Chapter 22- Rising to the Occasion

                                    

                                          
"Chief Hwang, may we come in?" A voice asks after knocking on the chief's office door.
"Sure, Saerom. Just make it quick." Hwang replies quickly. 
"So, what is it, you two?" The chief questions when Saerom and Hayoung enter.
"We heard the news about what happened at KYB last night. We apologize for our oversight." Saerom lies, seeing if she can get any information from him.
"Yes, I don't know how you let them get by. Your team is usually sharper than that." Hwang chides. "If that's it, then you can leave. I'm very busy today."
"Actually, sir. We wanted to make it up to you by keeping watch over the mutants. They were arrested, but they weren't dropped off here at the station." Hayoung says.
"That's because this place isn't built to hold mutants. I don't know if you've forgotten, but they've already broken out of here before. They've also broken in here on more than one occasion." Hwang replies before leaning in closer to whisper something else. "Between me and you two, there's a new location they were sent to out in the North Chungcheong area."
"Do you have a specific area? Maybe we can get assigned there for the time being to redeem ourselves." Saerom suggests, but the chief shakes his head.
"Yah, you two work hard enough. Besides, that area's already out of our jurisdiction. Just focus on the problems in Seoul."
"But sir! This was our fault. Can't you give us a chance?" Hayoung pesters, which only seemed to irritate Hwang.
"It would take too much paperwork to get even one of you assigned there, and I don't know why I should be doing more work when your team made the mistakes." He says, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance before a phone call grabs his attention. 
"I don't want to hear any more from you two for the rest of the day." Hwang orders, sending the girls out while he takes the call. Once the two exit though, Saerom gives Hayoung a signal. The younger girl nods and closes her eyes to focus her hearing.
 "So, what do you hear?" Saerom asks once they entered their office which was opposite of Hwang's.
"He's talking to Kim Yong-bum." Hayoung replies. "I think he's being told that IZ*ONE have arrived at the new facility."
"Has he dropped the location?" 
"Kind of. He asked KYB why the place was so far and in the middle of a forest. KYB seems to be scolding him though by the way he's apologizing for being out of line again." 
"A forest, huh? I mean, I wouldn't be hiding a mutant containment facility in broad daylight either." North Chungcheong was over an hour away and a pretty large province, so those details didn't really narrow it down. 
"The call just ended." Hayoung announces. "We're kind of short on time. Maybe we should discuss this with the others."
Saerom nods and sends a message to their group chat to convene at their office after their shifts.
~~~~
Later that evening...
"So, you want four of us to head over to PD Campus and help some of the trainees escape while you and Hayoung lead a group ahead to Chungcheong to search for the secret base?" Seoyeon summarizes. 
"Pretty much. You girls said you wanted to help out, right?" Saerom replies. 
"Well, yeah. Those androids you described yesterday sound pretty strong and dangerous though..." Nagyung mumbles nervously.
"We're not going to force you to do it if you don't want to. We'd just really appreciate the help. Those IZ*ONE girls are one of the few hopes in stopping whatever KYB is planning." Hayoung says. "I know those plans won't really affect you girls, but Saerom and I have to try and protect other mutants."