Everything was blurry.

 

Her head was heavy and she could feel that her feet were not touching the ground. Hayoung sprang awake to see her hands tied onto a wooden pole. No matter how much she tried, it wouldn’t budge.

 

Taking a closer look at her surroundings, it seemed like an illegal logging camp in the middle of the jungle. Along with the Blue Nation flag hanged proudly onto the gates, Hayoung knew that from that moment, they were screwed.

 

“Namjoo unnie?” She groaned, turning her head around where her members were left in the same way.

 

“Yeah, I’m alive.” Namjoo grunted, trying to pull the ropes apart but failed.

 

She couldn’t quite remember. But she knew that night, men invaded their camp by surprise and their whole team were knocked unconscious. Next thing they knew; they were here.

 

“Anyone got any idea how to get out of this place?” Sooyoung sighed, giving up on finding an escape route.

 

“You won’t.”

 

A man entered the compound, followed by his accomplices who were big-sized men that had enough power to topple all four of them. “You will die in my hands.” He walked up to Hayoung and sent a punch to her face.

 

“AHH!”

 

The girl shouted in pain.

 

“Hayoung!”

 

“Tell me. Where did you hide that stupid plant?” He growled, grabbing Hayoung’s face with his whole palm. It was so big that he could literally squeeze it. “Where?!”

 

“In your .” Hayoung scoffed, spitting saliva onto the man.

 

Enraged, he threw another punch at her. This time, fresh red blood trailed down her cheeks.

 

“AHH!”

 

“Alright, you want to play it that way?” Furious, he took out his gun strapped onto the belt and aimed at her forehead. “I will only repeat this once. Where is that ing plant?!” He growled impatiently as the gun clicked.

 

“Ha.” Hayoung chuckled, ignoring the aching pain she was experiencing. “How about you go to hell?”

 

The man fumed.

 

“Die!”

 

---

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Eunji exasperated, refusing to believe it. “If you can’t find her body, that means she could still be alive!”

 

“Calm down.” Bomi dragged her friend back, afraid that she might start a fight with Mr. Lee. Although shaken, she tried to hold back her emotions.

 

“We have other important matters to deal with right now. Her funeral can wait.” The man calmly stood up from his seat, without any expression. “The Blue Nation is getting stronger and we must not let The Secret Service fall apart. Our people are waiting and we must not disappoint them.”

 

“…” The hot-headed agent bowed. “Understood, sir.” She muttered, before leaving the room. Bomi bowed and followed her out to the empty corridor, as Eunji punched the wall out of anger.

 

“!”

 

As much as she promised to control her anger, she couldn’t. It was already enough with Yookyung’s death, but Chorong, was different. Eunji refused to believe that her leader was gone like that.

 

“Hey- “

 

“How long are you going to behave like that?”

 

Naeun sighed, crossed arms as she approached the two. Her eyes are swollen, her skin grew paler and her voice was weaker. Having to take the news all by herself while her members were gone, it was harder.

 

“You…okay?” Bomi asked carefully but stopped as she noticed the cold atmosphere between Eunji and Naeun. Luckily, she remembered that the two “girlfriends” supposedly broke up recently.

 

“Let’s go. We don’t have much time.” Naeun walked past Eunji, ignoring Bomi’s question.

 

The hot headed agent simply stayed quiet as the two followed Naeun downstairs. Gathering at the lobby of the Daegu headquarters, news hit them hard.

 

The Blue Nation took the Secret Service by surprise, hunting down agents and destroying all of their bases. Now, Daegu headquarters is the only surviving office left.

 

---

 

 

“Keep running!”

 

Their voices pushed them forward as they pushed through the maze-like jungle.

 

Before the trigger was pulled, a sniper shot was faster. Hiding among the trees was a member of the Daegu team, Yeri. Dispatched as backup from their HQ camp nearby, a full-out rescue operation was underway.

 

Explosions vibrated the camp, smoke engulfing the area as this gave the chance for Wendy and Irene to appear from the shadows and free everyone from their ropes.

 

Certainly the name, “Agent Bae” was not a legendary rumor. Tales had told that the powerful leader of Daegu was a smart strategist and knew how to corner enemies well. She had proven that today by saving the lives of the team.

 

“We’ll keep them at bay! Hurry to the jeep and get out of here!” Wendy shouted, covering them as her fingers were quick. As she shot, her hand was already ready to reload while her feet kept running around.

 

“What about you guys? There’s too many of them!” Sooyoung asked with worry, insisting on joining the fight with them. But Wendy shook her head. “This is an order, Park Sooyoung. Get your team out of here.”

 

“Fine” She clicked her tongue. “Stay safe.”

 

“Meet you at camp.”

 

With that, Sooyoung took the lead.

 

Once Seulgi and Namjoo helped a fumbled Hayoung into the jeep, she stepped onto the accelerator and drove as fast as she could, cutting through the jungle as the tires were soaked in mud and dirt. As the sounds of gunfire became distant, Hayoung tried to stay focus but her head was bleeding too much.

 

She’s the leader of this mission, but she failed to lead her team.

 

Instead, she was the one being taken care of.

 

“I screwed up” Hayoung mumbled, her eyes fluttering around as she blinked, the scenery around her quickly changing. The injury to her head was making her hallucinate things.

 

“It’s not your fault. We’re safe now.” Namjoo tried to reassure her, applying pressure onto her head to stop the bleeding.

 

Safely arriving at camp, the team were greeted by Minho and Siwon. Once basic first-aid treatment was given, everyone took turns to patrol the camp while Hayoung went straight to work on producing the drug.

 

With nothing but a bandage wrapped around her head, Hayoung pushed through and worked. Although at times she would feel dizzy but she didn’t want to let down everyone’s hopes. Crushing the plant with a mortar and boiling it in a flask, many would think that a science experiment was underway. Using the resources provided, Hayoung stayed in the lab and never came out.

 

Occasionally, Namjoo would peek in and make sure that the young girl didn’t faint. Like a mother, she would insist Hayoung to eat or drink something, take a short break or nap before she continued. In times like this, she worried over her so much.

 

“She’s working so hard.” Irene smiled, peeking through the window. Returning in one piece with Wendy and Yeri, handling Blue Nation’s men was a piece of cake.

 

“Hayoung is amazing.” Namjoo said with a proud smile.

 

Days and nights went by. At last, the drug is complete.

 

“YES!”

 

The girl shouted in victory, holding up the syringe in her hand. The sap bubbling away as it’s vicious, poisonous purple hue soaked the tube. It was ready to bite away at its victim.

 

Removing her glasses as she released her hairband, allowing her hair to finally breathe freely, the girl rubbed her eyes and chuckled. Carefully placing the syringe into a metal container, she smiled and collapsed into her chair, falling deep into dreamland which she had missed so much.

 

“Hayoung?” Namjoo peeked in, checking on the girl after hearing a random shout. Anxiety pulled in when she saw the girl closing her eyes, thinking that she might have fainted from fatigue. But looking at the satisfied smile written all over Hayoung’s face, Namjoo knew that there was nothing to worry about.

 

“You’ve worked hard Hayoung.” The girl cooed, caressing her hair.

 

 

---

 

 

There has never been a day since the Daegu headquarters was filled with so many agents.

 

In the events that unfolded, The Blue Nation had undergone a whole massacre on The Secret Service. Destroying their regional headquarters in surprise, assassinating agents off-duty, the news was taking the country by storm. Pushed to a corner with no way out, Mr. Lee had to dispatch an emergency as he could not let The Blue Nation win anymore.

 

“This is all we have left?” Naeun counted the heads. There were forty. It was a shocking number. When she first entered, there were around four hundred agents on duty.

 

This showed how scary and powerful The Blue Nation were.

 

“They took us by surprise. It’s just us now.” Matthew said, still shaken as he had to witness his own members getting killed one by one. “I don’t know how they got our information. They must’ve hacked the database! They know everything about us!”

 

“I want revenge for what they have done!” Nana said angrily, eyes filled with vengeance.

 

“We lost someone too. We understand how you feel.” Eunji said calmly but she found it difficult to comfort the others, especially the juniors.

 

Remembering Chorong in her head, she couldn’t continue. But she had to be strong, because she was a senior, she had to be an example to the others. “Come on. They’ll be here soon. We have to be ready.” The agent said, approaching Bomi who was sitting quietly in the corner.

 

“Y-Yeah. I heard Hayoung successfully made the drug. She’s truly amazing isn’t she?” Bomi smiled sadly. She was battling against her own emotions. The anger, confusion and shock that Chorong was gone, just like that.

 

As cars pulled up at the front, the team from Sumatra have returned. Immediately heading down to the interrogation room where Jaejoong was held captive, Hayoung took the honour and injected the drug while Irene took the lead.

 

Jaejoong shouted and groaned, his body wincing in the sudden pain.

 

“Tell me everything about The Blue Nation.” Irene ordered.

 

Jaejoong smirked. “God will save us all.”

 

“God?” Irene raised her eyebrow.

 

“You will never understand us. Only God knows. This world needs to be purified so that we can be free, starting with you rats. God does not need you.”

 

“Who is your leader? Where is your base?!” Irene slammed the table, having enough of the nonsense he was balling about.

 

“Like I said, it’s God himself. We follow his lead and are willing to die for him. If you want to look for him, he is far but reachable.” Jaejoong breathed. “Find him…in Iceland. Then only you will know...” He said, before slamming his head hard onto the desk, committing suicide in front of everyone.

 

“!” Sooyoung yelled in frustration.

 

“It’s alright. We got the info we need.” Irene got up calmly. “Take his body out. I will announce a briefing soon once Mr. Lee is here.”

 

Namjoo and Hayoung were reunited with their own members, only to notice that Chorong was missing.

 

“Where’s Chorong unnie?” Hayoung asked innocently.

 

“She’s…busy.” Naeun answered.

 

“Really?” The girl raised her eyebrows.

 

“Be quiet. Let’s listen to Mr. Lee’s briefing.” Eunji said.

 

The remaining, surviving agents of The Secret Service gathered at the meeting hall of the Daegu headquarters. It was heartbreaking to see the shrinking number, but Mr. Lee remained his composure and continued his speech.

 

“These past few months have been rough for everyone. But I assure you that we will put an end to this. We now have information of The Blue Nation, their motives and location of their base. Along with the help of the Korean army, air force and everyone’s support, we will work together to track them down.” Mr. Lee explained, occasionally looking down to read from his paper. “Many lives of our comrades were lost but that does not mean we have given up. Remember them in your hearts and keep fighting.”

 

“This is not the end.”

 

 

---

 

 

It was dark.

 

Besides the small emitting light from the fireplace, everything was shrouded in darkness. She couldn’t move her body, as if it was trapped by a paralysis spell. But she needed to get out of there quick. She had a mission to complete.

 

“You’re finally awake.”

 

A woman entered. She could only see a silhouette but she was no enemy as her voice was gentle and familiar.

 

“You almost died. Took us a lot of effort to get you going. What were you even doing there?” The woman sighed, pacing back and forth the room, waiting for someone.

 

Another woman came in. The sounds of sandals shuffling along a cement floor as the two exchanged a few mumbles.

 

If only there was light, she would be able to see who they were.

 

“It’s too dangerous out there.”

 

“I know. But we don’t have any other choice Yul. They’ll find us eventually.”

 

“And then what? I thought you didn’t want to do this anymore Hyo.”

 

“I don’t. But with things happening right now and what happened to her…” The woman eyed at the girl.

 

“…”

 

“Fine.” Yuri sighed as she approached the girl and placed her palm onto her forehead. “Don’t worry Chorong-ah, we’re here to help you.”

 

 

--

 

A/N: Chorong! is! not! dead! *rejoice* Just who are these women who saved our leader's life?