It has been four days and the girls weren't having much luck. Jennie and Jisoo had been around most of the city questioning Siyeon's family, friends and acquaintances. They had to pretend to be colleagues, police detectives or concerned friends. Unfortunately nothing turned up. They were currently out to go and finally meet with Siyeon's boss. He had cancelled consecutively since their initial turn up. But Jennie was in no mood for being pushed over.
They were on one of Deya's top floors and Mr Hai's PA approached them. The woman looked as done of seeing them as they were of her. Jennie knew what she was about to tell them.
"I'm sorry but Mr.."
Jennie and Jisoo pushed passed her before she could finish. Ignoring her calls they entered the man's office. He was in the middle of pouring himself a drink when his doors burst open.
"Good afternoon Mr Hai. We're the private investigators you've been ignoring so vehemently," Jisoo handed him a card.
His PA came in but he waved her off. His reluctance to speak to them was suspicious. He made his way to his desk and told them to take a seat.
"Are you not going to offer us a drink?" Jisoo grinned
Mr Hai appeared to be in his late 30's. He was young for a man in his position. He was wearing a gray suit and had light sweat on his face. The outline of his cheekbones spoke of extreme exhaustion. Dismissing Jisoo he spoke.
"I'm sorry I've had to cancel on you. It's been rough lately," he loosened his tie.
They asked him their routine questions. He told them that though Siyeon reported directly to him, the weeks before her disappearance she had not been focused on work. Three days before she went missing he had given her the option of taking a break.
"When she sent in the papers, I just took her not coming in as taking up the offer," he gulped down his drink.
"What papers?" asked Jennie
He made his way to the drinks cabinet and prepared another. With his back facing them he answered.
"The leave papers. You need to fill in the request form for HR and your manager just needs to sign them off. After the chat we had, I wasn't surprise with HR giving me a call about her papers and I signed them without thinking much about it." He sat down
His PA came in, informing him about an urgent call with a Mr Jama. Rubbing his temples he thanked her.
"I'm sorry but I have an important video call with one of our key shareholders and our vice president. If there is nothing else then I would have to ask you to leave." He chugged down the drink
They urged him to give them a call if anything popped up. He shook his head solemnly. Before closing the door he paused.
"I really hope you find her. She was one of our most valued assets. Please send my hopes to her family" with that he shut the door.
Lisa looked at the white walls and felt very grateful that she did not work in the forensics department. She tried inhaling through her mouth but instead grabbed on to Chae's wrist as she thought she was physically choking due to the density of the room. Chae forcefully removed Lisa's hand and gave her a look that said she needed to chill. Asu came back in to the office and apologised for making them wait.
Unfortunately they have not entirely found out what the contents of the substance are. But they have discovered that it was possibly a dangerous cocktail of heroin, chloride and a plant that is still unidentified. They were currently attempting to deduce what the effects might be on the human body. However that was difficult not knowing what all the ingredients were. They thanked her and made their way back up to the conference room. As they waited Chae saw that the elevator was heading down to level -2.
The other girls had informed her that once you hit the negative levels you have officially entered YG's dungeon. Those were the floors where basic trainees resided and worked to move up the ranks. Lisa rarely spoke of her time there. Chae took that as the only sign she needed about her friends experience. Returning back to their seats they continued working. Chae pulled up the articles she had starred. There were about 78. She decided to take another look at them. At the same time Lisa continued to refine search the lists. They worked for about half an hour when Chae stumbled upon something interesting. It involved one of Ade the King's entourage members who had attended a big party event in Korea. Unfortunately the night had to be cut short has one of the party people overdosed. The club was called Hysteria. She searched the club's name and it turns out that it was a roof top bar near Deya Entertainment that operated as a sushi restaurant except on the first of each month. It was owned by Lee and Isha Tanabe.
Lisa called Chae over. As she looked at Lisa's screen she found herself staring at an employee's list for Blast Studio's. Lisa had highlighted the name as Chae's eyes popped. Siyeon Li. February 2016 was the time she was employed and she worked as a scout for them until October 2017. Lisa then showed her the list from Deya Entertainment showing Siyeon's time at the Korean company. She was employed from January 2015 up until her disappearance. The times over lapped.
"This is weird because when I had looked up each company. They didn't seem to have any affiliation with the other," Lisa stated.
Chae told her about her findings and Lisa knew that it wasn't a coincidence that one of Ade's people was at the party. Chae agreed. As they brainstormed Jennie and Jisoo entered. With Lisa's insistence they all sat down to discuss their findings.
"Wow, she actually worked for both companies. Why?" Jisoo asked
"We'll probably find out soon," Lisa typed on her phone.
Chae was looking over the other articles. She wondered if maybe there was something else she might have missed.
"When we left, Mr Hai said that she was a valued asset. It could be referring to her double employment," Jennie glanced at Lisa as the blonde's phone buzzed.
They would have to continue researching and just wait until the first of August to question Lee Tanabe. Also they desperately needed to understand what the substance was made up of. It was getting late so they made their way to Chae's room. Ever since that first night it became a thing for them to at least eat one meal during the day together. It was often dinner, where Chae and Jennie would make the girls something delicious. Tonight was no different and they had rotated from room to room. Though it had only been a week, the girls had grown closer. There was a real sense of camaraderie amongst them.
Jennie sautéed the onions has Chae worked on the mash. They were going to make a meat based stew tonight. Lisa and Jisoo were playing a video game in the living room. Jennie added the rest of the ingredients to the onions and focused on stirring. A slender arm circled around her waist has Chae held the spoon to her mouth. Jennie tasted the mash and liked the extra black pepper and parsley. She stopped to circle an arm around Chae as she asked for another taste. Chae filled up her mouth immediately. They had become touchier over the past couple of days. Jennie knew she shouldn't enjoy it as much as she did. It was in Chae's personality to be attentive and because that was a quality Jennie had seriously been lacking in her life lately, she soaked up each moment she could get.
They separated as Chae headed to the bathroom. A few minutes later Jisoo came in to the kitchen with her cell phone. She asked Jisoo to take over stirring as she spoke to her mother. Her mom had recently been calling her very often but that was only because her dog Kuma was sick. She was too caught up in work to go see him but she was grateful to her parents who called to assure her. Kuma's surgery was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and her mom was wondering if she could make it. Jennie blanched as she had forgotten but promised her mom she'll be there. After a short chat they hung up. Jennie quickly went to go explain everything to Jisoo. Her best friend said it was cool for her to take the afternoon off. She would just have to switch either with Chae or Lisa because Jisoo needed someone to go with her to continuing questioning on the ground.
At dinner Lisa was happy to switch with Jennie. She said that she was craving fresh air. They ate with small chatter. When Lisa and Jisoo were done with the dishes they played a game of UNO. It was fucking hilarious as Lisa was certain Jisoo was cheating. Chae had her doubts as well as the purple haired girl was winning round after round. At the end, Lisa and Jisoo returned to Jisoo's room to finish the videogame while Jennie helped Chae pack up.
"Do you need someone to go with tomorrow? I know how important it is," Chae asked.
"Na, my mom will be there. I should be okay," Jennie tensed slightly.
Noticing, Chae walked up behind her and took Jennie's hand. She led them to the living room. She hugged Jennie as they sat on the couch. They cuddled closely as Chae kissed the top of her head. She played with the brunette's hair and used her fingers to massage Jennie's upper back and arms. Jennie allowed herself to be showered in the red head's attention. This didn't happen often between them but when it did it made Jennie feel simultaneously vulnerable and joyful.
She closed her eyes has Chae spoke about growing up in Australia and how she was scouted. The previous time this happened she had whispered to Jennie the development of hers and Lisa's friendship and their time as trainees. Chae had such a soothing voice that Jennie found herself dozing off to sleep. Vaguely she heard Chae sing softly as the darkness overtook her. She watched as Jennie appeared to sleep soundly. Removing herself from the brunette, she proceeded to pack everything away. It took less than ten minutes. She found Jennie's keys and picked her up from the couch. Chae carried her to her room, though it was a bit of strain opening the door. She headed in to Jennie's bedroom and removed the older girl's shoes and pants. Placing the covers over her, she placed a kiss on Jennie's forehead. Before leaving she made sure to see if all the windows were closed. Satisfied, she locked the door and slipped the key underneath.