Baekhyun rushes to his room after establishing a set of rules for Raon to follow; no blasting music in the house, the curfew to be back is by eleven at night and he's not giving her his house keys, if she's locked out during day time and he's not home she should come back at night, strictly no entry to his room and no making a mess. Those should be easy to follow.

He pokes his head out in time to watch her smiling as she moves all her things in to the spare guest room he has. Mongryong is following her around and Baekhyun has to rub his eyes to double check. His dog is already getting attached to her. Is this what betrayal feels like? He frowns before closing the door, pressing his back against it. He slides his phone out of his pocket and dials Joohyuk's number. The younger boy answers after a few beeps.

"Wassup hyung? It feels like it's been forever since you called me!"

"I just saw you yesterday." Baekhyun crosses his arms, pressing the phone to his ear. "That's not what's important right now. You know last week... with those underground gangsters, I think?"

"Yeah, those thugs were trafficking people from China and North Korea." Joohyuk says. "We got those bastards good. I still can't forget the looks on their faces when we let those young people free and gave them as much money as we could. What about them?"

"The police showed up at my place, damn it. I don't know why but I'm guessing it has something to do with that, we were rushing and we probably left some traces behind."

"Hyung," Joohyuk laughs, "there's no way, I think we carried it out fine. We've always cleared our tracks, we can even outsmart the forensics team, that's what you've always told Taehyung and I."

"I know, but," Baekhyun bites on his lip, looking around his room nervously, "we could have messed up this time. Go tell Taehyung to check the security camera footage around that area or their databse, anything. I swear if it's because one of you messed up... forget it, it could've been me. I should've been more careful."

"The three of us are probably at fault. I'll ask Taehyung to look up on it later, but why are you getting so worked up for?"

Because of our mess up, now I have to let a complete stranger stay at my place! "No reason. I'm hanging up now, bye."

"Hey, hyung  "

End call.

Baekhyun's back slides down the door until he is sat on the floor of his quiet bedroom. He buries his face in his hands. There are so many regrets he's having but he can't take back his decisions. He should be a man of his word.

Morning of August 11 2001, Summer.

"Byun Baekhyun," a gruff voice calls, "hurry up."

A nine year old Baekhyun grumbles to himself as he picks up the used cardboard boxes lying on the street. He carelessly throws them on his father's cart to add to the mountainous pile of cardboard. It is just the both of them on this wide empty street at six in the morning on a Saturday, save for the occasional bikers and joggers.

"You lied. You told me I could stay over at my friends house yesterday." Baekhyun mentions, his frown has been on ever since he woke up. 

His father does not reply him, pulling the cart forwards with heavy steps. Baekhyun can only see his back profile, but he can picture the man's mighty chest moving up and down, every step he takes. He is like a lion breathing and that is the reason why Baekhyun knows he cannot win in his reasonings. No one in their right mind would ever confront a lion.

Baekhyun rubs the corner of his eye, still fighting off the feeling of how much he wants to sleep. He has been doing this every weekend ever since the start of summer vacation and for an elementary schooler, he hates it. He knows his father is only working this hard so he can arn enough money to chase off the bunch of scary looking men who always visit him. Baekhyun hasn't seen them this month though. 

"Dad," he places a few more folded up cardboard boxes on the cart, "why do those men look for you? They're always asking for money."

Baekhyun can see the veins protruding from his father's biceps. He must be clenching really hard, maybe the cart's getting too heavy? He waits for a minute and when there is no reply, he kicks the cart which causes a soft thump.

"Fine! Don't answer me, it's not like I wanted to talk to you in the first place." Baekhyun huffs.

"Baekhyun-ah, after we get all of this to the junkyard, should we go to the sauna for some boiled eggs? The faster we get this done, the more time we can spend there. Hm?"

Baekhyun widens his eyes, going to the back of the cart and beginning to push it. "Yes! Dad, you already promised, no going back on your word, okay? Let's get this done, pull more!"

They finish the job in an hour and Baekhyun is surprised at the two thousand won notes his father hands to him. He spends the money on candy at the public sauna in their neighbourhood where he and his father laze around with towel hats on their heads. Then the sauna darkens and everything around him disappears. Baekhyun is sitting on the cement ground, his knees scraped and his body is aching.

Tall walls tower over his little nine year old self. The light doesn't shine on him, it can't in this alleyway. Baekhyun blinks nervously before looking in front of him. He spots three men dressed in black shirts, holding bats, but their attention is not focused on him. His father is in the dreaded spotlight.

"Dad... Dad..." Baekhyun hyperventilates once the men start hitting him. "Dad! DON'T HURT HIM!"

"Mr. Byun, I thought we warned you the last time..."

Baekhyun's head throbs in pain.

"...that if you don't pay the money when we we tell you to..."

He wants to shout at them again so they can stop hitting his father, but no matter how much he strains his throat to scream, they don't seem to hear him.

"...you'll be in big trouble."

"Leave him alone..."

"You reap what you sow, punk. No one told you to take the burden for your dead friend."

Baekhyun opens his eyes, the white ceiling of his bedroom in his view. He stares at his hand clenching hard on his bedsheets, visible wrinkles formed when he loosens them. His heart is pounding, as if it's about to burst. 

"It's okay..." He sighs. "Everything's okay, Baekhyun."

It's seven. He's sprawled on his bed and he stays that way for five minutes. He recalls he only had ramyun for breakfast and he skipped lunch entirely after that. He holds on to his rumbling stomach before getting out of bed, heading over to the door. At the living room, he finds Jeon Raon sitting on the couch, focused on a variety show playing on the television. 

She turns around from the sound of his footsteps. "Hey, you're awake."

"Yeah." Baekhyun nods, wearing his coat. "I'm going out for dinner. You can cook whatever you want if you feel like it."

"There's nothing in your fridge for cooking though, looks like I'll have to settle for instant food for dinner." Raon shrugs, watching him nodding more at her words. "We should go grocery shopping tomorrow."

Again, Baekhyun nods, but he widens his eyes and looks at her. "No, I'm busy tomorrow."

"Oh, then I guess I'll go by myself?"

"Do you even have enough money?" Baekhyun opens the door. "Microwave pizza is in the drawer next to the fridge. I'm going, bye."

He doesn't give the girl a chance to say anymore to him because after that he closes the door behind him. Everything outside his house is ordinary, it's the same sight he sees everyday. It's getting kind of boring. Next to his gates is a garage. Baekhyun taps in a passcode before watching the garage door open, revealing his vast collection of luxury cars. The garage is a whole underground floor dedicated to cars, it's his personal parking lot. He decides to settle for his sleek black Oullim Spirra and in a flash he's out and zooming thr