“I think I’ve done the impossible,” Chorong muttered. She leaned back and stared at the mess before her, like she was shocked at what she had just done. 

“Did you make an even bigger mess?” Hayoung mumbled tiredly. “Because then you’ve truly done the impossible.”

Chorong didn’t reply with a snarky comment; she just stood and straightened some of the papers before her. “Namjoo-ah, Hayoung-ah, come here.”

Hayoung rubbed her eyes as Namjoo stood from her seat. For the past few days, they had been helping Chorong with her attempt to identify the Shadow Clan leader, despite the absurd lack of concrete evidence. The leader’s face had been practically fully covered by a mask, and all they had to work with was the minimal descriptions of his appearance by agents who had gotten close to him in the factory. Well, that and a few other other reports, but it was scarcely enough information to identify someone. 

Hayoung and the others already knew full well that they were likely embarking on a useless hunt and that the best thing they could do was just wait, but it gave them something to do. Chorong wasn’t the only one whose mind was in shambles; the whole team was struggling to wrap their head around the situation. 

Chorong splayed her hands before the papers before her. “What do you see?”

“Papers,” Namjoo answered plainly, but she still leaned in closely to see what Chorong was trying to show her. “They’re all descriptions of the leader...and some files of a man named Choi Jonghoon?"

“I think he’s the leader of the Shadow Clan.” 

Hayoung shut her eyes and opened them again, trying to shake away her shock and fatigue. She read over the papers again. “Could you elaborate?”

“All of the reports from the agents who got a close look at the leader reported that he had visible scars on the lower part of his face,” Chorong explained. “I didn’t think much of it at first because it was such a miniscule detail, but I got desperate and started searching for someone who matched the description.”

“And you found him from that?” 

“No, not at all. But it led me to this man named Jung Joonyoung.” Chorong handed Hayoung his file. Namjoo peered over Hayoung’s shoulder, and they read it together.  “He rarely makes appearances, and when he does, it seems to be at relatively large meetings. According to Seungri, the leader only goes to the large Shadow Clan meetings, so this means that Joonyoung must be relatively important in the Shadow Clan. So I looked into him a bit more, and I found several old reports of him from years ago. He often appears with one man in particular―Choi Jonghoon.”

Namjoo picked up Jonghoon’s file from the table and read over the details. “About six feet tall, muscular, and, wow, would you look at that...Small scars on his chin! Matches the descriptions perfectly.”

“Right, but again, that’s not what gave it away. Jonghoon disappeared from these files over a year ago. After this last report, he becomes completely obsolete. There is no trace of him anywhere.”

“Because he started hiding his face…,” Hayoung murmured.

“Exactly,” Chorong nodded. “Choi Jonghoon is the leader of the Shadow Clan.”

The second Chorong made her groundbreaking revelation, there was a gentle knock on the door, and Eunji walked in. Hayoung and the others stared at Eunji with wide eyes, their minds buzzing with the breakthrough. Eunji stared back at them with innocent eyes, completely oblivious to what had just happened.

“Why are you all staring at me like that?” Eunji asked.

“Chorong-unnie figured out who the Shadow Clan leader is,” Namjoo blurted, hardly able to contain her excitement.

Eunji blinked once. Then twice. “I’m sorry, what now?”

“Chorong-unnie figured out who the Shadow Clan leader is,” Hayoung repeated. “Come have a look.”

Eunji quickly crossed the room to them with wide, excited steps. Chorong handed her Jonghoon’s file and explained how she had reached her conclusion while Eunji studied the papers.

“You’re amazing, Unnie,” Eunji marveled. Her eyes traced the details on the papers until they finally fell upon captured images of him. She squinted and brought the paper closer to her, like she was trying to get a closer look at the blurry image of his face.

“There’s a better picture of his face on the next page,” Namjoo noted.

Eunji flipped the page―and almost dropped the papers in her hand. 

“Eunji-unnie?” Hayoung asked curiously.

Eunji looked unsteady on her feet, and her hand was shaking slightly as she lowered the papers. “We have to get Bomi back as soon as possible.”

“Yes, we know that―”

“No,” Eunji said tightly. “We have to get her back now.”

“Eunji-ah,” Chorong grasped Eunji’s wrist. “What’s wrong?”

Eunji brought the papers back up to her eyes again with unsteady hands. Her fingers had curled so tightly around the papers that they had crinkled under the pressure. Seeing Eunji so shaken up was a rare sight, and it frightened Hayoung.

Abruptly, Eunji dropped the papers onto Chorong’s desk. They remained bent in their damaged, crinkled form. She staggered back with a sick look on her face. “I have to go.”

She gave them no time to react before she sharply swiveled around and bolted out of the room.

“Unnie!” Hayoung cried, but it was too late. Eunji was already gone.

This is a short chapter, but it's setting up a lot of stuff! This will also be a triple upload, so you will not be left hanging for long :)