~_____~

The ringing of her phone refused to let her sleep any longer. Irritated, she shot her arm out with her face still in the pillow and patted the surface of her bedside table till she got a hold of her phone.

“Victoria speaking,” she lazily spoke into the phone once pressed against her ear.

“About time you pick up,” she recognized Donghae’s voice immediately and felt her eyes shoot open. “What time is it and you’re still in? I bet you haven’t even got up yet.”

“I don’t think you should be making accusations about me,” Victoria to her back in her bed. “You should be worried about yourself coming in late for work.”

“Well I’m already at headquarters; I guess I can expect you in,” Donghae paused, “half an hour. I assume you’ve already had breakfast? I have a feeling we’ll be very busy today. Oh and someone dropped your car off for you. You should be able to find it in the parking lot.”

Victoria held back a groan. He was picking a fight with her, “Twenty minutes.”

Then she hung up and rushed from her bed into the bathroom, combed her hair brushed her teeth, quickly dressed, and headed out. Donghae was challenging her, she knew it. Well, Victoria certainly wouldn’t let him expect less from her.

She rushed for her coffee at the café and quickly darted back out to her car. She even burnt her tongue while drinking it and swore loudly. Victoria admitted that Donghae was messing with her well, but she wouldn’t tolerate it. Someday, she was determined to get back at him someday.

When Victoria turned into the parking lot she saw that no car was there. Slightly confused, she turned to glance around while closing the car door. The lot was empty. Nothing, but concrete, paint marks, and wild green trees surrounded her. Narrowing her eyes she wondered if she’d been tricked. Victoria swiveled around at the sound of tires grinding against the concrete and saw Donghae’s car. She freely sneered at him.

“Oh, wow, you beat us,” Donghae greeted with a smile cheerily when he got out.

“The last one, as promised, owes lunch,” Victoria softened her sneer into a smile before turning around to walk away.

“What lunch!?” Donghae shouted after her.

Victoria heaved a puff when she stepped in through the doors and finally groaned annoyed. She’d burnt her tongue and had risen early from bed for completely no reason, no reason at all! The opening door behind her made her turn and Donghae walked in pausing as if surprised that she hadn’t yet gone up.

“Looks like there’s a briefing this morning,” Donghae told, “since, due to someone, we weren’t able to gather any evidence yesterday.”

“My uselessness or yours?” Victoria questioned.

Donghae chewed on his lower lip before she turned to walk toward the elevator.

~_____~

“Sorry I’m late,” Lay apologized when he jogged into the meeting room that morning. “Suho.”

“I got them ready.” Suho replied with a nod.

Lay nodded before he held up a piece of paper and scratched his ear. “Park Eun Bin, 12 years old, went missing two weeks ago on the eleventh. She’s four feet 10 inches tall and lived with her grandmother in Seoul before her abduction.”

“What about Dan Bi?” questioned Donghae.

“Right here,” Lay searched through the samples he’d come in with and spread them out for everyone to see. “We can compare her handwriting to the note Namjoo obtained. I think it serves as good evidence.”

“But for a child from Seoul to end up in Yeongwol, something must really be going on,” Suho muttered.

“What about the pencils you got?” Donghae turned to look at Suho.

“It’s going to take at least a week for the results,” Suho explained.

Donghae nodded before his phone rang. “It’s from the Detention Center.”

~_____~

Donghae rushed into the Detention Center with his footsteps echoing off the walls, Victoria right behind him. Officer Park was holding a white door open for them. When Donghae entered he spotted Officer Choi sitting at a freshly polished table. He had his hands interlocked and nodded for them to sit.

“Where are they?” Donghae impatiently first asked.

“Take a seat first,” Officer Choi patiently demanded.

Officer Park closed the door after them, but did not stay with them. Donghae and Victoria sat on the two given chairs and waited.

“First, I’d like you to listen without questioning,” Officer Choi instructed. “Second, I’ve verified the truths and they aren’t lying.”

Donghae furiously nodded while Victoria remained enact in her seat.

“Their gang members are stationed majorly stationed in Daegu, Jeonju, Busan, Namwon, and Ulsan. And they do have connections here in Seoul,” Officer Choi finished. “They’ve made claims that Hyukjae leads them and they’ve never seen him, but fact is he isn’t their ring leader. That part of the investigation is still questionable, so don’t get heated up over it. I’ve checked in with records and those five cities have increasing rates of missing children, girls – to be specific. You might want to check those cities out if you want a head start into the more of the case. I’ll have men who will be following you up, so if there are any arrests, we’ll take care of it.”

Donghae stared blankly at Officer Choi and fought to assemble his thoughts.

~_____~

Donghae hadn’t spoken a word since the meeting with Officer Choi. He’d been surprisingly and shockingly quiet since the ride from the Detention Center back to headquarters. It was strange and Victoria knew she should expect the worst. Donghae always overreacted when Hyukjae was mentioned, and the fact that he wasn’t showing any reaction meant she should worry even more.

When Donghae stormed out of the car and started toward the government building, Victoria found herself chasing after him.

“Donghae! Donghae!” Victoria shouted, in which he didn’t stop at her calls.

He continued trudging forward and they rode the elevator up to the fourth floor where he finally turned to her, “Get everyone together. We’re having a meeting.”

Victoria’s lips drew apart, but she couldn’t say anything when he walked away from her. The first thing she became sure about was the fact that they were going to be on the road again. Not tomorrow, but maybe right after lunch, or right after the meeting. Donghae wasn’t going to spare them a break. Victoria worried that everyone would become drained from travelling back and forth so much. A day’s rest could do them some good, wouldn’t it?

She set her eyes on their steady gazes as they each entered the room one after another. Again, they sat apart from each other. Her team on one side and Donghae’s team on the opposite. There was no sense of unification, at least not yet. When would they be able to climb over this two-team-in-one feeling?

“We’ll be starting the search for gang members again,” Donghae told, “setting aside Dan Bi and Eun Bin.”

“What?” Namjoo questioned with animosity. “You’re going to leave behind those two girls?”

“We’re not leaving them behind,” Donghae grounded his words, “if we want to find the two of them, we’re going to have to narrow down our searches and look for the gang members who will lead us to them. I’m not doing this blindly.”

“And how much time will that take?” Namjoo questioned. “That little girl is sick, Donghae.”

“Namjoo!” Donghae raised his voice sternly.

Victoria watched Namjoo’s face grow with discord, but Suho patted her shoulder to calm her.

“Namjoo has a point though. Dan Bi has been missing two weeks. Without her injections, she won’t last long,” Suho agreed. “What did you hear from the Detention Center?”

Donghae looked flustered, so instead of waiting for him to explain Victoria interrupted. “The only information verified are that the gangs are majorly based in Daegu, Namwon, Ulsan, Busan, and Jeonju. Officer Choi suggested starting our searches there.”

“Are we splitting up?” Lay asked.

Chorong glanced around a little uncertain, but remained without word.

“There’s 8 of us, four groups of two will do.” Donghae stated.

“What? Just two?” Kris repeated surprised. “This isn’t just something that can be done in a day, will it?”

“No,” Donghae answered. “It will take at least two to three days. Since those cities surround Daegu, we’ll make Daegu our meeting point.”

No one said anything.

“How are you going to split us up?” questioned Lay. “By skills, specialties?”

Victoria watched Donghae’s eyes search them and wondered if he already had groups ready in mind. She worried. Which person would do well with whom? If mixed up, would they be able to work together?

Then she turned when Tao hesitantly raised his hand.

“Can I…go with Namjoo?”

Everyone shifted their attention to Tao before Donghae glanced over at Namjoo. She seemed somewhat confused before turning to look at Donghae.

“It’s up to you,” Donghae said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Namjoo replied.

“Then…let me partner up with Chorong,” Lay spoke up.

Things quieted before Suho said, “I guess that will leave me with Kris, right?”

Things fell in place quickly, Victoria thought. Maybe the others had already gotten comfortable with each other when she wasn’t in the picture.

“Alright, since that’s done,” Donghae decided, “Victoria, I’ll let you assign cities.”

Victoria was slightly taken aback by surprise. It wasn’t like Donghae to allow her a part in the leadership role. She was amused. Perhaps her determination shown yesterday had done quite some good for herself.

“Alright, since it’s like that,” Victoria continued, “Lay and Chorong will go to Namwon. Tao and Namjoo to Busan.”

“Ulsan, Suho and I will go to Ulsan,” Kris seemed set on it for some reason and Victoria had no choice, but to oblige.

“We’ll report to each other by the end of the day, you mustn’t forget,” Donghae reminded. “Bring an extra share of clothes, keep yourselves armed, and be careful. Alright, I’m giving you two hours to prepare before we meet at the airport. I’ll have tickets and register cars for us once we arrive at our destinations. Good luck, stay safe.”   

~_____~

Kris was worried and in some part unhappy about Tao’s proposal. The first question that swarmed through his head was, why with Namjoo? The thought about the two of them together and alone made him uneasy. It felt like Tao was sneaking something up his sleeve and whether he did have an intention to do something or not, was what worried Kris the most next to them being alone.

Namjoo was halfway down the pavement to the parking lot when he chased after her.

“What?” Namjoo asked when he turned her around.

“You’re really…are you sure you wanna go with him?”

“Why?” Namjoo continued asking.

He opened his mouth to speak, but was afraid he’d get her angry, and the last thing he wanted to deal with was being the reason for her anger. Not after a good dinner last night, he didn’t want to ruin the good feelings that had come with it when Namjoo had thanked him for being there. It had felt like she had opened up a tad bit more with him. Kris had to admit, it made him selfishly want to be the only one she would start opening up to.

“It’s just a job,” Namjoo told and turned to start toward the lot. “Anyways, you purposely requested for Ulsan, didn’t you?”

A smile started up the corner of his lips. Namjoo knew his intentions after all and he felt a little excited that she’d read his mind.

“Don’t you dare come to Busan,” Namjoo warned and unlocked her car.

Before she could close the door he grabbed a hold of it. “Namjoo, you…be careful out there.”

“Tsh…whatever,” then she quickly added before shutting the door, “you too.”

~_____~

Lay…why, Chorong wondered. She should have said something sooner, but it made her embarrassed on a part because she was a girl and suggesting to go with Suho would shame her. Chorong nervously bit her lips as she stood out in the hallway. At most, spending two nights with Lay sounded embarrassing, but much more comfortable with someone like Suho.

Why wasn’t she going with Suho?

“Uh? What are you still doing out here?” Suho asked stepping out of the meeting room. “Nervous about heading off?”

Chorong glanced at him and slowly nodded.

He patted her shoulder for some comfort and added, “You’ll be fine. Lay’s a good guy, so if anything happens, you can rely on him.” They started down the hallway before he asked, “Where are you going again?”

“Namwon.”

“Ah…I’m supposed to go to Ulsan. It’s so far away,” Suho muttered.  

“It sounds like a vacation though,” Chorong said before Suho laughed and she tilted her head down shyly at his response.

“I shall see about that, since we’re on our own there could be a few things we could do individually,” Suho told when they stepped into the elevator. “This seems a little exciting, doesn’t it? It’s like splitting up before the big event in Daegu. Though I don’t think a lot will happen, but we’ll have to see.”

Chorong nodded before Suho turned to her. “Then, I’ll head off. Good luck in Namwon, Chorong!”

Chorong nodded and waved before she called out, “Suho!” he stopped and turned. “Be careful.”

His handsome smile took over his face before he nodded, “You too.”

He waved again before getting into his car and Chorong watched him drive off. Oh, how she wished he was her partner this time around.

~_____~

Chorong…at least two days with her might offer him some time to get to know her better. After listening her in Wonju, he wanted to hear more about her. What kind of mysteries did Chorong have hidden?

Lay bit his lower lip a little anxious. What kind of things would they encounter in Wonju? Would they run across the kind of adventure she’d experienced when with Suho? He hoped something like that could happen, cause then he could see other sides of Chorong.

He stuffed his backpack with some clothes and a few necessities before he headed off to the nearest mart nearby. Lay walked back and forth down the aisles before he picked out a few snacks and milk cartons before checking out.

Turning his wrist around he glanced at his watch and decided to head toward the airport or else he’d have to deal with afternoon traffic. As expected, Donghae was near the entrance waiting with tickets in hand. Being in this kind of work, Lay thought, offered you really quick outside services when there was an urgent matter. And he suddenly pondered over the reality about how serious this mission had become. It wasn’t just a normal search to track down criminals, but this had become so important that not even a minute’s second should be wasted. Lives of innocent women and young children were on the line and it was up to them to determine their fate. Yet, to get that far they still need to track down the bigger players. It came to his understanding that there was still a long way to go for them.  

None of them would be able to fend for others if they couldn’t stand up for themselves. Chorong would definitely have trouble with that part if she fell behind. This mission to Namwon increased his worry. He would have to look out for her every second of the day. These criminals targeted females and he wasn’t a fighter like Tao. Lay thought it safer to play around danger unlike Suho who dealt with it up front and still survived with mere scratches. He only held guns, which he’d never been forced to shoot at a living being before.

This time around, would the mission also be a challenge to him and not just Chorong?

“Looks like the whole gang’s here,” Donghae said and Lay turned to see the others filing into the airport behind him.

When they surrounded Donghae he handed them their separate tickets.

“Report to the closest police stations for firearms when you’ve arrived,” Donghae explained, “don’t do anything out of line,” he glanced at Suho, “anyone suspicious, nail him. Officer Choi said his men will be following up on our whereabouts and will be taking charge of arrests. Understood?”

“Yes,” they answered in unison.

“Don’t miss your flights and check in right away,” Donghae explained. “Remember to stay in touch. I’ll have the bureau purchase tickets for Daegu upon completion of our missions. You know what to do from here, right? Then, lets split.” 

***Oho! Travelling again! And they're each gonna be in separate groups with different partners this time (excluding HaeToria)! Huhu~ All the fun that will be popping up ^^