Everything back to before the whole arranged marriage debacle, Jihyo is called by Secretary Kim for a meeting. She could guess what it was about, and she would be very close too, but this was definitive enough for the woman to ask her to bring her lawyer and her father if he wanted to be present. Mr Ko had been in Seoul for the divorce proceedings, so he would be present, but Jiyoo and Chinsun had returned to Bucheon and couldn’t get back to the capital in time. 

“Good evening, ms Gok. How have you been?” Mr Ko greets as his client gets into the car.

The lawyer said he’d pick Jihyo up at her place and she really couldn’t be more grateful. She had been rather tired lately, with training the kiddos and all.

“Hey Sejeong!” Jihyo greets happily. “I’m alright, with getting my first divorce and probably about to leave the country and all.”

“What do you mean, leave the country?” The man is honestly curious.

“Oh, if the meeting today goes the way I’m guessing it will, I’ll probably be given an opportunity that will be too good to pass on.” The detective has a mysterious smile. “Let’s just wait and see, yeah?”

“I trust that you most likely already know about everything and have already made your decision. So I’ll just be there and have your back as always.” Mr Ko laughs heartily.

“That’s all I can ask for.” Jihyo smiles. “Just be there and intervene whenever you think it’s needed. But I’m pretty much set on accepting, there’s no reason not to.”

They make some nice conversation the rest of the way. It was always pleasant to talk to Ko Sejeong, he was a smart guy, not just law smart, but in general, and always pleasant to talk to. Jihyo also had this weird skill to have people tell her their life story without much effort too, but that’s not what we are talking about. They get to the Blue House and are guided to another entrance, on the other side of the building. Weird. Jihyo gets on high alert immediately, she knew this wasn’t supposed to happen and instructs Sejeong to not stop driving at all, just head to where they were instructed to, go slow, but don’t stop if she doesn’t tell him to.

One might say this was all her being neurotic, but Jihyo has been playing this game long enough to smell trouble whenever it rears its head. The whole setting was wrong, the guard who directed them was shifty, the entrance on the other side wouldn’t be of easy access to any offices, it was an employee entrance, the people roaming around the area weren’t supposed to be there, and clearly not official employees. Jihyo caught many things wrong with what they had been wearing and it was certainly not Blue House official uniform. Yeah, they should get out of there immediately.

“Alright, keep driving, don’t react and head back to the front. I’ll show you another entrance where we can leave through.” Jihyo instructs. 

Her whole evaluation of the situation took a few seconds, they had just turned the corner and she was able to see enough to deem this situation dangerous.

“Yeah, I got a gut feeling that this wasn’t supposed to happen.” Sejeong agreed.

“Don’t go all the way in, just turn around whenever you can and go right past the main entrance we came from.”

“Which exit are you thinking about?”

“The one just behind the plaza, we should be able to get lost among the tourists and the many cars. It should give us enough time to get some distance.”

“Alright.” The lawyer is visibly nervous.

“It’s alright, I’ll make sure our escape route is clear.” Jihyo assures.

They made it out, Jihyo had already called Nayeon and relayed the situation with as little detail as possible. She just said she had been called in for a meeting with Prime Minister Kwon and when she got there, everything the man had instructed her was the opposite of what she had been told on arrival. The chief told her which route to take and instructed a few units to check on her. Jihyo relayed a precise description of the vehicle she was in, sharing her live position and all, she hadn’t seen anyone tailing them yet, but it wasn’t safe yet.

They would head to the precinct, Mina had already pulled up Jihyo’s shared location and was monitoring them through the traffic cameras. There wasn’t anything indicating they were being followed, but it was never bad to be overly cautious. They arrive at the precinct and Jihyo tells mr Ko to drive around the building and park at the garage, they waste no time leaving the vehicle and entering the building, the mechanics also do a quick check on the vehicle for explosives and tracking devices, but it’s clear. Looks like these people aren’t that smart.

“What happened?” Mina asks once they are all inside the office.

“I don’t know. Prime Minister Kwon asked me to meet up with him at the blue house.” Jihyo begins. “Getting there, we were guided somewhere completely different from what he had told me before, so I got this gut feeling that something was wrong. Once we turned the corner, I saw too many people milling around and they were clearly not employees, so I told mr Ko to keep driving and get us out of there.”

“I’m one to never doubt your instincts.” Nayeon shrugs.

“Yeah, I’ll call the Prime Minister and ask about it.” 

“I think room D is vacant.” Mina informs.

“I’ll be right back. Mr Ko, please wait here.”

The lawyer is still very shaken but nods. He knew things could get dangerous working for really rich people, but this was the first time he felt he actually was in danger. Jihyo was calm and certain of what she was doing, which gave the man some peace of mind, but he was still not prepared to actually live this kind of thing. Nayeon asked a junior to bring some coffee and water for the man while they wait for Jihyo to return and tell them more about all this.

“Park? Where are you?” Prime Minister Kwon sounds impatient.

“That’s what I’d like to know. I got there, whomever was playing security guided me to the other side of the building and everything just screamed ambush.” Jihyo rants. “I just got out of there, asked the chiefs to secure the way and we are at the precinct now.”

“What?” The man is clearly “Just stay safe. Get to your house if you can, your lawyer is still staying in your neighborhood too, yes?”

“He is, my father bought a smaller house a bit further away for him to use when he is in Seoul.” The detective confirms. “I’ll get back once it’s safe. The car has a dash camera with audio, I’ll send you the footage soon.”

“Thanks, we’ll see what we can find out here. Just stay safe and out of sight. Take a few days if possible.”

“Will do. Just find out what this was about.”

And they hang up. Jihyo heads to the garage, the mechanics tell her the car is safe, but it would b good to run an electronic check, as there is nothing physical that they could have fixed or removed. The detective grabs the memory stick from the dash camera and heads to the IT department. She knew what to do, but needed their equipment. Sunyook, the head of the IT department, lands a hand with the memory drive and sends a few of his boys to secure the vehicle. 

Once they make sure the footage is safe and no viruses have been attached, Jihyo sends everything to the safe dropbox and makes sure to erase her tracks, then she heads back to the chiefs’ office to retrieve mr Ko. Mina wasn’t present, but Nayeon looked very busy with a phone call, so she opted to check on the lawyer. He was faring much better and could stand up without his knees failing him now. It was one thing to have these situations happen in your career, but it was an entirely different thing to live it for the first time.

Jihyo drove them back, she asked at the entrance if someone could follow them with the golf cart to take her to her own home, the security team did that quite often for the residents. Prime Minister Kwon sent a message not long after she had reached home, telling her they would be heading there in an hour. She warned her lawyer, who said he was showering and would be there right on time, and then proceeded to get cleaned up herself. Ppuyo didn’t walk around anymore, so she cleaned up his corner and gave him his medication, the vet had suggested putting him down sooner, and she was starting to see that her baby was indeed feeling too much pain and could even barely feed himself anymore. 

The guests had arrived exactly when they said they would, Jihyo had called the front desk and asked them to let them in right away, giving the vehicle plate number and description to make sure these very important people who shouldn’t know her at all wouldn’t hang around long enough to be spotted. Things were still not calm enough and it’s always better to hang on the side of caution. Everyone seated, drinks served, it was time to start talking.

“You can’t stay here.” Secretary Kim begins with a sigh.

“The people who tried to ambush you today?” Commissary Choi chips in. “Yeah, they are from the organization your wife’s lover snitched on and they are after you.”

“I guessed.” Jihyo shrugs. “Those people lost a lot with the confession, and it’s not like it was any secret that she only confessed when I went there to talk to her. Sure, what was said is legally protected, but they all know I’m the one who got it out.”

“And for that, we worked something else for you.” The woman continues solemnly. “I know you were supposed to become commissioner, but we can’t let you stay anymore.”

“I’ll take the Interpool offer.” The detective agrees promptly. “I know it’s either them or working with the FBI, and I’d rather not have to deal with the ‘Muricans at all.”

“You never cease to amaze me.” Prime Minister Kwon chuckled.

“I do try my best. But where would I be going? I can speak english and a bit of french, but if I’m to learn another language, then I’d like a head start.”

“Probably England or Ireland, we decided to let you choose.” Secretary Kim explains. “You’ll be either in London, Princeton or Dublin.”

“I think I’ll take London. Maybe Dublin, but London sounds more enticing to me.” Jihyo ponders aloud.

“Then we’ll begin negotiating, it should take a couple of months, so get everything in order and get ready to travel.” Choi sighs with relief.

“Mr Ko here will get everything in order, and I’ll pack up to leave. How long do you think we’ll need, mr Ko?” 

“I believe I can get everything done in about two and a half months.” The lawyer rubs his chin. “Jihyo’s divorce should be finished in about a month, so no less than that, but I’ll make sure to help her handle all the paperwork and get her ready to leave on time.”

“Well, then.” Jihyo claps her hands. “Three months it is. I’ll be ready by then, and you guys can negotiate and get the official invitation going, and that’s that. I’ll probably stop working about a month before I have to leave, so it would be great if I had something official to hand to my bosses and get my dismissal started.”

“Don’t worry, they are more than ready.” Secretary Kim laughs. “We just needed you to say where you wanted to go.”

They discuss a few more details, Jihyo excuses herself for a while to take care of Ppuyo, and taking the vet’s suggestion seemed the better choice all the more. He had tried to move and drink some water, it seemed, and despite the bowl being right in front of him, the poor guy had fallen over and couldn’t do more than meow to get her attention. It was too much suffering to keep putting him through, and she knew it would only get worse. There was no way out of it.

Once everyone was out, Jihyo sent a message to the vet’s office to schedule a time, and started preparing to sleep. She had a lot to think about, but she already knew what was coming, things just got consolidated this evening and it was more of a ‘everything feels more real’ thing.