Kai's Talent (Other than Dancing)

***ARTEMIS***

"Think of this like an acting workshop. You'll have to act sooner or later anyway. This will be good training."

I watched Blake and Xander with their jaws ready to fall to the floor. Figuratively speaking.

"Workshop? Training?! In the freaking black market?" Blake half-yelled making me wince a little. "We usually don't have to endanger ourselves when it comes to acting or just doing workshops. Xander-hyung!"

All eyes glanced on Xander who kept a calm face throughout the short ordeal.

"I like it." Xander said. "Nobody will know it's us, right?"

"With events like that, you usually have to wear a mask to hide your identity and use codenames. Many famous individuals are actually involved with the black market, so preserving their identities is a big must. Imagine the consequences if they do get caught."

"Oh, okay."

"Hyung!" Blake exclaimed in disbelief.

"Shut it Blake." Kyle retorted.

Blake just scoffed and pouted on his seat.

"Well, glad that's over. Now, Kyle-hyung will sneak in posing as the specialist from the Zhang Family." Seth continued. "While the auction is ongoing, three sets of specialists will examine the items backstage. He will be one of those. Kyle-hyung will have to find a way to replace the codex with the fake that we prepared."

"Uncle Wu Fen will send someone to teach me how to examine antiques." Kyle said. "He should be here tomorrow."

"Hold up, one question." Blake raised a hand. "You said something about a fake, where do we even get one?"

"That's where Kai comes in." Seth answered and motioned to Guardians' main dancer who suddenly became silent.

"What's Kai got to do with it?"

Kai just clicked his tongue but Kyle continued. "His mother is Park Min Hee, a famous maker of counterfeits in this side of the world. He just so happened to inherit her skills."

Blake and Xander were both agape.

"Trust me, I reacted way worse the first time I found out about it." I commented.

"Stop talking about it now, Kyle-hyung. I thought you wouldn't tell anyone?" Kai complained.

"Sorry didi[1] but we need your talents for this one so I don't really have much of a choice."

"How did you even know about it?" Blake asked.

"Through a total accident. Remember that time when Tim broke CEO Kim's priceless vase in his office? It was an antique said to date way back in Goguryeo Era[2]."

"Yeah." Seth nodded in agreement. "I think he said it belonged to its founder, King Sejong[3] or something?"

"Idiot! King Sejong existed in Joseon Era. Goguryeo's founder was Jumong[4]." Blake inserted.

"Wow Blake, who knew you were a history buff." I teased.

"My father's a history professor and my grandmother as well. I'm bound to learn a thing or two."

"Anyway," Kyle continued. "We were debating on how to trick CEO Kim so he won't find out while we look for a replacement or just sacrifice Tim since it was his fault, but two days later the vase was back to where it used to be."

"Yeah, I remember that one." Xander agreed. "We were very confused on what happened."

"I found out about Kai's hidden talent that time."

"I didn't want to have these skills either, you know." Kyle digressed. "I just happened to see my mom doing it so I gave it a try. It turned out I was gifted at making counterfeits just like her. Mom found out about it and gave me an earful. She made me promise never to do it again and forced me to take ballet lessons after that. Anyway, since it's already out in the open, I will need a detailed picture of the item as well as the materials I will use to create the counterfeit."

"That's great! We're all set then!" I exclaimed.

"Wait, what about Seth? What is 'he' going to do?" Blake asked.

"He will be our eyes and ears."

"I will hack into Casa Domingo's mainframe and you guys will help me hack into the auction area's mainframe as well."

"Casa Domingo. Is that where the auction will be held?" Kai asked.

"Yeah. It's a small hotel in Bogo City, but the auction will be underground. I can already guess that it will have a different security system that will run on a different server than the hotel. I will need your help to access it."

"Anyway, in the next few days we will all be busy." I announced. " Kai will be making the codex's counterfeit and Kyle will be studying antique identification. Did I get all that right Seth?"

"Yes noona. By the way Blake-hyung and Xander-hyung, help scout the area as well. We need to familiarize our way in Bogo City in case we have to escape." we all agreed and started doing our assigned jobs.

***

The specialist sent by Uncle Wu Fen arrived the next day and starting teaching Kyle on how to identify antiques. Well, Uncle Wu Fen really thought of it because the specialist, called Uncle Stuart, also gave Kyle pointers on how to recognize authentic items and fake ones. I was watching the two have their lessons in one of the rooms in the safe house.

Meanwhile, Kai had started making the counterfeit of the codex once Seth had given him a clearer and more detailed photo. It also helped that Liu Fen could be contacted via video call and Kai could ask him for more details. Blake and Xander were in-charge of scouting the area of Casa Domingo. Sometimes, I would go with them and see any suspicious preparations made in the hotel since a black market auction was happening there in a few days. Seth was busy checking the site's activities and makes the gadgets we would need once we were in the auction. As for me, I was in-charge of securing our perimeter of the safe house, considering people might be spying on us, as well as responsible for the house's daily necessities. Well, San Remigio's wet market was quite abundant and it wasn't far so there was no problem.

Sunday evening, Kai finally finished the fake of the codex. He presented it to us in the middle of dinner. Uncle Stuart checked it and said that it was hard to tell it apart from the picture.

"I'm not that confident with it tough." said the teleporter. "I've never seen the real thing so this will only work if Kyle-hyung is the last one to check."

"I don't think anyone would know if it was real or not since nobody had really seen the codex out in the open. If there was anyone who could tell, it will probably be Steve Zhang." replied Uncle Stuart, comforting him. "But you did a good job kid."

"Don't worry Kai, leave the checking to me." Kyle said.

"Then we're all set!" I exclaimed.

Day of the auction, Monday.

We arrived at Casa Domingo at about seven-thirty in the evening. The auction was at eight-thirty, but there was a banquet for those who came early. I presented a special card to the hotel's receptionist who then called someone who led me to the secret elevator that led to the underground.

'I was right.' I guessed.

"So far so good." I heard Seth say on my earpiece. "Kyle-hyung already arrived in the waiting room. They will be checking the items in forty minutes."

I coughed once to signal my agreement then eyed my companions. Seth and Kai were somewhere within the vicinity, inside a van to check our movements.

Blake who stood on my left wore a dark blue suit and a black inner shirt. Covering his face was a blue mask half-mask. He also dyed his silver hair to dark red. Xander was wearing a black tuxedo with a silver half-mask. His blonde hair was dyed brown. I could feel their nervousness since I was linking myself to their arms. I held them tight to reassure them as well as to calm them.

Meanwhile, I was wearing a black half-mask, the one I used to wear when I was still working as Huntress. I dyed my hair into dark red and wore a simple black knee-length dress that hugged my slim figure as well as a pair of three-inch black heels. I didn't have any weapon on me presently, but it wasn't like I needed it. My killer heels were already deadly enough.

We got off the elevator and headed to the door where a very scary looking bouncer was standing. I presented my invitation card in which he scanned to a device.

"Welcome. Are these two your companions Miss Huntress?"

"Yes."

He returned the invitation to me, "You can go inside now."

I nodded my head. He opened the door and we went inside.

"Well, there's no turning back now." I heard Blake mutter.

"Think of it this way; Xander can always freeze this place and you can blind anyone who will come after us." I suggested with a sheepish smile.

""Not happening.""

I motioned to the structures in front of us and I could see them marveling at it.

"Welcome to a black market auction."

The hall we were in had a very big area with a couple up luxurious chandeliers hanging in the ceiling. Everything seemed like an exquisite banquet someone rich and bored would throw for convenience.

I eyed the two and we went our separate ways. The two had to set up the device that would help Seth hack the place we were in. On the other hand, I observed the auction area. There was a small stage and tables were scattered in front of it.

'That's a lot of tables. I guess I should pick one later.'

There was also the second floor where seven balconies were located. From what I knew, six balconies were for the VIPs and the last one was for the host of the auction.

I sighed. 'Such a beautiful place. It'll be a waste if we 'do' trash it.'

I suddenly felt a presence behind me. I gripped the fork I was holing then turned around and pointed it on the persona's throat.

"People shouldn't sneak up on others." I said. "That's bad manners."

The person was a tall man with a lean figure. He had a full-face white mask with three red vertical lines running from the top to the bottom of its left side. He had spiky black hair and was wearing a dress shirt, a pair of slacks and a pair of bred rubber shoes.

'His taste in clothes is a little…'

"Huntress. Glad that even after you've been inactive for eight years, your skills haven't dulled." his voice sounded young.

I assessed him from head to toe and found a very disturbing detail; he was like me, very skilled at taking someone's life.

Note:

[1] Didi – Chinese endearment for younger brother.

[2] Goguryeo Era - (37 BC - 668-AD) also called Goryeo was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Manchuria.

[3] King Sejong - also known as Sejong the Great, was the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. He also personally created and promulgated the Korean alphabet Hangul, encouraged advancements of scientific technology, and instituted many other efforts to stabilize and improve prosperity.

[4] Jumong - famously known as King Dongmyeong of Goguryeo was the founding monarch of the kingdom of Goguryeo.