When I arrive downstairs for breakfast the following morning, the entire room goes dead silent. Concerned, shocked faces greet me as I stand in the doorway, arms crossed.

    And then Himchan breathes my name while Zelo rushes to my side and Yongguk pushes through the crowd to get to me. Everyone breaks into chaos. They are asking me if I am okay, if I have eaten, what the hell happened? I simply sit down at the head of the table. I do not respond to anyone.

    “Get her some food,” Jongup calls to Daehyun. He kneels down in front of me and takes my hand. “Lia, please talk to us.”

    “What’s going on?” Soyeon murmurs. She pushes my hair back with a maternal affection that almost makes me tear up.

    “Everyone out of the way!” I hear Daehyun shout. He bustles over to me and sets down an enormous platter of food: I see sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, fruit, and pancakes. A small smile curves my lips upward.

    “That’s enough food to feed everyone here,” I wryly comment. Daehyun smacks the top of my head and says, “Eat.”

    So I do. At least the food in my mouth can prevent me from answering all the questions people are hurling at me. At some point, Himchan rushes off to go tell Jandi that I am okay- apparently she had been told that I was bedridden, too- and all I can think is, Whoa, they care about me. My hands are trembling.

“I’m ready to go,” I utter.

I figured that we had time to formulate strategies and plan for our next move on KCC. Suho and I had come to an agreement just a few days ago. It would be up to either one of us to make the first move.

I had been determined to attack first.  

But when Youngjae sprints into the room later that evening, brandishing a light cream colored envelope and shouts, “Look at this!”, I realize that Suho has already beat me to it.

The members of BAP, along with Officer Hwang and a few other gang members present at the moment, crowd around me as I rip open the envelope. A royal blue piece of cardstock is enclosed inside, with the following words printed on it in gold lettering:

You are cordially invited to the Kim family’s New Year’s Eve Ball. Dine with us as we celebrate the coming of a new beginning. Dress code is banquet formal.

Hosted by Kim Sangyoon.

December 31. 8 PM. Kim Residence.

The last line sends chills down my spine:

We hope you will be there, Lia, although you will be shot on sight.

“Holy ing ,” Kyung breathes, vocalizing my exact feelings.

“It’s Suho,” Officer Hwang says tersely. “It’s got to be a trap.”

“Of course it is,” I utter. My body feels completely numb.

“Why does he say he hopes you’ll be there, even though you’ll be shot on sight?” Himchan murmurs. “What does he want you to do? This is... sadistic.”

I tear the invitation in two. Toss it on the floor.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m not going. Now.” I clap my hands together. “Let’s get back to training.”

I can see them all exchange glances- they are probably confused about how readily I threw aside the idea of going- but I do not care.

I have better, more important things to do.

“Good night, Lia!” Hyorin yells from outside my room.

“Good night,” I call as I rapidly tuck my hair under a black bob wig.

Okay. Phone, check. Knives, check. Poison, check. Body armor, check. A diagram of the Kim family mansion sits on the table. Am I forgetting something? I run through my mental list of essentials in my head-

“Hey, Lia, are you-,” Zelo says, bursting into the room-

And then freezes when he sees me clad in full gear.

For a few moments, we are both silent. He looks too confused to say anything.

Then he says, “What the ,” at the same time as I say, “I can explain.”

“You’re ing joking,” he growls. “You’re not going to the Kims’ right now. Right? Because if I recall, you said that you were not going.”  

“That was before I got this text,” I breathe. I pull up my messages and throw them over to Zelo. His eyes widen.

“Sora’s here,” he reads. “Holy . Sora’s at the party? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Jimin literally just texted me this. I need to get there immediately. If I had told you guys, it would’ve just taken more time-,”

“At least we could’ve formulated a better strategy than you just running there yourself! Actually, I don’t even think you should go. I know Sora’s there, but it’s too risky-,”

“And that’s another reason!” I exclaim. “I knew you would’ve said no. We would’ve argued back and forth- taking up more time- and then I would’ve just gone there anyway. I figured I might as well cut out the middle step.”

“Holy , could you be any more pretentious?”

“I’ll give you my full apologies when I get back. Now can you get out of my way? Or do you want to come with me?”

“No, neither us of us are going!”

I grit my teeth in frustration. Zelo isn’t going to leave. There’s no way I’ll be able to convince him. And if I don’t act fast, he’s going to tell the others.

I have no choice.

In a flash, I dart over to him and clock him in the jaw with one fluid motion. The last thing I see before he collapses to the ground in a heap is the shock in his eyes.

“I’m going to have a lot of explaining to do when I get back,” I mutter to myself as I lift open my window.

If I get back.

Jimin: at the room in the very back, window is unlocked for you

got it, I text him back.

There are lights everywhere, along with wealthy old couples dressed in their finest garb, enormous ice sculptures, and a live band playing upbeat jazz music. And that is just on the outside of the mansion. My eyes wander around the crowd, searching for a certain boy-

No. Don’t, Hyo.

I crouch through the dark green foliage and skirt the perimeter of the house, pausing as partygoers pass by or there is a particularly loud exclamation from the gathering. A few minutes later, I am by the window of the rearmost house. After glancing around, I hoist the frame up and step through into a pitch black bedroom.

“Hey,” Jimin whispers when he sees me.

“Is the door locked?” I murmur.

“Yeah.”

“Where’s Sora?”

“She’s in the ballroom, mingling with everyone.” Jimin chews his lip. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She’s like... a robot. Completely emotionless. She won’t answer when we asked her where she’s been.”

“Why is she here?”

“Apparently her and her dad made up. I don’t know when, why, or how. But... she’s here. God, Mr. Kim’s been so ing smug about it.”

My stomach sinks all the way through the floor to the basement of the house. .

.

Sora...

“I know,” Jimin says when he sees my contorted features. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“I shouldn’t be here. Jo- Suho said he’d shoot me on sight if he saw me here.”

“Wait, he invited you to this?”

“Yeah.”

“Holy ...,” Jimin swallows. “That must mean... they have something planned for tonight.”

My mind is jumping to conclusions that aren’t even logical. Are they announcing a marriage between Sora and Suho? No, Sora’s already engaged to Taehyung. What if they’re putting Sora in charge of a part of KCC? Their plans grow more and more diabolical in my mind as I continue thinking about them.

“Okay.” I take a deep breath. “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to plant cameras in this place. Even if we can’t get anything tonight, it’ll pay off if we have Kim Sangyoon’s entire house bugged. After that... well, by that time, they’ll have revealed what they’re doing.”

“How are you going to get through the house?”

I furrow my eyebrows- and then it hits me. “Is there a vent in this room?”

Jimin’s jaw drops. “No. Hell no. Do you know how dangerous-,”

“Aha!” I spot a grilled white panel on the side of the room. “Let’s see. What can I use as a screwdriver?”

“Hyo, no. This is such a bad idea. You can’t-,”

I vigorously pat down my pockets. “Do you have a coin on you?”

“A- a what?”

“A coin?”

Jimin digs through his jacket and tosses me a silver coin. “You’re going to suffocate.”

“Please. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

“No, this is the Houston Livestock Show, and you’re a rookie bullrider.”

I give him a look. “Wow. You know a lot more about stock shows than I thought.”

“I mean, I used to participate in those animal cruelty protests- okay, but that’s beside the point! What you’re doing is insanity!”

Jimin continues lecturing me as I finally pry off the grate, exposing a cold, narrow tunnel. He is still talking even as I wedge myself into the space and begin inching through the vent.

“-going to die! Actually going to die! I didn’t call you here to do this! At least text me or something every 10 minutes so I know you’re alive!”

    I can’t respond to him- I don’t know what room I am next to right now, and my voice will carry through the vents. I can hear faint strains of conversation coming from different places. As I pass by one particular vent, I am hit with an overwhelming amount of hubbub: music, laughter, shouting, giggling.

    That must be the main site of the party. The ballroom.

    I move past it as quickly as I can.

    If I start thinking about how suffocating these vents are- how I have no place to move, breathe- how it feels like the tinny walls of the vents are closing in on me- I will break down. I will start screaming and will be discovered and killed.

    But would that really be worse than having to stay in these vents a moment longer?

    Sora’s face flashes through my mind.

    No. I can’t give up now. I knocked out Zelo to get here, for god’s sake. I will keep powering through.

    What I need to find are the stairs. The floorplan sitting on my desk at home flashes through my mind. I have just moved from the back room to the ballroom, which means I am going straight. If I take a left after the formal dining room, I should get to the stairs.

    I try to peer through the vents and decipher where I am to the best of my ability. If there is light coming from the vents, I keep going. I am looking for a dark, quiet room.

    What feels like an eternity later, I come across one.

    Breathing heavily, I attempt to use Jimin’s coin to open the vent. But the space is too small and it is utterly black and I swear something is coming at me from the dark recesses of the tunnel in front of me-

     it.

    I repeatedly jab my elbow into the vent until it unhinges. A breath of relief escapes my lips. It takes me one more blow to get it to completely pop off.

    I pause for a moment, waiting for any sort of noise.

    Then I crawl out.

    This isn’t the private dining room- it’s some sort of other spare room. I creep towards the door and slowly open it. I am greeted with an empty hallway. At the right end of the hallway are the stairs.

    Perfect.

A/N: i kno this very short chap guys but im building up to !!! ty. hope u all are doing well!