Introduction

When you’ve been working in a secret intelligence service for so long, you sometimes forget to ask what side you’re on.

You forget whether you care at all.

. . . . . . . . . .

“You’ve been sitting there for hours WooYoung, you shouldn’t be skipping meals like this.” SunYe tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

WooYoung turned to offer her a faint smile. Food was the last thing on his mind right now.

“Gorgeous isn’t it?” SunYe sighed, looking at the same cherry blossom tree that he’d been staring at.

He’d heard from someone that in times of turbulence, you learned to appreciate the little things. Captivating and poetic notions? Wrong. Sunrise this morning just brought on the dread of going through another day of fear. And birds were just loudly squawking, giving him pure agitation. Although the flowers were in full bloom, the scenery still felt the same. But he didn’t mention that to SunYe.

He put his hand on hers, squeezing it lightly. “It’s beautiful.”

“You think I can…” SunYe started.

“We talked about this.” Not allowing her to finish, he took her other hand, pulling her close. “It’s not safe.”

“I’ve been on numerous undercover missions but this has to be the most suffocating,” she said, sulking.

“But we’re not on a mission…” he replied, just as forlorn.

It did feel suffocating, but it was the best way to stay secure. They only left their temporary sanctuary when the sun was down, when there were no lights, no people, just to remain hidden. This was their life now. For betraying Jin Young Corporation, this was what they simply had to… embrace.

Noticing the dejected look on SunYe’s face, he immediately spoke up again to change the subject. “So has MinJun discovered anything?”

She shook her head, a response that was not surprising.

MinJun had always been the best at working around technology, but this time, the system that needed to be hacked was the system that he created himself.

One that was modified by the other computer engineers in the company. One that not only contained the complicated puzzles of MinJun, but of another programmer as well.

“Yenny’s taken every measure to ensure that their security system can’t be tampered with. I know we’re in a dire situation, but I can’t help but be impressed.” MinJun said, appearing from his room.

“She always said that she’d get you to praise her one day.” ChanSung smirked as he trailed behind his hyung.

“Yeah, like she didn’t get enough compliments from you.” MinJun scoffed.

“She’s not who you think she is. There’s a reason…”

“She’s not here with us, is she? There is no reason.”  Their looks both turned cold, as they thought about the person who once joked around with them, who smuggled food from the company dinners with ChanSung, who annoyingly corrected each of MinJun’s measly mistakes. They thought of her, and the other few, who were once their allies. Friends...

SunMi then came out of her own room, having had a long shower. She spent most of her time lying idly these days, water being the best method of drowning out her troubling thoughts.

“I’m guessing you guys still don’t have any word from JunHo oppa and Lim?”

The response that she got was silence, “no” seemed like too heavy a word to utter.

JunHo and Lim had been missing for days, and they had no way of contacting the two. Not knowing whether their friends were safe was easily the biggest cause of misery among their hundred others.

* * * * *

Restrained.

That was the condition that JunHo was in when he woke up.

He looked around, panicked at the lack of presence of another human.

Where was Lim?

They’d been captured, ripped away from their friends, then drugged out. That was all he remembered and now, now he was all alone.

Worse, Lim was probably alone too.

Don’t leave me.

I won’t.

You promise?

Of course!

He remembered doing the pinky-swear he once thought childish then, when he lost all his stressful thoughts, smiling wide at the sound of her giggles.

He struggled to get out of the bed he was lying in. Noticing the leak in his IV tubing, he realised that luck was on his side.

Damn company should know better than to use old trap methods against old agents.

Twisting his wrists to the point of breaking, he pulled his hands out from the cuffs. Using the nearest sharp tool he could find, he unlocked the cuffs to his legs as well. Feeling any movement towards the door risky, he climbed up the air vent.

Hold on Lim, I’m coming.

* * * * *

She didn’t scream, because she was not supposed to have fear.

She was not supposed to feel pain.

It was that simple.

Her scourger on the other hand, seemed to be experiencing more difficulty.

“Where is the disk??” He asked again, his voice rising each time.

“I told you, we destroyed it,” she replied, stoic.

Lim had undergone the worst kind of pain, yet she wasn’t giving him any of the information that JYC wanted. The disk that he wanted was the one that contained all of the data from Project BioMecha. The data that Lim and MinJun wiped out of the company’s hardwares and copied into their own. The data that they could send in to the government to use against JYC.

Experimenting on humans to make killing machines.

It would destroy the company entirely, sending the members of the board to prison and all the agents for probation.

This wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been Lim. If the rest of the subjects hadn’t died in the process of the experiments. If Lim hadn’t been the only successful one.

Her implanted skills had been kept covert in order for them to work around the reasons for her withstanding of the procedure. The only reason she was assigned into the Elite Team was so that she’d look like a simple prodigy, like its eleven exceptional members.

But now it proved a nuisance because they forgot that she was human before machine. That no matter how much computer data they input into her brain, no matter how much they tried to rid her of feelings, her heart would rule over. All she needed was a small push to remember who she really was.

It never occurred to them that their top agents would be the ones to give her that push.

It never occurred to them that her supposed disguise as a kind character was never a disguise.

It had hit them so hard when they found out how much she changed Elite 11 and in return, how much they kept her human.

“I told you this would be a waste of time. We’ll go with my plan now.” Lim heard the other agent in the chamber talk. “He should be arriving soon.”

* * * * *

“Will you stop pacing back and forth, back and forth, you’re giving me a headache!” Yenny scolded YuBin, annoyed by the repeated movement in front of her.

“You think we’re doing the right thing?”

“Stop asking us that. You’ve made your choice. No turn-backs,” SoHee was the one who replied, sitting calmly on the chair beside Yenny.

“How can you say that? They were once our friends! You! SoHee, you and SunMi were inseparable! And you! You would grin like a fool anytime you saw ChanSung…”

“STOP. Don’t push it, YuBin.” SoHee warned.

Both Yenny and SoHee knew what was bothering YuBin, they knew that she was not there out of loyalty. She was there because of what they always thought was her biggest weakness.

Her inability to repress her emotions. Her love for TaecYeon.

Even if SunYe had been her best friend, she chose to stay, thinking that she’d be able to get through to her boyfriend. To make him change his mind.

She should have known better.

For the fact that she was their best barrel-weapon specialist, they chose to ignore that fact.

“What do you think is going on right now?” YuBin then asked worriedly.

After a short moment of silence, Yenny replied.

“A car-chase. Khun and Taec just gave us the signal. They’ve found them.”

* * * * *

JunHo was outnumbered.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Of course the leak had been planned.

Of course they wanted him to find her.

Nothing would’ve been able to faze her, he should’ve known better.

Now thanks to that brash move, they were going to use him against Lim.

“JunHo oppa! Don’t hurt him!!” Lim screamed as she helplessly watched JunHo being pounded by the merciless agents.

Next thing she knew, he was chained, faced against all the tools of torture that had been used on her. He wouldn’t survive it. She started to cry.

“JunHo oppa…”

“Don’t say anything, no matter what, don’t –” He was slapped hard before he could finish his sentence.

She watched the unknown agent pick up a strong taser.

“I don’t like to waste time you see,” the agent smirked at her. They both knew that one shock would not kill him, but could give him brain damage.

As she pointed it at JunHo, Lim felt her resolve shatter.

“WAIT STOP! STOP!! I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you... Just please don’t… don’t hurt him.”

* * * * *

TaecYeon knew it was her even if the car he was chasing was too tinted to see through.

SunYe had always been an excellent driver. The best, in fact.

Nichkhun gave him the signal to take the other side. They’d been at it for too long and it was time to end the useless chase.

Turning to an empty road suddenly, TaecYeon wondered what SunYe was thinking. It would be easier to catch her when there were no interruptions.

Nichkhun was now nowhere to be seen, so it was just his car and hers.

But just as he caught up, close enough to stop SunYe, Nichkhun’s car appeared from the side.

CRASH!!!

He barely jumped out in time. Nichkhun did the same.

They were tricked.

She was not just the best at driving. She had also been the best at diversions.

Alone, SunYe drove off to the meeting point that had been decided earlier that morning.

MinJun had finally found a way to hack into JYC’s security system.

* * * * *

“It’s here. In the headquarters.”

“Lim!” JunHo called out to her, alarmed.

“I’m sorry…” Lim cried. “I’m so sorry…”

She told them exactly where to find the disk that they hid in the main JYC building itself. It had been a brilliant idea, to hide it right under their noses. SunMi’s idea, to be exact. They didn’t think that they’d be found out so soon. Right after planting that disk at a hidden area, they got the red mark, all seven of them. The six original members of the Elite Team were labelled disposable while she was to be kept alive.

And now, all the running away, all that struggle to survive, would be thrown to waste.

It was a risky trade, one that did not promise their safety, but at least it would save JunHo the torture.

Even though JunHo felt defeated, he gave her a weak smile, telling her that it was alright. He wished he could hold her close, he wished he could rid her of all the burden, but wishing was just another tool of torture. Because now they were caught. And they had nothing to hold against the people that caught them.

He thought of the time they spent together.

Fearing that they wouldn't hold their end of the deal, he knew he had to say it now.

"Lim-ah," he voiced out with all his strength. "I love you too."

* * * * *

“Go in from the left wing, I’ve opened the weapons room for you.”

MinJun was guiding WooYoung, SunMi and ChanSung through a communicator. If there was anything they were thankful of taking with them from the company when they left, it would be MinJun’s gears and gadgets.

But now they needed more weapons than just mere pistols and thanks to MinJun, they’ve retrieved that.

The disk was what they needed next.

“ChanSung, take the stairs from the east corridor, SunMi and WooYoung, you’ll be taking the elevator. I’m sending you down.”

* * * * *

“Something’s not right.” Yenny started clicking up the surveillance clips.

SoHee, vexed by Yenny’s worrysome tone, stood up. “What’s not right?”

Yenny’s eyes widened as she realised what had happened.

Her security system had been hacked. How could he have done it? She was so meticulous…

 She turned to SoHee and she needn’t another word.

SoHee immediately grabbed her gun and headed out of their quarters with YuBin following suit.

Damn you, Jun. She shook her head. Once second best, always second best.

For some reason though, as she tried to revive her system, she didn’t feel as angered or worried about the break-in as she’d imagined.

* * * * *

JunHo and Lim’s unconscious bodies were being dragged back into their holding cells when SunMi and WooYoung spotted them.

Forgetting their initial purpose of infiltrating the building, they rushed to save their friends.

The weapons they stole proved powerful as they managed to take down all ten agents escorting the two captives.

“We’ve a situation.” SunMi said through her communicator to both MinJun and ChanSung.

“We’re heading back out with JunHo and Lim. ChanSung, you’re on your own.” WooYoung apologized as both he and SunMi went back up and out, as stealthily as they could.

* * * * *

“Where’re SoHee and YuBin?” Nichkhun asked Yenny, noting the absence of his teammates.

“Finding whoever’s not on our side. Why didn’t you tell me MinJun wasn’t there?” Yenny jeered, ignoring the rugged and bloody looks of the two men who just entered.

“I’m sorry, we were too busy surviving car crashes. How did you not notice our missing signal?” TaecYeon gibed back.

“Whatever. Just go out there, I can’t track them yet. Take new communicators, I’ll tell you when I find them.”

After doing just that, both TaecYeon and Nichkhun went out.

It took almost fifteen minutes for Yenny to revive her system.

Fifteen. It didn’t hit her that she used to be able to solve his puzzles in less than two.

* * * * *

“The disk. They have it now.” Lim mumbled in her semi-conscious state.

“What!?” Both SunMi and WooYoung barked in unison. “What do you mean!?”

“I’m sorry…” she mumbled again.

MinJun, on the computer at the side started hitting his keyboard frantically.

“They’ve got the disk, ChanSung get out of there! She’s got the system back on!”

ChanSung didn’t respond.

MinJun thought he heard a gun-shot.

“CHANSUNG!!”

* * * * *

“Guys! I see ChanSung at—” Yenny stopped at the sight of him being shot on the chest.

The view from another camera then showed the shooter to be SoHee.

Frenzied, she shouted into her communicator as she watched SoHee continue forward with her gun pointed at his head.

“WAIT! You can’t just—”

“Sorry Yenny. If I don’t do this, I’ll become a traitor too.”

She took the killing shot.

Yenny… confident, determined and tough Yenny, felt like something burst inside her.

Why don’t you smile more often?

Do I look like I have a reason to?

Of course! You have me, don’t you? ChanSung the Awesome.

Yeah right.

Oh, you doubt me? Fine then. From this day forth, I vow to make my Yenny smile everyday!

My Yenny?

See, you’re smiling already. What’d I tell you?

Sinking to her seat and burying her face in her palms, Yenny cried.

Not him dying, not her crying, this was not the way she planned it.

She stayed because she didn’t see a life outside of the company.

When he told her the plan, she chose this side without hesitance.

I love you Yenny.

No. She made the decision not to join him a long time ago.

But it hurt all the same.

* * * * *

“Lim-ah!” SunYe embraced the girl that wobbled out of the car behind WooYoung.

She grinned wider as she saw MinJun carrying JunHo from the other side. “Thank God, oh thank God!”

But as she released Lim from the breath-hitching hug, she realised the glum expressions on everybody’s faces.

“Where’s… ChanSung?”

“Going back in was too risky. I couldn’t lose anyone else.” WooYoung motioned forward to comfort SunYe but she stepped backward.

“And the disk?”

“We lost it.”

* * * * *

“Has she decoded the files yet?” TaecYeon asked impatiently outside the main office.

“How would we know, we’re out here with you!” SoHee snapped, peeved by the incredulous question.

“Why can’t we go in again?” Nichkhun then asked, sitting beside SoHee, composed.

“I don’t know, but I’m worried.” YuBin answered, pacing back and forth.

“Yenny may not be as good as MinJun but I’m sure she’ll be able to retrieve everything.” Nichkhun assured her.

“I’m not worried about retrieving the damn project. I’m worried about her! I can’t believe you’d—” YuBin said with a fierce glare towards SoHee.

“I did what I had to do.” SoHee replied, appearing unemotional though she certainly did feel remorseful over the death of her once-friend.

“It’s probably better that it was SoHee. For all we know, had it been another agent who caught him, he’d have been sent to JY and be tortured out of spite.”

SoHee gave Nichkhun a meaningful look before staring blankly at the wall again.

“GUYS! I know why I can’t open the file!” Yenny yelped as she slammed the door open.

Her eyes were red but none made a remark about it.

“You came out that excitedly just to tell us that you can’t do it?” TaecYeon scoffed, earning him a punch from YuBin.

“Are you… alright?” YuBin uttered softly.

“Of course not! They’ve thought ahead, this disk can only be decrypted with some kind of specific software, a cipher which would probably take me months, maybe years to figure out.”

The others just gave her a blank stare which prompted her to continue.

“Look, ciphers are different. They’re not meant to be cracked by anyone but the creator. We never use them because they’re too complicated and risky. If the cipher is corrupted, the files may never be opened.”

“So you’re saying, we’re going to the boss empty-handed?” SoHee asked nervously.

“Not quite. MinJun isn’t a risk-taker, we all know that. So for him to use a cipher… it’s either they don’t care that the files never get decrypted or the cipher is in a VERY secure system.”

“So that means…” YuBin stared at her expectantly.

“Remember what I told you about Project BioMecha? They implanted a hardware into Lim right? Turned her brain into a database? It’s the most secure system I’ve ever come across.”

She let her partners reach the conclusion themselves.

“Then we need to find them, again.”

* * * * *

JunHo rubbed his eyes as the light shone brightly into his room.

Room?

When was the last time he opened his eyes to that? He’d been so used to a car so much…

Lim!

He jumped out of bed and opened the door to every room in his path to find that everyone was seated together in the lounge room.

Everyone except for Lim.

“She was only meant to decrypt the files…” MinJun uttered, despondent.

“What do you mean?” He anxiously moved forward, scared to even hope.

“I.. I…” MinJun stuttered, unable to express anything to JunHo.

“When MinJun and Lim copied the files into the disk, they also encrypted it. The decrypter, being Lim.”

JunHo didn’t respond, motioning for them to continue.

“All she had to do when we retrieved the disk was decipher it through a computer. But now, without the disk…” SunMi began to slur, making her next words too unclear for JunHo.

“Now what?!” He exploded. “NOW WHAT?”

“She extracted the file from her own system, her brain and it…” SunYe too, couldn’t bring herself to finish.

“It messed up her thoughts, everything. She’s not herself anymore. She took MinJun’s gun and tried to shoot him.” WooYoung finally said. “We stopped her in time and barely managed to run away.”

“She was so strong, so quick. And her eyes, I didn’t see anything. It was like she lost all feeling…” SunMi’s own eyes started to get watery.

JunHo felt his knees grow weak.

“When did this happen?”

“Yesterday. The drug in your system was so strong that you were unconscious when it all happened.” SunYe answered.

“The machine that they intended her to be, she’s turned into it…” WooYoung, without realizing it said his thoughts out loud.

“NO! How can you say that?!” JunHo barked.

“I’m sorry JunHo.” MinJun’s expression had been that of much guilt.

“We’re going to turn this in today. Let’s hope that this evidence is enough to bring JYC down. And when that happens, let’s hope that we can bring her back too.”

* * * * *

“Any news from Taec or YuBin?” SoHee asked Yenny who was engrossed in the file she’d unsuccessfully tried to crack multiple times.

“You know who they’re looking for, right? It’ll take longer than a day, SoHee.” Yenny answered without taking her eyes off the screen.

Then as they stayed silent, working on the problems that clouded over them, Nichkhun barged in.

“You won’t believe this!” He said, practically breathless.

“What?” SoHee asked curiously.

This was very unlike Nichkhun who was usually calm and collected. Even Yenny was intrigued enough to turn away from the computer.

“It’s Lim. She’s back.”

“To surrender?”
“No. To take her original place, she said. It was like looking at a zombie. I don’t think she’s the same Lim anymore.”

“You’re saying that…”

“The experiment on her… It’s finally complete.”

--------------------------------

a/n: Hunted was meant to be a full story, and what you've just read was literally the extension of my basic draft. Well the middle part of it. That's why these scenes are all over the place ^^ 

So yes. I'm most probably leaving this as it is, no continuation. The ending is yours to imagine. 

(unlessss... someone wants to make something out of this? *wink wink*) 

Btw,

Elite Team:

sorry if the page takes a long time to load but I had to...