D—“:

Luhan stared down at his tray of delicious food. The fanciness and exquisiteness of it made him feel unsure. Was the food always this good or was it poisoned? With his spoon in hand he looked up to see Kris and Victoria eating hungrily and of course they weren’t choking from poison. Slowly turning his head down he took a bite of what he had and not to his surprise it was as good as it looked.

Halfway throughout the meal a small crowd entered in through the large entryway talking amongst themselves. When Luhan looked up he realized that it was actually a group surrounding one man. The man in the middle with a progressing beard on his face looked proud of himself and the attention he was garnering. What was this? What was going on? Why did they seem so excited?

Someone random rushed over and palmed the table before taking the seat next to Kris. Luhan had never seen him before but Kris and Victoria didn’t seem to care about his interruption. They just continued eating away at their breakfast acting like he was invisible. However, this random person didn’t seem at all hurt and continued relaying his message.

“He tailed them! Chang In tailed them!” he anxious passed on the news. “We’re invading tonight. Not the big group like usual, but only about 10 of us and they want the most skilled.”

This seemed to catch both Victoria and Kris’ attention as they dropped their attention on their food.

“Tailed who?” Victoria asked.

“A group out on our territory, they were spotted when someone went out to do their business,” the man continued, “’s going down tonight.”

“Who are they?” Kris jumped in.

“The government coup.”

Luhan felt his ears ring.

“Serious?” Victoria asked.

The man nodded. “They said we’re getting out after lunch. Names of those participating will be released in a few. Keep your heads up.”

He left the seat and jumped over to another table. Luhan stole another look at both Kris and Victoria’s expressions lost in thought.

“Most likely we’ll be heading out,” Victoria told Kris with a slight turn of her head. “Get your gear prepared after you finish eating.” Luhan almost shrank back when Victoria set her eyes on him. “You’re going to be heading out with Kris. This is the best opportunity for you to get some experience.”

Luhan lowered his gaze. So they wanted him to kill already…

“Rules are,” Victoria picked up his attention again, “if you can’t do your job, we cut your neck. You better do well since Kris says you’re a gamer.”

Luhan pressed his lips together. Just what were their expectations of him? What if he couldn’t meet their expectations? Would they kill him too then? Honestly, he was nervous. He couldn’t imagine shooting a person down. For what reason was he killing? They hadn’t explained anything clearly.

And the list of those participating was released right after breakfast ended. 10 of them were going to wipe out the government coup hiding out in the mountains. Kris and Victoria were among the few participating, and because they were going Luhan was forced to go along. As a new member, they said, he needed to get a taste of what it was like to be part of Organization One.

Kris led him back to the artillery and while he remained downstairs to re-polish his beloved weapons, Luhan made his way up to the roof. He set down the sniper Kris had handed him but he just stood there with the dangerous thing in the grasp of his hand. His eyes traveled toward the target down below. Why should he shoot the gun? Why should he practice his shooting? If he bettered his aim, it only meant he was preparing to shoot someone.

Luhan didn’t want to kill.

He remained there for the rest of the day until he was called out. After lunch they trekked through the woods. Every step that carried him closer to the government coup left him feeling anxious and nauseous. They were preparing him to kill. Organization One wanted to transform him into a killing machine just like Kris and Victoria. Deep inside, Luhan was scared.

They didn’t stop, not once, for a small break. After about two silent hours of hiking they finally reached a clearing and beyond the thickets of trees Luhan could see something looming up into the sky where the trees had been cleared. Sung Hyuk, who was leading them, held an arm out to stop them and ordered everyone to lower themselves so as not to let them be seen. It was broad daylight still, Luhan realized, which would make it easy for them to be spotted. After a wave of his hand everyone followed him in crouching mode.

At the edge of the trees he paused again, looked around, before waving his hand again, and they all hurried out. The group pinned themselves against an ancient building before Sung Hyuk pushed open the weak door and they ran in. Inside was dusty, dirty, and trails of dust floated in through the broken windows. The floors had been littered with plastic bottles, syringes, and dirty old boxes. Whatever it had been used for Luhan couldn’t decide.

They stopped in the first hallway where windows only faced the woods where they’d come from. Here was where none of them would be spotted. Sung Hyuk turned around to face the group.

“This used to be a hospital,” he began, “there should be stairs leading up to the room. Kris, you take him upstairs and aim for any one of the government coup personals you can spot. At the first shot the rest of us will infiltrate their base in the next building. You two cover us, that’s your job.” He turned face the others. “We’ll wipe them out and escape as fast as possible. If anything uncalled for happens, it should be dealt with your instincts. Everybody understand?”

They all nodded in unison before they eventually split up and Luhan followed Kris toward the stairs. He had a bad feeling about this.

D—“:

Evidence…what would Im Heung Soo had wanted from her the night he was killed? Namjoo thought about it over lunch but she couldn’t think of anything. Had he wanted the disc which contained evidence of Organization One’s existence? Or did that disc consist of something else? Something important? Thinking about it gave her such a headache, but Namjoo knew she needed to figure it out in order to completely understand why this was all happening to her.

But she’d only found the USB that night…should she look again? After leaving the canteen she started up the stairs and entered her room. Her bag was on the floor where she’d left it. Getting onto her knees she picked up her bag and rummaged through it for a disc, anything that might look like a disc. Nothing…she saw nothing.

Namjoo dropped her bag with a heavy sigh of disappointment before she picked her bag up again and dug out the USB. It would be a violation of her contract if she took any confidential information from the office and if she looked at private matters, but she was no longer in the office. There was nothing for her to fear.

Grasping it within her palm she ran back downstairs and into the room Leeteuk and Eunhyuk had brought her to that early morning. She found Eunhyuk’s laptop still sitting there and turned it on. Luckily it was still on and she immediately plugged in the USB. Namjoo hoped she’d find no evidence of Organization One and that nothing would crop up along with all the other information in the USB’s database. She had to be innocent. She had to plead her case that this had nothing to do with her, that she was a victim…

A folder automatically opened up and she browsed through it. There were nothing but fund records stored on it. Namjoo traveled from folder to folder but there wasn’t anything relevant to her situation. This could only mean that this wasn’t the disc Im Heung Soo had asked for…what did this mean? Did she have that disc to begin with? Why had Im Heung Soo been so sure that she had that disc?! Unless…unless it was his mistake to begin with.

“Ugh…” Namjoo groaned and pelted her head from both sides with her hands before she thought she heard a crack outside the window.

Lifting her head up she looked around the barren room and realized how scarily big it was. Feeling the chills she got up and opened the door. Her breath was immediately cut off when she saw Leeteuk standing there when she’d expected to see no one at all.

“Oh…why? What are you doing?” Leeteuk questioned.

Namjoo made way for him to enter and watched as he grabbed the laptop before walking out. She decided to follow him.

“Can’t I get out of here?” Namjoo persisted. “I don’t have that disc. I don’t have anything on me that contains evidence of that organization. Can’t I go home? I’m innocent. I know I’m innocent of all this.”

“It’ll be difficult for you to make your way out of here,” Leeteuk calmly said. “Staying here is your best choice.”

Namjoo paused by the window to stare at him. She wanted to complain so bad, she wanted to vent her frustration, but she found it difficult to force the right words through where he wouldn’t refute her. Just why…did she have to be here?! There was no end to the frustration swarming through her.

D—“:

The breeze at the top was nice but it wasn’t meant for enjoyment at the moment. Luhan watched Kris set up the semi-automatic sniper rifle beside him and wondered why Kris, himself, wasn’t sniper instead. They’d only carried one sniper rifle while Kris had geared himself with an automatic handgun like the others. Why were they pushing him into this, he couldn’t explain.

“You’re on,” Kris said stepping away from the rifle.

Luhan found himself staring at the rifle set up on the edge of the high-wall of the roof. Was he really going to touch the gun for real? Was he…going to shoot it at someone? Unable to run away under Kris’ watchful eyes he submitted to his fate and took the gun into his hand and peered through the telescopic scope. Moving the gun along with his arm he looked from window to window hoping that he wouldn’t be able to spot anybody. As quick as the thought came, Luhan spotted someone standing in his view just by the large square window.  

He focused on her and stared for a long time. It looked like she was talking to someone out of his range and then when she shifted herself Luhan felt his throat choke on his breath. What in the world was Namjoo doing there!? His hand, the hand on the trigger literally shook from the heavy shock of it. Luhan couldn’t believe his eyes. What was Namjoo doing there!?

“What are you doing? Shoot,” he heard Kris order from behind.

Even from where they were, Kris would have spotted people. Still, Luhan’s body just froze. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t do it!

“What the are you doing!?” Kris belted loudly from underneath his breath. “Shoot! Shoot!”

Luhan gritted his teeth and clasped his jaws together. No matter what, under no circumstances would he be able to shoot Namjoo. He couldn’t do it. It was impossible to try and kill someone he knew so well. His heart raced realizing what situation he was in.

What in the world was this!?

All of a sudden he felt Kris grab his shoulders from behind in an attempt to shove him aside and take over, but Luhan grounded himself on spot with refusal to move. They fought and struggled with the other, Kris wanting to take hold of the sniper, Luhan resisting. The two moved back and forth in spot from their power struggle and before Luhan fell to the side he accidentally pulled the trigger.

He lay there stunned and frozen. Kris’ angry eyes sat on him for a few seconds before he ran down the stairs. When his footsteps disappeared Luhan finally pulled himself up and looked through the window to see a man pulling Namjoo to safety. A pang of relief flooded through him before he remembered that the others were infiltrating the building…and that only meant one thing. Namjoo and the people with her would be trapped. Luhan couldn’t allow it to happen.

Grabbing the rifle off the high-wall he aimed for the front doors of the building across from him and shifted his aim toward the path Kris was headed. At all costs, he needed to keep Namjoo alive. As Kris neared, Luhan didn’t hesitate to shoot the ground. Kris ducked in cover and stared up at him. Luhan shot again and again, Kris dodged each bullet every time before he eventually entered the building.

“!” Luhan swore underneath his breath before taking the rifle with him and headed down the stairs.

Keeping away from sight he found one of the broken windows on the third floor and shoved aside with the remaining glass shards with the end of the rifle before aiming through it. Keeping his sight on the building before him he tried to recall the face of the members that had come along with them. Already in the distance he could hear shouts and gun shots firing into the bright afternoon sky.

Pressing his lips together and holding his breath he stared through the scope and spotted one of the organization members making his way down the hallway. Following him, Luhan shot again and again, and through his shots he heard glass breaking.

D—“:

Namjoo’s scream pierced the air the moment her body dropped to the ground on plain instinct. Throwing her arms over her head she remained where she was for the next few seconds before Leeteuk reached over to pull her up.

“We need to run, NOW!” he practically screamed the last word.   

He tugged on her arm with so much strength she almost tumbled over, and she almost went with him before she recalled the most important thing.

“No!” Namjoo pulled out of his hold.

“What are you doing!?” Leeteuk screamed.

“I need to get something…” Namjoo blinked her eyes rapidly before turning around and headed toward the stairs as fast as her heart was racing.

It was absolutely crazy, but Namjoo realized she needed it with her just as she’d carried it with her the past 5 months. Her legs brought her up the stairs to the floor where their bedrooms were and she instantly found her room. Her bag was on the floor along with the gun belt and the gun Eunhyuk had given her. First ignoring the other things she reached for her bag and pulled out her wallet. Inside the side pocket she took out a tiny pocket sized picture and tucked it into the pocket of her jeans before reaching for the gun belt and the gun Leeteuk and Eunhyuk had cautioned her to keep with her at all times. This time, she realized, wasn’t time to be afraid of them, she needed them for protection.

Namjoo hurried back down the hallway and bounded down the stairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs she started down the long hallway but halted when she spotted a dark shadow rounding the corner far down the hallway headed straight toward her. At this moment her heart was pounding so fast that Namjoo didn’t know if she would survive this attack. She glanced around and randomly opened a door, left it to close behind her, and scrambled for the long desk at the back of the room. Falling onto her knees she crawled onto her side and hid underneath the desk hoping with all her might that whoever it was wouldn’t follow her.

D—“:

“! What the hell is going on?!” Chan Shik screamed from behind the trees.

“Everyone’s here, right?” Eunhyuk questioned while looking around.

“It’s a good thing we were just walking out of the canteen,” Krystal muttered. “If we remained inside there’s no doubt we’d be trapped inside.”

“Did you see that? Did you see that?” Tao repeated panicked. “Did you see them all running inside?”

Man Sook held his gun out and readied to shoot when someone started running their way, but lifted his gun when he recognized Leeteuk.

“Where were you!?” Eunhyuk bellowed.

Leeteuk held up his laptop before glancing back, “Namjoo’s still inside.”

“What!?” the rest gapsed in complete disbelief and unison.

“I’ll go get her,” Eunhyuk offered backing away from his post.

“I’ll go too,” Baekhyun stepped forward, “I counted at least 9 of them. They must have surrounded the building already. It’d be difficult if you go alone. It’ll be better if we were to back each other up.”

Eunhyuk glanced at him before nodding. “The rest of you guys, cover us.”

D—“:

Kris was pissed. Luhan had pissed him off. First, he hadn’t done his job. Second, he’d fought with him. Third, he’d tried shooting him. He bit his bottom lip to control himself and sped through the hallway swearing that he’d shoot anyone he saw in sight. Luhan would have to wait until this mission finished.

Kris grunted and turned around the corner but came to an immediate pause when he saw a door closing. With a raised brow he affirmed his grasp on the handgun before quietly stepping toward the door. When he reached the door, he reached for the doorknob as gently as possible to refrain from making any noise and pushed it open. It was an empty room with two bookshelves, a circular table, and a teacher’s desk at the back of the room.

Narrowing his eyes waiting and listening for any movement he stepped forward.

D—“:

Namjoo hugged her knees to her chest and covered with both hands so tightly that she almost couldn’t breathe. She was shaking from fear and her teeth were on the verge of chattering. Even if she had the gun with her, if it was a man approaching her, she knew that without doubt he’d oust her right away. Namjoo clamped her eyes shut tightly the second she heard him take another step closer to her.

D—“:

When Kris was a step away from the desk he heard someone running down the hallway. Turing around in alarm he dashed out of the room and spotted a man running down the hallway. On impulse, he chased. 

***Luhan knows Namjoo is with the other team and he realizes Organization One is going to try to kill her. He's making it worse for him by trying to stop Kris and the Organization One, and boy will he be in trouble with Kris later, but he's trying to keep Namjoo alive...so yay! 

***Namjoo & Kris would have met here if not for the interruption at the end. Their lives are just going to be more twisted up later.