The room went still, Shuren and Taura's gazes fixated on Assad. His words made him look like a mad person.

  Taura blinked. "What?"

  Shuren turned her head slowly toward Assad, her expression unreadable, but the weight of her silence was enough to suck the air out of the room. "What did you just say?"

  Assad straightened, realizing he'd just interrupted the one person you definitely don't interrupt. "Sorry, ma'am but I'm sure that wasn't SAZ." he said quickly.

  Shuren's tone dropped to an icy chill. "You better explain that before I start thinking you've lost your damn mind."

  "One of the briefcases which we thought had what we wanted was SAZ. That was not it but something else." he began, his voice low but steady.

  Shuren arched an eyebrow. "Then what did it have?"

  Assad met her gaze. "JABE."

  The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on. Taura's head snapped toward him, eyes wide. "Wait, you're saying JABE was in the briefcase? That's impossible."

  Assad shook his head. "Not literally. I mean the product, the drug itself. It was JABE."

  Shuren tapped her cigarette against the edge of the ashtray, the sound crisp in the tense atmosphere.

  "Go on."

  "I found myself face to face with the one making the deal, in other words the maid that Taura was just talking about a few seconds ago. If I recall correctly, she did tell us her name was Mischa Chikae." Assad continued.

  Taura frowned, repeating the name softly to herself. "Never heard of her."

  Assad nodded. "Same here. But what really caught my attention wasn't her; it was who she works for."

  Shuren's eyes narrowed just a bit, her voice still steady. "And who would that be?"

  Assad paused for a moment, the memory flashing in his mind of the woman's bow, her icy politeness, and that one name she spoke as if it were a title. "She said… she's the maid of someone named Zheng Yan."

  The room was silent in a matter of seconds not a single word was spoken

  Taura froze. "Zheng Yan? You can't be serious."

  Even Shuren halted mid-inhale the tip of her cigarette glowed red for a heartbeat longer before she exhaled a thin stream of smoke. "

  Are you absolutely sure that's what you heard?" she asked quietly, each word carefully chosen.

  Assad nodded once. "I'm sure."

  Shuren leaned back in her chair, her expression unreadable as a thin trail of smoke curled from her lips. The atmosphere in the room grew heavier with each passing second.

  "If that's the case…then we need to take action."she finally said, her tone calm too calm,

  She let her words linger in the air, the smoke swirling lazily above her head. The ticking of the clock on the wall suddenly felt deafening. Her gaze shifted sharp and cold toward the couch at the far end of the room. Mya sat there, knees pressed together, hands trembling in her lap. Her face was pale, her breath uneven. She looked like she wanted to sink into the cushions and disappear.

  "So,what's the deal over there?" Shuren said, tilting her head slightly,

  Mya's lips parted, but no words came out. Her voice caught in her throat. She tried again, but only a faint, broken sound escaped. Assad watched her, his expression tightening. He could see it clearly the way her fingers gripped the fabric of her skirt, the way her shoulders trembled.

  Mya's body shook, her hands gripping her pants as if it were her only lifeline. Each breath came out shaky, and every exhale felt like a whisper of fear. Shuren's sharp gaze turned toward her.

  "Again, what's happening over there?"she said, her voice steady yet cutting through the tension in the room like a knife.

  Taura followed her line of sight.

  "I was also going to ask the same thing when I saw you enter with this girl so what's going on?"

  Assad stepped forward, his tone calm but assertive. "Ma'am… could we ask Taura to step out for this?"

  Taura blinked, confusion flickering across her face. "Wait… me? Why?"

  Assad locked eyes with Shuren, their silent exchange heavy with unspoken challenges wrapped in respect. Shuren stayed quiet, her focus on Mya as if she were weighing the gravity of the situation and the cigarette smoke curled lazily around her fingers, the only movement in the otherwise still room.

  At last, she exhaled, the smoke drifting upward like a signal. "Taura… leave."

  Taura's eyes widened. "Wait what? I'm not—"

  Shuren's gaze snapped to her, sharp and unwavering. Just a glance, barely more than a tilt of her head, but it carried enough weight to make Taura hesitate. She swallowed hard, straightened up, and muttered, "Yes, ma'am," before turning on her heel and leaving the room.

  As soon as the door clicked shut, Shuren's voice sliced through the silence. "She's gone. Now… let's talk."

  Assad let out a long, measured sigh. "Alright…damn you don't have to rush me."

  Before he could start his explanation, Mya's body convulsed violently, her hands gripping her stomach. Her breaths turned shallow, quick, and panicked.

  "What's wrong?" Assad asked, narrowing his eyes as he crouched closer to her.

  A soft, shimmering glow began to spread across the floor beneath her, revealing the unmistakable shape of a mermaid tail, shimmering with a faint, otherworldly light. It looked almost translucent, the scales catching the dim light like droplets of water in a prism.

  Mya whimpered, her voice breaking. "I… I can't… control it…"

  Shuren's calm demeanor faltered just a bit as she stood up from her chair, approaching Mya with careful, measured steps. Her eyes widened slightly as they locked onto the mermaid tail, the smoke from her forgotten cigarette curling upward, the usually composed Shuren displayed something that resembled… curiosity.

  Assad let out a nervous laugh, scratching the back of his neck.

  "Well… that's actually what I was going to explain but… maybe you should explain, Mya." he said, glancing at Mya.

  Mya froze, her eyes wide and trembling, clutching onto Assad's arm, seeking comfort from the only person who felt steady in this room filled with smoke and shadows. Her voice caught in her throat, barely a whisper.

  Assad knelt slightly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. His other hand reached out, brushing gently against hers.

  "Hey… it's okay just… take your time. You don't have to be scared."he murmured.

  Her gaze flicked to Shuren, the sharp, cigarette-scented presence that filled the room with authority, and something inside Mya cracked open. Her hands trembled as she reached into her small pouch, her voice barely audible, quivering with fear and hope.

  "Please… help me, I beg of you please… save my older sisters… I… I don't have money, but… please… just save them…" she whispered.

  Shuren stayed silent for a moment. Not even showing a single reaction to Mya's request, only staring at her trembling fingers.

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  Eventually she brought in some of the courage she needed and stood up and slowly walk to Shuren'd table and set a small pile of coins on the floor just some loose change, something most would overlook, but it was all she had to give tears streamed down her face, a mix of fear, desperation, and a flicker of fragile hope shining in her eyes.

  Shuren's sharp gaze shifted Mya to the coins and in that moment, something sparked an echo of recognition deep within her. Memories she had buried long ago came rushing back, vivid and painful: herself, years earlier, feeling weak, terrified, small, abused, being violated at a young age and desperately clawing for even the tiniest bit of hope.

  Her stern expression softened. Slowly, she crouched down to Mya's level, locking eyes with the girl, whose tears were still flowing. Mya's trembling eased just a bit at the gesture, though her chest still rose and fell with fear.

  For a brief moment, the silence in the room felt almost suffocating, the weight of their unspoken past hanging heavily over Shuren.

  Then, in a voice that was steady yet warm, Shuren finally spoke, "Fine."

  She stood up, the chair scraping softly against the floor. Her silhouette formed a sharp outline against the dim light of the office.

  "We have two issues with this," she said, her tone calm but heavy with inevitability.

  Assad straightened up. "And what would those be?" he asked, a mix of curiosity and caution in his voice.

  Shuren's gaze returned to Mya.

  "First we don't know what made her human in the first place."she began slowly, letting her words linger in the air like smoke,

  Assad opened his mouth to respond. "I know what did it—it's"

  Shuren raised a hand, cutting him off mid-sentence.

  "The second issue," she continued, pulling a pistol from a hidden compartment and loading it with careful precision. The sharp clicks of the metal echoed in the room.

  Assad's eyes widened. "Wait, what are you doing?"

  Without missing a beat, she kept going, her voice smooth and cold. "The second issue… is that we don't know how stable it is. Sometimes, answers need to be enforced."

  Before anyone had a chance to react, Shuren raised her pistol and fired. The bullet struck the door frame with a loud crack, sending splinters flying. The sharp sound made Mya flinch, and Assad's jaw dropped in shock.

  He could barely whisper, stunned, "She…what was she…"

  His eyes darted toward the door. Taura, who was supposed to have left, now stood in the shadows outside, completely silent, her eyes wide. She had heard everything eavesdropping on the entire conversation

  'She… was listening the whole time?!'

  Shuren didn't respond. Instead, she holstered her pistol, her gaze shifting between Mya and Assad, like a calm predator sizing up her prey, already several steps ahead in this tense game, her eyes snapped to Taura, narrowing into a glare so icy it could freeze steel.

  Taura froze mid-step, then bowed deeply in a traditional, apologetic gesture. "Gomen-nasai… Ms. Shuren," she whispered, her voice barely above a murmur.

  Shuren exhaled slowly, letting the smoke curl around her like a dark halo.

  "You need to stop this obsession of yours… eavesdropping on others or otherwise…" she commanded, her tone sharp and unyielding.

  Shuren turned her attention back to Assad and Mya, her expression unreadable, as if the entire scene had been nothing more than a minor inconvenience. The cold aura lingered in the room, a stark reminder that authority here was absolute and mercy was a luxury that didn't exist.

  "Now, let's tackle the first issue." she said coolly, as if the gunshot from moments ago hadn't just blown a hole through her door.

  Assad's voice remained steady, but his eyes flicked toward Mya for a brief moment before returning to Shuren.

  "According to Mya… it's a drug that can turn Beastfolk like her into humans."

  For a moment, silence enveloped the room; only the hum of the old ceiling fan and the faint hiss of Shuren's cigarette broke it.

  Her expression didn't waver.She simply leaned back and exhaled, the smoke curling around her face like fog. "Beastfolk, huh? I've known they existed for years but a drug that can turn them human…that's a new one."she said coolly.

  She tapped her cigarette against the ashtray, her tone growing colder.

  "The best course of action would be to confront where the drug is being held and possibly save the kids' sisters…but that would create a ton of chaos since we don't even know where they are located and how well is the security there." Shuren murmured to herself.

  Shuren looked up at the ceiling still in deep thought and for some reason she took her gun out making Assad and Mya a little bit afraid of what was about to happen next,she put the tip of the gun into her mouth and pulled the trigger on herself. Blowing a part of her head out including some parts of her brain and her body dropping down to the floor. Blood and some brain bits oozing on the floor.

  This shocked Assad and Mya into asking themselves what kind of sick person would do such a thing, until something else occurred which made Assad and Mya even more terrified of Shuren even more. Some sort of a white spirit version of Shuren rose from her body and started to slowly turn back to her original self while the dead corpse slowly withered away.

  After a while Shuren was back to herself again and looked at the terrified Assad and Mya, making her wonder if she was just randomly killing herself and sloughing out her body. It's a normal thing right?

  She snapped the two out of the nightmare that they just witnessed and took out another cigarette from her table and lit it up before exhaling a spiral again.

  "Now, how do we handle her?"

  The question lingered heavily in the smoke-filled room. "She still has that tail and those fins, we can't just stroll her down the street like that. We need to find a way to change her back… but we're out of that JABE stuff." Shuren continued, crossing her arms tightly.

  Assad shook his head after seeing the disaster and then his lips curled into a sly smirk. "About that…"

  He dug into his pocket, the soft jingle of glass breaking the silence. When he pulled his hand out, ten small pills tumbled onto his palm, each one a dull silver that glimmered in the flickering light.

  "I managed to snag a few from the briefcase before everything went sideways."

  Shuren's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You stole them?"

  "Borrowed," he replied with a casual shrug, a hint of a grin playing on his lips. "Thought they might be useful."

  For a brief moment, a flicker of amusement danced in Shuren's eyes before it was replaced by her usual composure.

  "Smart move but let's hope you didn't just bring a fuckin' problem into my office."" she said softly.