There was a lavish five course meal in front of her and yet, she could not eat a bite. Under normal circumstances, Orea would probably have cleaned the plates on her own but after seeing the tattoo, she was too nervous to eat. Myung noticed her awkwardness.
"Look, you don't have to worry!" he assured her. "People here know me. They'll treat you with respect here."
Easy for you to say! She screamed in her head while glancing at the server who was still standing next to the door. His tattoo was no longer visible and he was looking straight but Orea felt his attention was on her. Did he already inform the Boss? Was he on his way to the restaurant? How was she going to explain it to him?
The Boss may have rescued SD all those years ago but she was sure that he would not be pleased to learn that SD was planning his revenge against the Company. The Light had one rule: Never work alone. Even though they were all trying to bring down the Company, SD was working independently which defied the rules of the Light.
"Madam, is the food not to your taste?" the server asked in a polite manner.
"It's lovely!" Orea lied. Please tell me they didn't poison it! She added in her mind.
Her hands shook as she took a spoonful of soup into her mouth. Despite its exquisite taste, Orea could not enjoy it. She kept on glancing at the clock. It was well past 2 PM and she was waiting for the clock to strike 2:15 so that she could leave for home and pretend to SD that she was at school all this time.
Suddenly, her phone beeped and she snatched it from the table to read the message. If Myung noticed her action, he chose to ignore it. For some reason, Orea was very uncomfortable at that place which was uncharacteristic of her considering how quickly she adapted to the PM's mansion a few nights ago.
Orea glanced at her message. It was only one word.
"Won," SD had written. Orea let out a short sigh of relief. She put the phone away, choosing not to tell SD about her visit to Locos. The less he knew, the better it was because the Boss would not be able to blame him for her escapade.
Myung let out a frustrated sigh.
"Orea, if there's something you want to say, then say it out loud," he demanded. "If you're uncomfortable here then-"
"When can we start working on our assignment?" she abruptly asked. "I think we're lagging behind. The submission is next week."
Myung was taken aback. They were bunking class and she was still thinking about assignments? Girls at school would die to spend time with him and yet, this girl was uninterested in him?
"I think we should visit the nearest hotel and question them on their system," Orea went on. "Or at least talk to a tech enthusiast who knows about all this. We can't sit around and do nothing."
She pretended to be interested in the assignment to thwart the guard off. If it seemed like she was with Myung for a mere school assignment, the Boss might let it go. Or so she hoped.
Suddenly, another server came barging into the room. Myung turned to him, frowning at the abrupt intrusion.
"Sir, we have received news that your school has informed your father about you bunking classes," the server said. "Someone had seen you entering the restaurant and contacted your father. He called us and instructed you to return to school."
Myung was surprised by the news. Who would tell his father about his whereabouts? He was very careful when bunking school so it was impossible for anyone to know where he was.
"He told you to go back to the mansion," the server stated. "He's waiting for you there."
Myung was suspicious but before he could say anything, his phone rang up. It was Sam Cheng.
"What is it?" he asked over the phone. Orea watched as his expression changed from suspicious to annoyance.
"How did he find out?" Myung frowned but Sam said something incohesive on the other line.
"I'm coming back home then," Myung sighed and hung up. His father was going to give him a hard time that night.
"I'll have to return home," he said. "Looks like the server is right. Someone saw us entering the building and told my father. Let me drop you off-"
"No!" Orea said quickly. It did not take her long to figure out that this was all done by the Boss. If she left with him, it would be disastrous for her. She could not accompany him anymore.
"I'll stop by at my brother's workplace," she said. "He doesn't mind if I bunk classes as long as I can catch up. You should go."
Myung raised an eyebrow. This mysterious brother of hers was beginning to raise doubts in his mind. Who was he and why did Orea lie about where they lived? What was going on?
He did not say anything else but darted off towards his bike. Orea waited for him to be out of earshot before she sighed and turned to face the server.
"Where is he?" she asked warily.
"Follow me, Miss Orea," the server instructed, leading her to a narrow corridor. They walked towards the lift which led to an upper floor. Once she stepped out of it, the server led her to a small room right next to the kitchen. The room was dark and small. There was only a single table with a laptop over it. Orea braced herself and turned on the screen.
A shadowy figure appeared on it. His face was shrouded in darkness while his hands were visible on the armrest of the chair he was sitting on. Orea had seen him many times but she was only one of the very few people who knew the boss personally.
While the Light's network spread out in almost every country with hundreds of thousands of members distinguished only by their blue tiger tattoos on their bodies, the core team consisted of only 10 people. At the head was their Boss, who worked behind the scenes. Second to him was SD in terms of network and talent. He was being groomed to take over the Boss' position someday while Orea held the fourth seat.
The rest of the seats were held by other people who were also equally capable in gathering information according to their choice of expertise. Each of the people holding one of the ten seats had tremendous influence over their respective sectors, some working anonymously like Orea while others were in the open. Orea's specialty lay in technology while the person in the third seat held power in corporate, fifth seat dabbled in entertainment and so on.
"You were seen with Lee Myung."
No hi nor any hello's. The Boss always jumped to the main order of business.
"We are gathering information on the Lee family," Orea stated. "Myung is simply a pawn."
"What sort of information?" Boss asked. Orea knew that there was no point in lying to him. He already knew that they were working independently to bring down the Lee's. SD did not really hide his plans. He just did not mention them to the Boss but if asked, even he would tell the truth.
"I'm trying to break into the security system of the Lee's," she revealed. "Because all the files related to the Sailor's Reef Bridge project are in there. Once we get our hands on those plans, we can cut off the main route through which the Company is operating. Moreover, if we manage to cut off that route, then the Light can take over it and Lee's political party will lose the citizens' respect."
"And why did you not tell this to the other members of the Light?" Boss asked in a cool tone.
"We wanted to get our hands on the information first so that we could verify it properly," Orea claimed. "We'll need help from the Light anyway! The Bridge can't be taken down without the Light's help. We wanted to gather all the information and present it to you before we did anything."
The Boss simply gazed at her. "When did I teach you how to lie, Orea?" he asked, with a hint of sadness in his tone.
Orea felt really guilty for hiding their intentions from him. They were not afraid of the Boss but did not want to disappoint him. After all, he was the one who saved SD from the coup and also protected Orea when her parents were murdered.
"You already know our purpose, Boss," she said quietly. "You knew that someday, we'll have to begin our revenge against the Company."
She heard a deep sigh. "Go ahead," he finally said. "But do it discreetly. The other members will not be so pleased if you're working on your own. We might come from different classes and societies, but all of us are united here. They might feel betrayed if they find out."
"Thank you, Boss," Orea whispered.
"If you need our help, you know what to do," the Boss said. Orea nodded and the screen went off, leaving her speechless.
She sensed the disappointment and worry in their Boss' voice but there was nothing they could do. This was a journey the two of them would have to embark upon someday and better now than never.
"Let's just hope everything goes according to our plans," Orea muttered and shut the laptop.
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