“Why haven’t they come out shooting bullets all over the place yet?” Seulgi asked, pulling out her gun from the holster at her hip.

“They probably have specific orders,” Joy said nonchalantly.

Guns went off safety, fingers hovered near triggers.

N Seoul Tower was a monstrous height of two hundred and thirty-eight meters, or seven hundred and seventy-four feet. Eleven meters of it was underground, the rest was standing tall, dwarfing everything else around it. Most of it was a white, pillar-like structure, leading up to a mostly glass-made observatory which sported a bright red and white antenna nearly as tall as the base holding it all up. It was a sight to behold.

Where they were going, however, was not to heaven, but to hell. The Head had located the bomb to be underneath the tower.

Seulgi was disappointed. She’d wanted to see the view from all those meters above ground. Not eleven meters under.

The whole area was evacuated, and the snow muffled every other sound except for the crunch of ice underneath their feet. In the circumstance that they failed and the bomb went off, only they would be killed or injured.

A small reassurance. But one nonetheless.

It was a surprise that the Maple Leaf didn’t so much as lift a finger to keep those inside of the tower hostage. The workers, the couples, and the tourists had all been able to file out without a hassle. It was a good thing. Hopefully. Or maybe it was a trap. It didn’t matter at this point. Seulgi was just ready to kick some .

Irene signalled a stop.

“When we get in there, Wendy will take care of the teen. Joy, Yeri, and Seulgi will take care of whoever might be in there, and I’ll take care of the bomb.”

Four heads nodded. Five pairs of legs moved.

They burst in through the doors.

They were met with a standoff. Seulgi counted at least ten goons, all wearing crisp, black suits, all standing in one perfectly straight line. All large. All bull-like. All twice her size.

Except for one.

The guy in front was tall, and skinny, and looked like a pole. He had sunglasses on which was ridiculous because it was in the middle of winter. He was pale. He had white hair. He wasn’t old. Albinism. The guy spread out his arms with his legs apart and a grin on his face.

His voice was a deep rumble. “Hello, ladies. What a wonderful time to see you all.”

“Is it really? Because I’m sort of freezing my off right now, so if we can get this started and over with as quickly as possible, that’d be great,” Joy said, smiling mockingly behind the barrel of her gun.

The black suits behind the albino growled like dogs.

“Hm, I don’t know. Winter is wonderful, don’t you think? Makes me feel all fuzzy and nice. Tell you what. We’ll leave you ladies to do your thing if you let us leave quietly. We won’t be a bother, I swear!” he said, winking.

Seulgi kept her gun trained on the black suits. They were the ones holding the AK-47s, not the guy making small talk. Seeing the semi-automatics made Seulgi slightly worried. However, a few dodged bullets and four other well-trained agents at her back would be more than enough to take them down. Hopefully.

The albino seemed to notice Seulgi’s gaze trained on the goons behind him. He turned around.

“Guys, guys! Put those down! Are you trying to explode the place before we’re even out of here? Come on!” His voice was good natured, though Seulgi was sure it was all an act. All an act to get their guards down. A simple magician’s trick. Hilarious. “Now, how ‘bout it? You let us scurry off quietly, you guys get to disarm the bomb, save the kid, no interruptions. A win-win situation, hm?”

“No,” Irene said. Her voice was cold, firm, and made no room for questions.

Seulgi made one anyway. “What do you mean, no? We don’t have time for this, Irene!”

“Exactly. You all have less than half an hour, now. Come on, Irene.”

Joy turned her head to look at Seulgi. Seulgi looked back. The younger girl’s eyes were derogatory. As were her words. “Are you really that stupid?”

Seulgi growled, “What?”

Irene said, “If we let you go now, all you have to do is leave, then press a button on that remote in your pocket, and everything goes to hell. So no.”

The albino laughed out loud before pulling out a black remote from his pants pocket. He tossed it carelessly in the air before catching it again. “Oh, you’re a smart one, aren’t you? You’ve got excellent working machinery in that pretty little head of yours, hm? Fine. How about this.” The albino suddenly threw the remote high into the air, whipped out a gun from his pocket, and shot it.

Seulgi almost pulled the trigger. Almost. It would’ve shot the guy dead. Lucky for him, she had self control.

The albino swiftly stowed the gun back in his pocket before raising his hands in mock surrender. “No more tricks. This is all just a little game for the boss ‘cause Boss is so bored all the time. Boss won’t mind. Alright? Deal? That doesn’t go to say that I’ll disarm them for you. That’s your guys’ jobs. I just won’t have them blow up before the clock ticks zero. Hm?”

Seulgi looked over at Irene. She could see the gears working in her brain. She saw her come to a decision. Her eyes were hard and cold like chips of ice. She stared straight at the albino.

“Wendy, contact Lee. Tell him to stand down.”

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