"Ah... damn it, they really can't appreciate my hard work."
Angie complained and grumbled repeatedly while drinking alcohol. She did not know how many glasses she had downed, but she had stopped counting after the third glass.
"You're drunk, Angie. That's enough."
Angie laughed softly as she leaned her head against the table. "I'm still strong, really. I can still see your face clearly."
"Miss, would you like me to bring you some water?" A hostess touched Angie's shoulder and helped her to sit in a better position.
"Yes, please bring her some water. What a pain in the ass."
The hostess nodded. She stood up and bowed for a moment, then walked away to get some water.
Angie was still babbling incoherently. Her body was leaning against the soft sofa in an unladylike position.
"Angie, don't drink anymore."
Angie shook her head. "Rai, I still want a drink!" Angie exclaimed.
The man called Rai let out a long sigh. Angie's behavior was starting to become the center of attention of some of the other patrons.
"Will you stop drinking now, or shall I drag you home?" Rai threatened.
Angie let out a long breath. "Okay, okay, I'll stop drinking."
Angie lifted her head and let out a long sigh. The hostess who was serving them came over with a glass of water for Angie. Angie quickly drained the water and leaned her head back against the table.
"You're so ugly when you're drunk."
Angie scowled. "Fuck you."
"Look, you have good talent, Angie. You just need to control yourself better."
"What? Those people in the news media are such cowards. You know what? I've gathered a lot of juicy information to expose the famous politician's involvement with the drug lords, but what? They told me not to run the story in the media. Seriously!"
Rai gave his friend a concerned look. "Be patient, the story you want to run could have dangerous repercussions. Not everyone is ready for big consequences like you are, Angie."
"So, what's the point? Those criminals live in peace without any interference?"
Rai sighed. "Look, I'm just as upset as you are to see a high-level criminal like that roaming free without any fear. But you have to know, not everything can be revealed to the media. All that desire to uncover the truth will slowly evaporate when faced with danger."
Angie pursed her lips. Yes, of course she knew. Otherwise, how could she have been fired from her job just because she was desperate to publish the controversial news? The media could quickly take care of it and make it look as if the news had never come out, and Angie would have to voluntarily quit her job. She's not idealistic, really. She just wanted to write the news and expose it to the public in a truthful way. Unfortunately, not everyone was of the same mind as her.
"You're a detective, right? Don't you ever feel really passionate about uncovering a big story?" Angie asked.
Rai chuckled. "All the time, Angie. All the time, I want to uncover all those big crimes that are only in the police archives. Back when I first joined the detective department, I was just like you. I couldn't contain that desire and did reckless and careless things. The result? I was in danger. Perhaps I would have felt fine if it was just me who was in danger, but I endangered my colleagues as well. I can't possibly let my personal desires endanger other innocent people, right?"
"Ah, damn it. I'll not give up. I'll uncover all the secrets of the world and expose them to the media for everyone to see!"
Rai pulled Angie's arm to make her sit back down. "Keep your voice down, Angie. You're embarrassing!"
Angie crossed her arms over her chest. "You have to do me a favor too."
Rai widened her eyes. "Huh?"
"Share information with me, okay?"
Rai pushed Angie's body against his. "Get out of the way, asshole. I'm not going to share police information with a gratuitous journalist like you."
Angie pressed her cheek against Rai's shoulder. "Come on, I'll never mention your name. Yeah?"
"No."
"Come on, Rai?"
Rai let out a long breath. "Let me go, Angie. I'll share what information I can. Don't ask for more."
Angie smiled widely. "Aw, you really are a good friend, Rai. I definitely will-uh."
The glass of alcohol on the table fell and shattered as it was accidentally nudged by Angie's arm. The hostess serving them immediately set it right. Angie had to switch seating positions to make it easier for the hostess to clean up the mess she had caused.
"Have a good seat, Angie. You're making a mess of everything."
Angie laughed. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't do it on purpose, Rai. I-"
Angie stopped talking. Her eyes were focused on the person sitting at the table across from her. Unlike the other guests who were with their friends, he was alone. He sat at an end table with a hostess who poured him a drink. There was no interaction between him and the hostess. He was focused on drinking his drink while smoking, and the hostess was also silent and only focused on pouring the drink.
"Angie? Angie!"
Angie blinked. "Y-Yes?"
"What are you looking at?"
Angie looked back at the table. "Hey, does he come here often?" Angie asked the hostess.
The hostess followed Angie's gaze. "Yes, Miss. He always comes here and sits at that table."
"Do you know who he is?"
"Sorry, Miss. We're forbidden to share visitor information."
Rai came to see who Angie had been watching. A man with light brown hair and green eyes. There was a tattoo along his left arm up to his neck. He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His face was cold and seemed unfriendly.
"No, Angie."
Angie frowned. "What? I didn't do anything."
"I know you're attracted to that tattooed guy."
Angie chuckled. "I was just curious."
"He seemed dangerous."
"That doesn't mean he'll just kill me, does it?"
Rai rolled her eyes, completely lost in Angie's out-of-the-box answers.
"I'm warning you, Angie. Don't do anything stupid and sacrifice your own safety."
Angie hummed softly. She glanced back at the man. Unexpectedly, the two of them had met eyes. Angie was a little surprised and almost turned her face away, but somehow the look in the man's eyes made her stay and they stared at each other for a few seconds.
"Hey, let's go home. I have to work tomorrow."
Rai tugged on Angie's arm, which instantly broke her eye contact with the tattooed man.
"Don't mess with me, Angie."
Angie smiled. "Yeah, I know."
Rai walked out first with Angie in tow. Before she was completely out, Angie stopped stepping and looked back, and for the second time, their eyes met.
***
"This really sucks," Angie muttered.Angie still could not accept that she was unemployed now. Not completely unemployed, actually. She still had her personal news blog that had enough visitors to make her money. Actually, even without her working for one of the newspaper publishers, she could still support herself through that personal blog as well as some other side jobs with her journalistic skills. Angie just felt unsatisfied if she did not have a definite goal every day. Unfortunately, her free spirit and eagerness to expose every evil in the world is not in line with where she works. They were too afraid to reveal the facts to the point of firing Angie, who was desperate to publish the evidence she found.Angie took her cell phone from her jacket pocket and searched for Rai's number. One call went unanswered. Angie grunted and tried to contact him again. Until the 4th call, Rai did not answer. A few seconds later, Rai sent a message saying that he could not answer the call becau
Angie had made an appointment with Rai. He was actually at an activity, so they only had time to meet briefly before Rai went to his own activity. Normally, they would have met at the place where they usually enjoyed a drink, but this time they met in front of the police station. Rai had warned Angie not to do anything strange."So, what kind of fuss have you made in my absence?"The second the two of them met, Rai's expression turned deadpan. Angie just laughed, feeling very satisfied at her friend's annoyed expression."Relax, I didn't do anything.""So now what? If you hadn't done anything weird, you wouldn't have insisted on meeting like this."Angie reached into her jacket pocket and showed Rai the gold pin. "Here. Do you recognize the symbol on this gold pin?"Rai's brow furrowed at the small gold pin. "Where did you get that?""That's not important. Let's just say, does this symbol look familiar?"Rai gave Angie a skeptical glance. "Don't tell me you stole it from someone?""He
"Come on, you wouldn't do something this reckless, would you?"The man chuckled. "You have no idea what I can do to you."Angie had gotten death threats many times, and she had always survived because she did not dwell on them. This was the first time she had actually been threatened directly.Angie's arms were roughly pulled and then taken to one of the old houses tucked away in the dark alley. She pushed Angie's body until she fell to the floor."Aw, you like to play rough, huh?"The man looked at Angie with cold eyes. "Tell me, who told you to?"Angie frowned. "What? You think I'm someone else's underling?""Don't talk too much. Just tell me who told you to do this. I might be kind enough to let you go."Angie got up from the floor and chuckled softly. "Why, you look very anxious. Are you being chased by someone?"Angie's arms were firmly gripped and then her body was pushed until her back hit the wall. Pain spread throughout Angie's back, but she was still able to smile sarcastica
"You."Angie blinked softly. "What?""You're the payoff.""Huh? Wait, what do you mean?"Maxime chuckled softly. "You know what I mean.""Um, being your maid or something?"Maxime snorted in annoyance and pushed the woman away. "Get out!""Hey, hey, wait. Okay, I see what you mean. I was just joking a bit. You have no sense of humor at all."Of course, Angie knew. She was not some idiot who did not understand what making herself pay was all about. Not that she minded. She could accept it happily. Things like this were very common. If she could get what she wanted, then giving herself up was no big deal."Do you accept?" Maxime asked. At a glance, Angie could see the look of disbelief on the man's face.Angie shrugged indifferently. "Yeah. You asked for it, and I'm the one who offered you something. So, let's do it."Angie offered her palm to Maxime, but he glanced at it with a displeased expression."What? I'm just doing what people usually do when they make a deal."Maxime rolled his
"I-um.... Rai, I think you can go home first." Angie seemed to hesitate as she said it. Maxime's arm around her waist tightened, and Angie could clearly see Rai's shocked expression at her words. "W-What? What does that mean?" Rai seemed ready to scold Angie at the sight of her proximity to the man. He couldn't help but think that not too long ago he had warned her that the man she found attractive could be dangerous. "Okay, um... Maxime, I'm going to talk to Rai for a minute." Angie tried to loosen Maxime's grip on her waist. Unfortunately, the effort was in vain. Maxime seemed reluctant to cooperate as he tightened his embrace around Angie's waist. "Let her go!" Rai raised his voice. The situation between the three of them was getting really serious. Angie felt uncomfortable with people seeing them like a clown show. Come on, Angie had no problem with any image. She didn't care if other people judged her badly. The thing is, Rai is different from her. He is a member of the polic
Angie leaned against the wall. She had come with Maxime after leaving the nightclub where they had been drinking earlier. Angie was not really expecting anything. But she did not expect to see a live abuse session. Maxime dragged two grown men into an alley and beat them unconscious. Absolutely insane. "Is that your job or what?" Angie was curious. Maxime turned to Angie. His fist was covered in blood, and some of the blood had even spurted out and stained his face. The smell of blood wafted out and made Angie's nose feel uncomfortable. "Why, do you mind?" Angie shrugged. Actually, she did not care. A scene of such brutal violence might be newsworthy, but not interesting enough for Angie. She was not a cub reporter. She craved big, phenomenal stories involving famous people. "Not really. I mean, are you poor enough to take a job as a bouncer like this?" There was a dismissive tone in Angie's sentence, and she knew that Maxime did not like to be put down. "Well, at least I don't h
Angie's body shuddered at the thought. Well, being threatened with death was nothing new to Angie. She had experienced it many times before. But this time it was different. Every sentence that came out of Arok's mouth was strange."Then why did you hide me? You know what my intentions are here, right? I'm sure you also know who I am."Arok chuckled softly. "Of course I do. Angie McAlister, I think everyone in this area knows who you are. Normally they would stay away from you, because they don't want to let out their bad secrets."Angie smiled proudly. "So why did you save me? It's not that I'm ungrateful, I'm just wondering."Arok looked at Angie intently. The look in his eyes showed absolute seriousness. "I need your help, Angie.""WHAT? What favor do you-mmp!""Sssshhh... don't shout, idiot!"Angie nodded. "Okay, sorry. I just didn't expect Arok to ask a poor journalist like me for a favor."Arok rolled his eyes. "Don't be so modest.""Okay, so what do you want me to help you with?
Tonight. Angie had prepared everything. Tonight, she would get the big news after she had made a deal with Arok. In her usual nightclub, Angie would see the faces of the other members of the Wolf Gang.Angie had not seen Maxime at all after talking to him that time. Frankly, she was curious. Why had Maxime bothered to warn her? Was there something that Angie did not know? Similar questions filled her mind, but she could not back out. How could she waste such a great opportunity? Besides, she had promised Arok."Tonight, will go well. I have a good feeling. Cheer up, Angie," she muttered.Angie left for the nightclub immediately after making sure all her equipment was in place. Rai had been calling Angie since the afternoon, but she ignored him. To ensure that Rai would not interfere with her mission tonight, Angie texted him that she had important business to attend to and would not be able to return calls for a while.As usual, Angie's arrival was immediately greeted by the same host