Italics is the flashback~

Chanwoo remembers how much he misses his mother. Every night, he would pray for her to come and see him, tuck him to sleep, read bed time stories to him and kiss him goodnight. He misses her badly to the point he can’t take it anymore until he cries for her to come back. He longs for his mother.

Especially in this dark room.

He can’t speak, moreover to scream. The cloth tightly tied around his mouth restricts any sounds out from him. The rope is eating his skin until it turns red, he can’t move both his hands and legs. He doesn’t even know where he is.

“D—Dad..” He calls for his father, though he isn’t here. And he knows he is even far away from his home, from Seoul, from his father.

Chanwoo wants to go home. He wants to be out of this darkness.

When he opens his eyes, the first senses that comes back to him is touch. Both his hands are tied to the back and stuck to a chair while both his legs immobilized. He can’t make a single move and his throat is burning. Whenever he gulps down a saliva, it hurts like a sandpaper rubbing inside his oesophagus. He tries to blink away the blue vision, it takes quite some time for his orbs to adjust. Only then he sees where he is.

The room is only lighted by a single fluorescent lamp above him. Nothing in sight in the room other than the chair which he is tied to. He struggles to break off the rope but it’s too tight. Sighing out loud, Hanbin calms down, taking a breather of the stink air.

He searches for anything, for someone. He searches for Chanwoo but he’s not in sight. That added more of his anxiety. Who could be the one kidnapping them? The people searching for Chanwoo since he’s a kid? But why? For money? Somehow of a reason, Hanbin has never been convinced of the story Chanwoo’s father has told him; that they seek money by taking the young boy. Is that really all? Or is there something bigger? If not, then why take the bother of stalking the boy for years?

“Damn it!” Hanbin hisses in anger, he tries to move but the chair only move few inches away. The rope restricts his movement. By the time he gathers the strength to move again, footsteps could be heard from outside the door. His head snaps to the door opening and it reveals a man with a brown leather jacket walking up to him. His face definitely fits the scum of garbage in the streets look.

“Oh, this is awake!” He said as another 2 of his friends enter the room. They seem like ready to beat the guts out of him.

The other one with yellow button-up shirt says, “Boss wants him down. Guess now the perfect timing.”

The leather jacket one says, “Good idea. Let’s move him before the other one wakes up.”

His ears perk up at the mention of another one. It’s Chanwoo! Hanbin’s eyes open wide in relief that the younger is still alive. He stays silent until the one wearing the brown jacket touches him on his right shoulder, and Hanbin takes the chance by heading the man. He flips the chair to the back breaking the woods while the yellow one tending his friend on the floor, screaming in pain. As Hanbin hastily untied himself, the other one, this time much bulkier than the two with a stupid Popeye printed on his shirt tries to knock him down.

But it’s to no avail, as Hanbin is much stronger than him. With a single powerful kick to his abdomen the man goes down. He overpowers the yellow one reaching for him effortlessly and by less than a minute, all three of them are lying unconscious. He takes the chance to run away towards the door.

Hanbin runs along the large hall of what seemed to be an abandoned bungalow. He hears roaring of cars outside. As he reaches the main door, he sees at least 20 men are standing at the yard. He watches through the crack of the ajar door as another 2 bring an unconscious body into one of the trucks. Hanbin recognizes it as Chanwoo. He wishes he could just barge through them to the younger but it’s a stupid idea. He needs reinforcement, not alone.

He could only helplessly watch all the trucks and cars leave the yard before he makes a run to a nearby estranged motorcycle. He drives off to the Jung’s mansion.

“Are you sure about this?!” Mr. Jung questions Hanbin, as the said man is standing before the old man, face grim and harden as he explains everything to Chanwoo’s father. He stands inside the man’s study room with at least 3 detectives, Mr. Jung’s secretary, and the woman on which Hanbin has met her during the first day.

Who turns out to be Chanwoo’s step-mother, and apparently a police officer.

Being in the same room with a police surely gets him all edgy, since Hanbin works in mafia gang; it is absolutely illegal. But the fact that even his boss, Sang Min and his colleagues; Bobby, Donghyuk and June are here too making Hanbin even at edge. How could a mafia members sitting in the same room with a cop?!

“Do you see the culprit’s face, Hanbin? Any clues to who they are?” Sang Min asks Hanbin. The reason why he’s here is because Mr. Jung calls for him.

“Actually, I recognized him as one of the candidates for the election last year.” Hanbin says. “The one who competed alongside you, sir.” He mentions about the last year election where Mr. Jung participated.

“Yang Hyun Suk?!” Mr. Jung has his eyes widen in surprise. The mention of the man in question gets his head spinning. “But that’s impossible. I mean—why?”

“I think it’s enough of a reason don’t you think so?” Finally, the woman speaks up. She takes everyone’s attention to her as she sits over the desk all stoic and strong. Hanbin would be lying if he said he’s not intimidated with this lady.

“He has a criminal record of human trafficking around 10 years ago, but of course prosecutor decides to turn a blind eye on that. He’s not exactly a decent man looking at how he tries to buy people for votes in every elections.” She said as then one of the detectives opens up a folder and put it up on the table for everyone to see.

“This is the results of almost 8 years of us spying over him. He has always taken some suspicious activity secretly since before. Associating with strange background underground people, high purchases of warehouses, and the amount of money he gains every year is much questioning.” She explains. “I believe it’s quite make sense if he’s the one behind Chanwoo’s kidnapping.”

“Not to mention he does hate you.” Sang Min interrupts. “He’s been your rival since the start of your career. It’s not a surprised if he’s even behind all this.”

“Chanwoo was usually kept in warehouses whenever he was kidnapped, right?” Hanbin suddenly pipes in, as he eyed the papers on the table.

“Exactly.” The lady said. “That is what he said in every statement he has given. Old warehouse, cold floor.” Hanbin tentatively hears it.

“Isn’t Yang also the one responsible for the estate management around the town? Which means he can easily manipulate and purchase all estate without problem.” The words out from Donghyuk gets everyone thinking. Hearing the truth in his words.

“That is very possible. Especially when he’s the one managing them.” The lady said, she’s no longer having her cold stance but worried. Somehow Hanbin could see a glimpse of a mother in her. She really loves Chanwoo too to be so worried about him.

Mr. Jung obviously doesn’t believe it, but the evidence is all laid before him. The simple thought that after all these years the culprit is only few steps away from him makes him sick. Moreover, he has kidnapped his son more than once! Inflicting pain and trauma in his boy. He can’t accept it, will never let it go.

“Just do whatever it takes.” He said to everyone in the room. “As long as I can have my boy back. Please, save my son.”

Hanbin wishes Mr. Jung could just know that it would take everything of Hanbin but he won’t give Chanwoo up easily.

He is assigned to search anyone from underground that has any contact with Yang. He teamed up with Bobby, June, Donghyuk and the rest of their gang looking all nook and cranny of the town for the rats with information of Chanwoo. They sneak around, beating the hell out of them when they have found those rats.

But of course they won’t say anything, even when Hanbin beats them until all the bones breaking and bruises everywhere.

“Bro, you’re okay?” Bobby is the one and only having enough tendency to ask although a cold shrug of shoulders from Hanbin is the only thing he gets. But at least the latter is functioning enough to think straight for now, that’s what matters. None of them dare to come close to him; except for his 3 friends though they need to take extra precaution beside him. Hanbin is totally different. As if he’s an untamed beast that could tore the heart of anyone without warning. The expression of his is enough to swerve others out of his path.

He receives a call from Sang Min, as Hanbin is the one takes it, he’s fast on his feet; followed by the rest towards the car.

“Hurry up! We’ve found Chanwoo!”

“Jung Chanwoo.”

He hears his name is called, but everything is dark. It takes him a moment to register the cloth around his eyes, covering him from the world. His fear intensifies, paranoia building up. He wants to go home.

He wants to go back home fast to his mother’s arm and his father’s soothing comfort.

He wants to go home…….

The hit to his head alarms him resulting on waking him up. He opens his eyes and panicked to see only darkness. He tries to move his arms and legs but both are tied. He screams only to be muffled by a tape. Another hit and his body almost bounce through the roof. It finally hits him;

He’s in a car trunk, heading somewhere he has no idea of. That’s scary.

He tries to kick on anything with the limited movement his limbs could do. But the car still moving in high speed. Chanwoo is running out of energy, he lies there with tears in his eyes.

It’s so frustrating, to be so weak and always taken into custody like