Kyungsoo was in his room, his back turned against the door. The mission was… successful. It left Kyungsoo satisfied and he had seen a side of Oh Dana he had never seen before. Her versatility and her ability to adapt to situations reminded him of her—Kyungsoo shook his head. There were so many things people didn’t know about SM but even Kyungsoo was trying to move forward to improve the school’s system.

Kyungsoo heard a knock on the door and when he turned around, he saw Jung Jaehyun peek inside the room. What a good-looking child, Kyungsoo thought. Jaehyun was a gentle man and Kyungsoo always saw him give nothing less than a hundred and ten percent off or on the field. Jaehyun had a talent for sciences.

“Jeff—” He paused, reverting to using Jaehyun’s real name. “Jaehyun.”

“Yes, D.O,” Jaehyun said, stepping into the room carefully. “You called for me?”

“Yes, yes.” Kyungsoo motioned to the seat, Jaehyun slowly lowering himself onto the chair. “A few things I want to ask you about.”

“Yes, sir.” Jaehyun was always polite and Kyungsoo admired him for it. If there was one person who was normal in SM, it would be Jaehyun. He did his work, had a good heart, and never caused trouble even once. Jaehyun clasped his hands together.

“How long have you known Oh Dana?” Kyungsoo asked, Jaehyun frowning. Kyungsoo wanted to know the underlying reason as to why she couldn’t feel pain. Jaehyun chewed on his bottom lip and he knew Kyungsoo’s reason in asking him but a part of him felt like he was betraying Dana’s trust.

As if he hadn’t already betrayed it by lying to her about SM.

“It’s okay child, whatever you say will remain between us,” Kyungsoo said and Jaehyun nodded, knowing Kyungsoo kept his promises.

“I was her neighbor; my house is next to hers and we met in kindergarten so I can say that we’re childhood friends,” Jaehyun told Kyungsoo. “Her parents weren’t very present when she was a child and they were often overseas so she was practically raised by Sehun.”

Kyungsoo nodded, Jaehyun continuing to speak. “So, when Sehun disappeared, I heard she lost it for a while but at that time I was—”

“You were already here in SM.” Kyungsoo finished his sentence for him and he could see a flicker of guilt on Jaehyun’s face. He really did care about Dana and it gave Kyungsoo a sense of comfort that Jaehyun regarded her as a friend. “Is there a reason why she doesn’t feel pain?”

Jaehyun looked up at Kyungsoo in surprise, but it was obvious to conclude that. Kyungsoo wasn’t stupid, Jaehyun thought. He would have noticed it.

“Oh Dana comes from a rich family and she was once kidnapped. I don’t know the details but it was when she was around 6 or 7,” Jaehyun said, Kyungsoo listening intently. “She was taken for 13 days, if I remember correctly.”

“Was it on the news?” Kyungsoo asked, Jaehyun shaking his head.

“No. But apparently, the kidnappers were dead when they got her out.”

“’They?” Kyungsoo pressed. “Who reached her? The police?”

“No, her parents,” Jaehyun replied. “I don’t know the whole story but Sehun hyung once told me about it. She was taken and her parents brought her back and from then on she couldn’t feel pain. I don’t know what she saw, she never talked about it. Sometimes I think she may have forgotten about it.”

“Her parents went to save her? Without help from the authorities?” Kyungsoo asked again and Jaehyun nodded slowly. Kyungsoo’s suspicions were slowly confirmed and he cleared his throat. “Thank you, Jaehyun.”

“Yes, sir.” Jaehyun stood up and bowed down to him before slowly leaving.

Kyungsoo watched Jaehyun leave, a hand going down to grab the phone on his desk. Looking at it for a moment, he decided to press down the number. The ringing rang in his ear when someone finally answered.

“Hello, SM, School of Missions. European Region at your service,” a voice said and Kyungsoo replied.

“This is SM, School of Missions. Asian Region. Director Kyungsoo. Can I talk to Director Radcliffe, please?”

The phone finally beeped and was passed to Director Radcliffe, the older man's voice ringing from the other side of the phone. Kyungsoo cleared his throat. The man was only a year older than Kyungsoo and he had spoken to the man on multiple occasions regarding their shared missions.

“Kyungsoo!” The thick British accent from Director Radcliffe made Kyungsoo chuckle. “To what do I owe this pleasure? I take it the mission in extracting the painting and the chip was successful?”

“Daniel,” Kyungsoo mused. “Yes, yes—it was fine. Though we brought in newbies and one of them decided to burn down the building.”

“I’m not surprised,” Daniel Radcliffe replied. “One of my new agents decided to blow up a lab in one of their missions.”

“Really? No casualties?”

“Fortunately, not,” Director Radcliffe replied. “His name is Niall Horan. Irish. Thought he’d be normal but he’s a bit too impulsive on the field when he gets his adrenaline pumping. We added him to our One Direction unit.”

They spoke like old friends and Kyungsoo found himself laughing.

“Mine’s Na Jaemin. He has a loose screw in his head,” Kyungsoo said and Daniel Radcliffe could be heard saying that they were all crazy. “Anyway, I wanted to call about something.”

“Shoot away, my friend. What can I help you with?”

“I need information on an old student,” Kyungsoo said carefully. “I believe she studied in the School of Missions in Europe.”

“Of course, send me the name and I’ll whisk it over to you,” Daniel replied and Kyungsoo agreed. When the phone call ended, he moved to the next call.

“SM, School of Missions. America.” This time, it was a man and Kyungsoo asked to talk to the director, the line automatically switching.

“Kyungsoo! Long time no talk!” the man exclaimed and Kyungsoo found himself greeting the male politely. He was more than two decades older than Kyungsoo and had been a director for the longest time. He was one of Kyungsoo's role models in the field. 

“Director Depp.”

“Just Johnny is fine, Kyungsoo. What have I told you?” Johnny Depp replied and Kyungsoo smiled, asking him for a favor. “Of course- Send me the name, I’ll let one of the students conduct an investigation for you.”

“That would be wonderful,” Kyungsoo replied and hung up shortly, leaning against his chair with his eyes on his screen. “Curious. Very curious.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I walked back to the dorm with everyone trailing behind me. My body was bruised and I could see dark spots starting to form and when I was about to go towards the room I shared with Johnny, he stopped me.

“Move back to your room with Chenle,” he said, his eyes on his phone. “Kyungsoo said you did a good enough job and your immersive trial has been cut short. Get some rest.”

 I let out a sigh of relief at the news before giving him a nod. Johnny bid all of us goodbye, leaving. I guessed he was going back to the lighthouse. As we neared the entrance of the dorm building, I saw Renjun standing in front. He was waiting for Jaemin and when he caught sight of his friend, he came closer and stared at Jaemin.

“Good?” he asked, Jaemin nodding. He didn’t say anything after that, walking beside all of us before we all went to our respective rooms. I entered the room that I shared with Chenle, the hacker greeting me with gum in his mouth.

“Good job in Macao,” he told me and I nodded tiredly, seeing that my bag that was in the trial room was already on my bed. I grabbed my things and I showered, finally settling down on my bed and closing my eyes.

I was exhausted and it didn’t take long before I slipped into dreamland. Chenle had also fallen asleep after an hour or so of gaming when suddenly I heard a loud scream from Jaemin’s room. The scream was so loud, it had punctured my earplugs and I shot up to hear the forger wailing on top of his lungs.

“TAKE IT AWAY!” he howled, and I heard Jeno scrambling to his feet. “Take it away! Please!”

“Na Jaemin—What’s happening?” Jeno’s voice floated to my ears and I quickly got up, rushing out of my room to skid to a stop in front of Jaemin and Jeno’s room. Chenle was right behind me and the door was wide open. People began to gather and I saw Doyoung who also just came back from Japan appear sleepily.

Jeno looked confused and stricken at Jaemin’s outburst and I saw Jaemin on the ground, shuddering. He was talking to himself, tears streaming down his cheeks before he began to wail.

“Kill me.” He breathed. “KILL ME!” He bawled before he grabbed Jeno’s dagger by the bed. I saw Jeno’s eyes shift nervously, Jaemin standing up and grabbing Jeno by the shoulders.

“Please, please…” Jaemin begged, giving the dagger to Jeno forcefully and opening it up. “Please, just kill me! I don’t deserve to live!”

“Na Jaemin—”

“I can’t kill myself!” Jaemin wailed, exasperated. “I can’t kill myself! It’s a sin—KILL ME, LEE JENO!” He screeched, Jeno stepping back.

“Jaemin….” I found myself saying but Jaemin was out of his mind. He thumped his heart as if he was trying to claw it out, slamming his fist over his chest over and over again. “Na Jaemin—”

“Take it away—”

“JAEMIN! Jaemin!” Renjun’s voice shouted from down the hall and I saw that he was running towards us. “Jaemin, I’m here.”

Jaemin was a heaving mess on the floor, sobbing. His body trembled and Renjun finally entered the room. He placed a hand on Jaemin’s forehead before whispering.

“Relax,” he said and almost automatically, Jaemin relaxed. He was rocking himself back and forth, Renjun gathering Jaemin in his thin arms. “It’s okay. It’s alright.”

“I need to get it out,” Jaemin mumbled softly. “It’s not mine. It’s not mine.”

“It’s okay. We’ll get it out tomorrow,” Renjun whispered back. Jeno was blinking awkwardly when Renjun stood up. “Out. All of you, out.”

“But it’s my room—”

“Out!” Renjun ordered, pushing Jeno out the door and before we could say anything, the profiler had slammed the door shut in our faces. I could hear him speak gently to Jaemin who was whimpering. Jeno looked at me and I looked back at him.

“What just happened?” Jeno asked, Chenle sighing.

“We all have something to run away from,” Doyoung suddenly said from the doorway of his room. I looked up to see him leaning against the wall. Taeyong was beside him and I saw that those two shared a room. Taeyong looked bothered but remained silent. “It was his first mission. Sometimes, it shocks people.”

“Go to sleep,” Taeyong told us, pulling Doyoung into the room and telling him to close the door. I nodded, following Chenle into the room when I saw Jeno follow us.

“Why are you here?” Chenle asked, Jeno moving to Chenle’s bed and laying down. “You can just take Renjun’s bed.”

“Then Jisung will have to wake up early. I wake up at seven every day even on off days,” Jeno told Chenle, pulling the blanket over his body. “I’m crashing here tonight.”

“Ah, Jeno!” Chenle whined but Jeno did not budge, closing his eyes.

That night when Chenle’s snores filled the room and I was left staring at my ceiling; I found my mind wandering.

“Dana?” Jeno suddenly asked. “Are you asleep?”

“Not yet,” I replied and I could hear him shifting. There was a thud and I saw him stand up before heading over to my bed. “What?”

“Chenle is a mover,” Jeno replied, and I scooted over for my friend—

Friend? Jeno settled beside me and I could tell that he was bothered by what just happened. Jeno seemed like someone who didn’t talk much about himself but I knew he kept things to himself. Most people were like that.

“You worried about Jaemin?” I asked Jeno who let out a sigh.

“Not worried,” he told me, silence filling the room for a second before he began to speak. “He reminds me of me.”

I nodded, wondering if I should ask. Deciding that I should, I did.

“What’s your story?”

“My story?”

“What part of yourself are you not proud of?” I asked and Jeno moved slightly, exhaling.

“The family I come from,” he replied. “I come from a family of doctors.”

That night I learned that Jeno’s parents were both doctors. Corrupt ones. They would kill patients and harvest organs but because they were Directors of famous hospitals, they got away with the money. Jeno came into SM as a Medic but he finally switched to an assassin and I wondered how someone could go from saving people to killing them.

“I don’t see anything wrong with killing those who deserve to be killed,” Jeno had said. “and if someone is in pain, I rather see them die than save them just to keep seeing them in pain.”

“But your parents...”

“My parents were liars, Dana,” Jeno said softly. “I may be a killer but I am an honest man.”

“Were?”

“They aren’t my parents anymore,” Jeno replied and I closed my eyes, finally allowing myself to be blanketed by Jeno’s calm breathing. It was a different feeling, to have someone beside you and to know that you aren’t going to be judged.

But I would never talk about myself.

Not yet.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Jaemin wondering what kind of organizations he should donate to]

The next morning, we were given a break but we had to wrap up the mission and everything we found. We all crowded into Kyungsoo’s meeting room and he began to break down the drug for us—telling us that the drug components were taken from the painting by Jaehyun and his crew. Jaehyun began to explain that they had to do a few more tests but with the manufacturers and the chemicals they found in the painting, a different team will be sent out to scout out the manufacturers of the Marvel drug’s components.

“I’ll be sending GOT7,” Kyungsoo told one of the strategists and he nodded. “Trail them, Jaebum; and report to us if you find anything suspicious.”

“We don’t have an assassin,” Jaebum replied.

“Use Lalisa,” Kyungsoo told him and I saw Lisa lean back in her seat. “Also, any information on who was the one who shot the men on the rooftop?”

“No idea. It’s a male, he was masked. Around 1.78 in height,” Tae-il said. “We can just call him our guardian angel.”

In my head, I was reminded of the fact that Sehun was more than 1.78 meters tall. I really wanted it to be Sehun but I knew that it was a long shot that he would be in Macao. I saw Johnny deep in thought when Kyungsoo dismissed us. I saw Johnny leave almost immediately and before I was about to leave, Kyungsoo gave me a small box.

“A phone?” I asked him, surprised.

“Yes, only used for within SM,” he told me and I inspected it. It was a normal phone, the latest version of an iPhone but the interface was different. It seemed like I could only call certain numbers. Thanking Kyungsoo, I went back to my room.

I lounged around and found myself sink into boredom. I decided to go for a swim and grabbed my towel and swimsuit in a bag when I opened the door, I saw Jaemin yelling out aggressively to Renjun who was running around Jaemin’s room.

“RENJUN! The holy water!” Jaemin hollered, turning to Renjun who was shaking a sprayer. “Let’s go! I can’t believe I thought of suicide last night. I must pray or I will be punished. WE NEED A CHURCH AROUND HERE! Renjun!”

“Yes, yes,” Renjun called out, Jaemin running out of the building. “This is tap water with salt, don’t tell him,” Renjun said to me before running out after Jaemin.

I chuckled, making my way after them to see that Jaemin had dug a hole on the ground and put up a cross. He was praying on the ground.

“Renjun! Holy water!” Jaemin told Renjun who began to spray the air, turning to look at me. I caught sight of a sweaty Jeno appearing from the gym, holding his gym bag. “JENO! Oi!”

“A-Ah…” Jeno raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

He was about to step closer to Jaemin when Renjun blocked him and sprayed him aggressively with water. Jeno jumped back, surprised.

“We must be cleansed!” Jaemin shrieked, bowing down onto the ground. “Oh god, may you forgive me for my SINS!”

“O-Okay….” Jeno murmured, stepping away from Jaemin; weirded out. “I see you’re fine now so I’ll take my leave—”

“Renjun! It’s time to donate some money—” Jaemin shot up, motioning to Renjun who scampered after him. “Write this down, we must donate to orphanages and children who are starving. What else?”

“How about an organization for the mentally ill?” I could hear Renjun ask.

“GOOD IDEA! What a smart boy!”

Both of them walked away and I blinked, Jeno exchanging looks with me. Telling him I was going to go swimming, I waved at him and Jeno nodded. He retreated back into the building and I made my way to the swimming pool. I didn’t expect anyone to be there and when I reached the building, I could hear an echo.

I walked slowly down the hall, pictures of SM agents on the wall and I saw the gym. I saw a few people exercising and took a turn, my feet bringing me towards the pool. I walked into the swimming area, my towel over my shoulder when I saw a body submerged underneath the water. I paused, trying to make out who it was. Going to place my things on the bleachers, I looked back to see that the person showed no sign of movement.

Was the person drowning? The thought made me gasp and before I knew it, I made a running leap towards the pool-- swimming towards the person to grab them. Was I too late?

There was a momentary shock as the person grabbed me by the throat and I flailed in the water when his hand tightened.

"Let me go!" I screamed, opening my eyes to see that it was Johnny. A flicker of realization flashed through his features, Johnny pushing me backwards until my back hit the side of the swimming pool, Johnny cornering me with his arms. His face drew closer and for the first time, I saw a side of Johnny I have never seen before.

His eyes flashed dangerously.

"Oh Dana, do not." He breathed. "Do that. Ever again."

I felt my breath hitch up in my throat and for a moment my eyes searched his. His hands gripped the side of the pool so tightly I saw that his hands were turning white from the pressure. I pressed my back against the corner of the pool when I saw Johnny finally relax.

He ran a hand through his hair, beads of water sliding down his bare upper body. He pushed himself away from me for a moment and when I could feel that he was no longer a threat, I crossed my arms at him and glared.

“Did you just try to suffocate me?” I asked shrilly and Johnny looked surprised at my reaction. “You, Johnny Suh—Did you just try to….”

“You caught me by surprise,” he said and I motioned to my clothes.

“I’m wet.”

“You were the one who decided to jump in.”

“I thought you were drowning,” I said to him and he crossed his arms.

“I was meditating.”

“Who meditates in water?”

“Oh Dana—”

I huffed, splashing water at him. I was pissed that my clothes were wet and he had the audacity to yell at me when I was trying to save him.

“Fine, I’m sorry for yelling at you,” he said to me, his voice annoyed and I rolled my eyes. The least he could do was sound like he was actually sorry! What a joke. “I said, I’m sorry!”

“Whatever,” I said to him, pushing myself up the side of the pool.

“Oh Dana!” I heard him call after me, sighing in frustration. “I said I was sorry—”

“Shove your sorry up your , Suh!” I fired back, grabbing my towel and phone, moving out of the swimming pool. I saw Jennie standing there and she looked unsure. “Your boyfriend is an ,” I told her, stalking out from the building; annoyed.

Looking down at my wet clothes, I made a face. I was too lazy to change, sighing. The problem with always having something to do was that you ended up bored when there was nothing to do. I held my phone and looked through it, the applications all study-related. There was an application to see where all the other agents were and I flickered at all dots. Jaemin must have gotten his own phone too because I saw “Na Jaemin” moving towards the rooftop. He must have finally found something to do.

There was a function to put off my location to show I wouldn’t be shown on the map and I put it off. I didn’t need people to know where I was.

As I walked down the track field, I found myself approaching another dot and when I looked up, I saw that it was Yuta who was sitting alone. He noticed me and passed me a small smile, his eyes dragging over my wet outfit.

“Why are you wet?” he asked and I looked down, my eyes widening. I forgot to bring my bag that had my swimsuit in it! Making a mental note to get it later, I shrugged.

“I wanted to swim but couldn’t,” I answered, sitting beside him.

“Why?”

“Because Johnny Suh tried to suffocate me,” I replied and I saw Yuta frown.

“Did you bother him while he was meditating?” He asked and I looked at him, surprised. “He meditates underwater. It helps sometimes, I think. Underwater is when you’re isolated.”

“He’s isolated in his lighthouse most of the time,” I murmured to myself. “What are you doing here?”

“Lunch,” Yuta replied, a gust of wind blowing against us. I shuddered and before I knew it, I felt something heavy on my shoulders.