[ photo credit: https://itsbap.com/post/188539213749 ]

Yongguk knew that he was breaking a lot of rules.

It was his first night on the field since joining the task force, and he knew he was supposed to hang back and observe, stepping in only when necessary. He’d been allowed to make arrests only because there were more Black Dragon members than they’d expected and they needed all hands on deck. In fact, based on the tip-off, they’d only expected to catch Junhong and Jongup, if they were lucky. They hadn’t expected the big fish to be present as well.

Yongguk was sure that if Doojoon had expected Nara to be there, he might have been benched entirely.

He knew he wasn’t supposed to communicate with any of them. Not Nara, not Daehyun, and probably not Jongup or Junhong either. Yet somehow, he’d gravitated towards her. Somehow, something in him thought that he might be able to handle it. To remain professional. But just seeing her up close and hearing her voice damn near paralyzed him. He was thankful that Doojoon had seen him and sent someone else his way to relieve him. It was unexpected, but Doojoon seemed to have his back. He was sure that Chief Kang would be disapproving of that.

There was no way he’d be allowed to conduct the interrogations for sure. Not that he wanted to anyway, with all the cameras recording his every move. Which was why he was here, now, before Chief Kang received news that four members of the Black Dragon top flight were currently in their holding cells. He was sure that Doojoon had seen him excuse himself. He was sure that Doojoon had his suspicions about where he was headed. And he was thankful that Doojoon said nothing.

The squeaking of his sneakers on the linoleum floor reverberated loudly in Yongguk’s ears. In contrast to the men’s holding cells, which were packed and filled with raucous complaints, the female holding cells were quiet. He nodded at the officer on duty before moving towards the one occupied cell.

There were three women inside. Two of them were sitting on a metal bench by the far wall, chatting in hushed voices, their relaxed demeanors suggesting that they’d been pulled off the streets often enough to be well acquainted with the place and with each other. Nara was sitting on the floor right in front of the bars of the cell, hugging her knees to her body. Just seeing her in that position, so helpless and small, made his heart plummet to the floor.

As he walked closer, the sound of his footsteps caught her attention and she lifted her head to look at him. The icy look of hatred she gave him chilled him to the very bone.

Quietly, he sat down beside her on the other side of the bars. She shifted her body away only slightly, and he knew that she was trying to show him that she could still hold her ground. That he didn’t intimidate her. For a long time, he just sat there, not saying a thing. Neither of them looked at each other, but he considered it a small victory that they were able to be in such close proximity with each other.

“How have you been?” he spoke up after a while. As he’d expected, she ignored his pathetic attempt at small talk. He stared at the top of her head for a while before deciding that he didn’t have much time to play pretend. There was no point in acting like there was any room for civility between the two of them. He had to go for the jugular. “His name is Howon, isn’t it?” She bristled at that comment. “K… Kim Howon?”

“I don’t have to talk to you,” she said flatly. “I’m entitled to silence.”

“You are,” he agreed. “I’m asking in a personal capacity.”

“We don’t have a personal relationship.”

He bit his lower lip. “Maybe not...” He had to take a deep breath to stabilize his voice before he could speak again. “Maybe not with you. I’m wondering if I have one with Howon.”

That got her. Her head snapped up quickly, her eyes blazing. Then, in one split second, they hardened again. She scoffed and turned away, as if his question was too ridiculous to be regaled with an answer. “Why would you have a relationship with my son, Officer? What kind of question is this? Is there something I should be concerned about?”

Yongguk felt his resolve shaking, but he was determined to get a clear answer from her. Chance had brought her here, in front of him, and he didn’t know if luck would strike twice. His phone chimed with a text message and a quick glance showed that it was Doojoon, asking him where he was. “Nothing, if you’re being honest.”

“Wasn’t aware I was already being questioned.”

“You hated the way you were raised,” Yongguk said softly, unable to help himself. Another text came through, which he ignored. “I don’t understand why you would put your son through the same thing.”

Nara arched an eyebrow. “Are the police giving parenting lessons now? How is it any of your business—”

“Is he mine?”

Yongguk had blurted it out without meaning to. His phone was chiming like crazy in his pocket, and he knew Doojoon was potentially warning him that Chief Kang had already arrived at the station. If he didn’t ask it now, he might not get another chance to, and he knew he’d be stewing in regret for a long time. He deserved to know the truth.

“No.”

Nara’s curt answer cut him deeper than he’d expected. He probably should have been thankful that she’d given him such a straight answer, because she could have continued to play her game, and he’d have to leave without the answers he wanted. But something about the way she said it so quickly, without any emotion whatsoever, didn’t quite sit well with him.

He swallowed. “You’re absolutely sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then I guess you wouldn’t object to a paternity test.”

Her façade cracked so quickly he didn’t have enough time to react. One moment she was sitting there, her back turned to him, and the next, she was leaning forward, her eyes meeting his menacingly. Her jaw was trembling with anger as she all but growled at him. “You leave us the alone.”

“Bang Yongguk!”

Yongguk whirled around, his heart thumping fiercely in his chest. One of his colleagues from the special task force was standing at the entrance to the holding cells, looking pissed off. He felt embarrassed to be caught sitting beside the woman who was the main target of their investigation. He could imagine the conclusions that the other man was possibly jumping to.

“Chief Kang’s looking for you,” the man said gruffly. He glanced at Nara, and Yongguk could see the judgment in his expression.

Yongguk climbed to his feet, dusting himself off. He inclined his head politely. “Yes. I’ll be right there.”

He took one last look at Nara, who was still glaring at him murderously. No matter how many years had passed, he still couldn’t get used to her looking at him like that. It didn’t seem possible that the same eyes that he used to get lost in, that shone with light and love, could be capable of piercing right through his heart the way they were doing now.

Yet, as he walked away, he was thankful that she’d looked at him like that, instead of with cold indifference. Because this way, he knew for sure that they still had a connection that had yet to be severed.

“Where is he?”

Doojoon paused mid-sentence as Chief Kang came bursting into his office. “Good evening to you too, Chief.” He noted that the elder hadn’t knocked, but also that he probably deserved that. Back in the day, the situation had been reversed, and he’d burst into Chief Kang’s office unannounced many a times himself.

“Cut the bull,” Chief Kang said, irate. “Where’s Bang Yongguk?”

Doojoon waved a hand dismissively. “I’m sure he’s somewhere around. We’re pretty busy right now, as you can see. Got a pretty big haul today.”

Chief Kang snapped his fingers at the officer standing in front of Doojoon. “Lee Kikwang. Go find him and bring him here. Now!”

Kikwang scrambled to obey the order, and Doojoon sighed, pulling out his phone as he sat down in his chair. He tried to look nonchalant as he fired another quick text to Yongguk.

Red alert. Get back ASAP.

“Are you out of your mind?” Chief Kang reproached, sitting down opposite him. “You bring in Choi Nara and you let him run around with no eyes on him?”

Doojoon raised an eyebrow. “If I have to have someone tailing all my men…”

“Not all your men,” Chief Kang said shortly. “Just this one.”

“Chief, if you don’t trust him, why did you put him on my team?” Doojoon asked. “You know that he’s going to meet her eventually.”

“Being on this team is supposed to be his second chance,” Chief Kang pointed out. “So he can atone for his mistakes. But as his team leader, you’re supposed to guide him and ease him into it, not throw him into the deep end from the get-go.”

Doojoon leaned forward on his elbows. “My job isn’t to babysit him.”

“I didn’t say it was,” Chief Kang replied curtly. “Team leaders develop their subordinates and bring out the best in them. That’s your job. When one of your team members struggles with the psychological strain of the job, it’s your duty to help him manage it.”

Doojoon looked down at his phone again. “He’s fine. He’s a professional. He’s always been an outstanding cop. You know that.”

Chief Kang glared at him. “I do. Like I always say, if things had turned out the way I had expected, he’d be sitting here instead of you.”

“You have so much faith in my abilities, Chief,” Doojoon deadpanned. “How will I ever repay you for your belief in me?”

Chief Kang gave him a look that showed how aggravated he was. “Don’t be smart with me, Yoon Doojoon. You were still in diapers when I started out in Anti-Triad.”

Doojoon sighed. “I know, and I respect you a lot. You’ve given me invaluable advice and helped me every step of the way in my career, and I know you really care about your guys. Yongguk too. I just need you to trust us.”

“He’s not ready, Doojoon,” Chief Kang said bluntly. “He has many demons to confront, but he’s not strong enough to face them all head-on yet. I wish we had more time, but she’s back for blood now. We need to consider every move carefully. I don’t want him to make another mistake.”

Doojoon thought about how Yongguk had been fixated on that photo of Nara and her son and he knew his superior’s concerns were probably founded. “I know. But this isn’t something you or I can control. We need to let him work through it on his own. I’ve spoken to him, and I think his heart is in the right place. I really think he’s going to help us take them down. For good, this time.”

There was a moment of silence as both men looked at each other. Doojoon knew that it was going to be hard for Chief Kang to let go of the reins, but he was determined to stand his ground. When he’d taken up the position as head of the task force, he’d negotiated for full decision-making power, and he wasn’t going to let his mentor wrest it away from him so easily. Chief Kang was a respected officer, and one of the best in the history of the police force, but his iron-fisted way of doing things was the old way. Doojoon truly believed that he could do things differently and still achieve the same—if not better—results. He knew that Chief Kang had faith in him; he wouldn’t have given him this opportunity otherwise. Sometimes, he just needed to be reminded of it.

“And why have you brought in Choi Nara already?” Chief Kang continued, his tone getting stern and slightly naggy again. Just like that, that moment of mutual understanding was broken and he was looking at Doojoon like a misbehaving child once more. “You want to let her know that we have an entire task force after her?”

Doojoon looked away, slightly embarrassed to be caught out by his superior like that. “That… was a… unforeseen circumstance. We were following Choi Junhong. Wanted to get him on the record. Didn’t expect that he’d be with… you know.”

Chief Kang gave him a dirty look. “The hell you following him for? Why don’t you have eyes on her?”

Doojoon folded his arms defensively. “We do have eyes on her. Like you mentioned, it’s too early to bring her in, so we just have more resources focused on the other guys for now. Choi Junhong usually parties with a whole different crew nowadays. We wanted to make sure they were logged. For tracking purposes.”

Chief Kang nodded. That wasn’t a bad idea, actually. But compliments seemed premature. “Now you have four of them. You have nothing to charge them with and you’ll have to let them go when their tests come out clean. You’ve gained absolutely nothing other than to alert them and get their defenses up.”

A snarky clapback was on the tip of Doojoon’s tongue, but before it could materialize, there was a cautious knock on the door.

“Sir… you were looking for me?”

Chief Kang took a deep inhale before he patted the seat next to him. “Let’s have a word, Yongguk. And please, close the door behind you.”

“What the ?” Himchan ground out, his tires screeching as he made a sharp turn. “This is precisely the sort of thing we pay you to ensure doesn’t happen!”

“That task force is new,” Seungri’s voice came over the phone speaker, sounding weary. “You know who assembled it? Kang Minshik. He found the last few remaining cops who can’t be bought and put them all into one team. The money you gave me isn’t worth .”

“I don’t care,” Himchan snarled. “That’s your problem to handle.”

There was a pause as Seungri scoffed. “Is it? In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve got a lot of problems of my own. Why should I be helping you with yours?”

“So what are you saying now?” Himchan demanded. “You’re bailing on us now? After what Nara’s father did for you?”

“Don’t use the dead man to threaten me,” Seungri shot back. “I don’t know why the I have to do for you when Jiyong hyung is the one who’s all sentimental. Anyway, I can’t help you anymore. I have to hang up now, or Interpol might be able to tap into the line. Don’t call me.”

Himchan cursed as Seungri cut the call without another word. He should have known that he couldn’t trust the . When he’d flown out to the Bahamas without telling anyone, he’d assured Himchan that he was on vacation and not on the run, and that he still had good relationships with the top brass in the police force. Clearly, he’d just been trying to weasel that last payment from the Black Dragon. As much as Himchan didn’t trust him, Seungri had been their best connection to the police. He was going to be difficult to replace.

Pulling into the police station, Himchan parked haphazardly, not caring that his car wasn’t neatly in a lot. The place made his skin crawl and he was determined to be in and out of there as quickly as he could. He stepped out of his car and nodded at his lawyer, who was already there and waiting for him.

“Thanks for coming down at such a late hour,” Himchan said as they fell into step with each other.

Lawyer Park shook his head. “No problem. Just doing my job. If you’re here, your son…”

“Youngjae’s home,” Himchan replied as they pushed open the glass doors. “I made sure he was in bed before I came out.”

Lawyer Park chuckled. “Howon is a dream to take care of. When my daughter was that age…” He glanced at Himchan’s stormy face and decided that it wasn’t the best time to be trading parenting anecdotes. “Anyway, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s just a routine check. If they’re clean, they’ll be released right away. You’ll only need me here if there’s a problem.”

Himchan nodded. He trusted that at the very least, Nara and Daehyun would be clean. He couldn’t be sure that Jongup and Junhong wouldn’t get carried away. And even then, he didn’t trust the cops. He knew that there was every possibility that evidence could be fabricated if they really wanted to nab someone. That was the worry that was causing his pulse to be racing at the rate that it was.

By the time he entered the waiting area, it appeared that Lawyer Park’s predictions had been right. Some of his men were milling around the area, and a few were signing forms in front of stony-faced policemen. Junhong was the first to spot him.

“Hyung!”

Junhong’s declaration caught the attention of the other men, and the two dozen or so men that were standing around quickly stiffened and bowed, their respectful greetings ringing out loudly in the waiting room. From the sour looks on the faces of the cops, this display of brotherhood didn’t sit well with them.

He stopped in front of Junhong, Jongup and a morose-looking Daehyun. “Where’s she?”

Daehyun looked helpless. “I don’t know. We were held in different cells. I haven’t seen her since we got in here.”

Himchan frowned, but before he could say anything, Lawyer Park was already on the move. “I’ll go check.”

Himchan sighed heavily, his shoulders tensed. “I thought I asked you to be careful.”

Daehyun bowed his head. “I wasn’t alerted about this at all. It caught us by surprise.”

“It’s a new task force, Seungri said,” Himchan said in a low voice. “The moment we get back, look into it.”

Daehyun’s eyebrows lifted. “You spoke to Seungri hyung?”

“Briefly,” Himchan replied, a sour taste still in his mouth from that conversation. “Had to keep the conversation under a minute.”

Junhong blinked. “So he’s really on the run?”

Jongup narrowed his eyes at the maknae. “You really thought he went to the Bahamas on vacation? In the middle of hurricane season?”

“Kim Himchan.”

He’d been living with his alias for a long enough time that he knew better than to react to his old name, but he couldn’t help his shoulders from tensing when he recognized the voice that had called out to him. He stood rooted to his spot, but from Daehyun’s hardened expression, he could tell that it was exactly who he thought it was.

“You didn’t hear me calling you?” Doojoon taunted when he stopped in front of Himchan. They were of similar height, so it was easy for them to stare straight into each other’s eyes.

Himchan remained calm and expressionless. “Were you calling me? I don’t think we know each other. Officer.”

Doojoon chuckled. “Oh, I know you and you know me. Very well, in fact. Don’t give me this bull.”

“With all due respect,” Himchan stated flatly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Doojoon scoffed. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? You think you’ve managed to make fools of us and we can’t do anything to you?” He glanced at Daehyun and Junhong scornfully. “Parading in front of us shamelessly with your fake names...” His eyes landed on Jongup. “Three years, for good behavior? You people make me sick.”

Himchan casually turned to search for his lawyer. “Lawyer Park, is it okay for an officer of the law to abuse us like that when we’re just standing here?”

“Listen here, punk.” Doojoon grabbed the front of Himchan’s shirt, jerking him forward to regain his attention.

Instantly, men scrambled forward, but Himchan put out a hand to stop them from causing unnecessary trouble. He met Doojoon’s eyes coldly, collectedly.

“I know who you are and what you’re trying to do,” Doojoon warned, his eyes fiery. “No matter what you call yourselves, I’m going to get you this time. And when I do, I’m going to make sure that none of you are getting out. You’d better watch your backs.”

A smirk tugged at the corners of Himchan’s lips. “Thanks for the advice. You watch yours too…” He tugged his shirt out of Doojoon’s grasp. “Officer Yoon.”

Daehyun’s eyes flicked towards Nara. She’d be strangely silent, merely staring out of the window, since they’d gotten into Himchan’s car. In front of him, Himchan was also driving silently, his jaw tight. He could see that Jongup, sitting beside Himchan in the front passenger seat, was also darting his eyes around, wondering if he had to do something to break the silence. Daehyun decided to spare him and cleared his throat.

“So, they have a task force investigating us.”

Jongup jumped on the lifeline immediately, nodding. “That’s… inconvenient.”

“Why’d they bring us all in when we were doing nothing, though?” Junhong wondered aloud. He thought of all the elaborate traps that Kang Minshik used to set up hoping that they’d be caught red-handed committing offences that would put them away for a long time. Considering the short sentences that Jongup and Youngjae had gotten the last time, he would have assumed that they’d try to step it up even more. “What were they hoping they’d catch us with?”

“Maybe they just wanted to send a warning,” Jongup suggested. “Let us know they’re watching us, so that we’ll think twice before doing anything.”

Daehyun scoffed. “That would work only on some street-corner hooligans. Who do they think we are?”

“Also, we didn’t know about this task force before,” Junhong agreed. “Now we do, we’re just going to be more careful.”

Jongup nodded again. “Yeah… that doesn’t seem wise.”

“Yoon Doojoon’s the head of the task force,” Himchan chimed in at last, his eyes still on the road. “If it were Kang Minshik, the plans would be more complicated, and he’d definitely try to catch us off-guard. Yoon Doojoon’s an idiot, so it’s harder to predict what he’s trying to do. Maybe he’s really just trying to warn us. Either way, we should still be careful when we go out.”

“Should we try to get someone from this task force on our side, though?” Daehyun asked. “That way, we’ll know if they try to take action against us.”

“Seungri said Kang Minshik assembled the task force,” Himchan said. “Apparently he made sure they were all cops that can’t be bought.”

Jongup sniggered. “Please. As if there’s anyone who can’t be bought. It’s just a question of what price.”

“Did Seungri hyung leave behind anything for you?” Daehyun questioned. “Maybe another connection, someone we can talk to?”

Himchan shook his head, lips curled in a snarl. “er bolted. His phone’s disconnected. The only way we’ll ever get to hear from him is if he calls us first. And I don’t think that’s going to happen, based on our last conversation.”

“We have to find a way in.”

Nara was still staring out of the window, and for a moment, nobody was sure that she was speaking to them.

“This task force is dangerous,” she continued, curt. “Call up all your police connections one by one if you have to. We need to have at least one informant in there. This is top priority.”

Daehyun couldn’t really see why she felt it was particularly urgent, especially not since they’d just established that Yoon Doojoon was just taking a blind stab in the dark. But then he remembered that Bang Yongguk was on this task force, and his eyes darted to Himchan nervously. Himchan probably didn’t know, and if she wasn’t going to bring him up, Daehyun wasn’t dumb enough to volunteer to open up that can of worms. “Okay. I’ll ask around.”

The car fell silent again after that. It was a couple of minutes before Nara spoke again, so quietly that only Daehyun and Junhong heard her.

“They’re not going to get in our way this time.”