“What are you doing here?” Kris said in an almost angry voice.
 

. . ! What the hell is he doing here?
 

Han Byul disabled her earpiece and the two shared a silent moment.
 

“I could ask you the same thing.” her reply came deathly hollow.
Kris looked up behind her and then looked back.
 

“Look I can’t talk right now I’m on a mission and if they see us together we’d be in jeopardy.”
 

“Fine. I just hope we’re not on the same mission,” she said with the straightest face she could muster up but Kris knew her true feelings through the look in her eyes because he had the same look. Before he could leave though, Byul managed to lightly tug on his suit jacket. “I’ll see you later.” With that, Byul closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened again Kris had slipped away like a shadow. She took a breath and put her earpiece back in.
 

“Byul? Byul?!”
 

Byul fought the urge to flinch at Kyungsoo’s frantic voice screaming through the earpiece.
 

“Calm down. I only went to the bathroom.”
 

“Kai said that he saw you getting pulled by some random guy.”
 

“He was mistaken. He thought I was his girlfriend or something. Where is Kai?” Byul caught a glimpse of Kris at the other side of the room, conversing with another woman. She momentarily furrowed her eyebrows in discontent but was distracted by a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around only to face the sleazy host.
 

“Excuse me, miss, but have we met somewhere before?”
 

Oh, how original. Byul fought hard to not roll her eyes. Instead, she graced on a smile and greeted him back.
 

“I don’t believe so but I received an invitation by your chauffeur.”
 

“Oh! That’s odd, but anyway, my name is Jinsoo. I just got in the country two days ago because I just finished getting my MBA at Oxford and now I’m back in the country to spend some time with family before going to Paris for some business deals.”
 

“Really? That’s fascinating!” Yeah, right. “I’m actually majoring in arts. I restore damaged paintings.”
 

“Well I guess it’s your lucky day! I have a whole collection of paintings that is rotting in one of my offices. Can you possibly be able to fix them?” He asked in a suggestive manner with his hand dangerously close to her bottom.

 

Bingo. Byul opened her eyes really wide and said extra sweetly, “Oh! I would love to! It would also help me gain some credit for restoration experience. Thank you so much!”
 

“Well follow me then.” Jin-whatever held up his hand to his main guard in assurance that everything was alright. Byul spotted Kai last minute and gave him a wink and a smile. She was led out of the ballroom into another corridor and after a few hallways later, Jinsoo led her into a decorative room full of collections from well-known artists. However, what really came into Byul’s vision was the black box sitting on top of a pillar in the corner. She quickly mapped the way they came in her head and planned an escape route.
 

“Kai’s ready.” Byul heard over the earpiece.
 

“This is quite a collection you have here.” Byul made sure her eyes had that ‘twinkle’ in them. Jinsoo laughed and set down the glass of wine he had been holding onto a nearby windowsill. He slowly advanced his way towards her, setting his hands on her waist.
 

“I must agree it is a lovely collection but not as lovely as you.” He brought her close to him.
 

“3.” Kyungsoo’s voice rang in the earpiece. Byul gave a sly smirk and closed the distance between her and Jinsoo while her arms lazily dangled over his shoulders.
 

“2...” She was now tilting her head to meet his.
 

“1!” Byul was quick to twist the older man’s neck, a deafening crack ringing throughout the room. She hurried over to the corner, took the box, and left the room, never even glancing at Jinsoo’s limp body on the floor.
 

“By the way, where did you get fixing paintings from?” She heard Kyungsoo question.
 

“I don’t know! It worked, didn’t it?” He didn’t question her anymore.
 

The guards must have noticed something by now...
 

She knew she figured correctly when she saw that the guards were all looking at her when she entered the ballroom.
 

“West entrance!” She heard Kai’s frantic voice over the earpiece. Byul looked down at her long gown in annoyance. With one swift, she managed to rip her gown mid-thighs, revealing the gun holster she had been hiding. She then proceeded to take her heels off and was ready to run for her life. But not after throwing her 6-inch heels at one of the guards that was dangerously close to her proximity. As she made her way to the west entrance, she was disappointed to not find Kris anywhere. Once she reached just outside the mansion, she saw Kai fighting two men. He was head-locked by one of them and the other took out his gun. Before he could shoot, Byul reached for her gun and shot at the man. The man holding Kai was momentarily flustered as he saw his companion suddenly drop on the floor, so Kai took this advantage to overthrow him over his shoulder, slamming him on the ground. Byul was quick to pull the trigger once again. The two ran to their car and sped away.


////////////////////

“How many of these are there exactly?” Byul looked at Kyungsoo who was typing away some code at his computer.
 

“I’m not exactly sure. For all we know, S.S.A could have a million of these boxes scattered throughout the world.” Kyungsoo turned to face Byul. “I think S.S.A’s main priority right now are these boxes. I contacted the division in America and apparently, they went on several missions to retrieve these boxes.”
 

“What’s so important about these anyways?”
 

“That’s the thing: no one knows. I’ve been trying to find out what might be in this box but it requires some difficult coding.”
 

“Wow! There’s something even Kyungsoo can’t solve?!” Byul joked but there no trace of humor on Kyungsoo’s face.
 

“It sounds pretty serious if SSA really wants them.” Kai who was leaning against a wall on the other side of the room commented.
 

“It can’t be THAT bad... Can’t it?”