It was supposed to be just like any other day; she would come back from her lectures, help out at the cyber café her family owns while doing her assignments at the same time then, bringing Kookeu out for his daily walk.

Yet, who knew a usual daily walk could turn her life upside down?

The gentle tug on the leash first caught Nayeon’s attention while she was focusing on her phone. She had initially ignored it, thinking that her dog was just distracted by some movements like he usually would. However, almost at the next second, the tug got stronger and before she could react, the leash slipped off her wrist and Kookeu ran off.

“Kookeu!” Nayeon shouted, chasing after the cream coloured small dog which was sprinting towards the streets, away from the park. However, her actions only made the small dog run even faster away from her.

Nayeon stopped in her tracks after a short while of running, a deep frown on her face as she breathed heavily. She really should have worked out like how she’s been writing that in her new year’s resolutions every year.

“Kookeu, you stupid dog!”

Nayeon yelled again and mustered all her energy to continue the chase. Just when she thought that she’s finally caught up to her dog, the small animal shifted his attention away from the bushes and continued his run.

A loud groan of frustration left Nayeon’s lips, her hands on her hips while she watched the small dog ran further away. All these chasing probably had been more than the workout she had done that year.

“You’re kidding me.” Nayeon muttered to herself as she witnessed Kookeu entering a store. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly to calm her own breathing before she strode towards the entrance.

A small smile formed on her lips when she saw the small dog sniffing at the corner of the store. Nayeon walked up to him and picked the dog up into her arms.

“Stupid dog.” She scolded him and despite the words, the tone in her voice was playful as she nuzzled her face into the thick fur of the dog.

While walking out of the store, Nayeon raised her head and finally had a good look around the place. It was a bookstore. Was there a bookstore like this all along? But, she did run a few streets down away from where her family’s shop was, so it’s normal if she’s never noticed it before.

The next thing Nayeon noticed was how empty the bookstore was. It’s completely understandable if there weren’t any customers in the store however, the owner was nowhere in sight either.

And that had perked the girl’s interest.

With Kookeu still in her arms, Nayeon walked around the store. Now that she had really looked around carefully, she realized how vintage the place was. Instead of the bright lights most stores had, the one she’s at was dimmed which gave the wooden shelves a nice timber colour.

The next thing that caught her eyes was the expensive looking small sculpture by the corner of an empty shelf. Unable to contain her curiousity, Nayeon stepped forward, hoping to get a closer look at it.

However, the troublemaker in her arms decided to slam his two little front paws on the small sculpture which caused it to shift a little. Nayeon gently hit the bottom of her dog, giving him a firm ‘no’ before she looked around. The owner might come back any time and she really didn’t want to get into any trouble.

Carefully and quietly, she shifted the sculpture back into its original position. However, her action was what triggered the opening of another door right in front of her.

Nayeon blinked a few times, staggering back in surprise.

What in the world—

Being the troublemaker he was, Kookeu just had to jump out from Nayeon’s arms and right into the door, down the stairs.

“Kookeu!” Nayeon whispered harshly, letting out an exasperated sigh when the dog showed no sign of stopping. Having no choice, Nayeon took a step into the secret room and chased after her dog.

Again.

“Kookeu!” Nayeon repeated in another anxious whisper, worrying about the return of the owner. With the thought of not wanting to get arrested for trespassing, Nayeon’s footsteps hastened.

“Why is there a freaking dog here?”

Nayeon’s eyes widened at the loud voice that obviously belonged to a man.

“Calm down, Jaebum.” Another voice reached her ears and strangely, that voice sounded really familiar. “He’s a cute dog.”

“Just how did—”

Before the first man could finish his question, Nayeon timidly cleared and raised her hand.

“I’m sorry…” She paused immediately when five pairs of eyes were suddenly on her. Despite her nervousness, Nayeon still managed to force a smile on her lips.

“That dog,” she pointed at Kookeu which was in the arms of one of the guys. “Well, he happened to be mine.”

There was complete silence after and Nayeon took that chance, scurrying towards the guy and took Kookeu away from him.

“Wait.”

Nayeon bit on her bottom lip, cursing under her breath and quickly turned around again. But before she had the chance to even apologise, she was bombarded by questions.

“Who are you? How did you get here? What’s your motive? Whom do you work for?”

She recognized the voice as the first one she heard earlier. For the first time, Nayeon finally looked up bravely to meet the eyes of the people in the room. The room was completely different from the bookstore. It was a completely cemented place and there were computers around the place. As an I.T. student herself, she could tell that those were no simple technology.

And wait, was that Junior? The idol, Park Jinyoung? No wonder she thought that one of the voices were really familiar.

Nayeon’s jaw dropped a little, her eyes not leaving the idol until the first guy’s voice caught her attention again.

“I’m asking you a question.”

“You asked four questions.” Nayeon muttered to herself but it was loud enough to reach the people in the room. She swore she heard two people almost bursting into laughter.

“Listen,” Nayeon took in a deep breath and started, “I’m not a thief or anything. This stupid dog of mine just happened to enter this place and I’m just here to get him out here.”

“No one should know about this place. Tell us the truth, who sent you here?”

“My dog.” Nayeon spoke in a matter of fact tone. “I admit, I was walking around the bookstore and got interested in the small sculpture on the shelf. But Kookeu just had to give it a push and I just merely shifted it back. How would I know that it would lead me to this…”

She trailed off and looked around again.

“This place.”

“I still don’t believe you.” The man stated flatly which both annoyed and scared Nayeon a little.

“It’s the truth!” Nayeon raised her voice slightly but she managed to bring it down again. “Have you always been lied to? I’m sorry for intruding anyway.”

Nayeon bowed at her apology and turned away, wanting to just leave this place as soon as possible. She had thought that the silence after that was a consent however, an anxious curse from one of the guys and then a loud “wait!” stopped Nayeon in her tracks.

But only for a brief moment.

Instead of turning around, Nayeon took bigger steps in attempt to get rid of the girl who’s chasing after her. She had no idea why she got to run but something told her that she wants nothing to do with this place. Finally seeing the streets, a small smile formed on Nayeon’s lips.

“Let’s go home, Kookeu.”

“Wait!”

It was only a few steps away from the exit but she was dragged back into the store again. Annoyed and frustrated, Nayeon turned around and came face to face with a girl who looked around her age.

“Listen, I really didn’t want to come in here. I’m only trying to get my dog!” Nayeon exclaimed but the shoulder length haired girl weren’t paying any attention to her words. “Are you even listening?”

The browned hair girl made no response to Nayeon’s annoyance. Shutting the entrance of the bookstore and locking it up right after, she tugged onto Nayeon’s wrist and dragged her towards the direction of the basement again.

“Let me go!” Nayeon struggled. “Why are you people acting like this! Are you like a team of psychopaths? Serial killers?”

“Just come, I will explain later.”

That was the only short reply Nayeon got from the other girl. Despite all her struggling, Nayeon was dragged back down the basement.

“If you want to be safe, sit down and listen. The fact that you’ve just walked in and out here, you’re probably a target now.”

“What target? What do you think this is? An action movie? Descendants of the Sun?” Nayeon rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed. “Also, who are you?”

Before anyone could even answer Nayeon’s answer, a younger looking boy walked up to her and took Kookeu from her arms.

“Hey!”

“I will look after him for now, continue your talk.” The male gave her a cheeky smile and she noticed how Mister Scary Guy’s face got even scarier.

“Bambam.” His voice was firm but that Bambam boy seemed unfazed by it. Instead, he just went to sit on a chair by the side and started playing with Kookeu.

Nayeon looked around the place, this time a little more closely. Her eyes met with the idol, Park Jinyoung which she looked away quickly. Why would he be a part of these psychopaths?

“You know me, don’t you?” Jinyoung walked towards her and grabbed a chair nearby, sitting down on it with the back of the chair facing Nayeon. “Well again, who wouldn’t know me?”

A scoff came from the side which Jinyoung ignored completely.

“But still, let me introduce ourselves. I’m that Park Jinyoung, yes.” He smiled and if not for the situation, Nayeon would have swooned.

“That scary looking guy with very small eyes?” Jinyoung pointed. “That’s Jaebum and the girl who dragged you back? That’s Jeongyeon.”

“Can we even tell her this much?” Jaebum’s snide remarks interrupted Jinyoung and as if he was trained for this, Jinyoung ignored him completely once again.

“I’m Bambam.” He introduced himself before Jinyoung could even do so. “What’s his name?”

Nayeon blinked at the sudden question that broke the momentum of the conversation. It took her a while to realize that he was asking about Kookeu.

“Kookeu.” She answered quietly, still a little doubtful of the situation.

“Where’s Mark?” Jinyoung spoke up again and as if on cue, Jaebum, Bambam and Jeongyeon pointed at the same direction, behind a big iMac screen. However, none of them was expecting the reaction Nayeon gave when Mark stood up briefly.

“You!” Nayeon pointed at him, a genuine look of surprise plastered on her face. “You know me right?”

“Who are you?” The three words were cold and plain, similar to how he blatantly ignored her right after.

“You’re a part-timer who never talk at our café right!” Nayeon blabbered on. “I thought you’re mute! Tell them, I don’t know what’s going on now, please?”

Silence. Jinyoung spoke on Mark’s behalf instead.

“You’re not wrong, he’s basically half mute.” Jinyoung half joked before he directed his focus back to Nayeon. “Sit down again.”

“So, are you people like an underground mafia or something? But since when do mafias use such high technology?”

“How can you tell that these are all high technologies? That’s enough for me to suspect that you’re here with a motive.”

“Does he have trust issue?” Nayeon pointed at Jaebum casually which resulted loud snorting sounds coming from three different directions.

“Are you calm now?” Jeongyeon walked up to them and stood beside Jinyoung. “I’m sorry I scared you earlier but this place had been watched for a while now.”

“Huh?”

“Let me explain.”

Nayeon stared, blinked twice, frowned and sometimes raising an eyebrow throughout Jinyoung’s explanation. Nothing made sense to her; they were said to be a bunch of people who used technologies to track things.

Basically, they’re hackers.

Among all the things tracked, the company Jaebum’s family owned were one of them because he suspected his uncle had been in contact with mafias to bring his sickly father down. Jinyoung also said his agency seemed to be in cahoots too.

Bambam also added on, saying that the start of this group was because of his cousin who went missing and from the past few years, they’ve been trying to find her. There’s also someone named Taecyeon; he was the one who gathered this team, thinking that Bambam’s cousin’s disappearance wasn’t that simple.

“So, what've all these got to do with me?”

“They found this hideout and had been trying to find out who we are. You stepped into this place, went out after a long while. Your face is revealed and had probably been caught by the surveillance. You’re probably a target now since they would think that you’re one of us.” Jaebum stated flatly.

“But I’m not!”

“They are androids programmed to only do what they are supposed to. They have your face saved in their memory; whether you like it or not, you’re a target.”

“What androids? Listen, I’m just a college student who wanted to bring my dog back home. How in the world did I become a target?” Nayeon exclaimed in an agitated voice, feeling both confused and frustrated.

Nothing made sense to her.

“Well, I’m just an idol. Jaebum’s just a rich man’s son—”

“Excuse me?”

“Jeongyeon’s just a secretary. Bambam’s just a student like you and Mark, he’s just a quiet part timer. We are all in this.” Jinyoung explained calmly, giving her a shrug as if it’s a matter of fact thing.

“That’s because you all have a goal!” Nayeon said loudly.

“You have a goal now.” Bambam, for the first time since he introduced himself, sounded serious. 

“You have to protect yourself.”

“Protect myself?” Nayeon scoffed as she brushed her long hair back. “From what? Am I supposed to fight them off? Heck, I don’t even know if any of what you’ve said is true!”

“I don’t care what you think.” Jaebum stepped a little forward with the rest standing behind him. 

“We will be following you from now on to make sure that you will be safe.” 

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welcome back everyone, first chapter's here and you're finally reading familiar names! this chapter is basically and obviously just an introduction which i hope you don't find that boring. i really don't want to make nayeon a mary sue so please, don't be afraid to share your thoughts even if it's a bad one. just be polite, okay? HAHA. 

so i guess, see you guys next friday? 

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