As she peeled the skin off an orange, Seulgi took the time to enjoy her breakfast, relishing in the solitude and silence that had become so rare at such a busy compound. Over the past week, SM Town had slowly turned into a germ metropolis. Everyday, the staff was alerted to a new breakout in the vicinity. Team members were dispatched to isolate and collect them, and one of Seulgi’s team members accompanied them.

“I was thinking,” Joy interrupted unceremoniously, dropping her tray loudly on the table and ending any meditation time Seulgi had left, “we should have a team name.” She indicated herself, Seulgi and Yeri, who had just sat down.

“Why?”

“Because we’re the only department without one.”

“So?” 

“So I hate having to say, ‘Kang Seulgi’s Photography Company, LLC’ everytime they ask for us. The Canadians mostly call themselves NCT , Neo Canada Transportation, and everyone calls Suho’s administration EXO .”

At Seulgi’s confused face, she explained, “Short for Executives. And, the medical team is the Bae-hive.”

“Oh, like Beyonce,” Yeri said.

“Yep,” Joy nodded.

“I like Beyonce,” Seulgi chimed in.

“Not the point here,” Joy waved dismissively. “Point is, we need a name.”

“And you’re suggesting?”

“Team Rocket!” she said gleefully. “I think Wendy is a better fit than Katy here, but we’ll roll with it.”

“I think you should know,” Yeri said with absolute sincerity that was completely out of character, “that I will not call us Team Rocket.”

“Me neither,” Seulgi added.

“Well then, I guess now would be the perfect time to spring the bad news about Dr. Bae.”

“What? What bad news?” Seulgi sat up straighter, instantly picturing the worst case scenario.

“She doesn’t like seafood.”

“So?”

“She doesn’t like oysters especially. Says she dislikes that squishy taste.”

Seulgi made a face. “So what’s the bad news? What does that have to do...with...me,” she trailed off when Yeri and Joy cackled loudly and controllably. Her ears and face flushed red once she made the connection.

“What’s so funny?” Wendy asked, suddenly appearing above them.

“Nothing much, just the usual Kkangseul being Kkangseul,” Joy said as she shifted over so Wendy could sit down. “Speaking of, how is WWJD going?

“What would Jesus do?” Seulgi asked, perplexed.

“Who would Joohyun do?” Yeri supplied helpfully.

“Wendy’s Woo Joohyun for Dummies,” Joy clarified.

“Meh,” Wendy sighed. “It’s harder than I thought it would be. Even though Seulgi’s the catch that she is.”

“Well, nobody’s really been in the compound lately, what with all the new cases,” Joy said, in an oddly sympathetic voice.

“Yeah, you’re right,” the doctor agreed. “I haven’t really seen Joohyunnie that much either. She and Minho have been called out almost every day this week.”

It was true. Seulgi hadn’t been able to talk to Joohyun since the video game night. The most she saw of her was when she came into the mess tent to grab food, and even then she didn’t hang about, taking her tray back with her to her office, only stopping long enough to tell Seulgi hi.

Seulgi was starting to miss the fluttery feeling in her chest whenever the doctor was near. It was almost as if Seulgi wasn’t herself without Joohyun coming by and inadvertently flustering Seulgi with her underwear. Was that all there was to it?

“Guys,” Seulgi said abruptly. She voiced her sudden insecurities aloud. “What if this is all wrong?”

“What do you mean?” Joy asked, honestly confused.

“I mean, what if I don’t really like her for her?” Seulgi fretted. “Sometimes, I wonder if I just like her for her unbeatable face or even just her y underwear. Isn’t that superficial?”

She looked around the table for answers.

“Well,” Wendy said slowly and thoughtfully, “I’d expect that it’d be super fishy; it’s her underwear after all, and it’s next to her hoo-hah, so--”

“Not super fishy, superficial,” Joy whispered behind her hand.

“Oh,” Wendy paused. “That makes more sense. Wait, why are we talking about her underwear anyway?”

“Ddeulgi is having a crisis about the origins of her Renebaebae crush.” Despite the flippant remark, Joy turned to Seulgi and said seriously, “Look, I think your feelings are honest.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Let’s be real, if all it took was a pretty face and some underwear to get you to fall apart, you would’ve had to fire me a long time ago.” She gave Seulgi a sultry wink.

Joy had a point. A really roundabout and narcissistic point, but she got it across. 

“Excuse me,” Minho interrupted them. “Seulgi-ssi? Could I talk to you outside please?”

Seulgi nodded and followed the man. Once outside, he turned to her and started talking. Seulgi immediately noticed that he was much looser that before, compared to the uptight version of himself that had been walking around previously .

“First, I wanted to say thank you. I’m forever grateful for what you did that day on the ridge, and I’m sorry it took so long for me to find you to say this.” He gave her a warm smile.

“It’s okay, you’re welcome,” she replied with a demure shake of her head. “I’m just glad everyone is alright.”

“For the most part, yeah,” he sighed. When Seulgi cocked her head in question, he elaborated. “You already know Wendy got out with a fractured wrist and broken fingers, but Taeyong had a puncture wound that required an emergency appendectomy. He’s recovering in the hospital.”

“Oh wow.”

“The virus patient tested negative, but he’s still on antibiotics for an unrelated infection.”

“What about Kai and Henry?” Seulgi asked, remembering the two pilots.

“That’s kind of why I’m here,” he said a little nervously. “They’re on a two week no fly protocol. Standard procedure after going unconscious,” he explained. “We need to fly out to another location, but it’s a no land zone.”

“So you need me to come with you to another location?”

“I do,” he nodded. “And I need you to bring the longest telephoto lens you have.”

“Is this a one day thing?”

“Yes,” he nodded, “We should be back by the evening.” He hesitated, seemingingly on the verge of voicing a thought.

“What is it?” Seulgi asked.

“Nothing,” he shook his head. “I’ll see you at the landing pad in an hour.” Then he walked away, leaving Seulgi with the feeling something was missing.

When Seulgi walked up to the helicopter, it was not as she envisioned. Minho was there, as expected, as was Mark, but alongside them was the petite frame of Dr. Bae, who looked like she wished to be anywhere else.

“What are you doing here?” Seulgi blurted out.

Joohyun shot her a dark look. “It’s nice to see you too.” She turned away and began tightening her harness.

“Uh, I’m sorry,” Seulgi stammered out apologetically, “I didn’t mean it like that. I just didn’t know you were going to be here. Minho didn’t give me a lot of details.”

“I’m sorry,” Irene sighed. “It’s not you. I’m a bit on edge. I haven’t done anything like this in a while.”

“What exactly is ‘this’ anyway?” Seulgi indicated the unfamiliar equipment around them. She recognized the long wire basket, it was used as a means to life people from the ground to the helicopter in rescue operations, but there was a square box about a foot long, and an object that could only be described as a fancy looking Nerf gun.

“There’s a person who may be infected,” Minho stepped in, “but the area is inaccessible by any land-based vehicle. We’re going to have to drop in, extract the target and take the chopper back out.”

Minho sounded odd; like she’d just been dropped into a Liam Neeson movie and everyone was using cool sounding words, like objective.

“You’ll be paired with Dr. Bae,” he indicated. “Just make sure she’s hooked up properly and safe. You just need to aid her while she’s going to and from the chopper.” He gave her a nervous smile and she definitely felt something was amiss.

“Why isn’t she going with you? You’re the leader?” Seulgi didn’t mind being paired with Joohyun, quite the contrary, she simply didn’t expect to get partnered up with her. It seemed like the universe was finally on her side for once.

“I-uh,” Minho stuttered, “I’m the leader, so I have to be in front, to lead. Alone.” It was weird. Seulgi had never seen him so fidgety. He’d always been pretty serious, but even in the times that he’d lighten up to laugh, he was always composed and confident. He was lying about this somehow, she just didn’t know about which part.

Minho directed the conversation away from whatever was making him so nervous. “Look, when we get down, just follow me. Don’t do anything that we don’t tell you to do first. And stick together.”

Seulgi nodded. Irene spoke up on the other side of her. 

“Because the situation calls for us to move quickly through a densely filled rainforest, we’re going to use minimal biohazard protection.”

“But you said--”

“I know what I’ve said,” Irene cut her off. “But this is a judgement call that Minho and I both agree on.” The man nodded. Irene pushed Seulgi’s sleeves up past her forearms, as she twisted them left and right. Satisfied, she examined the woman’s face.

“No cuts anywhere, right?” 

Seulgi shook her head.

“Good, now listen, the virus only infects via a portal,” Irene explained, “So as long as you don’t cut yourself and share an infected person’s blood, or let them spit in your face, you should be fine.” The doctor handed Seulgi a full face respirator. “Don’t take this off until I say you can.”

Irene fixed her with a stare, and despite the seriousness of the situation, Seulgi felt an uncomfortable wetness between her thighs.

Christ. 

The helicopter lifted off the ground, giving everyone a few minutes reprieve as they settled into the cacophony.

“When we get there, I’ll descend first,” Minho spoke up, “and then I’ll signal you to follow. Each of us will have radios for communication.”

“Got it,” Seulgi said. Her nervousness was evaporating by the second. This was her element. Being free, in the wild, the sense of adventure just around the river bend or something like that..

Minho gave her an approving nod. “Operation Lucifer is about to commence,” he said with a grin.

“Lucifer?” Seulgi asked quizzically. “Like in the devil?”

“As in the angel,” he answered with a self-satisfied smirk.

“As in the fallen angel,” Joohyun corrected irritatedly.

“But still an angel. It’s like what we’re doing: we’re descending from the sky like an angel.”

“I’d rather not be associated with an angel that fell from heaven and went straight to hell,” Joohyun deadpanned. “Not when we’re about to lower out of a helicopter and plummet to the earth.”

“We won’t be plummeting anywhere,” he said, annoyed, and crossing his arms, “not unless Seulgi screws up.”

Said woman immediately put her arms in front of her in a big X. “I won’t screw up.”

“See? There you go.”

The doctor scoffed. “Fine, still doesn’t make the name any less stupid.”

“Really?” Seulgi said, clearly misreading the room. “I kind of like it. Makes me wanna dance or something. Loverholic robotronic.” She hummed.

“Yeah!” Minho clapped.

They both danced a little jig while Irene pointedly ignored them.

A minute later, Mark notified them that they were approaching the target zone. Minho hooked himself up, while Seulgi attached herself and Irene to the clip in points. They were partially outside of the helicopter, ready to cast off.

“You know,” Mark suddenly spoke up, “I think Highway to Heaven would’ve been a pretty good mission name. ‘Cause when you’re coming back up, you’re like, going to heaven, and with the cable it’s kind of, y’know, like a highway.”

“Ohh!” Minho shot him a thumbs up. “That’s a good one. I’ll save that one for next time.”

Seulgi almost missed Irene's eye roll. 

“Once we’re on the ground, we’ve got six hours to get in and out. Mark will be back at 17:00 hours.” He glanced at his watch and Seulgi tried to do the math in her head.

...carry the one, 5:00pm. 

“We won’t have audio while we’re lowering, so just wait for my visual, Mark.” 

“Roger dodger.”

The expedition leader started his descent. Seulgi watched, excitement coursing through her veins. This was her opportunity to show Joohyun that she wasn’t a bumbling idiot. That she was capable, confident, and cool . She wouldn’t even have to try in this situation. Minho touched down and looked up at her, giving the go signal. She looked at Mark, who nodded, and then to Joohyun, expecting her to be looking back.

Except she wasn’t.

She wasn’t looking at anything actually. Because her eyes were screwed shut and she had a white knuckle grip on Seulgi’s chest harness. In her excitement, the photographer hadn’t even noticed the bundle of nerves beside her.

“Joohyun, we’re going, okay?” she said gently. The tiniest of nods came back in affirmation.

As smoothly as she could, Seulgi lowered them to the ground. However, the notion was more or less a lost cause. Rappelling involves little jolts here and there, and getting lowered out of a chopper, well, that just doubles the bounce. On the first jolt, the doctor’s eyes flew open and she gasped, “OMO!” The subsequent bucks became a horrible reenactment of a comedy.

Whatever composure Joohyun had been saving flew out the window. She began muttering incoherently, clutching Seulgi tighter, her legs flapping around like a paper doll that, at one point, kicked Seulgi.

Then Seulgi realized it. Minho, that . 

The photographer, in an attempt to get the situation under control, asked Joohyun to still her legs. The doctor’s solution for that was to wrap her legs around Seulgi’s waist. She then followed it up by wrapping her arms around Seulgi’s torso, essentially making her a human koala. 

Oh great. The squishy feeling was back.

At least now she’s still, Seulgi thought. It allowed her to regain command, and she began lowering them once again. 

Her face now buried into Seulgi’s neck, Joohyun’s breath was sending tingles up and down Seulgi’s spine. The excitement, however, was tempered by the doctor’s demeanor. She was whimpering and crying at the same time, and Seulgi caught words like, “Mommy” and “Please Mister.”

With one hand on the rope, she put her other on the woman’s back and rubbed it gently. 

“Hey,” she cooed. “What’s your favorite food?”

“What?” the woman sniffled.

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Tt--tteokbokki.”

“And your favorite color?”

“Pur--purple,” Joohyun whispered.

“Great, I’ll make you purple tteokbokki when we get back.”

Despite being on the verge of a breakdown, Joohyun managed to eek out a laugh.

“There,” Seulgi said, gently touching down. She held onto the doctor while she regained her sense of balance. Seulgi signaled Mark, who flew off.

“How was it guys?” Minho said, walking over. The barely concealed laughter told Seulgi all she needed to know.

“You set that up, didn’t you?” she said with a shove.

“Whoa, calm down,” he replied, but his chuckles revealed his motives.

“You knew she would be like this. You didn’t need an extra partner. You just didn’t want to deal with it,” Seulgi growled between clenched teeth.

“Okay okay, fine,” he held out his hands. “I knew she was afraid of heights and she’d be a handful on the descent.” Then he added in a low whisper so Dr. Bae couldn’t hear, “But I didn’t hear you grumbling about it earlier.” He smirked.

“You…” was all Seulgi could come back with at the moment.

“Let’s get moving, shall we? We’ve got quite a walk ahead of us.” 

Seulgi whipped around at the sound of the voice. The quivering mess that was Joohyun was gone, Dr. Irene Bae was now in her place, all business and ready to cut es.

“You will not mention that to anyone,” she snarled, and despite being the smallest of the group, earned the most enthusiastic nods in agreement. 

They continued their hike in silence, but Seulgi couldn’t quell her bubbling curiosity. She managed to last a full mile before she blurted out her question.

“Why?” Seulgi had to know. “Why would you volunteer to come if you’re so afraid of heights?”

The doctor didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Why wouldn’t I? If I can’t do it, how can I expect anyone else? How could I look Yoona or Seungwan or anyone else in the eye if I put them in danger because I was too scared? I think the question is, ‘why not?’”

Seulgi absorbed the answer for a bit. Joohyun was right, and she herself was guilty of doing the same thing herself. She would never put Joy or Yeri in harm’s way if she had anything to say about it. Her admiration for the doctor grew a little more just then.

“There!” Irene whispered, grabbing Seulgi by the wrist and pulling her into a crouch. She pointed at an area some fifty yards away. Though barely visible through the small clearing of trees, it was unmistakable. It was a building, and it looked horribly out of place against the lush greenery.

“I don’t understand,” Seulgi shook her head, confused as to why they were suddenly secretive. “Aren’t they expecting us?”

“Well, no,” Minho admitted. 

“What?”

“Look, trust me when I say that we’re doing the right thing here. We’re going to grab the target and get the hell out of here.”

“I don’t understand,” Seulgi said, her temper rising. “What are you talking about? And what is going on here? Am I in danger?”

“No more than you have been this whole time,” Irene said quietly, taking a hand into hers. “I promise, I will tell you what is happening later, but I need you to trust me for now.” She looked at Minho. “Trust us.”

Seulgi looked deep into those brown eyes, and she honestly had no idea why she was even hesitating. Joohyun could’ve asked her for the moon and she would’ve tried. For someone who wasn’t into romance, she sure was a sap.

“Yes,” she breathed. “I trust you.”

“Good,” Irene said, still holding onto the hand. “Now we need to be quiet. And get your mask on. You have your camera?”

Seulgi nodded.

“Is it on silent mode?”

Another nod.

“Okay, guess you’re on silent mode too. Follow us. Minho will lead, and I want you to try and take photos of every person and thing possible. Can you do that?”

A final nod.

“Let’s go.” She pulled Seulgi along, quietly moving through the brush. Once they got closer, Seulgi had to cover to stop the surprise that almost voiced itself.

The building was just part of a compound, surrounded by a chain link fence. But what shocked Seulgi was that within the perimeter were people, wandering around aimlessly, like prisoners. They were dressed in regular clothes, though it looked like they’d been wearing them for weeks now. No one looked younger than thirty, yet no one seemed older than sixty-five. 

“What?” Seulgi stared, unable to process the situation. Dr. Bae placed a hand on her shoulder and pressed another finger to her lips. Seulgi quieted down. The doctor tapped Seulgi’s lens, then pointed to the people. Understanding, Seulgi brought the camera up and started snapping away.

They followed Minho to a door, which he deftly picked and ushered them inside. Without a word, he continued on, Seulgi taking photos every now and then and Joohyun cautiously looking around as she brought up the rear. 

The hallway was long, made entirely of cement, and otherwise pristine. They passed a set of rooms, and in the rooms were cages full of animals. Bats, pigs, birds, and even a person. Seulgi momentarily lost her head and almost shouted for the person. The only thing that stopped her was a still hand on her forearm and a quiet head shake from Irene. Instead, Seulgi had to take a photo. 

Finally, Minho came upon another door that he picked open. Inside, Seulgi couldn’t help it. She gasped. It was filled with vials of all colors. They were labeled with things she didn’t understand, like REV-814, BB-22194, ICC-31615. Just codenames everywhere. Irene and Minho seemed to know what they were looking for; they quickly pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and were rifling through all the shelves.

Seulgi took more photos. 

“Found it!” Minho hissed.

Irene rushed over to him. He held a vial labeled RBB-000 out to Irene. She quickly pulled out a syringe from her pocket, withdrew a few droplets of liquid and dropped it into another vial of clear liquid she had produced from a pocket.

Seulgi quickly realized this wasn’t any ordinary liquid. The substance was morphing into different colors: blue, green, orange, pink, and purple before finally settling on a blood red. The doctor gave Minho a grim nod.

They quickly gathered the remaining vials with the same label. Irene produced another large syringe, withdrawing the contents of two vials and depositing it into two empty ones. She then wrapped them carefully, and placed it in another plastic bag, surrounded by bubble wrap. Meanwhile, Minho refilled the empty vials with a similar colored liquid, then inserted another fluid into the remaining four vials. They put the glassware back where they had found it, then shared a nod. Minho motioned them to move and they quickly made their way back the way they came.

Seulgi was very confused. Beyond the whole stealing weird vials from a possible vampire’s lair in the middle of Madagascar, Seulgi couldn’t believe they hadn’t run into anyone yet. Judging by the fortitude of the compound, they should’ve at least run into a crony on a smoke break. 

But that wasn’t the case. They escaped the area scot free, no one the wiser. Five minutes after clearing the area, Irene allowed them to take off their masks.

“Ahhh,” Seulgi inhaled, “it feels nice to breathe again.”

“Gross,” Irene said, more to herself, “my face is sticky and my hair is a mess.”

“That was great,” Minho smiled. “Nicely done, both of you.” He glanced down at his watch. “We’ve got about two hours to make the rendezvous point.”

“Minho-ssi, how exactly did we get through that so easily?” Seulgi asked. “My heart was pounding thinking we were going to run into someone.”

“Hah!” he grinned. “We’ve been watching them for the past week. They do their guard changes in the middle of the day. There’s a fifteen minute gap. They outsmarted themselves, thinking we’d come at night, under darkness, so they doubled the coverage, but we--”

He froze. Directly in front of him was a man, his zipper down, relieving himself. He looked just as surprised to see them as they did. Seulgi eyed the gun on his waist and knew this wasn’t good. Before he could react, however, Minho was on him, putting him in a headlock. 

The guard struggled fiercely, but Minho held his ground until the man fainted. When he went limp, the leader dropped him, and the man landed face first into the mud. Minho looked back towards the two women, panting heavily. Seulgi couldn’t help herself.

“That was hot,” she gaped, open mouthed.

“Hmph,” Irene huffed, and stepped over the man, before quickly continuing on. “What would’ve been hotter was not having to resort to such barbaric tactics with better planning.”

They walked in silence for a while, before Minho stopped suddenly. 

“This is it,” he confirmed, looking down at his GPS device. “I’m going to plant the homing beacon.” He pointed to a nearby hill, and Dr. Bae nodded in understanding.

Once they were alone, the silence seemed to magnify. Seulgi wasn’t quite sure what had changed, but Joohyun was even quieter than the normal reticence Seulgi had become accustomed to. It was so out of place, the younger woman had become momentarily distracted from her previous questions, like, ‘What the hell were they doing here?’”

If Seulgi were being quite honest, aside from the doctor’s beauty, she wasn’t someone that the photographer would normally be attracted to. Her type, if it could even be called that, was someone who was more outgoing, someone who laughed at everything. It was usually someone who spent their free time doing spontaneous, adventurous things, not a person who preferred remaining inside. She wanted someone who was brash and freewheeling, someone who didn’t conform to rules.

Joohyun was none of those things. She measured her words carefully, laughed quietly and brooded often. Seulgi had to work to get the smallest reactions out of her. And yet, she was like bait on a hook, the less Seulgi had, the more the chase incited her.

No, Joohyun was definitely not her type. She was all the traditional roles of a damsel in distress: she was frightened by loud noises, she couldn’t handle heights, and she cried emotionally. Seulgi felt an overwhelming need to protect her at these moments. 

But at the same time, Joohyun needed no one. She stood stall on her own: shielding everyone she deemed important, caring above and beyond what was necessary and when she wanted something, mercy on the person who stood in her way.

“He’s going out with Yoona, you know,” the doctor said suddenly.

“Huh?” Seulgi uttered, caught off guard.

“Minho,” she nodded in his direction. “He’s dating Yoona, if you were thinking about it.”

“Oh,” Seulgi scrambled for words, still not understanding what was going on. “I wasn’t. He’s not really my type.”

Irene only nodded, not adding anything else to the conversation.

Does she think I like Minho?  

Clearly the doctor must’ve thought Seulgi was into their expedition leader. She would have to remedy that. The game had been going on long enough, and if the last few minutes had helped her to realize anything, it was that she wanted Joohyun. All of her.

“You’re probably wondering what’s going on,” Joohyun finally sighed.

“Well, yeah, a bit,” Seulgi said honestly, though a bit would be a gross understatement.

“I have a confession,” Joohyun said solemnly, looking up into Seulgi’s eyes, boring into them like they were the only two people in the world. Because aside from their leader, they kind of were at the moment.

“I have a confession too,” Seulgi breathed out. There was no way around it now.

Their eyes locked, they both said their heart’s secrets at the same time.

“I have feelings for you, Joohyun.”

“I’m a spy.”

A/N: Sorry to end on a cliffhanger. Reeeeeally hope nobody needs that oyster joke explained to them. Also, did you spot the blatantly obvious code names? ;D

Hope you stick with this, things will get clearer after the next chapter. As always, love reading your comments.