~_____~

Outside in the hallway Kris could hear endless phones ringing, the fan on the ceiling spinning loudly, voices swirling into the air, and doors continuously swinging open and shut. Suddenly annoyed he pushed the heavy metal door shut suddenly encasing himself into a room of silence.

Surrounded by five foot drawers withholding cubicles of information all stashed and carefully organized into manila folders, Kris had gone through almost two drawers in the past couple of hours. Searching for all files that might contain Eunhyuk’s name was quite the job. It was far more of a difficult task than he’d expected.

There were quite a few Eunhyuks and after failed speculation and more digging, Kris discovered he’d been looking into the wrong person. His fingers fiddled with each folder easing each one forward as he dug further into the folders at the back. The afternoon sun gleaming through the blinds behind him was becoming hotter against his back before it would set for the day.

Almost half an hour went by like this before he finally pulled out a folder. Kris ran his eyes over Lee Hyukjae’s name a.k.a. Eunhyuk. Dismissing the biography on the front, he flipped the first few pages over before discovering a file on him as a victim of physical assault. Kris’ eyes scrolled down the page to see that Eunhyuk had chosen not to file a complaint toward the guys who had been brought in with him that night.

Finally shoving the drawer shut he opened the door and walked out. After a few hallways he opened the door to an office and walked up to a man sitting behind a desk with a PC in front of him. More than just a couple of heavy files and yellow envelopes sat on the side of his desk.

“Oh…Kris,” the man greeted, already looking burnt out from staring at the computer screen all day.

“I need you to check someone out for me,” Kris began.

“Not now,” he pushed him off, “I’m very busy…”

“You owe me,” Kris immediately reminded forcefully,” that night on the twentieth when you needed to leave for a couple of hours…”

Panic stricken the man cleared his throat and took the folder, “What do you need….” Then with a twitch of his eyebrow finished, “Kris?”

With a satisfied smile Kris said, “His records, background, friends; everything, and a.s.a.p.”

~_____~

“Suho said he sent some pencils in last week for fingerprint testing,” Victoria spoke with the woman behind a long white counter, “have those been completed yet?”

“Ah…” the woman with short curly hair nodded her head after finally understanding what Victoria was there for, “there’s quite a few fingerprints smudged on those pencils, it’s going to be difficult. They would have been done already, but since Suho specifically asked to look for a child’s fingerprints it’s going to take some more time.”

Victoria left the center discouraged. With Eun Bin’s disappearance from Yeongwol she didn’t know where to start. There was supposed to always be a beginning at an ending, but where was this little girl’s? How was Victoria supposed to start finding her?

After quite some time sitting in her car she finally headed back toward headquarters. Looking up some current events on missing child might lead her to something. At least she hoped so.

~_____~

“Where’d you get it?” shocked, Donghae rose to his feet and snatched the picture out of her hand.

Literally choking on his breath, his eyes zoomed in and out of the two Eunhyuk’s faces. Which one…right or left was his friend? The blood coursing through his veins seemed to be all he heard; loud echoes within his ears. An erosion of confusion hazardly flowered through his entire being.

“Donghae,” Namjoo called.   

Donghae’s lower lip moved, “I…I…”

“You don’t know about this, do you?” Namjoo asked a second later. “I can tell from your face. Eunhyuk…never told you he had a brother?”

Donghae’s finger’s twined around the frame dangerously. The confusion was transitioning into heated anger and disappointment.

“Namjoo,” Donghae quietly started, “remember that time I told you and Suho about how I saw Eunhyuk getting jumped in an alley once, and the next day he appeared at school without those bruises? And he wouldn’t tell me how those bruises disappeared?”

Namjoo pursed her lips to quietly wait.

“And Eunhyuk was always paying off some kind of debt,” Donghae crossly went on, “I doubted him once, but those debts are real and they’re not his. He borrowed money from me once saying he needed to bail a family member out from jail. From what I know, his parents are no longer around and his relatives don’t want him. He wouldn’t tell me who he was bailing out.” Donghae bit his lip angrily, “It suddenly makes sense. They’ve been messing with me.”  

“Donghae…”

Swerving around he looked at Namjoo, “Either it’s really Eunhyuk out there…or that person stole his identity. Or they’re both in this together.”

“You don’t really think…it’s Eunhyuk doing this,” Namjoo nervously contradicted worried, “do you?” 

“If he had the nerve to lie to me, why wouldn’t he be able to do this!?” Donghae raised his voice upset he’d been lied to for so many years by someone he regarded as a brother. How could he not feel betrayed?

“That person could just be borrowing the name Hyukjae, since Eunhyuk is Hyukjae,” Namjoo shook her head, “I mean, they’re the same person. I mean, Hyukjae must be a code or something. There’s a variety of possibilities.”

A spiteful laugh crossed Donghae’s lips bit he bit his lower lip, “Forget it, Namjoo.”

“Donghae,” Namjoo called again, “Eunhyuk…could be in danger.”

Donghae’s eyes bounced off the ground before landing on her face.

“When I was in his apartment, other people came in,” Namjoo explained, “they were looking for something.”

“No,” Donghae shook his head, “they were probably out to destroy evidence.” Donghae held the picture up for her to see. “They’re onto us, didn’t I say that before?”

He could see her eyes lighting up with extreme worry. All he had beside work now was her and Suho now that Eunhyuk had gone missing. If he didn’t take care of them, he could lose them in the far future too.

“You don’t have to say it,” Donghae told, “I’m angry, maybe I can’t think straight, but even I don’t know who is who anymore. How can I trust Eunhyuk, who could be the ring leader? They say that when you know someone, you really don’t know them. I could just be the fool in all of this being goaded along in their game. But I’m not going to be the loser, so I need to find out what exactly is going on in order to put an end to this.”

“You’re…going to go after Eunhyuk?”

“Once I hear from Suho, I’ll know what to do then. So you stay put until I call you out.”

Donghae began to walk away, but stopped again. Namjoo wasn’t finished with what she had to say. 

“Victoria,” Namjoo said, “knows we’re keeping secrets from her. She sent Kris to do a background check on Eunhyuk; sooner or later, they’re going to discover what we did today. Are you sure, you don’t want to talk to her about this?”

“I want you and Suho to keep quiet for me,” Donghae instructed turning back to her, “anything you know about Eunhyuk, don’t speak about it. I want to nail him alone without Victoria’s interference or anyone else.”

“Victoria’s not just going to stop there.”

“I’ll take care of her,” Donghae assured and began to turn away again, but stopped.

Namjoo’s eyes shot up from the ground still captivated by uncertainty when she looked at him. There was probably a lot on her mind she wasn’t saying. Having been busy thus far, he wanted to let her have some more days of rest before allowing her back onto the field. When the time came, Namjoo would know what to do then.   

“Namjoo, about Tao,” Donghae began, “I talked to him and he seems sincere. I don’t want you and Suho to work so hard that you later have no future, but an empty house. Tao could really change and I’d like to see him do so. He seems to listen well to you and it looks like he’s a capable person. I don’t mean to pressure you, but I’d appreciate it if you could stand by his side and guide him along the way.”

The uncertainty on Namjoo’s face never disappeared, but she nodded anyway after trying to look bright.

Donghae gave her a teeny smile, “Tao’s in the apartment. Why don’t you go have dinner with him? I won’t be back till late.”  

“Ok,” Namjoo replied.

Placing a hand on her shoulder as he walked by he smiled before finally starting toward the stairs. He’d have to think up of something before looking for Victoria.

~_____~

A frown twerked itself onto Kris’ face as he bent over to look at the computer screen. There was a page pulled up by the man he’d come to earlier. Eunhyuk’s financial history looked confusing for such a clean person as he.

“What’s with all these debts?” Kris pondered over the question then turned to the man, “These…all these he paid off, but it doesn’t say how or why he got them?”

“Well,” the man pushed up the rim of his invisible glass up his nose and explained, “apparently these aren’t his debts, but from the name these bills are labeled under, they’re indeed debts he helped cleared.”

There were so many…an endless page of debts paid off.

“Print me a copy,” Kris ordered.

A few minutes later he walked out of the police station with phone to his ear. While waiting for Victoria to pick up, his eyes grazed the lowering sun and its lazy aqua glow cracking along the horizon that seemed to punch the sky. He quickly wanted to return to his break so he could return to doing the things he wantd to do before his chance to would dissiminate.

“What’d you find?” Victoria asked right away.

“Eunhyuk has a clean record; no criminal history, no drugs. His parents passed away, and he grew up with an aunt until he graduated high school,” Kris summarized, “but for a clean person, he’s paid off a lot of debts.”

“Debts?” Victoria repeated with interest.

“Exactly what I said,” Kris spoke, “they’re not his. Apparently he’s been paying them in favor of someone else, but I can’t dig up that person’s name since it’s under confidential files, and I’m not in a high enough position to obtain that information.”

“I’ll find a way to work around that.” Victoria promised. “Is that all?”

“Also, Eunhyuk was physically assaulted before his disappearance,” Kris went on, “but he didn’t file a complaint against those people.”

“Any information on who beat him?”

“Nope.”

He listened to Victoria heave a frustrated sigh. “Fine, good job.”

Finally with everything done he hurried off to buy dinner and hurried over to Namjoo’s apartment. To his disappointment she didn’t seem to be in and when he called only her voicemail talked to him.

~_____~

Now seated around a round table inside a calm restaurant Suho could only stare into the meat on the grill. Waves of steam floated overhead while he listened to the calm music strumming against his ribs. There was suddenly a lot more to think about since the focus of plans had transitioned. Now he was going to do something beyond what Donghae had ordered.

“Suho, here,” Chorong handed him a wrapped lettuce with meat and kimchi.

“Oh…thanks,” he smiled at her and took it from her, but only set it on his plate as he continued staring into space.

From the side, Chorong watched him worried and longingly. Clueless to knowledge, he couldn’t see that Chorong wanted him to look at her just a few times. Lay drank out of his cup of soda from beside him, but didn’t say anything. An aroma of meat with a mixture of intense concentration of various thoughts drummed between the three.

“Are you upset about earlier?” Lay broke the silence five minutes later and Suho finally felt the dryness of the lettuce against the tip of his fingers. Lifting it up to his mouth he chewed and gulped some water down.

“Sorry, for punching you.”

A friendly smile climbed onto Lay’s face at the mention of it, “No, I’m glad you did it. I would have regretted watching them just drive away. You just saved me from guilt.”

Suho glanced at Lay and swallowed the chewed food.

“Orders are everything in our jobs,” Lay stated, “and we shouldn’t forget why we first started doing what we’re doing. If possible, I also want to save what’s left of the good in this world. But if I could so easily turn a blind eye to all else, maybe I do need to reflect on myself.”

Suho’s eyes darted back toward the meat, “I only said that out of impulsiveness.”

“But you’re right,” Chorong surprisingly spoke up, but didn’t look at them. “If we have the opportunity to help, we should take it. Because doing what’s right is only right. We want to become powerful people, so we’ve chosen to come here. We’re the only ones with enough power who can take on these bastards.”

Suho attentively turned to listen to her and firmly smiled, glad that Chorong voiced her thoughts. Her eyes slowly turned his way before looking away again shyly and Suho smiled again thinking she was embarrassed for having voiced an opinion.

“Then,” Lay broke the moment, “do we head back to headquarters?”

“No,” Suho confidently shook his head.

“What do you plan on doing?” Lay questioned worried, his instinct telling him he already knew what Suho was up to. “Since we already know the location of…”

“You’ve busted drug traffickers before,” Suho stated, “and you’re a commander in this line and you have experience.”

“That’s completely different from human trafficking…”

“No, there shouldn’t be much of a difference,” Suho adamantly cut him off, “those people have drugs, these people have girls we need to save.”

“Do you know what you’re doing? This isn’t what this mission was intended for.” Lay reminded. “Without Donghae’s approval, won’t we get in trouble for acting on our own?” 

“I’ll take responsibility,” Suho promised. “You have the authority to get us some weapons, don’t you?”

Too struck by Suho’s confidence Lay found himself stuck for words to say. The oil seeping out of the meat sizzled strongly on the grill, but none of them reached forward to remove the meat. The pile of fresh lettuce sitting on a plate had now faded in color as a huge smoke of steam burst up between them.

Suho’s eyes stilled on Lay’s face determined to persuade him.

“Chorong, what do you think?” Lay questioned. “Is Suho acting out of line or are you going to go with him?”

Chorong glanced over at Lay, again conflicted over acting out of bounds or seeking backup and approval first. Suho turned to look at her while waiting for an answer.

“You should make the final decision,” Lay prompted.

Lay was the real obstacle, since he had more voice than Chorong. He had expertise in this field and Suho knew that Lay would know how to hand directions out as they infiltrated. As for Chorong, he had a gut feeling that Chorong would follow him.

“We’re running out of time, aren’t we?” Chorong asked. “Those girls are going to be moved elsewhere soon.”

Suho pressed his lips together.

“Lets go save them.”

A smile won over Suho’s face at Chorong’s agreement and he turned to look at Lay. 

***Ooooooohhhhh...Donghae's stubborn streak never dies. We'll have to see what he wants to do with Vic next chapter xDDD

***So the other side of conflic belongs to Suho. He knows where Park Eun Bin and the other girls are and he's going to carry out an operation without Donghae knowing uh-oh! 

***Kris & Chorong are pretty much in the same situation now, both blinded by puppy love :"( Whereas Suho and Namjoo are too preoccupied with keeping secrets and their tasks. 

***TaoJoo next! The only sane ones seem to be Lay, Chorong, and Tao right now haha! 

***Suho's becoming more and more of my favorite character, he's so selfless ;A;