In The Dark (SNOWDROP)

"i'm not fucking scared"

❄︎ — chapter 1 — ❄︎

The mood in the Seoul ANSP office was noticeably energetic as Lim Sooho walked inside after being buzzed in through the security gate. Agents and operators bustled through the space, a few greeting him with annyeonghaseyos as he walked past. It was noisier than it should have been on a normal Tuesday morning in early summer.

"What's going on?" Sooho asked his friend Lee Eungcheol as he sat down at his normal computer.

"You didn't hear?" Eungcheol asked, turning to look at him. "Galaxy is coming back from America today."

Sooho frowned. "Who's Galaxy?"

Eungcheol shrugged and took a sip of his coffee in a paper cup. "Don't know. But whoever he is, he's got to be important. Even Chief Ahn seems excited."

"Wow," Sooho said flatly, although Chief Ahn got excited about something as mundane as kimbap. "Galaxy's really that much of a deal?"

Eungcheol shrugged again. "Maybe you should ask timjangnim. He's got to know more than I do."

"Huh," Sooho muttered, but his train of thought was interrupted by a yell from the next table, which held the agency's only coffeemaker.

"Ya!" Joo Gyeokchan shouted at Oh Dongjae. "I told you, I was here first!"

"Rank before age," Dongjae said calmly, shouldering Gyeokchan to the side and tossing an old coffee filter into the trash can.

Gyeokchan seethed as Dongjae took his time getting his coffee. Sooho couldn't help but chuckle.

"Patience is a virtue, Gyeokchan-ah."

"It's not my virtue," Gyeokchan huffed, glaring at Dongjae, who soundly ignored him.

"Geez, don't talk to Gyeokchan-hyung in the morning," Eungcheol laughed.

After Gyeokchan finally got his coffee and stalked away to whatever he had been doing before, Sooho heard footsteps behind him, and glancing over his shoulder, saw Lee Kangmu, the deputy chief and team leader of anti-communist investigations, walking by, looking distracted as he headed towards Chief Ahn's office.

"Timjangnim," Sooho called. "Are you busy now?"

"Anniyo,"Kangmu said, stopping by his table. "Why?"

Eungcheol pushed his chair back, the same question as Sooho's on his lips. "Who's this Galaxy that everyone's talking about today?"

Kangmu's expression hardened ever so slightly. Eungcheol didn't notice it, but Sooho and Kangmu had been friends for a very long time, even before Sooho had joined the agency. Sooho knew that something was up, just from the team leader's countenance.

"Galaxy?" Kangmu echoed after a pause. "Just an agent who's been stationed in California for the past couple years. I haven't heard much talk, though."

With that, he abruptly turned and knocked at the Chief's office door, quickly disappearing inside. Sooho and Eungcheol exchanged confused looks.

"Well that was... weird," Eungcheol said.

Sooho agreed, but Kangmu's uncharacteristic attitude only made him become slightly worried. Kangmu knew more than he was letting on, and Sooho couldn't help but be curious. The mention of this Galaxy agent made the deputy chief look almost... afraid. Sooho couldn't remember a single instance where Lee Langmu had looked as scared.

A couple hours later, in the early afternoon, Dongjae left the headquarters, and the murmurs around the office only grew louder.

"So," Eungcheol said, returning to his seat after going to the restroom. "The tea is—"