“Where should we start?” Suho wondered.

“With Eunhyuk?”

“Lets start there,” Suho agreed, “and where he worked.”

“We’ll find something, won’t we?”

“I’m sure of it.”

“Between us only, Suho,” Namjoo told.

“Yea,” he nodded.

“Be safe in Yeongwol,” Namjoo cautioned, “and good luck.”

“You too.”

“Is something going on?” Lay asked.

“No, nothing,” Suho lied and rubbed his thumb over his phone.    

The worry for Donghae was almost as much as the concern he felt for the current mission. When working for Donghae, everything needed to be completed as instructed. A little mistake could tarnish the intended outcome and it could lead to dangerous situations. Working with Donghae required full time effort and concentration. It was just like that.

This time around though, Suho couldn’t guarantee his words to perfection. And he was concerned about that. Whatever Donghae hoped to get out of sending them out like this, he didn’t think he could complete the task. Suho wasn’t one to stand the sight of wrongdoings. He could only hope that he’d have some self restraint while on the job.

Were Lay and Chorong thinking the same as he? Or were they determined to sit back and watch?

~_____~

Kris twisted over in his sleep at the ringing of his phone and reached out for his phone. There was really no reason for Victoria to call him during his break, but she was calling. After answering his phone he was walking toward the table outside the coffee house where Victoria was waiting for him.

“Sorry for the wake up call,” Victoria said and handed him a cup of coffee as if bribing him. “I debated all night before deciding to call you out.”

“What’s going on?” Kris asked sitting down.

“I need you to do something for me.”

“What? Now?”

“Yes.”

“Why? I thought we weren’t supposed to touch work over break.”

“Looks like break’s over for most of us.”

“What do you mean?”

“Donghae sent Chorong, Lay, and Suho to Yeongwol.”

“Serious? Why would he do that?”

“So while he’s distracted, I need you to work for me,” Victoria explained and added, “quietly.”

Kris slightly frowned.

“I need you dig around and find out what kind of records Eunhyuk has, check his background; everything.”

“What?” the mention of it drove Kris into suspicion and disbelief. “You want me to dig around? So suddenly? What’s going on?”

“Because we barely know anything about him,” Victoria stated, “and I feel like Suho and Namjoo are keeping quiet for Donghae. Those three know something we don’t.”

His brows deepened, “What? Why would Namjoo and Suho have a reason to hide things from us? I don’t think they’d…”

“Just do it, no questions,” Victoria deepened her tone. “I want answers as soon as possible, so you better start today.”

With just that Victoria left him to sit there baffled. What was with all this suspicion? Why did it feel like Victoria didn’t trust the team?

Kris didn’t believe it. Namjoo wouldn’t hide things from him. He didn’t want to believe that Namjoo would keep things from the team that could possibly make a difference in their efforts. There was something wrong with this picture.

Uneasiness easily eased itself into him.

He wanted answers.

~_____~

After a cup of coffee, Namjoo stared down at the cast around her ankle. Walking around didn’t feel so bad now. Grabbing the knife on the table beside her she worked the cast off her ankle gently felt the area around it. It was less swollen and looked almost normal. To test it out, she spun her foot in a circle for pain that might be felt in her ankle; there was none.

“Yes! Finally!” Namjoo whooped in joy and stood to her feet, but as quickly as she’d done so the doorbell rang.

Her attention shot toward the door wondering who it might be before walking toward it slowly so as not to hurt herself. When she pulled the door open she saw Kris standing there.

“Lets have a quick talk,” he said.

She raised her brows curiously. “What is it?”

Kris seemed to fumble for the words to say, “You’ve heard that the others are on a mission, right?”

Namjoo’s eyes waved away then up to his face. To lie or not to lie?

“Yea.” Kris became silent so she asked, “What about it?”

“Victoria called me out this morning,” Kris let out, “she thinks you and Suho are hiding something from the rest of us.”

Her lips quickly pursed together and she worked to keep a poker face.

“Why would she think that?”

Kris looked at her sternly before eventually smiling with a short laugh, “I know, right?”

He was naïve.

“She wants me to check into Eunhyuk’s records,” Kris told. “You don’t know anything about him, do you?”

Victoria…what?

“No, I don’t know anything.”

Kris pressed his lips together and his eyes darted toward the ground before they slightly widened. Looking back at her he asked, “Your cast…”

“Oh…” Namjoo shifted her leg behind her other one and lied, “the doctor took it off this morning.”

“Really? So soon?”

Namjoo bit her tongue again.

“That’s good. It won’t be much of a hassle moving around now,” he gave her a happy smile. “Then I’ll go now.”

Namjoo nodded and closed the door when he walked away.

This was bad news. Victoria was turning out to be an obstacle she hadn’t expected. The worst case scenario of all this could be them turning on each other. Plus, she’d lied to Kris. When he found out her lies later he probably wouldn’t look at her the same way, but she couldn’t worry about that right now. The bigger problem at hand was Victoria.

She needed to move fast or Victoria might find out something she shouldn’t.

~_____~

They’d stationed themselves in an alley behind one of the night clubs. Lay worked to build a fort with the empty plastic crates stacked behind the building so they could sit while Suho was running an errand to buy them food.  They’d chosen an area adjacent to the brothel a block away.

“Keep it in sight,” Suho had said, “lets first start here then we’ll move on to a later destination.”

Naturally, Suho had taken up leading her and Lay. Though less direct with authority like Donghae, Suho also seemed to have with him a sense of knowledge and leadership. He would know how to carry out this mission according to Donghae’s liking than from her or Lay’s perspective. Anyhow, even if Lay were to take on the leader role it didn’t feel right.

It still stood in her mind that being in Victoria’s team made them inferior to Donghae’s team, as if they were outcasts, strangers who stood out in a herd. Even in the meeting room when all eight of them were present they still sat on opposite sides of the room. Like a division between them was of particular importance. Knowing who stood where and what role each one took tended to be the focus between them.

From where Chorong stood she could see the side of the brothel and an angle of the porch. The road in-between seemed less busy, but a car would still pass by. It was an intersecting street leading to the busier roads anyhow.

“Ah…the line was so long,” Suho complained as he ran toward them with a bag. “I couldn’t find a ham sandwich; I hope turkey’s all right.”

“That’s ok,” Chorong said when Suho handed her the sandwich he’d purchased.

“I decided against soda, sorry Lay,” Suho said taking out three bottles of water, “it’s better to run on water than acid. Saves money too.”

“Next time I’ll buy,” Lay said taking his sub from Suho.

Suho let out a pant of exhaustion as he sat down on one of the crates and leaned against the building.

“Anything strange yet?”

“Nothing,” Lay answered biting into his sub.

“That’s good news.” Suho seemed to heave a sigh of relief.

Chorong turned to look at Suho. Clearly none of them wanted to see anything happen. Coming to Yeongwol so abruptly made them nervous. Being told to just watch put a strain on their nerves and she could tell both guys were ready on the tips of their toes at all times.

Chorong barely took a bite out of her sandwich when the door of the brothel opened. Her stomach was empty, but she could barely feel it growling.

The headmistress Chorong had interrogated along with Lay walked out with a young girl. Her sleek and long hair curved around her face prettily. She had grown up well, Chorong thought, and she was definitely pretty.

The roaring engine of a car made her turn to her left; her head turning as she watched an old blue Toyota drive by. It slowly came to a park on the street across from the brothel and the headmistress, with a hand on the young girl’s back, urged her to walk forward with her. Two men in casual clothing stepped out to greet the headmistress engrossing into a kind conversation.

There was an expression on the young girl’s face of caution and awkwardness when told to greet the men. The way she clutched her hands in front of her was an expression of her nervousness. Chorong knew because she’d been reading the actions of people since the start of her career.   Her eyes traveled back and forth from the men to the headmistress carefully gave Chorong shudders of concern.

Chorong could feel run dry and her lips waver when the headmistress pushed the girl toward the men.

“No, I don’t want to!” the girl raised her voice when the headmistress started back to the brothel, but the bigger of the men grabbed her arm. “I want to continue staying here! Please don’t make me go!”

Chorong froze in spot debating between the point of the mission and the voice of righteousness in her head. They weren’t to disobey orders and following orders was a strict priority in her line of work. Donghae had specifically told them to watch. They weren’t to go after these men or capture them.

But the young girl’s cries emptied itself into the street and her heart raced in panic and sympathy. Knowing no one would go to her aid stabbed Chorong’s heart repeatedly.

What should she do!?

Then a quick rush of footsteps forced her to turn. Lay was currently struggling to withhold Suho back. There was strain in his face, his eyes had hardened, and his brows were deep with scorn.

“Let go,” Suho demanded.

“We can’t.” Lay refused. “You know we can’t.”

“How can you just watch this happen!?” Suho shouted still trying to pull out of Lay’s strong grip. “If you have the opportunity to help, then you should do it! Doing what’s right, that’s my job! Don’t tell me yours is any different and you’re willing to go against it.”

Suho’s words seemed to strike Lay somewhere, but he still didn’t let Suho go.

“Donghae’s orders, Suho,” Lay reminded. “This is our job. We can’t do anything about it. Sometimes we have to break our morals to get what we need in the long run.”

Chorong’s mind buzzed back and forth between Lay and Suho’s reasonings. Who was right, who was wrong?

Suho panted angrily and tried to break free again, “I’m not shameless; I’m not willing to let someone’s life break apart when I had the chance to make a difference! I’m not going to let her go through what the other girls had to! You know clearly about the abuse they have to face and you’re going to do nothing!? If so, you should quit your job. We don’t need someone like you on the force. Morals shouldn’t be broken, Lay, they shouldn’t be taken so easily either. If they’re so easily broken, you should look at yourself and see what you’re doing wrong.”

There was a moment of silence between the two men and Suho asked through gritted teeth, “You’re not letting go?”

There was rage apparent in Suho’s face and the expression was strong on Suho’s face. Chorong pressed her lips together all the while in her own mental struggle and turned when the door of the car closed.

“ this mission!” Suho shouted, grounding a foot into the ground, and pivoted his torso around.

Chorong watched Suho’s fist slam into Lay’s face knocking him to the ground before running at full speed toward the old blue Toyota. Her lips dropped apart and she swung her attention from the wounded Lay on the ground to Suho who was after the car.

Her lips moved and she tried to utter a word, anything, but nothing came through. Finally deciding to follow the voice in her head she chased after Suho leaving Lay to get up alone.

The mission was impossible to complete. Suho was right. Doing the right was what their job was all about. Lives were at stake and they were the only ones who could make a difference.

~_____~

“Thank you. I wish I would have met someone like you earlier. You’re such a great person.”

The only one who had said those heartfelt words to him, the girl with those pretty dimples…Suho couldn’t just watch this happen. The cute girl he’d just talked to a week ago in the brothel would be physically torn apart when those men put their hands on her, bringing her place to place, treating her like an animal. Suho couldn’t stand the thought of it.

Who cared about the mission? It didn’t matter what Donghae was after. If Donghae expected the job to be done, he should have known earlier on that he wasn’t the person to do this. Suho couldn’t turn a blind eye, he just couldn’t.

Suho was running so fast that he could trip over his own feet if he tried to stop. A flash of wind slid across his face combing his hair back. He’d save her, he definitely would save her.

Nearly a foot away from the car he reached an arm out and felt his fingers pin themselves into the tiny crack between the trunk and the back window. A pain pierced his fingers threatening to tear apart his skin and he let out a shout, but he was unable to pull back even if the cause was to save himself.

That girl inside was more important than his fingers.

The car had already started and Suho’s legs were caught with the speed of it. Tripping over his feet forced his legs to be dragged for a mere second, but the car came to a quick halt upon hearing the thump of his arm.

The men inside turned to look at him shocked by the surprise. With a quick glance Suho stared back and caught the eyes of the young girl stuffed with fear. Her hair was dismantled over her face and tears were on end. His heart went out to her.  

Deciding against a breath of relief, Suho pulled himself up. Never minding the pain of his fingers he focused his balance on climbing over the car. The soles of his shoes made the surface of the car slippery upon the touch, but he preservered. At last, he turned and landed with another loud thump on the hood of the car; his glare burning into the driver through the windshield. 

***The two teams seem to be really splitting up from what was intended to be one team. Team Donghae beating and keeping secrets from Team Victoria. They've ruined everything! First, Namjoo lying then now Suho punching Lay. This could just get worse.