~_____~

“We’re going to need you to verify your identity,” Victoria had been told over the phone by District Attorney Lim’s secrety, “you’re going to need to come down to the courthouse.”

It had taken Victoria a 45 minute drive to make it to the courthouse from the government hall. She understood the process to unlocking those documents Kris had discovered at the police department might take more time than she wanted, but with Chorong’s help she believed she had the upper hand at the moment.

The nametag on the desk marked the territory belonging to a ‘Secretary Hong’. A woman in her early thirties glanced up at Victoria. Indeed she was born with a baby face and seemed to hold herself well. Victoria took her expression as that of one who understood mere profession.

“Hi,” Victoria greeted, “I’m Victoria Song. I called earlier.”

“Yes,” the woman nodded, “may I see your identification?”

Victoria gladly took out her I.D. and handed it over. Secretary Hong glanced at it before she smiled at Victoria and rose to her feet.

“I’ll be back in just a moment,” she turned around, knocked on a golden door camoflouged into the wall behind her, and walked into the attorney’s office.

Left alone to wait in silence Victoria turned to observe the empty hallway outlined in a thin frame of shiny gold. Swirls of white tended to look like a hurricane coming into being in the walls. A long hallway extended down her left leaving her to be unsure about what lay ahead. No one appeared, but she was sure she heard the elevator opening and closing as people boarded and exited.

It was the ringing of the phone that surprised her a second later. As if it was a signal the door opened and Secretary Hong stepped back out in her solid colored matching blazer and skirt. Maybe her attire was meant to help her look with age, but it made her look like a child trying to play dress up.

“I’m sorry,” Secrety Hong apologized with a calm smile to tell Victoria not to be too disappointed. “Regarding the documents you’re trying to open, you’re not allowed to view them.”

“How can that be?” Victoria frowned taking her I.D. back. “I just needed a D.A. to unlock the document, why isn’t it going through?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t explain that,” she apologized again. “Attorney Lim has already finalized his decision.”

Upon walking out the door the urge to kick at the earth was so strong Victoria nearly did it in front of all that busy traffic. It didn’t make sense, none of it did! She should have been able to have access to those documents by contacting a D.A. about her situation. She was utterly confused and baffled with stifling anger.

It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. Straining her anger she got into her car and sat in the driver’s seat to think of what to do next. No matter what, she needed information on Eunhyuk, more than what she already knew about. Relying on Donghae and his team was completely worthless. No one would get anything done if she didn’t decide to do something out of bound.

Then it finally occurred to her a minute later. Why hadn’t she tried going to look at where Eunhyuk had spent his years before deemed missing?

~_____~

Namjoo seemed too focused on driving that she hadn’t spoken ever since they left headquarters. With eyes glued heavily to the road Tao wasn’t sure whether to speak up or not. He kind of just wanted to look at her and another part of him wanted to have a conversation with her. Hearing her voice set him at a kind of ease that left him floating.

Unconciously his eyes would travel to the corner of his lids before he’d turn to glance at her then away. After two or three cars passed by he’d do the same thing again. Namjoo sat so perfectly still in his sight he didn’t want her to move at all.

“What,” Namjoo said as if she were annoyed, but there was no heaviness to her tone that showed explicit irritation.

So she’d noticed he’d been looking at her, but had said nothing.

“Are you tired? Should I take over?” Tao questioned.

Namjoo turned to look at him before looking away. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I said I’m fine,” Namjoo repeated this time with an occasional deep emphasis in her voice.

“Just…you look a little tired,” Tao touched the bags underneath his eyes, as if gesturing to her why he’d said what he did.

Namjoo glanced at him again without the slightest movement of her head. “I just haven’t been able to sleep well.”

“Why? Are you sick?” Tao shifted in his seat to face her.

Namjoo frowned, but said nothing. Slowing down the speed of her car she turned to park and turned the engine off. Tao got off after her and followed her into the store anxious to keep up with her.

The store Namjoo had brought him to had very bright lights and smelled of fresh, rich fabrics. Mannequins dressed in neat button downs and clean pants stylishly stood in front of each section to represent the style of clothing on stock. Tao glanced at them, his eyes full of awe. It was the first time he was in this kind of store.

He saw vests in both cloth and silk, button downs in all sorts of colors and styles from solid colors to different patterns he’d never imagined, blazers, ties, and pants to match with every combination. Only people who really had money were able to afford such neat clothes.

“What are you doing?” Namjoo’s voice caught his attention and he turned to see her standing by a rack of button downs.

Realizing that he was standing in the empty aisle he hurried toward her. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

Namjoo shot him a funny look before pulling out a shirt, pressed it up against him to measure, and ended up snorting with a kind of short laughter.

“What?” He asked as she placed it back onto the rack leaving him confused.

Did he not match it? Or did she think he did not look well in this kind of clothing?

“Why are you laughing at me? Are you making fun of me?” Knowing why she’d left suddenly felt important to him. Then he suddenly thought he wanted to look good, he wanted to be impressive, he wanted to impress her too, and that was important.

“No,” Namjoo calmly said searching thorugh the rack, “the shirt was bigger on you than I thought.”

Tao let out a baffled snort, “You thought I was big?”

Finally turning to look at him Namjoo curved a brow, “What’s with you?”

Tao turned away moodily, but still attentively listened to her search for a shirt.

“Is there a style you like?” Namjoo questioned, still searching. “If only you were smaller like my friend then maybe I might know what to do for you.”

“Friend?” Tao immediately turned to look at her. “What friend? Is it a man?” Then answered himself, “It’s a man. Who is he? What’s his name?”

Namjoo lifed her head up to shoot him a glance, but said nothing.

“Tell me,” Tao shuffled his feet on spot as if throwing a fit, “you have to let me know about the people you know too.”

“Here, I think this fits,” Namjoo held a shirt out to him then nodded. “Does it fit your standard?”

Snatching the shirt away Tao narrowed his eyes at her, “What kind of friend is he? You have to answer my question.”

Namjoo turned away, “I’m taking care of you the whole day. What do you want to eat later?”

Biting his lower lip he grabbed Namjoo’s shoulder to twist her toward him, “Stop it.” Then softening his tone said, “Can you stop talking to me like I’m just a child?” Turning his head he glanced at the shirt then to her, “I like it. Since you picked it out, I like it. So, stop talking to me like you have to take care of me. I don’t like it. We’re the same age, maybe I’m even older than you. Don’t disregard me just because of something Donghae told you.”

“Sorry,” Namjoo apologized, quickly crushing him with guilt.

Unable to continue looking at her he turned to search through the rack and picked out a few more shirts.

“I liked the shirts you first got me better,” he confessed remembering how he’d felt when he first looked at the shirts Namjoo had gotten him.

Unexpressed happiness soared through him. Other than Namjoo, no one else had offered to give him anything.

With a childish, yet sincere smile he turned to her, “You owe me a shirt, remember? You smeared blood on my other one.”

Namjoo’s expression cleared to that of suddenly recalling her debt before looking up at him with realization. Then quickly pressing her lips into a firm smile nodded.

“I’m going to go try these on,” Tao told, “you’ll wait here, right?”

“Yea,” Namjoo replied and when he turned around for the fitting room she turned away from him, her eyes settling on the rack again.

~_____~

Obtaining Eunhyuk’s address had been fairly easy. She’d just walked into the police department, showed her I.D., and had been given it. It should have been the same for Eunhyuk’s debt documents. Promising herself she’d find out what went wrong later, she pushed everything in her head aside.

Eunhyuk’s place was not like anything she’d imagined. Since he was Donghae’s friend she’d supposed Eunyuk lived in a much modernized place. Instead she was standing before a building ready to be knocked over. The surrounding environment was as dead at heart as could be. Not even a single child was playing on the playground set outside.

Slowly walking by Victoria felt her eyes in everything before finally making it into the building. One of the lights overhead was flicking non-stop and it made her think of those haunted or abandoned apartments in horror movies; the kind of place where the heroine’s friends would be murdered or go missing.     

“Stupid,” Victoria gently knocked herself in the head after feeling herself get creeped out.

After resteadying herself she paused in front of Eunhyuk’s door. It looked locked and Victoria could neither tell if there were another resident that had taken the apartment or if it was still empty. Taking her chance she knocked on the door and waited for well over a minute. When no one came, Victoria took her chance.

Making sure the hallway was clear of peeping eyes Victoria loudly kicked the door open. As the door swung against the wall revealing to her the untouched room she stepped in. Glancing around to determine whether anyone was in she then closed the door and began her search. Something had to have been left behind, she was sure of it.

Neverminding the objects in the way Victoria dug through the books, the magazines, the couch before entering the bedroom. The sight of clothes heaped on the ground turned her cautious. Every approach she made was carefully carried out.

Someone had been there and that fact was something suspicious. Someone had gone through Eunhyuk’s belongings with a clear goal in mind. What had they been looking for and why?

Throwing the blanket up to search under it brought her nothing. She went through the pillows, even under the mattress. In the end, the search came up with nothing. Victoria was left feeling irritated and a bit angry. It suddenly felt like everything was out to get her since she’d woken up that morning. She had planned to get so much done, but nothing seemed to be on her side.

Stepping out of the bedroom Victoria turned her back to the door and ran a hand up to her forehead. She needed to think real hard about what was amiss. It was hard to throw off the feeling that someone was doing these things against her. The itch to find out was gnawing at her, but she didn’t know what to first do.

Too caught up inside her thoughts she only turned around when the door whammed open and saw a bald man appear at the doorway. The first thought that occurred to her was that she’d broken into this man’s apartment. The doubt drained when he raised the handsome black pistol at her before a force of wind threw her head back and she clumped up against the floor.

~_____~

Lay finally brought the car to a halt a few minutes later. Kris pressed his head against the side window to glance out at the view.

“It’s practically a landfill,” he commented when he stepped out. “Where did you guys find them?”

“Over there,” Lay nodded his head toward the warehouse up ahead.

“Where did you guys come through to stay out of sight?” Kris asked.

“We crept up from behind the other storage houses,” Lay explained.

“Over there,” Chorong nodded her head toward her right and Kris turned to see the plenty storage houses all rowed up neatly and orderly.

“You guys were pretty much out of sight then,” Kris stated.

“Exactly,” Lay said then started walking up ahead. “Lets go through the back door. It should still be open.”

It had been pretty much left open as Lay predicted. The warehouse was soulless by now, not a thing had tried to turn it into some sort of habitat. As if wary of yesterday’s aftermath not even a bird flew by to caw at them.

Kris peered around at the shattered glass just laying there on the floor in various shards, shapes, and sizes. It was an ugly aftermath, dirty, and would take days to clean up.

“Just how many of you were shooting?” Kris wondered.

“The men Namjoo brought with her broke the windows,” Lay told, “Suho and I didn’t do much damage.”

Kris stared at the heavy shelves clumsily stacked atop each other and could only imagine what could have happened yesterday. It had been one dangerous setup alright and he was partially glad he hadn’t been part of it.

“What are we looking for?” Kris asked.

“A phone,” Chorong answered before Lay could say anything.

The two men turned to look at her as if they didn’t understand.

“Everything was rushed yesterday,” Chorong went on to explain, “if none of them had a phone on them, it should have been left behind.”

“Did they say anything about the belongings those gang men had?” Kris turned to ask Lay.

“No, we didn’t ask such,” Lay replied.

Kris pressed his lips together. “Then lets look around.”

“It only depends if no one’s been here before we came,” Lay supposed.

“What do you mean?” Kris wondered.

“I’m just saying,” Lay started, “suppose someone came to clean up evidence.”

Chorong and Kris set their eyes on him suddenly aware that someone could be watching them. Danger could be lurking around the corner and none of them were prepared for it. That was how bad this mission was becoming; a senseless drive toward suicide.

They jumped upon the ringing of a phone. It felt like a bomb thrown in on them; none of them had expected it nor foreseen it. The three stood in mere silence as if quietly debating about what to do, or who shoud do it. As if on sudden cue the three split up into different directions in desperate search of the phone.

Pulling boxes aside Kris quickly turned his attention elsewhere when deciding that the ringing wasn’t coming from under the boxes. Suddenly he and Chorong ended up scrambling in Lay’s direction coming to a pause when he pulled out an android from a pile of papers unruly lying about.

The phone was still ringing, Chorong and Kris watching. It was like watching a film where the had hit and the next action to take place would determine the fate of both the villain and hero.

Lay finally pressed the answer button and slowly raised the phone to his ear. Kris watched with his heard thudding against his chest anxiously, nervously, and maybe a little scarily. Who was on the other end of the phone? What was he saying?

A quick second passed before Lay lowered the phone.

“Who was it?” Chorong was quick to question.

Lay blinked his eyes a little blankly, “No one.”

“What do you mean ‘no one’?” Kris quickly interrogated.

Chorong’s eyes searched around before ordering, “We need to take it to the police station. Someone needs to get the caller tracked down.”