“Korea?” Bambam stood up from his seat abruptly when Taecyeon told them his suspicions. “Then why can’t we ever find her?”

Nayeon and Jeongyeon both shared a worried glance. They had been called over too because they’re part of the hackers but there was a limit to what the both of them can do since neither of them had really met Sunmi.

“I have no idea, Bambam.” Taecyeon muttered; his elbows on his thigh while his fingers interlaced together. “But the recent hacking war you had with that army of androids, one of their security coding belongs to her. She was the one who came up with it.”

“Her security wasn’t this bad,” Mark spoke up. “I’ve seen how her coding works. Bambam and Nayeon said everything was too easy.”

“You didn’t do any of the hacking, right?” Taecyeon sat up straight again to look at Mark. “If you did, you would recognise it too. It’s definitely hers.”

“What should we do to track her down then!” Bambam interrupted the conversation, his voice raised slightly. Knowing that things were going bad, Nayeon and Jeongyeon went to his side and gave him a pat on his shoulders on each side as if telling him to calm down.

Which he did, thankfully.

“What do we have to do?” Bambam asked again, this time his voice softer and calmer but more serious. 

“Trace the security back. It’s going to take a while because the hacking war was about a month ago but it’s the only way. We have to hack into their security system again.” Taecyeon explained. “This time, I will be joining the four of you.”

“But—“ Nayeon raised her hand timidly since the atmosphere was really tensed at the moment. “Neither Jeongyeon and I know the coding and the way she does things.”

“I will teach you.” Taecyeon answered immediately. “You, Jeongyeon and Bambam. All of you need to know the special coding we use in order to trace them back to the origin.”

“Let’s get to work then.” Bambam who was mostly laid-back urged.

Another week had passed and Nayeon had not seen Bambam at all lately. Not in the campus; not in the truck and definitely not hanging out with her and Mark. Talking about the latter, she hadn’t been seeing him much either. He would still appear in the cafe for his work shift and he would as a routine, walk her home. She was used to just being the one talking and getting responses like ‘yeah’ but recently, she didn’t even dare to talk much.

He was always frowning; not his usual expressionless face but a frown was always visible on his forehead.

“Want one?” 

Mark stared at the lollipop that appeared suddenly in his vision instead of the floor. He looked up and saw the smiling face of Nayeon.

“You are always frowning lately, so—” Nayeon held out the lollipop closer to his face this time. “Eat something sweet. It might help get rid of the frown on your face.”

“I’m not frowning.” Mark walked past Nayeon who was in front of him earlier.

“It’s all over your face.” Nayeon chased after Mark then stopped in front of him again, holding the lollipop out. “It’s making you really ugly, take it.”

A short silence took over them but that got Nayeon impatient. She then took Mark’s hand into hers and shoved the lollipop onto it, closing his fingers to make sure he’s holding onto the lollipop.

“Don’t be stubborn.” Nayeon smiled then turned away. “I can walk home by myself. Go back and do what you need to. Bye!”

Mark stared at the girl’s back which was getting further from him then took a glance down at the lollipop in his hand.

“Thank you.” He mumbled to no one in particular and pulled his cap lower as he walked towards another direction, still holding the lollipop tightly in his hand.

When he got back to the basement where Taecyeon, Bambam and himself were always cooped up in, Bambam was still working on his job, the cup noodle Mark made for him in the afternoon before he left for his work was still left untouched.

“Bambam.” Mark stepped in and sat beside the younger boy. “You need to stop. At least eat first.”

“I don’t need it.” That was Bambam’s plain reply and that made Mark frowned.

“Eat.” He forced the boy to face him by turning the wheeler chair around. “You want to finish the job as soon as possible, I know. But at this rate, you’re going to fall sick before we finished our job and that will slow down our progress.”

Bambam kept quiet, knowing that the older boy was right. After a short moment, he grabbed the already cold cup noodle but Mark stopped him.

“I will make you a new one.” He took the cup noodle away from Bambam and stood up to walk to the counter at the end of the room quietly.

“You’re unnaturally talkative and caring today.” Bambam broke the silence and watched Mark’s back. “What happened?”

“I’ve told you before,” Mark answered. “You remind me of my brother. And…”

Bambam frowned a little when Mark mentioned his brother but he waited for him to continue his sentence.

“I received a lollipop today.”

“Huh?” This time, Bambam’s tone wasn’t as tense as earlier; he clearly wasn’t expecting that as an answer. He stood up and walked to where Mark was. “When did you start eating sweets?”

“Just now.”

It took them another long week but finally, they managed to get some clues. 

“Is it this?” Nayeon voiced out which caused everyone in the truck to drop what they’re doing.

“Where?” Taecyeon and Bambam both asked at the same time which Nayeon only pointed at her screen as her response.

“It’s her…” Taecyeon muttered and urged Nayeon to stand up so he could take her seat. After a few more minutes of hacking, he confirmed it. “It’s her. This is her coding.”

“Where does the IP address lead to?” 

Taecyeon made no reply leaving the four people surrounding him nervous. Nayeon and Jeongyeon(who Jaebum gave her a special leave) especially since they still have absolutely no idea what happened. The only thing they know was Sunmi being Taecyeon’s girlfriend, Bambam’s cousin which he looked up to and the one who took Mark in.

“Korea, she’s definitely in Korea.” Taecyeon stopped his fingers and stared at the computer screen. The two girls who were observing everything noticed that his hands were shaking.

Seeing that Taecyeon wasn’t going to give any reply any second, Mark took control of the mouse and keyboard before he announced.

“Here.” He zoomed in the map for everyone.

“That’s the abandoned building beside the shopping mall Nayeon was kidnapped to. The one which was a partnership between Mystic Agency and Im Jongmin.” Jeongyeon muttered, staring at the screen.

“It can’t be a coincidence right?” 

“Guess we have to find out ourselves.” Bambam muttered before he head towards the front end of the container. “Udon, we are sending the address to you.”

“No.” Taecyeon stopped Bambam. “Not yet, not now.”

“What—“ Bambam stared at the man in disbelief. He was expecting Taecyeon to be the first one to charge into the building but instead, he stopped them.

“By now, she would have realised she’s being hacked.” Taecyeon explained in a deadly quiet tone. “With her abilities, she would know. If this really wasn’t a coincidence, they would probably move to somewhere that only belongs to them. We need to observe.”

We know where she is!” Bambam argued, raising his voice slightly. Clearly, he’s not happy with Taecyeon’s decision.

“We are not sure!” Taecyeon stood up. His voice was calm but firm. “I can’t let any of you be in any danger again. Yes, I’m referring to the stupid thing Jinyoung did.”

“We are already in danger the moment we started this.”

“That was why I didn’t want to tell you anything in the first place!” Taecyeon’s patience was wearing out. Nayeon who felt the tension stepped forward and with Jeongyeon’s help, they managed to get Bambam out of the truck for some fresh air.

“Let’s go get something to eat.” Nayeon muttered as they head out. “My treat.”

After the three left, Taecyeon dropped down onto his seat and rubbed his face with a hand in frustration. Silence filled the air again as Mark took a seat on a nearby chair. 

“Bambam’s just worried.” That was one of the rare times when Mark would be the one to break a silence. “We will talk to him.”

“I know.” Taecyeon mumbled and sighed. “This is the first information we had of her in these six years. Just what had they been doing? Why didn’t she contact us all these while?”

“I don’t know.” Mark mumbled honestly, not wanting to assume anything. “But I know, we will get her back no matter what. I’m sure we will eventually find something.”

Nayeon placed the tray down on the table and sat beside Jeongyeon who was opposite Bambam. For that two weeks, Nayeon had seen a Bambam she had never witnessed before.

“Bambam, eat.” She instructed when she saw that Bambam wouldn’t be making any movement. 

“Not hungry.” The younger boy mumbled, keeping his gaze on the streets out the window. Nayeon turned to look at Jeongyeon who was as helpless as she was. Not just her, Jeongyeon had never seen Bambam acting like that either.

“My family are all overseas. I was sent here for my studies and even though she’s a cousin, she’s like an older sister to me.” Bambam muttered, catching the attention of the two girls. Bambam had always been a happy go lucky person and that was the first time he mentioned anything about Sunmi.

“I was alone but she made sure I wasn’t.” He continued. “Through her, I met Taecyeon and Mark. They are my family here but one day, she disappeared. I didn’t believe it when Taecyeon said that she went overseas to pursue her dreams. If you have met her, you will know that she’s not the kind to just make a decision without telling us. She said nothing; everything was so sudden. I knew that Taecyeon and Mark were hiding something from me. It took me a month of pestering and that was when I found out that she was captured. I swore to myself that I will bring my older sister back. And now…”

He stopped his rambles and soft sniffles came from the younger boy who had his forehead rested on the table. Nayeon and Jeongyeon each gave him a worried glance before they gave him a pat on his head. 

That was the only thing they could do for now.

Another two weeks passed and every time they traced to the IP address of the origin, it would change the next time they managed to get it again. Bambam had ignored Taecyeon a few times and went down to the address they got and each time, he was welcomed with an empty, abandoned room.

Everyone was all getting frustrated and that included Jaebum and Jinyoung. Jeongyeon still went back to work sometimes and had informed Jaebum about their findings which the latter informed Jinyoung after. Being the fighters and not the hackers, there was a limit they could do. 
However, running to locations after locations blindly would lead them to no where and somehow, they had to let Bambam understand it too.

“Bambam.” Taecyeon started calmly after Jaebum left their place. He had been the one who dragged Bambam back home after another disappointed attempt of finding Sunmi. “Bambam, listen to me.”

Bambam made no response and just stayed in his seat. Taecyeon took that as an indication for him to continue.

“I know you’re frustrated and worried.” Taecyeon placed a hand of his on Bambam’s arm. “I am too! I’ve been finding her for years but it’s also because of that reason, I can’t let anything screw up even more.”

“I’m not screwing things up.” Bambam muttered and turned to look at Taecyeon. 

“You’re not but if you get hurt, that would be my screw up.” Taecyeon sighed and kept his softened gaze on Bambam. “And if you really do get hurt, what am I supposed to tell Sunmi when she’s back?”

“Will she even be back?” Bambam muttered. 

“She will.” Mark took a seat beside the young man and held out a cup of hot chocolate for Bambam. “We will find her and bring her back.”

Bambam stayed silent again as his grip tightened around the mug.

“Drink.” Mark instructed when he noticed that Bambam wouldn’t be taking any sip from the mug. “It’s cold outside.”

“Yeah Bam.” Taecyeon smiled a little and gave his thin arm another pat. “We will bring her back. I know we will. You’re not doing this alone, remember? We are all working on it. Beside, I think there’s something bigger going on. So, let’s just wait for a while more, alright?”

Finally, Bambam gave in, finally accepting that he had been acting childishly for the past few weeks.

` updates are finally back to being regular. those who might be thinking that there's a lack of markyeon, all i can say is be patient, their story is growing slowly bc unlike the other pairs, they have no relations with each other before. things are getting exciting, i swear! bc i am getting excited hahaha. want to have a guess of what will happen during the event?

- ddeokbxkki -