The stinging pain near his right temple sunk in when he wound up on his back. A struggling moan left his lips as he twisted onto his side. A short second later something warm swam into his eye literally blinding him before stumbling to his feet. The second he stood he caught, from the corner of his eye, the man swinging the pry bar toward him again. This time his reflexes didn’t fail him.

Swiftly dodging to the side he listened to the bar swing into the wall with a loud thud. Suddenly losing balance Lay’s feet tangled into each other and he ended up on the floor again. His sight was distorted with only his left eye making all objects in sight clear. Out of his right eye all he saw was a foggy mist of red.

Clamping his eyes shut he shook his head and wiped the blood away. A quick second later he rolled to the side when the man swung the pry bar at him again. Swinging up he shoved the man onto the ground, sat on him to disable his movements, and fought to wring the pry bar out of his hand.

They struggled for long minutes on end and Lay even felt the muscles in his lower arm cramping up before the pry bar finally landed on the floor beside them. Panting from the struggle he swung repeated punches at the man, who fought to shove him off. When he finally stopped fighting back seconds later Lay stood to his feet, losing balance and fell against the couch. He sat there helpless trying to persuade the dizziness out of his head.

The ringing pain from just beside his forehead didn’t stop no matter how long he waited for it to go away. In the end, Lay forced himself to his feet swaying to and fro. His senses brought him a step toward the door, but he stopped when he recalled that noise earlier. Quickly twisting around he stared at the door and to the unconscious man on the ground.

Picking the pry bar up just in case anything happened, he stepped toward the door, first listening for any further noise. Upon hearing shuffling in the room Lay opened the door to see a girl, her arms bound to her sides and a towel stuffed into .

~_____~

“What are you thinking?” Suho questioned after an intense argument over Namjoo wanting to drive so he could rest.

Defeated in the passenger’s seat Namjoo muttered, “About how screwed we are.”

Suho managed an amused laugh to brighten up the mood in the car, “We’ll be fine.”

Namjoo rolled her eyes to his optimism, “Maybe I will, but not you.”

“Hey!”

“They’re not going to stop even when one of us dies,” Namjoo continued, “whether Donghae’s their real target or not doesn’t even matter anymore. If they spot us in Wonju, it’s over. You get it?”

Suho eyed her quietly and said nothing for a few minutes. He knew, he knew venturing out for missions was going to do them no good anymore. There was no choice, but to do so. Right now, sitting back and waiting for a chance to attack didn’t sound feasible. They’d be sitting ducks and playing that game was stupidity.

“What are you scared of?” Suho wondered. “Trouble looks for me; it doesn’t just knock on anyone’s door. Plus, we’re the best combo there is. When we get to Wonju, nothing’s going to change. Those guys will find us and we’ll find them, and we do what we do.”

~_____~

Tao couldn’t believe this. He felt like an outsider, but the worst of it was that Kris was in the same group. It felt like Donghae had betrayed him. Why couldn’t he have been placed in the same group as Suho and Namjoo? What were they going to do that he needed to be placed with other people?

The whole day was going to be dreadful.

As he sat there locked into the backseat of Chorong’s car he couldn’t repress the oncoming sighs.

“What?” Tao judgementally questioned a bit defensively when he noticed Chorong’s eyes look at him through the rearview mirror.

“This isn’t what you expected, huh?”

He turned his attention out the window in hopes of catching sight of Suho’s car among the others on the highway. A few seconds of furiously eyeing every one of them he decided Suho and Namjoo were already far ahead.

Again, he thought it wasn’t fair.

Then he glanced toward the passenger’s seat in front of him and wondered what it was that was running through Kris’ head. Was Kris happy that he wasn’t placed into Namjoo’s group?

Tao repressed a snort. Of course he was happy. Hadn’t he been talking to Namjoo earlier in the hallway? What was it they’d been talking about?

“Lets work hard to find something before going back to Seoul.”

“Of course,” Tao replied with a hint of sarcastic dislike in his tone. “We should work hard so that Suho and Namjoo won’t have to tire themselves out for us. Isn’t that right?”

Chorong shot another glance his way through the rearview mirror, but really, Tao was waiting for Kris’ reaction that he wasn’t getting.

“Besides, we don’t know who’s heading back to Seoul before the other,” Tao continued, “or should we plan to meet up with them? We’re all headed toward the same destination.”

If Suho and Namjoo returned to Seoul before they did, he could try and keep Kris in Wonju for an extended period of time. Yet, he wanted to meet up with her in Wonju.

“We work hard with the group we’re assigned to and we’ll do it that way,” Kris said then twisted around in his seat to look at him, “word said, Tao.”

Tao stared back at Kris before he shifted back into his seat. Even though everyone knew of his feelings for Namjoo, Tao wasn’t surprised that Kris wasn’t backing off just yet.

“Why don’t you call Namjoo later, Kris,” Chorong suggested, “and see where they’re headed so we can search in the opposite area?”

At Chorong’s suggestion Tao’s eyes quickly drifted over to her. What exactly was she doing? Why Kris when he was there?

“Sure.” Was Kris’ calm reply.

Tao glanced toward the rearview mirror on instinct and caught Chorong quickly looking away. Realizing their little team up at the front seats instigated Tao to bite his tongue. Whatever it was, instinct was telling him that Chorong was totally on Kris’ side.

~_____~

“Breakfast,” Suho handed her a sandwich and a bottle of water. “We can share that, right?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t go for coffee,” Namjoo unraveled her sandwich and bit into it as they walked along the streets of Wonju.

There was a fair amount of individuals going about their daily lives. Strangers were seated at the bus stop, others reading the daily newspaper to catch up with the world, students were immersed in music coming out of their Ipods, and there were others who were just staring around blankly. Every few seconds that went along would come a businessman or woman hurrying along the street for work.

“The weather’s nice now that it’s morning,” Suho commented looking up at the clear blue sky. “It’s raining back in Seoul, isn’t it?”

Namjoo took a gulp of the water before handing it over to Suho. “Yea, it’s raining there. See anything?”

“Nothing of the unordinary,” Suho’s eyes skimmed over the streets then stuffed the rest of the sandwich in his mouth hurriedly as they came across a garbage can. “Take my words back.”

Namjoo turned to her right to see a heavily dented car parked along the side of the street and also stuffed the rest of the sandwich into .

“Come on,” Suho quickly turned away and she followed.

“Things always flow well with you,” Namjoo commented.

Suho slightly glanced back, “They should be near here then; probably eating somewhere.”

As Namjoo tried to formulate a plan into her head Suho pulled her back. With the turn of her head she spotted a newspaper vendor with other miscellaneous items on sell.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

Suho walked toward the vendor forcing her to follow and she watched him reach for couple hats on sale.

“Disguise,” Suho smiled and turned to pay before looking back at her. “Hats derive more attention to it than a person’s face. Do you have a hair tie? Tie your hair back.”

Namjoo clicked her tongue annoyed.

“It’ll look less like the you they’ve seen, trust me.”

“What about you?”

“I have another plan in store,” Suho informed.

Namjoo frowned at him and followed his instructions before slipping the hat over her head. “Now what?”

Suho turned and patted his right arm to which she only stared at before cocking him a blank stare.

“Are you joking around right now?” Namjoo questioned when he wrapped her hand around his arm.

“Strategy,” Suho clarified, “first of all, they know us as people who work together, not a couple. Stand closer.”

He started them along casually and Namjoo felt her eyes peer around the streets for any familiar looking predators.

“You think they’re the ones who saw us last night?” Namjoo asked quietly as her fingers sunk ino his arm.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Suho answered.

“What should we do when we get found out?”

“We should ask about Hyukjae, shouldn’t we? Plus, I believe you’ll devise some strategy if anything happens.”

They circled three blocks before they ended back where they first sighted the dented vehicle. This time three men dressed in casual wear were standing by the car, sipping calmly on coffe and soda. Namjoo turned to keep her face from the men who were eyeing everyone across the street.

“What’s the strategy now?” Namjoo whispered.

“My intuition tells me they’re coming after us,” Suho reached over to pull the hood of her hat further down her face and glanced back to see the men crossing the street. “Keep covered.”

Taking hold of the hood of her hat to readjust it she slightly glanced back, “The shopping district is built in a U-shape. Next red light, we split, detour the men; if we can outsmart them we can find a way to question them in between and meet up ahead.”

Suho nodded.

“I can trust you not to make a mess, right?” Namjoo asked. “Do you have a gun on you?”

“I can take care of it.”

“Good, cause I don’t have one on me either,” Namjoo replied before they approached the red light ahead of them. “Don’t get hurt.”

“Be careful.”

~_____~

Suho turned to glance at Namjoo waving so that he might look like a fond boyfriend ending a date with his girlfriend. Once the light gave way, he crossed the street with the company of a thin crowd and pulled his hat over his head. Shooting a glance through the corner of his eye he caught sight of the two men who’d decided to follow him after a small conference between the three of them.

He had to lead them somewhere and perhaps put up a fight. He couldn’t meet up with Namjoo without gathering some kind of information. Since were both already dragged into the eyes of the gang, it wouldn’t matter how far they went now.

A minute went by before he twisted his head slightly to glance back, but this time no one was behind him. There was a woman stepping toward the curb and a man who’d just walked inside a building on his phone, but the two guys tailing him were out of sight.

Fully turning around to confirm that they were no following him Suho glanced from sidewalk to sidewalk, building to building. Yes, he was alone.

Why?

It dawned on him later that the men could have been playing along before turning back around. Unless something had happened and Namjoo was in trouble. Of course, the men belonged to a human trafficking ring after all; they were after none other than women. And Namjoo was alone…without a weapon on her.

Without further ado, he twisted around to dash back the way he’d come.

~_____~

Swallowing the excessive saliva in Namjoo worked to keep her eyes glued on the ground. That man was still following her matching his pace with hers. Quickening her footsteps she noticed that he also copied.

This wouldn’t do, she needed a secluded area where she could get him and him down alone. Behind a famous brand name store just a few feet ahead was a gateway to an alley. Namjoo decided to use that as her dead end, but before she neared a car honked, deafening her ears. Upon reflex her head twisted to her right where the sound had come from, sighting a car coming right at her.

Alarm flushed through her mind as the car continued coming right at her at full speed. In that split moment she only saw the driver’s face, their eyes gluing into each other’s. Two quick steps forward and a jump sent her hurdling onto the concrete as a loud resonating crash shattered the windows of the store and shrill screams floated into the air.

A bullet grazed the ground near her feet and Namjoo rolled over onto her to scoot back.

“Call the cops and I’ll kill every one of you!” The man threatened when he spotted someone grabbing her phone.

At the interruption Namjoo tried to pull herself to her feet, but dropped back onto the ground when the next bullet nearly touched her hand. This guy was a real aimer and she was in real trouble.

~_____~

Namjoo hadn’t answered her phone which led Kris to worry about whether she and Suho had found themselves trouble, or if she was ignoring him.

“Why do you keep looking at your phone?” Tao questioned from behind. “I don’t think Namjoo would return the call.”

And again, Kris wondered why Tao was even there with them.

“We’ll just have to go with our intuitions,” Chorong broke off their little silent war.

They were now crossing the street leaving the business square behind them. Up ahead Kris spotted some stores popular for clotheswear and restaurants enclosed into a large district together. As they neared Kris thought back to the fresh memory of taking Namjoo to the store so she’d have clothes to wear after her bag had been stolen.

The memory almost enlightened a smile onto his face if it weren’t for the fact that the air suddenly became engulfed with loud screams. According to the loud crash not too far away from them he assumed something violent had gone down. The three of them literally froze in spot determining whether it was a situation they should get involved in or not. If it was just a civilian shootout the cops would take care of it; then on the other hand, it might be a simple shootout.

On instinct Kris rushed forward through the crowd that had paused to gossip about what was going on. Behind him he could hear Chorong and Tao’s hurried footsteps. After crossing the next few streets toward the noise he slowed down upon sighting civilians frozen stiff in front of a dismantled store. There were gunshots going off; no one was moving, but trembling in fear.

When they slowly neared his lips gaped open in utter shock at what he was seeing. Tao withdrew his gun ready to shoot, but Chorong quickly stopped him by grabbing his hand and shook her head. Tao opened his mouth ready to make a fuss, but Chorong nodded her head toward the open sky.  

As if on signal, at the sound of the gun going off Kris began shouting, “Out of the way, out of the way!”

Chorong made an inaudible noise when the car that had driven over the curb suddenly backed into the street to drive off, but Kris was too immersed in moving forward to help Namjoo. The three of them were forced to fall down in order to dodge the next bullet attacks aimed toward them before he could even get to her. Their attacker slowly sidestepped by before running off.

While they were down Namjoo scurried toward the brick wall of the alley to pull herself up before falling down again. She tried to stand again, but her legs gave way repeatedly causing her to crash to the filthy ground. Kris was ready to run toward her upon standing to his feet, but a kind of blur swished by before someone else pulled Namjoo up. One hand was on her arm, the other around her to steady her.

Kris was confused about who this person was as he quickly caught sight of their matching hats. A flash of suspicious jealousy swarmed over him before the stranger suddenly turned and he recognized Suho. 

***Huhuhu~~ Jealous time for Kris and Chorong

***Lest I remind you, Suho and Namjoo have a mutual friendship, we'll see more of it later

***More on HaeToria & Lay next chapter!

***I hope this isn't going to be too long of a story. The longest chaptered story I've had was Their Kingdom Panorama with a total of 99 chapters -.- I'll try not to go beyond that