~_____~

“Kris seems agitated,” Suho started once they were on the road and slightly turned toward Chorong, “he seems upset about something.”

Chorong glanced into the side mirror to see Kris slowly driving behind them, “Ah…he did seem a little angry.”

“I can understand him,” Lay sympathized from the back. “He was really nervous while we were waiting for you guys outside of the brothel. And since that all happened, he’s just being particularly cautious. I mean…don’t you think Namjoo would start remembering it all when we step back there? She got a shock from it, didn’t she?”

Now that Lay mentioned it, Chorong was starting to feel a little uneasy. On the other hand, she and Namjoo were safe in the company of the boys, but they couldn’t forget what Namjoo had gone through back there. A shock isn’t something that wears off easily. Maybe Namjoo was just being too tough for her own good. Chorong wondered if Namjoo and Suho were the same kind of people; the kind of people who put on a face so as to block others from their lives, and if they used work as a source to escape it all. There had to be some kind of connection between them if they were so close.

“But they seem like complete enemies, don’t they?” Suho laughed a little. “It’s like they’re always having a war. I feel kind of bad for Tao.”

Her eyes set themselves on Suho. He seemed amused watching them from the sidelines. Chorong had to admit that she too found it a little entertaining, but there was something itching her from the back of her head. As an assistant inspector she had landed on sites to discover that there was always some kind of little detail missed during investigations. After numerous hours of looking at the same area, person, or whatever that was the center of observation, Chorong had learned that there was always more than meets the eye.

Whether Suho knew it or if Namjoo had told him anything or not, Chorong had seen Kris pull Namjoo into that room before their envoy to Wonju. Whatever they had talked about in there had left Namjoo walking out annoyed. And today, Namjoo was once more annoyed. She only felt confident that there was something going on they weren’t sharing.

 “You should be careful too, Chorong.” Lay said.

She turned away from Suho in her seat surprised by his voice, “Huh? Oh…yea.”

When her eyes landed on Suho again she began to recall that night when they hurried to the hospital after Namjoo. He had been strictly quiet the whole ride there. Before they got there he had been furiously nodding his head with his lips somewhat drooped open, his eyes gone large with shock while listening to an officer explain to him in detail about what had gone wrong inside the brothel. Even when Kris had beaten him to accompany Namjoo while she slept and Suho had gone with her to mend her wound, she had felt like he rather wanted to wait with Namjoo. Or was she wrong? Was she reading this whole thing backward? Still…during the five years after his transfer all he’d had was Namjoo and Donghae.

Did Suho not want to make any new friends? Did he not want to get close to her at all?

~_____~

Without consulting Victoria Donghae had walked off toward the inn. He only supposed she’d have areas of her own she wanted to check out and besides, it didn’t seem like Victoria wanted to talk to him.

Donghae stared at the little red building that made up the inn and ran his eyes over each solid brown door. What would Eunhyuk be doing in Yeongwol? Why had he left in the middle of the night? What exactly was he thinking? Donghae had so much to ask.

Pulling open the glass door he stepped into a very tiny foyer stuffed with a sofa and a round coffee table. A short wooden counter that reached his waist appeared on his right and that was where he headed. Some fifty year old gray haired man with black rimmed glasses who looked like he’d had too many years of smoking stood up from his computer seat. There was a soft grunt as he did so.  

He cleared his throat before welcoming him, “Yes, how may I help you?”

Donghae looked around the foyer through the corner of his eye and asked, “How late are you open here?”

“A good 24 hours, night and day, people are always coming and going,” he stated as if mighty proud of their hours.

“Were you on the job last night?”

“Actually yes…”

“There was a young man who left in the middle of the night, do you remember?”

“Ah…yes…quite a few of them left…”

Donghae was slowly getting frustrated so he searching the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a picture of Eunhyuk. “Him, did you see him last night?”

The old man reached for the picture and picked it up. His brows tilted together and nodded, “Yes, he was one of them.”

Donghae’s heart immediately started racing. “Exactly when did he leave? Did you see in which direction he headed after walking out those doors?”

“He only said he was checking out last night, but that his lady friend was still here,” the old man explained, “and I’d think it’s my customer’s own business about where they go after from here.”

Donghae fought hard with much effort to hold back his groan of frustration. He ended up silently nodding his head before turning to walk out. So they’d lost the only way to trace Eunhyuk.

“Great, just great,” he mumbled underneath his breath while chewing his bottom lip. “Good job, Victoria. Just you wait…”

The roads were desolate empty with very few people strolling by, but even they seemed too preoccupied with their own matters. Their eyes were contempt with business, their legs moving along in a constant paced manner. It would be seconds before they crossed the street and were on their way. Donghae turned to stare at the car he’d parked by the curb and turned to look around. He would have just left, but the fact that he hadn’t come along reoccurred to him repeatedly.

“Now where did you go Victoria oh Victoria…” he murmured while randomly walking around.

Pausing by the stop sign by the corner of the block he peered around. It was just some run-down buildings and more run-down buildings around each corner. Old and smelly with strange colored streaks running down or up the faded colored buildings. Donghae’s eyes landed on the fact that pretty much all the rooftops seemed open.

An ear deafening scream surprised him and caused him to turn shocked. Donghae’s eyes roamed around in a disorderly fashion before he finally caught sight of it. There was Victoria being hoisted into a car by the street and four men scurrying in after.

“Victoria!” Donghae screamed charging toward them. “Stop!”

There were numerous echoes of the doors slamming around him before the car engine erupted to life. Donghae skidded to a halt to take another look around. He was definite that the street up ahead was a one-way street, but it was also the transition to the busier side of the district. Since it was almost noon people would be out and about. People traffic would cause him to slow down, so Donghae scratched out the thought of chasing after them from where he was. Before they would make it to the busy intersection at the end of the road, Donghae needed to stop them.

Drawing his eyes up he stared at the open rooftops and skimmed the distance of each building from the other. If he was going to do this, he had to make a decision fast.

“Alright then,” he muttered, “lets do this Suho’s way.”

Running to his right he ran up the staircase which would lead to the second floor and up the rest of the way to the rooftop. It was just an empty platform with a few large jars he supposed the owners used to store their specially made soy sauce. Scurrying to the other side he glanced down to the small alley below before peering over to the building across. To his expectations it was as near as he wanted. He’d make it with a jump.

For the next minute Donghae spent his time lurking over one building to another. He didn’t forget to peer over the edge to make sure he was just on top of the vehicle. Chewing his bottom lip he forced himself to go a little faster. When he estimated that he was near enough to the intersection his eyes immediately caught sight of a garbage bin. Lifting it up he shook it a little to hear the contents inside. It would be heavy enough to land with a surprise to those down below. For quite a minute Donghae had to really rethink what he was doing. This wasn’t his style, it really wasn’t. To be completely honest he was more logical than this. Donghae only supposed that since Suho’s crazy usurps seemed successful, being crazy this time around would also give him success as well as save time.  

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” he uttered to himself before peering down below.

To his dismay there were more people and cars out than he wanted. There were currently two just by the intersection waiting for the light to give them the signal to go and another one coming up behind the kidnappers.

With a countdown proceeding inside his head he watched the kidnappers’ car approach. On the count of one he dropped the garbage bin without warning. A few shrieks of surprise echoed down below and Donghae caught the sound of a screeching car. It only meant the car had stopped.

Excellent.

Peering over the rooftop it finally hit him that he hadn’t thought of a way down.

“Great,” he mumbled to himself, “how Suho can you get, Donghae?” Then peering down again he groaned, “Aish…here goes nothing.”

Throwing a leg over the side he rolled his eyes before dropping down in front of the car. To his luck, he ended up landing clumsily. The pain that shot up his ankles was really no joke forcing him to drop onto one knee, yet there was no time to start running to the car door to grab the kidnapper. Before they would run off or even try to run him forward Donghae reached into his pocket and shot at the front tire to blow it out. Painfully forcing himself onto his soles he raised his gun. To his dismay the people around were scattering against the buildings with shouts of horror. And again, Donghae had no time to deal with them.

Slowly edging around the car he kept his aim on the man in the front seat. Donghae came to the conclusion that the kidnappers were of rough appearance. Beards and marks of age were relevant on their faces. Just who were they?

Donghae horridly jumped back in horror when the man in the passenger’s seat half lurched out of the window with a gun and shot at him. Again, screams prevailed near the intersection. Another shot and Donghae had his arms up to block him. He repeatedly shot at Donghae until he had backed up so far away that it would take him at least a good seven seconds to make it to them. With that given time the men opened their doors in unison and scrammed for it. By the time Donghae was after them, they had already gotten a head start on their escape. He went after them until he was halfway down the street before finally pulling himself to a stop. The only way he could continue with the chase was if Victoria wasn’t back there. His consciousness was kicking at him for leaving her.

Heaving a groan he ran back to the car to find that the doors had been left open. Victoria was sitting inside unconsciously.

~_____~

Tao could feel the pressure of the stiff tension inside the car. It was almost unbearable. The light aura Kris had given off that morning was nowhere to be found. Whatever had gotten him so angry, Tao couldn’t understand no matter how he tried. Although all Tao really got was that Kris was really unhappy with the fact that Namjoo was going back to the brothel. But why it mattered, Tao couldn’t understand. It was Namjoo’s decision to start with, so where did Kris come in? Besides, it wasn’t like Namjoo was being sent off alone, so why bother getting angry? Shouldn’t Kris at least be glad he was going along?

The whole ride to Yeongwol was dreadful, but deathly silent. The urge to glance back nicked at him repeatedly, but he felt like if he did Kris would stare at him with a glare. Even from his seat it felt like Kris was eyeing him from the corner of his eye.

When they finally reached the brothel Namjoo was first out of the car. Tao followed and first stared at the brothel before turning at Suho’s voice. He turned away after realizing that Suho was just talking among the others and glanced at the hard expression on Namjoo’s face. When she didn’t react with his stare he reached a hand out and flung away her bangs with a finger. The stitches underneath came into immediate sight before she let out an annoyed groan.

“Ah…what!” she shouted turning to him.

Slightly snorting he commented, “You’re fast on your feet.”

Namjoo rolled her eyes before taking a side step away, but Tao reached out to grab her arm and let go at once.

“I know you’re a black belt and you can handle pretty much everything, but don’t forget a person also has limits.” Tao told. “I’m just saying it’d be better, if we all split up, that you have someone who’s capable of taking down a man with you. That excludes Suho, he can’t hold a gun to start with.”

Namjoo’s stare turned kind before she turned away the second the corner of her lips drew itself up. He could see she was repressing a laugh and half smiled before turning away.

~_____~

“With no warrant, will it be ok for us?” Chorong asked.

“We’ll find a way around it,” Lay assured. “Don’t people lie all the time?”

She stared at him half surprised by what he’d just said. Lay didn’t look like anyone who would lie nonetheless he looked like a person who was serious about work. Obviously there sides of him she wouldn’t know of since she didn’t even know him.

Her eyes darted over to Namjoo who seemed to be emotionally stable. Chorong watched her talk to Suho before he pointed over at her and Lay.

“Why don’t you two go first? We’ll follow along,” Suho suggested.

For a second Chorong couldn’t believe she was back at the brothel. The stink she had gotten away from just yesterday was back and she felt like plugging her nose.

“What do you think you’re doing here!?” the manager, who was in the flower top yesterday was in a bright yellow cardigan today, charged out from behind the counter toward Chorong. “For the loss of business and embarrassment I experienced yesterday, I will not allow you in here. If you take a step further, I will call the cops.”

She was so annoying. Recalling how she had blocked her and Namjoo’s path to the door forced anger and annoyance back in her. With a straight face Chorong held out her I.D.

“I am the cop,” was all Chorong said before Lay sidestepped her so that she was partially behind him.

“We have some things we would like to confirm after bearing evidence that there have been children hidden here,” Lay held out his I.D. “We would like your cooperation…”

“Where is your warrant? I’d like to see a warrant,” the manager declared with a strong stare of challenge.

“It’s an order from government headquarters,” Suho stepped up front and pulled out his I.D. from his wallet. Chorong was slightly amused with the manager whose eyes had gone wide. “I would repeat that we would like you cooperation and prohibit anyone from leaving or entering while we are here. And that everyone in this brothel cooperates with our search.”

The manager immediately became small in front of Suho before bowing and stepping aside to make way for them. Yet Chorong was once more impressed by him. Suho did lead well when he had to. She had to wonder though if he had planned it beforehand or if it was something he had just done on the spot. If so, he reacted really well. Of course, such reaction would be expected of from someone who came from the military operations. Such people would have to think really fast, wouldn’t they? Suho only looked much cooler than she had expected.

“So how do you guys want to split up from here?” Suho asked. “We’re going to have all the time we need.”

“I’m going to look for Win,” Namjoo declared. “She’s upstairs on the third floor.”

“I’ll go with you.” Kris immediately stated.

“Where did you find that note, Namjoo?”

“The second floor, 214.”

Suho nodded, “I’ll search around that area for anything. Tao, you come with me.”

Chorong was a little disappointed he didn’t choose her instead. She was looking forward to being with him.

“Chorong,” Suho called. Chorong felt her heart race the moment she heard her voice floating from his voice. “I’ll rely on you to ask around down here for anything that has to do with Hyukjae or the little girls. It was the first floor where Victoria disappeared right?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Suho smiled at her, “Then Lay will go with you.” He then glanced at his watch before declaring, “It’s only noon right now, we should finish by two or three. Then lets do this.”

Chorong watched Suho and Tao head up the staircase before she turned at Lay’s voice.

“Chorong,” he called, “should we look around each room first? Or should we find the headmistress?”

She put the given options into thought. The room Victoria had shouted at her from was at the back of the hallway. It would be a waste of time to look for her then wander through all the rooms before getting to her office. Besides, it would be a waste if they skipped the search. What if the other rooms on the first floor held clues of importance?

“Then lets look through the offices down here first,” Chorong suggested. “If I remember correctly, there should be about five doors before the headmistress’ office. Lets look through them first.”

Lay nodded, “Then lets do that.”

Chorong nodded and watched Lay make a head start down the hall. For some reason, she felt like interrogating the headmistress wasn’t going to be an easy deal. She didn’t have any particular strong experience with interrogations. There were several times she had done it, but they weren’t professional ones. They were simple ones where she pulled people from the streets over to question them, and by doing that she read their facial expressions.

Yet the word headmistress sounded strong itself. She hoped Lay could take over the questioning because if the interrogation didn’t go well, Chorong might resort to arguing. And she didn’t like making arguments. 

***LOL!! Donghae pulled a Suho xDDD

***heh~ finally they're all in Yeongwol. Next chapter will be more Kris-Namjoo-Tao based, just giving you a heads up.

***My internet connection has been real bad, and I probably won't have a lot of time to write considering my classes are taking away most of my time and I'll be starting a new job soon (hopefully). Please be patient with my updates! Thank you!