~_____~

“Kim Dae Ho,” Lay began when he entered the highway, “the name sounded familiar so I checked him up last night.”

Chorong felt her ears perk up from the back seat. “I also thought the name sounded familiar too.”

“He’s a famous one around the police stations,” Lay explained, “he’s been jailed over a number of 10 times.”

“What?” Victoria asked surprised. “That’s quite a number.”

“I know, right?” Lay said. “Theft, ual harassment and harassment in general, gang fights are some of the most common.”

“Anything about ual assault?” Victoria asked.

Lay seemed almost surprised by the question, “No.”

“How long did he serve for?”

“Do you remember the records, Chorong?”

“Sometimes he served a few months, five years was the max.”

“How old is he?”

“From his profile, around 35.” Chorong answered.

Victoria turned to look straight out the front window, “Do you think Kim Dae Ho and Eunhyuk would both be in Wonju?”

“The both of them?” Chorong asked.

“That’d be quite a risk entering an enemy’s territory.” Lay remarked. “I doubt it.”

“Then whose home base are we looking for?” Victoria wondered.

They became silent.

“I didn’t think about that,” Lay cocked his head back slightly.

“But Cho Chin Ho said Eunhyuk would be in Wonju.” Chorong reminded.

“I don’t think he directly said that,” Victoria said, “I’m not sure what he meant now that I think about it. He just linked Wonju and Eunhyuk together.”

Chorong tried rethink of yesterday’s conversation between Cho Chin Ho and Officer Choi in the interrogation room. Her memory failed her.

“What’s most important, do you think we’ll be able to find them?” Lay wondered.

“We have to.” Victoria sounded determined.

Chorong felt an eyebrow shoot up at the tone of Victoria’s voice. She didn’t understand why she felt surprised; maybe it was because she hadn’t expected Victoria be so immersed in this case. Since in the first place, Chorong, herself, wasn’t really into it. But Suho had worked hard to stop Cho Chin Ho yesterday. Chorong wouldn’t forget the moment she’d been with him in the car and how crazily brave he had been. And she couldn’t forget how Namjoo had tried to prevent Donghae from leaving the watch room.

They worked hard. Donghae’s team worked hard no matter how she tried to deny Namjoo’s effort. Maybe it was about time Chorong put her head into this business.  

“We’re bound to run into someone,” Victoria sounded sure.

“How?” Lay questioned.

“We’re not going to get anywhere by playing safe. I know my deal, you can trust me.”

Suho’s voice popped up into her head. And look what had happened right after they left Uijeongbu. Cho Chin Ho had really come after them.

“Lets not act coy,” Chorong suggested.

Victoria turned in her seat to look back at her.

“I mean,” Chorong started, “lets ask straight out for Eunhyuk. We’re not going to get anywhere by searching lane by lane cautiously. A cat doesn’t spot a mouse that way.”

“What?” confusion contorted Victoria’s face.

Chorong began to feel smaller after opening and decided she had no choice, but to keep going. Suho had kept going yesterday and so could she.

“Lay, you have your ID, right?” Chorong asked.

“Oh…yea, of course.”

“If the cops get involved with us today, Lay and I will take care of it,” Chorong assured. “So, lets just track them down in Wonju comfortably.”

~_____~

“Please be quick. I’ll be in trouble if Lee Suk Jin finds out,” the patrol officer whispered quickly to Donghae.

Donghae nodded and pushed some carefully folded up bills into his hand before turning to enter the interrogation room. Cho Chin Ho was seated where he had sat yesterday, his wrists bound by handcuffs. There was an expression of complete annoyance when Donghae took to the seat in front of him.

“Who are you?” Cho Chin Ho questioned then looked around before his eyes landed on the tinted window of the watch room on the second floor. “You guys taping me or something?”

“No,” Donghae replied. “This meeting between you and me, is a secret.”

Cho Chin Ho turned his face to the side with a snort.

“My name is Donghae,” Donghae introduced himself, “that name, Hyukjae, where did you hear it from?”

Cho Chin Ho turned to him with a deep frown. “What are you on about?”

“I asked you a question.” Donghae deepened his tone.

“I never saw him if that’s what you’re asking,” Cho Chin Ho said, “I only know he leads the ion…”

“No he doesn’t,” Donghae flattened his tone.

Cho Chin Ho narrowed his eyes.

“That’s not Hyukjae.”

“Look here, I don’t know who you are and I don’t care what you want, but this is all I know. If you don’t believe me, then shove it and let me return to my cell,” Cho Chin Ho’s eyes gleamed.

“Where in Wonju?” Donghae’s voice grew intensely deep when he saw that they wouldn’t meet eye to eye.

“I don’t know,” Cho Chin Ho held back his anger and irritation, “look around the neighborhood, there’s bound to be people hiding everywhere. Mention Hyukjae and they’ll gang murder you.”

Donghae narrowed his eyes.

“You think I’m lying?” Cho Chin Ho tried. “That gang is full of gunmen and others who do dirty work for big names. Ignorant boy didn’t listen to me, got his eyes shot out, his skull crushed, his ribs broken. Died in a split second of the fight, but did they stop beating him? No. They’re merciless. They like Wonju because it’s big in Gangwon-do and not extravagant like Seoul.”

Bullets echoed in Donghae’s mind before emotions of intensity flushed through him. Bolting up from his seat he left the room.

~_____~

Wonju wasn’t a very beautiful city. It wasn’t full of beautiful trade centers or highly modernized structures. There was a slight mark of tradition to the city made up of gray, drab looking buildings and high rise blocks. The markets were already bustling with customers, old ladies, and young children. A few stray dogs might be crossing the street here and there, but there wasn’t anywhere in the city where life wasn’t moving. Buildings looked old and moody with streaks of exhaustion to them, but were still standing high and strong.

Victoria had Lay park the car by a shopping district with a few pharmacies on block. It was a long street tainted with cracks and litter. When she stepped out of the car she spotted a few cats climbing from one rooftop to another rooftop since they were so closed in together. It was fairly bright and a light sweep of wind was whistling by. She turned when Kris’ car pulled up behind Lay’s. She took note that they look fairly irked with one another when they approached.

Deciding to let them deal with their own problems with each other, she ignored it, “Alright, so plan here is,” she turned to look at Chorong, “to directly ask for Eunhyuk, I mean Hyukjae. If anything comes up and the cops get involved, Lay and Chorong will take care of it. Right?”

“Yes.” Chorong nodded her head.

“That’s exactly asking for trouble,” Namjoo commented.

“Well I’m sure we’re all very capable of dealing with trouble,” Victoria calmly replied. “Even if we get in trouble, we won’t be dealing with it alone. If you separate from each other, don’t go too far away from each other, so that if something comes up everyone can help deal with it. Clear?”

The others nodded.

“Ok, lets split up here.”

She watched Namjoo turn around to make her way down the right of the road they were currently standing on. After Tao and Kris silently followed Victoria turned to look down the road. There were barber shops, medicinal stores, restaurants, and other advertisement buildings in line.

“Lets do this,” she turned to face Lay and Chorong. “We’ll start down this street.”

“It looks like a nice neighborhood,” Lay complimented. “I’ll head down that way. If there’s anything, call out.”

Chorong and Victoria nodded before they split.

Victoria walked passed a few open shops where a few nice grandmothers called out to her. In reply she only nodded and smiled toward them before deciding that she couldn’t just remain outside. Since Chorong had suggested for the unspeakable, Victoria decided she might as well do just that. Luring trouble to herself would perhaps help her be more productive in this case.

Blindly turning caused her to jolt backward when she bumped into a man walking out of a salon. A colored sun hat sat over his head and she spotted an uneven growth of a beard strutting out from his face.

“Sorry,” he immediately apologized and quickly turned to start walking away.

“Excuse me,” Victoria set a foot forward and let her whole body block his path. “Would you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Make it quick, young Miss. I’m in a hurry.”

“Do you know a man who goes by the name Hyukjae?”

His face remained very still or rather it remained still for a long second before his eyes became wider. The man shoved his arms out and Victoria found herself tumbling into an orange stand behind her. The weak wooden table made from cheap lumber tilted underneath her fall and crumbled along with her to the ground.

This was exactly the kind of trouble she was going for.

Pulling herself up Victoria ran after him.

~_____~

Chorong had just pulled over a teenage boy and was about to ask about Eunhyuk when a crash resonated throughout the air. When she twisted her head to her left she discovered Victoria hoisting herself up from the pile of oranges on the ground. Loud footsteps forced her to turn and she saw Lay running pass her.

“Come on, Chorong!” he shouted before he was halfway down the street.

jutted somewhat open before she turned to look at the young teenage boy. Without a word she chased after Lay. He was just jumping into his car when she reached the end of the street. Because there was no time for hesitation she just pulled the passenger door open and got into the car. It only hit her a second later about why they were in the car when Victoria had ran on foot.

“Where are you going?” Chorong turned to Lay without putting the seatbelt on.

“Following Victoria.”

“By car!?”

Lay turned to her, “Yea.”

Was he being serious? Victoria was running on foot….they’d be able to catch up with her even if they ran on foot. Chorong suddenly wondered if she might go through another car episode as she had with Suho.

When she turned to reach for the seatbelt her eyes zipped across the street to see Victoria zooming after a man in a sun hat. She was running at the speed of a professional track runner. Chorong felt her lips slowly fall apart before she turned to look out the window. The street light ahead of them was just turning red and Lay was going to drive a red light.

An expression of determination crossed Lay’s face when the cars on her left were starting to drive into the road at their green light. The impatient car on her right drove down the street assuming they would have stopped at the red light. She spotted the shocked scare on the driver’s face when he just about drove into her. A scream belted out of Chorong as the wheels spun under her. Her body lurched forward in her seat and rocked back into her chair when Lay suddenly braked the car after accelerating through the light. She just had had enough of all the crazy driving. It scared her to death.

When she stepped out of the car her legs trembled underneath her and Chorong had to squat down for a second’s sake. Without giving her any space to breathe Lay ran around the car to pull her up by the arm and dragged her down the walk. Just ahead of them was Victoria who had already pinned that man in the sun hat on the ground.

~_____~

A fast runner was common, but a quick runner with steady speed was a rarer thing. Victoria had been among the second category in the Police Academy. She’d studied speed in her free time and was now able to run for a countless quarter of an hour without stopping. Her secret was pace and steady breathing. And that was exactly what she was using.

Instinct told her while crossing the street that she had the opportunity to fly across the road before the lights would turn against her. That man in the sun hat was fast too and an unordinary one, she figured. Victoria would get him. If he had decided to escape at the mention of Hyukjae, he definitely had something.

It was at the end of the third block where Victoria had pushed him down. Right after flipping him over she sat on him and forced him to stay down by holding onto his shoulders.

“Let me go, I didn’t do anything,” he pleaded.

“You ran,” Victoria said, “after I asked about Hyukjae. That’s a good enough reason.”

She ignored the stares of the people walking by, but no one cared enough to pay them any real attention.

“Hyukjae, do you know who he is?”

His lips quivered and his eyes searched around, “Fourth building of the street you were on. If you’re there by 7:00, you’ll hear something. Please let me go.”

“Hear what? Who’s going to be there?” Victoria further questioned.

The man seemed to stare into her eyes awfully intensely before he suddenly threw her off and went running.

“Victoria!” Lay shouted running to her. “Are you ok?!”

She gently clenched her teeth together and turned to look at Lay. “Forget me, we need to catch him.”

~_____~

Trouble, Tao should have sensed it the moment they arrived in Wonju. No, he should have known that after accepting Donghae’s offer his days would be long and filled with trouble. Not only was Suho insane when in trouble, Donghae became exactly the same when the name Hyukjae was mentioned. On the other hand, the annoying Namjoo was just as bad. She was always getting on his nerves and arguing with him. He suddenly wondered if there was a more insane side of her he hadn’t seen yet.

No less than five minutes after they started walking down the sidewalk was trouble already stalking after him. Tao had to wonder if Suho had rubbed some of his bad luck on him.

A woman shrieked, “Someone help me! Thief! Thief!”

The three of them paused in their steps and turned to look down the way they had come. A man in an ugly and dirtied blue jacket was dashing their way with a purse in his arms. Tao stepped a little to the side to make way for him, but Namjoo was taking up majority of the space by his side. In the end the thief shoved him aside before making his way down the street.

“Catch him! Young man, please catch him!” the woman trying to chase the thief screamed when she reached them.

This woman with a head of curly brown hair was oddly saggy and really out of shape. Those were two of the things Tao noticed about her before conflict crossed Namjoo and Kris’ faces.

“Go after him!” Namjoo ordered.

Tao turned to her with a frown of irritation. He thought they were only there for one job, one specific job! Why was he tailing a lame thief? Tao groaned when Namjoo shoved pass him and followed.

~_____~

“Stop! Stop right there!” Namjoo screamed after the thief.

He pushed random passersby aside and shoved some toward her. They bounced into Namjoo and she had to apologize insincerely. Her legs kept running at a constant speed rebounding off the cement every step of the way. The thief turned back to look at her before making a sharp turn into pathway between two tall buildings. Namjoo almost skidded past the pathway and had to backtrack before spotting him running down the alley.

“I said stop!” Namjoo screamed again.

By now she was starting to run out of breath. She came to a relaxed halt when the thief turned around. Namjoo should have seen the dead end coming and felt a smirk crawl onto her lips.

~_____~

The thief’s eyes searched around for a way out before he spotted the stacked up crates by the side. There was quite a few of them and Kris assumed they belonged to the bar nearby. He watched the thief climb onto the stacked up crates and tilted his head up to see a cracked window at the top. It rung in his head that the thief was going to escape by using the building. Kris jumped in spot before turning back the way they’d come and barged into the building.

~_____~

Namjoo felt her eyes fling wide open when the thief started up the crates. To follow or not? It seemed dangerous to start a fight up there. She twisted her neck when the thief hurdled one of the crates back and saw that it was aimed toward the careless Tao who had stopped to watch a few feet behind her. It was happening so fast that Namjoo couldn’t find the time to shout out a warning toward him. Instead she turned back and reached her arm out to pull him toward her. He almost collided into her by tripping forward and Namjoo found her eyes even wider when her eyes met with the curve of his neck.

This kind of masculine scent drifted into her nose before she stumbled back in surprise, but in the midst of the moment Tao suddenly grabbed her arms and pinned her to the wall of the building. A loud drum of her heartbeat crashed in her ears and she looked up at him surprised. To the great moment of it she found him glancing at her in surprise and quickly tilted her head down bashful. Namjoo’s forehead rubbed against the front of his shoulder just as she heard another crate falling down behind them. His chin hit the top of her head forcing her to let out a surprised shout when another crate crashed down onto him.

~_____~

Kris had dashed up the stairs at the speed of lightning and glanced down an empty hallway before spotting a cracked window. Running down the rest of the hallway he peered out the window to see the thief currently tossing crates down. A breezy wind was blowing in from the crack in the window and he just barely sneezed from the dust floating around it. His eyes swarmed over the window lock before he twisted the lock at the top and pushed the fragile window up. When he poked his head out he saw Tao pressing Namjoo against the building and stared for a second before he turned to look at the thief who hadn’t yet made it to the top.

“What a trouble maker,” he mumbled before climbing out of the window carefully so he wouldn’t fall off when he landed on the mountain of crates. Once his feet were steadily balanced he let go of the window sill and called out to the thief, “Yah, having fun, aren’t you?” Then he glanced at the ground below and estimated that a fall wouldn’t leave either of them too injured. With the decision made he jumped at the thief.

The moment the two of them landed on the ground Kris snatched the purse out of his arms. The thief immediately pushed him off and started to run for it. From the corner of his eye he spotted Namjoo pushing Tao off her and began to chase after him, but within a few steps he had her arm in his hold.

“You’re just going to let him go!?” Namjoo yelled when she turned to look at him.

“Forget it,” he said then held up the woman’s purse, “at least we got this back.”

Namjoo made a face at him before pulling her arm out of his hand and turned to look back at Tao.

“You ok?” Namjoo questioned.

Kris turned to see Tao rubbing his head in pain and for some reason laughed a little, “He should be able to handle it.”

Both Namjoo and Tao turned to look at him with small frowns.

He cleared his throat before saying, “Lets go return the bag and finally start doing what we came here for.” 

***I just remembered Chorong has low stamina in real life LOL and in here her character also has low stamina xDD

***Oh and...I just realized that both Chorong and Namjoo rap in APink 0___0 and they're pretty good at it too. That was off topic but yea that was all I wanted to share LOL

***More trouble from Donghae next chapter. Next chapter will majorly consist of Chorong-Lay-Vic-Hae-Suho.