“I don’t want to believe it, either,” Sungjong said, throwing his jacket off. He crossed his arms and paced around the empty hotel floor, where Myungsoo and Sungyeol had their surveillance setup.

Sungyeol leaned back on a support beam and shook his head. “So you’re telling us that Dongwoo and Woohyun are now working for Gi Company?”

“I don’t want to believe it any more than you. But I saw them shoot that couple with my own eyes.”

“Maybe there’s more to it,” Myungsoo said. “I mean, even we…” He looked at Sungjong and decided not to mention Hyemin’s name out loud.

Sungjong shook his head and turned away. “It’s hard for me to believe that. I saw Woohyun pull the trigger with my own two eyes! And then they went for the children! Those bastards…”

“Yah! How can you curse them so easily? They’re still your hyungs, the ones who have been with you since birth,” Sungyeol said, grabbing Sungjong’s shoulder.

“You don’t understand because you weren’t there—”

“But I’ve known them for all my life and I know they would never do that!”

As Sungyeol and Sungjong continued to bicker, Myungsoo went back to his laptop. “There has to be more to it,” he mumbled to himself. He searched the street CCTV streams for Woohyun and Dongwoo’s van and found it back at the hotel.

“Sungjong, you said you couldn’t contact them at all?” Myungsoo asked.

“Well, I made eye contact with Woohyun before they left.”

Myungsoo tapped a pen on his lips. “Then we still need to contact them. Who’s in there right now—Sunggyu and Hyemin?”

“Hyemin’s still in there? Do we have any contact with her?” Sungjong asked, leaning over the surveillance monitors.

“She… we think there’s another part of the building we can’t access. Like an underground, or something,” Sungyeol slowly explained.

Sungjong stood up straight and looked at the hotel. “Meaning we have no contact with her?” When neither Sungyeol nor Myungsoo replied, Sungjong began walking away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sungyeol asked, grabbing onto Sungjong’s arm.

Sungjong easily pushed him away. “I know, I know! I can’t go in there now. I’m going back to our room.” But Sungyeol pulled his brother back once more.

“Hey, just think it over. Does it make sense that your hyungs would turn on us like that?”

“You d—”

“No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you would risk the entire operation to keep Hyemin—whom we’ve just met last week for the first time in ten years—but start mistrusting your hyungs. You’ve spent your entire life with Dongwoo and Woohyun, but do you even know Hyemin’s full story yet?”

“Those are two separate things,” Sungjong quickly replied.

Sungyeol looked at his brother and sighed. “Just don’t forget what the main mission is: taking over Circus Destiny to get our family back. Our family.” Sungjong barely nodded before walking off again. Sungyeol let out another loud sigh before sitting down next to Myungsoo.

Myungsoo pretended to look through the surveillance cameras before asking Sungyeol, “Don’t you think you’re being a little harsh? Sungjong knows what he saw. He’s only warning us.”

“It’s not that… I mean, that’s something to be worried about, but for Jongah, I’m more worried over his feelings for Hyemin,” Sungyeol replied.

“For Hyemin? I thought they were just best friends.”

“Tch. Even though he doesn’t tell me anything, can’t you tell that they’re a little more than just friends?”

“I guess… but all of us are close to Hyemin. She’s like a sister to me. And she’s even closer to Hyung.”

Sungyeol looked down on the street to see his dongsaeng walking back to their hotel room, alone. “Exactly what I’m worried about.”

-

Jihyuk looked over the two gangsters, the two children, Woohyun, and Dongwoo carefully.

“And you couldn’t find Somin?” he asked one of the gangsters.

“No. There was no girl. We searched the entire house—she was nowhere to be seen,” he stammered.

The other gangster nodded along. “They must’ve known we were coming, and sold her of—” Jihyuk slapped the side of the gangster’s head and made him kneel. The rest of them followed suit.

“Forget it. No matter what, you couldn’t do your job all the way through. You’re being reassigned tomorrow. Get out.” Four other gangsters walked out from behind Jihyuk and took the two next to Dongwoo and Woohyun away. Jimin began whimpering and even Adam started to tremble.

“Dongwoo and Woohyun, take the kids to room 304B. Knock and ask for Juno,” Jihyuk said. He then turned away and opened up the folder about Somin. Dongwoo took Jimin and Adam by the hand, but Woohyun stayed behind.

“Why aren’t you reassigning us, as well?” he asked.

Jihyuk shrugged. “No reason to.”

“We left the girl behind, too.”

“You shot the couple, too,” Jihyuk said. He closed the folder and walked closer to Woohyun. When he was close enough, Jihyuk lifted up Woohyun’s bangs to look at his right eye. “How does it feel killing someone, not out of self defense?”

Woohyun said nothing.

“My advice? Don’t let the dead bother you. If they can’t bother you again, they never existed,” Jihyuk said. He covered Woohyun’s eye again and whispered, “Since you guys are sticking around for a while, get used to it. Your other little friends can’t help you anymore.” Jihyuk patted the back of Woohyun’s head and walked away, laughing.

But it wasn’t long before his smile faded. He looked down at the folder in his hands and opened it up again. It was pictures of Somin, from birth to her first family portrait to just weeks before she was kidnapped to photoshoots she did up until her death. Jihyuk was so absorbed in the news of Somin’s death that he nearly passed his destination: the office of Gi Soyoung.

The door opened as he was walking, barely missing him.

“Omo! I’m so sorry,” Eunjoo quickly said, bowing to Jihyuk. She nervously laughed and patted Sunggyu’s shoulder to get him to bow, as well. “I didn’t see you there, Mr. Lim.”

“I’m fine,” Jihyuk said.

“Ah, this is Lim Jihyuk, one of the hotel’s board members,” Eunjoo introduced. “And this is my new assistant, K—”

“Sorry, I’m in a rush.” Jihyuk cut Eunjoo off and entered Soyoung’s office without another word.

“Tch. Who’s that? No way he’s older than nuna, and yet he’s so disrespectful,” Sunggyu scoffed.

“You can’t talk about him like that!” Eunjoo whispered, slapping Sunggyu’s arm. “He’s not someone you want to mess with.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just… keep your head down around him,” Eunjoo mysteriously replied. She then slapped Sunggyu again. “And why are you so sure he’s older than me?”

Sunggyu laughed. “Nuna, isn’t it obvious?”

“Yah! Forget your tour then! You can go home.”

“Ah, nuna—I was joking,” Sunggyu said, grabbing onto Eunjoo’s hand. “Let’s start the tour from the lobby floor.”

“Aish, so clingy,” Eunjoo said, shaking Sunggyu off of her. They walked down the hallway and waited for the elevator to arrive. Sunggyu whistled as he stared at the elevator number decreasing, but once the doors opened, he turned away and fell silent.

“What’s your problem? You look like you just saw a ghost,” Eunjoo said, poking his arm. For a few seconds, Sunggyu stayed facing the wall, but it wasn’t necessary. Soji was running out of the elevator too fast to notice anyone. She ran straight into Soyoung’s office, where Jihyuk still stood.

“Omma, there’s news about Somin?” Soji asked. Soyoung nodded and pointed towards Jihyuk.

“I found the location where they were keeping her, but initially I was worried because there hadn’t been any news about her for months, and usually they update information about the kids they keep weekly—”

“Get to the point!” Soyoung demanded with her arms crossed.

Jihyuk’s eyes dropped to the floor and his voice began to crack. “I—I’m sorry. We went as soon as we could. I found the location and sent them off—but it was… I was too late. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Jihyuk fell onto his knees before Soyoung. “Omoni, I’m sorry.”

Soyoung stood up from her seat, but showed no reaction in her face. Instead, she sighed and said, “This is exactly what I expected. Jihyuk, stand up. You tried. It’s time to move on now.” Jihyuk stood up straight again and bowed once more, this time to Soji.

“I’m sorry—”

But Soji was already outside. Jihyuk followed her into the hallway, calling her name, but she wouldn’t turn around. “Soji-yah, let’s talk. Soji, please.” Jihyuk grabbed onto her arm and she finally faced him.

“You want to talk?” she asked in a low voice. Jihyuk put a hand on her cheek to wipe the tears about to fall from her eyes, but she brushed him off. “You said you would bring Somin back.”

“There was nothing I could—”

“You promised.”

“I did my best. I really did.” Jihyuk managed to bring Soji close enough to brush through her hair.

“You don’t—”

Jihyuk’s phone suddenly rang. Without a second thought, he let go of Soji to answer the call. “Yes, Mr. Gi. Yes, you’re right—I’m not doing anything right now…”

With Jihyuk’s back turned towards her, Soji took the opportunity to escape. She rode the elevator, but instead of going up to her room, she went down one more level.

-

Hyemin's eyes almost popped out when she stepped into the underground lab. It took up the entire bottom level of the underground, split into different rooms and offices.

"H-How many experiments do you run in here?" she asked.

Daniel stepped back and allowed Hyemin to look through his lab. "Impressive, isn't it? All my work, too. I've been worked on countless experiments in here over the years." Hyemin picked up a notebook and casually flipped through it, though in reality she was desperately searching for his work on the circus family. Daniel walked up to her and lowered the notebook onto the table, wrapping his arms around her in the process.

"Ah, Daniel-ssi--"

"Call me oppa," he whispered in her ear.

Hyemin gagged and elbowed him at once, but apologized with aegyo. "I'm so~ so sorry," she cried. "Oppa." Daniel believed it to be a mistake and gave her some space. She continued into the next room, where she saw a caged rabbit.

"Oppa, what is he for?" Hyemin stuck her finger through the cage and wiggled it in front of the animal. Just as it began hopping towards her, Daniel pushed her hand away and covered the cage with a thick veil.

"I wouldn't bother him, if I were you," Daniel laughed. But Hyemin's focus remained on the cage, which began moving, as if the rabbit were thrashing around inside its cage.

"Oppa, what is it?" Hyemin held onto Daniel's wrist and removed the veil. The rabbit jumped towards her, bearing its teeth. She jumped back and Daniel covered the cage again.

"It's... no normal rabbit, that's for sure," he said. Hyemin looked into his eyes curiously, so he continued. "It used to be a mouse, but I developed a potion that transformed it into a rabbit. Actually, I created it when I was just a young teenager--it's what got me my current job. Isn't it incredible?"

Hyemin pretended to be in awe and laughed. She then looked around the room again and noticed more cages—some larger than herself—all covered in thick veils. "But why is it so violent?"

"It transforms the original entity into pure beast. It's wilder than even the original," Daniel explained. He ran his fingers through Hyemin's short hair and continued, "It even works on humans. Would you like to see?"

At the sound of this, Hyemin almost dropped a tube in her hand--but Daniel caught it. "Careful with these. You don't want to get the substance to get out. It's airborne." Daniel then took her hand and led her back to the elevator, going on about his credentials along the way.

Hyemin closed her eyes and tried to stay focused on her mission. I can’t run away now. I need more information on his experiments. I need…

Daniel grabbed Hyemin’s wrist and brought her body closer to his. But before he could do anything, the elevator doors opened. Daniel immediately let go of Hyemin’s hand and stepped back. Hyemin was just lifting her head when she saw who stepped into the elevator: Soji. Hyemin recognized her immediately and tried to hide her face, though there was no real reason to.

“You don’t have to pretend, you know,” Soji said, without even turning around.

. She knows who I am, Hyemin thought.

Soji turned to Daniel. “I know you like to with girls in your lab. A lot. But please, keep it in the lab.” Daniel silently cursed at Soji, but Hyemin let out a sigh of relief. Soji got off the elevator on the next floor, which was pitch black.

“The animals are on the stage right now,” Daniel told her.

“I know.”

Soji walked through the pitch black hallway to the one room that was still lit. The closer she got towards the light, the faster she walked. Her heels echoed louder and louder through the empty floor until they could even be heard inside the lit room.

By the time she opened the door, she was running and in tears and Hoya was standing there, waiting for her.

Soji stared at him for a minute, as she was unsure of what to do or how to act. After she told him that Infinite was dead, Hoya didn’t say anything. They sat together in the room, in silence, before she was called away to learn that her sister was really dead.

Suddenly, Hoya started walking to Soji. He held her hands tightly and lifted her chin up so that she looked at him in the eye.

“Never leave me alone again,” he quietly said. He then gently kissed her, and she kissed back, with tears streaming down her cheeks. Above them, the lights flickered and turned off, but they barely noticed.

-

304B wasn’t difficult for Dongwoo to find, as it was right next to his and Woohyun’s room, 304A.

“Adam, do you think you could knock for me?” Dongwoo asked, as he was busy carrying a crying Jimin. Adam looked at Dongwoo with contempt, refusing to follow his commands. Dongwoo sighed and leaned on the door as he tried to free an arm.

At that moment, the door opened, revealing the girl he had met earlier in the hall.

“It’s you,” Dongwoo said. “Juno?”

“Yes… and you are Woohyun or Dongwoo?” she asked, taking Dongwoo’s hand with a shaky grip.

“Dongwoo, unfortunately,” he laughed. “And this is Jimin and this is Adam.”

When Juno saw the kids, her face lit up. “Hi, guys,” she said, brushing their hair. Juno then found snacks, paper, markers, and books around her room—which was just as small as Dongwoo and Woohyun’s—for the boys.

“Is this color paper?” Dongwoo asked, lifting up a folder on Juno’s bed. She rushed towards him and grabbed the folder back before any of the photographs spilled out.

“This… is something else,” she quickly said, hiding it beneath her pillow. She then sat on the floor next to Jimin, who was trying to draw a picture. Dongwoo sat down on the bed. He wanted to lie down and sleep, but the images of the murders and Somin’s dead body kept replaying in his mind. There was no way he could sleep with these thoughts.

“So…” Dongwoo said, looking at Juno. “Do you always take care of the kids that come around here?”

“Well, it doesn’t happen very often,” she replied. Suddenly, Adam started crying, and Juno rushed to his side. “It’s just a small paper cut—you’ll be okay.” Juno led Adam to the bathroom, but upon the sight, he began crying even harder.

“What’s wrong?” Dongwoo asked, getting up from the bed.

“He must be reminded of something bad,” Juno said, giving Adam space. “Dongwoo, can you get the box of band aids in the bathroom cabinet? Should be in the same location as your room.”

Dongwoo hurried to deliver the band aids. He handed them to Juno, who swiftly covered Adam’s cut, and managed to calm him down.

“You’re safe now. Look, your finger is healed,” Juno said, pointing to Adam’s bandaged hand. His breathing slowed down to a more normal pace, his eyelids closed shut, and eventually he fell asleep. Dongwoo carried him to the extra bed and tucked him in.

“I want to sleep, too!” Jimin announced, with a yawn. Juno and Dongwoo both laughed and made sure he was tucked in next to Adam. Both of them then sat on Juno’s bed, watching the two kids rest for the first time in years.

“So how did you know my room is just like yours?” Dongwoo asked.

Juno shrugged and looked away. “You’re from the circus, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, can you tell?”

“No,” she replied, looking at him. “It’s just that everyone knows you as the fighter who beat Ahin and Younghoon. The one Manjeok saved.”

“Is he really that powerful? Manjeok?”

“You saw him, didn’t you?” Juno asked. Dongwoo remembered Manjeok’s cold voice and shivered. Juno continued, “I met him once when I was little, when I first got here—before he was even in charge. But he’s getting older and weaker. They say he could die any second now.”

“Then what would happen?”

“Then Jihyuk takes over, I guess.”

Dongwoo moved closer to Juno and placed his hand behind her on the bed. “No, what would happen to you?” Juno tried to look away, but felt drawn towards his eyes.

Just then, her door opened and Woohyun entered.

"Dongwoo--" He saw Juno and stopped speaking.

"Ah, you must be Woohyun," she said with a nod. Woohyun stared at her suspiciously, remaining at the door. Juno stood up from the bed and walked into the bathroom.

"Yah, what's up with you? You don't need to be all formal around Juno. She's--"

"I saw someone," Woohyun whispered. He walked to the bed and continued, "I saw Sungjong at the back of the hotel."

Dongwoo suddenly clapped his hands and was about to yell out, but Woohyun covered his mouth. Dongwoo remembered his surroundings and pulled Woohyun's hand away. "Really? You saw--"

"Your friends are still out there?" Juno suddenly asked, appearing in the room again. Woohyun slowly shook his head, but Dongwoo nodded brightly.

"That means we can get out of here, right?" Dongwoo asked. Juno bit her lip and nodded.

“You guys are really crazy. You have the guts to stand up to Jihyuk and them, and then the guts to totally run away from them after.” She turned towards her desk and picked up her phone. Just as she was going through her contacts list, Dongwoo put a hand on her shoulder.

"You can finally get out of here, too.”

Juno held Dongwoo's hand and smiled. "Just tell me how I can help." It was the first time he saw her smile, and his heart started beating faster instantly.

“You have a phone, right? We can just call our friend.”

Juno’s hand slightly twitched as she handed it over to Dongwoo. “Ah, yes—of course,” she said. Dongwoo opened up the dialer, but couldn’t remember Sungjong’s phone number, so he handed the phone to Woohyun. When Woohyun reached out for the phone, he realized that his hand was slightly to the right, but he quickly grabbed it away. But after inputting the first few numbers, he stopped.

“Dongwoo, can I talk to you for a second? Alone?”

“What? Why?” Dongwoo asked.

“You’re asking me ‘why’? Well for starters, we don’t even know Juno.”

Juno prepared to speak up, but Dongwoo spoke for her. “Well, I trust her. Isn’t that enough?”

Woohyun scoffed. “It's not that I don't trust you--”

“Then what else do you want? Look, I’m just trying to find a quick solution for all of us. Open your eyes, Woohyun. We’re not the only victims here,” Dongwoo said, motioning towards the sleeping children.

Woohyun looked down at the phone then at the children then at Juno standing behind Woohyun.

“Why now?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why are you trying to escape now, with us, and not any time before? It’s obvious that you’ve been here for years—”

“Things are different when you don’t have support from the outside,” Juno said. After speaking, Juno immediately looked away and her eyes began to water, for reasons she didn’t want to think about. Woohyun began dialing Sungjong’s number. Dongwoo first put a hand on Juno’s shoulder, then an arm, then brought her towards him for a warm hug.

“We’re here for you now. You don’t have to be afraid,” Dongwoo said, rubbing her back. And for a second, Juno lost herself in his warmth. But suddenly, after Woohyun ended a quick call with Sungjong, he dropped Juno’s phone on the floor.

“I’m sorr—”

Juno rushed over to Woohyun, but instead of picking up her phone, she put her hands on Woohyun’s face. She moved his bangs away to reveal his bruised right eye.

“How long has it been like this?”

Woohyun moved his face away, but Juno wouldn’t let go. “I’m fine.”

“No, you can’t even see in this eye,” Juno bluntly said.

“What?” Dongwoo asked, moving towards his friend. Juno walked to her bathroom for first aid supplies. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I didn’t want to make you worried…”

“You idiot!” Dongwoo punched Woohyun’s arm, but before Woohyun could curse back at him, he could already see Dongwoo’s tears falling down.

“I’m sorry, hyung. I’m sorry… I’m sorry for everything,” Woohyun cried, holding onto Dongwoo’s hand.

“Does it hurt?” Dongwoo asked. Woohyun weakly nodded.

Juno returned by Woohyun’s side with ice packs and medicine, which Dongwoo applied to Woohyun’s wounded eye. He tucked Woohyun into bed and convinced him to rest until nighttime, when the escape was to take place. Juno would bring the four of them down to the lobby around 11 PM, when the hotel was the busiest. They would sneak over to the front door, take out a couple of security guards, and then run into their getaway car—driven by Sungjong—waiting outside.

By 9 PM, Woohyun was dead asleep and Dongwoo was resting by his side. They were holding hands in their sleep. Juno took her keys and was about to leave the room when—

“Juno,” Dongwoo sleepily said. Juno took her hand off of the door handle and turned around. Dongwoo’s eyes were half-open. He yawned and lifted his head up. “Where are you going?”

“Just getting something to eat,” she replied, walking back to the bed. “Continue resting. I’ll be back soon.” She Dongwoo’s hair until his head lied on the bed and his eyes closed again.

“Juno,” he said again, “I really trust you.” He lifted his free hand up in the air and she held it firmly.

“I know.” Juno bent down, holding Dongwoo’s hand close to her heart, and kissed his cheek.