It was his crucible. His fall. It was a leap off of the Seoul tower with nothing to catch him, no safety net, no back-up. It was a free fall. Hoya groaned as he skimmed through the new pages of names Dongwoo had printed. Dongwoo himself was no where to be found. Much like the rest of the Reapers. They had lost themselves in their own lives, in the Underworld, and in Angels.

“Admit that you love her, always did, always have." Nicole's words repeated themselves in his mind like the never ending track to his life. Hoya wasn't a pro when it came to love.

Hell, he wanted love to be something more like killing. Killing for him was simpler. It was an in and out job. No emotions, no left over feelings. You kill and you walk away. It was a job. But Eunji was anything but a job. Eunji had always been something more, something more important, something that wasn't worth letting go. So maybe Nicole was right, , she was. And the whole Korean Peninsula knew this.

But Hoya just couldn't admit it. It was that laced up authority intact deep inside him. No matter how much he wanted to push it aside, he failed miserably. The name of it? His Pride. He couldn't let his pride go. He should had held Eunji's pride like he held his, but he couldn't. So he did the one thing he had learned in his years in the Underworld; hide his feelings and feel nothing. He locked out human emotion and the 'superman' switch.

“You’re not superman Howon." Nicole's voice repeated in his head again and he wished he could just shut it out.

"Aish!" He groaned slamming his fist on the glass table before running his fingers through his disheveled locks.

"Howon." That familiar voice called out to him. He looked up, and he cursed god for the nth time that day. What the hell is she doing here?

"Myungsoo." She responded as if she was reading his thoughts. "Don't forget that Myungsoo doesn't own a lock." She added as if he didn't know that already. He rolled his eyes. He regretted being in L's stupid penthouse right now. It seems like where he went, the woman found him. He continued scanning through the stack of paper, ignoring her presence.

"I think you need to get away for a while. You know, take a break. Clean your mind." She suggested. Hoya looked up to him like she was crazy.

"That a break? This is the worst time to be taking a break." Hoya responded like Nicole was talking nonsense. Through it made sense, people that were crazy usually spoke in nonsense. Nicole smiled, it was that knowing smile he hated,

"When is a good time to take a break?" She questioned. Hoya groaned, breaks were never allowed in the Underworld, or in life for that matter. It was a never ending game, there were no timeouts, you live every moment hoping that you didn't put yourself in some deep . You continue to push even when hell was raining acid on you and heaven was too far out of reach. Breaks didn't exist.

"Why are you here? Don't you have anything else to do? Like, be dead?" He questioned. She snickered at his comment.

"I actually here because we need to go on a trip." She replied. His thick brows narrowed at her.

A trip?

"Come on Howon." She instructed as she turned her heels, ready to leave. "Sunggyu-shi's direct orders." She added.

"I thought he didn't like working with Angels?" Hoya mumbled cussing at Sunggyu, he was sure going to give the leader a piece of his mind the next time he saw him.

"I'm not a Angel." She remarked.

--

"Are you seriously going to follow me everywhere?" Yookyung asked as she walked through the busy Seoul streets. It was remarkable how they filled up so quickly in the morning yet at night they were drowned in darkness. More importantly she was annoyed by the persistent man who had been following her all day like a lost puppy. Through he lacked the innocence and cuteness of a puppy. But the man was keeping her away from important work. Extremely important work consisting of bringing down the idiot targeting her friends and family.

"Its not like I have anything better to do." Sungyeol responded. His hands were tucked in his jacket and he walked as if he had no care in the world. It was quite amusing to him.

How he could pull the ice princess' strings. He was obvious to the fact that she was bothered by his presence, but he didn't care. She was amusing to him. She looked like she needed to be somewhere, like she had something to do, like a million thoughts were flowing through her mind, like she had a thousand different missions assigned to her. And he was the stone wall standing in her way.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" He asked. Sungyeol understood he could be using this time for precious matters other than following around a rich heiress who was as cold as ice as well as clearly annoyed of his presence. She didn't reply to his question.

She just began walking, walking faster. Her short chestnut hair flew with the wind and her black leather jacket blended in with the crowd. But Sungyeol didn't loose track of her as she began weaving her way through the crowded streets of Gangnam. She swirl through the crowd, her footsteps were quick and speedy.

He sighed. Fine, if she wanted to play cat and mouse, he'll play.

--

“Why am I here, Pretty?” Woohyun asked through his cell phone to the other line. He was met with static before she replied.

“Because everywhere else is dangerous.” Was the answer he received. Indeed the woman liked covering her tracks, she enjoyed living in secrecy and remaining but a portion of a shadow. He sighed, nodding, through she couldn’t see it.

She came and gone like the wind, her identity was still a mystery to him. How she found his number? He had no idea. Then again, half the female population in Korea knew this number of his.

“And why here?” He asked. It was perfectly apparent where he was. It was a long forgotten mansion located in the middle of nowhere. Barbwires and veins grew throughout the place and dense grass, shattered glass was scattered everywhere and dust formed throughout. But Woohyun knew that this place was once something else. Something amazing, something worth more.

This was where the Underworld began. Korean’s largest Underworld leaders once called this place Home. Headquarters, Command Base, Watchtower. This was where the Underworld began. Now it was just another left behind image in the rear view mirror of the car.

“She wants to talk to you.” Pretty replied before the line went dead. Woohyun groaned. She? Who was she?

It can’t be.

“Woohyun?” The voice called to him. It floated like poison ivy, sickening, alluring, tempting, dangerous in every form possible. He turned around and standing at the top of the stairs like the leader she once was before she fell off that pedestal. Genie.

“Welcome back G.na noona.” he responded. She glared at him for a minute. That minute felt like a century as he felt her eyes examine every inch of him. Her sapphire eyes were one of a hawk, they missed every little yet remained blind to so much. She hadn’t changed a bit, her hair, darker and longer, but everything was the same. Aside from the fact that she was dying.  

The great Choi Gina. Genie herself, was dying. But none of that mattered to her. At lease not now.

She smiled to him. It wasn’t an over the top smile baring pearly white teeth, but a simple tug of her lips. “Now, let’s get to work.” She remarked.

“You’re always straight to business aren’t you.” He questioned.

“I don’t have time for bull Woohyun. And neither does the rest of the world.” She remarked as she stepped down the stairwell.

“You’re quite the catch, noona. Literally, your head’s wanted on a wooden stake.” He added. She smirked with that twinkle in her eyes that held great mischief and dying pride.

“In my life I’ve seen more bodies than a mortician. Every time I step out my door I face the risk of being shot. To the rest of the world it's just another dead body on a street corner. They don't know that he was my friend. I’m not scare of a wooden stake, of bullets of blades, gangs mean nothing to me and threats fall on deaf ears for me. A fool dares put a warrant on me, then I guess it’s his fate.”
--
“What the hell.” Yookyung groaned as she stopped dead in her tracks. She whipped her head around to face him. Sungyeol stood by the wall that a smug smirk on his face. His arms were crossed over his chest and he leaned against the wall eyeing her with excited eyes.

“You know you put quite the chase.” He commented. She rolled her eyes at the man. For the last hour it had been a constant chase. She was running, he was chasing.

“And you’re quite the chaser.” She mumbled softly, hoping he didn’t hear but the wind had brought those short phrases to his ears.

“Where are you going next?” he asked. She thought about for a second. There was no point running from him. He would end up finding her at the end anyways. She was actually amused. Sungyeol was fast, quick, sharp. Every corner she turned he was right behind. She had swore she lost him in the crowds, but no, to her disappointment, he found her every time. How was it that a mere man such as Sungyeol could keep up with her

“Do me a favor?” She demanded.

“Sure.”

She smirked bringing her arm up she threw a small silver pendant, her late mother had given it to her as a gift. It was the last gift she received before her mother died. She flung it in the air and watched it begin to travel away from her. “Catch.” She instructed. Almost like he had the instincts and speed of a ninja he caught it effortlessly in a matter of seconds.

“That was easy.” He commented. Indeed it was. She growled. The man had more up his sleeves than he let off. His head was filed with secrets, secrets she didn’t know.
--
“Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else. So maybe you two are just to stupid to realize it. Or maybe you’re both too cowardly. “ She eyed Eunji, “I get it. He doesn’t deserve a second chance. He lied, he cheated, he killed, he took. I get it, I was there." She then turned her eyes to him, “You messed up, you’re being a coward, stop being Superman, cause you’re not, stop being a , cause you’re only half of that.”

She sighed turning her attention to the road up ahead. “I don’t give a about this war. But I do care about you two.” She finished.

“Then what the hell are you doing Nicole. This is ed up. We could be taking out half the Triad by now if you weren’t kidnapping us and taking us to the middle of nowhere.” Hoya whined. His arms were crossed his eyes were piercing lasers at Nicole, but she remained unfazed.

“You don’t get it do you?” She exclaimed her anger fully noticeably in her tone. She was a raging canon, she was free falling with no bounds, no net, no boundaries. She had already cracked, and the dawn hadn’t even approached yet.

“I care because I love you two idiots. I care because I didn’t die for you two. So you either fix this, or I die….I die knowing I stayed alive for nothing.” She cried out. It was quiet after that.

She suddenly stepped on the brakes causing the two passengers behind to yank up from their seats.

“Get out.” Nicole ordered sternly.

“What?” Eunji and Hoya’s voices questioned in disbelief. They were currently on an old road surrounded by woods. There was no sense of civilization around, no cars, no buildings, no people. The woods seemed to lead on for miles and miles. "Get out, both of you." She repeated, her eyes were staring straight ahead and the two of them could see some sort of odd contraction spinning around in her head.

"Nicole, are you out of your mind- of course you're out of your mind. When are you not." Hoya hissed. He could see her smirk, even if she was facing away from him. Nicole had always had a thing for picking the worst possible timing one her out of world experiments. And now, it was time for one of them. They were her experiment, and they were the most critical one.

“Fine.” Eunji mumbled opening the car door and stepping out before slamming it shut with a strong force. Hoya remained unmoved as he stared at the back of his friend’s head.

“Why are you doing this Nicole?” he questioned. She exhaled deeply, letting her eyes follow Eunji through the rearview mirror. There was some dire need within her to make things right. But making it right was so difficult especially when everything that was broken was already dead. Almost everything was dead.

“Because I care.” She muttered. Her answer didn’t come laced in pride or confidence, there was no sarcasm or pitiful god forsaken mission. It came from her heart, she meant every word of it, and he knew that. He just wished she wouldn’t care so much.

He mumbled a string of curses underneath his breath before stepping out of the car and shutting the door. The second the door shut the car zoom away, doing a u-turn and retreating back to the direction it came from, leaving him to stare at its retreating figure. He turned towards the direction of Eunji who was walking the opposite direction.

He looked at the road that seem to curve upward reaching the skies, he didn’t know where it lead, he didn’t know why he was here, hell, did he even care?

“Why the hell is she doing this?” Hoya asked as he caught up to Eunji who was taking long, fast steps. Eunji didn’t reply. Hell . Like she knew the answer.

Eunji was so frustrated, so angry, she breathed in and out deeply, smoke was huffing from her core, she wanted to punch, kick, punch, and slam into the next closest thing she could find. Her fist were held tightly, her nails digging into the skin of her palm leaving a deep imprint.

Hoya saw this, she was angry, and she was not to be messed with. He groaned keeping quiet as he continued to walk. His mind traveling back to Nicole, to why Sunggyu had agreed to let her do this. It was crazy of him. But the leader himself was kind of senseless at this point.

I could be tracking down the whole Underworld right now

“You’re kidding me.” Eunji mumbled in shock as she came to a stop. Turns out the road they were on wasn’t so long after all. It was too short for both of them once they realized what awaited them. Standing on top of a hill across the field before them, there it stood, grand and rich, miserable and abandoned. Jung Mansion.

“I’m killing Nicole the second I see her.” Eunji hissed. Her cousin had brought them back here. This was where it started. And it’s where it ended.
 --

“So you sent them on a road trip. Are you ing insane Nicole!” Chorong shouted slamming the folder in her hands onto the table. Nicole tilted her head rubbing her sore neck.

“Now! Now of all times you decide to pull a move like this. This wasn’t the same as back then Nicole. We can’t be doing this.” Chorong reminded. The leader was on one of her ranting parades again and Nicole was lucky enough to be in the front row to see it all.

“Relax Chorong. I swear, you need to get out more. They’re not children. They’re assassins. They can take care of themselves. Besides, I doubt the Underworld would rise fast enough to pull one in the next 24 hours.” Nicole countered as she took a seat in one of the chairs.

“She has a point unnie.” Bomi agreed as she walked into the room. Chorong growled. The two weren’t getting it. Eunji was out of range, she was too far away that if something should happen, they wouldn’t be able to get to her in time. Chorong would be unable to watch over her.

“We have bigger issues right now.” Bomi reminded bringing their attention to the computer screens before them. Each was a scene of another world leader, a leader who was secretly Underworld.

“Are you sure they can handle it?” Bomi asked.

“They’re Reapers after all. Only this time, it’s a save mission.” Nicole replied as she stood up and walked over to Chorong’s liquor cabinet pulling out a bottle of liquor.

“Any idea who?” Bomi asked, her eyes were attached to the screen like it was some sort of a movie used to entertain her.

“Japanese Ambassador.” Chorong guessed, she had her doubts, but she was pretty sure he was the next target. She had profiled the man, and he was the perfect person to be a target.

“How do you know?” Nicole asked.

“Because he’s my uncle.” She answered. It made sense to her now. All the attacks, they had been too close to home. They had deliberately been attacks on targets who were family members of an Angel. Chorong knew the Underworld wasn’t the main target, it was them. They were the targets.
 

Sorry, it's taking forever to update.