The Sun Before My Eyes (Michaeng)

8

"You shouldn't have agreed to let Ms. Chou leave the country. Her eyes and skill and crucial in this operation. You even let her take Sana-"

"Sana left on her own accord." Jihyo sighed, rubbing her temples. Her voice was hoarse from not having slept much these past few days. There was so much to look into in such short amount of time. "They are too inexperienced to be dragged into this mess. It would be too taxing on them." she added.

Tzuyu had gone back to Taiwan after her working ban. During her forced vacation, she was by Sana's side for most of the time. She has been teaching her ways and methods to improve her natural talent. They would train together every time Sana would be done with classes. Towards the end of her vacation, she asked Sana to be her partner-in Taiwan. With Sana agreeing, they certified her as an exorcist of the company before leaving. They never specified if they would ever return at all.

Jihyo had accepted their request to work together. With a young prodigy and a girl with the same potential power, it is right for them to work together. But then Tzuyu was concerned about Jihyo and her role as the boss's eyes. She was willing to stay here and work until she had found what Jihyo was looking for but Jihyo declined. She insisted she go back and that they would be alright.

In reality she didn't want her to get too involved in their secret operation. Tzuyu had proved her loyalty multiple times during the work ban. She has proved herself as skilled as the rumors say of her.

It's just that Jihyo didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

Avoiding possible casualties, that's what it was. She didn't want to throw a prized worker into something serious. Especially Sana, who comes from a great family. Jihyo owes her life to the Minatozaki family. She doesn't want to repay her kindness by throwing Sana into this mess.

Jeongyeon's eyes softened slighlty when Nayeon handed her a cup of coffee. The pair haven't been sleeping lately. They've been traveling all over the place, investigating the mysterious deaths of civilians. They believe that an evil force was behind it.

And they were betting the evil force is exactly what they were looking for.

"Head down and sleep in the infirmary." Jeongyeon told Nayeon.

Nayeon wasn't feeling so good either about all of this. So far she's been traveling all over the country and seeing damaged corpses. Her eyes were burning from how much she's been inspecting the crime scenes to see if anything was out of the ordinary.

She was about to protest until a big wave of energy hit her.

The intensity nearly knocked her over. It's as if she was suffocating in quick sand. Jihyo wasn't dealing with it any better. Despite the loss of her vision and majority of her abilities, even a beginner could feel that push. Even Jeongyeon, who had no skill of feeling energy, received goosebumps.

Jeongyeon immediately stood up to brace her partner. Worry filled her face as she called out to Nayeon.

Jihyo was the first to recover.

"Locate the source!"

______________

"Thank you, darling. Without Sana around it's gotten quite difficult to adjust."

Mina gave a small smile as she hugged the elderly woman. She's been helping out Sana's grandparents ever since she left with Tzuyu. Its a weekly routine where she comes to visit for a full day. Most of the time she spends it helping them tidy up the shop or move things around. Like now, she was moving boxes.

"You've been working for too long dear. How about you take a rest?" Sana's grandfather offered. Dusting her hands, Mina agreed to it. "Let me move this box upstairs first."