“Stay close to me, Princess,” Bomi murmured quietly, holding out an arm to bring Naeun closer to her. They cautiously walked through the dusty, abandoned factory towards the agreed meeting spot.

It was eerily dark in the factory, and their only source of illumination was the flashlight in Bomi’s hands. The scene reminded her too much of the warehouse where she had almost been killed, but it was about two times larger and two times more unnerving. Bomi strained her ears, trying to catch any sounds of another person, but all she could hear was the tapping of her footsteps and the swaying of the wind outside. 

Bomi walked steadily behind Naeun, keeping a tight grip on the princess’s bound hands. She knew that she had to make it seem like she had captured the princess to trade with the Shadow Clan, but seeing Naeun with her hands bound behind her back still didn’t sit right with her. The fact that Bomi was completely unarmed made the situation a lot worse. Their only form of security was the rest of their team and a few other agents, who were posted outside in inconspicuous spots, waiting for the right time to strike.

After Bomi’s initial proposal for the plan to lure the Shadow Clan leader out, she and her team had worked tirelessly to revise and foolproof it as much as they could. The plan was fairly simple: Bomi and Naeun would lure the Shadow Clan leader out, then their team and the other agents would intervene before the Shadow Clan could get what they want. They were relying quite a bit on chance, especially since they didn’t know if the leader was going to appear. When Bomi had used Seungri’s phone to contact a Shadow Clan member and demanded the leader to come and make the trade, the Shadow Clan member had agreed to her terms, but she had no way of knowing whether their word was good or not. 

They had agreed to no weapons or unnecessary conflict, so Bomi had arrived with no weapons or mics. She didn’t know if the Shadow Clan would abide by her conditions. But, then again, Bomi also hadn’t abided by their conditions, since her team was literally outside, watching their every move with cameras and binoculars.

They have our backs, Bomi reassured herself. They’ll get us out of here.

And yet as they approached the designated meeting area and Bomi saw a group of men and women crowded around a lantern, she still had to battle with the urge to grab the princess and rush her to safety.

One man spotted them first and stepped forward. “You must be Yoon Bomi.”

He broke away from the group and approached Bomi and Naeun. He stopped directly in front of the princess and bent forward, analyzing every inch of her. It went against every fiber in Bomi’s body not to pull Naeun away.

“You must be Princess Naeun,” the man said hungrily.

“Whatever you plan to do, you won’t succeed,” Naeun spat. Bomi had to admit, her acting was phenomenal. “The whole country will know what has happened to me, and they will stop at nothing to bring you down.”

The man pulled away from Naeun and straightened up to his full height of over six feet. He looked at Bomi with a disinterested gaze. “You didn’t bother to stuff a sock in her her?”

Bomi ignored his question. “Where is Yookyung?”

“Sitting in the back of a truck, blindfolded and bound,” the man answered smoothly, despite his lie. He turned to the people behind him and barked, “Bring her out!”

A few men scrambled away, and Bomi’s nerves heightened. She knew that they didn’t really have Yookyung, so where were they scrambling off to?

“Where is your leader?” Bomi demanded. “I agreed to only make the trade with them.”

“Right here,” a deep, gruff voice came from among the crowd of men. Murmurs floated between the Shadow Clan members, and they immediately parted to make way for a tall, muscular man in a dark coat. He towered over the rest of the men and as he approached Bomi and Naeun, he only seemed to get taller. 

When he reached the beam of Bomi’s flashlight, she saw that his face was hidden behind a black, form-fitting mask that covered the top part of his face. The only part of his face that was visible were his lips and chin. It was only a small part of his face, but Bomi could count three scars in that small area: a faint one running from the top of his lips to his chin, a smaller one on the edge of his chin, and another one extending out from the bottom of his mask. That last one was probably the end of a hidden, much longer scar.

Seungri had said that the leader always wore a mask, but Bomi hadn’t known that the mask would be so unsettling. It dehumanized him, the mask. It made him seem less like a human and more like the monster that he really was.

The leader stopped in front of them, and the other man bowed to him, then ran to join his other comrades. Bomi tightened her grip around Naeun’s wrists, trying to keep the princess as close to her as possible without raising suspicion. “How do I know you’re the leader and not just some lackey who put on a mask?”

With his face practically entirely covered, Bomi couldn’t read the leader’s expression. He turned to the people behind him, who had positioned themselves in a straight line and were standing with their hands perfectly behind their backs. The leader raised his hand and pointed to the man on the far left. “You.”

The man stiffened and stared wide-eyed at the leader. He looked frightened to have been called upon. “Yes, sir?”

“Take off your clothes and stand in that corner.”

“It’s wintertime and it’s freezing,” Bomi said, shocked.

The leader seemed unphased. “That is a command.”

From afar, it looked like the man was trembling. He nodded and hastily set off to fulfill his orders, stripping off all of his clothes. Bomi turned away when he began to take off his briefs.

The leader turned back to Bomi and Naeun, like he hadn’t just given one of his men a ridiculous order. “Would that man have followed that preposterous order if I wasn’t the leader? Would those people have parted for me if I wasn’t the leader? Would they have assembled in such a flawless formation if I wasn’t the leader?”

“No. I suppose not,” Bomi replied tightly, but it wasn’t the fact that those men had formed a perfectly straight line or that man had followed his order that convinced Bomi. It was the fact that the man the leader had singled out had genuinely looked terrified. Any lackey could have followed those orders for the sake of deception, but that look of fear? That couldn’t have been faked.

Here Bomi was, standing in front of the leader of the Clan that had brought so much trouble to the nation she served. And she had no weapons on her to end his life right then and there. She wondered how Naeun felt, staring into the eye of the man who had vowed to kill her and her entire family and take her place on the throne. Bomi tried not to let her eyes wander off to the side and look for any indication of her teammates’ arrival.

Now, she thought, now would be a great time for you guys to come!

The leader took a step closer to Naeun, and Bomi felt the princess stiffen. Naeun’s fingers curled into tight fists behind her back as the leader took her chin in his hands and tilted her head side to side, inspecting her thoroughly. 

“Princess Naeun,” he said when he finished. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this day.”

Bomi pulled the princess back. “Bring out Yookyung. Then I’ll give you the princess.”

Where were they?

The leader tilted his head and said nothing. His expression was still unreadable.

“I will get the princess,” he said and walked back towards his subjects. They parted for him, and just as he was walking past them, he raised his hand. “Bring them both to me.”

The leader disappeared into the darkness beyond, and the men who had run off to “fetch Yookyung” came running back with large duffel bags. Laughing and shouting, the Shadow Clan ped the bags, revealing collections of guns, knives, and swords. Even the man in the corner hurriedly pulled his clothes back in and rushed to join his comrades. 

Bomi cursed and pulled Naeun behind her. She knew that the Shadow Clan wouldn’t have been dumb enough to come unarmed.

“Stay behind me, Princess,” Bomi said and pulled her hands up in a fighting stance, despite how futile it was against dozens of armed men and women. The Shadow Clan grinned maniacally at Bomi and Naeun, like they were hyenas sizing down their prey. 

Bomi took a step back with the princess, and the Shadow Clan charged. 

Just as the Shadow Clan members reached Bomi and Naeun, the windows of the factories shattered, and dozens of black blurs tumbled through. It was only when they had somersaulted into the factory and jumped up, weapons ready, when Bomi could see that it was the agents who had been posted outside.

The Shadow Clan members looked around them in confusion, and Bomi took that opportunity and attacked the man closest to her. She surged forward with a quick jab to his windpipe, twisted his gun out of his hands, and pointed the gun at his chest.

“I thought we agreed that there would be no conflict,” Bomi growled.

The man began to say something, but he was interrupted by loud shouting. “Get the princess! She is our number one priority!”

Bomi could recognize that voice anywhere.

From the thicket of darkness ahead, Chorong appeared, clad in her black mission gear and weapons. She was followed by Eunji, Namjoo, and Hayoung, who were all dressed similarly. Bomi roughly pulled Naeun closer to her.

“Yoon Bomi!” Chorong shouted. “Hand us the princess now!”

“They promised that they would return Yookyung!” Bomi yelled back.

“The hell is this?” one of the Shadow Clan members barked. He looked around, taking in the amount of armed agents now surrounding him. Even with the added agents, the Shadow Clan members still outnumbered them by a few followers.

“The leader!” Namjoo cried. “He ran this way!”

“You and Hayoung go after him!” Chorong ordered. “The rest of us will handle it from here.”

“Like hell you will!” one of the Shadow Clan women shouted. She was the first to pull her trigger, letting a bullet fly. If she hadn’t missed, she would have struck one of the agents in their arm. Suddenly, the whole factory was a warzone; there wasn’t a single person who wasn’t engaged in a battle with someone else. Naeun was the only exception.

Bomi swung her gun towards the woman and fired, killing the woman with flawless accuracy. 

“Was this a trick?” Bomi shouted. “Where is Yookyung?”

No one answered her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Naeun get pulled back. Bomi whirled around with her gun raised, but she stopped and lowered her gun when she realized that it was just Eunji. Eunji quickly cut Naeun’s binds and whispered something to her. Naeun nodded in response.

Eunji looked up at Bomi, her hands still tightly gripping Naeun’s. 

“You’re okay?” she whispered.

Bomi gave a small nod and said quietly, “Get her out of here.”

Eunji exhaled and shouted at two agents to come get Naeun. The two agents ran up to the princess and quickly began to rush her out of the factory. Naeun spared one glance at Bomi and Naeun before she ran away in the opposite direction, the agents clinging closely by her side.

“Bbom-ah, let’s get out of here,” Eunji urged.

Just as Bomi was about to reply, she felt a heavy force slam into her side, knocking the wind out of her chest as she collapsed to the floor. Her gun clattered away onto the floor.

“I got her!” her assaulter shouted. 

Before her assaulter could do anything else to her, Bomi caught his hand, twisted her body, and had him pinned underneath her in less than a second. She pulled out the knife strapped to his thigh and ended his life with a neat incision across his throat. 

Bomi saw Eunji lunge forward to help Bomi, but a Shadow Clan member rushed at her with a knife, and she quickly became occupied with him. Bomi pushed herself off of the fallen man, then retrieved her gun. She was about to help Eunji, but her friend evidently didn’t need help, because by the time Bomi had lifted her gun, Eunji had already disarmed and killed her opponent.

In the distance, Bomi saw battle after battle, and it was hard to say which side was winning. They were still equally numbered, and from the bodies that now littered the floor, it seemed that they had also lost an equal number of comrades.

Bomi and Eunji shared one glance, then erupted from their positions and ran to join the thick of the battle. Along the way, Bomi scooped up a fallen knife and flung it at the back of Chorong’s opponent. Her opponent crumbled to the floor, and Chorong gave Bomi a look of gratitude before engaging in another fight with someone else.

It was difficult not the trip over fallen weapons or slip on the slick blood that now seemed to coat the floor. Bomi constantly had to ensure that she had proper footing while she fought. As usual, she kept an eye out for the One-Eyed Man, hoping that she would get her chance at finally avenging her teammates. But, just like the past several times, she could not find him. She didn’t let it bother her that much, and she forced away her slight disappointment as she fought. Hayoung and Namjoo were still nowhere to be found, and Bomi wondered if they had managed to capture the Shadow Clan leader. Hopefully they had, so all this bloodshed wouldn’t have been for nothing.

With each passing minute, Bomi felt the thrill of fighting begin to seep through her bloodstream and bones. Adrenaline sizzled through her body, and her movements gradually became lighter and more electrified, as ironic as it sounded. She would reach her peak soon, and when she did, she would become practically unstoppable.

But she never got to reach her peak.

Just as she struck down another Shadow Clan follower, Bomi felt a rough impact on her back, and she fell forward. She had no time to recover before her attacker pulled her back by the collar of her jacket and landed a punch straight to her stomach. Bomi gasped as the pain lanced through her body and she dropped her weapon. 

“She’s over here!” Her assaulter shouted to her companions. She was a tall, muscular woman with short hair and a cruel-looking face that Bomi thought was quite possibly one of the most punchable faces she had ever seen.

Before Bomi could get up, two hands grabbed her from behind and forced her back down. Two more Shadow Clan members arrived, and as soon as they encircled her, blocking her from the rest of the battles around them, Bomi knew that this would not end well for her.

“You promised me Yookyung,” Bomi growled.

The woman scoffed indignantly. “You were a fool to trust us.” She didn’t let Bomi formulate a reply; she just raised her foot and stomped down onto Bomi’s gut. Hard.

Bomi let out a pained cry, and from somewhere in the distance, she heard Chorong shout. The woman continued to beat Bomi, and try as she might, Bomi couldn’t break free from her captor’s grip. The only thing she could do was endure the beating and try not to scream so loudly.

The woman landed a punch right at Bomi’s temple, and the force was so powerful that she was torn away from the other Shadow Clan member’s hands. She fell to the ground, coughing up blood. She tried to pull herself up, but she couldn’t. Her vision was blurry and there was a high-pitched ringing in her ears. She was fairly certain that the woman had given her a concussion.

Amidst the ringing in her ears, Bomi heard Chorong’s familiar voice approaching her, followed by Eunji’s equally familiar voice. Bomi raised her head and caught a glimpse of her two teammates rushing towards her, pushing aside any opponent who got in their way. 

But they wouldn’t make it in time. The same man who had held her before forced Bomi’s arms behind her. Chorong’s face went stricken with fear, and she began running faster, Eunji keeping a steady pace beside her.

No, Bomi wanted to say as the Shadow Clan man hefted her up. This wasn’t a part of the plan.

“Take her away,” the woman ordered, and Bomi felt herself being pulled back. She felt too weak to fight back.

“BOMI!” Chorong’s piercing scream cut through the factory, and even with the ringing in Bomi’s ears, her leader’s voice was clear as day.

Bomi saw two men position themselves in front of Bomi as she was being taken away. They had guns in their hands and were watching Chorong and Eunji run towards them. Bomi’s eyes widened.

No. This wasn’t the plan.

Chorong and Eunji were only a few feet away, and the men raised their guns. 

“STOP!” Bomi yelled, her shout ripping through . Both Chorong and Eunji stopped in their tracks and stared wide-eyed at Bomi. Bomi’s voice was hoarse, “Don’t get any closer.”

“No!” Chorong shouted, taking another step forward. She looked breathless. “Bomi!”

The men in front of Bomi cocked their guns, and Eunji leapt forward and pulled Chorong back. “Unnie, we can’t!”

But Chorong just looked back and forth between Bomi and Eunji, as though she couldn’t see the two men in front of her, pointing their guns at her. “Eunji-ah, we have to get her! Let me go!”

Chorong tried moving forward, but Eunji clung to her with a tight grip. Bomi could tell that this was as difficult for Eunji as it was for Chorong. Bomi kept her eyes on Chorong and Eunji as she pulled away.

“Let me go! We have to get her!” Chorong cried. She tried breaking free from Eunji, but Eunji’s grip remained unbreakable. “Bomi! BBOM-AH!”

Bomi bit down on her teeth. This wasn’t the plan.

As Chorong and Eunji got smaller and smaller in the distance, Bomi still kept her gaze on them, trying to salvage her last image of them. Even when she could no longer see her comrades, Chorong’s frantic screaming and Eunji’s desperate expression were still fresh in Bomi’s mind, so raw and clear that they continued to haunt her as she was finally pulled into the depths of the darkness behind her.

Pls don't hurt me for leaving you guys at such a big cliffhanger :,)