Yeri was giving her the silent treatment. It was deserved, she supposed. She’d be just as pissed, probably more pissed than Yeri was right now if it had been the other way around. So, she dealt with it. There wasn’t much she could do anyway. Not when Yeri made up her mind.

“Hey, I think you’re going to want to see this.”

The guy was part of the security team. A familiar face because being in the undercover unit, you had to work with security a lot. She stared down at her half-empty cup of black coffee, bid it farewell in her head, and followed the guy out of Java, dumping the thing on her way out. It wouldn’t do her much good anyway. Caffeine never worked on her. She just liked the taste. The guy kept the door open for her. He’d walked faster than she’d cared to. She hadn’t complained and neither had he. 

There was one other guy in the room. He was familiar, too. She gave him a quick nod and he returned it with a lazy what’s up. The first guy walked over to one of the seats in front of the rows of live CCTV footage. Pulled one of the smaller ones up onto the main screen.

“You recognize her? She’s been standing there for about fifteen minutes now. We’ve been telling her to move along but she won’t budge. Keeps asking for you.”

Joy leaned against the back of the chair the guy was sitting on. Leaned forward and squinted at the screen. High school uniform, an average student’s backpack, nothing that screamed familiar. But then the bright orange hair. 

“The guy looked pretty much the same as the dead guys in dramas.”

“What the hell?”

It took her less than two minutes to make it out of the building. The two security guys came with her. Struggled to keep up but she didn’t mind them. The girl caught sight of her halfway there and started jumping up and down and waving. So definitely her. The personality matched up.

“Agent Joy! It’s me, Kim Sooyoung!”

And there it was. The confirmation. She reached the gates. Stood in place with her arms crossed and looked down at the carrot headed teenager. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing here, kid?”

The girl didn’t blink. Just looked straight up at her and raised a brow. 

“Well for starters, I got kidnapped by some Harley Quinn wannabe in front of my crappy school thanks to you. So I think you owe me an apology. Second of all, the Harley Quinn wannabe told me to give you a message.”

“Wait. Backtrack. You got kidnapped?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

The kid looked annoyed. Like Joy had asked her to repeat the weather for the day. 

“And you’re not even fazed by that?”

“Well, when you’re the President’s granddaughter, national security kinda tells you to expect it.”

Dead silence. It took Joy four seconds to register it. Another two seconds for the security guys to get it through their heads, and then they were all lurching forward to get the kid in the gates like their asses were on fire. In retrospect, their asses would be on fire if anything actually happened to the President’s only grandkid. The kid only got a yelp in before she was dragged through the gates. She got over it quick despite that and swatted at Joy’s arms until she let go. 

“Ow! What the hell was that for?”

“You didn’t think that was something you should mention when we met?”

The kid shrugged. “You never asked.”

Joy huffed. Ran her fingers through her hair and tried to get it together. Then a thought occurred to her and she stared the kid down.

“Did you mouth off to your kidnapper too?”

“Well she can’t go around looking like a Harley Quinn cosplayer in the middle of winter and just get away with it.”

“Kid, you could’ve gotten killed.”

“It would’ve been for a noble cause.” She lifted her chin and crossed her arms. “It’s important to let people know when they look stupid.”

Joy recognized a lost cause when she saw it. Threw up her hands, shook her head, and waved the kid inside the building. She could deal with the attitude later. There were more concerning issues at hand.

Wendy thought the orange-haired girl looked like a mini-Joy. She had the same confident look to her, the same sly grin, the same femme fatale kind of beauty. She was fairly tall for being a high school student, too. Wendy wondered if that was what Joy would have looked like if she had been an average civilian. Probably. Most definitely. Yeri sat in a corner looking sulky. She didn’t take her eyes off of Joy though and Wendy knew they’d be okay. 

“This is Kim Sooyoung. She was that witness I met for Park Chungsoo’s case.”

“What’s up.”

Wendy bit back a laugh when Joy rolled her eyes. It was like watching Joy fight with herself. A younger version of herself, maybe. 

“She’s also the President’s only grandkid.”

She choked on air. Knew her eyes were probably wider than saucers. The girl laughed at her reaction and slapped her knee a couple times like an old man would. She wasn’t what she’d assumed the President’s granddaughter would be like. Less snobby, more savage, and far more likeable. 

“Your grandfather is the President?”

“Yup. I grew up with him because I don’t have parents. He’s chill. Nags a lot, though.”

Sooyoung shuddered like she was remembering all of the scoldings she’d gotten. Wendy didn’t think for a second that a single day went by without her getting an earful. She definitely looked like a troublemaker.

“So, you want to tell them why you’re here?” Joy said.

Sooyoung shrugged. “I got kidnapped by a Harley Quinn wannabe and she wanted me to give you guys some stupid message.”

“I’m sorry, you got kidnapped?” 

“Yeah, yeah, you guys really have to get over that. Do you wanna hear the message or not?”

Joy threw up her hands and practically fell into a chair. Rubbed her temples and waved her hand at the girl dismissively. “Just say it.”

“Wannabe Harley Quinn talked a lot so I’ll just give you a summary. Basically, she said that your game is to find out how they’re going to get through security and get to Gramps. If you stop them then you win, obviously.”

Wendy froze. Looked at Yeri then Joy and saw the same shock in their faces. Sooyoung simply propped her feet up on an adjacent chair. Took out a lollipop from somewhere in her jacket and on it. 

“Oh, and you have until exactly midnight three days from now to figure it out.”

Kang Sumin was dramatic and lived up to her expectations. Seulgi was barely surprised at the announcement that there would be a big mandatory dinner to celebrate their reunion. She didn’t like it, but it wasn’t like there was a choice. Besides, it was easier that way. Less chance for later objections from the others. If there were any objections they could be dealt with there and then. Convenient. Less time consuming. Less dangerous altogether. 

“I didn’t know you were so selfless.”

Seulgi shrugged. Held up the red dress that Kang Sumin had sent them, then glanced at the blue one. They were clearly expensive. Pretty to look at too, but she didn’t like the thought of wearing something that had anything to do with that woman. And yet, here she was giving up her life as she knew it to her. 

“You don’t know a lot of things about me. I’m still surprised you remember my name sometimes.”

Seulgi didn’t need to look to know that Irene was glaring at her. She hid the smile behind her hair. 

“You’re going through with this,” Irene said.

“It’s not like there’s a better option lying around. Plus, who knew I could be worth so much? All of SM for me. Kind of boosts my ego.”

She turned to give Irene a sly grin. Felt the smile fall away when she saw the look on her face. It was something unreadable but definitely something that didn’t call for jokes and play. So, she frowned instead. Waited for Irene to say something and in retrospect realized that was a stupid thing to do because Irene could stay dead silent for hours if she wanted.

But she spoke up. “I guess I really don’t know you.”

There was something heavy behind the words. Every word Irene said usually had some deeper meaning to it but it was different this time. Seulgi didn’t kn