Something – he couldn't identify exactly what – but something in either Seunghyun’s words or tone got through to Hyunsuk.

He tore his gaze away from the house and met his eldest son's eyes. Then he simply nodded his head.

The decision made, the hurdle overcome, Hyunsuk and SeungHyun opened their car doors simultaneously. As they did, Jae Sang straightened up from his slouched position on the hood of the car. His eyes immediately sought out SeungHyun.

The teenager jerked his head towards the house – silently requesting assistance when he couldn't speak out loud. He didn't want to say the words that might undermine his dad – but they would need the help of the police and Jae Sang was one of their best.

Hyunsuk didn't acknowledge either of them. With a new found resolution he marched up to the front door and put his key in the lock.

The alarm blared and Hyunsuk froze. He had once carried his wife over that very threshold.

Then SeungHyun brushed passed him, punched in the code and silenced the alarm. Fresh guilt crept up on Hyunsuk. Why was he having such a hard time with priorities?

Your wife or your child. You choose.

It was an age-old nightmare; one he'd had since he'd first learnt they were expecting their first child. It had once held the power to terrify him, but not anymore. Now there was no choice to be made – he no longer had a wife. Now it was a battle between his past and his present; the dead and the living; the hopeless and…

It wasn't a choice – not really – but Hyunsuk chose his second son, Seungri.

SeungHyun was at a distinct disadvantage out of the three of them, when it came to knowing about Arashi. His dad had obviously worked on the case and, as soon as the man had escaped from jail, Jae Sang had pulled his file and learnt everything there was to know about the case. SeungHyun, as did Seungri, only knew the meagre facts that his father had supplied him with and what he was able to track down on the internet.

He knew there was a lot he didn't know; things that would never appear in a newspaper and would always be hidden away in a confidential police report. Only first-hand knowledge or access to said report would tell him everything.

SeungHyun needed details; he needed to know everything there was to know. There might be something – some small clue he wasn't aware of – that could be the key to finding his brother. The trouble was he didn't think his dad would feel too much like sharing some of those details; not considering that the man's crimes might currently be being inflicted on his youngest son.

SeungHyun hadn't found anything regarding exactly what had happened to those unfortunate people during their actual periods of captivity – and he found that to be more than a little disturbing. What, exactly, did Arashi do to them in order to destroy them so completely?

what he did to those people..…, he needed to know. "How..?"

The raucous noise stopped as suddenly as it had started, but the lights still did not go out. Seungri was on the verge of total despair; pain and exhaustion threatening to completely overwhelm him; but even though the noise was gone, he could still hear it reverberating around his skull.

He didn't even realise that he was no longer alone until he heard his cell door slam violently shut. Jerking upright, he looked around wildly – totally disoriented by lights and the noise. Then his eyes alighted on the fake police officer, standing outside his cell looking in.

"When you're given food you will eat it," the man said, coldly. "Or else we will stop feeding you. It's not our intention to kill you, but if you should die…" He shrugged, as though that eventuality was of no concern to him. Then he turned and walked away.

Seungri stared at the space he had just vacated and then his eyes drifted slowly downwards. There, on the inside of the cell door, were a paper plate and cup – guaranteed that they could not be utilised as some sort of weapon. He slid off the bunk and approached them suspiciously. He didn't doubt for a second that his kidnapper would make good on his threat, but his appetite wasn't exactly demanding sustenance.

Then he realised that he had no need to worry on that count. The plate held only two slices of unbuttered brown bread and the cup was just water. If he hadn't been so thoroughly miserable, then Seungri might have smiled sardonically at the cliché of typical prison fare – but there was no mirth, dark or otherwise, within him.

He retrieved his meagre meal and moved back to his bunk. He was thirsty and the water was actually welcome, but he also forced himself to choke down the bread. He hadn't eaten at all that day – if it was, indeed, still the same day – and he did recognise the need to keep his strength up.

Thinking of what day it might be added another worry onto Seungri's already laden shoulders. His watch was gone and he had absolutely no way of monitoring the passage of time. He couldn't even hazard a guess as to how long he had already been in captivity.

Sighing, Seungri lay back down on the bed – again using one arm to cover his eyes. The second he did so, the noise blasted out again.

The entire district of police department was on the lookout for Seungri, for Arashi and for the mystery man who'd masqueraded as a cop. So far, there had been nothing to report.

In short, they had absolutely nothing to go on.

Hyunsuk was thoroughly sickened, if not overly surprised. Up until that morning, there hadn't been a single confirmed sighting of Arashi since his escape from prison – and now he had simply and effectively disappeared again.

He couldn't help but remember the last time, almost twelve years ago. They had got lucky that time – and, though he could pray for history to repeat itself, he didn't hold out much hope of pure dumb luck coming to their aid again.

No, it was up to them and they had to move fast. One of Arashi's victims had been released after only two days – and yet still enough damage had been done to cause the young man to throw himself under a train.

He wouldn't let Seungri go through such trauma and he definitely wouldn't be mourning another member of his family. Though Hyunsuk wanted to believe that Seungri would be strong enough – that his son, who was following so admirably in his own footsteps, would never succumb to psychological torture – he knew the case too well; knew exactly what Arashi was capable of.

In normal times, Seungri would have had a hard time resisting the man's twisted games. Arashi's original victims were considered to be normal and well-balanced individuals. But then their abductor had found their deepest fear, their darkest secret or their biggest shame and had turned it against them. He had found their breaking point and then pushed them beyond it.

And Hyunsuk knew that everyone had a breaking point. It was only too easy to imagine what his younger son’s would be right now.

Hyunsuk inwardly winced as he thought about his own part in making Seungri believe that he might be responsible for the death of his mother. Though they had managed to speak about it after the anger of Seungri’s hospital room, Arashi had disrupted their attempted reconciliation. Seungri had said sorry, but Hyunsuk never got the chance to.

He had also asked his elder son whether Seungri hated him and he remembered his immense relief when his eldest son answered in the negative. Now that relief felt bitter, even in his memory. The question should have been: does Seungri think I hate him? Hyunsuk couldn't answer – and with that thought came the knowledge that he had played directly into Arashi's hands.

He was hoping that Seungri would be strong enough – but how could he be when his own father had provided some of the ammunition needed to break him?

Unknowingly, he silently echoed SeungHyun's thought that a clock was ticking against them. But they didn't even have a place to start looking.