0100. 05/25/2012 Volume Nightclub. Downtown Seoul.

A man dressed in a black suit sits sipping his drink by the bar, checking over his shoulder a few times surveying the crowd. It was a Friday evening and office workers crowded the upbeat club to release the stress built up over the week. The music was playing an upbeat electro track and socialites were partying, having a good time on the dance floor. The dark room was illuminated by the strobe lights, the bright lights illuminating the stage where a single DJ was spinning tracks.

The man reminisces his day settling into his new apartment and preparing for his new position. He chuckles slowly when he thinks of the circumstances of which he was called here. He wasn’t the type to attend these types of events really, but this time he really had no choice.

“Long day at work?” The bartender asks him, drying a glass cup with a worn rag; the man shakes his head with a smile.

“You have no idea.” The man says, loosening his tie slightly. He goes back to surveying the crowd, checking his phone a few times for incoming messages or emails. Earlier this month, he had been informed by the NIS he was being transferred from his current division to a newly formed team. He’d been told that he had been chosen to lead the team and that they would let him know when he was ready. He had no idea why he was chosen, after all, he didn’t show any specific skills that set him apart. He never finished his work before others, he couldn’t solve cases faster than others, and sometimes he couldn’t even understand how others made connections when he didn’t.

Nonetheless, he had been assigned to this new project that the company dubbed “SHINee”. All he knew was that he would be working with four others in this new group and would tackle assignments of special urgency. They’d never actually explained to him when or how he’d be notified of his transfer date, all they told him was that he’d know when to go when the time came. So, he packed up his belongings and moved to a condo in Seoul without a second question.

“Looking for someone?” The bartender asks, noticing the man’s restlessness. The man begins to nod his head, but then quickly shakes it. Even if he were looking for someone, he wouldn’t know who exactly to look for.

“It’s complicated.” The man says to the bartender. The bartender smiles secretly and the man takes a good look at the bartender. Slender, bordering on skinny, the bartender was tall, around six feet with short cropped light brown hair. It was obvious that the bartender had recently grown into a man but had yet to lose his baby face. His features had a soft look to them that made them appear feminine and if he were to perhaps dress up a little more; his face would rival that of a model.

The man was interrupted by his phone buzzing and he looked down, seeing that he’d received a message from an unknown number. TIME TO GO. The man got up immediately and surveyed his surroundings. Looking towards the exits and the surveying device he’d set up before he entered the club, he realized there was no one here to get him. He sits down slowly and resumes scanning the crowd.

“Important text?” The bartender asks. The man was starting to become slightly irritated by the bartender’s nosy questions, but smiled politely, indicating that the conversation was over. The man finishes his drink and gets ready to leave, but the bartender clears his throat. The man misinterprets this as the bartender asking for a tip and reaches into his pocket for his wallet, finding it to be missing.

“You know, out of the five of us, I think you blend in the least.” The bartender mutters and the man turns to him in shock.

“Y-you.” He stutters, and the bartender gives him back his wallet with a smile. “Who are you?” The man asks the bartender.

“Shocking, you don’t even know your own teammate unit chief Onew? Or better yet, Lee Jinki, Gwangmyeong 4^th floor, special agent division.” The bartender says and the man realizes that this is one of his agents.

“Well, I’m at quite a disadvantage here, you seem to know my name but I don’t know yours.” Onew says to the bartender and the bartender smiles slyly.

“Tech analyst Lee Taemin at your service, I’m really quite happy that they let me go outside this time.” The bartender says, stretching out his arms.

“So how were you recruited?” Onew asks.

“Me? Well, I’m kind of a bad egg.” Taemin admits sheepishly scratching the back of his neck, “I used to syphon money out of bank accounts until the NIS apprehended me. Then, I hacked into their database, succeeded and wiped myself from their records. I reinstated my alias and went back to my hacker ways. They figured out that I’d hacked them again and instead of arresting me, they offered me a job instead. They sent me an envelope with the address of this club on it, inside the envelope was a blank disk that had a binary code written on it in black sharpie, it was easy to figure out that that was the date of the meeting. I knew there must have been more to just the envelope and it turns out there was. I found a message saying ‘Time to Go’ on the underside of the stamp.” Taemin says, shrugging his shoulders as if he encountered this on a daily basis. “How about you?” He asks, directing the attention onto Onew.

“To be quite honest? I have absolutely no idea why I was selected, much less to lead. As for my calling, they just kind of sent me a message on my phone, kind of lame if you ask me.” Onew confesses and Taemin nods.

“Perhaps finding the others will give us more clues as to what our purpose is.” Taemin says and Onew agrees with a nod.

“Have you spotted anymore yet?” Onew asks and Taemin snorts in disbelief.

“Of course I have! I’ve already pinpointed their exact locations. I have to say, they’re much better at undercover unlike you here. You stuck out like a sore thumb.” Taemin says giving Onew’s apparel the once over. He beckons Onew to follow him into a back room where an impressive number of HD monitors sit on a metal table with different codes running across the screen in bright green letters. Taemin taps a few digits, his fingers sounding like machine guns from the sheer speed of his typing and suddenly he pulls up four screens trained on three other males.

“Shall we go find them then?” Onew asks with a mischievous smile and Taemin smirks.

“I thought you’d never ask.” Taemin says and they leave the room together.