DAY 2

                You’d only gotten a few hours sleep, but it was worth it, you felt ready.

                But a coffee first couldn’t hurt.

                You made your way over to the coffee cart on the ground floor, and were busy fishing for change when you heard your name being called. Yoona, the older woman from yesterday, was waving at you and beckoning you over. You bought your coffee as fast as possible and hurried over.

                “I wasn’t expecting to bump into you so quickly.” Yoona said, “I wonder if you’d like to sit with me in the courtyard for a little while?”

                With no real choice, you followed her. You never really used the courtyard all that often, preferring to go out for lunch with Hei-Ran and Yun-Hee, but it was a nice enough space. Flowerbeds, picnic benches, gazebo’s, all that sort of thing to help break the monotony of an office life. Yoona led you over to a bench next to a bush with pretty purple flowers, and you eyed the bumblebees on it warily before sitting.

                “How’s your coffee?” Yoona asked, eyeing the white and yellow paper cup you were holding with a distrustful eye. “I’ve never bought from the cart myself, I keep a coffee maker in my office.”

                “Well seeing as I only got an office last night...” You said, before cursing yourself and recovering, “but the coffee here is good, I like it.” Try to keep the sarcastic comments to a minimum.   

                Too late, her eagle eyes flashed and you knew what was coming, “That’s right, you are rather inexperienced aren’t you? I hope you don’t mind if I share some of an old woman’s wisdom?”

                Subtle. Real subtle. “no, not at all. I’d be happy to learn whatever you could pass on.”

                “Lovely.” She pat your cheek, then her hand dropped to fix your collar before rummaging in her bag. “Here it is.” She unfolded a sheet of crisp paper, neat words typed in black ink. “This is an outline of the general script I use when I first speak to each new case. It helps enforce that you’re in charge. And really dear, you’ll need that more than the rest of us. Oh no, don’t take it as a bad thing, you’re just young and fresh faced, and you know how men are when taking orders from a woman, trust me, its best to stick to the script when you’re starting out.”

                You bit your tongue to stop from retorting. Really? Just because you were a woman?

                You skimmed your eyes over the paper to distract yourself, which worked quickly as you read a line aloud to Yoona. “You are expected to comply with all instructions and requests, refusal to do so will result in disciplinary action as decided by your acting agent.” You looked at her, “what does that mean?”

                Yoona laughed, “oh you are young, aren’t you? You’ve got to discipline him if he doesn’t listen!”

                What? What kind of institution were you running here? “So I’m expected to…”

                “Oh no darling!” she laughed again, “you don’t do it! You just fill out a request form and the boys downstairs take care of it. He’s taken down after hours and put back by morning, very efficient. Very effective too.”

                You nodded numbly, not sure how to feel about such a kindly looking old woman talking so easily about sending a man down for a beating, no matter how sanitised it was with corporate language. You put the paper in your bag, “I’ll look more at it in my office.”

                “Of course.” Yoona stood up, and you followed, thankful that the ‘breakfast’ seemed to be over. “Remember,” She looked at you sternly, “they come to us for a reason. We have allowances that no other division is given and it’s made that way for a reason, you’re just not used to it yet.” She pat you on the shoulder as she walked away, and you were left with three floors to climb (in heels, again) in deep thought about the older woman.

                She was well respected, that’s for sure, especially if Mr. Im held her in such high regard. She’d probably been here forever, working her way up the chain, she probably knew everybody. But it was clear she held your age in more regard than your credentials. “I’ll show her who’s just a pretty face.” You said, slumping into your office.

You’d made a mess of it already, half unpacked, half littered with scraps of paper. You could feel yourself getting aggravated already, and so the next half hour was spent piling papers and re-organising your desk. The last thing to put away was the file.

You held it, feeling the weight of the paper and the responsibility it held, a responsibility that no one expected you to be able to bear…

You didn’t realise what you were doing until you were locking the door to your office, heading towards the stairs. But it only emboldened your choice even more, you were given this job, somebody had chosen you even if it wasn’t Mr. Im, and you would prove that they had chosen right.

Four flights of stairs later, you were stood at the pale green door that led to the sixth floor. Taking a deep breath, you swiped your key card and pulled the handle.

Nothing.

You swiped again, but the little light stayed red, there was no chirpy little beep to say the door had unlocked.

They had to be kidding.

You had your phone out in a second, angrily dialing card services.

“Good morning, you’ve reached card services, how can we help you?”

You took a deep breath, un-gritting your teeth. “Hi, my name is Kang Eunji, my keycard won’t give me access to the sixth floor.” 

“Ok, give me one second here….. It says here you don’t have access to the sixth floor.”

“I’m supposed to interview someone who is being held here, how else do you expect me to do my job?”

“I’m sorry Miss Kang, but we haven’t received an email to change your security clearance.”

“Seriously? How long is this going to take?”

“We can’t initiate the process without a confirmation email from a Case lead, and then it should take about 2-3 weeks.”

“Weeks? No no no, I need this done today, right now.”

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have that-”

“I don’t have that kind of timeline. I’ll get the email sent to you and then I’m coming right down there, and we’re getting this done today.”

“I’m sorry but-”

You ended the call, cutting them off. You’d get this done today if you had to murder someone to do it. You typed an email furiously to Mr. Im.

Mr. Im,

It seems my card has not been authorised for access to level 6, which I will need access to in order to interview the subject. Please forward this email to card services with confirmation of my security clearance.

Thank you

Kang Eunji.

As soon as it was sent you stomped down to the fourth floor and head over to where meeting room 410C was, thanking the heavens that the cleaning lady had said it was attached to Mr. Im’s office. You rapped sharply on his office door, toes tapping in frustration until the door swung open. “Miss Kang,” He said, surprised, “to what do I owe the honour?”

“I’ve just sent you an email, I don’t know if you’ve received it yet, but I don’t have clearance for the sixth floor.”

“What do you mean?”

“My key card doesn’t work, I just need you to forward the confirmation email I sent you.” There was a faint chime from his pocket, “That’s probably it.”

His eyebrows raised, and he reached slowly into his pocket, seeing the email notification ribbon across his screen. “Right.”

“So if you could just forward that along, I’ll go down and speak with them.”

You could see him eyeing you strangely. “We put this request through a week ago for a reason, it takes them a long time to allow clearance, and that’s with a special request for them to rush it through.”

“Well we don’t have that kind of time, do we?” You asked. “We can’t risk the case just because of an administration error.”

“Yes. Of course.” He turned to his phone and typed a message and forwarded it on.

“Thank you, sir. I’ll send you an email with my progress.” You your heel and marched back towards the stairs.

They knew you were coming, you could tell from the look of apprehension on the face of the two people at the card desk. You knew because of the glance they shared, pleading with each other to not have to deal with you.   

“Kang Eunji,” You introduced yourself, “I’m here about my security clearance to level 6.”

The two shared another nervous glance before the man sighed and looked at you. “Like we said, the process takes time-”

“And you were given notice a week ago. So who didn’t process it?”

“Um…”

“Mr. Im told me he sent the email with enough time to be processed, so who does the blame land on for not getting it done?”

The poor man was nearly sweating. “Whatever happened, we can start your application now and try to rush you through to get it done in a week?”

“That’s not good enough.” You said firmly. “It needs doing now. I’m not leaving this desk until it’s done, so either you do it or you bring me a superior who can.” 

The man scurried off in seconds, the girl busied herself with her laptop so as not to look at you. Was this what it was like to be powerful? You glanced at the glass wall and saw a faint reflection of yourself; pencil skirt, blazer, heels. You looked pretty badass. Yun-Hee was right, the heels really did make the outfit, you’d have to thank her again.

The man came back followed by an older man with a striped blue tie. “Miss Kang, I’m Kwon Junsoo, head of card services. I hear you’re having a bit of trouble with your security clearance?”

“I’m currently authorised up to level 4, but I need access up to level 6.”

“Mhmm, yes, well you see, you may have access to 4 but you are currently stationed on level 3, so you only have level 3 clearance. Taking you up 3 levels to level 6… well it takes time.”

“Whether it takes time or not I need it done right now. Mr. Im says the email was sent a week ago for you to get this done, so it’s card services’ mistake and I expect you to do everything in your power to fix it.”

You stared him down, confidence fueled by frustration and anger, you could practically hear the seconds ticking by as he stared back at you before finally breathing out.

“I will attend to this matter myself, you will have clearance within the hour.”

“Thank you, Mr. Kwon, I really appreciate your assistance in this matter.” You bowed respectfully, “I will be in my office 3-19 if you need anything more from me. Please send me an email as soon as I have clearance.”

Mr. Kwon nodded, turning his gaze to the two sat at the desk. You could tell from their fearful glances that they were the ones responsible for your clearance issue, and that Mr. Kwon was not about to let them forget it, or get away with it.

Exactly one hour later, an email chimed on your phone. Mr. Kwon apologised again for the mix-up, and confirmed that you should now have full clearance. You typed a quick email to Mr. Im to update him, and then you grabbed your files and head to the staircase. Let’s try this again.

At the sixth floor, you held your breath and sent up a quick prayer. Your calves were burning, stairs in heels was NOT easy! You swiped your card, and the little light flashed a thankful green. You yanked the door open before it had a chance to change its mind.

The sixth floor, immediately, was different. The walls were white instead of a pale beige. The doors were steel, the lights were bright and fluorescent. You felt like you were in a lab, or a crime scene, some kind of place that could see right through you. You tucked your head down and began walking, searching for the room holding Subject 9. Thankfully, 6^th floor was easier to navigate than 4^th, and holding room 613 was simple to find. Though this was a big floor, only three of the subjects from the Lotto case were being held here, the ones known as Baekhyun and Kai. It was in the case of a breakout, it was unwise to have them all on the same floor as one another.

You stood outside the door, folder in one hand, keycard in the other. This was it. The biggest move in your career. Your success in this could either make or break you. You took a deep breath, calm. You didn’t have to speak to the subject right away, you could take your time in this, as long as you got the answers eventually.     

You swiped your card on the lock, and entered the room.

Holding rooms were a two-chamber system. The first, which connected to the hallway, was the observation chamber. It had a chair, a desk, a lamp, and a wall of one way glass which looked into the second chamber, the holding chamber. The holding chamber consisted of a desk, two chairs, a toilet, a sink, and a bed, everything bolted to the ground, no moving parts that could be used as weapons. Everything was white or steel, the same sanitised look as the hallways, clean, sterile.

You approached the glass, knowing that he couldn’t see you through it, and took your first look at subject 8, Chen.

He was laying on the bed, there were no covers in sight. His hands were clasped behind his head as a pillow, his foot tapping to the beat of imaginary music.  He was in the typical blue jumpsuit, but that was all that identified him as belonging here. He held none of the gaze of stress or madness you had seen in your other cases, there was no impatience or worry in the air around him, he looked calm, almost serene.

Although this was your first time as a solo primary interviewer, this was by no means your first case, and you knew that Chen should be in worse shape than he was. Mr. Im had requested your clearance a week ago, and that timeline was only possible because of the 5-day isolation period which began each case. The length of isolation was proven to break a weaker willpower without any long-term psychological damage and without violating ethics codes. Anything longer than that, and it required special ethical consideration that would take longer than the extended isolation was worth. But 5 days was usually enough to do something, there was always a change in the energy in the air, a tic in the fingertips, a paleness in their eyes. They were more malleable after it, more pliable, more willing to work with you to just get out of the godforsaken room. A jail cell was preferable, after experiencing isolation.

But Chen… Chen looked fine, bored even, like this was just a minor inconvenience. His hair was floppy over his forehead, unlike in the picture in your file. It made him younger, more innocent, more suited to the child-like curve of his lips. His jaw flexed and a shadow jumped over his cheek. His eyelashes brushed the top of those cheekbones. He was even more handsome in person, even in the jumpsuit.

“Ok.” You breathed quietly, “so he’s handsome, get used to it.”  You breathed. You pulled the chair and watched him for an hour, watching his slow deep breaths, his beat of his foot. At one point he sat up and rest his elbows on his knees, tendons popping out of his forearms as he squeezed his hands together in a rhythm. Obviously, he was well used to waiting like this, isolation was not going to break him any time soon.

Back in your office, you had the file open to his picture and you were curled up in your chair looking at it, heels kicked off under the desk. He’d had his eyes closed the entire time you were surveying him, but in the picture they were looking right at you.

What are you imagining, you wondered, what are you thinking about?

Sharp professional knocks brought you out of your musings, and you slipped your shoes back on to unlock and answer it.

“I tooooold you she’d answer it if we sounded professional.” Yun-Hee strode past you and resumed her new position in your chair. Hei-Ran followed behind, looking smug.

“It was myyyy idea.”

You sighed, shutting your door in reluctance, “guys I’m working.”

“Not anymore! It’s past 5! We’ve been waiting on the floor for an hour already!” Yun-Hee said, “So it’s time for us to go out, put on some dancing shoes and Oh My God WHO IS THIS?” She held up the picture of Chen from the file. Hei-Ran gasped and hurried to bend over the picture as well, shooting accusatory glances at you.

“How have you not told us about this, are you finally seeing someone new?”

“Stop looking!” You said, swiping back the paper and closing the file. “It’s classified!”

They shared a glance.

“Sounds dangerous.”

“Sounds y.”

“No it does not.” You said, “it’s work, I’m interrogating him. There is no iness involved. None.”

Yun-Hee pouted, “Awe, such good looks going to waste.”

“Well that just means we have to get her somebody else.” Hei-Ran said, “so let’s get going already!”

You locked the file in your drawer and allowed them to cajole you out of your office, and then down to the basement where Yun-Hee’s car was parked. You knew you were in for a wild night when you realised that Yun-Hee wasn’t taking you back to your place. She and Hei-Ran lived together in an apartment much bigger than yours. While yours was decorated with forgotten teacups and blankets to curl up in, theirs was all scented candles and the ‘study’ that they’d converted into a closet. You had to admit, you loved it there.

You didn’t complain as they pulled into their underground driveway, and your two friends were already jabbering about what outfit they were going to put you in. The three of you were around the same size, which made sharing clothes easy, like it was some kind of cheesy rom-com. The heights were drastically different of course, but that didn’t matter as much with short skirts and low necklines.

Bags, coats, outside shoes, all of it was dropped on the floor on the way to the closet, the three of you stripping down to your underwear as you perused. In any other situation, it would have been uncomfortable, but not with them, never with them.

“Eunji, try these boots.” Hei-Ran tossed them at you, “I bought them the other day, you’re crap with heels but these are sooo supportive and actually super comfortable.”

“Hei-Ran are you using your red crop top, with the cut-out back?”

“Has anyone seen my dark lipstick?”

“Where are your hoop earrings?”

Dressed to the nines, all of you now a minimum of three inches taller, hair teased to an inch of its life, s pushed up to your eyeballs, you were set to go.

                “To a great night out!” You said, laughing, raising your glass. You had no idea what was in it, but you swore Hei-Ran must have been a world-class bartender in a previous life. All of the stress and worry from the day’s work had left you, all you wanted now was to unwind and let off steam with your girls.

                “To getting Eunji laid!” Yun-Hee rebutted, clinking her glass against yours.

                You laughed louder, in no mood to dispute them. “To getting me laid!”

________________________________________________

Had a first little glimpse of ChenChen today, see you Wednesday for what Day 3 will bring ;)