iKON, "지못미 (Apology)", Welcome Back, (2016)

Half an hour earlier.

Nari held her breath. A single bead of sweat trickled down the back of her neck as the approaching sound of footsteps appeared to get faster and faster. Backing up further and further against the hedge, Nari tightened her hand around her gun ever so slightly. The possibility of detection became more and more inevitable.

Don’t think. Shoot.

Nari felt strange only being in command of a single gun. It was almost like a part of her being had been stripped from her, as if it were part of her arm she could no longer use. She still questioned why she’d only managed to swipe only one of her trusted guns up before sneaking out, but naturally, she blamed Bobby for this.

If he hadn’t had insisted on touching the other one, then I’d have both of them!

Luckily enough, using the gun no longer became necessary. As Nari was prepared to put a bullet in the guy’s head, he walked off in another direction. Nari released a breath she didn’t realise she’d been holding before quickly advancing up the picturesque garden, making sure not to catch the attention of any unsuspecting guards.

But with every step she took, Nari would be thrown into a frenzy of anxiety, paranoid of who could be watching her at this very moment. Even when she clung to the shadows, the comfort of concealment they once held no longer had the same effect. For the first time in a while, she felt vulnerable.

She couldn’t work out why this strange paranoia had overcome her; maybe taking several bullets to the side knocked some sense into her, made her realise that she wasn’t immortal after all.

You’re only human.

Nari shivered as Bobby crept his way into her thoughts once more and pressed on through the maze-like garden. The mansion rose up before Nari’s eyes, its gentle luminescence radiating across the grandeur of the garden, the soft-sounding trickle of the water fountain glimmering under the pale moonlight as guards rotated along the pathways and balconies. Nari crouched down behind a topiary, eyes stalking the guards, predator-like as she waited to make her move.

She saw an opening up at the far side of the small mansion; one of the guards took a moment to relieve himself in the series of hedges lining the outer rim of the house, leaving one of the side doors completely un-manned. It was just as Nari went to sprint for the entrance that something caught her attention.

“What do you mean, exchanging negotiations with the enemy?!”

The sound of the angry female made Nari snap her head around to listen. On the centre of the balcony stood a man and a woman, the guy tall yet staring at the woman with a look of sheepishness on his face as the woman screeched at him, wild-eyed and angry as she held a phone in her hand.

“We had Chairwoman of TS's handgun bugged as soon as we discovered their history with YG. We tapped into the cameras only for a second and confirmed our suspicions.” The guy, looked painfully scared as the woman stood before him. Her pretty features were ruined by her rage, and she grew angrier by the second.

“Wonho,” the girl snarled at him, “You mean to tell me, that as we speak, we’re being double-crossed by our supporting company?”

‘Wonho’ took a fearful step back, raising his hands in some form of defense ever so slightly. He gulped, “It- It would seem so Hy-Hyolyn-Sunbae-nim…”

Hyolyn…it can’t be! Sistar are still at large? Surely Starship aren’t in on this movement too?

Nari knew that she’d have to run for the opening sooner or later, before the peeing guard came back and she lost her chance – but the reappearance of this old enemy spelled trouble in her eyes. Because unlike the other groups, Nari knew very well why the likes of Sistar had a grudge against SM. And she wasn’t quite sure if she was willing to let Hyolyn slip out of her sights like this so easily.

Nari carefully moved further up the line, stretching all possible limits of her hearing out to get the full sweep of the conversation.

“Which teams are there? At the confrontation?” Hyolyn demanded.

“Well- well, BAP and Sonamoo-“

“Of course they’re there!” Hyolyn screeched, throwing her hands up in the air out of sheer frustration, “They’re the only groups TS have, pabo!”

“Well, from what little we could see…it was both iKON and Red Velvet…”

“Aish…those Rookies...” Hyolyn groaned as she ran a hand through her hair out of stress, worry lines quickly appearing on her fine skin, “You boys stay put for now.”

“What will you do?” Wonho asked, genuine curiosity replacing his fear.

Hyolyn pulled a gun out of her thigh-strap, and toyed with it in her hands with a twisted, casual amusement. Nari shivered ever so slightly.

“I think I’ll get some friends together. Then we’ll show them the sort of allies that we keep.”

“Won’t JY-“

“Don’t!” Hyolyn threw a punch at Wonho, immediately knocking the guy to the ground at his inference. Nari had to keep herself from gasping at the action.

Wonho looked up at his Sunbae from the floor, hand pressed to his now-bleeding lip as defeat appeared across his face. Hyolyn stalked towards him, hand tensed around her gun handle threateningly, “They will not find out about this. Otherwise, we’ll be next on the hit list from both sides. And you'll be our gun fodder.”

Who is‘they’?! Who is orchestrating this?!

“I’m going now. Keep guard over this place. Any disturbances you kill them. And if you don’t kill them, I might just kill you.”

Hyolyn made her exit, storming back into the mansion as Wonho began to pick himself up, along with the rest of his dignity. For some reason, Nari found herself fearfully backing around the hedge at Hyolyn’s departure, some delirious reaction to seeing her old enemy.

Nari’s ribs suddenly throbbed. She closed her eyes, mind treacherously trailing back to Trainee days spent with F(x) in street brawls and motorcycle races, the first time they met and fought Sistar, interfering with their deals before claiming complete supremacy among the politically elite. Nari thought she’d never have to worry about Sistar and their company again.

Apparently not.

Strengthening her resolve to discover Sistar’s mighty benefactor, Nari reemerged from her hiding place and tracked down the distracted guard – he’d returned from his resourceful toilet break. Nari snuck through the shadows, advancing on him like a lioness defending her territory. Except Nari was the intruder here.

Nari clung to the darkness as the guard made his way to the building, stepping down a flight of stairs before typing a passcode onto the side of a door. Nari maintained her distance, awaiting the perfect moment to follow the guy through and into the mansion. Surprisingly metallic and modern sounding despite its baroque look, the door swung open before Nari’s eyes. The boy walked into the mansion.

Nari felt a sudden, uncontrollable wave of panic over her. For some reason she held back slightly, her heart thudding in her chest and immobility overwhelming her leg muscles. She gasped for air, delirious anxiety consuming her – all too familiar.

Nari’s mind was thrown into a slight frenzy as the hostile memories resurfaced; the snow and ice-capped mountains in Japan, waiting for a rescue that never came, a bullet to the chest in the face of betrayal, her hand shaking as she bought a bottle to her lips, fighting with Minho to get off the edge of a balcony, being thrown into a dirty cell before fighting her way out of a base.

But the contact of a gun barrel to the back of Nari’s head dragged her out of her haunting memories.

“Give me the gun, slowly,” the guy ordered her. His voice was emotionless, but ever so shaky.

Nari’s muscles refused to cooperate. Her hand shook around the gun as a tear unknowingly slipped from her eye.

I’m getting bad again.

The guy groaned and snatched her gun out of her hand. Nari felt truly vulnerable as he forced her forwards with the gun against the back of her head. He led her into the cellar of the mansion, countless barrels and crates, all piled high and caving them in, surrounding them as the door clinked shut behind.

Nari’s senses began to return to her despite the numerous crates of wine throwing her nerves out of control. She gulped and focused in on the world at present.

You’re here now, not there. You can trust yourself not to mess things up. That wasn’t your fault, and neither is this.

Nari found the courage and moisture on her tongue to verbalise, “Who are you?”

“Minhyuk,” the guy said as he walked around to Nari’s front. He was a good-looking guy, blond-haired and charming faced – but none too smart.

He revealed his name first thing. Definitely a Rookie. Perhaps one of Starship’s?

“Why are you venturing on our territory?” He questioned as he spun Nari’s gun in his hands in an attempt to appear menacing. He only aggravated Nari more by toying with her gun. She immediately thought of Bobby, and how she’d managed to get a reaction out of him, easily making him snap. If she could get to Minhyuk’s ego the way she so easily got to Bobby’s then perhaps she stood a chance of turning the tables.

“A Rookie group like you shouldn’t even have the means to acquire this place,” Nari scoffed, putting on her best condescending tone, “I’m surprised your worth is enough in that case. I almost thought you wouldn’t be worth my time.”

“Well you thought wrong,” Minhyuk snarled, his gun tightening around Nari’s own gun, “You have no idea what we’re capable of!”

Think, what would make Bobby mad?

“And what could a mere Rookie like you possibly achieve?” Nari pouted, “You’re not worth the effort. I’m ashamed to be in this position right now with a worthless kid like you.”

The look on Minhyuk’s face said it all – he was getting pissed. And Nari pushed every button she knew how to,

“I know who you are Song Nari!" Minhyuk snapped, face red and hand shaking around the gun, “And I’m going to prove just how-“

But he didn’t get to prove anything. Nari delivered a jaw-shattering spin-kick to his face, knocking him to the ground. Both guns clattered across the floor, and Nari didn’t hesitate a second in swiping up her own, and Minhyuk’s guns off of the floor. As he recovered from being briefly winded, Minhyuk looked up from the floor to be met with two gun barrels pointed down at his face.

“Prove what exactly?” Nari smirked devilishly, “Funny how these things turn out.”

“!”

“Aw,” Nari teased, “You say it as if it’s a bad thing.”

She was once again, eerily reminded of countless situations between her and Bobby, where they always ended up fighting like a cat and dog, and one of them would have a gun pointed at the other. She would never admit it, but Nari was thankful for the experiences – once again, Bobby had saved her.

Albeit indirectly.

“Oh, it is,” a rueful smirk appeared across the Rookie’s face. Nari felt a bead of sweat trickle down her temple, “You don’t realise what us Rookies are capable of exactly.”

“What?” Confusion spread across Nari’s features. Her grip on the guns faltered ever so slightly.

Minhyuk threw his head back in fits of laughter, “We’re so worthless, that we have distress signals for one another.”

“You mean-“

“Yes, Song Nari,” Minhyuk knelt up on one knee, staring up and squaring up to Nari with a look of malicious challenge on his handsome face, “My entire team will come flooding this basement in a matter of seconds. We’ll see how you take on a couple of worthless-“

Nari let the bullet fly from her gun before she mustered the willpower to stop it. She was so fed up of this boy speaking that she’d rather hear him screaming in pain.

Not to mention she was mad as hell, “WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?!” Nari screeched, her impatience over the investigation getting the better of her once more.

Minhyuk writhed on the floor in pain, hand pressed to his bleeding leg as blood spilled onto the dirty ground.

“Answer me!”

“You know who!” Minhyuk shouted back, his voice torn with pain as he struggled to speak properly, “The very Daebu you thought you’d be rid of after the last war!”

“I- I don’t understand!”

“The same company that killed Jaebum!”

Nari’s gun clattered to the ground in realisation.

Memories came flooding back into Nari’s mind for the second time in the space of a few minutes - but this time, they came from an even darker recess of her mind, the childhood that was so shrouded in myth and mystery, that even she failed to motivate the truth at the best of times.

Images of being dragged into the SM building as a screaming child, having a gun into her hand by two Oppas who both left their Family for another, one making a huge name for himself, the other kicked out of his own group for treachery. BoA assuring her future would be alright, but not sure whether or not their two Brothers would be. Watching the latter shot by his own team before waging war on them and sparing their leader’s life. Seein