Hoseok glanced about in awe as the booming beats of electronic dance music screamed into his ears, thumping his heart. He’d been here once with Youngmi on their first not-a-date date, but alone, the nightclub seemed much scarier. He wound through throngs of gyrating girls and shimmying men, trying his best to touch as few butts as possible. But that was not the important part! The important part was finding his girlfriend and bringing her home safely away from these thugs.

Finally, he squeezed himself out of the sea of people, ending up where the bar was. He glanced around, trying to catch the waiter’s attention.

“Hello,” Hoseok called, dinging the bell impatiently.

“What can I get you, sir?” the bartender answered lazily, until his eyes met Hoseok’s and lit up with recognition.

Hoseok had a very poor memory, so he struggled to put a name to this person’s face.

“Youngmi’s friend, right?” the bartender grinned cheerfully. “B-Bomb, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, that guy…” Hoseok trailed off as he focused back on the main point. “Have you seen her?”

“She was on some important business for the boss, so she’s out now,” B-Bomb-ssi answered. “She’ll be back at 2, I think?”

Hoseok glanced at his wristwatch. It was 1.30pm.

“I guess I can wait here,” he shrugged to himself.

B-Bomb-ssi slid him a glass of apple juice.

“On the house,” he winked. “Any friend of Youngmi’s is a friend of mine. So you’re looking for her?”

“Yeah, she’s been skipping school, it’s worrying,” Hoseok blew at his bangs in frustration. “For the past week she hasn’t showed up, and she didn’t tell me anything, which is even more worrying.”

“Ah, yeah, that’s the Super Secret Big Business that the boss has her on,” B-Bomb-ssi nodded knowingly, picking up a glass to clean it. “She and Jaehyo have been stuck in the office for the past week or so, doing goodness knows what. Maybe he was teaching her how to kiss or something. Knowing Jaehyo…”

Hoseok felt a tick of annoyance at how this person was talking about his precious girlfriend.

“That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about,” he snapped, as B-Bomb-ssi widened his eyes.

“So you’re the notorious boyfriend?” he asked, eyes open in curiosity. “We knew she had a boyfriend ages ago but she never told me it was you.”

“Well yeah, it’s me, and she learns kissing with me, not anyone else,” Hoseok grit out, sending a black look to the bartender who held his hands up in surrender.

“I was kidding, relax,” he said, before sighing deeply. “I do wonder what those two are up to though. They never involve me in their harebrained schemes.”

“Well, aren’t you just a bartender?” Hoseok asked curiously.

“Now it’s my turn to get mad,” B-Bomb-ssi answered drily, before letting out a deep chuckle. “I’m one of the founding members of Block B. I just chose not to get involved in the higher-up stuff.”

“Why not?” Hoseok asked.

“I have a good job here, serving drinks, getting to know people…” the bartender shrugged. “And I sure as hell don’t want to end up like Zico. He was a good friend of mine, but the higher you go, the more enemies you make. And Zico was the highest of them all.”

Hoseok felt his curiosity even more piqued.

“Life’s harder now though, with Zico’s brother Taewoon at the helm of the ship,” B-Bomb-ssi sighed deeply. “That man is a slavedriver. And he’s so perfectionist, it’s crazy. If I even miss one spot on these glasses, he freaks out.”

“Ah, the new big boss?” Hoseok asked as B-Bomb-ssi nodded.

“He’s crazy! Don’t listen to the others, but I think his theory that Got7 was the one who killed Zico is utter horse,” the man whispered conspiringly. “I’ve heard from Taeil that all the guy does is stare at his brother’s picture and throw darts at Im Jaebum’s picture that’s stuck to his wall. I mean, Im Jaebum is barely 20 years old! What harm could that young punk do? And Got7 is a ing rookie gang; they hardly do anything of significance. Why’d he single him out as a target?”

Hoseok felt himself get more and more drawn into his story as the bartender continued.

“I heard him arguing with himself before… It was really psychotic man,” B-Bomb-ssi said, twirling his finger at the side of his forehead in the classic ‘insane’ sign. “Like, he was speaking to the air, arguing about Zico. That man is obsessed.”

Hoseok felt a cold chill of fear running down his spine. This guy seemed like he was going to be a problem… And he absolutely didn’t want Youngmi to be associating with a lunatic.

“Oh hey, Youngmi’s there,” B-Bomb-ssi pointed, as he raised his hands to his mouth. “Youngmi! Hey, Youngmi!”

Hoseok turned around, seeing a telltale flick of long brown hair as she hurriedly disappeared up the stairs.

“Darn, she didn’t hear me,” B-Bomb-ssi sighed. “You can go after her I guess. She’s probably done with her mission.”

Hoseok got up from his seat and sent a smile to the bartender as he headed intently towards the stairs, mind focused on getting his girlfriend.

---

“Well? Mission report?” Taewoon-ssi spoke scathingly as my hand rested on the doorknob, the cool touch of the metal the only thing that kept me anchored to this world.

“T-Taeil-oppa,” I heard my voice trembling as I kept my eyes on the eagle tattoo on Taewoon-ssi’s wrist, almost afraid that it would suddenly take flight.

“Yes, Youngmi?” Taeil-oppa spoke soothingly.

“Im Jaebum is not the murderer,” I spoke again, my voice still trembling. “The murderer is… sitting right next to you…”

The next few minutes were a blur.

There was screaming, yelling. Taewoon-ssi seemed to have internally combusted, his face turning purple with fury as he swore at me. He roared spiteful words as he raked at the air, trying to get to me. Taeil-oppa and another guy were struggling to restrain him as the infuriated man screeched in anger, mouth almost frothing.

Everything seemed to be fast forward and slow motion at the same time. I could see Taeil-oppa raking at Taewoon-ssi, trying to hold him back as the man grabbed a hold of his gun, aimed at me and fired.

I could barely hear the blood rushing in my head as I collapsed to the ground, clasping at my stomach in sheer surprise. The small black hole in my stomach seemed like an empty void, like a literal black hole in space.

And then the pain came, knocking me down like a fire truck. I could barely hear myself breathe as the sanguine stain slowly spread from the bullet hole, blossoming like a flower. Even breathing caused pain as I winced, trying to stem the flow of blood.

Suddenly, I was swooped into strong, familiar arms. I glanced up, my vision blurring.

My last image was a blurry capture of a familiar look on his face: concern, fury, and fear.

---

“What the happened?” Namjoon asked in disbelief as Hoseok called him, crying.

“S-s-s-she’s been s-shot and s-she might…” Hoseok blubbered, the sheer stark whiteness of the hospital doing nothing to soothe his anxiety.

“Okay, calm down Seok,” Namjoon spoke urgently. “Who’s been shot? What the is going on?”

“Y-Youngmi…” Hoseok sobbed, tears running down his cheeks. “She got shot…”

“With an injection?” Namjoon asked in confusion.

“With a gun!” Hoseok bawled into the phone as all background noise stilled. “They say… she might not… she might not…”

“Holy …” Namjoon trailed off. “We’re coming. Stay there. You’re at Gwanghwamun Hospital?”

Hoseok mumbled an affirmative.

“Relax. She’ll be fine, she’s always fine,” Namjoon soothed. “Jin-hyung’s driving us. We’ll see you in ten minutes.”

The phone line cut short as Hoseok held his face in his hands, sobbing in terror.

He heard squeaks of rubber soles against tiled flooring as a pair of black sneakers came into his view, along with a pair of nurse’s shoes and a pair of black dress shoes.

“We came as soon as you called,” Youngjae said urgently, as Hoseok wiped his face with his sleeves. “What’s the prognosis?”

Hoseok shrugged feebly.

“What in holy hell happened to my sister?” Youngwon-hyung’s deep voice interrupted, as the man squatted down to Hoseok’s level. “You said she got… shot?”

Upon hearing that, Youngmi’s mother collapsed onto her sons, who managed to catch her just in time.

“Who would have shot my dear Youngmi?” she wailed, distraught. “It’s… it’s only been two months since I’ve had her back! God, you can’t take her away!”

“Hoseok, tell us what happened,” Youngjae spoke gently but firmly as Youngwon-hyung attended to their mother.

Hoseok paused, letting his thoughts recollect.

---

Hoseok made his way up the stairs, two at a time as he chased after his girlfriend. He hadn’t seen her in days and here she was, sneaking around like some… hooligan!

He mentally patted himself on the back for that one. That was a good word.

He continued up the stairs as it led to the third floor, where the hallway was rather dark. Hoseok crept into it cautiously, ears pricked as he heard murmurings coming from the far end of the hallway, where Youngmi had headed.

As he neared, the voices got clearer.

“Well? Mission report?” came a deep voice.

He could see her now, half-in half-out of the doorway, her hand rested on the doorknob. He resisted the urge to call her name as he neared.

“T-Taeil-oppa…”

Hoseok strained to hear the murmured affirmative, but couldn’t.

“Im Jaebum is not the murderer… The murderer is… sitting right next to you…”

And then all hell broke loose.

There was a roar of anger as a crash sounded. Youngmi flinched as a string of expletives and curse words followed, too foul for Hoseok to even repeat.

And then there was a gunshot.

Youngmi collapsed onto the ground as urgent yells were emitted from the people inside.

Hoseok felt his eyes go into tunnel vision, focusing only on the girl lying supine on the floor, clasping feebly at the readily-growing patch of red on her white shirt.

He sprinted towards her, yelling her name but she didn’t respond.

He ripped off his T-shirt, tearing it into strips automatically and wrapping them around her waist, where a minuscule hole was situated, but Hoseok knew gunshot wounds were way worse on the inside than out.

His brain went into autopilot as he went into first-aider mode, tying strips of cloth around her waist as Youngmi struggled to breathe, her eyes glancing up in confusion.

“It’s okay, you’ll be fine, you’ll make it through, okay? Stay with me Mi, stay with me,” Hoseok murmured absentmindedly as he gathered her in his arms.

The back of her shirt was stained with blood, and Hoseok was getting covered in the red liquid, but at this point all he cared about was the girl in his arms, choking for air.

He sped off, taking the stairs two at a time, yelling for someone to call an ambulance.

---

“And that brings us to now,” Hoseok sniffed, his eyes now dry as he stared listlessly at the floor.

“… She was in a gang?” Youngjae muttered disbelievingly, staring at his older brother in shock.

Youngwon-hyung’s face was set in a deep scowl.

“Where’s the bastard who shot her?” he growled out.

Hoseok shrugged.

“B-Bomb-ssi said he’d call me if there’s any news,” he spoke quietly.

Youngwon-hyung stormed over to the nearby wall and punched it hard, the echo of the punch resounding through the empty hallway. Youngjae held his head in his hands, shocked beyond words as their mother cried silently, praying fervently for God to hear her.

Hoseok stared at the bright green ‘EMERGENCY’ sign, hoping against hope that she would make it through.