Chapter Text
Macau glittered like a jewel in the night, all neon shine and false safety. Tourists spilled through casino doors, taxis weaved through crowded streets, and above it all, Sky Eye watched — drones scanning faces, cameras tracking every motion, AI cataloguing the city’s every breath.
And still, the Wolves moved unseen.
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At 11:00 p.m. sharp, five figures stepped into the revolving doors of the Diamond’s Edge Casino. To the cameras, they were tourists — a laughing couple in sequined clothes, two brothers in worn backpacks , and a girl in a shimmering dress.
By the time they crossed the gaming floor, the tourists were gone. In their place: ghosts.
In the restroom, the couple changed out of their disguise. The man peeled away the latex strips around his jaw, revealing sharp lines underneath. He had big doe eyes and lips curved into a gentle smile. The woman stripped off her sequined jacket to reveal a sleek black suit beneath and pulled off her wig revealing a young handsome man with a black mullet.
“Okay, the signal jammers are activated,” a voice sounded through their ear pieces. “Joshua and Minghao, the corridor outside the bathroom is clear.” Joshua and Minghao pulled up their masks and got ready to head out of the restroom. “Thanks DK, we’re moving out now,” Minghao said as he quickly shook out his mullet. Joshua opened the door and they silently sprinted down the hall.
13 floors above the casino, the two brothers entered a hotel room, seemingly tired from a full day of traveling and adventures. As they entered the room, they dropped their heavy backpacks and disposed of their clothing revealing two handsome men with jet black wavy hair. One was tall, tanned, and muscular while the other was shorter and more pale. Both were sporting the same black suits. “There should be an accessible vent in the room you’re currently in. It leads to a corridor near the vault,” DK said through the earpiece. “Mingyu, you better fit inside that vent or you’ll ruin our whole operation,” DK teased. The muscular and tanned man looked like a kicked puppy, clearly offended.
“Hey that’s rude,” Mingyu retorted as he put his gloves on. “I know my workouts have been paying off but my shoulders aren’t that wide.”
Minghao’s voice rang through the earpiece with a chuckle, “Anyways, this is why we wanted you to team up with Joshua and I’d go with Vernon, but no, you couldn’t leave your dear brother’s side.” Several other chuckles could be heard over the earpiece.
“Let’s stay focused,” Joshua’s gentle voice sounded. “We need to stay on track,” he reminded them all. With their leader’s calm chiding, Mingyu and Vernon hauled themselves into the vent, quietly but quickly crawling their way through their planned route.
Meanwhile, in a change room on the casino floor, the girl in the shimmering dress wiped dark makeup from her face, revealing a handsome man with sharp features. He pulled off his long wig and quickly ran his fingers through his black hair. Beneath his shimmering dress was a similar black suit. The man glanced at his watch where the signal jammer was installed. “Okay Jun, your route is clear now too,” DK’s voice once again rang through his ear piece. With a grin, Jun pulls up his mask and exits the change room, and makes his way towards the safe.
One by one, the Wolves shed their disguise and successfully bypassed the AI system thanks to DK’s signal jammers. To Sky Eye, their faces blurred, their figures indistinct. By the time they reemerged, the Wolves were wolves again.
“North corridor, four cameras,” DK’s voice buzzed through the earpiece. “I’ve looped thirty seconds. Don’t get greedy.”
Mingyu grinned. “Thirty seconds is forever.”
He moved first, powerful strides silent as a predator. A guard turned the corner — too late. Mingyu slammed him into the wall, a precise strike dropping the man without a sound. Vernon was at his side instantly, dragging the body into the shadows.
Jun slipped past, movements fluid as water. He scaled the stairwell railings effortlessly, flipping over a landing to land on a guard with surgical precision. One blow — throat, temple — and the man crumpled. Jun straightened his cuffs like nothing had happened.
Minghao moved like a shadow. His kicks were sharp, precise, cutting down two guards in seconds. Not a wasted motion. His face never flickered; elegance and violence in the same breath.
Joshua didn’t lift a hand. He didn’t need to. He adjusted his tie, watching his sons work with the faintest smile. Where he walked, chaos bent itself to order.
And behind them all, DK whispered coordinates and passwords into their ears. He never fought, never ran. He didn’t need to. He was everywhere at once — in the cameras, the fire alarms, the security consoles.
“Vault corridor is open,” DK said. “You’ve got three minutes.”
Inside the vault, the Wolves moved as if choreographed. Mingyu and Vernon carried the heavy cases, Jun disarmed the silent alarms, Minghao traced symbols on the electronic lock with gloved fingers, and Joshua watched the timer tick down without blinking.
One by one, they loaded digital drives into custom containers — cryptocurrency worth billions.
The alarm didn’t ring. The guards didn’t move. The cameras never saw them.
When the last case shut, Joshua exhaled, almost like a prayer. “Wolves never leave footprints.”
On the casino floor, the five figures emerged again — but not the same five who had entered.
The lovers in sequins were now an elderly couple, stooped and fragile, walking hand in hand. The brothers with backpacks had become two uniformed janitors pushing a trash bin. The woman in the glittering dress was gone — replaced by a bored businessman in a wrinkled suit.
To the cameras, they were nothing. Just more faces in the crowd.
The sirens wailed only after the Wolves were blocks away. Police cars screamed down the avenue, drones swarming overhead, but there was nothing to catch. The Wolves had already dissolved into the city.
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At police HQ, the command room was thrown into chaos. Screens replayed empty corridors, cameras caught only blurred shadows. Guards swore the thieves were there one second and gone the next.
A muscular man wearing a leather jacket with slim fitted pants was standing at the centre of the room, grinding his teeth. He had seen criminals before — gangs, smugglers, hackers — but nothing like this.
“Relax Cheol, I know it’s frustrating, but we can’t catch them by getting worked up,” a man with light brown hair said as he lounged on a chair nearby.
“Relax? They were running right under our noses and we still couldn’t catch them,” Seungcheol yelled, clearly frustrated. “I don’t understand how you can always be so calm Jeonghan,” he said looking back at the man leaning back in his chair.
“I think better when I’m calm,” the brunette said with a shrug. “Plus, they’re not ghosts, I’m sure our new baby, The Sky Eye, will be able to trace them. Jihoon has been working his ass off the past two years creating this AI software. It’s been incorporated into every security camera around the city.”
Jihoon cursed under his breath, typing furiously at the console. “No matter how fast I patch the code, they’re already one step ahead. Like they knew the system before it went online. How can someone hack into something that just went online today?” he grumbled furiously as he continued to type away on his keyboard, brushing a stray strand of blonde hair out of his eyes.
“So was Sky Eye able to catch the Wolves in any of the footage?” an officer with red hair asked hopefully. Jihoon didn’t answer right away, absorbed in his work. The officer scooted over towards Jihoon and peered over his shoulder, “Hmm, I don’t know how you can look at so many monitors at the same time and type so quickly. I can barely use my phone properly,” he laughed, his eyes turning into little curved slits.
“Officer Kwon, please leave Officer Lee alone, did you forget how hard he slapped you the last time you interrupted his work?” the rookie officer across the room asked with genuine concern.
“Yea Chan’s right Hoshi, your cheeks were red for the entire day,” Jeonghan chuckled from his seat. Hoshi looked at the two and feigned horror while shaking Jihoon’s shoulders, “My dear friend wouldn’t do that to me again would he?” he asked as he fake sobbed.
Seungcheol slammed his fist into the desk, “Stop this all of you! Can you guys please take this seriously?” he glared at Hoshi mostly. Hoshi immediately stopped his antics and went back to his desk. “Jihoon, show us the footage that Sky Eye has captured.” Jihoon instantly pulled up dozens of images and displayed them onto the screen at the front of the room.
“This was all it was able to capture,” Jihoon sighed. Dozens of frozen frames, capturing basically everyone that would have been present that night at Diamond Edge Casino. “Even as I play back the live footage, I can’t see their faces or clothing clearly. Whoever hacked into the system is good. They were able to loop the footage and cut them so seamlessly that even I had a hard time detecting them. The system also wasn’t able to detect anyone suspicious,” Jihoon said as he continued analyzing the footage.
Seungcheol looked at the frozen frame on the large screen — frustrated. He had been working as a detective for nearly 10 years now and he’s never met a criminal group that was this coordinated and… flawless. He has been assigned to lead the investigation of the most notorious and dangerous criminal group in Macau: the Wolves. In the past three months, they have successfully carried out over 10 high risk heists. Never leaving behind any trace of them, disappearing like shadows. He thought that with Jihooni’s new AI system, they’d be able to track them down. Clearly he was wrong. The Wolves have outsmarted them again.
The last officer that was in the room spoke up after remaining quiet this whole time. “I have a suggestion,” the blonde said, rising to his feet. Everyone looked over at Seungkwan, a young officer who was always bright and energetic at work, always happy to offer new ideas. “What if we hire someone to help us?”
Seungcheol looked at Seungkwan with intrigue. Although Seungkwan was young and only joined the police force one year ago, he was a well connected man. “Go on,” Seungcheol said, intrigued.
Seungkwan cleared his throat, “I know someone who may be able to help. He is a retired intelligence analyst that used to work with the Macau Police.”
Seungcheol nodded his approval, “We don’t have anything to lose. Kwannie, contact this intelligence analyst and see when he can start.” Seungkwan nodded, quickly typing something into his phone. “Jihoon, send me the footage from the casino, I want to take a look at it later.” Jihoon’s fingers flew across the keyboard and sent the videos to Seungcheol within seconds. “Alright, you’re all dismissed. We’ve had a long day so rest up so we can start fresh tomorrow.” With that, everyone filed out of the room, tired from a long day of stress.
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And somewhere in the city, in the quiet of a small, book-lined apartment, a man adjusted his glasses as he scribbled notes across surveillance stills scattered on his desk.
His eyes tracked patterns the cameras had missed. Movements that didn’t belong. Shadows that bent the wrong way.
He smiled faintly, almost to himself.
“They’re good,” he murmured. “But not invisible.”