They trudged down several hallways, probably to confuse the pair. Kyuhyun had been keeping track though, finding the facility to be much smaller than he imagined. Then again, the last corrupt group he had dealt with was on a bigger scale than some human trafficking deal.

Finally, they came to a stop outside of a metal door. The guards patted them down, confiscating their weapons before shoving them into the room.

Kyuhyun crashed to the ground, swallowing a grunt of pain. A few feet away, Taemin groaned, rolling onto his side.

“Boss, we found these two outside of the Level 1.”

“Why didn’t you kill them on sight?” a rough voice shouted.

“We thought you’d wanna interrogate them,” one of the guards mumbled. He started pulling out his gun.

“Don’t shoot them now,” the leader snorted, “get out. It’s already too late.” He waved the oaf off, rubbing his forehead tiredly. The door slammed shut. “I’m sorry about that, they’re ups, but they’re manageable and stupid.”

“No problem,” Kyuhyun mused, getting to his feet. Taemin was doing the same a ways off.

The boss turned to look at the black clad spy. “Shut your mouth, bastard. I wasn’t talking to you.”

Turning his head a bit, Kyuhyun saw a business man sitting across from the dealer. He seemed to be handing over wad of cash. The boss waved his hand and from the shadows came a chained and woman. Her eyes were cold and hollow, skin pale and scrubbed clean. Each step seemed to weigh on her and every breath made her visible ribcage shudder.

Kyuhyun took an involuntary step, but stopped as a knife tip pressed into his lower back. Backing down, he raised his hands up in surrender, feeling the knife let up slightly.

“Nice doing business with you again,” the man chortled as the woman was handed off to the client. Without a word, he passed by Kyuhyun and Taemin, chains jingling as the girl fumbled to keep up.

Forcing the rising bile down, Kyuhyun glowered at the dealer. Glancing over at him, he tucked the money away and nodded for the guards to lead Kyuhyun and Taemin closer. Kicking the pair to their knees, they chained their hands together behind their backs.

“Be happy that you only walked in on a minor client,” his face was twisted in annoyance, “if they hadn’t gone off for a tour, I would’ve shot you dead on sight. Those buffoons never think to knock first.”

“So we get to die because of their incompetency?” Kyuhyun raised an eyebrow.

“No, you die for being so incompetent as to get caught,” he sneered. “Who are you working for?” He demanded without preamble.

Neither of them answered.

The boss ground his sole into Kyuhyun’s shoulder, shoving him backwards into the hard, cold ground. “I asked: who are you working for?”

“None of your business,” he said between carefully taken breaths.

“If it’s none of my business, let me kill you now.” The sound of a gun filled Kyuhyun’s ears as if he was drowning. Closing his eyes, he wriggled up to a kneeling position.

“An extermination agency,” Kyuhyun responded, hoping that would suffice.

The man didn’t seem to buy it, the trigger. “Try again.”

He scrambled for an acceptable excuse, heart beating faster as he stared down the gun. Nothing came to mind. .

“Stand down.”

The room quieted. Taemin’s head whirled around, eyes widening as he saw the man from earlier, Lee Donghae, coming inside. In front of him was a shorter, petite young man with dark brown hair. His cheekbones were high and his eyes were a lovely dark shade.

Taemin turned to Kyuhyun, breath catching when he registered the other’s expression. He looked suffocated and relieved, broken and put back together. There seemed to be words daring to burst from his mouth, but struggled to get past his lips. Taemin cleared his throat, watching Kyuhyun snap back to attention.

“A-Ah, Mr. Kim, Mr. Lee,” the gun dropped from Kyuhyun as the man bowed low, “I didn’t think your tour would be done so quickly. Please excuse me for this unsightly situation.”

Ryeowook gazed at Kyuhyun who returned it pleadingly. There was a silent, disconnected argument raging between them, but all Taemin could decipher was the humiliating fact that Kyuhyun was losing. The slender young man broke eye contact, resting his watchful gaze on Taemin next. It was brief and absent, as if there was nothing to see when he looked upon him.

“We’ll take them,” Ryeowook murmured.

“Excuse me?” the dealer blinked, surprise evident. “But…why would you want them?” His beady eyes narrowed in silent question.

Ryeowook pressed his lips together, head shaking the tiniest bit. “Thigh.”

“What—?” He was interrupted by a shattering bullet and a thick groan. Frantically, he backed away, eyes large with fear.

Kyuhyun’s jaw slackened, face frozen as he watched blood dribble from the wound in Taemin’s leg. Smoke rose up in the dim light, clouding overhead. “What…,” he trailed off, looking up at Donghae, “why—”

“Shut up before I shoot you, too,” he cut off, leveling the gun with Kyuhyun’s head.

“I’ll take them,” Ryeowook repeated, turning to the dealer for objections.

“O-Okay,” he nodded hastily.

Tilting his head slightly, he directed Donghae to get the wounded boy. Unchaining him, he threw Taemin over one shoulder, winding the long chain around his knuckles to force Kyuhyun to his feet.

“We’ll be back tomorrow evening,” Ryeowook stated quietly, turning away and leaving.

Donghae led the two prisoners along behind him. Guards escorted them back up to the main ground level, waiting until their car came to pick them up. In that short duration, not a word was uttered. Kyuhyun couldn’t keep his off of Ryeowook though, and received several deliberately rough jerks on the chains binding him.

“Have a nice night, sir,” the guards bowed, not lifting their heads until after Ryeowook had slipped into the darkness of the backseat.

Taemin was thrown in next, crashing into the floor of the roomy space. The chain rattled as Donghae tossed it in, kicking Kyuhyun face first into the car. Stepping inside next, the door shut.

The atmosphere should’ve calmed, but if anything it grew tenser. Taemin gripped his bleeding leg tightly, fingernails smeared with the dark liquid. When the car rolled forward, Kyuhyun was already untangling the metal biting his wrists and finding his way over to help his partner to a sitting position.

Kyuhyun stared across the distance at them. “What the hell is going on?”