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I assume you don't want to read another long A/N, so I'll go straight into the story. Thank you, and enjoy!
-Teri
Chapter 1
Hyperial Tower
Apartment 1429
January 31st, 2017
10:21 AM KST
Zen: Wtf. How did it get in here?
Art: She*
Art took a closer look at his profile picture as well. His hair was white (There's no way that's natural, she thought), and his eyes were bright red (That's not natural too), reminding her of a demon. However, she had to admit that he was pretty hot, and his smile made her freeze and smile too. He seemed very familiar too; she saw him on television somewhere back at home. Was he the musical actor? Maybe.
Realizing she was still standing in front of the door, she picked up her bag again and walked down the hallway.
She was opening all of the doors and wiping her hands on her clothing afterwards. Everything was covered in dust. She would need to clean this place later. She eventually found a living room, which looked nice, and saw down on the dusty blue couch. She took her shoes off and stood there, her white socks collecting dust from the green carpet.
Jumin Han: Pronouns are not important at this time. Who are you? Reveal yourself.
Jumin Han: Hey, Assistant Kang.
He was very formal, or at least, he was formal until the last text he sent. She took a look at his photo too. He had black hair and black eyes, and strangely, his face looked very emotionless. His head was tilted too, which was a weird touch in her opinion, but that didn't matter at this point. He was wearing a suit too...
He's probably rich. But his name is familiar... What rich guy is named "Jumin Han"?
She sat there, expecting another person to jump in. After all, he did call for his assistant, she assumed, and there was one more person who didn't speak yet - Jaehee Kang. She tilted her head too, similar to Jumin's profile, before realizing.
He's the CR International guy. No wonder he has an assistant and wears fancy suits.
Jaehee Kang: Yes, I am here.
Formal.
Her hair was brown, slightly lighter than Art's hair, however, and her eyes were a similar shade compared to her hair. Her hair was cut short, and she was wearing glasses. Jumin's last text told her that Jaehee was his assistant, and it was clear by the profile, too - she was wearing formal black clothing, but unlike Jumin, her head was perfectly straight and she had a small smile.
Jumin Han: Who is it?
Yoosung: Find out what it is!
Jaehee Kang: How did you find out about this place? Where did you download the application?
707: Oh...; Wait.
707: I just found something. This is weird.
Zen: What is it. Hurry and tell me.
707: I traced the IP...
707: It's from Rika's apartment.
Yoosung: Rika's apartment?
Rika? Who was Rika? She assumed the owner of this dusty apartment used to be called Rika, and maybe she left or disappeared or died or something? She wasn't so sure. She sat there, and took off her backpack. She reached into the bag, and before pulling out her laptop, she looked around for any cameras. There were none. She pulled out her laptop, prepared to find Luciel's address.
707: Anyways, someone must have broken into her apt.
Art felt the blood rush into her cheeks. That was partially true. She needed to type a response before they called the cops.
707: It talked just now, so it must be a person ;
Art: I am a person. I can explain how I'm here if you wish.
She turned on her laptop, waiting for a response.
Yoosung: So it hacked the program, Seven?
707: Yup.
It seems like they were ignoring her text. She sighed and continued reading while she started tracking down Luciel.
Yoosung: Who are you?! How did you get into Rika's apartment?!
Yoosung: How did you get this app?!
Yoosung: Gah~ So scared right now...
Yoosung: I thought the apartment has a passworth lobk?
Zen: Typo.
I was going to explain, but you decided to ignore my message.
Jaehee Kang: I assume it was a break in.
I said, I was going to explain why I'm here.
The program on her laptop was starting up, filling her perfectly plain, black laptop with green lines of code and a map on the side. She was on her own at this point. She could either play it out until she somehow found her address or try to hack to find it. The second option was risky, since it would be advanced, best hacker against her, the beginner hacker that couldn't do anything.
She shut down her laptop. She would try to get his address out of him, or try to get him to come here. The hacking option was dangerous and would blow her cover immediately. Either way, she wanted to focus on trying to get these idiots to start doing this magical thing called reading.
Art: I said I would explain why I'm here. I'll explain, and then you explain what the hell is going on.
Art: Also maybe who you are. I don't know anything about you guys.
She began to count the number of seconds that were passing. One... two... three...
She counted up to fifteen before realizing that the chat room was dead silent. They were all waiting, probably.
Art: This app was automatically installed on this phone, although I have not touched the app store these past few days. I opened the app, only to see lines of code before being connected to this person called "Unknown."
Zen: Who is Unknown?
Jumin Han: Unknown...
707: A hacker..?!
707: No way! I have everything covered!
Art: I'm a current transfer student here. My roommate was using the entire dorm for her and her boyfriend for the entire night, so I began looking for a place to stay. This "Unknown" guy told me to come here if I wanted somewhere to sleep and told me the password.
Yoosung: So scary;;
Jaehee Kang: It seems as if this "Unknown" person was following you.
Art: I suspected that as well. I don't know if he still is.
707: I checked the CCTV outside of the apartment. Nobody's following.
Are there cameras everywhere?
She walked out of the living room and only saw two in the hallway. She opened every door to check for cameras, but there only seemed to be two in this entire apartment. She sighed. She could change and sleep without the fear of someone watching over her.
707: Oh!
707: I just looked up the owner of this device. Shes cute lol
707: Did you dye your hair? Your hair color is different
Lies. I've never taken a photo of my face. And my hair color is "different"? Might as well go with it.
Also, is he looking at me through the camera? She looked up at the nearby camera before returning her attention to her phone.
Art: You looked up photos of me?!
Art: And yes, I did.
707: Yeah lol
Yoosung: You did a background check on her? So Art's definitely a girl?
Wait, he probably tracked one of the fake accounts connected to me... That would explain a lot.
She looked up at one of the photographs in the hallway. It was a photo of a very pretty landscape - with green hills and one tall mountain, covered in snow, right in the middle of the photo. The sky was a light blue, and it seemed that whoever took this photo took it at sunset or sunrise, since the sun seemed to be right behind the mountain, illuminating it.
She snapped a photo of it. It was the first time she used the camera app on her phone, but she wanted to save this photo.
707: You like that photo?
Art read the text and stared at it.
Art: You're looking at me through the camera? Still?
No response.
Art: But yeah, I am a girl.
Zen: Oh! A girl!
Jumin Han: What? It's really a girl?
707: Ya.
Jaehee Kang: We should tell V about this situation.
Jumin Han: Yes.
Jumin Han: I hope V comes and takes care of all this.
That was a sudden change in topic. She went back into the living room and sat back on the couch. But who's V?
Zen: V's too busy these days to come chat... We'll get to talk to him because of this~
Yoosung: We're all busy. I don't like that V's the only one not coming.
Zen: Well... that's true...
Jaehee Kang: V should know that Art is here so let's just wait.
Jaehee Kang: Seven, are you calling him?
707: Ya.
Another person is about to get involved.
She was supposed to limit it to two people who knew that she was here. Now, probably about seven people knew that she was here. She was using this messenger app to find Luciel's address, but by using this app, she dragged more people into this. Unfortunate.
Yoosung: But shouldn't we tell Art what this chat room is for first?
Yoosung: She has to know how serious it is that she's here!
Jumin Han: What's more serious is that she's in Rika's apartment.
Yoosung: That's true...
Jaehee Kang: I am always ready to call the police.
No, don't get more people involved... don't let anyone else know I'm here! I have to be ready to intercept that call somehow...
She turned on her laptop again.
Actually, I don't know how to intercept calls.
Laptop off.
Yoosung: Jaehee's scary T_T
Jumin Han: Until we figure out who Art is
Jumin Han: I don't want to reveal anything.
Jaehee Kang: I agree.
Those two were awfully similar in the way they texted, and also their thought process. It was strange.
Maybe they're a couple?
707: she'sstillcutelol
707: sorry callingandtypingwithonehand
Yoosung Type after you finish the call.
They're back to looking at my fake photos.
The chat was silent after that text. It wasn't silent for long, however, but it did give enough time for Art to realize that there were photographs everywhere, and they were all stunning. She liked the mountain one the best, but there was a photograph of flowers and scenery.
One photo did catch her eye - it was a fairly simple photo of the sunset, but underneath it, there was a little bit of text.
밝게 빛나는 태양처럼 언제나 나는 여기에.
I'm always here like the sun in the sky.
Her phone vibrated again. She took a look at it, and the chat room was back alive.
Zen: Show me a photo
707: nope~
707: How dare you try to violate someone's privacy like that.
I guess he finished his call. I wish I could trace calls to see where they're from, because then I would have found his address already.
Unfortunate.
A photo suddenly appeared on her screen, from 707. The first thing she realized was that the photo was not her.
It was a photo of a woman exiting a car. She had sunglasses on and a book in her hand, and was wearing a very formal suit. Her hair was brown and it was cut short...
It was Jaehee.
Jumin Han: ?
Zen: Is that Art?
Yoosung: omg I thought it was her privacy?
Jaehee Kang: ;;;;;;;
Art: That's Jaehee.
Jaehee Kang: Thank you, Art.
Yoosung: Oh right! Sorry I was too excited;;;
Zen: So... sorry for not recognizing you;;
Jaehee Kang: Mr. Han, you can't recognize me either?
707: Lol. Can't believe he doesn't even recognize his own assistant.
Jumin Han: ...
Jumin Han: Now what are we going to do?
Art was laughing. Nobody could recognize poor Jaehee, and Jumin was trying to even change the topic. She was starting to feel bad for Jaehee, although she did threaten to call the police on her.
V has entered the chatroom.
707: Oh, V! You're here _
Zen: Finally he's here.
V: Yeah. I guess I'm the last one to know about this.
Jumin Han: Oh well.
V: How is everyone? Jaehee, you've been well?
Jaehee Kang: Yes. It's been a long time V.
She sat there, continuing to read the conversation. It seemed as if V was fairly close with all of the members, and was a kind person who cared about all of the members. Was he the leader, or were all of them equal, or was someone else the leader? She wasn't sure. She admired how he cared and treated the situation so calmly.
He respected Rika's privacy. That she admired a lot. She continued to read the messages as they came in, not wanting to say anything.
V: I repeat, since the information must be protected, please do not attempt to find the apartment.
V: Do not ask Art about it, and Art, please do not reveal the address.
Classified information...
Eric warned her that curiosity killed the cat, and he also always said that she shouldn't stick her nose in other people's business. It was hard for her not to. After all, she loved information and memorization.
Art: What's classified information? What should I not touch?
V: All the information there is classified.
That's a lot of classified information.
V: So Art... is that what I call you?
V: Please do not touch anything there.
Unfortunately.
V: For example, if you try to force open one of the drawers...
V: The alarm will ring.
Okay, so let's not touch the drawers.
She walked into the bedroom and took a look at the workspace in the room. There were lockers, a safe, and two drawers near the bed that she promised herself she wouldn't touch, and then more drawers near the computer in the corner of the room. The computer was sitting on a glass desk, and the orange rolling chair was right next to it, waiting for someone to sit on it once again.
Art glanced over to see the bed. The sheets were white, and the headboard was blue and white. The pillows were white and fluffy as well. Unfortunately, the bed was also covered in dust, making the sheets more grey than white.
She realized that her phone was constantly ringing in the past few minutes. Opening her phone, she saw that they were all talking about what Art needed to do. Something about a party and guests?
Oh no, no, no... I'm going to leave in a few days anyways, I don't know why I'm being asked to do this.
Jaehee Kang: RFA is an organization that Rika created so that anyone can freely make donations, regardless of class or nationality.
Jaehee Kang: At the time, she hosted quite large parties once every two years, and they were quite successful.
Jaehee Kang: This chatroom was used to discuss plans for the party.
707: I created this chatroom lol.
Yoosung: Everyone knows that already...
At that point, Art stopped actually reading the conversation and started to scan it. Something about parties, Rika's death, members, funds, donations, doing good for the people... She was too busy thinking about how she would pull this off in four days. February 3rd in Seoul would be her last day to eliminate him. February 4th would be her flight back home.
She shook her head and started to read the conversation again.
Zen: If you join the organization, we'll be able to talk more. Not everyday we meet a pretty girl.
707: Uhm, how do you know she's pretty? I didn't even send the photo.
Zen: Send the photo.
707: No.
Zen: Damn.
Jumin Han: Men will be men.
Zen: And you're not a man?
707: Heard somewhere Jumin's gay.
V wasn't talking. Did he leave at some point? Probably.
Jumin Han being gay? That seemed unlikely. But considering how Luciel was a hacker (a pretty good hacker too), it might be possible that he somehow dug the information up from multiple sources.
Zen: Omg...
Zen: Go away. You scare me.
Jumin Han: Not even worth responding to that.
Yoosung: But Zen, you have really low standards. You still care for looks?
Jaehee Kang: Famous people must not act this way.
Zen: Gosh~ I'm not famous~
Art: Zen, I'm pretty sure you are. Don't try to deny it.
Zen: I'm not~
Jumin Han: Everyone stop chatting around.
Jumin Han: I was talking?
Jaehee Kang: I apologize.
Jumin Han: Art, will you join RFA?
Art held the phone in both hands, counting the seconds in her head again. Ten seconds passed and nobody was responding to his question. They were all waiting for her.
She wanted to deny, since either way, she would be leaving soon anyways, and it seemed that the longer she was here, the more dangerous it would be for her and the others too. However, agreeing would mean that she would try to eliminate Luciel by becoming closer with him.
Her fingers began to slide across the keyboard.
Art: Of course.
Art: I'll do my best. I promise.
Agency of New York Headquarters
Room 662 - Office of Eric Young
January 30th, 2017
8:24 PM EST
Eric was in his office, wearing a different shirt this time, his desk cleaned off other than that one coffee cup, filled to the brim with coffee. The lights were off, and the only source of light was the computer screen, which displayed a map. Dark roast with little cream and no sugar. Steaming hot. His favorite. His eyes were a lot more bloodshot than usual, which the agents didn't know how that was possible, but then again, Eric was an impossible person.
He didn't run very often, but he was the fastest runner in the agency. A mile in three minutes and fourty-two seconds.
He used to be similar to 144 - fast, and not strong, but with good aim. Now, he was still fast (hell, probably even faster than before), even weaker than before, and with mediocre aim. He went downhill as soon as he became a boss, which was almost a year ago, on his 27th birthday.
He wasn't an office person and it was clear that he preferred nature and fresh air, but he loved locking himself indoors.
He was (and still is) a loud person, but he avoided parties and talking with other agents.
He hated dogs, but he had a pet dog.
He loved details, but when describing missions to agents, he omitted as many details as possible to keep it short.
He hated the color white, but all the shirts he owned were white.
The list went on and on and on. 144 tried to ask the agents what they thought was weird about Eric by having a Poogle form opened for only the agency, and received about 5729 answers. There were, however, only 225 agents in the agency. She sent it to him, telling him that the agency agreed that he was a weird person, and he agreed that he was a weird person as well, but he was her boss and she should hurry up and work instead of creating Poogle forms.
He was working overtime - he preferred his office compared to his house. While he did have a dog at home, he had an automatic feeder and a water bowl (with an automatic dispenser) prepared to dispense food at certain times of the day. On many occasions, he wanted to send the dog to a shelter, but then realized that it would be a great way to teach him about patience.
His dog was a great teacher.
He was trying to help 144 track down the agent. It was strange though - she usually called around this time. She would call twice every night - one right now, and another a few hours before. One to make sure she knew that it was time to wake up, and one to check on how she was doing.
His phone was in his bag, silent.
He stopped working, reaching for his bag. He awkwardly moved around in his rolling chair, trying to get his bag, before he felt it. He picked it up, reached into the front pocket, and pulled out his personal phone.
Wrong one.
He put it back in and pulled out the agency phone. It was black, with a cherry-shaped indent on the back of it, and it was a fairly large phone. He turned on the screen.
Missed Call - 144
New Voicemail - Dial 727
727... his agent number. He dialed it in and held the phone to his ear, hoping for good news. After all, she typically called around 9:00 AM KST and 1:00 PM KST each day, and if she called anytime between those two times, it meant something was either great or absolutely terrible.
"You have one new voicemail."
He stared at the computer. It made a little noise, and a box appeared on the screen. Error.
Sighing a little bit, he held the phone in one hand and typed with the other. He was pretty good at hacking after the agents taught him once he became a boss. Hacking in exchange for running and killing. That was pretty good.
"Hello, Mr. Young!"
Her voice was abnormally cheerful.
"I know that this is a strange time to call, and you didn't pick up, but there's good news. I found an address connected to Choi."
His typing hand froze. She found an address? That was pretty impressive. He's have to ask her how as soon as she came back.
"Once I go there, however, I may be unable to contact you and the agency, since it will be more dangerous there. I hope I can eliminate him in four days. If anything happens, which I am hope nothing will, well...
Let's not think about that, hm? Stay safe. Tell the others to stay safe as well."
Click.
"Press 1 if you would like to repeat the voicemail. Press 2 to save the voicemail. Press 7 to dele-."
He set the phone down, ending the call. She always ended her calls like that - telling him and the agency to stay safe. It became a habit of hers at that point, and every agent could easily tell you what she ended her calls with.
But this time...
Time was running out. There was little time left, and all Eric could wonder was, Is this the last call she'll make with me? With anyone in the agency?
He shook his head and returned to work. No, she'll finish and come back, and then another mission will be handed to her. It'll be fine, typical, just a normal day again. Nothing else.
But just in case...
Good luck, 144. Don't let us down.
And thank you.
"밝게 빛나는 태양처럼 언제나 나는 여기에/I'm always here like the sun in the sky."
The lyrics are from Like the Sun in the Sky, performed by Han/Sirius (the song that is played after you finish a route? Yeah, it's this one). I do not own this song.
Please review/criticize, but don't hate! Thanks again, and see you next time!