Yoseop opened his eyes when the blindfolded was taken off. He squint his eyes slightly at the bright light and blinked furiously, adjusting his eyes at the brightness of the room he was currently in.

He realized that he was inside a big room, some sort of a meeting room but with much more sofas and coffee table. There was an oval table in front of him and he sat right at the end of it, facing all others. Well, he knew that he will be the topic of the meeting.

By all others, he meant all of his friends. There were Doojoon, Junhyung, Hyunseung, Kikwang and Dongwoon and somehow, there`re also Yifan and his son, Kai and a dozen of heavily weapon soldiers, including Seungri.

He looked at Doojoon and the man slowly blinked his eyes at him, as if trying to ask him to calm down and don`t be to panic because all of them were there for him. He blinked back and looked at each of his friends. He can see that both Junhyung and Hyunseung were beaten up pretty bad while Kikwang and Dongwoon looked unhurt.

Scanning the room, his eyes fell on Kai and the boy smirked at him. Unfazed by the mockery, he smirked back.

“Welcome, Yoseop-shii” Yifan called out first and everyone`s attention were on him. “And welcome to all of the others too. This is one of my meeting rooms in the underground and I do hope that we gave you all the facilities we have, Yoseop-shii and Captain Yoon. We are very sorry for the unfriendly behavior of some of my soldiers”

“Just get to the point, will you?” Yoseop asked.

Yifan chuckled, “As you can see, the… escape team have failed to sneak you out of the building and again, I am sorry for the unfriendly behavior of my soldiers towards both of you, Commander Yong and Vice-Captain Jang”

“My cat bite stings more than these punches” Junhyung spat.

Rolling his eyes, Yifan ignored the little sarcasm from the man and looked at Yoseop back, “So Yoseop-shii, I think you know the reason things turn out to be like this. All of these happened because of you not being able to cooperate with us”

“Really…?” Yoseop raised his eyebrows, “I asked for one thing for my parents and will give you the formula that can make all of the people becomes immortal and you don`t want to agree. You accused me being the one who is not cooperative enough now?”

“We could just extract the formula from you, Yoseop” Kai interrupted.

Yoseop clicked his tongue, “Then why don`t you do it?” He asked, “I guess my blood is not enough for everyone, is it?”

Kai slit his eyes, “Can we just kill this son of a ” He looked at his father. “My hand is not healed yet but I still think I can stab him right at his dysfunctional heart”

“We will soon” Yifan said, “We will kill you soon, Yoseop-shii, just so you know” He declared, taking the attention from everyone.

“Then I guess you have killed my parents. You don’t have any other choice than to get the formula from me” Yoseop calmly stated, “Fine… you can kill me. Take anything you want from me but let these people go” He said, pointing at all his friends.

“Request again… always uncooperative bastard” Kai murmured.

Yoseop rolled his eyes, “Do you want my blood or not?”

“Alright then…” Yifan sighed, “We will let these people go and in return, you will stay here, until we make sure all of them are out of sight and will never appear again. After that, we will transport you to the medical chamber and you can say good bye to this world”

“Wait a moment” Doojoon stood up, looking at Yifan and then Yoseop, “You really think I will let them kill you, Yang Yoseop?”

The smaller man looked at his boyfriend, raising his eyebrows, “We talked about this already and I know what I am doing”

“No…” Doojoon shook his head, “All of us came here for you and then you will send us back just like that? I won`t let you. I believe none of us will let you do that” Doojoon said, pointing at all of the other friends.

Kikwang nodded frantically, agreeing to whatever Doojoon was saying, “Just what makes you sure we will let them take you and kill you for themselves? Don`t you see how hurt Junhyung and Hyunseung are? All of us risk our lives to safe you, Yoseop”

“I made my decision already and that`s it. I told you, I know what I am doing. These people killed my parents already and I will not let them kill my friends too. None of you can change my mind no matter what you said” Yoseop declared, looking at Doojoon right in the eyes, “Including you, Yoon Doojoon”

“Hyung…” Dongwoon called out, “Can`t you please talk to us about this first? Please, hyung…” The youngest said, trying to change Yoseop`s mind even when he knew it`s no use. Once Yang Yoseop made his mind about something, nothing can undo it.

“Enough with all the dramas…” Yifan said out loud, clapping his hands together. “We don`t have much time and Yoseop already made his mind so I suggest all of the others follow his advice so we can avoid any further casualties, alright?”

No one talks after that. It was more to a staring competition. Most of them were fixing their eyes on Yoseop and Yoseop`s eyes were on Doojoon, of course. Both of them were trying to have a conversation thru their eyes.

“You heard the man… move on” Seungri called out and out of sudden, things get out of control. Shots were fire and suddenly the whole room gets dark.

_____*****_____

The six of them reached an intersection, the place where they were supposed to reach much earlier according to the original plan. If Jiyong was right and didn`t lie to them while in distress, each of the intersection will lead them to the outside of the Line, not even in the Cell but at the outside world.

“Thank God…” Kikwang slumped against the wall. “My heart almost jumps out of my chest for real… I thought Jiyong said that this tunnel isn`t that long”

Yoseop, while panting like a mad dog, looked at Doojoon, “You didn`t tell me about the riot” He said. “What had happened?”

“It is not his fault… I told him not to tell anyone about it, including you” Junhyung cut in before Doojoon can utter a word, “We cannot let any mistake on this plan. There is no plan B and if this one busted, we`re dead”

“What was that just now anyway?”

“That… just now…” Hyunseung reached down under his shoes and took out pair of Rambo knife, handing one to Doojoon, “…was the other trainer covering up for us…”

“Huh?”

“We spread some malicious news about the governor didn’t want to pay the trainer and some other things…” Kikwang said, “We also gave out the coordinate of this place, saying that today, is the only day the governor will be in town”

“You knew they will take the lights out first?”

“That`s what we are trained for. Make the enemy blinds first before strike”

Yoseop was stunned for a moment but then he scoffed, “Who knew it would be that easy to tell lie to them” He murmured, “Are you guys okay? Didn`t look very good to me, your condition” He asked, pointing towards the Commander and Vice-Captain.

Hyunseung waves away the worries, “Nothing that we can`t handle. The first blow on the head was quite hard though but we`re good. Thanks for asking by the way”

“How about you both…?” This time, it was Kikwang and Dongwoon.

“We are more worried about you, hyung” Dongwoon said, “Kikwang hyung and I are both okay but I didn’t think you are the same. They must have done something to you right, hyung?”

Yoseop shook his head, “My tolerance for pain is quite high so don`t worry about me” He said, “Now… what is the plan? Where should we head off? To the left or to the right…?” As he speaks, all of the soldiers stand straight, getting ready for yet another run.

“According to the plan, you and Doojoon will head off to the left and the rest to the right” Junhyung cranked his neck, “Just head off straight and you will find a lake. There, built something that can fit both of you and let the streams take you to the end of it. We will meet there”

“Why can`t we just head off to the right together?”

“There`s only road at the outside of the right and very likely, the others will think that we took the road, all of us. So, the four of us will be the bait while Doojoon take you to the safe place” Kikwang explained more.

Yoseop frowned, “Now you guys didn`t think that I will let you risk your lives once again for me, aren`t you? Enough with all these bait thing and whatsoever. Just face this together, can`t we?” The smallest among them said.

“Hyung… we will be fine. Trust us, our mission is to make sure that you are safe and no matter what, we will accomplish that” Dongwoon held Yoseop`s left arm, “If they get you, it will be the end for the rest of us, for the rest of the people back in our Line, for the rest of the world. If worse comes to worst, we will do anything just so you live”

“But-”

Doojoon grabbed Yoseop`s right arm and pulled him towards the left exit. “You guys go first. I will explain the rest to him” The Captain said, looking at Junhyung. “Just do according to what we have plan”

Junhyung nodded, “Meet you at the outside” They bumped fist before the Commander jogged towards the right exit, leaving the rest to follow him.

“Be careful, Doo” Hyunseung said, “And you too, Yoseop” He clutched the smaller man`s hand and followed the Commander, “Come on everyone… we must move fast”

Kikwang and Dongwoon both hugged Yoseop at the same time, making the man almost stumble backwards if it not because of Doojoon, “Be safe, Seop” Kikwang whispered and Dongwoon said “Be careful, hyung. We will wait for you at the other side of the lake”

“Yeah… you guys be careful too…” Yoseop waved, watching his friends disappear one by one.

As they leave, Doojoon slowly tugged Yoseop and they walked at their path, hand in hand like a couple went for a date. It was a comfortable silence at first but then Yoseop thought that he should say something since he never knew how long the walk will take.

_____*****_____

“What the hell happened just now?” Yifan asked, faced oiled with sweat, shirt drenched. “Don`t tell me they’ve got away”

“Unfortunately, sir… the moment we get the backup lights operated, they`ve gone. There are no traces of them at all” Seungri reported, getting ready to hear an earful of lecture and possibly a punishment.

“Someone must have been doing something behind my back then” Yifan growled, looking at each and every single living thing in the room. “There is no way it will happen according to their plan. We knew their plan. We busted their so called saving friend mission. What went wrong then?”

Seungri knew he was telling the truth. There is no reason for him to lie about the enemy. Everyone in the room knew he didn`t lie. “I swear I didn`t do or say anything”

The governor raised a single eyebrow, “Then someone here or in this building must be shoving a log up my . Step out now in front of me or you can see your family and your god damn good bye”

No one step forward. Not a single sound can be heard.

Not until the alarm blew up again.

“What the hell was that this time?” Yifan roared like a madman.

“They are in the tunnel, escaping outside the wall” Seungri reported. Without waiting for further instruction from the boss, he quickly step outside the room, readying himself and his soldiers for the capture, “Alpha team, inside the tunnel headed to the outside wall. Beta team, cover the building inside and out. One of each team, stay with the governor” He commanded through his ear piece.  

_____*****_____