𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐭 | 𝐤.𝐦.𝐠

six

“Update, Joshua.”

“All clean, boss.”

A few minutes later, their car pulled up in front of the alley. Jeonghan opened the back seat door and helped Joshua haul the second stalker inside. Low-fiving him, Joshua nodded at Onyx, a single strand escaping his slicked back hair, before walking in the opposite direction and hopping on the motorcycle he parked earlier. He slipped on the helmet, before roaring the vehicle to life and riding after Jeonghan’s car, back to the organization headquarters.

Arriving at the building, Onyx ordered a couple of security guards to manhandle the men and lock them up in one of the rooms in the basement. She proceeded onto the Black Squad room, flanked by Jeonghan and Joshua who kept gossiping about how their mission went. Their excitement brought a bittersweet smile to her face. Should one be excited about committing crime?

S.Coups and Jun were waiting in the room as they walked in, as usual one drowned in reports and plans and the other burning his eyes off in front of the screen.

“Our fishes are in the tank,” Onyx said, “Out of it now, but in a few hours they should be ready for questioning.”

S.Coups nodded, “Well done.”

“Any progress on Mingyu’s laptop, Jun?” Jeonghan asked, slapping the man on his back.

“Not yet, but we’ll get there,” Jun said, wincing. “He’s damn good. If he’s a hacker, then he’d probably be known in the undergroud scene somewhere, I can ask around.”

“No,” Onyx objected, “It might put him in more danger. We’ll question him when you crack his laptop.”

“We’ll have to, eventually,” S.Coups said, “It’s a first time for me working a case where the victim is also a criminal.”

“Nonetheless, it explains a lot, there could be someone after him for this.” Joshua said.

Onyx stared at the ground. While one part of her stayed neutral and professional, another one was feeling disappointed; she didn’t want Mingyu to be what they thought him to be. Not that she was one to talk about moral compasses or sketchy side-hustles, her entire job was being a murderer in the essence, but still she felt like a criminal record to Mingyu’s peaceful looking face was not right. Her thoughts surprised her, why would she care about him? He’s just some victim she had to protect, someone very different from her, with his dreams and artworks. She needed to stay away, otherwise there will be extra problems that would cost them both things they cared for deeply

______

The battering rain against the windows was vivid in her ears, thunder roaring in the midst of howling wind. Sarang found herself walking down familiar, old, wooden stairs that creaked with her steps. The hairs on her arms stood from the cold, shivers running through every fiber of her being and even though it was early morning, the sun dared not show.  It was dim inside, and unusually quiet.
She reached out to the light switch, flicking it on, only for it to fill the shabby living room with unusual white light. She frowned, wasn't this light yellow?

Then the ground caught her attention. It looked like a toy factory had erupted on the carpet. Stuffed handmade plushies, porcelain dolls, building blocks, construction puzzles and many other toys covered the entire floor, to her horror and amazement, so much she couldn't even take a step forward.

We never had any toys....

Then, a shrill shriek interrupted the silence like a spear. Sarang hadn't even noticed that the winter storm had quieted down, as if someone pulled the plug from its socket. The shriek then turned into a wail, that of an infant, a baby. She could feel her heart panging in her chest, her lips were whispering the same name over and over, as she fought her way through the toys towards the room where the crying was coming from.