"What's the matter, princess?"
"First of all, don't take this the wrong way. I'm not blaming you… it's not you and it's not even me. It's him."
"Him?"
"Ray. You know that" she let out an exasperated sigh, "bodyguard… thing. Are you sure he's the one you gave me?"
"Of course. What's wrong?"
"Well then, why's he driving me nuts?"
"What do you mean?"
"Yes! That's what I've been asking him! He's," she pointed to the side of her head and spun it, "not in his right state of mind. He attacked three men in just a day. Without warning. Does he think he's just taking a walk in a park?!"
"Ugh, I can't even..." she massaged her left temple. Just recalling how her day went was enough to have her head throbbing.
He made no reply; she took it as a sign to continue her rant.
"I mean, like, maybe— just maybe— he has some underlying mental issues deep inside. If so, I feel bad for him, really, but," she huffed. "Rudeness has a limit that not even mental illness can excuse, okay?"
"Alright. I'll talk to him."
"Please fix him."
o-o-o-o
From the guest room, Ray stepped out of the bathroom, water dripping from his hair, a few drops wetting his plain white shirt.
He yawned. First day following the princess around already had him drained.
He checked his phone to see if it was fully charged. Once it was, he unplugged it from the socket and pressed the lock button. It showed a notification of a message Big Boss sent half an hour ago. He unlocked his lock screen pattern for the week and opened the message.
From: Big Boss
'You did a good job today. Keep it up'
He snorted. As expected, the spoiled brat tattled on him.
What fans saw as innocent blue eyes, he saw as icy blue ones looking down on him as if she were better than him and everyone beneath her were scums.
"Poor us, princess," he tossed his phone on the bed.
"We're stuck with each other."
o-o-o-o
How he was not yet blind was a mystery Luciel may not ever find an answer to in his lifetime. Sure, he may have bad vision but the fact that his life revolved around computers, he half-expected to completely lose his vision.
Loyal to his daily routine, he turned his laptop on, and scrolled through folders and folders and folders and folders of cold cases the RFA members, mostly V, handed to him.
RFA, which stood for Rika's Fundraising Association, was founded by civil lawyer Rika Kim and her fiance, criminal lawyer Jihyun Kim. On the outside, a fundraising charity organization aimed to help the poor, sick, elderly and the abandoned.
Behind the curtains, an independent private investigation group specializing in cold cases and "solved" ones suspected of foul play.
He could still remember the first meeting RFA had, where Rika voiced out their organization's goal.
"Our vision is to provide a beacon of hope for the unfortunate and lend a helping hand with utmost effort. We not only help the poor and the sick but also victims of crimes yet to be solved. With those victims, we are not only giving them the justice they deserve but also closure for their loved ones."
RFA had three divisions — Research and Documentation, Mission and Investigation, and the Legal Division.
The Research and Documentation Division— which included Yoosung Kim, Chief Secretary Jaehee Kang and their leader Jumin Han — was in charge with auditing or handling funds; gathering official information about the case such as victims, autopsy reports, witnesses, suspects, official details; new member documentation, which very rarely happens and only happened with Vanderwood; and compiling evidence gathered by the Mission and Investigation Division.
The Mission and Investigation Division was where he comes into the picture. Unlike the Research and Documentation Division, they were more hands-on. It uncovers obscure details about the case through hacking and undercover/field missions, interviews people close to or related to the case, and investigates and concludes the suspect's identity by reviewing the official information and evidence they gathered.
He used to be the only member of that division until Vanderwood came. The tall man who should get a haircut was a secret agent Luciel found from hacking agencies that may have information about the case. Lo and behold, he came across the Madam's agency.
'I, the Defender of Justice, the great God 707, seek information about a case we're investigating. If you agree to help us, call xxxx-xxx-xxxx. Provide us with that juicy juicy yummy info and our evil overlord will pay you anything you want 3 anything but a girlfriend, my body or Honey Buddha Chips''
As a precaution, he did not send his personal number and instead, gave one of his 15 phone numbers. He was not even sure whether the Madam would agree or not. The chances of him declining were 99.99%.
And what a miracle it was when that 0.01% chance won. Miracles do happen.
"Defender of Justice speaking~! How may I help you?"
"You know it's basic etiquette to answer a call from someone you asked for help?" were Vanderwood's first words at their first meeting.
Apparently, the Russian secret agent was in dire need of cash and only accepted his offer when a hacker co-worker of his confirmed it safe to accept.
That came as a shock to Luciel since first of all, he had not mentioned anything about the RFA and second, no one ever came that far into finding out information about him.
If she managed to find any information at all about him, a hacker notorious for being the best and never leaving any trail, then she must be really good. Not as good as him but impressive and worthy of his kudos.
"She's damn good; let's just leave it at that," was Vanderwood's reply..
The last was the Legal Division, handled by its only member Atty. Jihyun Kim; this was where the Mission and Investigation Division passed the evidence to. Upon receiving what they gathered, Jihyun must think of a way to use the evidence to his favor in a legal manner (since Luciel gained them through unethical hacking) and once that was done, he would file for the reopening of the case and defend his clients pro bono.
Every time word gets out of Jihyun reopening a case, the suspects knew their happy times were over. With a 100% success rate, he was known to be the best in C&R's law unit. In court, he was reminiscent of a merciless predator pouncing on a helpless prey, leaving them mauled beyond recognition. Just mentioning his name was enough to send chills down their spine.
Luciel leaned back and stretched backward, finally releasing the long-awaited heavenly sound of a crack. Literally the only thing he looked forward to.
He then stretched his arms and slightly twisted them, earning a 'pop' from each. The next ones were his neck, back, and knuckles.
If Madam Vanderwood were with him, he would have received an endless tirade about how he always sounded like a living bubble wrap.
Once everything was neatly popped, he went back to the case.
He forgot how a mattress felt against his skin. Sleep? What sleep?
With the number of cases they've been giving him, he was bound to die young. And it wasn't like they gave him ones easy to crack.
Then again, it wouldn't be a cold case if it were easy.
His life motto was simple; 'Work hard, die young'. He would have been fine had it only been the latter, but alas, life was never kind to him from the moment he was conceived.
Just the night before, Elly's mom (a.k.a evil mother-in-law) had thought calling sleep-deprived him to go to the C&R building was a brilliant idea.Spoilers, it was not. But as a slave, he had no choice but to do as told; not without whining, of course.
Upon arriving at the office, Mista Trust Fund Kid-slash-Cat Mom dumped on his hand a brown envelope before he could even say 'Hyung'.
And Jumin says he's the rude one.
"I want you to work on this case."
The redhead was unsure whether it was an order or a habit the Chairman-to-be had picked up from many years of training to lead their family business. Knowing him, it was most likely both; Jaehee would have had firsthand experience.
He could have just omitted 'I want you to' and gone straight to the point.
Luciel opened the envelope and took out all three papers.
He scanned the first page, skipping the high school information and proceeding to his undergraduate and post-graduate information; Atty. Kwanghim Jeong, Masters in Economics graduate with honors from the University of Oxford, an alumnus from Harvard Law School, Magna Cum Laude, was awarded the Joseph H. Beale Prize every year and the Morgan Chu prize during his first year, five years experience as an Associate Lawyer.
He flipped the first page to the back and glossed over the second page, which was just a continuation of the first page. He turned to the next page, his eyes barely moving as he skimmed through the words; just like the first two, it only showed his many credentials.
He placed the papers back inside the envelope. He got the gist; dude was a skilled lawyer.
"I ordered Assistant Kang to conduct research on him. She found some of his accessible information from a website she called 'LinkedIn'. The rest, I'm not quite sure but she assured that they were reliable sources."
"Okaaaay… what's your point?"
"He's a private lawyer with a 100% success rate."
"Uh, so? V-hyung is too, but I don't see you questioning him."
"Not so fast. From what I heard from them and what Assistant Kang gathered, his clients are all suspected of being a part of an organized crime ring. And just when the other side gains the upper hand, all evidence against them is erased."
"This isn't a cold case, though… Just leave them be and they'll leave us be." He shrugged. "Win-win."
"I'm aware but do you recall RFA's vision?"
"Yeah. Help the unfortunate, like the poor, the sick, victims that never received justice yada yada blabla... What does that have to do with this?"
"Allow me to remind you that our aim is to help those in need. Although we have only been working on cold cases, Rika and V never said it was strictly for those."
"Yeah but…"
"I expect efficiency and good results from you. Now, excuse me."
Such was the life of an incognito private investigator-slash-hacker-slash-slave working in the shadows.
Mid-scroll through the case, his security system suddenly made a long 'beep!'
'Oh God Seven-oh-Seven! A rare boss monster has spawned! God Seven! S.O.S! Defender of Justice! God Seven—!'
He glanced at the CCTV feed, seeing the pink-haired girl banging on his door. Again. For the umpteenth time. He rolled his eyes. Even a math whiz like him lost count of how many times she visited his front door.
He groaned and messed up his perpetually unkempt red hair, "Come on, don't you get tired at all? Ugh..."
He placed his headphones back on and blasted Bongo Cat's Señorita to full volume.
As much as he wanted to shoot the random stranger triggering his security system for the past two weeks, he was just too busy to deal with it, or even care.
o-o-o-o
"Tch," Ayu placed the contact lens back in its case.
She finally took it out in what seemed like several minutes. Little by little, she was getting better at poking her eyes. Gone was the past Ayu who took around an hour for each eye; not quite as good as the 'experts' but baby steps still deserve a pat on the back. She was just thankful that she only had to wear them outside.
Before the fiasco that had been their recent fan meet, she never tried them, not even when asked to. She had read many real-life stories of it that seemed straight out of a nightmare; one of which was about a girl who had a lens go completely inside her eyelids that it took literally a whole bottle of solution just to let it slip out. When they managed to get it out, they found that it had folded and had a tear on it.
Though she preferred not wearing any at all, she considered herself lucky enough to not have her vision completely lost. Messed up, yes, but still there.
She had assured her dad that Mr. Park was not at fault. It was a fan meet event; of course, it would have been difficult to keep a close watch on any possible danger that lurked by. In fact, according to the doctor, if he had been late by a minute, she would have completely lost her vision.
Her dad went livid when he found out about the anti's attack that when he called her phone, he recited an elaborate plan to kill that anti; And the details were not for the faint of heart.
"Dad, forget it. Slapsoils like her are just bored and have no lives."
"...what's a 'slapsoil'?"
If fate allowed her to do so without consequences, she would have sprayed something worse than vinegar and soy sauce. Or perhaps pointing a laser pointer straight at the lowlife's eyes and stabbing her was better revenge.
But as much as she wanted to do it, it was not worth tarnishing her spotless image; she maintained it since her trainee days… and she wouldn't let some scum waste her efforts.
She was Ayu Aoki and she bows to no one.
o-o-o-o
She did it; she finally submitted her withdrawal request. In just a day, she went from promising SKY University Forensics Science freshman, Student # 2018-103240 to useless college dropout.
She bit her lip in an attempt to control her sobs, but the only thing she got was a wounded lip.
A single tear escaped through a crack in her barriers, followed by another until the walls finally collapsed and out came the downpour. She prayed it was a nightmare, but every salty tear she tasted reminded her it was not.
She never mastered the art of crying with grace. Silent crying was not her forte. Unlike the movies, her crying style did not stop with just a single tear. No stranger swooped in and dried her tears just because they found her pretty and felt compelled to comfort her.
Eyes puffy, nose reddened and cheeks sticky from tears, she must have looked disgusting. If she were to beg again for him to come back and change his mind, just a glance at her state and he'd realize he made the right choice.
Where did she go wrong? What did she do that caused everything to go downhill? She cooked for him, bought him gifts, babysat his little sister, even introduced him to her parents...
Was their one year together that easy to throw away? She even embarrassed herself in front of random strangers.
"Please stand up. People are watching," he whispered, trying to pull her up by her arms, yet she would not budge.
Indeed, multiple eyes were watching them. From her peripheral vision, she could see a couple of gossiping adults shaking their heads, either out of pity or disbelief at the shameless display of desperation. From afar, a clique of highschoolers held their phones up, seizing the chance to go viral on social media. Parents that passed by them dragged their children away, some even covering their eyes, for fear her stupidity might be contagious; what parent would want their child to grow up into someone like her — a needy ex-girlfriend begging for her former lover to change his mind?
Her kneeling figure, disheveled hair, and dark circles under her eyes were what feminists envision a weak heroine to be; devoid of self-respect and reeking of dependency.
"Please stay," she clutched at his shirt, crumpled from balling it up her fists. "Please don't leave me. I'll do anything you tell me to. Anything! Tell me! What should I do?"
Her pride did not matter anymore. She lost it the moment he ended things.
"Nothing. You don't have to do anything."
"Am I ugly?"
"No..."
"Is it my body? Am I fat?"
"No…"
"Is there something I'm lacking in?"
"Samsa…"
"Am I boring?"
He sighed. "That's enough."
"Tell me," she tugged at his shirt, "Is there something wrong with me? Tell me so I can change... whatever it is you want me to change."
"Nothing. You did nothing wrong."
"Then why?! Why are you leaving me?!"
"Jinho!"
She froze. Hands lost their grip on his shirt. Her body shook and slumped forward, palms pressed against the floor the only thing keeping her balance. The background noise grew fainter, with the familiar female voice echoing and tangling her already-disarrayed thoughts.
"Aaaaand mocha frappe for—" she took a step back upon seeing Samsa, "Oh. Samsa? What are you doing here?"
Samsa locked her violet eyes on the girl's green ones, "Jinri?" Her voice came out in a shaky whisper.
Her suspicions were right; it was the same Jinri he talked about.
The same Jinri he met through a mutual friend of theirs. The same Jinri he went on study dates with. The same Jinri he went out with to go get wasted. The same Jinri he could talk to about his political views. The same Jinri he shared books with. The same Jinri he sent late-night texts to. The same Jinri he messages first thing in the morning.
The same Jinri he ran to whenever they had a fight.
She hung her head and broke off eye contact. It was hard to face them; Jinri, Jinho, the truth — that the longer she took in the girl's flawless features, the more she understood just how easy it was for him to replace her.
'Pretty' did not give her looks justice; she was gorgeous. Even at the very place they stood in, their audience was not only staring at the commotion in front of them but also at the beautiful girl caught between two ex-lovers' drama.
Her rosy skin free of imperfections challenged even the most famous celebrities. Her emerald green eyes exuded mystery and captured attention even at first glance.
Long silky black hair fell in lustrous waves; even if she were to go bald, she would still be a stunner. Compared to that, Samsa's unruly dyed pink hair took long rituals just to look presentable… but at that moment, her efforts proved futile.
Though slender, the tiny waist gave the statuesque girl a shapely figure; comparing Jinri's body to her thick and barely-there curves stirred envy in Samsa.
And thigh gap? Forget it. Jinri would never understand the stinging burn she felt, or the numerous pants she had to stitch or even worry about how long her pants would last.
As if she wasn't blessed enough, she was smart. Whenever Jinho talked about her, he always managed to sneak in a remark of how she was a part of Mensa and that she was fluent in 6 languages.
She should have noticed something amiss when 'Lizzie Bennet' was Jinri's name on his phone while her name was… just plain old 'Samsa'.
No, to say she didn't notice was false; she did… but she chose to look away.
Against tall, beautiful, smart and interesting Jinri, she was not a loss.
"She had nothing to do with this."
"Then…why…?"
She blinked back tears that stung her eyes and blurred her vision.
"Won't you come back?" was her last desperate plea.
"I'm sorry."
And she could not hold it any longer.
She felt a cold drop of water land on her skin. Then another one fell.
They first came in threes, then fives, until it turned to a downpour…. in the dead of night… when she had no umbrella with her.
"UUUUGGGGHHH!"
Rain can't hurt her now. With everything that has happened lately, could her bad luck be any worse?
o-o-o-o
A smart person would call a cab or use Google Maps to find their way back home.
A dumb person would go out in the middle of the night, without a purse, phone at 6%... and let herself 'be swept by fate'.
When hope came in the form of a run-down building, her mind processed if she was allowed to enter without permission, but a bolt of thunder reminded her that it did not matter. Drenched and shivering, she ran to her possible shelter.
Once she was in front of the door, she banged on the door just to make sure.
"Excuse me! I'm so sorry but it's raining really hard and it's so cold and my clothes are really wet, so I'll just come in, okay please don't call the cops or shoot me or anything thank you!" Then she pushed the door open and barged in.
She closed the door behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. She flopped to the ground and made the sign of the cross. Finally, some sort of luck for the day.
She closed her eyes; the events sucked the energy out of her body. It was quiet, save for the loud pitter-patter of rain outside. She longed for the comfort of her bed and its strawberry-scented fabric conditioner. When she gets home, she'll definitely bury her face in it.
But the present smell shook her from her short-lived dream. She wrinkled her nose; the place stank of dried paint and urine.
She twisted a lock of hair and squeezed the water out.
"Eep!" She flinched and yelped at the sudden roar of thunder.
'It's not haunted. There are no ghosts here. It's not haunted. There are no ghosts here… Ghosts aren't real'
She stood up. To take her mind off the replays of random horror scenes she watched, she decided to roam around the building.
Stopping in front of various rooms, she pushed all doors open, finding, thankfully, not ghosts; just ripped wallpapers, ladders, broken tiles and lightbulbs, and a stuffy smell.
With nothing interesting to see, she saw a staircase and climbed to the second floor, taking slow and careful steps to not trip over the broken white tiles. Considering her talent at tripping over air, taking extra caution wouldn't be so bad. And besides, the rain wasn't letting up at the moment.
"Be quiet!"
She paused at the third step from the top. She was not the only one in the building...
'Ghosts?'
Taking a risk, she climbed the last two steps. She went closer to the room where she heard the voice and slightly pushed the door open. Peeking through a crack, she saw, not ghosts, but four men in police uniforms; two of which beside a good-looking man in brown semi-formal clothing while the other two…
...restrained a blindfolded and gagged man by his arms, with the one on the left holding a gun to his head.
The tall and good-looking man, presumably in his late 40's, knelt to the restrained man's eye level and tugged the black cloth covering his eyes.
"Surely, you are aware of what brought you here, hmm?"
The man's husky voice sounded pleasant to the ears, a jarring contrast to the threatening words said.
The victim glared at the man and spat at his face.
The man inhaled sharply and wiped the spit off his face. The two officers tightened their grip on their captive, but it did nothing to wipe off the successful smirk he wore.
"Go on. Kill me," he spat, voice laced with much venom. "The more you hide the truth, the more it wants to break free."
He heaved a heavy sigh, "I'd rather die than live under your regime."
The tall man paused. He turned his attention to the two officers and gave a small nod.
Without warning, a loud gunshot sliced through the air.
A slight yelp escaped her mouth. She widened her eyes and slapped a shaky hand over her mouth.
The two officers released the dead man from their grip, now lying on the ground with a pool of blood forming around his head.
She roamed around to kill time, not to witness someone getting killed!
She took several steps away, accidentally committing the fatal mistake of stepping on a few shards of broken tiles.
Her heart skipped a beat. All five men snapped their heads to her direction.
"Who's there?!"
Upon hearing the unknown man's gruff voice, she ran as fast as her legs could take her.
Forget the rain! She'd rather die of pneumonia than have her brains splattered.
o-o-o-o
"Did you catch the witness?"
"No, sir. But we have her school ID," he handed the ID to the tall man.
At the center was a picture of a girl with wavy medium-length pink hair and violet eyes.
"Samsa Chia… 2018-103240," he muttered to himself.
He turned the card over, which had information on how to return if lost, how to replace if lost, her signature, phone number, guardian's phone number...
"Proceed to this address," he pointed at the written address at the back.
"And do whatever it takes to silence her."
Heheheyyy~! If you've reached this far, congrats! 3 If you liked it, we'd appreciate reviews or kudos. If not, then we understand~! Thank you for reading, jagiyas ^ 3 ^ And props to whoever notices the FRIENDS reference and the Les Mis one.
Notes:
Ayu - Blonde MC
Samsa - Pony MC