~_____~

Lay raced ahead of the other two. It was a good thing passersby quickly dodged to the side upon his fast approach or else he would have blundered them over. He had his eyes glued onto the man’s sun hat and promised himself not to let it out of his sight.

The streetlight of the road in front of him was just turning red and traffic ceased at once. Before Lay reached the end of the block he turned his head to watch the man dash across the street onto the opposite block and start running back the way he’d come. There wasn’t really any time to see if Victoria and Chorong were still behind him, but with Victoria’s speed he was sure she’d be at his back soon enough.

Without running any further he turned left and zipped through the crowd of cars before finally climbing onto the next block. The man in the sun hat wasn’t too far off, but he was definitely at an advantage. Lay urged his feet to quicken his speed, but he was running out of breath. When he finally neared the end of the block the man was already halfway across the street toward the block he’d just left. If he was fast enough he’d be able to make it past the orange light. But before he made it into the street a car honked at him and he jumped back onto the walk surprised. His toes had been barely cut off.

A wild pant escaped him and he breathed exaggeratedly when he turned to see Victoria swarm after him. Chorong was slow on her tail. Lay watched the two of them disappear down the walk in front of him and leaned against the street pole to catch his breath.

~_____~

They were fast. Chorong felt her body grow weak when she tried to catch up to Victoria. It felt like she was chasing after Suho’s car again. She was so tired and worn out already and the day wasn’t even near its end yet. Her uneven breathing didn’t help at all. Her kidney felt like it was going to explode from throbbing, but she couldn’t stop. She didn’t want to be told that she wasn’t working as hard as the others. But the big fact was that she had no real experience in chasing the bad guys. She was just an assistant inspector called on site for observations.

She ran like that for a complete twenty minutes. Who was the man in the sun hat? Why was he so persistent in escaping them? Just what had happened between him and Victoria?

When Victoria turned around the corner again, Chorong finally stopped. She was suddenly sure she was experiencing some kind of heart attack as she sunk to the ground. The heart in her chest was palpitating so fast she thought she might die on spot. Chorong hated running. She finally remembered why she’d chosen to become an assistant inspector instead. Even though it required her to get up during the wee hours of the night, she didn’t have to run.

Hanging her head back she felt her chest bounce up and down before footsteps approached her. An unintentional groan seeped through her lips when she saw Lay. She turned away as if hoping that he would just walk by without seeing her, but he eventually pulled her up to her feet against her will.

“Where’s Victoria?” Lay questioned.

Still trying to catch her breath she refused to talk, so she shook her head furiously instead. Lay seemed to look around before he pulled her after him.

“Come on,” he called.

Chorong made a face and whined quietly when he pulled her around the corner.

~_____~

“Where were you?” Suho shot up from the couch in the lounge when Donghae walked pass the entrance.

Donghae didn’t turn to him, but the tension on his face was relevant. Suho chased him down the hallway.

“Where are you going?” Suho asked.

The door to the records room opened and Suho glanced up at the sign that read: Prohibited to highly authorized MIUs only. He hesitated before going in. Only those of such standard like Donghae’s boss, Lee Suk Jin, entered the room stored with previous detailed records of missions. People like Lee Suk Jin were the ones who detailed completed assignments and passed them into government meetings to be officially declared as ‘completed’. Then what was Donghae looking for in there?

“Donghae, what are you doing!?” Suho bravely stepped into what was a replica of the library.

There were a ton of heavy shelves that took up the whole room. Each stacked with thin books and each book held various information of criminals, soldiers lost, and names of those involved in the mission. They were all organized by dates and Suho followed Donghae to the right. His eyes caught onto the most recent date before he frowned.

“Why are you looking for something we just did?” Suho questioned.

“Who was it?” Donghae questioned.

“Who what?” Suho repeated confused.

“Gang of gunmen, killed one of our spies in a split second. Crushed his skull, broke his ribs, dug his eyes out. What was his name?” Donghae asked.

Suho slightly narrowed his eyes and searched his memory for any particular case.  

“Does this have to do with the drug trafficking case we worked on?” Suho wondered.

“Yea, body found in Wonju. It was his body,” Donghae stuck another book back onto the shelf and pulled another one out.

Suho watched him flip through the pages rapidly before it suddenly occurred to him, “Oh Chin Hwa?”

Donghae turned toward him with his mouth in the shape of an ‘O’ before he let out a shout of victory and grasped onto Suho’s shoulder. “You’re not so useless after all.”

“What?” Suho asked a little offended. “Are you dissing me?”

Donghae turned away ignoring him, “Wonju…what area in Wonju was he found?”

Suho continued to watch him flip through the book before he asked, “Why are you looking for Oh Chin Hwa?”

“The gang that murdered him might be the gang we’re looking for.”

Silence enveloped the room when Suho stared back at Donghae. “How can you be sure?”

Donghae turned away and blinked his eyes wildly as if he were hiding something. “Cho Chin Ho told me.”

“Cho…what? You went to the detention center this morning?” Suho exclaimed loudly.

“Then what did you want me to do?! There’s a high possibility the men who took Chin Hwa down is framing Eunhyuk,” Donghae sounded furious. “And they’re in Wonju.”

Suho wasn’t sure how to counterattack Donghae. “We can’t go there. I can’t allow you to go there.”

“They’re gunmen, Suho!” Donghae shifted to face him and nearly pinned him against the shelf. “Gunmen! You know how dangerous gunmen are! Especially gunmen who are willing to become the underdogs of other gangs! They’ll shoot without hesitating, and you think Victoria’s team can handle it alone? They’re going to die out there!”

Donghae sounded like he was exaggerating. Suho knew professional gunmen were dangerous. Donghae didn’t need to tell him. Suho knew, but he felt like Donghae was using it as an excuse to get down to Wonju. Just for Eunhyuk…

“Why isn’t the location listed in here!?” Donghae complained frustrated before he slammed the book back onto the shelf. “Track Namjoo down.”

He turned when Donghae started out of the room.

“Track Namjoo?” Suho repeated exasperated.

“In our last mission, we put chips in our phones, didn’t we?” Donghae reminded. “Your job is to track her down.”

“And what are you going to do?” Suho questioned.

“I’m going to call the police station in Wonju. I need to find out where Chin Hwa’s body was discovered.”

“Donghae!” Suho stopped in his steps when Donghae paced out of his range.

He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. Namjoo was going to kill him when she found out.

~_____~

When Lay and Chorong started down the alley they spotted Victoria climbing over a fence before she hopped onto the other side and continued running. All Lay intended to do was to keep up with Victoria. Getting separated now seemed out of the question when they’d been chasing together for the past half hour. Chorong was already dying from exhaustion behind him, but he pulled her along anyway.

“No…I can’t,” Chorong shook her head when they approached the fence.

“Come on, I’ll help you up,” Lay tugged her along.

Chorong whined when he urged her toward the fence. He watched her stand there hopelessly and quietly started up the fence. When he was halfway up he hooked his hand around the top bar and extended a hand out to her.

“You can do it, I’ll help you,” he encouraged.

She stared at his extended hand for some amount of time before finally taking it. Her hand was soft and tender, very warm. Lay caught her eyes for a split second and smiled before he pulled her up. Chorong struggled to hoist herself up the fence and leaned over the top for a mere second while Lay landed on the other side.

“Tired?” he called out.

Chorong made a face and raised a leg over the metal bar before jumping down by him.

“I don’t know how you guys can keep running,” she muttered.

He noticed sweat gathering around her forehead which caused her hair to stick to her skin in a clammy way.

“After we catch that man, I’ll buy you lunch,” he offered.

She raised an eyebrow at him before she turned away with a small laugh. A small laugh gathered inside him before they both jogged down the alley.

~_____~

Victoria was intent on catching that man at all costs. Even if she would have to run for the rest of the day, she’d catch him. He knew something about Eunhyuk and she’d get that information. For herself and for Donghae.

She very narrowly almost tripped over a can of beer before she regained her balance. That man in the sun hat wasn’t an ordinary one if he was able to run for this long. It felt like they’d circled the whole city already. But it was thanks to that that Victoria had been able to recognize buildings and passageways to shortcuts. Victoria knew for sure that he’d run into another dead end and she wouldn’t let him go when it happened.

A trash bag came hurling in the air toward her and Victoria quickly strutted her arms out to throw it aside. Perhaps it was to her luck that the man in the sun hat had tired by now that when he looked back at her his legs gave out and he tripped on the pavement of his own accord. Refusing to let this chance go she leaped forward and crushed him beneath her.

“If you try to run again, I swear I won’t let you off,” Victoria threatened and tugged at the collars of his shirt before shoving him up toward her, “now you’ll answer my question. Do you know anyone who goes by the name Hyukjae?”

“I told you to go to the fourth shop at 7, didn’t I?”

Victoria narrowed her eyes.

“Do you think I’m lying!?” he deepened his tone into a low growl.

She tightened her hands around his shirt, “Who is he?”

This man was breathing fire through his nose. His eyes were full of exhaustion and anger from being chased endlessly. “There’s a rendezvous at the fourth shop. There’s a window with a hole at the back. If you want to know more, you go hide there and listen to them. I only know that much. Now let me go!”

Did he really mean it? But why was he giving the information so easily?

“Who are you?”

His eyes roamed around the empty alleyway cautiously. “Kim Dae Ho’s subordinate. I was only spying on them.”

Kim…Dae Ho? What was an enemy doing on his rival’s grounds?

Taking advantage of the situation, the man grabbed Victoria’s wrists and pulled her hands away from his shirt. He swung his arm back and elbowed her in the face leaving her to crash against the dirty ground before running for it. Victoria only got to her feet when she heard Lay calling out for her.

“Are you ok!? Where is he?” Lay questioned.

Victoria’s hand shot out and grabbed Lay when he tried to run ahead.

“Forget him,” Victoria shook her head.

It was a useless chase now that he’d escaped from her two times. When she turned back to look at Lay he looked conflicted, but held back from going against her.

“You must have run a long way,” she commented moving to the side to look at the exhausted Chorong whose hair was disorderly. Victoria pulled on a comforting smile, “Alright, lets go get something to eat.”

~_____~

Tao was hissing underneath his breath and kept running his hand up to the back of his head. Namjoo glanced up from her plate annoyed at his hissing.

“Yah, can’t you keep quiet?” she questioned.

He let out a small snort, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be this injured!”

“Oho, look at you complaining when you were the target of aim,” Namjoo refuted. “You, should have been more careful!”

Tao almost threw his head back, “Look who’s talking. If it weren’t for me, you would have broken a bone by now!”

“Who saved who!” Namjoo strutted her chin out toward him. Then she groaned and mumbled underneath her breath, “My goodness.” A second later she said loudly, “I’ll get you some medication later, so stop whining!”

Namjoo stood to her feet irritated. All throughout lunch Tao had been going at it non-stop. Her nerves were going to explode.

Slapping some money on the table she turned to Kris and yelled, “Hurry up! We wasted enough time already.” When Namjoo stepped out she felt the immediate heat of the afternoon’s sun and held up a hand to shield the heat from burning her forehead. “Aish…”

She turned surprised when someone grabbed her by the arm. It was a buff man, not too fat or too tall. His muscles didn’t seem to explode out of his shirt, but she could see his shoulders bulging out from the weights he’d been lifting. Her eyes rose up to his face in question.

Before she could talk he shoved her toward him and held something to her belly, “You’re not to scream, you understand?”

Her eyes grew wide before he lugged her along toward a car waiting by the curb.

~_____~

Kris heaved a deep breath and reminded himself to be patient before he heard Tao mutter, “Gosh, she’s so annoying!”

He couldn’t have agreed any more.

“Come on, lets go,” Kris said before leaving his share of money on the table.

“Oh yea, before the queen starts screaming in our ears again,” Tao hissed as he stood to his feet.

But when Kris got outside, Namjoo wasn’t outside of the restaurant. Taking a step forward he looked around before he spotted a man with his arm around the shoulders of a small woman. He narrowed his eyes. If only she might turn around he could see her face. A distinct feeling inside him was growing alarmed. Then he ran his eyes over the backside of the woman and took a step forward.

“Namjoo?” he quietly asked before he took another step forward when the man shoved the woman who seemed to be struggling into the car. “Namjoo!”

Tao turned to follow, but found Kris already running into the road before he suddenly stopped and waved an arm out for a taxi. His heart was racing in panic. He didn’t know what was going on. When a taxi finally stopped beside him he opened the passenger door and finally recalled Tao.

“What are you doing!? Get your over here!” Kris screamed. 

***Next chapter is a Kris-Tao-Namjoo chapter. Just giving you a heads up. I finally have something figured out for HaeToria, but that won't be posted up until the next 2-3 chapters. During the meantime, more action, and more info are found out!