Lysa let out another low breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She tried to ignore the fact that she was tied to a chair, bruised, and extremely thirsty and hungry. Her main focus was getting out of the mess she made. She was tasked with reporting to Chairman Han Sungsoo within every 12 hours, but her last contact was 48 hours ago.

Surely PLEDIS had enough time to organize a rescue mission.

Oh that’s right, she thought to herself and scoffed. “Be killed than become compromised,” she muttered, remembering the pledge she had spoken the night of her induction ceremony.

TWO YEARS EARLIER

It had been 11 hours since she had said her vows and proven to the company that she was worthy of becoming one of them. She hated waiting; especially when she knew how hard she had worked to get to where she was at the moment. She leaned back against the revolving chair and groaned. Could her day get any more boring?

She then heard her phone beep and stopped the chair from rotating. A smirk appeared on her face and she dived under the stacks of paper next to the laptop for her cell phone.

AGENT L,
P – 2100 HRS.
C-HS

The message flashed across the screen and she glanced at the clock on the wall. She had 33 minutes to get to the building. Luckily, she was already dressed for the occasion. She snatched the set of keys that laid on top of the laptop cover, dashed out of her room, and down to the garage where a black and silver Kawasaki Ninja H2R waited idly for her.

She hurried to get on, eager to feel the cold steel against her skin, and how it would warm her when the engine boomed to life. She hooked the helmet over her head, revved the engine, and took off. The engine roared like a hungry lion and soon became music to her ears. She sped down the streets of Seoul and didn’t even think for one minute to slow down at any turn. The danger of how fast she was going always gave her that boost of adrenaline that ran up her spine.

With several minutes left to spare, she arrived. Lysa swung her leg over the motorcycle, and hopped off. She tucked the helmet under her left arm and headed towards the tall building. From the outside, it looked like an old, destroyed, and weathered building. However, only few knew that what lied hundreds of feet below the ground mattered.

Her boots made a soft crunching sound as she strode across the gravel and dirt ground. She walked past the cracked cement columns and entered the main floor. The peeled painted walls and chipped black and white floor tiles greeted her. She headed straight towards the elevator at the far end of the room and pushed on the L1 button. Lysa waited for the lift to arrive and as it did, she strolled in. She paid no mind to the useless buttons that led to the upper levels, but instead, pressed that last button labeled: HQ14.

It was the furthest floor underground. She glanced at her reflection on the steel panels and began adjusting her white buttoned down blouse. She tucked in any flyaway hairs behind her ears and faced forward when the doors slid apart.

Four heavily armed guards stood rooted to the spot; each at a door. “I’m here to see Chairman Han Sungsoo. He’s expecting me.”

The guard to her left approached her. “Raise your arms,” he commanded and she did. He took her helmet, placed it on the square glass table situated in the middle of the lobby, and proceeded to pat her down.

He stooped down, ran his hands down her waist, and slowly glided them over her . “Really?” she said through gritted teeth. She made eye contact with him and he bit his lower lip then raised an eyebrow. “ert.”

She grabbed him by the head and kneed him in the face. He was thrown back and blood splattered on the shiny clear tiles from his broken nose. The three officers aimed their weapons at her and she cocked her head back. She blew the fallen strand of hair away from her face, snatched the helmet off the table, and walked over to the wall scanner. She inputted her security clearance code and the door sprang aside.

Han Sungsoo, Chairman of PLEDIS and this whole organization, was waiting for her right there. He was a handsome man, perhaps in his late fifties, with eyes that had a talent of spotting the tiniest of things.

“Three minutes left,” he said, appraising her for speed. “Good.” He tilted his head to the right, spotted the bloody guard on the floor, and turned away as if disgraced by the scene. “This way.” She followed him through another set of doors and various corridors. “I take it finding your way here was easy?”

“If it hadn’t I wouldn’t have been three minutes earlier,” she snidely remarked.

She glimpsed at him from the side and saw that he had a hint of a smile on his face. “You’ve impressed me every bit of the way. You’ve shown me a great improvement from the first day of training until your last, and I hope you continue to do so.”

“I have no intentions on stopping, Chairman. I was never good at that.”

He let out a soft chuckle and faced her. “That’s why I’m assigning you to the Lion’s Den.”

“The Lion’s Den?” she asked, unsure of what that meant.

He nodded his head. “You’ll be working with the organization’s most elite agents. They rank the highest in marksmanship, hand to hand combat, and retrieving intelligence from our enemies. Allow me to introduce you to SEVENTEEN.”

Han Sungsoo pushed apart the double glass doors revealing a vast space occupied by tables, chairs, TVs, computers, and telecommunication devices. Thirteen of the handsomest looking boys she’d ever seen were scattered around the room going about their business.

The Chairman clapped his hands once and they all turned their heads in his direction. “Agents!”

They quickly rushed to the front and stood in a straight line. They placed their hands behind their backs and waited for further instructions. Sungsoo stepped aside, placed both hands on her shoulders, and ushered her forward.

“We have a new member joining our organization. Please welcome Agent L.”

They bowed at her and she returned the gesture. Some of the members were examining her, but she didn’t mind. They were a thousand times better looking than the officer getting his nose stitched up at the moment.

“We have S.Coups. He’s the leader. Th8 is our gadgets creator.” He went down the line explaining each member and their position. “Vernon and Jun, both are our masters in disguise. Woozi who is in charge of surveillance.  Hoshi, that kid can fit anywhere you put him in. Seungkwan and Mingyu are the weapons specialists. DK who is the alternate version of a wedding planner. Dino is always on channel 1 if you need him. Jeonghan, he prefers to see everything from afar. And lastly, we have Wonwoo and Joshua. Both in charge of planting covert listening devices.” He faced SEVENTEEN. “I’m assigning Agent L to the Lion’s Den mission. Please put her up to date with the latest intel. Any questions?”

Woozi raised a hand. “Mr. Han.”

“Yes, Woozi.”

“Does Agent L have a codename?” he asked.

The Chairman removed his glasses and tucked it into his jacket pocket. “Of course she does. It’s The Ship.”