Intertwined
Black Ink
“Some things scratch the surface while others strike at your soul." --Gianna Perada
September 2nd, 2013.
Washington D.C., United States of America.
11:27PM.
We were working on a case involving a person who broke into the United States Treasury, killed some people, but then fled the scene. I was just returning from the Treasury itself, looking for more evidence.
Once I got into the HQ, I noticed that one of the newer agents, Baekhyun, had fallen asleep with his head on the computer keyboard.
Pathetic.
“Ciara, did you get anything?” Junmyeon, my supervisor, asks from his desk.
“Nothing that we didn’t find the first time we scoured the place.” I answer. “Is there a reason that Baekhyun isn’t working?”
Junmyeon throws his hands up, “Baekhyun was working really hard. He’s older than you, you know.”
What an unexpected answer. I didn’t know that this new recruit was older than I was. He looked like a student in high school. However, if he were in high school, then we probably wouldn’t have recruited him. “He looks like a child. Acts like a child too.”
“Works like an adult though, when he puts his mind to it.” Junmyeon chuckles lightly. “He’s searched and watched all the surveillance tapes and got us a lead.”
“Then send the kid home,” I glance at Baekhyun’s desk again, and I see empty Chinese Food takeout containers littered all around his workspace. “After he cleans up.”
“He’ll wake up soon. There’s an alarm on his phone that goes off at 11:30, which is usually when he’ll leave.” Junmyeon sighs, “Do you know where DiLarzo is? She hasn’t reported back yet…”
“I’M RIGHT HERE!” Sarah DiLarzo, another one of the members on our team, rushes in. “I’ve got some really good results and--”
“DiLarzo, where were you? Were you out on the field or--”
“I was in the analysis lab, Jun.” Sarah rolls her eyes, “Maybe if you had actually paid attention when I told you where I was going—hey, is Bacon asleep?” Sarah has nicknames for all of us. She calls Junmyeon “Jun”, Baekhyun “Bacon”, and me “Sunny”.
“Poor kid’s been so hard at work. He was prepared to pull an all-nighter if he didn’t find a lead.” Junmyeon gestures to all the trash on Baekhyun’s desk. Sarah sighs and goes over to where Baekhyun’s sitting.
“Hey, wake up, Bacon!” She nudges his arm, but he doesn’t stir. “Bacon, wake up.”
Suddenly, an alarm goes off at full volume, and it’s only then Baekhyun jumps up, almost knocking Sarah in the head.
“MALE SUSPECT. TALL, BLACK HAIR, AND ASIAN. MAY BE WORKING FOR THE YAKUZA.” Baekhyun shouts.
“Woah, Bacon.” Sarah laughs, “You’re right. I found a match for a fingerprint I found.”
“Before you continue, Sarah…” Junmyeon takes a deep breath before he continues, “Ciara, Assistant Director Valle wants to have a word with you.”
“OK.” I get up from my seat and go over to the elevator. I push on the button that will send me up to the third floor, where Valle’s office is. When I reach the third floor, I enter Valle’s office. I’m surprised that he’s still at the office.
“Ah, Ciara, Junmyeon told you to come up and talk to me, right?” Valle smiles. He’s a nice man, and he usually has to be home at 6PM so he could take care of his family.
“Yes.” Valle motions for me to sit down, and I do.
“I have some news. You’re being transferred.”
“What?” This sudden announcement takes me by shock. I was not expecting this. “Where?”
“We’re transferring you to South Korea.” Valle states.
“South Korea?” I couldn’t even hide my surprise anymore. “Why are you transferring me out of the country?”
“It’s an order from the President of the United States himself. He requested you specifically.” Valle peeks through the file folder he’s holding.
“What am I to be doing there?” I ask.
“You are going to protect someone. I don’t know why the President wanted this particular person to be protected, but there has to be a good reason.”
“Who else is coming?” Maybe I can get someone from my team to come along with me, so I wouldn’t be sent with someone from another location.
“You’re going on your own.” Valle answers. “President’s orders. Of course, you’ll always be in contact with the rest of us, but only you will be the one in the field.” Valle slides me a file folder, “Information about the protectee.”
I take the file folder and I open it.
“Kyung-Soo Do.” I scan the profile on the boy I’m going to be protecting. “He doesn’t seem to have any ties to the United States government. Or the United States at all.”
“This profile is only what we’re allowed to tell you. Even I do not know all of the information. They’re only giving us what we need to know.” Valle rubs his forehead and sighs, “Sending out one of my best agents…this kid better be worth it.”
“Hmm…age 20? So he attends university?”
“Yes. You’re going to go undercover as another student at the university.” Valle hands me another folder, “This will be your alias.”
“Yu-Ryeong Bam…major: law and law enforcement…huh, I thought my alias would be more difficult to portray.”
“No, the president believes that your job protecting this boy will be difficult enough. You can just be yourself.” Valle’s eyebrows furrow even deeper, “There’s one thing though…”
“What?” This mission seems easy enough so far.
“You can’t let this kid know that you’re his bodyguard.” Valle frowns. “Details of the mission.”
I take that back. This mission has just become much more difficult.
How can I protect Kyungsoo when I cannot let him know I am protecting him? “What exactly am I protecting him from?”
“All I know is that someone’s trying to kill him. It is also part of your mission to find out who wants him dead. Are you up for this, Ciara?”
“Who else is going to take the offer? If I refuse?” If I don’t have to go, then I won’t. I don’t want to return back to my homeland.
“Obviously, we have to send one of the Korean agents. Most likely Junmyeon or Lu Han from the branch in Baltimore.”
“Lu Han’s Chinese…”
“He speaks Korean though. Unfortunately, neither he nor Junmyeon would be our first choice. Lu Han would most likely be sent to an international university, and you and I both know that Junmyeon is too kind and polite when it comes to some cases…”
“…I heard.” Junmyeon grumbles from the doorway. “You’re transferring Ciara? Where?”
I glance at Valle. I’m not sure if this is going to be a top-secret mission or not, so I’m not sure what I’m allowed to tell Junmyeon.
Valle looks back at me, and then nods. “I was just about to call you here, Junmyeon. Yes, Ciara is transferring. To South Korea, in fact.”
The look on Junmyeon’s face is unmistakable. He’s shocked.
“Here, take a seat. As her supervisor, I will let you know about her mission. Actually, you’re going to be helping her with this mission.” Valle folds his hands together. “Ciara’s being sent by the President of the United States to go and protect a boy by the name of Kyung-Soo Do. She will go undercover as a fellow college student.”
Junmyeon doesn’t respond, but he just stares at his own hands that were folded on the table. After sitting in the stiff silence for a few moments, he speaks up. “What, or who, is she protecting him from?”
“The boy, Kyungsoo, is targeted. Someone’s trying to kill him.” Valle replies. “I’ll give you some of the files as well, because you all will be here, back at the base, trying to figure out who wants him dead. When we catch the culprit and arrest them, Ciara will come back and she’ll be part of the team again.”
“…what about the current case I’m on?” Junmyeon asks, “The one with the break in--”
“We’re giving that case to FBI.” Valle sighs, “Along with what we’ve learned from it already. The Secret Service branch at Washington D.C. will now focus on Ciara’s mission.” Valle then proceeds to take the files back.
“Am I not going to need those?” I question.
“I’m sending you an electronic copy of these.” Valle responds, “Now, I want you to go and pack your things. Take all of your belongings out of your locker. Pack everything that you can, your flight is tomorrow.” He slides some airplane tickets across the table. “We’ve already sorted out things with the university, and luckily, their semester is just starting.”
“Are you saying that you already registered me and everything, even though I didn’t agree?” I raise my eyebrows slightly, so it would seem like I’m shocked.
“We knew you were going to agree. If you didn’t, however, we probably would’ve demoted you…” I decide that I can get up and leave. As I’m exiting the door, I hear Valle say something that slightly raises my curiosity.
“Junmyeon, you’re too stiff and uptight. Loosen up a bit.”
Junmyeon’s probably the most laid-back supervisor that I’ve ever met. I would’ve laughed at what Valle said.
But I didn’t.
It’s not that I don’t laugh.
I can’t.
September 3rd, 2013.
Seoul, South Korea.
1:27PM.
“Kyungsoo!” A deep voice coming from the door of my dorm caught my attention. It was one of those rare blocks of time during the day where I didn’t have any classes. I had decided to use the time to eat instant ramen for lunch and work on a presentation that I have to do for a class. When I heard that familiar voice from outside of my dorm, my initial reaction was to ignore his existence.
“Kyungsoo-ah, the others want to go out for lunch together!” With a sigh, I realized that I couldn’t ignore him if he was going to continue yelling at me like that. I pulled out some headphones I had and plugged them into my phone, and immediately after I clicked the play button, the song “Missing You” by Fly to the Sky drowned out his voice.
Even if I tell myself that right now, it’s not like before.
Even if you forget me completely,
Even if I am just a person that just went by…
Tonight is just one night,
Just like before I lost you.
Suddenly, I hear an earsplitting crash coming from my left side, and on instinct, I duck under my desk and hide.
Even though my headphones were yanked off, I didn’t care.
If I hadn’t moved, a red brick would’ve hit me square in the head.
After I know for certain that the assailant has left, I crawl out from under my hiding spot to investigate the damage.
The window that looked out to the school courtyard was shattered in the middle. It was evident that someone had thrown the brick in through the window.
When I looked at the brick, I saw that there was a note attached to it.
"Watch your back."
While reading it, I could feel my heart race.
Ever since the middle of August, I had been getting threatening messages from an anonymous person.
I’ve moved five times since then.
“Kyungsoo, are you alright?” I go over to the door, and I open it.
Outside the door, Park Chanyeol pushes his way inside. His eyes immediately go to the broken window, and then the shards of glass on the floor.
“Kyungsoo, have you brought this to the police yet?” Chanyeol asks, his voice sounding flat. “This isn’t going to go on forever. The person who’s behind this is going to go after you.”
“I know.”
“Then do something about it! All of us are worried sick about you!” Chanyeol explodes.
“I’ll go tell the school that someone threw something through the window. Come on, let’s go eat lunch.” I start to move Chanyeol towards the door, but he yanks his arm out of my hand.
“Kyungsoo, someone threw a brick through your window!” I open my mouth to speak, but Chanyeol keeps talking. “Don’t even think that I didn’t see the brick sitting on your desk. You were working on the presentation, weren’t you? If you didn’t move, that would’ve hit your head and you might not be talking to me right now.”
“Hyung--”
“I’ll call the others and say that we’re not going to be able to come. Let’s go to the Administrative Office, and we can tell them what happened.”
“Hyung--” I try to talk to Chanyeol, but he keeps on talking.
“God, do you know how much trouble you could be in? Someone wants you dead, and--”
“PARK CHANYEOL.” I interrupt him as loudly as possible. “I know someone wants me dead, but I can’t do anything about it. Come on; let’s go eat with the others. I’ll go to the Administrative Office on the way there.”
Chanyeol stares at me for a few seconds, and then huffs. “Alright.”
“Don’t tell them what happened, okay? I’ll tell them myself…soon enough.” My friends are already worried about school; I don't want them to worry about me too. I go over and throw away my half-eaten bowl of ramen, and then I come back and stand in front of Chanyeol.
“Fine.” Chanyeol grabs my arm and drags me out of my room, after slamming the door shut. He continues to drag me around the campus until we get to the Administrative Office. He then unceremoniously shoves me to the front desk, which results in me earning a questionable look from the secretary.
“Can I help you…?” She looks at me as if I had a strange tattoo on my face.
“I’d like to report a case of vandalism.” I reply.
“Name?”
“Do Kyungsoo.”
“What exactly happened?”
“Someone threw a brick through the window in the dorm room I reside in.”
“Oh goodness, I’ll have someone look at it as soon as possible. Is the hole big enough for someone to crawl through?”
“No.”
“OK, I’ll make sure there’s a surveillance of your dorm until someone can fix the window. We’re going to have to shut down the ventilation in your room, so that it doesn’t just leak outside. Can you sleep in someone else’s room tonight?”
“Sure.” I can sleep in Chanyeol's room then.
“What’s your dorm number?”
“452.” My dorm was on the fourth floor, where all the other people in my grade are in.
“OK. Thank you.” I nod, bow, and then I grab Chanyeol’s shoulders and I force him out of the office.
“Kyungsoo, why didn’t you tell her that--” Chanyeol is interrupted by my cell phone ringing. Sighing, I pull it out of my pocket and answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Kyungsoo! Are you going to come and eat lunch with us? We’re in the cafeteria.” My best female friend, Danbi, giggles a bit. “Jongdae’s here too. He’s funny.”
“…Kim Jongdae...funny? Danbi, I think you’ve fallen for him. Hard.” I smirk a bit, just thinking about how Danbi was probably going to punch me when I see her.
“YAH! I WOULD NEVER LIKE HIM!” I hold the phone away from my ear, because she was yelling so loudly. “TAKE IT BACK!”
“Take what back?” Jongdae asks, most likely from next to Danbi.
“I—umm…it’s—ah, never mind, d-don’t worry about it.” Danbi stutters, probably blushing furiously.
Jongdae chuckles, and then I hear Danbi start to shriek uncontrollably. She says some stuff I can’t understand, but the words that did make sense were the words: “Stop tickling me!”
“Chanyeol and I will be there soon.” I say, and then I hang up.
“Kyungsoo, are you crazy?” Chanyeol asks, grabbing me by my shoulders and shaking me vigorously. “Why didn’t you tell the secretary that someone wants you dead?”
“It’s not for them to deal with. Plus, if I tell someone more official, then that means I have less time to live, right?” I pull myself out of Chanyeol’s hands and continue walking towards the cafeteria.
“You…have a really strange kind of logic.” Chanyeol scoffs. “Don’t even think that I’m going to let you stay at my dorm. I already have to room with...” He cuts himself off before he can say more.
“I’ll just stay with Jongdae then.” I shrug. “We’re the same age, after all. It’s not until his birthday that he gets moved up a floor.”
For some reason, at our university, all the kids the same age are on the same dorm floor. When your birthday comes, that’s when you move up a floor.
It’s stressful, trying to balance out packing and studying.
When we arrive at the cafeteria, I see Jongdae and Danbi sitting together. Chanyeol pushes past me and sits down next to Dan Bi. I choose to take the seat next to Jongdae.
“Where’s that exchange student?” Chanyeol asks. Danbi slides a bento box to him, which contains his lunch.
“I think he has a class now. He ate lunch earlier.” Danbi responds. She’s about to slide a bento box to me, but I shake my head.
“I already ate, sorry.” Danbi is in charge of supplying us food, and in return, we have to tutor her—with no pay. When she makes lunch for us, it’s usually excellent, and it makes me wonder whether she’s majoring in Culinary Arts.
Dan Bi frowns, “You better not charge me for the next time I need help. Do you know how long it took me to make this?”
“Ooh!” Chanyeol opens his and shows it to me. “She made ddeokbokki!”
“You made ddeokbokki? For what? You usually just give us triangle kimbap or steamed potatoes.” I say, looking at the ddeokboki Chanyeol was about to dig into.
“What, am I not allowed to make you guys something special once in a while?” Danbi shoots back. “Fine, next time, I’ll bring just one bowl of rice and water for you guys to eat,” No one says anything until Danbi adds the next part. “And you’ll have to be forced to eat the cafeteria’s food.”
Jongdae’s mouth drops open. “Y-YAH! YOU CAN’T DO THAT! THE FOOD HERE…” He’s about to express how he feels about the school food, but then glances to the side to see one of the workers looking at him. “…you get my point.”
The food they sell here is terrible.
It’s safe to eat, but it tastes…disgusting.
Danbi shrugs, “You guys don’t want me to make good food. Then fine.”
“But…” Chanyeol says after he finishes chewing his mouthful, “This is pretty good ddeokbokki…”
Danbi rolls her eyes. “I used the powder for the sauce. Didn’t have time to make it from scratch, but I promise, next time I make the sauce I’ll make it for real.”
“…so that’s why the sauce tastes exactly like the kind…I make.” Jongdae comments to no one in particular.
I start to zone out, trying to figure out who exactly wants me dead.
I don’t know anyone that hates my guts.
I rarely talk to people other than my friends, and even then, I don’t talk to them that much.
That means that I don’t have enough words to piss someone off.
So it must be that someone wants me dead…to affect someone else.
I don’t know anyone who is close to me that many people despise.
Besides Jongdae.
His jokes and pranks are exceedingly…agitating, but not irritating enough to drive someone to murder…
“Did something happen, Kyungsoo?” Danbi asks, looking at me. “You’re so quiet.”
Danbi’s question snaps me out of my thoughts. “I’m always quiet.”
“When you don’t talk…your face usually takes on a bored…expression. But just now, you looked worried about something stressful.” Danbi’s major, besides law, is psychology, so she’s good at reading other people’s expressions. “Did…someone attempt to…kill you again?”
Chanyeol’s usual creepy smile is startled right off of his face when he hears this. His eyes meet mine, and I can tell that he’s feeling…uneasy.
I shake my head, “It’s alright, don’t worry about it, Danbi.”
Jongdae grimaces, “Kyungsoo, you have to go and tell someone about it. You can’t be hunted down until you’re dead.”
I shake my head again. “Jongdae, can I sleep over tonight, while my window gets repaired?”
“…did someone throw something through your window?” Jongdae asks.
“Yes.” I purposefully decide not to go into detail, for Chanyeol’s sake. I didn’t want Danbi and Jongdae to flip out on him if they learn that he didn’t tell them anything. “I went to the office and they said they’d fix it tomorrow.”
“Did you tell them that someone was trying to KILL you?” Danbi emphasizes the word ‘kill’ so much that it almost sounds sarcastic.
“No. Don’t worry about it; I’m going to find out who it is.”
“Kyungsoo, I think you should leave this to the police.” Jongdae pushes the hair out of his eyes. “It’ll be better for them to figure out.”
“If I tell the police, then the person who’s trying to kill me will find out, and that means that they’ll only have a limited amount of time to finish me.” I repeat the same thing that I had told Chanyeol earlier. “Might as well live out whatever left there is of my life.”
Danbi sighs, “What happened to the Do Kyungsoo I used to know? The little boy who smiled all the time…” She starts to trail off, most likely remembering that I was still there.
Ever since that incident that happened so many years ago, I haven’t smiled genuinely.
Not once.
It’s not that I choose not to smile.
I can’t.
The two were nearly 7,000 miles apart from each other.
They’ve never met before, yet their views on the world are similar.
Their pasts, which are unknown, are filled with tragedy and depression.
However, at nearly the same time, both of their fates have become intertwined…
First chapter :D
I promise, it'll get more interesting as the story progresses...
And it'll get darker...
Much, much darker...
Anything written in this color (exempting the quotes) are author's notes, just an FYI ^^
~Jang Eun
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