Rule #1: Never attack the enemy.

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"As I said before, you need a sugar daddy."

Raon finished brushing her teeth, sending her phone a quick glare when her best friend's voice echoed from it.

"I mean," Jinah continued with a chuckle. "You're so behind on a lot of your payments and the bills just keep piling up. You barely manage to cover rent and now you have to choose between water and heat. You eat meat once every six months because you're broke. Your brother was about to get kicked out of school because you're always late when it comes to his monthly payment-"

"Thank you very much for always reminding me of this," Raon's voice echoed through the bathroom walls, sarcastically.

"I'm just saying," Jinah continued again. "It's okay if you ask Yixing to help you out with some bills."

"Is he the sugar daddy you're talking about?"

Jinah's laughter echoed making her grimace. "Of course, if only he was in Ulsan."

Raon finished washing her face before grabbing a white towel.

"Speaking of which," Jinah added when she didn't get a reply from her. "Have you talked with your Chief about the possibility of you transferring to Seoul Police Department? I really miss having you around!"

"Last time I tried talking with him about that," Raon grabbed her phone before exiting the bathroom, throwing the towel over her shoulder. "He almost kicked me out of the precinct. I don't think it's possible for me to transfer any time soon. I've just started working here seven months ago."

"That , I don't even know what had gotten into you when you decided to leave Seoul and settle down in Ulsan."

"Obviously, because I wanted to take the job," Raon rolled her eyes when she walked into the kitchen, sitting her phone onto the countertop with her friend's voice still echoing from it.

"That still , man."

Raon grimaced again when her eyes landed on the amount of dirty dishes her younger brother left in the sink.

"Anyways, I have to hang up now because I need to get ready for work!" Jinah chanted cheerfully. "Call me again if you get a reply from Yixing."

"I don't think I will get one," Raon bit her lower lip. "It's been days already."

"Still, he must have been busy with work. I'm sure he will reply at some point. Don't lose hope!"

The line went dead almost immediately making Raon roll her eyes, thinking whether she should make breakfast first before washing the dishes or wash them before making breakfast.

Seo Raon's entire life revolved around work and house chores.

Being the only family member left for her brother, she made sure to raise him well, take care of him and play the role of both his parents and older sibling.

She was only nineteen when her parents passed away, leaving her alone to take care of her ten years old little brother.

Ever since their parents' death, Raon had been suffering between finishing her studies and getting part time jobs to make sure her brother gets the kind of life everyone his age had. Although sometimes she feels like she's been doing a terrible job at providing her brother with everything he might have needed or wanted, she still feels proud to reach this point after all the ups and downs she went through in the past few years.

Living alone with the mission of raising a teenager on her own had been a tough task.

She could have done much better if she was on her own without him.

It made her realize that no matter how hard she tries to fill their parents place, there are some things she will never be able to provide him and that he will still feel the empty gap their parents left in their lives.

Her phone suddenly rang, interrupting her train of thoughts when she was halfway washing the dishes, drying her hands before walking over to grab it, thinking that Jinah might have forgotten to tell her something and that maybe she was the one calling again. However, she was surprised to spot her brother's school principal' number displaying on the screen making her frown.

Her heart did a quick skip when she figured that he must be calling her because of something related to her brother or maybe because of the bills she still needed to pay.

"Hello?" She picked up after the fourth ring, clearing .

"Am I talking to Miss Raon?"

She gulped. "Yes, this is me."

"This is about your brother, Seo Reoyuk."

The principal's voice sounded rushed, sending goosebumps down her skin.

"You need to come down as soon as possible."

Her heart dropped to her knees. "May I ask what happened?"

"Your brother was catch beating one of his classmates again."

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Raon reached Jangrae High School in time, knocking on the principal's office door after adjusting her shirt collar and black leather jacket.

"Come in," the principal's voice echoed from the other side instantly.

The first thing she spotted upon walking in was the principal's calm expression and the parents furious gazes. Smiling awkwardly, she took the chair on the opposite side from the parents before clearing and addressing the principal.

"I've been told that Reoyuk got in trouble-"

"Who's this?" One of the parents asked, squinting at her.

"Ms. Seo here is Reoyuk's guardian and older sister," principal Choi clarified simply before pointing at the parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Kim are Youngru's parents, the boy Reoyuk was caught punching in the class."

Youngru's mother eyed Raon with a suspicious look. "No wonder the boy has been violent if he was raised by an irresponsible person."

Raon's eyes widened. "E-Excuse me?"

"Honey," Mr. Kim grabbed his wife's hand, squeezing it. "Calm down."

"I'd like to ask Reoyuk about what happened exactly," Raon shifted her attention to Mr. Choi, completely ignoring the couple at this point. "Where's my brother?"

"He's probably in the nurse's office at the moment," Mr. Choi replied.

"Has he been injured?!" Raon gasped, panic raising within her.

"My son is the one who's injured badly!" Mrs. Kim hollered before Mr. Choi could reply. "If you've actually raised your brother properly, he wouldn't have been such a troublemaker and a violent person!"

Raon gritted her teeth and opened her leather jacket, unable to handle the tension building in the air. Her gun holster was exposed to everyone at this point, giving Youngru's parents a confident look when they spotted her move.

"First of all," she was back to address Mrs. Kim. "You have no right to judge me. My way of raising my brother is none of your business."

"Mr. Choi said this wasn't the first time it happened," Mr. Kim pointed out. "Your brother beat one of his classmates before over a silly game."

"He got involved in similar situations countless times before. He even had an argument with one of his teachers that ended up with him cleaning the school's toilets once," Mrs. Kim added when Raon bit her tongue. "No one informed you because they tend to solve everything within the school ground without the need to disturb the parents because we're usually busy and don't have time to drop by every now and then."

"Is that true?" Raon was back to address the principal, extremely surprised. "Reoyuk has been acting violent recently without my knowledge?"

"Those problems weren't as serious as this one," Mr. Choi clarified, resting his elbows on the desktop.

"I don't feel safe sending my son to school anymore," Mrs. Kim mumbled, side eyeing Mr. Choi who gave her a look. "Reoyuk needs to be suspended!"

"Listen," Raon ignored her again, fixing Mr. Choi with a serious gaze. "I don't believe that Reoyuk did something like this without a valid reason. I want to see him, talk to him about this, and of course we will understand what happened with them."

"I've already decided on their punishment," Mr. Choi raised a hand, looking between the three of them. "They will spend the rest of the week in detention-"

"Why does my son get punished while Reoyuk was the one who beat him first?"

"That's because your son must have beaten my brother back," Raon spat angrily. "It's only fair for everyone that way."

"That's because he wanted to defend himself!" Mrs. Kim insisted, shouting angrily.

"That's enough," Mr. Choi tried to keep his cool the maximum possible. "They have exams coming up. Suspending them won't be as fair as giving them detention for them to learn that nothing get solved by using violence."

"But-" Mrs. Kim tried again but her husband was quick to stop her.

"That's enough, darling."

Raon managed a scoff under her breath, cringing at the sight of the couple comforting each other uglily.

"Her brother needs to apologize to my son," Mrs. Kim insisted after a moment or two. "I'm not settling for less."

Mr. Choi took a deep breath, massaging his temples. "Fine, Ms. Seo will make sure her brother apologizes to your son."

Raon didn't seem to complain as she rolled her eyes and quitted the office without bothering to say anything else. She made her way down the hall straight to the nurse office in search for her brother. Taking a deep breath upon reaching the closed door, she clenched and unclenched her fists for a few seconds before deciding to knock on the door.

"Come in."

She adjusted her leather jacket before pushing the door open and tilting her head inside, scanning the room quickly to find her brother standing in the far corner with a boy-- Kim Youngru was his name as she reckoned. He was occupying one of the beds with his bruised face and angry expression making her wince as if she could physically feel his pain.

"This is Seo Raon," she introduced herself to the nurse without bothering to walk in. "I'm Reoyuk's guardian."

"Yes," the nurse called from behind her desk. "Please, come in."

"No, actually," Raon bit the inner side of her cheek, grimacing. "I'd like to have a word with my brother privately."

The nurse removed her glasses tiredly and nodded. "Sure."

Reoyuk left his spot when he felt his sister's eyes on him, rubbing his left cheek while making a beeline towards the exit. Once he walked out of the office and closed the door behind him, he gasped in shock when Raon pushed him against the wall behind him harshly and grabbed his shirt collar.

"What the , noona?!"

"The boy looks like he'd been beaten up by a ing wild animal," she hissed in disbelief, eyes running up and down his face. "Just when did you become a bully, huh?"

"I didn't bully him!" Reoyuk defended, trying to shake her hands off of his collar. "He was the one who provoked me!"

"Do we go around beating whoever that provokes us you fool?!"

"Get off of me!"

"You're going to walk back inside and apologize to him. Do you hear me?" She hissed again through gritted teeth. "You better not make a fuss this time around."

His eyes widened. "Are you not going to ask me about what happened?"

"It doesn't matter now that I saw what you've done with my own eyes," Raon finally let go of him, relieved because he wasn't hurt. At least he wasn't as badly hurt as his classmate. "His parents are damn furious about what happened. You need to apologize to him so we can get done with this ."

Reoyuk pressed his lips together. "This won't end here even if I apologize."

Raon's eyes twitched. "Is that a threat, motherf*cker?"

He clenched his jaw before pushing past her in attempt to walk back into the office when she grabbed his shirt and pushed him against the wall again, earning a loud groan from him in return.

"Do you think I have time for this right now?" She spat with a glare. "I'm late for work and I will probably get scolded for-"

"You need to stop acting like my mother," he cut her off, gritting his teeth with a dark look. "Because you've never been a mother to me, you never was and you'll never be!"

Raon froze.

"You don't have the right to meddle into my life-"

"I'm your ing sister and the only family member left for you," she interrupted him. "I've always been there for you!"

"Yeah, you think?" His voice cracked halfway making her let go of him slowly.

"What do you mean?" She ws confused at this point.

He avoided her gaze and she thought she caught a glimpse of tears in his eyes.

"Reoyuk-"

"You should go now or else you'll be late for work," he pointed out quickly.

"I'm not going anywhere without you," she shook her head and tried searching for his eyes. "You'll apologize to your classmate and I'll drop you home afterwards."

"What? No, I still have classes-"

"You're not staying around because you have detention starting tomorrow."

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"Hey, detective Seo. Chief Lee wants to know when you're coming in."

The police dispatcher's voice echoed from the radio as Raon drove through Ulsan's busy streets with Reoyuk occupying the passenger seat. He rolled his eyes when his sister grabbed the walkie-talkie to answer that.

"I'm sorry, I got stuck in traffic but I'll be there as soon as possible."

Raon sighed before putting the walkie-talkie away, already thinking of a way to make it up to her boss for being late today, knowing that he's someone who doesn't tolerate poor excuses and mistakes. She could feel her brother's eyes on her but she chose to ignore him. She wasn't in the mood to break another argument between them. It's enough that she had a hard time convincing him to just apologize to his classmate and turn a blind eye to whatever bull he might have done to him, just for this time, for the sake of her sanity.

It took her years to realize that dealing with her brother wasn't the same anymore.

He was just a child a few years ago.

But now he's a seventeen year old teenager whom she needed to look after even more, clean up his act for him and try guiding him through the right path. Although, the thought of having full control over him and his problems sounded almost impossible to her at this point.

Just as she was on her way to drop him back home, her eyes landed on a couple of teenagers in school uniforms --who looked like they could be in middle school-- standing in a corner while smoking what looked like weed to her. Her brother seemed to notice that when her red Audi came