Sojung never wanted to think her job, her career, her passion, was mundane. Yet, here she was, snoozing away at her desk for what felt like the billionth time this new year. She knew, deep down, that having a task force wasn’t always going to be action, action, action. She never wanted to face the fact that most of the time, she would just be drowning in paperwork. 

 

It’s only been a couple months into the new year. It had been a while since their last mission that took down Wonho. Everything had quieted down in the area, a little too quiet for Sojung’s liking. 

 

Her chin rested on her hand as her eyes wandered to look outside her office window. She jokingly grimaced at Jiyeon giving Juyeon an eskimo kiss goodbye as they part ways in the hallway. She looked to her left, watching a few of her other teammates boring holes through their computers.

 

With how silent the field has been, maybe Sojung should start planning that team bonding excursion she’s always wanted to do.

 

She picked up her phone, dialing a number that seemed nearly unfamiliar now, but still knew by heart.

 

“Mom? We’re coming to Busan.”

 

 

Sojung stared back at the confused looks she got from her team members.

 

“What about work?”

 

“What will we even do there?”

 

“Where are we going?”

 

They shot questions at their leader, puzzled at the idea of a vacation. This was, by no means, a vacation.

 

Well, maybe it was, but she didn’t want to call it that in front of them.

 

“It will be a team bonding experience!”

 

She caught Jiyeon smirking and scoffing from the corner of her eye. “As if we don’t already do that enough.” She muttered under her breath. There were scattered giggles amongst them, making Sojung roll her eyes good heartedly.

 

“I think a change of scenery will be good for us.”

 

 

Sojung had hoped that this trip would stay just a trip. But that itch for solving crimes just couldn’t stay away for too long.

 

Her hometown, Busan, was exactly how she left it all those years ago. Her house was the same, her mother was the same, although just a tad bit older.

 

Her place was spacious enough to house her whole team, leaving it up to them to choose rooms and decide who rooms with who for the next month or so.

 

Sojung hadn’t really thought about how much time they would be spending down here, maybe a month minimum.

 

She was setting her bags down in her old room when her phone beeped, signaling a call from a private number.

 

“Hello?”

 

“You don’t give me a head’s up that you’re in town?”

 

Sojung smiled at the voice. “Haseul. It’s been a while.”

 

“Indeed it has.”

 

 

Hyunjung glanced periodically at her wife from across the room while she hung their clothes up in the closet. Sojung already had her laptop set up on a desk, typing away.

 

She wrapped her arms around Sojung’s neck, resting her chin on top of her head. “I thought this was a team bonding trip, what are you doing?”

 

“Just some last minute paper work.” She mumbled out, only half lying to her.

 

Hyunjung resumed unpacking and left Sojung to finish up on her laptop.

 

Being back home brought back a lot of memories Sojung wanted to forget, but she couldn’t. Hyunjung had only visited a few times, but never really knew the extent of how Sojung felt about her hometown.

 

 

Sojung peered through the café window, immediately spotting who she was meeting. She let out a laugh the minute she stepped into the warm establishment.

 

“What’s with the shades?” She approached the figure hiding away in the corner, flicking off the sunglasses. “You stick out like a sore thumb.”

 

“Glad to see you haven’t changed one bit.”

 

The short haired girl stood up, engulfing Sojung in a tight hug. “It really has been too long.”

 

“I know, Haseul. I’m sorry I haven’t been in contact.”

 

They took their seats across from each other. “We’ve both been busy with our teams.”

 

Haseul was Sojung’s oldest friend. They shared a childhood dream to solve mysteries and fight for justice. But after Sojung decided to move to the big city to enroll in the academy, they lost contact.

 

“My mom told me you have your very own task force here in Busan.” Sojung smiled excitedly, genuinely happy for her friend. “I’m so proud of you.”

 

Haseul returned the smile, equally as excited. “I’m proud of you, too.”

 

 

Juyeon knocked on the door adjacent to hers and Jiyeon’s. She heard Meiqi and Dawon bickering through the walls about which side of the bed they wanted.

 

“Are you guys decent?”

 

The door swung open, revealing a very unamused Dawon. “Of course we are, weirdo, why wouldn’t we be?”

 

Juyeon acted like she didn’t see the unreadable look flash across Meiqi’s face at Dawon’s words. She cleared , addressing the two.

 

“Let’s bond and go to the gym!”

 

 

Dayoung slowly and quietly snuck out of her shared bedroom, careful not to wake a sleeping Yeoreum. They had knocked out the minute they touched down in Busan.

 

She was craving caffeine.

 

Sojung’s neighborhood was quite small and quaint, every store or restaurant on the same couple streets in the area. She turned into the local café.

 

Her eyebrows shot up at Sojung engaging in an over exaggerated conversation with a mystery girl sitting with her back to Dayoung. She immediately was on the defense.

 

“Sojung!”

 

That caught the two’s attention, with Sojung immediately waving her over excitedly.

 

Dayoung walked over, very confused at the situation unfolding. “Haseul, this is my team member Dayoung.”

 

The short haired girl stood up, extending her hand out for a friendly shake, which Dayoung took with slight hesitation.

 

“It’s so nice to meet you! I’ve heard nothing but good things about your team.”

 

Sojung must have noticed the expression on Dayoung’s face, because she heard her leader speak up.

 

“Haseul is an old friend of mine that I was just catching up with. She heads the Busan task force!”

 

The gears were finally shifting into place in Dayoung’s mind and she belatedly felt embarrassed at assuming that Sojung was sneaking around behind Hyunjung’s back.

 

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Dayoung said, trying to sound genuine. “I just came for some coffee, so I’ll leave you two to catch up. It was nice meeting you, Haseul!”

 

She walked a couple steps away to stand in line, but still in hearing distance of Sojung and her friend.

 

“When do I get to meet your team?” She heard Sojung joke, but getting a reply from Haseul nonetheless.

 

“Whenever you want. Maybe our teams could gather together!”

 

 

Meiqi, Dawon, and Juyeon entered the local gym. It was a pretty small room with a couple sparring mats and some punching bags off to the side.

 

A duo, one blonde and one brunette, were engaging in a wrestling match, but it didn’t look serious at all.

 

“I asked you a million times to stop barking!” They heard the blonde say to the girl she had pinned down. “Are you going to listen to me now?!”

 

They couldn’t help but look on as the brunette shoved the blonde off, reversing their positions.

 

“No! Woof!” The brunette laughed, almost maniacally, before pushing herself off the ground. She pulled the blonde girl up with her.

 

It seemed to finally register in their minds that they had company.

 

“Oh, hello!” The blonde said, approaching the three of them happily, as if they didn’t just witness the weirdest exchange between the two. “I’m Jinsoul and this is Hyunjin.”

 

The girl named Hyunjin gave a small wave.

 

Juyeon watched as Jinsoul’s eyes narrowed at them. “Are you all new to the area? I don’t think I’ve seen you guys around.”

 

Meiqi spoke up to respond. “We’re just in town for a bit and wanted to get some sparring in.”

 

Jinsoul gave them a wide smile. “Then you’ve come to the right place.”

 

 

Sojung followed Haseul out of the café to head over to the neighborhood gym her team owned for their combat practice. She entered the small room right behind Haseul.

 

She immediately recognized her own combat unit in the middle of a sparring match with two unfamiliar faces.

 

“I should have known I’d find you guys here.”

 

Dawon glanced over at Sojung, dodging a punch thrown her way from Jinsoul. “Boss? What are you doing here?”

 

Haseul spoke up from beside her. “More team members of yours?”

 

Sojung smiled and watched on proudly as Juyeon spun around and pinned her opponent to the ground.

 

“Yes, this is my combat unit.”

 

 

Haseul introduced Sojung to her two teammates, noting that their other combat unit member wasn’t there.

 

She also had a big task force, made up of twelve members including Haseul herself.

 

“A big team is a lot to handle, right?” Sojung joked when the two of them migrated towards the office in the back, leaving the others to spar some more.

 

Haseul let out a puff of air. “Tell me about it!”

 

“It’d be a party if both our teams met up.”

 

Haseul let out a small laugh before she turned a bit serious. “What exactly are you doing here, Sojung?”

 

“What do you mean? I’m on a team bonding trip.”

 

Sojung took a seat on the cheap chair across from the basic wooden desk Haseul took a seat on.

 

“We both know that’s kind of a lie.”

 

Sojung went silent and the air around them became tense. Her friend had seen right through her act.

 

She let out a heavy sigh, deciding to tell some of the truth. “I’m bored, Haseul.”

 

Haseul gave her a look close to pity. “And you thought coming here would solve your problems?”

 

“Not really.”

 

Haseul kept quiet as Sojung stood up, pacing the room as she gathered her thoughts. “I wanted to come back to remember what it felt like to have the drive and the passion behind our jobs.”

 

The short haired girl nodded, understanding what Sojung was trying to convey to her. “I’m not here to step all over your jurisdiction, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

 

Haseul waved dismissively, pausing before she said her next words. “I was just worried about you.”

 

 

Dayoung returned to the house, spotting Hyunjung sitting outside with a book in her hand. “Is this your idea of bonding?”

 

Hyunjung closed her book, holding it up to shade her from the sun beating down on them. “How can we bond if half the team isn’t even here?”

 

Dayoung sat down next to the older girl, handing over her coffee. “Fair point.”

 

They sat in silence for a minute or two before the younger girl spoke up.

 

“I saw Sojung at the coffee shop. She was with an old friend.” Dayoung took back her coffee, chugging the rest of it. “Her name is Haseul.”

 

Hyunjung scrunched her eyebrows. She’s never heard that name in relation to Sojung, but she knows she’s seen it somewhere.

 

She had only momentarily looked at Sojung’s laptop screen earlier that day, but the name she saw in bold lettering caught her attention even for the shortest second.

 

Haseul.

 

 

Sojung and the combat unit came back sweaty and boisterous as they entered the quiet home. They immediately disperses into their respective rooms. Sojung decided to walk to her kitchen for a glass of water.

 

She heard footsteps following behind her. She turned around to face Hyunjung. Sojung couldn’t read the expression on her wife’s face, but after all the years of being together, she knew this look was at least one of the bad ones.

 

Sojung sighed before pouring herself a glass of water. “How did you find out?”

 

Hyunjung kept her arms crossed, not relieving her intimidating stance. “I put two and two together.”

 

Sojung set her glass of water down and approached Hyunjung, tugging on her arms to grasp her hands.

 

“I was going to tell you when I knew for sure.” Hyunjung’s eyes wavered for a split second, Sojung clinged onto that regardless. “I swear.”

 

Her wife gave in and dropped her head onto Sojung’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around her.

 

“How bad is it?”

 

Sojung mulled the question over. To anyone else, the question could’ve been about anything, but she knew exactly what Hyunjung was referring to.

 

“Bad.”

 

 

Jiyeon took a seat by the bar. Before the trip, Sojung gave her a specific task. She spotted her target across the room. A tall, fit, young woman with long black hair and piercing eyes. 

 

Sojung talked about her with such distaste that it made Jiyeon wonder. If Sojung, of all people, hated her, what could she have possibly done to cross her?

 

She asked her to just watch and not engage. But that was seeming to be proven a bit difficult after a particularly strong drink.

 

Jiyeon knew the woman had noticed her obvious staring and decided to come up to her at the bar.

 

“Can I help you?”

 

Sojung’s words echoed in Jiyeon’s sort of hazy brain.

 

“No, definitely not.”

 

And with that, Jiyeon waltzed out of the dingy bar. She was always going to follow Sojung’s orders regardless of the situation she found herself in.

 

 

Jiyeon raised her eyebrows as she walked past Sojung and Hyunjung hugging in the kitchen. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to talk to Sojung. She opened the door to her shared room with Juyeon, who was already laying in the bed.

 

“Hey, where have you been all night?”

 

She muttered an incoherent response, taking off her shirt and pulling off her pants.

 

Juyeon sat up, speaking again. “Were you drinking?”

 

Jiyeon shooed her girlfriend’s words away and flopped onto the bed next to her, immediately cuddling into the taller girl’s side.

 

“You will tell me in the morning what you were up to tonight.”

 

 

The team was scattered around the living room floor, munching on some breakfast Sojung’s mom had made them before she headed out for the day. Sojung and Jiyeon were nowhere to be found though.

 

Hyunjung raised an eyebrow at Juyeon and she raised one back. She looked around at her friends who were too preoccupied with Yeoreum stabbing at her egg yolk.

 

Juyeon leaned in closer. “Jiyeon came home drunk last night, do you know anything about that?”

 

It was really odd and out of character for Jiyeon to go out and drink, nevertheless lose some sense of control.

 

From the moment they arrived in Busan, nothing seemed to make any sort of sense to Hyunjung. Sojung was keeping things from her, and she held out some patience, but her wife wasn’t budging much.

 

Juyeon shrugged Hyunjung’s mindless look off as just tiredness from the early morning. She was just going to have to ask her girlfriend when she sees her next.

 

 

If it was anyone else, excluding Juyeon of course, Jiyeon would have strangled them for waking her up so early in the morning when she had a hangover. She never drank, so the single vodka sprite she had last night did her dirty.

 

“What the hell, Sojung?” Jiyeon’s right hand clutched at her head while the other rubbed at her tired eyes. “Where the hell are we?”

 

Jiyeon looked around. They seemed to be surrounded by wooden walls, almost like a shed. The only source of light being a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

 

“My secret hideout.”

 

“What are we, twelve?”

 

Sojung snickered quietly before it faded into a distant smile.

 

“Apparently so.” Jiyeon mumbled. Sojung pulled out two seat pillows for them to sit on. She looked at Sojung weirdly.

 

“What’s been up?” Sojung dismissed Jiyeon’s question, instead asking her own.

 

“What happened last night with Sooyoung?”

 

Jiyeon paused. “Nothing.” She ignored Sojung’s disappointed look. She decided to try to question her friend again. “What’s been up?”

 

She watched on, rather impatiently, as Sojung fell onto her back with her hands behind her head. “My father built this for me before he disappeared.”

 

Jiyeon stiffened. She knew about the story of Sojung’s father, but that was only after some deep digging she had to do on her own time. Sojung never spoke of him.

 

She was wordless as she watched her friend sit back up again. “I came back here for more reasons than I led on to the team.”

 

Jiyeon rubbed at her head. “And what are the reasons?” She had a gut feeling on what it could be, but she wanted to ask just to confirm.

 

“We’re here to figure out what happened to my father.”

 

 

Jiyeon slightly froze at the sight of her girlfriend sitting at the edge of their bed, looking like she had been waiting and expecting for her to walk right in.

 

“Mind telling me now what happened to you last night?”

 

She lazily wrapped her arms around Juyeon, opting out of straddling her lap for now. “I just had a single drink at the bar.”

 

“All by yourself?” Jiyeon immediately noticed the flash of jealousy before it faded into a look of concern. “I could have come with you.”

 

Jiyeon didn’t want to talk about it any longer, out of respect for Sojung’s privacy in the matter of the favor she asked of her.

 

She leaned in to meet her lips with Juyeon’s. “There’s nothing to worry about.” She ran her fingers through Juyeon’s recently dyed blonde hair.

 

“There better not be.”

 

Jiyeon was lying. There was plenty to be worried about.

 

 

Sojung had given the team the weekend off until they started some real team bonding.

 

Juyeon found herself in a small, dimly lit seafood restaurant with Yeoreum. The younger girl had been fidgeting in her seat across from her all night long.

 

“What’s up with you?” Juyeon smirked as she slurped an oyster. Yeoreum sighed, setting down her fork. She cleared .

 

“Do you think Dayoung would say yes if I asked her to move in with me?”

 

Juyeon paused her eating to look at Yeoreum. A look of worry was taking over her face.

 

Jiyeon had asked Juyeon to move in with her after they got back from their vacation to Turks and Caicos and she had automatically said yes.

 

It was an easy transition, and a convenient one at that.

 

“Of course she would, you shouldn’t stress over it.” She reassured Yeoreum and it seemed to lift a visible weight off her shoulder as she started to relax.

 

They continued to have small talk over their dinner, flagging down a server for their checks afterwards. They left the restaurant to walk along the beach.

 

Juyeon kicked at the sand under her toes. The weather was cool during the night, but the sand felt nice on her skin.

 

“Do you ever think about how much changes in a year?”

 

She looked towards Yeoreum, who was also kicking at the sand. She mulled over the question.

 

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy how far we’ve all come.”

 

A face eating grin took over Yeoreum’s face. “Remember when you and Jiyeon would fight every single day?”

 

Juyeon looked back on the memory and cringed, the ridiculousness of it all coming back to her, causing her to contort her face.

 

“We had it rough, but it all worked out.”

 

Yeoreum sighed and looked up at the stars. “I’m pretty sure that I knew Dayoung was it the moment I met her.”

 

The blonde knew this story. Dayoung had mentioned it in passing to her one drunken night. She gushed about the “forensics girl” the whole time.

 

“I think she knew too.”

 

 

Sojung didn’t tell her to, but Jiyeon went back to the same bar. And brought Luda with her.

 

“How do you know of this place?” Luda looked back at the older girl as she pushed open the front door.

 

Jiyeon shrugged. “Stumbled upon it the other night. It’s chill.” She quickly scanned the open floor. It was still early for the bar to be packed, but her eyes landed on someone.

 

Luda walked off to get the bartender’s attention. Jiyeon teared her eyes away, looking distractedly at her nails to pretend she wasn’t just staring at the girl from the other night.

 

“I would think you’re stalking me by now.”

 

There were two ways to go about this, Jiyeon thought. The first, act dumb. The second, be up front.

 

“I’m not. I just like this bar.”

 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luda looking at her from across the room. She looked pointedly at the girl in front of Jiyeon, as if asking who she was.

 

“I’m Sooyoung.”

 

Jiyeon looked uninterestingly at the girl’s outstretched hand.

 

Sooyoung retracted her hand after a beat and took a step closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I’ll let you get back to your girlfriend.” 

 

If she wasn’t just the slightest bit put off, Jiyeon would have actually laughed at the idea of this girl thinking Luda was her girlfriend.

 

Sooyoung walked away and Jiyeon approached Luda with a smirk, grabbing the drink she was handing to her.

 

“What the hell was that all about?”

 

Jiyeon finally released her laughter. “She thought you were my girlfriend.”

 

Luda spluttered out her drink. “Who even was she?”

 

This is where Jiyeon acts dumb. “Don’t know.” She mumbled, taking a chug of her drink to avoid Luda’s suspicious eyes.

 

“Whatever, just don’t let me get too wasted tonight.” Luda mentions before she flags down the bartender for another drink, along with a shot.

 

 

Meiqi fell back onto the bed, out of breathe.

 

“Do you think the others know by now that we’ve been sleeping together?”

 

She felt Dawon turn her head to look at her. “Of course they do.” Meiqi’s stomach churned, nerves settling, but not because of the prospect of the others knowing.

 

They had the house to themselves for a quick hour. Everyone had grouped up to go hang out in the town, Meiqi and Dawon opting to stay back and “keep watch over the house”.

 

Sojung had looked at the two strangely before closing the front door on them.

 

“Dawon, what are we doing?”

 

She felt the girl in question snuggling into her neck, peppering soft kisses all over it. “Round two.”

 

Meiqi softly shoved Dawon back and got up from the bed. “No. I mean, what are we doing?” The sound of her heart beat sped up just a little bit.

 

“Round... two?

 

There was a long pause. “I’m sick of you.” And without another word, Meiqi left the room, an utterly speechless Dawon just staring at the empty space she left behind.

 

 

“Who said this was a good idea?!” Chengxiao groaned as she dusted off her legs.

 

“You did, silly!”

 

Chengxiao and Xuanyi were kneeling behind a hedge across the street from the bar Soobin had just walked into. The trio had wandered around town in hopes to find something interesting to spy on.

 

The girls were curious about detective field work, so they grabbed a pair of binoculars before leaving the house. Soobin had volunteered herself as the subject.

 

Xuanyi watched through the magnified lenses as a girl approached Soobin, stifling a laugh as she watched the younger girl freeze.

 

“Look, some hot girl is trying to talk to Soobin already!”

 

Chengxiao quickly grabbed the binoculars to see for her own. “Holy crap, she’s pretty.”

 

Her hand twitched, losing her focus on Soobin and onto the crowd of people at the bar. She spotted a familiar duo.

 

“What the... Jiyeon and Luda are in there too?!”

 

Xuanyi didn’t even bother to take back the binoculars, opting to just stand up and squint her eyes from across the road.

 

“We’re going in.”

 

 

Jiyeon was grimacing as she watched Luda down three shots one after another. She was not fit to control a drunk Lee Luda. She yelped as she felt hands on her shoulders.

 

“Hey guys!” Xuanyi beamed from behind her, Chengxiao standing next to her waving a hand.

 

“What are you guys doing here?”

 

Chengxiao looked around the bar for a second, finally pointing across the room. “We’re here with Soobin.”

 

Jiyeon’s gaze followed her finger to Soobin and the girl from before, Sooyoung. She resisted rolling her eyes. She obviously had Soobin wrapped around her finger already.

 

Before she could mention anything, she felt Xuanyi leaning to whisper into her ear. “Luda’s going to hate you in the morning.”

 

Jiyeon groaned as she watched Chengxiao try to pull another full shot glass out of Luda’s hands.

 

 

Yeonjung breathed in the fresh, ocean air. “Nothing like the beach at night, especially Haeundae.”

 

“Right? The weather is just perfect.”

 

Dayoung and Yeonjung were sitting outside at a cafe on the second floor of a building. The view overlooked the water.

 

“I can’t believe Sojung would want to leave a town as beautiful as this.”

 

Dayoung mulled over her words, holding her coffee mug up to with both her hands.

 

“Do you know much about what happened in her past?”

 

Yeonjung furrowed her eyebrows, staring back at Dayoung. “No idea, you?”

 

“Not much.”

 

They both took another sip of coffee during the moment of silence.

 

“Something real bad must have happened for her to leave.” Dayoung stayed quiet, no longer wanting to indulge in this topic. She knew all that she needed to know about Sojung’s father, unbeknownst to Sojung herself.

 

It was like that for most of them though. Detectives get curious and eventually dig into certain secrets or pasts that desperately want to be forgotten.

 

Dayoung swiftly changed the subject. “Have you ever been to Busan?”

 

Yeonjung nodded, a faint smile on her face. “My parents took me here for my fourth birthday.”

 

 

Luda slammed the door of the taxi. She had her sunglasses on, but was still squinting up at the morning sun. “Tell me why I agreed to come with you to snoop.”

 

Yeonjung shuffled over to Luda to shush her. “We’re not here to snoop!”

 

They were standing in front of the town hall. After her conversation with Dayoung the night before, she couldn’t quite get the curiosity out of her system.

 

“We are so here to snoop.”

 

Yeonjung scowled at her as they walked throw shelves and shelves of documents and books.

 

“I’m not sure if I want to know.” Luda confessed quietly. “It’s her business.”

 

The younger girl looked at her, noticing the sudden hesitance from Luda. “Let’s make a deal. If we find something crazy, we’ll just forget about it. Deal?”

 

Luda nodded, taking off her sunglasses to get started on the computer provided. She clicked away on the keys while Yeonjung picked some documents to spread out onto the table.

 

“Wait, do we even know what to look for?”

 

 

This time, Sojung was being dragged to her secret hideout by Jiyeon. It was the early morning, to avoid the curious looks they would surely receive from their other members.

 

“What’s the deal?” Sojung grumbled out, still in her pink pajamas. She rubbed at her eyes, cracking them open only to squint in the morning sunlight.

 

Jiyeon paused, choosing to carefully word her next statement. “Soobin might have interacted with that Sooyoung girl at the bar last night.”

 

It might have been the sleep deprivation or the early morning, but Sojung could have sworn she was imagining this whole conversation right now. Jiyeon realized the other girl wasn’t going to speak anytime soon so she elaborated.

 

“Sooyoung was flirting with Soobin.”

 

Sojung let out a loud groan and fell face forward into the seat cushions. She let out a mini scream of frustration before she quickly sat back up. “Abort. Abort mission.”

 

“What mission?” Sojung ignored her, scrambling to stand up to head back to the house. Jiyeon repeated herself, only to receive a dismissive wave. She watched as Sojung sleepily stumbled back into the house.

 

Jiyeon rarely ever did this, but she decided it was time to do some snooping of her own.

 

 

It was late at night and Sojung was walking home from the convenience store. Her father had asked to grab some milk for the morning, and her mother was already sound asleep. 

 

She saw a figure coming towards her, head down and hands covering their face. They got closer and Sojung immediately recognized who it was. “Sooyoung?” It was her best friend with tears streaming down her face. 

 

Sojung grabbed her shoulders, but Sooyoung quickly broke free, muttering an apology with a heartbreaking voice before she fled down the street. It was so out of character for Sooyoung that it left Sojung dumbstruck and frozen. She could only watch her friend disappear around the corner.

 

She wouldn’t understand what all that was about until she got home a few moments later. A note was taped on their front door. 

 

Do not look for me.

 

Chills ran down her whole body, and then panic set in as she tore down the note and threw their front door open, shouting for her father. It was evident that he was gone, but something inside of her wished this wasn’t happening. 

 

She knew who to blame. She knew who was at fault. 

 

Her best friend had ratted out her father. 

 

 

Sojung stared out at her childhood neighborhood from the rooftop of her family house. The stars were especially bright that night, as if they knew Sojung was outside, seeking them out. She felt arms wrapping around her waist from behind.

 

“What are you thinking about?” She felt Hyunjung whisper into her ear. Sojung mulled over her thoughts. It felt like there were millions going a mile a minute. She tried her best to just empty out her mind.

 

“Nothing.” Sojung more so felt than heard her wife sigh. “But, I was thinking we all can go on a camping trip for a couple days in the mountains.”

 

Hyunjung flipped her around, raising her eyebrows at the sudden suggestion. “I bet you half of them would be against that idea.” Sojung let out a laugh before she swung an arm over her wife’s shoulder, leading them back into the house.

 

“They’ll do whatever I say.”

 

 

When Sojung suggested they take an impromptu camping trip up in the mountains, the members looked around and met each others eyes. Hyunjung had a creeping feeling that this plan was just an elaborate excuse. From what? She has no idea. But she surely wasn’t going to mention it in front of everybody, especially not to her own wife.

 

Being back in Busan, everybody’s focus seemed to be shifted onto their leader. They couldn’t seem to turn off their running thoughts and curiosity about Sojung’s prior life. They all knew, but they didn’t at the same time.

 

“And we’ll be having the Busan task force join us.”

 

Now that was something new.