♊︎Year 5067, Month 5, Day 26, Time 8:44 am♊︎
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"Alright, we've got the grocery bags Wooyoung placed orders for, the clothes from the dry cleaners Seonghwa wanted us to pick up, and the car parts that Jongho needed. Now, we just need... Kurenai? What are you doing?" The model's voice rips Kurenai away from what she was staring at, bringing her back into her reality at the moment.
She, Mingi, and Yeosang all stand on the busy sidewalks of Illusion District which is where they were sent to for the day.
Once a month, a group of 3 or 4 of the members is sent out to do the errands that the other members need to be done. This schedule was initially made to accommodate everyone's free time due to their jobs and other responsibilities but since Kurenai had none besides the secret assignment she was usually picked to do the rounds.
It was her third time in a row and having gotten accustomed to the repetitive process, she was walking on auto-pilot this whole time.
"I'm not doing anything," She mutters, peeling her eyes off of the display case she was staring at that held an envelope with a cognac-colored wax seal— MALUS's infamous koi fish seal.
"What wrong, then?" The model digs deeper, worried for her mental health and overall wellbeing. "You haven't talked to any of us since the day..."
"The day Max was found dead." Yeosang finishes where Mingi trailed off, scrutinizing Kurenai for any change in behavior but finding none.
They all are aware of the effects that this passing has had on each of the members except for Kurenai. They don't know if she's avoided them because she knows something about Max's death or if his passing just had that much of an impact on her.
And while Mingi is sure that she must be shaken up about The Chemist's passing, Yeosang suspects the other reason. Especially after what Candy told him about their conversation where Kurenai stormed off after insulting his girlfriend.
"I have a lot on my plate currently, I just want space." Kurenai shrugs, looking down at her black and white converse. She knows that that's not enough to mislead Yeosang, but at least he takes the bait and that's all she needs.
"If you need to talk, I'm here." Mingi gives her a reassuring look and sets a warm hand on her arm.
"Yes, I know." She sighs, relief flooding through her at Mingi's touch, momentarily getting caught up and forgetting about the fact that it's her fault Max is dead.
The action seems foreign to Yeosang. He's surprised Kurenai hadn't swatted the model away or kicked his shins. He remembers what she had said about her and the model's relationship, still struggling to wrap his mind around the fact that she let someone get close to her.
Kurenai soon noticed Yeosang staring at her and Mingi, and her usual scowl returned to her face out of irritation that Yeosang was bearing witness to this. Looking over at the display she had noticed earlier and furrowing her brows, she decides to take a closer look.
Walking off into the store without telling either of the two men with her, Kurenai barges in, ignoring the store welcomer and heading straight toward where the envelope should be.
She picks it up from where it was resting in front of the display window and turns it over to find a sticker with a price on it.
The store welcomer that had greeted her the moment she came in, walks over to her with their hands behind their back— Mingi, and Yeosang following close behind after noticing she had gone into the shop.
"Excuse me, Miss. I'm afraid that I'm going to need you to set that envelope where it is. It's been reserved." The welcomer informs her matter-of-factly, flashing a charming smile that fits his 'welcoming' role quite well. She looks directly at the Welcomer with furrowed brows that quickly begin to make the man fidget, his once confident smile slowly deteriorating into an intimidated grimace.
"When was this dropped off?" Kurenai asks the man, looking back down at the envelope to look at the name it's addressed to.
"I'm sorry but I don't manage the shipment that comes in and out. We have many people and generous organizations that come in and out to drop off and pick up, it's hard for just one person to keep track of—."
"You said you have people coming in to drop off stuff. Would MALUS be one of those organizations?" She cuts him off with her questions, already starting to open the envelope much to the man's horror.
"Yes, actually, the person that dropped this off claimed to be from there— ma'am, I really don't think you should open something that had been reserved for someone else." He tries to reach out to grab the envelope from her hands but she moves away, taking out the letter and reading through it.
At the same moment, Mingi and Yeosang catch up to the tattooed woman, excusing themselves for panting so heavily and interrupting the conversation between Kurenai and the store welcomer.
"Kurenai, what the hell are doing?" Yeosang is the first to hiss at her, looking at his wristwatch. "We were supposed to get back to the dorms in time for the debriefing of our next assignment. We're gonna be late."
"Wait, did you say Kurenai?" The storm welcomer butts in, the name having seemed to be a tad bit familiar.
"Yes, that's what I said." The brown-haired bomber affirms and Mingi gets confused as to why the stranger even cares.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Never mind that." He waves Mingi off, turning to Kurenai.
"The woman that dropped this off told me it was reserved for a woman named Kurenai. If that's you, then it's all yours." Kurenai looks up at him after seeing the contents of the letter, left even more confused than when she initially saw the envelope from the other side of the display glass.
"Who did you say dropped this off?" She queries and the welcomer thinks back to the day that woman came in.
"She refused to give us a name, only telling us she was coming on behalf of MALUS industries. They drop things off here often so it wasn't out of the usual."
"Was there anything off about the woman?" Mingi asks next for Kurenai. The welcomer thinks harder.
"Mm, no... Oh, wait! She was wearing all red. It was a bright red."
"With red heels?" Yeosang shoots.
"And a red fedora?" Kurenai adds on.
"Yes, both." The three subjects all look at each other in the realization of who it was. Their silent gazes all say the same things.
La Femme Rouge. Isla Benitez.
"Thank you," Yeosang thanks the store welcomer and he nods off, heading over to greet another customer that just walked in. He turns back around to face his other two colleagues: Kurenai, looking down at the letter, deep in thought; and Mingi, placing a hand on his chin and crossing his arms as he ponders the new information.
"Why would she drop off this letter here? And how did she know Kurenai would be here?" Mingi thinks out loud, leaning over to peek at the letter in Kurenai's hand.
"I don't know." Kurenai frowns deeper than she was already frowning, flipping the paper front and back in perplexion.
"What is it? What does it say?" Yeosang gets closer to get a glimpse of the paper as well when he sees what the other two are staring at.
"It's blank." The tattooed woman states flatly, scoffing and shaking her head. "Now tell me why the heck Isla would come all the way to Illusion district to drop off a blank letter."
"Are you sure there's nothing?" Mingi takes the paper from her to check it himself, pursing his lips when he sees that there really is nothing.
Kurenai sighs for the umpteenth time this day. It seems like every day she's given new mysteries but never any answers to them.
She looks down at the envelope in her hand, reading her name that's scribbled on the back. She flips the envelope over to the side where it was sealed and opens it to check if there are any other missing pieces in there that she missed when she sees the words written in black ink on the inside of the envelope.
ꪖꪶꪶꫀꪗ᭙ꪖꪗ ꪮꪀ 6𝓽ꫝ
"Alleyway on 6th." Kurenai thinks out loud and then it hits her. Sixth street is a block down from here that holds a specific alleyway that Isla likes to use as a drop-off point in retrieval assignments.
The moment it clicks in her head she shoots off like a race car, leaving Mingi and Yeosang in the dust.
She races down the street the shop was on, crossing a streetlight on red as she hears her teammates yelling at her from behind. They struggle to keep up with her, seeing her weaving in and out of the way of different people on the street and sporadically losing sight of her.
Kurenai runs as fast as her legs can take her and barrels past the people in her way, ignoring the shouts of the men behind her. She's sure that something is waiting for her in that alleyway, whatever it is, and she's more than sure that it must have something to do with her secret mission.
Meaning that she can't afford to have Mingi and Yeosang see what is.
Crossing the second street between her and the alleyway she's looking for, Kurenai turns after she passes the first building, slipping into the narrow space between the first two buildings on 6th street.
At this point, she's sure Mingi and Yeosang have lost track of her, hoping they have, so she slows down her pace as she makes it to where the narrow space meets with the alleyway behind the line of buildings on 6th.
Walking out to the middle, she looks both ways to see that at the very end of the alleyway is a large brick wall that has some indiscernible writing on it. She can't see it well since the buildings block the sun from shining on this godforsaken alleyway which prompts her to walk down cautiously to get a closer look.
The alleyway is secluded from all civilization, the entry being on the smaller street that branches out from the main street and the other side she's headed toward now being the closed-off section.
Off to her right, she hears a crash, and the hair on her arms stands up, an electrifying sensation coursing through her veins. It's been a while since she's been placed in a position where she knows nothing of what is waiting for her, usually having some sort of idea of what she'll be facing.
Seeing a cat run out from where the crash was heard, the knot of nerves building up at the back of her head untangle slightly, but she keeps her senses on the lookout for anything out of place. Isla, known for her cruelty and harsh character, is also infamously known for her meticulously set traps. Something Kurenai definitely needs to look out for.
The gravel under her feet crunches with each of her steps and when she's finally at the wall with the scribbles she had seen, she's relieved that nothing jumped out at her and attacked her. Now she can focus on what the reason was for Isla to send her here.
She looks up at the grimy walls that tower over her, her eyes looking over the single word sprayed on it in red ink with an arrow pointing in its direction.
Up.
She follows where the sprayed message leads to with her eyes, her vision settling on the small, crimson-colored box that dangles above her head by a white string. She follows the said string to make sure it's not connected to any contraption and when she's sure it's not, she jumps up and wraps her fingers around the box, pulling it down with her and hearing the string snap.
A chime of a distant bell rings when the string snaps under her weight and she freezes, listening intently for any incoming attack but sensing nothing.
After a moment, she straightens her back from her defensive position, looking around the alleyway and scanning it for any sign of a living thing when she hears the soft crunch of a pair of feet landing on the ground behind her.
Her instincts kick in the moment she hears the sound and she pulls out some cards she had stashed in the pocket of her sweats, throwing them at whoever appeared behind her. She also moves back warily, keeping a card handy and stuffing the small box she found in her pocket.
"Wow!" A voice speaks up, an amused tone creeping into it. "She was right when you said you had good reflexes." The voice continues to speak, praising her.
"It's you," Kurenai growls at the figure in front of her, recognizing the faceless mask that covers the person's true identity. The faceless figure laughs, the sound akin to her own laugh when Kurenai realizes it is her laugh.
She must've forgotten to control her expression because the masked figure cackles at her.
"C'mon, now, don't you remember me?" The faceless voice taunts, sounding closer and closer to her own the longer Kurenai hears it. "I'm sure you remember the one who crashed your last assignment? Oh, wait, you weren't there!"
"Who are you?" Kurenai grits through her teeth, already contriving an action plan in her head when the figure suddenly lunges at her, filled with the intent to kill.
The action sends them both flying back into some trash cans, both of them struggling against the other's brawn. In strength, they're probably evenly matched, both women's figures being the same height and seemingly the same weight, but what confuses Kurenai is that that's not where the similarities end.
The longer she wrestles with this stranger the more she notices their similarities. From the smallest tattoo on her skin to the same shade and style of her outfit, the two women looked identical. As if Kurenai were to be fighting a mirrored version of herself.
Their skills and speed were evenly matched and even their reflexes were down together to the last point. Everything about this stranger unsettled Kurenai, but she would have to push that away at this moment. Right now, she needs a way to overpower her opponent.
After being sent tumbling to the ground, Kurenai and the strange woman staggered onto their feet, quickly regaining their balance before attacking each other once again. Their fists and limbs flew at each other at surprising speeds, the both of them switching from defense to offense like ping pong balls. From one side to the other.
They had fallen into a steady rhythm of defending and attacking that Kurenai was a second too slow to react when the suspicious woman pulled out a blade and nicked the inside of Kurenai's outstretched arm.
The action made Kurenai quickly jump back and put distance between the two after noticing the way the wound went completely numb. Usually, there'd be a burning pain left behind, but she only feels a soft buzzing under her skin that slowly spreads to the rest of her arm.
The blade was poisoned.
Kicking up a trash lid into the air and catching it with her good hand, Kurenai readies herself to engage in combat once more, hoping to hold out until Mingi or Yeosang arrives to provide relief.
It was a pretty fast-acting poison, she supposed, because by now from her wrist to her shoulder, her whole arm has gone numb.
"I asked you, who are you?" Kurenai repeats herself, sizing down the woman in front of her. Hearing a small sound akin to snicker emit from the mysterious woman, Kurenai watches on intently as the other woman straightens up and slips off her mask.
It seems almost as if time were to slow down indefinitely while the mask comes off to reveal the face behind it, stunning Kurenai beyond belief. She feels her body go slack for an instant as she takes in the new face, or her face, so she should say.
"Wha—?" Kurenai struggles to find the words to articulate her thoughts clearly, too shocked to actually think about what she's saying.
Her head can't wrap around the fact that the woman in front of her is a carbon copy of herself, down to the last detail. Their tattoos, their smiles, their voices, their gaits— all the same.
The only difference that Kurenai can point out is their characters. In that, they're the complete opposite of each other.
The other woman's face stretches into an amused smile, a malicious look hiding in the recesses of her eyes.
"Gemini." The woman says slowly, waiting for Kurenai to catch on to what she means.
"I'm sorry?"
"My name. You asked me who I was and I answered. I'm Gemini." Kurenai shakes her head, backtracking for a moment before regaining her ground confidently. "You should be proud of yourself. My targets don't usually last this long against me. They usually cower away or await their deaths silently, but you, oh, you've interested me."
The woman who happens to go by Gemini drops her hands to the side, one of her hands still holding onto the knife that cut into Kurenai's arm. She stalks towards Kurenai, slowly but surely.
"You know, I've wanted to meet you for quite some time now. I've watched you for almost 4 years." Gemini gushes, borderline fan-girling over Kurenai.
"4 years?" Kurenai echoes, earning a nod from the other.
"I was created 4 years ago. And since then, I've watched and waited patiently for my moment to go up against my original draft." Gemini's eyes glint with excitement and impatience, her hands twitching to get back into action with Kurenai but she knows she has to be careful.
"Who sent you?" Kurenai watches as the woman in front of her looks away into the distance as she thinks about how to answer the query.
"That I can't tell you exactly. Confidential Disclosure." Gemini shrugs. "But it was one of the Meisters if that's what you're wondering."
This detail strikes Kurenai like a bullet, piercing the last hope she had been holding on to since that night with Max.
He had already revealed to her how MALUS had betrayed her before. but she didn't act on it because she believed that if the Meisters took action against her it was because she deserved it.
But now, as she looks upon the face of the carbon copy of herself, she can't help but get enraged by the fact that her Meisters have held out on the truth once again. Makes her wonder just how many more lies she's following blindly as truths because of her Meisters.
A final question pops up into Kurenai's head and she decides it'll be the last one she asks before she attacks Gemini. She's afraid to hear the answer that her enemy might give her but she needs to know.
"Wha— what are you?" The edges of Gemini's lips turn up into a sinister smirk, taking a dangerous step closer to Kurenai so that they're only a handful of feet away from each other.
"In simple terms," Kurenai's copy starts. "I'm a lab-raised clone extracted from your DNA made to improve and excel in areas that you were lacking in, in your past life, so that when you were revived by the Meisters they could test me out as many times as they pleased to become stronger."
"And in other terms?" Gemini stops two steps away, gripping her knife as tight as she can and almost bending the handle as she drips with anticipation.
"In other terms, I'm the better version of you."
At the same moment that Gemini finishes her sentence, both women, seeming to have expected the other to charge, react as if in the middle of a great battle: Kurenai, swinging the trashing can lid into her opponent's face; and Gemini, slashing viciously at Kurenai's torso.
Luckily, Kurenai manages to land the first blow, disorienting her clone and swiveling around to kick her right in the jaw which sends her clone tumbling a few feet back whilst dropping her weapon.
Hastily snatching it up, Kurenai rushes toward her clone and swipes her feet out from under her which makes a Gemini land on the concrete with a loud thud, knocking the air out of her lungs.
Kurenai takes that as her moment to climb on top of her clone and land a painful punch on the other's cheek before reeling back that same hand with the knife to stab her clone.
Her hand comes down at lightning speed, but Gemini catches her wrist before anything can happen, fighting back against Kurenai.
Both women struggle for a second before Gemini's eyes catch her rescuer on the way, hurriedly thinking of a way to distract Kurenai when it hits her.
"You know, Kurenai, it wasn't so long ago that I was in this exact position with your teammate back at the opera house." Gemini giggles and Kurenai's scowl deepens. "Oh, he looked so scared. You should've been there. If only I had more time, I would've killed him. I'm sure if it."
"You little—!" Kurenai begins to seethe but is stopped when a syringe meets the open skin on the side of her neck, the fluid it contains seeping into her body and disorienting her rapidly.
Her strength slowly decreases and she lets go of the knife in her hands, her sight dimming and her speech slurring.
"No," She barely manages to whisper, calling for help from the men that were following her. "Mingi... Y-Yeo... sang..." Kurenai's body becomes as heavy as lead and she slumps forward on top of Gemini, losing consciousness because of whatever was injected into her.
Her two assailants watch her slowly settle down, looking at each other once she's gone completely quiet when Gemini pushes her body off of her own.
"Better version of her, eh?" The man that came to Gemini's rescue jeers, stretching out a hand that the clone snacks away haughtily.
"It was dumb luck." She retorts, picking herself up and dusting off her clothes angrily. "And, where the hell were you? You were supposed to be here at the same time I was. Didn't Isla tell you?"
"She did." The man answers lazily, scratching at his stubble. "But I don't listen to my sister. And much less would I listen to you."
Gemini's eyes narrow down on the man in front of her, her fists curling up to punch him and he catches on rather quickly, quirking a brow.
"I wouldn't recommend attacking me if I were you. I'm not in the mood for you're attitude right now." His voice turns dark and it intimidates the clone who quickly works to conceal her anger with a fake smile.
"Of course, Ismael." The Meister named Ismael eyes Gemini closely one more time before stooping over to throw Kurenai's knocked-out body over his shoulder. "Where are you taking her?" Ismael stops in his tracks when Gemini asks him and he decides it's best if he left her guessing.
"I'm taking her to the rendezvous point. We agreed that Evan would be the one to take care of her." He pauses. "You do know your assignment, don't you?"
"Obviously," Gemini hums, putting her hands behind her back sweetly. "I have to fill in Kurenai's spot."
"And?"
"And I have to neutralize Choi San because he seems to be recuperating his memories and influencing her behavior. with conspiracies against MALUS." Ismael falls silent at the mention of this, wishing that this decision hadn't been reached by the other Meisters. But at the end of the day, that's all he can do. Wish.
Off in the distance, Ismael and Gemini hear the voices of Kurenai's counterparts catching up to them, calling for Kurenai.
"I'm off then." Ismael excuses himself, hurrying away into the dark buildings surrounding them in this dim alleyway just as Mingi and Yeosang come into view to find Gemini standing idly by at the end of it.
"Kurenai!" Mingi exclaims in relief once he sets eyes on the clone, getting tricked rather easily because of how identical Gemini is to Kurenai. "Jesus Christ, Kurenai, you scared the crap out of me when you ran away. What were you thinking?!"
He pulls her in so suddenly to hug her that she almost didn't register the fact that he was the man she had fought with at the opera house. Mingi almost crushes her from how forceful he's hugging her and the action arouses suspicions in Gemini about what this man's relationship with Kurenai might be but it's not like she can just ask.
When he lets go, Gemini sees another man behind him and she supposes it's the second person Kurenai was calling for before she was knocked out by the sedative.
"What were you doing here?" The second man asks and she can feel his powerful stare boring into her flesh. For a second, she even thinks he knows she's not the real Kurenai.
"I was..."
"She was following the directions of the envelope, weren't you?" Mingi stands up for her and she nods, going along with what he says.
"Then where's the envelope?" Yeosang inquires and Gemini is forced to lie.
"I dropped it on the way here." There's a moment between the three as Yeosang decides whether to believe her, finding something terribly strange about her. "You know, it's been quite a long day, so how about we all just go back to the dorms?" Gemini interposes, trying her best to act as Kurenai without arousing any more suspicion from the man in front of her.
"Did you find anything here?" Yeosang pushes further, trying somehow to make her slip up and confirm his conjecture that something was done to Kurenai.
"No, I didn't." Gemini pouts as she looks around the alleyway, her eyes falling on the red spray paint. "Only that, but that's it." She points at the spray-painted word and turns back to Yeosang and Mingi. "Look, it's getting late and if we don't get back to the dorms people will become suspicious of us especially with what happened recently."
Gemini acts according to the information the Meisters would feed her about the team, remembering that the ones called Yeosang, Jongho, and Hongjoong were the most paranoid of the bunch.
"She's right, Yeosang." The tall man called Mingi concedes to her point. "We should get back." Gemini nods vigorously with a tight-lipped smile, looking back at Yeosang who narrows his eyes on her.
Mingi stretch's out a hand for Gemini and she takes it gingerly, walking off with him and leaving Yeosang behind.
He watches them together for a moment, pressing his lips together before deciding that his hunch has to be right.
This isn't the Kurenai he knows, he's sure of it, and if it is Kurenai then something must've happened between the time they lost her and the time they found her, to have changed something.
But what changed, he doesn't know, which leaves him in an endless pool of speculation he can drown in if he so pleased.