Jungsu breathed hard as he held the ripped edges of his sweatshirt together in the middle of his chest. He was leaning against the wall of a building, his one hand grabbing at the rough texture of the brick wall. His back was molded against the wall as he looked around the corner to ensure that the path was clear.
He waited one breath before he darted around the corner and began sprinting once more.
Somehow, there were more people than before. It was almost as if there was a big manhunt with more and more people joining in. The moment he thought he had escaped them was when he would run into an unsuspecting individual whose eyes would suddenly light up in recognition.
It didn't seem safe to him anywhere. And especially not on the crowded streets of the residential area he lived in. Though at the moment, he was far from that residential area being near a major intersection. He had covered quite the distance, yet still, it seemed as though everyone he ran into somehow knew him.
The odds simply did not make sense to Jungsu. Perhaps the show was more of a hit than he thought. He wasn't one to scroll through the internet seeking the current trends and major incidents in Korea, however, Jungsu was now considering starting to do just that.
As Jungsu ran alongside the buildings, dodging people left and right, he could feel the numerous eyes on him and the recognition in them as he left behind loud chatter.
"Oh my god!"
"That's Song Jungsu, right?"
"You mean the guy from Double Shift?"
They actually knew Jungsu. He wasn't sure how he felt about that at the moment as he hoped for anonymity. But he wasn't exactly being anonymous by running around in a tattered sweatshirt on a major street.
He could see cars stopping from the corner of his eyes to glance at him as he kept running. There was no point in attempting to hide from the public eye as they seemed to have been following him everywhere.
He'd called for a cab, however, it was hard to pinpoint a single location as Jungsu had to keep moving. They were everywhere. But perhaps he was simply being paranoid for feeling like more than half the people he met were coming for him. It all felt like a dream to him, seeing as he was simply running while people watched.
He finally hid behind a building, stopping to rest there as he pulled out his phone to book a cab. Pinpointing his location, he saw that the man was only one minute away. He let out a breath in relief and waited until the cab pulled up on the side of the road. Identifying the number plate as the one on the app, he emerged from behind the building, then quickly darted towards it.
Opening the door he climbed inside the passenger seat and looked beside him to the startled man who took in his disheveled appearance and opened his mouth in recognition.
"Drive." Jungsu said shortly as his eyes dug into the driver's own.
The driver gulped before pressing down on the accelerator and speeding off to the location Jungsu had entered in on his app.
He knew where Hyun-su worked as he had found out that information after trailing him for a day in secret. It was only natural that since Hyun-su had previously trailed Jungsu, despite Jungsu knowing full well that he was being followed, that he in turn trail Hyun-su.
The location they were headed to might have appeared to be a normal office building, however, it was the task force centre for the NIS. Jungsu had deduced that it was not nearly as confidential and uptight as some other buildings might have been. Thus, there was probably not much information stored there.
Jungsu anxiously looked into the mirrors in search of any suspicious cars that might have been following them in that moment. And for the remainder of the ride, Jungsu kept glancing around anxiously, causing the driver to absorb some of his anxiety.
Jungsu also caught the driver's eyes straying to his chest a couple of times before he pulled the sweater tighter against him as he pressed his lips together.
They'd finally arrived and Jungsu looked down at his phone to see that he had received text messages from Ara asking about where he was. Sending her a quick message, he told her his location.
As he opened the door to the building, he stepped inside and entered the main door. There were security guards blocking the entrance along with several turnstiles kept in place to ensure only employees could enter by scanning their ID cards.
Jungsu walked even quicker, not hesitating as the security guards moved to stop him. Jungsu however, feeling quite agitated, threw quick and powerful punches, leaving several of them sprawled on the ground as he made his way to Ara.
He had previously deduced through his spying that Ara was working on the eighth floor of the building, and so he pressed the button of the elevator and anxiously tapped his foot on the ground as the elevator rose and finally opened to the eighth floor.
Stepping out, he walked in between the numerous office desks and people currently gaping at him. Not seeing her there, he moved to another connected room and finally spotted her sifting through some papers on her desk.
Exhaling roughly, he closed the door behind him and leaned against it, simply breathing deeply as he met the eyes of the numerous workers who had paused in their work to gape at him.
Ara's eyes finally landed on him, and she abruptly stood up, quickly moving towards him as her eyes widened at the state he was in.
"J-Jungsu? I thought you said there was one stalker? How did this happen?"
Jungsu slid down onto the ground, his back resting against the door as he ran a hand down his face.
"Ya! What happened to your sweater?" Ara asked with narrowed eyes.
"There were too many of them." Jungsu muttured. He felt uneasy the moment he heard the footsteps of more workers gathering around him.
"Of who? Who attacked you Jungsu?" Ara demanded, shaking his arms to get him to answer.
"It was a large group of women. Although, there were also a couple of men there as well." He breathed, pulling his sweater together as he felt their eyes diving down in between his shoulders.
"They did this to you? Who sent them, Jungsu? Did you get to know their purpose?" Ara sunk to her knees before him, looking at him with her light brown eyes.
"They're independent. I don't know what their purpose was, but one of them said they wanted my babies. I don't have babies, Ara." He mumbled in bafflement, resting a hand on his forehead as he leaned his elbow against his knee.
"Okay, so they- what?" Ara's face turned from serious to incredulous in just a brief moment.
Ara narrowed her eyes in the silence of the room, grabbing hold of Jungsu's sweatshirt to see the bite mark on his shoulder. Jungsu quickly pulled the tattered fabric from her hand and attempted to cover what little he could.
He heard a snicker in the room before it turned into a cough.
"So you're telling me you were assaulted by some crazy fans." Ara glared at him.
"I don't know if those were fans Ara." Jungsu said, looking at her like she was crazy.
Ara, along with everyone else in the room, looked at Jungsu as if he was crazy.
Ara exhaled a long breath and then grabbed Jungsu's forearm, dragging him up to stand.
Jungsu looked around warily at the wandering eyes he felt and shifted behind Ara for some inexplicable urge he felt deep within him.
Ara, looking back at him from the corner of her eyes, dragged him towards another room, loudly closing the door behind them.
Sitting him down on the chair in the empty room, she paced around for a bit before her eyes drifted towards him and she turned away from him. Jungsu watched as her shoulders started shaking, and then she was laughing loudly.
His eyes widened in disbelief as she turned around to look at him, then turned away and continued laughing.
Narrowing his eyes, he stood up and walked up behind her. Turning her around he glared down at her as she laughed right into his face.
Jungsu didn't appreciate her laughing at him. It irritated him. She irritated him.
"I don't find this situation funny, Investigator Ara." Jungsu spat out.
"No... but..." Ara breathed in between her laughs, "I do!"
Reigning herself in, she asked, "Why didn't you just stay in the building?"
"I don't like sitting idle when there is a threat lurking nearby."
Ara choked back a laugh as she said, "But the threat was only lurking by for you to come out."
Jungsu nodded his head in agreement. However, how was he supposed to know that the people outside would be that many, and all willing to participate in his assault.
Squinting her eyes up at him as she moved her eyes up to his neck she whispered, "Is that lipstick?"
Then she moved in to rub it off, brushing her thumb along the skin between his neck and shoulders. Jungsu flinched at her touch and Ara pulled back with curious eyes, leaving her hand floating in between them.
It was at that moment that Hyun-su decided to enter the room.