It was mid July and there had been no sign of Yejin. No clue where she had gone or who had taken her from that roof. All Minseok knew was that Yixing had been the one to shoot Sehun, who had managed to sneak away after Yejin had been taken and before the police arrived, and that Dragon was the one who put the second bullet in Yejin. That was all. Sure more than a dozen mobsters (leaders mostly) had been arrested, all of them clearly Minseok's enemy, yet he didn't care that they were out of hair while Yejin was missing. It had been more than a month already.

Tao was mobile about the Circle's Headquarters though he had a painful limp because of his busted knee. His ribs were doing better too, but he couldn't move around too much. The younger man had winded himself when Minseok informed him of Yejin's disappearance. Tao had yelled and cursed and cried at Minseok as he demanded for his best friend's return, but all the auburn haired man could do was say “My men are on it,” over and over. If getting told by a distraught Tao that he was useless and didn't deserve Yejin then when Minseok received a message from GD saying that the girl had no business putting any of her faith and trust in him when he couldn't even do his job right, was like a nuke being dropped on his head. Minseok knew he had messed up and had actually failed a job, which wounded his reputation, but he had lost someone important to him. He kept kicking himself thinking I should have stayed by her side until the call came in, and I should have seen Yejin planning something like this.

Normally Yixing would be gone with Gem moving onto their next job, but with Yejin gone and her job still unpaid for they stuck around assisting Minseok on finding her, though all they can do is search the streets with his other guys looking for any hints as to where she may have been taken. Yixing was pissed that she had been taken mostly because it messed with his work, Gem seemed to minutely care for Yejin as a human, but they were both waiting for their money so they could move on.

Now, in the middle of July, Minseok was in the Info Center watching his other tech analysts work at their stations while he leaned back in his seat at the oval table. He was tired, barely getting sleep these days, but he was determined to find Yejin, though his other jobs and his main work was demanding his attention. Tao, who was able to move around now, spent most of his time with Chen in the hacker's office. Tao didn't want to see Minseok and the Circle leader wasn't exactly in the mood to hear how badly he had ed up from the blond again (and again and again).

As he sat there trying to shake the exhaustion off his cell buzzed in his pocket. Minseok huffed as he shifted in his seat and pulled out the device to answer it.

“What?” he said flatly.

“You sound like ,” Luhan replied almost instantly. Minseok rolled his eyes as he leaned his head back against the chair turning his gaze to the ceiling. “Still no word on her whereabouts?” he questioned without pause.

“Not unless that's why you're calling,” Minseok said with a clenched jaw. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Luhan if he was just calling to talk. Minseok didn't want to talk, he wanted to scream and fire his gun at everything. He hated not being in control.

“Sorry, it's not,” Luhan muttered. Minseok sighed heavily as he rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “I'm calling about something weird. Like really weird.”

The auburn man pulled a face his friend couldn't see. “You find something weird. . . Is that even possible?”

Luhan clicked his tongue clearly no amused. “Yeah it's weird. Twenty of my missing girls showed up at the Palace last night, said that Bangtan was out of commission,” he explained.

Frozen, the man thought about his friend's words for a while until they computed. His eyes snapped open as he glared at the high ceiling. “Out of commission? What happened to Bangtan? My men haven't bothered with them yet, they have no power since Suho's death.”

“I don't ing know. The girls just said the same thing, that Suga let them go,” Luhan grumbled.

“Suga? Their pimp? What is –,” Minseok cut off his own words because it just didn't make sense. Suga was the pimp for Bangtan and was a tough, egotistical guy. Minseok could not wrap his head around what Bangtan was up to now.

“That's not all,” Luhan said, tone still solemn, which was very uncharacteristic of the man. “Apparently B.A.P has taken over management of 3.6.5., at least that's what it seems like. Yongguk's been seen a lot at 7Seas and Zelo and Himchan at the docks taking drop offs. I'm telling you it's ing weird Xiu.”

All the man had to say back was a long, low grumbled groan as he sunk down in his chair. Everything was demanding Minseok's attention and he was just tired. A nap sounded so much nicer than dealing with B.A.P or 3.6.5..

There was a moment of silence between the two friends before Luhan decided he didn't like it anymore. Some times Minseok wished Luhan didn't like his mouth so much or hearing his own voice.

“Any plans on how to handle it? She's not gonna like someone else being in charge, wherever she is,” he commented.

“Hey Bambi,” Minseok muttered.

“Yeah.”

“Shut up.”

Then the call was ended. Minseok dumping his cellphone onto the oval table haphazardly. He was just done. With everything.

Minseok just sat there for a long time barely hearing the hushed work talk, or the many pairs of hands gliding over keyboards typing away. His mind was a whirlwind of jumbled information that just didn't make any sense to him at the moment. When was the last time he had slept? Yesterday, maybe, for an hour or so, which seemed to be how most of his days went since Yejin's disappearance maybe not even sleeping on some days. Luhan wasn't wrong when he had said Kwon Yejin was gonna cause trouble, because that's exactly what was happening now. Trouble.

Forcing himself up from the chair Minseok pocketed his phone, ran a hand through his messy hair and made his way out of the Info Center. He huffed tiredly as he opened the door, climbing the stairs took more out of him than the short climb should have. Stepping into the hall he released another long breath, shoulders sagging slightly, posture a little bent. He felt drained, but even if he were to lay down to sleep he knew his body wouldn't let him conk out, his mind would stay awake contemplating ways to find and get Yejin back. But he would try, he had to at least try to get his mind working properly again.

“Xiumin.”

He had to, because he was starting to hear Yejin's voice in his head.

“Xiumin.”

At least have her say my name, you stupid mass of gray matter, he thought angrily at his own brain. He shoved his hands into his pockets turning down the hall heading to his office with his eyes trained tiredly at the navy carpet below his feet.

“Xiumin!” Her voice seemed to echo in the hall, sounding almost real. So real