Eight Years Ago:

"Here. Take this." Dara hands me something.

I accept it but scowl when i notice that it's a necklace. I look at her.

"What's this for?"

"Give that to Jisoo as a present." She tells me. "It's her birthday today right?"

My scowl only deepens. "Why?"

"You already knew the plan. We're going to make Mino fall for her. It's the only way we can save your sister's life." Dara answers. "And that necklace will help Jisoo draw Mino's attention."

Present:

"What are you thinking?"

I flinch and turn around to see Jiwoo-noona with little Sowon at her side. The little girl lets go of her Keeper's hand and runs to the side of the unconscious Dara lying on the patient bed.

"I just remembered something." I answer.

Jiwoo-noona smiles. "How is she?"

"Not good." I answer honestly. I bite my lip in frustration. "She's dying."

I hear Jiwoo-noona sighs. "Maybe it's time for her to go home."

I whip my head towards her. Is it? I pause to contemplate. Dara specifically told me not to hand her over to YG. She said it would complicate things.

"Jongsuk-ah, i know it's kind of difficult but we need to think of what's best for her." Jiwoo-noona pats my shoulder and squeezes it. "They have a healer there and not to mention they have the technology and resources needed for Dara's treatment."

"Ahjussi." Sowon turns around.

"What is it?" I try to smile at the little girl.

"This aghassi is in pain." Sowon frowns. "I can hear her voice and right now, she's crying in pain."

I look at Dara and wince. I'm sorry Dara. You're right, there are some things you can't prevent from happening even if you already saw it coming and i think this is one of those.

I sigh and turn to Jiwoo-noona. "You're right. It's time for her to go home."

*****

I adjust the gun in my hand and fire it as soon as i grasp the last target's position. I put the gun down and examine the practice dummies i shot across the field.

"Man! You're really good at this."

I turn and see Kiyong squinting while checking out the target dummies i hit.

"You nailed all the targets on the same spot." He whistles. "How did you do that?

"Practice." I answer simply.

I shove the gun to his chest and he frowns. I hear the others inside the room laugh. Kiyong tries to fire but he misses all his targets by a mile.

"Seriously?" Seunghyun-noona, Kiyong's personal tutor hits him at the back of his head. "Instead of wasting your time complimenting others, just use it to improve yourself first."

"Try NOT to aim at the targets and you might actually hit them hyung!" Joohyuk teases.

"Ah! I feel sorry towards Seunghyun-unnie." Sungkyoung pouts. "She's stuck with that brat, Kiyong."

"Yah, he's still a sunbae you know." Joohyuk whispers. "Eventhough you're older than him by two years."

"Tch, he should be grateful that unnie is teaching him personally." Sungkyoung adds. "It just so happens that unnie's partner is not here at the moment."

Usually, the Keepers have this system that once you're a full-pledged Keeper, you need to have a partner to be able to participate in a mission.

Kiyong scoffs. He lets go of the gun and is about to charge at the two when Seunghyun-noona suddenly pulls him by his ear.

"Ah! Ah! Yah!" Kiyong shouts.

"Yah?" Seunghyun-noona's eyes widen. She scoffs, looking incredulous and begins to pull the poor kid's ear even harder. "Yah! Jang Kiyong! Who do you think you're shouting at? Remember, i'm much older than to you. Call me noona, noona!"

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Mianhe!"

The others begin to laugh again while i just roll my eyes and choose to head back towards the benches. I sit while watching the two of them bicker. I reach down inside my side pocket and pick up the tiny silver pocket watch that Jongsuk-hyung had given to me a month ago. Inside it contains a photo of Jisoo.

I stare at it for a very long time. Ah! I really miss her that i think i'm going crazy. I want to see her again. I want to feel her touch and hear her voice. I close my eyes trying to draw Jisoo inside my head.

"You're looking at her photo again." I can recognize that voice. It's Lee Haeun, Lee Sungkyoung's younger sister who also happens to be around my age. "Aren't you getting tired of it yet?"

Haeun passes me a towel and i gratefully take it. In return, i pass her a bottle of water that's lying on the table beside me.

"How about you?" I let a smirk escapes from my mouth. "Aren't you getting tired of running after Joohyuk?"

Our attention fall at the two lovebirds who are in the middle of their own target practice. Joohyuk is trying to teach Sungkyoung how to aim and when the girl can't handle his constant nagging any longer, she hits him with her forehead. Poor Joohyuk, that looks like it's going to bruise.

"Hmph." Haeun scoffs. "I'm regretting i've ever liked him. If you look at it closely, the only thing that is good about him is his looks."

I raise my brow. "You mean you don't like him anymore?"

"Believe it or not, i'm so over him. And besides..." A sly smile escapes from Haeun. "I already got my eye on another guy who is much better and as good looking as him not to mention a total badass."

She winks at me and I scowl. Just then, we all hear this ruckus outside the firing range. We all stop to take a look outside and find ourselves in the middle of a confusion.

"What happened?" Doctor Hyesun arrives at the scene together with her mother, the head doctor, Doctor Yejin.

"It was a trap." A wounded woman answers her. She has shoulder-lengthed hair and fair skin. "We were trying make an escape and took the sewer underground but they were already there waiting to ambush us."

"Hey! Calm down!" This time, we all turn to a man in his late tweenties trying to calm the girl who keeps swinging a knife dangerously.

The girl has long, wavy, brown hair and doesn't look older than seventeen. I scowl when she begins screaming hysterically.

"Who is she and what's wrong with her?" Doctor Hyesun passes through the the crowd to take a better look at the girl.

"Hyesun!" Doctor Yejin pulls her daughter back as the girl wielding the knife turns at their direction. "Careful. It looks like she's in shock right now and it triggered her hallucinations."

The other blanks near the vicinity are starting to swarm around the girl now. I notice that the girl's hands are bleeding. It's obvious she's not used to it. She might've just stolen it from the man who's trying to keep her from hurting herself.

"Woah, jinja! That girl's a total wacko." Sungkyoung mumbles.

"Get your asses away from there right now!" Seunghyun-noona begins to pull us away from the crowd.

The man ea