She cautiously walked toward the injured boy. From the distance, she wasn’t able to see if he was conscious or not.

Hesitantly stepping toward him, she inspected the boy who was still breathing heavily and whose eyes were closed.

Even from this close, it simply seemed that he was sleeping.

But Soojin knew better. She could see the purple-black bruises already showing from underneath his shirt where it was carelessly showing.

She tentatively reached over to feel his forehead.

And the second she touched it, he immediately opened his eyes and harshly pushed her arm off. He glared at her like a wounded animal ready to fight to protect itself.

“Leave me alone,” he growled venomously.

Soojin looked at him with worry. Despite the anger in his eyes, she could see the pain he was in.

She looked through her bag before getting up and glancing around looking for something. She quickly got up and running.

The boy watched her, assuming that she ran away, and rested his eyes. He calculated that he wouldn’t be able to move from this spot for while.

It was silent before he felt something cold against his forehead. He flinched and jumped forward, whipping around to see who it was.

Soojin was sitting next to him with a wet handkerchief in her hands. She slowly pushed him down, careful not to touch him where she was sure he had bruises.

Too tired to fight back, he allowed her to put the cool handkerchief on his forehead. In spite of how nice it felt, he would never admit it.

“I thought you left,” he said.

She shrugged off her bag and began to open it. “I was looking for a source of water.”

“And I thought I told you to leave me alone,” he tiredly muttered.

Soojin, who was rummaging through her bag, stopped and stared at him. “I couldn’t just leave you alone,” she mumbled.

The boy started to laugh bitterly, “Why? Because you pity me?” He stared at her with sullen eyes.

She stared back at him. “I think it’s partly because I felt like I should have done something earlier and partly because I felt like you could give me answers. And partly because I’m not that inhumane to leave an injured person to fend for themselves. So can I tend you now?”

He watched her with an amused expression. “Well, aren’t you honest?” He closed his eyes. “Do what you must. At this point, I don’t even care.”

He was about to say something else, but he felt something at his lips. He opened his eyes and saw Soojin putting a water bottle at his mouth.

“Drink,” she ordered with one hand in her bag still rummaging through it. He took it and took large gracious gulps.

“Ah! Found it!”

He curiously glanced over to see what she found.

“I bought this because I was running out at home. Who would have known that it would have helped me now? Or rather you.” She slowly opened the package and twisted open the bottle. She passed over two white pills to him.

“And this is?” he asked suspiciously.

She grabbed his hand softly and dropped the pills in his palm. “Aspirin. I’m not going to poison you.”

He looked at the aspirin before downing them dry. She watched him with wide eyes.

“What?” he asked, glancing at her.

She shook her head. “How are you feeling?”

“Well, assuming that these are truly aspirin and not poison, I should be fine in a couple of minutes when the painkillers kick in. But right now, I feel like .”

“Are you really not going to tell anyone? I mean, I’m sure someone can help us,” Soojin muttered. “In fact, if we go right now,” she said as she stood up, “I’m sure we can get you some help...”

The boy grabbed on her arm and yanked her down. “Don’t you dare,” he muttered darkly.

“Are they really that terrifying that we can’t do anything? Are they a gang or what? What are they?” Soojin asked.

He laughed bitterly, “They’re not a gang. They’re worse than a gang.” He sighed, “I don’t even know what to call them. An organization? If they are, then an evil one.”

“What do you mean?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You really want to know?”

Soojin bit her lip before nodding hesitantly.

He leaned closer, “Are you sure? There’s no going back once you know.”

This time she nodded with determination.

He leaned back and heaved deeply. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He glanced at her and back in front of him.

“Where to start? To put it shortly, they’re a group that helps people, especially people in high school because apparently they are the most desperate. But they help in ways you can’t even imagine. You want your rival in school to suffer? Call them up, and they’re personally send him to a mental hospital. Scared you’re failing your classes? They will do anything to make sure you don’t, whether it’ll be by cheating or hacking onto the computer to change your grades. Anything you’re suffering from, they’ll help you. All from the shadows.”

He winced as he took another sip of water. “But they don’t come cheap. I heard that some people have racked up debt from their help because what kind of high school student has that kind of money? But he doesn’t mind. No, instead he makes you do his dirty work.”

“‘He?’” Soojin asked.

He glanced at her. “N. The effing mastermind of the whole organization. He’s a bastard, let me tell you.”

“Just him?”

“N is the top of the top. He was practically king of this whole thing. But he did have two people that he trusted his life with. K and L. And the three of them were well-known to be the top of this group.”

“What do you mean?” Soojin asked cautiously.

He put out his index finger. “As I said before, N is the mastermind. He planned everything out. And he was great at talking. He could make anyone go mental if he wanted to. He’ll tell you all your worst fears and make them a reality.”

He added another finger. “K is, I suppose, the messenger. He does most of the grunt work, but he doesn’t mind. He’s skilled at fighting. They all are, but he is the best. He’s the one you want to talk to if want something done.”

And lastly he held out three fingers, “And L is the brains. I mean, N’s smart too, but N was the sort of smart that messes with your head. The manipulative kind. L is crazy intelligent though. He was a genius with technology. They say if the situation called of it, he could probably track down anyone he wanted to. He could also predict things like no other."

He curled his fingers back into a fist. "But I don’t see him with the other two lately. I heard that they got in a dispute a few years back, but it’s a nasty rumor. And don’t think that just because they’re the top, it’s just them. This organization has leashes on so many people. The person you’re sitting next to in class could be under their control.”

He sighed, feeling a little better after the painkillers took effect. “So, I answered your question. Anything else or?”

“But why can’t you do anything about it?” Soojin asked. “Why are they afraid to fight back?”

He paused before answering. “What do you think is the most important thing for a student in school? It’s their future. If you decide you had enough and fight back, they could literally destroy your future. Ridicule you and show the world all the evil things you have done. You lose everything. The trust your family and friends had of you. People start talking behind your back, and everybody knows what you did. Schools don’t even look at your application; work forces hears your doings and don’t even look at you. You have no future. And nobody can risk that.”

“Why do you know so much?”

“Me?” he asked, surprised, pointing to himself. He laughed cynically, “Because I was one of them. The people they had leashes on. They helped me with something, so now I owe them. And once you’re in, you start to hear things. Whether they’re true or not, that’s up for you to decide.”

He stared at the ground angrily with his fist clutched tightly. “But when I wasn’t able to meet one of their demands, they did something that drove me to the edge. They got my little brother involved, even though I told them not to involve my family. They made him do stuff for the group. Stuff I can’t even bear to think about. So I confronted them and well, you saw what happened. N told me that it was all my fault. That my brother wouldn’t have been involved if I had done my job right.  So I told him that never to involve me again with their goddamn group if I finish the task. And surprising, he agreed.”

He laughed again, “Imagine that. All it took was a little beating up and some begging to not involve me again, and out I go.” He narrowed his eyes, “But it’s not like I’m completely out of sight. If you make one wrong move, then it’s death for you.”

He turned to look at Soojin. “And that’s why I won’t go against them. I rather live in the quiet and not bother with them.”

“And what about the other people who are stuck?”

He shrugged, “Never really talked to them. Too many of them. Every man for himself, I suppose.”

 He glanced at Soojin. “You seem like a nice girl. I don’t know why you want to get involved. In fact, I don’t even think you are involved, considering how little you know.”

“I-I have a friend who’s involved,” she said carefully.

“And you want to help this friend? Hah! Good luck with that. It’s your friend who made the stupid mistake of becoming greedy. They’ll only target you too if you get too close.”

Soojin stared silently at the ground. The boy watched her and sighed. “Don’t get too depressed about it. Nothing you can do about it. Just support your friend, I guess. Only thing you can do.”

“How are you feeling?” she asked quietly.

The boy looked at her in surprise at the sudden change of topic . “Good. Fine.” He tenderly moved his body. “It doesn’t hurt as much as before, but it still hurts.”

“That’s good,” she whispered softly.

The boy glanced at her again in worry. He sighed and put out his hand, palm up. Soojin stared at it in confusion. 

“Phone,” he stated. Soojin looked at him in surprise and the boy stared without expression back at her. She slowly took out her phone and gently placed it on his outstretched hand. He slowly typed in it before giving it back to her.

He stretched out his hand again, this time in a form a handshake. Soojin hesitantly took in hers and shook it, unsure where this was all going.

“I’m Hoya. And I’m going to be blunt. I’m worried that I might have caused N and K to target you. You saw them beat me up, and if they find out that you helped me as well…” he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence. He shook his head harshly. “The point is, if you feel like you’re in danger, don’t hesitate to contact me.”

He painstakingly got off the bench, wincing in pain. “So miss…” he started.

“It’s Soojin,” she said softly.

“Excuse me?”

“Soojin. It’s my name.”

He nodded, “So Soojin, I hope that nothing bad comes upon you. But if it does, call me, text me, whatever, and I’ll try to help you. But if nothing does, please, don’t get mixed up in this. For your own good.”

And for the first time Soojin had talked with him, he smiled. He smiled gratefully at her. “And thanks for helping me. I really appreciate it.”

And then he was gone.

Soojin sat there, trying to comprehend what she just learned. Who Myungsoo used to be and what he was involved in. In all honesty, she still only scratched the surface, but it seemed that everyone was trying to keep her away.

She knew she should listen to them. That for her own safety, she should stop and be a good little girl and stay away. But she wasn’t. She was curious and genuinely worried about Kim Myungsoo.

She sighed and her eyes dropped to her bag and the forgotten produce inside. She still had to get to Myungsoo’s house to cook for him.

She was about to grab her bag when her left pinkie began to ache. As if a string was slowly tightening around it.

She flinched in pain and began to massage it. The string began to glow bright red.

She sighed. As if she didn’t have enough problems as it is. Despite being able to ignore the string wrapped around her pinkie, it was still there. And she knew it.

And now it decides to pain her. She didn’t know what to think about it.

He phone began to ring and she reached over to grab it. Unfortunately, it was buried under a few items so it took her a while to get it. And when she did, the phone stopped ringing.

She watched as the missed call message popped up from no other than her "Soulmate”.

She narrowed her eyes as a text message came through. She opened it to read, “Soojin! Are you alright? Is something the matter? I expected you ages ago. Please tell me you’re alright. Answer me, please.”

She smiled wistfully. She glanced at her bag. Hopefully none of her groceries were beginning to spoil. She picked it up and settled it on her shoulder.

It looks like it’s time to get some answers from Mr. L himself, or rather Kim Myungsoo.

A/N: Who expected the injured boy to be Hoya? Because I didn’t. I was thinking, “Hmmm. Who should he be? Should it be someone from Infinite? Eh. Why not?” And the first name that popped up was Hoya. Haha, and I don’t even know why.

This story was all cute in the beginning, and now it’s getting all serious and moody. What happened?

Hope you guys don’t mind.

So thanks for reading until now and hopefully I’ll see you guys next time.