This was bound to happen sooner or later. The moment she’d been discovered by the gangsters – apparently Baekhyun called them Ivory Blade with what looked like fear in his eyes – who’d received an order to kill her, Jangmi had prepared her mind that she could be kidnapped or worse, dead, any second. But when it actually happened, she couldn’t help but feel antsy.

Actually, antsy was an understatement.

With Jongin’s firm arm around her shoulders, she wriggled to take a quick peek at her back, only to be held even tighter by him. “Don’t look back!” he hissed in a low, strangled voice.

Restraining herself from her curiosity, she craned her neck to look at Jongin instead. His face was rather calm, but his shoulders were tense, especially his arm that was holding her. His eyes were focused on the path in front of them, but his mind was somewhere else, presumably thinking hard about how to get her out from here. She could see the way his gears spinning in his head.

“There are probably five of them. I might be able to take them on,” he muttered, his voice almost inaudible.

“No!” she whispered as low as she could while trying to sound commanding. “They bring guns!”

“Don’t worry. I bring mine, too. And I’m practically invincible now with my bulletproof vest. Also, don’t you know what I do for a living?” His lips stretched into the faintest smile. “I’m both a soldier and a bodyguard. So, the only thing I can do best is fighting. I should give it a shot.” Despite the small smile and the convincingness, he failed at reassuring her.

Jongin led her to the park’s parking lot, faking his laughter and urging Jangmi to laugh with him to fool their chasers, pretending to not know their existence. This way they might have an advantage. Lunging a surprise attack seemed possible, too.

He must have had a plan when he gave his car key to her. It was obviously dangerous from how urgent he sounded as he explained it to her. “Get in the car. I’ll take care of them first. If you hear nothing from me after half an hour, drive as far away as you can from here and call Baekhyun.”

It was five against one. There’s no way he could beat them all, moreover when they were armed. She shook her head, refusing to go along with his stupid suicide plan. “No, Jongin. I won’t leave you here alone.” And she also reminded him that this was not going to work, anyway. “Besides, I don’t have driving license.”

Jongin barked, no longer care about being secretive, “Who cares about driving license? Just go!” Without warning, he unlocked his car and shoved her into the backseat, throwing his car key inside and closing the door. “Lock the door and duck!”

With that commotion, the gangsters were finally aware that Jangmi was trying to escape. They swarmed out from their hiding spot and approached the car which was guarded by one lone man – Jongin. Although she was told to duck, she still wanted to keep her eyes on him – she had no intention to obey his orders. She was worried sick and she would rush to help him if he was troubled without second thoughts. No matter how.

They might have promised to keep her safe, but that didn’t mean they should go kill themselves to protect her.

Jangmi crouched on the car floor and peeked through the window, only showing the top of her head and her eyes, hoping the sun protection was dark enough to conceal her. She’s positive that at least they would have a hard time to aim her from that far away and through the tinted window.

Jongin bravely stood a few meters from the car, blocking their way. His hands were on his waist. For someone who was going to fight in a few seconds, he looked way too relaxed, as if he was going to meet his friends and have a talk. The five gangsters wearing black leather jackets were the exact opposite from him – they were on edge. Jongin successfully intimidated them, planting the idea in their heads that he could leisurely take them down. Jangmi was not so sure about that, though.

It’s not that she underestimated his skills. It’s just that no matter how good a person was at fighting, no human could ever beat a gun – in his case, five guns. And she hated herself that she let him do everything himself because she didn’t know how to help.

Soon, all hell broke loose.

The five gangsters charged. One of them dove forward and grabbed Jongin around his waist, aiming to tackle him to the ground. Jongin’s stance was so firm that the action didn’t affect him and instead, he kneed his attacker in the gut and sent the man flying, setting him free from his grab. Another one lunged at him, balling his fist and swinging it towards his face which was stopped instantly by Jongin’s solid palm. Jongin crushed the man’s fist and kicked him in his chest, earning a loud groan from him.

The remaining three attacked Jongin at the same time. With incredible agility, Jongin managed to avoid the first two punches, making the two gangsters hit each other’s face. But the last one came from Jongin’s back unnoticeably and kicked the back of his leg hard that caught him off guard. Jangmi shrieked loudly from inside the car as she witnessed her protector kneeling on the ground and getting a kick in the back of his head that made him fall face first to the pavement.

Jongin thankfully recovered from the blow fast enough before his attacker had the chance to land a hit on his head again. He rolled to the side and scrambled up, narrowly dodging another kick in the gut. The side of Jongin’s head was bleeding, his bangs stuck to his temple. He messily wiped the blood that was trickling its way to his eye and clenched his fist, leaping towards the gangster and giving his cheek a strong blow.

The fight seemed to never end while she was thinking for a way to get them out of here safely. Calling Baekhyun as Jongin had suggested – ordered – wasn’t a choice. The pitiful man barely had any sleep and she wasn’t that heartless to disturb his hard-earned rest. Junmyeon was busy monitoring the corrupted candidate’s moves. So that left her with Chanyeol who happened to be running an errand that involved buying weapons.

Chanyeol might be far away from here, though. But weapons were what they needed the most right now.

Jangmi fumbled in her pocket for her phone. She’d been too preoccupied with watching the fight that she didn’t realize one of them sneaked into the car. When she backed away from the window to reach her pocket, the door was swung open, revealing a man in black leather jacket stretching his arm to grab her.