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CHAPTER 2

She walked home with a paper bag in hand. It was warm that day, so she had her summer clothes on paired with relevantly short skirt. She opened the door to the house and walked in. As she tried to turn on the lights, she felt something must have been wrong. The lights would not turn on.

She was about to walk off to the kitchen from the door when she looked again. The curtains were flapping madly in the wind. She must have forgotten to lock the windows again. She went over to latch the windows and then placed the bags on the kitchen counter.

She turned to go to her bedroom when her bare feet felt something. The floor was wet. It was dark, but she knew she never spills water on the floor and forget to dry it. Even if she did, it would have dried up in this heat. She had been gone for four hours at least. She looked around.

Something was definitely wrong. The unlatched window, the wet floor... She quickly went to grab a baseball bat from near the door and walked back into the house. She had to check the bedroom first. But when she tried to open the room, it was locked, just the way she left it.

In the dimly-lit room, she looked at the liquid that was on the floor. It made a trail to behind the counter. She walked over slowly, her heartbeat pounding faster and harder as she took every step. Taking baby steps and holding the baseball bat over her right shoulder with both hands, she was ready to hit whatever she was going to meet.

When she reached the other side of the counter, she froze before she could swing the bat. True enough, there was someone there.

He must have broken into the house through the unlatched window. He was seated on the floor, leaning into the corner of the cabinet and counter. His right leg was straight out and his left was made so that his left foot would rest on the floor adjacently. That did not worry her though. His left hand that rested on the left knee was what made her freeze. It was holding onto a gun and had it pointed to her directly. It sure was dark but he had a gun and nobody could mistake it.

The gun’s angle was sloping down now. Suddenly he fell to the ground with a thud. It was too quick and all she could react with was to drop the bat and rush to help him. He was the source of that liquid. It must be blood.

His whole shirt was drenched and the back of his shirt was torn. The lights came back on. She looked back at him. His face was covered his bruises and he was most definitely bleeding. For a moment, her heart skipped a beat.

He was too big for her to carry. She had to drag him, all the way to her room. She laid him facing down, letting the wound face her. She ran to the kitchen to get the first-aid kit. When she came back, he was already unconscious in the pool of blood. She took the small scissors in the kit and started to tear his clothes so that she could examine the wound.

It was not an ordinary wound as she had already guessed. It was a gunshot wound. She started to clean the wound first before doing anything so as to not take the risk of infecting the wound.

"It's going to hurt," she said aloud.
It was not a warning to him, but more as a reminder to herself. She had to be careful of what she was going to do now. She took a deep breath and dug the pair of scissors into his wound. He grunted softly. He was clearly feeling the pain and conserving all his energy to endure the pain instead of screaming. His body turned tense as she twisted the bullet out of his right shoulder. As the bullet came out of his flesh, his muscles relaxed and the creases on his face ceased to show.

As much as she hated to see someone hurting, she had to repeat the routine again to take the second bullet out. She cleaned the wound and the blood off his body, then applying the medication onto his wound carefully later. However, he did not move or make any sounds anymore. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought to herself. Was he still alive?

She bent over to listen and could feel his breath. Heaving a sigh of relief, she carried on to dress his wound.

After clearing the place and washing off all the blood left outside, she came back into her room to check on him. He was still lying there motionless as to how she left him hours ago. His left hand was still hanging at the edge of the bed, loosely having the grasp of his gun.

She walked towards him and slowly tried to pull the gun out of his grasp. The loose and weak grasp suddenly tightened, refusing to let go of the weapon. She held onto his hand and slowly but firmly pulled it out of his hand. She put it on the bedside table. He must have fallen asleep by now, she thought. He needs all the rest.

As she went downstairs to clear all the blood and mess she had made in trying to save a man's life, her head was filled with questions as to who this man was. She looked at the bullet that was on the pile of bloodied bandages. From the looks of this bullet and the state he was in, the shot was not recent. It must have been one or two days old and the bullet had stayed in ever since. He reminds her of someone though. Someone she used to know. And suddenly she feels the jolt in her chest; she was worried if he were to die.

Bang!

His eyelids flew open. The memory of that shot awoke him. His eyes darted around the room. He had been facing down, so he tried to get up by pushing himself up with his arms. As he tried to get up, the pain from his back told him that his wound had been dressed by someone. He got up and looked at the bedside table clear from anything. He looked up to see the door and walked out.

"I'm on a holiday," she spoke on the phone. "Wherever I am, I am safe. You guys do not need to worry. I will call you about when I will be back at work. You guys do not need to start looking for me."

He saw her talking on the phone in the kitchen. Her back was facing him and he was walking slowly towards her.

"I am thankful for your concerns, but you do not need to call me anymore," she said before adding a goodbye and hanging up.

She turned to put the phone on the counter and saw the man standing facing her at the other side of the counter.

"You're awake," she stated with a lift in her tone as if she really was startled by that fact.

He did not reply, just kept staring at her with his dark and menacing eyes. Her expression did not change though. Instead she gave him a smile.

"You must be hungry," she said simply and turned away.

She served him food and he sat there for a moment looking at what he was being given. The aroma of the food was strong and he could almost salivate at it. He put aside all his other thoughts and started to eat it.

"Eat up," she said; serving him more food and then watching him eat. "I can understand why you are this hungry. You've been asleep for two days."

He stopped in the middle of eating when he heard what she said for a moment. Then without looking up or saying anything, he continued to eat.

She was just watching him eat when someone came knocking on the door. He froze for a moment, watching her with his deadly eyes as she got off her seat and walked over to the door. There was a basket of apples nearby him and a knife stuck into it. His hand moved quickly towards the basket as she opened the door.

"Thank you," she said to the person at the door.

It was a delivery service. He quickly retreated his hand as to not make it look too obvious.

She was looking at the stuff she had gotten from the delivery. They were actually groceries.

"Sorry about your clothes," she said suddenly, taking out the delivery and checking them. "I had to tear them so that I could dress the wound."

He tensed for a moment when she mentioned about the wound. She had better not asked him how he got it.

"And it was pretty much a rag after I was done... So..." she turned back and he quickly came back to eating. "I had to throw them away. And I never touched your pants, though... I only took off your belt so that you would be more comfortable."

As soon as she stopped talking, an awkward silence seeped in and he was done with his food. As soon as he put his utensils down, she served him with a plate of cake as desert.

"Here," she said simply and replaced the empty plate with the desert.

She turned back to wash the used utensils. He looked at the desert. It was tempting but he would rather not have it. He was not here to eat. Nor was he here for a visit.

"I was thinking of buying you some clothes in return of your shirt," she spoke as she washed the plate. "I don't really enjoy destroying something that does not belong to me and then just walking off like that. I want to return it to you."

He was wondering how to ask her about the rest of his stuff. That stuff.

"And about your..." she paused for a moment, sending a hesitant glance back without even turning, "... Gun... It's in the bedside drawer."

She was done and when she turned, he was gone from his seat. He did not even touch the cake. She sighed and leant back into the counter. He must be getting ready to leave. She tossed the hand towel on the counter and leant, resting on her arms for a while. With another sigh, she got off and walked into the bedroom.

He pulled the drawer out and took his gun quickly. He found the belt there too so he put the belt on first and then had the gun stuffed into his pants at the back. The bandages on his upper torso just had to stay on or he might have to stay here for longer. When he turned back, the girl was there. She had a black shirt in her hand, extended out to him.

"You will be attracting way too much attention walking around only wrapped in bandages," she said with a normal tone.

He looked at the shirt for a while and then took it.

"It might be a little small though," she said as he walked over to the other side of the bed to maintain a distance between them both.

He put the shirt on clumsily and ending up pausing to wince at the pain on his right shoulder. She sat on the bed, looking at him put on the shirt as if watching her husband getting ready to go to work.

"It's a perfect fit!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Nice."

He buttoned up the shirt and turned back to look for his shoes. Then he stopped and looked at her. He opened his mouth to speak but she seemed to have understood him.

"Oh your shoes are outside," she said.

He blinked twice and walked out, she followed him soon after. He grabbed the shoes and put them on. Wincing every now and then about his back.

"It should be fine by tomorrow morning… I applied some good medicine..."

He did not speak a word but kept on securing the shoes to his feet. As he looked at it, he found that they were almost sparkling clean. She must have cleaned the mud and blood off it. He stood up to say a word of thanks but the phone rang. She turned to get the phone and he turned to flee.

"Yes?" she answered the phone.

The person on the phone started to speak to her, but she turned back to the door to see him. He was gone. A dejected sigh was heaved and she spoke to the phone.

"Didn't I already tell you to stop calling me?" she snapped at the phone, and then her tone turned to being shocked. "What?"

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The lobby area was peppered with officers and workers alike. With his haversack hanging on one hand and the other in his pocket, Taecyeon walked up to the reception to ask for directions. There, three guys, one in plain clothing and the other two in security uniforms, were chatting with each other. The young, plain-clothed guy had a lollipop in his mouth grinning widely at the other two. The lollipop guy was wearing white vest with black long sleeved shirt and black faded jeans. To top it all off, he had a red cap set lopsided atop his head.

“Ah I’m telling you, yesterday’s game was a bore. I knew it! I knew they would lose!” One of the security guys said.

“Well they would have won if the other team hadn’t been cheating!” The other retorted. All the time the security guys were arguing, the younger plain-clothed boy kept smirking at them.

“Excuse me?” Taecyeon said.

All three turn to look at him.

“Yes?” One security asked.

Taecyeon reached into his pocket to pull out a letter.

“I’m here for this.” He said, handing the letter out.

“What is this? And aren’t you supposed to be at work?” The security guy shooed the lollipop man.

“Ahaha! Okay, okay, I’m going.”

“Let me read this… What? What is this? Se… Seeee… Seee… eeeee-uuuu- doh?” The security guy struggled.

“Pseudo. Pseudo team. I’m here for the Pseudo department.” Taecyeon answered.

Far off, the lollipop man skidded to a halt and pivoted so fast, his hat almost flew off.

“Pseudo department? You’re here for the Pseudo department?” He asked, walking quickly back to Taecyeon.

“Yes…” Taecyeon frowned at the man in front of him. He didn’t think that the department he was to be with was this tacky, judging by what the guy was wearing.

“Young Bae ah… Was he supposed to be in your department?” The guard asked. The lollipop man rolled his eyes before turning to address the guard.

“How many times have I told you, it’s Taeyang! Not Young Bae… And you follow me!” He pointed to Taecyeon and walks off. The guards laughed at him.

“Right, right I forgot… Bye Young Bae!” The guards laughed again as Taeyang rolled his eyes and walks up to the lift with Taecyeon trailing after him.

“Don’t mind them. They may seem demur but they are great workers.” Taeyang explained as he press the button for the lift. Taecyeon didn’t reply except to raise an eyebrow.

When the lift arrived, Taeyang got in and signaled for Taecyeon to follow. When a guy began to approach their lift, Taeyang held his hand out.

“Ah ah! This lift is taken. Take the next one. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you very much.” Taeyang smiled, leaving both the man and Taecyeon confused.

Once the door to the lift closed shut, Taeyang pulled out his key card and slid it into the key slot, waiting for the lift to process it. Once the lift started moving, Taeyang began to explain.

“There’s no buttons to where Pseudo is. This card,” Taeyang showed his key card to Taecyeon, “is our entry key to Pseudo. Lose this; you’ll lose your entry… And most probably along with your job, since you jeopardized it by being careless. Another thing is, we can’t have other people from other departments to know how Pseudo is like and where it is. If they do, then our private department won’t be so private anymore.” He chuckled. “Not to worry, you’ll have your own Pseudo card soon.”

The lift binged at the ninth floor, opening the doors to a calm scene. Taecyeon was surprised to see it, whereas Taeyang who walked in casually like nothing is wrong, apparently was not.

Taecyeon notices with wide eyes as people went by him, carrying files and talking to each other as they did so. Amidst the room buzzing with slow activity he notices a group of people, two girls and two guys, sitting comfortable by the row of worktables, conversing as if they were not part of the room. And that was where they were heading towards. It seems as if the woman in her seat was being interrogated by the guy sitting in from of her.

“Surin Ma’am… Hallo Sub Inspector Wooyoung, Eunhyuk Shhi, Sunny Shhi.” Taeyang greeted everyone.

Surin whirled around on her chair to look at a familiar stranger standing beside Taeyang, who was bowing to everyone in respect. Wooyoung, Sunny and Eunhyuk was there as well, interested at the new guy.

“Ah… Taeyang ah. How are you?” Surin asked.

“I’m good, thank you. And how about you, Ma’am?” Taeyang bowed.

“Ah, how many times must I say, do not call me Ma’am.” Surin frowned. “It makes me sound so old.”

“You are old…” Wooyoung laughed as Surin kicked his chair, pushing him away from her.

Taecyeon merely look at the display, unsure of which expression should he display, disgust or annoyance. Apparently these people were his ‘colleagues’.

“Ah, Surin shhi. This is the transfer…”

“Ah yes, you.” Surin interrupted. “Finally he is here.”

Surin said as she stood up for a closer inspection of the newbie.

“You mean the walking stick?” Wooyoung mumbled as he stood up as well.

Taeyang turns to Taecyeon and raised an eyebrow at him. Taecyeon raised one back subconciously.

“Come on.” Taeyang whispered loudly.

Taecyeon frowned back at him. “What?”

“Greet her!” Taeyang hissed, somewhat trying to point subtlely to Surin but judging by the amused look on Surin’s face, he obviously failed.

“What for? Who is she?” Taecyeon said, indignantly. Wooyoung, Sunny and Eunhyuk went wide eyed at the newbie’s’ question.
Before Taeyang could answer, Surin laughed out loud.

“Ah, he has guts for a bookworm and a computer geek. That’s good.” Surin commented. She smirked at him. “You are Sub Inspector Ok Taecyeon, right?”

“Yes, I am.” He answered calmly. Surin stuck out a hand to him for a handshake.

“I’m Inspector Park Seul Rin, Head of the Research Team and also one of the leaders of the Assassination case.” While Surin was saying so, Taecyeon visibly flinched and within a blink of an eye, dropped his bag from his shoulders and saluted her.

“My aplogies, Ma’am! Such a mistake will not happen again, Ma’am!” Taecyeon belted out, his by-the-book instinct kicked in.

“Pfft!” Wooyoung snorted as Surin rolled his eyes and cringed.

“I just told Taeyang not to call me Ma’am and you just did it.” Surin sneered. Surin turn to kick Wooyoung in the calves when he began snorting again.

“Ah, buyah!” Wooyoung exclaimed. Sunny and Eunhyuk began laughing at the antics.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am! Er… I mean… Inspector Surin.” Taecyeon said, still saluting.

“Yah, put your hands down. You look silly.” Surin said, grabbing on to his saluting hand and shook it before turning to her workspace to sit down.

Taecyeon frowned in confusion at how his Inspector was behaving. The other Inspectors from where he came from weren’t this laid back nor were they sitting in a cubicle. They were all strict, harsh with law and had an office of their own.

“Don’t fret much about her. She has always been like that. Typical of an AB blood type person…” Wooyoung said, rolling his eyes at her. He was startled when Taecyeon began glaring at him.

“What?” He asked.

“I’m blood type AB.” He droned.

Wooyoungs’ eyes widen as he realizes his mistake.

“For real? You don’t look like it.” He said.

“Yah, Wooyoung ah. Stop bullying the new guy.” Eunhyuk said, pushing him aside. “Hi, I’m Eunhyuk. I’m the CSI guy.” Eunhyuk chuckled. “And this is Sunny, she’s the Forensics Expert. We’re apprenticing under Surin’ care.”

Sunny went up to Taecyeon and shake hands with him. “Hello!” She chirped. Taecyeon bowed to her, letting his hand go and turns to Wooyoung.

“I’m Investigation Officer, Jang Wooyoung. I’ve been partners with Surin for quite a long time.” Wooyoung bragged.

“Nine months is not long, Wooyoung.” Surin added without even turning back to look at the rest.

“It is for a pregnant woman.” Wooyoung said.

“What?” Surin asked.

“Nothing.”

“I’m Taeyang. I’m the Forensic Assistant, apprenticing under Surin also…” Taeyang added in. Taecyeon merely nodded at them, taking in all the information.

“So… Inspector Park Seul Rin is the only leader for PSEUDO?” Taecyeon asked.

“Wooyoung ah…”

“Yes?” Wooyoung answered.

“Explain to him who is where and what is why and how it’s done here in PSEUDO...” Surin said, not looking away from the file she was reading.

“Okay.” Wooyoung gave thumbs up. He turns to Taecyeon and started to explain. “We, here in Pseudo, have our Chiefs and Inspectors… and levels. Each level has their leaders… Our chiefs… we have two chiefs… One chief. One sub chief… ” Wooyoung struggled as he tried to explain further. “Ah forget it. Wait.”

He signaled Eunhyuk to roll the board up to them. “Have a seat and get comfy. This is going to take a while.” He told Taecyeon.
Taecyeon and Taeyang took a seat nearby Wooyoung. Once the board was in front of them, Eunhyuk and Sunny took a seat as well.

“Okay… so let’s see.” Wooyoung began scribbling stick figures on the board. He then took a red marker and began scribbling again. “This… is our Appa.” Wooyoung circled a stickman named Kim Jonghyun. “And this… is our Omma.” He circled a stickman named Park Jung Soo. “Now… Our Appa has a scandal.” He circled a stickman named Kim Kibum/Key. “But our Appas’ scandal has a scandal too!” He circled a stickman named Choi Minho and wrote a ‘Gasp!’ above it.

“Wooyoung ah…” Surin stood and walk towards them, probably expecting the explanation to be done by then.

“Yes?” Wooyoung answered, looking innocently.

“What the hell?” she cussed and snatched the marker away from Wooyoung.

All the while, Eunhyuk and Sunny was laughing like mad while Taeyang merely smirked. Taecyeon, however, was frowning. How could they make fun of their Chiefs and Leaders?

“What our dear, esteemed joker has been trying to explain is that Park Jung Soo is our Chief. He is the one who signs the deals and has the last say to whatever PSEUDO needs to do,” Surin erased all of Wooyoung’s hard work on the board. Taecyeon quickly took out a notebook and began jotting down everything.

“Not counting the ones Surin always has a last say on.” Wooyoung mumbled, making Sunny and Eunhyuk laugh in agreement.

“Kim Jonghyun is our Sub Chief… He is like the assistant to Jung Soo. You know the theory of, when one is faced with a difficult situation, you are faced with the Devil and the Angel?” Surin asked Taecyeon, who nodded. “Jonghyun is the devil.”

“And she is the Angel?” Wooyoung mumbled again. More laughs. This time Taecyeon frowned at him before paying attention back to Surin.

“PSEUDO has four levels. Level 7 is where the newbie’s are at. The Chiefs and Leaders look at the police officers profile and pick those who are unique and the ones whom we think is worthy for PSEUDO and we put them there to train them for the upcoming works. Consider it an honor, if you will.” Surin began drawing on the board for Level 7, which was half filled with cubicles and offices.

“Level 8 is where the specifically chosen apprentices or apprentices-to-be are at. Be it from the leaders or the chiefs, they are there to train them for either Espionage or Research base system or maybe other things. Sunny, Eunhyuk and Taeyang are one of them. There are other apprentices too… you’ll meet them soon enough. Though level 8 is mostly labs and research rooms. ” Surin began drawing the layout for Level 8. A research lab and a few offices were seen.

“Now… Level 9 is where the action is. Consider it the ‘One step before being High’ office. There are leaders in this Level. For the Assassination cases, me and Tsar… Or Min Sung, as you may call your leader.” Surin drew few offices, few cubicles and some stuff in it. It was spacious and freely looking, but in reality, it wasn’t.

“Level 10 is where our chiefs and secretaries are at. Jung Soo and Jonghyun are there, taking care of the Ministry Reports and also calls and etc. Easy said, they are doing office work.” Surin drew a few spacious offices and two cubicles. Once done, Surin turns to Taecyeon, who was writing furiously in his notebook.

“Got that?” She asked. Taecyeon nods without looking at her.

“Yah where is everyone?” a lady’s voice could be heard, her voice was soft but her tone meant business.

Everyone turns to the woman at the doorway.

“Min Sung? Finally! You’re here!”