“Let go of me!” Myungsoo’s voice echoed throughout the sports hall as he struggled to break free from the tight grip of his abductor.

“The young master of Gen clan. I’ll be an idiot to let you go,” The abductor laughed in reply, totally oblivious to the guns that aimed straight towards him.

The guards had surrounded them in seconds; however, they were all afraid of accidentally shooting the young master. Nobody dared to take the risk.

Sunggyu and Hoya arrived at the scene and aimed their gun straight at the abductor.

The abductor laughed even louder at the entry of the two most able guards, “Come shoot me! Shoot me if you dare!”

Watching that, Sunggyu broke into louder laughter. He lowered his gun and stared right at the abductor, who had stopped laughing.

“Do you really think I don’t dare to shoot you?” Sunggyu had posed a question.

The abductor positioned Myungsoo right in front of him and held a pen knife threateningly to Myungsoo’s face. “You won’t dare. I’ll kill him.”

That made Sunggyu laugh even louder.

“You?” Sunggyu couldn’t help but laugh, even when everyone was staring at him as if he went crazy.

“Do you honestly think that you will be able to kill the inheritor to the Gen clan?” Sunggyu asked.

Before waiting for a reply, he continued, “I was trained for 10 years to protect this person. Shall we see, if your knife is faster, or is my bullet quicker?” With that, he grinned.

“Don’t shoot him!” Myungsoo’s commanded, full of confidence.
“I don’t want the students to be alarmed,” Even though he was captured, the leader attitude in Myungsoo remained and his priorities were clear.

“Shut up!” The abductor tried to regain control of the situation. “You guys can’t hurt me. I’ve got the leader of the clan in my hands!” The abductor was visibly getting panicky after seeing that Sunggyu and Myungsoo didn’t fear him at all.

“Do you think you can step out of this school alive?” Sunggyu asked again, his tone dark and serious.

Without waiting for an answer, Sunggyu chuckled.

“The person, who sent you, obviously sent you to die. Can’t you see that? Look around you,” Sunggyu had commanded, his voice hypnotizing the abductor as he did as said.

“Do you see those guns pointing right at you? Do you see those security cameras?” Sunggyu said menacingly.  “They have captured your face and identified you as someone who attempted to assault the leader of the Gen clan.”

“Do you know how many people are there in the Gen clan?” Sunggyu began to move closer to the abductor.

The abductor alarmed, now started retreating. “St…Stay…back!”

“Thousands. Maybe even millions. Even if you managed to take a step out of this school, I bet you won’t be able to make the second,” Sunggyu challenged.

Fully hypnotized by Sunggyu’s words, the abductor was starting to feel fear. Immediately, he released Myungsoo and dashed for the exit that was right beside him. He ran with such fear and panic that he didn’t notice somebody right at the door.

“Grab him!” Sunggyu demanded.

“What?” The shocked person immediately regained his composure and reach out for the abductor. He caught the abductor’s head and with one swift blow, he did a back-flip and the abductor collapsed to the ground, unconscious from the impact.

Sunggyu was surprised as he watched the younger man did the flashy move.

“Wow, you’re not that bad for a kid,” Sunggyu praised him.

He pouted as a reply to that. “You’re not that bad yourself,” He smiled.

“Woohyun, you’re bleeding!” Sunggyu suddenly noticed the cut on the younger man’s hand.

Woohyun who seemed to just realize shook his head in indifference, “Nah, don’t worry. It’s just a small cut. It’ll heal after a while.”

Sunggyu however, won’t just leave the matter like that.

“Hoya!” Sunggyu called out to the other bodyguard. “I’ll leave Myungsoo with you.” With that, he grabbed Woohyun’s injured hand gently and dragged the younger away with him.

~

“Let me go, Seunghyun. I thought you were my friend!” Myungsoo had shouted.

“Friend?” The other snorted in reply.

“Myungsoo, don’t trust anybody!” The old man’s words once again echoed in Myungsoo’s head.

No! Myunsoo had shouted as he watch a bullet went through both the old man’s and his friend’s forehead. The blood flowed profusely and stained Myungsoo’s hands.

NOOOooooooooooooo!

Myungsoo woke up in a puddle of sweat in his own bedroom. How many times had he awaked to such nightmares? Those last words uttered remained in Myungsoo’s head.

Myungsoo, you’re the leader of the Gen clan. You cannot show your feelings to anybody. And don’t ever trust anybody. His Grandfather had often said that to him. Those were his last words when he passed on.

‘Was it really true? Could he really not trust anybody?’ Myungsoo thought to himself.

“Sunggyu…” He found himself calling out a certain name.

Nobody responded.

“Sunggyu…” He tried again, now looking at the door, which Sunggyu was supposed to be going through right now to check on Myungsoo. However, there was no response, unlike normally.

“Master Myungsoo…” Hoya had peeped through the door.

Bewildered why it was Hoya instead of Sunggyu, Myungsoo had motioned Hoya in and ask him for the whereabouts of Sunggyu.

“He’s tending to somebody who got injured before,” Hoya reported.

Myungsoo recalled the last scenes he saw before passing out. He remembered Sunggyu taking another guy’s hand and smiling at that guy warmly. Myungsoo had never seen Sunggyu smiling like this before.

Whoever who stays in this clan would soon be devoid of feelings. The cruelty and betrayal in the clan was enough to make one unfeeling and emotionless. You could trust nobody.

“So Sunggyu can smile like that too, huh,” Myungsoo had said that out loud, earning him a puzzled look from Hoya.

“Hoya! I need you to help me check something!” Myungsoo ordered.

‘Will Sunggyu betray me one day too?’ The thought found its way into Myungsoo’s mind.

~

“Ouch! Can’t you do it gently!?” Woohyun complained at the rough treatment he was receiving.

“You said it was a small wound!” Sunggyu had rebutted back. Still, after hearing that, his touch got a little lighter and gentler.

“That. Was awesome,” Woohyun had said. “You’re really awesome.”

Sunggyu smiled slightly at Woohyun’s praise. The latter still couldn’t get over the amazing scene he saw a second ago.

“It was like from a movie scene!” Woohyun had continued blabbering excitedly. “You guys were so cool… the guns… “ Sunggyu smiled at Woohyun’s non-stop blabbering and didn’t bother to answer.

“But is that guy okay?” Woohyun asked, his blabbering stopped and his tone suddenly serious.

Sunggyu looked up only to meet the eyes of Woohyun’s. They held worry and sadness.

“Young master Myungsoo?” Sunggyu confirmed.

Woohyun nodded. “I often see the two of them in school together. They appeared to be such good friends…” His voice trailed off.

“He’ll be fine.” Sunggyu stated.

“I don’t think he’s fine! How can he be fine? He was betrayed by his good friend. Wouldn’t that hurt a lot?” Woohyun asked, his tone uncertain.

Sunggyu smiled at Woohyun’s thinking.

‘So, he has a kind side to him too,’ Sunggyu thought.

“He’s fine,” Sunggyu confirmed. “Because he is Myungsoo. He’s the master I follow. I know he’s not someone who breaks down just at that. He’s really strong.”

Woohyun watched in awe. “So he’s really your master? And you’re a bodyguard, just like Master Hoya?” Woohyun asked, his eyes twinkling. “That’s so cool!”

“What’s so cool about that? I won’t ever understand why somebody would make that his dream,” Sunggyu had taunted the younger one.

The younger one frowned in response.

“My parents… were bodyguards too,” Woohyun started.

Sunggyu looked up at Woohyun, “were?”

“They died 8 years ago, when I was only 10,” Woohyun continued, shocking Sunggyu.

“I’m… sorry… I didn’t mean to…” Sunggyu apologized before he was stopped by Woohyun.

“It’s fine. I’m proud of them. An uncle had visited me that day and told me how my parents had fought bravely till the end,” Woohyun said, his voice trembling a little.

Sunggyu smiled sadly at Woohyun.

“When the uncle suddenly started breaking down in front of me and apologizing to me profusely, I didn’t know what I should do. I was just… so proud of my parents. They managed to protect someone important to them,” Woohyun started hiccupping up a little, tears welling in his eyes.

“Didn’t you ever hate them? For leaving you?” Sunggyu asked, taking Woohyun’s hands into his.

Woohyun was startled at the sudden contact, but they left his hands as they were.

“Now, I just want to know how it’s like to want to protect someone so badly. I want to experience how it’s like to be willing to risk your life for somebody else. Then, maybe, I’ll be able to forgive them…” hot tears streamed down Woohyun’s cheeks and he started choking on his words.

Sunggyu placed Woohyun’s head on his shoulder and started the younger’s back. He didn’t know how to respond and felt that the only thing he could do was to hold the young, trembling man.

Woohyun wondered why he told so much to a person he just met. He had never said such things to anybody before. Yet, he was showing his weakest side to someone he just met a few moments ago. However, Woohyun didn’t want to think about that.

For now, he just wanted to lie in this warm and strong embrace and feel his heart beating steadily against his chest. In this embrace, he felt so safe.