Not even two blocks down the street, my phone was buzzing with a call. “What is it, Kyuhyun?” I answered without checking.

“Try again.”

My legs froze. My entire body was rigid, jerking like a broken record. “Why are you calling?” I demanded quietly, heart racing painfully, “I…I don’t want to finish that conversation.”

“Come pick up your friend. He’s scared, Ryeowook.”

And then the record fixed itself. My legs started moving, kicking, jogging…sprinting. The phone stayed pressed to my ear as I raced through the streets, hailing a cab the moment I could find one. I shouted the address of the warehouse we had gone to last time.

“Why is he there, Siwon?” I panted, drumming my fingers against knee.

He was silent for a mere moment. “Well, he says that he wanted to be where Kyuhyun had once been. A little pitiful, don’t you agree?”

“Is he safe?” I leaned my head back, controlling my breathing.

“A broken heart is his only wound,” Siwon mused.

I hung up.

Time passed much too slowly as I waited for the cab to pull up to the warehouse. Changmin had been right. I didn’t ever try to do the right thing. Maybe Mir ending up in this situation was a sign – a chance for me to redeem myself.

I didn’t want to be looked down at by someone like Changmin. He was wrong. I was wrong, too. As a person, I had the potential to stick my neck out for another human being or animal or any creature, really. So, I pushed myself forward into the dimly lit building.

It didn’t take that long for me to find Mir. Up a flight of stairs, down one of the halls, past a bathroom, and finally I reached the only closed door. Twisting the knob, I pressed in, taking slow step into the room.

Dead-eyed and slumped across a couch was Mir, his cheeks stained with tears and his skin uncomfortably pale in the lighting.

“You came so quickly.”

I met Siwon’s watchful gaze. “And now I’m leaving.” Grabbing Mir by the arm, I tried to pull him up.

Click…

The cold metal of a gun dug into the back of my neck. Slowly, I dropped the broken boy and lifted my hands up in surrender. “…What do you want?” I asked quietly, swallowing.

“I thought you would come to me soon enough. Perhaps I miscalculated your curiosity in the world,” Siwon stated. His accomplice placed a hand on my shoulder, directing my body towards the man speaking. Just like last time, he was handsome and finely dressed, though it looked out of place in the dingy setting. “I guess I’ve lost this round with you. To think, I would lose to the rebelliousness of a boy.”

“More importantly,” he cleared his throat, coming around to lean on the front of the desk he had previously been occupying, “I’ve been thinking about what you said last time we spoke.” Siwon smiled briefly, “You said that law enforcers are trying their best. Of all the wise words you expressed that day, this was the one statement I couldn’t fathom. How could someone as insightful as you, Ryeowook, not see where corruption truly lies?”

I didn’t answer, but I knew and he knew that the words were biting into the deepest recesses of my mind. Everything he said clicked like a puzzle, matching and rattling just the right things in my brain so it made sense. No, I didn’t think it was a manipulation, because I could understand what he was saying.

How could I have never doubted law enforcement?

Was it just because of my father?

“I grew up with an officer. I never thought about it,” I admitted, feeling the gun keeping me there let up. Relaxing my shoulders slightly, I stepped forward, wanting to get away from the armed person.

“I saw that you accepted your admittance to university,” Siwon remarked, “Do you like the school?”

“I don’t have a preference.”

He smiled, “Good.” Reaching behind him, he pulled out a manila envelope, handing it to me. “Open it.”

I never even considered disobeying the order. As for why, I still couldn’t tell you. Inside the envelope were a few documents. Even as I read them over, I barely understood what was going on. “What…is this?” I lifted my head.

Mir had fallen asleep or something like that because he was being carried out of the room by then. I was about to stop them, but my voice caught. Siwon brushed past me, saying a quiet, firm, “Come.”

We travelled back down the stairs, out the door and to a waiting car. Siwon stepped inside first and I followed him. It wasn’t so much a conscious act. My body felt numb and my mind was swimming. He knew things I wanted to know: couldn’t help but want to know. If Siwon could show me a world I understood, then maybe I wasn’t scared to trail after him.

“Where are we going?” I asked as the car rolled forward.

“Before that,” he said, “let’s talk about that envelope.” Siwon nodded his chin at the packet I hadn’t released yet.

“It’s a rejection letter,” I responded, “but, why?”

He laced his fingers together, propping elbows on knees as he tilted his head towards me. The flickering lights of streetlamps sent scorching oranges and deep yellows across his darkened features. “It’s proof of your – our­ – belief. If justice existed, then how could money have paid the school off to take back their admissions decision?”

“You’ve stripped away my future to prove a point?” I clarified, setting the paper down.

Siwon closed his eyes, opening them again with a faint glimmer of amusement in those depths. “I’m stripping you of what little ignorance you still possess. Ryeowook, your future isn’t some school filled with carbon copies. I’ll give you a much more fitting life…if that’s what you wish.”

“Are you giving me an option?”

He nodded calmly. “I can make that rejection go away as quickly as I made it come.” The car jerked to a stop. Siwon dropped his arms, straightening his lapels. “But first, there’s something you should see.”

The door opened and I stepped out. On the opposite side, Siwon climbed out too. We had parked outside of a rather dark, plain building. There was a neon sign hovering over the side door which was apparently the front door. I stayed behind him, keeping a small distance. Siwon knocked once on the metal and almost immediately received a muffled response.

He gave a fake name, which led to the opening of the door.

“Will you tell me where we are now?” I prompted in just loud enough of a voice.

Siwon side glanced at me. “Look around and tell me what you see.”

Doing what he said, I looked around. What I saw was still confusing though. There were tables and couches, drinks, and sultry music. Lights were low with heavy perfume mixing with sweat. I covered my nose; trying to avoid the mingling smells that grew stronger the deeper we went. Soft voices caught my ears, but rather than words, they were moans and groans both rough and squeaky.

Another door opened ahead and I stumbled through it, breathing in circulating air. Siwon chuckled ahead of me, but I ignored it, feeling slightly embarrassed. “…right?” I answered or rather, inquired.

“Correct,” he opened one final door and we emerged into a well lit, luxurious room. There was a bar at the back and a floor to ceiling viewing screen with accompanying leather couches. I let my eyes wander for a few moments before Siwon was flicking the screen on.

Thoroughly graphic images appeared one by one in a grid format, displaying different parts of the business. “Sit down,” he called.

I sank down trying to keep track of all that was going on beyond the walls of this room.

Siwon sat down beside me; the clinking ice of his drink sounding far away and much too close at the same time. “I didn’t come here to teach you about exploitation,” he murmured, pressing something that made the screen zoom in on one particular group of business men. Their conversation grew louder as the speakers were turned up.

“Who did you tonight?” one guy slurred.

“You think I only pounded one ?” another laughed, drink sloshing around unsteadily in the glass tumbler.

They all joined in.

“Hey, hey, we should put the cash they gave us together and get a whole bunch of them,” a new man offered excitedly, “C’mon, just think, our wives and girlfriends would never be down for an . It’s our one chance.”

The last man in the group spoke then and my heart jumped to my throat. “Don’t be stupid. We got promoted; they’ll be sending us on a load of trips and we’ll be given even more spending money in the future. This won’t be our last .”

“…He didn’t leave for his trip today, did he?” I sounded calmer than I expected. “How often?”

“A regular,” Siwon responded, “even before the promotion. He rented one of the girls out for a week last time.”

“When did he start coming?” I could hear the break in my voice.

“A few years ago.”

Adrenaline surged through my body and then I was collapsing against a trash can, puking what little food I had and a burning amount of stomach acid. Tears blinded me and tremors rocked every limb. A warm hand rested on my backside, rubbing soothing circles. I inhaled shakily, desperately trying to hold back sob after sob.

I hate myself.

I hate him.

I hate.

I hate.

I can’t help but hate.

Don’t save me.

Don’t come near me.

Wiping my quivering lips, I stood up, tearing the knife out of my pocket. It was such a short-lived present. Flicking it open, I strode back over to the screen where his blurry face was chortling like the ing dickhead he was.

The blade drove into the monitor, black cracks bursting out from the image of his head. “I’m done,” I whispered inaudibly, releasing the handle. “No more.”

“Is that your answer?”

“Teach me how to change my world.”