【Ａｓｐｈｙｘｉａ】 seongjoong

Motive

Jongho's shoes clacked to stop as he stood in front of a large oak door with his hands securely inside his pockets. Currently, he was trying to muster up the courage to possibly open it. He sighed as he stared at the golden nameplate glinting back at him on the door underneath the fluorescent lights.

Kim "Eden" Younghwan

The very man had called earlier and asked if the younger had time to come to his office that morning as a means of reply to his late night message. This was it. He had truly left Seonghwa's squad now. The mere notion sent a knot in his stomach but he knew it was for the best. There was a lot resting on his shoulders now and he couldn't afford to fail or back down now.

Resigning himself to what was to come, Jongho reached out a hand and knocked twice on the wood. There was a muffled voice from the other end presumably telling him to come in. The young agent dropped his hand to the handle and turned it to enter. Eden's office was very reminiscent of the director's but only slightly smaller in size. The inside was surprisingly sparsely decorated considering the amount of awards the elder had but still had a nice view of the city.

"Ah, Jongho," Eden looked up from whatever he was working on at his desk at the other's entry. "Glad you could make it."

The young agent took a look around, noticing that they were the only two in the room. "Where is everyone else?"

"Why don't you have a seat," The older gestured to the chair in front of him as he dropped the pen in his hand and leaned back. "I actually wanted to meet with you separately before we joined up with the others."

Curious, Jongho followed the instructions with a raised eyebrow. "Am I in trouble or something?"

"No, you aren't in trouble." Eden chuckled for a moment before he regained seriousness. "Before we started working together, I wanted to get an insider's perspective on what happened the night of the botched mission."

The younger's brows downturned as he frowned. "You mean, you want to know exactly how Xion died."

Eden nodded, his face a little solemn. "I recognize that this may be painful for you, but any information is key."

"If you're the task force head, you have access to the mission report. Everything you need to know is in that file." The rookie crossed one leg over the other and placed his hands in his lap. He had a feeling he knew where this game was heading.

"Now, you see Jongho," Eden leaned forward in his chair, the furniture creaking with the movement as he placed his elbows on the desk to look over his laced fingers. "This is where I tell you that I think you aren't saying everything."

Jongho tried not to show any outward reaction on his face at the accusation and instead replied back coolly, "False reporting is a serious and fireable offense, sir. Surely you wouldn't assume I would risk my career at the CCG like that when I just got here?"

"Perhaps not you," Eden said, not backing down. "But you are on a team, correct? Maybe it was one of them. Knowing about a false report is just as serious."

"Well, then it is nice that neither of those things happened, isn't it?" The younger raised an eyebrow and stared down the other on the opposite end of the desk, as if daring the elder to challenge him. It was slightly exhilarating, if not also a little terrifying to stand up to a higher ranking official but he couldn't risk the kind of theories Seonghwa had getting out and possibly in the hands of the mole before anything is solidified.

There was a beat of silence as each agent waited for the other to back down. Finally, Eden suddenly burst into gut busting laughter. "Ah! This is why I like you Jongho, you are always surprising me."