She nervously paced around in her room, fidgeting with her phone in her hand. She was starting to get worried, not knowing whether or not Mir had read her message or followed it. She hadn’t received any response from him, nor did she hear anything from Dong So about it after being told she had to send him a message to lure him out.

Shaking her head, she sat down near her desk as she let out a deep sigh. Why was she even worried? It’s not like this was anything new to her, they were just following their own way like they always did while handling a target. He wasn’t any different from the people she deceived before in order for Dong So to get his payback.

And still, she felt guilty.

Dong So was right, she had been getting too involved with Mir and his situation, so much so that she had already considered helping him hide from the organisation or help get the money from somewhere. She would have been a liability if she stuck around too much.

But why? Why did she feel so guilty about something that she was used while growing up in this environment? What made Mir so special that she suddenly felt sorry for him, all of their targets were pitiful in their own way and she never felt for them, not ever.

Bzzzt bzzzt bzzzt

The vibration coming from her phone in her hand startled her as she almost dropped her phone, staring down at the caller ID.

Manager Byungki

Her eyes widened. Why was he calling her?

She took a deep breath, considering answering the call then it stopped and she stared down at the missed call notification on her screen. There was no need for to call back though as another notification popped up to let her know of a voicemail message waiting for her and it was safe to assume it was from Byungki.

Carefully she dialled her voicemail and held the phone up, chewing on the side of her thumb as she listened to the distressed voice on the other side.

“Sooyoung-ah, this is Byungki. Please call me back when you hear this, it’s urgent. Mir disappeared.”

Her heart stopped beating for a moment, hearing those last words. He disappeared, meaning that he followed her message and left the safe dorm to meet up with her outside where Dong So had send people to wait for him. That meant that he’d been brought here to meet him, like Dong So wanted.

But was that all he wanted? Again, worry filled her mind as she thought about it. Obviously by bringing Mir here and people discovering that he had disappeared meant that he couldn’t just let Mir go after a rendezvous, it would be too suspicious. So was he being held hostage? Was he going to get killed?

She had to get to the bottom of this. Quickly she got up and raced out of her room, heading for Dong So’s office just in time to bump into Chul Moo who was on his way out.

He carried a satisfied grin that only widened as he spotted the young girl, blocking her way for a moment as he took the chance to rub it in.

“Well, look at that. Speak of the devil…”

“What?” She bit.

“I guess you found out about our little guest, didn’t you?” He sneered, “Of course you did, it was your invitation after all.”

She narrowed her eyes, “What are you talking about?”

“If it wasn’t for you cooperating like you were supposed to, we would never have been able to bring our little friend here to meet with our boss.”

“I did what I had to do.”

“Of course you did,” he chuckled softly, stepping aside as he made his way towards the exit, “Oh, by the way. I took the liberty to inform our guest of your loyalties. The foolish boy actually thought you were on his side, so precious.”

She turned around, glaring at him as he had his back turned towards her, his head cocked slightly backwards.

“You did what?!”

“Oh, wasn’t I supposed to tell him?”  He titled his head aside to glance back at her, an amused smirk painting his lips, “Oops, my bad.”

“YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SH-..!”

She couldn’t finish her sentence as the door behind her opened and Dong So came out, his hands buried neatly in his pocket as he turned to the girl.

“Watch your language, Sooyoung.” He spoke up, quickly glancing towards Chul Moo who merely bowed “You’re just in time. Both of you.”

“Just in time for what?” she frowned.

“To accompany me and introduce me to your little friend.”

She stared at him for a moment, “M-my little friend?”

“Well since you’re the reason he got here, you should do the honours, am I right?” His thin pale lips formed somewhat of a smile, forcefully placing his hand on her shoulder and tightening his grip. “Let’s greet our guest.”

Mir had given up trying to get his hands free from the ropes that tied him to the chair, his clothes were drenched in sweat and underneath the blindfold his eyes were red and face was wet from tears. His entire body ached from the shivering and tension that only grew worse by being here.

He held his breath as he heard footsteps in the distance, the door opened with a soft creak as three pairs of footsteps filled the room. Was Chul Moo back?

“So this is the boy?” he heard an unfamiliar voice ask, his voice deep and almost evil sounding.

“… Yes.”

He recognized that voice. That was Sooyoung.

Sooyoung stared at the boy with widened eyes from the moment they walked into the room, seeing him died up like that felt like a stab to her heart, she felt so sorry for the boy and part of him being there was her fault.

“Hey punk, why don’t you speak up?” he recognized Chul Moo’s voice as it barked at him.

He merely closed his eyes underneath the blindfold, pretending to be asleep and hoping they would leave him alone for now. He didn’t want to see Sooyoung or lock eyes with Chul Moo, and definitely didn’t want to meet Dong So.

“Maybe he’s sleeping…” Sooyoung noted softly, to Mir’s relief.

But he heard footsteps stomp towards him and a strong hand grasping his collar, pulling him slightly up as he squinted his eyes underneath the blindfold.

“I can change that…” Chul Moo sneered, his face inches away from Mir as he raised one hand that formed a fist, ready to beat down on the boy until he’d wake up.

Sooyoung bit her lip, she wanted to speak up and stop him but she was already in hot waters as both men accused her of being too involved in the case. If she tried to protect him now it would only cause bigger problems for both of them.

“No.” Dong So spoke up, to the surprise of both Sooyoung and Chul Moo, the latter slightly lowering his fist as he looked back at his leader, “Let him be, for now. We will come back later.”

“But hyung… It won’t be that hard to wake him…”

“Let the boy rest, half a day won’t matter,” the man chuckled softly, “I will deal with him later.”

Dong So wasn't an easily fooled man, he could spot someone playing dead from miles away. It always amused him that people actually thought they would fall for such a childish act but he couldn't blame the boy for trying. And he rewarded his attempt by sparing him for now. He should have just responded, keeping him here tied up for longer would only increase his fear and anxiety, it was his own torture. And he did enjoy watching his victims roll in fear before taking the lights away from their eyes.

With a grunt, Chul Moo released the boy and stepped back, crossing his arms in a disgruntled manner. Mir’s heart was racing inside his chest as he slumped back into his seat, hoping this nightmare would just end. Maybe it wouldn’t have been such a bad idea for Chul Moo to hit him. Maybe if he hit hard enough it would all be over and he didn’t have to feel so much fear.

“Come.” Dong So spoke up and lead the way to the door, followed by Chul Moo who both headed back down to the office.

Sooyoung stuck behind and instead of leaving the room as well, she just closed the door, lingering in her place for a moment before sighing softly and turning to the boy.

“You can stop pretending you’re asleep now.”

Mir didn’t respond, hoping that if he kept faking it she would leave him alone.

She sighed softly and shook her head, “Suit yourself, idiot.”

With that being said, she opened the door and left the room, leaving Mir all alone once again.