Chorong stepped away from the wall as the shock of Victoria’s words took the meeting room a step closer to cruel reality. Tao twisted around in his chair to look up at her, Lay suddenly making his appearance at Victoria’s back, and Kris’ eyes widened.

A gasped infiltrated the room, no one knew who it belonged to, and Kris shot up from his chair, “Victoria!”

“Why? You’re playing dumb?” Victoria ignored his call.

Suho and Namjoo were barely able to reply under her scrutinizing eyes.

Squeezing his way in Lay managed to make space for himself adjacent to Suho, “Suho was with us in Yeongwol. Chorong and I were with him the whole time. Don’t jump to conclusions yet, Victoria.”

Victoria shot Lay a glance before turning to eye Suho, who stared back. The corner of her lips protruded up when she saw the defenseful glint in Namjoo’s eyes. Victoria couldn’t forget the fact that Namjoo was more arrogant than the passive Suho who had only begun holding a gun again.  

“Alright,” Victoria nodded, “so Suho has an alibi. Then, what about Namjoo?”

“No, I…” Lay began, but Victoria raised her hand up to silence him; her eyes glued onto Namjoo’s face the whole time.

“Ah…the capable one who can manage a fight with Donghae, you carry out his orders day in and day out, isn’t that right? I believe you’d know Donghae a lot more than Suho would.”

“Victoria, stop it,” Kris cut in, an edge of irritance in his voice. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re being unreasonable.”

“Your teammates almost got killed yesterday, Kris, and you’re saying I don’t have the right to track down the one behind it?” Victoria shot the question at him. “The only one who managed to get there late was no one else, but Namjoo.”

“You’re going too far,” Suho finally managed.

“Why? Is it a scary thought that your own teammate might want to wring your neck?” Victoria asked.

Suho gritted his teeth silently tightening the sharpness of his jawline.

“Neither of you can be trusted,” Victoria stated, “someone here in this room is trading information with the ring. They’re always a step ahead of us and that’s why we’ve got nothing done so far.”

“Don’t you think you’re the problem?” Tao stood and moved so that he was in front of Namjoo, blocking Victoria from her. “In all honesty, you and your people are the ones slowing us down. We don’t need you. Who do you think you are? You’re just the aid team, but here you are trying to take over. Are you guys really from the bureau? You’re more like a coup. Why don’t you leave instead of immaturely throwing your finger around?”

Pressing her teeth together she ultimately stared at Tao with cold eyes.

“Suho and Namjoo, they haven’t done anything wrong,” Chorong started, “so why are you being like this?”

Disbelief fell upon Victoria’s face. Chorong dodged her eyes before hesitatingly looking back at her.

“There’s no evidence,” Chorong went on, “you can’t dismiss them from the team. Only Donghae has that jurisidiction.”

“Who’s removing who from the team?” Donghae’s voice surprised them from behind.

Victoria immediately spun around to look at him. Donghae seemingly shot her a sidelong glance before stepping into the room and looked around from face to face as if carefully studying them; categorizing them into the right and wrong.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Donghae turned his head to interrogate Victoria.

Ignoring him Victoria turned to the group, “Chorong, Lay, Kris; head to Yeongwol and investigate the warehouse for anything left behind. You’re to report back to me and only me when you return.” Victoria trained her eyes hard on the three while Donghae somewhat glared at her.

Again, ignoring him Victoria went on, “Chorong, see me before you leave.”

With that she twisted around to walk out swearing to herself that whatever it was Donghae, Suho, and Namjoo were up to; she’d find a way to expose them.

~_____~

Chorong’s eyes dropped to the floor and gazed around the patterns on the carpet before nodding her head as she walked out the door. Lay in turn also nodded toward Donghae before following. Kris hesitated behind Namjoo; part of him wanting to stay behind and the other engulfed with the need to fulfill his duty. In the end, he bowed toward Donghae before walking out of the room.

~_____~

Donghae slightly turned to watch them go before reaching his arm out to close the door and turned to them.

“What’s going on?” He began.

Neither Namjoo nor Suho spoke. Namjoo’ smind was still a flurry. A bit of her was still overrun with confusion over why Victoria had decided to pick on her when she knew well the reason. Then again, the majority of her felt too lazed to care about what had just happened. She felt like she had enough on her hands already with Eunhyuk and his twin and Donghae’s orders. It didn’t sound like much, but keeping shut seemed to be weighing her shoulders down.

“Tao.”

“I don’t know,” Tao broke with a hint of annoyance, “Victoria just came in here and started blaming us for being traitors. She said stuff about Suho and Namjoo wanting to kill the rest of the team. If you ask me, she’s just a sore loser. An amateur, immature…thing. She doesn’t deserve to be working with us. Why is she even here? We don’t need them. We can do all of this by ourselves.”

Tao let out a very loud breath as if he’d been holding in all his complaints for too long.  

“I understand why you’re always at each other’s necks. Victoria just wants to steal your spot.” Tao continued to rant.

“Tao,” Suho warned. “That’s enough.”

“What? I’m only saying what I see. She’s jealous of Donghae,” Tao shook his hands out unable to stop his emotions from bursting. “She pointed her finger at you and then picked on Namjoo! And you want me to stay still and watch!?” Tao snorted, “Over my dead body! You…you can’t even shoot a gun. And can you believe that Namjoo’s tough enough to have murderous intentions? She’s got to be joking.” A relieved breath of more utter annoyance dropped from his lips. “I’m so annoyed!”

“Tao,” Namjoo quieted called and grabbing Tao’s arm, “stop.”

Tao bit his lower lip immediately stopping.

Pulling her hand away she turned to look at Donghae, “It’s ok. It was expected.”

“Expected?” Donghae frowned.

Suho turned to look at her, but the ringing of her phone interrupted. They silenced and Namjoo hesitated to answer. Now wasn’t a good time to be on the phone when things seemed severe at work. Namjoo didn’t feel like she was in the mood to be speaking with the person on the other line either, whoever it may be.

“Answer it,” Donghae nodded his chin toward her.

Namjoo reached for her phone and turned around to answer.

“It’s me,” Kris started. “Can you step out for a moment?”

Naturally starting for the door she stepped out into the empty hallway. Glancing down both ways she saw no one.

“Over here,” Kris said opening one of the doors adjacent to the meeting room.

He had his phone against his ear as he poked his head out. Sighting him Namjoo pulled her phone away and walked toward him. Kris closed the door upon her entrance and pressed his lips together as if preparing himself for what to say. For a mere second they were quiet.

“You said before that it’s ok for me to treat you comfortably like before,” Kris reminded.

Namjoo looked up at him and pressed her lips into a firm smile before nodding. To this Kris was unable to withhold an abashed smile.

“Namjoo,” he sounded enthusiastic for the first time since the incident in Daegu, “lets have dinner when I come back.”

He wasn’t going to give her a choice, she realized.

“Ok.”

Kris broadly smiled again before looking at the ground then again to her, “About what Victoria was going on about…”

Namjoo felt a breeze of guilt overcome her. She couldn’t forget she’d lied to him and she was still lying to him. In fact, Victoria was right to be suspicious. Namjoo didn’t feel much toward her suspicions, but Kris believing her so easily made the situation hard to appreciate.

“I believe in you,” Kris sincerely told a bit worriedly. “I know you do what’s right.” He seemed to have become shy before saying, “Dinner, remember, ok?”

He shot her a smile before first leaving the room. When Namjoo reentered the room with Donghae and the others he immediately turned to her as if they’d finished talking.

“I have other things to attend to,” Donghae said, “so why don’t you just take a break today anyway? I owe you all a vacation after all.”

He smiled at them as if to affirm their worries were meaningless.

“Oh, Namjoo,” Donghae called, “why don’t you take Tao to get some new clothes. The ones you previously bought him are losing color; he should have more variety of clothing. Why don’t you two have dinner too, since I won’t be back till late.”

“Huh?” Namjoo asked surprised by the sudden request.

“Do you have something planned?”

The expression on Donghae’s face looked expectant as if knowing she wouldn’t decline.

“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.”    

“No,” Namjoo lied while part of her sighed away.

“Then I’ll leave him to you,” Donghae smiled and patted Tao’s arm before leaving the room.

Tao snorted as Donghae walked out, “I’m not a child…”

Namjoo felt her eyes drop toward the ground. At the back of her head she could hear Kris calling her name enthusiastically while reminding her of their date.  

“Something wrong?” Suho questioned.

Lifting her head up she shook her head, “You want to come along?”

“Nah,” Suho refused, “I don’t like being thirdwheel. Have fun on your date.”

~_____~

“You wanted to see me?” Chorong found Victoria in the library.

There was a big fat book in front of her. The current expression on her face wasn’t as heated as earlier, but Chorong still felt the need to take caution in front of her. It was often that Chorong spoke her thoughts in front of higher authorities in front of her. She’d always felt a bit timid in front of them and that her role played was to follow orders. The environment here at headquarters seemed to be influencing her; especially Suho who always did what he felt was right.

Too many times he’d made decisions on his own. The one made in Yeongwol had been the most critical one so far. It still played so vividly inside her mind.

“I heard that your family has worked in the police department for generations,” Victoria started as if avoiding the earlier argument with everyone. “There’s a document I can’t access without a D.A.’s approval. Do you get what I’m saying? It’s crucial to this job. I can’t afford another miss.”

Chorong felt her eyelids flutter before obediently nodding her head.

“Do you know someone who can help?”

~_____~

“It’s been a while, Lee Donghae!”

Crossing his legs with the phone pressed to his ear he greeted, “I hope you’re doing well, Attorney Kim.”

There was haughty laughter on the other end, “We should have a meal one of these days if your schedule allows it. I heard you’ve been pretty caught up in a dangerous case these days. If you ever need a hand, do let me know.”

Donghae smiled with a nod, “Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“So what can I do for you?” Attorney Kim started hinting that they should stop beating around the bush.

“I have a favor to request,” Donghae said, “regarding a very important matter.”

“Please speak.”

Leaning back into his chair comfortably Donghae uncrossed his legs.

~_____~

The ride first started off very silently. Chorong purposely chose to sit in the back seat as to avoid looking at either Lay or Kris’ expressions. Right now she was certain each of them had their own matters to think about.

Whether they could work together as a group under both Donghae and Victoria anymore, Chorong couldn’t be definite. The situation just seemed to become twsitier now. As the days progressed the mission seemed to be coming along really slow. Chorong had to wonder why too. Of course the people in the ring were trying to stop them, but who else would want to stop them from meddling into their affairs?

That was the real case. Earlier, Victoria had been pointing fingers. No doubt everyone in the group was assigned to something. Everyone pitched in the same amount of effort, no one else greater than the other. At one point or another everyone faced some kind of danger and something unpredictable always tended to happen. Was there a reason behind all this?

No matter the case, there was something invisible signaling that someone knew something the other didn’t. It was so twisted. Chorong believed everyone had good intentions. There was no bad or evil character in their group. Suho saved that girl he didn’t know and Namjoo had been most adamnant about saving Han Dan Bi, who had failed to survive her ordeal.

Maybe the team didn’t always get along, but they all were united mentally; preferring the right over wrong.

“It’s awfully quiet,” Lay broke the silence, “should I turn on the radio?”

Kris shifted a little in the passenger’s seat, “So, what happened at the Detention Center? We should catch up on the news, don’t you think?”

“We just talked,” Lay explained, “with two of the gangmen. Before we infiltrated, they were already in formation. He said something regarding an informant.”

“Informant?” Kris repeated.

Lay nodded. “Victoria warned me to keep an eye on Donghae in case he tried to keep information from us. Maybe she saw something she thought was suspicious pertaining Donghae, but I don’t share the same light.”

Kris further frowned, “So you’re saying, someone knew you guys were going to plan an assault on them.”

Again, Lay nodded. Chorong attentively listened.

“That’s crazy,” Kris commented baffled, “is that why Victoria sought out Suho and Namjoo? She thinks they’re the informants?”

Lay didn’t respond or he didn’t plan to answer.

“Say something,” Kris urged.

“One of the captives,” Chorong took his attention, “said someone often called them to check up on them.”

Kris turned to look at her while she organized her thoughts.

“Maybe he called to see if they’ve been found out yet or not,” Chorong continued.

“What about that?” Lay wondered. “How does that link to this?”

“I’m just saying,” Chorong went on, “we don’t need to worry about Suho or Namjoo. Victoria was plainly making assumptions without evidence. I don’t need to remind you, do I? Everything in our line of work relies on evidence. Suho and Namjoo, I believe they’re on our side. Whether Victoria wants to remove them from the team will have to rely on the evidence she has, I don’t think she has any at the moment.”

Kris and Lay attentively waited.

“What if,” Chorong suggested, “the one watching us isn’t someone from inside the team?”

Kris’ eyes partially narrowed.

“What if we’re being watched by someone else we’ve never thought of,” she said. “What if Hyukjae is closer than we think he is?” 

***Chorong is indeed a smart person!!!

***Here is Donghae working against Victoria, calling the D.A. to keep Victoria from seeing Eunhyuk's files. Victoria's going to get herself in trouble real soon. 

***The story will be a bit lighter on TaoJoo's side *.* 

***I'm gonna remove the Semi-Hiatus notification from the title. I promised before, I will complete this story. But hey, it took Mark Twain 5 years to finish Huckleberry Finn, this story's just going to take some time too.