skydive

o.n.e

Hyemi sat in the passenger seat of the police car, sipping her coffee and scanning the area around her. Stakeouts were tedious work but they were necessary. Especially now that her team was so close to finding out the identity of the leader of this gang. They were new but big. Their crime rate was exceeding almost any other gang the police had tabs on. So much so, that they had no choice but to take them down now.

"Have you gotten briefed yet?" Hyemi's partner was eating instant noodles, seated in the driver seat. They'd been silent for a while, but Hyemi had seen this coming.

She sighed. "Yes, I have." He was talking about her new assignment. She was moving to a different team, working on a new case. Tonight would be her last night with this team. She wasn't just getting a new case, though. She was getting promoted to detective. This had been a dream of hers since entering the academy.

She had just hoped it wouldn't happen this way.

You see, Hyemi had spent almost all of her childhood in foster care, living in a house with five boys. They'd bonded, becoming like family. But those boys had grown into powerful men, capable of almost anything. They'd formed a gang, calling themselves B.A.P.

No one knew of their connection though. The eldest, Yongguk, had made sure of that. What kind of street cred could they get with a cop in their shadows? As soon as Hyemi had made her decision, Yongguk had made his. Therefore, making a decision for all of them.

Her partner was just about to ask another question when their walkie-talkies crackled. A voice was heard yelling coordinates. Other officers were in pursuit for one of the lackeys they'd been tracking. Hyemi and her partner were the closest officers. They jumped out of the car, running to the spot they needed to be to cut off the chase.

The lackey just managed to shake off her partner when Hyemi was able to get a good grasp on him. She knocked him to the ground, resting her knee in between his shoulder blades. As she was handcuffing the guy, her partner came to kneel beside her.

"I can tell you're nervous about this new case." He said between breaths. "I can't figure out why, but I know it'll be fine." He helped her lift the lackey to his feet. "B.A.P is just like any other gang."

That's where he was wrong. Not that Hyemi could tell him that.

The universe was against her. Hyemi decided that early the next morning. Not only was she late for work, she'd managed to spill coffee all over her shirt. The captain had caught sight of her before she'd had a chance to change too, as if the day wasn't bad enough. He'd coughed awkwardly and muttered something about giving her a moment to change her shirt before speaking to her. Hyemi didn't realize why he felt so awkward until she realized her white shirt was see-through when wet.

Go figure.

Hyemi sat at her desk, letting out a heavy sigh.She was so stressed out she almost missed the post-it sticking to her computer.

Almost.

'I'll be there tonight' was scribbled on the post-it, a small drawing of a crescent moon left as a signature.

Hyemi had just had enough time to read the note when a knock on her door came. She snatched the post-it and crumbled it in her hand before saying, "Come in!"

The captain entered, looking as serious as always. "I need to speak to you."

"Yes, sir." Hyemi sat up straighter, making sure all her focus was on him.

"This is all the information we have on B.A.P. As you know, they're very good at covering their tracks." A smirk cracked the captain's stoic expression. "But even the best can slip up every once in a while." The captain placed a folder on her desk. He gestured to it. "Look at this." Hyemi opened the folder. The paper on the top of the file was a printing of a screenshot from a CCTV camera. From what she could tell, it looked like an outside market. Everything was closed so she assumed this was happening at night. Most of the picture was blurred out but two faces were able to be deciphered.

Moon Jongup. Looking furious but relaxed in a way that only Jongup could look.

And walking behind him was someone Hyemi had never seen before. Was he a new recruit? When had B.A.P started recruiting people? From what she'd remembered, they'd been so close-knit and exclusive that it made it impossible for anyone to get close enough. How had this guy done it?

"They're recruiting." He said in a grave tone. "He's the only one we've identified. It seems they haven't gotten around to erasing his identity. We don't know if there are any more recruits or not. We just know this guy, Jung Daehyun, was involved in their massacre last night."

"Massacre?" Hyemi set the folder down, feeling her heart race. What kind of trouble were these guys in now?

With a grim expression, the captain handed her another folder. There was picture after picture of a crime scene that Hyemi had just heard about in passing. An entire gang of gamblers had been massacred in their own hideout. Documents of their previous crimes had been tossed onto a pile of ashes. It had been the remains of counterfeit money they'd made. Piled and burned.

Hyemi stared, trying to keep her expression neutral. "You think they're taking out competition."

"And getting as many people on their side as they can it seems." Captain stood up, making his way towards the door. "We'll have a briefing soon about stakeouts and tailings. For now, get yourself ready. We'll need you to go undercover."

Hyemi was sure she'd heard that wrong. "Sorry?"

Captain turned back to look at her. "Undercover, detective. You've done that before, haven't you?"

Of course she had. Just never with a group of guys that used to know her better than anyone else. But how could she reveal that to the captain?

"Yes, sir." She mumbled.

He nodded. "I expect good results from this." And then he was gone.

Hyemi wasn't too sure she could say the same thing.