“D-Dad.” Zero sobbed with her head in her hands including the letter. Just before he died, he handed her a key that led to a locker. Inside, it had a dusty letter including an old photo of them together. The tears wouldn't stop flowing from her eyes. Her heart felt like it was about to burst from repeating all the information she knew. She looked at her wall where she had her dad's photo attached. “Why did you have to go now?”

Jisuk quietly walked towards her room after letting himself in. Each step he took he felt uneasy with hearing her cry. The moment he found the girl sitting on her bed crying, his heart sank. He had only found out about Younggyu's passing a few hours ago. He stood by the door, waiting for her to acknowledge him, but she didn't care. She merely looked at him through her teary eyes. Normally, she wouldn't want to let anyone see her break down, but there was nothing left holding her back. Younggyu, what should I do now? He sighed and blinked his tears away. “Zero...”

“I was so close.” Her voice shook as she tried to breathe in calmly. She paused, bit her lip and covered her face. “I was so close.”

He walked in and glanced at her wall. It broke his heart knowing that the father and daughter reunion he wished happened was cut so short. It took one gun shot to take the reunion away. “Younggyu was a good man. He was a great friend of mine.” He kept his eyes on the ground, “After he left you, he came to me asking to look for you and raise you like my own daughter. I may not have done a great job, but I would like to say I tried my best.” He chuckled and looked at the photo. “Do you want to know what kind of a man your dad was?” He asked, but she only kept crying. He knew those are the tears she suppressed after all these years. Her eyes showed all the pain she had seen during that quick second. If he could turn back time, he would of wanted for her to live a happier life. Who would of thought that her first meeting with her dad would be her last. “Stop crying and listen well... He was a man respected by a lot of people. He was the best out of the police force and was desired by many departments. Although at one point, there was rumours drifting around of him being promoted soon, however he was fired before the rumours were confirmed. He wanted to accomplish a task that he had been looking over for many years. He wanted to protect the women and children that were being human trafficked to become slaves and es. An admirable man like him chose to be an undercover. That night ... He was on his way to stop a trade with a few other backups, but a murder had happened. I'm sure you recall some of it by now. The trade was taken care of, but the homicide still had ongoing investigations. That is why he decided to not return to the police force. I don't know all the details, but your dad was trying to protect someone.” He placed her hand on her head, “Now, you've been strong all these years. All these years by yourself. Continue to be strong for him, understand? No matter how tough it will be.”

~-~

Doojoon, Inspector Choi and Minhyun crowded around Chief Lee's desk. The four of them only stared at the file that was on the middle of his desk. The beige color had become faint from being stuffed in a box for more than a decade. The word 'CONFIDENTIAL' in red stamped on the centre of it.

“This is...” Minhyun placed his hand on the file. He looked at Inspector Choi and Doojoon's expressions before turning to the Chief's.

“Zero's father.” Chief Lee sighed and rubbed his eyes. Minhyun placed his hand under the first flap to flip it over, but Doojoon stopped him.

“We shouldn't be looking at the file without Zero's consent.” Inspector Choi took the words out of Doojoon's mouth. He pushed their hands off the file and glanced at where Zero would normally be in the office. “How is that girl doing?”


“Not sure. I don't have words to describe how much I pity her.” Minhyun frowned and leaned against the desk, “Chief, you said your dad went to check on her, right?”


“Y-Yeah.” Chief Lee mumbled with his eyes on his phone, awaiting a phone call, “He should be there right now.”

“What should we do?” Inspector Choi asked, “The leaders escaped with one dead and with the gun fire, no one knows who killed Lee Younggyu. The person with him at the time of his death was Zero and most likely, she has no idea.”

“Do you think she's going to come by tonight?” Minhyun asked. “It's Saturday. She usually comes here at this time to get a job from you. Then again, this time she might be here for other reasons...”

“I highly doubt that she will.” Inspector Choi shook his head. He glanced over at Doojoon who kept quiet the entire time. He wanted to ask Doojoon about Zero, but he chose not to. He rather have the youngsters figure out what to do next.

~-~

“Those recurring visions and dreams you had.... You're not a murderer, Zero. You didn't kill anyone. Your early childhood trauma must of made you believe that the person in your dream was really you.” Jisuk said. “You're innocent.”

Zero walked down the streets of Itaewon with her thoughts clouded with blood lust.  Her breathing was heavy and her body ached to hurt anyone that would stand in her way. All she had in mind was to distract herself and finish a job that her client had hired her for. The music playing from the clubs on both sides of the street battled each other for which played better sounds. From the corner of her eye, she saw a man in his late thirties walking out of the club on the right side of the street. He was visibly intoxicated and swayed each step he took. His tie was loose around his neck and one side of his shirt was pulled out from being tucked in his pants. He swung his jacket over his shoulder and leaned against a parked car for support. His colleagues and juniors came later and urged him for a third round, but he only waved them off.

He told them to, “Go home and sleep tight.” as he pushed them away. The juniors that were aware of the situation was concerned about how drunk he was, but they couldn't do anything about his stubborn behaviour. They even insisted to take him home even if it was out of their way. “No! Just go home. I'll be fine. See you tomorrow.”

Bad idea. Zero stared them down. The group separated from the man as he continued to stumble down the street. He stopped frequently to empty his stomach from all the poison he took. She just had to wait for him to go down another block where there were less people around. Whenever the man turned around ever so often, she hid behind trees and corners of buildings to keep her presence hidden until she decided it was right to come out. She watched him stumble into the wall of a closed store and then, around the corner. She heard him sigh loudly followed by the trickling sound of water. She squeezed her gloves and pulled out the rope that was in her bag. The rope had loops at each end that were substitutes for handcuffs. She approached him quietly and waited for him to finish his business. He pulled up his pants seconds later which made her act. She shoved him against the wall by holding his neck.

“Don't...move.” She said and he had his hands pressed flat on the wall.

“W-Who are you?” He asked, but she only looped his wrists with each end of the rope. She tighten the rope behind him and turned him around. Once he saw her mask, his body shook in fear. He screamed for a good second until she covered his mouth.

“It'll be quick.” She said and choked him. He gagged and made all sorts of noise in front of her. Although she could feel the life in him leave every second she held on, she didn't feel the need to stop. It was as if she wasn't even there. The real Zero that would never kill people and instead, protected them... She wasn't here. She was shrouded in complete darkness.

“HEY!” Someone shouted and tackled her down. The man fell to the ground unconscious as she fought another being. They wrestled on the ground for a good couple seconds. How the attacker lacked full strength made her question why.

“Zero stop!” She heard a familiar voice to the side. She ignored it and pinned the person against the wall with her hand around their throat. “ZERO! It's me! Minhyun!”

“Minhyun?” She whispered and slowly turned her head. Her distant eyes locked on Minhyun who was in distress. He had his arms around the man checking his vital signs.

“Z-Zero.” Doojoon coughed and grabbed her wrist. She looked his way to see that he was turning white. She released her grip on him and he slid to the ground gasping for air. His once neat suit was wrinkled and stained with mud. “Is...he...okay?”

“I can't tell.” Minhyun said, “We have to take him to the hospital – Zero?” He looked around. “ZERO?”

Doojoon looked to where she stood seconds ago to see the empty space. “Where did she go?” He croaked. “Aish.”