“They must not be coming home tonight,” Kai commented.

“Oh, sorry.” Chanyeol had an apologetic look on his face. “Joonmyeon Hyung sent me a text a few hours ago that the three were sleeping over at BTS’s tonight. They have to stay a little longer in the Underground World to be able to meet the person who delivered the knife to the gang they’re tracking down.” BTS was a rookie gang that was on friendly terms with Exo-K.

“You should’ve told us earlier!” chided D.O.

“Areum!” Chanyeol suddenly cried out. Shock was evident in his voice. D.O. and Kai looked up to see the girl stumbling outside her room with a blanket wrapped around her. Her eyes were hollow, just like the time they had first seen her that rainy night after her house burned down. She looked thoroughly exhausted but haunted at the same time.

Kai immediately knew what had happened. “Did you have a nightmare?”

“I… I can’t sleep by myself.” Even her voice sounded like a six-year-old’s. The three boys now fully understood how traumatized the girl was. Her nightmares from the past were overlapping with those of the present.

D.O. and Chanyeol exchanged glances. As Kai was opening his mouth, Chanyeol stated, “Okay. I’ll be beside you until you fall asleep.” Kai looked disappointed.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice was barely audible.

Chanyeol gave her a soothing smile. “It’s alright,” he said kindly. He mentally told himself that Sehun could not know of this. He would be dead meat.

He carefully led her back to the lower bunk and sat next to her on the bed. Areum closed her eyes. Chanyeol placed a hand over hers, which was resting by her side. “I’m here,” he whispered. “You’re safe.”

Slowly, Areum’s breathing became steady and deep. Chanyeol knew that she had fallen asleep, but he didn’t budge from his spot. ‘Is this how Joonmyeon Hyung feels?’ he thought. ‘Is this how it feels to have a little sister? To have someone you want to protect and keep by your side?’ With a gentle hand, he brushed the bangs away from her face. ‘I think I understand why he doesn’t want to tell her the truth. I think I understand why he’s so afraid she’ll leave him.’

“You didn’t sleep?” D.O. cried out. Chanyeol was too tired to laugh at his friend’s flabbergasted expression. “So you spent the whole night just sitting next to her and holding her hand?”

Chanyeol wearily nodded. He remembered that a few hours before daylight, her hand under his had trembled as if trying to reach out to someone. Her expression had become pained. He had tightened his grip on her hand until her nightmare had passed.

“Wake me up only when the world is ending,” he mumbled. He promptly entered his room and passed out on the lower bunk.

A few minutes later, Areum stumbled out of her room. “Did you sleep well?” questioned D.O.

She squinted at him with half-opened eyes. “I think that the nightmares are getting better,” she managed to say. Last night, she could remember a warm, soft hand pressing against hers in the middle of her nightmare, saving her from the horrors chasing her in her sleep. It had led her into a more peaceful dream. However, she couldn’t remember whose hand it was.

“Maybe I’ll be able to sleep alone from now on,” Areum said cheerfully before entering the bathroom. D.O. wondered if she even remembered that Chanyeol was by her side the whole night. She probably didn’t – her terrifying nightmares must have erased her memory from the night before. He stared at her back before the door closed, feeling nothing but pity for the younger girl.

“Really? Could we see it, Hyung?” Jungkook, the maknae of BTS, cried out excitedly.

Baekhyun removed the knife from his vest pocket. The “B” glinted dangerously under the lights.

“’B?’” Namjoon, the leader of BTS, murmured. “’B’ for what?” He quickly looked up. “I can assure you that it isn’t for BTS, Hyung,” he told Joonmyeon.

Joonmyeon nodded. “I know.”

The young BTS members gathered around to see the knife. “I know this symbol,” Suga exclaimed. All eyes him. He gave a shiver, which was unusual for the gangster, who was cold-blooded during gang activity. “I remember it from the accident back in June when I was intercepting Monsta X’s weapon delivery.”

Jungkook gasped. “You mean that time when you got shot in the shoulder?”

Suga grimly nodded. “I was shot by a man whose glove got torn off in the middle of our fight.” He went to his room and returned promptly with a ripped glove that had the same exact golden “B” against a black background. “I don’t know with what gang Monsta X was dealing with that day, but Wonho told me that I shouldn’t mess with such an infamous gang before I punched the lights out of him. Then I got shot.”

“How’d you get the glove if you got shot?” Sehun asked.

A low voice answered him. “I kicked the gun out of that motherfu**er’s hands and nearly beat him up, but he managed to escape. All I was left was a broken gun and that glove,” V spoke up. He glanced at the “B” on the knife. “That night was no joke. If it wasn’t for luck, I wouldn’t be here today. Wonho was right. It’ll be crazy to mess with that gang. We ended up failing that mission big time.”

The corners of Joonmyeon’s mouth turned down. “Then why is this gang targeting us? And if they are a bunch of big shots, why would they send men who weren’t even good at fighting?”

J-Hope, the communication bridge of BTS, dashed into the room. All eyes to the boy. He was breathing heavily, as if he had been running. “Hyungs,” he burst out. “I found the person who delivered weapons with a ‘B’ on them. It’s Yongguk of BAP.”

Joonmyeon’s frown grew deeper. “Are you sure that they’re not the owners of those weapons? Their gang name starts with a ‘B’ also.”

Shaking his head, J-Hope took a moment to catch his breath. “I doubt it. They told me that if you’re interested in Bartering with them, they could leak more info.”

“Barter with BAP?” Outrage and disgust were obvious in Jungkook’s voice.

Baekhyun crossed his arms. “Looks like we have no choice.”