Sungjong’s POV

I was on my way back home after my dinner with Hyo Rin and the dark streets were perfect for sorting the new information in my head.

Like Woohyun hyung had told me I started searching for that guy from the airport as soon as I had taken care of the most important stuff at work. But Ha Neul wasn’t picking up her phone, so I asked Hyo Rin to meet me. I figured that as her best friend Hyo Rin would surely know something. And like always I had had the right instinct.

I had already known from Woohyun hyung that Ha Neul had stayed back in Seoul alone after their father’s transfer and that she had started to work as her uncle’s assistant at SMent.

But about Ha Neul having left for Tokyo this afternoon to fix a problem for SMent in her uncle’s stead, I didn’t know. Well, since that was only a few hours ago, there was nothing unusual about that.

The thing that had perked my interest was another.

Hyo Rin had told me about Ha Neul’s trip after I had asked her where Ha Neul was and why she wasn’t answering her phone. She had replied by saying that maybe Ha Neul was too busy to answer her phone.

There would have been nothing wrong with that argumentation either, if not for the fact that when I had called Ha Neul, it had rung at least four times before the call had been cut off. It had been as if Ha Neul had seen my number and then ended the call. But that made no sense either. Because why would she be too busy to answer only my calls?

Moreover, Hyo Rin had looked a little nervous while saying that. Like there was something she wasn’t telling me.

And that wasn’t the only time she had had that look.

I had told her about the guy I had seen Ha Neul wave after at the airport – of course without certain details – and had asked her whether she knew who it was. And she had replied – with that same, somewhat a little uneasy, look – that Ha Neul hadn’t told her but hearing my depiction she had an idea about who it could have been: Ha Neul’s first love from Hyeopjae Beach, Lee Donghae.

She had then continued by telling me that Ha Neul had just recently found out that her first love was actually Lee Donghae from Super Junior. Apparently they had bumped into each other while she was working at SMent and Donghae had recognised her.

I had asked her whether they had met up again and she had affirmed it. To “catch up with each other” she had supplied; again with that nervous look.

Well, even without the things Hyo Rin was possibly keeping quiet about I had learned quite a few things today. The little guy from Hyeopjae Beach grew up into Lee Donghae. I wondered if Woohyun knew. If he did, that would at least explain why he was this paranoid about the guys Ha Neul chose to associate herself with. She really seemed to have no luck with it.

The first guy she fell in love with was someone no brother would wish for his sister as it would only bring her sorrow and pain. Because not only is he a famous idol loved by thousands of fans who probably wouldn’t be too happy at him getting a girlfriend, but his family situation is a rather complicated one also.

Then, the boy she befriended in junior high turned into a bully at the first chance he got.

And last but not least the friend she had stayed over three years ago with Hyo Rin. Even though he had later been proven completely innocent, I guess it wasn’t that easy to eradicate the fact that he was one of very few guys Ha Neul befriended from Woohyun’s subconsciousness. And that it had been just pure chance that they had been watching a movie in the cellar where there was no signal that night.

I sighed and my thoughts wandered off to that incident three years ago.

INFINITE had just been formed and we had still been new to the business world. We didn’t know yet how things were handled and still lacked the necessary composure to deal with critical situations correctly. Now that I thought back, what we did back then was just way too rushed and not thought through. But I guess Woohyun hyung just panicked.

It was the day after the birthday party of Jinhyuk hyung’s second child and the whole of INFINITE was sitting at a restaurant celebrating their official “debut”. Jinhyuk had taken the occasion of his first son turning one year old to also officially introduce INFINITE to the business world:

Kim Sunggyu – CEO of an influential bank; Field: Finance

Jang Dongwo – CEO of his own skyrocketing start-up company that specialises in communication security, yet among hacker circles he is infamous by his nickname “Angel”; Field: Computer Science

Hwang Woohyun – Vice president of the Saenuri Party, yet he still finds time to help with various other political events; Field: Politics (Legislative)

Lee Howon aka Hoya- Respected and feared agent of the executive branch of the National Intelligence Service and master of a renowned Taekwondo Dojo, yet he also has connections to the underground; Field: Security (Executive)

Lee Sungyeol – Successor to a very successful Real Estate Company; Field: Real Estate Business

Kim Myungsoo aka L – Youngest judge in history to ever enter the Supreme Court of South Korea; Field: Law (Judicative)

Lee Sungjong – CEO of an influential media network that includes newspapers, TV and radio channels, and so on; Field: Communication and Information

Seven people, all from different yet crucial fields, and all very proficient in their area. Together we make up INFINITE, the alliance with unlimited possibilities. Or at least that’s what our name suggests.

INFINITE was founded by Jinhyuk hyung who created this alliance – that by now had long become friendship – with the purpose of facilitating our entry into the business world. Having taken over his family’s corporation at the age of seventeen he had been shown quite clearly that the most important thing in this world was something that precisely young people seldom had: Connections.

Hence he created INFINITE. He picked each of us carefully and introduced us to each other. He told us what he knew and always had a listening ear for us.

And soon after our group was complete – I was the last to join them – Jinghyuk hyung officially introduced us. And when we were celebrating that introduction just among us seven the day after with a dinner Woohyun hyung’s mobile rang. The caller’s number was withheld but hyung still picked it up.

Listening to the caller, hyung suddenly paled but his voice became dangerously cold. And as soon as the caller hung up he jumped up and announced that his little sister had been kidnapped. And that we should bring some important documents from Jinhyuk hyung’s corporation without letting hyung know or Ha Neul’s safety couldn’t be guaranteed for anymore.

Immediately we tried to call her to check but she didn’t pick up and we rushed out. Dongwo hacked the Google maps database and reconstructed her latest movements, Hoya called his unit from the NIS and I tried to find any possible places for her to be at in the parameter that resulted from Dongwo’s reconstruction. And in the end we finally got a signal from Ha Neul’s mobile – she went to the bathroom that was on the first floor – while we were searching the neighbourhood. We instantly surrounded the house in question and demanded her release or else we’d raid the house.

But to our surprise, Ha Neul came walking out unhurt and rather confused. Behind her a group of friends, among them Hyo Rin, who stared at Hoya’s special unit with wide eyes.

The confusion was quickly cleared up though, when Ha Neul explained that she was just having a movie’s night at her friend’s house and that she had forgotten to call home. Naturally, we apologised for the interruption and quickly disappeared; we were feeling quite embarrassed, after all.

But the matter of the call was still not solved with that. And then Woohyun told us that the caller had actually only talked about the “Ex-Maman-Girl” and that he had naturally assumed that it meant his little sister as she used to work at a café called Café Maman. On which L threw in that that description actually matched Kim Sae Ryung, Jinghyuk hyung’s wife, as well as she too used to work at a café with that name before she got married.

And it really was like that. Some business man had been brave or stupid enough to kidnap Jinhyuk’s wife after Jinhyuk hyung had refused to sign a deal with him. At least he had been smart enough to realise that Jinhyuk hyung was way too experienced and crafty for him to take on as an opponent and he tried to influence us still rather young INFINITE instead.

Too bad we were still way above his level. The matter got taken care of quickly, Kim Sae Ryung was safely returned to her husband’s side, and the incident ended without further complications.

But it was after that incident that Woohyun hyung had become a little paranoid what concerned his family and especially his little sister. And if I were to be honest, me too. Probably not as much as Woohyun hyung, but enough to now be brooding over the things that Hyo Rin hadn’t wanted to tell me about.

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Hey everyone!!

Omg, it's been such a long time since I last updated!! >< But now my exams are over and I am back among the living!! Wohooo~ *throws confetti* XDD (Though, I think I will have to retake them... *sigh* T_T ) Anyway, I hope I can now update a bit more often again! ^.^ I really want to! I missed writing a lot and my fingers kept itching to write when in fact I should have been learning or sleeping... hehe ^^

Soo.. this chapter focused a bit on the background and things that happened in the past. But they are important for they are supposed to explain a few things and help you make some connections... ^^ Or at least they should... >.< So, if you don't understand something, feel free to ask!! :))

And, I know I haven't been as diligent in answering your comments as I wanted to. But I hope it's alright, if I just leave them as they are right now and focus on answering your future comments... >.> Because, to be honest, I've kind of lost track of which comments I answered and which not... eheh.. *^.^* I am sorry about that! >.<