They decide for only two to meet Lee Minhyuk; Hongjoong and Wooyoung, as they figure he might brand them as a threat if the first thing he sees is four people who happen to have his sister's phone by chance. They arrive at the soup restaurant only to immediately think that looks can definitely be deceiving, as it's hard to imagine the man in front of them is a dangerous mob boss who has 'killing' and 'torturing' in the most commonly used words section in his dictionary.

Wooyoung couldn't have guessed it the first time he saw him with the red sports car, with Lee Mikyung laughing as she hugged him. Even now, he finds it hard to believe.

The man seems respectful upon the first meeting, as he's the first to stand up and extend his hand to both men, as Hongjoong accepts it firmly while Wooyoung is more hesitant. He's suddenly reminded of how it would go down if he breaks Mikyung's heart, and he doesn't think that it would end in him walking out of the room alive.

"How did the uncle of her student find her phone at the park? I have a lot of questions but I'd like it if you explain it to me straight. We don't have much time," he gestures towards his gold-encrusted watch. "My sister's life is in danger."

"It looks like you care for her a lot, Mr. Lee," Hongjoong replies as he eyes the server placing the hot bowl of clear soup in front of him. He's full, but Minhyuk insisted anyway on buying them lunch. He picks up the spoon. "Does she know what you do?"

Something shifts in his eyes before his voice drops low, "Who are both of you? You've been lying to me?"

"It's nice to meet you again, Mr. Lee. Ah, you don't know who we are, but we know who you are. How's the tender that you stole going?"

"Who on earth-" he reaches for something under his jacket but Wooyoung reacts fast too, he shakes his head while he shows his own gun hidden under the jacket.

"We come prepared too." Hongjoong takes one spoonful of soup. "Relax, Mr. Lee. We're not on opposing sides, we want to find your sister as much as you do."

"But why?" he looks at them quizzically before his eyes rest longer on Wooyoung. "You- you look familiar. I feel like I've seen you before around Mikyung."

"I was." But he doesn't elaborate on how their relationship is; not that he knows. "She was supposed to meet me at the park, but when I arrived there she was gone. Then I found her phone on the floor, saw the picture of you and her, put 2 and 2 together." He takes out Mikyung's phone and slides it towards him. "We did not tamper with her phone in any way. We wanted to make sure that she was indeed kidnapped, but we couldn't find any evidence. You called, and basically gave away what could have happened."

Minhyuk looks warily at Wooyoung, then to the phone, as if he's debating on whether he'd like to kill the sniper right there and then. He never knew Mikyung had a boyfriend, but then maybe she never wanted to tell him because of how protective he can be towards her. But this, this man is definitely something else.

Not your ordinary boy next door.

"Never knew gangsters send their nieces to kindergarten," Minhyuk muses. "Interesting to know."

"We're not gangsters, Mr. Lee," Hongjoong utters. "We're... couriers. Doing jobs for people like you."

He takes one second to recognize them before he comes to a realization. "ATEEZ," he pronounces. "Finally I get to see your face."

"It's nice to meet you face to face, Mr. Lee. Does your sister know that you're a high profile mob boss who kills and tortures people for fun?"

Minhyuk releases a heavy breath before chuckling. "You really do know how to make me flustered. The answer is no, she doesn't. That poor little girl right now is probably wondering why she was kidnapped."

"That's why we're here," the leader lays down an offer. "To help you."

"In return..."

"Double the price of what we usually get for saving hostages."

He lets out a whistle before tapping a finger to his lips. "So couriers like you salivate at the sight of money too, huh? Money in exchange for my sister's life? What makes you think that I'd accept that offer when I have my own army of loyal boys? Probably even more than the number of your team members."

"Of course," he leans forward, "Who doesn't love money? That's the one thing that can never go wrong. You wouldn't want to use your boys, Mr. Lee. You don't have to compromise your true identity; we can save your sister for you, and you can keep your identity a secret. Your sister won't even find out why she was kidnapped. Do we have a deal?" He extends out a hand. "With the agreement that you must share every detail on who you think would do this to you."

Minhyuk eyes Hongjoong's hand, hesitating in sealing the deal.

"I know how much you love your sister, and you would do anything to protect her. You wouldn't bear to see how scared she would be when she finds out who you are, so why risk that? Let us do the job."

"It still comes to the question on why you would insist on compromising your own identity in order to protect mine." He turns to Wooyoung, "Aren't you my little sister's boyfriend? Won't she be devastated if she finds out what you do?"

"I'm not her boyfriend," Wooyoung utters. He goes against adding 'not yet'. "My identity is nothing compared to yours. I'm just a lowly courier who do jobs that other people instruct me to. If she finds out... the devastation must not be stronger than if she were to find out about you."

Minhyuk leans against the chair, crossing his arms. "So you love my sister enough to protect her?"

"I won't say it until I prove it with my actions." Wooyoung twirls around the spoon in his hand. He chortles slightly. "Why does it feel like you're interviewing me before I can become one?"

"I'm a mob boss who kills and tortures people for fun," he repeats his description that they laid out for him. "But I would do anything to protect my sister's innocence. What I do should not interfere with her life in any way. You," he looks at Wooyoung, "would jeapordize your own identity?"

"Yes sir," Wooyoung says simply. "The most important thing right now is getting down the details of who could kidnap her. No more time to lose, Mr. Lee."

Lee Minhyuk eyes the two couriers in front of him, taking in the details of each of the them - the leader, who introduced himself as Hongjoong looks calm, slurping on the soup as if there isn't a pressing matter at hand, while the other, whom he has known as Wooyoung looks distressed, hoping to hear his agreement so they can start going in the right direction. He picks up the drink, takes a sip, watches the ice clink against the walls of the glass as he puts it down again.

"What details do you need? And I have a feeling that you want more than just my money."

Hongjoong lifts up his head, eyes diverted from the soup as he smiles. "I understand why you're doing what you do, you pick up fast. We'll tell you he details that we need, and as for the compensation, we'll discuss it later. For now, your sister is the priority. We're about to dive into a bloodied mess... sir."

---

Byul holds Hwayoung with one arm, whose head is resting on her shoulder, sleeping, as she attempts to open the fridge to take out some cold water. She doesn't want to wake her up, because the kid had spent her whole afternoon playing games with Yunho, and after she had her afternoon shower Byul read all kinds of stories for her at the living room, which caused her to fall asleep on her lap. So now before she wanted to lay her down on her bed, she's thinking of getting some water to quench her thirst.

As she struggles to open the fridge door while doing minimal movements, a hand stretches over from her side and opens the door for her, and she looks over Hwayoung's small body to see San looking into the fridge, face illuminated by the lamp inside.

He stays staring at the inside of the fridge before he utters without looking at her, "What did you want to take?"

"Oh, uh... the cold water. I'm kind of thirsty so I thought I'd have a drink before I put her down," she whispers. Hwayoung stirs and she pats her back to make her go back to sleep. The kid snuggles into her