Seoul City

Ch. 23 - A Mess

"Wow, talk about tension," Namjoon muttered under his breath.

"This whole thing is such a mess," Jin shook his head.

"Okay, back to the topic at hand. Our specific task is to steal back the information the Japanese stole from Korean intelligence. The disc is stored in the Japan's Prime Minister's residence, also known as the Kantei. Normally this building is impenetrable with it's top notch security and surveillance; however, it will be at its weakest in two weeks when the Prime minister attends Japan's annual environmental summit. This is when we attack. Taehyung will be going undercover as the Prime minister's secretary, open the safe containing the disc, and walk out of there as if nothing happened. With the use of our advanced technology, code-deciphering abilities and skills, there is a very high probability of success," Jimin explained.

"The Korean government could never pull this off," Yoongi scoffed.

"Which is why they need us to do it," Bogum concluded, "it's kind of an honour when you think about it."

"We're all also going on a trip to our family cabin," Jimin said through gritted teeth, still opposed to the idea, "to work on our strategy and ... team-work." He practically forced himself to say that last word.

"Okay, but why am I here?" Chaeyoung asked in confusion.

Jimin smiled at her warily, "well... the thing is, to gain access into the Prime minister's office, we need a specific key. The only person who has a spare key to this restricted area is his secretary, Mr. Hino. Mr. Hino is your typical old, wealthy man who uses his money to fool around behind his wife's back. He spends every Friday night in the Imperial Hotel's bar, picking up girls. Your job is to take him up to one of the hotel rooms so we can steal his key and restrain him until our job is done."

Chaeyoung's mouth opened in shock, "you want me to seduce the Prime Minister's 50 year-old secretary?"

"We'll be hiding in the hotel room and monitoring you the entire time, so no harm will come to you," Jimin explained.

"Why do I have to do it??" she exclaimed, baffled, "I'm not a Griffin, I'm not trained for this kind of thing. Why can't Jennie do it?"

"Because Mr. Hino will recognize me right away. We meet a couple months ago while the Griffins were doing business with the Japanese," Jennie replied, "otherwise, I would have done it for sure."

"Then, get someone else?" Chaeyoung retorted, throwing her hands up in exasperation, "there are thousands of young women in Seoul, go find one."

"But, you're the only one we can trust," Jimin replied.

Chaeyoung laughed bitterly, "I wish that trust could go both ways."

The room went silent with those piercing words that revealed just how angry Chaeyoung was at her entire family for lying to her.

"Chaeng, I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise," Taehyung said sincerely.

She finally looked up at him, her eyes becoming glossy as they bore into his, "how can you say that when you're the one who hurt me the most?"

He flinched at her words, like he was slapped in the face. She knew this fight was affecting him just as badly as it was affecting her. Seeing the pain on his face made a part of her want to run towards him, apologize and comfort him, but she stood her ground. She wasn't ready to forgive him, quite yet.

She was snapped out of her rollercoaster of thoughts by Jungkook.

"I don't know what he did, but do you want me to kick his ass for you?" he whispered, causing a ghost of a smile to flicker on her face before she regained her composure.

"Chaeyoung, we know you're angry right now," Jennie said softly, "but this isn't a matter to be taken lightly. The fate of our entire country is at stake here."

Chaeyoung blew out a sharp breath. Jennie was targeting her sense of nationalism as a Korean citizen who loves her country. And, much to Chaeyoung's dismay, it was working. Even when Chaeyoung didn't care, she still cared. Helping others was an innate need for Chaeyoung. Her beloved country was in danger and if she could do something to protect it, of course she would. In any other circumstance, she wouldn't have hesitated to help, but with the Griffins and Phoenixes involved, the decision was much more difficult. Their mission wouldn't be possible without her help and the two groups would never survive a camping trip without killing each other, so – as much as Chaeyoung hated to admit it – they needed her.

"Fine. I'll do it," she finally said with a heavy sigh, feeling like she was selling her soul to the devil as she agreed to become a part of this mess. 

~*~

Sassy Chaeyoung