Joohyun Bae loved the thrill of being an outlaw. That was what she told herself out loud before every single misdemeanor, every single illegal act until she mastered 'the art of being a criminal' and eventually made a business out of it, a quite profitable one actually. She couldn’t help but do it as it was something she had perfected over the years and it felt almost natural, specially when she had the help of her partner Seungwan Son.

Seungwan and Joohyun had met years before, when they were both college students who, surprisingly enough, studied in the same exact campus. At that time, Joohyun was a senior student, not yet a criminal, but very popular already, and Seungwan was a freshman, eager to fit in a group, tired of being labeled as an outsider who came from Canada to South Korea.

Seungwan had shared a very small loft with her long time best friend Seulgi Kang, in a weird part of Seoul but amazingly close their University for all college years. It was a rather small place, but it was also a very welcoming one and, due to its warm hospitable atmosphere, it became everyone’s hang out spot as Seulgi, the social butterfly, had many friends.

One night, Seungwan was minding her own business when suddenly she spotted no one other than Joohyun Bae, the campus’s sweetheart, sitting on the edge of their couch placed strategically in their living room, talking to Seulgi. Despite having very little things in common, both Joohyun and Seungwan found themselves being dragged to University’s biggest end of the semester celebration party by Seulgi, their only mutual friend, who insisted on taking them as her plus one.

“Having a plus one means only one person tagging along with you, Seulgi!” Seungwan reasoned as soon as her gaze met Joohyun’s.

Although they were practically strangers at that time, Joohyun was known everywhere in campus due to her breathtaking looks and impeccable grades and Seungwan felt very intimidated by her presence. Seungwan’s uncomfortableness only grew as Seulgi left them in the middle of the messy room to finish her makeup without saying a word.

Joohyun noticed the other’s uneasiness and she politely smiled, trying to calm down her own nerves because, contrary to popular belief, she didn’t exactly enjoyed college parties that much, but she did enjoy going out.

“Your friend is right, Seulgi. You can’t take two people as your plus one.”

Seulgi peeked her head of out the bathroom and chuckled to herself when she saw how far away the other two were standing from each other, almost as if they were both so against the idea of them hanging out that they wouldn’t even dare to become friends. Little did she know that a new friendship was certainly about to blossom.

“Seungwan-ah, it’s just a college party! No one cares how many people I take with me. The more, the merrier!”

The younger girl just sighed, very loudly, so that Seulgi could hear it. She knew that reasoning about it was pointless because when Seulgi wanted to do something, no one could actually change her mind. So, all in all, Seungwan was better off accepting it if she wanted to keep the little portion of sanity she still had.

Joohyun wasn’t very fond of the idea of Seungwan going to that party for some reason, probably because the girl looked too pure, nor was she glad about attending that party herself. But she couldn’t muster up a valid excuse to ask Seulgi to let them all stay home or at least let Seungwan stay, so she just shrugged. After all, Seulgi was about to drag them to that stupid party anyway.

When they got to the party that night, dodging from sweaty bodies dancing on a very small room, Seulgi practically vanished after a tall girl grabbed her hand, probably Sunmi as Seungwan remembered her face from previous parties, and pushed her through the crowd, leaving the other two alone.

After a few drinks, Joohyun decided to sit on the floor, close to a group of people she didn’t exactly know, who were playing cards and Seungwan decided to follow her steps, sitting cross-legged directly in Joohyun’s far left. They stared at each other for a while, until someone rushed past them, probably to puke their guts out somewhere else.

That was when one guy, who was beyond wasted, that Seungwan recognized as Sehun, her Literature TA, suggested that they should all play truth or dare, just like a bunch of high school students. Joohyun accepted it as if it was a challenge and Seungwan decided to agree too, as she had nothing better to do and Seulgi was nowhere to be seen.

That was when Joohyun and Seungwan’s bond really started, unexpectedly through a drunkenly played truth or dare game, which resulted in both of them being dared to stay locked in a room together for ten torturous minutes. It had been funny at first, because they just stared at a wall for five solid minutes. But not very long after they both started talking to each other, making them eventually become friends.

Ever since that incident, they never really stopped talking and their friendship became even stronger after Joohyun graduated from Business School, which was exactly when they both started their very much illegal business of document fraud and theft, rather out of luck then anything else.

Of course, they got away with it for years, three of them to be exact.

Seungwan’s once pure, innocent aura was totally transformed into a rather smart and skillful one, but never even for a second had she lost her bubbly spirit, something that Joohyun found very endearing and charming, not that she would admit it.

Joohyun had changed too. She gained a lot more confidence and, with experience, she developed a very strategic thinking view of their illegal activity which made her even more successful, until, one day it failed. She had failed.

One day, Joohyun didn’t got away with it and she was sentenced for ten years of imprisonment for theft and fraud. That day, in which she failed, was a moment she would never forget and she swore to herself she would never let it happen again.

Five years before

Somewhere between New York City and Hoboken

It was New Year’s Eve and the weather was freezing cold. Three Koreans and one Canadian were all inside a large black SUV on their way to a mission on New York, to help a rather big fashion company rob a new design from their competitor and eventually earn some money from it, a rather usual job for them.

The Korean driver was from the company that had hired the other two Koreans and the Canadian, as those three had been in the spotlight because of their effectiveness in illegal services. And contrary to what they had expected, the driver, whose name was Namjoon, was very calm, collected and quiet, as he patiently drove from New Jersey to the Big Apple.

The mission was quite simple and Joohyun, the leader, was almost sure that they would succeed once again. But, unlike most missions, she was felling quite tired and could sense Seungwan, her partner in crime and best friend for the last couple of years, was exhausted, blinking every now and then to avoid sleep.

The older woman rested her head on Seungwan’s shoulder out of habit, looking over their seat to find Bogum Park, their new addition to the team and Joohyun’s boyfriend, looking at the sky through the car’s windows. He looked bored, uninterested and Joohyun wondered how he wasn’t as tired as they were.

That night wasn’t any different from a regular day at her illegal job: they would enter the company’s building through the emergency exit, Bogum would disconnect the security system, Seungwan would snatch the design from the computers and Joohyun would complete the transaction by giving the data to their current boss, getting their money, and it would be mission completed.

“Are you ready?” Namjoon asked once they reached their destination.

Bogum just nodded, getting out of the car first, not even glancing at his girlfriend once. Joohyun figured he was probably jealous because she decided to sit with Seungwan instead of him, but she didn’t mind, consciously deciding to talk about it later. It was mission time and nothing would take Joohyun’s focus from it.

Seungwan involuntarily yawned, rubbing her eyes to prepare to get out of the car. It had been a long flight from Seoul to New Jersey and the woman wasn’t able to rest, not even during the flight, as she usually felt anxious about overseas missions. Joohyun held her hand tightly as if to make Seungwan feel less tense, and that seemed to help because the woman smiled at her and got out of the car.

Once they all stood outside, except for Namjoon, who was waiting in the car, the other three were shaking from the cold wind. Joohyun, just like she usually did, decided to give the group the last coordinations. After that, they were all supposed to split up to do their own individual parts. Everything was seemingly under control and, because it was New Year’s Eve, they could enter the building’s parking lot with no effort.

Bogum was supposed to be the one to enter the building first, to unlock the doors and disconnect the security system, but out of the blue he decided Seungwan was the one who should do it, as he considered her the most suitable for that job. Joohyun narrowed her eyes at him, that wasn’t part of the plan nor it was the time to change that.

She was about to complain, more like lose it, when Seungwan touched her shoulder, silently saying that it was ok and that she would do it. At times like those, Joohyun was glad that she had Seungwan as her partner, someone who truly understood her and not someone who questioned everything like Bogum Park, the boyfriend.

When Seungwan got inside the building and gave them the sign, that she had disconnected everything, hacking into the security system, Joohyun noticed that Bogum was acting weird. He was suspiciously checking his phone all the time, when she had specifically advised against it.

Soon, she realized that he was up to something bad.

Joohyun didn’t even have the time to warn Seungwan, because in a matter of minutes, the whole block was packed with policemen and she was arrested, leaving her clueless best friend behind, hoping that she realized it had been a trap, Bogum’s trap all along, and that Seungwan could flee the building unlike her.

Present time

Seoul Detention Center – South Korea's Correctional Service System

Those sour memories invaded Joohyun’s mind the moment she walked into a very bright room where she would be interrogated one more time before she could be released on parole. Her wrists hurt from the handcuffs, but nothing her hurt more than having spent five whole years on that disgusting prison, away from everything.

She remembered how deportation , how she spent years without knowing where Seungwan was, only recently founding out about her, or how she wondered about how Bogum got away with it, before a large gentleman entered the place with a suitcase on his hands, followed by two policewomen.

“Miss Bae, do you know why are you here?” The man asked, staring straight into her eyes.

“Yes.” Joohyun answered, determined. She had waited for this moment to come for years.

“Miss Bae, are you aware of how parole works?” The man asked and Joohyun nodded, she had read all about it after all. “It’s a priviledge you have to earn.”

“I’m well aware, sir. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity to come for months.”

“All right, I may ask you a few questions. Are you aware that, while on parole, you can’t contact anyone who had been somehow sentenced?”

“Yes.”

“You know that this excludes more than half of your family and friends. How would you cope with that?”

“I will not contact them.” Joohyun answered without hesitation. “I just want a simple life, start fresh and enjoy being out there.”

After more tedious questions that Joohyun answered effortlessly because she had practiced many times to herself alone in her cell, the solitary, it was finally over. She wiped some very fake tears that seemed convincing enough to that man, who smiled simpathetically at her, signing the papers and telling the officer that Joohyun, in fact, could do it, she was being released on parole.

Joohyun was given back her clothes, the ones she was wearing the day she got caught, five years prior to that moment. She looked at them with a weird feeling on her chest, she didn’t know if was more of rage or disgust or just her being in pure bliss because that was a very comfortable tracksuit and a quite expensive one too.

Dressing up in no time, Joohyun let her dark hair down as she waved goodbye to the officers from the prison, who were partly amazed at how she did it, partly chuckling in disbelief. One of them even asked for more details of her conversation with the authorities, but Joohyun just shrugged, signing the papers and opening the prison’s front door in one fluid movement.

“What are you gonna do now?” an officer, who was smoking at the prison’s entrance, asked her out of pure curiosity.

“Oh, I have 50 thousand wons and I’m finally out. I can do anything.”

The first thing Joohyun did was get an Uber, using Seungwan’s old iPhone, to go to Lotte Shopping Mall to a shoplifting spree. Don’t get her wrong, crime was what she was good at, after all, she was a professional. And she actually paid the Uber, using someone else’s credit card, of course, not that it mattered, it was beside the point.

For starters, she spent some time looking at some products in Sephora, deciding what to get. Joohyun ended up settling for her simple needs only, the bare essential: a Chanel perfume, a Dior foundation and concealer, some wipe make up pads, a Pallette and, of course, new brushes. She took them all to the counter, looking impatiently at the lady behing it.

“Hi, I would like to exchange this items here, I just bought them.”

“Of course, may I see your receipt, please?”

“Look, I don’t have it here with me, I must’ve left at my car. But I’m in a rush, can’t your just do it?”

“Miss, I really need your receipt for that.”

“Ugh, unbelievable!” Joohyun said looking so annoyed that she would actually give herself props for such nice acting. “Look, they are brand new, I didn’t even open them yet!”

“Maybe try costumer service on that corner?” the lady suggested, a bit intimidated by Joohyun’s outburst.

“It’s fine. I’ll keep them for now. Could I at least get a bag?”

“Sure, here you have it.”

Joohyun thanked the girl, putting all the items on the bag.

She exited the store, proudly carrying a giant Sephora bag, not even caring when the security alarms went off. The secuity guard at the front had stopped her, but apologized right away when he saw the bag, after all she did have one with her that supposedly showed she had bought those items.

But that wasn’t the case, she had stolen all of them right in front of their faces and they didn’t even notice it. It was genius and Joohyun couldn’t wait to do it on other stores, deciding to get her best friend a gift, after all, she was a Bae and nothing would stop her.

Three hours and many stores later, Joohyun finally decided to rest and for that, she would go to Lotte Hotel, literally in the same complex of the mall. It was just across the street and she didn’t really want to see anyone that day, not when she was that tired and she derseved to take a nice bath, a bubble bath preferably.

She didn’t have the money, obviously, but that wasn’t a problem. She stayed at the reception for a bit, waiting for someone to close their bill and leave. When an old lady did that, she overheard the conversation, memorizing her information to then cancel it, getting the room back, but this time for herself, using the lady’s credit card.

Joohyun sighed, entering the room. She couldn’t believe how easily she did all of that: the shoplifting, the credit card fraud, stealing a rich old lady’s information. Moments like those were the ones when she really questioned how could she let things get out of hand with Bogum Park, but that didn’t matter anymore, she was free and that was all that mattered.

The next day, she would wake up, leave the hotel and call Seungwan first thing in the morning, to pick her up. But for that moment she would just let all that sink in and take a bath while looking through the room’s large window, observing Seoul’s beautiful lights and hoping that her new plan soon became reality.