“Udon?” Both Mark and Bambam asked, their attention on the phone after Mark pulled over by the side of the road.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? He’s been in manual mode for a while, are we going to set him back to auto mode?” Bambam asked them turned to look at Mark briefly who had a deep frown on his face.

“Taecyeon had added a program in, right?”

“Yes but—” Mark hesitated for a short moment. “You know about his past.”

Jaebum sighed from the other side of the phone once more before he made his decision.

“Nayeon’s innocent. With our current situation, we need Udon, right? Shutting them down will take a longer while now and with her phone shut, we don’t know what will happen.”

Both Mark and Bambam knew that Jaebum was right. If only one of them were at their base right now, things would have been so much easier. But with them in the car and Jeongyeon in Jaebum’s office, there’s a limit to what they can do to a big group of androids.

Not soon after, Mark and Bambam arrived at the mall. Bambam got out of the car first after Mark pulled over however, Nayeon was nowhere in sight.

“Jeongyeon, updates on the data frequency?” Bambam requested, the bluetooth earpiece in his ears. “Are they still even here?”

“They are still there.”

“If they were programmed to only capture Nayeon, they would be waiting for the mastermind of this stupid situation.” Mark interrupted the conversation into their group conversation.

“Then we just have to find her quick. Did you cancel all my appointments, Jeongyeon?”

“Yes boss.” Jeongyeon replied before she changed the topic. “Mark, you’re at the mall right? I’m going to send you whatever the radar on my phone had gotten. Do you think you can hack into one of the android’s frequency?”

“I will try.”

“What does that mean?” Jaebum who didn’t have as much hacking knowledge as the others questioned. He’s usually the one to keep the situation as organised as possible.

His question was answered as Jeongyeon explained about how because the program was installed in her phone, there’s a limit to what she could do. And the fact that she’s far away from the mall prevented her from doing anything. However, if she sent the data information to Mark, there’s a chance which he would be able to find the IP address of at least one android.

“One IP address found.” Mark stated. “They are still in the mall.”

“Hey guys.” Bambam’s voice could be heard in the group again. “I was checking around and because Jinyoung’s face is everywhere, I did some research. This mall was owned by his agency and your company, Jaebum.”

“I have no idea on this.” Jaebum sounded confused. “I will look into it but let’s find Nayeon first.

“Bam, I’m sending you the location. Udon is activated. I will find a way to shut all androids down with Udon.

Bambam muttered a “noted” and took out his mobile phone from his pocket before he opened the information Mark had sent over. He then headed over to the escalator, his footsteps getting faster as he half ran down the escalator.

Basement, that’s where the GPS detected – KC Telecom.

-

Nayeon stared at all the man in suits in front of her. They were all acting weird; none of them spoke up and unlike what she seen in dramas, no one was threatening her either. No creepy laughter, no threats, nothing. All they were doing was standing straight and blocking the door. She had tried to escape, seeing that none of them seemed to be bothered about her. However, whenever she did so, the whole group of them would surround her.

“Who are you people?” Nayeon asked carefully, her heart still palpitating hard against her chest. Despite them not hurting her physically, all of them still looked intimidating and scary.

However, there was still no answer from them. Are they the androids that they told her?

Nayeon had no idea where she was; everything happened so fast. She was still happily walking around the mall, enjoying her freedom earlier. Suddenly two men in suits walked up to her and grabbed her towards the staircase, where no one would notice. She tried screaming for help but one of the men forcefully covered his hand over and he’s really strong.

The next thing she knew she was in a secret room.

Nayeon looked up to the direction of the door again. There was the sound of footsteps and for some reason, she felt her heart beating faster as she took a quick gulp. Is she going to die today? At that point of time, she regretted running away from Mark and Bambam.

The footsteps stopped and the two men nearest to the door stepped aside, allowing the door to open. A man walked in after that; he looked around his 50s or maybe 60s and Nayeon really hate that amused smile on his face.

“Who are you?” Nayeon asked the same question to him. However, instead of a reply, all the man returned was a chuckle. That annoyed and scared Nayeon even more, in a different way from how Jaebum annoyed her.

“You don’t have to know who I am, Nayeon.” The man finally replied, the annoying smile still on his face. “You just have to tell me who’s the one in charge of you guys and the ones in your team? How much do you know?”

“What are you talking about?” Nayeon managed to keep her voice steady. “I really have no idea what do you mean.”

“You know exactly what I meant.” The man insisted. “Tell me and I will let you go.”

“I really have no idea!” Nayeon exclaimed. Even though she’s speaking the truth, she could tell that the man in front of her was dangerous. Really dangerous even for the others.

Another chuckle came from the older man however, before he could ask again, the man in suit beside him leaned closer to him and whispered against his ear. Nayeon frowned slightly as she tried to listen to what they were saying but nothing could be heard; the serious look that replaced the fake smile on the man’s face was the only thing she could see.

“It’s nice meeting you today, Nayeon.” The middle aged man smiled again which now disgusted Nayeon. “We will continue this talk again.”

It took Nayeon a while to react from what he said as she watch him leave the room. She had thought that the rest of the men in suits would leave with him but except for the two that left with the man, the remaining ones looked as stiff as before.

“Uh.. are you people not leaving?” Nayeon asked carefully, pointing at the door. Like before, no response was given. But that situation didn’t last long; for the second time Nayeon witnessed the men reacting.

This time, unlike before, they were all alert.

Nayeon heard the footsteps behind the door again; they weren’t calm like before, instead the footsteps were more hasty and urgent.

“Nayeon!”

Her ears perked up when she heard a familiar voice calling her name.

Bambam.

Nayeon noticed how the group of men in front of her shifted to the door, all ready to attack anytime.

That .

The door slammed open and she couldn’t help but laugh a little because it hit the two men who’s in front of the door right in their face.

“Did I get them?” Bambam looked at the two men who’s not moving anymore with their head down. “Two down, how many more to go?”

“At least ten more.” Nayeon replied nervously as she watched the men approaching the smaller size Bambam.

“It’s a little more than I’ve expected.” Bambam replied in a casual tone; he didn’t really seem to be as bothered about the big group as Nayeon was. “I probably need to just take down another two or three more.”

Nayeon watched and took a few steps back as Bambam punched another attacker in their face, causing them to stop moving like the previous two. For some reason, those men were only attacking one by one; wouldn’t it be easier if they attack all at once?

“Mark!” Bambam spoke loudly; Nayeon thought that Mark would be the reason why Bambam seemed unbothered about the whole situation but the man was nowhere in sight. It was until Nayeon noticed the earpiece in Bambam’s left ear then she realised that he was talking on the phone.

“There’s at least ten more.” Bambam continued. “Is shutting down possible?”

Bambam managed to dodge another few attacks from two attackers while he stayed silent for a moment and asked another question.

“Udon’s here?”

Udon? As in the bowl of udon? Just what is going on?

Nayeon’s inner question was answered when the door slammed open again; this time a younger looking boy greeted them. His actions were a lot sharper and faster than Bambam; Bambam took the chance and used the opening the other boy created to get to Nayeon.

“You okay?”

Nayeon nodded light, still feeling really confused. Just earlier, she was in a situation that she only watched in dramas and movies but now, she just felt like she’s in a badly written drama instead.

Everything’s too confusing.

She had no chance to continue her thoughts after; the men suddenly all remembered her existence and completely ignored the new boy that just appeared earlier.

“Bambam...” Nayeon muttered, the fear growing in her rapidly as she took a few more steps back. But her back hit against the wall instead.

They were cornered.

“Udon, are you not ready yet?” Bambam shouted as she stood in front of the girl.

Just right after his question, the group of men in suits stopped moving all at once, their head dropping as they stay stiff and motionless.

Feeling even more bewildered, Nayeon turned to look at Bambam, hoping to get some answers from him. But he wasn’t the one who provided them.

“They’re shut down; they’re being remote controlled so it took some time to trace the IP address of the controller. “ Udon explained after he walked up to them. “I cleared their data and reset their program too. Can’t let them realise who we are, right?”

Udon smiled widely after and Bambam gave him a thumb up with a smile as wide as Udon’s.

“Hang on.” Nayeon interrupted the conversation and turned her attention to the black haired boy. “This is Udon?”

“Hello,” He smiled and waved his hand as a greeting. “I am Udon and yes I am an android.”

It took Nayeon a while to take in what he said and for the umpteenth time of that day, she had no idea what was going on in her life.

“Let’s go, we will explain back at the base.” Bambam gave Nayeon a few pats of pity on her shoulder; it indeed was a long day.

When the three of them were back in the base, Jaebum, Jeongyeon, Mark and even Jinyoung were waiting for them. However, there was also one more person present. A taller and slightly older man Nayeon hadn’t seen before.

“Are you okay?” Jinyoung stepped forward slightly when Nayeon appeared in front of them along with Bambam and Udon.

Nayeon nodded a little, knowing the question was directed at her.

“Bambam and...” She paused for a while and looked at Udon briefly. “And Udon here got me out.”

“Did anyone talk to you? Or were there only androids?” Again, Jaebum was the one with questions.

“Well, there was one man...” Nayeon started to describe what she had gone through. She talked about how two men grabbed her from nowhere and brought her to a small room through a secret pathway that she never knew exist in the mall. The same path Bambam and Udon went through to get to her. She then moved on to how a man in his 50s or 60s appeared, asking about the whole team.

“Did you tell him?” Jeongyeon asked from her seat beside Jaebum.

“No.” Nayeon shook her head and answered truthfully. “I have no idea what was going on but that man reeks of evil. I’m not dumb to bring all of you into a dangerous situation.”

“Do you trust her now, rich man?” Jinyoung turned to face Jaebum who still had his arms crossed.

“Shut up, stop calling me that.” Jaebum glared at the former. “And this could all be a trap.”

“You really do have trust issue, don’t you?”

“She’s not lying, Jaebum.” The man whom Nayeon had never seen before, stood up from his seat and walked up to where the rest were. “She has that ‘what the is going on’ expression on her face the moment she’s arrived. I bet she doesn’t know she’s making that expression.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of me from them a few times.” The taller man shifted his attention to her. “I am Taecyeon and yes, you do deserve an even more detailed explanation.”

Nayeon could tell that he’s the boss of this place since even Jaebum stepped aside for him when Taecyeon sat down in front of her. Everyone else which included Jeongyeon, Bambam and even Mark stood up, joining Taecyeon while he explained to Nayeon.

As compared to the explanation Jinyoung had given Nayeon about a month or more ago, Taecyeon’s was a lot more detailed. Udon was introduced to her as his first android with his girlfriend and how he witnessed his girlfriend getting captured by a group of men in suits.

“Who are you people?” Taecyeon shouted at the intruders.

“Taec!” His girlfriend yelled in desperation while she tried to escape from the hold of one of the men. However, her struggles were useless; they were too strong for her.

“Let her go!” Taecyeon demanded this time, his voice now filled with both panic and worry as he fixed his gaze on the man holding onto Sunmi’s wrists behind her back. “Just let her go, I will give you anything.”

There was no reply from the men; instead they completely ignored him and dragged Sunmi towards the exit of the basement. Taecyeon gave chased but fifteen years old Mark was quicker than him.

Coming out from nowhere, Mark tried to hit the arms of Sunmi’s abductor with a metal pole he grabbed from somewhere. However, the man seemed unfazed by it. He shoved the smaller sized Mark aside and the group exited with Sunmi’s screams echoing along the stairs.

“That was the last time Mark and I saw her.” Taecyeon finished his story, his face looking grim.

“I’m sorry to hear that…” Nayeon mumbled, feeling a little sorry. “But why are you telling me all these? I can’t believe I’m saying this but, why are you so sure I can be trusted? I sound like Jaebum now…”

She added the last line and only realising that she had blurt her thoughts out when Jinyoung and Bambam snorted at the same time. She looked up at the others with a sheepish smile but when her eyes met Jaebum’s, she looked away immediately.

“You are not lying.” Taecyeon affirmed as he nodded slowly. “Your expression was raw, that couldn’t be faked. That’s what Sunmi always told me, raw expressions can never be faked.”

“Why are you telling me all these? You’ve not answered my question.” Nayeon questioned again.

“Because I’m recruiting you into the team. Whether you like it or not.”

—

` so, udon and taecyeon are introduced in this chapter. which means we are getting into the main story soon! can you also see the link between the story and the prologue now? and the mysme reference or is it still not obvious? HAHA. i don't want to spoil too much so i won't say too much either. share your thoughts with me in the comments session!

also, do follow me on my ig below. the characters have mini q&a session and i'm preparing an au ig thread! 

see you next friday!!

-

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