After admitting Byul's skills and completing her short physical training, they decided to pause the session as Wooyoung excused himself to pick Hwayoung up from her kindergarten, and came back to their dorm with a smile that did not leave his face. As Hwayoung's already home, they decided to continue their session with Byul only after the kid has gone to sleep.

They went on with their normal daily lives. Seonghwa, San and Yeosang disappeared to pick up groceries in the afternoon. They opened up the cafe anyway, with Jongho and Wooyoung managing to serve two customers. Yunho had went out with Hwayoung because she had wanted a new colouring book and even though the child kept insisting that she wanted Byul to come along, her father had managed to cut her wish down. Meanwhile only Byul, Mingi and Hongjoong were left at the dorm, with Mingi trapping himself at the headquarters because he wanted to prepare for the mission that was set for tomorrow.

By night, as soon as they confirmed that Hwayoung had gone to sleep, all 9 of them disappeared into the depths of their headquarters. Mingi looked half-dead in front of his computer screens, cracking his neck and pushing his glasses up by the time they came to him. They moved to the meeting room to start filling Byul in with information regarding their team and mission.

The rest of them remain silent for the most part, as Mingi does most of the talking in explaining to her what the Bifidensis and KTC are, only deciding to add in anything if they deem there's a need to. She listens intently to their explanation of what the organization is, how life is like there, and up until the moment they were chosen to become a part of ATEEZ. She nods, absorbing every single detail that they tell her, cross-checking it with what she knows of the Bifidensis and KTC. She knows for sure that they're not lying to her, because every piece of information that they tell her matches with what she knows.

"When we're taken to the facility we were divided into three Aeons; that was what Akira asked you back then at the tattoo parlour. It's essentially a categorization of which area you're good at, or at least which area that you show the most skills in," Yeosang helps to explain. "The names are odd honestly, but relative to our lives there, this is nothing."

He takes a deep breath. "Akt is for those who are good with IT, like me and Mingi. Bax is for those who are skilled in close-range attacks. Hongjoong, Jongho, San and Yunho are all from that Aeon. They're good in physical attacks, including the use of weapons. The last one, Myc, is for those who are good in long-range attacks. Mostly made up of snipers and sharpshooters, and that's where Seonghwa and Wooyoung were put into. For as long as we're there, we need to follow the rules of our respective Aeons. They don't really prohibit interactions between members of different Aeons, but we rarely do because all of us undergo different trainings anyway."

"How did they choose who becomes one of the members of a particular team?"

"We never knew the criteria of how they choose the members; all we know is that they'll choose any number of people from each of the Aeon and make a team. We don't get a say on who will or who will not be chosen. If you're lucky, you get picked and you're able to return back to the real world. Some get trained for years yet they don't get picked. The only thought you have while you're in there is to get out as fast as you can before you lose yourself."

It's either that they really don't know why they were chosen as a part of ATEEZ, or they're not telling her what they know. Yeosang doesn't sound like he's lying, so she's taking it as that they really don't know the reason.

They had been going on about how the Bifidensis is with their agents; how strict they are in carrying out the punishment to any of the agents who broke their rules. But why the special treatment towards them?

She resists the temptation to ask, but fails to do so as she spills, "I'm just... curious." All heads turn to her as she continues, "Why does it seem that... the Bifidensis are... lenient with your team? I mean, you only have cameras at the cafe and not anywhere else, when you said that they keep an eye on their agents almost all the time. And... um." She plays with her fingers, "You're not supposed to have any... relationships..." she trails off, refusing to elaborate. She doesn't want to bring Hwayoung into the conversation, although she needs answers.

Yunho has his head down, playing around with the pen in his hand. He keeps clicking the pen up and down, until it drives Seonghwa crazy and he steals the pen from the younger while glaring at him.

Sorry, he mouths, but Seonghwa only shakes his head, clearly burdened with the atmosphere.

"I'm- I'm sorry," she quickly refutes, knowing that she crossed the line. "I just- I was just wondering but I shouldn't have-"

"I know what you're thinking," Yunho says, eyeing Byul. "You're wondering how Hwayoung is there when we're not supposed to be having any relationships with anyone. You're right, we weren't supposed to, but I guess I was a normal human who thought love was everything. I broke the rule when I was at the centre, Hwayoung's mother got pregnant but I didn't know. She got punished, but I didn't. So the answer you want is, we don't know. We don't know why the Bifidensis is being lenient with us, we don't know why they don't punish us even when we've broken so many rules. Does that answer your question?"

She gulps. "You're really wishing I'm Hwayoung's mother, aren't you?" She sighs heavily, "Look, I don't know how else I'm going to tell you that I'm not. If you're insistent on having the proof right in front of your eyes, then would you like to do so?" When Yunho only stares at her, she finishes, "A DNA test; just to stop you from being so anxious. Although I'll doubt the test will come back as positive, I'll do it so you could finally get off my back and realize that I'm not her mother."

Yunho looks hesitant at the proposal; would he rather stay in doubt and not know the exact truth, or be disappointed once he had to accept the fact that Lee Eunbi had really died right in front of his eyes 6 years ago?

"The results could come back around 24 to 72 hours, so do you think you can wait?" she proposes. "If the test results come back as negative, I would like it if you could stop projecting this image of her mother onto me. I don't mean to sound so... insensitive because I don't know what happened to you and her mother, but I'm uncomfortable when you keep on insisting me as someone I'm not. If you're worried I'm going to tamper with the evidence, I won't go near the DNA kit in any way. After I give you my sample I'll stay out of it until the results are released."

Wooyoung nudges Yunho, trying to elicit a response from him. The uncertainty hangs heavy in the air, but eventually Yunho nods. "If it's negative-" he stops talking, knowing that he wishes the outcome would be the opposite, "-I'll stop. I'm sorry for always making you uncomfortable."

"That's settled then," Hongjoong vocalizes, bringing down the temperature of the room as it seemed like they would jump forward and start clawing at each other's faces. "We need to continue laying out the mission and basic rules about going out on the field. We have less than 24 hours to plan everything and make sure it will go smoothly. This is one mission that will involve all of us, so a lot of things could go wrong and pose danger. Although the party is a closed event, it will be carried out in a public space, so keeping and committing to your disguises is very important. Sunfish, details please."

"Right away, Minion." From his seat, he takes out the laser presentation remote and clicks to the next page. "In this task we have four key players - our requester, Arman Seung; the receiver of the new substance, Arman Seung's rival, Min Gunhoo; the provider of the substance, Madam Tang and her husband, Sir Edin."

Four pictures of the said players were displayed on the screen, and instantly they imprint the faces in their minds. The couple Madam Tang and Sir Edin turn out to be a young couple in their late 20s, so it will be easy for Byul and Yunho to play the role. On the other hand, more work needs to be done in order to disguise any of them as Min Gunhoo, as he's a man in his late 30s.

"We're banking on the fact that none of them have met each other before, and that none of them knows how the other looks like. This is completely a blind shot at a meeting, because both parties have their personal interests in mind; they want to protect their privacy. Here's how it's going to go down, one of us will disguise himself as Min Gunhoo to come and meet the real couple first, get the details and substance first. We'll have to inform the real Min Gunhoo that the meeting will be postponed since we need to actually get our hands on the substance first. After we do, we will carry out the meeting in a separate room with Byul and Yunho as the couple."

Their minds are spinning with the in