“What are you two doing here?”

“We can’t drop by and pay a visit anymore?”

“It’s as though you don’t want to see us Tiffany.”

Tiffany didn’t smile despite the rather large grin Daeryong was giving her as he walked past her, crossing over the front door’s threshold into the house. Soryong walked in after him, the two once more inviting themselves in. Tiffany held back her words because whether she liked it or not, the two were of higher rank than herself. She would respect that despite how much she wanted to simply tell them to leave.

“When’s grandpa Hwang coming back?” Daeryong asked as he leaned over the railing of the staircase leading upstairs, peeking upwards as though he would catch a glimpse of someone.

“He’s unsure.” Tiffany answered with a sigh as she closed the front door.

“It looks like the problem in Russia is bigger than he thought.” Soryong patted Daeryong on the shoulder, causing him to turn around, away from the stairs. The two now stood in front of Tiffany, waiting for her questioning words. The ones they knew she wanted to ask but only would if given a push. That push being the silence between the three of them as they stood there, smiling at her.

Tiffany groaned, only now realizing what they came for. They wanted something. Tiffany rubbed her temples with her fingers, “What is it this time?”

“We need access to the controls.” Soryong calmly said, his smile still on his face.

It took her a moment to figure out what he was referring to, but when she did, she snapped, completely forgetting that they were higher up the hierarchical pyramid and once more scolding them as though they were the mischievous twin boys she grew up with, “What makes you think I can just give that to you? Something that only my grandfather has the jurisdiction to control. Do you even have approval to ask me this?”

Daeryong frowned, his lips forming a pout, his demeanor in no way effected by her anger, “Ey, you know us. Everything we do is approved of, Fanny.” He called her nickname affectionately, causing her upper lip to twitch.

Soryong produced from his jacket pocket his cellphone. He held it out to Tiffany, dangling it in his fingers in front of her, “Would you like to waste time and make the call to check or would you like to help that little friend of yours as soon as possible?” Tiffany’s frown disappeared almost immediately. Soryong bit down on his bottom lip, suppressing his satisfied smile from showing, before nodding once, “That’s what I thought.” He held his hand outwards, gesturing towards the stairs, “Lead the way.”

Tiffany, without hesitance, began to walk up the stairs with the twins following behind.

“You have to introduce us to your friend soon, Fanny. I’m sure she’s not as bad as little sparrow makes her out to be.” Daeryong mused, earning a stern glare from Tiffany before she continued on upwards, her destination the door to her grandfather’s office.

Minah looked down in confusion at the text message she received from the man named Daeryong. “Don’t go home tonight.” She read it out loud.

“Well you’re sure as hell not staying here.” Sungjong scoffed at the very thought. She looked to him with a frown on her face to which he returned.

“What’s with you and your mouth lately?” Kyung as he inspected his nails as though they were more interesting, “Imagine Hyunjoo’s surprise when she comes back to find you yapping off like you’re one of us.”

Sungjong looked away from Minah, his eyes piercing holes through Kyung’s head, “At least I don’t talk like you do around her.”

Kyung looked up, his eyes narrowing, “And what makes you think I don’t hold back in front of her? Just like how I’m holding back in front of you right now. Don’t make deflower your ears, smile boy.”

Minah didn’t understand why everyone else was seemingly calm while Sungjong and Kyung, whom she vaguely knew from various parties her father held, grew more and more to the brink of throwing punches every second. Something she didn’t understand more was how you were somehow acquainted with all twelve boys now sitting in the living room with her. Even now, Sungjong and Kyung were no longer fighting with each other over how profane they were but instead how profane they were in front of you.

“Do you have anyone you could stay with?”

Minah looked away from Kyung and Sungjong to the person who was standing beside her, Hoya. The object of Jihae’s affection. He always was one of the calmer ones, along with Sunggyu, Woohyun, and of course Dongwoo. She understood why girls liked them and she would admit they were attractive but certainly not as much as her Myungsoo was. She shook her head free of her thoughts, realizing she was on the brink of tears thinking about what happened to him, before answering.

“Yura lives close by. I can stay with her.”

“Good, I can take you.” Sunggyu stood up, grabbing his car keys from the coffee table as he did so. Minah could just imagine the ecstatic look on Yura’s face when Sunggyu showed up at her front door. She was about to go on her way, to leave just like that but then she got curious. With all of them in front of her now, she asked them what she always wanted to ask Myungsoo. What she could never bear to ask him for fear of his answer.

“Why do you care about Hyunjoo so much?”

It was as though everyone was in consensus all around the room now. The man named Zico was the one who answered. He smiled, and then laughed as though her question was funny. Then, he finally spoke, “Do we need a reason?”

That’s it. That’s the answer Minah was most afraid of. The answer that was akin to the unknown. There wasn’t a reason Myungsoo cared for you. There wasn’t a reason she could beat out. A reason she could trump over. A reason she could make insignificant.

Because there was no reason at all.

You walked slowly, following him as he led not only you but Woohyun through the Containment Zone. He never paused to think about which route to take, which room to enter. It was as though he knew this place like the back of his hand. When he walked down a hallway only to find it was a dead end, he turned immediately and backtracked, choosing a different route. How long had he been down here that he not only memorized the Containment Zone’s normal floor plan but also where to go when it changed?

What was he doing down here? And why was he doing it? This man named Tablo.

He reminded you of Myungsoo. And you couldn’t help yourself. As though figuring out this man would help you better understand Myungsoo, you asked another question. A lighter one to open him up to conversation first.

“Where are we going?”

“I cannot let you out.”

You felt something slip into your hand, spreading throughout you warmth that once more brought back to the forefront of your mind how cold you were. You turned back, finding Woohyun gripping onto your hand tightly. He still wasn’t sure what to make of Tablo and honestly neither were you. But what would another fight solve?

“But I want to.”

You looked forward, finding Tablo now turned towards the two of you. He shifted to the left with one step, revealing a door with a large metal latch sealing it into place. A way out. That’s what he was leading you two towards. A way out that wasn’t blocked. That wasn’t too high too reach. That was right here, in front of you.

“What about Myungsoo?” You asked, for some reason knowing he would understand exactly who you were talking about.

“His kind should have escaped long ago.”

It wasn’t an answer and before you could formulate what else to ask, Woohyun spoke first, “His kind? You mean a werewolf? Like me?”

That set Tablo off, as though it were wrong to even assume such a thing. As though what Woohyun just said was the most repulsive thing he had ever heard. You saw it, the cringing of his features and the curling of his upper lip as he snarled, speaking through clenched teeth, “No. Not like you.”

“What? But-“

Woohyun was cut off as Tablo took a step near him, eyeing him up and down, “Not like you.” He emphasized again. He wasn’t angry. No, that wasn’t it. For some reason he seemed offended. Something he quickly got over as his face returned to its neutral expression. “But he told me he’s not. That I’m imagining things. Seeing things I want to see.”

“Who told you that?” You asked as you gripped onto Woohyun’s hand, bringing him out of the thoughts he had delved deep into following Tablo’s firm statement that he was different from Myungsoo. He resigned to think about it later because for some reason he had a feeling Sunggyu knew exactly what Tablo meant.

“Manshik.”

He answered using one word and for a moment, you questioned who this person was. That is until Woohyun beside you took a step forward and spoke, supplying you with the answer.

“The mayor?”

Tablo’s silence was enough of a yes as the actual uttering of the word would be. The mayor told him he was imagining things. Which meant he spoke to the mayor. Yet, the mayor didn’t enter the Containment Zone. Which meant he’s been outside of this place before. Yet, that left the overbearing question of, why? Why stay here? The question you had been wondering just moments ago.

“Why do you have to listen to him? Why do you stay here by yourself?”

“Shinae. He has Shinae.”

“But Shinae’s dead.”

“No.” He replied, his voice becoming one of a roar. He didn’t like to hear this. That she was dead. But why were there such a strong negation of this one truth? Why was he clinging onto the idea of her still being alive?

“But I saw it,” you tried to reason with him, your tone soft, “The Springfield newspaper reported her death.”

“No.” He shook his head, rejecting your words.

“She drowned in the river.” You continued despite his reaction.

“No.” He said again, his voice cracking.

“Twenty-three years ago.”

He stepped towards you quickly and Woohyun responded without a hitch, pulling on your hand and yanking you to him, holding you so that your back faced Tablo. He yelled, at the top of his lungs, so loudly and quickly you were glad you were turned away, otherwise you would have been so startled you wouldn’t have understood his words, “She didn’t drown, she died down here!”

There was an audible click in your head as you heard it. You pushed slowly away from Woohyun and you saw it happen. The moment of realization. The look of devastation that crossed his face. You thought you had broken him. You unhinged the clog that was stalling his gears, making everything clear and in the process, you broke him. Broke him by fixing him. Broke him by making him recognize the fact that Shinae really is dead. That she’s not still alive due to whatever deal the mayor may have made with him. And that shattered his world.

“Tablo?” You whispered his name, trying to bring him back. Trying to somehow kick him into gear again. He didn’t want to talk anymore, not about Shinae. Yet, you couldn’t simply escape with Woohyun, leaving not only Myungsoo but him, who no longer held the delusion of Shinae being alive, seemingly the one thing that kept him going. You gulped down and started again, coaxing from him his voice with a different kind of question, “What is this place?”

And it worked, he started to speak again.

“They said she drowned. They said we all died and threw us down here. I was a child and she took care of me. We all lived here together. I was the youngest. I was the youngest and she protected me when we ran out of food. When fights broke out due to the shortage, she gathered food for me. She kept me alive for seven years. And then, she died. She died down here. Shinae. Shinae died. I didn’t want to believe it. No. Shinae. Shinae.” He continued to repeat her name, like a broken record.

The woman who wasn’t his mother, but the woman who acted as though she were. Who took care of him as though she were. Back when they were thrown down here. “They.” They as in the werewolves. You understood it now, the reason this was called the Containment Zone. The reason Sunggyu’s grandfather had to reestablish Springfield’s werewolf population in the first place. Because twenty-three years ago, the werewolves were thrown down here where they had to fight each other to survive. This is where they exterminated each other. And here was Tablo.

Here was Tablo, here by himself.

Before you could ask the question of if he really was the only person left, he answered it. As though he already knew what you were going to say.

“It’s only me now. Those who remained, they killed. But I hid. I hid as Shinae died. And then they found me, kept me alive. Told me she wasn’t dead. And I believed it. I believed it. And when they told me to keep this down here, and if I did we could meet again, we could be together again, I believed it. I believed something so-” His voice broke and you heard a whimper. He descended to his knees, his hands clutching at the fabric of his pants on his knees.

You walked near him and Woohyun didn’t stop you. He stood still, no longer thinking that the Man in Black could hurt you. No longer on his guard as he watched you kneel down beside Tablo.

“I’m not good at these sorts of things. I don’t know what to say to make you feel better. This is your pain and I will never be able to understand it.” You were at a lost for words at this point and were just babbling. You didn’t know what to do as this man who once scared you, who once induced such fear in you that you could only think of running, cried right in front of you.

“You’re like her.”

He mumbled beneath his breath. You had to strain to hear it but when you processed it, you couldn’t help but feel as though he didn’t mean personality wise. As though he meant something else entirely. You now realized that that’s why he said her name when he first met you. Because you reminded him of her. Yet in what way, you had no idea.

He reached for his jacket collar and you watched in silence. Woohyun didn’t move from his spot, no matter how much his head yelled at him to. He trusted you and you surely wouldn’t go that close to Tablo unless you didn’t feel threatened. He ignored the voice in his head that said you would go towards even those who were threatening and stayed put.

Tablo unclasped something from his neck and gathered it into one of his hands before speaking, “I don’t want it anymore.” A brief image of Shinae flashed across his mind and he shook his head, “I don’t need it anymore.”

He held his hand out to you, and you watched as he uncurled his fingers, revealing what lay inside of his palm.

A necklace.

----

A/N:

Last update of the weekend. Late because for some reason, the internet in my house turns off every morning for three hours only to come back on as though nothing is wrong. We seriously need to get that fixed.

Regarding the chapter, we finally discover Tablo's involvement with the mayor as well as a few other things such as who Kim Shinae was really, what the Containment Zone was used for, and last but not least, we find the necklace! What's going to happen next? I certainly can't wait to find out!

Also, remember to beware of spoilers in the comment section as you scroll down everyone!

My internet connection is ridiculous.