stay with her?"

"Maybe, but... I'd think two teenage girls dressed in black carrying heavy bags would be a little shady, don't you think?"

"Good point..." 

"C'mon, let's go find a place to sleep."

The girls settled on a nice cavern within the hill-side of the village area. Jessica set a small fire while Taeyeon started changing her clothing.

"I wonder what she's doing right now..." Jessica said, under a whisper.

"Yeah, I hope she's alright." Taeyeon heard her.

Jessica stuttered for a second, then continued what she was doing. Taeyeon rolled a sleeping bag out and laid down. She pulled a plush out of her bag as well, zipping it open.

"What's that?" Jessica pointed.

"This? Oh, it's Wang Dookong. It's a pea plush Soonkyu won or me that time we went to the carnival together to celebrate our first year anniversary as a squad. I've been kind of tucking it away, but something made me feel like keeping it around with me lately."

Jessica sighed and opened her bag as well, Taeyeon's momentum from Sunny reminding her of something. She pulled out an ice blue ring, putting it on her pinky finger because she had grown too big for it to fit on her index finger. She smiled at it. It had an engraving. SunxSica BFF. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit at how childish the words were. She had forgotten to put it back on, and when she did, she felt... Stronger, more a peace in a way. She tried remembering the occasion the day Sunny gifted her this token, but she was too tired for her mind to focus on anything. She leaned back on her rolled up sleeping bag and tried drifting to sleep.

Shuffle, shuffle 

Jessica's eyes shot open. She got to her feet, looking for Taeyeon. She was asleep, still in her bag. What was that? She thought. She got up and took a peek outside the cavern. 

WHOOSH!

A figure flashed by her. She wanted to scream out of shock but held her breath. She ran back inside.

Her eyes opened as wide as saucers. There was a figure, holding Taeyeon by the neck, staring straight at her. The moonlight shone through the enterance of the cave enough for Jessica to recognize the face of the intruder. As rare as it was, Jessica started trembling in fear.

"W-what are you doing here?!"

Hi guys! Long time no see :) I'm so sorry for the lack of updates! School just started about a month ago and this year hit HARD. I hate giving excuses but I've been dealing with a pretty packed schedule :) anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter! I know for sure that there will be typos because I wrote this 90% on my phone at night (when I should have been sleeping lol) so ill hopefully be able to fix those soon. Please bear with me! And also, The Girl With The Backpack is 75% finished and will be up soon, I hope. Thank you for being patient! Until next time~