1. Project IZ*ONE

Chapter 12 - Search and Rescue

Yena had been sitting in a chair trying to explain for the past half hour that they didn't mean to blow the place up to a detective who clearly wasn't believing her. The room wasn't that large, only having room for a wooden table and a couple of chairs. One-way mirrors were on the walls, presumably with more cops observing the scene.

"Listen!" She says urgently. "My friend was taken by those people! If you don't let us go now, they're going to kill her!" The man simply shakes his head in response.

"I'm afraid after the damage you girls caused, we have to let professionals do the job."

"Yah, if it weren't for us, you wouldn't even have known the Japanese were there!"

"Well, if your kind didn't exist, they wouldn't have a reason to be here." The detective mumbles.

"What was that?" Yena asks angrily. "We're not some pest that needs exterminating. Every fucking country has people like us. We're people too." The man realizes he may have struck a nerve, and pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing.

"Look, it's better to send the police because they just might capture another one of you. How can we even be sure that you're telling the truth about that bunker?"

"Are you blind? Did you miss the Japanese characters on the monitors inside that place? Aren't you aware of the treaty made by Japan and South Korea? It was clearly a Trojan horse to get spies inside."

"Like your friend, Sakura?" He asks condescendingly.

"Hey, she tried to make up for her mistakes. At least she got the data back."

"But you girls destroyed any possible evidence we could use. Like you guys said, it was an old base. Who's to say the Japanese will accept responsibility?" Yena shrinks in her seat. All she wanted was to get out of there as soon as possible and find Yuri.

"You're lucky you're a part of the Produce program." The man comments. "Mr. Lee made it clear to us that we had to bring you all back." He gets up and walks out of the room, leaving Yena alone.

UNNIE! Yena shivers. Yuri's ear-piercing scream for help couldn't be answered. She should've known that Jurina would be in there somewhere, hiding in the shadows. Yena whacks herself in the head, thinking of where her friend might be.

~~~~

Eunbi finds herself in a private room similar to Yena's as she makes a phone call. Their little stunt had already made headlines across the country, "the mutants who blew up a forest in the dead of night".

"Sunbaenim, I can explain-" She begins but is cut off by the voice.

"Listen, Eunbi. We have the legal right to take you girls out of there, but didn't I tell you to not do anything too flashy?"

"Well, I didn't think Hitomi would cause a reactor meltdown. That was an oversight on my part, I'm sorry."

"When I assigned you to be the leader of this team, I wanted you to understand your members entirely. You should've made it clearer that it was a search and retrieve operation." The voice says sternly. "Now, one of your members has been kidnapped too."

"The police keep telling us not to be involved, but it's not like we know where to look." Eunbi sighs. It was her fault for not being more careful and observant. She'd let her guard down and all hell broke loose because of it.

"Sakura will know where to go. If she's smart, she'll have told them every possible location except for the one Yuri is at. I'll give you guys a chance to rescue your friend, and possibly collect more intel, but you must all return to the facilities first. More orders will be given then."