Lisa
Lisa and the rest of the Bravo team sat around a conference room table, going over the logistics of their next assignment. The light from the projector flickered onto the screen in front of them displaying pictures of the high profile political family that they have been hired to protect for the next five weeks.
Richard Kim was one of the wealthiest men in South Korea and was quickly gaining political support in his campaign run for presidency. While his anti-corruption platform had gathered heavy support from the people on the ground, the mob bosses of South Korea who relied on government corruption were less than thrilled. In fact his run for presidency had painted targets on his entire family's back, prompting the need to beef up his internal security in a major way.
Lisa's eyes were trained on the screen as the pictures of each client began to show. The first picture was of Richard Kim and his wife Dara Kim who looked every bit as rich as they were known to be, followed by a picture of Richard's eldest son, Jin Kim, who had quite a playboy reputation according to the tabloids and he definitely looked the part as well. The last picture on the screen was the one that Lisa had become particularly fond of over the past five days of the Bravo briefings, Richard's daughter, Jennie Kim.
Her picture was in every file that Lisa had received that week and there she was again, displayed prominently on the screen, stealing Lisa's focus and clouding her thoughts for the hundredth time. Her blood pounded a little faster through her veins and she could practically feel her pupils dilate as they settled onto Jennie Kim's face.
Jesus. Jennie Kim's so damn beautiful. Not just beautiful, but easily the most attractive woman that Lisa had ever laid eyes upon, hands down, bar none, without a doubt. Maybe it was Jennie's long dark hair that fell in loose waves against her perfect fair, porcelain-like skin, or her big bright feline eyes that were either light green or light brown - Lisa couldn't quite decide because they looked a little different in every picture, but they were bright and genuine nonetheless.
This is the fifth briefing that we've had this week and this girl still has me coming unglued. What the hell is wrong with me?
It wasn't just her intense attraction to Jennie Kim that was alarming, but something else - something that was unhinging Lisa's nerves one by one. She felt a deep familiarity with Jennie every time she looked at her which was nearly impossible for Lisa to even rationalize. Each time she laid eyes on Jennie's picture, it was like a tiny voice sounded from within Lisa as if to say – 'Hey wait a minute, I know you from somewhere.' Which was absolutely ridiculous because it was definitely the first time that Lisa had seen her, and Jennie Kim was not the type of woman who could be easily forgotten.
Choosing to deny and suppress the strange feelings of recognition, she decided to chalk it up to lust or infatuation because that was much easier to explain and way much easier to accept her bizarre obsession with Jennie Kim.
Ok, cool it Lisa. I'm just being normal and Jennie Kim's insanely attractive. This is lust and intense physical attraction, because I've been going through a dry spell. It's as simple and harmless as that. Everyone in this room is probably thinking about the same thing about her, I just suck at hiding it.
Shaking her head as if she was trying to physically rid herself of her attraction to Jennie, she cleared her throat and shifted in her seat, eliciting a wide grin from Hoony who knew exactly why Lisa was being so restless.
Get your shit under control Lisa. She's a client - an assignment. Quit acting like a horny teenager and pay attention to the damn briefing.
Physically forcing her eyes from the screen, Lisa refocused her attention onto Jong-Kook who was the leader of Alpha team and currently in charge of briefing them on the secondary objective of their assignment. It turns out that the job was going to be bigger than just a simple babysitting gig. Way much bigger. As in Mafia-related, money laundering, and terrorism epic shit, and the Kim family was caught right in the middle of it all.
"Alright guys, you've got a ticket to the big show and we're gonna need you to take full advantage of that. Running security for the Kim family will be your primary objective, but that also means you'll be surrounded by some serious mob bosses in the South Korean Jopok circle, which are more often known as the mafias – these are the ones that the KCIA, NIS and Interpol have a particular interest in at the moment. Your secondary objective is to gather as much intelligence as you can and relay it back to Alpha team."
"No offense Kook, but shouldn't your KCIA buddies be able to infiltrate and gather the intel that you need? I mean we're happy to pick up the slack, but we are wondering why we're needed." Bambam asked the question that we were thinking as well.
"That's just it, even the spooks can't get a foothold into the inner circles that you'll have access to. Remember these jopok members that you'll be dealing with aren't the small-time thugs that you're used to, they are the wealthy elite - the top one percent of South Korea. Their businesses are family run and exclusive to the point where the KCIA can't breach into the inner workings."
"So what are we looking for, Kook?" Hoony asked, flipping open the file in front of him.
"The extremists that we've been tracking are plotting some major shit and using the jopok ties in South Korea to launder the money that fund their operations. Problem is that we can't figure out who's running the whole damn show. The corruption in South Korea runs so deep and lips are so tightly sealed that we can't narrow down our suspect pool. That's where you guys come in. We need your intel to figure out who's laundering the money."
"I've given you a file of the heavy hitters along with their ties to the Kim family so you know what to look out for and listen into." Jong-Kook paused, giving the Bravo team enough time to open the files he had given them.
"Each family member will offer up different intel. Richard Kim himself and his daughter Jennie Kim will provide the most insight on his political and business affiliates."
"Why would Jennie Kim have insight into Richard's business affiliates?" Marcus asked.
"Jennie Kim works closely with her father and has recently taken on more responsibility at the company to allow her father to focus more on his campaign trail." Jong-Kook answered.
"Jin Kim, Richard's son, will be able to give you more perspective into the social dynamics. He runs a string of upscale clubs and bars that are frequented by many of the mob bosses. And lastly Dara Kim, Richard's current wife and step-mother to both Jin and Jennie, frequently socializes with the wives and family members of more than half of the heavy hitters on our list."
This assignment was going to be anything but easy and Lisa knew that she should be giving Jong-Kook more of her attention, but she couldn't help herself. As hard as she tried to force her eyes down to the folder in her lap they somehow managed to drift back up to Jennie's picture on the screen.
A large foot nudged the leg of Lisa's chair, jarring her body and breaking her concentration. The foot belonged to Hoony who was giving her a wide toothy smile as if he could read Lisa's mind.
Fucking Hoony. This bloody idiot.
The truth was, Lisa's iron clad self-control that she had once pride herself on was slipping, which was okay for the time being because she was just staring at a picture. What the hell was she going to do when Jennie Kim is standing right in front of her and they will be living under the same roof for the next five weeks? Dragging her hand backwards through her hair, Lisa leaned back in her chair and blew out a hard breath.
I'm in big trouble.
