2. Project IZ*ONE II

Chapter 1- Undercover

(Again, Make sure to read book 1 for context, happy reading!)

"These aren't the mutants you're looking for..." The voice of a young woman whispers to the security guard in front of her. He had just begun to reach for his weapon, but stopped at what he'd heard, entering a dreamlike trance.

"These aren't the mutants I'm looking for..." He groggily responds, causing the girl to let out a chuckle.

"Works every time~" She says, as if patting herself on the back.

"Stop playing around Yul, we have a mission to accomplish." The voice of another girl interjects.

"Yeah, yeah, Yena. No need to act all commando again, I know. Now get to work on that door." Yuri responds. It had been a couple months since the two girls had officially become a couple, but in some ways, their interactions, such as constant bickering, never really changed.

"We're in." Yena declares, after successfully short-circuiting the door's lock. From the outside, the building didn't look like much. It was just a simple three-story white apartment building. It honestly looked pretty identical to the other ones around Seoul, but the guards present were what gave away the location to them. As the two make their way in, the older girl tries to go over the instructions given for the mission again. They'd gotten a transmission from Sakura the other day on this lab located in the south side of Seoul that could have valuable information in it. After some deliberation and planning, the group decided to infiltrate the place at night to have more cover. Given the smaller size of the place, they'd also been told that only a pair was necessary, and with how easily Yena was knocking the guards out, they were probably right.

Eventually, the two managed to break into the main room of the building, on the third floor, containing the local database, and began looking around. Sakura's short message repeated in the couple's memories.

We still haven't found Jurina, but we came across some information where a hidden Japanese file is. It's connected to the syndicate. I'll send the location. It was the first update the group back in Korea had received in a couple weeks as Sakura and the others were erring on the side of caution, only contacting them when they had essential information.

"What could the syndicate possibly be hiding in a place like this?" Yuri asks as she sifts through files on the computers. The inside wasn't anything as impressive as the underground labs they'd been to either, only a few computers and a couple bookshelves occupying the room. Maybe that was the point, to blend in. She thinks.

"Sakura said it was important, so I'm just going to trust her." Yena responds.

"We don't even know what we're looking for though. Like, it could be any of these files."

"Then let's just download everything we can and look over it back at base." Yuri nods at the suggestion, and begins dragging all the files into the usb they'd plugged in. Unbeknownst to them, several figures were sneaking around, watching the two.

"So...what're we doing when we get back? Got any plans? Wanna watch a movie?" Yuri asks casually while waiting for the files to download.

"Whatever you want, Yuri. You know I'm happy as long as you're happy." Yena replies. Normally, the younger girl would swoon at the cheesy line, but Yuri felt put off by it this time.

"We can't just always do what I want though." She says with a pout. "You must have interests too, right? Why can't we try those out?" Yena ponders this for a second. She did think that she'd become a bit more passive lately, defaulting to whatever Yuri felt like doing, but she just wanted to make sure Yuri was happy. Admittedly, Yena was confused. Why wouldn't Yuri want to do the things she wanted all the time?