HYPOTHESES & CONCLUSION

Hyewon looks behind from a wall to watch the two men with masks going inside the closed shop, laser focus on their actions, she looks around to see if there are other accomplices. When she knows the coast is clear, she quickly walks silently.

Walking along the shadows, she quietly stops and looks behind her, she then turns to look at the store and she could see one man opening a bag. Hyewon hears her earpiece and she push a button to hear what the person on the other end is saying.

“What?” She whispered.

“Police will come in 5.”

“Copy that.”

Hearing that, she quickly takes a peek again inside the store and she could see the men already have a significant number of items inside their bag. Hyewon decided to do their plan, and as she was about to enter the shop –

“What the!”

She looks behind her to see her partner – Minju, shrieking from some frog near her foot. Hyewon facepalms herself, and she was quickly alerted when she heard the men cursing – they knew that they are there.

“Minju!” Hyewon hissed, “Shut up, they’re about to go away!”

“I’m sorry!”

Hyewon just ignores her and pulls her inside the store, throwing some smoke bomb – she’s thankful with the shades that they are wearing to protect them from it. She could see the silhouette of the men, waving frantically because of the gas.

She looks at Minju and nodded her head and they quickly grabbed the men’s arms, flipping them over and they fell down with a grunt. Hyewon quickly did her work by tying the man she flipped with his hands behind his back.

She quickly looks at Minju’s side and she could only groan. Minju’s rope is all tangled up, and the man is about to stand up. Hyewon quickly runs over her and kicks the man on the face to make him sleep – saving Minju from the coming trouble.

“Minju, what the hell?”

Minju panics and tries to untangle the rope, “It’s all tangled up!” She raises it as if to show to Hyewon as evidence.

“I can see that!” Hyewon hissed grabbing the rope and quickly getting the ends of it, trying to untangle it. “Where did you even put it?”

“At the side bag, where Chaewonnie said.”

Hyewon just closes her eyes, because she also put her own rope in that bag. But there are two side bags, and her ropes are not all tangled up.

“Did you remember what side bag to put it into?”

Minju’s blinks are enough answer and Hyewon just sighs, successfully untangling the ropes. She quickly orders Minju to sit the man up, and she quickly ties the rope around him.

She could already hear the sirens and see the blue and red lights, signaling the arrival of the cops. Tying it properly, she quickly pulls Minju out but the younger girl tripped.

“Ouch!” Minju looks back to see the other man tripped her, she punched the man in the face and Hyewon could see that Minju is about to talk to him so in the end, she quickly carried Minju by the waist.

“Stop moving or we’re going to get caught!”

 

/

 

Hyewon entered their van flopping on the back seat, removing her glasses and face mask. She looks at Minju who already did the same, and she could see the apologetic look already. Right before she could talk, someone already beat her to it.

“Minju, what the hell?!”

Chaewon from the passenger seat looked back at the said girl, who only looks down. They then started to feel the can already driving off, Hyewon could see Yena looking on the rearview mirror.

“Minju, you were almost caught!”

“I repeatedly told you the bag with the red linings! Red!” Chaewon exasperatedly said and it seems like she’s about to pull her hair.

Hyewon is thankful that the girl is at the passenger seat because if not, she’s sure MInju would have been strangled by now. She just looks at Minju and her heart clenched at the sight of the tears building up in her eyes, she could see the girl blinking the tears away.

“If you guys were caught – “

Hyewon immediately cut off Yena. “But we’re not.”

The driver looks at her from the rearview mirror with disbelief, “Kwangbae, you don’t –“

“We’re not caught, and that’s what matters.” Hyewon hissed, “Minju did a rookie mistake, everyone makes mistake.” She shrugs.

She could hear Chaewon scoffing and she clenches her jaw, she knows the latter will say something.

“Rookie? She’s been in the field for a month now!”

“Let it go, I’m tired.” Hyewon said, reclining her seat. “Keep it down, and I want to sleep.”

She looks at Minju who she can see already looking at her, she just nodded her head at the younger girl.

“I know you’re tired, you should sleep too.” Hyewon said and closed her eyes, not waiting for a reply. She could feel Minju scooting closer to her, reclining her seat too. But she just ignores her, wanting to get her sleep.

“I’m sorry.”

Hyewon heard the quiet apology Minju said and she just sighs. “It’s alright.”

Hyewon could hear the snickering from the front seat, and she just groans getting her eye mask and noise cancelling earphones. She won’t hear the end of it as soon as they arrive at their destination, but she could stall it for the time being.

Just like what she expected, as soon as they pulled over Hyewon hopes she can stall but she knows that the others are waiting. Removing her eye mask and the earphones, she adjusts her eyes first and she turns to her left to see Minju waiting for her.

Hyewon just ignores the girl and went out of the van, holding the door for Minju and out of instinct covering her top head to prevent it from hitting the car – it could happen and she’s just being a good friend.

She closed the door and walks over to enter the small complex, Minju follows behind her and Hyewon could already hear the other people inside the room talking. She just readies herself from whatever they would say, hoping she’ll have enough patience not to snap on them.

“Kang-chan good to see you alive and well.”

Hyewon could hear the sarcasm coming from Sakura, and she just rolls her eyes flopping herself to the nearest chair. “And you’re still as sarcastic as ever.”

“You were almost caught.” Hyewon sees that the statement is not directed to her but to Minju.

“For the fifth time in one week.” Yujin added and Hyewon shakes her head, the important thing is they are not which is why she doesn’t understand why they are not moving on from it.

Minju just keeps quiet and looks down, not even daring to sit.

Hyewon sighs and stands up from her seat dragging it over to Minju and making the latter sit on it. She then pushes Minju at the nearest empty seat and Hyewon occupied it.

“You look like a kicked puppy.”

The other two inside the room just watches the interaction.

“Eunbi-unnie is coming in 3.” Sakura announced, “She’s just talking to Yena and Chaewon.”

Hyewon groans out loud and Minju could only gulp. They know they’re going to get some good scolding from the leader.

 

//

 

Hyewon has been nodding her head and apologizing for a hundred of times already, it’s already been 20 minutes since Eunbi arrived in the room and the older girl didn’t waste any second to start scolding them. They are the only three left – Minju on her side, looking down and absolutely looks guilty.

Eunbi didn’t stop a second to breathe, which is a great talent and would be useful in the future. She’s been talking continuously for the past 20 minutes, to the point that Sakura and Yujin announced that they would get dinner and the older girl didn’t bother to look at them.

Hyewon just looks at them jealously, she doesn’t know when would Eunbi stop her melodramatic rant to them – their safety and the risks of being caught. As if Hyewon is not aware of that already, but it seems like the older girl heard her because she takes a deep breath and massages her forehead.

“You can go now Minju.” Eunbi said, “Hyewon you stay.”

Hyewon gasps at this, why would she need to stay? She didn’t do anything wrong. She could see Minju hesitating to go and looks at her worriedly. Hyewon just keeps her opinion to herself and forces out a smile.

“Go have dinner with them. I’ll be right there after this.” Hyewon said nodding her head and Minju nods slowly and walks out not before bowing to Eunbi.

Hyewon looks at the older girl as soon as Minju walks out questioningly, “Why am I required to stay?”

Eunbi just releases a deep sigh, sitting in front of the girl. “You’re the best girl I got Hyewon.”

Hyewon nods, “Okay? Is that all, ‘cause I’m hungry.” Starving. She’s starving.

“Why are you insisting for Minju to partner up with you?” Eunbi asked. The question she’s always been asking for the past 3 weeks.

“She’s useful.”

Eunbi gives Hyewon a look to ask as if she’s joking, and the younger just ignores her – suddenly seeing her nails very interesting.

“Are you joking?”

“Look,” Hyewon said, hoping to end the conversation already. “The important thing is we’re fine and in one piece. Why are we still having this conversation?”

“I’ve been telling you to change Minju and take Chaeyeon with you for the past three weeks!” Eunbi exclaims, “Do you know how many times you guys have almost been caught?”

Hyewon already lost count, it’s a normal thing to experience already. She was in number 7 when she last count, and that was just the 4th day she started working with Minju.

Hearing no answer, Eunbi continues. “42 times! In one month! That’s a record!”

“And in those 42 times, we always finish the task and come back. Your point is?” Hyewon nonchalantly asked.

Eunbi groans in her seat and she feels like some blood vessel would pop out with this conversation.

“I told you to change Minju already, why are you not changing her?”

“You assigned her to me!” Hyewon reminds Eunbi the fact that the latter is the one who thought of the idea of her partnering up with the younger girl.

“And I told you to change her just after 3 days of working!” Eunbi exclaims, “But you keep on insisting to bring her!”

Before Hyewon could answer she hears the door opening and she released an annoyed sound. The three idiots – Sakura, Yujin, and Yena entered the room, just the people she doesn’t need.

“I already told you unnie,” Yena directs at Eunbi, “Minju is just pretty and is useless in general.”

“And she’s not just pretty, but really, really, pretty.” Sakura adds.

“And we know how Kwangbae is with pretty people.” Yujin scoffs, the three of them flopping beside the two. Hyewon just gives them a glare but they just ignored her.

Hyewon has enough of it, she pushed herself off from her seat and ignores the look that she got from the four. “I’ll be going home now.”

She walks out of the room only to bumped on to someone and she could feel some liquid being spilled on her – she grits her teeth, for all the days someone could spill juice on her, it has to be the day she’s wearing her favorite jacket.

“Can you fuc – “ Hyewon’s words are stuck on once she saw who she bumped to – Minju. The latter quickly steps back and bows, grabbing what seems a handkerchief from her pocket.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t looking!” Minju profusely apologizes as she wipes the juice, Hyewon just stares at the girl who is about to cry. She just sighs and grabs Minju’s hand gently, stopping her from what she’s doing and making the girl look up to her.

“It’s fine, I wasn’t looking either.” Hyewon said, she lets go of Minju and looks at her jacket. She takes a sniff and she could tell – “Apple juice?”

Minju nodded and looks down. “It’s my favorite, and I thought I’ll bring you some but I just made a me – “

“It’s fine, it’s an accident.” Hyewon repeats, “You can bring me a juice another time.” She could hear some snickering behind her and she just ignores it.

“But – “

Hyewon shakes her head to stop Minju from saying anything, “I can just wash it anyway, it’s just a jacket.” With that said, she steps aside to walk past Minju.

“I’ll get going now, take care.” Hyewon smiles and she glances at the other four inside – the three idiots with teasing grins while Eunbi just looks at her hopelessly. Hyewon just rolls her eyes to them and looks at Minju.

“Don’t stay up too late.” She smiles and walks off.

 

/

 

Yena scoffs after seeing Hyewon walk away and turns to look at the other. “Unbelievable. That’s her favorite jacket.”

“I know right!” Yujin exclaims, “She was about to kill me when I touched it once!”

“She threatened to reformat all my games when I accidentally put some powder on it!” Sakura adds.

Eunbi just chuckles at the three, standing up from her seat. “Well just like what you said – “

“Kwangbae is useless in front of pretty girls.” Yena continues.

“Especially Minju.” Sakura nods.

“I wonder when will Minju realize that Kwangbae likes her?” Yujin wonders out loud.

Eunbi just scoffs, “I doubt Hyewon even knows it.”

“True.”

 

/

 

Hyewon arrives in her apartment and quickly stripped off her jacket, she looks at the stain and could only sigh. She couldn’t get mad at Minju for spilling some juice it’s an accident after all, and the fact that Mijnu is about to cry just for spilling it – she just couldn’t.

Now she wonders why did Eunbi even think to let Minju go out in the field.

She remembers the first time she joined this group, well not really joined but more of like forced. It was just a genuine accident; she was returning from her shift and Hyewon stumbled on someone being mugged. Without thinking, she quickly ran over to the alley and sling her bag harshly onto the suspect.

But of course, a simple bag won’t do anything but to just get the attention of the suspect. Hyewon just thanked her parents for forcing her to go some self-defense training and martial arts. She managed to defend herself from the man despite being in disadvantage with their height – or maybe because the mind was mindlessly swinging his knife and he has so many openings.

But enough about that because once she knocked down the man, she quickly went to the victim to ask if she’s alright. But the girl was just looking at her with what seems to be light in her eyes – the most unexpected thing to see from someone almost being mugged.

“Why do you look so happy for someone being mugged?” Hyewon asked, not hiding the fact that the girl looks weird.

“You’re perfect.” The said girl said wistfully and she pushed herself up from the ground and one thing led to another, she was being pulled by the girl inside the van and then she’s in front of other people she doesn’t know.

It was then she realized that the girl she saved is Hitomi – Japanese. Hyewon just looks at the girls in front of her talking in hushed whispers and constantly glancing at her, she doesn’t know why she’s still calm despite of being kidnapped – it’s not like really being kidnapped because she didn’t even fight.

“Kang Hyewon.”

Hyewon looks up in surprise from what she can remember, she didn’t utter a single word about her name – she thinks this is the right time to be scared.

“I don’t know – “

“Kang Hyewon. Avid gamer. Works on night shifts at the nearest convenience in your apartment. Graduated Computer Science in SNU. Blackbelt in Taekwondo. Into Parkour – “

“Okay, okay!” Hyewon shouts, absolutely horrified with how accurate their information they have about her. “What do you want? I just saved the girl from being mugged and this is what I get?”

“Oh, this is just the start.” The voice said and someone entered the room, she looks older than her by 3 to 4 years. The other girls inside the room bowed to her.

“You will join us.”

“Wha, no!” Hyewon shouts, “You guys are craz – “

“You will or we will ban you from all the games you play.”

Hyewon gasped, “You couldn’t do that!”

The older girl smirked, “Not me, but she can.” She pointed at the girl with very big ears and has a shoulder-length hair.

“Miyawaki Sakura at your service.” The said girl bowed.

“So?” Hyewon frowns, “That doesn’t explain anything.”

Then just like that, Sakura fiddles something on the tablet she’s holding and she looks at Hyewon, smirking. “Look at your COD profile.”

Hyewon widens her eyes and quickly fished out her phone, opening the said game. “What the ing – what the hell did you do?!”

All her data, gone. Her hard work and sleepless nights just to rank up, gone in a blink of an eye.

“I told you, join us or we’ll delete all your data.” The older girl said.

Hyewon stares at the girls, and she could feel like they are not joking. She knows they will do it, and for all Hyewon’s life – she will not let them throw her hard work just like that.

“Okay, whatever. You,” Hyewon points and glares at Sakura, “Retrieve it all now.”

The older girl just clapped, “Great. Nice to meet you, I’m Kwon Eunbi. Welcome to Operation IZ*1.”

Basically, that’s how Hyewon got roped into this group, the audacity to threaten her with games. Operation IZ*1 is basically just them doing some vigilante kind of things, just like saving people from petty crimes of stealing and what not.

But of course, they should never ever be caught by the cops – after all, this might still be illegal. But some people really love them, having to create accounts just to spread some good words about them.

It’s been 6 months since she started working with them, and she finds them as really good company and friends, she’s especially close with the three idiots. She doesn’t know what happened, but they just clicked. Which is why those three are always in the front when it comes to teasing her.

When Hyewon says teasing it is specifically teasing her about Minju – her partner for about a month now. Her first partner in the field was Chaeyeon, that girl could really move like a feather and would make the job easier. They worked together for about 5 months, until Eunbi introduced Minju.

The older girl said that Minju has been training since Hyewon joined the group which is why Hyewon didn’t see much of her – other than Hyewon is packed with work, the younger girl is mostly doing a desk job and training.

Hyewon was skeptical at first when she first met Minju, but since it’s Eunbi who recommended her she knows that she should trust the decision of the older girl. Maybe Minju is really good for Eunbi to recommend her.

No.

She was wrong.

Dead wrong.

During their first job together, Minju tripped on something creating a loud crash and alarming the suspects. Hyewon was too surprised to move but thank God that she managed to catch them with the help of Yena who is coincidentally waiting in the van.

That’s the first time she got scolded by Eunbi.

Hyewon thought it was just a rookie mistake so she just let it pass. But then it keeps on happening, and Hyewon keeps saving Minju’s .

How can the girl be clumsy? Where did all the training go?

There was this time when Minju – God bless her soul, just shouted at the thieves they need to catch to stop. Who would even do that?

Just after the 3rd day they started working, Eunbi already talked to Hyewon to change her partner back to Chaeyeon. But Hyewon doesn’t know – she really doesn’t know why she rejected the idea.

“She’s just getting used to it, give her a chance.” She said and went out of the room.

Well if she said chance, Hyewon didn’t specify how many chances Minju has. Now a month has passed since they started working together and the girl is still being her clumsy self – and Hyewon couldn’t just change her.

Working with Minju means she gets to see the girl much closer, which means that she sees how she’s trying to work hard to make the job done. She sees her every time after their task, sniffing, and talking to herself.

She sees Minju giving herself some pep talks before a task and putting on a determined face right after.

It’s endearing really, maybe that’s the reason why she couldn’t just let go of her – Hyewon knows Minju is trying her best, maybe the others don’t see it, but Hyewon does.

So, she keeps giving the girl another chance. After all, Minju really does make their work interesting.

 

//

 

There was not much happening that day which means that Hyewon could relax. She found herself just walking around the complex, the other girls are out specifically Eunbi, Hitomi, Nako, and Chaewon. The others are inside the game room, and judging from the screams about mushrooms and banana peels, they’re playing Mario Kart.

“Goddamn it Chaeyeon! Just because I pushed Sakura doesn’t mean you need to avenge her!” Hyewon could hear Yena whining.

Hyewon just chuckles and continues walking, she wanted to get some sweat out which is why she’s heading to their training room. But as she nears her destination, she could hear some sound coming from the said room, curiously, she takes a peek only to see Minju beating the out of the punching bag.

But there’s something wrong in her form and how she puts too much power with her punches, making her tired just after a few. See, this is one of the reasons why Hyewon knows Minju is trying her best. Entering the room, she clears to get the girl’s attention.

“I thought you’d be playing with them.” Hyewon smiles when she sees Minju looking at her. She then walks over to the nearest bench putting down her towel and bottle of water.

“Hyewon-unnie!” Minju bows, “I just thought I need to practice more when we have free time like this.”

“I think you need to practice your footwork.”

“Oh,” Hyewon could hear the sad tone in the girl’s voice, she was just literally joking about the footwork.

“No, I was ju – “

“I think you’re right.” Hyewon sees Minju removing her gloves and grabbing the agility ladder instead. It seems like the younger girl didn’t see it as a joke. Hyewon just slaps herself for being to blunt.

She could see the younger girl already shuffling through the ladder and she winces at how uncoordinated she is, always stopping and kicking the ladder off.

Hyewon walks over the younger girl making Minju look at her, she just smiles and fixes the ladder to make it straight – blame her for being such a perfectionist. She smiles and gestures for Minju to follow her, which the latter did without any word.

“I’ll teach you some drills.” Hyewon said and slowly demonstrated the first drill. “Left in, right in, left out, right out.” She says, directing it at Minju. The younger girl watching her closely.

“Okay?” Hyewon asked and Minju nodded, “Okay, you do it.”

Minju started doing it, though there are some slight mistakes. Hyewon just told her to repeat it until she perfects it, which took it about 5 to 6 tries. But Hyewon didn’t complain, she just smiles at Minju who jumped in victory when she managed to do one lap on the ladder without any mistakes.

“Right, that’s just the first drill. We have more.” Hyewon said and she laughs when Minju nodded eargerly.

That’s how Hyewon spent her free time, just teaching Minju some drills because it seems like the girl really needs to good footwork – she always trip, sometimes on nothing and just air.

1 hour of pure footwork and full on watching Minju sometimes tripping, she and Hyewon is laying d