Dujun’s POV

“So you’re saying that by using the car’s black box, we can actually find my hyung’s whereabouts, Jihoon-hyung?” I asked, a bit unsure on how Jihoon-hyung could manage to do that. I mean, how could a record of hyung’s footage possibly help us?

The latter must have grasped the unsurety in my expression as he stood up and went to pat my shoulder.

“Absolutely. By using the memory, we can find the car's plate number and with that we’ll track the car's location.”

“We could do that?”

“Yeah, ask Seobie if you’re still being stubborn Dujun-ah.”

I turned to Seobie with a questioning look and my boyfriend just nodded as a reply.

“See, even our ex-detective agrees. Back to the plan, could somebody get me a laptop?”

“Sure thing hyung.” The maknae replied before disappearing to god knows where and returning back with my laptop after a few minutes.

“Is that mine Dongwoon-ah?”

“Uh-huh, you wouldn’t mind, would you hyung?.” He said as he placed it on the table and Jihoon-hyung instantly turned the power on.

“What’s the password Dujun-ah?”

“Here let me hyung. It’s 0-6-0-1-3-1 and enter!”

“Numbers hyung? I thought you would prefer the letters.”

“I can’t help it, it’s a special day Dongwoon-ah.”

“Special day?”

“It’s-”

“I would save the story for later if I were you, Dujun-ah. It’s not really the time. Pay attention for now okay?” Jihoon-hyung said, before calling for the other’s attention before we all watched the video and scanned for any of their number plates, before writing it down.

Then Jihoon-hyung borrowed the nearest phone at the table before excusing himself to call an acquaintance of his to find the location of the vans while the rest of us focused on the video.

Although it isn’t much, we saw and heard what’s happening there and there’s no doubt…

‘It’s him.’

I saw my brother on the footage and it was confirmed not only by the face, but also by the voice.

“Guys we got ourselves the location! Go pack your weapons and pack fast, ‘cause apparently Joon’s heading towards his private dock and if he uses the sea route to his advantage, it’ll be much more complicated to catch him. Do you all get me?”

“Yes hyung!”

“Then what are you waiting for? Go pack!”

Jihoon-hyung ordered and we all directly went to the weapon storage room and grabbed what we would bring.

Most of us knew how to fight, even Dongwoonie, he was caught off guard the last time and he pretty much wanted some payback now. His eyes are filled with determination.

Right when, we are in the middle of packing all the things that we needed, the doorbell sounded off, probably indicating that Eunkwang must’ve came.

Luckily, I finished doing my things so I dashed upstairs and opened the door, letting our visitors in.

“Dujun-hyung!”

He greeted me and I gave him a big hug in return.

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen him and I’m also really grateful for last time, when he gave me Jihoon-hyung’s info.

“Yah~ Eunkwang-ah! Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

I patted his back before releasing him, then a pair of brown furry ears emerged from Eunkwang’s back and I found Minhyuk, a Pomeranian hybrid, Dongwoon’s and Yoseobie’s friend and also Eunkwang’s soon-to-be lover.

From what I heard, Eunkwang didn’t confess yet because he’s afraid of Minhyuk’s rejection, even though the latter feels the same about him.

‘Aigoo Dongsaeng-ah, you could be so utterly dense, you know…’

“Anyway, where’s my patient hyung?”

Eunkwang asked and I pointed him to the room before he dashed quickly to Hyungnim,  he’s clearly one of the most dedicated veterinarian I know.

“Hello Minhyukie~” I addressed him and he greeted me with a bright smile.

“Did he confess yet?” Minhyuk shook his head and smiled sadly.

I patted him on the shoulder and said a quiet ‘fighting!’ to him.

“Oh, are Yoseobie and Dongwoonie here, hyung? And, how’s the rabbit hybrid?”

“Yes they’re inside. As for Gikwang, he-he’s been captured.”

“Wha- How?”

“It’s a long story Minhyuk-ah. I’ll explain it later, though can I ask you and Eunkwang a favour?”

“What kind of favour hyung?”

Before I could answer, Eunkwang’s surprised shout turned both Minhyuk and I directly to his direction.

“Ji-Jihoon-hyung?!”

“You’ve found Jihoon-hyung, hyung?!”

Minhyuk asked me as his mouth fell open, he seemed to be surprised as well.

“Yep, both Seobie and me that is. We found him in the same warehouse Hyunseung was captured-”

“Hyunseung-hyung was captured?”

“Sorry Mihyuk-ah, it’s a really long story. Anyway, about the favour, could you and Eunkwang watch both Hyungnim and the house while we rescue Gikwang?”

“Of course hyung. Call us if you need back up.”

He grinned before going to Eunkwang’s side to explain what he heard as he dragged him back into the room.

“Doo-doo, let’s go!”

“Oh right! Wait a sec, I forgot to grab my taser!”

I ran back to the weapon room and grabbed my trusty taser before dashing back up.

“Come on Dujunie!”

Yoseobie grabbed my hand and lead me outside, both of us headed towards the car where the others have already went in, waiting for the both of us.

Gikwang’s POV

“What do you want, Lee Joon-ssi?”

I spat with hatred in my tone and what made me furious was the smirk that he showed despite my discontentment.

I was awake a few minutes ago and found myself strapped down to a wheelchair while one of the black suited men from before was pushing me towards a room.

And unsurprisingly, there’s Lee Joon pacing around the room with a delighted grin on his face as he waved the man off.

“Scary~ Did staying there boost your self-confidence so fast Gikwang-ah? And what I want from you? It’s simple Gikwang-ah. Your Power. That’s what I desire, other than that, you’re useless to me.”

He stated the last part loudly, though he expected me to frown or be hurt at that statement, clearly he was wrong. For me, hearing the word ‘useless’ coming from his mouth wasn’t an unfamiliar thing.

“Then may I inquire how you’re going to do that Joon-ssi? It isn’t something you can just extract from me.”

“True. I haven’t found a method to take that power of yours yet. But does it really matter? If I can’t get that ability of yours then… I’ll just have to make you use your gift for me-”

“I won’t! I’d rather die than help you! Sick psychotic bastard!”

He got pretty upset when I said that last word and he really expressed it thoroughly by throwing the vase on his table at me, missing me by a hair and hit the wall right behind me.

“Oh, sorry… my hand slipped. Though I guarantee you that this will happen again if you don’t mind your manners.”

“You’re sick.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. You know it already that you barely can move in that condition. I’m giving you a great deal here, cooperate with me and I’ll get you out of that uncomfortable chair.”

“No means no. I stand by my words.”

“Are you really in a condition to be stubborn right now? You do know there are consequences if you refuse, don’t you?”

I gulped at his last statement.

I know pretty well what’s coming if I refused.

I would probably be tortured again… like the past, until he got me into submission. Even thinking about that word made me want to throw up.

I hate it, I hate the idea of helping him with his evil deeds.

But I meant what I say, and I don’t want to hurt anyone.

I don’t ever want to hurt anybody, especially the innocent ones.

So that’s it, that’s my answer. I’m not going to hurt anyone.

“Are you deaf? I said no. Nothing will change my mind.”

I scowled at him, not wavering a bit when his expression started to contort to anger.

I expected another vase or glass to fly towards me at that very second, but instead he didn’t do anything except picking up his phone and calling someone.

“Bring me the glasses.”

“But sir, we’re not completely sure if it’s safe-”

“Bring it in now or you’re fired.”

He ended the call and grinned at me with a creepy expression.

“Any change of mind?”

“None.”

I answered firmly which made him grinned wider.

“Oh well, do remember it’s your choice.”

He said as he went to his seat, chuckling evilly.

Suddenly the door was opened and three people with lab coats came, the tallest one held a weird looking and way too thick glasses with suction cups on its inner rims.

“What’s that?”

I asked but they turned deaf on me and the man with the weird glasses came towards me while holding that thing.

“Get that thing away from me! I- I might hurt you, if you don’t!”

I faked threatened him, it’s a success since he seemed surprised and stopped in his tracks, glancing at both of his lab coat colleague.

“What are you waiting for?! Get it on the hybrid!”

“But sir…”

“Just do it!”

Lee Joon ordered furiously and I felt awful for the lab coat man, he’s got no choice but to follow his superior's order.

I knew I can’t hurt him, I won’t, but at least if he thinks that placing that thing on my head’s going to be easy, then he’s mistaken.

As he drew closer and closer, I struggled non-stop trying to untangle myself and when the man wanted to place the glasses on me, I immediately lunged at him, almost biting his hand off.

“Why did you pull away?!”

“He wanted to bite me sir!”

“And I don’t give a ! Just get that damn thing on him! Hold him if you have to!”

The other two men who were previously standing quietly at the exit went to help the first man, by holding down my shoulders and pushing me into the chair.

I continued to struggle despite that and they cursed under their breath and whispered quietly, which was completely audible to my enhanced rabbit ears.

“Crazy of a boss.”

“Psycho.”

“Poor kid, it’s going to be tough for him.”

“Yeah, it hasn’t been tested on humans or hybrids yet.”

“Moreover does he know what this thing could do?”

Their conversation piqued both of my interest and a bit of fear, although I tried to focus on their conversation more, but apparently the first lab coat ahjussi didn’t let me because he’s back in wanting to place that object on me.

He hesitated a bit when I tried to lunge at him again, but no such luck for me this time, both of the other two men held me down and let their colleague proceed.

“You brought this upon yourself, Gikwang-ah… Or should I say, Kyungsook-ah?”

He said, distracting me and the lab coat man used the change and had me wear glasses forcefully.

A wave of intense pain coursed through my brain and all of a sudden there’s a new entity in my mind, it kept trying to loosen the control that I have over myself, to surrender and leave whatever control I had left.

And the more I tried to fight it, the more it became painful and agonizing.

Then I shouted out loud and almost let my power astray, fortunately I’m able hold it back.

It’s hard and it’s painful, but...

I made a promise to myself, I won’t hurt anyone, even if...

Even if, I have to be hurt myself.

My head kept throbbing, filled with the piercing pain as the entity kept fighting with me for control.

And when I heard the sound of something broke in my mind, I knew… I knew I’d lost, I’d lost control of myself.

Out of nowhere it all came rushing into me...

Memories, that I thought I’d forgotten.

It flowed heavily like a river, filling my mind to the brim.

Sad thoughts and joyful thoughts...

My old home…

My Appa…

My friends…

Doo-hyung and Yoseobie…

Dongwoonie and Hyungseungie...

One by one, their smiling faces appeared right before me.

And all of the sudden, the lab disappeared from my vision…

The darkness had claimed me, but it wasn’t all darkness there... The memories still remained before all of it shifted into a place.

A garden…

It was quiet, the only sounds there were the wind and the soft buzzing of the bees.

It was filled with colourful, stunning flowers, blooming all around the place, with the butterflies and bees fluttering around the air. Dancing in tune with the cool breeze that blew my hair, making it messy.

I turned and turned before I was stopped and my sight was focused there... right at the centre of the garden, stood Junhyung, he stared at me briefly before smiling as he motioned me to come to him with his hand before he outstretched his arms widely, inviting me to go to his warm embrace.

And so, I ran...

I ran with all the strength I had, dashing toward those loving, awaiting arms of his, but luck was clearly not on my side, since I never made it.

I was halfway to his side when all of a sudden, there’s something else… appearing everywhere, clouding my vision.

They’re the blurry images.

Fractions of memories that I never knew I had, showing up here and there, just like pieces of a gigantic puzzle, filling all the space around me and the beautiful garden was no longer there, no flowers, no butterflies and bees… nothing.

The puzzle was distorted, confusing me as it kept swirling and the voices from the memories kept talking, hushing, whispering, sobbing, shouting, but all that they uttered were completely incoherent words. And the faces that spoke those words were all fuzzy, indecipherable faces. I can’t solve anything, since I didn’t know who’s making those sounds or where it all had happened, the places shown were familiar, but I can’t put a name to any of them, at the same time.

I just wished all of this would stop, it didn’t help me at all. In fact, I kept wanting to puke after seeing those blurs. I couldn’t take it anymore, so… I screamed on the top of my lungs. I wanted all of this to stop and those unwanted memories to just disappear.

And as on cue, the puzzle memories shook, shattering one by one like glass instantly, before all of it reformed and turned into a long, white hallway.

I was laying on the ground, exhausted from all the screaming. I just hoped that those blurs wouldn’t come back, I hardly could handle the first time and I don’t intend to repeat the experience.

But strangely, I felt like knowing this hallway, it was somehow… a nostalgic place, the same with the previous garden.

Though the very thing that I’m afraid of now, is that this place would disappear too…

I slapped myself hard on the face, in an attempt to bring my focus back.

It’s not the time to be worrying and just do nothing.

I have to find out what’s on the end of the hallway, I hold onto that thought as I kept running, trying to find a way out of this...