Xuan Yi was not about to be bossed around and play by arbitrary rules. 

Bona and Mei Qi's side of the story had gotten to the police, and they promised to take it seriously and investigate further with the new information. But in the case that their version was the truth, three people had to take extra care. Mei Qi, who let the story come out in the first place, Xuan Yi, who made it reach the police, and Yeoreum, who helped Xuan Yi track down people and clues until they eventually got Mei Qi to confess. 

Xuan Yi and Yeoreum offered to host Mei Qi in the house they'd rented for their stay in Korea, so they could have each other should any of them be in danger. Therefore, neither of them should stay home or leave the house entirely by themselves. 

The other condition put by the police was that none of them were to attempt to contact Cheng Xiao, as according to their version, keeping secret was one of the crucial parts of the alleged deal. They'd already risked too much by letting the story reach the police, but going to Cheng Xiao could aggravate it to a point of no return. 

But there was no way Xuan Yi was going to stay a hostage inside her own house, and would her soul be damned if she were to stay quiet when Bona had begged her to save Cheng Xiao with those oh-so-gorgeous eyes of hers. 

So, Xuan Yi took the liberty of starting her workday a little bit earlier and sneaking her way to Cheng Xiao's apartment - well, Eunseo's apartment, for the matter - despite Yeoreum and Mei Qi protesting against her. 

"Xuan Yi!" Cheng Xiao opened the door with a smile Xuan Yi didn't expect to see on her after she found out about Bona. "To what do I owe this visit? How did you... find out where I live?" 

"CEO! Yes, there's something I have to tell you." Xuan Yi took a deep breath. "You see, I've been visiting Bona, and believe me when I say things are not the way you think they are. Actually--" 

"You've been visiting her? After what she's done?" Cheng Xiao's face changed, as if a cloud of gloom hovered above her. "Thank you, Xuan Yi, but I think I know what things are like. I'll see you at the office, and I expect not to hear about this subject again." 

Xuan Yi stood dumbfounded as the door closed right in front of her face.  

How could she have been so stupid to think this was a good approach? "Oh hey Cheng Xiao, I've been chatting to the person you think betrayed you and you know you should totally trust me even so because I'm about to defend her and you should totally believe me!" Great idea, Wu Xuan Yi!  

Failing in reaching out to people took a toll on her ego, because it was something she never, ever failed at. What had gone wrong this time? Was she so overconfident she didn't think she needed a plan? Did she panic? Or was it her blind determination on achieving justice for Bona? 

Defeated, Xuan Yi munched on her trusty seaweed, while she made her way back down the building and pondered on a way to keep Cheng Xiao safe before something worse happened – preferably without making a fool of herself. 

But her thinking was interrupted as she prepared to enter her car, when a hand reached from behind, pressing a tissue against her face. Before she knew what had happened, she was knocked out of her senses. 

"Are you okay?" Eunseo laid her hands on Cheng Xiao's shoulders, massaging them. "Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but..." 

Cheng Xiao frowned, then closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. Breathing out, she looked Eunseo in the eyes and spoke with confidence. 

"I'm okay." She pecked Eunseo's lips, then sat at the table to resume her breakfast, the one Eunseo and her had prepared together. 

"Don't you think you were a bit harsh with her?" Eunseo said, feeding toast to Cheng Xiao's mouth. 

Cheng Xiao bit on the toast and shrugged. 

"I'm just doing what's best for me. I can't hide from it all the time, but it's still a lot better when I don't have to hear about it." 

"I'm really proud of you, you know?" Eunseo fixed her partner's bangs with a warm smile, making her cheeks pink. 

"Well, I'm proud of you too." Cheng Xiao held her hand. "I bet that book you're finally writing again is amazing, even though you don't let me see it." She pouted. 

"D-Don't you think you can win me over with acting cute!" Eunseo pinched her cheek. "It's still a mess, I'll let you see it when it's... showable. You know, writers are very sensitive people, our art is an extension of ourselves and we can't just show ourselves like that to other people without being mentally prepared. It's as if you'll be reading into my insides, and it's not like I mean my stomach and my skeleton or my bowels or anything like that, but actually..." 

Eunseo stopped when she noticed Cheng Xiao was, as usual, staring at her with that dreamy smile, her eyes full of stars.  

"What?... You're making that face again!" Eunseo whined. 

"I could hear your monologue all day long, and believe me, I want to, but unfortunately, I'm an adult with responsibilities way above average and I need to do grown-up work with other grown-ups." Cheng Xiao said as she stood up from her chair. 

"Nooooo!" Eunseo whined, pulling on her arm, and put on her best overly dramatic face. "What will be of me without you?! What will I do without you?!" 

Cheng Xiao chuckled and released the grip on her arm.  

"You're going to work really hard on those client projects and also on your amazing-yet-uncertified-by-me book or I will tell SeolA unnie you've been lazy!" She patted the top of her girlfriend's head, then planted a kiss on her forehead. "See you later!" 

"Be home for dinner tonight? Please?" Eunseo pleaded. 

"I promise." 

Mid afternoon, when Eunseo was pretending not to procrastinate on the gardening website copy she was supposed to be writing, she got a phone call from a number she didn't recognize. 

"Hello?" 

"Hello, is this Son Eunseo, CEO Cheng's wife?" A nasal childish voice sounded on the other side. 

Eunseo gulped and felt her face redden at the thought. 

"Uhm... Not her wife... yet. But yes, that's me. Who is this?" 

"Oh, sorry. Well, my name is Lee Yeoreum, I'm Wu Xuan Yi's assistant. She disappeared this morning to go meet a prospective partner, but I called the person in particular and he hasn't seen her today. She also missed our lunch appointment, and neither her nor CEO Cheng are answering the phone. I'm going through all the numbers on her list, so I wanted to ask you if by any chance you've seen Xuan Yi today." 

"Yes, CEO barely answers her phone while she's working. Though in fact, I have seen Xuan Yi. She was here this morning." 

"Here where? Your house? CEO Cheng lives with you, right? What did she go there for?" Yeoreum's voice started to sound more panicked. 

"I'm not sure, she came to talk to Xiao, er, CEO Cheng, said something about Bona and how things weren't what they seem, but she got the door slammed on her face before she could say anything else. The conversation didn't last for more than 20 seconds, I'd say." 

Eunseo could now hear short, urgent breaths from the other side. 

"Oh no, this is bad. This is really bad. Mei Qi, call the police. Did CEO leave for work as usual, then?" Now, Eunseo could hear another female voice, and it was as If they'd forgotten they were on the phone with her.  

"Wait, Mei Qi? Meng Mei Qi? Isn't that...?" Eunseo felt her sweat turn cold. "And yes, she did leave for work as usual, but why does that matter? What's going on, Yeoreum? Why do you need to call the police?" 

"We're going straight there, in fact." Yeoreum said, a sound of jingling keys in the background. 

"Yeoreum, we can't simply go there on our own. Who knows what happened to Xuan Yi? Think of what could happen should both of us be found alone in a car! It's too dangerous, we need to call them here." The other voice on the phone, who could only be Mei Qi, said. 

Yeoreum took a deep breath. "Fine. Mei Qi, call Detective Chu Sojung. Eunseo, can you come here, since you were the last reachable person who saw her? I'll text you our address." 

"I'm on my way." Eunseo said, car keys in hand, one foot already out the door.  

Something was definitely off, and though she tried to fight her paranoia, she had a nauseating feeling it involved Cheng Xiao. 

Eunseo arrived at the house where Xuan Yi, Yeoreum and Mei Qi were staying before the police did, risking multiple speeding tickets along the way.  

"I need to know what's going on." Eunseo demanded, as she arrived, making Yeoreum and Mei Qi share a look. 

"Listen, we wish we could, but talking too much has already caused enough trouble." Mei Qi explained, biting on her lip. 

"What kind of trouble?" 

"Xuan Yi is missing, isn't she?" Mei Qi raised her voice, confronting Eunseo in a way she wasn't ready to take peacefully at that moment. 

She channeled a firm, brave posture, different from her usual awkward, stuttering self. A feat she could only manage with the consuming feeling that Cheng Xiao was not safe. 

"Xuan Yi has only been missing for hours and you haven't even looked for her elsewhere. The police doesn't normally get involved in such circumstances, and I heard you say you couldn't go there yourselves. Not to mention you used to be Cheng Xiao's housekeeper and Yeoreum asked me about her going to work. Also, Xuan Yi sounded really fishy this morning about something being different from what it seems. I know for a fact Cheng Xiao is involved in this." Eunseo crossed her arms and made eye contact with both girls. "I have all the right to know." 

Yeoreum sighed, a concerned look on her face. "If we did tell you, we'd be involving you and you could be at risk as well." 

"I am already involved. If it concerns Cheng Xiao, it concerns me." Eunseo showed Yeoreum a fierce look, and she wasn't planning on backing down until she got what she wanted. 

"Have a seat." Mei Qi sighed and shrugged at Yeoreum, resigning. 

When the girls were done explaining, Eunseo was at a loss of words. Should she believe them? Was Bona actually innocent and a puppet of a reckless power-hungry man? Or was this just another one of her twisted plots? 

In truth, when Eunseo first heard about what happened, she couldn't believe it herself. Bona, despite her self-righteousness, never seemed like an evil person, especially to Eunseo, who was one to always see the best in people. She felt particularly sympathetic towards her when she found out Bona had also been in love with Cheng Xiao, yet handled her relationship with Eunseo so diplomatically and still took care of Xiao as much as she did. 

But the evidence was there, so even though she was disappointed and angry at her for making Xiao go through the pain of finding out, she had to accept it and continue building her life with her girlfriend, knowing she was in jail. 

Yet the story Mei Qi and Yeoreum had told her seemed to connect all of the dots. But if the story was false, if she was in fact guilty, why had Bona asked Xuan Yi to protect Cheng Xiao? 

That couldn't be overlooked. 

"Didn't she say Cheng Xiao was in danger? That he would get to her if she told anything? We need to go pick her up and keep her safe, right now." Eunseo had prepared to dash out the door, when Mei Qi grabbed her arm. 

"Eunseo, we can't do that."  

"Why the hell not?! Am I going to sit here doing nothing when I know the person I love is in danger?" Eunseo protested, fighting to release her arm from Mei Qi's grip, unsuccessfully. 

"For the same reason we can't just go out there and look for Xuan Yi by ourselves. The fact that she's gone just proves that he knows the story got out already. None of us is safe, we have to do something, but we need to wait for the police. Besides, what the hell are we going to do, three girls, unarmed? It's a suicide mission. We have to wait for help so we can actually do something." 

"Then call them again! Make them come quicker! What's taking them so long?" Eunseo was unable to control her shaking body and fight back the urge to run to Xiao, hug her, tell her that she's safe, make her believe the truth, and hide with her where no one could ever find them or hurt them anymore. 

Just when she said that, the doorbell rang, and even though it wasn't her house, it was Eunseo that rushed to open the door, finding the two familiar officers. 

"What took you so long? We have to keep Cheng Xiao safe!" 

"We were about to apologize for our lateness and explain that we were in the middle of questioning Bona and Wonho once again, but thank you for pointing out the obvious for us." Exy rolled her eyes. "As you see, we've been working on keeping her safe all along." 

"But what if something's happening to her right now?" Eunseo responded, her voice raising and a few nervous tears threatening to escape her eyes, just at the thought. 

"We have the building on close watch. We've confirmed that CEO Cheng has arrived at work safely and she hasn't left the facilities since. Should anything slightly out of the norm happen, we'll be informed immediately. Please sit down, because we have some things to say." Exy retorted, then pointed at Yeoreum. "Would someone make Ms. Author some herbal tea, or something calming like that?" 

Yeoreum nodded and went to the kitchen, while Eunseo exhaled loudly through her nose and sat down, beside Mei Qi. 

"When the news of Xuan Yi's disappearance reached us, we had already questioned Bona, so we could get a new report on her side of the story officially. Then, we confronted Wonho with the new version, and he confirmed it, even adding in details we didn't ask him about that matched Bona's and Mei Qi's reports. The poor boy cried throughout the whole thing, saying we couldn’t tell anyone he said the truth and that he didn't want to end up in jail for life." Exy explained, earning attentive looks from all the girls. 

"This gives us a solid base to investigate on this side of the story, but there is a problem." Dayoung continued, fiddling with her tablet as usual. "Aside from the coinciding reports, we have little to no evidence to prove this, nor do we have anything that proves the evidence we could use to convict Wonho and Bona is fabricated or manipulated. Xuan Yi's disappearance is the only thing we have going for your side at the moment." 

"Which means that our best bet is to stay on watch and see if we can catch someone red-handed. That is why we've been secretly keeping watch on the places Cheng Xiao visits frequently, namely her house and the company." Exy had a serious look on her face. "Now, let's talk about Xuan Yi. Eunseo, I heard you saw her this morning?" 

Eunseo grimaced at the officer for a few seconds, processing in her head what had just been said. 

"Wait, so you're only going to act after something happens? What if that something is too serious and then it ends up being too late?!" 

"As we said, we have close watch on her, we are confident we can intervene before anything happens." Dayoung said. 

"How can you be so confident about that? You heard them, the man is reckless and he has her trust. She's in the same space as him right now for heaven's----" 

"Shhhhhhh!" Exy interrupted the conversation, as her phone was ringing.  

Silence installed itself in the room while she took the call. As the call progressed, the officer's eyes widened more and more, her eyebrows drew closer and closer together. She hung up the call with a grim expression, opening the door to leave the apartment. 

"Boss? Everything alright?" Dayoung inquired. 

"The whole security system in the WJSN headquarters crashed. The cameras and alarms started to shut down one by one. We need to go. NOW!" 

Cheng Xiao kept herself busy in her office, preparing the presentation for the late afternoon meeting with the representative of a partner company. She'd done her best to keep Xuan Yi's morning visit off her mind, so the day was going smoothly and she got to be productive. If all went well and she stopped the meeting from dragging too much, she'd be able to be home for dinner, as she promised Eunseo. That alone was enough to keep her cheerful and motivated throughout her work day. 

A knock on the door brought a pleasant visit. 

"Ah, uncle! Come in." Cheng Xiao greeted with a smile. "You're also attending the meeting later, right? Could you check out these slides and tell me if you'd change anything?" 

"That will have to wait, Xiao Xiao. There has been a breach of security - the CCTV cameras are starting to malfunction. This could be another attempt to attack you. Come with me, you need to be kept safe before the building starts to be evacuated, or you'll be more vulnerable among the chaos that's bound to happen." Even with urgency in his voice, he sounded calm and collected. 

Instantly, Cheng Xiao followed President Kim through the emergency exit on the floor, fear and adrenaline installing on her. Her feet moved faster than she could realize down the immense flights of stairs. Her head felt light, as if she was dreaming the moment. The feeling of being safe and being able to forget everything and move on with her life after Bona had been arrested was suddenly ripped away from her hands, and she had nothing to hold on to anymore.  

She followed wherever her uncle lead her, through paths of the building she never knew or remembered to exist, until she found herself in the cafeteria kitchen, on the ground floor. It was probably a good idea, since the cafeteria had closed for the day at the end of lunch hour and the staff had all left. 

Cheng Xiao laid her hands on her bent knees, head down, finally able to catch her breath, even though she still felt the adrenaline race through her muscles. 

"Is it a good idea to hide here? Won't anyone find me? When will I know when to come out?" Cheng Xiao asked between breaths, straightening herself. 

"Don't worry, little Xiao. Nobody's going to find you here." He said, patting her head. 

As he finished saying so, he raised one hand slightly above his head, and in the next second, Cheng Xiao was tackled from both her sides, her arms gripped with super-human strength behind her back. She tilted her head to either side to find two hooded masculine figures holding her in place. She turned to President Kim, who wore an ear-to-ear grin. 

"Uncle?! W-what's going on?" Cheng Xiao asked, taking in the panorama. Even if she wasn't being held down, she wouldn't have been able to move a muscle with the shock. 

"Little Xiao..." He started pacing around the room. "I am left with no choice." 

Cheng Xiao kept her silence, her face contorted and her muscles tense. The out-of-body feeling overwhelmed her once more. 

"I was wrong about you. I had previously thought you lacked resilience and persistence. But did I underestimate you, huh?" He chuckled to himself. "Unfortunately, such a stance from you has proved an obstacle to my... vision."  

He eyed her down, as if expectant of her to answer. With the lack of response, he continued. 

"I am very resilient myself, little Xiao. Ever since I got to know your father, my dearest friend, I was always his most loyal companion, aside from your mother, of course, both in business and in personal life. I always aspired to be like him. He was my role model. But it turned out that staying in his shadow, continuously being second to him, did not align very well with this vision of being like him... of being him." 

He looked up, a nostalgic expression on his face, then faced Cheng Xiao again. 

"So I believed that if your entire family was involved in a tragic accident in their house, I would naturally succeed as CEO. But instead, against all odds, you came out unharmed, little one." 

"It was... not an accident..." Cheng Xiao said, barely louder than a whisper, facing down. 

"Being successful in business requires you to utilize any means to achieve your ends, even if they're not traditionally what you call... correct. Or... honorable." He smiled bitterly. "When you survived the fire, I didn't lose all hope, as I assumed you were so young and inexperienced it wouldn't be too long until you gave up yourself or were voted off by the board. But once again, I was very wrong. You persisted more than ever. " 

He returned his pace, now in circles around her. His voice had a disturbing calm to it, as if the words he was uttering were the most trivial. It didn't faze him one bit to admit to his own monstrous endeavors. 

"And so I was forced to work even harder, utilizing many of my instruments. I indeed motivated your very good friend to help me with this, in an alternative to attempting to eliminate you again. She was very keen on keeping you alive, yes, so she proved of a great help. But ultimately and unfortunately, she failed me, and so now, there is nothing else I can do. I cannot play cat and mouse anymore, and I am unwilling to take any more risks."  

After all the time she had spent paralyzed by shock, when he stopped talking at last, a wave of heat ran through her from head to toe. Her whole body spasmed out of her control, a feeling of anger she had never known before washing over her. Her teeth chattered, tears streamed down her eyes, her face burned, struggling so hard against the grip of the minions, bruises began to form on her arms. 

"HOW COULD YOU? YOU WERE FAMILY! MY FATHER TRUSTED YOU! WE ALL TRUSTED YOU!" Her loud screams made raw, but she couldn't feel it. Her vision was clouded by her tears. She was not in her own mind, or in her own body.  

Ignoring her, he kept pacing around the kitchen, now holding a bottle of liquid she could not identify, pouring it loosely around the kitchen.  

As he did so, Cao Lu's voice started sounding from the speakers, repeating the same sentence in a loop. 

"ATTENTION EVERYONE, OUR INTERNAL SECURITY SYSTEM HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, WE ASK YOU TO PLEASE LEAVE THE BUILDING IN A CALM AND ORDERLY MANNER. PLEASE DO NOT USE THE ELEVATORS, TAKE THE STAIRS NEAREST TO YOU, AND PREFER THE REGULAR ACCESS INSTEAD OF THE EMERGENCY EXITS, AS YOU WILL BE SAFER IN AN OPEN AREA. PLEASE EXIT THROUGH THE GROUND FLOOR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND NOT THROUGH THE BASEMENT PARKING LOTS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." 

Within the first warning, the chaos of people running and chattering began. But of course, nobody would be going through the cafeteria. 

"You see, little Xiao" He raised his voice, to be heard over the speakers, yet keeping his scarily calm tone. "I don't know if you're a believer in fate, but I would say that if you depart the same way as your parents, there is a high chance that you will be able to meet them. So don't be sad, okay? There's no need to cry." He turned around to face her with a psychopathic grin. "I couldn't say the same about your friends, when they hear about how you decided to hide in here and caused an accident that resulted in your tragic passing, could I?" 

Only then did she know what was about to happen to her. She was about to lose her life. Images ran through her mind of her late parents, of Bona, from whom she would never hear the truth, who would keep taking the blame for him. And of Eunseo, who would be waiting for her to come home for dinner only to find out she was gone, breaking the promise she'd made her.  If only she had just one more chance to tell her how much she loved her... 

Holding on to that thought, she used all the strength she had and that she didn't have to make one last effort to break away from the grip of those men, and make a run for it. But in less than a second, she was pulled back, her body colliding with the hard floor with the recoil. Then, the men pulled her back up with arms pinned to her back once more. 

Stepping out of the circle, President Kim took a matchbox from one of the counters, and flicked one of the matches on, proudly showing it off in his hand. Cheng Xiao's eyes locked on it right away, debilitating her muscles and her senses, as her vision became blurrier and her ears felt clogged.  

"Goodbye, little Xiao." 

Just as he dropped the small flame on the ground, a sharp blow hit the side of her neck, and immediately, in strangely peaceful way, she collapsed to the floor, accepting the sight in front of her as her last one. 

"I'm going too." Eunseo said, following the officers. 

"Whoa, whoa. Not so fast." Exy pushed her back by her shoulders. "What makes you think you're entitled to go?" 

"Cheng Xiao is in danger and there's no way I'm going to stay here biting my nails and waiting for bad news." 

"Yeah? And what exactly do you plan to do to help?" 

Eunseo bit her tongue and looked down, frowning. 

"No, Eunseo is right. We should all go." Mei Qi stepped in. "This could be used as a distraction to catch us unguarded in here. We should be close to the authorities, and they will never expect us to be there. Meanwhile, we can keep trying to reach Xuan Yi." 

The officers pondered in silence for a bit. 

"Well, why not, boss? If they're not disturbing us, I don't see why we should leave them here in panic. I'm sure Son Eunseo seonsaengnim would like to get the news firsthand." Dayoung suggested. 

"It's not like you can stop me from going there on my own, anyway." Eunseo fronted, crossing her arms. 

Exy shrugged and rolled her eyes. 

"Fine. Just keep your noses out of work and don't be a hassle." 

The three girls sat at the back of Exy's car. While the two officers communicated with their team, updating their status and checking for availability of possible reinforcements, Mei Qi and Yeoreum kept trying to reach Xuan Yi with no success. Eunseo only tapped her foot on the floor and bit her nails, leaning back and forth, unable to sit still until she found out if Cheng Xiao was safe. She had tried to reach her phone as well, but no luck either. 

When they arrived at the WJSN headquarters, nothing looked out of the ordinary at first glance, so they went to the reception desk to ask Cao Lu for more information. Dayoung had to watch Eunseo like a mom to a kid, so she didn’t take off in a run to go look for Cheng Xiao. 

"The security cameras have been breaking down one by one, and as of now, not a single one is working. Nobody in the security office or the IT Department has any idea of what's going on. We've already tried everything." 

"Have you noticed any other suspicious activity?" Exy asked. 

"Not so far, but we're going to have to evacuate the building... We've already held it for too long while we tried to figure it out so we didn't install panic, but we have to do it now that you're here." Cao Lu said, worry on her features. 

Exy nodded. "Okay, pipsqueak, you're going to the security office to go see what's going on and you try to help the techies do something about the system. I'm calling reinforcements to help search the building and take care of these three." 

Dayoung nodded and went for the stairs, headed for the security office, as she'd been instructed by Cao Lu. 

"WAIT" Mei Qi shouted, stopping Dayoung, "I know every single thing about the networks and security systems of this building. If they haven't fixed it yet, it's not a hardware issue for sure. I can fix it. I'm sure I can, let me help." 

Dayoung eyed Exy for permission, who nodded in approval. Both girls left for the control room. 

Exy put on her earpiece, and after a short call, she turned to Cao Lu and both girls who were left. 

"The reinforcements are just around the corner. You can give the call for evacuation. I will be here watching for who goes in and out. You two, I appointed officer Shin Jimin to keeping you safe. When evacuation begins, you blend in with the rest and go straight to her in the parking lot. Short, cute, bobbed hair, you'll know who she is. And no stunts." Exy made eye contact with Eunseo, who frowned at her.  

Of course telling people to evacuate in an orderly manner was just pointless, especially with the strange things happening with Cheng Xiao and Bona known to everyone in the company. When people started reaching the ground floor, Exy signaled Yeoreum and Eunseo to go, and then spoke to her intercom, disappearing in the opposite direction.  

Eunseo stopped and tried to push her way to the margin of the crowd, Yeoreum following her.  

"Hey! You're going to get us run over, let’s go straight outside!" Yeoreum urged.  

"I'm not leaving this place unless Cheng Xiao is right by my side, safe and sound. Help me look for her in the crowd." Eunseo said, tiptoeing even though she was already taller than average. 

"No, we have to go meet officer Shin! You have a better chance of spotting CEO Cheng outside while people leave than right in the middle of the crowd." Yeoreum pulled Eunseo's arm and started dragging her, tired of being pushed and pulled between the escaping people. "Come on, I’m sure Officer Chu has some of her team looking for her!" 

But Eunseo pulled Yeoreum back to her and faced her with her eyes wide. "What’s that smell?" 

Yeoreum turned to Eunseo, sniffing a couple of times. Then, her breath stopped and she was now looking past Eunseo's shoulder, pointing behind her, petrified. Eunseo jerked her head back and saw the smoke come out of the kitchen, beyond the glass walls through which she could see the cafeteria.  

"Why isn’t the fire alarm going off?" Yeoreum asked, panic in her voice. 

"The alarms must be down too. Which means the fire brigade won’t be coming unless someone calls them." Eunseo grabbed Yeoreum's shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. "Yeoreum, call 119 right now." 

A pump of adrenaline took over Eunseo, and she had dashed off past all people towards the cafeteria, leaving a confused Yeoreum behind, phone to ear. The employees had started to notice the smell and the smoke, as they were pointing, screaming, and running even faster and in more random directions, which left Yeoreum no other choice but to let herself be dragged outside with the crowd. 

Eunseo knew Cheng Xiao was inside that kitchen. She hadn't been seen anywhere else, and with what she had just heard earlier, it only seemed likely that she would be where the fire was. The firemen couldn't be there in an instant, and she was the only one who would dare go straight to the fire. 

There was a chance she was following a blind hunch, but if she did nothing and it turned out Cheng Xiao was there, then... 

Reaching the glass door, she looked for a handle, which was of course fruitless, since the cafeteria had already closed down and it was locked. She looked around for a fire extinguisher, which could help her break in, but the huge amounts of people made it impossible to spot one. Until she saw it -  on the furthermost wall, inside of the cafeteria. 

Eunseo grabbed one of the lobby chairs instead. Using all her might, she pulled back and shoved it, along with her body weight, against the glass door. It made but a crack, and the recoil made the chair hit her in the ribs, making her wince in pain. But she wasn't about to give up. 

She tried it twice more, stomaching the pain, but the glass was giving in too slowly, and at this rate, she wouldn't be able to get herself in. Besides, she was lucky she was going unnoticed in the turmoil. If one of the cops caught her, for sure they would stop her from doing what she was about to do.  

In one last attempt, she flung the chair against the door, letting out a loud grunt. A shattering noise echoed across the floor, upsetting and startling the crowd even further. Among the screams, Eunseo could hear someone yelling "HEY! YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!" It didn't take her long to find the person running towards her. It had to be one of Exy's agents.  

Eunseo had to act, fast. It was now or never. As carefully as she could, she dashed through the shatter-covered floor. The man she had heard call for her was closing in on the distance, and the smoke started entering her lungs, making her cough, and her eyes start to sting. He would catch up with her sooner or later. If she made the run to the other side of the cafeteria, it would be impossible to make all the way back. So she had to take the obviously more reckless and idiotic choice.  

Pulling her shirt over and nose, holding it with one hand, Eunseo sprinted towards the kitchen, where the fire came from, and pushed her body against the door handle. Weird, but thankfully, it wasn't locked.  

As she opened the door, her face felt like it was about to melt, and through her stinging, blurry vision, she saw the circle of flames, which grew taller and more threatening by the second. And in the middle of it, the figure she knew she'd find, lying unconscious on the floor. Without hesitating, Eunseo launched forward, through fire and flames. 

Exy was in for a difficult task trying to find anyone suspicious, Cheng Xiao, that guy Kim, or with some luck, Xuan Yi. Even with a great chunk of the team appointed to the location, with meticulously assigned and coordinated roles. Her earpiece buzzed with updates on the different units every second, and thus far, nothing. 

"Boss, you won't believe it! Meng Mei Qi rebooted this whole thing and made it work in like... a second! She wasn't kidding at all. The cameras are starting to come back one at a time. We haven't gotten to the alarms yet, but now we get visual surveillance over basically the whole building!" Dayoung informed her. 

"Okay, great job, kids. See anything?" Exy asked, never taking her hawk eyes off each person in the crowd. "Also, smell anything? Smells kinda weird here." 

"That's him!" She heard Mei Qi shout on the other side. 

"Boss, it's President Kim! He's exiting the kitchen, inside the cafeteria. He has two other people with him, in full black, seemingly male." Dayoung said, speaking in a fast, alarmed tone. "Oh my god, boss, smoke is coming out of the kitchen!" 

"Yeah, I said it smelled weird alright. I can see the smoke, and so can everyone else, it's turning even more chaotic out here. I need to get him, Dayoung, can you guide me? Any news on the CEO?"  

"Nothing about CEO Cheng. He went through the emergency exit in the cafeteria. Can you hear Mei Qi over the line? She knows exactly where each camera is. I'll call the fire department while you talk with her. The only camera we can't get back is the one in the kitchen, she says it has to be physically damaged." 

"I can hear her just fine. I need directions, right now. I'm losing too much time." Exy tapped her foot on the floor, huffing. 

"Alright, the emergency exit channel either leads up, straight outside, or down towards the basement. That's where they seem to be heading. Be careful, officer Chu, you're outnumbered and they're likely to be armed. Your best bet is taking the other emergency exit, behind the reception desk, and trying to corner them in the basement." Mei Qi warned. 

Exy started sprinting as she saw the exit Mei Qi had mentioned. She was at a disadvantage, since the cafeteria was closed and nobody would be taking that exit, whereas the one she went to was bound to be crowded with people, despite the evacuation call discouraging it. Charging through everyone who tried to exit, Exy made her way down towards the basement floors, urging for reinforcements to meet her there. Thankfully, nobody tried to go to the basement floors, so from there, she was free to take the run, with Mei Qi's guidance.  

"Officer Shin Jimin to Officer Chu." Her communication line was interrupted for a second. "I have Lee Yeoreum. Son Eunseo got separated from her and made her way towards the kitchen. Yeoreum assumes she thinks CEO Cheng is there. Officer Jeon Jungkook is already on her trail and hopes to catch her before she ventures in. The fire brigade is on their way as we speak." 

Exy let out a grunt of frustration over Eunseo's idiotic suicidal venture, but she couldn’t afford to worry. She had to trust her team to do their jobs and save both her and the CEO. Right now, she had to focus on catching up with Kim.  

"They reached the 4th floor underground. They're separating, President Kim went through the exit that's going to lead to the ground floor out the back, and his two goons are heading back the exact way you're going down. Listen, you have to go back up, or you're going to meet them." Mei Qi let out a gasp, and then continued. "Officer, you have to run NOW. They're all armed, and they're starting to shoot the CCTV cameras on their way. They have to know the system's back up and we're watching them." 

Frustrated that her feet couldn't turn back fast enough, Exy ran back up the stairs, towards the starting point, the adrenaline rush on her body taking her up faster and faster with each gunshot that echoed on the floors below her. 

"You have to leave the building through the main entrance, then go around it and reach the back side, that's the best way to reach the exit Kim took before he can leave the building. I'll keep directing you exactly to where it is... Oh my god."  

"What is it, Mei Qi?" Exy panted for air, while she pushed the emergency door to the ground floor open once more and bolted past the people. 

"There's about 10 of them, on our floor. They know we're here, they're heading towards us." Mei Qi hyperventilated. 

"Mei Qi, I need you to stay calm. Have Dayoung call for reinforcements over there and lock yourselves inside, but I need to know the exact location of this exit and fast, and I need to know his position at this moment. I'm already outside the building." 

"When you reach the back of the building, and you face it front, it's the one on your right. He's about to leave basement floor 1 right now, you have to be fast."  

"Thank you, Mei Qi. Remember to stay locked inside. I'm leaving you now."  

"I trust you, boss!" Dayoung yelled on the other side before cutting off. 

With no idea where the energy in her body came from, Exy took one last sprint until she was finally able to stop, right by the door Mei Qi pointed out to her. She waited, gun at hand, her blood pumping hard in her veins. 

No longer than five seconds after, the door came to an open, and without wavering, Exy raised her arms to point the gun. 

"Drop your weapon, hands behind your head." She shouted, her eyes intense and intimidating. 

President Kim made eye contact with her and showed her a calm, bare-teethed, triumphant grin. After a slight movement of his arm, a gunshot resonated in the air.

---

A/N: I ended up writing another 7k word chapter, help. I've been anticipating writing this for so long, but it was such an emotionally exhausting chapter to pull off sniff. I felt the pressure. I once again poured my heart and soul into this and I sincerely hope you like the of the story. 

As I've said, next chapter will be the last. Please anticipate it to find out what happened to... basically everyone in this chapter, who ended up in troubling situations to say the least.

I still don't know if it will be the very last chapter, or last chapter + epilogue, though.

Once again, thank you so much for your immense support for this story!