24th September
2016
Jihyun takes a deep breath as she stands in front of an intimidating building. Who would have thought she'd end up standing here, even though she's always wanted to be a baker when she grew up?
She now lives alone in a small apartment in the city, but as soon as her father passed, her friend's family took her in for a few weeks. It was a tough few weeks, the girl had to deal with the pain of having lost both of her parents. And what's worse is that she knows her brother is the one who carried out both murders.
She dealt with all the hatred and sorrow, but now only one question remains.
Why?
She doesn't know why, but she feels so curious. Of course she's heartbroken about the passing of her father but she feels like it didn't take her too long to get over the sadness. Maybe it was because she had lost her close bond with him over the years and it felt like living with a stranger at this point.
Either way, she needs to know where her brother is and what he's up to. What gave him the right to kill their father? He used to be so sweet so what happened?
And just like that, Jihyun found herself questioning many things. Her goal quickly switched from being a baker to pursuing this new interest.
And that brings her to the building of the national intelligence service. It is huge in a daunting way and she starts to wonder how she managed to get an internship here. She thinks about how her old best friend's father worked here at a pretty good position but he wouldn't get her a job...
Would he?
Jihyun feels grateful for the opportunity to work here at the same time as working towards a degree at the same time, but she feels a bit nervous now that it's finally the day to begin. However, she allows her determination to fuel her confident steps into the building.
After dealing with formalities and paperwork, the girl is ushered into a large meeting room. She takes a seat cautiously and her supervisor stands at the front of the room. There's an awkward silence in the room, but it's clear that the supervisor is waiting for someone as she keeps glancing at the door.
At last, the door opens and Jihyun shoots up to greet whoever it is. She feels so small in a building full of such serious and trained people. She feels too small to even dare open her mouth and say anything.
Two men walk into the room and Jihyun keeps her head bowed low. The two men do the same and it's clear that all three are extremely shy.
"Take a seat, we can finally start now." The boys sit far from Jihyun when the supervisor instructs them to sit and Jihyun fights the urge to roll her eyes. She may be scared of them but she doesn't think she looks too intimidating.
"Jihyun! These boys are the other interns I have on my team at the moment and the three of you are all going to be working very closely through your internships, so I have created a team out of you three," their supervisor announces.
Jihyun's eyes widen out of shock and she turns back to the men, who look equally as surprised.
Jihyun introduces her name to them and nothing more, still trying to process the situation.
"Hello, I am Mingi. I joined a few days ago and look forward to working with you," the taller man utters with a small smile. "My name is Wooyoung and I joined with Mingi, it's nice meeting you!" the other man also declares with a wider smile.
They both suddenly seem incredibly friendly after hearing that Jihyun is an intern too. She feels at ease now, their smiles feeling comforting. She feels like in this building full of dull robotic workers, these two are the brightness she will be automatically attracted to.
She already loves her team.
Their supervisor gives them a lengthy presentation about working and lets the three go to bond over lunch. Still feeling a little shy, Jihyun doesn't say much while the men on either side of her chatter endlessly.
She sips on her coffee at the canteen table timidly while avoiding all eye contact.
"What about you, Jihyun?"
She looks up from her cup at the sudden mention of her name to find Wooyoung staring straight at her with anticipating eyes. She blinks blankly. "Huh?"
"What's your favourite 'Harry Potter' movie?"
Jihyun stares out of disbelief before bursting out laughing. She didn't expect them to be talking about something so random but now she thinks hard. Should she tell them that she's never watched any of the movies or read any of the books before? Judging by how seriously they're taking this topic, she feels like maybe she should just lie.
"I love...the second one?" she answers, voice full of uncertainty. Mingi nods approvingly while Wooyoung gasps. "I expected better taste from you..." he mumbles, taking Jihyun aback.
"No, her taste is amazing! Don't mind him, he's got a condition where he can't enjoy good movies," Mingi whispers the last part to Jihyun, loud enough for Wooyoung to hear and form a scowl on his face.
The girl watches their argument unfold in front of her shocked eyes and wonders why she's even feeling shy anymore.
"Get well soon, Wooyoung," she mutters in a sad voice, pretending to wipe away a fake tear. While Wooyoung gasps, Mingi bursts out laughing and gives Jihyun a high-five.
"I love our team already," he giggles. "I don't, get me out of here," Wooyoung playfully complains, though there's a huge smile on his face too. Jihyun smiles too before picking her coffee back up.
25th September
2017
After getting the news that their supervisor is giving them all a permenant job under her, Jihyun, Mingi and Wooyoung all instantly ran up to her desk.
Over the past year, the three earned themselves a lot of trust and adoration from their supervisor thanks to their extremely diligent work. Despite being so playful, they didn't slack off even once and grew close to their boss as well as each other.
The supervisor sits at her desk currently, and pretends like she doesn't notice the presence of her three underlings.
"Please let us still be on the same team, please~" Jihyun begs. "I told you, you'll have a new team for every mission. It's the protocol," the older woman sighs, slightly massaging her temples.
"But we know you have the power to let it happen. Look at how good we are when we're together, pretty please," Wooyoung now requests with puppy dog eyes.
She returns to ignoring them and continues to type on her computer.
"You can disband us if we ever mess up, but please let us stay as a team," Mingi now speaks up.
Their supervisor exhales loudly before spinning around in her chair. Her tired eyes travel over each of the team and their pouting lips.
"Fine. But the moment I feel like you're not working hard enough, this won't go on," she announces at last, flinching a little when the three start jumping around in her office. She smiles fondly when they're not looking.
Even though she loves them, she will never let her personal opinion interfere with her business decisions. But she really means it when she says that the team are wonderous at their job, especially when together. Their teamwork is something not to be underestimated.
But of course, everyone has their flaws.
Jihyun's flaw is that she is way too impulsive and reckless. It's clear in her daily life, but she has never allowed that to interfere with her work so it's forgivable.
Yet at the same time, the supervisor worries that one day this flaw will come back and bite Jihyun on a mission.
"Get out of my office before you create a hole in my floor," she scolds. The three stop jumping around and smile bashfully. "Sorry ma'am! And thank you!" they bark with excited smiles before scurrying out of the room.
"This is great! Now I can go around saving the world or whatever!" Mingi exclaims as soon as they're out of the office. "You alone could hardly do that, but I can!" Wooyoung argues with a proud smile.
"I can finally find my brother," Jihyun utters in a smaller voice. Both Mingi and Wooyoung turn to her with a look of concern. She had already told them about her brother. but neither of them can really understand why she'd want to see him again.
Mingi raises an eyebrow at the sight of the girl smiling while staring into space. "To get him arrested, I presume?"
Jihyun snaps out of her trance and forces a frown onto her face. "Right," she nods. Mingi and Wooyoung share a concerned glance with each other.
"Why are you excited to meet him?" Wooyoung questions.
Jihyun dwells on the question as they continue to walk through the hallways. "I know that deep down he's as sweet as he used to be. He's got to be..." she drifts off.
"I just want to meet him. I've been wanting to see him again since I was young, I can't bring myself to hate him for some reason," she nervously admits. "How did you get so attached?" Mingi asks.
She shrugs. "I don't know, he treated me like I was the most valuable treasure in this world but we didn't really live together for that long. But I loved the way he was so sweet and loving, and I could really feel the love from him. I guess I grew attached as a young child and haven't been able to detach myself yet," she answers, though she doesn't seem confident with the answer.
It goes quiet for a few moments after she finishes. "What if we helped you look for your brother? It'll be hard but there's nothing the three of us can't do!" Mingi suggests. "I agree, I want to see what this guy is like with my own eyes now. Just don't hate me if I report him to the police after," Wooyoung joins in.
Jihyun chuckles. "I like that idea. Thank you so much!"
And thus a powerful pyramid of three agents was born.