It was dark. That much was clear. His head was pounding like no tomorrow, and he was pretty sure at least one of his wrists was bleeding. Either way, he definitely wasn’t at home in his bed where he wanted to be. He couldn’t see a thing. It felt like something rough was covering his eyes, but he wasn’t completely sure. He could’ve gone blind for all he knew. Whoever sprayed him in the face had definitely been aiming for more than just a distraction. It ing hurt, and he wasn’t above breaking legs because of it. He attempted to reach out and touch something — anything — but his hands were tied behind his back. Great. 

Sehun and co returned in the early hours of the morning looking completely exhausted, and above all empty-handed. Kris and Kyungsoo hadn’t been seen since Misook yelled at them. Maybe they were actually getting on with formulating a plan. At least that’s what Misook assumed they were doing. With Sehun ou for the count, she did wonder who was in the surveillance room. Jumping out of bed she put her slippers on and wandered off to the surveillance room. The door was closed when she arrived but she could see lights on through the glass. She knocked three times, and as if by magic the door opened automatically. 

Stepping inside she discovered someone she wasn’t quite expecting — it was Luhan sat at the controls. 

“What are you doing up?” He said, smiling at her. 

She shrugged, “Something was keeping me awake.”

“A million dreams, maybe?” 

“Very funny.” 

“I’m guessing you’re worried about Jongdae, huh?” 

She nodded. That was probably it. She didn’t think it would bother her as much as it did, but that was probably due to Kris and Kyungsoo being so uptight about it.

“They won’t kill him, will they?” She questioned.

Luhan shook his head. 

“It’s highly unlikely. If they killed him they wouldn’t have a bargaining chip. We could just go in and start shooting.” 

“So whilst he’s there we can’t hurt them without the risk of Jongdae getting caught in the crossfire?”

“Exactly.” 

Made sense. A dead Jongdae was as good as a missing Jongdae. 

“We have to get him back somehow.” She muttered, tiredly. 

“We will get him back, don’t you worry.” 

The way he said it made it seem like he was being sarcastic, but she knew he was attempting to make her feel better. He wasn’t one of many words. 

With not much happening the following day, Misook decided to slip away for a couple of hours. Most of the gang were out with Kris, and Minseok and Luhan were sharing the surveillance duties, so didn’t really bother to question where she was going. Probably a good thing.

The walk back to her home was a short one. When she arrived she went straight up to her fathers' office, hoping that he would be there. It was a bit of a long shot as he sometimes left the house for days at a time, but she’d seen his car in the garage on the way in so he had to be in there. The door to his office was slightly ajar, and she could hear the sound of papers ruffling. 

She poked her head around the door. Her father had his back to her, but it didn’t stop him noticing her presence. 

“Hello Misook,” He said over his shoulder. “What can I do for you?” 

“Do you know what’s happened to Jongdae?” She answered in response.

“Who?”

“Jongdae. Kim Jongdae.” Her father turned to her and stared blankly. “Chen.” 

“Oh him!” He exclaimed, “He’s alive if that’s what you’re asking me.” 

Misook didn’t like that response one bit. 

“Where is he and what have you done to him?” She questioned bitterly. 

Her father turned to her, a soft smile on his face. Evidently he was finding the whole situation amusing. Just who did he think he was?

“Why Chen?” He said, “Why are you so bothered about his wellbeing?” 

“Why aren’t you?” She replied. “He’s an important member of the team.”

“He’s replaceable. Your brother can do everything he can, and more.” 

“Is that why he was able to tamper with the security footage? Is that why he attacked Joonmyun? Did he also set the ambush for Kris? Dad, why?”

Her fathers face remained unchanged at his daughters' outburst. It lead Misook to believe that he’d planned the whole thing. 

“You aren’t marrying any of those lowlifes.” He said.

“What does that have to do with anything? They’re my friends, dad. Your team—“

“Every single one of them is replaceable and you know it!” He yelled, cutting her off. 

Misook was unfazed. 

“If you kill him I will never forgive you.” She muttered sourly. 

She turned and left without so much as a look back. 

A week had passed by the time Jongdae’s name was mentioned again. Nobody really knew what to do about the situation. Kris and Kyungsoo had tried to come up with a plan, but their efforts had gained no results. They were actually rather surprised that nothing bad had happened. Sehun didn’t know how to work the system like Jongdae did. If they came under attack they wouldn’t survive long. Kris had sent out a very cryptic message late on Sunday night telling everyone to meet in the lounge early on Monday morning. By cryptic, it literally said ‘meet in the lounge at 8 am’. 

Everybody was present except Sehun who was in the control room; even her brother was there lurking in the corner. Though he was making it very clear that he didn’t want to be associated with her in any way. Nobod