In the soft beams of sun her face looks peaceful. So allows his eyes a moment longer to linger, committing each little detail to his memory, her lashes curved up, their shadows dusting her cheeks and her plump lips turned slightly up in corners. He nips away the urge to feel her skin under his fingers for he does not want to wake her up. Some goodbyes are better said in silence.

Suddenly it feels as if they do not have thousand years between them and it is still the crack of dawn back at the palace. A fleeting moment that he holds on to before the reality announces themselves at his door. Her face is still as dear to him, walking away still as hard.

He inhales deep thinking of the day ahead. Yo has turned up with information, a lead if any, as to where they could start looking. His eyes dart towards the clock, heart sinking with the realization that he did not have much time left. Yo had to keep up his act of being disinterested in his situation at the risk of vacating his office - even he could not antagonize Haes out in open.

The search was a ruse to get him ample time to go on his own hunt and back again without the hunt dogs of Hong Ha Jin reporting back to Wook. It took them enough time to realize where his adopted brother found himself a pack of henchmen but now that they were aware, with a basic idea of origins of such loyalties none of them wanted to take any chances.

Ha Jin shifts, gravitating in her sleep towards the traces of warmth still left beside her, where he had been sleeping. He would have liked nothing better than to gather her in his arms and go back to sleep, lulled by her heart beating in sync with his. The mobile vibrates just once against his thigh, half of a ring - but enough to wake him up from his fantasies.

So lets his fingers tangle up in her hair, tracing their way out before getting to his feet heavily. A sense of foreboding pulls him back, but he exhales and carries on, gathering up things he might need on his way. It is until he bumps into Jung and finds his younger brother equally attired.

“What are you up to?” He cannot help but ask, watching him fish out a cap from the debris of left over food cartons on the sofa.

“What do you think?” He has the nerve to lift a brow, before wearing the cap and snatching up his car keys.

“You are not coming with me.” So makes sure that his voice invites no arguments, still Jung ignores him pointedly. Trailing him down the dilapidated stairs. The wooden planks squeak under his careless shoes and So curses under his breath. “Stay back -” he hisses, as they emerge from the mouth of the run-down building blinking dazedly at the sun.

“As if…” Jung mumbles. “Noona would wake up and kill me if I let you go on alone. Just bear with it huh Hyung? It’s not like either of us have a choice.”

“My way of transport doesn’t support sidekicks -” So settles into his last resort. Jung’s knuckles bunch around his keys.

“Well - if you hang around with me more, you’ll realize I know more detours than a rat in the suburb.” Jung shrugs. “Plus knowing our history, I’d be surprised if anyone imagines us to be together.”

The shadows lift as the clouds move, a weather wane somewhere cracks in the wind as So allows the pause to stretch, pondering his words. Jung knows his brother enough to see through the cracks in his resolve, in the half dozen years of no contact only a little has changed about So.

“Where are you planing to go?” He asks just at the right moment, burying his hand in his pocket before crossing his fingers, hoping he would get this chance to make amends.

“Omoni’s welfare shelter.” So replies after a while and Jung heaves the breath he had been holding.

“The orphanage - why would that be?”

“Do you know who is the trustee there?” So asks, the dark tinge to his tone already hinting at the answer.

“Hae Hong Ha Jin?” His brother’s reply is a curt nod. “How are you going to get in there?”

“Coach Park has pulled his strings - they are going to get a security upgrade.”

“Fine lets go then -”

Still So holds him back prompting Jung to scowl.

“Now what?”

“I want you to check something else for me - at the swimming club. See if this is the passkey for Yeon Hwa’s locker.” He flashes his forearm at Jung, clear enough for him to commit the numbers to his memory.

“Hyung that’s the girls’ -”

“Take Ha Jin, she’ll be able to get in. Baek Ah would help you slip in.”

“Hyung…!!”

“Jung - ie, don’t whine…”

**

“I’ll leave you to it then,” the woman gives him a formal smile before shuffling off and So tries to even out his breathing as he listens to her footsteps hurrying away. There were certain advantages of Coach Park being an ex secret agent and his father having a network that isn’t easily rooted off by one investigation. This was not the life he wanted, but the skills embedded in him were as easily re-summoned as the next breath.

The records of the shelter where encrypted in a way that he and Yo both found suspicious - only troubling part was he had to be physically there to access that system. Then they had discovered the trails that lead back to the Hae complex, alerting them of any suspicious activity regarding the records. Yeon Hwa volunteered here - it was a no-brainer that this was where she extracted her tapes from. And Yo promised him exactly an hour - in which he would be investigating or demanding to investigate the Haes’ movements through their record room, taking their attention away from any possible warning bells that could go off.  

It was easier said than done, So hummed in annoyance under his breath as he waited for the system to load. It was only after he had delved into the core of the records that he understood what he had stumbled upon. It was his mother’s trove of secrets.

Footage that she buried for sake of different circumstances all horded by at the very heart of the encrypted files - tagged with numbers that made no sense to him. So took them to be dates, or perhaps case numbers. Even under his skilled hand they converted too slow for his patience.

It was then that one file in particular caught his attention. At first glance it had nothing to do with what they were looking for - too old to be relevant but too heavily protected to be of no worth. So pauses a moment before diverting in his path - chasing through a different trail until finally a document emerges.

His lips move reading the first few lines, face lit in the bluish silver light from the screen.

“Hae Jun - May 1994”

“And to think how accurate the saying goes - curiosity killed the cat!” A voice accompanies the cold steel pressing against his temple. “Thought I’d meet you here brother…”

**

The instinct had been too strong to ignore. Too strong that she battles with her rationality all way long, steps down on all convincing arguments that Jung offers.

They say she has been abducted - Ha Jin wonders for how long they planned to keep the news from her. The new angle her family has spun, or perhaps Wook has fabricated for them. The snippets of news she had caught are still ringing in her ears. “-Police is still unable to trace the whereabouts of the Hae heiress who was abducted by the famed athlete …”

“Hyung is going to murder me -” Jung mumbles under his breath as the car takes a sharp turn. Ha Jin thinks bitterly of So, of what she has caused to happen. It had taken her a while to come in terms with that truth - of how exactly she had caused his ruination. They would not let him go - mercy is not a familiar concept to her uncle. She closes her eyes, resigning to the secrets he had left between them virtually giving her a false sense of security. “What are we even going to tell him?” Jung whines again.

“Nothing,” she tells him. “We don’t have to say anything.”

It’s not like they would meet him, she just wanted to make sure he was alright before she did what she was supposed to do. If she could stop it all from happening, there is nothing that could convince her otherwise. Or so Ha Jin thinks, until Jung makes another sharp turn.

“What -?” She gasps, knowing full well this isn’t the way they are supposed to head. “Jung!”

“Noona -” he offers her no explanation, barely a wide eyed gasp of surprise before he steps on the accelerator. The sudden rush of speed knocks out her breath and Ha Jin clasps a hand over her lips.

“Is that -?”

“I think they’ve found out.” Jung rushes to explain just as they tuck into a darker subdivision of an alley. Ha Jin barely hears him, her own breath choking her as she watched from her window. She had never realized how agile So was until the moment she saw him sliding out of a broken window, dangling from a low sweep of a roof and rolling down to land on his feet in the cobbles. Jung never stops merely slowing down and leaving the back door open. Her heart thumps in her throat as she watches his progress in gaining on them, before finally folding himself completely inside the car. The door shuts with a snap that makes her jump.

“Hyung?” Jung calls, his eyes on the rear - view mirror. “Oh damn it!”

The palm he has clasped over his shoulder comes off with blood, the same reddish darkness seeping into his clothes.

“So - yah!” He falls heavily against her when she reaches for him and her voice leaves as a breathy cry.

“This is bad!” Jung announces to no one. Against her shoulder So stirs, puffs of his breath tickling against her throat.

“Did you find it?” He asks, trying to catch his breath, lids of his eyes droop across his vision when he tries to focus on Jung. In spite of himself Jung shakes his head.

“No - her locker has been cleared out by her mom. We watched the camera there wasn’t anything worth it.”

Ha Jin shifts, holding his arm and draping it around her so that she could support his weight better. Her fingers curl in his hair as she wills her heart to slow down.

“Stay awake So,” she murmurs against him, a palm pressed against his cheek. Her eyes return to Jung. “Where is Eun right now?”

“Back in the country - side,” despite being tense Jung rolls his eyes. “At Miss Oh's to give an opinion on Soon Deok. His grandfather is back and currently watching over the hospital - he is one of the directors.”

“Omma -” So mumbles. “Need to go - that place -”

“I think we need to leave too,” Jung nods slightly.

“But not to Miss Oh’s,” Ha Jin tells him. “They know that place and would be watching her anyway.”

“Can’t get caught…not yet…” So falters.

“I know where we can go, if you are willing to take us.” There is a finality in the way she says the word ‘us’ and Jung knows better than to argue with her again.