Chapter 5

Caught?

            In the suburban outskirts of Seoul City, Lee Chaeryeong and Jo Yuri were visiting their charity orphanage; Haneul Wiro. Haneul Wiro is a charity funded orphanage founded by the group and was handled by Chaeryeong, Yuri, Yujin, and Chaeyeon.

           On the eyes of the public, Haneul Wiro is a charitable program for the street children of Seoul, educating the poor and protecting those who are innocent. That was partly true… for what society didn’t know is that Haneul Wiro houses tormented souls—children that were kidnapped, sold, enslaved, abused, and troubled.

        Children that went through the same hell that Chaeyeon and the others went through. The group rescues children from vast syndicates to the best of their abilities and protects them in their orphanage. It is through this that the children are given a fresh start; good education, good lives, good futures. Yujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuri makes sure of that.

          However, not all children want bright lives and clean slates… some, like Chaeyeon and his group, want revenge. So revenge they will get. The children who wants to conquer the hell they were brought into are taken under Chaeyeon’s wings. It is under his tutelage that the select few who want to wreak havoc are turned into justice seeking vigilantes called wings, these people were often helping the operation of the Ales Killers.

            “The children are doing better than I thought they would…”  Chaeryeong told Yuri as she surveyed the canteen where at least two hundred children were eating. The recent increase in the orphanage’s population was due to their latest rescue from one of the child-trafficking syndicates in China.

            “I’m glad that they are doing fine, but as expected some are lining up to join the wings.” Yuri replied, reading the 28 names that were interested in joining Chaeyeon’s tutored group. She sighed regretfully at their decisions to join wings, it would’ve been a lot better for them to just restart their lives.

            Chaeryeong turned her attention from the children in the canteen to Yuri who was sitting at her table scanning documents. At Yuri’s sigh, Chaeryeong already knew why and what has caused her pseudo sister to be frustrated. “It’s better for Chaeyeon oppa to train them, rather than them to seek revenge on their own Yuri-ah.”

            Yuri nodded at the truth in Chaeryeong’s words, it was indeed better for them to train and form these children into justice seeking vigilantes rather than have them become reckless murderers. “I know Chaeryeong… but nobody deserves to throw their lives away just for revenge.”

            Chaeryeong laughed bitterly at Yuri’s words. “We’re not exactly in the position to say that aren’t we?”

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            “Eunbi-unnie, Minami’s here!” Minju welcomed the private investigator into her apartment that has also become Eunbi’s residence due to the latter’s latest stalker.

            “How are you Minju-unnie?” Minami questioned as she sat at one of the seats in Minju’s living room.

            “Busy with the endorsement deals, but other than that, everything’s fine. How about you? Is Hyewon-oppa driving you mad with all his cases?” Minju walked around the connecting kitchen bar to get some drinks for her guest. “Juice, water, or soda?”

            “Water would be fine, and no, Hyewon-oppa is busy dealing with the death of minister Jonghyun, so I’m not that busy since the police investigators for once are doing their jobs.” Minju nodded at Minami’s words, remembering Hyewon’s TV appearance where he reassured the masses that Seoul’s prosecution office and police force are doing their best to bring justice to the death of Korea’s beloved minister. One could even say that given a few more years in his office and Hong Jonghyun would’ve amassed enough support to be a presidential candidate.

            “Speaking of which, how is Eunbi-unnie holding up with her step-father’s death?” Minami asked, as she took the beverage out of Minju’s hands. Minami knew of Eunbi’s secretive family ties due to her job as Hyewon’s private investigator.

            “I don’t have a step-father.” Eunbi’s hateful words and her morose entrance made Minami flinch.

            True, Eunbi was saddened by the death of a man who was kind to her, but she would never acknowledge the woman who brought her into this world as her mother, much less the politician she had married to be her step-father.

            “Forgive me for my meddling unnie.” Minami stood up from where she seated and greeted Eunbi with a bow.

            “No need for apologies Minami, meddling is your profession.” Minami was relieved and smiled at Eunbi’s light tone.

            “Speaking of my profession, here is the information you asked.” Minami took out the envelope out of her shoulder bag and handed it to Eunbi who had taken the seat opposite to Minami’s seat.

            Eunbi opened the file and was shocked to see the pictures of an attractive guy, out of all her stalkers, this one would be the crème de la crème… well appearance wise, he wasn’t exactly doing the best job of stalking her if Eunbi has more information on him than he had on her. “The guy who has been following you is named Ahn Yujin. He’s a fresh graduate from Seoul’s police academy—He has been assigned to one of Seoul’s precincts for close to 4 months now.”

            “A police officer?” Minju questioned as she sat beside Eunbi, peering at the photos over her unnie’s shoulders, letting out a “ooh”, once she saw the attractive stalker’s pictures.

            “Do you have any information as to why he is stalking me?” Eunbi raised her eyes from the file to meet Minami’s gaze. It was a first for Eunbi to have a police officer follow her around.

            “I’ve got possible reasons for you but I’m not entirely sure if its plausible. Ahn Yujin is one of the interning police detectives assigned to Minister Jonghyun’s case. He might’ve been assigned to you due to your relation to Minister Jonghyun and his wife.” At Minami’s words, Eunbi shook her head.

            “I don’t think that’s the reason why. My father has kept my information on tight security, and my relation to the minister and his wife is something I have strictly asked my father not to disclose.” Eunbi reasoned. Her relationship to Hong Daeun is something Eunbi isn’t entirely fond of. In fact, she detests the woman—so Eunbi being Minister Jonghyun’s daughter by law is something only a select few knows. Minami herself only knows due to Hyewon’s uncanny tendency to overshare information to his private investigator.  

            “I thought so too, which is why I dug deeper and discovered that Ahn Yujin, as young as he is, is a charitable millionaire. He is one of the founding members of the nalgi (fly) organization.” Eunbi and Minju’s eyes widened at Minami’s words, staring back at the picture of the young man, one would never foresee his status as a millionaire.

            “Nalgi organization?” Minju questioned, she has never heard of such company. Raising her questioning eyes to Eunbi’s face and seeing her expression, Minju could tell that even her unnie with her vast network has not heard of it.

            “Nalgi organization is a non-profit organization that funds schools, charities, and orphanages. This organization isn’t involved in public campaigns and they don’t have much exposure like other charity groups. They don’t get donations from the public, they are solely funded by its members; Ahn Yujin, Jo Yuri, Lee Chaeyeon, and Choi Yena.” Minami reached over to the file that was on Eunbi’s lap, turned two pages and showed Eunbi the pictures of the four names she mentioned.

            “Oh my gosh,” Minju took away the words from Eunbi’s own mouth, for the pictures that greeted her eyes were of the most attractive men and women she has ever seen and that says something, as Eunbi is a social butterfly with lots of connection in and out of the entertainment industry.

            “What is with these people and their good looks?” Minju honestly blurted, picking up some of the pi