5

"Oh my Lord..." Jein smacks his face. He is fuming inside when he sees his beautiful flower pot got shattered on the floor.

"Yargh! I told you to be careful!"

"I slipped... sorry..."

"Joon, I feel burning inside right now! My heart goes wah!!! wah...!!!"

"No... calm down... Jein, you are sweet as honey~~ early in the morning~~ don't get...Arghh!!!!" another flower pot flying towards him. He manages to dodge it.

And, now the man is hiding behind a huge lychee tree.

"Stop with your singing, it breaks my ears!" another smack on Joon's head. Jein scoffs and walks away.

"Come on, Jein... it's just a pot..."

"Yeah, the 16th pot that you broke this week! Not to mention the cooking pan that burnt yesterday. Still, I can't get it! How can a person cook; burnt the pan, but the food is still raw?!" asks Jein. His hand is busy plucking some herbs in the garden.

Joon listens to every babbling with an open heart. He just smiles like an idiot, eyeballs Jein from afar. Those babbles sound like a song, but they can turn out to be sharp and eerie like thunder.

Joon and Jein are friends for more than a decade, a childhood friendship. Both of them grew up in the same orphanage with Joon's brother. They are close and to be honest, Joon feels like Jein is meant to be with him since the start.

He remembers when Jein was finally adopted by a pair of couples. He felt dreadful and empty when Jein left, that he suddenly fell ill. After the incident, Jein's adopted parents decided to pay a visit to the orphanage every weekend so Joon can meet Jein. Until both Joon and his brother were adopted by their neighbor who was an archaeologist.

Lucky for both of them, they are inseparable since then.

Jein is quite a delicate person but carefree. He doesn't have a specific routine, always goes with the flow, and does what he wants. But, he is a skillful person, and never underestimate him. Both of his adopted parents worked as a firearm specialist for Black Wolf. So, he used to be around weapons. He working as a firearm specialist with a firearm unit, Mountain Peek who supply firearm and intelligence for Black Wolf.

Sounds rouge, isn't it?

But, the truth is Jein hates his job. He can't stand watching violence happen in front of him. He loves peace so much and always spends his time gardening and cooking. He loves being around his family. So, after a few years working with weapons and sort, he decided to retire and live a peaceful and quiet life.

Joon, on the other hand is quite innocent. He proclaimed himself as an immature adult who lacks of living skills. He always depending on Jein and his brother when it comes to solving daily tasks, like cooking and cleaning. He looks like a lost puppy, but he is not as lost as he is seen. He was born a genius and loves books so much. He spends most of his time reading and exploring rather than playing with friends the same age as him.

It is a huge advantage when he was adopted by an archaeologist. He always spends his time following his adopted father exploring, along with his brother. It's natural when he ends up working as a researcher in the History And Archaeology Department.

But, when Jein decided to retire and moved to Hidden Meadow, he decided to follow him and works from home from time to time when he was needed.

"I don't get it, why every time you touch things, it will break. I mean..." Jein fails to finish his word when Joon hugs him tight from the back. He sighs and just lets him be hugged from the back.

This relationship is.... quite complicated. Sometimes, they feel like friends. Sometimes, they were more than that.

"You are babbling too much.." says Joon, giving a peck on Jein's lovely cheek. He blushes and flushes at the same time.

"Yargh! You son of the bitch!" he smacks Joon with the basket that he held. The kiddo like man runs away, saves himself from being hit by Jein. He knew how strong Jein is.

Running away is the best choice before he turns black and blue.

"Crazy pervert fossil!" Jein stomps his feet. After a while, his heart flutters so hard. He tries to shake the feeling away, avoiding any awkward situation that might happen to them in the future.

He knew there is something special between him and Joon. Since day one at the orphanage, he can sense that they have a strong bond. He remembers seeing Joon for the first time, he feels like walking on a flower road full of lavenders and sunflowers. Sun shining so bright, with he and Joon walking hand in hand enjoying the sunshine.

Pang!

"Not again... Joon!!!" he walks out to see which flower pot that got broke again.

"Oh?"

"Hi, Jein..."

***

"Looks like you guys enjoy each other's company too much. Thank God you guys are fine," says Yoon, holding his coffee mug. He smirks, surveys both Jein and Joon.

Jein is busy cooking breakfast, while Joon is enjoying his coffee as well. Justin eats his breakfast silently on the other side of the oval dining table.

"Jein, this is so damn delicious!" says Justin. He almost licks his plate.

"Really? I'm glad that you like it!" he smiles, watching Justin with a motherly look.

"I wish you could look at me like that, Jein..." says Joon, in the almost discreet.

"If you want that kind of look, please stop breaking things around.." he gives him a snarky smile. Then, serves a plate of sunny side eggs, sausages, and sliced tomato in front of Yoon and Joon.

"Thanks, bae.." Jein smacks Joon's head lightly. He could feel the heat on his cheek and quickly composes himself so that Yoon and Justin won't see him.

But, maybe it's too late, because Yoon gives Joon a sneaky smirk behind him, while Justin coughing and chuckles hard.

"Okay, back to business," suddenly the air became serious and tense. Justin shows him some information from the flash drive. Joon studies the screen in front of him. His composure changes 360°.

"GUARDIAN? Sounds familiar to me," says Joon. He clicks on the file.

"Yep, it's an urban legend. Famously surrounding the internet when we were kids," said Yoon, still resting lazily on the couch.

Jein, who also caught on the conversation bites his lips slowly. He then takes a deep breath.

It's time for the truth!

"I don't think they're just a mere urban legend," everyone glared at Jein, in shock. "My dad used to do some work with them," says Jein.

"Really?! How did you know about this?" asks Joon.

"Well, I found some old files in my dad's locker while I clean up his room... after he died," there's gloom in his voice. Joon pats his back slowly, trying to calm him down.

"So, this group is not just a dark web conspiracy thing!"

"Seems like it," says Jein. He watches Joon who keeps him calm by his side.

Another reason why he loves this guy. He always there for him.

"Let me show you something..." says Justin. He clicks another file. A picture of a lady appears on the screen.

"Is she the lady that you brought along just now?" asks Jein.

"I'm not sure about that. We met her at the location given in the file, but she's nothing like the picture," says Yoon. He points out the coordinate in the file.

Joon then tracks the location using the coordinate given.

"It's the high-security prison!"

"You brought a criminal into my house?! Yargh!" immediately Yoon receives the most brutal smack on his head. He wimps by the effect and hide his head with his hand.

"We are still unsure about that. Maybe, or maybe not..." Justin responds them.

"Still, there's a chance that she might be a criminal!"

"There's also a chance that she might be that lady in this picture.." says Joon.

"That's impossible as hell! Look at the date she was born. She must be a granny by now!" says Jein. Now, everyone exchange looks.

Jein quickly runs towards the room where they put the lady, who currently is sleeping. He closes the door, and locks it from outside.

"What did you do?"

"Reducing the possibility of us getting kill!" Joon sighs. He lost interest for more questions. He continues reading her profile and finds something.

"Hold on! She is..."

"One of the Guardian? Yes.."

"No! Look at this!" all of them look at the screen.

"Oh, my heart...." says Jein.

***

"If she's truly an alien, they must look after her. I mean, what's purpose of them coming to earth? Shopping at IKEA?" says Jein, staring at Joon and Yoon who are still in dumfounded.

"The most important question, is that lady in the room , the same lady in that picture?" asks Justin. All heads shaking from left to right.

"I don't think so. She looks young," says Yoon.

"We are talking about an alien right now, Yoon. Anything is possible," says Joon.

"Now, how we gonna assemble this? I just got a small fraction of the information!" says Yoon.

All of them settle down on a long couch in the middle of the house. Clues scattered all over the floor but they only meet the dead end so far.

"Hold on!" says Joon. He enlarges the photo, pointing towards the dog tag necklace that the woman wore.

"I think... I've seen this before.."

"It's a dog tag, Joon. Every army has one,"

"No, it's different. Look, Yoon also wore a dog tag, but it's a round shape. This dog tag is oval," says Joon.

"You mean like this?" Justin shows his dog tag. Jein and Joon's eyes enlarge immediately.

"Wait, let me see the other photo..." Jein immediately scrolls the other file.

"It's the same dog tag!"

"Yes, I think I got his dog tag. This person is the Super Wolf winner before me..." Justin shows his dog tag to Jein. He studies the tag carefully.

"Joon..." Jein pats Joon's hand. They look at each other and nod.

Then, Joon springs up and waddles into his room. A few minutes later, he comes out with a big box.

"This belongs to my dad before he.. well.. died..." says Joon. He slowly takes out a small blue velvet box from the box. Yoon grabs the box and opens it.

It is the same dog tag necklace, inside the box!

"How come I not know about this?" asks Yoon.

"Well, actually dad gave me this right before he died. You know how he died, right?" Joon's eyes suddenly get glassy.

"He gave me this with blood in his hand. I have no courage to wear it. So, I kept it in this box, along with his private items. Jein knew about this," the man nods, confirms Joon's story.

"I'm sorry for keeping this from you, Yoon.." Joon looks down, feeling guilty towards Yoon.

"Don't apologize. It's understandable. Besides, I was not around that time either. Sorry for that, too.." Yoon holds Joon's hand and nods.

"Okay, I think we can assemble these pieces by now. So far, we have two dog tag necklaces that might be related to this matter," says Jein.

"Actually..." Yoon stutters a bit. He glances at his brother, grits his teeth.

"There's something that Joon needs to know too," says Yoon. He pulls the laptop near him, clicks the other file and show him a picture.

"In case if you didn't know, let me introduce you to our real dad.." Yoon shows Joon a picture of their father.

Joon watches at him, eyes begin to teary. The man in the picture looked almost like Yoon. His poor brother never met their real parents. The only parent that he knew is his adopted father. Yoon might recognize them because he was two years old when they lost them. At least he got some memories with them.

"The lady in that picture was in here, too.." says Justin, pointing at the lady.

"She must be the key to all of this!" says Jein.

"Okay. I guess we need to find the answer quickly. So, we need to work fast. Jein, you said that your dad used to work with them. Did you still have that file?" asks Joon. He quickly wipes his tear and firms himself in serious mode.

"Yes, along with his other things. It's in the attic," Jein responds.

"Okay, bring all those documents here. Justin, can I take a look at the dog tag?" Justin immediately takes off his dog tag necklace and gives it to Joon. He compares his dog tag with Justin's dog tag.

The engraving of his dog tag writes 'KNOWLEDGE' while Justin's is 'COURAGE'. However, there's a similarity between them. There's a pattern, craving at the backside of the dog tag.

"Looks like a QR code. Wait, I've seen this before. I got a device that can scan this," he quickly runs into his room again, bring out a small scanner and plug in his laptop. He clicks a picture of the code using the device and the laptop starts analyzing.

"In the meantime, how about we study these documents in this box?" asks Joon.

"Sure!" the young one feels excited. He grabs the box and takes out the file, one by one.

"I'll take a nap first," says Yoon, walking into his room. He hasn't slept for two days, maybe more. By now, his brain is leggy and his body just gives up. He needs some rest.

Everybody works hard to break the mystery of the team.

Today is a busy day.