“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

-Norman Cousins

Poll results: Yoojung and Doyeon leave.

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“Yoojung is right, I'll find a way to get Mina out on my own”- With her mind still filled with confidence, Sohye waved off her two friends. – “You should go; your health is important too, Doyeon”

“You are not serious…”- Doyeon protested in disbelief – “Sohye! Mina is inside that place with instructor Minkyung! How are you planning on getting her out when she can easily crack your head open with a snap of her fingers?”

“I… I’ll figure something out”- Sohye’s confidence was starting to wear down, especially at such gruesome mention of instructor Minkyung, as she started doubting about going in alone.

But it was too late for doubts now, she had made her decision, she would get Mina out on her own at all costs. She could plan later, right now she needed to get Doyeon to accept her decision, which was sort of unlikely seeing as how Doyeon was still against leaving.

“Yeah, Dodo! You should have seen her back there, Sohye definitely can save Mina!”- Yoojung joined her side, eager to get Doyeon to a hospital so they could get her bleeding head checked. Sohye wasn’t sure if she should feel content that Yoojung was such a caring friend to Doyeon or troubled that she was so ready to abandon Mina so that she could take Doyeon to a hospital. For the sake of their friendship she decided to follow the first train of thought. - “And meanwhile we need to take you to a hospital, your head is bleeding!”

“I don’t want to go to a hospital! Mina needs our help!”- Doyeon refused to back down.

“Oh for god’s sake make her shut up already…”- That “voice” came from Sohye’s head again, inciting her to silence Doyeon.

“You are so stubborn, what if you have a concussion?”

“That is not life-threatening! Mina is in a dangerous situation right now!”

“Sohye!”- The voice protested again and a sharp pain erupted from Sohye’s temple.

“I told you I’ll get her out! Now shut up!”- So, be it unwillingly or not (Sohye herself did not now), she followed the voice instructions.

The pain subsided almost immediately and there was a moment of complete silence as both Doyeon and Yoojung shut up, keeping their eyes nailed on Sohye.

“S-s-so… Let’s go Dodo, let Sohye take care of this…”- Yoojung was the first one to react, grabbing Doyeon’s hand and tugging on it so that Doyeon would start moving.

“I…”- Meanwhile, Doyeon was just glaring at Sohye, who shrinked down on her spot product of the pressure Doyeon’s glare applied, before she finally relented and let Yoojung drag her. - “Whatever… Just make sure you don’t up”

Doyeon finally relaxed and Yoojung waved at Sohye before starting to jog towards the forest exit, dragging the taller girl along. With both of them gone, Sohye finally turned around and stuck her head out of the bushes, looking at the mansion as she racked her brain trying to find a form of getting in, getting Mina and getting out.

After a few seconds of intense planning… she gave up. The best entrance point she had if she wanted to be stealthy was the window, but she didn’t know what to do after that. Should she fight against instructor Mingyeng Minkyung? Should she just grab Mina and run away, hoping to outspeed her instructor?

Each possibility she thought about seemed worse than the last, so she stopped thinking altogether, instead opting to just get closer to the mansion while remaining unseen.

She didn’t know what she would do once she got closer, but she figured she’d cross that bridge once she got to it.

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She didn’t know how much time had passed since they started. Both their eyes were still locked, fighting a silent war between them as neither dared to yield, not even for a second. Chungha still had her assault rifle, gripping it tightly by the handle, and Nayoung still had her handgun, although it was unloaded.

It was as disadvantageous situation for her, Chungha could just decide to kill her right there where she stood and she wouldn’t be able to prevent it. Her leg was still hurting as blood didn’t cease to come out, her trousers sporting a thin crimson line all the way to the bottom by now. She didn’t feel faint at all, but Nayoung was sure that if she kept pushing it the stitches would open up even more, and that would be really unpleasant.

“You don’t know how much I yearned for this…”- Chungha, with her gaze still fixated on her, brought Nayoung back to earth. – “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“What do you want me to say? It’s not like it’d matter.”- Nayoung was almost tempted to roll her eyes, but she didn’t break the eye contact.

“I wasn’t really expecting you to beg for your life either.”- Chungha follows up to her comment, looking a little bit disappointed with Nayoung’s answer.

“I won’t”-Nayoung emphasized her answer again, but quickly added - “But you should leave the rest of them out of this”

“Oh? Should I really?”- Chungha raised an eyebrow, amused.

“Chungha, they aren’t involved in this, you have me, now let the others go”- Nayoung watched as Chungha showed no reaction at all, making her lose even more the little faith she had in her friend - “…Please...”

“I liked that tone”- Her plea finally got a reaction out of Chungha, but her hopes were quickly squashed - “But I’m afraid I can’t”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“My employee wants them dead”- She answered matter-of-factly

“Your employee…?”- She didn’t want to acknowledge it, but it was evident by now - “So you really are with them…”

Chungha didn’t answer and their silent battle of glares resumed once again as they try to overcome one another, trying to mutually coerce themselves into breaking the eye-contact. The silence didn’t last long nonetheless, as Chungha finally decides to ask.

“How did she die?”

“I… I don’t remember exactly what happened…”- Nayoung decides to be sincere and it seemed to pique Chungha’s interest

“Go on…”- She speaks softly, but Nayoung knows that her voice doesn’t exactly reflect what Chungha is currently feeling.

“I…”- For a moment, Nayoung revives the piece of memory that came back to her that same morning vividly right after she fought Mina, she can’t exactly figure what happened but it was enough to make her doubt- “I’m not even certain if it was me who killed her…”

“Then…”- Nayoung clearly sees the speck of doubt that beings to form in Chungha’s eyes.

The sound of crystals cracking makes both of them turn towards the sound before Chungha is able to answer. Someone was apparently pushed through it and landed roughly on the grass. Nayoung realizes, upon closer inspection, that the one on the floor was none other than Eunjin and to her dismay, Jieqiong comes flying through that same window just a few seconds later, landing next to Eunjin as both of them struggled to get back up.

With a heavy breath, Jieqiong reached for the window’s frame and used it as a support, grabbing with her free hand Eunjin to help her stand up. They both were striving to get back up on their feet.

They eventually managed to do it, under Chungha and Nayoung scrutiny. However, they didn’t remain standing up that long, as two fists came out of the window at an unmeasurable speed, hitting both girls in the head and knocking them back. Jieqiong managed to stand upright, being only forced to move back before she rested her hands on her knees, catching her breath. Eunjin, on the other hand, was sent straight to ground, where she laid without any intentions of getting back up again. 

“What do we have here?”- Chungha broke the silence once again, and a voice that came from the window answered her immediately.

“Just keep these two here while I finish the rest of them”- The voice, which Nayoung believed belonged to the assassin with the parrot mask, turned from serious to mocking - “They shouldn’t be any trouble; I’ve punched them into submission already.”

A giggle echoed from the mansion before the voice vanished. Nayoung started to move, leaving Chungha alone, as she walked towards Eunjin and Jieqiong with the intention of helping them both stand up again.

But Chungha wasn’t exactly keen on letting her do it. Doubt seemingly evaporated as her ex-partner charged at her without a warning, landing a punch on Nayoung’s face and sending her tumbling back. Nayoung remained poised and took a defensive stance but did not fight back, instead waiting for Chungha to attack again.

And so the girl did, closing in with a roundhouse kick that slammed Nayoung in the ribs, this time shoving her towards the ground. The older girl got back up, adopted the defensive stance to protect her face and neck, and waited for Chungha once more.

Rinse and repeat

Chungha kept attacking, throwing punches and kicks, and Nayoung kept making no efforts to dodge. This started to exasperate Chungha more and more, rendering her to become even more aggressive, as she started to attack more viciously.

By the end of it, Nayoung was on the floor, completely drained and bruised, as Chungha stood over her, panting, with a scowl that threatened to rip her entire face apart.

“Why?! Why aren’t you fighting back?!”- Chungha screamed, clenching her trembling hands as she resisted the urge to mercilessly beat Nayoung where she laid. – “I want you to stop lying to me! Tell me the truth! Tell me how you killed Sejeong!”

“I won’t fight…”- The older girl assertively says, although the words find it difficult to come out of . – “Even if I don’t remember, I know that you’ve suffered because of me…”

 “Listen here you piece of ”- Chungha loses it, she kneels down and straddles Nayoung, raising both hands to threaten the girl before she continued speaking - “I didn’t come here for you to out, stop being a ing baby and fight me!”

“I won’t hit you…”- Nayoung repeats, yet again.

Chungha doesn’t wait, she launches her right fist towards Nayoung face, bringing the girl even closer to unconsciousness.

“ you!”

Her left fist follows after the right one and slams Nayoung on her left cheek.

 “You think you are so ing grand just because you like to play the compassionate hero!”

Chungha joins both hands and brings them down, bashing Nayoung’s head. Increasing her bloodlust even more.

 “Well, guess what? I don’t give a ! You can’t make me doubt myself!”

“Chungha…”- The rest of the words die on Nayoung’s throat, her eyes threatening to close at any second.

“Shut up! If you won’t fight, then I’m going to kill you right now!”- She goes for her belt, taking out the knife she grabbed before exiting the east branch HQ - “I’ll avenge Sejeong right here!”

“Don’t…”

“Huh?”- Chungha turned her head left and right, searching her surroundings. She finds the source of the voice pretty quickly, as she was currently moving towards them rather sluggishly, one step at a time. - “Oh, I recognize you, you are the girl that ran away with Nayoung”

“Don’t do it”- Jieqiong uttered again.

“See, Nayoung? Your girlfriend seems to have more guts than you ever did”- Chungha mocked Nayoung, who was still doing her outmost best to remain awake. - “Maybe I’ll kill her first, just to watch you suffer a little bit more, those few minutes of torture should show you barely a modicum of what I’ve been through”

This jolted Nayoung’s eyes open, but she didn’t have time to protest.

“You should…”-Jieqiong said weakly but smugly as she approached them - “Since I’m the one that killed Sejeong…”

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“You see, unlike our dearie Jieqiong here, I don’t carry a toy gun around.”

Nayoung took a step back as the blood completely drained from her face, all the sense of hope and security she had after seeing Sejeong banished in an instant. She looked back for a fraction of a second only to see Jieqiong in the same state she was.

Terrorized.

“Why?”- Nayoung managed to say – “I don’t understand…”

“You don’t need to…”- Sejeong replied, switching the smug she was carrying just a few seconds ago to a somber face once her eyes landed on Jieqiong. – “Now come here Nayoung, if you want to live that is.”

This caught Nayoung completely off guard and she wasn’t exactly going to trust a person that was holding her a gunpoint, never mind that it was one of her oldest friends. Sejeong then twitched in place, changing her aim from Nayoung to Jieqiong and causing the Chinese girl to take another step back as Nayoung sidestepped to get in between them once again, standing protectively in front of Jieqiong.

“What do you want Sejeong?”- This time Nayoung spoke with more confidence, finally coming out of her stupor.

“Listen, this is what we are going to do, you’ll come here, we’ll kill this underdog and we’ll leave this place”- Sejeong talked plainly, her eyes never leaving Jieqiong and her finger always ready to pull the trigger of her handgun – “I’ve sacrificed way too much to come here before ‘they’ arrive, so either you leave with me now or you die once ‘they’ come”

“What about Jieqiong?”- Nayoung did not know to whom Sejeong was referring, but it sounded like she had two options; either she died with Jieqiong waiting for those that were coming or she let Jieqiong die to leave with Sejeong towards uncertainty.

“Nayoung! Don’t trust her! She will kill us both once you let your guard down!”- Jieqiong finally spoke, or more like yelled at Nayoung, making the girl tense up once again.

“I’ve disobeyed my superior’s orders, Nayoung”- Sejeong looked at Nayoung once again, this time speaking in a gently tone that sounded like that of a mother. – “I’d prefer if you lived, Chungha would be devastated if you died”

“And why does Jieqiong have to die?”- Nayoung already knew the answer to that question, but she asked anyways.

“To stop her from giving them any kind of information that may lead them to where we are going”- For a moment, Sejeong looked truly sympathetic of Jieqiong, she probably knew that the girl’s future carried nothing but death anyways. - “Believe me, once they see you are not here, they’ll get her to talk before killing her anyways”

“Nayoung! She’s lying!”- Jieqiong interrupted the conversation once again, plunging Nayoung away from the sense of security Sejeong was providing - “Don’t let her fool you!”

“Come with me Nayoung, you barely know her anyways”- Sejeong, like the demon on her right shoulder, constantly kept urging Nayoung to walks towards her - “Nothing of value will be lost, you know better than anyone that sacrifices have to be made”

“I…”- Nayoung finally gave in - “I’m sorry Jieqiong…”

“What?!”- Jieqiong looked at her with a mix of horror and disbelief written all over her face - “No…”

The Chinese girl took a few more steps back as Nayoung started walking towards Sejeong, leaving her behind and taking her place beside Sejeong’s right side. Sejeong, who had lowered her gun while Nayoung was walking, raised it again, this time taking quick aim at Jieqiong and making the younger girl freeze.

Sejeong appeared determined to kill her and, sadly, there was nothing Jieqiong could do to prevent it.

But Nayoung could.

“Hiyaaa!”- With a battlecry, Nayoung launched a hammer kick towards Sejeong’s nape, attacking her from behind and causing the assassin to launch forwards, losing the grip on her gun as she did.

Sejeong didn’t remain more than a couple of seconds in the wooden floor, getting up twice as fast and with an agility Nayoung would have never believed for the scrawny girl to be possible. She tried to get closer to Sejeong to continue her attack without giving her time to recover but Sejeong was faster, ducking under Nayoung punch as she drove her right fist right in the middle of Nayoung stomach, making her squirm in pain as she fell to one knee and coughed violently, defeated with only one punch.

However, Sejeong didn’t have time to recover either, as Jieqiong dived in, striking her in the head with a perfectly aimed kick that managed to throw her off balance. It didn’t succeed in holding back the girl long enough nonetheless, as Sejeong was already on her feet once again in just a fraction of a second, rushing towards Jieqiong with a kick of her own.

Both assassins engaged in front of Nayoung, who was still trying to ease the monstrous pain she felt in the pit of her stomach. Sejeong seemed to be dominating Jieqiong, landing hit after hit on the younger assassin, who only managed to punch Sejeong a time or two. It wouldn’t be long before Jieqiong was already on her knees, subjugated by Sejeong just as Nayoung was, so Nayoung had to think and act fast.

Or maybe she didn’t… since Sejeong’s gun was right in front of her.

Nayoung practically threw herself in front of the gun, taking it and aiming it towards the roof before hastily pulling the trigger, releasing the bullet with a loud *bang* and completely catching Sejeong’s attention, who currently had Jieqiong grabbed by the collar and was about to land a killer hook on her face.

Sejeong dropped Jieqiong, letting the girl fall to the floor, before she turned her body completely to face Nayoung. Sporting a stern gaze on her face, Sejeong raised both hands, admitting defeat.

“I come here to save you and you point my own gun at me…”- Sejeong gave a short, mirthless chuckle - “I don’t get why you can’t just let this girl die… you are too trusting and too stupid for your own good, friend”

“Nobody has to die today, Sejeong”- Nayoung got back to her feet with a little bit of difficulty - “Here is what we’ll do, I’m going to leave with Jieqiong and you will not follow us, is that clear?”

“Crystal”- Came Sejeong’s short answer

“Good, Jieqiong get up, we are leaving”- Nayoung looked over to the girl as she lowered her gun. Jieqiong nodded and started following her towards the door.

But then, out of nowhere, Nayoung felt an intense pain again in the side of the abdomen as a kick connected against it, leaving her open to any attack as two hands enveloped her right one, pulling it back and bending her whole arm unnaturally towards her back before being kicked again out of the blue with such a force that ended up shoving her forward and making her relinquish control of the gun.

Nayoung turned around as swiftly as she could, locking her eyes on Jieqiong’s frame, who was now pointing the gun against Sejeong once more. She wasn’t exactly the girl Nayoung had come to known this past few days, nothing seemed to be left of that cute yet endearing girl.

Instead, Jieqiong’s eyes carried only fierce hate.

“What the are you doing?!”- Nayoung loud voice rasped against her vocal chords - “Put that gun down right now!”

“We can’t let her run around freely, Nayoung”- Jieqiong solely said.

“Listen girl, my superior is probably looking for me now to chop my ing head off”- Sejeong cut in, attracting Jieqiong’s attention as she explained her own situation - “You probably know her already, so I’m not going to follow you when I have my own life to save”

“Jieqiong, just drop it”- Nayoung tried once again once Sejeong stopped talking - “She is my friend”

“No, she is dangerous”- But Jieqiong was obstinate, leaving no room for Nayoung’s objections.

“You won’t see me again”- The older assassin tried once more before asking Nayoung to persist in her efforts of convincing Jieqiong, most likely because she knew that the Chinese girl wouldn’t listen to her at all - “Nayoung, tell her to drop the gun, do it for Chungha if not for me”

“Jieqiong… do as she says”- Nayoung didn’t submit as she got closer to Jieqiong - “Please don’t do anything stupid”

Maybe she could take back the gun if she was quick enough…

“She’ll come back for us if we don’t! I’m sure of it!”- Jieqiong, ironically using the same arguments Sejeong had used before, released the safety - “I’m sorry…”

“Please… please don’t do this…”- Sejeong had resorted to begging – “Listen Nayoung, please tell her to stop, I don’t want to die for this, Chungha and I were supposed to adopt a baby in a couple of days, I want to live through that experience! Please stop!”

“Jieqiong!”- Nayoung rushed to her but it was futile.

*BANG*

The bullet pierced Sejeong’s head and the girl stood still for a few more seconds before her eyes literally rolled to the back of her head just as she fell backwards, hitting her head against the wall with a *thud*.

Nayoung rushed to her friend, she could feel herself b with tears. She grabbed Sejeong’s hands and shook them, she knew Sejeong was dead but she refused to accept it.

She looked at her face, and Chungha crossed her mind. The girl would be broken once she heard of this, Nayoung couldn’t even begin to fathom the amount of pain Chungha would be put through once that happened.

Nayoung teeth were clattering and her hands were trembling violently as tear after tear unconsciously fell from her eyes. She was in shock, unable to think straight as the image of her deceased friend was engraved in her mind time and time again. Refreshing itself and forcing Nayoung to keep looking against her will as if it was some sort of morbid attraction.

It was sickening to watch how blood kept gushing out of the hole on Sejeong’s forehead, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from it. She was no longer in control of her own body. It was like she was watching that scene from afar, unable to move or alter it in any way.

She heard footsteps behind her and knew that Jieqiong was currently behind her. Only one word managed to come out of .

“Why…?”

“I’m sorry Nayoung…”- Jieqiong delivered a quick kick to her neck.

And then everything went black…

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“The shock proved to be too much for Nayoung…”- Jieqiong finished - “So I never told her what happened.”

“But the memories I have from the train…”- Nayoung had, by now, managed to get up; just barely nonetheless.

“That happened three days after her death… you didn’t even speak the first two days…”- She avoided making eye contact with Nayoung, fleeing her gaze - “Your seemed and acted like a living corpse and I was beginning to worry…”

“But why?!”- Nayoung raised her voiced and instantly regretted, as pain reverberated through her wholes chest – “You knew I was suffering! You knew I was torturing myself!”

“Does it really matter right now, Nayoung?”

Nayoung was bewildered yet she couldn’t remember anything, the only thing that kept coming back to her was the image of a dead Sejeong at her feet, and that had been enough for her to live the last year in pain, blaming herself for something she did not do.

She had been suspicious about it after memories started coming back to her once Jieqiong threatened to kill Mina that very morning, but she never actually believed that Jieqiong was the one who ended up killing Sejeong. She believed her sudden outburst to have been effect of the great amount of stress she had been dealing with ever since they arrived to that mansion.

A growl came from her right and she immediately remembered that Chungha was also with them, her ex-partner was now staring intently at Sejeong, fury evident in her unblinking eyes. She took a step forwards towards Jieqiong, forgetting about Nayoung completely, but something stopped her.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

“This is proving to be more entertaining than I thought it’d be…”

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Sohye was sliding along the wall ever so slowly, her legs threatening to give out the nearer she approached the house. She had never been a courageous girl, often steering clear of conflict, and trying to sneak past professional assassins- alone even – was already terrifying enough.

She saw Chungha speaking to another girl but couldn’t make anything out of what they were saying, not that she tried anyways, since she was there to look for Mina. She reached the window that led into the mansion after a few painfully slow seconds and decided to take a peek inside. What she saw worried her to her very core.

Her instructor, Minkyung, was standing near a window, apparently talking to someone outside. After the short conversation finished she turned around; apparently scanning the room before her eyes set on something. She giggled – Something that made Sohye’s blood run cold - and started walking.

Directly towards Mina.

“I will not let y…! Hmph!”- A girl, who was apparently wounded, tried to get in front of her but Minkyung quickly slapped her away with the back of her hand.

“Aaaaaaand that’s how you get slapped”- Her instructor said, although there was no emotion on her face bar he trademarked creepy smug. – “Now, little piglet, come here before I lose my patience”

This was not good.

Sohye freaked out, she didn’t know what she was supposed to do, she wasn’t the kind of girl to work well under stressful situations. Fighting her instructor wouldn’t work, getting Mina and leaving wouldn’t be possible if she couldn’t at least stun Minkyung long enough. Nothing came to mind and time was tickling down as the assassin got closer and closer to Mina.

There was nothing she could do and she had nobody to rely on.

Well, nobody except for…

“Are you there?”- Sohye though to herself, finding no other choice but to try and rely on the voice that had helped her before - “Oh god, I’m not going insane am I?”

Nothing…

“Please answer me! Please!”- Sohye was already desperate enough yet she tried one more time.

And it worked

“What happened dear?”- The voice answered after a couple of seconds, bringing and immense amount if relief to Sohye’s whole being - “You require my assistance?”

“Please! I don’t know who you are but you have to help me save my friend!”- She was practically shouting inside her own mind.

“I’ve already told you… I’m you”- The voice clarified - “And you can count on me whenever you want… as long as you surrender control of your body to me”

Sohye didn’t answer, she looked at the inside of the mansion just to see Minkyung’s hand going for the knife on her belt, intent on hitting Mina, and she realized that it was too late for her to help.

Or so she thought…

Time stopped and Sohye jumped backwards, startled by the sudden lack of motion. Then, strangely, some things started to shine in a bright blue color, one of them being the knife in Minkyung’s belt.

“You see it, don’t you? The blue lights”- The voice questioned her, although it probably knew the answer already.

“I do…”- Sohye answered, mesmerized with the lights.

Beside the knife there were a few other things, she carefully looked inside the mansion and assessed them. There was a rope that held a giant wardrobe – which looked slightly tipped forward, so Sohye figured that, had it not been for the rope, it would have fallen already – a floorboard that looked loose and an o