Daeun had run after Hong Jung Yee as fast as her legs could carry her. Halfway through the chase, she kicked off her heels as they caused her to fall to the ground, scraping both of her knees. With an angry slice, she ripped off the ends of her dress and ran again. The years of training she put on her body was paying off, although she had always thought that it would come into play if she was being chased.

                “Stop!” she yelled after the man. She didn’t know why she yelled, it was not like he would listen to her. There was nobody chasing after her and that only urged her to press further on forward.

                The two of them ran up the stairs until they ended up on the rooftop. The night wind whipped her hair in front of her face and she was glad that she had decided to put her hair up in an updo. They both panted to a stop when he realized that he could no longer run further forward or up.

                “,” she panted, “I seriously have to work more on my cardio.” She took a deep inhale and made one step closer towards Hong Jung Yee. He held no weapons in his hands.

                “I have to say, I admire your bravery,” he yelled, his voice was barely heard over the wind and traffic of the streets of New York fifty floors below them. She tried not to think of how high they were as she made her way closer to him. “But you haven’t thought this through well. What are you going to do up here, all alone, against me?”

                She knew he was right but she needed to bluff anyways. “I could push you off this building, you know? You’d be gone and all those girls would be free,” she screamed.

                He also understood the position he was currently in and held his hands out in front of him when he realized he could no longer step back any further unless he wanted to fall. “Now, let’s be reasonable, Daeun,” he called her name.

                “Shut the up,” she snapped, “You don’t get to use my name.”

                He stood to face her. “I said, let’s be reasonable. You’re clearly not carrying any weapons and I can guarantee you that I don’t have anything on me. So let’s talk this out like proper businessmen. Or women.”

                At his words, she remembered the fake tube of lipstick she had stuffed into her bra before meeting up. If she could get the Taser out before he could react, she may be able to take him down. Her legs shook as she saw how close to the edge of the building he was standing. One wrong tip of him could also result in him grabbing her arm and they would both tumble to their deaths.

                She did not have time to think however. If she wanted the element of surprise, she needed to act now. She lunged at him at the same time her finger grasped the weapon out of her dress. She had barely taken a step when she felt the impact of something heavy knock her head from behind.

                It was now 1:30 am and Namjoon paced the empty living room himself. They had told him that they would be late but there was something that unnerved him. He could feel it in his gut that something had gone incredibly wrong. He checked the clock again and saw that it was now 1:32am.

                Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. That was the only sound to accompany Namjoon’s thoughts and it was driving him crazy. He grabbed his jacket and was about to leave the house when its doors burst open and the six members of BTS stumbled in. They were all covered in blood and the white haired one, Yoongi, was unconscious in their arms. Jungkook, the youngest, was opening crying and held Yoongi’s hand until his knuckles were white. He kept repeating the unconscious man’s name over and over.

                They pushed past Namjoon and carried Yoongi over the couch, staining the plastic cover red.

                All of them were visibly exhausted but they were pulling through with adrenaline at their bleeding friend. Guns and knives and other weapons lay clattered at the door. “First aid is in my room! Hurry!” Seokjin commanded one of the members. Taehyung left momentarily and returned with medical tools of all kind.

                Yoongi had woken up momentarily when Seokjin placed a bottle of beer to his mouth. Seokjin spoke through gritted teeth, “We have to take the bullet out, Yoongi. I’m sorry, this is the strongest thing I could find.” The other man could only mumble weakly as the alcohol ran down the sides of his mouth and stained his shirt.

                Things were finally kicking into Namjoon’s head. He ran out of the room and came back with a bottle of vodka. He had been saving this for when everybody would return, hoping to open it for celebration. It was still being used at the end of the night but just for a different reason.

                There was a silent thank you exchanged between Namjoon and Seokjin.

                Taehyung was holding the crying Jungkook and trying to soothe the younger through his own tears and snot. Jimin stood beside Seokjin, handing up the scalpel and tweezers wordlessly. They did not have any medical thread with them and had to make do with dental floss. Yoongi continued to moan in his semi-unconscious state as the needle pierced his skin after the bullet had been removed.

                Namjoon’s eyes darted around the room. The youngest had stopped crying but he still whimpered. Jimin stood with his hands to his mouth, folded like a silent prayer. Seokjin had a grim expression while trying to stop the blood from leaving his friend’s body.

                “!” Hoseok yelled in anger. He picked up a chair and flung it across the room. It crashed onto the floor and splintered upon impact, a piece of wood flew grazing Hoseok right under the eye. “!”

                Namjoon did not know what to say. His heart skipped a beat when he realized they were one person short. “Where’s Daeun?” he said.

                “The ing bastard was onto us and we got played like puppets on a string!” Hoseok punched the wall.

                Turning to Taehyung and Jungkook, Namjoon asked again, “Where’s Daeun?”

                Jungkook said between his tears, “I thought she came home already.”

                Namjoon was starting to understand why he felt terrible. “No,” he told them, “She’s not home. You guys are the only ones who are back.”

                Upon hearing this, Hoseok stopped punching the wall and stalked over to Namjoon. “What do you mean?” he asked.

                “I said, Daeun is not home. She hasn’t come back,” Namjoon’s voice raised. He could feel the fear and anger that had been circulating the room affect himself.

                “Hyung, didn’t you tell Daeun to run?” Taehyung asked. Jungkook had started tearing up again.

                “I did. And she looked like she understood me so I didn’t pay any more attention,” Hoseok said.

                Namjoon pushed Hoseok. “What do you mean, you didn’t pay any more attention?! You said you’d protect her.”

                Hoseok stumbled and could feel heat rise to his cheek. He walked up to Namjoon and shoved him back. “Well you see, I had three muscular men, who were likely professional assassins might I add, aiming guns and throwing knives at me and my team. I couldn’t exactly keep my attention focused on one thing.”

                The two men stared at each other, hands shaking and daring the other to throw the first punch.

                Jimin’s soft voice intercepted their tension, “She was running out the back door.”

                At his words, Hoseok whirled and glared at him. “And you didn’t stop her? After seeing her run the wrong way?”

                Jimin flinched from the anger, unable to speak. Hoseok knew he had scared him and turned his anger back on the one who did not belong. Namjoon was glaring right back at him.

                “This is exactly why I kept telling her to stay away from you guys. She was perfectly fine, working at the diner and living her life safely. But you all her into your games and now she’s out who knows where, with people who would could murder her because of your actions tonight. You know what you all are? Acidic and poisonous good-for-nothing sons of es. You’re all low-lives who kill and steal because of your own greed, even if it means putting other innocent people in harm’s way,” Namjoon spat.

                There was a whir of movement as Seokjin’s fist connected with Namjoon’s face. The taller man fell back and sat on the floor after the punch. Namjoon held a hand to his jaw as the numbness spread from the left to the right.

                Seokjin was standing above him, hands still stained from the emergency suture on Yoongi’s body. The other man was now knocked out on the couch but the bleeding had stopped. Seokjin’s voice was low and barely audible, but the threat was clear, “I will not have you talk about my members in that way. Yes, we steal and we have had to kill, but we would - we will - never hurt anybody that we care about. This house may be under your name, but you are free to leave if you are unhappy with the way we handle things.”

                The punch had not only knocked Namjoon to the floor, but also some sense into. He was angry, but he knew his anger was not directed at these men. They had only known each other for a short period of time but he knew they were loyal to each other and to Daeun. He was angry at the man who had taken Daeun away from him and he was angry at himself for letting another man do his job of protecting her. He was angry that he had not been there to save her himself.

                Seokjin motioned for the two youngest members to carry Yoongi back to his room. Jimin also excused himself and that left the three of them alone.

                “I know you’re angry, Namjoon. You have every right to be. We told you that we’d protect Daeun and it’s our fault that she’s gone right now. But you have no right to scream at the rest of them. We all risked our lives to get both Hoseok and Daeun out when the situation exploded. Yoongi had a bullet in him, for goodness sake,” Seokjin sighed. His hands were no longer shaking but all heat had been drained from them.

                Namjoon only had his pride to hold on to and he would not apologize for his words.

                “We’ll get her back. I’ll go out and contact some of my sources and see if anybody has seen her since the hotel. If they have, I’ll let you know immediately. I’ll get her back to us, I promise,” Seokjin said. He offered a hand to Namjoon who was still sitting on the floor. There was a moment of hesitance but Namjoon grasped the outstretched hand. Seokjin pulled him up and observed that Namjoon winced at the movement. “Your jaw is dislocated. Go put some ice onto it and I’ll have Jimin check on it a little later. I need a shower.” With that, Seokjin left Hoseok and Namjoon alone.

                The two stared at each other in silence. Hoseok stalked off to the patio and Namjoon went to the kitchen to grab a packet of ice.

                His hands were shaking as they took out a cigarette. He tried to light it but there was no more lighter fluid. He threw the empty lighter to the forest behind the house and watched it spiral in the air. He cursed mentally and slammed a hand against the wooden deck. He had seen her. He had seen her run after Hong Jung Yee but he had done nothing to stop her. He could have protected her. He could have kicked his opponent down and then rush to her. But he didn’t.

                She was alone out there by herself possibly in Hong Jung Yee’s arms. He didn’t know what type of man Hong Jung Yee was and the image that crossed his mind of the other man touching Daeun caused him to shake. If so much as a single hair was gone, he’d personally hunt Hong Jung Yee down and hang him by the nails.

                “I forgive the others,” Namjoon came from behind. Hoseok turned and saw him hold a bag of ice cubes to his swollen cheek. “I forgive them all, but I will not forgive you.”

                Hoseok glared. And then there was him: the one who had yelled and pushed him, when he, himself, hadn’t even been there in the situation. “I don’t need your forgiveness,” Hoseok hissed.

                The pain was overwhelming but Namjoon stuck through it, determined to speak his thoughts. “You had promised that nothing would happen to her and you could not keep it. The second you had a chance, you tried to save your own .”

                Hoseok charged at Namjoon with an arm outstretched. His palm struck the bricks of the doorway beside Namjoon’s head. The clay dug into his palm and blood dripped down the wall. “I’ll get her back,” he whispered.

                The blood dripped onto the floor behind the chair. Her hair was mangled and sticky with the substance. They had left her sitting unconscious on the chair. A sharp sting from a slap on her cheek woke Daeun from her unconsciousness. She blinked a few times and found herself in a small room with a table. Hong Jung Yee sat on it, watching her as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.

                “Girl, are you awake?” he asked. She was mute. He reached towards her to shake her and she lunged, sinking her teeth into his hand.

                He yelled and pushed her head away with his other. She tasted blood in and spat onto the ground beside her. Her hands were behind her back, locked in a pair of handcuffs.

                “That’s one way to answer my question,” Hong Jung Yee said, holding his hand to his side. “Who are you?”

                She spat again and this time, it landed on his chest. She would not say anything.

                “Answer me while I’m still asking kindly,” he said. He got down from the table and walked behind her. He pressed against her and asked one more time, “Who are you?”

                “They’re going to find me,” Daeun clenched her teeth and said, “And when they find me, they’ll have found you. Trust me when I say that you won’t like what they’ll be bringing with them.”

                Hong Jung Yee did not say anything. His fingers grazed her neck and sent goosebumps. They tightened around the handcuffs and then with a click, they unlocked.

                Daeun sat, unmoving.

                “They won’t find you,” he said, coming back to her front to talk to her again, “They won’t think of looking here.”

                She studied him, trying to read his expression. She was scared. There was nothing to indicate that he was lying. How was he so sure that they’d never find him?

                Hong Jung Yee sighed and sat back on the table. She noticed that there was something different about him. He was not talking in the flamboyant way as he usually did. He was not wearing a fancy suit nor did he have rings adorning his fingers. It was like he was another man.

                “They will,” she whispered, reassuring herself more than anything.

                He looked at her. She had been a fighter. After the first hit behind the head, she had fallen but not before she tased the other man who had sneaked up from behind. It was only with his swift actions that he was able to hit her again at the base of the neck, momentarily paralyzing her. She did not understand exactly whom she had gone up against.

                “I’m going to ask again, Chae Daeun, and you will answer me. Who are you? More specifically, who do you work for?” he yelled, grabbing her jaw with a single hand. She stared at him with a look that would have stopped anyone cold. He was not anyone however, and he had been in this business long enough to know when people were bluffing their strength. He knew she was scared.

                “Goddammit!” he roared in frustration, “You’re going to tell me who you’re working for now, or I’ll return you to the men outside who would love nothing more than to get under your dress.” The threat entered Daeun’s ears and she believed every word he said.

                His voice got quiet and he sneered, “You will tell me now because I am not going to risk this whole operation on a measly girl and bunch of unknown men. I have been working this job for nearly a decade and am so close to catching Ryukwan. Nobody – nobody – is going to get in my way of returning home to my wife and son.”

                Initially, his words had confused her. She was still making sense of the situation she was currently in. But when the realization hit her, she could feel the new fear grip her heart.

                The white walls. The single table. The lonely light ominously swinging from the ceiling.

                She was in a ing interrogation room and Hong Jung Yee was a ing cop.

                They had been caught. The one mission that brought her out of the country and out of Korean jurisdiction was the one that’d get her slammed behind bars. Her mind spun of what she could say. The only thing that surfaced was the truth.

                She gave him her best glare but could barely lift her head. Fear paralyzed her body and all she could hear was the sound of her heartbeat.

                He closed his eyes momentarily. He hadn’t meant to reveal who he actually was, but the frustration had caused him to lose control. In situations like these, there was only one thing that could calm him down: the image of his son. He pulled that into focus.

                “I understand. You’re only trying to save your friends,” he said quietly, voice steady and under his control once again, “But that’s not benefiting anybody here.”

                Silence.

                “Look, the concern I have with your little gang is practically zero. I’m not planning to call nor turn anybody in tonight. All I want is information.”

                “I have no information for you.”

                “Oh, that’s where you’re mistaken. I think you do. Just tell me, who are you working for?”

                Silence. Hong Jung Yee felt the irritation rise in his chest again. He whipped out his gun and pointed it at her.

                “Who are you working for?” Each word was punctuated like bullets shot directly at her.

                The sweat was beading her forehead and she could feel the tears threatening to burst out when she heard the of his gun.

                “Give me an answer. Or your friends will find your dead body wrapped up at their doorstep tomorrow morning.”

                All that could be heard in the room was their breathing; his calm collected inhale against her panicked shaking exhale.

                “The Boss.”

                Her words had been so quiet he had nearly missed it.

                Hong Jung Yee squinted his eyes. “ The Boss. Who’s your boss?”

                “I don’t know his name. That’s all they call him. We were sent from Korea to monitor you and send information back to him.” She thought it was probably a good idea to omit the fact that The Boss would then make a judgment about whether or not to dispose of Hong Jung Yee.

                “Ryukwan,” Hong Jung Yee exhaled. He suddenly slammed his hand on the table, scaring her. “Ryukwan,” he repeated the name, “Well me.” He put the gun back in his pocket. A laugh bubbled from his throat and he let it out.

                She watched as he doubled over, gasping for air as he continued in his laughter. He looked like a mad man when he finally looked back at her. “Who would have thought, that an opportunity like you would just roll by like this?”

                As quick as his laughter had gone, the grim line of his mouth returned. He gave one look over her and then he walked out of the room. She was left sitting, listening to her own shallow breathing. He returned moments later and stuck a needle into her neck. She yelped. “What did you do to me?”

                He stared at her, face close to hers again. “He has always been one step ahead of me, but he will not suspect this. You are all but pawns in this game of cat and mouse.” Looming over her, he was reminding her of the position she was in. “You will convince the other members to work as my bait and I will arrest Ryukwan for all he has done to this city.”

                “They would never listen to you,” she said.

                Reaching behind her, he deftly untied her hands. “But they’d listen to you. I just injected a tracking chip into your body. I’m going to let you walk out of here. There is a man waiting outside who will drive you home on the condition that you will remain blindfolded through the duration of the ride. He will drop you a few blocks away and you will walk back. That tracker will be monitored by me. I will see exactly where you will be at all times, so don’t you try and escape the country because I will hunt all of you down.”

                All the while he was talking, he had been untying her hands. When the ropes finally released her, she rubbed her wrists. Her mind was still whirring at a chance of escape but this seemed like her only option.

                “When you’ve convinced them all, you will call me with this phone,” he threw her the black burner, “And I will provide you with any further instructions.”

                Hoseok could not sleep. Namjoon had passed out after Jimin gave him painkillers after fixing his jaw. They had both returned to their room but had not spoken once.

                As much as he hated the other man, he knew Namjoon’s words were right. He had let Daeun down. He had vowed to protect her but he couldn’t – he failed to do that. In the distance, he heard a car rumble and then come to a stop.

                He wondered if she was still alive. Of course she was. She was strong. He had seen her train in martial arts before and if she needed to fight, she would not hesitate to give a damn good one.

                His body tightened as he heard the door unlock. It creaked ever so slightly and then clicked shut. Hoseok slowly got out of his bed and grabbed the knife he kept in the top drawer. He tiptoed out of the house. Hong Jung Yee had found them and he was back to finish them off.

                There was not a sound in the house but Hosoek’s ears picked up the soft padding of a human in the kitchen. He waited around the corner, heart pounding in his ear. He spun to face the intruder and dropped the knife.

                Daeun groaned as she reached up towards the medicine cabinet. She knew there was a gash on the back of her head that needed immediate attention. The sound of clattering metal behind her caused her to jump. She spun and was pulled forward.

                Hoseok drew her towards him into an embrace. He had not believed his eyes when he saw the familiar silhouette. The dress was tattered but he recognized the perfume she wore – the same one that they had picked for her a couple days prior.

                “,” she wheezed, being crushed in his arms.

                “Holy ,” he whispered, “You’re alive.”

                She recognized the voice and tried to push him away. “Hoseok, you’re crushing me.”