The beaming Leo got home from work, his day being convincingly great to that point. He had his favorite song playing in his head, a warm shower being the only thing he was looking forward to. He left the kitchen with a bottle of water in his hand, his motion resembling the beat of the silent song.
But that feeling didn't seem to last when he sensed his phone vibrating in his pants. Fishing it out and checking the caller, he was no stranger, it was his cousin, Jipan. They had two different jobs, but 1 secret service which was dedicated to keeping Kro's records in check. It was their family tradition,
"Hey bro", casually, Leo talked,
"Hi man. Are you busy?", Jipan asked, his voice having a frenetic pace
"No, I'm not",
"Great, because this will take a while, you need to sit down",
"Ow-kay!",
Leo hurried to his room, finding comfort in his bed, the only place he could receive bad news in peace
"Go on", he proceeded,
"Okay, so we just received some shocking news. There's a group of people without a name working on finding out Kro's identity! From the information we have it seems the two photos that went missing are now in their hands", said Jipan over the phone,
"Oh no!", Leo exclaimed,
"We received a lead saying one of them might be at CC headquarters disguised as an employee",
"But we already did a background check on everyone working at Kro's company, all of them were clean!",
"I hear Kro just hired a new batch. Possibly, the bug must be among them",
"Why do people keep doing this? It's not like they're going to find anything! They're most likely digging their own graves",
He could hear Jipan exhaling heavily, enervated.
"Should I tell Kro about this, or you will?", asked Jipan
"I will. You keep looking into it to find out how many people are in that group, what information they already have, and who backs them up",
"You got it bro!",
"Great work! Tell everyone to relax. We managed to stop many of them, so this is just another easy task", Leo assured his cousin
"Sure!",
Jipan hung up first.
Leo laid his head on the pillow, all his plans destroyed by the news. He kept staring at the ceiling, in his head calculating where to begin catching the bugs. It was not something easy, but him together with his team were fast and that was the most important trait.
....
The maid opened the door for Ukraine. Going home was not in the list, not before he talked to his family about the situation. His head was still not in the right place from the argument he just had with Kro, he was still in a fit of pique.
His grandparents were in the living room, enjoying their evening tea. He just had to pop in and destroy their relaxation.
"Uk my dear, I wasn't expecting you!", said the grandma, surprised,
"I know",
Ukraine finally took a seat
"So, how's work ?", while stirring her tea, the grandma asked,
"Not good guys, not good at all", Uk answered, welcoming a cloud of terror above the relaxing atmosphere he previously found in that room
The grandma put the cup back on the table, her thirst shutting off
"Don't tell me she found out already", she tried to guess, fingers crossed, hoping she was wrong.
"No, she didn't, but from tomorrow, I'll be reporting to the marketing team",
"You'll no longer be her assistant?", she was startled, the news coming like a bolt from the blue.
"Yeah",
"Now how can we get to know who she really is? Ukraine, you need to make sure you remain as her assistant, make sure of that. You need to do everything you can to stay next to her", she emphasized,
"I tried convincing her this evening, but we ended up arguing. She said even if I apply, she won't give me the job and I'll end up losing everything!",
"Why did she say that? There must be a reason!", the grandpa finally said something after taking his time listening to his grandson's miserable day
"There's this woman, a clairvoyant who came to us and said she can only see one life cycle in her, meaning she's either alive since long ago, or she's dead. I didn't say anything about it, and she became mad_",
"Oh no!", the grandpa clicked his tongue, disappointed, "You made a big mistake son, a very big mistake!",
"Why grandpa? I thought that was the best choice_",
"People who don't know anything about a person are curious or else it means you already know everything about her. All you needed to do was to act curious. As she's living here, she's doing everything to protect her true self, even a tiny bit of suspicion will be a red flag, and that is why she decided to not keep you close to her anymore",
Ukraine leaned back, scratching his forehead, embarrassment knocking.
"I see, I get it. What do you think I should do now guys? She already sent me away",
"You're smart, come up with something, anything to make you her assistant again. We don't have much time, we need to write a report and send it to the headquarters before they take our budges away, will a month be enough for you to finish everything?", she asked
"Yeah, a month will be enough!",
"Okay, and why isn't Song here, he's supposed to attend these kinds of talks",
"I think you guys need to talk to him, he's currently doing his own mission on the same target. You need to talk him out of this, or else everything we've accomplished will go down the drain", Ukraine spoke his heart out
His father wasn't going to listen to him, but maybe he'd listen to his parents. At the same time, his brain was working extra miles to come up with a plan. He had to have one fast, time was not on his side.
....
FAR-BRIDGE
Kro's house was sparkly clean and fixed, as if nothing happened the previous weekend. She pulled a small, red, wooden box out from under her bed.
Whenever she opened the box, her chest felt so tight. Her ticket to death was laying inside, a silver, sharp edged dagger with three jade stones on one side of the handle. It was the only material thing she was left with over the centuries, waiting for her grim reaper to come stab her with it and end her misery.
She always looked at it whenever she felt down or felt terrible about something, but that day, she looked at it because she was languished! She took the dagger out of the box and started swinging it effortlessly with her fingers,
"When will you be reborn? When will you come stab me with this and end this life for me, why don't you just appear in front of me already? I'm sick and tired of living! I'm growing impatient, and I'm afraid I'll end up doing something stupid. So, please, come kill me, just like you did the first time!",
They say you only live once, but at that moment, she wished to never even lived at all. She regretted being born. Her life was worthless, that's what she thought. Everyone she cared for had left her and some would do, in the coming years. It was the most toxic curse.
.....
BAZZAD
Misaki put on her cardigan on her way out. She had a guest who wasn't a stranger. It was already late at night, and she looked annoyed from being woken up in the middle of a beautiful dream.
A black car was parked in front of her house, she hopped in. Her arms were now crossed on her chest, pretty much elaborating how vexed she was.
Her father, minister Akeshi was seated at the far end, nervously lacing his fingers together, just thankful that at least Misaki agreed to meet him that night,
"Dad, please tell me whatever you want to say is important!", said Misaki, not wanting to waste another minute,
"I'm sorry for waking you up, but we're all busy, this is the only time I had to talk to you",
"I'm listening",
"I want you to be honest with me, is there something strange with your boss, Kro",
"Gosh! After sending men to her house, you think that's not enough. What more do you want dad? Can't you just leave this lady alone?",
"Look, one of my men shot her, and then he saw her wound fixing itself as if she wasn't hurt! He says she wasn't even bleeding",
"Okay dad, thank you, I'm going back to sleep now",
She was already opening the door when Akeshi caught her hand. He wasn't done talking, he needed to make something clear, his didn't want to sound insane in front of his daughter. Misaki paused and stared at Akeshi's hand, she could feel him trembling. That was new!
"I know, it sounds crazy! But again, those men have never been defeated before",
"Yes, until they met her. Maybe she's a heavy trainer, a black belt in karate, master in taekwondo. Come on, people are different",
"The men never lie, I think he really saw what he said he saw", he let go of her hand,
"Why're you telling me this? In case you haven't noticed, my life is just getting started. I'm already the worst employee to her because of you! Do know how I feel working for someone while knowing she already regrets hiring me?",
"Misaki I'm sorry. I've been the worst father to you, but I promise you, this will be the last time I'm asking you for something like this. I'm regretting doing something like that, and I promise to come apologize to her. But please, just this one thing",
"What do you want?",
"He said he shot her right at the back. I need you to ask her about it, and if possible, try to see if she has any mark at the place she was shot",
"If I say yes, will you let me go back to sleep?",
"I will",
"Okay great, I'll see what I can do, goodnight now!",
She didn't give her father a chance to say it back. She walked back to her house, already pissed and exhausted from the drama.
*****