A bit late, but I promise to be better. A huge "thank you" to Vapor for proof-reading and providing some insight in English sentence structure. And punctuation.

Chapter 4

Attentive eyes scanned the talent agency's canteen. Theoretically, this place was only open to people that belonged there. In reality, he knew, it was always a different story. There was a front desk where one had to sign in, CCTV, and certain floors one could only access with keys, but the crowd prevented the staff from securing it properly. A talent agency lived from people being interested in their charges; that included swarms of reporters meeting someone in this building, and that didn't even include all the people accompanying them, especially the talents not yet of legal age.

Takeo leaned against the wall near a quiet corner of the canteen with a sandwich and a lukewarm cup of coffee in his hands. At the table next to him sat Suyi. She ate a salad, sipped from the glass of juice in front of her, and wore an annoyed look on her face. "Why don't you sit down next to me?"

No, she didn't seem to be too happy about his behavior, but ever since he had seen the picture of her and had read the note from the stalker, he somehow felt like he should behave more professionally. He had the apprehension that behaving towards Suyi as he always did with the children would only end up endangering her. The note had sounded so possessive.

"Do other bodyguards sit down next to their wards?"

"No, but you are my friend." Suyi said matter-of-factly, causing Takeo to smile at her.

Slowly he shook his head, her words still sinking in. "In the first place, I'm your bodyguard today."

Suyi pouted and viciously spiked a few leaves of salad onto her fork.

"I wouldn't pout if I were you. A reporter over there is looking your way." Takeo motioned toward a corner with his head to indicate a man sitting on the far end of the room with a girl that seemed to be a model.

Suyi glanced over before flipping her hair over her shoulder. "So, how do I look? Good enough for a photo?" Her voice was playful, and it was clear that she was just joking around rather than really wanting an answer.

"My lady, you look as perfect as ever." Takeo tried his best imitation of the manager but failed to truly grasp Young-Jae's flattering tone. He wanted to make her feel better since he was still standing near her like a stranger and not sitting down like a friend.

For a moment Suyi was stunned, but then she laughed, smiling brightly. "Merci monsieur! But stop flattering me, or I'm going to become conceited," Suyi answered in the same playful tone and waved her hand dismissively at him, a faint blush dusting her cheeks.

Takeo chuckled silently. Surprisingly, he had a lot of fun being around and guarding this girl. It was so different from the work at school, where he didn't have to expect an outside attack, but with his enhanced body and senses, it was still an easy task to chatter with Suyi and to keep her perfectly safe at the same time. Compared to any mission from the Union, this was a piece of cake and far more pleasant. On the other hand, he wouldn't allow himself to take it too lightly since he was in charge of her safety. He would never forgive himself if something would happen to her. That was, if he lived long enough to feel sorry about it since there were a bunch of people that had entrusted him with the fragile idol in front of him.

"Still nothing?"

"Good morning to you, too, '21," Tao answered in a chirpy voice and, for good measure, waved at the man whom had just entered his room.

It seemed like M-21 wasn't up for jokes considering that his scowl only darkened. For a few moments, they stared at each other in silence while Tao tried to lighten the mood with one of his brightest grins. Shaking his head, a bit disappointed to not get a reaction out of his friend, he gave up on smiling and got serious.

"I only started this investigation last night." Tao hated to admit it, but even he could do only so much with so few hints to follow. Impatiently, he pointed at the second chair in his room as a silent invitation for M-21 to sit down. He ignored it in favor to stand near the screens, to stare down at Tao, and to occasionally glance at the screens out of the corner of his eyes.

"But you own all this fancy stuff. How about face recognition software? Or track down the origin of the postal stamp."

Tao frowned at the unsatisfied tone in the other man's voice. "You know, I am able to do my work."

That effectively kept M-21 from replying. The angered glare slowly turned into an apologetic glance, his eyes no longer fixed on Tao's, but M-21 looked at a point somewhere below Tao's chin. At the sight of M-21's squared shoulders dropping, Tao's own anger evaporated immediately. He knew he wouldn't hear an apology. But he didn't need one. They were all worried for Suyi, and it had to be especially dissatisfying for M-21, taking his temper and straightforward way of handling problems into account.

Tao sighed and gave his voice an extra cordial note. "I know you are worried, we all are, but Takeo is able to protect her until we find out who is behind this. The letter itself is a dead end. Nothing special about it, and it's impossible to find out where it was dropped into a mailbox."

"The photo of Suyi or the ticket?" Tao smiled at the calmer, if not relaxed, tone his friend's voice held. Again, he waved with his hand towards the second chair in his room, and this time, M-21 obediently sat down.

"Here, look at this," Tao said, indicating to the picture that he made pop up on one of the screens. A short glance told him that M-21 was listening attentively and was craning his neck to get a better view on the screens. Tao stretched his hand out and pulled M-21's office chair closer. As calculated, he only got a disapproving look, but no protest could be heard. M-21 had long ago given up on resisting these little things and let Tao have his way. Without paying further attention, Tao headed back to his explanations.

"The paper it was printed on isn't anything to go by, but with this you can calculate where the guy stood while taking the picture."A few typed commands and a schematic layout of the streets around the talent agency were on the screen. "Here is Suyi in that photo. And over there is the guy taking the picture." With a few more clicks, the mentioned places were circled with little red lines.

To keep his explanation short, Tao didn't mention the complicated calculations or his onsite visit to measure distances, which he used to come to this conclusion. Even on normal days, M-21 wasn't the most patient man. With one of the children in danger, it didn't take much to make his temper flare. Tao had to wait for Takeo to tell all these details. Even if he also wouldn't appreciate it, he would at least listen.

"So, you could calculate that the man has to be around 1.75m to 1.85m? Perfect, that's the average size of a Korean male."

Tao could tell that M-21 was forcing himself to speak calmly. It seemed like he still felt guilty for snapping at him just minutes ago, but Tao could also tell that his patience was waning. "'21, you're no fun. You could at least praise me a bit. 'Tao, you did well in finding out that we don't look for a giant or a dwarf and...' Alright, I'm coming to the main point! Stop glaring." Tao pouted but hurried to open a new file on his computer. No matter how much fun it was to make his little jokes with M-21, this wasn't a topic to take too lightly.

"The one thing that gave us a lead is the concert ticket. It was bought online, so no CCTV footage of that guy, but I hacked into the bank's database. I have the name on the credit card."

There was a moment of silence before M-21 spoke in a restrained, impatient voice. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"You wouldn't have listened to the details about the photograph!"

M-21's only answer was a glare, but the way his lips curled up slightly and a certain sparkle in his eyes made Tao grin back. RK-5 would go on a hunt today.