“I’ve told you several times before that I won’t tell you anything,” Seungri said lazily. He leaned back in his chair and picked at his teeth with his fingernails. His disgusting, uninterested attitude infuriated Eunji.

“Then I suppose you should get used to your cell,” Chorong said. “You’ll be in there for a while.”

“Gladly. It’s quite cozy in there,” Seungri replied. “Though I don’t suppose you’d have some magazines to spare? It gets boring in there.”

“A magazine for a tidbit of information,” Eunji proposed. “How about that?”

Seungri barked a laugh. “You think I’m a joke?” 

Eunji shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

Eunji had gone through rigorous interrogation training back at the academy. She had been going through all of the methods that her instructors had taught her, and so far, none of them had worked. In her years of working as a secret agent, she had never failed in cracking suspects’ alibis and forcing the truth out of them. Seungri was by far one of her toughest cases, but he would not be the first to break her streak of success. 

One slip. That was all it took. Back in the academy, her instructors had taught her that all guilty suspects had a weakness. They just had to find it, and though they might have to use a variety of different techniques, there would always be one slip―a crack in their defenses that, if they were quick enough, they could dive right into and begin breaking apart the rest of their walls.

For the past few days, Eunji had tried to find that slip, but Seungri had shown no signs of weakness. She could feel the frustration rising in both her and Chorong.

Chorong leaned over the metal table with a deadly gaze. “We can only be nice for so long. We’re not the police or the usual folk that you’re used to dealing with. We’re not scared of taking...unorthodox measures to get what we want.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. Your teammate, Yoon Bomi—she took quite a bit of unorthodox measures to get to us.” 

“Is that why you tried to kill her?” Eunji demanded. After dealing with Seungri for a few days, Eunji still hadn’t been able to look at him without a feeling of hot hatred boiling in her gut. This was the man who had stabbed and almost killed her best friend. If she could have her way with him, Seungri would not be sitting in that chair, alive and talking back to them. 

Seungri shrugged and simply said, “Among other reasons.”

“What other reasons?”

“That would just make it too easy for you, now wouldn’t it?”

Not for the first time, Eunji resisted the urge to punch Seungri straight in the face.

“Look, we’ve extracted all of the information from your phone. Your messages, your call-log, your search history―everything,” said Chorong. “If you don’t tell us anything now, we’ll just find out later―after you’re dead. Let’s make this easier for both of us, shall we?”

“You’ll get nothing out of that phone, except for the video of Hong Yookyung and her team.”

“We know that your messages are written in some sort of code. Codes are meant to be deciphered.” Chorong threw a copy of the extracted information from Seungri’s phone onto the table. “You’ll find that it would be a very big mistake to underestimate our capabilities.”

Seungri bent over the table and studied the papers. “Is this meant to scare me?”

“We know you wanted something with Bomi,” Eunji said, ignoring Seungri’s question. “You didn’t really want to use her to get Yookyung, did you? You wouldn’t have tried to kill her otherwise.”

Seungri remained unfazed. “I can see how you’d come to that conclusion.”

“This is your last chance to tell us something before we stop being so nice,” Chorong warned. “What did you want with Bomi?”

“You can threaten me, starve me, or beat me however you’d like. That still won’t make me talk.”

“Your loyalty is admirable,” Eunji muttered. “It makes me wonder what you’d be like if you were on our side.”

Seungri tilted his head and smiled crookedly. “Doesn’t it?”

Chorong marched around the corner of the table and grabbed a fistful of Seungri’s shirt into her hands. She pulled him in close to her face and growled, “This is really your last chance. Submit to us and it won’t have to go down like this.”

Even with Chorong’s terrifying snarl only a few inches away from his face, Seungri did not flinch. Eunji had to give him credit; she knew how intimidating Chorong’s glare could be. One look at her icy gaze could make someone wet their pants. Eunji would know; she’d seen it happen several times before.

“I told you,” Seungri replied, keeping his voice low and steady, “I won’t tell you anything.”

Chorong glared at him for a few more seconds, then threw him roughly back into his chair. “You’re making a horrible mistake” She grabbed the papers from the table and turned to Eunji. “Let’s go.”

Without saying a word, Eunji followed Chorong to the door. Before she exited the room, Eunji turned and told Seungri, “I would like to thank you for the new restaurant recommendation, though. You seem to like that one fried chicken restaurant a lot, so it must be good.”

And there it was. The slip.

For the slightest of seconds, Seungri’s cocky attitude slipped and his face took on a new emotion of either fear, disbelief, or confusion. Eunji kept her eyes on his dumbfounded face as she stepped out of the room.

“The chicken restaurant,” Eunji said as soon as the door closed behind her. “That’s the slip.”

Chorong cast her a doubtful look. “What?”

“Right before I left the room, I mentioned the chicken restaurant,” Eunji elaborated. “It seemed to frighten him.”

“The chicken restaurant…,” Chorong mumbled to herself. “What could that mean?”

“I don’t know, but the others might. We should call a meeting immediately. This is the first lead we’ve had in days, and I’m sure everyone’s aching for some action.”

“Bomi above us all,” Chorong said rather absentmindedly. There was a faint pinch in Eunji’s chest at the random mention of Bomi from Chorong.

“Right,” Eunji agreed slowly. “I know Bomi. She’s been stuck in the infirmary for too long; any longer and she might lose her mind.”

“I’ll call everyone into the infirmary right now,” Chorong said and pulled out her phone. She typed something up, and not so long after, Eunji’s own phone buzzed in her pocket. Chorong had messaged everyone to meet in the infirmary in ten minutes.

Chorong’s power in the team was impressive, because in no longer than ten minutes, everyone had gathered in the infirmary, circled around Bomi’s bed as they had been last time. Hayoung had been the last one to arrive. She arrived right at the ten minute mark, panting heavily, like she had just ran across the palace to get there.

“Alright, we’re all here now,” Naeun said when Hayoung settled tiredly into her seat. “Chorong, what’s so urgent that you called all of us here?”

Chorong looked to Eunji, and Eunji understood that as Chorong urging her to speak. As briefly as she could, she explained what had happened in the interrogation room.

“Chicken?” Bomi said when Eunji finished. “You’re telling me that the slip was chicken? Ms. Choi is going to have a great laugh at this.”

Ms. Choi had trained them in interrogation techniques in the academy. The mention of her brought a smile to Eunji’s face; Ms. Choi had been one of her favorite instructors. She had been tough, but fair.

“Chicken…,” Hayoung murmured. “Naeun-unnie, did you bring Seungri’s files with you?”

Naeun nodded and pulled out a cream folder, handing it to Hayoung. Quickly, Hayoung slid out the papers and began searching through them, until she eventually singled out two sheets.

“Bomi-unnie, do you mind if I lay these papers out on your bed?” Hayoung asked.

“Go ahead,” Bomi answered, shifting over to the side. Eunji watched with pain as Bomi winced sharply with the sudden movement. Though Bomi looked a lot better than she had a few days ago, she was still unable to stand and walk comfortably. Eunji had offered to help her build up her endurance again, but Bomi had kindly refused her offer.

Hayoung set the two papers down onto the bed and stepped back so the others could get a closer look. “Look at all the times Seungri mentioned chicken. He only ever said it in one phrase: I’m craving spicy chicken. No change in words, no change in the kind of chicken, no variations, nothing.”

Eunji searched for all the mentions of chicken, and sure enough, they were all phrased the same way. “It’s a code,” she muttered. “The chicken was a code.”

Naeun glanced at Hayoung. “Is now an appropriate time to say ‘I told you so’?” 

“You told me so,” Hayoung said. “So now what?”

“Isn’t the answer obvious?” Bomi replied. “We have to go to the chicken restaurant.”

Chorong lifted a brow and made a very obvious glance toward Bomi’s bed. “We?”

“We as in some of us,” Bomi sighed. “Although I am dying to get out of this damned bed.”

“You can get out of bed, though,” Eunji pointed out.

“I meant get out of bed without feeling like I could collapse any second.”

“Hayoungie and I can go check out the chicken restaurant,” Namjoo said. “We’ll go tomorrow morning.”

“What happened to not locating any of the contacts from Seungri’s phone?” asked Naeun. “Isn’t it too risky?”

Hayoung gathered the papers on Bomi’s bed into a neat pile and slid them back into the folder. She placed it back down onto the bed when she was done. “This is different now. We have an actual lead that we can’t ignore. It would be too risky to not risk following up on it.” She looked to Chorong for approval. “Right?”

It didn’t seem like Chorong had any doubts. “You and Namjoo will go tomorrow morning. Make sure you have your mics and weapons on you in case things go awry.”

Namjoo nodded. “Understood.”

“You two may leave to prepare anything you might need. Let me know if I can help you in any way,” the princess told the two youngest members. “The rest of us will continue to search through the files to see if we can find anything else. We’ll report back to you if we do.”

Namjoo and Hayoung bade their farewells and rushed out of the room with newly invigorated spirits. Eunji took one glance at the cream folder on the bed and bit back a groan. Deskwork was perhaps her least favorite part of her job and was something that she dreaded doing, despite its inevitability. She’d rather fight twenty Shadow Clan members than stare at a couple of papers for a few hours. Begrudgingly, Eunji picked it up the folder and slumped in her chair.

“Alright,” she uttered, taking out the papers from the folder, “let’s get this party started.”

Bomi couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this weak. Well, physically, at least. The last time she had suffered injuries like this had been a few years ago, when she had fallen down two flights of stairs while fighting a Shadow Clan member. She had broken her leg and fractured a few ribs, and she hadn’t been able to walk for a few weeks.

At least it wasn’t so bad this time around; it had only been a few days since the mission and she could walk. Not comfortably, but she could still make it from one corner of the room to the next. For the past few nights, Bomi would wait until everyone had gone to sleep before she would practice walking. The first night had been excruciating and she had almost crashed to the floor, but it was getting better now. She still felt a sharp pain in her side from her knife-wound each time she took a step, but it now felt like an ember burning in her side rather than an explosion of hot, violent flames. The worst of her bruises were healing and had taken on an ugly, yellow color.

Taking a deep breath, Bomi rounded the corner of the hall. Tonight, she had challenged herself to make a circle through the inner halls of the palace. It was longer than any of the other paths she had taken in the previous nights, and she hoped that she would be able to make the trip without stopping. As she took another step and the wound in her side screeched with pain, she began to wonder if she had overestimated herself.

The halls of the palace were dimly lit by the ceiling lights above. Moonlight washed through the windows, setting the halls in an afterglow of muted blue. It was a calm night, and the palace was peacefully quiet.

Inside, however, Bomi felt the complete opposite of that. She had been walking for about ten minutes now, and her breaths were coming out ragged and shallow. The pain in her side seemed to have grown, and her legs practically shook with effort. She felt like her legs could give in at any moment.

Yet she still kept pushing forward. If she couldn’t handle this, then how could she expect to handle any other injuries in the future? She was certain that these wouldn’t be the last injuries she would receive.

After another minute of walking, the infirmary doors came into view. If it hadn’t been past midnight and if she hadn’t been in so much pain, Bomi would have given a shout of joy. She moved her leg forward at a quickened pace, eager to reach the salvation of her bed.

And at that moment, her legs crumbled under her exhaustion and pain. She felt her body falling forward and tried to move her leg forward to catch herself, but it was as though she had lost all control of her body.

Just as her face was going to collide with the floor, she felt a hand grab her arm and quickly pull her back. Rather than finding her face smashed against the floor, she found her face buried in the chest of her mysterious savior.

“Are you alright?” her savior asked breathlessly. By the sound of her melodic voice, Bomi already knew who it was before even looking up. 

When Bomi secured her footing and pulled away, she found herself face-to-face with Chorong. The leader was dressed in an oversized shirt and sweats, and circle-framed glasses sat on her nose.

“I’m fine,” Bomi replied, though her heart was still beating rapidly. She didn’t know if it was because she had almost fallen or because Chorong was holding her so closely. Bomi tried pulling out of Chorong’s grip, but the leader was holding onto Bomi’s arms too tightly. Her grip felt frantic and almost desperate. Bomi looked down at Chorong’s fingers, which were digging into Bomi’s arm. “I’m fine, Unnie. You can let go now.”

Something changed in Chorong’s eyes, and the leader quickly released Bomi. Bomi watched as her arms fell to her sides and grip the edges of her shirt. “What were you doing?”

“Taking a walk,” Bomi said. 

“It’s one in the morning.”

“Taking a very early walk. What are you doing here?”

“I came to check on you.” Chorong replied, and Bomi’s heart skipped a beat. Chorong glanced down at Bomi’s legs, which were shaking slightly. “You were practicing walking, weren’t you?”

She hadn’t necessarily done a bad thing, but Bomi still felt like she had been caught guilty of a horrible act. “I was,” she admitted.

“You’ve been practicing every night, haven’t you?”

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Chorong replied nonchalantly. “But now I do. Why didn’t you ask any of us to help you? Why try to hide it?”

“Because I didn’t want you guys to see me do what I just did a minute ago.”

“You would’ve fallen flat on your face if I hadn’t come,” Chorong said. She tilted her head to the side. “But that’s not the real reason why you hid from us, is it?”

Bomi in a breath. “No,” she answered so softly that her lips barely moved.

Chorong leaned against the wall. Her eyes followed Bomi as she also leaned against the wall and nearly sighed at the comfort of its support. “Tell me,” Chorong said calmly.

“I don’t know...I didn’t want you guys to see me like this, I guess. So weak and vulnerable.”

“You idiot, if we’re going to be in a team together, then we’re obviously going to see that side of everyone. Not just you.”

“I haven’t seen that side of you yet.”

Chorong let out what sounded like a scoff. “One day.”

“I don’t think I could ever imagine that,” Bomi said. “I’m sorry, Unnie. I’m still getting used to this team thing. I know I said that last time, but...I’m trying.”

“I know you are. You’re getting better at it too.” Chorong shifted her shoulder, and the moonlight from the window caught her cheekbone and accentuated its sharp curve. “I don’t want you to think that you have no privacy, though. You have the right to keep things to yourself, but just know that you don’t have to hurt on your own.”

Bomi nodded slowly. There was a weird feeling in her chest. “Thank you, Unnie.”

Chorong grinned in response and pushed off the wall. She held out her hand toward Bomi. “Come on.” 

“What?” 

“Give me your hand. I’m going to help you walk.”

“You don’t have to―”

“Hand.”

Bomi twisted her lips to the side. There was no use arguing against Chorong. A bit reluctantly, Bomi accepted Chorong’s hand and let her lead her away from the wall. Chorong took Bomi’s other hand and stood directly in front of her, her fingers wrapping Bomi’s hands in their warmth. 

Slowly, Chorong took a step back, and Bomi mirrored her movements. She winced at the sudden pain that lanced down her body as she took her first step. She felt Chorong’s fingers stiffen slightly.

“Does it hurt a lot?” the leader asked.

“It’s not nearly as bad as it was the first day,” Bomi answered.

“Let me know if it gets too painful.”

Bomi nodded, and Chorong continued walking backwards. Each step was painful, but there was something about Chorong being there in front of her that made her...less attentive to the pain. Bomi carefully watched her feet as they walked and tried to remember what it felt like to walk normally. Her steps were heavy and uneven, and she was pretty sure that they looked more like a hobble than a walk, but she glanced at Chorong’s fingers wrapped around hers and found the courage to keep going.

Eventually, Bomi couldn’t look at her feet anymore, and she lifted her gaze to look at Chorong. The leader was looking down at Bomi’s feet, seemingly oblivious of Bomi’s stare. The soft moonlight from the window gently illuminated her long lashes, whose shadows descended down to her cheeks. Her glasses gave her a sort of innocent look, although Bomi knew that Chorong was far from innocent.

Slowly, Chorong also lifted her head and suddenly Bomi was staring straight into her eyes. There was a sharp hitch in Bomi’s breath.

It was late at night, and yet Chorong’s brown eyes seemed to shine brighter than ever. The light from the windows continued to accentuate her cheekbones and jawline as though an artist had crafted them. How was it possible for someone’s beauty to shine so brightly with such muted lighting?

Bomi probably should have felt awkward and self-conscious for her incessant staring, but she had a feeling that Chorong hadn’t noticed her gaze. The older woman’s eyes seemed to be solely focused on one thing: Bomi’s face. There was a distracted look in Chorong’s eyes, like she was both seeing Bomi and seeing something else.

Whatever the case, they were both very obviously distracted. Too distracted, in fact, to notice the small step that led into a different hallway.

Chorong’s heel hit the step, her eyes snapped back to attention, and suddenly they were both falling backwards. Almost instinctively, Chorong threw her arms around Bomi, holding her tightly as she twisted her body to ensure that her body was between Bomi and the floor. 

Together, they collapsed to the floor. Chorong’s back hit the floor first, and Bomi heard two gasps from the leader: one, when she hit the floor, and two, when Bomi’s body fell roughly on top of Chorong’s. Pain scorched from Bomi’s knife-wound, and she too let out a loud gasp.

For a few seconds, they just lay there, both in shock and pain. Chorong’s arms were still wrapped tightly around Bomi’s body. Her hands were gripping the back of her shirt. It was oddly comforting, and Bomi allowed herself to embrace that feeling as she waited for the pain to subside.

Chorong groaned, unwrapped her arms from Bomi, and used one of her elbows to raise her body up. One of her arms remained clung to Bomi’s back. “Are you alright?”

Bomi leaned back slightly. They were still on the floor, and Bomi was still on top of Chorong. “I’m fine. You?”

“A bit embarrassed, if I’m being honest.”

Bomi just stared down at Chorong. Neither of them made a move to get up. Chorong stared back at Bomi with a mysterious gaze, and for a moment, Bomi feared that Chorong would pull away like she had the last time.

But the corner of Chorong’s lips just twitched upwards, until her face broke into a wide smile and she began laughing. Her whole body shook and her eyes crinkled with her laughter that resonated through the hall. Her nose scrunched up into a cute ball, and Bomi felt the odd urge to pinch it.

Chorong’s laughter filled the hallway, and Bomi just stayed still, completely in awe. She had never seen Chorong like this; the most she had seen from her was her soft smile. There was something so bright and contagious in Chorong’s laughter and wide smile that made Bomi’s heart lurch. As if acting on its own, Bomi’s hand moved up and brushed aside a stray strand of hair from Chorong’s face. Her hand stayed there, ever so gently cupping her cheek.

“Unnie,” Bomi said quietly, and that was all it took for Chorong to stop laughing and look back up at Bomi.

There they stayed, just gazing at each other as if all time had stopped around them. Bomi’s heart slowed to a low thumping in her chest. Chorong lifted her chin, and the moonlight hit the curve of her lips. It was at that moment that Bomi surrendered all of her better judgment to her emotions.

Her neck leaned down, bringing her face closer to Chorong. Bomi paused, expecting opposition from Chorong, but the leader made no movements; she only watched Bomi get closer. Her eyes fell to Bomi’s lips, and her chin made the slightest of movements upwards. 

Bomi leaned in closer, until their noses were practically touching and she could feel Chorong’s breath on her lips. If she moved any closer, their lips would touch. 

Chorong’s lips parted slightly―a silent invitation.

Chorong had always pulled away from any of Bomi’s touches, and yet here she was, leaning into it. She had always pulled her hand away from Bomi, and yet she was, with one hand on her back. She had always been so cool and reserved, and yet here she was...Completely open. 

Every fiber in Bomi’s body wanted to accept Chorong’s invitation. Just one small movement was all it took.

But Bomi couldn’t do it. She pulled back and got off of Chorong. Her hand found purchase on the wall, and she managed to pull herself up. When she had successfully stood up, she held out a stiff hand towards Chorong. 

“We should head back. It’s getting late.”

Chorong glanced at Bomi’s hand and then back at her face. She looked a bit disappointed, yet also shocked, as though she couldn’t believe what had happened―or what had almost happened. Her jaw clenched and she bit her lip as she took Bomi’s hand.

Together, they walked back in an awkward silence. Chorong kept by Bomi’s side, with her hand on her arm for support. Bomi’s heart ached, and she wondered if she had just made a huge mistake. What would have happened if she had actually leaned in? What would have changed?

I was scared to lose you! 

Bomi had shouted that at Chorong back in the infirmary, and Bomi was fairly certain that Chorong had believed that Bomi had been talking about the entire team. A part of Bomi had believed that too, but another part of her knew that that hadn’t been the case. 

She had been talking about Chorong. She had been scared to lose Chorong.

Yes, Bomi had been scared of never seeing Eunji and the others again, but there had been something about the thought of never hearing Chorong’s voice or seeing her beautiful brown eyes again that terrified her. At that moment, she should have known how she felt about Chorong. Maybe she had known, and she had just been denying it. But there was no denying it anymore, especially when Chorong had shown some sort of reciprocation and Bomi’s heart had nearly jumped out of her chest because of it.

When Bomi and Chorong reached the infirmary, Chorong paused by the door. She looked conflicted with herself. Looking at Chorong’s distrubed face, Bomi feared that she had ruined the friendship that they had worked so hard to build.

“Good night, Chorong-unnie,” Bomi said softly. “Thank you for tonight.”

Bomi moved to enter the infirmary, but Chorong stopped her with a hand on Bomi’s shoulder.

“Tomorrow night,” Chorong said. “At the same time. I’ll be here.”

“For what?”

“To help you walk. I’ll come every night until you can walk normally again.”

Despite the sudden warmth that was growing in Bomi’s chest, she said, “Unnie, you don’t have to do that.”

“I want to,” Chorong said simply. Her fingers clenched and unclenched by her side. 

Bomi was at a loss for words. She couldn’t pinpoint when her feelings for Chorong had shifted into something else―something that was so raw and unfamiliar, yet not so entirely unwelcome. Did Chorong feel the same way? And if so, when? Bomi didn’t know, but there was only one way to find out. 

“Tomorrow night, then,” Bomi agreed, and for the first time in a while, Bomi was excited for the next day.

Hi everyone! I'm sorry for the delay, but I hope that I made up for it with this longer (and more exciting) chapter :)