A/N: I was in a dilemma whether to post it today or tmr because tmr will mark Engage's 1st anniversary and my sentimental self wanted to post tomorrow but then my other sentimental self wanted to mark the end of SSS promotions with a bang! Let me see if I feel like dropping the chapter tomorrow but in the meantime, enjoy the action~

“Captain! What happened!” Sakura’s mother is quick to pounce on her when she enters the mansion. In the short span of time, the agents have already set up camp in the living room as base for the rescue of Sakura. Everybody is here and their eyes all on the new entries. 

“I am sorry Ma’am.” That is all Eunbi can say, as if things aren’t obvious enough.

“But you have a plan right?” Mrs Kim says desperately and she immediately turns to Ka Eun on the other end of the room. “You have a plan right?”

“We will get her back Ma’am.” Ka Eun reassures.

Seeing her usually composed stepmother so frantic, Minjoo knows she needs to be her anchor. She isn’t the daughter she wants right now but she still hopes to be of some support - they are family after all. Minjoo moves to Mrs Kim’s side, gently encouraging her to release Eunbi so the Captain can get some space. Eunbi gives Minjoo a grateful gaze as the older woman weakly lets Minjoo support her back to the sofa. 

Eunbi walks somberly over to Ka Eun, only for more bad news. “Her phone is disabled. We can’t trace it.” Nevertheless, the Chief supportively pats Eunbi on the arm, a silent gesture to tell her she knows she’s done her best. “I pulled up the research you did on him. Very comprehensive, Captain. Now you need to brief everybody.”

Eunbi nods and moves to the front of the living room. She takes in a deep breath, pushing away the continuous thoughts of Sakura being taken away in front of her. She needs to focus, that is how she will get her back and with the best security agency by her side, they can do it. 

“Lee Sungkyu.” Eunbi flashes the research she has collected thus far on the projector. She has spent a lot of time effectively profiling the man and his motives. “He lost his job under Kim Corp’s electronics branch when the company shifted production over to Japan. Kim Corp found it was more efficient since they had signed a MOU with a Japanese company, leveraging on the existing production line. He was resentful after his job loss, resorting to gambling and drinking to pass time. The same story goes, his wife took his daughter along with her and left him. That was his ultimate blow to him starting to hate Kim Corp.”

She changes over to the next slide, flashes a list of names. “I checked this list against who was caught on the night of the gala dinner and everything coincides. These are the people retrenched along with Lee Sungkyu and they were also each others’ company in gambling and drinking so this is the main group of the campaign. But Lee Sungkyu, he is the leader. He advocated the start, he stepped up the game, I am damn sure he masterminded Sakura’s kidnap.”

Sujin, Mrs Kim’s security team leader, sends what is discovered from another computer into the projector. “Captain is right. Facial recognition for the people who took Sakura at the game store came through. It confirms that they are all ex-Kim Corp’s electronics production unit.”

“Thank you. Then Captain, what do you suspect is their or his play then?”

Eunbi looks over at Mrs Kim. “Money.” The Captain brings her eyes back to the group. “As much as he or they promote anti-Japanese sentiment, nothing changes for them if Mr and Mrs Kim divorce or expect Kim Corp to move its operations back to Korea. Especially since they upped everything by taking Sakura, they are risking too much for a job back. Lack of money started the problem.”

Mr Kim finally enters the mansion and he immediately looks towards his wife and Minjoo before running over to give them a tight hug. “We will get her back.” He whispers to them while not breaking his hold.

Meanwhile, Seo Woon walks straight to Ka Eun. “I have routed any calls to his office here.” Ka Eun nods and turns to Eunbi. “We should be hearing from them soon.”

Eunbi just hopes her profiling is right and like what Ka Eun says, they will call soon. Then, the call comes.

Everybody meets eyes, leaving it to the two heads to decide - Ka Eun nods to Mr Kim as he moves out of the hug towards the phone in the center of the room. Eunbi moves towards the tech agents who are ready to trace the call the moment it is picked up.

“Hello?”

“I never thought I would be able to speak to the great Kim Joon Sung directly. A lowly staff to Korea’s almighty CEO. How things have changed.”

Eunbi frowns at the unnecessary chitchat; they must be confident that they wouldn’t be tracked in the time the call is happening. Indeed the tech agents are having some issues tracing it.

“I want to hear my daughter.”

A chuckle is heard. “You will hear her right before you give me what I want.”

“Tell me what you want then.” Mr Kim is serious.

“Straight to the point huh? Indeed an expert in negotiations, Sir. Shouldn’t you try to buy some time to trace this call? Or do you already know it's fruitless? We are a bunch of people who worked in electronics production, I like to see your team try.” A deep chuckle is heard from the line. The tech agents’ fingers are all moving quickly, the scope is narrowing. 

“But anyhow, I agree we should keep things moving. Easy, I like US$10 million in cash. Yes, cash. And yes, United States Dollars. Just a drop in the bucket for you so we can meet three hours from now at the main plaza outside Kim Corp when the night falls. I’ll call right before to let you hear your daughter’s voice as we do the handover and since there’s full exposure if anybody tries anything, we all can see it. And the voice of your daughter? You may hear something differently.” A menacing laugh pierces through the speaker.  

Their efforts to trace are narrowing but still not precise and it is evident the call is ending soon. Eunbi looks at Ka Eun pleadingly and the Chief knows. She prompts Mr Kim to try to carry on the conversation but the other person on the line isn’t willing. 

“That’s all for today. Be smart Kim Joon Sung. Don’t try or your daughter dies.” The call is cut off and Eunbi kicks an empty chair in frustration - they didn’t have a precise location. The trace only brought the search down to Gwacheon area. It was so close and her action prompts sighs from the family. Mr Kim moves towards his wife and daughter and hugs them close. “Don’t worry. I will pay.” 

Seo Woon, Mr Kim’s security team leader, walks over to his wife behind the computers. “Cross-check if the individuals in the group own any properties in Gwacheon. Since they are not well-to-do financially, there shouldn’t be much.” Sujin does as told and leads the tech agents through the documents and indeed does narrow the results.

“We have three possible locations.” She flashes them on the projector. 

Chief Ka Eun frowns. “These parameters are still too wide. To cover three, we will stretch our manpower thin and no matter how good we are, it will not be efficient.” They need a smarter way to find Sakura - she understands it is not about the money but it is not smart to simply trust that once ransom is paid, Sakura will be safe. Nothing beats getting Sakura back on their own.

The mood in the living room is definitely not good, until Eunbi thinks of something. “Her phone may be disabled but Sakura has her Nintendo Switch with her.” 

Nobody in the living room gets where Eunbi is going with that fact but she moves towards Sujin. “We can triangulate the signal from the Nintendo Switch against the three locations. I did it before in NIS, we had a hostage situation as well and the hostage had a remote charging pacemaker in him and it sends out a signal because of its charging function. The Nintendo Switch as well sends out its signal. Sakura almost always leaves the house with a fully charged Switch, it will definitely be on till now. This way, we wouldn’t have three locations. We can find the one.”

Sujin and the tech agents try their luck with Eunbi’s idea and Sujin’s eyes widen. Immediately, she flashes the findings to the whole living room. “We found it. Signal is coming from a farm on the fringes of Gwacheon. That is where Sakura is.”

Mrs Kim lets out a frantic sigh of relief to finally hear some good news. “We can go get her now!” She directs the question to the lady in charge of them all. 

“It is possible but the implications are uncertain. I am sorry Ma’am. My advice is to hold back. There will be better odds if we wait till the meetup time. We may have found the location but we don’t know much about it. Moreover, there can be a lot of them there right now. On the contrary at meetup time, their manpower has to be split in order to pick up the cash and watch over the hostage. That way we can do with a multi-pronged attack, some agents and enlisting the help of the police for the cash handover while focusing more agents to the safehouse.”

“But my daughter has to suffer longer with those people!” Mrs Kim is unhappy with the Chief’s plan.

“They wouldn’t hurt her, Ma’am. In these hostage situations, the hostage is not in danger up till the point the ransom is given, only that is when things get complex. I understand your worry Ma’am, KIS is here for the family and whatever the family decides, we will follow. But my professional advice as Chief is that gaining ourselves these hours to study the safehouse and its entry and exit points thoroughly will ensure better odds of getting Sakura out safely.”

Mrs Kim covers her face with her palms. It is so stressful for the mother right now and Mr Kim glances at his daughter hugging Mrs Kim from the other side. The father-daughter eye contact is wordless but telling because they are all feeling the same. 

“Misaki.” He calls out for his wife, tightening his hold on her. “I think we should listen to the Chief. They are the professionals and we have them with us for a reason. They have protected us well thus far, they can do it again tonight.”

Her husband’s words prompts her to turn to him. It is evident the man is as worn out as her yet he is trying his best to hold it together. 

“I am just so w-worried. My Sakura-” Her voice cracks.

“Our Sakura.” He reassures her with certain eyes and she remembers. Slowly, she turns to the comfort on the other side to meet Minjoo with the same look as her father.

 “She will be alright, right?” Mrs Kim asks Minjoo.

Minjoo nods. “Becau