The bag of food dropped from Sungyeol's hand and landed on the ground.  His eyes widened in horror when he witnessed one of the two attackers plunge a sword at Sunggyu while the other stood and watched.  They were both dressed in black with a face mask concealing their faces.  He could tell that they were not normal thugs or robbers.  The important thing was to save Sunggyu, but to do so he would have to make it pass the figure standing there in his way.  He couldn't afford to waste time.

Pressed for time, Sungyeol ran forward.  He had expected that the figure standing there would block his way, but surprisingly the figure did nothing.  Sungyeol counted his lucky stars and rushed ahead towards Sunggyu.  In his moment of desperation Sungyeol did the only thing he could think of.  He grabbed the masked figure from behind and tried to pull him away from Sunggyu.  The masked figure elbowed him several times to get Sungyeol off his back but Sungyeol refused to let go.  It was only then that the masked figure retracted his sword from Sunggyu's chest and turned around to strike it at Sungyeol.  As the sword lowered towards him, Sungyeol grabbed the blade with both hands and held onto it as tightly as he could.

"Sunggyu, run!" he shouted out.

Recognising Sungyeol's voice, Sunggyu placed a hand over his bleeding chest and tried to run ahead, but it was proving to be a difficult task without his walking stick.

While tackling with Sungyeol who was determined not to let go, the masked figure glanced at his companion who had remained a silent observer.

"Why are you just standing there?" the masked figure questioned.  "Go after him!"

The figure standing looked at his companion for a moment before he made a move in the direction that Sunggyu had headed.  He walked at a leisurely slow pace as if he was in no rush.  As he passed Sunggyu's walking stick on the ground, he picked it up and followed the trail of blood left by Sunggyu.

The masked figure kicked Sungyeol in the stomach and managed to pull his sword from Sungyeol's hands.  He looked at the man who had interfered in his plans.  Even if he wasn't the intended target, he wasn't going to escape scot-free.

"You must really want to die," said the masked figure.

"Who are you?" Sungyeol asked.  "Why are you after him?"

"You should worry about yourself," said the masked figure as he rushed at Sungyeol.

He swung his sword at Sungyeol who could only raised his arms to protect himself.  The blade slashed Sungyeol's arms.  Before Sungyeol had a chance to recollect himself, the sword came at him again.  This time, he was unable to stop it from entering his stomach.  He doubled over as blood gushed out.  The masked figure withdrew his sword as Sungyeol fell to the ground.

In his panic-stricken state, Sunggyu tripped over something at his feet and fell over.  He tried to get up but he could hear the footsteps right beside him.  There was no point in running.  He could not escape.

"Why are you doing this?" Sunggyu asked, but there was no answer.

The figure tossed the walking stick to Sunggyu.  It landed right beside him so he picked it up.

"Once a wolf, now the prey," said the figure calmly.  "How far you've fallen."

Sungyu jolted at the familiar voice.  Where had he heard that voice before?  And then he recognised it.

The figure raised his sword and took one last look at Sunggyu before he struck it down.