She was fearful that every breath she took would be her last one. Her head lulled forward which led her chin to be dipped into the cold water she was submerged in. The man who had been guarding her the whole time (she had found out his name was Jay after Robert had shouted it multiple times) walked into the room she was being held captive in.

                Jay sighed as he heaved another bucket of ice into the large tub she was sitting in. In honesty, he was tired of this monotonous work. If not for the large amount of money that was promised at the end of this, he would have walked out. While his friends were out patrolling for Mr. Viktor, he had been stuck in here first lighting cigarette after cigarette and now pouring buckets upon buckets of ice into the cold bath. He didn’t understand why Mr. Viktor couldn’t see that nothing would cause this girl to talk. She might as well have been mute.

                His hands met her cheek and slapped her awake. Some strange reason, Jay wanted her to be conscious and aware of when he poured new ice into the water. Not that it mattered, as her body was numb. The cold had taken over her starting from her toes and now the tip of her nose was turning blue. The only thing good that came out of this was that she could feel no pain whatsoever. In fact, she felt absolutely nothing. Nothing of the freezing water around her; nothing of the cramps; there was not a drop of blood in the water.

                She wondered how long Robert would keep doing this to her. Slowly, she had changed saying that she didn’t know what Hong Jung Yee was doing to saying nothing at all. She needed to conserve the remaining energy. The thin thread of hope was being stretched but she knew she had to desperately hang on.

                Robert stomped into the room. Jay was sitting off to the side while scrolling through his phone. He didn’t even bother to snap into attention when he heard Robert walking in. The room was empty except for the dirty bathtub he had found lying in the dumpster. After making sure it had no holes where water could leak, he had the two men guarding the doors bring it into the building. He then had Daeun stripped, tied and put inside while ordering Jay to make sure the water was always filled with ice. He couldn’t afford a cold cell, but this was the closest thing he had. He pursed his lips when he saw that Daeun was gazing forward at the wall. Nevertheless, seeing her still conscious thrilled him. Out of all the people he had toyed with, she had by far held out the longest. It was time for him to move onto the third stage.

                “Jay, take her out of the water and dry her,” Robert threw him a cylindrical pocket.

                Jay looked down at the wrapped package. “Boss, I don’t want to do that,” he shook his hands in front of him, “I don’t want to touch her.”

                Robert rolled his eyes. He took out another tampon from his pocket. It was not that he did not want to get his hands dirty. He would if he could, but his father had recently been extremely pushy on the progress he was making in New York. He had been on and off the phone with him. This had put him in a terrible mood.

                Jay put his phone down and walked over to Daeun. He rubbed his hands and huffed his warm breath on it. The second he dipped his hands into the water to pull her out, he was shocked. He had only been in charge of pouring the ice so he had a vague expectation of how cold the water was, but the reality of it was a thousand times worse than what he had imagined. He did not know how this girl had survived through it.

                Her eyes told her that her body was being moved, but with the absence of the sense of touch it was as if she was viewing a movie in first person. Things moved but she could not feel it being done to her. A towel was used to rub her body as she was pushed onto a chair. She stared expressionlessly ahead of her, praying for a miracle.

                Jay had only started to wipe her down but spots of red had already started to appear on the towel. Robert grimaced as he ripped open the package. He didn’t know how these things worked but he guessed that as long as he shoved it up some hole it would hold.

                Her body started shivering. It may have been the fact that it was defrosting or perhaps due to the intense stress it had been under. She couldn’t stop it from happening and the loss of control over her own body sent a new wave of fear.

                Robert held the tampon between his fingers in disgust. He snarled at it and threw it to the corner. Dauen could suffer for all he cared. There was no need for him to be nice to her at all. He watched as the other bulky man threw a large t shirt over the woman’s shivering body and then Robert pushed him away.

                “Daeun,” he sighed her name, “I’ve got good and bad news. Let’s start with the good.” He smacked his lips. There was nothing from her. It was like he was speaking to a half-clothed mannequin. “The good news is that I’m an extremely patient man. This game we’re playing? I could do it forever. I mean, I think you’ve figured that out when I said I have been watching you for a long time.”

                He waved his hand and sent Jay out. The door closed with a resounding thud behind him and the two were left alone. “The bad news is that my father isn’t patient. Since he found out I’ve been holding you captive, he’s been calling me nonstop.” On cue, his phone rang. Robert took it out of his pocket, declined the call and turned it off.

                “There, now we have no distractions. Back to what I was saying. My father’s not patient. He needs an update and if I don’t provide him with one soon,” he sighed again, “Let’s not do that, alright? With that being said, seems that neither heat nor ice has any effect so how about a different type of pain?” From the ground he picked up a double pronged fork.

                “Have you heard of the Heretics Fork?” he asked her. He had stopped anticipating any type of response. “This device is strapped to your neck right between your bone and throat just under the chin. As the name suggests, it was used for heretics: the people who took the lord’s name in vain; blasphemers; liars.” As he had been speaking, he had placed the device on her.

                “It may seem like this only pushes your head back but that’s the thing. With your head back, you’re unable to breathe or talk. The moment you try to shift into a comfortable spot, these prongs will pierce deep into your throat and chest. This little contraption is quite ingenious, don’t you think?”

                Hearing him talk about it caused an unconditioned response. She tried to swallow but her neck was so far pushed back that the act was near impossible. Trying to adjust herself, she could feel the fork scratch her skin and draw blood.

                Robert continued speaking, “They don’t sell these anywhere. I had to meld the metal together myself to create this. Thank goodness there are about three pieces in total. Regardless, the purpose for the creation of this was that this instrument would keep people awake for days. They became sleep deprived and with sleep deprivation, the likelihood of a confession is higher.

                I assume you’re quite tired from everything you’ve been through these past few hours. It’s a little past midnight right now so hang in there, Daeun. All you need to do is speak to me and you’ll have the opportunity to rest.”

                He prayed that it would be morning already. It was then that he could perhaps get some answers to where she could be.

                After much persuasion from Seokjin, Namjoon had returned to work. It wouldn’t do anybody anything good to have an extra person stressing out. Following the phone call from Hong Jung Yee, Seokjin additionally gave orders to each of them to find out where Daeun could have been held captive. They had limited resources here in the foreign country but even those resources were better than nothing. 

                "Yoongi, can I have a copy of the video?" Hoseok asked the white-gray haired man beside him. 

                Yoongi momentarily took off his headphones and quizzically regarded Hoseok. "Seokjin told me to keep scanning the video for any types of clues. I'm running it through a program right now." 

                Hoseok sighed. "When it's finished, can I have a copy?" 

                "Seokjin said - "

                "Namjoon has a copy." 

                "Well Daeun did sent it to him - "

                "Yoongi, I don't care. I can't stand only sitting here beside you while waiting for my contacts to get back to me with something - if they have even found anything. I know you have your super program working on it but it could miss something and I can't have that happening. Please, let me see it," he cried desperately. 

                Yoongi looked at Hoseok sadly. "Hyung, you really care about Daeun, don't you?" 

                Hoseok did not respond. 

                Yoongi turned to his laptop again. From his bag, he produced a black USB and plugged it into the laptop. "I've rendered it so it's in HD. There's a video file and an audio file, in case you... you want to watch it without any sound," he said. Two seconds later, he handed Hoseok the USB. 

                "Thank you," Hoseok held the USB like his life depended on it. 

                It had been seven hours since they had received the video file, but who knew how long Daeun had been held captive. Nevertheless, even the seven hours they have known about was too long.

                Hoseok retreated back into his empty room. One side had nicely folded up sheets and everything had been tucked into a tidy corner. On the other half, clothes were flung in every direction with mismatching shoes half tucked into their opened boxes. Hoseok walked to his bed and picked up his laptop then proceeded to the other bed which was void of any mess. It wasn’t like Namjoon would mind.

                Although this was not the first time he had watched this, the previous instances did not condition him to any of the emotions he still felt. He was grateful that Yoongi had given him the option of watching the video without audio.

                New York had eleven active piers. He had his sparse contacts going through the property owned in the area. However, he could not discount any of the inactive piers as he doubted that whoever kidnapped Daeun would bring her to an active one anyways. That increased the number they had to search significantly. Each minute that passed as he was sitting on the soft bed reminded him that Daeun was not as fortunate as he was. He was never a religious man but during his time of desperation, he sent a prayer that she would be found soon.

                At five in the morning with bloodshot eyes, Hoseok finally closed his laptop. He had scanned through the video more times that he could remember and he could basically memorize each frame of the video. About two hours earlier, he had taken a peak out his room and he saw that Yoongi had gone to sleep while letting his laptop run. He had snuck out and had been able to navigate through the program on Yoongi’s laptop but found that the program had been like him: nothing new found.

                “Hyung,” the world shook. “Hyung, wake up,” a voice urged him.

                Hoseok struggled but opened his eyes and saw Jimin peering over him. A quick glance above his doorway told him he had only been sleeping for two hours.

                “He’s here,” Jimin said.

                The two words caused all the tiredness in his bones to be swept away. He pushed himself away, grabbed a hat to cover the mess of his hair and followed Yoongi out of his room.

                It may have been early in the morning but Hong Jung Yee never failed to impress with his bright colours and flashy attire. When Hoseok saw him, he was dressed in a velvet dark blue suit cuffed in black. Daniel was ever-present standing near him and the two exchanged a look before Hoseok turned his attention to his boss who was sitting across from Seokjin at the table. Hoseok joined the rest of the members who were standing behind their leader.

                “Did I miss anything?” Hoseok whispered to Yoongi who he was standing beside.

                “He only arrived a couple minutes ago. I had Jimin wake you up as soon as I found out,” Yoongi told him. He had the same blood shot eyes as Hoseok.

                When Seokjin had ended his call with Hong Jung Yee yesterday, he had told them,

                “Hong Jung Yee is coming.”

                The members were baffled.

                “Coming, what do you mean?” Yoongi asked.

                Seokjin rubbed his temples. “I’m not too sure. He says he needs to look into something first. But he will be here tomorrow.”

                Taehyung nervously plays with his fingers. “We’ve never met him like this. It’s always been business meetings and formal interactions,” he said quietly.

                All Seokjin could do was sigh.

                “You don’t think he’s the one who took Daeun, do you?” Jungkook openly voiced out his opinion.

                Seokjin shook his head. “No, I don’t think he will. He has no motive. I think all we can do now is to trust him. Hopefully he’ll be bringing answers with him tomorrow.”

                Nobody else could refute his decision.

                To Hoseok, there would never be a soul in the world he could trust. s, yes, to some extent. But fully trust? There was nobody but himself.

                Hoseok looked around and noticed that there was still one person missing.

                “Namjoon said he went to meet somebody he thinks could help us with finding Daeun. He returned home minutes before Hong Jung Yee arrived,” Yoongi said.

                He was about to ask Yoongi who that would be when Hong Jung Yee finally spoke.

                “I’m sorry to barge in like this,” he started, “I needed to confirm something before I could meet with you.”

                Seokjin shook his head and refuted his apology as courtesy. “Did you get what you had wanted?”

                Hong Jung Yee nodded. “In some sorts. I only have a hypothesis but I have no evidence and only my speculation.” At his words, Daniel stepped up and presented a file. When Hong Jung Yee opened it, photos spilled out. They were all taken of the same old man.

                “Who is this?” Seokjin asked.

                “Antonio Viktor,” Hong Jung Yee said, “Robert’s father.”

                Seokjin furrowed his brows. “I don’t understand.”

                Hong Jung Yee sighed. “I admit, I was not fully honest with all of you. I still am wary of your true intentions although you claim to be helping me, but I know that is largely due to the nature of our work. However, seeing as how Daeun is missing, I feel it no longer necessary that I hide anything from you.”

                The members of BTS looked at him expectantly.

                “Antonio Viktor is not as simple as just a client that I’ve been wanting to work with. He’s an old rival of Ryukwan’s  or as you would call him, The Boss. The reason I’ve targeted him is because he is someone the NYPD have had their eyes on and additionally, I know that Ryukwan would be interested in. As you know, I was supposed to fly out with the young Robert to meet with his father yesterday but at the last minute he canceled. He said that his father was in an emergency state and he needed to fly out immediately to meet with him. My source tells me that indeed, a Robert John Viktor flew out in the afternoon of yesterday. The strange thing is that when I met with an acquaintance this morning, he showed me these pictures,” Hong Jung Yee moved the photographs closer for the members to see, “These were taken just yesterday and correct me if I’m wrong, but Antonio Viktor looks healthy to me.”

                Indeed, the older man seemed perfectly fine. Although there was no movement shown in the photos themselves, Antonio did not look sick nor in any state of emergency.

                “So what is it that you’re insinuating?” Seokjin asked, “That the Viktors had something to do with this?”

                Hong Jung Yee shrugged. “I only find it strange that what they are telling me doesn’t seem to be what is shown in reality. I know Daeun is someone who is important to all of you and she is a valuable asset to me. I want to find her as much as you do.”

                Hoseok was starting to get annoyed. He had thought that when Hong Jung Yee appeared, he would bring with him many more answers. So far, they only got a speculation that Robert Viktor had something to do with this. It was nothing that he could not have guessed himself. Paired with his fatigue, this caused him to burst out, “Do you have anything that we do not know? Or does your status in this city hold absolutely no power?”

                This earned him a hard stare from Seokjin but Hoseok ignored it. If Hong Jung Yee was useless, he wanted to return to the only thing they had of Daeun which was the video.

                “I have something to offer. But before I can show this to you, I have a request that I want you all to uphold,” Hong Jung Yee said. Seokjin gave him the go to speak. “If this does turn out to be the doing of Robert Viktor, I still want to work with them. I want you all to put this situation aside and continue our plan to lure out Ryukwan.”

                Hoseok laughed when he heard this. Even Seokjin could be seen visibly clenching his fist and his lips were a stiff line.

                “You’ve got to be kidding me. If this was any of your men, you would have cut all ties with the Viktors immediately,” Hoseok expelled.

                Hong Jung Yee shook his head in return. “If it were any of my men, I would have done nothing. What is one small sacrifice in the good of a bigger plan? If I lose one of my men and I can catch Ryukwan then that is the price that I am willing to pay. It is only of my courtesy that since she is not one of my men but yours that I offer my aide in searching for her.”

                Seokjin said quietly, “Why do you hate Ryukwan so much?”

                “His capture is the only mission I was given. All the time he has eluded me has cost me everything important in my life: my wife, my family. I am willing to do anything to accomplish my mission so I can return home.”

                “We have known each other for months now and every time I see you, Daniel has never failed to not be at your side. Is Daniel not your family? If he were to be taken away from you, would you really not fight for him?”

                The older man’s eyes became guarded. He did not answer.

                Seokjin continued to speak. “I’m only saying: there are many things you have been telling us that you are willing to do for the sake of your mission, but when the times comes, will you really be willing to do what you claim?”

                “I will,” Hong Jung Yee stated, “Now will you do anything to save a member of your family?”

                “Yes,” was Seokjin’s simple answer for the group. At his response, Daniel produced a small black device.

                “Seeing as how none of you are reacting to this, I’m assuming that Daeun never told you,” Hong Jung Yee said. At the silence he was receiving, he the device and it booted up.

                Yoongi peered over and stated, “A tracking device.”

                “Correct. It doesn’t tell much but I do know that the person this device is tracking is within the country. It also tells me the area within a 150km radius of the subject.”

                “So who is it tracking?”

                “Daeun. The first time I met her, I inserted a tracking chip into her arm. Fortunately, it has come into use right now.”

                Seokjin’s smile did not soften at the news. “What does your device tell us?”

                “Within the city. Like I said, it gives me a big area to work with.”

                “Are there any piers around the area?”

                “Why is that important?”

                “ ‘Pier’ was the single word that Daeun sent to us. We assumed that it must be where she is being kept,” Taehyung said.

                “I haven’t checked. Unfortunately, this is the extent of help I am able to provide. If the information given to me this morning is indeed accurate, I am on the way to meet with Robert Senior,” Hong Jung Yee said to excuse himself.

                Nobody stopped him when he took his steps to leave their house. Before going, he e last time towards Seokjin, “You all remember what you have said in today. When the truth is revealed, we will still continue with our plan.”

                Seokjin stood to meet his words. “I am a man of my words. We will see this through to the end with you.”