First Mission

"YO! Grey Jacket?? Who are you here for ???"

Seojin stopped in his tracks upon hearing a male voice yell from behind.

"Turn around will you? Who sent you?"

The voice yelled again.

Seojin slowly turned around, the grip on his bag tightening, his mask and cap, and his now pulled on hood completely hiding his face.

He was surprised at who he saw behind him.

It was the same old man he had seen at the bus stop. But for some reason, he was standing upright, unlike the bent he had earlier, and so did his voice sound too young for someone in his age.

That was when another woman came hurriedly towards where the two where standing. The distance between making it hard for him to find either of the other two recognizable.

Both her skirt and blazer were a bright red, her hair pitch black and till her shoulders, bangs almost covering her face. She had a thick red shade on her lips, matching her attire and a mole under her left eye. Her features were too distinct. Almost as if they were made to stand out. The thick black hair, heavy makeup and that mole that almost looked fake.

It all seemed like they were made so that the person would only remember these things if they thought of her.

"Grandpa! What are you doing here? The chief would be here any time with the guy!"

She held onto the old man's arms as she spoke to him in a high pitched voice, while glancing at Seojin ever so slightly. It seemed that the woman had not herd the 'grandpa' call out to the other.

The old man then whispered something into her ears, hearing which the woman suddenly left the old man's side and began walked towards Seojin, making him even more wary.

His hands further slid the zip of his bag while moving a step back himself.

She stopped after a few steps, and spoke in a voice different from her high pitched one before.

"Celtic Nine, Eostre here.

If you recognize this, identify yourself, if not, I might have to resort to something unsightly."

The look in her eyes revealed clearly that she was not joking.

It was when he heard those words that he realized who the woman was. The Celtic Nine, another team like his, consisting of nine female agents under the alliance, with five S-class and four A-class agents, known for their high mission success rate.

If he remembered correctly, they mainly worked only in the main city under their agency. So why was someone from such a team here in this province outside ?

Dropping his bag and lifting his arms in a defensive position, he replied quickly, reciting his team name and his own code name. He couldn't bear to have a misunderstanding and have her turn hostile against him right now.

"Azrael from Seven Archangels."

"Kim Seojin? What are you doing here? "

The man asked, walking to stand beside Eostre.

"Who are you? "

The woman may have already identified herself, but the man was yet to do anything similar, he couldn't let his guard just yet.

"Dionysus from Grecian Gods "

The man replied, walking a step further than Eostre now.

" Baek Leon ? Mina? What are you guys doing here?? "

Seojin was confused as to why two S-class agents were here, in this small province.

Grecian Gods, another team known for their success rate like the Celtic Nine. The nine member team often had their names at the top of the individual ranking list of the alliance.

"It's a mission, there's a big fish hiding, we aren't allowed to say further."

Mina explained, calm.

"Were you guys assigned together recently? "

It had been months since Seojin had got any news on the others than his own team. If they became partners in the months he wouldn't have known.

"Why are you here? To spoil another of your own missions? "

Leon retorted, suddenly interrupting Seojin, his sarcasm evident.

It wasn't just his group, almost all of the agents under the Alliance knew knew how Seojin had stayed a low rank for so long thanks to the Alliance's rank list system. But to know that he was doing so deliberately, there were only few. And the two in front of, were from that few. This was because Seojin knew how both the teams were close with his own.

Leon hadn't really cared about the whole thing until he heard from his team that Seojin was doing it deliberately.

Every time they had met in the past, albeit only a few, Seojin had always been the type to be timid, never questioning or saying anything. So he had never given a second thought as to why this certain person would deliberately stay in a low rank when rest of his members were literally in the top 20.

But when he heard that it was deliberate, Leon was angry at the other for not trying when the others were all working so hard to survive. It was simply unforgivable knowing that Seojin had the time to flunk his missions when his team members were all working so hard for their survival.

"What do you mean? "

Seojin's words, who was surprised at the abrupt hostility, brought Leon out of his reverie.

"Exactly what you heard., if you are here for a mission, just fail it like you always do and leave. "

Leon realized, that he might have been too harsh.

"Leon! What are you even saying??"

Mina turned around, looking at what her partner had just said.

'Why is he saying this?'

It was written on Seojin's face what he was thinking, however his thoughts were not expressed as he just stood there, silently.

It wasn't like he could take back his words, and that's why Leon just decided to go with it as he spoke further,

"Whatever, it's not like we are in the same rank or something. Don't wanna waste my time on a low rank.

Let's talk when we are on the same level.

So probably never right? "

He sneered as he looked at the other. He knew he was being harsh. But he couldn't help it. Leon has always been straight forward.

And he couldn't hide is irritation upon seeing someone who'd keep on wasting time and laze around, deliberately staying in the lower ranks, risking his agency and team.

"Yeah right. Let's talk when we are on the same level.. "

He didn't really wait to hear their replies as he turned around and began walking.

He didn't really mind what Leon had said. He knew what kind of an image his actions in the past ten years had formed. He did fail in the past after all, and that was exactly what he was going to change today.

"Wait...what? Does he think I'm gonna lower my rank all the way to D or something?"

Leon asked, confused, while Mina facepalmed at how dense her partner could be at times. But at the same time her mind wandered to what Seojin had said.

However she pushed it to the back of her mind, after all they had a task at hand.

They had already spent two weeks coaxing the chief into coming on the dinner with the rich old man and his grand daughter who were new to the town.

And now was not the time to waste on pondering thoughts.

* * *