Tension fills the air as Krystal and G-Dragon lock eyes. Krystal watches in anticipation as G-Dragon tightens his grip on the gun.

She is caught in a quandary: should she charge at the armed man and risk being shot? Or should she make a run for it, and again, risk being shot?

Before Krystal could come to a decision, however, G-Dragon had made the first move.

Bang.

A bullet travels in the air and lands on the suite's wall. It barely misses Krystal, who managed to duck just as G-Dragon was aiming the gun. She had also pushed Rosé away from the bullet's trajectory as she was dropping to the ground. The gunshot alerted Taehyung and Rosé of G-Dragon's presence, which prompted the two of them to scurry away from G-Dragon's line of sight.

While the two take cover, Krystal charges towards the shooter. G-Dragon tries to shoot again, but for the second time, he misses. Just as he was about to release a third, Krystal had already reached him.

The first thing she tries to do is knock the gun out of G-Dragon's hand. Krystal's kick goes in the direction of G-Dragon's right hand, the one that is holding the gun, but the man is quick to react as he lifts his hand up, away from Krystal's oncoming feet. He then proceeds to swing the same hand towards Krystal, using the gun as a blunt instrument.

Krystal dodges with ease and follows up with a left hook to G-Dragon's ribs. Her fist lands on his right abdomen, producing a loud thud due to the speed of the punch. The gun drops out of G-Dragon's hand as he presses the point of impact on his body, and Krystal kicks the gun away just as it hits the ground. Before she could strike again, Krystal was pushed aside from behind as Taehyung stepped in front of her and began to attack G-Dragon.

Taehyung's punch, however, is easily stopped by G-Dragon as he blocks the punch with his palm. G-Dragon grabs Taehyung's closed fist before twisting the getaway driver's left arm. Taehyung screams in response and is met with a follow-up jab to his face, merely centimetres below his left eye.

Krystal jumps right back into the fight as she watches Taehyung fall onto the floor. Blood begins to drop out of the fresh cut on Taehyung's face.

In this line of work, seeing people get beat up is just another Tuesday. Krystal could not even begin to count the times she had seen her heist partners receive a beating, G-Dragon and Hyun Bin included. Ever since she was eight years old, when she would watch her father hit her mother every night, Krystal has gotten used to watching violence unfold before her eyes. But she cannot stand by and watch G-Dragon, or anyone for that matter, even lay a finger on Taehyung.

Maybe she has gone soft after leaving the life of crime for a few years. That would be the most logical explanation for the fire that is burning inside of her right now. Or maybe this time around, she genuinely cares about her heist members. She does not want anything or anyone to harm Yeoh, Rosé, or most importantly, Taehyung. Seeing him lying helplessly on the ground like that sparks anger inside of Krystal. Although the wound was Taehyung's, she could feel the pain just as much.

The anger turns into fuel that drives her forward, lifting her feet off the ground to initiate a front kick. G-Dragon is visibly a few inches taller than she is, but the kick perfectly lands on his chin, nonetheless. The sheer speed and strength of the kick knocks G-Dragon down, giving Krystal a brief moment to check on Taehyung.

"Take the map and get out of here!" She lends a hand to help Taehyung up.

Rosé gets out of her cover and grabs on to Taehyung's arm as he tries to stand up straight. Once his feet are firmly planted on the ground, Taehyung and Rosé hurriedly enter the master bedroom. They pick up all the document tubes in the room, all while not looking at the politician's dead body on the bed. The pair sprint out of the suite carrying at least five tubes each.

Krystal stays put to buy them some time as she watches G-Dragon slowly tries to get up. Before the man could stand, while his knees and hands were still on the ground, Krystal gave him a kick in the head. G-Dragon ends up rolling on the floor in pain, begging for Krystal to stop.

She ignores his plea and strikes again, but G-Dragon manages to block her next kick with his arm. He leaps forward and tackles Krystal, bringing her down to the ground with him. He climbs on her, gets on his knees, and begins to strangle Krystal.

Krystal squirms to break free, but the hands on her neck are grabbing her too tight. G-Dragon's nails sink into her skin as she attempts to peel his hands off and punch him at the same time.

"Stop it, will you? You used to love it when I did this. " Krystal can barely see the stupid smirk on G-Dragon's face as her vision turns blurry.

Her limbs have become weak, and her movements have become slower, as if she has accepted her fate. The adrenaline rush that she had felt merely seconds ago had now been replaced by a sudden panic attack, but there was nothing she could do about it. Her eyes might pop out of their sockets at any moment now. She feels her vessels wriggling all over her body, and her head feels like a balloon that was pumped with more air than it could hold. A balloon that is just biding its time, ready to explode.

Her mind begins to wander with a thought, this is no way to die. And as her gasp for air gets slower, her mind dances around the room, the suite, and the entire hotel. Her life flashes before her eyes, turning the panic and fear into acceptance.

She is tired. Maybe it is time to let go. Granted, G-Dragon's face being the last thing she sees before dying is not ideal, but other than that, she does not have much to lose. No parents, no relatives, no lovers, no one to shed a tear for her. It is true that her passing might sadden Yeoh, Rosé, and Taehyung, but they will move on. Or it might not even affect them one bit.

Let go.

Krystal sees her mother smiling down on her. Her father is not there with her mother, because an awful, terrible human being like him would never end up in the same place as her, wherever that may be. She knows that her mind is playing tricks, but she is too exhausted to fight it.

Let go.

A vast sunflower field appears in front of her, and she cannot wait to run across it. No one else in sight, just bright yellow flowers and dark green leaves. The sky is clear, each cloud donning its own shape. The sun is shining, not too bright, partly hidden behind the clouds. Tall trees and mountains on the horizon. The farm is right there. All she needs to do now is let go. She would be free to spend her entire day there, but only if she let go.

As her consciousness fades, Krystal hears footsteps rumbling. The sound grows louder and louder, like steeds prancing across a battlefield. Even better, steeds prancing across a sunflower field, her sunflower field.

Let-

"Freeze!"

A loud voice fills the entire suite. In the blink of an eye, her sunflower field vanishes as air begins to enter her airway once again. The pressure on was gone, but Krystal could still feel a sharp pain in it. Her vision has been restored, and she sees G-Dragon lifting his hands in the air.

Krystal turns her head towards the voice and sees Ji Jin Hee along with a bunch of men standing by the suite door. All of them are wearing black uniforms and bulletproof vests with 'Interpol' written on them. They have their guns out, aiming towards G-Dragon and, unfortunately, her.

After taking a deep breath, Krystal gives G-Dragon a kick in his groin and pushes him off her. She then runs in the direction of the Interpol officers, dodges under an officer that tries to grab hold of her, and since she cannot exit through the door, Krystal heads for the balcony. G-Dragon tries to follow but is tackled by Jin Hee as the other officers go after Krystal.

Without giving it much thought, because she knows that she would not be doing this if she did, Krystal jumps off the suite's balcony and lands on the next room's balcony. Instead of going after her, the officers started to open fire.

"I'm sure that's against protocol or something," Krystal said as she made her way down, jumping to the balcony below.

She spots Rosé and Taehyung on the ground, right at the hotel's corner. Police cars had already surrounded the main entrance, so Krystal had to make her way to the pair by leaping from balcony to balcony. Once she was directly above Rosé and Taehyung, she hangs onto the railings, takes a deep breath before letting go, and proceeds to grip the lower floor's balcony railings. The process continues until finally, she lands on the ground.

The few officers that were waiting by the main entrance have already begun to make their way to Krystal. She shares a look with her two friends, and they sprint as fast as they can away from the Interpol officers. Their footsteps echo through the night as they make their escape through a dark back alley.

This time around, the chase did not last long, unlike the one in Incheon. As they were running for their lives, Krystal noticed a man taking out trash from a closing bakery. She managed to convince the man to let them hide in his shop for a while until the coast was clear. The man did not need much convincing as he welcomed Krystal and the rest inside, and they hid there for a good ten minutes. When they were leaving, the man even offered them some leftovers, which Rosé gladly took.

The gang find themselves sitting on a pavement not too far from the Hotel de Paris Monte-Carlo. The shape of each brick in the pavement is being studied vigorously by Krystal. The grass that, against all odds, succeeded in growing and filling the gap between the bricks now looks remarkably interesting to her. The cold, black asphalt on the road barely shines from the dim streetlights of Monaco.

"Yeoh is on her way here." Rosé's voice breaks her trance, but only she knows how grateful she is to hear the pickpocket's soft voice again. "I need to take a leak."

She nods in acknowledgement, but her eyes continue to roam, spying every single part of her surroundings. The backstreet she is in is decorated with European architecture, each building constructed with detail and identity. Carvings accompany the cream-coloured walls, the beaming pride of Monaco. To top it all off, twinkling stars gather around the shining moon to fill up the night sky. Absorbed by the beauty of things she used to take for granted, Krystal inhales the slightly pungent air like there is no tomorrow. Not too long ago, her ability to do so was taken away from her. So, yes, she deserves to take in all the oxygen on Earth, leaving none for the rest of the world.

Then, her eyes drift to the man sitting down to her right. She finally remembers that she is not alone on the pavement, and she is glad to not be. The man with messy, short hair and still in his white tuxedo shirt, although the bow tie is now undone, suddenly looks very handsome to her. A week ago, she did not even know of this man's existence, but now, she would do anything just to keep him safe.

There is no clear indication of when it happened, but Krystal knows that she has fallen head over heels for Taehyung. Another drop of blood flows out of his wound, and Taehyung quickly wipes it off with the back of his hand. Krystal takes out a handkerchief from her pocket before gently pressing it on the wound.

Taehyung lets out a short groan in response, muttering a slow 'thanks' as Krystal presses on. For a while, neither of them says another word, only the occasional sound of vehicles passing by to fill the silence. Once she is sure that blood flow has stopped, Krystal pulls the handkerchief away from the wound and begins wiping Taehyung's cheek for remaining blood stains.

"You shouldn't have done that." She immediately realises that she should have given more context after seeing the confusion on Taehyung's face.

Just as she was about to continue, Taehyung's lips curled into a half smile. She had never noticed how charming his smile was until this moment.

"I was just trying to help," he explained, shifting his gaze from the ground to the stars. "Guess I only made a fool of myself, huh?"

Krystal wipes off the last of the stains on his face, placing the handkerchief on her lap right after.

"No, you actually showed me that I can always count on you to have my back."

At last, Taehyung's eyes meet hers, and she is the one smiling now. She cannot decipher the look that he is giving her, but she can tell that it is a good one. His eyes are brighter than the moon and stars. And she notices his gaze falling on her lips, as if he is expecting something.

She must have lost control of her body because, for some reason, Krystal finds herself leaning forward. Her eyelids close as her heartbeat pounds to the beat of a drum in a rock song. What made the butterflies in her stomach go wild was the fact that Taehyung was doing the same thing.

"Oh, there she is!"

Taehyung is the first to turn his head, and she follows. They both turn to Rosé, who is pointing to the bright headlights coming their way. Krystal gets on her feet to see a red pickup truck coming to a halt on the road right beside the pavement that she is on. The driver's seat window rolls down, revealing Yeoh behind the wheel.

"Sorry to make you wait," Yeoh said as she pressed the unlock button. "Took me a while to hotwire this thing. Had to watch an entire YouTube video about it."

Rosé, Taehyung, and Krystal make their way into the truck, with Taehyung taking the front passenger seat. While Yeoh is busy panicking after seeing the cut on her nephew's face, Rosé whispers to Krystal, "Should've made us wait a bit longer."

Krystal lets the girl giggle for a few seconds before pinching her in the arm. Rosé rubs her arm and lets out an 'ow' in response. Krystal keeps her cool, but deep down, she agrees with Rosé. Talk about bad timing.

--

After driving through the streets for less than half an hour, the gang arrived at their hotel. That is where they began to go through each document tube, as they had not gotten the chance to do so previously.

Krystal opens the last of the tubes, and the others watch anxiously. She pulls a roll of A2-sized paper from it, and there it is. The map to the lost treasure vault is finally in her possession. As it turns out, the treasury that they are looking for was built by the ancient Norte Chico civilisation. Next stop: Peru.

"South America! I've always wanted to go there." Rosé claps and jumps on the bed in excitement.

Krystal releases a dry laugh, but her joy lasts merely seconds. Taehyung signals for Rosé to stop jumping as he gets up from the bed and approaches Krystal.

"What's wrong?" He places his hand on her shoulder.

She bites her lip, thinking of words to say. Her eyes meet the others' before she lowers her gaze, looking down to her feet.

"We're not going to Peru."

"What do you mean? Oh! Are we stopping somewhere first?" Rosé tilts her head. "Because I don't mind taking a detour, like the one in Rome-"

"No, we are not going anywhere but home." Krystal feels a lump in .

The silence inside the room is deafening, all eyes fixed on her. She does not want to do this, but she feels that she has to.

"It is time for our little adventure to come to an end. I'll find a buyer for the emerald and the map. The money will be split evenly between the four of us. Our path has been filled with danger and... I can't live with myself if I let anything else hurt you, each one of you. Not after what happened to Hyun Bin."

Yeoh nods without arguing, Taehyung tries to come up with something but stops himself from uttering it, and Rosé does not overreact, except for the loud repetitions of 'NO'. Repeatedly.

"No! No, Krystal! No!" At least this time she adds another word to her vocabulary, after the 20 different renditions of no's.

"I'm sorry, but this isn't up for debate," Krystal says as she approaches the younger girl. "We're leaving for Korea first thing tomorrow."

Rosé clenches her fist by her side and storms out of the room. Krystal was about to go after her, but Yeoh stepped in and said that she would go talk to her, leaving Krystal alone in the room with her thoughts. And Taehyung, of course.

She thought it might be the perfect time for that kiss as the man stepped closer to her. Taehyung gives her a pat in the back instead and proceeds to leave the room.

"Could really use a kiss right now," she says to herself when she spots a bar outside the window, just across the street, "or a drink."

--

Nice, France

The gang took a bus from their hotel to reach the Nice Cote d'Azur Airport, Nice. As anticipated, the bus ride was awkward. Rosé refused to even look in the direction of Krystal. When Krystal got off her seat, next to Taehyung, to strike up a conversation with Rosé, the pickpocket would either pretend to be asleep or pretend to talk to Yeoh. Krystal did not want their relationship to end on a sour note, but there was nothing much she could do about it. She could pay Rosé a visit sometime in the future; they live in the same city, after all.

Walking towards the check-in counter with their luggage, Krystal feels her legs get heavier with each step. She does not want to send her heist members back, but she has to. She feels like she has to. It is for their own good.

The counter is just a few footsteps away, and Krystal leads the others there. This is it, she thought. By tomorrow, they will all go back to living their own lives, making this adventure nothing but a milestone in it. Perhaps they can share the story with their kids, perhaps not. It would not be wise to tell the tales of your crimes to the rest of the world.

"Leaving so soon?"

That voice sounds too eerily familiar. Is that? No, it cannot be. Krystal turns around and sees the silhouette of a man standing tall against the bright sunlight shining through the airport's glass entrance.

She walks towards it; her luggage falls to the ground when she can make out the man's identity.

Standing in front of her, in the flesh and blood, is Hyun Bin.