Note: I just watched Gongyu's movie, silenced, and I am pretty traumatised. The fact that if they had not made the movie, and if the media and netizens did not protest as much as they did, they would have just left that horrifying case to rot in some cupboard, leaving those young kids without justice and the criminals free to do more. And while it has been time, you cannot deny that if it weren't for the media and people that pushed them to do things, they would simply let it slide.

And it even more surprised me to know that the events of the film are based on events that occurred in 2005. Just two decades ago. The fact that all you need is a few notes and a life, several lives and the rights of a human being are just kicked around like rubbish? The fact that those children were denied justice due to some law that stated under thirteens who have been molested could have their parents decide to settle it for them?

AND OMG THAT LADY. ALL THE EVIL WOMEN IN THAT MOVIE. ISTG IF I EVER CONFRONT A BITCH LIKE THAT SHES GETTING A FINGERNAIL IN THE EYES AND HER NOSE IN MY KNEE.

I feel like this is such a heavy topic to start the chapter on, but I litch could not help it. I needed to blow off some steam.

If you have not watched the movie and plan too, please be warned. There are many sensitive topics mentioned and shown. And also be prepared to cry buckets. It will scar you. It's one of the most horrible movies I've seen, in terms of how it affected me, but at the same time it opened the eyes of so many people.

But moving on, here's the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy!

Show some love;; comment and vote! :: ★
(It really motivates me !!)

┏━°⌜ 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 ⌟°━┓
⚜️
┗━°⌜ 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙠𝙤𝙤𝙠_     ⌟°━┛

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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.　　　　　　　　　　⠀⠀⠀✦ ⠀ ⠀　　　　　　　　　　　　　　⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀* ⠀⠀⠀.　　　　　　　　　　. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀✦⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.　　　　　　　　　　　　　.　　　ﾟ .　　　　　　　　　　　　　. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　✦ 　　　　　,　　　　　　　.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
　　　　　　*　　　　　　　　　　　.
.　　　　　　　　　　　　　. 　　✦⠀　   　　　,　　　　　　　　　*
　　　　　⠀　　　　⠀　　,
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.　　　　　 　　⠀　　　⠀.　
　　˚　　　⠀　⠀  　　,　　　　　　.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　.
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　　　　.　　　　.　　　⠀
　　　　　　　　　　　.
　　　　　　　
　　　˚　　　　　　　　ﾟ　　　　　.
　.⠀　　⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀,
　　　*　　⠀.
　　　　　.　　　　　　　　　　⠀✦
　˚　　　　　　　　　　　　　　*
.⠀ 　　　　　　　　　　.　　　　　　　　.
　　　　　✦⠀　   　　　,　　    　　　　　　　　.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.　　　　　　　　　　⠀⠀⠀✦ ⠀ ⠀　　　　　　　　　　　　　　⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀* ⠀⠀⠀.　　　　　　　　　　. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀✦⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.　　　　　　　　　　　　　.　　　ﾟ .　　　　　　　　　　　　　. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　✦ 　　　　　,　　　　　　　.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
　　　　　　*　　　　　　　　　　　.
.　　　　　　　　　　　　　. 　　✦⠀　   　　　,　　　　　　　　　*
　　　　　⠀　　　　⠀　　,
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀.　　　　　 　　⠀　　　⠀.　
　　˚　　　⠀　⠀  　　,　　　　　　.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　.
　　　　　　*⠀　　⠀  　　　　　⠀✦⠀　
　　　　　　*　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　.
　　　　.　　　　.　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　.
　　　　　　　
　　　˚　　　　　　　　ﾟ　　　　　.
　.⠀　⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀‍⠀,
　　　　　✦⠀　   　　　,

•

•

•

Jia's PoV

"FUCK!" Jia awoke with a shout, instantly sitting up in her bed. Her hands instantly went to rub at her temples in a sorry attempt to soothe the pounding in her brain. The veins stretching beneath her thin, skin throbbed painfully with each ounce of blood her heart pumped. During the night, buds of sweaty transpiration had leaked through, scattering across her back and legs, like a crystal coat, causing the thick comforter to stick like glue.

The mistake she made in front of the stranger, regarding the Jeon Jungkook case was regrettable, but surely not enough that she'd be having dreams of his forsaken face. He was handsome, undeniably,
like someone out of a vogue; perhaps a model invited by Kim Taehyung, who she knew had a soft spot for fashion. Regardless, it didn't excuse her dreams about him, considering their meeting was too brief for feelings to be even remembered.

Jia's dream was weird. Hazy. The lighting, if that's what she could call it, was dim, and flashy, similar to the ones in a club, except in slow motion. The grey, stony street was replaced with a sparkly blue river, gushing around her, and flying fishes fluttering past her face. Strangely, she hadn't gotten wet, and she was barefoot, the expensive red soles, that she had spend so much of her pay check on years ago, bobbed up and down behind her.

Unlike what she expected, a bitter salty smell, a strong, woody scent of musk infiltrated her senses as a royal carriage slowed beside her. She was escorted in, by a tall, handsome carriage driver, who kissed her hand as he helped her in, only to fall beside the same stranger from the gallery. He sported the same suit as he did then, his inky hair slightly disheveled, and watchful eyes just as playful as before. He wore a mask, but still she recognised him.

What was spoken, she could not remember, but of what else happened, she preferred not to remind herself. As atrocious as it sounded, as she stepped out of the carriage to leave, the horses crashed into a wild rampage when a flying fish fluttered past one of their noses. It was extremely messy and resulted in a horse stepping on the front of her foot. Jia shivered. 

"Of all ways to conclude, it had to be with an injury." She huffed, rolling her eyes. "My luck seems to be draining even in my dreams." With a sigh she ripped off the blanket from her legs, freezing at once at the sight before her.

Her legs, were laid on the bed, like most people's, stretched out across the soft, cotton mattress cover, but there was a dark blue bruise stamped on her right foot, slightly above her toes.

'I'm still seeing stuff. I have to be.'

She raised her fist to rub her eye, going rigid when her hand brushed the rough coating on her eyelashes. Jia looked down, realising she was still in her outfit from last night, the gallery. "Fuck." Once she realised, like a tsunami, very quickly memories began to crash into her mind, rendering her almost unconscious from the ache in her head, and the certain embarrassment. That one mistake at the gallery had become an opening for a herd of mistakes to come.

Her first one was slipping up in front of the stranger. Luckily, as soon as she left, she had found the time to hurriedly type up a report in her car, a win. Her second mistake was getting drunk an hour later, with Hana, who was the least reliable when intoxicated, and on a week night. It was dangerous. When not in their steady conscious state, event the best of people would have no control over their tongues. A threat to the mission she'd been working on, along side agent 001, and she was the cause of it. Suddenly, a certain memory flickered before her eyes.

'You're playing a dangerous game.'

'The sleep of reason produces monsters.'

A foreign emotion bubbled up in the depths of her stomach, as her head began to race unlike never before, and the bruise on her foot throbbed. It was almost as if someone was pressing on it. Hard enough, not to cause her immense pain, but to warn her of what they were capable of.

'That voice...' Jia carefully pondered. 'It has to be him. Even the quote, from the artwork.'

It didn't make sense though. Her dream, everything was hazy and the strange man wore a black, feathery mask, but the piece of memory unearthed just now, it was different. Dissimilar to her dream, or what she recalled of it. As if bits of what happened were clashing together to create one fake memory, made up of smaller legitimate memories. Jia was in his car, like her dream, but his face was as close to her as it was in the gallery, causing the lobe of her ear to tingle where his teeth grazed.
His words were spoken, every minty breath washing over her skin, sparking goosebumps to prick up defensively, yet he was also far enough for her to feel an illicit touch on her foot. Right where her bruise was.

"So it wasn't a dream...?" She perplexedly mumbled, rubbing the back of her head. As Jia turned to look for her phone, a set of three knocks resonated through her apartment, pushing her actions to a halt.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

Carefully sliding out of bed, Jia trudged towards her front door, attempting to make something of her messy bed head, prior to opening the door. She smoothed out the frizzy rebellious strands, and pushed her cocoa hair back, out of her face, before clearing her throat as she looked through the peephole. "Who is it?" She waited, cursing under her breath when only the person's chin, neck and chest showed up.

"Uh..." The voice awkwardly stuttered. "It's Min Yoongi, uh— number forty five. We're neighbours."

Jia fell silent for a moment, letting her thoughts take over. 'Number forty five...' she internally hummed, reminding herself on the report she received on the building before moving in. 'Wait— this isn't right.'

She narrowed her eyes reaching for a taser cleverly hid beneath the shoe rack beside her. "Number forty five is an old woman, Park Jinae, who are you?" Her tone was confident, eyes boring into the figure through the peephole.

"Wait— I'm her grandson! Grandma's sick right now so I'm here to take care of her." Yoongi exclaimed, holding his hands up. "I just want one second to talk to you!"

Jia furrowed her eyebrows. 'Grandson?' Did Park Jinae have a grandson? She flicked through the information stored in her brain she received before moving in. 'Yes, yes she does. Min Yoongi.' His name was in the documents amongst the personal information for each of the residents in her building. Slowly, she put the taser back in its place, tucking it into a shoe on the bottom shelf of the wooden rack and stood up, clearing her throat. "Just a minute." She unchained the door and twisted the lock, pushing the door open. "Yes?"

On the other side, a slightly flushed looking Yoongi appeared. Completely unlike his high school photos, which were shown in the documents, Jia noted. He stood in front of her, an inch or two taller than her, with his hands bashfully behind his back. He sported a fully black varsity jacket, light denim jeans and wore his dark mop of unruly hair on his head, like a crown. His skin was pale, paler than the average person's usual palette and his nervous tear shaped eyes darted from side to side. "Hi...."

Questioningly, Jia arched a brow, leaning on the door, prompting him to speak. "I've got work in a bit, and not much time..."

"Ah— yes," he scratched the back of his head. "I— uh. How are you feeling?"

"Huh?"

"You looked pretty wasted last night? I hope you're not feeling too sick."

"Wait— you saw me last night?"

Yoongi nodded. "Yeah. Outside the convenience store a few streets away. I'd seen you around the block before and you looked like you needed help, so I rushed over. You're good now, though..right?"

Silence fell between the two as Yoongi's question fell unanswered and Jia's own head filled with a gush of questions. 'If what this guy is saying truly happened, then what about those memories?' It didn't make sense, logically. Yes, she experienced that weird dream but the weird memory was separate. The bruise on her foot, his voice beside her ear. Unsure, she nodded her head offering a forced smile. "I see. Thank you."

"Oh—" the man before her anxiously licked his lip, "would you like me to make you some hangover soup— I'm a good cook— or would you like me to get you some medicine?"

A chuckle escaped Jia's lips as she watched him stress, tripping and stumbling over his words. "Yoongi, I'm good, thanks for worrying. I might have some medicine at home and I don't really feel like eating in the mornings, but I'll make sure to take up your offer for a meal some other time."

"Morning?" He tilted his head. "It's two in the afternoon?"

Jia froze. "What—" she laughed. "No it's not...is it?"

Yoongi showed her his wrist. He was right. The black Rolex branding his wrist clearly stated two PM.

"Fuck! I'm late!" She cursed, "I have to go— bye!" And slammed the door shut before he could respond. "Fucking hell! Seonah's gonna give me hell now!"

▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒

Carefully tip toeing across the empty glass corridor leading to Lee Seonah'a office, Jia held her breath and squeezed her eyes as the giant doors creaked open, and a thin woman came out. Jia sighed in relief, politely nodding her head to Seonah's secretary, however she only despondently looked down. "I'm sorry..." she muttered as she walked past, bowing her head.

Jia shook her head, confused. "Huh— wait!" But the woman had already disappeared.
Taking a deep breath, Jia slowly pushed the door open further, flinching when a shrill screech slipped out of the door hinges.

"We really oughta get some WD-40 on that." A voice mumbled from further in the room.

Painting on an ecstatic grin, Jia opened her arms confidently walking in. "How's my favourite boss doing? And about that WD-40, I may have some at home— actually how about I go buy some right now?" She posed, assessing Seonah's expressions as she sat in the chair opposite her.

"Jia, shut it. I can sense how shiny my boots are right now from all your licking." Seonah deadpanned, leaning forwards to stamp her palms onto her desk. "You've been with us for a decade. A decade. You've climbed to number two and you still can't be a good senior to your juniors? They all look up to you! Have some shame!"

"Listen— I'm sorry I was late. I know it's not even a little and I can't make excuses, but some stuff happened last night, and I woke up late, and I didn't even have any idea of the time until—" Jia's heart pounded. What if it wasn't her tardiness that Seonah was hinting at, but the blunder she made the night before. Surely she couldn't have known, at least not yet. Hana was too piss drunk to probably remember and a known keeper of secrets. 

"Jia, it's not the time! I do not care what time you come in, what I want is for you to get your work done!" Seonah harshly interjected, narrowing her eyes. "What the hell was that report you sent last night?"

"Huh?"

"For the love of— the report! Your undercover mission at Geum Gallery!"

"Oh..." Jia opened and closed her mouth like a fish, awaiting Seonah's next words. "Yeah I did that. It wasn't very interesting though..."

Tossing a stack of papers in front of Jia, Seonah frustratedly ran a set of fingers through her hair. "What the fuck is this?!"

"Huh?" Jia slowly reached for her report, her eyes widening in shock as she skimmed through the lines of words. Her heart pounded, fingers slightly trembling as she forced herself to sit through it. Pursing her lips, she placed the report back down, squeezing her eyes as a concentrated mix of embarrassment, self loathe and guilt tore through her heart. What she had assumed was the report, she had written the night before, was something else. Something far worse, and she only prayed Seonah had been the one to see it.

"You should have seen the fear on poor Yeonjun's face when he ran into my office this morning." Seonah sighed as she leaned back into her chair. "But seriously, what the fuck have you handed in. Being your boss aside, is that really the freaky shit you're into?"

Jia refused to open her eyes, unable to force the reality of the situation upon herself. 'What the fuck have I done? Was I seriously that drunk? I remember handing in the report before going to the bar, what the fuck happened?' Her heart raced as these different thoughts surged through her mind.

Then, it came to her

An influx of memories gushing in like a violent tsunami, crashing into any remaining scraps of pride she had left. Having gotten home last night, her drunk self had assumed it was a good idea to open the notes application on her computer. So, regardless of being an agent, one of the best in the country, at that moment, she was a young woman, in her twenties, typing away on her notes app. Unfortunately, what she had been happily writing up on that app, by the end of the night, it was posted in place of a report, rather than her 'my eyes only' folder.

A smut.

A smut.

It was a fucking smut that she had drunkenly written herself, posted to her junior, and now her boss was scolding her about it. She bit her tongue, cussing herself out as she glared at the stack of papers before her.

It could have been fucking Theo James and maybe she would have kept it, but that stranger from the gallery of all people.

A stranger. A man she had only briefly met and spoken to for the first time ever in her life, and she was already writing smuts, let alone dreaming about him. Delusion was her. She, Park Jia, was the epitome of delusion at this point, constantly thrusting herself into a fool's paradise at the most unnecessary times. Have I really been single for that long...?

A dark cloud of shame hung over her neck, thundering loudly every time she recalled her actions. Truthfully, since taking on this case, she had been screwing up a little too much. Her recent mistakes and lack of progress were all proof.

Standing up, she respectfully put her hands in front of her, and bowed a full ninety degrees. "I apologise for my mistake."

Seonah tiredly waved her hand at Jia's apology. "Forget it there's not much you can do about it now, just promise you won't again."

Jia eagerly nodded, "yes I promise. Never again. I swear it." As silence began to fill the room once again, the filter straining all of her thoughts and speech malfunctioned, causing words to slip out of her mouth. "For a moment I thought you were angry about me almost revealing the case to a stranger at the gallery." She murmured.

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Forget that, why was your secretary so sad when she was coming out? Did you scold the poor woman too?" Jia quickly interrupted, crashing Seonah's train of thought.

Instantly, as if a switch had been flipped, Seonah's face hardened and she straightened in her seat, clearing her throat.

Jia furrowed her eyebrows.

"Right....um..." she hesitated, avoided her gaze.

Something was weird, Jia internally affirmed. It was extremely foreign for Seonah to waver, especially considering her usual outspoken and confident nature. She never once cared about feelings or emotions, and constantly pushed her job to the front, as most important.

"What is it...?" She carefully asked, eyeing Seonah's expression for even the smallest of hints. "You're not one to hesitate." Her fingers drummed on the mahogany wood of her desk, falling into rhythm with her unsteady heart, as breaths entered and left her lungs more and more hastily.

"I'm not sure how to say this..." she carefully spoke, nervously licking her lips as she paused. "Your partner Park Jimin, agent 001, you weren't particularly close to him, right?"

A sick feeling began to brew in the pit of her stomach as her thoughts raced between different predictions of her next words. The bitter taste of anticipation, caused her jaw to clench, as her fingers continued to beat in motion with her heart. "I was..."

Drum, drum, drum.

Thump, thump, thump.

"Oh..." she mumbled, "I was hoping you weren't."

Drum, drum, drum.

Thump, thump, thump.

"So..." Jia tilted her head, unsure of whether her heart desired to hear her words or not. Still, refusing to back down, she continued to prove, "what happened."

Drum, drum, drum.

Thump, thump, thump.

"As you know agent 001 was tasked with going undercover, and infiltrating the Jeon Family's gang. He's been relatively successful, noticing us of quite a few heists here and there, but..." Seonah exhaled, finally meeting Jia's eyes. She handed a few pictures to her, all held together by a small white paper clip. "Two days ago, there was to be an arms deal at Busan Port. For whatever reason, it didn't happen, however this was found by a fisherman."

Jia stilled. All the cells in her body frosted over with fear, anguish and woe as she looked over the pictures with quivering lips.

Thump, thump, thump.

"Agent 001," she paused. "Park Jimin, is dead."

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Omg I don't know how enticing that cliffhanger was but, I hope you all are looking forward to the next chapter and finding out Jia's response to the death of her partner!