Note: This chapter contains one incidence of cursing; please read with caution if this might offend you.

“I have to kill Sunggyu.” -Nam Woohyun

Sunggyu stared at Woohyun, hardly believing what he saw yet not daring to question it outright.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” he choked out. “I’m your target?”

Woohyun nodded gravely. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Sunggyu’s blood ran cold. His gun was lowered. He had no chance.

“You mean my last words? You...you wouldn’t...” Sunggyu felt himself pale. Would Woohyun really kill him?

“Hey!” Woohyun said sharply, pulling Sunggyu from his thoughts. “Look,” he took a shaky breath, “I’m not sure what I’m going to do. But you’d better start explaining. Now.”

Sunggyu’s eyes widened more than he thought possible. “What do you want me to explain? Fine, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. But if it’s about why I’m on the suspect list-”

“Yeah. Why are you on the suspect list?”

“I don’t know,” Sunggyu hissed. “Aren’t you curious about why I got Dongwoo as a target?”

Woohyun simply watched Sunggyu in silence, as though he were waiting to make up his mind.

“What,” Sunggyu deadpanned, “you think that Dongwoo is The Chameleon? Impossible. I told you, there’s something wrong with the list. I told you before you pulled a gun on me.”

Maybe, just maybe, Sunggyu thought, he could get out of this. Woohyun was his best friend. And there was clearly an underlying issue when it came to their assignments. But at the same time, the orders had been given.

“So you’re saying that you have no idea why you’re a suspect? You haven’t lied to me? You aren’t lying now?”

“No!” Sunggyu exclaimed quietly. “I don’t know anything.”

Woohyun frowned and cocked his gun. “Wrong answer.”

In that moment, Sunggyu realized his fatal error as a spy. He had trusted Woohyun. On an ordinary mission, when Woohyun was his partner, that would have been an obvious choice. But Sunggyu was in this alone, and he had been wrong to trust anyone but himself. During security procedures, he had no team. Right now, it was every agent for himself. And Sunggyu had failed.

Sunggyu exhaled slowly. His last breath would be determined by him, not by his killer. He would breathe out now and be done with it, knowing that he had tried his hardest to do the right thing, and knowing that at least Dongwoo would live.

“Alright,” Sunggyu said in a level tone. “Go ahead. But there’s one thing you need to know.”

Woohyun didn’t respond. Sunggyu could see his eyes wavering, and he knew that Woohyun was not as sure as he seemed.

“I’m smarter than you are,” Sunggyu whispered. “In the past, you’ve been clever, right? Well, right now, in this moment, I’m smarter. Think about it before you pull the trigger. If the suspect list were accurate, why would Dongwoo and I be on it and have targets at the same time? If I die first, he’s still alive.”

“Then isn’t it my responsibility to finish the job for you?”

“You don’t get it,” Sunggyu shot back. “You got lucky. I showed you my target. I was carrying the papers. That wasn’t for certain. There’s a gaping hole in this plan, and I was the only one who saw it. And now, it looks like I’m the only person that will ever-”

Sunggyu was cut off by the gunshot.

The next few seconds were a blur. Woohyun’s eyes flew open, and he yanked Sunggyu’s wrist as he began to sprint away, turning as he went to fire several shots behind him.

“Hyung, come on!” Woohyun yelled. “We don’t have time!”

Sunggyu turned his head right and left, but he couldn’t tell what was going on. All he knew was that the shots were not coming from Woohyun and that Woohyun did not seem to want him to be hit by them. In a heartbeat, Sunggyu weighed his options. He could follow Woohyun, who had been about to kill him but was now yelling for him to follow to safety. Or he could stay and attempt to dodge the gunfire.

“Hyung!” Wooyhun’s figure began to disappear into the dark.

Without another thought, Sunggyu caught up to Woohyun. Coincidentally, they turned to fire at their pursuer at the same time, and they were met with a sight that surprised them both. The man chasing them was no stranger.

Sunggyu and Woohyun’s eyes met briefly as they ran, and Sunggyu could see the shock in Woohyun’s eyes that mimicked his own.

“Myungsoo?” Woohyun panted. “Why?”

The two of them ran until they felt their lungs might burst, traversing the third floor as they desperately avoided the bullets raining down upon them.

The building was in lockdown mode, so every door was locked. It was a predator’s dream come true. As to why Myungsoo had become a predator, Sunggyu and Woohyun remained clueless.

“What was that about?” Woohyun muttered after dragging Sunggyu into an alcove and watching Myungsoo run past and vanish.

Sunggyu bent over, trying to catch his breath. “I have no idea. Are you his target?”

Woohyun froze. “I...do you think...”

Sunggyu smirked despite the awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Now do you understand? If you’re on the list too, then how much sense does it make to kill me?”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Wooyun whispered, almost as though to himself. He looked at Sunggyu. “I don’t think you’re The Chameleon, alright? I don’t believe that for a second. But there must be something that got you on that list, and that makes me distrust you.”

“I need you to trust me if we’re going to do something,” Sunggyu replied.

Woohyun squinted at him for a moment. “Okay. I can tell you with certainty that if I’m on the suspect list, I’ll know something’s up like you said. And I’ll know that you haven’t done anything dishonest.”

Sunggyu closed his eyes briefly. This was a tactical nightmare, but he needed Woohyun’s assistance, and from the way things looked, Woohyun needed his as well. He blinked a few times, then met Woohyun’s gaze again.

“We need to find the agent whose target is Nam Woohyun.”

“It’s Myungsoo, isn’t it?” Woohyun’s tone became increasingly panicked. “I’m his target, aren’t I? I’m on the list!”

“Do you want proof or not?” Sunggyu asked, annoyed. “We have no verification that you’re Myungsoo’s target. I don’t know what’s going on in general, so I don’t know what Myungsoo was doing. Hell, I’m not even sure I know what Myungsoo is doing when we’re working in our division most days.”

Woohyun laughed dryly. “So what? Rather than letting him, whoever he is, find me, we’re going to find him?”

Sunggyu nodded. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

“You’re usually the one to say this to me, but...you’re insane.”

“Don’t question my sanity,” Sunggyu said, completely serious. “The only thing you should be questioning now is whether you’re willing to be the bait.”

Woohyun gulped. “Bait? You want me to lure him?”

“How else are we going to find him? The only thing he’s after right now is you.”

Woohyun considered this. “Fine,” he consented. “But we need a solid plan before I go out there.”

“Fair enough,” Sunggyu agreed, pulling his crumpled papers and a pen from his pocket. “A plan it is.”