It was almost midnight. A police officer was taking a stroll down the boulevard when he sensed somebody stalking him. “Hmm?” He turned around and saw nobody. He’s just probably dreaming, he thought.

As soon as he entered an alley, he once again felt someone entering the alley because there was a shadow. But when he turned around, there was nobody. “Hmm… Strange…” This time, when he turned front again, there was a masked lady standing right before him that gave him a shock.

The lady was a little small sized compared to him and she had a mask covering her entire face. Wearing a hooded cardigan and a mask, it was definitely impossible to tell her identity. But whatever it is, it doesn’t seem like she had any good intentions at all.

“Hmm?” The police officer frowned. “Who are you?” It was a few seconds too late before he realized it. “Hey, this mask! You’re the Phanto-”

Before he could take out his gun, the masked lady clenched her fist and immediately released a strong punch on his stomach, causing him to bend over. “Stupid cops like you should not even be allowed to speak.”

“Argh!!” The cop was on the verge of vomiting. “You won’t get away with this…”

Without even answering, the Phantom wrenched on his hair and slammed his face onto a wall. “...”

The impact made his head bleed. “Argh, it hurts!”

“I’m not done with you yet.” The Phantom started punching his face again and again. The man was covering his face desperately to block the Phantom’s hits but to no avail. The Phantom easily pulled his hands away from his face and kept punching it till he started bleeding from his nose and mouth. There were bruises all over his face already but the Phantom showed no signs of stopping at all. “...”

“Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Please! Please! Why are you doing this to me!? I didn’t do anything!!” The cop was very frightened as he begged the Phantom while crawling back towards the wall desperately.

The Phantom pulled the man up by the collar. “I’m sorry, were you saying something? I’m a little deaf.” She then dragged the man and slammed him onto a few garbage bin, knocking all of them over.

“…” The man was crawling on the ground and groaning in pain.

The Phantom took out her phone and started clicking on a few buttons. “Is your account number 7396 XXXX XXXX?”

“N-No… What are you trying to do?” The cop groaned.

“Wow, you have a lot of money in your account.” The Phantom seemed impressed.

“Please don’t take my money…”

The Phantom clicked on a button and siphoned all the money out of the cop’s bank account. She then slammed one hand on his face and the other hand twisting his arm. “You don’t get to decide what’s yours in front of me, fool. Especially your kind of people. I will decide what’s yours and what’s not.”

“Why are you doing this to me??” The cop groaned.

“I just don’t like stupid cops like you. That’s all.” As soon as she said that, she gripped onto his arm tightly and broke it in two mercilessly.

“ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!” The man cried loudly in pain.

“Hey!” Hani and LE who coincidentally happened to walk past the alley saw the Phantom beating up the cop.

Hani shouted. “It’s the Phantom!”

“Hyerin! Stop right there!” LE started chasing.

“!!!” The Phantom noticed both Hani and LE. She immediately left the injured man and made a run for it.

“You’re not getting away this time!!” LE chased after the Phantom while Hani tend to the unconscious police office.

Hani desperately signalled for the other cops using his walkie talkie. “Officer down! I repeat, officer down!”

LE caught up with the Phantom fast because of her large amount of stamina. She immediately tackled her down and attempted to pin her down but to no avail. The Phantom spun around and kicked LE out of the way before standing up once again. “You will not escape from me again, Hyerin. I will catch you right here and now.”

The Phantom tilted her head and taunted. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Grr!! You little!!” LE attempted a few punches and kicks but they were defended with ease. This shows the Phantom really do have a high amount of skill in martial arts like LE as well. “What’s the point of you wearing a mask, Hyerin? We all already know what you look like! Now I’ll just have to whoop your and put you behind bars!”

“Whoop me and put me behind bars? Are you even capable of doing that as a cop of this caliber?”

“Do not mock me!”

“I’m merely telling the truth. You dumb cops are a useless bunch.” The Phantom pushed LE and tried to punch her but to no avail as she blocked it successfully.

The Phantom then took out a hidden knife from underneath her sleeve and managed to slash LE’s arm. This made LE let go of the Phantom and held her injury in pain. “Argh!”

“What did you say a few minutes earlier? You’ll catch me?” The Phantom chuckled and started running away.

“Damn it, I didn’t want to use a gun but this is really getting out of hand.” LE cursed and reached for a small gun hidden inside her boots and started firing at the Phantom. Alerted, the Phantom leaped behind some of the dustbins to dodge and took out one of her own gun. As soon as she aimed her gun and started firing back, LE immediately rolled behind another dustbin and yelled. “It’s an offense carrying a gun!”

“An offense?” The Phantom chuckled. “What are you holding then? A stick?”

“Put your gun down now!!” LE shouted from behind the dustbin.

“The only thing I’m going to put down is you.” The Phantom started firing once again, not allowing LE out of her shelter.

By the time the firing ended, LE rolled out and saw that the Phantom was gone. She lost sight of the Phantom. “!”

Just then, Hani came running with her gun. “I heard some gunshots so I came running.”

“She got away again. Damn.” LE cursed.

Hani then noticed the slash on LE’s arm. “LE, you’re bleeding a lot!”

LE merely shrugged it off. “I’ll be fine. How’s the man’s condition?”

“He passed out. He suffered from several broken bones and heavy concussion. If we were there just a second later, he would have been killed.”

LE then received a message from Hyerin. “Nice try, LE. Better luck next time.”

“Damn it!” LE cursed. “She won’t get away with this next time.”

After treating LE’s wound, both LE and Hani went to the police station to give the report of their findings to their boss. As they left, LE kept looking at her injured arm. “Solji’s going to ask me a lot of questions about how I got this injury.”

“Just tell her that you got mugged and got injured in the process.” Hani suggested.

“A petty thief trying to mug me is like a cat trying to take on a tiger. I took care of three huge guys without suffering any injuries. Do you think Solji would believe that a thief got me injured? She’s a nerd, not a fool.” LE explained.

“Then just tell her that you bumped into the Phantom and got hurt by her.”

“No, I can’t let her know that a notorious criminal got me injured. The last thing I want is her worrying about me.”

That was when Hani squinted her eyes at LE. “Hmm… Weird.”

“What?”

“I’ve never seen you care about what people think or feel about you.” A smile crept up Hani’s face. “Do you by any chance have something for Solji?”

LE looked surprisingly calm hearing Hani’s question. “Well then do you by any chance have ‘mind other people’s business’ disease? As far as I’m concerned, how I feel or think of Solji has nothing to do with you, Hani.”

“She’s a nerd, LE. You once told me that you will never understand someone who spends 24 hours reading and studying.”

LE stopped in her tracks. “She doesn’t spend 24 hours on studying and reading obviously. We do go out sometimes.”

“Do you hold her hand when you go out? Or have you ever thought about it?” Hani nudged LE.

“No I haven’t.”

Hani then nodded. “Well, whatever you feel about her, just make sure it doesn’t affect your job as a cop. Don’t forget that. Our dads were highly respected cops who put their everything into their tasks. We need to live up to their reputations, you know that?” Hani told.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m trying to say that being in a relationship is a bother and it can somehow affect your job. My dad once let a crook run free just to make sure my mom stays unharmed. And then what happened next? That same crook that my dad let go, committed a mass shooting few days later.”

LE argued. “Are you saying that you would rather see your mom get hurt?”

Hani had a serious expression on her face. “You know how I view my job as a cop, LE. I take it very seriously. She’s my mother, so yeah. I wouldn’t want to see her get hurt. But what about the 15 other people who died in the mass shooting because my dad let him go? Aren’t they someone’s family member too? Aren’t they humans too? Don’t they deserve to live?”

“You have a point there, Hani.” LE told. “But welcome to the real world. Call me selfish but I don’t really care much about people other than those whom I care a lot about. My parents got a divorce all thanks to him putting his job above his family members. The robber was holding my mom as a hostage at gunpoint. And my dad just shot the robber through my mom’s shoulder. It fractured her shoulder badly. You saw it, Hani. You were there to witness it as well.”

“Yeah. And I don’t see what’s wrong with what your dad did. What would you have expected your dad to do instead, huh? Stand there and watch?”

“That’s his freaking wife that he shot though the shoulder. I would prefer my dad to talk it out first. He didn’t even hesitate when he released the shot.” LE argued.

“Yeah, let him talk and in the end escape. God knows what the hell he’ll do after that. You listen here. We became cops so that we can protect people, LE. Not only the ones we love. Get your job scope right.”

“I have my own ways of doing my job if you don’t mind. So I don’t need you lecturing me about how I do my job.” LE argued.

“Same here.” Hani replied. The atmosphere became a little heavy all thanks to the deep topic they went into.

The silence broke when Hani released a snicker. Seeing Hani chuckle made LE laugh as well. “That was a really deep conversation.”

“I know right.” Hani laughed. “It’s strange how we inherited each other dad’s traits instead of our own dad’s. You sure they didn’t swap us during birth?”

“I have the same personality as your dad and you have the same personality as mine. So yeah, I’m pretty sure they did.”

Hani then placed an arm over LE. “Let’s just go back and check on them.”

Once they stepped into Hani’s front yard, Hani blinked and pointed at the porch. “That freaking chicken was supposed to be here. Where did it go? I swear to god if that thing is in my house, I would destroy both Junghwa and Solji. I mean it.”

“Hey, chill. Let’s go in and take a look first.” LE said.

“They should be asleep by now. It’s almost 2am.” Hani replied. As soon as she entered her house, her brain shut down immediately. “What the hell happened here?”

The house was a mess. It seemed like someone just had a wild party in the house. There were unfinished snacks on the table and books all over the floor. The television was switched on and so was the radio. Junghwa was sprawled on the couch and snoring like a pig while Solji was curled up into a ball on another couch, wrapping herself up in her comforter. While Chiqs was on the kitchen table, feeding on a bowl of cornflakes.

Hani trembled. “M-My house…” Her fingers slowly curled into a ball. “These two little s!!”

Hani was about to wake them up from their slumber before LE stopped her. “Hey chill, Hani. They just had too much fun. Let them sleep.”

“But my house! It’s a mess!” Hani felt like she’s going to start losing hair soon from the stress and pointed. “That bird is eating my cornflakes! I don’t like people touching my food, LE. What more a chicken!”

“Alright. I’ll take care of it. You go back to your room and have a good night sleep.” LE slowly pushed Hani back into her room.

“You said that yourself, LE.” Hani raised her voice. “By the time I wake up, I want to see the house completely spotless, I want that chicken out of the house, I want a brand new cornflake and a new bowl. If I don’t see even one of these being done when I wake up, you and Solji are going to live under the bridge. You heard me?” Hani warned.

“Don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.” LE managed to convince Hani to go to sleep. Then LE turned to face the messy house and sighed. “Well, time to get to work.”

LE tirelessly cleaned the house, bought Hani’s supplies and got Chiqs out of the house. Before she knew it, it was almost time for her class already. Right when LE laid on the bed, her bedroom door opened to reveal Solji. “Hey LE, wake up. It’s time for class.” Solji nudged LE.

“Not again…” LE groaned. She obviously didn’t get enough sleep because she was busy cleaning the house and buying supplies the whole night.

“Come on, LE.” Solji was tugging on the comforter and accidentally pressed herself on LE’s injured arm.

“Ouch!” LE pulled her arm back and jerked up in pain.

“Huh?” Solji pulled the comforter away and saw LE’s bandaged arm. “What happened to your arm, LE?”

“I fell down and scraped myself. Now let me go back to sleep.” LE tried to dodge the question.

“Falling down wouldn’t give you such an injury, LE. That’s a huge bandage you’re wearing. It’s definitely something bigger than that.” Solji was worried.

LE sighed and sprung up once again. “Alright. Hani and I bumped into Phantom last night. We all know there’s a bounty on her so I can’t let this chance slip by. We got into a scuffle and I got this slash wound. But hey, I managed to scare her away with my fighting skills.”

“...” Without uttering a single word, Solji grabbed LE’s hand and that made her heart skip a beat.

“...”

With a concerned tone, Solji continued. “LE, please stop. I know you can fight well but you’re just somebody who fights for fun. The Phantom is a criminal who does more than just fighting. Stop endangering yourself with a criminal like this. You’re not Batman or Spiderman. Leave it to the real cops. If anything were to happen to you, what am I supposed to do?”

LE pulled her hand away. “Don’t worry about this, Solji. I’ll decide this for myself.”

“You’re just a student, LE. Can’t you at least act like one? Why do you always endanger yourself by fighting?”

LE got frustrated. “Because I’m not like you, Solji. I can’t study. All I can do is fight and fight. So can you please stop acting like my mother for just a day? It’ll be great.”

“...” Solji backed away from LE’s bed. “I’m sorry. I just care for you, that’s all.”

“I can care for myself, Solji.” LE sighed and changed topic immediately. “You said that you wanted to go class right? Wait for me at the kitchen while I get ready.”

“Okay.” Solji then made her way to the kitchen and was greeted by Hani and Junghwa.

Junghwa was politely clasping her hands together with her head down. Hani on the other hand was eating her newly bought cereal with her eyes shooting lasers at Junghwa and Solji. “Which one of you let the chicken in last night?”

“Chiqs was having a cold so I let her in.” Solji told.

Hani raised one of her brows. “Do you not understand my house rules? Do you really need me to write every single one of them down for you?”

“But she was cold. I had to bring her in!” Solji argued. “People usually let their pets into the house. That’s normal.”

“Stop right there.” Hani raised her hand. “YOU usually let pets into YOUR house. Now YOU are in MY house, Miss Solji. I swear to god the next time you bring that chicken into the house, it will end up on our dinner plates by the time you come back from university, you hear me?”

“I’m sorry.” Solji apologized.

Hani then continued. “Not only that, you both ate five packets of my snacks. You know I don’t like people touching my food.”

Solji blinked. “Uhh… Actually I didn’t touch the snacks at all.”

That was when Hani’s eyes rolled towards Junghwa who started sweating like a mad person. “So it was all eaten by Junghwa?”

“Ha… ha… ha… ha…” Junghwa faked a laugh and tried to joke. “Did someone eat the snacks? Oh gosh it must be the ghosts.”

“Shut it, Junghwa.” One sentence and Junghwa immediately stopped talking and had her head down once again. “You of all should know my house rules better. You’re gonna get it once Solji and LE is gone.”

Junghwa sighed loudly. “Oh dear…”

That time, LE came out of her room and greeted. “I did everything you told me to do, Hani. So don’t you come pour your moody on me.”

“Fair enough. Now you both better leave the house now. You don’t wanna see this.” Hani told Solji and LE while remaining in eye contact with Junghwa.

Junghwa voiced out. “Must you go to school today?”

“I’m sorry, Junghwa. We have to attend classes. I’ll see you later in the afternoon. Bye!” Solji then dragged LE to class.

Nobody knew what exactly happened to Junghwa. All the neighbors heard was Junghwa begging for mercy and crying. Some of them even heard her screaming in agony. Nobody will ever be too sure.

Before they entered the classroom, LE pulled Solji. “Solji wait.”

“Hmm?”

LE ped her bag and took out what it seemed to be a new pair of glasses. “I bought this for you.”

“...” Solji didn’t expect that at all. “You did? I mean, you didn’t have to.”

“Your birthday is coming soon, right? Just take it. Treat it as my birthday present to you.”

“But still…”

“You can barely see the road without your glasses so how are you gonna study without them? Just take it, okay?”

“Oh, it’s alright.” Solji took a pair of sunglasses from her own bag. “Junghwa gave me her spare glasses yesterday. I’ll manage with this.”

In just a second, the glasses were snatched off Solji’s hand. “No you aren’t. Wear mine.”

“Err… But…”

LE then snapped Junghwa’s spare glasses in half. “Oops, seems like you have no choice now.”

“Hey, that’s mean!” Solji complained. “Junghwa was nice enough to give me her spare glasses. How could you!?”

LE rolled her eyes. “It’s not like she’s gonna be needing it. Now wear your new glasses and let’s go to class.”

“You’re a meanie, you know that?”

LE shot a wink. “Thanks for the compliment. Now wear them.”

Okay.” Solji nodded and put on her brand new glasses.

As usual, once LE sat down on her seat, her head automatically laid on the table and started dozing off. “…”

The lecturer asked. “Alright, class. Who can tell me what a chlamydia is?”

“Me me!!!” As expected, Solji was the first to put her hand up.

“Give somebody else a chance to answer, Solji.” The lecturer then looked at LE. “What about you, Hyo Jin? Hyo Jin?”

“...” LE obviously didn’t hear it as she was busy sleeping. After getting nudged from another classmate, she sprung up and yawned. “What happened?”

“You seem to be sleeping very well. Now tell me what’s a chlamydia.” The lecturer repeated.

“I don’t know…” LE shrugged. “Is it a type of food?”

LE’s answer caused the entire class to laugh including Solji. “Gosh, LE. Chlamydia is a type of bacteria. You don’t want to be eating that. I thought we just recently studied about this?”

“Oh really? Well then maybe I have bad memories. Now back to sleep.” With that, LE laid her head on the table once again.

The lecturer shook her head and continued teaching the class. After the class ended, LE continued her daily routine of sleeping in class before leaving. Solji walked over towards LE’s table and told. “LE, I’m going out with Junghwa now for some shopping.”

“Mmm…”

“Is that all you’re gonna say?”

“Let me sleep.”

“Okay. Just make sure you get home safely later, alright?” Solji sighed and walked off.

Junghwa was already waiting for Solji at the university gate. Both Junghwa and Solji seemed to click very well because they have a lot of similar hobbies. “Hey, you’re wearing a new pair of glasses. Where’s the one I gave to you?”

“Oh, so sorry about that but LE broke them.” Solji felt apologetic.

“Why did she do that again?”

“LE insist that I wear this new glasses that she bought for my birthday.”

“LE bought them for you? Oooooo…… I get it now.” Junghwa had a creepy smile on her face suddenly. “Are both of you in a relationship?”

Solji immediately declined. “No, please don’t say something like that. LE wouldn’t like to hear something like this. She doesn’t like to be put in an awkward situation.”

“But…you do have something for LE, don’t you?”

“...” Solji was silent for a moment. “I don’t.”

“You’re not that good in lying, Solji.” Junghwa giggled. “Your expression gave you out.”

“I could say the same for you. Don’t you and Hani have something going on?”

Junghwa was stunned for a moment. “Me and Hani?” She suddenly broke into a hysterical laughter. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! You’re by far the funniest person I have ever met, Solji. I cannot imagine anybody wanting to be with her actually. She’s way too hot tempered and strict for anybody.”

“Hmm… Speaking of that… I’m actually curious about something. What did Hani actually did to you just now once we left for class?”

Solji’s question made Junghwa shiver a little. “C-Can we not talk about that?”

“But I’m curious… Tell me please~” Solji clung on Junghwa’s arm and pleaded.

“Alright alright.” Junghwa then whispered something into Solji’s ear.

Solji’s eyes widened in shock and pulled back with her hands covering . “Oh my god, she didn’t!”

Junghwa nodded. “Mhmm… She sure did…”

“Oh god I’d better start following her house rules strictly from now on.”

“We’d better.” Junghwa said. “And why are there so many people here today?” Junghwa questioned until she heard an announcement from a stage nearby.

“We’re now giving away two free tickets to EXID’s concert. Please step right up the stage and try your luck with us.”

“Oh my god, no way!!!” Junghwa brightened up.

“What?” Solji was curious about what Junghwa was excited about. “What is it?”

“What do you mean what is it!?” Junghwa pointed at the announcer. “EXID is having a performance here on Sunday and they’re giving out free tickets!!”

“EXID?” Solji blinked. She doesn’t seem to know who Junghwa was talking about.

Junghwa smacked her own forehead. “You don’t know who EXID is? Exceed in Dreaming!”

“Uhmm… I’m not quite sure… Well I do know about the book called ‘Exceed in Life’ though. Is it the same?”

“No no no… It’s alright. Just wait for me here, ok? Just for a minute. I need to get their tickets.” Junghwa then pushed herself through the crowd.

“I’ll wait for you at the cafe then.” Solji made her way to the cafe and took a seat.

As she was clicking on her phone, a lady suddenly sat down on her table facing her. “Well I’ll be damned. They actually left you unattended.”

“Hmm?” Solji looked up and tilted her head.

“Your name is Heo Solji, aren’t you?” She asked.

Solji innocently nodded her head and replied. “Yes, I am. You are…?”

“It doesn’t matter what my name is.” The lady was none other than Hyerin who is currently being sought out by LE and Hani as the Phantom. She then smiled a little. “I presume you’re close to someone called LE?”

“Ah, yes. I’m close to LE. Are you her friend?”

“Friend?” Hyerin started chuckling. “I’m sorry but I don’t like being friends with her kind of people.”

“Her kind of people?” Solji frowned. “Hey, that’s not something very nice to say to her. LE might be rude and a delinquent sometimes but she’s actually a very nice girl.”

“You seem to be fond of her.”

“No no no. I’m not fond of her.” Despite saying that, Solji’s face was a little red. “We’re from two different worlds so I wouldn’t dare.”

Hyerin smirked. “Being in two different worlds doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re close to her.”

Solji somehow felt a little uneasy from Hyerin’s expression. “Uhm… I think I’m gonna go.”

Just as Solji was about to grab her phone from the table and leave, Hyerin slammed her hand on top of Solji’s phone, not letting her take it before smiling back. “Why the rush? Sit down, Solji. Let’s have a talk.”

Solji silently sat down once again. “Look. I don’t know who you are but you’re creeping me out. What do you want from me?”

“Why would you want to know?”

“It’s really nice meeting you and all but I really need to go. Please let go of my phone.” Solji said nicely.

“You’re a funny one aren’t you?” Hyerin chuckled. “You actually think I’d let you go when this is the best chance for me to get you.”

“H-Huh? What are you talking about?” Solji seemed to be wearing a terrified expression.

Right at that moment, Junghwa appeared beside Solji and pulled her to the side and faced Hyerin with a serious expression. After removing Solji’s phone off Hyerin, she glared back. “What’re you trying to do to Solji?”

Solji seemed surprised to see that kind of serious expression on Junghwa’s face. It’s a rare case knowing just how childish Junghwa can be. “Junghwa, it’s alright. Let’s just leave her alone and go home.”

Hyerin shook her head. “Ah… Just when I thought I’d get some chance here… Another one of the little pests appeared. And there’s only one of you today.” Hyerin told. “Where’s the other two?”

“I don’t think this is any of your business, Hyerin.” Junghwa replied in a serious manner. “I know that you’re the Phantom.”

“P-Phantom!?” Solji’s eyes widened in shock and pointed at Hyerin. “She’s the Phantom!?”

“Solji, stay behind me.” Junghwa pulled Solji behind her. No matter how young or inexperienced Junghwa may be, she still held a high sense of responsibility within her. “Don’t do this here, Hyerin. There’s a lot of people here. You’re going to freak everybody out.”

Hyerin laughed. “You actually think I care if they get freaked out or not. All I want is her.” She then pointed at Solji.

“Why me??” Solji looked confused.

“Let’s take this outside at least.” Junghwa said.

“Alright. I’ll hear you out on this one. Let’s take this outside.” Hyerin confidently accepted.

Solji tugged on Junghwa’s shirt and whispered. “Junghwa, you’re not planning to fight with her, aren’t you? Please don’t. She’s the Phantom. You’re just a student. You can’t fight her. Let’s just leave. Ok?”

“I promised LE and Hani to look after you.” Junghwa held Solji’s hand tightly. “Trust me on this one. I have something on my mind..”

This was the first time that Solji actually felt Junghwa this dependable. As soon as Junghwa and Solji exited the cafe, Junghwa tightened her grip on Solji’s hand and started running as fast as she could. “Run!”

“W-Wha-???” Solji got dragged by Junghwa and started running as well.

“I knew it.” Hyerin of course saw this coming. She immediately started chasing after the both of them.

Junghwa ran through small lanes and pathways in hopes of losing Hyerin. As they were running into the alley, they turned back and saw that Hyerin was gone. They managed to shake Hyerin off. Or so they thought.

To their surprise when they turned front again, Hyerin appeared in front of them instead causing them to stop in their tracks. “You’re not running anywhere. I’m only going to tell you this once. Get out of the way, Park Junghwa.”

“You know my name… Just like our information stated, you do know all about us.”

“You’re right. I do know about you and your dirty little secret… But too bad there’s still a lot more you don’t know about me. Now get out of the way.” Hyerin grabbed Junghwa’s wrist and wrenched her away from Solji hard. Hyerin was exceptionally strong for a lady of her size. That wrench caused Junghwa to tumble to the ground.

“W-What!?” Solji seemed scared.

“You’re coming with me, Solji. Whether you like it or not. Don’t even try to resist.” The look on Hyerin’s face was vicious.

“Get away her!” Junghwa hugged Hyerin tightly and managed to separate her from Solji. “Solji, run!”

“H-Huh!?” Solji panicked because everything happened too suddenly. She still hasn’t catch on to the situation yet.

“Get off me!” Hyerin loosened Junghwa’s grip and attempted an elbow strike on her face but to no avail as Junghwa managed to evade it successfully. Hyerin then tackled Junghwa to the ground before pressing her head towards the floor and threatening her. “Stay on the ground if you don’t want me to beat you up like a dog, you little .”

“Solji, run!!” Junghwa shouted.

“What about you!?”

“Don’t worry about me, just run!” Junghwa shouted.

“O-Ok!” After stumbling for a second, Solji started running as if her life depends on it.

“Trying to run!?” Hyerin immediately pulled herself away from Junghwa and started chasing after Solji.

Not wanting to let Hyerin get to Solji, Junghwa gripped onto Hyerin’s foot tightly. “I’m not going to let you catch Solji!” Junghwa then stood up and tackled Hyerin down successfully before locking her in an arm bar.

Hyerin groaned and countered Junghwa’s armbar by turning her body quickly and sat on top of Junghwa instead, pinning the young cop down. “Don’t be stupid to think that you can actually take me down. Now stay down unless you want me to beat you up too.”

Junghwa stood up and immediately back-hugged Hyerin tightly. “I promised LE and Hani to take care of Solji. I cannot let you get to her!”

“I’m not going to let a stupid cop like you ruin my plan!” With that, Hyerin released herself from Junghwa and punched her stomach, causing her to fall to her knees and grab her stomach in pain. “Do not interfere with me again or I will make sure you won’t live to see another daylight. Got it?”

“…” Junghwa couldn’t even reply at all because she was in so much pain. Her sight started blurring out as she toppled onto the ground unconscious.

~~~

“Ugh…” Junghwa groaned and slowly opened her eyes to come in contact with LE and Hani.

“So you’re awake finally.” Hani looked a little relieved.

“Where am I?” Junghwa mumbled.

“You’re in the hospital. Where else could you be at?” LE answered.

Only then, Junghwa remembered something and sprung up. “Solji… Where’s Solji!?”

“I’m here, Junghwa. I’m here.” Solji who was sitting by the side stood up and walked towards Junghwa. She grabbed Junghwa’s hand tightly and smiled. “Thank you for saving me, Junghwa. I really don’t know how to thank you.”

“Solji told us everything. You’re really brave, Junghwa.” LE complimented.

“Wait… After I was knocked out, Hyerin went after you. What happened?” Junghwa asked.

Solji smiled and shook her head. “She didn’t manage to find me. You bought enough time for me to look for LE for help.”

“We found you unconscious and brought you to the hospital right away.” Hani continued.

“The Phantom really is a ruthless person…” Solji stated. “But why is she trying to get me?”

“Uhm, Solji?” LE called. “I’m a little thirsty. Can you help me get a cup of coffee from the cafeteria?”

“Sure!” Solji then exited the ward and headed over to the cafeteria.

As soon as Solji exited, LE started. “We still don’t know exactly why Hyerin is trying to get Solji. Most probably she wanted to use Solji to threaten us to stop pursuing her since she knows that we’re undercover cops working on the Phantom case.”

“Maybe we should just tell her that we’re cops and that the Phantom is after her now.” Junghwa suggested.

“Are you out of your mind? We cannot freak her out like this. Besides, the less people know, the better.” LE said.

Hani then had a thought. “I don’t know why but I have a feeling that there’s something about Solji that we don’t know. That’s why the Phantom is trying to target her. We have to figure this out by looking into Phantom’s previous victims. Maybe we can find out the Phantom’s motives from there.”

“And we have to make sure that we get to the bottom of this before Hyerin gets to Solji.”

Chapter 2

END