Inspector Choi felt the hairs on his arms tingle and rise. He immediately looked over at the two youngsters at their desks and decided to say something to fill the silence. “Am I the only one that feels the chills in this office?” He shivered, “I have a bad feeling about today.”

A loud crashing sound came from Chief Lee's office and made everyone turn their heads towards the room. The blinds were down which concealed what happened inside, but the next sound wasn't pleasant.

“You spoke too soon.” Minhyun mumbled and like everyone else, listened to Zero's shouting.

“What do you mean by that?! Why am I off the case?” She gripped the pencil in hand. She was standing in front of Chief Lee's desk and a moment ago, swiped all his things off his desk. “You already paid me.” She tried to keep her cool, but it seemed impossible to do so in her state. “You can't take me off. Last meeting you said having me there would be an asset. It's going to be a trade with three leaders. Can you imagine how many men will be around to protect those, geezers? How will you manage it, Dongwook?”


“Like I said before, it'll endanger you and our undercover if it doesn't go well.”


“Do you hear what you're saying?!” She shouted. “I can go and protect them or get them out! Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. I don't understand why you're taking me off.”

“It's for the best.” He said. He wanted to reason with her, but she already grabbed him by the shirt. She couldn't be stopped with how she's acting now.

“You're pissing me off, Dongwook. I never lose my cool.” She blinked the angry tears in hre eyes. “Take back your orders.”


He looked her straight in the eyes with pity. “No. I can't let you do it.” She let him go hastifully and released the broken pencil she had. She squeezed her palm together to hide the fact that it had pierced her skin and made it bleed.

“Fine. Do what you want.”

-~-

Later that night, Zero went back to her hunt for underlings. The rain drizzled down quickly as if it were a race between droplets and stopped once an awhile. She found two important targets that are said to know a lot of information regarding gang meetings. Her chase began with one fleeing while one she was hot on his trail. She walked down the wet narrow alley for ten minutes. Her body was soaked from the rain and her fingers were numbing from the cold. She grasped the metal rod tighter in case she had a slacked grip and didn't realized it. She let the tip drag against the cement to taunt her target. She knew if the man continued to run down it would be a dead end.

“Please, what do you want? Let me live.” The stout man backed into the wall as she approached.The street light above them flickered on and off.  He was taller than she expected up close, but she knew she already had him cowering in fear. The rain made it even more terrifying for him.

“Let you live...” She smirked underneath her mask. She lashed out the rod near his face and he backed into the corner.

“I'll tell you anything truthfully. I promise.” He held out his hands to plead.

She held the rod pointing to the wall by his head. “The meeting for the trade. Tell me everything you know.”

“T-That's easy.” He swallowed hard. He forced himself to ignore the rod and stared at the bill of her hat. “I'll tell you.”

“Hey!” A voice shouted nearby. It shocked Zero to hear the familiar voice shout in their direction. She slowly turned and her target took the chance to make a run for it while she was distracted. She was just about to chase after him, but she was forcefully spun around. Dongwook stood there holding his black umbrella. It looked like he had just come out of the office. The umbrella happened to cover his upper body so out of instinct, she fought with him. She struggled to shake him off while he struggled to keep her still. Their push and pull ended when she knocked his umbrella out of his hand.

“What are you doing?” She shouted at him and slapped his hand away.

“I should be asking that.” He shouted back. He was visibly furious at her. “Why are you still looking for those people? I told you to stop it, didn't I? You're suppose to be someone that protects and helps people. Lately, you're just targeting random people. You can't do that.” He blinked away the raindrops washing down his face. The rain got louder as they stood under it.

“I can do whatever I want. You can't stop me.” She gritted her teeth. “What if I'm tired of acting like that? I didn't take up Zero to help people. It just turned out that way by rumours. I'm a selfish person. At any time, I can turn out like these scumbags on the streets, Dongwook. I'm just holding back.”

“We didn't raise you up to be like this!” He shook her, but once again she pushed him away.

“I didn't ask for your dad to raise me! He should of just left me on my own! I would of been better off!” She screamed over the heavy rain. Without thinking, Dongwook lashed out and slapped her across the face. If the rain had stopped, the sound of the contact would of echoed all around. Her sunglasses fell to the ground and one of the lenses popped out.

He regretted the moment he had hit her and the tingling sensation from the slap made it even worse. He ignored the feeling because he knew he had to get through to her somehow.“No, you won't be better off. If it wasn't for him, you would be dead. Even if you managed to live by yourself, who knows what you could of done to stay alive.” He brushed his bangs away from sticking to his forehead. “For now, let's just head home, okay?” He held out his hand. She stared at it for a good second. She didn't hesitate if she should take it or not. Instead, she slowly took a few steps back before turning to run away. He wanted to call after her, but she got away far enough that he couldn't do so. Yeonwoo, stop this before it's too late.