~_____~

A short argument had ensued before it was declared that Namjoo would be driving them to the hospital. Chorong just felt like making a point that it was her face that had gotten hurt, not her feet.

While in the passenger’s seat she glanced down at Namjoo’s feet. They were now on the road quietly heading for the hospital.

“Is your ankle better now?” Chorong started.

“You don’t see a cast, do you?”

Chorong eased her eyes up to her face then turned to look out the windshield.

“Thanks by the way,” Chorong said, “for rescuing me and those girls. I kind of thought I was doomed.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Namjoo said without much feel to her tone of voice. “Helping others is a thing I do. That’s what we’re all doing right now, helping others.”

A small smile planted itself across her face. Of course, it was probably payback for having helped Namjoo before, now they didn’t owe each other. And she thought that even if Namjoo didn’t say or express it, she was relieved for having come in time for her. Even if she’d gotten shipped off with those girls Chorong knew for sure Namjoo would have somehow come after them.

About 15 minutes later they were walking down the hospital of the hallway looking for the recovery ward the girls were in. A trip around the third floor of the hospital finally brought them to a large room with identical beds. Chorong recognized familiar faces she’d seen yesterday, but this room wasn’t big enough to hold all of them. After stopping a nurse for questions they realized there was another ward the girls were in on the opposite side of the third floor.

“Then what should we do?” She turned to Namjoo for directions.

Like Suho, Namjoo had this aura that made her seem like the better lead. Being a follower wasn’t a thing Chorong minded anyway.

“I’ll go to the other side,” Namjoo offered.

Chorong watched Namjoo turn to walk away before she twisted back around. Some of the older women were lying down, but very few of them were propped up on their beds looking through magazines. A few of the younger girls had their eyes glued to a cartoon show on the TV.

Now that the nurse had walked out just when they got there, she was now all alone witih them. Where was she to start? Would talking immediately about the camp hurt them mentally?

Chorong worried. However in due time these girls would soon leave the hospital and she wouldn’t be able to find them again. Now was the only chance she had.

Pursing her lips together she walked over to the bed closest to the door. It belonged to one of the younger girls.

“Hi,” Chorong greeted.

The younger girl who was lying down immediately jumped up to sit, “Oh! It’s you! I saw you yesterday!”

At this all Chorong managed was a smile. The girl was so tiny and looked so innocent, yet Chorong had no way of telling what had happened to her or what she’d seen in camp. A wave of anguish and guilt rammed through her. It was difficult questioning her about her stay in the camp. How was she going to go about this?

“How are you feeling?” Chorong asked taking a seat at the edge of the bed.

The young girl’s eyes concentrated on her, “Mommy is coming to get me tomorrow! Are you a police officer? Can I call you police unnie?”

“Sure.”

She slightly laughed baring to Chorong her sloppily lined row of teeth, “Police unnie, you’re very pretty. Thank you for saving us!”

~_____~

Namjoo arrived at the ward shortly after departing from Chorong. She’d wanted to go off on her own; it had to be a plan. Anything relating to Hyukjae would have to be heard by only her. She believed Chorong was smart. Chorong was an Assistant Inspector and by all means if she paid close enough attention she’d be able to catch on to them. As of right now, Victoria and Chorong were the two she had to most look out for.

Upon entering the ward she greeted the passing nurse with a smile before settling into the room. Gazing about it she spotted each of the women and young girls relaxing in their beds. It was obvious that after such a kidnapping plenty of them would want to rest in peaceful solitude.

“Are you here for something?” One of the women, who was propped on her bed with half the blanket over her asked.

“Yes,” Namjoo stepped toward her. “I actually have some questions to ask. I won’t ask too much and I won’t be a bother for too long.”

“Some company isn’t such a bad thing,” the woman kindly smiled, “after being isolated for a week, I’m really happy to talk to someone else other than those men.”

Namjoo offered a comforting smile before sitting by the foot of the bed, “I’m sorry for what happened to you.”

The woman smiled somewhat painfully as her eyes downcast themselves. “So what is it you want to know? I can tell you what I can.”

“Thank you,” Namjoo gratefully thanked. “I’m only looking for anything those men may have talked about, if a man named Hyukjae was mentioned or the location of their homebase. Anything you may have overheard generally, it’d be really helpful to me.”

“Hyukjae?” Some other woman from behind questioned.

Over the woman’s shoulder Namjoo spotted a younger looking woman glancing at them. She eventually climbed over onto the bed Namjoo was on and sat behind the woman. Her long black hair was braided over one of her shoulders. The black bags underneath her eyes had lightened up somewhat making her face glow a bit.

“I heard them mention that name,” the woman who’d moved over exclaimed. “Quite a few times too.”

“Yes,” the woman Namjoo first talked to nodded. “They did talk about him.”

“What did they say?” Namjoo wanted to know.

“Things about if they didn’t move us in time, he’d be really angry with them,” the first woman said. “And that the men shouldn’t hurt us until we reach Wonju.”

“Wonju?” Namjoo repeated surprised.

“Yes,” the second woman answered. “There was something about Wonju, but they didn’t talk further about that.”

“Did they say anything more about Hyukjae?”

The two women turned to each other as if to ask the other in silence about what they’d missed or could have forgotten.

“They snickered a lot about Hyukjae, it was almost as if they didn’t like orders from him,” the second woman added.

“Did they mention the locations of any other places where other gangs are holding other women or young girls?” Namjoo asked.

The two women shook their heads.

“They restricted us from going outside unless we had to go do our business,” the first woman explained, “it was something about how someone might be watching us. The men kept really strict watch on us. That was orders from Hyukjae again.”

“Yea, they were really cautious as if they knew you guys were coming for us,” the second woman jumped in the bandwagon the first woman had started. “They even went as far as to watch us in our sleep.”

That was something Namjoo would have to keep in mind. Perhaps Hyukjae was a lot closer to them than they thought.

~_____~

“No, we didn’t hear anything about other kidnappings,” the older woman Chorong was now talking to replied. “The men didn’t talk a lot about their job in front of us.”

“Was there anything else you may have heard?” Chorong went on. “Anything in relation to who their boss is or who ordered them to keep you there?”

The woman seemed to think very hard as her brows crossed, “They didn’t talk about their boss. They did receive phonecalls from someone though. That person called quite often to check up on them.”

“Did they mention his name?”

The woman’s brows crossed once more as she tried to recall, “I can’t remember, really. I’m sorry.”

Chorong offered a soft smile to console her.

“An H,” the young girl Chorong had spoken to earlier spoke up.

Chorong twisted around to look at her.

“His name started with an H, police unnie,” the girl said.

Chorong’s gaze darted toward the floor as she fell into thought. Quiely she muttered to herself, “Hyukjae?”

Upon hearing footsteps she looked up to see Namjoo walk in. “Done here?”

Chorong got to her feet starting toward her. Before they talked they heard footsteps hurrying toward them.

“Hi! Do you remember me?” A girl’s voice echoed through the plain white hallway.

They turned to see a young girl slowing down as she reached them. Chorong recognized her at once and warmly smiled. She first bowed in front of them and lifted herself up with a beaming smile. It was a heartwarming sight. Among the girls Park Eun Bin had been one they’d searched hardest for. That girl was standing in front of them like a miracle.

“I’m Park Eun Bin,” the girl introduced herself, “I saw you two yesterday.”

“Of course,” Chorong smiled, “we know you.”

“You do?!” Her eyes widened and her brows shot up in exclaimed surprise. It was the expected response from a shocked child.

“We went looking for you everywhere in Yeongwol,” Chorong told, “and we found you.”

The girl’s mouth opened in awe, “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” Chorong replied now broadly smiling and noticed Eun Bin turn her attention over to the ever silent Namjoo, who didn’t have much of an expression on her face. To look warm wasn’t something Chorong expected to see anyhow.

“I remember you too!” Eun Bin excitedly exclaimed. “You came to our rescue and you helped your friend.”

Chorong watched Namjoo’s still eyes rest on the young girl’s face before a small smile lightened her face. Namjoo looked really kind and approachable for once. The sight almost felt like an amazing thing to witness; it left her feeling quite astonished and proud. There were even times when Namjoo had to express her emotions.

“I’m glad you made it safe,” Namjoo told in a soft tone with alluring kindness.

Though what she said was really short, Chorong believed Namjoo was really happy to see the young girl doing so well. Relief had been unexpressed through Namjoo’s face, but Chorong was sure Namjoo was silently thanking God they’d made it in time. Though they’d been unable to save Dan Bi, who Namjoo had tried to fight with Donghae to put as priority, Eun Bin was alive. One of the girls had been rescued. Chorong thought Namjoo was most happy to know that and it was a good thing they had Namjoo come for them instead of Kris. Things had fallen in the right place…for now.

The drive back to headquarters was almost silent. Throughout the silence Chorong thought back to when she’d witnessed Namjoo’s mother slap her and shortly after that realized how Namjoo had no one, but Suho. For once she thought about how secluded Namjoo was from everyone else. She probably didn’t have many friends because of work too. And Chorong felt her heart break at the thought that Namjoo hadn’t had a meal with her family or with anyone for countless years.

Out of the corner of her eyes she stole a glance at her female co-worker. Under that façade of hers she must have a lot of grievances she never spoke about. How difficult it was not to speak about it to anyone. Lonely nights must be the longest and hardest to deal with. Chorong couldn’t imagine the difficulties of it.

Even when away from home, she still went back when she was available on the weekends or even stopped by during the weekdays to see her mom. But Namjoo couldn’t even go back home.  

“Namjoo,” Chorong started, “I’m returning home this weekend to have dinner with my parents. Would you like to come with me?”

Namjoo turned to give her a quick look before turning back to the road quietly.

“It’s boring with just the three of us,” Chorong continued, “and I haven’t brought a friend home in a long time. I’m pretty sure they’d like to meet you too. What do you say?”

For a long time Namjoo didn’t reply and Chorong silently prayed she would.

“Ok.”

~_____~

Suho cleared his throat for the third time as he paced about the meeting room after they returned from break. He now had his third cup of warm coffee in his hand as he continued going from the right of the room to the opposite end.

Kris was engaged in a stare off with the wall. Tao, on the opposite side, was staring off into space with the side of his face planted into his palm. Suho was well aware neither of them wanted to be near each other and that fact itself was most unpleasant to deal with. At most it was impossible for him to get them to work as a group and it was all Namjoo’s fault.

Suho would have to chide her later when she returned and he hoped she would very quickly.

“In all, the call to the Yeongwol police was quite useless,” Suho summed up.

“What do you suggest now?” Tao muttered through his cheek. “It’s boring here.”

Suho turned to look at him.

Tao just shrugged and shifted to lean the other side of his face into his other hand, “Well I mean…we’re practically excluded from what everyone else is doing. That’s all.”

Suho heaved a sigh, “We could at least try to do something useful here.”

“And what do you suggest?” Tao prompted.

“So what actually happened in Yeongwol?” Kris finally turned away from the wall. “I was told you guys were sent there for some job.”

“Oh…that…” Suho managed before taking a sip of his coffee, “just…we were to keep watch on the brothel and anything that happened we weren’t supposed to do anything about.”

“And…” Kris prodded.

“Well,” Suho started cocking his head to the side. “You know, of course things happened.”

“So you let them go?” Tao asked.

“You didn’t,” Kris stated. “You jumped in.”

Tao looked over at him and snorted, “A job is a job. Why wouldn’t you follow orders?”

“Why would he when it’s against our moral code?” Kris questioned.

“What moral code is that?” Tao fought. “You’re simply saying our moral code is the same as yours?”

“What are you going on about?” Kris retaliated. “Moral code is right against wrong. Oh, I forgot; you belong on the wrong side of the ladder.”

Tao let out an unbelievable sort of perplexed laughter. Suho didn’t know if he could take this or if he could even break them apart of they started a brawl.

“Guys, can we cool down?” Suho jumped in. “I thought I was explaining about my job in Yeongwol.”

“Shove it,” Tao scolded turning to him with quite a scowl before turning to look at Kris with deep set eyes.

Suho turned aside to laugh sarcastically at how he’d been so easiliy told off by Tao.

“Why do you think that makes you different from me?”

“Excuse me?”

“You think putting the bad guys behind bar puts you so high up in society?” Tao continued. “Truth is you’re only setting more of them free the more you catch. You only think you’re doing good because the workforce you come from is corrupted itself.”

“Aren’t you being a hypocrite yourself?” Kris asked. “A delinquent as yourself is now working with the same side that put you behind bars to put the same people as yourself in that place. You’re going to end up at square one if you don’t work hard starting from now.”

Suho immediately turned when Tao shot up from his seat. This was going to be such a hard day, he could feel it all the way to his bones. The need for another cup of coffee was hitting him again. If Tao and Kris didn’t stop now he might have to call the cops himself. 

***Nothing to say but HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA at Suho's ordeal with Kris and Tao

***And Namjoo may just get to experience family life again :)