After walking several minutes in silence as they followed a narrow stone path that was only about five feet wide, Soojin had come to the conclusion that Leo was not much of a talker. Even her questions were usually met back with one or two worded answers. And if she was lucky, she was given a full sentence.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

“Are we going to meet up with Myungsoo and the rest?”

“Yes.”

“Is this all going to plan?”

A shrug was returned.

Soojin let out an exasperated sigh, resigning herself to silently following him.

Leo eyed her from behind, biting his cheek. He was never good in engaging conversations. But he noticed that this person was rather something special to Myungsoo, so Leo felt like he should at least try.

“How long have you known Myungsoo?”

Soojin lifted her head in confusion at the person in front of her. He hadn’t turned his head toward, and he had said in a quiet voice that Soojin thought she had imagined it.

But she didn’t, so she responded, “For a while. From about a month into this school year.”

Leo nodded silently. “That’s quite a long time.”

Soojin shrugged even though she knew he wasn’t looking at her. “I suppose, but I’m guessing you’ve known him longer. And even so, I only know who he is now. After he apparently changed? Would you even call it changing?”

Changed. Leo definitely thought Myungsoo had changed. But not from a stoic cold-hearted person to the lively grinning person he is today. Sure, from an outsider’s perspective it may seem like that. But Leo thought differently. He always felt that Myungsoo was always the person he is today, that it was only locked away because he never knew how to express it. He figured that had something to do with those people called Sungjong and Sungyeol.

Leo then thought a bit deeper into Soojin’s words. “Apparently?” he asked.

Soojin shrugged again. “Well, from what Myungsoo’s told me and what his friends told me, it seems that Myungsoo wasn’t exactly the most approachable person in the world. He even said some harsh things to other people, but honestly that was his personality. Even now he says the same harsh things to people now, but it’s more, um…how to say…lighthearted? It’s still the same opinion but not in a ‘why-are-you-so-stupid’ kind of tone.” She scowled at the thought. “On the other hand, I still feel like he gives off the same feeling. But more like he’s teasing me instead.”

Leo let her words sink in, realizing that this girl had thought more about Myungsoo than he originally thought.

However, Soojin continued on her monologue. “But he’s still the same Myungsoo to me. Despite not fully understanding his background, because honestly it’s a lot more complicated than he lets on, it doesn’t change who is now. The person that he is now is based on his past self, so we can’t ignore that fact, but we can move past it.”

She paused, thinking about what she just said. She then chuckled and continued to walk. “Look at me. It sounds like I know everything about him when in reality I really don’t. But hey, I’m willing to learn.” She looked down at the red string that had brought them together, what one would call fate, but she wouldn’t call it fate. Because she figured that it wasn’t as if the string forced them to be destined to each other, but rather what led to them together. And she made an active decision to like him, not because of some silly red string. She grinned, “Because it seems like we’re stuck together whether we like it or not.”

Leo was listening attentively at her speech. “Do you like it?”

Soojin looked at the back to his head, surprised that he was actually listening. Looking down at the string, she answered, “Being stuck together? Despite that it’s our destiny?” She looked up at him again and smiled confidently. “Yes.”

Leo glanced back momentarily before continuing on. Soojin couldn’t see it, but he was smiling lightly. “I’m glad that Myungsoo found someone like you.”

Soojin widened her eyes at his words and blushed softly. “Thanks? No, I mean, thank you.”

Leo stopped walking where the path split into two. He looked from left to right and back to the left. He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen, and after a moment of thought, he started to head toward the fork to the right. However, Soojin paused and peered the left. “Wait,” she called out to him.

Leo looked back at her to see her still standing at the split. He looked confusedly at her.

She hesitated before asking, “We are going to find Myungsoo, Hoya, and your friends, right?”

Leo nodded. “Technically, we are meeting up with them. We are trying to find N and V.”

She pointed to the left pathway. “I think they’re that way.”

Leo frowned as he walked back to her. “What makes you say that?”

Soojin looked nervously. “Intuition?”

Leo raised an eyebrow at her questionable answer. He pulled out his phone and showed her it. On it was a picture of a map with two red blinking dots.

“This is you,” he explained, pointing to one of the dots. “And this is your friend,” he continued, pointing at the second dot. “We are supposed to meet up here,” he said as he pointed to area between the two dots. “And to get there, we have to take that path,” he said, pointing to the path closest to him.

“But that’s one of the places that they might be, right? Where V might have taken N?”

He nodded. “Correct, but this area is the most likely place…”

She shook her head, interrupting him. “To clarify, Ravi is with Myungsoo. And Ravi is the most knowledgeable about the schematics of this place. Therefore, Ravi should be the first one to find out where V is which might not be the most likely places you guys agreed on.”

Leo looked at her bizarrely. “I understand your logic, but that leaves us the question on how you know that it’s the other way.”

She shuffled her feet awkwardly. “It’s because I know where Myungsoo is.”

He stared at her with confusion. “How? Did Myungsoo give you something of a tracker as well? Or did the others give you something?”

She shook her head fervently. “No, no.  You might not believe me and I don’t know how to explain it, but I know where Myungsoo is. And he’s that way,” she told him, pointing to the left.

Leo observed her, trying to see if there was a hidden message, but realized that she was serious. He gazed at the left pathway before turning around, his back facing the left path.

Soojin looked dejectedly at the ground, trying to think of something to persuade Leo that she was right because the red string was trailing down the left path. But she didn’t know how to explain that without sounding crazy.

“Well? Are you coming or not?”

Soojin looked up, not seeing Leo down the right path. She spun around to see him well down the left path. She quirked a small grateful smile before running after him.

They finally approached an end where an outline door was blended against the smooth stone wall. Soojin looked around but realized that she didn’t see a handle. She gazed at Leo who seemed unperturbed about that fact.

He put his ear against the wall, listening intently before pulling away. He knocked on several spots on the wall rapidly and with precision that Soojin didn’t have time to see where he had touched. After a long silence, the sound of something shifting overcame the silence and the outline of the door began to shift away, creating a passageway.

“Just wondering, but does N know about these passageways?” Soojin asked.

Leo shifted his gaze from the door to her and back to the door. “He knows some, but not all.” He smirked slightly. “We may or may not have taken the liberty of installing our own passageways in secret.

The door swung slowly open, revealing two males talking to each other urgently. They turned to look at the sound, seeing both Leo and Soojin.

“Good, you guys managed to get here earlier than I expected,” Ravi said, sounding relieved. “We were worried that it would take longer for you guys because the place V took N was not what we expected.” He grinned at Leo. “You’re lucky if you picked this spot after seeing that the agreed place was wrong.”

Leo blinked at Ravi. “We didn’t go to the agreed place. We went directly here.”

Ravi stared at his friend with incredulity. “Really? You knew? How?”

Leo looked at Soojin who was now talking to Myungsoo. “I wonder that myself as well.”

“You’re okay, right?” Myungsoo asked Soojin worriedly.

She snorted at him. “Sure, if you call walking endlessly without knowing where the hell you are going okay, then sure, I’m okay.”

He frowned at her disapprovingly. “This is not the time to be joking around.” But then he cracked a smile. “But it sounds like you had fun.”

“Fun,” she deadpanned giving a look that spelled absurd. “If you’re thinking I’m thinking that this is fun, you are dead wrong. We’ve diving into deep waters if haven’t figured it out already.”

Myungsoo paused and thought about her words. He realized that this was the common norm for him when he used to be in the group and that he was used to this sort of situation, but now thinking about it, Soojin had never encountered anything of this sort. He shook his head and gave her a small smile. “We’ll be fine.”

She pursed her lips in nervousness. “On what basis?”

He shrugged. “Intuition?”

On the other side of the room, creaking and grinding sounds were heard and out came Hoya and Ken.

“God, if I have to spend one more minute with this grinning idiot…” Hoya muttered darkly, putting his hands against the wall.

Ken grinned and smacked Hoya’s back. “Aw, it wasn’t that bad.”

“You’re joking, right?” he shouted back, an angry glint in his eyes. “I don’t know how many times we got lost trying to get to the first area. And everybody wasn’t there. And don’t get me started on how you kept going out to talk to people, leaving me behind. It’s not fun staying by yourself in a dark dank passageway.”

Ken pouted. “I was only trying to find information on where K was, which I did by the way. And hey, we’re here. All in one piece. That calls for celebration, doesn’t it? I would like pie. Pie is good.”

Hoya pointed a finger at him and shook furiously at him. “You! I! Argh!”

Soojin walked over to him and put her hand on his arm, slowly lowering it down. “Calm down, Hoya. You know he’s doing that on purpose.”

“I know! But god,” he groaned.

Myungsoo watched them with amusement, finding it hilarious that Ken managed to get under Hoya’s skin so easily.

“Myungsoo.”

Myungsoo looked at Leo who had made his way over to him and was now standing next to him. He nodded in acknowledgement. “Thanks for keeping Soojin safe.”

Leo shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to put her in danger either.” He glanced at Myungsoo and back forward. “You’ve haven’t changed.”

Myungsoo gave him a confused expression. “What do you mean?”

“You’re still the same person who helped us back when you were still a main leader in the organization.”

Myungsoo’s expression darkened as he frowned. “I would like to think that I had.”

Leo shook his head. “No, you’re the same. The only difference is that you managed to show people who you are now when before nobody knew who you were. You didn’t know who you were.”

Myungsoo looked at him briefly before turning away to look at Soojin. “And I have her to thank for it?”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “No, I don’t believe so. I think you changed yourself. You wanted to leave because what happened to your friends. But you were still scared about the consequences of what you did. What you have to thank her for is making you face them. She was what made you stop being a coward and make you fight for what you want instead of running away.”

Myungsoo let his words sink in before saying, “Have I ever told you how much you remind me of K?”

Leo looked surprised for a split second before returning to his default expression. “No.”

Myungsoo gave a lopsided grin as he gazed at Soojin who was trying to stop Hoya from pulling a punch on Ken while Ravi was trying to stop Ken from teasing Hoya. “But I do suppose you are right. She did make me stop running away. And it feels nice for a change.”

Leo followed his gaze and smiled slightly. “I can see why you’re so interested in her.”

Myungsoo stopped looking at the others and abruptly turned his attention to Leo. He narrowed his eyes and walked past him, whispering darkly, “Don’t even think about it. She’s mine.”

Leo stared in shock at his threatening tone as Myungsoo walked on to the rest of the group, now having a bright smile on his face. He blinked at him, remembering that this was L and he definitely did not want to anger him.

“Ok, so now that we’re all here,” Ravi said, motioning everyone to quiet down and listen to him. “V has taken N to the highest floor in this building that overlooks most of the open area, and we are right next to it. Ken?”

Ken nodded happily. “K’s with them. V took him too. It seems that he wants them to watch their organization destroyed in front of their eyes.”

“The plan is to burst in there unexpectedly, catching V off guard and take him down. N and K should be restricted, but V’s probably has a couple of extra people in there just in case,” Ravi explained. “We need to cut them off once we’re inside.”

“And then what?” Soojin asked sarcastically. “We set Myungsoo and Hoya loose on them, hoping that they’ll talk some sense into them?”

Ravi looked at her and then to the rest of the group. “Er, yeah, I suppose. Actually, it’s all free-for-all after what I said. So, you’re suggestion isn’t half-bad.”

She groaned. “I’ve forgotten that we went in without a solid plan.”

Ken grinned. “Don’t worry. We’ll see how it goes, and if something doesn’t go right…well, life goes on.”

She sighed. “I am done with this. Let’s go.”

Ken grinned. “I like how you think.”

They all had their back against the wall where there were three people on each side of the door between them. Leo had ordered that Soojin stay behind outside until they declared it safe to come in. But as they were waiting, they could hear V’s voice reverberating through the door.

“I understand why you do this. The thrill of it all. Just think, once I open this door to the upper terrace, you’ll get to see a rampage of angry victims raging to destroy you. You’ll see your precious little organization crumble into bits before your very eyes. But I must admit, the doors you’ve installed are quite soundproof, I can’t hear any of the chaos outside.” There was a pause as struggled muffles came through. “Well, no matter. We’ll get to hear it very soon.”

Leo had his hand on the handle, motioning to stay quiet and then counting off silently with his fingers up to three. On the third count, he banged it open while the other followed him behind.

Before they had assumed that V would have put five extra people in the room with him, but instead there were only five people in the room. The only two extra people he had with him were lounging against the wall in a bored fashion, now alert and confused at the sudden intrusion. Both Ravi and Ken took them out in no time at all which they fell down unconscious. Leo and Myungsoo rushed ahead of them to V who was looking at them with shock. Before he could do anything, they had pinned him against the floor, restricting any movements.

“What the hell is happening?” he shouted furiously.

N had his mouth covered with duct tape and his hands tied tightly with rope. He was on his knees looking at the commotion with wonder. K was a little behind him, also being bound with rope but in this case, tied to a chair. He, however, wasn’t being restricted of speech.

V looked up at his captors and spotted Myungsoo. He widened his eyes and started to laugh hysterically. “Oh god, oh god. This is too funny. Can’t fight your roots, can you? Are you here to help your old friends?”

Myungsoo frowned. “That’s not it. I’m here to stop you and N.”

V glared at him viciously. “Like hell you are.” With one strong burst of energy, he managed to shake off both Myungsoo and Leo, rushing to glass doors which led to the terrace and overlooked the wide area underneath. He pulled N onto his feet and grinned at them manically. He pulled out a knife and put directly against N’s throat. “Don’t try and stop me or else your little friend will soon have a knife stuck in his throat. Though it probably wouldn’t matter since I’m going to throw him off and feed him to the angry mob outside.” He glanced around at the people in front of him who stood motionless at the sight of the knife and smiled. “It’s nice to have an audience. It just makes it that much better.”

He pushed the doors open and stopped short with confusion. A dead silence overcame them as V pushed N away and rushed to the edge of the terrace. He put his hands on the steel railing and looked below. “Why…why… isn’t anybody here?”

He saw nothing and heard nothing. There wasn’t an angry crowd of people chanting to bring down the organization. Even though the floor below him looked like a tornado came through with broken pieces wood everywhere, holes in the wall, and even more of a mess, there was no one there.

As he was still staring at the silent chaos, Leo had snuck up on him and twisted his arm behind him, causing him to yelp and drop the knife. He glared up at him. “You did this,” he seethed.

Leo nodded as he pulled him back into the room. “That’s right.”

“What?” V asked, slightly dumbfounded, not expecting them to agree.

Ken smiled devilishly. “Rumors are quite amazing. You let something slip and it spreads like wildfire.”

“We spread that N had established small bombs throughout the building in case something like this had happened,” Ravi explained with a smile. “People left like crazy.”

“No way would they believe something like that,” V growled. “Not without proof.”

“That’s why we had set up a small one and have it detonate in front of them, courtesy of Ken,” Leo explained. “They believed us then.”

V became limp and dropped to his knees. “No,” he mumbled. “You’re lying.” He looked at them and screamed, “You’re lying!” He lunged at the closest person which was Leo but was intercepted by someone else who threw a punch to his face.

He skidded backwards from the hit and before he had time to recover he was lifted up by the collar of his shirt.

V winced as he stared at the person holding him up. “Ho…ya?”

Hoya stared steely at his younger brother. “Why the hell are you doing this?”

V glared at Hoya and spat, “Shut up! Did you see what they did to our youngest brother? They deserve to suffer. This whole organization deserves to be destroyed!”

Hoya grimaced. “I understand how you feel, but…”

“Then why are you stopping me?” he yelled back. “In fact, you should be ashamed of yourself. You’re the reason why he got hurt in the first place.”

“Because this isn’t the right way to do this! You’re just repeating the whole situation again. What do you think will happen if you happened to get hurt, huh?  Don’t you think he would try and do something again? I know that it was my fault that he got hurt before, but that’s why I got out. But you, you thought that doing this will solve everything? You’re dead wrong. You’re just the start of another cycle.”

“What do you mean?” V stuttered. “I’m going to finish everything. This is going to work.”

“Have you thought about the people who aren’t following you? And if they get hurt?” Hoya asked roughly.

V sneered, “So? It’s their fault for blindly following such stupid leaders.”

“Maybe, but what about the people who care about them? Do you think you’re the only one who would try and take revenge on the people who hurt your loved ones? Don’t you think someone will try and come after you? Try and make you suffer? And then it’s the same cycle all over again.”

V blinked at him. “That’s…not true,” he whispered.

Hoya shook his head. “No, it is true. You’re just being as stupid as everyone else. Revenge isn’t the answer.”

“Then what is?” V shouted. “What can I do to make everything right again?”

Hoya looked at Myungsoo. “You can’t do anything. But someone else can. This isn’t your fight. It’s not even mine. So we should stay out of it.”

V stared at his brother as if he was trying to understand what he was saying. He shook his head viciously. “No!” he screamed. “I demand justice. I demand that they suffer from the pain they caused everyone. I demand…”

Hoya watched in surprise as his brother fell limp in his arms. He looked up at Ken who was grinning like a madman after knocking him unconscious. Ken returned his gaze and said, “Seems like the fastest way to shut him up.” He looked at Hoya, still having a wide grin on his face. “I didn’t know you had it in you. I’m impressed.”

Hoya rolled his eyes. “I’ve always knew. I just never felt the need to say it until right now.”

Ravi glanced at the mess around him. N, who was still bound, was looking intently at Myungsoo who was doing the same back. K was still tied in the chair, his face still not betraying any emotion from what happened. Soojin had entered the room a little before and was now standing near the door, glancing around. Ken was grinning at Hoya who was frowning at him. And Leo and he were a little off to the side.

“We should go now,” Ravi suddenly said, breaking the silence.

“What’s the rush?” Hoya asked. “And what about them?” he continued, motioning towards N and K, as well as V’s comrades who were still unconscious.

Leo looked at them and then at Myungsoo who gave him a discreet nod. “Myungsoo’s going to take care of them, and we’ll take V’s men with us. But we need to leave.”

“Why are we leaving them behind?” Soojin asked in confusion. “It’s not like we’re in immediate danger.”

“But the thing is we are. We’re blowing this place up,” Ken said nonchalantly. “It’s the end of this place.”

Ravi nodded. “That’s why we need to leave.”

“What?” Hoya cried out. “I thought that was a lie!”

Ken grinned, patting him on the back. “Nah, it was truth. The only lie was we said that N had set them up when we actually did it. Plus, if Myungsoo manages to finish everything, there will be no organization and that means there’s no need for a place like this.”

Ravi nodded. “It’s better if we destroy any chance for it to come back.”

“So you guys had already planned to destroy the building?” Hoya asked, dumbfounded.

“Yep!” Ken replied.

“And you didn’t tell us?” Hoya muttered with exasperation.

Ken shrugged.

Hoya rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he mumbled, pulling his brother over his arm. “Help me with Taehyung.”

Ken and Ravi helped Hoya carry his brother out of the room as well as dragging the two unconscious men with them so all that was left was Leo, Soojin, and Myungsoo as well as N and K.

“But…” Soojin murmured, glancing at Myungsoo who was staring at N still.  

“Leave them,” Leo said. “He had unfinished business with them anyways.”

Soojin didn’t move as she kept staring at the unmoving people in front of her.

Myungsoo stalked up to N and crouched down, facing him eye to eye. Myungsoo reached over and ripped the tape of his mouth harshly. N winced from the sudden pain, rotating his jaw in a circular motion. He smiled up at Myungsoo. “Who would have expected you to save the day? I guess you care more about this organization that I oignally thought.”

Myungsoo didn’t say anything, only pulling N up and without a word punching swiftly into his gut.

N groaned as he clutched his stomach and glared up at him. “What the hell was that for?” He then tried to give a straight jab at Myungsoo who dodged the attack, and crashed into the wall.

Soojin uttered a little yelp, pulling Myungsoo back. “What the hell are you doing?”

Myungsoo turned his head to look at her, a firm look in his eyes. “I have to do this. This is the only way he’ll understand.”

“But…” she muttered worriedly.

He shook his head. “You should leave. You shouldn’t see this.” He looked behind her and motioned to Leo with his head. “Can you take her?”

Leo nodded and put a hand on her shoulder. Soojin shook him off as she yelled at Myungsoo, “You can’t do this! What if you get hurt? I’ve seen too many incidents where nothing comes out good from fighting. This happened before, you know! What if…”

Her eyes fluttered wide as he lifted her chin up and pulling her into a light kiss. And before she could even close her eyes and register what had happened, he pulled away.

He looked straight in her eyes and murmured, “I’m doing this because I don’t want to run away anymore. I can’t be a coward anymore. Not if I want to be with you.” He cupped her face and smiled softly. “I like you; hell, I might even say that I love you. So there’s no way I’m going to die after confessing.” He let go of her and walked away.

She stared at him in shock and vaguely felt Leo tugging her away. “Wait!” she shouted, stretching out her left hand in a weak attempt to stop him. But she abruptly stopped which allowed Leo to fully drag her outside.

But what stopped her wasn’t because of Leo’s attempt to pull her away or Myungsoo’s back as he approached his two old friends, but for the fact that when she put her hand out, the red string that connected them wasn’t there anymore.

A/N: Warning: cliché kiss scene. But cliché scenes are good once in a while, right? Right? No? Ah, well. It’s written and done, no turning back now.

I am so sorry for the extremely late update. I’m pretty busy with school that I don’t even have time to think about my stories. I get home rather late sometimes not until 8. Unfortunately, this may be a reoccurring situation. And hopefully, That won’t be too much of a problem for you guys.

Therefore, I want to thank you guys for being so patient with me. I really appreciate it. Thanks for reading and sticking with me.