CHAPTER 21: ONE’S FAILURE

Everything seemed to stop in place like a frame would’ve been frozen. Sanha’s words had gotten everyone’s attention. The words were on repeat in my head. Is this going to end this way? Both parties would get caught and end up in jail. I gulped as I stared at my unit members – both present and previous. The shock could be seen on everybody’s faces. Myungjun was immediately looking at me, Bin and Minhyuk, one at a time. He seemed to be getting a bit desperate – he wanted to get us to safety. He understood how bad the situation had gone.

Even Yikyung, who was getting on her feet behind Myungjun, looked shocked. She was crouching, like she didn’t have enough power left to stand up straight – and she was probably in pain too. I was sure she had a broken rib even before Myungjun had kicked her whole ribcage.

“We can still get out of here”, I heard Myungjun saying and turned to look at him. “Minhyuk, you two go first. Try to find a place to hide.”

Minhyuk nodded and tightened his hold on Chanmi, who was barely conscious at this point. I frowned at the sight. How could I leave my sister being tortured like this? As Minhyuk started approaching the door, walking past Sanha, I hear a sound that made my blood freeze and cold shivers going all the way down my spine.

“Nobody ing moves!”

Slowly, carefully, I turned my head enough to see Yikyung, who had gathered enough energy to take a few steps and grabbed Myungjun from behind. My eyes widened in shock. The woman put the same knife she had threatened me with, against the skin of the boy, who was letting out an angry groan. He did, anyhow, seem to understand moving or fighting back would worsen the situation. At this point I was terrified. I had been scared when that knife had been on my throat, but now that it was Myungjun she was holding, I felt my knees shaking.

“Take a step and he’ll die”, the woman hissed, staring at everyone in the room fiercely. The look in her eyes was inhumane. “How does it feel, Aeri? I’m going kill every single person you love.”

“Why?” I breathed out. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“How do you think I felt?” the woman shouted at me, eyes narrowing. “For three years I tried to become a respected chief. But everyone was busy kissing your , waiting for you to take the chief’s position. You were perfect. But it will all end today.”

I stared at the woman with large, shocked eyes as she let out a chuckle that mixed with a bloody cough and she had to take a little break. Myungjun noticed the knife slowly falling further away from his throat and tried to break free, but Yikyung was quick to place the knife back to its position.

“Everybody will remember me as the chief that saved the gang from the enemy’s attack. And the beloved Lim Aeri will be remembered as a traitor who lead the attack against her own gang.”

I felt myself shaking. But not that much because of fear, but because of anger. Her scheme of things, her thought, her whole mind, was stained. She had completely lost her mind from the anger and wrath, from the sick jealousy she felt for me.

“Jinwoo”, the woman hissed. “Tie them both up again. We will end this ridiculous scene.”

I turned my head to stare at Jinwoo, half afraid, half expecting. I didn’t know whether he would obey or not. He had always respected his chiefs greatly. But right now he was shocked and unstable. He felt betrayed. His actions could be against his rational personality. With large eyes and shocked expression, I stared as the boy slowly started approaching me. I shook my head in despair. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. I tried to beg the boy with my eyes but he just stared at me blankly.

He grabbed my arm and I let out a yelp, trying to resist. He pushed me down to the chair Chanmi had been tied into earlier. I felt tears forming in my eyes as he picked up the ropes from the floor. I couldn’t believe the scene. Jinwoo, the always rational and trustworthy leader of my unit, was broken down into this state. I looked down in tears. Through my blurred vision I could see the outlines of a pistol lying on the floor. My eyes widened. It was the gun Yikyung had kicked away from me earlier. I glanced at Jinwoo quickly before moving quickly, about to grab the gun. Jinwoo was quick to react. He hit my arm to prevent me from getting the gun. I let out a cry.

But, instead of kicking the gun even further, Jinwoo grabbed the pistol himself and with the speed of a lighting, aimed it at Yikyung, pulling the trigger.

For a moment everything was quiet and slow motion. Everybody was staring at the woman, Myungjun and Jinwoo. When the situation hit me, I realized Yikyung had been shot in her knee and blood was flowing. With a loud cry she had fallen down, letting Myungjun to escape from her hold. But I knew it already something was wrong. Myungjun wasn’t able to take even one step before he fell down to the floor, letting out a breathy sigh. Had the bullet hit him too?

I rushed towards the boy as fast as I could and fell to my knees next to him. My eyes widened as I saw the cut on his neck. Yikyung had managed to cut him before falling. With shaky hands I pulled the boy towards me, placing his head on my lap. His cut wasn’t bleeding much, but the boy looked so shocked it scared me.

“Myungjun”, I called his name. “Stay awake.”

“I was just surprised”, he replied quietly. “The wound isn’t bad.”

“Are you sure?” I asked and eyed at the wound. It wasn’t deep, but some blood drained down his neck.

“I won’t die”, he said as he rolled around to his knees, and then slowly stood up.

I held his waist to support him as he was shaking a little bit, and I turned to stare at Jinwoo who looked almost shocked at his own actions as well. But he seemed to have snapped out of his trance. The thoughtful glance was back in his eyes.

“You!” Yikyung yelled from the floor, slowly sitting up. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I should ask that from you”, Jinwoo groaned. “I respected you. And I did respect chief Lim too. And what? You killed him? How do you think I’ll let a murderer just continue leading?”

For a short moment the woman glared at Jinwoo. She must’ve felt surprised about this – Jinwoo had been one of his most trusted subordinates. Then she snorted and turned to look at me. “Congratulations, Aeri. You’ve spread your weakness.”

I showed her the dirtiest glare I could. She just let out a hoarse chuckle before her face turned into a grimace and she put her hands over the bleeding hole in her knee. The bleeding was so extreme I doubted she’d make it out of the room alive.

“I’m sorry to interrupt”, I heard Eunwoo opening his mouth, finally. “But the police are indeed on their way.”

I glanced at the boy. He had finally been able to step up. He had been looking very conflicted, like he was going through a battle against himself, to cooperate or not to. He had done the right decision.

“I hate to agree with him”, Bin suddenly said. “But he’s right.”

It almost shocked me to see the old friends standing beside each other, not fighting or glaring, for once. This was the first time I had seen them so calm with each other’s presence.

As I was thinking about the possible ways to run out of the room and to run out of the tunnels before the police would find us, I suddenly heard footsteps from the hallway. Jinwoo was the first to react, aiming the gun at the door. The moment I saw a pair of white, clean sneakers peeking out I already knew who it was. Miyeon. She had finally arrived. In my mind, I wondered what took her so long, but I felt also thankful. Seeing the familiar face made me feel a bit comfortable.

“What are you doing?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “Get the hell out of here, now! The police are examining the main tunnel now.”

My eyes widened. So we had a chance to get out. There were two bigger entrances to the underground, the one we always used, and the other one was about 500 meters to the north. If we could leave the room as quickly as possible, we’d make it out before the police would catch us. I glanced at Jinwoo who seemed to have the exact same thoughts.

“I’ll lead the way. You come right behind me”, he said and nodded at Minhyuk. “You’re carrying the one we have to get out quickly.”

Minhyuk nodded. He had left Chanmi down for the while they couldn’t leave but now he picked her up again and as Jinwoo lead him out of the room, followed duteously. Miyeon was the one to follow behind them.

“Let’s go”, Myungjun said. “We’ll have to hurry.”

He grabbed my wrist and we walked to the door with long and quick steps. Eunwoo and Bin were fast to follow us. Only Sanha was left behind with Yikyung and I couldn’t help but to stop and turn around and to look at the boy. He was standing at the doorframe, staring with wide eyes at Yikyung.

“Come, we have to leave”, I said. The boy didn’t even flinch so I ran to him. “Sanha.”

I followed his eyes back to the room and my eyes widened. Yikyung was sitting on the floor, in a small pond of blood, and smirked as she looked at us. She put her hand in the pocket of his jeans and slowly pulled a lighter out. I couldn’t hold back from gasping.

“Oh my God”, Sanha whispered.

As the woman lighted the fire I took a step backwards. Now we were seriously in danger and we had to run. Now. The floor and the walls were coated with petrol. I stared at the woman who was eyeing the lighter with an insanely fond look in her eyes. She was smiling! I already knew what was going to happen. And so did Sanha. As the lighter started falling from the woman’s hand, I had to grab my arms around Sanha and pull him out of the room as he was trying to rush forward and stop the woman.

The small flame met the floor and with a loud “whoom” sound the fire spread to the floor quickly. I was already running down the tunnel, grabbing Sanha behind me, my eyes tightly shut. I could hear Yikyung screaming as the fire was spreading onto her. It was her decision to stay there and die alone but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t feel the burning pain of the fire engulfing her.

As the tunnel slowly started going upwards and I saw some light coming in, I knew we had found the entrance. I couldn’t help but to let out a sigh of relief. We had made it. We made out exit quickly, following behind the others and hiding in an alley a couple of blocks further away. If the police were strolling the area, seeing a bunch of bloody and scratched youngers walking down a street would look very suspicious for them. As we turned to the dark alley and walked to the back so that we couldn’t be seen, the tension was finally going off and I could feel my muscles loosening. My knees were shaking and I couldn’t comprehend anything.

“She died”, Sanha said. He looked blankly in front of him, still very shocked.

Yes. Yikyung was dead. Her lifelong mission had been to become the chief. When she finally did, her new mission was to have all the respect and power in the world. Now her reign was over. She had failed her mission.