SCHOOL 2020 ▷ bts

1.1

Things were clicking together in my head and as I rushed back to the apartment, I only had one thought in my mind.

I have to tell Chao.

I had the pieces and had even slotted some of them together, but Chao was the only one who could see the bigger picture. He was my handler, my teacher, and with the hints that I was going to give him, he would definitely know all the answers.

I burst into the apartment like a cannon ball straight off the Black Pearl.

"Chao! Seokjin and Namjoon aren't just schoolmates, they're close friends! He visited him in a hospital!" I kicked off my shoes. "Seokjin visited Namjoon, I mean. Who has purple hair now. Why would he do that? He looks good though. Anyway, did you know they all have iPhones? I think someone's paying them to do the dirty work; seven people all owning iPhones is a bit too much of a coincidence - "

I stopped abrupt.

Chao was sitting in the middle of the living room, a regretful expression on his face. There were three other men in there, all dressed in black. Two of them stood at the sides, silent and menacing with figures even bulkier than the thugs I had helped Yoongi fought off in the alley.

The third man stood, alone, staring out the apartment's floor-to-ceiling glass pane. Usually heavily veiled with curtains, today the afternoon sun shone right through.

He turned around at my noisy entrance and I paled.

It was less of a bow than an absolute sinking to the knees.

"Lord Taikan," I murmured. Like taipan, the venomous snake.

"Please." His voice was deep, rough and did little to reveal his age. "Call me Tai."

Which did nothing to ease my anxiety. The boss of the yakuza does not let simply anyone call him by his first name, unless he wants of you something.

Or if you'd done something.

Lord Taikan was dressed in the deepest of blacks, which served only to accentuate the gleaming red ruby that topped his walking cane. The tips of his shoes were lined in small diamonds.

Swiftly, tentatively, I dared to peek at his face.

The rumors are true.

They said Lord Taikan always wore a mask on him, so no one could see his face. And that the people who received the honor of seeing his face could never lived to tell the tale - because death usually followed five seconds later.

I was staring at the famed mask right now. It extended from his forehead and down past his nose, where it curved widely around his lips. The mask itself was bleached and painted in bold brushes of black.

They also said Lord Taikan's mask was carefully constructed from the bones of his enemies. I wouldn't be surprised if it was correct. The texture of the mask definitely did fit.

My mind was in a whirl. I knew little of our yakuza boss, and most of us here in Korea had never even glimpsed the face of the legendary man. We were part of the international branch after all, and Lord Taikan preferred to stay in his home country of Japan. Though he did make it a point to visit once in awhile, people like me and Chao were too low of status to be paid any attention.

So why was he here now?

Lord Taikan folded his hands on top of his cane. "Sit, girl."

Chao's fingers jerked at his side, motioning for me to come over. Hurriedly, I complied.

Silence reigned in the apartment for a few moments.

"You are the one? The one who has been doing all these recon missions on the new threat?"

"Yes, Lord Tai." I wasn't stupid enough to take his previous sentence at face value. Who the hell would dare call a yakuza boss by their first name? I bet even his wife couldn't do it.

That was, if he had a wife.

"And how is progress?"

I swallowed. "Smooth. I just finished reconning our last man today. They're all schoolmates, but I have a feeling they all know each other closer than just casual acquaintances."

"I see. Any - how do you say it - ah, hitches?"

It didn't matter if he already knew or not, you never lied to Lord Taikan if you valued your life.

"Yes." My heart was thudding too fast. "I was called out by one of the six targets and had my face exposed in a press conference. And the second time another target was under duress, so I had to step in to help." My words spilled out, fast. "But the second time I was sure he didn't see me, and the first time - well, there were lots of people there, so I'm sure he won't remember me at all - "

"Enough." Molten lava. That was what the word and the tone it had been spoken in reminded me of. It cut my little speech in half and slammed it into silence.

A small, almost insignificant wave of Lord Taikan's gloved hands.

"You are dismissed."

My heart was now thudding in my mouth. I looked up. Next to me Chao had his eyes shut, as if that would minimize the blow.

"I - pardon?"

"Kyakka. Neon haegoya. Vous êtes viré. Du bist gefeuert. You are fired. No more missions. Understand?"

The world crashed around me.

"I do not need little girls who fail to do their job well, or who fail to appreciate the importance of the task they have been charged with. If you cannot be serious, then I will be serious, and tell you seriously that you are from now on, dismissed. Until you can prove yourself to be better, you can stay on in your previous occupation as - what is it? Ah. Guard duty."

With that, Lord Taikan swept out of the apartment, taking his two bodyguards with him. He didn't even bother to say farewell, a little voice in my head protested weakly.

I couldn't breathe.

I had failed.

Chao was running his hand through his hair. Bitterness slipped out from under his expressionless features, just. At that moment I realized - I was not the only one feeling terrible in this room. Chao had been my supervisor, my supporter - he had been one of those who believed I could do it. He had been one of those people who voted for me to undertake the missions.

And I had failed him. When we go back, he would be just as liable for a reprimand as I was, if not more so.

I had been given to him as a responsibility, but I had turned myself into a burden.

"Chao - " I began.

"It's fine," he muttered. "Win some, lose some, eh?"

Standing up, he walked away quietly to his room.

I looked around, as if in a daze.

It was over.