“...this is also a meeting room, pretty comfortable right..?”

IU has been taking her around the facility for about almost 45 minutes, and by each place, Amber’s thought went deeper and deeper, trying to understand the vision of JYP, summing everything in her complicated mind. This facility almost got everything a city has. A medical clinic, cafe, karaoke room, and she bet there’s at least a weaponary station here, somewhere. Just like what she sees on movies.

“...they have the best collection in...”

“Where can I meet this JYP guy?” asked Amber as they entered the library.

She stopped her fun touring and stared at her, “Yah...don’t you know?”

“What?”

“JYP is not here. His whereabouts always changes, and only some of his trusted people know where he is.” IU took a seat in one of the leather couch there. Amber followed her.

“But, at the mansion, he called via teleconference...?” Amber was a bit confused.

IU chuckled, “Exactly! These past few years, he only visited the facilities using his holographic form, or teleconference. No one really knows where he actually is right now. But some says, he’s in Hawaii, enjoying Pina Colada with some hula dancers...Pfftt....” she giggled to herself.

Amber could imagine that guy having fun with a few exotic girls, while giving orders across the oceans via teleconference. But she shrugged the stupid idea off her mind when she remembered about that headlines, with her dad in the front photo.

“What do you know about Prof. Lee Mun Hee?” Amber bet her luck on questioning her. This IU girl looks smart enough to at least knows about this thing, she hoped.

She pouted at her, “He’s your dad, isn’t he? Don’t tell me you don’t kn- -“

“Of course I know~ That’s why I’m asking you, especially about the Asia Congress in 1987. What happened there?”

IU stared at her, feeling weird, “Hmm? Nothing happened there.”

Amber was expecting a long historical story about that congress, but all she got was ‘nothing’. “Really? Nothing happened?”

“200% seriously.” IU made a peace sign with her fingers.

“It’s just... JYP showed me the headline reporting that congress to me, last night before the mansion was breached. He wouldn’t have shown me for no reason, right?”

“Mmm, I only know that through the congress, many scientists saw Prof. Lee as a new hope in the science world, making him even more famous. But seriously, I don’t want to give you any false information, but if you’re asking me what happened that day in 1987, nothing, except the congress itself of course.” IU tried to explain as best as she could. She’s waiting for Amber’s reaction, but that tomboy’s also waiting for more explanation. Clearly seen from the look in her eyes, pleading for more details.

IU sighed, “Mianhae, I really don’t know.. and even if I know, I don’t have the right to tell you any of these informations.”

Amber tried to twist her way of questioning, “Then, what about me? What do you know about me?”

“You, “ IU started, “are the only daughter of Prof. Lee. Has a talent in coding, and a black belt in Tae kwon do. Hehehe~” and she finished it briefly.

“Yah... seriously, don’t you know anything?” Amber hasn’t gave up.

She stood up from the couch, blinking tiredly at her, “I don’t do informations, I do gadgets, okay? You should save your questions for Jia and Suzy. They’re your guardians now, aren’t they?”

“They...are?” Amber didn’t even know about that one.

IU pulled her up off the couch, dragging her outside the library, “Yes, JYP assigned them to be you guardians. As for me, I will be your roommate here, isn’t that great?”

“Oh yeah... I’ve been wondering where do I suppose to stay?”

With that, IU took her to level 4 basement, where the floor feels a bit different from the rest of the floors. It’s obviously more spacious, with a proper lounge in the center. Some of the few people hanging out in the lounge seemed to notice IU and bowed politely, and some other just waved casually at her. IU walked to the east wing of the floor, where a low stairs is waiting, leading them to the second story of the the floor.

“This is where some of us live, but most of the time,  list of empty rooms line up here. But still, there are many full-time researchers prefer living here to live on their own residences. Because of the access to the lab and all, it’s easier if their bed is closer to their workplace.” IU gave another little tour while entering the maze of rooms.

Amber only nodded while admiring the modern interior, dominated by wooden tiles and minimalist dove-silver accents.

“Do you live here too?” asked Amber as they turned into a wider corridor.

“For now, yes! I’m taking a break from my study to work on a project here.” she chimed happily.

“Wait, wait, you’re a student? Like, in a university? I thought you’re a full-time-whatever you are.” Amber was surprised to find this girl still going for a proper education. She thought geniuses like her don’t need school anymore.

“Geurae, I just graduated from High School this year! Since JYP asked me to come here, I need to halt my apply for college. But, come to think of it, I don’t have much spare time to prepare myself for the college entrance exam, so I don’t think I’m going there anyway.” she stopped at the front of a door, with a bronze ‘16’ carved outside. “Room #16, here we are. I picked this room because it’s the date of my birthday, cute isn’t it?” she turned to Amber, who’s still looking at her like a clueless fish in a bowl.

“You’re actually happy? That you’re leaving college for that squared-jaw guy?” somehow, Amber felt sorry for her. “I’m not happy leaving college for this guy, but why are you..?”

She shook her head right away, “Law school is definitely not what I want. Instead of going there, here is much, much, much, much better! I love making gadgets too, so there’s nothing to lose, right?”

IU opened the door, revealing a spacious suite behind. Amber almost dropped her jaw when she saw the queen-sized bed attached to the wall and colorfull beanbags scattered on the floor, surrounded by a pastel-colored wall. A yellow cuddly bear sat quietly on the side table next to her bed. Amber couldn’t take off her attention from this overwhelming atmosphere. Pretty much different from what she expected, a geekish-gloomy room full of gadget junks, instead of this very normal girlish bedroom.

“I’m sorry if it doesn’t suite your style or something. But you can re-decorate it if you want~” IU said as she hopped into her own room, showing her new roommate around.

Amber let out her ‘whoa’ all the way of the room tour. The bathroom is awesome, she thought, with mini jacuzzi and a shower. There’s a make up table, but IU has transformed it into a small workshop table, where screwdivers and other tiny metal things gathered there. Amber bet the mirror is not just a mirror, judging from the loose wires that danced out on the edges.

“So... am I really going to stay here tonight?” Amber turned to her.

IU smiled, “Not just tonight, but as long as needed. There are plenty of empty rooms here, but I got an order to book my room for you, so here it is!”

Amber was glad to find her box already placed next to the bed, and IU smiled seeing her relieved expression, “You can place your things anywhere you want, I can ask for an extra drawer if you need one.”

“Ah! No, I’m good. Really, it’s just some junks I’m taking with me.”

IU pouted, “Andwaeyooo, thore are your treasures!” she said as she walked toward the door, “I’ll ask for the drawer asap, okay?”

It might be just the cold room temperature or something, but Amber had a slight goosebumps when she heard those words. It felt like a slap on her face, somehow brought her mind to her little rented apartment, her rusty soda can filled with coins and little money, and all the other little things she had have. She never had anything more than that through the past few years, and suddenly she was kind of thankful. “Yeah, maybe I can use a drawer.”

***

“Do I really have to crash more...?!” Amber panted hard.

“YES! You haven’t reached the finish line! Go!” Jia screamed at her from the side of the arena, giving orders and cheering on her at the same time.

With that order, Amber dashed off once again to the glass wall in front of her, closing her eyes as she broke through it, and shattered it into pieces with her whole body. She’s been breaking those glass barriers for hours and didn’t see why this physical practice has to do anything with her hacking ability. This indoor arena seemed so endless, with more and more glasses that she has to broke with her body.

This morning Jia woke her up in her room and yelled, “Good morning! Today I’ll be your coach!” which really shocked Amber when she brought her here to do some physical challenge. She thought Jia would lead her to a more scientific place, like a computer lab, or maybe the library. But hell, she ended up here, being tortured.

“I don’t see WHY... this is...USEFUL to me...!!” Amber kept running in her hoodie, aiming for the next glass wall. Her left shoulder has become numb, for crashing so many pieces now.

Jia counted the remaining glass walls left and was happy with it, “Only 10 more ahead! You can do it!” she yelled, while making her way out of that arena. “Meet me in IU’s workshop once you’re done!”

“WHAT?! YOU’RE LEAVING ME HERE??” she turned around to catch her, but she’s vanished already, just like what she always do.

She bent on her knees, taking all the oxygen she needed. “That crazy cuckcoo girl...aiiishh...” she mumbled randomly. As she got back on her feet, she scanned that huge arena trying to look for a tool or anything strong enough to break these glasses, instead of running into them. But looks like this arena has been prepared to train her, because there’s nothing there except the glass walls that lined up neatly, and herself. Nothing else existed there.

Amber sighed as she walked lazily to the next glass, touching it with her finger, “Wassup, glass...”

She stepped back to square off, before running through that glass wall with all her remaining strength. Before she knew it, the glass had been shattered again into pieces, and she didn’t feel any pain at all. In fact, she didn’t even feel anything at all when breaking through that glass. There was something...

She looked back, and saw the sharp pieces scattered on the floor.

Nothings’s odd.

She then turned around to break the next glass, but a guy suddenly popped in front of her.

“Wooghhh...wow wow...” she switched into her fighting mode, trying to defend herself from this random guy who’s looking at her like she’s a piece of art or something.

The guy is tall and well-shaped, with a messy hair swayed to the side. He looked like he’s around Amber’s age with a shy smile, and seemed to be doing a morning exercise with that sweat shirt and training pants.

He curled up his lips, showing a generous smile, “Breaking a glass was quite fun.”

Amber took a step back, “Who are you? Did Jia send you here?”

He looked surprised, “You’re being friends with that pink-haired noona? Wait, I should be the one who ask you! Who are you?”

Amber didn’t answer the question, “Who are you?”

“I’ve booked this place for today, how is it even possible for you take my slot..?” he paused for a tiny few second before completing his own words, “..oh right, you’re with Jia. That explains it.”

Amber’s still putting her toughest face, watching his every moves.

He sat down on the floor, bending his head at her as if he’s watching a really interesting TV show. “Eeeeh looks like it’s official, you’re a new kid here aren’t you? Did JYP recruite a new addition to Miss A?”

“Are you also an agent?” Amber asked, while planning all the possible strategies if this man attack her. She left her stunt gun in her room, so her fists were the only hopes, she thought. There’s only 2 doors in this arena, so if I could run to the other side...

The guy stood up and knocked the glass behind him, “Do you know that this is only a fake glass?”

“What?”

“The pieces didn’t cut you at all, right?” he smiled again, “Coz it’s just a sugar glass. Have you ever watched those action movies, where they often break glasses easily? They use these kind of boldsugar glasses to replace the real glasses. It’s more fragile, and made of corn syrup!”

Amber was actually amused by the fun fact, but still is aware of this guy. He has access to this facility, so he must be working for JYP. But why is he here? Amber repeated those questions in her head over and over again.

He chuckled in a charming way before offering a handshake to her, “I’m Lee Gikwang, field agent level 1. And you are...?”

She wasn’t sure, but knowing his identity and job status somehow assured her a bit, “Liu.” She replied shortly, still keeping her first name to herself.

Gikwang smiled as he pleased to finally did a proper introduction with her. “Nice to meet you, mm...Liu. Or should I say, Miss-Liu-that-took-my-training-schedule...”. On the other side, Amber was quite impressed, that a stranger like him noticed her as a girl for the first meet.

He continued, “Anyway, are you enjoying your time with Miss A? They’re one of the elite team here, so it’s normal if you feel pressured keeping up with them..”

Amber curved a confused smile, “If you’re putting it that way, well, yes. But, I’m not a part of them. So, bye now! I need to break these glasses because it’s an order from your pink-haired noona.”

Gikwang chuckled in a funny way, “Aaaah it’s really been a while since I met them the last time.. Send my regards to them, will ya?”

Amber nodded, “Sure.”

He walked out in manner and even waved at her, “Good luck! Oh, and a little tip from me, you can kick or punch through it, instead of bruising yourself all over the place.. Yeah, you’ll get what I mean when you try it.” he smiled, “See you around!”

Amber was still watching as his back disappeared behind the far door. Seriouly, that guy was really something. She sighed and got back to her next glass wall.

She took a deep breath and made a stance. “Ok, here goes a kick...” she lifted her right knee, and took as many oxygen as she could. She built up some strengh, and as she swing her foot to the glass, she yelled her kihap, “HA!!” loud enough to made an echo in that arena. And before she could blink, the glass dramatically broke into pieces in front of her, done by only one powerful kick. Amber was amazed herself and wondered if that Gikwang guy really kill it on the field as an agent.

***

“Yaaah you took longer than I thought!” Jia was laying at that ocean of pillows when Amber entered the workshop. IU wasn’t seen anywhere, and Suzy wasn’t around either. Amber awkwardly leant on the circular table, relieving the stress in her muscles.

“It was more than 50 glasses for God’s sake!” she was annoyed.

The odd Jia stood up and grabbed a laptop under the pillow, “Anyway, this is your next task, “she handed her a sleek red velvet-skinned laptop, “I’m sure you’re now ready to beat these little bugs.”

“Why didn’t you gave me this one from the start...?” Amber grabbed the laptop and without even bother to find a chair, immediately sat on the floor, ready to have some bug-slaying time.

Jia crawled to her side in exitement, “Don’t get all cocky!”

Amber quickly opened the command prompt and searched for the bugs within the system. Her eyes scanned the white codes on that black screen, very familiar with those codings.

“Eh..” she found the first bug, a strange code strangled between the others, trying to interrupt the system. She quickly entered the code stream and tried to fix it. Millions of codes running in her mind and her eyes grew wider when that bug resisted to be erased. Whenever she entered the code, that strange code remained the same, but with more damage every second.

“What is this...” Amber murmured. She glanced over to Jia who’s happily smiling by her side, enjoying every moment of her struggles.

***

“Jinjja? She really asked you like that last night?” Suzy talked before her vanilla ice cream.

“Hmm! She did! I didn’t know what to answer, and I really wish you were there to give her an answer! I was really nervous..” IU also enjoyed her banana ice cream. Both of them are hanging out in the little cafe called, “2AM”. That cafe is also JYP’s idea, for his men to relieve their stress after work. It was dim and quiet, with pop-jazz songs playing in the background.

Suzy sighed tiredly, “The thing is, I don’t even know what’s going on.”

Her sunbae turned fast, “No way, you and your girls have been watching her for almost like, 5 years now..?”

This maknae of miss A tried to recall everything, “It’s still very foggy, even to us. After Prof. Lee Mun Hee passed away, his colleague visited JYP- “

“Uh! Skip that part! I’ve listened to that part so many times!” IU demanded, while trying to finish her ice cream as fast as she could.

“Yah...” Suzy chuckled, seeing her impatient sunbae. “Mmm...let’s stop it here already. This one should be a confidential case you know! I don’t want us to get in trouble if the information’s leaked.”

IU bit her last chunk of cone, “Ophh...Joah.. pph.. anyway..have you received your real mission from JYP?”

Suzy nodded fast, “There’s no real mission. This IS the real mission...”

 IU’s waiting for her next sentence, and the girl in front of her continued, “He really wants me to be her bodyguard, along with Jia eonnie. No spesific order, nothing but to guard her. Should I be thankful or not?”

IU chuckled, almost laughed at her to be exact, “Oh! You should be, Suzy-ah! You girls have been so restless these past few years!”

The black-haired girl smiled flatly, “Mmm. I wish Min and Fei eonnie are enjoying their mission too..”

***

Heechul was already in his best suit, with his small leathered luggage on his hand. The long tunnel to their basement seemed a bit colder that morning, and that made his walk through this tunnel seemed endless. He could imagine the freezing seat of the motorbike once he put his on it.

He just arrived on the garage, where the mini chopper and those bikes are parked, when suddenly a noise from the intercom broke through the air.

“Heechul-oppa, is there anything else you need? Just want to make sure.”

Fei’s voice. The guy walked to that intercom on the wall and replied, “I have all I need in this puffy bag, thankyou Fei !”

“Wait, Min want to talk to you.”

There’s a slight noise there before finally Min’s voice was heard, “It’s Min.”

Heechul’s patiently waiting on the intercom, even though he knew what she was going to say.

“Oppa, please find him...”

Min sounded like she was struggling to keep her voice calm. But it turned out weak, it sounded like she was holding back a cry.

“He’s still out there somewhere, trust me! That guy is not stupid enough to die so easily.” he said, trying to reassure her, though it’s almost useless. He knew Min and Hongki has been in a relationship for the past few years, and this situation must be torturing her.

Another noise appeared on the intercom, and Heechul knew that Fei is on the line now.  “Safe flight, okay?”

“Don’t worry about me, you should be more worried about the mission.” he scoffed, “Here’s a little tips for you girls:Don’t find Max. Don’t waste your time.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t miss my flight! Gotta get going now, girls. Oppa will miss you!” he smirked as he walked away from the intercom and climbed on one of the identical motorbikes. He pulled out the strap of his mini luggage and wore it on his back, putting on his favorite shades and started the engine.

Good luck, girls.You need it.

***

Jia pointed at the strange code on the screen and smirked, “This bug, is just the same as the glass wall. I thought you would understand it right away! Ah, how disappointing...”

A ray of light through Amber’s mind, as she was trying to understand the whole concept of Jia’s training. “Continuous attack...” she mumbled to herself, as she began to destroy the bug for the hundred times.

“I only gave you 72 glasses to break, and you knew that when you broke the last glass, the training is over. Because that’s the objective, right?” Jia crawled back to the ocean of pillows, making herself a cozy nest to lay on.

Amber sniffed hard, slowly began to see the point of it all. She recalled each time she broke the glass wall, there was always a new one waiting for her ahead. Unless she beat them all until the last piece of wall, the glass would still be standing there, in that arena...

“So...if I can tell where this is going to end, where the core point of this bug is, I can perform the proper procedure to eliminate all of them..” Amber summed it up a bit.

Jia smiled wider, “You got it! But, it’s not them. It’s just ONE. And you only need to get to know ONE, before completely understand its various habits.”

Amber started to get excited, “Because uncalculated actions can trigger more damage!”

“Uhum, you should keep that in mind all the time.”

Amber threw her a surprised glance, “Wait, isn’t this just one of the basics..?”

“If you can’t even handle the basics, you will never get better~” Jia said with her laid back tone, while laying around like a lazy monkey on those pillows. She has always been playful, but Amber didn’t know she could be quite cool.

She quickly jammed her fingers back on the keyboard, fully concentrated, trying every possibilities, setting her vision 4 to 5 steps ahead until she finally found the core. And surprisingly, Gikwang’s words appeared to be true. Instead of using her whole body, she could use only a kick or a punch. There’s always another way to solve a problem, and so she played with every code combinations possible, and  finally in less than 5 minutes, she successfully eliminated the chain of bugs in the system, and not long after, even fixed the damages. Jia clapped her hands proudly, acting like she just watched an amazing idol concert.

“Whoaa... that was pretty awesome! It feels great!” Amber closed the laptop in excitement.

“Yeah, but that was just a warm-up. I have something way more challenging than that.” Jia smirked jokingly.

“Jinjjayo. Can you give me a break? Like, pleaaase?” Amber pleaded cutely, but failed as seen on Jia’s odd twitch. Amber’s not really a cute type, really. She quickly changed the topic, “By the way, someone sent his regards to you...”

Jia immediately got excited,“Eh? Who is it? If it’s only Suzy, I’ll kill you for sure.”

“It’s Lee Gikwang, field agent level 1. He said you guys haven’t met each other in a while, or something.” Amber moved to the pillows and curled there, resting herself.

Jia laughed, “Ooooh it’s him! Hahahahahah... I bet he was pissed that I moved his schedule to use that arena, hahahahahaha...” her laughs sounded rather evil.

Amber yawned, “You shouldn’t do that, it annoys people.” she paused for a while, thinking of something, “Wait, if he’s an agent, why is he here? Isn’t this a research facility?”

Still left in a little laughter, Jia replied, “Ahaha...haaah...well, if he’s here, he must be having something to be taken care of. Agents often visit this lab to do a research on their case, if it’s needed. But most of the professionals here are geeks. IT geeks to watch over the cyber traffic, or gadgeteers, like IU for example.”

“Hmm...” was all Amber could respond with. This place is no joke, she thought. For JYP to let her stay here, it must be more than just security reasons. If asking for informations doesn’t work, then soon she’s going to find it herself. She’s in a house full of years of valuable reports and the best IT people she could imagine. Informations are...

Something bothered Amber all of a sudden. A thought that she keeps in mind every single night, but also the one she always forgets.

“That night, when Max visited me at the hospital, he told me something, “ she started, and Jia turned to her right away when the name Max was mentioned, “..he told me that you guys are a professional hacker, doing some sort of illegal information trading or sort. But now that I know that you’re a part of an intelligence agency, so...” she paused to check Jia’s expression so far, but that girl didn’t even blink, just like a funny owl, listening to her patiently. Amber continued carefully, “...could it be that Max is....”

Jia finally blinked. Then she shook her head. “That thought did crossed our minds, but no. He’s not an information trader. We knew that he applied for the detective position, merely to get closer to Key’s father. But he’s not stealing and selling informations according to our observations so far. Stealing and selling, wasn’t that your job? Kekekeke...”

“Yah! Anyway, do you have any idea why he brought me to Paris..?”

“That’s strange, when we thought Max would probably have told you along the flight there.” Jia blinked back to her, “We’re not sure either, but all we need to anticipate is his partner, Jung Yunho. Our best prediction, he wanted to introduce you to Jung Yunho. But that’s just a prediction, since we couldn’t crack into his phone and all. He’s quite good in erasing traces.”

“Wait, what? Partner? What partner? He didn’t tell me he had a partner!” Amber quickly responded, while her mind was trying to recognize Jung Yunho. His name was a complete stranger to her, and to think that a shyboy like Shin can have a partner now, pretty much blown her away.

Jia leant closer to her, “He didn’t tell you that either? I thought you were childhood best friends! There shouldn’t be any secret kept between friends, should it?”

“You know?!” Amber almost jumped.

Jia caught the surprised look in her eyes and so she scoffed, “Ofcourse. Shin Changmin, Max. We know about you and him.”

That put Amber on a really straight sitting position. “What else you haven’t found out about my world?”

Jia raised a shoulder, “Nah, we still have tons of things we don’t know about you..”

***

This is a repost of Chapter 31, which upset me a bit when I realized that this chapter was corrupted due to the error of this website.

But no worries, after this, the next chapters will be posted regularly, and hopefully with no more errors like this.

Thanks for your love guys! I hope your stories and other subscriptions are okay!