Chapter 9: The First Step

The week went by with still no news of Jung-Min and his friends. Eventually, everyone assumed he had been expelled, or that he ran away. The school seemed normal again, with everyone forgetting the incident, and the guys focusing their attention back on the two blonde girls. 

Seulgi took a deep breath when she heard the bell ring, “YEESSS!! FINALLY!!!” She grunted as she lay her face flat on her desk.

“What’s wrong with you?” Irene laughed.

“This was a terrible week. I need a full weekend of dramas to forget it all,” Seulgi replied.

“Well that’s too bad. I was thinking we could hang out,” Irene walked over to the door, ignoring Seulgi as she scrambled to catch up.

“No no! We can hang out!” Seulgi called from behind Irene.

Irene looked back and saw Wendy still sitting at her desk, texting someone.

“Wendy? Is everything okay?” Irene asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah! You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up,” Wendy smiled.

Irene and Seulgi nodded as they disappeared into the hallway. Wendy tapped on Joy’s name.

“Hello?” Wendy heard someone pick up.

“We’re sorry. The person you are trying to reach has died from boredom and starvation. Please call back again later,” Joy was annoyed.

“Come on Joy, I said I was sorry!” Wendy said, recalling the many texts she had received from Joy over the week.

“I had to eat chicken for five days straight, Wendy. FIVE. DAYS!” Joy shouted.

“Wasn’t it your dream to eat chicken all the time?” Wendy joked, trying to calm her down.

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT! YOU LEFT ME HERE ALL WEEK!! WHERE WERE YOU!?”

Wendy pulled away from the phone, wincing.

“I’m sorry Joy, I’ll be home tonight okay? I’ll even buy snacks for you!” Wendy compromised.

Joy was silent for a second.

“…And drinks?”

Wendy smiled, “Yes, and drinks. Lots of it. Enough to last you another week.”

“…Fine. You better be home tonight.” Joy hung up without another word.

Wendy sighed as she packed her things and head out the door. She had been spending every night this week at Irene’s. To be honest, she was starting to not want to go back to her house. But Joy needed her, and after ignoring her pleas and complaints all week, she felt it was necessary to give her some attention.

Wendy found Seulgi and Irene at the gate waiting for her.

“Sorry!” Wendy jogged forward a bit, receiving a death glare from Irene.

“Everything okay?” Seulgi asked.

Wendy nodded, “Yeah, just had some stuff I had to deal with.”

Irene and Seulgi shrugged as they went home.

“Come on in!” Seulgi said, as Irene took her shoes off. They were planning on hanging out together at Seulgi’s house, but Wendy rejected.

“Sorry, I have to go home. My fr…I mean my cousin needs help with something.” Wendy said.

“Will you be okay on your own?” Irene looked worried as she quickly glanced down at Wendy’s ankle.

“I just need to go back for a little while. I’ll call you guys if I can come back later,” Wendy waved as she walked down the street.

She stopped by a 7-11 a little bit away from where she lived, wanting to keep her promise to Joy. 

Let’s see…

Joy wasn’t a picky eater, which made it easier for Wendy to pick some random bags of chips and drinks to buy. As she was paying at the counter, she looked outside.

Is that…?

Wendy panicked as she grabbed her bags of food and ran out the store, looking at the back of a familiar black car.

 Damn it!!

Wendy clutched her left thigh tightly as she watched the car disappear around the corner.

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“I’m home!” Wendy called out, walking in through the front door.

Joy was staring at her computer, not responding.

“Come on Joy, you’re going to ignore me now?” Wendy said, dropping the bags of goodies in front of her.

Joy quickly rummaged through them, making sure everything was in order before speaking.

“You pass. You may now proceed to tell me where you were all week,” Joy said, opening a bag.

Wendy sighed, “I was staying with Irene.”

Joy almost dropped the bag of chips, “WHAT!?”

“I said I stayed with Irene. I hurt my ankle too much, so she invited me to stay over at her house these past few days.”

“You must be joking.”

Wendy started to change out of her school clothes.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Everything! Everything is wrong with it!!” Joy waved her arms up in the air.

“Look, she needed my help too. I can’t just ignore that.”

Joy stood up, “And what exactly did she need your help with?”

Wendy explained the events that happened at school, casually skipping over her nights at Irene’s place. “Jung-Min…isn’t that the guy that tried to kidnap Irene?” Joy sat down next to Wendy on the couch.

“Yeah, that guy,” Wendy tightened her fist.

“So what, you’re just gonna babysit this girl all the time now?”

“I’m not babysitting her. She’s still my friend, and I like spending time with her, is that so bad?”

“I’m your best friend!” Joy complained.

“I know dummy,” Wendy put her hand on a sad Joy’s head, “and I’m sorry I left you alone this week okay?”

Joy nodded as she bit down on another chip.

“I saw him again, the fat man.” Wendy suddenly changed the subject.

“Really? Where?” Joy looked curious.

“Outside of the 7-11 a couple blocks from here. Except this time, he was with another man. I couldn’t really see his face though.”

“I’ll check the cameras and see if I find anything,” Joy said, heading back over to her computer.

“It was weird, Joy. He looked…nervous.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, he’s usually very laid back and ordering his men around. This time he looked like a child being lectured.”

“Do you think that man he was with could be one of the higher ups?”

“It’s possible. We knew that the fat man was just the start of it all. Luckily for us, his incompetence gave us a lot of information.”

“We still haven’t figure out what any of that means,” Joy said, pointing at the table with the watches and notes.

Wendy sighed, “Have you noticed any changes this week? I haven’t been able to go out.”

“Nothing worth noting,” Joy drew up the security cameras by the 7-11. Wendy went over to check out the footage.

“There,” Wendy pointed at the screen.

“Nah, the quality is terrible. Can’t get a good read. But at least you have the license plate, in case you see it again.”

Wendy nodded and went back over to the couch. Her phone vibrated.

 [Hey, are you home?]

Wendy grinned.

[No, I tripped and fell over and now my leg is broken]

[That’s not funny]

[I’m fine :)]

“Who are you talking to?” Joy snuck up behind Wendy.

“N-no one!” Wendy hid her phone.

Joy squinted as she looked at the guilty Wendy, “It’s Irene isn’t it?”

Wendy coughed, “Maybe…”

Joy rolled her eyes and tossed the empty bag in the trash.

“Is your leg better?” Joy finally asked.

“Not enough. I couldn’t even chase after the car I saw today,” Wendy said, angrily.

“Take a break, I’m keeping an eye on things. You’re no use out there with that injury.”

“I’m no use here, either.”

“At least you’ll live. Who knows what’ll happen if they catch you out there.”

Wendy got up and went into her room, packing a bag.

“What are you doing?” Joy followed her.

“I’m going over to Seulgi’s,” Wendy responded.

“What? Why~?” Joy whined.

“Because she invited me,” Wendy ignored Joy’s pulling on her arm.

“Can I come?” Joy asked, surprising Wendy.

“I don’t know…” Wendy tried to find an excuse.

 Joy took the hint, “Fine, I’ll just stay home by myself again.”

Wendy sighed again, “I’ll leave my phone on this time, okay?”

Joy nodded as she went back to her screens.

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In the car:

“You understand the problem we have, don’t you?” An older man wearing a black suit and sunglasses was speaking to the fat man next to him.

“Y-yes, sir,” The fat man was sweating.

“That man, that calls himself The Devil…needs to be eliminated.” His voice was deep and scratchy.

“But sir…we haven’t encountered him at all this week…”

“As long as he’s still alive, we cannot proceed with our next step.”

The fat man nodded.

“How many did he take?”

“Three, sir.”

“Have you destroyed the three safes?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. We’ll destroy the others as well. We’ll have no use for them.”

“But how will we deliver the…merchandise, sir?”

“It’s already being taken care of,” the older man pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Yes. You may begin.” He hung up and put the phone back in his jacket.

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Joy was jolted awake as a large noise erupted outside. She ran to her computer, noticing several of her cameras were now disabled. She opened the curtains and looked out. A hotel, not too far away, was now burning after a series of explosions went off on every floor.

“What the…” Joy was flustered, looking for her phone. She called Wendy as fast as she could and went back onto her computer.

“Joy? What happened?” Wendy had heard the explosions.

“I don’t know, that big hotel in the city just exploded! I’m trying to look through past footage to find out what happened.”

“Let me know as soon you as find anything.”

“Roger that.”

Joy hung up quickly and looped back through the footage.

Again.

And Again.

Joy was completely dumbfounded as she had found nothing near the hotel that would explain why it suddenly blew up. Aside from a few security guards standing outside, no one went in or out of that building in the last 2 hours. She also checked all the cameras inside the hotel, and found no suspicious activity inside. She called Wendy again.

“Joy? Did you find anything?” Wendy was now outside, as sirens could be heard over the phone.

“No, I couldn’t find anything. I’ll try searching for anything near the hotel, but I don’t know how long that will take.”

“Don’t rush it. We’ll let the police handle it first, and I’ll check it out myself tomorrow night.”

“Okay.”

Joy sat there for hours, looking at every single camera she could get her hands on. Unfortunately, she was unable to find a single thing wrong with the picture. The breaking news finally came on.

||Recent reports claim that the explosion was set off by faulty gas lines that are spread throughout the hotel…||

What a load of bull.

Joy nervously tapped her feet as she tried to think of a plan.

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“Wendy? Can you see what happened?” Irene and Seulgi were nervously walking out of the house as Wendy looked down the street.

“It sounded like an explosion. I can see smoke coming from the city,” Wendy stepped aside as multiple police cars drove by.

“That’s scary…” Irene could see the black smog rising into the air.

“Come on, let’s get back inside,” Seulgi said, covering her ears from all the sirens.

“Yeah,” Irene nodded in agreement and grabbed Wendy’s hand, “come on.”

Wendy let herself get dragged inside as she hid the troubled expression on her face.

It must be them…

“The news is on,” Seulgi said, flipping through the channels.

||As of now, police have reported a total of 40 casualties on the first 10 floors alone. We will continue to update…||

“Oh my god…” Irene gasped.

Wendy clenched her fists together, her leg now burning from frustration.

“Let’s turn that off for now, okay ladies?” Mrs. Kang turned the TV off and sent them upstairs.

“Umma! We were watching that!” Seulgi complained.

“I don’t want you girls watching things like that. Now go upstairs,” Mrs. Kang pushed Seulgi up the stairs.

They three of them found themselves on Seulgi’s bed, trying to find out everything they could about the explosion.

“Look at these pictures,” Seulgi said, finding photos online.

“I can’t believe that happened…” Irene was still unable to process the whole situation.

Wendy was the only one sitting on the bed, hugging a pillow, breathing heavily into it.

I swear…I’ll kill you for this…