“,” He cursed, running further as he hastily shot his last bullet in the gun over his shoulder and hearing it come into contact with something that was definitely not a human body. “ing hell.”

“You’ll pay for that, !” He heard his chaser scream and quickly turned a corner, too scared to stop as he threw himself out of the window. Mark tried his best to keep in his groans of pain as his body rolled across the hard concrete and left streaks of red behind. He heard footsteps run past the window that he had just come out of and waited a few seconds before he forced his muscles to move - the stinging pain and empty gun feeling too familiar for his liking.

“Seems like you got away from hyung, huh?” Quickly, Mark grabbed the fallen gun and pointed it to the intruder, meeting Jongup’s sheepish smile. “I know there’s nothing in that and look! I don’t have anything other than this medical kit on me!” Mark let his eyes trail to the older’s hands that were held up in a surrender, one of them clutching a medical kit that he could barely see in the dim light of the streetlamp. “So please, lower your gun. Well, technically it’s Zico’s gun but-“

“What are you doing here?” He hissed, dropping the gun and holding his elbows as he struggled to sit up. “I killed three of you so why aren’t you trying to kill me?”

“I…do you know if Renjun remembers a ‘Hyunjin’?” Furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, Mark simply stared at the older who sighed in disappointment. “After everything that kid did for him…anyway, I know Hyunjin. He used to be a slave too and was pretty close with Renjun when they were branded.”

“And?” He pressed, glancing at the window in fear that Himchan would find them. “Get to the point.”

“He won’t come here,” Jongup said when he noticed Mark’s jittery behaviour, grabbing one of his arms and beginning to apply ointment. “As I was saying, I know Hyunjin and Hyunjin wants to meet Renjun again so I’m doing him a favour.”

“For what price? Me?” He asked, knowing full well that no one in B.A.P would do something without a price. He heard the other scoff in disbelief.

“Don’t put yourself so high up on a pedestal,” Jongup replied, snorting as he continued spreading the ointment. “Hyunjin is in Stray Kids and they saved my life once.”

“The great Jongup getting his saved?” Since when did this happen?

“Shut it, brat. It’s Himchan-hyung. He’s…different to before,” Jongup explained vaguely, packing up the medical kit once he was done. “Go to NCT and warn them that Himchan-hyung is planning to blow up Renjun, if they don’t know already. I won’t let him get you.”

“Why are you doing this?” He asked, not being able to stop the question from slipping out. Jongup, however, didn’t speak and decided to raise the left side of his shirt while lowering his jeans. Even under the dim light, the burn of slaves could be seen and Mark looked at Jongup in wonder. 

“Go to NCT and make sure they talk to Stray Kids’ Minho. He was the one who took it out for Hyunjin and myself. I’m sure he’ll help Renjun too,” Jongup instructed, small smile accompanying his words at the end before the older was standing up and dropping the medical kit in his lap. “I don’t want to see you or that medical kit here ever again, Mark Lee. Stay safe.”

As Jongup walked back to the building, Mark didn’t hesitate in scrambling to his feet and running to the hotel that served as NCT’s base. 

~ ~ ~

“I want to know who got the tracker out of you,” He answered, gripping the phone tighter as Chaeyoung sighed heavily. “Please tell me. I want this stupid bomb out of me too.”

“Her name was Chaerin. Lee Chaerin,” Chaeyoung whispered, taking in a breath that made Renjun get goosebumps before continuing. “She was…something like a mother to me - to all of us - when we arrived in YG’s area.”

“Was?” He echoed, hearing a shallow sigh on the other end of the line as he realised what the other meant. Oh…she’s…

“Yeah, was. She jumped out the window with the bomb when it started ticking. I never got to thank her,” Chaeyoung said and he felt his stomach drop at the loss of hope. “But…I think Seungri-oppa knows someone else who can get it out of you but I don’t know if that person will be willing.”

“What do you mean?” He asked, breaths shallowing as he kept his gaze trained on his shoes, ignoring the concerned looks of the other males in the room. 

“I mean, the sole reason why you had to call Daesung-oppa was to get