Luhan opened his eyes to bright sunlight streaming into the room, a myriad of rainbows and light playing on the floor. He looked around at his unfamiliar surroundings and recognized the furnishings of Hao Yi’s apartment. He sat up and looked around, realizing he was alone. Hao Yi would probably be at work at this time. He sighed and stood. Might as well get to work, he thought to himself.

He checked in Yixing’s apartment and smiled when he noticed it empty as well.

“Hao Yi must have dragged him out of here. Good,” he said with a sad smile. He made his way to the elevator and solidified his finger to press the down button. Whistling, he stepped aside as the doors opened and a mother and her daughter stepped on.

The ride down was quaint until he noticed the little girl looking in his general direction. He bent down to look her in the eyes, a question on his lips.

“Can you see me?”

She waved a hand over him, passing through his head. She then looked at her hand, up to her mother, and back towards Luhan with a frown on her face.

Luhan sighed and stood up, huffing with frustration as the doors to the elevator opened up to the lobby. He stepped out and through the front doors into the bright Seoul sunlight.

“Good to see you again, sleeping beauty,” he heard a deep voice call. He looked over and noticed Kris sitting in the grass, letting the sunlight hit his face. Luhan walked over and took a seat next to the angel.

“I thought you’d be long gone by now,” Luhan said after he had settled down.

Kris peered at the Chinese man and closed his eyes. “Thought I’d check up on you and see how things were going. You found your human?”

Luhan nodded, and the two fell into a silence.

“Kris, can some people outside of our missions see us?”

Kris sat up and sighed. “No one can really, truly see us. Sure, some sensitive people may be able to sense us around, but they can’t see or hear us. Children, especially, and animals.”

Luhan nodded, deep in thought. “So, I’m alone, then.”

Kris chuckled and laid a hand on his back, patting him softly. “For now. But you’re one step closer to figuring this out. And I’ll be around when I can be for support. And I can promise you that the endgame is worth it.”

Luhan smiled and nodded, standing up. “Well then, looks like I’ve got some work to do. I’ll see you around.”

Kris nodded and laid back, closing his eyes again. “See you, Luhan.”

Luhan walked down the street, watching the busy streets around him, not bothering to maneuver around the humans passing by and through him. He kept his pace as he entered downtown Seoul, one thing on his mind.

He stopped and looked up once he reached the building he had been searching for. Seoul police Department. The tall characters looked daunting, hanging high above him. He took a deep breath and started up the stairs. He walked into the air-conditioned building and looked around at the moving bodies.

He sighed and started down a random hallway, looking for the evidence room. The building was a lot bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. With too many rooms, hallways, and bustling people, it wasn’t long before Luhan found himself lost.

As he began to turn another corner that he was sure he’d been down already, his ears picked up a quiet conversation in a conference room.

“-these Chinese cases. There’s unrest in the city, and people are scared.”

“Then how did the news that it was a possible hate crime get out? Who leaked the evidence?”

“I’m not sure, sir. Our analytics department is looking into it as we speak.”

Luhan walked into the room, staring curiously at the two Korean men.

“And what about the car crash case? Does the press know about the cut brakes yet?”

The other man nodded. “Press got ahold of the information and leaked it. We stopped them from writing anymore articles for the time being, but the damage has been done.”

The older man sighed and sat in a nearby chair. “I want only essentials on these cases. This is a need to know basis. If word gets out that there’s an anti-Chinese racist group out there, this city will go to turmoil.”

The younger man nodded and headed out the door.

Luhan fumed as he tried to wrap his brain around the new information. He quickly followed the younger officer that had left, ad caught up with him down the hallway. He followed him to an office with three other officers who were poring over case folders and papers. Multiple articles and mugshots were pinned to a cork board, with red pins placed around a map of the Seoul metroplex area. Luhan walked closer as he observed the pins. One caught his eye, placed off of a freeway in the suburb area, with a picture of a mangled car and Luhan’s dead body right next to it.

Luhan backed away, tears in his eyes, a hand covering his gaping mouth. He fell to his knees as the officers rushed around and through him.

After a few moments to gather himself, he stood and walked over to the first case file opened to the report page. His eyes wandered over the Korean words, a majority of them unfamiliar to him. A few words stood out to him, namely “hate crimes.”

He looked up when the lights went dark and noticed that he was left alone in the room. He glanced at the clock on the wall, and finally realized how late it was. He had been reading case file after case file for hours, and his head was feeling so jumbled with all of this information.

He got up and slowly trudged out of the building, making his way through the dark streets.

He didn’t know where he was going, but he felt like his world was collapsing around him. His feet pulled him to a stop, and he looked up to see the café. Looking inside, he saw Hao Yi talking animatedly to Yixing, who was laughing at something she was saying behind the counter.

Luhan watched on as he saw his best friend the happiest he had been since his death, and he couldn’t help but smile sadly.

Hao Yi looked up and caught his eye through the wind, halting her actions and looking at him questioningly. Luhan nodded his head to the side, indicating that they needed to talk, away from Yixing.

Hao Yi nodded and turned back to Yixing.

“Excuse me for a second, I think I saw something outside. Cover me for a second?”

Yixing nodded and watched her go as he grabbed a towel and started wiping down the countertop.

Hao Yi quickly scurried out of the building and looked around, seeing Luhan disappear around the corner and into the alley. She quickly followed and stopped in front of him.

“Luhan, you’re here,” she said with a smile, but it dropped when she saw Luhan’s dark face. “Luhan? What’s wrong?”

He huffed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“We need to talk. Tonight, once you get off. Alone.”

Hao Yi looked at him worriedly. “Is it serious?”

Luhan glanced at her and nodded. Hao Yi felt her blood run cold as she nodded and away, putting on a fake smile as she went inside to finish out the rest of her shift.