L.JOE

“You… by any chance… Minsoo?”

The man with the platinum blonde crew cut avoided my glance and with a sigh, continued his fixed sight on the road ahead. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head to clear my vision, only to have a light nudge distract me.

I looked to my right and winced upon seeing an ashen-faced and limpid Taeyeon, her sharp brown eyes discouraging me from making any effort.

“I think I know him,” I whispered. But Taeyeon continued to shake her head, a weak smile signaling the finality of her advice.

I gulped and pulled on the handcuffs that were keeping us stationary. The suspiciously familiar figure could not fool me and the more I stared at him, the more I knew that it was none other than my childhood friend, Bang Minsoo.

Having been brought up in one of the many foster care institutions in the country, my friendship with Minsoo had been of convenience. It was none other than my need to escape the walls of the glamorous prison, which cemented our trust in each other. Even as young kids, Minsoo and I had formed a connection that due to its strength, created an intimidating aura around us.

“I told you,” Minsoo had smirked once, glancing at the kids who ran away when he stood up from his seat. “They’re scared of us.”

“No ,” I had chuckled and slapped my knee while howling in sadistic laughter.

The memories shone down on my current state, burning down a hole and when one final glance from him caught my attention, I knew I was not mistaken.

“Bang Minsoo,” I muttered, loud enough for him to hear. I saw his jaw tighten and with a fateful twist, caught sight of the familiar tattoo on the nape of his neck. “It’s really you.”

Minsoo gulped and sighed. He whispered something to the driver, who nodded and pulled down a partition, which blocked him from the three of us.

“Make sure it’s soundproof,” Taeyeon murmured, and I cackled in response. My straight blonde hair was now in a mess and in a slack attempt at humour, Taeyeon had graciously complimented my ‘bad-boy’ style, until a whack from Minsoo had knocked her unconscious. I couldn’t react then, and even now, we were helpless.

“Shut up,” Minsoo growled. The ferocity in Taeyeon’s face was now looking pale in comparison to her party image, where even the widow veil had not failed to conceal the glow of her beauty. I could understand why Suho had fallen for her and saw it in something beyond her physical appearance. There was a constant spark burning inside her and no layman could miss it in the glint of her eyes and the crackle of her words. Everything Taeyeon did and said was bound to receive a reaction and the fact that Minsoo was no different, made me smile.

“Whotchu smiling about?” he murmured and sighed. He his lips and with a hesitant move, turned around to face me. Removing his shades, he looked me in the eye and said, “You’re in Byunghun. Do you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into?”

The dark humour died away and with a poker face, I looked right back at my friend and said, “I have no regrets.”

“Little er,” he hissed and in frustration, reached out to punch me. I didn’t pull away and took the blow with nothing but a stretching of my jaw.

“Still got your skills, I see,” I commented. I turned to Taeyeon and said, “He used to be the best fighter. Until I came along.”

Another punch. Taeyeon winced and asked Minsoo to stop. He gave her a glare then with a final smirk, said, “We’ve caught a big fish. Your friends better watch their backs.”

And with that, a dark screen fell between us and left my new friend and me alone.

                                                                                   TAEYEON

“Promise me.”

A confused look was his response. “Promise what? Anything for you Taeyeon-ah.”

I bit my lip and smiled. “Promise me… that when I die, yours will be the last face I see.”

“You won’t die!” he hissed and grabbed my face in his hands. “I’m only going away for a while, I’ll return! That’s my promise, don’t say such rubbish again!”

Suho had fulfilled his promise. He had returned, but by then it had been too late.

Now…it was too late.

Right after Luhan and Baekhyun had left the party, L.Joe had suggested we leave right away. I had to literally tear myself away from a flirtatious Jaejoong, who I was aware had been the reason for my ‘bodyguards’ hurried leave. My pianist took me away and the moment we sat inside the car, we had sighed in relief.

“Those three…” L.Joe had said and shivered. “They were scary.”

“I would have been worried if you had been anything but,” I replied and scoffed. “They’re JYJ, Paragon’s mercenaries. Sometimes I wish I could die earlier than them, just so I could organize the huge welcoming party waiting for them in the Underworld.”

“Be my guest.”

The three words had been the final nail in the coffin and as L.Joe struggled to pull me away from Junsu’s hold, the driver swerved the car in the opposite direction and pulled away his cap.

“I’ve heard your parties are the best, Ms. Kim Taeyeon,” Jaejoong grinned. “And I think, after your house burns down, it’s only natural that we look for a different venue, right?”

“Burn it down,” said Yoochun and that was the last thing I heard before a painful blackout.

JYJ certainly were the smooth criminals of Paragon. I didn’t even realize how I had landed up in the swanky limousine L.Joe and I were now shackled to. He met an old friend and the latter heavily cursed me. I ignored them as gracefully as I had when I had decided to continue my social networking after my husband’s death. Kangta had been a wonderful support and despite being fully aware of my past and my views on Paragon, he continued showcasing his pride in my achievements in the education field. “You’re helping Paragon in a way more beautiful than possible,” he would say. Being the Paragon Court judge, he had had to make many difficult decisions. But to everyone’s shock, it was Kangta who was responsible for jailing a corrupt official’s son, who had very obviously been the leader of a gang that took the life of one of my students. Two days later, Kangta’s body was delivered to me and after a month of being secluded in his gigantic farmhouse, I decided to sell it and shift to a smaller estate closer to Central Paragon. Know thy enemy, someone had said.

Paragon had threatened the lives of the two people I loved the most in the world. Though only recently had I come to know that one was still alive, being carried away in this manner did not give me any hope. L.Joe was still optimistic and despite his continuous reassurances that his team would save us, Suho would save us, I could only smile and rest my head against the cold window.

L.Joe obviously didn’t know about the Judgement Room. I decided to tell him, but was grateful when the car stopped and suddenly, the space the empty space that we had been lying on began lifting itself, above the car. L.Joe looked at me in shock, asking for an explanation. The moment he realized that we were in a massive glass box, I knew that he would soon receive one.

                                                                                KAIRI

We followed Lay, Kris and Siwon out to the quadrangle and were about to bid goodbye, when a gush of wind riled us.

“Aishh…” Woohyun complained, rubbing his eyes. “Something entered my eye ---”

Suddenly an arm swooped me up, and as I froze in shock, I watched Lay and Siwon guiding us back inside the monastery. Kris was carrying me and the deep frown that had embedded itself in his eyebrows and mouth, twisted my stomach.

“What happened?” I whispered. Kris looked at me and the frown vanished. What remained was nothing better and I repeated my question.

“We’ll know soon enough,” he simply replied. I wildly fidgeted to get a proper response, only to have Lay answer me.

“There’s been a Red Alert,” he said, his voice not able to contain the mask of calmness. “If we don’t surrender you to authorities within three days, the entire Central Paragon will be razed.”

“Just like the slum,” I murmured and bit my tongue. Kris had heard me, but instead of giving me a look of anger, he simply sighed and gazed at me with utmost sympathy.

“Our life is made by the death of others,” he murmured, and even amongst the loud running towards a basement like area, everyone had heard him.

It was the truth. Our life, certainly, was made by the death of others --- especially our loved ones.

                                                                             TAO

“Thank God you’re back…”

Dayoung quickly ran to Kairi’s side and in a moment of rare calm, the two rested their foreheads against each other and for the first time, I saw pain in Dayoung’s eyes. As much as she seemed complacent to everyone, I knew that she had fallen in love with her new family and that this was going to be a tragedy for her.

Kairi opened her eyes and looked up at the television, the little screen which had caught everyone’s attention an hour ago. “What’s going on---?”

“SHE’S STILL HERE!!”

Woohyun, Yong Guk and Suho had to tear D.O away from Kairi, who had leaped on her back from the entrance step and was refusing to leave her arm.

“What the hell?!” Kairi exclaimed and punched D.O. away. The latter was not at all bothered and continued to say, “I thought you surrendered!”

“We’ll settle this,” Jiyong said, emerging from the kitchen after a heavy discussion with Kris and looking at all of us. “For now, it’s good to know that Kairi is safe and sound and –--”

“They’ve got L.Joe,” Baekhyun said. He stammered and glanced at Suho, only to sigh and say, “Taeyeon too.”

The day was full of firsts. For the first time, I saw a vulnerable gaze in Suho’s eyes, eyes that had always spelt strength and willpower for me. His fair complexion, normally beaming with leadership and sagacity, suddenly grew pale, like a fresh corpse. He had to sit himself down in an armchair, and after a few seconds, push himself up to give everyone a steady look and say, “Everyone, start dividing into teams.”

An instant breaking apart, like the division of the Red Sea and even as the monotonous reporter began repeating the same news, everyone continued to shift their gazes to the idiot box to add salt to their wounds and work with more ferocity. Weapons were being taken out, bodies were being stretched and warmed up.

One of the main reasons I was fond of Dayoung was how despite her young age, she was smarter and more observant than the rest. Sometimes, her monosyllabic statements were a necessary evil.

“Where’s Jiyeon unnie?”

                                                                               KAIRI

“Everyone, start dividing into teams.”

Woohyun grabbed me and began pulling me away, towards Yong Guk and Luhan who had already begun discussing the composition of the fighters from their respective teams. I threw in names and Woohyun kept curbing my reasons to participate in any physical altercation. In between the chaos, I looked around and found Dayoung, sitting on the couch and staring at me with furrowed eyebrows. I smiled and mouthed, “You’ll be fine,” when suddenly, her eyes widened in a form of realization and she shouted, “Where’s Jiyeon unnie?”

The discussion slowly died down, until everyone was looking at each other and then looking back at Dayoung.

“Jiyeon…” Yong Guk whispered. I felt an uncomfortable stiffness choke me when I saw his expression, and looked away, only to find a disheveled Baekhyun in the center of the room.

“Where is Jiyeon?” he began asking. “When did you last see her? Come on guys answer me!!”

His eyes landed on Yong Guk, who stared back with a surprising hint of guilt. The EXO member marched towards him and with hardly a distance of three feet between them, asked, “When did you last see her?”

“In the morning,” Yong Guk replied, his throat parched and his words rough. “She was sleeping soundly.”

Baekhyun’s lips trembled and the sight of his entire body shaking scared me. I was never scared of people, but this volley of emotions surrounding me sent a shiver down my spine. A flashback of Joon, when Woohyun had taken me away and I had seen his helpless and hopeless face bidding me goodbye. If only he had fought the way Baekhyun was doing right now, I would have continued believing that ---

Stupid girl, I thought. Of course. It had been so obvious and had been a quiet gossip amongst us. Baekhyun was still in love with Jiyeon. The two had history and despite Yong Guk being Jiyeon’s Partner, the two had something beyond the chemistry of a normal couple. Baekhyun wasn’t angry so that he could use the scheme of witnesses and bring Jiyeon back. He was genuinely concerned and would rather deal with the pain of letting her go with someone else than just disappear.

“Hey,” the tall scary man from EXO –-- who I a moment later realized was Tao --- said, pointing at the screen. “It went black.”

“That means they have big news,” I said, starkly remembering my life in Paragon before Woohyun entered my life. I stood right below the television and waited. The screen returned to life. My heart dropped.

Staring back at me in all his glory was none other than Lee Joon. He was on a podium and giving a propaganda speech, about loyalty to Paragon and betrayal.

“Six months ago, we had been by our very own, a domestic assault by our family member. Paragon values loyalty and there’s no bond more important than family. Anyone who attempts to break this bond will be severely punished.”

I could feel everyone’s gaze hesitating on my back. The discomfort from the sudden attention was wiped away with another unwelcome feeling --- fear.

Joon would have never stood up on a pedestal like this, unless it was some sort of initiation for him. This was a test, which my father had surely wanted him to pass only so that he himself could gain. Joon had little to gain, but gain he did, and so he continued talking.

“Today we will show everyone,” he said, a hint of a smirk on his lips. “What Paragon is and why anyone who is attempting to corrupt our peace, would have to be warned. For the first time in the history of Paragon, we have a public execution!”

The massive crowd, standing in what I finally recognized as the Grand Park, began murmuring and hooting, some in anticipation and most in fear. My fist clenched, I watched as the camera zoomed out to show the crowd, looking like a bee-hive from above and then shifted it’s lens on the stage where Joon was standing. His arm was extended to the centre of the platform, where two massive glass boxes were slowly being elevated from the floor.

“With two insignificant pawns,” Joon announced, ecstasy trembling in his voice, “we have finally caught the number one traitor, the queen. Ladies and gentlemen, today you will see the justified death of the most dangerous criminals --- former foster kid Lee Byunghun, corrupt judge Kangta’s widow Kim Taeyeon and none other than the most wanted head in the state… Kairi Lee!”

My stomach clenched and the camera zoomed in on L.Joe and Taeyeon, who looked like they had just woken up from a deep sleep. The camera then shifted to the second box, where I found my reflection slowly looking up at the crowd without any expression on her face. I touched my hair. I had never gotten blonde highlights in my life. Those eyes were an unnatural green and the face was as fair as a woman who would keep herself veiled and protected.

“If that’s not me,” I whispered, and turned to face Woohyun. “Then…”

“Jiyeon,” Baekhyun said.

I ran out the door.