With Udon’s help, Bambam managed to get Sunmi and Jisung down into the basement. Unsure of how they would react when they woke up, Bambam tied them on a chair each. From what he saw from the footage earlier, the only way was to tie them down. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, taking a step back after making sure that the two unconscious figures were tied down securely. Bambam stayed on his spot and kept his gaze on Sunmi — the older figure he always looked up to. The image of her screaming kept playing in his mind. He then shifted his gaze to Jisung and clenched his fist tightly. It’s not Jisung’s fault, he had probably suffered too when he got brainwashed but Bambam couldn’t help himself as the anger build inside him.

He was there when Sunmi was screaming.

Bambam’s train of thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps and some voices. He turned to look at the door of the basement warily; even though it’s unlikely, but he needed to be alert to prevent Sunmi and Jisung to be taken away again.

As the footsteps got nearer, Bambam could hear a few familiar voices.

“Don’t walk too fast!”

“They are here safe, I checked! So stop doing things that will open that wound again.” Jeongyeon’s voice got louder and finally, they were in the basement too. Bambam’s body relaxed upon seeing them, he had no idea he was tensed up like that.

“Hey.” He greeted them with an arm raised.

“Are you hurt?” Jeongyeon returned the greeting with a question and walked up to him even though he shook his head. Whereas for Nayeon, she stayed beside Mark who was staring at the unconscious Jisung.

“I’m fine.. but I don’t know about the others.” Bambam replied in a soft hesitant whisper. 

“They are fine.” Jeongyeon answered immediately, not wanting to let the younger boy wallow in his own guilt. “Taecyeon’s hurt but he’s fine.” Jeongyeon’s gaze shifted to the two unconscious figure behind Bambam. “Is that...”

“Sunmi and Jisung, yes.”

Bambam looked towards Mark’s direction when the second name came out from his mouth. The latter’s eyes were fixed on his brother as he took slow steps forward.

“Mark,” Bambam started, blocking the unconscious two from Mark. “Not yet.. We need Taec—“

However, Mark’s not taking in any of Bambam’s words and instead pushed the younger boy aside. Nayeon placed a hand on Bambam’s shoulders which made him turned to look at her. Nayeon simply shook her head. 

“Jisung?” Mark knelt down on a knees in front of his brother, his voice breaking slightly. “I finally found you... I’m sorry it took me so long—“

Mark stopped his rambling when Jisung stirred a little. 

Bambam’s eyes widened.

“Mark, stay away!” But he was too late, Jisung’s reflex after he regained conscious was to attack the man in front of him. Thankfully, Bambam’s decision to tie him up helped to save Mark from more injuries. 

“Jisung!” Mark tried again but a pair of strong arms pulled him back. 

“Calm the down.” Jaebum’s voice was firm and strict. “He’s not your brother..” He paused for a brief second. “Not yet.”

“I believe I can recognise my brother just fine.” Mark gritted through his teeth, trying to wriggle out from Jaebum’s strong hold at the same time. 

“Physical wise, he is.” Taecyeon walked up behind them with Jinyoung’s support. “Mentally, he’s not. They probably added some program into his body but the details, we need time to crack it. If only we can undo Sunmi’s brainwashing.”

“What do you mean?” Nayeon interrupted with a question. Realising that she spoke up without thinking again, she placed a hand over .

“It’s okay, Nayeon. I was getting there.” Taecyeon managed to crack a small assuring smile. “My guess is, they captured Mimi to do this. And once she did, they used the same method on her. However, from what Bam and I witnessed, she managed to get back her consciousness for a brief moment. That’s why your vital organs targetted.”

“Wake her up.” Mark demanded coldly. 

“What?” 

“I said wake Sunmi up. She’s the only one who can undo this right? Then wake her up.”

“You’re being unreasonable.” Taecyeon managed to utter out, staggering a little as his face turned pale.

“Stop!” Jaebum interrupted them both. “Mark, you need to calm the down. Taecyeon, we need to bandage you up properly. The cloth’s soaked with your blood now. We will continue to talk later. Bambam—“ Jaebum glanced at Jisung who was trying to escape. “Tie him up more.”

Jeongyeon, with the first aid kit in her hand, followed after her boss and Jinyoung who brought Taecyeon to a corner. She knelt down beside him and cut his shirt opened without saying anything as she listened to the conversation that’s going on.

“What are we going to do now? Mark’s not stable, Jinyoung’s exposed to the whole country, Jeongyeon and I, I don’t think we can go back to the company. And Nayeon… they might do something to her again.”

“If you’re worried about her being Mark’s weakness, I can assure you it won’t affect much.” Jinyoung crossed his arms and turned to look at Jaebum. “What we should worry is Mark’s little brother.”

“Jisung, he has a name.”

“Yes, rich guy.” Jinyoung rolled his eyes then took a quick glance at the other side of the room.

“Like I said, Sunmi is the key.” Taecyeon looked up at the two younger men. “I can try to undo it. After all, I’m the only one with the higher chance of undoing everything. She couldn’t be the one who brainwash herself, if she could regain her own conscious for that brief moment, it means that Im Jongmin and his men couldn’t fully utilise it.” 

“How long will you need?” 

“Keep the two of them here. I will only need Mark and Bambam’s help. In the mean time, Jaebum and Jeongyeon,” Jeongyeon’s hands paused for a short moment and looked at him before she continued to finish bandaging Taecyeon’s shoulder. “The both of you lead your life as per normal.”

“What?” Surprisingly, Jinyoung was the one with the biggest reaction. “After what they did to Jeongyeon?”

“That was targeted at you.” Taecyeon explained, pushing Jeongyeon’s hand away gently once she’s done and stood up from the floor. “She’s safe for now. You’re the one who should stay low. Seriously, out of all times, you kids just have to play your romance game right now.”

Jeongyeon’s face turned red slightly while Jinyoung faked a cough sheepishly to hide his embarrassment.

“Anyway,” Jaebum brought the topic back to the original one. “What you want us to do is to return back to our normal life like we always do? Even though we are exposed to the enemies?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, I trust your judgement, Taecyeon.” Jaebum nodded and turned to Jeongyeon. “You heard him, go home and rest for today. Come to work tomorrow.”

“Oi oi, Jaebum.” 

“In the mean time you, Mr Idol,” Jaebum threw him a glare. “Stay low and try to stay away from my assistant. Don’t expose yourself or her even more.”

“You sound like her dad.” 

“I’m just trying to keep troubles away.” 

“Excuse me? What do you mean by trouble?”

“Exactly what I meant.”

Taecyeon shook his head and walked away, towards the others as they tried to stop Jisung from making more ruckus. 

“Jisung, it’s me!” Mark tried again, keeping his voice as calm as possible as he desperately tried to hold his brother down. However, Jisung didn’t care and struggled even more. Nayeon was trying to hold Mark back while Bambam hooked an arm around Jisung’s neck, hoping that the younger boy would stop struggling as much. 

“Let me go!” Jisung yelled, his eyes blazing with anger as he tried to shake Bambam off him. 

“What the hell is this superhuman strength!?” Bambam shouted as he tightened his hold around Jisung, desperately hoping that it would help. 

“Knock him out again.”

Bambam looked up at Taecyeon whose injured shoulder was now taken care of. Mark threw a glare at the man. 

“What?”

“Knock him out.” Taecyeon repeated in a firm tone. “I will do it myself, stand back.”

“Don't you dare—“

Before Mark could finish his threat, Taecyeon had already punched Jisung right in his face, knocking him out instantly. 

“You crazy bastard!” Mark yelled, pulling Taecyeon by his shirt but the older man seemed unfazed by Mark’s angry expression. 

“You want your brother back?” Taecyeon started calmly, staring straight into Mark’s eyes. “Then you jolly well calm yourself down and grab your laptop.”

Mark loosened his grip on Taecyeon’s shirt as Taecyeon’s words caught him off guard.

“You too, Bambam.” Taecyeon added on then turned to Nayeon. “Go back home and don’t come over for the mean time until we call for you. I only need these two here. Go lead your normal life again.”

“What?” Nayeon was confused with what Taecyeon had said but at that time, Jeongyeon had walked over hooked her arm around hers.

“Let’s go.” Jeongyeon half dragged the girl towards the exit. Jaebum and Jinyoung following behind them. 

“Wait what?”

“Just listen to him.”

“Trust him.”

Taecyeon and Bambam watched the back of the other four leaving the basement then turned back to Mark who was looking at Jisung. The latter shifted his gaze to them, breathing a little heavy but looking a lot more calm than before.

“What’s your plan?”

“Just grab your laptop and I will explain. We are going to lock ourselves up here for a while.”

---

For the next few weeks, Taecyeon, Mark and Bambam stayed in the basement. Bambam would usually be the one to go out to get some food and to keep themselves discreet, it's always when it turned midnight then he left the basement. Jisung and Sunmi would wake up once in a while but as much as Mark and Bambam protested, Taecyeon would always knock them unconscious. 

“If Sunmi is still Sunmi in her subconscious, why can't she recognize us during these few weeks?” Bambam voiced out in the midst of their short break. “Everytime we think we got something, they were gone again. It's almost like she knows we are trying to hack into her program?” 

Taecyeon and Mark looked up at Bambam and placed their cup noodle down on the table. Taecyeon suddenly stood up and hurried to his laptop, typing furiously on it while the other two looked at him curiously. 

“You're right, all we've been trying to do was to decipher her old codes. We've almost forgotten that she's still human, controlled by her own program. So if we can trigger her human side again, she might be able to overwrite the controlled part of her. Right now, the controlled part is erasing all her human subconscious.”

“How do we trigger that?” 

“Remember how she missed Mark’s vital organs?” Taecyeon started slowly. It took a while but when they understand what Taecyeon meant, Mark and Bambam widened their eyes. 

“No.”

“Yes.” Taecyeon argued back. “But none of you will get hurt, I am her fiancé, it will work on me.”

“No no.” Bambam shook his head. “I want her back badly. But we don't even know if this will work!”

“Taecyeon, I might be an . But I'm not going to risk your life just because I want my brother back.”

“Do the both of you trust me?” 

“Yes but—“

“Then trust me in this.” Taecyeon nodded firmly with a determined look on his face. “Untie her while we wait for her to wake up.” Bambam opened his mouth, wanting to protest again but Taecyeon gave him a look. “Do it.”

Sighing in defeat, Mark did as what Taecyeon instructed. Bambam used that chance to sneak out, tapping on his third speed call. His fingers drummed against his thigh while the dial tone continued to ring. 

Jaebum, please don’t be in a meeting. Please don’t be in a meeting.

Bambam chanted in his mind. As if he’d heard Bambam’s prayer, Jaebum answered his call.

“I thought we weren’t sup—“

“Get your here!” Bambam interrupted Jaebum before the latter could finish his words. 

“What—“

“Taecyeon might seem calm but he’s about to do the most stupid he had ever done. Just come here!”

“I’m going to put you on speaker.”

“Bam,” Jeongyeon’s voice came from the other side of the call. “Calm down and tell us what’s going on?”

Bambam took in a deep breath and explained the situation to them in the briefest summary he could make. 

“He what!?” Jaebum yelled, causing Bambam to pull the phone away from his ear a little. 

“So, Taecyeon wants Sunmi to attack him when she’s awake?” Jeongyeon questioned, making sure that the message they’ve gotten from Bambam’s explanation was correct. 

“Yes yes, I’m not the best fighter like you guys always said. Mark is still healing and you know that superhuman strength Jisung had? Sunmi might too, what if things get bad. I can’t call Jinyoung or Nayeon so—“

“We will come over.” 

---

` i am very sorry for the slow updates now, i am NOT giving this up. i want to complete this within the first half of this year so, do continue to support. share some thoughts, tell me which is your favourite scene etc. and where i need to improve, do tell me! but anyway, there, sunmi and jisung were rescued and we will go deeper into markyeon's story now. stay tune for more!!

- ddeokbxkki -