“Hey, Kkura? Earth to Sakura?” A woman’s voice calls to the tech girl as she was engrossed with something on her PC.

“H-huh? Oh, Chaeyeon. Sorry, what is it?” Sakura responds to her girlfriend, quickly closing the file she had been looking at. The younger girl notices it, but decides not to pry.

“Yujin and the others have been training for a few months and they wanted a challenge, remember? My sister and ITZY are visiting today, and you said you’d observe IVE play a capture-the-flag game against them to see how much they’ve improved.”

“Ah, of course! I’ll go to the control room and set it up in a bit.” The Japanese girl says quickly. In truth, she’d been so busy lately that she’d forgotten about it, so she tried to play it off. Sakura was just about to get up and change out of her usual sweats and baggy shirt when Chaeyeon grabbed her hand.

“Are things okay with you, Kkura? It feels like you’ve been out of it lately.” Chaeyeon asks. As always, the younger girl could see right through her, but Sakura didn’t want to let it show. The project that’s been consuming her time recently is something only she could know about.

“Just a bit stressed lately with the events of the past couple months.” Sakura replies, which wasn’t a complete lie. The things that have popped up recently with the other IZ*ONE members weren’t big missions that required all of them to be present, but when a lot of small problems pile on, you begin to feel their effects.

Though Chaeyeon knew there was some truth to what her girlfriend had said, she was still a bit disappointed knowing there was something else she was hiding. When they’d gotten together last year, things were great. They’d go on cute dinner dates, Sakura would teach Chaeyeon how to play some video games, and Chaeyeon would give Sakura some dance pointers. Since they both had different interests, it was nice to share them with each other.

It wasn’t until Nako and Hitomi had sent that android over that things began to change. The tech-girl spent a whole week in their room trying to figure out how the machine ticked. Once she was done with that, things didn’t get better. There was this file that Sakura had begun to work on that she’d always close whenever anyone entered the room. Since she wasn’t the confrontational type, Chaeyeon wanted to wait patiently for the older girl to open up to her like she usually did. There comes a point though when enough is enough. Of course, couples could have secrets, but when they start to affect the relationship, one side has to speak up.

“Alright, Kkura. If you need anything, just let me know, okay?” Chaeyeon eventually says with a smile. Today would not be the day she would break.

~~~~

“It’s nice to see you again, Yujin, Wonyoung!” Chaeryeong greets as she sees the two tall girls waving at her group the second they enter campus.

“Thank you for agreeing to this, unnie!” Yujin cheerfully says. “Our team was only formed a couple months ago, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be pushovers!”

“We wouldn’t expect anything less from a group that has the two of you. I heard you’re the leader? I hope you’ve given the newbies a lot of pointers.” Yeji, ITZY’s team leader, says in response. Every couple of weeks after the events at Jeju, she and her four friends would visit campus as promised to train and compete in capture-the-flag events. So far, they had a 16-11 record, having faced many different combinations of IZ*ONE and other trainees. Since they were always teammates in these games, it only made sense that their record would be better than the mix and match teams they faced. Normally, JYP would be against going out so much, but their president, Park Jinyoung, agreed that training with other mutants would definitely improve their skills and keep them on their toes. There were already a lot of memorable matches like the time Minjoo managed to invisibly walk all the way to their flag and sneak it to the goal line unnoticed. The one where that Japanese mutant, Murashige, joined was really interesting too. Meanwhile, Ryujin would always brag about being 5-0 against any team that had Yena on it, much to the duck’s annoyance.

“Alright! We can introduce our members over some lunch before the match.” Wonyoung suggests, pointing the group towards the cafeteria.

“You girls can go ahead actually. I want to meet up with Chaeyeon-unnie first.” Chaeryeong says with a bow before speeding off, not giving anyone a chance to respond.

“Always on the move…” Yuna quips..

“You know what they say, ‘Chae’s of the same feather, flock together’.” Yujin adds on which causes the rest of the group to laugh as they walk towards their destination.

~~~~

“Hey there, unnie!!!” Chaeryeong says as she barges into her sister’s dorm room. The younger girl quickly realizes though that Chaeyeon was not in the best mood.

“Yah, learn how to knock, will you?” The older girl mutters as she gets up from her bed.

“What’s with the long face?” The little sister asks. Chaeyeon was about to respond saying that it wasn’t her business, but Chaeryeong swiftly cut her off.

“Ah, who am I kidding? It’s something about Sakura-unnie, isn’t it?” She assumes, much to the surprise of Chaeyeon.

“Is it that obvious?” The older sister replies, believing that denying it will only make Chaeryeong press her more.

“Yes, every time I visit, I wouldn’t say you’ve looked more unhappy, but your mood has definitely been more down than usual.”

“She’s hiding something, Ryeong. I want to talk to her about it, but she keeps shutting me out.” This was the first time Chaeyeon’s frustrations were finally said out loud, and while it felt like a burden lifted off her shoulders, she couldn’t help but feel guilty for those thoughts. Chaeyeon wasn’t usually a high-maintenance person. She liked to go with the flow and vibe out, but the past couple months have been testing her. There have been less dates, less alone time, and during their mission in Hunter Geun’s base, it was Sakura’s lack of focus that got them caught. The two didn’t mention it to the others, but the reason they were ambushed was because the tech-girl had said she checked all the cameras for traps when she didn’t. She was too busy looking through the files to realize the nullifying gas that had seeped through the ceiling and made them powerless.

“Well, the way I see it, you have two options: wait it out, or find out for yourself.” At the last words, Chaeryeong points at Sakura’s PC which was currently turned off.

“I-I can’t, Ryeong. If she finds out I went through her computer, I don’t know what’ll happen.” Chaeyeon replies quietly.

“There’s your answer then. Sakura will come around. You should know the best out of all of us that she usually takes a while.” The younger girl says. “Now, come on, we’re having lunch with the others.”

Chaeyeon takes one more glance back at Sakura’s PC before speeding off after her sister.

~~~~

1 hour later…

After having a nice meal and everyone introducing themselves to each other, ITZY and IVE were now standing face to face in one of PD Campus’ combat simulation rooms. Since Yujin’s team had six members though, Chaeyeon elected to join Chaeryeong’s team for today’s match.

“Remember your training, okay Yuj?” Chaeyeon says to the puppy teasingly.

“Yah, unnie, you know what we’re capable of. Don’t make me remind you of how Wonyoung beat you in a 1v1 last week.” Yujin responds, causing the older girl to laugh in reply, acknowledging that fact.

“Is everyone ready?” Sakura asks from the control room. Yeji and Yujin both give a thumbs up, and with the quick press of a button, the plain white room begins to shift until they find themselves on a rocky mountaintop.

“For competitive integrity, I would like to remind Yuna that you cannot just teleport directly to the flag and teleport back. You can only use your ability as far as you can see.” The tech-girl announces, referencing the first couple times they’d run these matches with ITZY. Chaewon would not stop complaining about the unfairness of it the first time ITZY’s maknae had done it. As IVE snickers though, Sakura gives a rule to them too.

“Rei, I know that the flags have metal poles, but please do not try to just magnetically pull it right towards you. You must cross the boundary with the flag.” The Japanese girl groans at this, but ultimately nods at her senior. With pleasantries out of the way, the groups begin to move to their assigned start positions.

“Alright, everyone.” And with her best impression of Lee Seunggi, Sakura announces the start of the match.

“It’s showtime!” Unbeknownst to the groups though, a hooded figure was now standing outside of the campus’ camouflaged walls.

~~~~

“Okay girls, the plan is simple. Me and Lia will play defense. Chaeyeon and Chaeryeong, you two play midfield. Finally, our offense will be Lia and Ryujin. Got it?” Yeji says. The fierce-eyed girl was an efficient leader. In her years at JYP, she was trained to formulate strategies quickly and execute them to the T. Chaeyeon had watched some of their previous capture-the-flag games, but it was definitely different experiencing her leadership firsthand.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, Yujin was having a bit of trouble.

“Hmm, maybe we should stick Rei and Gaeul here on defense. Then, Leeseo and Liz can take midfield to scout the area. Wonyoung and I can take offense since we have more knowledge on ITZY and Chaeyeon-unnie. Or…maybe for that reason we should be midfield to give you guys more experience.” The puppy was going back and forth trying to figure out a plan as the match timer went off, signaling the start of the battle.

“Woah, woah, unnie. Slow down.” Wonyoung advises. Yujin had been a good leader to the team, but she was just as new to the role as the others were to fighting.

“Okay, sorry. Was overthinking a bit.” Yujin says apologetically.

“No worries, unnie! We can just go with the first plan. Sakura-unnie will be watching us anyway to see how we can improve.” Leeseo says eagerly as if this was just a regular game of hide and seek. The older girl nods, seeing the determined look in each of her friends’ eyes.

“Alright, guys! Let’s show them what we’re about!” And with that cheer, the group splits off.

~~~~

“This place looks so beautiful, doesn’t it?” Yujin says as she and Wonyoung scale the mountain. As always, the place was hyper-realistic, the simulated elevation being so high they could actually touch the clouds. The smell of fresh air was incredibly refreshing and the light blanket of snow on the ground made it feel like that she and Wonyoung were just on a hiking date. The younger girl nods in agreement, absentmindedly writing the name, IZ*ONE, in the clouds with her finger as they walk by. Suddenly though, a quick blur blasts by and knocks the puppy down.

“Yah, get your head off cloud-nine, Yujin-ah.” Chaeyeon says with a click of her tongue. Wonyoung wanted to use her telekinesis to push the older girl out of the way, but Chaeryeong dashes by at the same time and trips her.

“If you want to improve, you have to learn about focus and discipline.” Chaeyeon then says. Of course, this was a friendly match, but it was also a teaching moment for the younger girls that Chaeyeon didn’t want to waste for them.

“Cheap shot, unnie!” Yujin whines before controlling a nearby mountain-stream and blasting it towards the two sisters who nimbly dodge out of the way.

“You can do better than that, girls.” Chaeyeon says seriously as she gets another quick hit on Yujin.

Wonyoung tries to charge in for close combat against Chaeryeong, but the fox simply slows down time and hits the younger girl with a swift combo.

Both Yujin and Wonyoung were already heaving from the relentless attacks. The older girl racks her brain for any ideas, until she spots a frozen lake a couple of yards down the mountain.

“Wonnie, over there!” The puppy says as she slides down the hill towards the body of water. The Lee sisters try to follow, but Wonyoung lifts up boulders to block their way, giving Yujin enough time to make it to the spot.

“We’re in my element now!” Yujin confidently says with crossed arms as she stands in the middle of the ice.

“We’ll see about that.” Chaeryeong quickly dashes across the ice, which elicits a smirk from the younger girl. With one quick wave of her arms, the ice dissolves below Chaeryeong, causing her to fall into the chilling water. Unlike Chaeyeon who relied on pure speed, Chaeryeong’s time slowing couldn’t keep her from running on water.

“Nice one, Yujinnie! Go for the flag, I’ll catch up!” Wonyoung says, giving Yujin a thumbs up.

“You’ve both definitely gotten better. Let’s see if last week’s sparring was real or a fluke.” Chaeyeon says before zipping towards Wonyoung and knocking her off balance.

When she gets up, the speedster is coming around for another attack, but this time the bunny is ready and uses all her power to hold Chaeyeon still. In their recent sparring match, this worked, the older girl tiring before she could break through Wonyoung’s mental grip. Today though, Chaeyeon was exerting a lot more effort in trying to force herself forward. The bunny starts feeling beads of sweat roll down her neck as her hold loosens. It was then that she hatched an idea of her own.

“Sorry, Wonyoung-ah, I got you this time.” Chaeyeon says confidently.

“I don’t think so, unnie.” And with that, Wonyoung releases her pressure when the older girl wasn’t expecting it, causing her to lose control of her speed and overshoot her target.

“That’s two in a row!” Wonyoung cheers as she makes her way to the flag.

By the time Chaeyeon returns to where the fight was, she sees Chaeryeong climbing out of the lake and helps her up.

“Ugh, I will never get over how realistic they have to make these places.” The younger girl says with a shiver, spitting out some water.

“Sorry about that, Ryeong. I guess we underestimated how much better they’ve gotten.” Chaeyeon says, half proud, but also half melancholic over how quickly the two maknaes had grown up.

“Don’t worry, unnie. I’m sure Ryujin and Yuna have the flag by now. Yujin and Wonyoung may be really experienced, but it remains to be seen how well the newbies have been trained.” Chaeryeong says, confident in her teammates’ abilities.

~~~~

“So, Chaeryeong’s speed doesn’t work on water, and Chaeyeon can sometimes lose control over her own. Yujin’s ability to control the matter of water has improved, and Wonyoung’s mental strength is definitely more powerful than before.” Sakura says to herself, typing along on her laptop before switching cameras to see the other side of the room.

“Hmm, the rookies still have a lot to learn about espionage. Ryujin fooled the first line of defense so easily. Leeseo also still hasn’t mastered her flying ability.” As the tech-girl continues to take note of her observations, she doesn’t notice the door slowly open behind her.

“Alright…let’s see what Yujin’s up to against Yeji and Li-” Before she could finish her sentence, a hand grips her shoulder and she begins to lose all of her energy.

“Who…are you?” Sakura mumbles as she tries to focus her vision on her hooded assailant.

“I’m sure you can figure that out, but you won’t be able to tell anyone.” The voice of a woman replies before her hand shifts to a metal blade. Just before she was about to swing though, an alarm went off.

“Hmph…count yourself lucky for now. I’ll just be taking this.” The figure says as she picks up Sakura’s laptop.

“And just so your friends don’t get any ideas…” The woman then walks over to the control panel and places her hand on it, locking all the doors and shutting off outer communication.

“Wait…you’re…” It finally dawns on Sakura who the intruder was. “Park Seoyoung…”

“I can’t wait to hunt down your friends, one by one.” The woman then smirks before disappearing like a chameleon and running off.

Sakura wanted to follow, but her strength was too low.

“The data…we can’t let her access it…” And with that, the Japanese girl’s world goes dark.

A/N: Hello and welcome back to another secret file story! As mentioned in my twitter and profile post here, I chose kkuchaen for the focus of this story. KangBi will be next, don't worry. Now, if you haven't seen my user post on wattpad or my twitter announcement (if you're on AFF or Ao3), I'm starting my first job next week, so updates will slow down. I graduated college last June and only got accepted to a job last week. I mentioned about what the future updates will be like there, but to make it quick, no, I'm not going to quit writing. I'll probably only be able to update at most once a week, so I hope you all stay patient!

Moving on to the story, i say this is KkuChaen focused, but as you can tell, there are a lot of cameos already. I hope it doesn't look like the pairing isn't showcased enough as the story goes on, and also sorry for the slight angst lol.

Anyway's since my job's still starting on the 13th, I promise to get at least one more chapter out before then. Thank you all again for the support you've given this story whether you're new or old. It really gives me extra motivation and drive to continue this story. 

Comments and Likes are always appreciated! I'll see y'all in the next one!