Her new song was blasting loudly in the room. So loudly her body was throbbing to the rythm of the music. She was laying on her back, eyes closed, limbs spreading to different directions. She also had a water bottle in her hand, previously used as a mic.

Does anyone know
How it makes me feel?
Until the day we meet again, goodbye goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye

Suddenly the soft guitar accords were shut off, leaving only the memory of her song in her mind, the silence shouting in here ars. Groaning, she sat up to see who switched the music off. By the stereo stood a familiar figure, sporting a black face mask and beanie. Pulling the mask down, Jiyong smiled at her, pity in his eyes.

"Is it new?" He asked, his voice echoing in the practice room. Walking to the blonde, he sat down in front of her. "I’m sad you didn’t show me first." he said while punching her shoulder lightly. Chaerin just chuckled at that and awerted her gaze, only watching her hands in her lap.

Skinny fingers reached for her right hand and started to caress her skin with his thumb. She glanced up, finding Jiyong watching her with a bittersweet smile.

"I just finished it, actually" she blurted out slowly. Her voice was raspy from all the singing.

„Well, I knew that you practically locked yourself in the studio” the man said. „You worked on this for three days, right?” Chaerin just nodded. Jiyong could see from the unusual paleness of her skin and dark circles under her eyes that she had no sleep during that time. "It turned out nicely" he told her, but it earned no reaction from her. He could see that her mind was elsewhere.

With a slow sigh, he let go of her hand and reached up to cup her face, making her look at him. When she did, he asked with seriousness in his eyes. "Do you love her?"

They both knew who he was talking about. Jiyong could see that during the one month Sandara Park was living with the blonde, Chaerin looked happier and way livelier and she spent more – so much more – time at her own apartment. He knew that Chaerin had a thing for girls as well, but it still surprised him to see that how much she cared for the brunette. Only one month into living together, she must’ve been something, really. And during her birthday party, he saw the kiss in the club. There was something going on between them. And next day, the brunette disappeared taking the happiness Chaerin had built up in herself. She was not the same since. The blonde had her fair share of emotional baggage, but she was able to put them behind her. What is different now? Why can’t she just let everything go as she always did?

Chaerin watched him for a long minute before answering, tears swelling up in her eyes. Her voice was broken, the words coming out as a mere whisper. "Oppa… I don’t know what to do…"

"Come here" He pulled her into a hug, caressing her back, letting her sob into his neck. "It will be okay."

"I think… she is in trouble" Chaerin told her between sobs and hiccups. She got fistfuls of his hoodie, burying her face in his chest. "I shouldn’ve known…"

"No" Jiyong told her quickly, cupping her cheeks once again, pulling her off of himself so that he can see her face. "It’s not your fault. If someone is indeed harming her, you have nothing to do with that. If anything, you helped her. And you know that."

"But the bruise on her cheek. Oppa, I should’ve went to the police…" she continued, fat tears rolling down on her cheeks along with mucus and saliva leaving her nose and mouth. It was a heartbreaking sight to see.

"Everything will be alright…" He soothed her, brushing her tears away with his thumbs.

She just shooked her head, pulling his hands away from herself gently. Fresh tears escaped her eyelids soon. „How? The first time we met, she was running away from people. They won’t let her go again.”

"I will help" Jiyong promised with a sad smile. "We will work it out."

"No, you can’t” Chaerin said, shooking her head again, using the back of her hand to brush her saliva off of her chin. She seemed to calm down a little. "You have and image to protect" The words of Bom echoed in her mind again. When exactly are you planning to go and search for her? Between two schedules if you have a stray half an hour free time? Jiyong was even more of a busy person. Their duo really blew up recenty, they are all over the place.

"And you have a human life to protect" Jiyong replied. "We will bring her back."

Chaerin just watched him, searching for any sign that he was lying, but the young man looked serious and dedicated. It felt good not to face this problem alone, but she was still unsure about the situation. The girls weren’t as understanding. Although her bond with Jiyong was much stronger anyway. He was there at the worst time of her life just as she was there when he was struggling. She can trust him, she was sure of that.

"Thank you" she whispered. Jiyong just smiled at her and pulled her in another hug.

"For you, anything" he breathed against her hair, then pressing a light kiss on top of her forhead.

~*~

"I don’t even know what kind of meat is it" the young man murmured, examining the piece of food trapped between the tip of his chopsticks. The others just chuckled at that and looked back at their own, equally questionable meals.

"Don’t think about it, oppa" Chaerin told him, chewing on her egg rolls. "Denial is a bliss sometimes."

At the other side of the table Seunghyun let out a frustrated sigh and set his own utensils down, folding his arms in front of his chest. "I think I saw a bug in the corner… If I don’t survive this night, I will kill you all" he said, although a playful smile sat on his lips.

The chinese restaurant they have chosen was a rather ty one, they already knew that as soon as they set a foot inside. The tables were kind of dirty, the walls needed painting and the old waiter looked like he had a cold. They just hoped he didn’t sneeze in their food back in the kitchen. The meals tasted just as weird as they looked, but they couldn’t do anything about it. It was the only place that was open in that district at the late hour and had no other customers.

"Let’s go have a late dinner, they said. It will be funny, they said" Seunghyun continued, massaging his temple. "This is barely edible. We could’ve gone to a bar" A headache was probably forming in his skull. Chaerin felt bad because of the trouble she caused, afterall they were out there because of her. Jiyong probably saw it on her face and told the older man to shut his mouth and reached for another piece of chicken, that tasted anything but that.

For a while, they ate in silence. Only the sound of the radio by the counter could be heard. The man played oldschool chinese songs.

Chaerin, upon finishing her meal, she glanced up towards to door. No person walked around in the street at that time of the night, and the flickering of the neon board over the entrance just made the empty street even creepier. For several minutes, she was staring a hole into the door and finally two men appeared on the other side, entering the small restaurant with a low greeting towards the old waiter.

They went to their table, sitting down next to Seunghyun with gloomy faces. As the old man shuffled to their table, they ordered two bottles of beer.

"Have you seen her?" asked Chaerin instantly, although the other two was also watching their friends intently.

Youngbae glanced at Daesung uneasily, then back at the blonde, shaking his head. "They wouldn’t let us."

"Why?" the girl demanded.

The old man came back with the beers, opened them so slowly Chaerin almost shouted at him to hurry up, but eventually, he finished, walking away once again. This time Daesung was the one to speak up. He didn’t look so shaken up as the older friend. He just looked angry. "It’s a dirty place" he started in a low tone, then took a sip of his beer. "When we arrived, they asked what service do we want. We were speachless, so they offered a lot of… options."

"What… what options?" Chaerin asked glancing between the two men, although she had a suspition what did they mean by that. Youngbae didn’t meet her eyes.

"Anything, really" Daesung said. "I respect women, you know I don’t like to take advantage. It seemed as if they knew that too. They could see that we aren’t used to stuff like that, so we said that we just want to have a little fun. So we were lead to a room, almost like a karaoke room. It had a TV screen, couches and tables. Then they asked if he had specific orders. Like specific things we wanted to do, or specific girls we wanted to have. So we mentioned Sandara. They told us… whad did he say?" He glanced at Youngbae who held up his head upon hearing his name, looking Chaerin in the eyes.

"He said ’Sandy is unable to work tonight’ or something along the lines" he replied. "It seemed like she wasn’t busy. I took it as she physically wasn’t able to work."

Chaerin just leaned back, glancing back and forth between the two of them again. As she grew more agitated, she felt a warm hand on top of hers. It was Jiyong, she knew that, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

"And then? Then what happened?"

Youngbae glanced at the younger man, then back at the blonde. "We got two girls coming to our room. They entertained us, but we didn’t go third base, even though they encouraged it a lot. I think they get more money after that."

Chaerin just nodded and started to stare at the remains of her food instead.

She was grateful to the two of them for taking this role on, for going in that club. The others couldn’t go because they were celebrities already, but Youngbae was only a backup dancer and coreographer at the agency, and Daesung was a songwriter. They had practically no image to shatter if their visit to that club was to be found out. When Jiyong and Chaerin presented the idea of someone going to that club as a guest, the two of them offered to go in on their own. And the information they gathered was important to her.

So Sandara is working at a place like that, probably as a e of some kind. The innoncent behavior she showed her came to her mind. But after hearing all this, the brunette could be anything but innocent. She was working in South Korea illegally as a e, selling her body, deciveing people for their money, in a club at the worst neighbourhood of Seoul.

And yet how come she can’t make herself to hate her? She lied to her, didn’t say anything about her life.

But then again, in her place, Chaerin wouldn’t brag about any of this either. It could be dangerous, life threatening even. But even if it weren’t, she would be afraid of what Sandara might think of her if she would to reveale such a life, if tables were turned.

"What a mess" She whispered to herself.

"I don’t think it would be easy to sneak Sandara out or something. There is quite a security" added Youngbae apologetically.

"No, I didn’t think so too" Chaerin shook her head. "One way would be if they let her go willingly, which I don’t think they would. Apparently she isn’t able to work, yet they still keep her there. Otherwise that man would just tell you she’s not there, right? It’s kind of weird…"

"But if they won’t let her go…" continued Seunghyun, frowning. He wasn’t willing to finish his sentence, it was evident on his face, that he didn’t like what he was about to say.

"Then we just up the whole business." Finished Jiyong with a cocky grin, eyeing the oldest man sitting in front of him.

"Yah, don’t make it sound so easy" scolded him Seunghyun. "It’s the black market, maybe they are even linked to the mafia or some ."

Chaerin winced at his apparent irritation, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t even want them to participate in this. It was her business and didn’t want to ruin other lives during the process. "Oppa, it’s okay…" she turned to Seunghyun, but Jiyong raised his hand, silencing the blonde, still not taking his eyes off of the oldest of them.

"Don’t tell me you are afraid." Jiyong challanged him, then leaned back in his seat. Taking his chopsticks in his hand, he picked up another piece of his food. Before he put it in his mouth, he glanced at Seunghyun again. "I thought you said no man could chew you up" then bit down on the piece of meat earnestly.

"I know what you are playing. Playing the man-pride card won’t work. Quit the crap." Seunghyun said, then glanced at Chaerin instead. "Chaerin, I’m not saying I won’t help, but we should be really careful about this. I have a bad feeling about that place."

"Me too" sighed Youngbae. "When we were about to leave, there was this girl in the hallway. She was dragged out of a room, maybe similar to ours, by a man. I mean, what was she fifteen? Maybe even younger."

Daesung nodded in agreement, with a grim look on his face. "Too young. I almost went to them. That prick yelled at her about ’in up once more and she will regret being born’ or something. She was really afread of getting hit, it was in her body language. Then a security guard reassured us, that it was nothing and we should go."

"There are children there?" Chaerin asked in a low tone. She was getting angrier and angrier if that is humanly possible. Now, Sandara looked young, at first she thought the brunette was younger than her, even. So young she thought she was a high school student. But being an actual student and looking like one are separate things. Poor girls. It was just all wrong.

"One for sure. But who knows if there are more of them." said Daesung then took a long swing of his beer, almost finishing it at one sitting. Witnessing a business like this with his kind heart must have been hard for him to bear. It was a burden Chaerin didn’t want others to carry but her. And yet, here she was, leaning on others for help.

For a while, they ate and drank in silence. The soft melodies of the radio filled the room, but not their minds. Their heads were processing the new informations.

All Chaerin could think of was what Sandara told her before she left. How she had a family, younger siblings back in the Philippines. Although she never mentioned a father. From what she gathered, Sandara must have become some kind of a caretaker of her family. But she came to Korea years before, at a younger age. Maybe she was tricked as so many girls they could hear about in the news. How they think a bright future is waiting for them in other countries, yet when they arrive here, they will be lucky if they will be cleaning ladies and not sold to others for their bodies. To think that Sandara may have become the victim of that and filthy man are now free to do whatever with her just made her beyond angry.

Sandara didn’t deserve to go through that. She wanted to get her out of there. At any cost.

"So ing up the whole business, it is" Chaerin said bitterly, then took Youngbae’s beer and drank what was left in the bottle. After that, she glanced up at the guys. Daesung and Youngbae looked uneasy, Seunghyun just frowned, but looked determinated, Jiyong on the other hand, showed her a huge grin.

"Now, that’s what I’m talking about!"

"You don’t have to" told them Chaerin quickly. "It could be dangerous. It’s something I want to do, but you aren’t obligated to, so don’t feel that way." He looked all of them in the eyes seriously to reassure them that they owe her nothing.

"Whatever, I’m in" laughed Jiyong. "Sounds fun."

"You crazy bastard" sweared at him Seunghyun. "You will get yourself killed one day. At least pretend you understand what you are getting yourself into!" Jiyong just watched him intently and Seunghyun gave up with a sigh. "Can’t belive I’m doing this."

"Oppa, you really don’t have to-" Chaerin tried again, but Seunghyun stopped her with his palm, eyeing the youngest man.

"I know" he said in a low tone, then showed a small, but kind smile. "Let’s get your girlfriend back."

"Well, she is not…" started the blonde, but her efforts were in vain.

Youngbae clapped his palms on the table with a shocked face. "Wait, you didn’t tell me she was! It’s all different then."

"Because she isn’t" Chaerin was getting really frustrated, but they wouldn’t listen to her.

"Even if she is not, I’m in too" added Daesung. "I saw glimses of what is going on int here, and if there is only one girl who is suffering, it’s worth helping them to escape that place."

"It’s settled then." Jiyong closed the converstation earnestly and looked at the blonde. "Should we name our mission?"

"Don’t be childish" told him Daesung. "It’s really not a game."

"Okay, don’t be so serious, gosh" the guy huffed.

They all finished up their meals and drinks, payed for everything and left the rundown restaurant together. Since none of them owned a car, they headed down to the nearest bus station to catch a nighttime bus back to the city centre. As they were sitting at the bus stop, some of them smoking to calm their nerves down, Jiyong spoke up once again.

"At least we should have a team name."

"Shut up, oppa" Chaerin told him annoyed.

"Okay… Then, how about a chant?"

Waiting for the bus that night felt longer than ever…

So so so sorry for the delay. There are just so much things going on in my life and I never got to update this fic even though I really like writing it. I would like to finish it as well, even if it takes a while
Hope you liked it!

Anyway, Bigbang boys made another appearance, more of them to come in the later chapters. Although I'm not a VIP so I hope I didn't write them too OOC. Bom and Minzy will come back too.

I don't dare to promise when the next chapter would come, but I really would like to finish this fanfic, I don't want to drop it at all. I have the whole story played out in my head anyway. I just need time to sit my down to write it.