Chapter Text
Sayeon and Ryujin entered the office and sat in the chairs in front of Juni.
“You two have a mission tonight,” Juni stated, placing a file on the table. “Rumor says that the Begonias are using that abandoned warehouse by the port as a rapture factory.” she continued.
Sayeon took one look at the file and then at her mission partner, this would be their first mission together since they made it to level 6. She looked back and picked up the file, reading each page carefully.
Ryujin seemed less interested, taking a quick glance at the file in Sayeon's hands before standing up and preparing to leave.
Sayeon follow soon after
“We'll be on time.” Sayeon said before walking out.
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Sayeon checked her phone. 12:30 am.
They had been dropped off by the port a while ago all they needed to do now was locate the warehouse.
Ryujin yawned before stuffing her hands into her pockets. “Man, I should have slept during the afternoon.” She sighed, her voice, rough from the lack of sleep.
“Well, if you wanna go home earlier then let's get moving.” The girl in the glasses responded as she started walking.
“Yeah, yeah, Glasses I'm coming.”
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The silence is broken when the two of them hear the loud banging of metal coming from nearby. Sayeon turns to the direction of the sound.
“Ryujin, can you sense any aura?”
She focuses on the building beside them.
“Yes, it's really faint but yes.”
Sayeon quickly spots a ladder hanging out the open window on the building. “Give me a hand.” she asks Ryujin.
Ryujin looks around them before helping Sayeon. “Which dumbass left this open?!?” She points out. “Be quiet..!” Sayeon replied in a hushed tone.
Upon entering the warehouse the moon light shined down onto the lower floor, Sayeon noticed two men, they were berating someone. She quickly makes a message to headquarters. Before Sayeon could tell her findings to Ryujin, the shorter girl had already jumped into action.
“Ryujin what the hell are you doing!?!?” She said as quietly as she could but she couldn't stop the girl in time. She had no choice but to follow her.
The two men didn't notice Ryujin amidst all the yelling, she snuck up to the one with his arm in the air. Positioned her hands beside his neck and snapped it in one quick motion. The sound of his body hitting the ground made the other men jump out of his skin.
He slowly backed off as his legs trembled, he held up a small pocket knife but his hands betrayed him, as they violently shook the knife dropped onto the floor, he was defenseless now.
He made a move to the large truck that had been in the warehouse, he got in as fast as he could and scrambled to find the key.
The truck let out the loud sounds of its engine, before Ryujin could do anything it had already crashed straight through the rusty old door of the warehouse. Causing the truck's license plate to fall off
As Ryujin was just about to chase after the vehicle a voice cut through the ruckus.
“Don't, we have enough evidence.”
Ryujin turned back to see Sayeon checking the area with a flashlight. As the light shined onto the walls it landed on a young girl in the corner of the building.
The sight of the girl sent shivers down Sayeon's spine. The girl was in what looked like a hospital gown, her skin was pale, really pale covered in cuts and bruises and her hair was almost completely white. Her legs shook as she tried to get up like a newborn fawn, her left hand trying to reach for something to support her.
Ryujin quickly rushed to the little girl's side holding her up by the arm, the girl's legs wobbled as she tried to get footing.
“Woow kid, didn't notice you back there.” Ryujin remarked, trying to contain her shock.
“Are there any others here?”
“No.” the girl coughed out her answer.
“Backup should be here soon, we need to get this kid out of here.”
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Back at headquarters the two of them were waiting in the office.
Sayeon noticed something in Ryujin's behavior. She was looking down with a worried expression on her face, she held her cap on her lap and scratched the back of her neck with her open hand.
She stared at Ryujin for a moment before looking back to the desk.
The door swung open as Instructor Sang entered the room.
“Good news, we were able to figure out who the girl is.” she said, dropping a file onto the desk.
On the front page was the girl's name, Hyunsoo Choi. A picture of the girl was beside it, she looked so different from the girl they saw at the warehouse.
“The bad news is that her parents' status is unknown, she's in the infirmary right now but we'll have to place her somewhere else once she has recovered.”
The room went quiet for a moment, there wasn't much to say about this.
There was nothing they could do.
Ryujin stares at the paper for a moment before looking back up to break the silence.
“Can I keep the kid?..”
Sayeon looks at her flabbergasted for a moment.
“You’d like to adopt the kid?” Sang repeated her question back at her.
“If I could-”
The conversation is cut short when Sayeon picks up the file and drags Ryujin out of the office.
“I’m sorry Instructor Sang, if you could give us a moment to talk outside.” Sayeon said, keeping her eyes off Ryujin who was now muttering questions that were more like insults under her breath.
Sayeon kept a calm expression on her face until the office doors closed.
“What the hell are you thinking?!?” She questioned, “you can barely take care of yourself and now you wanna take care of a kid?!?”.
“You don't get it, Glasses, she's just a kid and kids like her will suffer for the rest of their lives…” Ryujin's voice is laced with a layer of anger.
“What-”
“They get placed in foster care where they're forced to keep essence cuffs on despite their already horrible physical state, they get picked on for looking different, and no one wants to take care of an aberrant, they're too much ‘trouble’.”
Sayeon stood there in silence not knowing what to say, it was strange seeing Ryujin this mad and sad? She hadn't been since they were trainees.
“W-well, it's not like they're gonna adopt the kid with your criminal record…” Sayeon exclaimed.
Ryujin let out an angry chuckle.
“You really don't get it, Glasses.”
“I'm gonna go for a smoke.” She added as she walked off, cigarette already in her hand.
She stood there for a moment, clenching her fist.
“How irrational.” She thought to herself, looking at the file in her hand. “I should go check on the kid”.
“Hyunsoo Choi born on the 3rd of December 20xx’ that would mean she's currently 10 years old.” She read to herself in her head.
Sayeon remembers when she was that age, she was watching her friend's father getting killed, because of her. Even though she no longer holds that big of a resentment against her sister she still hates the fact that she blamed her 10 year old sister. “I was just a kid.” She mutters under her breath, pausing at the door of the infirmary, her hands gripping the file she's holding.
She opens the door to see a younger officer in the room.
“U-ummm do you know where Hyunsoo Choi is?” Sayeon asked the yellow tie officer.
“Oh, you mean that raptured kid, she's in the bed over there.” The officer pointed to the end of the infirmary where the privacy curtains were covering.
Sayeon gave a small nod before walking over to the curtains.
She slowly pushed aside the curtains, trying to make as little noise as possible so as to not wake the smaller girl up.
Unfortunately for her, the girl had already woken up upon hearing Sayeon's footsteps approaching her bed.
Upon seeing the slight panic on the girl's face as she approached, a ping of pain suddenly hit Sayeon in the chest. Thinking about how she must have gained these enhanced senses from being in the facilities.
Once the girl realized she wasn't going to do anything she picked herself up from the bed slowly as she rubbed her tired eyes.
Sayeon forced a neutral expression on her face in front of the kid but she couldn't get rid of those thoughts, about how she was as a kid the same type of scared, nervous, traumatized kid, worried about every movement, every sound, every scream, of course she could never compare her own childhood to something like hers.
But still she wonders if maybe she had been raised in a different environment, would she be a better person right now.
The girl sits there and stares at Sayeon for a moment, Sayeon is too deep in her own thoughts to notice, the child tilts her head to the side slightly in confusion.
“Oh, you should probably go back to sleep, kid.” she says when she finally realized the pair of eyes on her.
The girl continued to sit in the bed looking down at her hands.
Sayeon takes the awkward silence as a cue to leave, closing the privacy curtains.
Back in the hall she stood, thinking, just for a moment.
She had made her decision.
She slowly made her way back to the office.
She knocked on the door to Sang’s office.
“Come in.” She heard from the other side of the door.
Sayeon took a sigh before opening the door.
“O-officer Sang, could I adopt the kid?”
The instructor looked at Sayeon, her eyes slightly widening in surprise, she had always viewed Sayeon as a rational one but perhaps her judgement was wrong this time.
“Well there's nothing stopping you from doing so.”
Maybe if this kid turned out better than she did she could prove to herself that she was better than the people who raised her.
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Ryujin stands at the entrance of the headquarters, a lit cigarette between her lips she holds it with her fingers and blows a puff of smoke out from her mouth.
She hears footsteps behind her, she already knows who it is, she doesn't need to turn her head back to look.
“I knew you'd come here to smoke.” the girl with the glasses said.
She doesn't respond.
Sayeon walked beside her standing there with a slight grin on her face.
“You know, it's quite inappropriate to smoke around kids.” Sayeon exclaimed.
“What-”
Ryujin's sentence is cut short when she spots the little girl hiding behind Sayeon, the girl pokes her head out slightly watching Ryujin's shock expression. Then she looked up at the smirk on Sayeon's face.
“What. WHY is the kid here?!?”
“D-did you?!” Ryujin asked, trying to keep her voice down.
“I was surprised how little documents I had to sign.” Sayeon remarked.
“I guess that tells you just how much they care about them.” She mouthed.
Ryujin looks at the kid and then at Sayeon again. A thought hits her, she sighs.
“What’s the catch…” She questioned.
“I'm not helping with money.”
“Fine.”
Sayeon feels a sudden weight on her and looks down to see a very tired Hyunsoo laying her head on her arm.
“For now I think we should get home.” Sayeon remarks.