My two hot Neighbors

Chapter 10: Midnight Shadows and Hidden Files

We didn’t sleep.

After Brit’s transmission cut out, an eerie silence settled over the room. Taehyung and Jungkook looked at me, both waiting for direction.

“Professor Soobin,” I repeated, the name tasting bitter in my mouth.

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Taehyung argued. “He has a kid. Sehun. He seemed—genuine.”

“Dark Rose doesn’t care about appearances,” Jungkook said, his jaw tight. “Some of the worst traitors have kids, families, even entire cover lives. They’re trained to blend in.”

I hated to agree. I wanted to believe Soobin was just a soft-spoken professor trying to juggle babysitting and lectures. But my instincts—those honed from years of training—were screaming that something wasn’t right.

“We don’t accuse until we’re sure,” I said finally. “We investigate.”

Jungkook nodded. “His office.”

“I’ve got a universal bypass key,” I said, grabbing my backpack and tossing it over my shoulder. “We go now. Before anyone else figures out we’re onto him.”

---

The university grounds were silent under the weight of midnight. A low fog curled across the pathways like ghosts whispering secrets. Our steps were soundless, quick. I wore black from head to toe, hood up, face partially masked. Taehyung had tied his hair back and was strangely quiet, while Jungkook moved beside me like a shadow, sharp and ready.

We reached the faculty building. The security system blinked red.

“Give me 30 seconds,” I muttered, kneeling beside the control panel. My fingers flew across the screen, slicing through firewalls and rerouting surveillance cameras to loop.

Click.

We were in.

The hallway leading to Soobin’s office was lined with framed awards and class photographs. Taehyung stared at one from last year.

“He looks… normal.”

“They always do,” Jungkook replied darkly.

At Soobin’s door, I pulled out a lockpick kit and went to work. Within seconds, the door clicked open.

We entered cautiously. The office was too clean. No clutter, no stacks of papers, not even a photo of Sehun.

“Search everything,” I ordered.

Taehyung went to the drawers. Jungkook checked the bookshelf. I moved toward the computer.

Password protected, naturally.

“Cover me,” I said as I inserted a USB decryptor.

The screen flickered.

Then came to life.

Dozens of folders lined the desktop. Most were named generically—Lecture Notes, Student Lists, Faculty Reports—but one folder was oddly titled:

“Sunset Program - Priority Red”

I clicked it.

Inside were video files, transcripts, and reports on various agents—including Phoenix.

Photos of my past missions. My safehouses. Even snapshots of Jungkook, labeled: “Potential Asset.”

My blood ran cold.

“This isn’t just betrayal. This is a manhunt,” I whispered.

“Got something,” Taehyung said, pulling a book from the shelf.

The wall behind it slid open—revealing a hidden safe.

“Help me open it,” he said, stepping aside.

Jungkook approached, fingers brushing against the scanner.

Suddenly, the lights flickered.

We all froze.

Footsteps.

Heavy. Deliberate.

Coming this way.

I quickly shut the computer and turned off the monitor. “Hide. Now.”

We dove behind the curtain partition just as the office door creaked open.

A tall silhouette entered.

Professor Soobin.

He was on the phone.

“…yes, I know they’ve accessed it. Initiate Plan Theta. Burn everything. They’re getting too close.”

He moved to the desk. Opened the drawer. Pulled out a silencer.

My heart pounded in my ears.

He wasn’t just some undercover handler. He was a field operative. One trained to kill.

I glanced at Taehyung and Jungkook. Both were frozen, silent, eyes trained on him like hawks.

Soobin began typing something into the computer—likely a purge command.

I couldn’t let him delete those files.

With a deep breath, I launched forward.

“Tae! Hit the lights!”

Pitch black.

The room exploded into chaos.

I tackled Soobin to the ground. The gun skidded away.

Jungkook flipped the desk as a barrier. Taehyung dove for the safe and grabbed whatever was inside.

Soobin fought like a trained assassin—calculated, ruthless. He swung a punch that caught me across the jaw, sending sparks behind my eyes. But I twisted, grabbing his wrist and snapping it backwards. He yelled out.

“In the name of the Sovereign Agency, you’re under arrest—!”

Before I could finish, he activated a hidden trigger on his wristwatch.

Smoke flooded the room.

“No—!”

The emergency window burst open, and by the time we reached it, he was gone—vanished into the night.

---

We escaped moments before backup security arrived.

Back in my house, bruised and breathless, we laid out what we found: A hard drive from the safe, marked with the Sovereign Agency's encryption. Inside it was a single file, titled:

“Project SIREN.”

We couldn’t open it yet—not without advanced decryption.

Taehyung sat down heavily on the couch. “That was insane.”

Jungkook looked at me. “He knew who we were. He planned to kill you.”

“I underestimated him,” I admitted, clenching my fists. “And that almost cost us everything.”

Taehyung’s voice was quiet. “What now?”

I stood. “Now we stop hiding. If he’s gone dark, he’ll resurface. But next time, we strike first.”

Jungkook gave me a small smirk. “Looks like you’re back in full Phoenix mode.”

I glanced between the two of them—my two hot neighbors, now my only allies in a game of lies, guns, and buried truths.

I grinned. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

---

End of Chapter 10

> Next time in Chapter 11: The team decrypts Project SIREN and what they uncover shocks them all. A secret agent thought to be dead… may still be alive. And Ellanora’s past isn’t as buried as she thought.