Roadkill - catnipz

Chapter 3 - Aftertaste

"Can I have a stamp, please?"

The boy sat at the counter doesn't even offer her a proper reply, just grunts in her general direction, mustering all his will to get up out of his seat behind the counter. He takes his single earbud out, Haerin instantly able to hear the music thanks to its sheer volume, which he discards on the counter carelessly as he stands up. He lumbers over to the back wall, and Haerin looks away from him, heaving a small sigh.

She's not used to this shop, the one by Sakura's place, though realistically it's not much different from the one near her own. Dull, flickering lighting that looks like it's about to give up any second now, a crackling radio placed in one of the corners spluttering out music weakly, a malodour of cheap, reheated fried food enough to make her sick to the stomach. Freshly hungover teenagers behind the counter that would rather be anywhere else on the planet rather than here.

"Uh, I was told to tell you that we've only got international stamps," the boy drones. "But we've got the other type too, which one do you want?"

Haerin smiles dryly. Fucking pricks. "I'll take a national one, thanks."

The boy picks out a stamp at random, tossing it onto the counter before lugging himself with great effort back to his seat. The song blasting from his earphones changes, going from fast-paced rap to what sounds like an old-school girl group, which he rushes to change with a sudden burst of energy, scrambling with his phone frantically and muttering something about a younger sister.

Haerin hardly even hears him, much less focuses on what's happening in front of her.

The boy charges her with a red face, and Haerin pays, snatching the stamp from the counter and stuffing it into her pocket. She mutters a "Thanks," as she walks away, the boy offering her another grunt, before the music from his earbuds becomes muted again as he stuffs them into his ears.

Haerin steps out of the shop, looking around, and thankfully, no one else is in sight. Not that it makes much of a difference, she's not doing anything out of the ordinary, but anyone watching her at all just makes her nervy. She'd chosen this time on purpose, just about noon, because the Outskirts are practically deserted during these hours; people don't go out till it's dark, whether that be for work or for leisure, and it's not uncommon to catch a few stray wanderers stumbling about the streets in the morning, still drunk from last night's endeavors. At this time, just about midday, hell, most people are probably still asleep. That's just the way things go here, bar for the poor souls like the boy in the shop trying to earn their keep.

Haerin's said it before, she's beyond lucky with her position as a detective. Even if it's landed her in a situation like this one.

Pressing her lips together, she stands in front of the post box. It's nothing particularly exciting, a faded red in color and really not all that tall, but it's like it eyes her up menacingly, like it knows what she's about to do. The envelope gripped tightly in Haerin's hand, by the very edge so she doesn't accidentally touch... well, anything, suddenly becomes a lot heavier in her grasp, trying to make its existence known as if Haerin hadn't lost every ounce of sleep she could've had last night.

Luckily for her, the task itself isn't particularly difficult or demanding. She just has to... put an envelope in the post.

Taking in a breath, she uses the post box as leverage as she sticks on the stamp, making sure it's neatly placed and in the right position because she's sure that she wouldn't be warranted as having done a "good job" if the envelope doesn't even end up getting sent. Deeming her work satisfactory, she places the envelope in the post box's mouth, before stilling.

She feels sorry for the wife.

Her husband lied to her. He told her that he was on a business trip, whereas in reality, he was losing all of their funds. Haerin herself doesn't even know what happened to Junghwa after she left, if they'd wrapped up or continued on, but whatever had happened, she's going to learn about it through a finger that'll arrive through the letterbox. How would someone even react to something like that? How do you even react?

Haerin needs to stop thinking about it. The more she thinks, the more she's going to psyche herself out, but she can't stop.

They could have kids. Shit, this envelope could fall in front of the door in the hallway, and a child could pick it up and open it and-

Haerin gives her head a sharp jolt, wordlessly telling herself to snap out of it.

"Just as you're posting the envelope, take a video," Haerin recalls Kazuha's words from last night, just as she was about to get out of the car. Kazuha had handed her a piece of paper, on it scribbled a set of digits, which Haerin had taken gingerly. "Send it to this number, so we've proof. Again, don't try anything. We'll find out very quickly whether or not you complied, and I don't think I need to tell you that Minji's not the kind of person you want to piss off."

Haerin had added the contact to her phone earlier this morning, mostly to save her time, and she opens it up now with her free hand, choosing the camera option. Wavering slightly, she brings the mouth of the postbox into the camera's view, and before she can convince herself otherwise, she hits record. Holding her breath, and not daring to make a sound, Haerin winces as she lets the envelope go, hearing as it lands in the bottom of the postbox with a loud, echoed thud. Sure that's good enough, Haerin stops recording and lets out a sigh of relief.

It's done, it's over, she can finally breathe.

She doesn't add any text or anything, just sends the video off as fast as she can. She's about to stuff her phone back into her pocket, maybe head back into the corner shop and buy a heap of that reheated fried food when within a split second, her phone lets out a demanding buzz.

Haerin stiffens up at the feeling of the vibration in her palm, and something chilling settles over her. A lump in her throat, she swallows thickly, and looks down at the screen.

Faster than we thought you'd be.

Haerin blinks at it, brow stitching into a frown. She was the fast one?

Again, the phone buzzes, a new message from the same number displaying on her home screen.

Send us your location. Someone will come pick you up.

Haerin's breath stutters, and she leans against the postbox, staring at the message in disbelief. No, no no no, not again, she can't go back in again, not so soon. She's barely over what happened last night, hell, she's not over it at all, there's no way they can expect her to-

Haerin exhales again, shaking her head. No, they probably don't expect her to be over what happened yesterday, and she doesn't doubt that everyone in that room had picked up on just how disturbed she was. They just don't care.

Gritting her teeth, she grips her phone a little tighter. Minji had probably thought that she wouldn't be able to stand it, the pressure, the sight, the knowing of the fact that they mercilessly carried out acts like this without batting an eyelid. She probably expects her to back out, to say she doesn't want this anymore. And Haerin has to prove her wrong.

She has to prove herself. She was given this opportunity, and she can't back out.

So, she holds up her phone again, swipes and taps until she's got her location sent to the number, no clue who's on the receiving end, and doesn't bother sending a follow-up message, sure she doesn't need to. No sooner than she's pressed send, she's getting a message back almost immediately.

Lovely.

Before that happens, we want to know what you're thinking.

If you want to back out, this is the one chance we're going to give you.

Haerin's breath catches in her throat at that last one.

You can back out, and go on as if none of this ever happened.

She swallows thickly. That's the entire reasoning behind why she's doing this.

Choose to stay, and that's final. No going back.

So, are you in?

Pressing her lips together, Haerin surprises herself, honestly. It's a similar situation to the one before, where Sakura had asked her if she'd wanted to go ahead with this whole thing in the first place. The answer comes into her head before she even really has to think about it, and even if she thought otherwise, it's not like she's got much of a choice.

Her fingers are flying across the keyboard before she can even process what's happening.

I'm in.

The reply comes just as fast as the other had.

Glad to hear it.

You're nice and close, you shouldn't have to wait too long.

I look forward to meeting you.

Haerin blinks in surprise. She had just assumed the number was Minji's, or someone of a similar position, but apparently it's someone new. And by the sounds of it, they're not the one who's picking her up. She waits a couple more moments, before sighing, accepting that that's really all the information she's going to be receiving. She types back a dry okay, and pockets the phone, leaning her back against the postbox again.

It's the middle of the day, she thinks to herself, almost like a mental pep talk. No one would be stupid enough to pull any stunts in broad daylight. Things like that happen at night; you don't have to worry.

But then what could she be wanted for?

She kind of hopes the person who picks her up is someone she knows of, even someone like Yunjin or Danielle, just to provide her with a sense of familiarity. She doesn't think she can deal with trying to suss out and manage someone new; she's had enough of a surprise to last her a lifetime.

True to the message's word, she truly isn't waiting that long. Only about ten minutes pass, flying by quickly with how engrossed she is in her own thoughts, and then she's hearing the irregular stutter of an engine from somewhere close by. A car rounds the corner, and at first Haerin wonders if it's even the one for her.

She'd been expecting something like the car Kazuha had driven the previous night, sleek and polished and totally beyond her imagination, but this... this car is plainly average, typical of The Outskirts. Dented and scratched and distastefully modded, certainly the recipient of a beating or twenty. Almost like... almost like the kinds of cars she'd seen at the races the night she'd gone to the race.

Haerin narrows her eyes, as the car pulls up in her direction. The hubcap on one of the front wheels - its gaps are indented, the surface abraded, much like...

Haerin freezes up. No. No no no no -

Minji rolls down the window and tosses Haerin a warm smile that sits much too prettily on her lips and looks much too kind for someone like her. "Hey," she says it casually, in a colloquial manner, like they've been friends for years. She pushes her dark hair back from her forehead, Haerin's eyes catching the movement. "Heard you agreed to come on board?"

At a total loss for words, Haerin nods her head, a little dumbfounded. She takes it back now; she wouldn't mind having someone unfamiliar picking her up. "Uh, yeah,"

Minji grins at her, leaning back in her seat. This smile is less affable, something more like what Haerin's used to. "You still don't really know what's going on, do you?"

Haerin hesitates. "No..." she forces herself to speak more. "No, but I want to," it's not a lie. It's the full truth, actually.

Minji lets out a laugh, clear and pleasant sounding, placing her hands on the wheel. "I keep saying it, the more you talk, the more I like you," she tilts her head in the direction of the passenger seat. "Get in. I'll tell you everything you need to know."

---

"You said to me that I ran the street races. That I was in charge,"

Haerin nods her head along as Minji speaks. "Yeah,"

Minji tilts her head to the side, eyes on the road. "I am in charge, you're right about that," she pauses. "But the races? That's only part of it,"

Haerin lets out a soft breath of laughter, mainly to keep herself grounded. "You don't say,"

In her peripherals, she sees one corner of Minji's lips rise. "The Cookie, where we went last night. It's a casino, but it's also a cover-up. Run by Heugoni Pa,"

At the mention of those final two words, Haerin can't stop herself from tensing up. She's never heard of it before, but that's the name of a mob. The fact that she doesn't recognize it means that it's something beyond The Outskirts, something beyond her own line of work, which sends a thrill through her bones that knocks them together.

She gathers herself together, forcing herself to speak now, think later. "What, is that some kind of mob or something?"

Minji raises a brow at her amusedly. "You're awfully relaxed. You were a chicken in a fox's den last night, totally unaware,"

Steering the question away from herself, Haerin directs the attention back to Minji. She's good at this, talking, she can work with this. "Why, is it you who runs it? The Cookie?"

Minji smiles dryly, eyes still trained on the road, and if Haerin were to take a guess, she's fully aware of Haerin's tactic. "No, not me. Heugoni Pa is divided up into subsidiaries. Not one overall leader. They only let us in because Danielle and Yunjin work there, make them double the amount of money than if they didn't," she says, a little smug. "The Cookie is owned by the leader of one of the subsidiaries. Yunjin and Danielle get them their coin, and they give us a helping hand should we ever need it. Make sense?"

It does. It does, it makes perfect sense, all of it. Maybe Haerin's even a little relieved. A part of her had been worried that Minji was directly part of this mob, so that's some good news she supposes. But the bad news is that she's still very much affiliated with that mob, and Haerin doesn't know how close that affiliation is, and how deep the connections run.

"Do you... do you work outside of The Outskirts? Anywhere other than the Cookie?"

"Us? No," Minji shakes her head, and Haerin melts a little further into the seat. Thank god. "They don't need us for anything like that; they've got plenty of people that can do that for them. But no one can win a game of poker quite like Danielle or Yunjin. They're insatiable too, they don't grow tired of it. You'd think they'd grow bored, but it's like..." she drums her fingernails on the steering wheel, trying to find the right word. "It's like a hunger. The Cookie is more than happy to accommodate that,"

Haerin nods slowly, drinking the information in. "So... what else do you do then? Assuming there's more than just racing and gambling?"

Minji purses her lips together. "Hyein and Kazuha go running, and collect the protection tax," she fumbles around inside her pocket, taking out a pack of cigarettes, which she holds out in Haerin's direction. "Want one?

Brow furrowed, Haerin shakes her head, not even having fully registered Minji's offer. "Running. Running... drugs?"

"Mmh," Minji hums around the cigarette she places between her teeth. "Cut shit, wouldn't even fly in the second district, but it flies off the shelves here no matter what's put in it. But Hyein... shit, Hyein... she's so pretty. She's so fucking pretty she'd never gain suspicion, ever. She could be holding a bloody knife, stood over a dismembered corpse and you'd think she'd just taken the wrong turn on the way home from school," she shakes her head, like not even she herself can believe it. "It's mostly parties and shit like that, people gravitate towards them if they need a hit of something," she shifts the cigarette using her lips so that it juts out at the corner, in Haerin's direction, eyes still on the road, and she drops a lighter into Haerin's lap. "Light me?"

Uneasily, Haerin complies, because she really has no choice. She's never actually done it before, but she lives in The Outskirts; she's not a complete fool. She cups the flame with one hand, leaning over the center console awkwardly, and entirely too close to Minji for someone she met just two days ago. It takes her a couple of goes, but eventually, the flame is licking at the curl of paper, the edges singed a dark grey. She leans back as quick as she can, knowing that Minji had her eyes on her the entire time instead of the road, but chooses to ignore it in favor of asking more questions. She doesn't care about looking like she's wanting to know too much; anyone in her position would be naturally this curious. "And... protection tax," the drugs she knew about, shit, they're fucking rampant, and probably more rat poison than the actual drug itself, but protection tax... that's new to her. She wonders if Sakura knows about it.

Minji looks at her for a few moments longer, cigarette dangling from her lips precariously, and then her lips are curving, resting her cheek in her palm. "People outside of the ones that pay us don't know about it. Would kind of defeat the purpose. Probably someone you know has to pay it,"

"Has anyone... ever not paid it?"

Minji shakes her head, letting out a sigh, a thin plume of smoke puffing from her lips. "Not yet. I'd bet Yunjin's waiting though; she's weird like that,"

Not yet.

Swallowing, she switches the topic again. "Anything else..? You mentioned someone called Hanni before,"

"Ah, Hanni," Minji bobs her head, words slightly muffled around the stick of nicotine. "She's our tech wiz. Communications, tracking," she tilts her head. "Maybe a bit of extortion when she's bored. But also the boring stuff, admin, filing. She's good at it though. Scary smart. You know that kind of intelligence that's intimidating? Like you know there's no way of working around them?"

Haerin hums. That's Chaewon's kind of smart. Silent, but enough to make you break out in a cold sweat.

But also not in the a bit of extortion when she's bored kind of way. Haerin really can't tell if Minji had been joking or not. Decides she doesn't want to know.

"That's Hanni. Do yourself a favor and never lie to her. She'd pick you out like a cat would a rat,"

Haerin swallows thickly.

Off to a great start then.

---

They don't drive for too long, at least Haerin doesn't think so; she's not exactly in the right state of mind to be the best judge at the moment. They drive in the opposite direction that Kazuha had driven last night, rather in the direction of the next city instead of the center. They stop somewhere right before the border, to Haerin's relief, nothing but the same stretch of road and barren, dusty planes as far as the eye can see.

They do eventually come to a stop outside of a small, lone shop, no bigger than a small bungalow. Blinking at it, Haerin's brow furrows. The main sign is faded, scratched, and just completely unreadable. The windows are boarded up, the exterior color bleached by the sun to a distasteful pale yellow. Off to the side of the building is a rusted garage, and it's that, paired with the discolored signs with pictures of cars and wrenches, that leads Haerin to think that this must've been some sort of auto shop at one time.

"Is this... is this where we're supposed to be?"

Killing the engine, Minji takes out the keys and completely ignores her question. "Are you gonna just sit there?"

Scrunching up her nose, Haerin tentatively unbuckles her seatbelt, clambers out of the car, and closes the door behind her. Up close, she can see the way the plaster on the outside of the building is peeling, can hear the shop sign creaking and groaning in protest as the light wind shoves at them. She jogs a bit to catch up with Minji, stuffing her hands into her pockets to shield them from the bitter cold.

The door opens with even more persistence, the sound of a bell clanging drearily fading as soon as it's heard, not even a chime. It's barren, the shelves half stocked with oil and tools and other necessities for cars that Haerin can't recognize. Their footsteps echo eerily as they step inside, Haerin closing the door gently behind her. There's a musty smell hanging in the air, like sawdust mixed with something greasy, and she scrunches up her nose in distaste. "This... was not what I was expecting."

Minji tosses her a grin over her shoulder, making her way towards the cash register, which is cracked and stained with brownish splotches. "That's the point!" she counters, moving behind the register and bending down out of sight. Haerin hears a soft clicking noise, followed by a fatigued groan of worn hinges, the sheer sound of it making her screw her eyes shut. She walks over to investigate, leaning over the register to see what Minji's doing.

She had assumed that she had opened up a cupboard built into the desk, but to her surprise, it's instead a trap door of sorts. She stares at it, taken aback; like it's nothing grand or anything like that, but it just once again hadn't been something she'd expected it to be. It's a small door, the wood gnarled and flaked with age, and through it, she can see a narrow set of stairs leading into a basement. Soft voices filter through, though they come to a halt once the sound of the door falling to the ground echoes throughout the shop.

"Minji?"

A voice hollers up, Haerin thinks she recognizes it. Maybe Yunjin or Danielle.

"Yeah!" Minji shouts back, then turns her attention to Haerin. She tilts her head in the direction of the stairs, indicating for her to start descending. She holds up the key in her grasp. "You go first; I've got to lock up."

Haerin presses her lips together, not really keen on the idea, but complying regardless. The smell going down the stairs is the same as it was in the shop, musty, oily, mayhaps a little damper. The further she goes, the louder those voices get, and she's able to make out what they're saying.

"Piss off, you're such a shit bluffer. Like you could not be any more obvious."

"You get chatty when you've got a shitty hand."

"I do fucking not, thanks. I'm giving constructive criticism."

"You're still talking."

"That's because you're responding to me! That's how communication works, dipshit."

"Still talking. Maybe shut up, hm?"

"Yeah, but see, I can tell you're worried that I could just be talking on purpose so that you think that- oh."

Haerin tenses up once she rounds the corner, and suddenly, all the voices she'd heard come into view. She stands still, caught off guard, as three pairs of eyes are honed in on her.

The room isn't that big; in fact, it's rather small, grey walls and hardly any furniture, bar for a wooden table in the middle of the room. Danielle and Yunjin are sitting at either side of the table, cards in hand, Hyein at the long edge in between them, all of their gazes snapping up to look at her.

Above her, Haerin can hear Minji beginning her descent down the stairs and breathes out a quiet sigh of relief.

Yunjin leans back in her chair, surveying her like she doesn't think she's believing what she's seeing. She's dressed casually, they all are, actually, sweats and that same cap atop her head with her hair tied messily at the base of her neck. She purses her lips. "Damn," she nods her head. "I didn't think you'd actually do it."

Kazuha gives her a gentle shove. "She means that in the nicest way possible," she shoots Haerin an apologetic look, but really, Haerin wonders if it's even possible to take that as something complimentary. "You- everything go alright?"

Haerin nods her head slowly, just as she hears Minji arrive next to her. She takes off her jacket and indicates for Haerin to do the same, hanging it up on the end of the banister. "Everything going okay?"

Kazuha nods her head. "Yeah, fine, we're just waiting on Hyein to get back. She was gone a while, actually; I think she got held up or something, but she should be back any second now. She just texted me there."

Minji hums in acknowledgment, and in the meantime, Danielle and Yunjin erupt into another round of bickering.

"I don't know what you're getting distracted for," Danielle mutters, and Yunjin lets out a gasp of offense.

"Why are you so hostile? I'm being polite."

"You're stalling because your hand is shit."

"You know fuck all about my hand!"

"Maybe, but I know you. And because I know you, I can tell your hand is shit."

"You're not giving me nearly enough credit, Danielley."

"I'm just trying to-"

"Oh my god!" this exclamation comes from a third voice, from behind one of the closed doors that leads off into another room, muffled, yet not doing much to hide the aggravation in the tone. "Could you two be any louder?"

Haerin doesn't recognize the voice, someone she hasn't met yet. And... and if Kazuha had said that that girl, Hyein, was still out, then that must mean that this voice is-

"Hanni-" Kazuha calls out with laughter bubbling in her words, leaning back in her chair and speaking over her shoulder. Yunjin and Danielle both tensed up like deers caught in headlights. "Come out, we've got a guest!"

It takes a moment or two, a bit of rustling, but eventually, the door is opening up. A girl leans herself against the doorframe, still holding onto the door handle to support herself tiredly. Her hair is a shocking pink, long and wavy, caught between a pair of chunky-looking headphones she's got hung around her neck.

Her gaze connects with Haerin's immediately.

It's cat-like, eyes wide yet pupils narrowed, and admittedly pretty, framed with a gentle spray of lashes. But it's piercing, at the same time, and Haerin feels as though she physically can't look away from her.

Hanni, that's her name.

She doesn't look away but tilts her chin in Minji's direction. "This is her then?"

"Yeah,"

Moving away from the doorframe, Hanni swiftly makes her way across the room, Haerin not knowing what word to put to it other than elegant, and she stops just short of her. Maybe even a little too close for comfort. She just keeps staring at her, again in a similar fashion to how a cat would, and slowly, a soft smile graces the pink of her lips.

"You were right," it's directed at Minji, her voice soft and almost disturbingly quiet. "She is very pretty."

Swallowing thickly, and sure that Hanni had heard it, Haerin shoots Minji a questioning look.

Minji only shrugs, lips curving into something... what, smug? Haerin's breath kind of gets caught in her throat, but also...

"Don't be modest about this, yeah? You're pretty, Haerin. Don't be modest about it and use it to your advantage."

Haerin doesn't quite think she'll be able to utilize something like that just yet, but it's definitely not information that's going to go amiss.

Hanni stares at her for a few moments longer, not backing down, and Haerin's starting to get the feeling that unnerving her is her intention. It's not the first time she's been in a situation like this, and it's certainly nothing compared to the situation last night, so she holds her ground.

She doesn't imagine this would be the sort of place where weakness would be pardoned anyway. It's difficult, especially when Minji's words from earlier worm inside her head. Maybe a bit of extortion when she's bored.

She's starting to think that these people are just borderline insane.

Eventually, after what feels like forever, Danielle lets out a soft breath of laughter. "You're gonna freak her out, Hanni-unnie."

Haerin had almost forgotten. Her and Hanni are dating, aren't they?

Hanni's lips quirk, and finally she's looking away, eyes snapping down, and Haerin lets out a silent breath. "I suppose my messages weren't ominous enough."

Haerin stills, reading her carefully. So those messages were from her.

Hanni looks back up at her, smiling somewhat normally, but-

Ah.

Her lips are pulled into a gentle smile, but her eyes flare with something almost... hostile.

Haerin nods her head slowly, getting the message loud and clear.

Hanni doesn't like her.

Their little moment of conflict ends once Hanni turns away from her, and Yunjin's letting out a low whistle. She clicks her tongue, clearly amused by their interaction. "You're scary, Hanni."

Hanni points a finger at her, rounding the table before she leans down and laces her arms around Danielle's shoulders. "You can flirt with her," she points at Danielle this time, who hardly even flinches. "But not me."

Yunjin's lip curls into something like a sneer, returning her gaze to her cards. "Of course you'd think that being called scary would equate to flirting. You need to up your game, Danielle-ah."

Danielle shakes her head, rubbing at her chin like she's trying her best not to laugh. "You just never shut up, do you?"

Yunjin leans back in her seat, hooking one leg over the other and regarding her cards with narrow eyes. She lets out a soft laugh. "But it's still making you question yourself regardless."

Danielle looks at her for a moment, like she's trying to look past her and into her head, to see what she's thinking. She opens her mouth to respond, looking like she's got an equally cutting remark on the tip of her tongue, but before she can, a loud creaking sound comes from above them.

Conversation halts, and everyone looks in the direction of the stairs.

A beat of silence, and then-

"I'm back!"

Haerin watches, surprised for the nth time, as slow, fond smiles spread on everyone's faces.

There's an excited sound of footsteps bounding down the staircase, sounding like they're being taken maybe two, even three at a time, and before if the process of elimination is anything to go by, this must be-

Haerin's eyes go wide, and she stumbles over her breath.

Oh, Minji hadn't been exaggerating in the slightest.

Hyein isn't just pretty - she's gorgeous. It's in a light, delicate sort of way, the kind where you just sort of look and let out a pitiful sigh. She's tall - like ridiculously, unfairly tall, practically towering over Minji, whose height Haerin had thought was unattainable for someone like her. Her hair is long, dark, slightly wavy, and falling over her shoulders in glossy tresses, contrasting with the warm tones of her skin. Her face is kind looking, lips smiling and eyes glimmering, and it's difficult for Haerin to take her eyes off her. She's young looking, can't be more than what, sixteen, seventeen? A backpack is hanging from one of her shoulders, not looking particularly full, and a battered skateboard is tucked underneath her arm. Her knees are littered with cuts, legs dotted with small bruises, but they don't distract from her clothing.

While everyone else is dressed casually, Hyein is stylish, jeans and a thick fur coat to shield her from the cold.

She greets the room with a full-cheeked smile, red from the cold outside, taking off her jacket like Minji had done and moving to hang it up.

But, before she can, a gasp is cutting through the silence.

Haerin looks to see that Yunjin has stood up. "So that's where it went," she takes the skateboard from Hyein's hold, not forcefully, in fact, it's rather in a gentle manner, and Haerin briefly wonders if these are really the same girls she'd met in The Cookie. "I was looking for it everywhere. What's with you and stealing my stuff, hm?"

Hyein pouts, drawing her lips together, and it's quite a comical sight. Yunjin scolding her, despite being looked down on like that. "It's more fun, though," she has a similar way of speaking to Kazuha, a bit whiny, a bit petulant. "And I get around faster, I'm sorry,"

Yunjin puts the skateboard down in favor of hugging Hyein, having to stand on her toes to press their cheeks together, muttering something about how it doesn't really matter.

"Well, you wouldn't think it," Hanni scoffs from the other side of the room, though like with Yunjin, she doesn't actually sound mad. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, leave her alone," Yunjin brushes her off, hugging Hyein closer to her, which Hyein only seems to find absolute delight in, beam wide on her lips. "She's a teenager, let her be,"

At the table, Kazuha laughs. "And she has you wrapped around her little finger. She could do anything and you'd find an excuse for her,"

Haerin just about catches the wink that Hyein throws in Kazuha's direction, grinning playfully, and it's when Yunjin pulls away from her to go back to her game that Hyein catches sight of Haerin. Her eyes grow wide, with pure, simple excitement. "Oh, you're here! I forgot that was today, you're Haerin, right?"

Haerin nods tentatively, this girl's sheer energy maybe just a bit too much for her to be able to keep with, but she goes along with it. Hyein holds out her hand and gives her another one of those smiles. "I'm Hyein."

She could be holding a bloody knife, stood over a dismembered corpse, and you'd think she'd just taken the wrong turn on the way home from school.

"Yeah, Haerin can see it. She's got a believable sort of face, that childlike aura about her that would make it difficult to even consider her a suspect of a crime, nevermind a convicted culprit.

She shakes Hyein's hand, and it's a plainly ordinary affair, though Haerin does feel a little small, with the way she has to look up at her. Hyein, again in that childlike sort of manner, blatantly looks back at her. 'Minji-unnie was right,' she has a bubbly way of speaking. She reaches out, and lithe fingertips are barely brushing the short locks of Haerin's hair. 'You really are pretty,' it's not said to flatter her, or to butter her up, just plainly honest, like she was speaking the first thing that had come into her mind.

Haerin splutters, instinctively shaking her head and denying it. This time, she refuses to look at Minji, even though she's fully aware of her eyes on her.

She'd really made an effort to make other people aware of what she thought; this is the second time she's gotten this in what, like five minutes? Briefly, her mind shifts back to The Cookie last night, on the balcony.

What does Minji want?

Maybe these are the foundations.

Giving in, she tentatively flicks her stare over to Minji, just for a fraction of a second. Her eyes are a little darker, piercing into her in similar fashion to how Hanni's had done. She shifts where she's looking straight back to Hyein just as fast, but she doesn't doubt for a single second that Minji saw her.

Haerin knows, might not know exactly, but she's beginning to put pieces together. And Minji knows it.

'No, you really are,' Hyein is still insisting, bending her knees like she's trying to get a look at her face from different angles.

Haerin can hear Kazuha laugh. 'You're staring, Hyeinie,'

Hyein only seems to realize what she's doing just then, and she immediately straightens up, looking horrified. 'Oh, I'm sorry!' she exclaims, Haerin rushing to assure her that it's fine, again fully aware of Minji watching the entire thing unfold.

'No no, it's okay, you're fine,' her words are punctuated with an awkward laugh.

Minji, thankfully, takes that as an opportunity to intervene. 'Hyein-ah,' she holds out a hand wordlessly, and Hyein seems to understand what she wants.

'Oh, yeah sorry,' she moves away from Haerin and takes off the bag that had been dangling from one shoulder, handing it over. Minji pauses for a moment, holding it up like she's surveying its weight, then smiling in a warm manner that Haerin's never seen before.

'Nice work,'

At the praise, Hyein perks up, a grin stamping itself on her lips again. 'Thank you,' she chirrups, before almost skimming across the floor in the direction of the table, over in Yunjin's direction, where she crouches down next to her and props her chin up on her shoulder to get a look at her cards.

Side-eyeing Minji, Haerin sees her surveying the group with a soft smile before letting out a brisk sigh and shouldering the bag. 'Right, are we good to go then?'

Haerin blinks at her. She'd expected a little more to it than that. 'Is there nothing we have to do here?' she asks.

Minji shakes her head. 'No, not really. I had to get this, I suppose-' she hikes the bag up higher on her shoulder. '-but I just wanted to pop in to say hi. You hadn't met Hyein or Hanni before either,' she lets out a snigger, voice dropping to something a bit quieter. 'Hanni seems to like you loads,'

Haerin can't help but snort, following Minji as she heads back over in the direction of the staircase. 'Did I do something, or..?'

Minji shakes her head. 'Hm? Oh no, don't worry about that. She just doesn't trust you yet,' she pauses, and then. 'The others probably don't either; they're just not as upfront as she is,'

Haerin purses her lips, nodding. It makes sense, she supposes. They've never met her before; she doesn't suppose letting anyone in this easy is something that happens on a regular basis. It took the other detective ages to get in; Haerin thinks that she herself just happened to get extremely lucky.

Which reminds her-

She sucks in a sharp breath.

This is everyone Minji had talked about, right here in front of her.

That means that one of these girls... one of them is the other detective sent in before her. She's in the same room as them right now.

Before she can dwell on it, Minji's continuing on. 'I knew Hyein would like you, though,'

When Haerin only frowns at her, she smiles.

'She likes pretty things,'

Ah.

Haerin really should've seen that one coming.

She looks away, pressing her lips together and letting out a huff of air through her nose. She opens her mouth to respond, with what she's not so sure, but before she can, the sound of a hand slamming on the table beats her to it.

Turning around, she sees Yunjin standing up, her cards face up on the table, a scowl on her lips. Her chair screeches on against the floor, a teeth-watering sound, not all that pleasant with the loud cackle that's currently spilling from Dani's lips.

'I told you!' she exclaims through her laughter. 'You get chatty when you've a shitty hand!'

Yunjin pointedly ignores her, walking in the direction of one of the doors haughtily, stuffing her hands into her pockets. Hyein giggles quietly to herself off to the side.

'Oh, come on!' Dani seems to be enjoying her victory, leaning back in her chair. 'Don't be such a bitch about it!'

No response. Kazuha, who seems to be finding the situation just as hilarious as anyone else, heaves herself out of her seat, presumably to go get her. 'She's a literal child,'

'No wait, hold on,' Hanni holds up a hand to stop her, smiling playfully. She seems to wait, for a beat or two until it's totally silent, before yelling out. 'We could see your cards when you went to hug Hyein!'

Behind Haerin, Minji lets out a soft, prolonged 'Ah,'

A moment of silence. And then, a far-off 'Get fucked, Hanni!'"

---

They drive back into the middle of The Outskirts, to Haerin's relief, somewhere she's a bit more comfortable with compared to the middle of nowhere. They pull up outside a high-rise building, just as worn-through and discoloured as all the others, probably once something beautiful to look at during its prime, but nothing now. They walk through a lobby-like area, void of people, bar for a receptionist at a desk, who greets Minji formally as they walk by. Having to catch up with her after standing still for too long, drinking in her surroundings, Haerin stuffs her hands into her pockets as they approach a lift. It reminds her a bit of the bar they'd gone to the first night—deceptively average-looking on the outside, but the receptionist was dressed perhaps that bit too smartly for a place like this, and the lift is just slightly too polished. "What is this place?" she asks, as Minji reaches out and presses the button in front of her.

Minji purses her lips for a moment, looking like she's thinking about what her response will be. "Can you guess?"

Haerin blinks at her, slightly taken aback. She too, thinks for a second or two, side-eyeing Minji uneasily. She has a faint idea, but... "If I say... and I'm wrong, I'll look a little..." she trails off, not quite sure what adjective to put to it, but sure Minji gets what she's trying to say.

She doesn't respond for a moment, purposefully leaving her hanging, if Haerin were to take a guess, and she's sort of gathered at this stage that it's something she tends to do quite frequently. She likes creating suspense, must get some sort of kick out of it. Maybe Haerin could even call it dramatic.

So, she waits, let her play it out, and eventually, she's digging her hand into her own pocket. She fishes around for a moment or two, before retracting her arm and holding something up.

Haerin smiles to herself.

The key that Minji had shown her in The Cookie gleams in her hold, and the lift lets out a soft ding announcing its arrival. "I said I'd give you a place if you did a good job, hm? I think you pretty much pass the criteria," she hands the key over to Haerin without even looking at her and steps into the elevator once the doors slide open.

Unable to stop grinning to herself, Haerin collects herself for a brief second before following her inside. This is good, progress. So much progress in such a short space of time.

The elevator journey is long, longer than she'd anticipated, and the general rule of thumb in The Outskirts is the higher you go, the nicer it gets. There's nothing that could be described as nice that could equate to the meaning of the same word in any of the other rings, but the more time they spend going up, the more Haerin's stomach begins to twist.

Even her and Sullyoon, who share a flat, would only be about two thirds of the way up their own apartment block, and she can't even brag by saying that theirs climbs that high. Those above them would earn their money in much more... unconventional ways, ways that Haerin would really not look into, or think about. The station always left her with enough on her plate, never mind her own neighbors.

They do eventually come to a stop, after a quiet ride up, Haerin turning the key around in her palm. She doesn't mind looking too excited or relieved because as far as Minji's aware, she's never really had a place of her own before. The doors part smoothly, unlike the ones in the station that stutter and protest like an exhausted toddler, and Haerin has to muster all of her will to prevent a gasp slipping from the seam of her lips.

It's a hallway. It's literally just a hallway, but it looks like it belongs to a hotel. Which is absurd because there are no hotels in The Outskirts, only motels, inns, and B&Bs where you're not always guaranteed a bed or a breakfast. This place, however, isn't even a hotel, yet the carpet is soft-looking, and mellowed lights attached to the walls slow faintly as it begins to grow a little darker outside.

Minji walks out of the elevator like there's absolutely nothing to behold, and to her there probably isn't. Haerin doesn't see any issue with voicing her confusion, again having to jog a little to catch up with her before the elevator doors slide shut behind her. "I didn't know places like this even existed in The Outskirts," she says, eyes glued to an expensive, delicate-looking ornament placed meticulously on a table, no real reason for it other than for decoration. Shaking her head to regain focus, Haerin continues on. "Same with that bar. I've never seen anything like it; it looks like something you'd expect to see in The Centre."

Minji lets out a laugh at that, Haerin not entirely able to identify its reasoning. Maybe a little amused, a little mocking. "You've hung around with a lot of people, yes?"

Haerin blinks. "Yes?" she phrases it like a question because Minji knows that already.

But, Minji's lips only curl, in that way of hers, where it looks like she knows something you don't.

"You've been hanging around the wrong kind."

Haerin hasn't even noticed that Minji has stopped walking until she realizes that she's ahead of her. She peers at her, confused, not entirely sure what she means, but going along with it.

Minji stares right back at her. "Well?" the girl asks, gesturing towards the door they've stopped in front of. "You've got the key, not me."

Haerin looks at the door like it's just suddenly appeared out of nowhere before nodding her head. She fumbles slightly with the lock, struggling just a bit to get the key to twist. She grits her teeth, mentally cursing herself for looking like an idiot, and twists hard, but it doesn't budge.

She keeps trying, slowly feeling embarrassment creeping up on her, just as Minji lets out another laugh. This time, Haerin's able to pinpoint exactly what kind of laughter it is, and to her relief, it's on the lighthearted side. "Okay okay, I'm sorry," her tone is something different from before, something a little softer. "That was a little mean of me. Here."

Haerin tenses up once she feels Minji come up behind her, and she can't help her eyes going a little wide when her hands come to rest on top of Haerin's own to guide them. Her touch is surprisingly gentle, and instead of turning the key like Haerin had done, she shifts her hands so that she gives the key an extra push, and then turns it simultaneously.

Haerin bites back a dry smile. She's doing this on purpose.

"There," she can feel Minji's breath in her ear, and internally, Haerin gives herself a clap on the back for not shuddering.

She doesn't know what Minji's doing this for.

Okay, she's figured out the easy way that she finds her pretty, that much was made plainly obvious. But you don't give someone you find pretty a place to stay; you don't invite them into your gang that seemingly is held together by the people you're closest to. And like hell Minji hasn't stumbled across another pretty girl out there that could serve the exact same purpose as Haerin can.

What does Minji want?

Haerin pushes open the door, and really, with the amount of times she's been shocked even in just the past couple of hours, she didn't think she had it in her to be any more surprised.

But this... this just takes her breath away.

When she'd seen the hallway, her expectations had been increased; she'll admit that. They'd led her to think that maybe she was heading into something like a hotel room—small, but nicer than anything she was used to. This... this isn't a flat. This is like a penthouse.

She's greeted with a large open room, a kitchen area on the right and a lounge on the left, a staircase at the far end of the room that leads to a second story, gilded with an interior balcony overlooking the first. It's all white tiles, polished and gleaming like teeth fresh from the dentist, tastefully decorated, and with a light floral scent slowly seeping into her senses.

The second thing she notices is that this living space is very much, well... lived in.

There's a jacket haphazardly thrown over one of the leather stools in front of the kitchen island, and there's an empty champagne flute left on a coffee table next to one of the couches. One of the lights had been left on in one of the rooms upstairs, a soft shade of yellow filtering through the gap between the door and its frame.

Haerin steps inside, drinking it all in, Minji following in after her and locking the door behind them. She closes her mouth, not even aware that her lips had even been parted, and swallows.

"Just put your jacket wherever; it doesn't matter all that much," Minji says, taking her own jacket off and walking over to one of the stools, placing the one she'd just taken off on top of the one that's already there.

Just put your jacket wherever.

Haerin stares at her in disbelief. No way. There's no way. "Minji."

"Ah, that reminds me," Minji points a finger at her. "How old are you?"

Haerin blinks, totally confused, mind whirring a mile a minute and it's still not enough. "Twenty-one, I—"

"You can call me unnie then?" Minji's smiling. She knows, of course she knows, she's so— "Yes," Haerin replies quickly, exasperated, hardly even giving the answer any thought. "Minji unnie, is this—"

Minji quirks an eyebrow.

"Is this your place?"

Minji leans against the island, holding onto its edge with both of her hands. She looks all too pleased with herself, shaking her hair away from her eyes. "It is," she confirms, eyes glimmering. "And you're going to be staying here with me," she drums her fingernails against the surface, the sound amplified in the open space. Her lips turn upwards at one corner. "Hanni's not the only one who can't trust you yet," she says it calmly, but there's a certain edge to her words, something that makes Haerin's stomach curl in on itself all over again.

Minji glosses over it with a smile a bit too sweet. She pushes herself away from the island, tapping one of the stools. "Take a seat, hm? I'll get us something to drink."

---

Minji had filled up Haerin's glass generously with sparkling champagne, a pale pink in color, and with her own glass just as much. It had made things a little easier, just like it had that first night in the bar, for Haerin to grow that slightest bit bolder, the words inside her head finding their way to her lips with a bit more ease.

There's a spare room in Minji's apartment that she's going to be staying in, and it kind of does make sense. It had been a little ridiculous of her, now that she looks back on it, thinking that Minji would give someone close to a stranger that much freedom. She said that it was so that she could monitor her, but Haerin thinks that there's a bit more to it than that. Thinks that Minji knows that there's more to it than that.

Her mind has a nice gentle haze around it, and it's much too easy for her to say yes when Minji offers to refill her glass, no matter how full it had been originally. It's too sweet, the aftertaste clinging to her tongue, and makes it easy to keep knocking it back.

She's not drunk; she's careful about that. But last night's happenings have still left a bitter taste on her tongue, and Minji speaks to her in such a tempting manner that makes it almost impossible for her to not try to smother that bitterness with something a little sweeter.

"Why..." Haerin's words are just a tiny bit slow. Her thoughts are just as fluid as they'd usually be, but her mouth seems to have a bit of trouble catching up. It makes sense for her to be curious, shit, anyone would be teeming with questions, so if anything it would be suspicious of her to not bombard Minji with them. "Why did you let me in so easy?"

Minji's swirling her drink around inside her glass, a minute movement of her wrist, a bracelet chiming against the glass stem so easily. "Well, let me ask you this," she throws the question right back at her. "Why did you come back?" she juts out a finger from the hand that's holding onto her glass, to point it at Haerin. "Because unless I'm mistaken, you were quite... disturbed. Why come back?"

Haerin purses her lips, looking at her. Her face is quite passive, neutral, but even through her daze Haerin can't accept what she's seeing on the surface. She's not just asking Haerin this for the sake of conversation - she wants information.

So, Haerin leans back in her seat, and lets out a laugh, a little dry. "Why wouldn't I?"

At that, Minji looks intrigued, leaning forward the slightest bit more. "Why wouldn't you?" she echoes, prompting her to continue on.

Haerin shakes her head, looking down at her glass. "I have- well, had, nowhere really. Sure, you meet some good people, but you also meet some... really shitty people," she thinks about the other people in her apartment block and shudders involuntarily. "And being unstable and dependent sucks, you know?" she wets her lips, hyper-aware of the way she's lying through her teeth but having rehearsed this with Chaewon enough times that it rolls off her tongue smooth as honey. "Yeah, last night... shit I can't even close my eyes and not see it, scared the shit out of me, but..." she trails off, thinking. Everything beyond the races in The Outskirts isn't something she's got scripted; she hadn't known about, well, everything back then, they couldn't have. But she doesn't have to rack her brains to come up with something, when a reason is so plain and obvious in front of her, so she continues on.

"Everyone was dressed nicely,"

Minji tilts her head, dark hair falling across one shoulder. Her eyes are boring into her, unblinking like a snake, and her rapt attention gives Haerin an extra surge of confidence. "Oh?"

Haerin hums in affirmation. "I first noticed it with Kazuha, when I got into the car. She was dressed so... so well, it's not something I've ever seen before. And so were Dani, and Yunjin, and you, and-" she pauses again, gathering her thoughts, and then continuing on. "And maybe I've become a little greedier,"

Minji's gaze darkens.

"Maybe I'm kind of sick of slumming it,"

Minji just keeps staring at her in that serpentine manner before sitting up a little straighter, pushing her hair back from her forehead. Haerin hadn't noticed before, but she's only just seeing now that it's on the verge of a total blackout outside. The gaudy, saturated neon lights signature of The Outskirts teem in through the windows, muted because of how high up they are, but still finding their way onto Minji's skin.

"And does that greed..." Minji pauses, in that suspenseful manner of hers, before continuing on. "Does that greed overcome doing things that you'd be against? Can you stomach that?"

Haerin swallows. The atmosphere between them has thickened, become a little more tense. She's not too sure when exactly it happened, but she's more than aware of it now, beginning to feel a little hot. Maybe Minji's a little closer again.

She really doesn't see any point in lying about this, not with the amount of lies she's told already. Verbally, she can keep this up, but if she were to physically carry anything out at this stage she doesn't think she'd be able. "Now? Maybe not yet," she feels the need to speak a little quieter, becoming aware of just how void of noise the flat is. "But..." she worries at her lower lip. "But I think I could learn,"

Minji nods her head slowly and downs a mouthful of her drink thoughtfully, finally pulling her gaze away from Haerin to look out the window. Those neon colors become wrapped in her iris. When she speaks, her voice too, has dropped to something quieter. She speaks through a breath of laughter.

"I haven't let you in yet,"

Haerin clears her throat, frowning. "What?"

Minji hooks one leg over the other, propping one elbow up on the armrest. "You're staying here. With me. I'm having eyes on you every second of the day," her grin is dry, thin. "Like I said, I don't trust you,"

At the words every second of the day, a lump forms in Haerin's throat, but she keeps a cool exterior. "Fair enough," she nods her head slowly, because realistically, it is. "But even so..." maybe it's the alcohol, but she's not satisfied with just that answer, because she knows there's more to it than that.

Maybe she just wants to hear Minji say it.

"You could have just turned me down. By the looks of things you're not in need of any extra assistance,"

Minji's eyes return to her, in that sharp, unblinking manner.

"Why?"

Minji doesn't reply for a moment or two, like she's mulling over her thoughts, or perhaps the sweet-tasting champagne is beginning to take a toll on her too. She leans back over the island again, leans closer, and rests her chin in her palm. There's a gleam to her eyes, and it's not the neons spilling in from outside.

"You heard the others," even quieter still, her voice. "You're a pretty thing,"

Haerin bites down on her tongue, hard, in efforts to keep her face straight. She doesn't know what it is, maybe it's different coming from someone like Minji, and even though Haerin knows this entire time she's been smearing the flattery on her like butter, she can't help the way that it strokes at her ego.

She simply tilts her head. "And?"

A sound comes from somewhere in Minji's throat, something like a laugh Haerin thinks, except her mouth is kept shut. "Pretty and? What, you want me to go on?"

"No," Haerin waves a hand at her lazily, knowing that Minji knew that's not what she'd meant. "That can't be your only reason. If that's even a valid reason at all,"

Minji shakes her head, takes another sip of her drink, speaking just after she swallows. "That's another thing," she says, setting the glass down on the countertop. "I've said it before, the more you talk, the more I like you," again, she takes a pause. "Like, you're terrified right now, aren't you?"

Haerin is unable to stop herself from flinching, at that last part.

She's good.

She doesn't reply, letting Minji continue on.

"You're terrified right now, but you're doing a damn good job at hiding it. You were terrified last night, scared fucking shitless, but you came back," she smiles again, gaze hooded and breath breaking on Haerin's face. "You want this,"

Haerin's eyes dart all over her face, not even aware that she's holding her breath until her lungs begin to burn in protest. Her throat runs dry, tongue suddenly heavy in her mouth.

Shit, Minji's one to fucking talk.

She's been pushing it to the back of her mind ever since she accepted this operation in the first place, focusing on the task at hand and that alone. But fuck, it's so easy now, with that light cloud hung over her mind, to just allow her eyes to wander over her face without fear of consequence.

Minji is fucking gorgeous. And it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

---

"This is where you'll sleep," Minji pushes open one of the doors on the second story, allowing Haerin to have a look inside. It looks as though it's a spare room, not excessively decorated like downstairs seem to be, yet stylish nonetheless, with a monochromatic color scheme and a neatly made bed. Haerin steps inside slowly, looking around. It's about fifty times nicer than her own bedroom in her flat with Sullyoon, certainly not as cramped and not nearly as messy.

"I know you don't have any stuff with you, but you won't be needing any of it anymore,"

Haerin turns around to look at her at that, sees her leaned against the doorframe. She gives her a funny look, confused. "What do you mean?"

Minji laughs softly again. "You're going to be with us for the time being. You said it yourself, everyone in The Cookie was dressed... nicely. I'm led to believe you don't have anything of the sort,"

Haerin presses her lips together, shaking her head slowly. "No. No, I don't,"

"Good," Minji says with a sense of finality. "Then we'll go shopping tomorrow,"

Haerin's eyes widen at that, and through the haze of her tipsiness she doesn't register the way she splutters. "Shopping?" she asks. "I don't, I mean, I can't pay for something-"

"Haerin," Minji reaches out, gently places a hand on her shoulder, making her look at her. "You don't need to worry about something like that," her eyes gleam. "Money is a trivial little thing,"

Haerin's mouth runs a little dry, and aimlessly, she nods her head along with what Minji says, slowly, trying to take it in. "Yeah. Yeah, that's- okay. Yeah,"

Minji gives her a knowing look. She takes her hand off her shoulder, but lets her fingertips linger as they brush against the top of her arm, Haerin hyper-aware of the feeling. But, as soon as it's there, it's gone, and Minji is stuffing a hand back into her pocket. "I'll be out in the morning, I've got some errands to run, but I shouldn't be too long. You'll be here alone while I'm gone," that's what she says on the surface, but the warning in her words is clear as day.

Don't try anything.

Even though she can't think completely fluidly, Haerin understands. She nods her head again, repeats another "yeah,"

She kind of wants Minji to leave now; her head is becoming more and more muddled as exhaustion begins to overcome her, she's tired, and the food Minji had ordered in for them to eat as they'd continued talking had only made her drowsier.

Minji stands there, for a few moments longer, like she knows exactly what Haerin's thinking. And then, she's holding out a hand. "Can I have your phone?"

Haerin's heart does a backflip at the sudden question. She stares at her, maybe for a bit longer than intentional, and tells herself to calm down. She's gone through her phone, as has Chaewon, meticulously the both of them, ridding it of anything that could tie her to the station, but... still. There could always be something, something that slipped beneath their noses, something they didn't catch that Minji could easily see. It's unlikely, but the question still erupts a swarm of butterflies inside her stomach.

Fumbling around with her back pocket, Haerin produces her phone. It's old, certainly many a model behind the latest, with a cracked screen and a grubby case. She's never really felt much of a need for one more up-to-date, not that they're all that common in The Outskirts anyway, but now, seeing it amidst the opulence of Minji's flat, it looks frighteningly out of place.

She unlocks it, not bothering to stall, and hands it over, Minji pursing her lips, pleased-looking.

"Well, that was easy," she murmurs, more to herself and to Haerin, taking it into her hands.

Haerin shrugs, hoping Minji can't hear the way her heart is thundering against her ribcage. "What's the worst you could see, really," she forces herself to get the words out casually.

Minji turns the phone around in her hold, assessing it at different angles. She lets out a short hum to herself, before holding it so that the screen faces her. Haerin can't see what she's doing, which only heightens her anxiety, only able to hear the soft clacking sound of Minji's nails tapping against the screen occasionally.

She lets out an internal sigh of relief when Minji hands her her phone back relatively quickly, even more relieved once she sees that it's open on her contacts.

"I added my number," Minji says, pointing. "I'll message you when I'm coming back, if there's anything you need to get from wherever you were before, then that's the time to do it," her eyes flick down to her phone again. "We'll get you a new phone too. That one's too old,"

When Haerin opens up her mouth to protest, Minji holds up a finger to stop her. "Remember," her tone is firm, yet a little smug. "From now on, money is trivial," her grin is thin, in that same, snakelike manner. "Trust me, I know it well,"

Haerin nods dumbly, shutting her mouth.

Finally, Minji takes a step back from her doorframe. "There should be a toothbrush and pajamas and stuff in the en suite," she tilts her head to the left, and when Haerin looks in that direction, she sees a door leading to what must be another bathroom. "So you should be fine,"

Haerin can't stop herself from nodding. She really should've been more careful with the amount she'd drank. "Yeah. Thank you,"

Minji begins to walk away from the door, knowing smile paying on her lips. "Night then,"

Haerin gives her head a sharp jolt, snapping herself out of it. "Yes. Yeah. Thank you, again. And you too, night,"

Minji gives her a nod of her own, before she's turning away and walking down the hallway, closing the door behind her.

---

When Haerin wakes up, her back pressed against the cold of the wooden floorboards and her head throbbing like someone's whacking a baseball bat against her temples, the first word that very appropriately comes into her head is shit.

Groaning softly to herself, she raises her head, rubbing at it with her jaw clenched, to see that she's sprawled on the floor, probably having fallen out of the bed at some time during the night. She manages to force herself into a sitting position and notices that she'd managed to drag half of the duvet down with her, its corner wedged beneath her head to provide her at least some sort of comfort.

She just sits there for a moment, contemplative, and honestly can't stop herself from letting out a croaky laugh.

She's sitting on the floor of the spare bedroom of the leader of possibly the largest street gang in the ring, because she fucking fell out of the bed, hungover from just a couple of drinks. Like shit, no less than a week ago her biggest worry was that Hitomi and her weren't talking. Now her sleep is so disrupted she's falling out of bed with how much of a fuss she's kicking up. She doesn't remember much, but thinking about it now, she does have vague recollections of intermittently waking up last night, at random intervals, just dark, blurred snippets that fade from her memory the more she tries to think about them.

She manages to haul herself off the floor eventually, returning the duvet to its rightful place on the bed before padding downstairs, yawning and ruffling her hair as she goes. It's strange, she thinks, stepping out of the room and having a view of practically the entire apartment because of the balcony is a strange sight she thinks, in her own flat she steps out of her room and she's practically nose to nose with Hitomi's door.

She heads down to the kitchen, not really too sure what she is and isn't supposed to do, but decides it's nothing inhumane to have a drink of water to somewhat quell the rager of a party her head is throwing right now.

She comes to a stop at the island, something unusual catching her eye.

A glass of water, tall, is placed on its surface, and next to it, two small painkillers.

Haerin looks around, like she'll see something in the apartment that'll give her an answer, before looking back to the glass again.

It looks as though Minji had left these out for her.

Frowning to herself, she pulls her phone out of her pocket, and unlocks it. There's a message from Minji, one that she must've missed since her phone was on silent.

I left out a drink and some painkillers, take them if you need

Help yourself to food or whatever idrm

Swallowing, she pockets her phone again, and eyes the pills suspiciously.

They're probably fine. But, then again, it doesn't hurt to be careful. Picking one up, she breaks it in half, tentatively touching the broken surface to her tongue and swirling what fraction of the powdery substance she'd picked up around inside her mouth. When she doesn't feel any sort of immediate effect, and rather tasting that familiar taste that painkillers have, she deems it safe.

Along with a couple of gulps of water, she swallows them both, then finishes off the glass. She hoists herself up onto the same stool she'd sat on last night and forces herself to refill the glass, knowing that the water will help her in the long run.

She sits there for a short while; she's too dreary to really pay attention to the time, just nursing her glass of water and taking the occasional sip.

She thinks she's just starting to wake up, just about coming back to reality, when a sudden noise causes her to give a start.

The noise comes from the door, sounding awfully similar to the way the keys had last night when Minji had showed her the right way to unlock the door. But... hadn't Minji told her that she'd message her when she was getting back? It's still so early, and the message wasn't sent that long ago, surely she wouldn't be back so soon.

Unsure of what to do, frozen to the spot and totally panicking, Haerin stays still in her seat, glass held so tightly in her grasp she could shatter it if it weren't so thick.

She watches as the door handle is slowly pushed down, heart making its way into her mouth and rest heavily in her mouth, stomach swooping like she's on the dip of a rollercoaster.

It drags on for too long, perhaps it's just herself psyching herself out, but the door handle is pushed down awfully slow. And then, all at once like time has sped up, the door is being thrown open.

Haerin stares.

Hyein is stood in the doorway, the grin that Haerin just about catches on her lips falling within an instance. At the sight of her, Haerin immediately feels relief wash over her. She's been through one too many surprises these past few days, so Hyein standing there instead of someone she doesn't know makes her breathe out a soft, thankful sigh.

Hyein, however, doesn't seem to be in the same boat. She lets out a whine, facepalming. "I've been caught!" she announces, giving her temple a soft knock with her fist. "I totally forgot you were here with unnie now too," she closes the door behind her, locking it, and then she's pointing a finger at her. "You can't tell her that I was here, alright?"

Haerin blinks at her, completely and utterly confused. "Caught- what?"

Hyein walks briskly over to the kitchen area, discarding herself of her jacket and running her hands through her hair. She's dressed well today too; a skirt and a blazer and a red hairband bold against her dark locks of hair. "Has she been nice to you? Minji-unnie? Don't mind her if she's not; she thinks she's more intimidating than she actually is."

"She's uh, she's been fine," Haerin replies, still feeling completely out of the loop, watching as Hyein flurries about the kitchen, going to the fridge to produce a carton of juice.

She hears her let out a gasp, the sound of it childish. " And she's been on the drink," she clicks her tongue, speaking about the bottle of champagne that her and Minji had worked their way through last night. "She's so strange, you know," she pouts, turning back to face Haerin, retrieving a glass from one of the cupboards built into the islands. She seems to know her way around the kitchen well. She also seems to have no issue with talking to Haerin as if they've known each other for years, and not like she'd just showed up at Minji's flat totally unannounced while thinking that no one else would be there.

Hadn't she done the same to Kazuha? Showed up at her place while no one was home in search of what; was it ramen?

"Minji-unnie," Hyein continues on, tongue pinched between her teeth in concentration as she pours juice into the glass. "She'll let me walk around with hundreds of thousands of won in a bag, but she won't let me have any of her champagne."

Haerin chokes on her water, coughing and placing a hand to her chest, eyes wide and staring at Hyein in front of her, who seems to have deemed her teeming glass of juice a satisfactory amount. "What?"

"I know, right?" Hyein exclaims, not bothering to put the juice back before she takes a sip. "Her morals are totally all over the place."

That's really not what Haerin had meant, and she's not too sure if Hyein knows that or not. Hyein is a... character, she'll say, not the kind Haerin had anticipated she'd come across. Again, she's so pretty, in an effortless manner, like she's not really trying all that hard. Sure, she's dressed nicely, but nice clothes can only get you so far. She's bubbly, and she's got energy, that much is clear to just about anyone, and it makes Haerin wonder how she ended up doing things like this.

She tenses up, gripping her cup a little tighter.

Or, she could be the detective that was sent in before her. Shit, it's entirely possible; work in The Outskirts is hard to get, they've started taking in kids as young as fifteen to start their training. And Hyein must be what, sixteen, seventeen? She could've passed that at this stage, it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.

She shakes her head. She can't focus too much on it; Sullyon and Sakura were right; it's too distracting. She can't be so apprehensive of everyone.

"Are you alright?" Hyein asks her all of a sudden. Her voice is sweet too; she's like the human embodiment of a sugar rush.

"Oh. Yeah, sorry," Haerin laughs it off, trying to regain her composure. "I just... didn't expect to see you, is all. You took me by surprise."

Hyein's lips draw together into a red-lipped pout, and she rests an elbow on the island, and her chin in her palm. "I'm sorry," she apologizes. "I always kind of drift in and out of everyone's places whenever. Kazuha told me you heard our phone call, a bit embarrassing," her cheeks go a little red, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, revealing a large, sparkling earring. At the sight of it, Haerin notices that she's wearing lots of it, jewelry. Her fingers glitter with rings; bracelets clang from where they dangle from her wrists, and a thin chain hangs from her neck and rests against her sternum.

"But it just totally slipped my mind that you'd be here today; I'm sorry. And Minji told me and everything, you know when you know two pieces of information but you just don't join the dots? Yeah," she rambles, and she's done her juice already, setting the empty glass on the countertop with finality. "Do you like mint chocolate?"

This girl really is bizarre.

Not even sure she'd heard her correctly. "Sorry?"

"Mint chocolate ice cream," Hyein clarifies. "Do you like it?"

It's totally random, but, Haerin just has to admit, she's a bit of an avid fan. "Yeah. A lot actually."

At that, Hyein's eyes go wide, and she places her palms on the countertop, standing on her toes. "Wait- really?"

Haerin can't help but laugh. It's a little easier around her; she's so spry that it's almost like Haerin has no choice other than to get comfortable. "Yeah. I know not many other people do."

Hyein lets out a groan, palming at her forehead again. "I know!" She exclaims, clearly very passionate about the topic. "The others don't like it at all - Yunjin-unnie absolutely hates it," she speaks incredulously, like she can't believe it, and to be fair Haerin's with her on that one.

"I've always thought it was delicious," her tone comes out more relaxed than she'd anticipated, maybe because she doesn't have to try as hard. It's good anyway, this, starting off on the good foot with something mutual. And again, something that Hyein seems to care about quite a lot. "I don't get how you couldn't. People who say it tastes like toothpaste..." she shakes her head. "I don't see it."

"Oh my god, thank you," Hyein throws her hands up into the air, and Haerin thinks she's hit the nail on the head with that one. "It's totally different. If it tasted like toothpaste, they'd call it toothpaste flavor," she pushes herself away from the island, and points towards one of the cupboards next to the stove. "Would you mind taking out two bowls?"

Haerin eyes her suspiciously. "It's not for..." she trails off, the rest of her sentence implied.

Hyein grins at her toothily. "I've got juice at my own place; I didn't come all the way here just for that. But for mint chocolate? I would," yeah, this girl is out of her mind. "You haven't eaten breakfast yet, have you?"

Haerin laughs disbelievingly. "No, but-"

"Cool!" Hyein cuts across her brightly, and slides over in the direction of the freezer, crouching down and opening it up. "You can have some with me then. I want to know more about you too," she looks up, and tosses her a wink, placing a finger to her lips. "I'll take the blame. Minji-unnie can't stay mad at me for long."

She turns back to the freezer, and Haerin regards her with a range of emotions.

Well, she supposes it's not the craziest thing she's seen recently, and all this talk of her favorite flavor has made her start to crave it a little. Deciding that there are much, much worse ways for her to be starting her day, Haerin smiles and shakes her head, getting off her stool in search of two bowls.

---

"So why did you decide to join?" Hyein says with her spoon still in her mouth, looking up at Haerin before direcitng her attention back to her bowl. "Minji said that you used to move around a lot,"

"Mmh," Haerin nods around her own spoon, swallowing before speaking. It had been a bit of a shock to the system, ice cream so early in the morning, but she's gotten pleasantly used to it. It's not anything she can say she's done before, which seems to be a recurring pattern for her here. "I thought you were just a racing group at first. I was in need of some stability, and this looked cool,"

Hyein nods her head along with what she's saying. "Most people do," she adds on. "Just means we're doing a pretty good job," she grins, before taking another bite. "Go on?"

"So I asked Minji about it, and she said she'd give me a shot, so we went to The Cookie, and uh..." she swallows. "Yeah,"

Hyein gives her a look, dabbing at the corner of her lips with a piece of kitchen tissue. " Yeah ," she echoes, exaggerated, her eyes holding a knowing twinkle to them.

Haerin lets out a weak laugh, just because she's not all too sure how else she's supposed to contribute to the conversation. "And uh... even though it's not what I had expected it to be..." she trails off, resisting the urge to laugh again. Definitely not what she had expected it to be. "I want independence. And stability. That and... well. The pay looks like it's good,"

Hyein nods her head along. "You're not wrong," she responds. "It's very good. The work is tough depending on your attitude. But we're like a team, it makes it easier. There's..." she pauses, she looks like she's trying to find the right words. "There's a lot of trust," she points her spoon lazily in Haerin's direction, and her smile turns from something bright to thin lipped and dry. "We don't trust you yet,"

Haerin rests her chin in her palm, elbow propped up on the table. "Minji made that clear to me. But I get it, it makes sense," she breathes out a huff of air through her nose. "Hanni too,"

Hyein laughs at that. "Hanni-unnie's lovely," she replies. "Once you get to know her. She's very no-nonsense, she doesn't really see the point in putting up a front. She doesn't know you, and you're in her space," she finishes off her last bite, melted mint green residue sticking to the bottom of the bowl. "She'll probably open up to you eventually, once she gets to know you. She's... protective. Careful," she stands up, picking up her bowl and tilting her head in the direction of the obnoxiously sized tub of ice cream she'd left open by the freezer. "Want some more?"

---

They start to clean up hastily once Minji texts Haerin that she's on the way home, washing the bowls and the spoons by hand, putting the juice back in the fridge and the tub back in the freezer. Hyein tackles a small clump of ice cream that had somehow fallen to the floor, mumbling something about her clumsiness as Chaewon cleans up the last bowl. She throws her blazer back over her shoulders once she's done, hastily slipping back on her shoes.

She doesn't look like someone out of The Outskirts at all, then again she supposes none of them really do. She looks like she should be working even as far in as one of the middle rings, maybe even the third. It's her face that helps her cause, really, Haerin honestly thinks that she could've snagged herself some high-end modelling contract instead of... this. Again, she finds herself wondering how she ended up here, but pushes it to the back of her mind.

"I'll tell Minji about it, don't worry. I'll just say I bullied you into it," Hyein waves a hand at her, as she fishes her keys out of her pocket. "So you put up a real fight, alright?" Hyein asks her with a knowing smile, that same twinkle to her eyes.

Haerin raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

Hyein gives her a firm hum of affirmation. "Positive. I told you, it's impossible for Minji-unnie to stay mad at me," she opens up the door, stepping out in the hallway. "Well, it was really nice talking to you. Oh! Did unnie tell you, actually?"

Haerin brow stitches. "Tell me what...?"

"I think she plans for you to come out with me some time soon, just to see what it's like. You know The Outskirts well, don't you? It shouldn't be much of a challenge for you,"

Haerin's eyelids peel back at that, and she finds her stomach swooping again. "Going out with you... like, running?"

Hyein, thankfully, shakes her head. "No, just the tax. It's a much nicer affair," she frowns. "Except when someone tries not to pay. That's never fun," she smiles a little sheepishly. "It's the new people, I suppose I don't look very threatening. But they come around very quickly," as quick as that, her tone shifts to something darker, alluding to something Haerin's not all too sure she wants to know about.

And, then Hyein's shifting back to the usual, bright way she's been the entire time she's been here, giving her head a little shake, and her lips curving into a soft smile. "But, I shouldn't spoil too much. Minji will probably explain more to you," at that moment her phone lets out a soft ding, and she takes it out of her pocket, examining whatever notificiation had popped up on her home screen. "Ah," she nods to herself, unlocking it and typing out a quick response. "Kazuha-unnie's nagging me to hurry," she explains, hitting send and pocketing it. "Well, yeah! It was nice getting to know you. Let's have mint chocolate again sometime, hm?"

"Uh, yeah," it's not like Haerin can really turn her down. And yes, she admittedly likes mint chocolate to turn her down regardless. Maybe just not as breakfast. "Sure,"

"Cool," Hyein beams, beginning to walk away. "See you later, unnie!"

Haerin gives her a small wave until Hyein's disappeared around the corner, closing the door and locking it again. She can't help but smile to herself - Hyein is a likeable sort of character. Vibrant, lively.

Haerin's smile trembles a little.

She also looks as though she'll be the character that Haerin will be able to get information out of the easiest.

---

Seeing the second ring at night is one thing, but seeing it during the day is an entirely different story.

Minji drives them both out even further than Kazuha had, and the more they drive, the more out of Haerin feels. She drives them out to a shopping centre; it's nothing massive, but it's still enough to snatch the breath right out of Haerin's lungs. All glass ceilings and display windows with chicly dressed mannequins, highlighted by tasteful lighting and Haerin just can't stop staring.

Now, Haerin is looking at herself in a mirror, eyes glued to her reflection. She's never seen herself like this before, holding her hair back from her face, lips parted in shock. It's just a dress, she's got a few of them back at her place, none of them very worn through, but this... this is like looking at a whole new person.

The dress she's trying on is flashy, like most of the others that are on display in this shop they're in. Bright lighting lines the walls of the place, a consistent colour scheme of warm creams and dark browns decorating its interior. The assistant had fawned over them the moment they'd stepped inside, complimenting Haerin's hair, how it framed her face, how it'd go perfectly with this jacket-

Minji had politely yet firmly made it clear that they were fine on their own, and had made her way about the place without a bother at all. Haerin followed her around, still in total awe, unable to stop staring at the lavishness of it all.

Now, she's in the fitting room, and that awe is directed at... herself. Like she'd said, the dress is flashy, definitely evening wear, silver and sparkly and totally unlike anything she's owned before. It dips at one of her shoulders, exposing the jut of her collarbones, and she can't help but brush her fingertips over them, entranced.

She looks... shit, she looks good.

There's a knock on the door, and Haerin flinches, snapping out of it. "Can I come in?" Minji's voice is a little muffled through the door.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure," Haerin curses herself for stumbling over her sentence, and Minji opens the door.

And she just... stands there.

Looking up, Haerin can just catch sight of Minji in the reflection, over her shoulder. She's still holding onto the door, the other hand resting on the frame, and her eyes are on Haerin.

It's that same movement again, one that causes Haerin to shudder. Eyes drag down, and then flick back up again.

Minji is fully aware.

She locks eyes with her, through the reflection, and tilts her head. "Do you like it?" she asks, voice level.

Slowly, Haerin nods her head. "Yeah," a little shaky. "Yeah, a lot, actually. I've never... seen myself like this before,"

Minji hums, nodding her head like she understands. "And what do you think? Do you like yourself like this? It's a change,"

Haerin doesn't lie, she doesn't need to. She shifts where she's looking back to her own reflection, and that strange sensation overcomes her again. "Yeah," she responds, voice light sounding, and she sees Minji's lips thin into a smile in her peripherals.

"I'd agree," 

---

Haerin gives it a couple more days. She doesn't do much in those few days, she goes to the autoshop, and true to Hyein's word, Minji explains to her her plans for her to help her collect the tax. She bides her time, not in any rush, before finding the perfect opportunity to slip out of the flat when Minji's not there.

She doesn't go anywhere near the flat, not wanting anyone who's familiar with Minji to recognize her, instead choosing a shop that's a fair distance away, and purchasing another disposable phone. The other one had been left at Sakura's flat, and with Hyein taking up most of her morning that day, she'd never gotten the chance to go collect anything. Not that she really needed to, it hadn't bothered her - she'd told Minji that the people she was staying with had more than likely messed off at that stage, and with them, all of her stuff. She'd bought it, seemingly, and after they went shopping Haerin hadn't given it much thought.

She bought the phone from a middle-aged man, scruffy looking and sat behind the counter in a chair that creaks in protest each time he shifts his weight. He smokes a cigarette as he scans it, charging her with a gruff, and Haerin quickly thanks him, heading back outside.

It's early in the morning, but not too early, everyone should be working in the station right about now. She punches in Sakura's number hastily, and holds it up to her ear, waiting.

It takes practically no time at all, and soon, Sakura's voice is crackling in her ear. "Hello?"

"Sakura-unnie, it's Haerin,"

"Oh, I hoped it was. How are you, are you okay?" It's a general phrase, but Sakura's words hold a bit more weight to them.

"I'm good, unnie," Haerin rubs at her arm with her free hand, the morning cold biting. "I'm doing much better. And things are going well,"

Sakura makes a noise of interest. "Tell me then. Just keep talking, tell me everything,"

So Haerin does. She goes on about how they're situated in a small autoshop, just before the border, mainly in the basement that she has yet to explore properly. Sakura gives her a reaction when she tells her that she's staying in the same place as Minji, but she tells her a little shakenly to continue on. She tells her about The Cookie, how it's a cover-up, and how Minji's group is connected. How Minji's group themselves have a cover-up, the races, and all the other things they partake in alongside them. That Minji plans for her to go along with Hyein to collect the protection tax. She talks for what must be ages, but she keeps an eye on the time, not wanting to be caught out.

"You said... you said you met people at this shop," Sakura says, and Haerin hums in affirmation. "Can you-" she cuts herself off with a sigh, like it's not easy for her to ask. "Can you give me names, Haerin-ah?"

Ah.

She wants to know if the previous detective is still there.

"Yeah. Yeah sure," Haerin complies, thinking.

"Tell me what they're like, what they do,"

"Yeah, sure," Haerin nods her head even though Sakura can't see her. "Well, first there's Yunjin. Huh Yunjin," she's the first one that comes to her mind. "She works in The Cookie, but she also partakes in the races. She's really good at card games, I think there's a growing gambling ring here in The Outskirts that they're growing? She'd be involved in that, she's..." she laughs dryly. "She's scary as heck,"

Sakura doesn't give her any response, silently prompting her to keep talking. She really isn't going to give Haerin any sort of inkling.

"There's Kazuha," from Yunjin, Kazuha naturally follows. "She does running and tax too, but less so, because she helps out at the races. She doesn't race, but she was the one who asked me for the code. Under normal circumstances she's fine, I guess, but even on the way home from The Cookie, she was all business. Maybe that's scarier?" she thinks aloud, mind on The Cookie now. "Minji said that she's scarier than Dani and Yunjin combined. Dani works there with Yunjin, Mo Dani I think," she adds on once she realized that she hadn't explained Dani to Sakura yet. "Yunjin's kind of unpredictable, like kind of... eccentric? Is that the right word? Dani is calmer, she doesn't get as worked up as she does. She's in gambling too, not racing though. Her girlfriend is Hanni, she works in admin. Tech wiz, I think that's how Minji put it," she can't help the disdain that stains her words. "She already doesn't like me. Everyone else says it's because of trust issues, or something like that. She seems fine with everyone else, but she's hostile as all heck with me. It's... unnerving,"

Again, Sakura keeps quiet, so Haerin just continues on.

"And then... oh yeah sorry, Hyein. She's the youngest, seventeen I think? She's like Kazuha, running and tax. Heck, unnie, if you could see her - she looks nothing like what you'd expect of a street criminal. She could be in one of our jail cells with blatant evidence proving her guilty, and we'd assume she'd just gotten lost in there. Seriously, you'd never suspect her of anything,"

Once she doesn't add anything else, Sakura keeps her voice impressively neutral when she speaks. "And that's it?"

"That's it,"

Sakura hums, again, totally void of emotion, and like that, she's moving the conversation. "We said last time that we'd talk about whether or not you're continuing this. I know you said that Minji isn't directly a part of this mob, but from what you say the affiliations are quite strong, even if-"

"Can I be honest, unnie?" Haerin cuts across her gently.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course,"

Haerin takes in a breath, and really doesn't see any point in being dishonest, not to Sakura. "Even if it were something stronger than affiliations," she takes herself by surprise with how much she means it. "I'd still do it. I- I know things started shakily, but... but just think about how close I am already, unnie," she gives her head a gentle shake. "I'm in too far now to come out, I told them I'd join," she wets her lips, finds that her heart has started to pick up its pace. "I have to keep going, unnie,"

She doesn't get a response for about ten, fifteen seconds, and for a moment she's worried that she's been cut off, but then Sakura's speaking up.

"If you're so sure... no one's in a better position right now than you to make that judgment. Thank you, Haerin,"

"No problem. Oh, and unnie?"

"Mmh?"

"Are you doing okay?"

A pause, and then Haerin's able to hear the warmth in Sakura's voice when she speaks. "Yeah," she replies, simple and to the point. "Yeah, I'm good. We're all doing good,"

Satisfied, Haerin lets out a small breath of relief. "Good. Good, that's good, I'm glad," she hesitates. "I should probably go then. I have to be back before Minji is, just to be safe,"

"Yeah. You do that then. Thank you again, Haerin. Keep us updated, hm?"

"I will. Bye, unnie,"

"See you, Haerin,"

Haerin ends the call, and emerges from the alleyway. She throws the disposable phone into the trash as she walks past the shop, sticking her hands into the pockets of her new jacket and beginning to make her way back to Minji's place.

---

Sakura pushes open the door into Chaewon's office, where the latter along with the investigations unit are sitting in various different spots, waiting for her. They all perk up once they see her enter, Sullyoon gathering herself to her feet. "What did she say?" she cuts straight to the point, eyes brimming with worry and fists clenched by her sides.

She hadn't taken the news well, Sullyoon, of Haerin's task being larger than they'd imagined it to be, and what she'd already witnessed. They'd all been shocked, shit, it's not exactly an easy pill to swallow, but Sullyoon's always been closer with Haerin than any of them. She's known Haerin even before she joined the unit, so she'd taken the brunt of the blow.

"She's alright, first off," Sakura says first and foremost, shutting the door behind her, and there's a collective sigh of relief that flutters around the room. "She's alright but..." she gives her head a soft shake, looking at Chaewon. "Well, we did say we wanted her as close to Minji as possible, didn't we?"

Chaewon folds her arms, totally serious and her attention rapt. "What do you mean?"

"Remember I said she'd give Haerin a place? Minji?"

"Yeah,"

"Turns out that place is also Minji's place. Seems she's taken a liking to her,"

At that, Chaewon's jaw hangs open. Her neck juts forward, and she just stares at her, completely taken aback. "You can't be-"

"I'm sorry, what?" Sullyoon shrills, looking at Sakura like she's betrayed her. "You're saying that Haerin's living in the same place as Kim Minji? The Kim Minji, have you guys lost it?"

"Sullyoon," Winter reaches out, places a hand on Sullyoon's elbow, but it's abruptly shrugged off.

"No! Can you guys see the danger that she's in? She's sleeping in a bear's den, she-"

"Sullyoon," Winter's voice is firmer this time, her arms being placed on Sullyoon's shoulders so that she's looking directly down at her. Sakura can't see, but she imagines Winter's giving her a calm, yet stern look.

Whatever it is, Sullyoon seems to get the message, face going a little lax, her head nodding slowly. She takes a moment to compose herself, and then she mumbles a soft, "I'm sorry," under her breath.

Sakura watches her, a little sadly, as Sullyoon sits back down, staring down at her hands that she folds in her lap. She's seen this before, but...

Doesn't mean she's any less insensitive.

It's Eunchae, surprisingly, who moves things swiftly onwards, reading the room but pushing the conversation forward. "Did Haerin say anything else, Sakura-unnie?"

Blinking to regain her focus, Sakura nods. "Uh, yeah, sorry. She said that casino she went to, The Cookie, it's a cover up. Run by some mob that goes in towards The Centre, they don't operate here so they're not on our radar, but Minji's group have people that work there, so they help them out in return," she wets her lips. Saying it aloud makes it seem a lot more real. "They're not a part of it, but from the way Haerin described it, it sounded like a strong connection," she hesitates, seeing that everyone in the room is still clinging to her every word, and making no attempt to interrupt her. "She said that the races are also a cover up, the ones Minji holds. There's-" she grits her teeth. She can't believe so much has flown under her nose. "There's drugs, we knew that, but we didn't know Minji's group was connected, so that's something. But there's protection tax, extortion, and a bigger gambling game here in The Outskirts than we realised,"

It's Chaewon who grabs Sakura's attention, just by the way her lips curl into something ugly. "And Haerin figured out all this in her first three days," she says, a little bitterly, and it's not something she chooses to hide.

Winter looks up from where she has an arm wrapped around Sullyoon's shoulders, gaze razor sharp. She knows what Chaewon's implying, shit, they all do, and Sakura's tongue only goes heavy in her mouth.

"Chaewon-unnie-"

Chaewon looks back at her just as rapidly, tongue cutting as she speaks. "I'm making an observation," she's on the verge of snapping at her, in the way she talks, but Winter doesn't waver.

"Haerin's mission was different. Her target was Minji, and she's been successful. There's nothing that-"

"I didn't mention Haerin at all,"

"Stop! Quiet, both of you!" Sakura is forced to raise her voice, pressing her palm to her forehead like that'll cease the way her head is pounding. It's not like them to argue, shit, they hardly ever squabble aimlessly like this. "She met everyone there, Haerin. She met everyone in the group,"

At that, the atmosphere in the room becomes tense, and everyone falls completely silent. They all stare at her like she's spurted an extra limb, and Sakura knows this is all any of them really want to know.

Sullyoon blinks, her eyes a little shiny, and asks in a very quiet voice. "Is she ...?"

Sakura looks each of them in the eye, almost like a reminder, a reminder that if they're not working for the sake of justice, they should at least be working for this.

"She's still in there," she confirms solemnly. "She's there, and she's still alive,"

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note: i dont think i can update everday just whenver im free like i am about to fall asleep rn.. so im so sorry for any mistakes just lmk tyty