Taeyeon’s POV

One Month Later After the Prologue

Staring at the somewhat taller man, pacing back and forth in worry, I stood stiffly in place waiting for orders from him. I wondered why the most prestigious man in Seoul would hire a group of bodyguards, well the best group of bodyguards, but that was beside the point. Whatever the situation was, it was serious, which was shown in the gloomy mood that wrapped around the whole office.

Sooyoung, standing to the left side of me, continuously gave me glances but I ignored her, continuing to stare at our client. As the shikshin was probably about to beg me for food if I gave her eye contact. On my right side, Seohyun was already in her thinking mode, her fingers caressing her forehead, as she was going through several strategies waiting for orders from Mr. Hwang. Behind the three of us, Yuri and Hyoyeon were both standing with their arms behind their backs staring at the client, like true professionals. Well, only Hyoyeon.

Yuri was giving strange glances to the three girls sitting on the leather couch huddled together. Just from their dirty clothes, I could infer that they were probably running for a serious reason. Despair and signs that there was no hope left in the world was prevalent in their faces. To be more specific, two of the three were comforting the one in the middle who was practically tearing off her face as fierce sobs were heard from her. Seemingly the shortest one of the trio, the short girl gently placed her crying friend’s head toward her chest occasional giving off random spurts of aegyo to lighten up the mood. The tallest one also seemed to be giving comforting words to the crying girl.

I was getting tired of Yuri’s staring. I tapped her on the shoulder and waved her off to the trio. Quickly, beaming at me, she walked over to them and offered herself for company. Unsurprisingly, they complied. Yuri was always a smooth talker.

A deep voice emerged from the silence. “I want you all to know why I hired you for. This could be a dangerous mission. First of all I’d like to introduce myself. I am-“

“Mr. Hwang” I continued for him. “I am Kim Taeyeon, the leader of this group. Please tell us what you want.”

Grief ran through his face and with a shaky voice, “I want you to find my missing daughter. I don’t know where she is but I know for a fact that she is still alive. Every week I am being sent photos or videos of her still breathing, alive.”

“I’m sorry for interrupting,” Seohyun chimed. “But have you tried to-”

“I’ve tried everything. I’ve tried to trace the phones back to the original owners but that was pointless. The phones were already discarded of after photos were sent.  The only thing I know that she is here in Seoul. I can’t involve the police or Tiffany will be killed.”

Oh great, a search and rescue mission. No one liked these at all except for Seohyun. Even better for her that no police were to interfere with her fun. She questioned the president, “So you have no leads as to where your daughter is?

“No, but these three girls,” he pointed in the direction of the couch with the three girls and Yuri. Yuri had already gone to the next step having the now sleeping girl’s head in her lap and brushing the girl’s hair with her hands, “seem to think they found the place. We need you to check that place out and bring my daughter back. Here I’ll give you a picture of her. Sunny, Jessica, Yoona, would you please inform them on Tiffany’s whereabouts.”

Mr. Hwang handed me a picture of this absolutely GORGEOUS girl. I mean, seriously, this girl was too pretty to be human. On the bottom of the picture in messy handwriting, it said “Tiffany”. Pretty name. Back to Miss Universe’s face. Apparently I had a stupid face on while staring at Tiffany’s luscious pink lips, small dimples, dark brown eyes and her amazing body since Sooyoung decided to elbow me on the side and whisper, “Hey, Your Dorkiness, better wipe that erted smile off your face and pay attention.”

Before I could retort, one of the girls began to speak, “We’ve been searching for Tiffany for about a month now. There’s no sight of her. But I think we’ve caught onto a lead.”

“But Sunny, that cou-” The shorter girl named Sunny glared at the taller one who dared to question their only lead.

“That’s the only thing we have left, Yoona. We have to use this to our fullest advantage.”  Despite her short stature, her presence was strong. She turned in my direction. “Anyway, we’ve been hearing rumors. Apparently, people have been hearing terrifying screams around midnight.”

“Do you know where?” I asked.

“I can show you. I know the location and we’ve heard the screams ourselves. I can’t tell if it’s Tiffany or not but it’s our only lead.”

“This seems easy enough.”

“Not really. We’ve checked all the buildings around the area where the screams come from but there was nothing.”

I shook my head. This was going to be harder than I thought. Besides the hard task ahead of us, I was angered by the stupidity of these people of calmly walking into danger. But they seemed like semi-intelligent people especially Sunny who seemed the most insightful of the trio. Could they really risk their life for just one person?

I clapped my hands to gather everyone’s attention. “All right, lead us to the area. Yuri, get the guns and equipment from headquarters and meet us at the designated area.” With a bow, Yuri gently placed the girl named Jessica on the couch and quickly walked out the office. Giving a nod to Mr. Hwang, I yelled, “Mission Start.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At A Deserted Area. Close To Midnight.

After Yuri had driven Sunny, Jessica, and Yoona to their home, we began arming ourselves with the appropriate weapons and bullet vests. Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, and I were the most athletic members of our group thus we were the front wall of the attack carrying pistols and shotguns. Yuri and Seohyun would be behind them equipped with sniper rifles due to their godly aim.

Fully equipped, I began to discuss the plan, “Alright. Our mission is to find Tiffany Hwang. We’ll search around here. Of course, once you find something suspicious, contact us at once.”

“Awww. It’ll take forever to search all of these buildings,” Sooyoung complained as she surveyed the vast number of abandoned buildings. I like this as much as you do, Sooyoung.

“Deal with it,” said Yuri. I heard Sooyoung letting out a whine behind me.

“Should we start splitting into groups and start searching?” interjected Seohyun.

Before I could answer, a bloodcurdling scream was heard. I shivered as I tried to imagine what was happening to cause a human to let out such horrifying screams. Whatever it was, it was an easy ticket to our destination. I yelled over the noise, “Sounds female. Guess the rumor’s true then. Everybody, start searching for the source.”

All at once, every member ran off in separate directions. I quickly ran straight ahead of me, already panting after a few meters, due to the heavy weapons on my back. Once I reached the buildings, I began to place my ear onto the walls to find the source of the screams. Nothing. The screams were still ringing in my ears and none of these buildings helped me in the slightest. In a fit of rage, I kicked the building. While rubbing my now sore foot, I heard a voice in my earpiece. It was Yuri. “I think I found it! The screams are the loudest where I’m at.” It was true. I could hear the screams from the earpiece and I felt I was about to go deaf. “It’s the shortest building so hurry up and get over here.” Great. More running.

I was the last one to arrive at the location. “Wow. Taeyeon, are you out of shape? Even Seohyun got here ahead of you,” teased Hyoyeon. The rest of the members laughed while Seohyun let a small blush reach across her face. She was not only the youngest of all of us but the slowest.

“Shut up,” I said. “Yuri, you sure about this?”

"Of course, I’m sure,” said Yuri. I looked up at the building. It really didn’t look that fitting to be a hiding place for criminals. First of all, it was only about three times the height of me. Me as in the shortest member of the group. Compared to the rest of the buildings surrounding it, it looked like an antique. Flecks of red paint were falling off of the building, making it even more unattractive. Basically, it was an ugly piece of . Who would even go near this?

Energetically, Sooyoung exclaimed, “Alright! I’m ready for some action!” Gripping tightly onto her shotgun, she raced for the door.

“Wait!” I yelled. I grabbed hold of her by the stomach preventing her to move any further. Unfortunately, Sooyoung’s momentum caused both of us to fall down, my face landing on her stiff bullet vest. “My nose!” I groaned, rubbing it to ease the pain. The rest of the members giggled at our antics. Yuri, however, was all business.

“Are you guys already injuring yourselves before we even meet the enemies?” Yuri shook her head in amusement. “Anyway, going in headfirst is like asking for a death sentence. You should know better than that, Sooyoung.” Sooyoung stuck her tongue out towards Yuri. “I’ve looked around the whole building and I think the best way to get into the building is through the vents.” She pointed to the top of the building.

Sooyoung whined. “What? Are we supposed to climb this thing?”

Yuri, tired of Sooyoung, quickly slapped the taller girl on the back of the head. “No, you idiot. Ever heard of a ladder?” Yuri ushered us to the other side of the building. There was a convenient emergency ladder. Already, Seohyun was climbing the ladder to the top.

Once everyone was on top of the building, Seohyun began instructing orders, “There’s a vent here that everyone can go through. Yuri told me that this was where she could hear the screams from. We’ll infiltrate through the vent and see where the sounds are coming from.” By now, the sounds had already disappeared but I had this horrible feeling that this nightmare wasn’t going to end just yet.

The vent was just large enough to fit our bodies and assorted equipment and still had enough space for us to move our arms and legs a bit. Seohyun was in the front followed by Hyoyeon, Yuri, and Sooyoung. I was the last one to go through the vent. Sooyong looked behind me and teased, “Hey, Taeyeon. You’re making me so uncomfortable now. I can feel your eyes burning on my .”

I could feel the blood rush to my face. “No! What are you talking about? I-uh I was not…” It’s not like I was really staring at her . It was in front of my face. What do you expect me to do? Well, maybe I liked it a bit. Maybe I was staring at it a bit too hard but that’s beside the point.

Sooyoung smirked, “Byuntaeng.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled. “Yuri’s is better.” Silence filled the air. Oops. I did not mean to let that fact come out of my mouth. I could hear Sooyoung try to muffle her laugh and I could almost see Yuri placing her hands in front of her face to hide her embarrassment. Oh well. It was really no secret. All of us were at least bi.

A few minutes later, Seohyun quickly whispered, “Stop, you guys. I hear something.” Unfortunatley, I reacted too late and my face smashed into Sooyoung’s . Honestly, it felt nice to have such a soft, round surface press onto my face. Sooyoung didn’t exactly have the same reaction as I did. She let out a high squeal and bumped her head on the top of the vent. .

A muffled voice yelled out below us, “What the hell was that?”

A deeper voice answered, “Don’t know. But it sounded like it came from up there.”

“All right. I’ll check it out”

. . . Say goodbye to an easy mission. I cursed myself for my erted tendencies that led us to this situation. Goddamnit, Sooyoung! Why does your have to be so attractive?

It felt like years as the sound of footsteps slowly climb the steps of the ladder. I couldn’t see what Seohyun was doing due to Sooyoung’s enormous in the way. However, I saw light coming from the opening and the shadow of a man popping his head right in front of Seohyun.

*BANG*

Several screams were heard as the limp body fell to the ground. Quickly, Seohyun and the others dropped into the opening and I followed suit. Landing on my feet, I notice that the dead body had a bullet placed right in the center of his forehead. Great aim as always, Seohyun.

I examined my surroundings. This wasn’t just your ordinary bunch of kidnappers. It was some sort of laboratory. Men in lab coats were running around spraying wasted bullets into walls. Separate from the male screams was the shrieking voices of a female. Quickly, I yelled, “Seohyun, follow me!” Seohyun rapidly ran toward me after reloading her gun.

I really didn’t know where I was running to. I just ran. With every step, I could hear the screams becoming louder and louder. Adrenaline was pumping into my body as I was nearing closer and closer to my destination. I looked back to see that Seohyun was gone. I forgot that she was the slowest but I knew that she was the most capable of handling things by herself. Without looking back, I ran faster.

As I was running through the seemingly endless hallway, I noticed the light that lit up the doorway ahead of me. Quickly, I raced into the door…

This was disgusting. About 5 men were surrounding a girl tied to a table taking turns sticking sharpened sticks into her body. It was like watching a gory version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I could taste my dinner come back into my mouth. With my pistol, I quickly shot each and every man in that room. I would not let any man come out alive from here. I looked at the girl. . I sank onto my knees and vomited the contents in my stomach on the floor. Panting, I weakly stood up and slowly walked to the crying girl. She was lying on a table, lifeless. I took the picture given to me by Mr. Hwang out of my pocket. I compared the picture with the girl in front of me. They were one and the same except that the real girl was bloody, disheveled, and the weirdest of all, her eyes were grey instead of dark brown.

“Are you Stephanie Hwang?" I asked.

No answer.

I continued. “I’m here to rescue you. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

No answer.

I stiffly smiled to wave off the awkward atmosphere. “I’ll take these out of you.” I glanced at the several number of sticks protruding out of her body. Grimacing at the loud screams from the girl, I quickly yanked out the sticks from the girl’s body. I untied the ropes, freeing her arms and legs. I quickly tried to wrap the girl’s various wounds with the spare bandages I found on the floor.

As if I was looking into Medusa’s eyes, I froze as the girl stared at me with her beautiful, grey eyes. No matter what color they were, brown or grey, they were pretty. A few seconds later, the girl quietly said with her hoarse voice, “Thank you.” She fainted. My heart was beating faster and I could feel a blush creeping onto my face. I gently touched her face and dreamingly looked at her.

“Hey Taeyeon! What are you doing? Move your !” Sooyoung yelled. I sighed. Sooyoung was ALWAYS there to ruin the moment.

“Do you plan this or something?” I yelled back at her. I carried the girl in my arms, bridal style. Her head lying on my chest. I ran out of the room to hear silence and to see the 4 girls standing in front of me, bloody and triumphant. I smiled. “Good job, girls. Umm, Seohyun, what’s that you have in your hands?”

“Oh, this?” Seohyun waved a bag of pills in front of her. “They seemed suspicious so I took them.”

“Alright, then. Let’s get out of here.”

________________________________________________________________________

No One’s POV

The shadow of a tall man entered the laboratory. Following him was a shorter man, frantically trying to keep with the other’s pace. As the two continued to walk, they noticed that something was amiss. The strong stench of blood bothered both men and it seemed too quiet. There were no loud voices to greet their boss.

The two men stopped. In front of them, the once white laboratory was painted in red blood. Lifeless bodies were spread on the floor. Rapidly, the taller man ran toward the room where his hostage was held. He looked inside. No hostage. In anger, he tightly grabbed the shorter man’s shirt and slowly asked, “Where. Is. She?”

“I-I don’t know, sir.”

The shorter man stiffened as the stone-cold voice yelled into his ears. “Find her or I’ll make sure your death comes soon.”

“Yes, sir.” Quickly, the shorter man ran out of the room taking out his phone in the process.

The tall man walked over to the table. On the table were a number of syringes. The man grabbed one, staring at the liquid inside of it. Rolling up one of his sleeves, he slowly injected it into his body.