The soreness in her body was an accustomed feeling which didn't alert Jisoo at all but the familiar feeling of loneliness and void was missing and it was enough to alert her. The feeling she was somewhere cramped up convinced her she was locked up.
Her hand touched around her abdomen to feel a large patch of bandaid slapped on and the small scratches that she knew she had earned on her body were covered with smaller bandaids.
While she slowly tried to get her body to awake, outside the cramped closet was a girl squatting and waiting anxiously for her to open her eyes.
Expecting to see some old man with a nasty grin, Jisoo was in shock when she saw a girl with a childish pout in place. Her breath was stalled for many reasons and one being the features she was studying one by one etched into the latter's face was breathtaking.
Vision still hazy, Jisoo told herself she was studying to sense danger but even her conscience told her this girl could barely hurt a fly let alone a well-trained assassin.
Last night's events came flashing into her head and suddenly the face in front of her seemed very familiar. Maybe it was the dark, or maybe it was her hazy state, whatever it was definitely didn't do the girl in her memory justice.
"Good morning." A cheery whisper emitted from the lips that were now slightly curved upwards. "Did you sleep well? I'm sorry I couldn't let you on the bed! Our warden would've caught us. The girls are eating breakfast. I'll get you some, don't worry!"
"That's the least of my issues right now, airhead."
"Noooo! I told you my name is Jennie!" She whined in a childlike manner.
"Sorry, Jennifer." Jisoo purposely teased which went over Jennie's head.
"No! No!" J-E-N-N-I-E!" She slowly explained. "Kim Jennie!" It didn't fail to amuse Jisoo.
"Well, Jennie, shouldn't you be getting breakfast right now?" A gasp left the girl's mouth.
"Oh no!" Jennie quickly stood up and bowed an apology to her before running out of the room. "I'll be back!" Her voice drowned out as she got farther.
After waiting a minute for good measure, Jisoo stood up with a bit of struggle. Her body was weaker than expected. She staggered around and plopped into the bunk bed.
Beside her was a night stand which had multiple photo frames decorating it; groups of girls, an unhappy family, and a photo of the girl she knew, holding a brown Pomeranian in hand.
Although her wound was patched up, Jisoo didn't know what and how Jennie had cleaned it up so until then she decided to look around the room for escape routes and see if it was possible to contact someone from the agency.
Meanwhile, three girls were pretending to look around at each other sneakily while dropping food into their laps to steal. The thieves quickly excused themselves and ran back to their room.
"Gosh! If the warden caught us, we would've been dead meat." Irene scoffed.
"Say thank you to Rosie. She thought the food was disappearing into her stomach as usual instead of our laps."
"Rosie Posie did it again." Nayeon chimed as the one in question slapped her arm.
"I'm so nervous, unnie." Rosie whispered as they looked closer to the door.
"Gosh, expect Jennie to bring in a stranger with a gunshot wound." The oldest moved closer.
"And a hot one too!" Nayeon sighed. "I didn't even have time to draw my brows on." They stared at her judgingly before deciding to open the door.
The door creaked open to see the closet closed and no trace of a person outside. Jennie carefully creeped closer and slid the closet door to see Jisoo as she had left her.
"Airhead. You're back." Jisoo's eyes turned to see the girls behind Jennie. "With company."
The girls stepped closer to Jisoo very cautiously while Jennie casually kneeled down and reached to touch her wound through her blood-stained top. The agent felt safe enough to barely flinch.
"Does it still hurt?" Her voice quivered as she spoke.
"Don't start crying again." Jisoo warned, not liking the feeling of her chest tightening at the sight of her eyes tearing up.
"You were awake last night?" The girl that still munched on a muffin asked.
"She cried last night?" Jisoo rasped with a challenging voice which scared the girl enough to step behind the shorter girl beside her.
"Jennie couldn't stop sobbing when we were cleaning you up so we had to take over." The one that she was hiding behind answered, somewhat defensive.
"No, I didn't! My eyes were just sweaty, unnie!" Jennie quickly denied. "Miss stranger, don't listen to them!"
"What's your name anyway?" Rosie asked the million dollar question.
Jisoo stared at them wondering if it was really safe to tell them the truth.
"Kim..."
"Wah!" Jennie interrupted before she could finish. "We're both Kim!"
"Aren't you hungry, Stranger Kim?" Jisoo looked at the girl with the bunny teen who was still shaking in fear.
"Oh yeah!" Jennie's hands reached out to Jisoo who took them. With her support, it was easier for Jisoo to stand up. The girls, still scared, helped move Jisoo to sit on Jennie's bed.
"I'm not hungry. Just tell me what you guys did last night." The rest of the girls were ready to adhere to her demand except Jennie who remained oblivious to her tone. She stood up with her hands on her hips.
"You need to stay healthy! Mom said to never skip breakfast!" She pointed to the platter of pastries and small tumbler of coffee they managed to steal.
"Is she really threatening a possible gangster that showed up with a gunshot wound?" Nayeon whispered to Irene while her voice quivered.
"Don't ask me. I'm still recovering from the experience of removing a bullet from a living body." They turned together to see Jennie feeding the raven who silently ate without refusal.
"Feeding a gangster must be the next best Jennie achievement right next to tripping over five flights of stairs and remaining unaffected." Rosie added.
"Don't forget accidentally bro-zoning that guy since both of them were Kims." Just as they said it, they heard Jennie's excited voice.
"Since we're Kim, aren't we basically-"
"Married." Jisoo quickly finished and leaned towards Jennie's hand to continue to eat.
"Married?!" The other three chimed in sync, almost impressed with the raven's words.
Jennie was struck still at her words. "M-Married?"
"We did tell those old ladies last night that you are mine and you decided to take responsibility for me. Marriage doesn't seem that far to me."
"She didn't even give her a second to think of it." Rosie whispered to Nayeon who nodded with a slightly gaping mouth.
"That's not- Don't say that." Jennie bashfully requested. Instead of answering, Jisoo remained still with an open mouth while she stared at Jennie. The brunette stared into her eyes, suddenly aware of their proximity and her soft features in contrast to her rough behaviour.
"Uhhh, Jen, maybe, feed her?"
"Huh?" Jennie snapped out of her trance at Jisoo and brought the food up to her mouth and watched her chew silently without breaking eye contact. Her dark eyes remained glossy eyes as they looked up at Jennie without the defensive glare she held at all times. It almost reminded her of a small, pitiful puppy.
Without control of her hand, Jennie had reached over and gently ruffled the raven's hair which caused a rift between the latter's brows as she tried to decode what was happening. Flustered after receiving the look for Jisoo, Jennie quickly cleared her throat and continued to feed her.
"You should rest." The brunette suggested after they had finished eating. "Unnie said your body's weak."
Jisoo got ready to go back to the closet when Jennie grabbed her wrist. "Not there, silly. Here." She pointed to her bed. "Our warden won't check in during the day and even if she did I'll stay here." She turned to her friends. "You guys should go to class."
"What if someone asks for you?" Nayeon questioned.
"Tell them she's sick." Jisoo answered for Jennie who took too long to answer.
"Good idea!" Jennie smiled at Jisoo in satisfaction.
--------------
"Did you offer to stay here with me so you could skip class?"
"What? No!" Jennie strongly denied.
"What do you think will happen now?" The raven asked as she stared above her. She was currently laying down while Jennie sat beside her.
"You rest. Then you become okay. And then..." The idea of Jisoo having to leave once her wound heals just struck Jennie.
"I told you I'm not a good person."
"I don't believe that." A tired sigh left Jisoo's mouth before she contemplated on telling Jennie the truth. Although she had dropped hints, it seems the brunette took her lightly. And even if Jisoo would have to kill anyone that knew about her, she felt she could trust her..
"I kill people." Silence followed her voice and she thought she finally broke Jennie's little world of delusion.
"Bad people?" Her timid little voice asked back. Why does that matter? What would that change? I'm still a murderer. Jisoo wanted to yell out the words in her mind but she couldn't.
"Yeah."
"Then that's okay." The raven didn't know how to tell her that just being in her vicinity was dangerous. The naive smile that the latter held was so assuring, she almost felt like she was a good person.
"I can even kill you." Maybe.
"No you can't. You're not allowed to kill good people!" She stated so obviously as if Jisoo had said the wrong answer to a math question rather than threaten her. "And I'm stronger than you think."
"Think you can overpower me with your little hands?" Jisoo raised a brow at her.
"They're not that little!" Jennie defended as she clutched them into little fists. Blankly blinking, Jisoo brought over her hand and covered one of them with her own which only emphasized the size difference.
"They fit perfectly in my hands." Embarrassed and blushing, Jennie pulled away quickly.
"You should get some rest, Miss Stranger." Jennie suggested.
"Well, thank you for helping me. I will leave by tonight."
"Leave? Why? Where?" Jennie inquired. "You haven't recovered yet!"
"I feel better thanks to you. I need to go back and continue my job."
"Can't you take a few days off? It'll be just like how I'm skipping class right now but you'll have a real reason to." Jisoo's eyes crinkled at her words.
"No I can't, airhead. My job...is my life." Jennie's eyes bore into her own.
"You must really love it."
"Love? No. Not really." Jisoo laughed out of pure amusement. No one ever loves their job "It's honestly my only purpose."
"A job can't be a purpose." The brunette states softly. "Mom said the purpose of life is to find your other half."
"And when you do? What happens?" Jisoo challenged. "Do we just die?"
"No, silly." The raven didnt like the fact Jennie laughed as if she was a child spouting nonsense. "Our purpose changes."
"What does it change to?"
"To love and protect them." Jennie held a smug and content face. It was an adorable sight to see. Jisoo smirked at her innocent answer.
"That's cute." She sighed, turning back to the ceiling. "I want to meet this philosopher you have as your mom."
"I want to meet her again too." Jisoo's brows met in a concave.
"Mom's far away from me now." Jennie revealed with her pure smile. Jisoo watched silently. She had no experience comforting someone and made no effort to. Death was natural and in her line for work, a necessity.
Before they knew it, Jennie had dozed off in the silence and Jisoo was left helping her lay down in her previous position. She searched around for the latter's phone and quickly searched through for all the information she could find on her.
Although she was adamant on leaving, it still helped to be able to make sure Jennie was safe once in a while when she was able to be apart from work. It was a better activity than to train herself to death while waiting for her next assignment.
Hearing the door open slightly, Jisoo instinctively paced to hide behind it. In came the figure of a man she knew well but didn't expect. He hastily scanned the room before cautiously nearing the sleeping brunette. Jisoo watched as a device she was very familiar with was lifted from his pocket.
Wasting no time, she hit the back of his knee from behind, and bent his eirt inwards, dropping the syringe in his hand. Jisoo grabbed his neck in a choke hold between the crevice of her elbow. A struggling groan let out of his throat.
Flipping his whole body and softly letting him land on the floor with a knee pushing into his ribcage, she made sure to grab his hands into her hold. Their faces were mere inches away.
"You!" He struggled to breathe. "You're alive??"
"Why are you here? What business do you have with..." Jisoo's eyes glanced at Jennie sleeping soundly. She lowered her voice a few notches. "...her?"
"You're not supposed to be alive! The injuries you sustained would've killed you by now. You died!"
Jisoo put slightly more pressure onto her knee, pushing further onto his chest. "You're not answering my questions, Haein."
"Suho." He sputtered out. "Don't forget our names."
"I'll call you what I want. I don't care for you right now. Unless you answer my question, you will be dying in this room as the Haein I know and the Suho others know."
"She's-" Jisoo pulled her knee up slightly, seeing as he struggled to speak. The man heaved as soon as he felt relief.
"Quick." Jisoo urged him..
"My mission." His breath remained heavy. "She's my mission."
"Her?" Jisoo's brow raised at him as she scanned to see if he was lying. "What mission? Is it related to me?
"That's confidential and you know it, Jisoo."
"You won't die if you share. But if you don't..." She moved her weight to put more pressure to remind him that she was capable of killing him and disposing of his body in minutes.
"Fine! Fine! Take your fucking knee off, Jisoo."
"Youngro. If I have to say Suho, you'll address me as Youngro." Haein shivered at the seriousness on her face.
The girl was years younger than him but she was far more skilled and barely capable of understanding the value of life. He was afraid she really might take his. Killing another agent wants a new concept to Jisoo after all.
"Y-Yeah, fine." He waited to see if Jisoo would back up but seeing she wouldn't move an inch, Haein just exhaled the breath he was holding in.
"She has a hit on her. Some business politics. The agency thought you had passed but seeing how you had completed the mission and were in disguise, they didn't feel compelled to check."
"I was left for dead."
"No, No!" He panicked feeling the pain on his ribcage rising. "We were to dispose of your body later but once we went back, the rain had washed away most of the blood and there was no body." His statement only angered her further. They didn't care about her death at all.
"The CCTV footage only showed some girl going up but the rest of it wasn't recorded due to the rain messing with the main outlet."
"I would've never thought I would find you here with her alive!"
"You didn't."
"What?"
"You didn't see me at all today." Jisoo slowly got off him, moving from her knee to her feet. Haein followed behind, whilst rubbing his chest. "You're going to tell me who had put this hit on her now and you will walk back to the agency saying you were unable to complete your mission due to interruptions."
"Jisoo," He spit with venom. "Do you understand who you're speaking to?" Being ordered around by someone younger than him only angered him. "Just because I was going easy on you, doesn't mean I can't finish you right now."
"Wanna prove your claim, Haein?" In a split second, she felt hands grabbing her shoulder as a foot hit the back of her knee to kneel her. Using the momentum, Jisoo used him to stabilize herself and quickly jump over, pulling him to the ground with her arm once again around his neck.
They both struggled to stand up but once they did, Haein's vision was already blurry. Jisoo's back was glued onto him while she bent him backwards, closing the crevice of her arm tighter by the second.
The other hand was occupied twisting his arm, which was already dislocated by her. No matter how much he fought with one hand, there wasn't much being done.
"Do you want to leave with a dislocated arm or not leave this room alive at all, Haein? Last chance at life." His vision blacking out, Haein stopped his struggling arm and loosened his stiff body, succumbing to its need for rest.
"Good boy." He could hear the smile in her voice without even seeing her face. "Now don't make a sound when I let go or you'll wake up airhead over there." Jisoo slowly loosened her hold on him and watched him drop to his knees, stunning to stand.
"Don't." She commanded. "Your head is dizzy, the lack of air will only make you rock around the room. Your steps will be too loud and reckless. Catch your breath. Stay down and speak. I can hear you from here."
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Haein breathed heavily until words were able to make it out of his throat.
"Kim Jongin. He's affiliated with SMTO-" Hearing impending footsteps, they both acted quickly to move. Jisoo forced him to take her spot in the closet while she stood beside the door to hear.
"What do you think is happening inside there?
"Hopefully not a hostage situation."
"I'll keep Jen in my thoughts."
"She took her in so wouldn't it be the other way around?"
"Joohyunnie, your brain amazes me."
Jisoo listened intently as they continued their pointless thoughts.
"Let's just go without her for today. Plus, we can't really leave that stranger alone." They all agreed as Jisoo heard the voices slowly lower in volume.
"How fortunate for you." Haein opened up the closed closet door and crawled out to stand on his feet. "Make your way out the way you came in." He nodded, walking past her. "Haein." She called out one last time.
"If you try to play me and say a word about me to the agency, everyone they send will end up dead, including you." Jisoo warned with cold eyes. Nodding obediently, he carefully watched the outside hall before rushing out of the place.
Jisoo smirked and walked back to kneel at the side of the bed, Jennie was still sleeping safe and securely on. Grabbing the dropped syringe, she stared at it as she fiddled with it between her fingers.
Jisoo grabbed Jennie's phone which was lying near. Knowing she had already memorized the passcode she was able to catch a glimpse of, she quickly typed it in and searched her contacts.
Finding none of the name, she hurried to look through other chats that mentioned it when she quickly landed in Jennie and her dad's conversation. It didn't take Jisoo long to scroll through and find a picture. She stared at, recalling how familiar it seemed.
Skimming through it, she was slightly taken back when she saw the way Jongin was being referred to in their chats. With irritation from Jennie but admiration for his future son-in-law by Mr. Kim.
Jisoo quickly went back to type in Fiancé and scanned through the most professional and uncharacteristic texts she had ever sent of two fiancé's, not that she had seen many. But it really wasn't hard to tell that both parties weren't too into each other. Jispo placed it back and looked around the room before her eyes landed on the reason his face felt so familiar.
"Kim Jongin..." She looked to the picture frames that decorated the frames. Jisoo's lips formed a smirk. Grabbing the
"I'll just do you this one favour and we'll be even."
------------
"You couldn't do it."
"There were too many chances of me being caught. I only got one opportunity and even before I could make an attempt, I was interrupted." He wasn't lying, he was just vaguely speaking the truth.
"Leave." Haein looked up in shock.
"Chief."
The older man looked at him with sharp eyes. "You're off this assignment, Haein. You can leave now."
Haein nodded, seeing the disappointment on his face. He clenched his fist as he walked out. Anger rose in him knowing this wouldn't have happened if Jisoo hadn't intervened.
Walking out, he grabbed water from the fridge nearby. His irritation grew, remembering Jisoo was the one that had ordered the Chief to get it. "I get hungry after killing. I can't just kill while I'm thirsty" was her reasoning and they didn't even argue against her.
Haein grabbed one of the triangle coffee milk packs and slammed the door shut. "Who the hell would even fill up a fridge with milk?"
He hasn't failed to close an assignment in years. Thinking of it only got him angier. Thinking of how he struggled in her hands, made his veins pop out of his forehead.
"Rough day there, Jung?" A cheery voice spooked behind him. The man shoved the girl aside and
"Watch your fucking mouth. I'm your senior."
"Woah. Bro, be calm." She held a cheery laugh. "Senior in age only." She let a low comment out, just enough for him to hear.
"I'm not in the mood for this right now. Don't piss me off further."
"Hey, I didn't say you're wrong." She put her arms up in defense. "You're definitely a senior." Haein sighed inwardly.
"Senior citizen, maybe." His growl of anger only gave the girl a smirk.
"You and that bitch are the same." He muttered to himself. "Same fucking low-life orphans."
"What's that?" The girl brought her ear closer in a playful manner. "I couldn't hear that?"
Seeing how he couldn't get to her, and the same calmness he saw in Jisoo, Haein was ready to burst in anger.
"I'm just playing." She laughed it off, paying no attention to his anger. Calmly, she walked past him to open and browse through the fridge. Why so serious, anyway? Lose a mission to a kid?"
Heat coursed through Haein's veins, wanting to warn her, he reached out his hand but before he could even make a move, he found himself lying on the floor with an aching back. It hurt less than Jisoo but the combined pain was truly killing him.
"You've gotta be faster than that, Mr. Senior Citizen." He watched her as relaxed as ever, stab a straw into the pack of milk and sip through.
Collecting his leftover dignity, Haein watched his legs shake as he remained on all fours for a moment before finally finding the strength to stand up.
"F-Fuck you!" Brazen, the girl continued to drink. He stumbled away in humiliation.
As she watched his figure disappear, she pulled the straw away from her mouth. "God, she really was so childish. What grown woman likes milk this much?"
-----------
"This couldn't be easier." Jisoo sighed as she played around in wires. The electrical outlet was something she had expected to be tricky but the way the employees had marked everything and even had a manual book, even a toddler would have figured this out.
After cutting off the essentials, she changed into the correct attire and carefully sneaked to the stairs. Counting the floors, Jisoo stretched herself once she made it to where she had noted the CEO to be.
Standing to the side, she observed the little security at the top, compared to the amount of ones that she had to outsmart at the bottom. Not that it took so much effort. Here, all she had was a cube of office workers she had to hide from and one poor, overworked secretary.
Shaking her head, the raven waited patiently for the secretary to stand up and enter the office to announce her break. She had picked lunchtime after all. The workers are gone and soon she will be too. Jisoo remained at her spot until she saw the girl get into the elevator and reach the first floor.
Waiting it out, Jisoo watched as Jongin finished his heated phone call. The soundproof glass couldn't hide his expression of anger as he shouted and launched his phone onto the ground. Minutes after brooding, he paced around angrily until he finally bent his back and slammed his desk.
It brought a smirk to Jisoo's face. A grown adult man, throwing a temper tantrum. By her guesses, she knew they had told him his fiancé was still alive. She walked closer to the office door and stared nonchalantly at the broken phone. He helped her without intention.
Jisoo walked in with quiet steps that Jongin hadn't noticed. In swift moments, she was right behind him with a centimeter of a distance. Feeling playful, the raven blew air on the back of his neck slightly.
"What the f-" The man turned around in panic only to be swept off his feet and land nearly on his face. Jisoo didn't speak, instead she twisted his arm and pressed it in search of veins.
It didn't take long for her to inject him with whatever Haein had brought earlier. It was nice that Kai had a slow reaction time. This was an easy kill.
She backed up to see what he would do but his moments of a dying fish on land were slowly coming to a stop. Feeling no pressure on him, Jongin stumbled around and got himself off the ground, he hovered over Jisoo but remained helpless. One low effort kick was all it took for his dizzy self to land against his desk.
Sighing, Jisoo grabbed his tie and dragged him around the desk to sit in his chair. He obediently followed and even thanked her which made her smirk once again.
Jisoo noticed it was taking quite a while for it to work its way up to him but she didn't mind, she had time to kill and walked to admire the city view through the transparent glass. She saw him struggle to behave sober through the reflection on the glass.
"I like your hair."
"Thanks, I grew it myself." A hazy Jongin answered from his chair.
"You like your fiancé?" Jisoo got straight to the point.
"F-Fuck that bitch." Her jaw hardened at his words and she slowly hoped that the kill would pace a little faster. "I'm gonna call off this wedding, finish her off and grab those s-stocks myself!"
"What if you get finished off instead?"
"W-Who the fuck has the guts for that?" He challenged, with his shaking hands and unfocused eyes. The raven just sighed. Men really had no usage of their neural system.
Without answering, she watched his eyes eventually begin shaking like his limbs and waited till it all slowed down to light trembling. He was barely able to bring his hand to clutch his chest, she remained nonchalant even as she saw him push his nail into his skin on the reflection of the glass.
"I guess the wedding is called off as he wanted." Jisoo nodded, walking away from her spot. "And so is the mission."
As she prepared to leave, the girl that watched quietly from afar, smirked through the binoculars.
"See, I knew she had a soul." The girl smiled as she backed away. "Let's go meet the un-dead Kim Jisoo now."
-----------------
Instead of saying I'll kill for you, Jisoo did just did it. How sincere.