extra! extra!

feeling the tension in his body rise as he stared at the police officer in front of him, juno knew he was about to do something stupid. or, more accurately, he would’ve done something, had the mystery girl not popped up in front of him just as he opened his mouth.

caught off guard, he was stunned into silence for a second or two, his brain trying to catch up with the situation. “i don’t —” he cut himself off, frowning at the woman. juno didn’t recognize her, but something about her seemed strangely familiar. this information did nothing to help him figure out why she’d inserted herself into this situation, though.

“i — yeah, uh … yeah, i can do that for you.” his voice had lost all of it’s previous bite, the upward inflection of his tone making it sound more like a question than a statement. peering around her, he glanced at the officer, only to see him as equally confused as he felt. “if you’ve got a problem with me, you can just talk to my boss. you know where she is.” he motioned in the direction of sura’s before grabbing the stranger by the wrist, fully intent on getting away from the situation as quickly as possible. “lets go, i don’t have all night.”

raon stumbled along behind the boy, legs a little shaky after sitting on her bike for so long. if she’d only seen him and not heard him, she probably would have been a lot more intimidated, but despite his rough mannerisms, his hesitation made her realize he wasn’t exactly the hardened criminal the police seemed to think he was.

waiting until they were out of sight of the two officers, who seemed to be grumbling and getting back into their cruiser, the journalist pulled her hand free, stopping and letting out a frustrated breath. it wasn’t him she was frustrated with; she’d gone and lost her chance at following the cops to the pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow, and it looked she would have to write an article about newly paved sidewalks or something else just as banal.

more often than not, juno was one of the last employees to leave sura cuisine for the night — desperate to stay on sua’s good side as much as he could, he tried to leave his place of employment as spotless as possible before turning in for the night. with his black hoodie over his clean work clothes, he placed his shitty headphones over his ears and started his walk towards his mother’s house, wanting nothing more than to crash on the couch for a few hours before she woke up.

of course, things never went smoothly for juno. it took a second for his brain to process the scene before him, the cops he knew by name attempting to get his attention. “what ?” his tone was harsh as he pulled the headphones to lay on his shoulders, frowning as the officer pointed to the trash cans with a disapproving look.

“fuck off, you know spray painting isn’t even my thing.” his annoyance grew by the second, clear that the officers believed him responsible for the crude art. there was an easy out to this situation — leading the officers back to sura cuisine and letting them check the punch clock — but juno so rarely took the easy path out of things.

as one of the officers took a step forward, juno took a step back, determined to leave space between them. as the officer asked for the bag containing all his belongings, juno practically hissed at the man. “i haven’t done shit, you’re not getting my fucking bag.” his voice grew louder as he got more frustrated, clinging onto his bag for dear life. even if there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy in there, he still refused to hand it to him — seeing as whole life was practically shoved in that bag, he wasn’t going to give it up easily.

raon considered the situation in front of her, wondering if an article about a town troublemaker or the potential for police corruption would be a worthy piece, but once the officers began reaching for the young man's bag, she stepped out from behind her corner.

"jeez, there you are! i don't know why, but i got so damn lost looking for you." raon ran up to him, her helmet still on her head, the contents of her bag clanking around before she came to a stop next to him.

the worst thing about being the newest writer at the paper was having the highest quota of all the staff. until she finished off her probationary period and could prove she wasn't going to cause the yunhwa ilbo any trouble, the chief assigned raon three articles a day, and apparently they already had enough pieces on home cleaning advice and the upcoming spring festival.

that's how raon found herself not-so-subtly trailing one of the town's few police cruisers on her moped, wrists starting to hurt and gas tank running low. she had to submit one last piece for the day before the papers went to print at dawn, and considering it was just after midnight, she was following any lead she could.

stifling a yawn, the journalist perked up when she heard the sound of the police radio through the slightly open windows of the cruiser, and yelped when the car suddenly whipped around to make a sharp turn onto the main road. following closely behind, the two vehicles came to a gentle stop in front of a row of houses near sura's cuisine, the police sirens off out of courtesy for the sleepy neighborhood.

parking the scooter at the end of the block, she slinked closer to the officers, trying to look like a passing resident. upon seeing a crudely drawn, spray-painted picture of male unmentionables on one of the houses' garbage cans, her face crumpled up in disappointment. 'so this is my big story? i followed them all night for this?'