“I’m leaving the park, heading to the left,” I shouted into the phone. When I passed a street sign, I told Baekhyun the name of the street before I turned into an alley, running on without daring to look back. I could hear the loud footsteps of my pursuers, didn’t need to see them to know they were still behind me. They were tenacious and no matter what I did, I couldn’t shake them off. Like a shadow, they kept following me wherever I went. I decided to turn into another alley, hoping to finally lose them. “Baekhyun, please hurry,” I said tiredly.

I heard him breathe heavily as he ran. “Don’t give up, I’m going to be there soon,” he answered. I heard fear in his tone and it unsettled me because I couldn’t recall a single moment where he had been scared before. He was never afraid. This only proved that I was in deep trouble, in danger of being brought back to my uncle who would undoubtedly do something terrible to me.

As I ran around the next corner, I came to a sudden halt. A whole group of them appeared in front of me, blocking my way.

“No,” I breathed, desperate. “There’s too many. You shouldn’t come here… Don’t risk it!”

“ing shut up. I’m not leaving you behind!” Baekhyun’s angry voice shouted through the phone.

I threw a look over my shoulder. The strangers who had chased me blocked the other way too. I was trapped with no way out. “Are you done running?” one of them snarled, stepping closer to me. “How stupid can you be, going outside for a walk, not bringing your damn guard dog? You made our job a lot easier,” he mocked. I gritted my teeth in frustration, hiding my fear behind a mask of anger.

In a swift motion, he suddenly grabbed me by the hair, pulling at it and making me cry out in pain. He dragged me close to his chest and ripped the phone from my hand, smirking when he saw that the call was still connected. “Hello there. You’re too late,” he taunted. “We got her and that’s the end of it.” I heard Baekhyun snarl something at him, but the man ended the call, throwing the phone to the ground carelessly.

“Come on, we’re leaving,” the stranger hissed into my ear, trying to get me to move, but I refused, deciding to put up a fight. I didn’t have any superpowers nor was I a trained fighter, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t make this ’s job ten times harder than it had to be.

“Forget it,” I screamed, stepping on his foot with all the force I could muster. The heel on my shoe was only three centimeters long, nonetheless, it must have hurt like hell because he yelped in pain, letting go of my hair. I saw my chance to retaliate, forming a fist with my hand and punching him in the face. Hearing a disgusting crack, I realized I had broken his nose. Blood was gushing from it and he held his hands in front of it, cursing and screaming at me.

I didn’t get any opportunity to be proud of my little victory because the others were approaching me already, angry I had injured their leader. Holding my bloody fists up, I intended to buy as much time as possible. They came at me all at once. I stood no chance, but I refused to go back to my uncle without putting up a fight.

Swinging my fist at one of them, I hit his stomach hard, making him heave. I ducked down, avoiding a punch from the side, but I didn’t see the guy behind me. He kicked me in the back. When his boot collided with me, I was thrown forward abruptly, skidding over the asphalt of the street. My back hurt, but I didn’t stay down, remembering what Baekhyun had told me. “Don’t give up,” I said to myself despite the many opponents I faced. 

“Stop being ridiculous,” their leader hissed. His face was bloody and he looked furious. “You’re outnumbered!”

Sudden bright light flared behind the men. It was shot right at them, hurling some of them to the ground with burned clothes. Simultaneously, the asphalt beneath my feet shook, a rift opening up not far from me. It swallowed some of the unsuspecting men who fell into a deep abyss. A wall of ice appeared on the other side of the street, blocking the way.

I was surrounded by chaos, screams, and panic. Everybody was moving somewhere else, some still tried to fight me, others concentrated on Baekhyun, D.O., and Xiumin who were the greater danger at the moment. One of the men managed to grab my arm while I was distracted, pulling me after him. I struggled against his grip, clawing at his hand. As I looked around for help, I met Baekhyun’s and Xiumin’s eyes. A wave of cool air radiated from the floor and my attacker’s legs were frozen to the ground. He cursed, not standing a chance when he was hit by a burning hot ball of light. I closed my eyes and held my arm in front of my face to shield myself from the brightness.

“Hyorin!” Baekhyun shouted and seconds later I found myself wrapped in a tight embrace. “I found you,” he breathed in relief. I could hardly believe he was here and looking into his blue eyes had a calming effect on me. The fear I had felt until now evaporated as I was filled with hope.

I rested my chin on his shoulder, melting in his embrace. He kissed my temple, his fingers ghosting over my hair, caressing my cheek. While his actions towards me were gentle, the boundless anger in his eyes did not go unnoticed by me. They were gleaming with the same overpowering madness I had already seen in his gaze when he had killed Li and it sent shudders down my body. Baekhyun wasn’t just irritated, he was livid, seething with rage at the men who tried to abduct me. His hold on my body tightened, causing me to be crushed against his chest, feeling his tense muscles. Glowing orbs of light came into existence around us. They were scorching hot, and I didn’t doubt they could cause dire damage.  

Several shots rang through the air, their loud sounds making me flinch in shock. They had been so close—the bullets had been meant for us, but I didn’t feel anything at all and Baekhyun seemed to be fine too. He never showed any signs of pain while his rage grew like an endless stream of molten lava, the madness in his eyes burning brighter.

As I turned my head slightly, I began to understand what had happened. He had used light to form a shield, preventing the bullet from hurting us. It pulsed and gleamed, disappearing when he willed it to vanish. The man who had shot at us had apparently used up all his ammo and reloaded his gun with nervously trembling fingers, realizing he had made a mistake.

“What did you do that for? Were you trying to kill her?” Baekhyun growled. I could almost hear the cracks forming in his sanity as his body trembled. I clutched the rough leather of his jacket, looking up at his face. It was distorted in raw anger and I hardly recognized him. Again, this terrifying madness sizzled in his eyes. Cold seeped into my body and made me freeze with trepidation. I felt helpless whenever this happened. Once more, he let himself be controlled by someone who wasn’t him.

When I tried to move away from him, he shot me a glare and held me tight, not letting me go anywhere. “Don’t move,” he said lowly.

“Baekhyun, what’s up with you?”

He didn’t seem to have heard my words, his stare darting back to the man who tried to shoot us. Hatred flashed over his face, and only seconds later an insanely bright light blinded me. I yelped, instinctively burying my face at his chest, hearing an agonized cry from behind me. It made the hair on the back of my neck raise. I took a shaky breath, not daring to turn around and look at what Baekhyun had done to the man. I had to stop him before this went out of hand. He wasn’t himself anymore!

Grabbing the front of his jacket, I tugged at it and got him to look at me. “Baekhyun, please calm down! Don’t… don’t kill anyone,” I said desperately, not wanting him to sink deeper into madness. “It’s not worth it!”

He looked at me without understanding what I meant like I had said something preposterous. “He deserved it,” he snapped, making me flinch when I heard the sharp tone of his voice. It was like a knife—and it unsettled me because he never spoke to me like this.

“I understand you’re angry, but this isn’t the right way to deal with the situation,” I tried to reason with him, my eyes locking with his, capturing his attention. “I don’t want you to kill any more people. Please come to your senses. This isn’t you, Baekhyun.”

The person I was talking to right now wasn’t the Baekhyun I knew and loved. It wasn’t the person I had kissed only hours before, it wasn’t the person I had gotten to know over many weeks. This was the stranger within him. Zero-Four. I didn’t know what else to call this part of his personality as it only existed because of my uncle.  

Creating an emotionless, invincible version of himself that didn’t know morals, that didn’t care about the lives of other people, must have been the only way for Baekhyun to survive this madness without losing himself. I had seen the other him emerge before; three times, to be exact. The first time had been the least shocking. We had been cornered by a random group of thugs on the university campus and he had retaliated by using excessive violence, not caring if he broke bones.

The second time, I had nearly been abducted. He had lost himself in his madness and become Zero-Four, hurting the criminals severely until they were unable to move. He fought them relentlessly despite his gunshot wound, and I had been taken by surprise wh