Third Person's POV
Eunbi was still smiling like plague.
"Is everything recorded?" she asked inside the ambulance they're currently in, "I didn't know they would found out this soon."
Taehyung, who came in together with the group of policemen earlier nodded in return, taking off Eunbi's hand cuffs, the doctor heaving a sigh of relief at the disappearance of pressure on her wrist, "Yeah, every. single. thing. He confessed everything. We finally have hard evidence to arrest Jackson now. Thanks Dr. Hwang."
"No," Eunbi mused instead, "I'm the one who should be thanking you and your team. You've been a huge help in this."
"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD," the girl laying on the stretcher suddenly gasp for air, breaking the calm atmosphere as she hilariously grabbed her abdomen, "PLEASE TELL ME I'M ALIVE PLEASE TELL ME--"
Eunbi and Taehyung fell onto deep laughter at her comical act, "Of course you're still alive Yuna, we're in the ambulance now."
"OH MY GOD IS THAT YOU EUNBI?! YOU MORON!" she exclaimed peering her sight to her side just to be greeted by a wide smiling Eunbi, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO SHOOT ME THAT HARD YOUFREAKINGCRAZY-"
"Yah yah-" she shushed her down immediately, side glancing at Taehyung who's probably laughing at their bickering right now, "I'm sorry okay? It's not on my control anymore plus I didn't know the impact would be that hard."
"IF I SUSTAINED ANY INJURY I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS TO THE MARS! YOU HEAR THAT HUH?!"
"...But," Eunbi began, trying her best to contain her laughter seeing how Yuna almost popped a vein in her neck due to anger, "..You cannot even stand right now..?"
"HOW DARE YOU?!" Taehyung might or might not have separated the two before they went engaging in a friendly fight.
The scene calmed down for a moment before Yuna blurted out again, still not giving up, "I swear if you don't give me my concert ticket I'm gonna sue you!" Yuna whined lavishly, eyes flaring at Eunbi, "And can you please remove this bulletproof vest and tomato sauce in me? This is so sticky, I might die from this instead."
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"The progression of completing GZO 17's clinical trials increased, well that's good. But please be sure that the team still follows the standards and do their utmost proficiency, we do still need to ensure everything." Eunbi extended out a frail smile before handing the folder back to her.
The nurse get it back, tugging it behind her, "An a-affiliate of Taehee corporation. Uhh.. T-tried to infiltrate our whole system which ahm.. includes all the data and information we have on our current process with the GZO 17 Doc, but... but rest assured, our security team was fast to eradicate the said person."
"Really? I'll access the system later then, to still check on it." there wasn't any sign of being astounded on her voice, expression staying solid and clear as ever.
"D-doc?"
"Hmm?"
"You're not s-suprised by that?" asked the nurse, quietly.
"Not at all," Eunbi hummed in response, moving along to check on the CCTVs, "I've already expected them to act like that."
"Ahhh y-yeah.."
The doctor knitted her eyebrows, stepping relatively closer towards the monitor, scrutinizing the ongoing clip on the screen, "Wasn't that Dr. Choi? I didn't know she went inside the testing room earlier."
"Uhh.. The clip isn't t-that clear, but it is p-probably Dr. Choi." she continued after a brief time of concentrating.
"Alright. Is there any other thing I should know?"
"Nothing Doc. For now, t-that's all."
Minutes after she came back from the control room, Eunbi immediately texted Yuna.
To: Dr. Weirdo
You're so good at acting ha? Let's meet at the café outside. Make sure you change all of your clothes, it's better to be safe.
To: Dr. Weirdo
And oh! I almost forgot, bring some papers as props!
...
"Woah, finally," Yuna mused as she take a bite of the cake Eunbi ordered for the both of them, "This café is just walking distance from the hospital, yet, I rarely visit here. I missed their desserts!"
"You sure are excited for a cake, aren't you?"
"Not really," Yuna denied, having another bite of the sweet cake, "I'm just guessing how are you so stupid texting me to bring some props. How careless." she smirked, displaying a smugged look.
"Excuse me??" The girl in front of her boasted, a pinch of friendly annoyance weighing her words, "I know what I'm doing. I had Jun to secure both of our phones' transmitters and digital footprints, just in case. So don't accuse me of being dumb or careless."
"Yeah yeah, you say so." Yuna replied, unbothered with her cake, "So why are we meeting here, oh so great, smart, intelligent, advance minded doctor?"
The head doctor could only hiss, defeated by her friend's sarcastic attack, "Taehee tried infiltrating our system earlier, they're really trying hard."
"And what's the new thing about that?"
"The plan's working. You're garnering their attention. Hahaha I mean, earlier she saw that you entered the testing room without anyone's knowledge or permission, they're already suspecting that you're plotting something against me hahahaha."
"Yah!" her friend slapped her faintly, but was enough to stop her from her uncontrollable pit of laughter, "Can you lower it down huh? You're so loud, someone might hear you. We still don't know if someone's eavesdropping us. It's better to be safe, remember?"
Eunbi could just frown, guilty of the accusation. The frail sting left by the slap, somehow deepens as she think of how her friend used her own words against her. To ease her mind, she just decided to eat. Having her hand free, it traveled to clasp the vacant fork, slicing a piece from the sweet lovely cake and finally taking a bite, she answered, "Earlier Ms. Han─woah this is really delicious."
"Told yah bro." Yuna commented.
"Anyways as I was saying," she paused, swallowing the last blob of food on her mouth, she continued, "Ms. Han, one of our doctors. I think she's the one they hired to keep an inside track on us. I just spoke to her earlier, and she's stuttering a lot, but I just don't know, if she's on their side, then why did she reported to me that Taehee attacked us earlier, but maybe that's just something they're tryin' to do to divert my attention. I also just checked her resume. Confirmed."
Yuna arched a brow, "So?"
"What do you mean so?" she knitted her brows, "Of course, you gotta let her know about our plan."
"What?! Are you crazy?" Yuna suddenly stopped with scrapping her cake, "You want me to tell her that I'm disguising?! That I'm not totally against you?! And that everything is just─aww...ch!" caressing the part, she cringed in pain as Eunbi flicked her forehead, a little too much for her liking.
"What are you talking about? Tsk." the head doctor shifted her view to the papers littered with uncomprehendable articles about outdated points of Meningitis, grabbing one, she pretended to read along, "Of course not. You gotta make her get you as a decoy. And if you can, get her trust and apply as if you want to confide with them. We're getting inside their intelligence while dragging them into our trap. Hitting two birds in one stone, easy." she finished, flashing a sly smile which was intended solely to irritate her friend.
"Oh well," Yuna took one paper as well, completely mimicking what Eunbi was doing, "You should have been more specific."
"It's common sense, Yuna-ah."
"No," the other girl interjected, slightly lowering the paper down her face, "It's common courtesy to be clear on whatever you want to imply, so there's no misunderstanding, Eunbi-ssi."
"Whatever."
"And yeah, don't worry about that. I got it. We'll gonna drag them down in our trap, and we will."
<<< 6 days ago >>>
Jun appeared in the entryway of the hospital just right when Yuna was about to go home.
"Dr. Choi." he whispered faintly, "You need to come with me."
"Wha-" as if someone heard her internal thoughts, her phone vibrated in response.
From: Hwang-pabo
I asked him to escort you, just go with Jun. We need to talk. It's important.
For a moment, Yuna thought if Eunbi had installed some wire tapping device in her head, but sure that's impossible so she shrugged the idea off.
"Do you know what this is all about?"
But Jun didn't answer, and just opened the car door for her, politely herd her to step inside, once done, smiled and took to went to the driver's seat.
The journey was silent.
No one's talking.
Not until Yuna noticed that Jun took a u-turn instead, having a different route compared to what she remembered the original one to Eunbi's house.
Yuna prompted her mouth open to ask, but the traffic light gleamed bright red, and Jun just barely caught on to step in the breaks, the sudden halt of movement sent their bodies plunging forward.
"I'm sorry." he said bowing lightly, then fishing his phone and swiftly typing something whilst they're still immobilized, his fingers were literally as fast as light.
One final tap, and he gave his phone to the doctor sitting at the passenger seat.
Indecisive, Yuna took it anyway and started reading the paragraph in his notes.
'Eunbi said we should act as if we're gonna attend Akane's bday party tonight, thus, we'll drop by to a dessert shop to buy a gift, it's all to avoid suspicion about the true agenda why ur going there, and sorry for the inconvenience, i cannot tell u this verbally for im not sure if someone's installed a wiretapping device here or not.'
What's happening?
Wiretapping? Yuna was only imagining that in her head earlier, but now certainly, from what she just read, there's a probability that they're really being spied.
And for what reason?
She cannot really tell.
"Haaa, I wonder if Akane would prefer dark or white chocolate for a birthday gift." Yuna acted, instantly catching up with Eunbi's presumed scheme, "What do you think?"
"Ah.." the man struggled to answer, "Just normal ones I guess, Dr. Choi."
The same time Yuna nodded her head in agreement, the traffic light turned green and Jun immediately stepped on the gas pedal, the car's wheel screeching in the asphalt with coerced friction as the vehicle finally got into motion.
The travel time was faster than they've expected.
Unbuckling both their seat belts, they got out of the car and headed along inside, either of their hands clasping bags of macaroons and chocolates.
"Woah!" Akane was the first to greet the two in the doorway, "Yuna-unnie!" she raved, gushing to her, the older girl reacting fondly like thunderbolt in speed.
"Awee sweetie. How are you doing?" Yuna smiled, kneeling down on one of her knees so now they're eye level with each other, "It's been ages. You've gotten taller the last time I saw you."
"Yeah!" Akane exclaimed, tiptoeing tall as if to show her excitement, "I'm drinking my milk!"
"Oh really eh? You've been a good girl then, you know what? I have some rewards for you," Yuna hold up her hand, the bag of chocolate swaying in the motion, and I swear if Akane saw the small food logo printed on its exterior, her eyes glowed ablaze, "I have chocolates! And not only that, Jun-oppa was so nice he brought you macaroons as well!"
"Yeayyy! Thank you so much much Unnie!"
After the two bags were surrendered to Akane's caretaking, the girl briskly ran off to the kitchen to open them, totally ignoring her mother's presence by the door.
Dusting her knee, Yuna stood up just to be met by Eunbi, leaning on the wall, hands criss-crossed on her chest, and there's kinda light jealoused frown drawing on her lips, "I clearly remembered saying, just drop by the store and buy 'something', not buy everything the store has!"
"C'mon," Yuna grunted, nudging her friend by her side, "You cannot blame me if I spoil Akane. I just see her for like four times in a whole year, that means only once in a season!"
"It's because you don't come here that often," she disconnected her shoulder from the wall and threaded to the living room, Yuna chuckling secretly as she followed her tracks on the back, "But I didn't invite you here to talk about how infrequent you decide to visit."
"Okay," Yuna stated, plopping herself down on the gigantic, soft, and bouncing and airy cushion of the sofa, "So to the business."
"You know about Taehee?" she asked casually, knowing that their house is the safest place to talk about classified topics like this, "Taehee corporation?"
"Of course," Yuna answered, playing on the softness of the sofa, jerking her weights up and down, "One of the corporations who's pioneering in pharmaceuticals─hahahaha I love this, where can I buy this kind of sofa huh? It's so soft it's like I'm sitting in water."
"Hey!" Eunbi snapped a finger in, snorting shortly, "Focus! And stop playing with the sofa, will you? Anyway, about Taehee, I have this inkling that they're planning something against us."
"You probably watched too much drama Eunbi, you're starting to associate yourself with them."
"Yuna this is a serious thing," she scolded, voice now stern, "I think they got tipped about the drug that we're developing, so they're trying to get inside us."
"Hmm.." Yuna hummed, continuing to play and obviously disregarding her friend's remark, Eunbi grunted at the scene.
"You don't get it, Yuna Choi. We're in for a trouble if we don't do anything about this."
"Exactly, so, what do we need to do then?"
Eunbi beamed a smile and smirked, "We're gonna act."
"Ha!" the latter retorted, clapping her hands in excitement, "You really want to be in a drama... I'm in! So what's my role?"
"You're gonna be the traitor friend," Eunbi pointed at Yuna, then to herself, "And me? I'm the betrayed protagonist hahahaha!"
"What?! That's not fair! You gonna take the lead role!"
"There's no much advantage having to portray this," Eunbi reasoned, pouting a bit, "I would probably have tons of work to do." she sighed just thinking about the idea
"Aww, that's sad of you." Yuna teased.
Eunbi tsked, rolling her eyes in scorn, she answered, "Pretend as if you're being worn-out by me. That you want a change. And that you're opposing my plans, do that in a way that is so flashy that there's no way they'll not notice it."
Eunbi paused, having a moment to take a lung full of breath, "Think of it this way, if they really hired someone to spy on us, that's the first thing they'll notice, and they will take that opportunity and try to persuade you on joining them blah blah blah.. then soon you'll agree and confide with them, looking like you betrayed me. When they ask you for information then you gonna give them fake ones to avoid suspicion, while doing so, secretly try to know about their internal processes. I'm gonna act all clueless about everything so on so forth. In short, they'll think they're already in advantage coz they're getting all the information, well in fact it's the complete opposite of it. It's us who's on the winning side hahahaha!!"
"You look like an evil nerd in an anime planning all these," Yuna blurted out having the time to digest everything Eunbi just talked about, "But it's a good plan." she agreed, mentally astonished by how her friend thought of plotting this kind of a scheme.
"I know right?" Eunbi lifted up her chin proudly, "Uh-huh!"
"And what would I get if I agree to this?" Yuna's lips etched to a sly smile, "I mean there should be something, this is also fairly a work for me."
"Woah--" the head doctor dropped her jaw in surprise, "You know this is all for our own good, yet you still have the guts to ask for something in return.. Wow Dr. Choi you're really something."
"Nothing big Dr. Hwang." her smile grew even wider that it looked like it could rip her jaw anytime soon, "What about (G)-idle's concert ticket? VVIP?"
Yuna said that sounding more like a demand rather than a question.
"Wow wow-" Eunbi massaged her temple in stress, a slight smile escaping her lips, "VVIP tic─okay deal!"
Yuna smiled in victory, a pretty wide one "Deal."
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for remembrance, u guys can refer to chap 10 about the part where eunbi was asking about the drug's progress.
Hehe---