“Is everything true? Did you really try to kill Jaebum’s father?” Jihyo stared at her father and took a few steps closer, a look of disbelief on her face as tears welled up in her eyes. 

“Jihyo—“ Jaebum was the one who reacted as he stepped aside from the table. 

“I’m not asking you!” Jihyo screamed, her eyes still fixated on her father who still refused to answer her question. “Daddy, answer me. It’s not true right?”

Park Sangwon sighed then finally looked up at his daughter.

“I wish you would never have found out—“ Sangwon stepped closer to Jihyo and put his hand into his pocket.

Jaebum who was watching closely by the side widened his eyes at Park Sangwon’s action and hurried forward, pulling Jihyo towards him at the same time as Park Sangwon took out his mobile phone.

“You really thought that I would hurt my own daughter?” Park Sangwon let out a dry chuckle as he tapped on his phone then looked up at them. “You are who I want to bring down, Jaebum. Jihyo will understand that what I’m doing are all for her own good.”

“I don’t understand!” Jihyo screamed and looked at her father again, her voice toning down again. “I don't understand at all, why do you have to do this?”

“It's for your own good, Jihyo.” Park Sangwon stepped forward which Jihyo took another one back, not wanting to be near her father. 

“I just want a peaceful life, not a father who's a murderer!” With that said, Jihyo ran out from the office. Jaebum was the first one to react. He turned to look at Park Sangwon with a cold gaze. 

“If you've really loved your daughter, you wouldn't have done this.” He said coolly before running out too, chasing after Jihyo. 

Right after that, Park Sangwon’s phone started ringing. Without even greeting after picking up, he only said kept his sentence short. 

“Jihyo found out everything. Jaebum's with her.”

---

“Jihyo!” Jaebum shouted, ignoring the looks from the employees from KC Telecom as the two of them ran pass them. “Park Jihyo, stop!” 

Despite Jaebum losing his cool composure and shouting in front of everybody, Jihyo never stop running. Jaebum took bigger steps when he noticed the elevator stopping which Jihyo stepped in. However, Jaebum was quick enough; before the elevator’s door closed, he used his arm to stop the door from closing and stepped into it. 

“Leave me alone!” Jihyo tried pushing Jaebum out of the elevator but the door had already closed on them.

“Listen Jihyo,” Jaebum grabbed both of her wrists and looked at the crying girl. “Now that you’ve found out, it’s not safe anymore!”

“I don’t care, then let them hurt me!” 

“Stop being a ing brat!” Jaebum cursed which managed to make Jihyo looked at him. Jaebum took in a deep breath and looked up, fifth floor. “Your father, my uncle and the CEO of Jinyoung’s agency, they have a group and they are definitely not humans. They can hurt you if one of them make a command.” Jaebum looked up again. “Once we reached the ground floor, don’t leave—.”

The elevator door opened right before Jaebum could finish his sentence and at that moment, the agitated Jihyo ran out.

“, I just said—“ Jaebum cursed and ran out at the same time. This time, he caught up to Jihyo right at the entrance of the building and before she could walked further away, Jaebum grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

“Can you just listen to me for once?!” Jaebum shouted then looked around; when he noticed that he had gotten the attention from people, his voice quietened.  “It’s dangerous, let’s go.”

Not letting Jihyo react, Jaebum’s hold around her wrist tightened as he pulled her back into building and towards the elevator. At this point of time, Jihyo had stopped protesting or trying to escape from him. She just walked behind Jaebum, letting him guide them to the carpark. Throughout the whole time, Jaebum had never once let go of her hand. 

---

After Im Jongmin ended the call with Park Sangwon, he turned into the basement carpark. The two figures further down the road caught his eyes — Jaebum and Jihyo.

An evil smirk grew on his face. Even God is on my side. Without even hesitating, Im Jongmin stepped on the accelerator.

The sudden bright lights shining on their bodies caught the attention from both Jaebum and Jihyo. The latter gasped and before she could react, Jihyo felt herself being pushed forward. The impact made her fall and at the same time, she could hear the car speeding off. She turned her head around and the sight of an unconscious Jaebum bleeding from his head greeted her. Panicking, Jihyo crawled towards the man and tapped on his cheek gently.

“Jaebum.” She whispered shakily. “Im Jaebum, wake up.”

But she got no response from the man. Her hand reached out to him but they retreated back shakily. As much as she wanted to check how he was, Jihyo knew that she couldn’t touch him. The small puddle of blood around Jaebum’s head grew which made Jihyo panicked even more. However, despite all the tears flowing down her cheeks and her shaking hands, she took out her phone and called for the ambulance.

“Please, someone’s very hurt here.” Jihyo started off steadily but when her eyes fell on Jaebum’s unconscious look again, her voice broke. “Please come here, quick. I beg you.”

---

On the other side, Jinyoung had sent out an invitation to all the reporters. Without informing his agency. Jinyoung was going to hold a press conference in fifteen minutes time. After the footage of him was shown during the charity ball, Jinyoung had stayed quiet and low. With Jaebum’s help, it seemed that he had disappeared and now that he’s holding his own press conference, reporters swarmed to the venue. 

“What the hell are you thinking?” Yang Jungseob who had summoned Jinyoung to his office yelled but Jinyoung’s response caught him off guard.

“Telling everyone the truth.” Jinyoung smirked. “Now, if you may excuse me, I have a press conference to go to.” He gave Yang Jungseob a wink before heading out of the office. The sarcastic smile he had earlier on was wiped off the moment he was out of the office.

“Is there still no news from Jaebum?” He muttered.

“We can’t track him.” It was Nayeon who replied him but Taecyeon’s voice was heard next. “We will do whatever we can, we won’t let the risk you’re taking now go to waste.”

“You guys better find the venue.”

“And I will find Jaebum.” This time it’s Jeongyeon’s voice. 

“Good luck to all of us then.” Jinyoung joked despite the heavy pounding of his own heart. This decision will really bring his career to the end. 

---

Back in the container, everyone except Jeongyeon was surrounding Taecyeon and Sunmi who had Im Jongmin’s desktop and personal laptop’s information on their screen. They had managed to unlock another level of protection and after a while, Sunmi hit hard on a key on her laptop excitedly.

“Aha!” She grinned and turned around to look at everyone who were around them. “Found the place!” She then turned to look at Taecyeon who took out a $100 bill and placed it on her opened palm. “Told you it will be in his work desktop instead!”

“You guys had a bet?” Bambam asked incredulously. “Under this situation?”

“He wanted Jeongyeon to only get the information from Im Jongmin’s personal laptop, remember? But I don’t think Im Jongmin think in such a straightforward way.” Sunmi paused a while and when the others did not make any response, she continued. “You know how people always say that the more dangerous it sounds, the safer it is? Most people would have thought that Im Jongmin will want to keep things private but he actually kept all the secrets in his work desktop.”

No one said anything. Bambam and Nayeon had their jaws dropped and despite already knowing how Sunmi thinks, Mark was still amazed, even though he’s not showing it. 

“So, shall we go kick some androids’ ?” Taecyeon stood up too and grinned. “I think Jinyoung’s press conference just started.”

“Udon, let me off somewhere.” Jeongyeon’s voice caught everyone’s attention which she then turned to look at them. “Something is wrong, I think my boss is in danger. Neither him or Jihyo are picking up my calls. I hacked into the system to get her number.” Jeongyeon added the last part for everyone’s benefit.

Taecyeon nodded.

“Udon, you heard her.”

“Do you need a car?” Mark asked. “You can’t be taking a cab around.”

“Do you have one?” 

“He doesn’t but Jaebum has.” Udon who’s at the driver seat shouted. “We are passing by his private apartment and I’ve checked, one of his car is still there.”

“Then drop me off at near his apartment!”

“Wait, how are you going to get to his car.” Sunmi who’s still trying to get to know each other them more asked.

“She has the keys to his apartment.” Bambam answered for Jeongyeon. “To feed his precious cat.”

“And I know where he put his car keys.” Jeongyeon added to Bambam’s explanation.

“He really trusts you.”

“For someone who’s always suspicious of everything, he sure does.” Nayeon muttered but that didn’t went unheard by the others. However, before anyone could make a response to what Nayeon had said, the vehicle came to a stop.

“Keep in contact.” Taecyeon instructed and gave Jeongyeon a pat on her shoulder which Jeongyeon nodded before she hopped off the container from the back. 

“Alright,” Taecyeon closed the back door and turned to face the others in the container. “Let’s go do what we got to do!”

---

Jinyoung stood in front of the many reporters in the hall as the cameras from different angles kept flashing in his eyes. He clenched his fist tightly as he gave them all a bow.

“Hello, I am Junior and I’ve invited all of you to explain about the footage that was shown at the charity ball.” 

“Are you admitting that the footage isn’t edited?” 

“Who’s the woman you were trying to protect? Is she your lover?”

“Is the person that you’ve shot dead? Is that why you’ve been hiding?”

“I will now answer all of your questions at once.” Jinyoung raised up a hand and smiled. “Everything you want and need to know. First, the person I’ve shot at is dead—“ Murmurs started to fill the hall again but Jinyoung continued. “But he’s not dead either. That wasn’t a human at all, it’s one of the humanoids that Im Jongmin from the Im Corps, Park Sangwon from KC Telecom and Yang Jungseob of Mystic Entertainment have control of. Technology is more advanced than we thought and in Mystic Entertainment, this building, there are humanoids walking around!”

There was an immediate silence that filled the air.

“The man or something that looked like a man that I’ve shot, isn’t a human. Those three old men kidnapped the family of the person I cared for a lot using the help of these humanoids. They’ve also made use of them to hurt my closest friends. To make sure that they get what they wanted, Im Jongmin, Park Sangwon and Yang Jungseob threatened an innocent woman to help them turn a human into a humanoid.”

The tension in the hall was palpable as everyone tried to digest what Jinyoung had said.

“How do we know that you’re speaking the truth?”

“Is this your way to hide your crimes?”

“I did no crime.” Jinyoung smiled and shrugged. “All I did was try to find out the truth. If you don’t believe me, collect all the staff details and interview them one by one. Start with the bodyguards first, that’s a hint!”

With all of that said, Jinyoung bowed once again and walked out of the hall, away from the swarm of reporters. 

In both the CEO office of KC Telecom and Mystic Entertainment, Park Sangwon, Im Jongmin and Yang Jungseob could only watch as their company’s stock kept dropping.

“Find those bastards and kill them!” Yang Jungseob yelled to his phone and then threw it hard against the wall.

---

“Did we get the right place?” Taecyeon sneaked into the building with Mark and Udon following closely behind.

“I remember the layout of the basement, it’s this place.” Sunmi who stayed in the container with Bambam and Nayeon, watched the screen and muttered in reply.

“There’s no one…” Bambam whispered as he watched the screen too.

“Jinyoung threw a bomb, the media side is chaotic so is the KC Telecom. The whole search engine is about them.”

“We really have to thank him—“ Taecyeon stopped suddenly and there was a sudden silent.

“Taec?” Sunmi spoke in a gentle yet worried tone.

“We are fine, there are still androids moving about as security but Udon is doing everything to shut them down. They probably would never thought that we will find this place.”

“You’re on our screen now, I will lead you guys to the room.” Sunmi spoke, her eyes never leaving her screen as she started giving them instructions. At the same time, Bambam’s on the lookout for any nearby androids that they might have missed. Whereas for Nayeon, she’s on her own computer, making sure that the search on KC Telecom and the news on Mystic Entertainment never drop from the top 3 spot. 

It was only when she’s sure that things were out of control that she shifted to where Sunmi was. Nayeon watched the screen intently, wanting to make sure that he— they weren’t in any huge danger.

“Go in, it should be in this room. This is their experiment room.” Sunmi instructed. “Search everywhere. It should be a small bottle, if I didn’t remember wrongly. Udon, I believe I added a search function in you.”

“On it.” Udon noted as he stood still, his eyes suddenly shining brightly as they scanned around the room. Everyone watched as the light from Udon’s eyes moved slowly from the left to the right. After a short silence, Udon’s eyes went back to normal.

He ran to the corner of the room and moved a huge cupboard aside. Behind it was a small hole in the wall and in there, sat two bottles. Right at that moment, the alarms rang.

“Bambam!” Sunmi turned to look at the younger boy. 

“I think they found out, either that or the cupboard was a trigger!”

“Take both bottles!” Taecyeon urged. “Mark you keep it. Udon, you get ready to fight, I think they are sending the whole army towards us now.

“Bingo.” Sunmi muttered. “But I will shut them down from here, Udon you do it too. Don’t listen to Taec and get into any fight! You still have to drive us away!”

Sunmi, Bambam and Nayeon went back to their own spot and using Sunmi’s newest program, they typed furiously against their keyboard, shutting down the androids that were heading to the other three men in the building. After the longest 10 minutes of their life, Taecyeon and Mark dropped down onto their seats back in the container as Udon drove them away, shutting down all CCTVs which they’ve passed by.

“Please tell me we got the right ones.” Mark put the two bottles onto his table. 

“I think we did.” Nayeon picked up the two bottles to have a look. “For some dumb reasons, they labelled it.” She held the bottle that was labelled “Anti Serum” out for everyone to see.

“They are really dumb when it comes to this…” Sunmi took the bottle from the girl. “My memory which is now very clear tells me that this is the right bottle.”

---

` i lied, i thought i can update on monday so you get chapter 27 today instead but i'm sorry, it's delayed. here's your chapter 26 instead! we only have a few more chapters to go! do stay with me throughout, it's almost the end!