Sohye was seated, legs crossed, on her bed, watching Mina gather her things in silence. It was nighttime, about 3:40 a.m., and they were at their room. After the revelation in the café Mina had expressed her desire to leave as soon as possible. A quick escape in the middle of the night would be the best option for her and they both agreed to it.

Mina didn’t ask, but she probably knew that Sohye wouldn’t go with her. However, that didn’t discourage the girl from helping Mina prepare everything she needed for the trip, mostly food and water “borrowed” from the building’s cafeteria since they didn’t have that much money themselves. Other things included a few knives, money for transportation and her cellphone.

Still, there was one problem left to take care of before Mina could run away. There were security cameras all over the place, opening the door to the nightclub would be easy, especially at this hour, but leaving without raising alarm would be difficult.

They hadn’t talked about it so Sohye prayed Mina knew what she was doing.

“So… um… what are you going to do about the cameras?”- Her question caught Mina off guard, as she stopped filling her bag to look at her and took a few seconds to answer.

“I got Kyla to give me a hand, she somehow convinced Yebin to let her monitor the cameras for tonight”- She answered as she went back to playing Tetris as she tried, fruitlessly, to fit everything in the small bag.- “I’m going to need another one of this things, could you lend me yours?”- She huffed as she gave up.

“Sure, let me search for it”- Sohye got up, stretched her legs, and went towards her wardrobe, digging through it for her green backpack. Once she found it, she turned around and handed it to Mina-“By the way, how are you planning on finding her once you get out of here?”

Mina didn’t answer right away, taking her hand to her chin and adopting a thoughtful semblance instead. Leaving Sohye with her arm outstretched.

“I didn’t think about that... hehe….”- A sigh escaped Sohye’s lips as she dropped the backpack near Mina.

“Don’t tell me you planned all of this without even having a single lead or clue to where she may be?”- And Sohye wondered why people considered her the airhead of the two.

“Wait, I know! I know where to start looking. Sungyeon told me before they sent her...”- The atmosphere got gloomy at the sudden mention of their deceased friend- “She told me they were in Geumguk-ri… that’s as good a lead as any”

They didn’t talk after that, Sohye went to sit again in her bed and continued to look at Mina as the minutes passed. When she looked at the clock again it marked 4:15 a.m. and it seemed that Mina was close to finish packing her stuff.

“Are you coming?”- Her voice caught Sohye off guard, and she quickly steeled herself to give an answer.

“I’m sorry, I can’t, d-dad told me to wait for him here”- Sohye mentally face palmed since she stuttered despite trying so hard not to.

“I see it’s your final decision then, I’m sorry penguin”- They both knew it was time for a farewell, but Sohye’s inner self prevented her from accepting it so eagerly.

“P-p-please don’t leave, y-you know what Yeonjung will do if she c-catches you!” – The stutter came back again as Sohye’s voice raised before it died just as fast and turned into a saddened murmur - “or worse, what if she sends me after you?”

“Please understand, I need to find Im Nayoung”- Mina’s eyes steeled as she delivered the curt response, making Sohye back down and leaving no window for doubts.

“I understand, I’m just sad that you are leaving and I can’t go with you”-Sohye looked down, defeated.

“Once she tells me about my sister murder I’ll come back, then we will leave this place together once your stepdad shows up”- Mina sensed Sohye’s mood falling and tried to cheer her up again.

“Do you promise?”- Like a child being promised candy, Sohye looked back up with her bright beady eyes.

“Of course, when have I lied to you?”- Mina starts giggling as she reaches to pinch Sohye’s cheek when Sohye’s senses suddenly raised every alarm in her body.

She sees it, she hears it, everything in slow motion but as fast as lightning at the same time.

She had left the door open when she and Mina entered the room to pack, but now it was wide enough that she sees a shadow seep through the space between the door and the frame. It fades almost as soon as it appeared but she hears something, though it’s practically inaudible, and the door is pushed a little bit more.

Somebody was behind that door, listening to them.

She acts rapidly as time returns to normal once again, before Mina could touch her, she pushed her against the wall, knocking down the nearby bag and spilling its contents. She tried to cover but failed as a frantic yelp escaped Mina’s lips.

“Shhhh, there is somebody out there….”- They were close, too close, but Mina was the only one who realized it, Sohye was too concentrated in coming up with a plan to fool the eavesdropper. - “They are listening to us…”

Sohye pricked up her ears, hoping to catch anything that may confirm a presence behind the door, but the place was silent.

“Listen, I don’t know if they are still out there, but we’ll have to distract them before you leave, I doubt however is out there will attack you before you do anything so we’ll take this chance. Take the elevator up and once you reach the ground floor come back down here”- She whispered the first ingenious plan that came to mind to Mina while the girl just frantically nodded at every word Sohye said- “I’ll take the elevator down to the fifth subfloor and once you confirm there is an elevator following me then you can take it back up and leave… clear?”

“Oh…”- Mina’s face was entirely red and her voice threatened to falter, but she played along nevertheless – “I-I-I-I have to go now”

She gathered her things quickly, pushing everything that fell out of the bag inside it once again, although this time not as organized as before. She reaches for the door and looks back once again, earning a nod from Sohye. When she opened the door there was nobody there.

Mina took a tentative step towards the dark corridor with Sohye’s eyes fixed in her back, scanning for every possible thing that might indicate someone was there recently. Once Mina closed the door Sohye rushed to it and pressed her ear against it.

She could hear them, Mina’s footsteps, moving away. A couple of seconds pass and she hears nothing so she starts wondering if maybe that shadow played a trick on her mind.

She was about to drop the idea and go back to bed but then she heard it. A quiet but prolonged that came from a door’s rusty hinges, resounding in agony, while being opened slowly.

Footsteps followed shortly after, the sound moving in the same direction Mina went. Most likely following her.

She wasted no more time before opening the door and catching the eavesdropper red handed.

“Hey you!”- Sohye shouted, ignoring the fact that it was already 4:30 in the morning.

The person in question jumped in surprise before dashing towards the elevators area. Sohye followed without hesitation.

She was obviously slower than the person escaping from her since by the time she got to the lifts, one was already moving upwards while the another one was by now in the ground floor. She waited a few seconds to see if the second elevator, which was probably the one Mina took, started going down.

No such luck.

She groaned, cursing at Mina from under her breath, and violently pushed the buttons of the third elevator, calling it from the second subfloor.

It didn’t take much for it to arrive, but it was enough to both irritate and scare Sohye, hundreds of different outcomes were flashing through her mind right now and none of them ended in a pleasant way for her or Mina.

Once the metal door slides open she rushed inside of it.

It takes around thirty seconds for the elevator to reach the ground floor, but it’s safe to say that, for her, those thirty seconds were the most excruciating she had ever experienced in her life.

The door opens again and she gets out of it instinctively. There was nobody around.

She sprints towards the great hall without thinking twice.

Column after column are left behind her as her feet clash against the marble of the floor, filling the dead silent halls with the sound of the echo. While imposing during the day, the pillars that adorned the halls were now frightening to her.

That’s when she sees Mina about to climb the stairs that lead to the nightclub. Some kind of electro music can be heard faintly in the distance.

And the person she was pursuing right behind her.

“Stop right there!”-It wasn’t Sohye the one who shouted, but the figure. Mina turns back, surprised.

It was a woman’s voice and she couldn’t recognize it, but she swears she has heard that voice before. Nonetheless, she is just relieve it’s not Yeonjung or one of their instructors.

Sohye picks up her pace, it seemed that the woman hadn’t noticed her approaching.

Mina remains there, unmoving, as the woman begins to walk, but she never reached her.

Sohye dived in and tried to tackle her to the ground, failing in the attempt but still managing to make her tumble under her weight. The woman started thrashing and succeeded in throwing Sohye off her.

When Mina told her she was leaving, she was expecting it to be a heartfelt goodbye, with a couple of tears thrown in the mix. Not a fight.

But still, she’d fight, she’d fight if that meant Mina had a chance to escape.

She’d show them that she was not someone to mess with, that the frail looking girl was capable of defending herself and the ones close to her.

She’ll do it, and she’ll start with this person over here.

She got up the floor and assumed a fighting stance, fire flowing through her veins as her battle spirit imbued her.

She turned around, coolly looking at Mina, who was now looking at her with expectation in her eyes.

“Go ahead, I’ll buy time”

“Watch out!”-Mina shrieked all of a sudden, causing Sohye to look back at the woman in front of her.

A kick collided with her face and that signaled the end of the fight before it even began.

And then Sohye fell into the ground, only that this time, she didn’t get back up.

-------------------------------------------------------

She opened her eyes.

It was dark, really dark. The only source of light being a lamp to the right side of the bed she was currently in, and even then the room was still dimly lit.

She sat straight and rubbed her eyes before scanning the room with the help of the weak light the lamp provided. There was nothing out of the ordinary, the room was an almost exact copy of her own except for a couple of small details.

She realized two things, first of all, this was not her room indeed, and second of all, she couldn’t move her left hand. It was tied to a bedpost.

She heard a scoff and jerked her body to look at the source of the noise. There was somebody at the other side of the bed, sporting the classic finger tenting. The observant did not say anything and kept looking at Sohye instead.

“Um… e-e-excuse me? Wh-where am I?”- Sohye struggled to get the words out of her dry throat.

“Who was the girl that ran away last night?”- Then the memories of last night came rushing back to her and she recognized the woman as the one who hit her – “Who is she and why is she after Nayoung?”

She detected a mixture of bitterness and carefulness in her words, it was obvious this woman and the cop Mina was looking for knew each other. She’d have to choose her words carefully, the woman looked like one of those who could be angered easily.

Before answering Sohye takes a last look at the night-table, the digital clock on it showed the numbers 13:34.

“She’s a trainee here…”

“I know that already”- She was harshly stopped in the middle of the sentence -“What does she want from Nayoung?”

Sohye doubted whether to tell the truth or lie. The woman in front of her frankly didn’t seem like someone she could trust. However, she didn’t know what would happen to her if she was caught up in a lie.

“S-she told me she wanted to ask the cop some questions”- She gave away as little information as possible

“What kind of questions?”

“I-I-I don’t exactly know”-Sohye’s will was cracking under the woman’s stare and she ultimately ended up telling her more than she should have-“I just know that they are about her sister’s death…”

“So I was right after all…”- The woman’s stoic face switched to a more relaxed mien

The woman got up and walked into darkness, a few seconds later Sohye heard a switch being and the room lit up. Once everything was well illuminated Sohye could appreciate the woman’s factions more clearly.

She realized she had seen her before.

“I’m sorry about the interrogatory, I just wanted to know if you were trustworthy”

“Wait, I know you, you were at Sungyeon’s funeral…”- It hurt her everytime she said that, the memory was still fresh in her mind -“Y-you are the cop that came here almost a week ago,