Project IZ*ONE: Secret Files

Venator: Part 2

The next day, Yujin and Wonyoung paid another visit to Chungnam high school after class time. It was quite easy to blend in given they were as old as many of the students there, but they weren't having much luck getting information.

"Excuse me, would you happen to know a senior named Kim Gaeul?" Yujin asked one student after splitting off from Wonyoung, but she was ignored. The bunny also appeared to get be getting cold shoulder, the closest she could get to an answer being "That freak? How would I know where she is?". Wonyoung tried very hard to keep her composure at that comment.

"No use, unnie. No one's budging." The younger girl eventually says after meeting up with Yujin again.

"Yeah, it's either they don't know she exists or straight up hate her. It seems kids aren't much different from adults." The older girl replies in an annoyed tone. At that moment though, a new voice calls out to them.

"Hey, over here!" When the duo turns, they see a blonde girl trying to hide next to the school gates.

"My name is Jiwon, but my friends call me Liz. I overheard you asking about Gaeul-unnie?" She asks when the two approach her.

"Yeah, we think something bad might've happened to her." Yujin says quietly, and at this, the younger girl gasps.

"Is that why she was absent today? I've been trying to contact her all night, but she hasn't responded." Liz says worriedly.

"Yes, we were passing by yesterday when we heard some commotion coming from your school. We believe it has something to do with her being a mutant." Wonyoung continued, but at the mention of the word 'mutant', Liz froze.

"You're not one of them, are you?" She asks nervously, taking a step back.

"What do you mean 'one of them'?" Yujin reaches a hand towards the blonde girl, but she turns and runs away. "Hey! Wait!" The puppy calls as she and Wonyoung try to catch up.

"We're not here to hurt you. We want to help!" Wonyoung says as the three reach a dead end.

"No...No...you won't take any more of us!" And at that, Liz steps backwards into the wall and disappears.

"Uh, Wonyoung, did you just see what I just saw?" Yujin asks, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, she's a mutant too which means she might also be in danger." The bunny replies. "What do we do now?"

"Hmm, since she goes to this school, we can probably get Sakura to find out her address. We have to let her know that we're on her side." Yujin says, absentmindedly swirling some water from a nearby fountain on her fingertips before speaking again.

"For now, let's grab a snack before heading back home. This situation is getting me worked up." Wonyoung nods at this and the duo turn back to head for the school's exit. Little did they know that someone had been observing them from afar the whole time.

~~~~

30 minutes later...

Like Wonyoung had promised the day before, she let Yujin be the one to pick the place to eat this time. The puppy had then directed them to one of her favorite ice cream parlors that she used to go to after commercial shoots when she was younger.

"Mmm! This is delicious, unnie! We should've gone here sooner!" Wonyoung says happily as she bites another scoop of mint chocolate ice cream. Yujin normally would've made some joke about how picking that flavor was a waste of a trip when they had toothpaste at home, but one, she didn't want to ruin a good moment, and two, she'd seen Nako and Chaewon's 'totally reasonable' (read: violent) reactions to those jokes before.