Moonlight was shining through the window’s curtains of the bedroom, the form of a girl sitting in the edge of a bed was barely made visible by it. Upon closer inspection, one would recognize the badge hanging on the outfit she was now wearing. It belonged to the special forces of the Seoul police department.

A year had gone by since she found Sejeong dead inside the rotting old house,

A year since she lost practically all the will she had to continue.

It seemed stupid, how losing your special someone could drag you to the lowest point of your life, when she was younger, Chungha used to say that being free was more important than being with someone. Of course this was all proven a bluff the moment she met Sejeong. The happy go lucky girl made sure they became best friends in no time. Everything escalated rather quickly after that.

Five years, five years they were together since Chungha gathered strength to confess, five years she now could only remember with bitter tears. And she had easily replaced Nayoung as the most important person in her life.

Nayoung… that name brought only hate to her, her blood boiled as soon as she dared to even remember the face of the girl who was now a total stranger to her. She wanted to hunt her down so badly, however, Nayoung disappeared along with the other girl without leaving even a single trace behind them. It wasn’t that surprising if she had to be honest, when they were a duo Chungha was the brawn and she was the brain. She was the one that usually coordinated the raids and the sweeps whenever they had to move into action. She is the most logical person Chungha has ever met.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of those thoughts, sometimes she felt that if she began thinking about their friendship, the moments they went through together, the hate inside her that keeps her from becoming a mere shell without emotions would fade, she didn’t want that, the prospect of vengeance was the only thing fueling her right now.

Her gaze shifted to the gun on her hand, she lifted it up and pointed straight at her temple, playing a little with the safety, she wondered if this time would be different from the rest.

This had become a reoccurring scene in her life, but she was never strong enough to do it.

She lowered the gun again, Sejeong would have to wait another day for her.

She left the weapon in her nightstand and got up from the bed, marching towards the door.

Her house was trashed everywhere, mostly because of the rage fits she has from time to time, although there’s one place that has remained intact, secure from her anger. It was the guestroom, the last place she had seen Nayoung in before she exited her house. There had to be something there, a clue, anything that pointed towards Nayoung. Chungha was sure of it.

Even though her life seemed to be in shambles, she managed to keep her work life intact, albeit shakenly, she had become a workaholic because it was the only thing that seemed to take her mind off everything for at least a couple of hours.

She had been ascended to area chief soon after the incident given that Nayoung had killed their boss. She remembered Sejeong telling her how angry Nayoung looked when they entered the office, and she remembered how she brushed it aside at the time. She didn’t think anything like that would happened. She trusted Nayoung with her life.

But not anymore.

She did not want to take the position at first but soon grew accustomed to it, the heavy paperwork load helped a bit at least. Besides, whenever she finishes or has free time, she goes straight to the gym to practice her fighting technique. She is sure she has improved, but there’s nobody to test that progress against. The loss she suffered against the freak with a parrot mask wounded her pride deeply but surprisingly, there wasn’t anyone capable enough to give her the fight she wanted. Most contenders only lasted for a couple of minutes before kneeling down, raising the white flag.

She shook her head once more, tired of remembering the past, and looked at the clock on the wall. It marked 5:43. She walked to the bathroom, planning on taking a shower before preparing something to eat and going to the police station.

She wanted to switch off her mind for a little while she sunk in the mountains of paperwork.

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The clock marked 7:05 sharp when Chungha opened the doors to her office, a cup of coffee in her hands. She gave the morning round of salutes to her colleagues before going there out of pure routine. When she entered she saw the big pile of papers that greeted her every morning and always seemed endless.

It was almost magical how the papers she needed to read, approve and sign seemed to restack up again and again and again. Truth be told, she was almost glad that happens.

She plopped down on her chair and just remained still for a couple of minutes, relishing the brief moments she had. After a few minutes she reached for her pen, put on her reading glasses and grabbed the first paper from the pile. It was something about a relocation for a criminal they had cuffed down in their cells.

She was about to start reading when her door burst open and in came an officer.

“Ma’am, this is critical, we need your help on the streets!”- He seemed agitated and Chungha had no idea what was happening all of a sudden.

“Easy, easy, tell me what is happening that it’s necessary for me to go?”- She figured she would ask even though the situation seemed dire judging by the man’s expression.

“Alpha team and Bravo team were dispatched to a nearby bank, it seemed like an armed raid of five guys in total from what the scouts told me, but now I’ve lost connection to alpha team and bravo are radioing for help. We are short on manpower miss, you have to come, besides you are the best sharpshooter we have!” – The man managed to blurt all out in a single sentence without even stopping to breath, yes, the situation seemed ed up, an Chungha wasn’t about to let five armed thugs raid a bank when she had the power to stop it.

“Take me to them”- She said curtly, not wanting to lose more time than they already had lost.

The officer just nodded and bolted out of the room with Chungha following close behind. They took a police car from the garage and rushed to the scene, police lights flaring intensely along with the characteristic alarm.

It took them less than five minutes to get there, who would think that there were people courageous enough to assault a bank not only in broad daylight, without mentioning that it was really close to the main police station of Seoul. The road was blocked to civilians by a couple of policemen and two ARVs could be seen near the bank’s entrance.

Chungha exited the car before it even stopped, being part of the Special Weapons And Tactics units had its perks, one of them was the extensive array of weapons and vehicles they could use, sadly, she didn’t have time to grab any of those and right now the only thing in her right hand was her trusty M1911 pistol, that and the Taser gun she was carrying in her belt.

By the time the officer got out of the car she was already at the entrance of the bank, big and ornamented double doors slightly ajar, she peeked through them just to see.

What she saw left her speechless, five members of the bravo team were trying to take on somebody with a balaclava helmet and they were failing miserably. Chungha took this as an opportunity to strike by surprise.

“Throw a flash in there, as soon as it explodes I want you to go in, I’ll be right behind you”

“Roger that”- He reached for a grenade and took the pin out before looking at Chungha waiting for a quick confirmation, Chungha nodded.

The grenade went in and Chungha counted the seconds before the explosion was heard, as soon as it happened, she tilted her head, waiting for the agent to move in first. Two seconds after she was right behind him.

Or so she thought, when she entered the bank a body was flying her way. She rolled out of the way in a quick motion and watched as the officer that was with her seconds ago lied unconscious against the bank doors, blood sliding down his neck after smacking his head against them.

She didn’t have time to help him nor did she care enough to do it. Instead, her gaze moved to the scene before her. Bodies of both the alpha and the bravo team surrounded the subject wearing the balaclava, plus three more bodies in the far left of the bank that Chungha could only assume were the companions of the guy in front of her.

She couldn’t appreciate much of her opponent, their eyes were bloodshot, unblinking even though seconds ago the flash grenade must have blinded them. They looked hurt, their right leg seemed to be bloodied but given that they were dressed entirely in black it was difficult for Chungha to get to a conclusion.

“Freeze, stop right there, I’m Chungha from the Special Forces brigade of the city’s police department, you are under arrest!”- She went by the standard protocol, if the terrorist refused to submit then she would have her fun.

She looked down again at the people in the floor, Chungha doubted that even half of her men were still alive. Then there was the terrorist, bruised and battered, their breathing ragged, but still standing.

“This… sure… brings back… memories…”- The bank robber said in between breaths

A second later they were almost in front of Chungha, who still had her gun raised. The burglar sharply stopped their dash to spin, using a hook kick to send Chungha’s gun to the other side of the room.

The attack took Chungha by surprise, she retracted her right to block when she saw the thief using the momentum to throw a backhand punch at her. She managed to do it but her guard was frail and couldn't take on the full blow, causing her to tumble a little bit.

It took her roughly two seconds to recover, she lifted her guard, waiting for another punch or kick but they never came. Instead, the robber was staying still, grabbing their right leg.

Chungha used the opportunity to close in again, aiming a side kick to the injured leg. When the robber realized she was coming, they tried to block raising their left knee. The block was successful and Chungha stood agape for a couple of seconds, marveling herself in the strength of her opponent. To be able to block a kick using only the knee and remain unmoved was truly amazing, especially if one was standing