She was in so much trouble.

 

Kyungsoo’s puppy eyes staring at her from behind his desk where something was about to explode weren’t helping at all.

 

“Soo,” she snapped when she counted to 30 and he still didn’t blink a single time, “Your desk is going to explode.”

 

“Oh!” he jumped, turning in circles like a frightened ostrich and searching for something to extinguish the smoke that was coming from a seemingly harmless component. She didn’t even want to know what he’d been working on when she’d entered the lab. He would launch into one of his two-hour speeches about magnetism and electric components and she could not handle something like that right now.

 

Nothing Soo ever made was harmless, she knew as much. He’d once nearly killed them all when he’d been experimenting with liquid nitrogen and poured something into it that made a huge explosion break out. It had nearly destroyed the whole lab, the only good thing about it being the fact that the nitrogen evaporated, so they were able to extinguish the fire easily. But if he hadn’t been his father’s son, if he hadn’t been able to reimburse the damage and reconstruct the lab, he would’ve been kicked out of the clan or worse. She remembered how scared she’d been back then, whispering to him over and over again how this wasn’t worth it, he needed to get it together and stop doing this stuff.

 

More often than not, she worried about his health rather than her own, because he was always the one to try out his inventions first - even those that were malfunctioning. Especially those, actually. He was perfectly fine with putting magnets on his head and trying out his newest mind control gadget, even when it put him in a hospital for a month. He was so passionate about his work that nothing - not even her pleads and cries - could make him stop.

 

Now, though, it was her best friend who was worried about her, and instead of talking about it with her, he chose to stare at her until she broke down or something, which was probably what he expected to happen sooner or later, even though she’d told him a million times that she was fine. Fine, fine, everything is under control, the New York incident with the guard was worse, they didn’t even yell at me that much. She knew he didn’t buy it, of course, but it was the best she could offer him right now.

 

A couple of minutes later, Soo’d finally managed to extinguish the smoke and break a couple of other half-complete inventions in the process. He even cursed once, and she would’ve raised her eyebrows if she didn’t know it meant his composure was breaking down. She was still wincing because Soo had burned himself, all around him was shattered glass and plastic, and his hands were wrapped up in some wires he’d had to plug from the burning device - she had no idea what what he’d even hoped to make with those things.

 

“Soo,” she started slowly, putting her hands in front of herself in hopes of reassuring him while he continued throwing the cloth over different parts of the table though the fire was already extinguished. She heard a wire snap, which made her wince. “Soo, it’s okay, you can stop now.”

 

He began muttering at a hundred miles per hour, as if he’d just been waiting for a moment to blow up. “But what if they kick you out, or if they decide to torture you or give you one of those permanent marks that all the gangs can identify so they start bothering you, or if they cut up your face and leave a scar so that everyone can see it-”

 

Her sigh thankfully made him stop. He put both of his hands on the desk and balled them into fists as he sat back into his chair, like a child that didn’t even know what problem it’d created but that knew it had created one. He just sat there, panting, staring at his hands, keeping his turmoil to himself for the moment.

 

“Kyungsoo, they are not going to throw me out or do anything like that, okay?” she said tiredly and dejectedly. “I’d made a mistake, but I hadn’t done it on purpose and they know that. They know that the situation is ridiculous and kind of absurd, so they aren’t going to punish me.” Not badly, at least, but she would be punished, that much she knew. Kyungsoo didn’t need to know, though.

 

She knew what track Soo’s thoughts were on, though. Loyalty was the most important thing in every mafia clan. If someone turned out to be a mole, selling information outside of the clan or sleeping with the enemy, they were immediately prosecuted and sentenced to die a quick and swift death.

 

But if someone compromised the clan without wanting to - say, if someone failed to execute a mission successfully and came back with an excuse or they busted the whole operation - they weren’t prosecuted but only warned and put under surveillance. After some time, mostly everyone was deemed fit to go back to their normal activities and let off the hook, but multiple mistakes were not tolerated.

 

She knew that very well. She’d seen comrades get thrown out and punished for being clumsy or disobedient in the past. Some of them have been branded traitors though their only sin was being unable to see beyond today and scheme against the Han clan to intercept all their next moves. One guy from her generation of trainees got a scar on his face for talking about Jongdae behind his back, and one guy merely a year older than her had his pinkie cut off for having deserted his guarding place during a mission.

 

It was a cruel life, being a part of the Oh clan, and having to deal with mafia on a daily basis. But it was much better than all the alternatives, so she grit her teeth and accepted her fate, which involved having to make her hands dirty all the times, but at the same time it meant her family would remain clean, taken care of, well fed and living in a warm, cozy house in Seattle, far away from her, thinking she’d married a wealthy businessman at the age of 16 and living the life.

 

And that was perfectly acceptable for her.

 

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Soo said, his eyes still huge as he thought about her current position. “When I found out that you’d failed, I just couldn’t believe it. I mean, you are the best agent ever and they said you were going to stand trial because you’d betrayed us. I just couldn’t believe that.”

 

She smiled, in spite of the situation. She couldn’t help it - Soo was so adorable, with his disheveled dark brown hair which looked lighter than usual under the bright lights of the lab’s lamps and wide, innocent gaze colored like the ocean warming her insides. He worried about her so honestly. He was what kept her going, actually, apart from her deal with commander Junmyeon. Whenever things got tough, he was always there for her, ready to lift her on her feet within a moment. She wanted to protect him, always. And she most certainly didn’t want him to ever have a reason to believe she was a traitor.

 

In order to protect him, she needed to stay in the brotherhood first, though, so she would fight as hard as she could to be on her best behavior - for her own sake, for Soo’s sake and for the sake of her whole family. It all depended on her, and she would do her part.

 

“Well, my biggest mistake was believing that the painting was a fake even after verifying the validity of Kris Wu’s signature,” she said with a sigh, walking over to the nearest chair and throwing herself into it tiredly. She refused to meet Kyungsoo’s gaze. “They deemed me too naive and easy to fool. But hell, I’d thought the guy was an assassin - what was I supposed to do? My priority was staying alive without alerting the guards to my presence! And after that he sold me that story about a decoy house - when I saw the Made in China brand, it all started to make sense to me. Who would’ve thought that freaking Kris Wu didn’t like to spend his money?”

 

Soo put his legs on the ground and pushed himself towards her. His chair rolled over to her, and the ridiculous sight of his hands still wrapped up in the wires made her crack up and much of the previous tension melt away. She snorted and decided to busy herself with unwrapping the wires in order not to feel the shame because the commanders were right - she had been too naive indeed. “Look what you’d done to yourself, baby,” she said quietly, the smile evident in her voice.

 

That made his lips quirk, but they did not pull into a smile. He lifted his face towards her, something hard in his vivid blue eyes. “Was it…” He stopped and took a deep breath. “Was it something from the gear? If something malfunctioned, you should just say so, I’ll gladly take the blame-”

 

Aeri cut him off, her voice sounding raspy. “Stop the freaking nonsense, Kyungsoo. The equipment worked fine! I was the one who decided that the painting was fake. But it was your equipment that showed me where the safe was and then cracked it for me.” Her next words came out as a growl, and she was distantly aware that she was clutching his hands too hard. “Don’t you dare try to take the blame for this. I’d never forgive you.”

 

Now they were both panting, and she saw the pang of guilt in Soo’s eyes before he flinched and recoiled from her. She couldn’t believe this - she’d actually guessed right. He really wanted to take the blame for this? Oh, she knew he’d gladly run over to their superiors and say some mumbo-jumbo about how the Cracker started controlling her mind and made her act unreasonably, but couldn’t he consider how that would look to everyone?

 

She could already hear the whispers of the trainees in the halls - The Do heir continues his rampage without punishment! He and his weakling lover once again prove his inventions are nothing but crap that belongs in the trash, just like them! She shuddered inwardly. There were already so many nonsense rumors, from how she Kyungsoo had brought her in from a brothel to them already having wed and having two children stashed away on a private island somewhere. She didn’t quite get why everyone was trying to play matchmaker with her and Soo, but then again, his background and the amount of money everyone knew he had… People believed she was his friend just because of that. Her hands involuntarily clenched into fists and she opened to chase the feeling away.

 

“How can you step over your inventions so easily?” she attempted to say, but it ended up sounding like a desperate gurgle. “You are brilliant, Soo. They all need to know that. Hell, I’m not even sure you know that. I would go in there and lie for you, because what you’re doing is actually important. Someday you’ll make a teleportation device or a freaking time machine. I? I will just be replaced by someone else who can do my job as good as me - someone who can probably do it even better. And you’re irreplaceable.”

 

Where did that come from? she wondered. Although it felt embarrassing to say such personal things, Aeri felt calm - all of it was true. She’d throw herself in front of a bullet for Soo any day. She’d murder and light the world on fire if that’s what it took to keep him safe and have him wrapping his hands in wires and making liquid nitrogen explode or whatever. He’d someday invent something that would end the war. She knew it in her gut.

 

Kyungsoo was… Well, his brain seemed to have shut down, because he was as still as a statue. His unblinking eyes stared at her as if she was an alien.

 

After a couple of awkward seconds which she waited out patiently, Kyungsoo blinked. Then he took a deep, deep breath. She knew what was coming next, bracing herself for it. She already eyed the bottle of water on the table nearby, thankful that she didn’t need to go look for it.

 

Soo took another breath, more shallow this time. And then another. And another.

 

Then he launched into a garbled ramble, his breaths coming out more and more shallow as he tried to get all the words out of his fried brain. “That is not true- My inventions are not- How on earth can you imply that you would- And a teleportation device- I could never open a wormhole- And you can go only to the future-” He gasped after each of his failed sentences, mouthing words although he couldn’t finish them.

 

Everything was fine. She’d been here at least fifty times through the past eight years, not letting herself get caught unprepared in order to be able to help Soo through this. She was already up, the bottle of water in her hand, uncapped and her left hand wet, getting ready to spray water onto his neck. She reached into the top drawer of his desk, quickly grabbed his inhalator and turned to attend to his hyperventilating state.

 

But his next words froze her in place.

 

His voice was barely a whisper, and she wished she could tell herself she’d imagined it. “You are not a gadget that can just be disposed of. You never give yourself enough credit. You had saved my life more times than I can count, and no invention can ever make up for that. No time machine can ever be more important and irreplaceable than that.”

 

Now she was the one struggling to stay composed, her face contorted in a grimace because she did not want to hear this, she did not have the strength to deal with this, she did not want to believe in this.

 

But she was also a practical person that could put the mask on within moments. She quickly put the inhalator into his mouth and whispered, “Just breathe, Soo.” Her other hand came up and wrapped around his neck, the dampness soothing the redness and calming him down.

 

After counting seven breaths, she put the inhalator on the table behind them and let him work it out. She refused to look at him, so she focused on his hands, which were thankfully still lamely tangled in wires. She began pulling this way and that, trying to untangle them once again, her pulse audible in her ears. And although she tried to shut it down, her mind kept replaying his words to her - you had saved my life, you had saved my life.

 

“I think it wasn’t your fault,” Soo said quietly after a minute, staring at her hands, which were still trying to untangle the mountain of wires. “It was your first field mission alone after… you know. I think it’s understandable that your judgment wasn’t so clear. None of those commanders would’ve done better, and they all know it.”

 

She hated it when he did that. Even though she knew her friend was just trying to protect her and make her feel less awful, she didn’t want his pity or petty excuses. She was thankful for the change in subject, though, because his previous words were still replaying in her mind. You are not a gadget.

 

So though she knew it’d hurt him, she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, letting his hands go. Out of all the things he’d said, she focused on the only one she didn’t want him mentioning - her previous scandal with nearly killing a guard. “Don’t you dare use that as an argument for anything,” she said in a harsh tone. “I said I was over that, and that’s true. I hadn’t made a mistake while handling the guards. This was something entirely different.”

 

Soo opted out of trying to free his hands. She suspected that, had he managed to free them, he would’ve tried to console her somehow, and it only made her feel angrier. She didn’t want him to comfort her. She knew how to deal with Jongdae’s scoffing, with the insults, with Junmyeon’s disappointed looks. Understanding? She didn’t deal with that.

 

“I didn’t mean to offend you. I just…” He bit his lip and put his legs on the ground again, rolling himself away from her. She let loose the breath she didn’t know she was holding, feeling a lot less pressured without his eyes trained on her.

 

She heard his words loud and clear, though, even though it was only a whisper. “I just… I don’t want you to get into trouble, Ae. What would I do without you?”

 

All her pressure-induced anger slowly faded away. She remembered this was Soo, not a commander, not a higher-up, and definitely not a hostile unknown person. He cared about her and supported her through her hard times. She could trust him. She could afford vulnerability and understanding and whatever emotional garbage this talk had initiated.

 

So she got up, untangled his hands from the wires in one go and prevented him from knocking an explosive-looking device over with his elbow. And then she hugged him tightly, knowing he’d need a bit of time to process all of the sudden actions. His breathing had slowed considerably, but the hyperventilating was always lurking behind the corner. She hoped this wouldn’t lunch him into another attack.

 

“I know, Soo,” she whispered as she hid her head in his hair, snaking her arms around him. It smelled like barbecue. “I’m sorry. I’m just angry at myself for messing up, and it’s only fair that I get punished accordingly. You can’t protect me for everything, and I technically did deserve this.”

 

Had she not known him for such a long time, she would’ve thought he was dead, because he didn’t even dare breathe in air while she was hugging him. But this was Soo, and weird meant ordinary for him. She loved the fact that things were like that - she always knew what to expect from him and how to read into his reactions. It made her feel normal for a change.

 

She lingered for a moment and then returned to her chair, leaving whatever was unspoken between them slowly dissipate. I’m sorry for taking my bad mood out on you. I’m sorry for getting myself in this position. I’m sorry that you have to worry about me.

 

Then she told him all about her suspension and how lame it was going to be. She’d go to missions with her commander babysitters from now on. She would be forbidden from leaving the HQ alone or without special permission, and she would have to leave most of Kyungsoo’s inventions in the lab, because they’d deemed she was too distracted by all the tech in order to do a decent job.

 

She left out the part where they said his tech was useless and how she’d only wasted precious time scanning the rooms when she could’ve intercepted the cheater’s movements and stopped him altogether. They were all blind, and she’d have to wait for the appropriate time to make them see just how amazing Soo and his work were.

 

Regardless of knowing how they’d react, she tried to argue with them - about the usefulness of Soo’s equipment and about the fact that she had managed to incapacitate the fake-burglar assassin, but all they cared about was the fact that she hadn’t seen his face, and that he was now roaming freely around the world.

 

Thank God, things weren’t quite that bad. She could identify him by his tattoo, and when she did, she was going to make him pay. That was a promise.

 

It wasn’t so much about getting suspended and all. Yes, it was unfair to get suspended when she’d done almost everything right, when she’d shown that she was capable to go on missions alone again, when she’d completed the mission without any casualties and gained important intel about Kris, the Han clan’s newest member.

 

She just hated that the brown-eyed man had made her look like a fool. But who would’ve thought that Kris Wu actually painted like a freaking child?

 

Commander Jongdae also seemed worried about the implications of the mysterious man’s presence. Why had he been there? How had he known that everything in the house was a fake? Was that even true, or was it just sheer luck that the vase she’d picked up was from China? Had he stolen the painting himself, and if so, why hasn’t it resurfaced yet? And why was he so capable in the first place - who’d trained him? Why hadn’t they heard of him before? The description she’d given them didn’t ring any bells - nobody had ever heard of such a tattoo. Most of them bet on another rival clan or a possible vigilante trying to get some kind of revenge on their clan. Both theories sounded equally awful, because either having another clan or a vigilante getting tangled in the mess that the Oh-Han war was would only create more problems.

 

Yes, there were so many unanswered questions and mysteries about this guy, but she didn’t care about whether he’d stolen the painting for himself or not - she just needed him to give it back, because she’d found it first! She wanted to buckle up with as many weapons as she could and go turn the world upside down until she found him.

 

But of course that wasn’t going to happen. Especially when she was now assigned with commanders who’d watch her every move. She wouldn’t be able to go on a hunt. She wouldn’t be able to find him and punch him in the face. Or perhaps use that taser on him again. Multiple times, preferably.

 

A couple of days passed, and she focused on staying in shape, because she had no idea when her next mission would start. It was good to be back in the civilized world after weeks of doing nothing but analyzing patterns of behavior from those guards. She didn’t want to have to do that ever again. Her muscles had grown weary, her back hurting from crouching in the trees for too long. She felt dizzy for having eaten next to nothing during the previous day, so she wanted to build up her strength - preferably as soon as possible, just in case the man reappeared.

 

She was in the gym, practicing some of her trademark sneaky moves whilst imagining a certain brown eyes instead of the punching bag when commander Junmyeon approached her.

 

“You need to put less pressure on the left leg,” he commented from behind her while she swung at an imaginary opponent on her left - one that had a certain tattoo on his arm, “And your posture isn’t quite right. You’re leaning too far to the front - this way, someone can easily catch you by the elbows and push you to the ground even with just a slight height difference.”

 

She immediately stopped what she was doing and saluted her commander. “Sir, yes, sir!” she roared, while a lump formed in . Were they going to punish her some more? Was she going to get some ridiculous tasks as an extra punishment?

 

Junmyeon laughed at her. “Knock it off, kiddo,” he said while rolling his eyes at her. “Come on, you are not a novice. We all still see you as the same person you were before going on this mission - or the mission that almost got that guard killed.”

 

She swallowed, though her first commander’s words made her feel warm inside. Junmyeon was the nicest person in the world - Soo excluded - because he always, always saw through a person and all their shields and took care of them as if they were his own children.

 

He’d also kinda practically raised her, if spending every moment under his command ever since coming to this place could be called that way, which made her very subjective when it came to her judgment of him. He was the person she came to whenever she had something nagging on her mind, and she knew he appreciated the trust she put into him. He’d also never once betrayed that trust in the eight years she’d been there. Not from the moment he’d smiled down at her bloody, battered face in that alley, telling her to get up, kiddo, you’re coming home.

 

“I know, commander,” she said while nodding her head. “But I’m also on parole, and they said I need to put on my best image and behave in the nicest way possible, so I’m trying to get used to it.”

 

Junmyeon led her over to a bench, where two bottles of water were waiting for them - had he prepared them? It was a pointless question - of course he had. Junmyeon was like that - he always knew exactly what to do, and exactly how to treat everyone in order to make them feel respected and happy. He was known to buy his assigned novices clothes when their usual attires got too worn out. He also prepared food for them every once in a while, just bursting through the door through a cake although it wasn’t anyone’s birthday. All his novices loved him and looked up to him, forged by love rather than fear.

 

The only sad things was, he was the only commander that behaved in this way. The other commanders were scary, heartless and cruel, and she’d hoped she’d never get to experience their way of raising for herself. Unfortunately, she had, being stuck in detention for mundane things and suspecting commander Jongdae did it just to piss Junmyeon off.

 

Junmyeon’s voice stopped her train of thought. “How are you feeling?” he asked in that gentle, fatherly tone of his while she drank the water, contemplating whether to down it all in one go or to save some for later. She decided to hell with it. “Are you feeling bored, holed up in the HQ?”

 

It took her a couple of seconds to be able to speak again. “Well, it’s never boring with Soo around. He keeps breaking and building stuff, and he jumps from one idea to another so fast that sometimes I just can’t keep up with it.” She put her hands on her temples and then imitated the sound of an explosion, moving her hands away quickly.

 

Junmyeon laughed at her representation of mind-blown. “But yeah, I am bored here. I feel like I can do a lot more for the brotherhood, or at least make up for my failure.” She sighed deeply, playing with the empty bottle while feeling her mentor’s warm gaze on her.

 

“I need to prove I’m worthy, you know? I feel like everybody is treating me differently because of what had happened the last time I went on a mission alone and I… I wanted to surpass that, show them I’m okay, but I only managed to mess it up again this time.” He nodded along, already aware of her inner turmoil, having spent many days just like this, sitting on the bench with her and letting her explain to him how awful it felt to fail.

 

“Would you like a chance to do that?” Junmyeon said lightly, as if he was talking about the weather when her whole reputation was at stake here. She froze.

 

“What?” she said carefully in a small voice, finally brave enough to meet his gaze. There were specks of silver in his perfectly combed light brown hair, reminding her of the time that had passed since she’d first met him before joining the ranks. Back then, there was no grey hair, just spotless brown everywhere.

 

His eyes were warm, and almost turned into little crescents as he smiled at her. He was her first friend in this place. He’d introduced her to this world, to the other side, and made sure she got through it without dying or being badly scarred. Not all novices were that lucky.

 

“Another mission is going to take place soon,” Junmyeon said carefully, his eyebrows raising while waiting for her reaction. She was still frozen in place. “So I thought I’d offer you a place on it, since I know you’ve been holed up and bored in here. But if you aren’t feeling up for it….”

 

“No!” she shouted, getting up immediately. “Nononononono pleaseno.” She was barely able to form a sentence, and she threw herself at her mentor, almost ready to cry. “I promise I won’t make a mess, just give me a chance to prove myself, please Junmyeon please.”

 

He straight-out laughed at her and patted her on the head, her brown curls tangling in his fingers. “Don’t be pouty. Of course you can go, but take it seriously - no messing up this time. Plus, you’ll be paired up with a serious commander, and he won’t tolerate mistakes. So make sure you do everything he says, or else his report isn’t going to be pretty.”

 

She roared in happiness and victory, getting up in a flash and taking Junmyeon with her. Then she started spinning around and hugging him way too tightly for comfort. He began to laugh again, and this time she joined him.

 

Everyone knew how much of a hugger Junmyeon was, so she knew he wouldn’t mind, even if her behavior was inappropriate. “I’m going on a mission,” she sang while Junmyeon ruffled her hair.

 

She had so many friends here, she realized. People who loved her, and whom she loved with her whole heart. The dark clouds floated away from her, taking all the bitterness from her time at the Oh clan away for now. She knew that everything would be alright sooner or later. She just needed to get through everything without causing further problems.

 

She spent some time training with Junmyeon, enjoying his praises about the speed of her reflexes and her dead-on aim. He’d always encouraged her hand-to-hand combat studies, although some commanders kept arguing how it would be useless. Who needed fighting skills when they could shoot bullets from sniper guns from hundreds of meters away? She’d argued with many of her teachers about it, but never Junmyeon. Even if the revolver always safely tucked into the holster at his belt seemed to mock her whenever she looked at it, seemingly saying Whatever he says, I’m still here, the evidence of how martial arts can never be enough. She still hadn’t gotten used to the feeling of wearing a gun, and doubted she ever truly would. But it was how her clan wanted her to be, and so she stuck with it.

 

The next morning, her own words came back to her in a flash - no commander was like Junmyeon indeed. Jongdae didn’t say so much as a Good morning, let alone hug her or dance along with her. She almost snorted to herself. Not that something like that would ever happen, not even in my dreams, she thought. If Junmyeon was the personification of warmth, the sun’s rays on her skin every time he so much as got close to her, then Jongdae could be the representation of the Antarctic. A cold, prickling feeling that threatened to break her bones, harsh and full of hatred for everyone, including itself.

 

But Jongdae wasn’t like that without a reason. It was just hard not to be biased when it came to the matter, since her mentor was involved as well. And no matter how many times she’d heard the story from her friends as a junior trainee, she didn’t believe any of it. Junmyeon, hitting on the girlfriend of his best friend? Getting her pregnant while she was still in relationship with Jongdae? Hell no. Hell would freeze over before she’d believe in anything so ridiculous. After all, rumors were that she and Kyungsoo had two children before she’d even joined the Oh clan, and she was thirteen at the time. Only children believed in those stories, meant to entertain and introduce the clan to the new, young members. Of course, it just so happened that her description was basically a cheap girl who’d wooed a boy to get access to all his money. What a moral figure she’d pose to all the 1st graders of the academy.

 

She shook her head, focusing on the task at hand. Jongdae didn’t share all the intel with her, and she had many questions, but she kept shut as they made their way over to the house of the Oh family. His blood-red hair looked intimidating enough, freshly dyed as if he’d done it in preparation for this new super-secret and supposedly not-dangerous mission.

 

There was so much going on that she was barely able to keep focus anymore, combined with her stupefaction from what had happened at her own mission. Jongdae had said that they’d gotten a tip about some kind of murderer walking around the woods behind the Oh family’s house. He didn’t say from whom they’d gotten the tip or why they chose to believe in it. It didn’t seem convincing, because why in the world would a murderer be roaming the woods aimlessly? It wasn’t a wild animal, and no assassin acted like that anyway, so she knew it was just some cover-up story that was usually given to novices in order to make them stay calm and stop asking questions when they didn’t want them to find out something actually important.

 

As if she couldn’t stay calm after being told the truth. She would’ve gotten angry had Soo’s words not come back to her - perhaps they were just worried and wanted to keep her safe? Perhaps this wasn’t a test of her skills, but a nudge in the direction of redemption and getting accustomed to full missions after her incident with the guards. She hoped they wouldn’t make her go through therapy, if anything.

 

Seeing her commander sharpening his knife in the back of the terrain vehicle assured her that the whole lovey-dovey thing was a pile of crap. He most definitely didn’t give a damn about her feelings or whether she needed help with her traumas. He was here to do a job, and he wouldn’t hesitate to stab her with that knife in his hand if she stood in the way of it. She didn’t doubt it for a second, having experienced his pent-up rage on her own skin many times. She even had some scars on her back from the time spent in detention. And although Jongdae was on her side, she had to remind herself of it over and over again, goosebumps raising on her skin every time she remembered the little tortures he’d enjoyed putting her through over the years.

 

So instead on the lies she’d been told about the objective of their mission, she focused on the fact that she was going to see the Oh family house. She’d been mesmerized by the family ever since she’d gotten into the whole mafia thing. She - like every other trainee - dreamed of someday meeting Oh Sehun, the head of the clan, and seeing for herself whether the rumors were true and he was the most handsome man in the world. She sometimes even dared to dream of being assigned to guard the child his wife Miya was bearing, although it was less likely than encountering an alien.

 

The Oh clan was special, and a long time ago, she thought becoming a part of its ranks would stay just a fuzzy dream that’d never be fulfilled, like most of the things in her life. At the very beginning, she’d struggled so much and couldn’t sleep at night, wondering if the commanders would choose that exact moment to knock on her door and tell her she wasn’t enough, she would never be good enough, throwing her back out onto the streets to steal scraps and rummage through trash and try to feed her starving family.

 

But they were different than the other mafia families. This mafia served as a representative of the normal people, one that could retaliate to the pointless attacks of the other clans, that could claim territory and protect the people from the constant racketeering and the violence that used to be frequent in the so-called hotspot areas. Hotspot areas were places of special interest for all clans, such as streets with famous shops or attractions for tourists. They were almost always the places where wars broke out, because everyone wanted to claim that territory as their own.

 

But when the Oh clan captured a hotspot, it didn’t turn into a war zone. Instead, they protected it from the gangs that wanted to rob the stores and lure the tourists into traps used for human or organ trafficking.

 

She’d always admired them, noticing that there were laws in place long before she’d actually been introduced to the clan. She’d seen it for herself many times, how they’d made places full of poor, tortured people prosper. The streets were always praising them, and she’d dreamed of becoming one of them, contributing to their cause, fighting against those who tried to take what little dignity the people living at the rock bottom - like herself - had.

 

And now, nearly a decade later, she would perhaps even see some of the most important people of the clan from a distance. Now she would actually participate in their protection - presumably from other clans, she reasoned. And she’d fight until her last breath to keep them safe, because they made the world a better place.

 

Her words from the previous day came back, and she once again realized how firmly believed in what she’d told Kyungsoo. The heads of the Oh clan mattered, and weren’t replaceable. On the other hand, she was expendable, and if laying her life down for the sake of these good people was the only way to do it, she would do so without blinking, without hesitating for a second. It was the least she could offer for having turned her life around, for keeping her family safe for all these years, for giving them jobs and money and everything that was once unavailable to them.

 

The vehicle she was driving in with Jongdae stopped in the middle of the woods - or so it seemed, because the maple trees they passed were all of the same height for a while now. All around her were trees with big red leaves, and instead of letting herself be taken back by the sheer beauty of it, she looked over the visible area, looking for tracks, strange sounds and anything out of the ordinary. The woods were silent, which was uncommon for summer. There should’ve been birds, even squirrels and other small animals moving in the shadows of the trees. She heard chirping of the birds, but it seemed too distant for comfort.

 

She did not know exactly what was going on, but it didn’t matter - she trusted her commander. Even if that commander was someone as ruthless as Jongdae.

 

They climbed out of the vehicle, and the vehicle immediately pulled away, leaving them in the sunshine alone. Damn, it was hot outside. It reminded her of the merciless heat she’d felt while crouching in that tree at Kris Wu’s property, but the feelings swirling inside of her were very much different now. Then she’d felt calm, sure of herself, with plans A, B, C and D inside of her head. Back then she’d been prepared. Now? She had no idea what was happening, why Junmyeon had pulled strings to let her go on this mission, what the real reason for them being in these woods was, whether their boss was really in danger, whether this was some kind of test. But she didn’t let it suffocate, instead raising her head up high and gritting her teeth in anticipation of what was going to happen.

 

“We have to secure the perimeter,” Jongdae said matter-of-factly. “We will round a half-circle and meet on the opposite side of the estate, on the cliff lookout.” She nodded along - this was not the first time she was doing such a thing. She’d done this at her field practice numerous times, so she knew all the protocols. She wasn’t too familiar with the plans of the Oh mansion, but she knew the property had a circular-shaped boundary, with thick maple woods surrounding the area. In the center of it was a large house where Oh Sehun and his wife currently lived. It was obscured from view, it had many guardians, and she once again wondered why the two of them were playing extra security here.

 

“Take this,” her commander said coldly, handing her a gun. “And don’t hesitate to use it if you need to. No freezing crap like on your last missions or attempting hand-to-hand. Someone threatens you, you shoot them.”

 

She gulped. She did not want to murder anyone today. But if it was a murderer, or an assassin threatening her boss’ family security…

 

She would not hesitate.

 

She could not see the house, but judging by Jongdae’s orders, she knew it was almost right in front of them. Overgrown trees and their branches prevented them from seeing anything, though, which she suspected was the main reason for why the house was situated where it was. The vehicle had taken them the farthest it could without getting caught up between two trees. They hadn’t taken the road, obviously, as it would’ve made their presence known to whichever messed-up person was supposedly roaming these woods.

 

So she stayed calm and focused on her mission. Jongdae had already made a couple of steps in the opposite directions, his clothes black and thick - she suspected he was boiling beneath at least three layers and long sleeves - and she turned to do the same when her voice made her stop mid-step. “Jong,” he called her by her surname, as was usually the case.

 

Aeri turned to see a solemn expression on his face. “Don’t get captured.” He opened his mouth to say something else and then closed it. She knew what he’d wanted to say. If you get captured, they’ll torture the information out of you. You could endanger everyone’s safety. It’s better to die than to become a traitor.

 

She looked him straight in the eye and put a fisted hand onto the center of the chest. “Death before betrayal,” she said in a voice she could barely recognize. It was the voice of a junior assassin. It was the voice of a full-fledged Oh clan member.

 

It seemed to be enough for her commander to be able to be able to leave her to her task. He just nodded and turned around. She stared after his slowly retreating form for a couple of seconds and then turned to walk herself. Hell, what was going on? If he is worried about me getting captured, that means there isn’t just one person here. There could be a whole mob for all I know. Her thoughts spun, wondering if this was the Han clan or if they’d identified the mysterious man and this was somehow connected to him. She walked slowly, careful not to make a sound or chase the chirping birds away. Silence would alert anyone to her presence as much as sounds would, so she listened to the sounds of the woods, trying to pinpoint a place that was too silent.

 

She reached her designated place - from her current position she could see the house, and man, was it a mansion. But there was no time for playing house, so she turned her back on the sight, standing at the edge of the cliff lookout. She tried not to wonder why her commander wasn’t already waiting for her. Had he gotten lost? Of course he hadn’t - the guy was ten times more capable than her, and he definitely had a better sense of orientation. So she tried not to think about it or about his hidden missions, and followed orders - she stayed put and waited for her commander to give her further instructions.

 

She stayed alert, but focused on memorizing every single thing about the mansion that she could from that single glimpse she’d allowed herself - the number of windows and the shiny, expensive roof, even the number of chimneys. The house looked out-of-this-world, with a beautiful garden in front of it full of blooming flowers of various colors. It looked like something out of a fairytale. She wondered who took care of the garden - maybe it was Sehun’s wife?

 

After several minutes passed, she allowed herself another glimpse. She was now trying to pinpoint the brand of the car that was parked in front of the house - it was red and expensive and she wondered why she hadn’t brought binoculars so that she could see everything properly.

 

Then a scream broke out. It was a high-pitched scream of a woman that somehow seemed familiar, although she was pretty sure she’d never heard anything like it ever before. Nonetheless, goosebumps raised all over her arms and a sick feeling pooled inside of her stomach. This was bad. This was very bad.

 

Damn it, she thought to herself. Why does the universe want to get me thrown out of the clan so badly?

 

And instead of helping her commander, she was daydreaming of going on a picnic with the Oh family. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

She struggled with deciding what to do next. Follow the orders or do the reasonable, albeit reckless, thing and go help whoever was obviously in danger?

 

Jongdae would kill her if she wasn’t at the designated place when he arrived there. Then again, perhaps it was Jongdae that was in the midst of the screaming, and if she didn’t go over to help him, then he’d kill her for sure.

 

She put her head in her hands.

 

To hell with it.

 

She wanted to meet the Oh heir.

 

At least when they threw her out, she’d know whether he was as handsome as everyone said him to be.