Chapter 26: Dialogue — Mae

         In moments of life and death, you'll be surprised at how some people utilize the things around him just to live.

         "Three men went out, two earlier. Now we have to know whether were good to go or not," Min-jee said, or more familiar to our school as Catherine, Jason's fiancée. "Can anyone provide us visuals from inside?" She said to a microphone. We were in a makeshift control center inside a van that was parked and was passing beside the warehouse where the drama was happening with our speakers blaring different songs every now and then.

         I had driven back to the competition venue with Doo-joon and Gi-kwang. On the other hand, Dong-woon and Yeo-seob had been left in the resort to take care of the families left there.

         When we had reached the place, there were already police lines. People were not allowed to come near but groups of people, mostly in their teens, were already being moved to different hospital ambulant vans. We had asked one police officer about Infinite and Clear SOS, but instead of answering, they had brought us to a huge van where Catherine had met us and explained us what was going on.

                The group screwed. Their plan was to stop the men from taking Jun-hyung by making sure they were exposed to cameras. That way they would hesitate since there would be many eye-witnesses. But they over-looked one thing. This guy controlled more than half if not all the city police. He didn't have to be worried about getting caught since he could get out of any case against him. And so a larger group must take over, and L was in there to provide us first-hand information of what was happening.

         "Mae, listen carefully, L's playing something," Catherine told me as she listened as well. I did what I was told and listened to the phone on which L's call got through. I recognized the song. It was Perfect by Simple Plan.

         "Good, now we'll wait," Catherine said. I stared at her while she was giving commands and tried to find any possible indication that would have given away that she had been a federal agent all along. The truth was that she was the agent assigned to protect Jun-hyung until he reached legal age. She was Min-jee, the girl who used to live with Jun-hyung in their small house; the girl who used to call him oppa.

         I thought back to the times when we would see her at school. I thought she was like that because she didn't like girls milling around her boyfriend Jason. But after learning how serious the case was, I realized that she was just protecting Jun-hyung, and the people around him that the enemies could use to threaten him. In that case, it was me.

         Catherine succeeded in protecting me, but she wasn't prepared with the involvement of Infinite in the case. When the armed guys came, it so happened that L was with Catherine in Clear SOS's room. Infinite was left in their own waiting room with the unconscious Gette who has the phone which so happened to be the phone the bad guys were tracking.

         Conclusion? With every luck that was happening to me, some misfortune would happen to the people around me.

         "Ma’am, I think we've got visuals," Doo-joon said in an unsure tone.  After some initial questions about Jun-hyung and Hyung-seung, he and Gi-kwang were sitting silently behind us for a long time. “Someone video called me.”

         "Give me the phone, now," The live video wasn't that clear. It was flipped over as if it was hanged by its wristlet and was moving left to right then neutral at regular intervals.

         On the video, we could see the scene. L was holding his guitar, while beyond them was the figure of seven people, standing stationary on their positions. It took us some time to recognize that they were hanging, their hands tied up above them to a beam. A figure moved away from the side of the camera and went to the two figures in black.

                “Who was that?” I said.

                “That's Hyun-seung,” Catherine told me, “he's with us.”

                “But Gette was with him!” I told her, “Why is she tied up like that?”

                “Mae, have you heard about double agents?” Catherine said which brought me at a loss of words. Of course I had heard about them. Most of the times, they were at even greater danger since they penetrate to the core of a group by being one of them and gaining their trust. “L and Hyun-seung; Ice Prince and Tech. They were the youngest,” she said.

                “Wow, I thought those titles were just for their stage names,” Gi-kwang said. “Tech because he had his gadgets that do most work for him, and Ice prince because he was so cold around girls... or so he used to be.”

                “Hang on a little longer, back-ups are on their way,” Catherine said.

                “Have you seen your grandson play?” I heard L say. From the video, we saw him move towards a table, the one sitting there wasn't visible in the phone's camera.

                “Play as if you're talking to Mae,” I heard L say in a low, yet audible enough voice. Then I heard a thud.

                “He put the phone down,” I told Catherine who in turn demanded another visual from the place. An officer came later, and plugged something on a screen nearby. “Ma’am the visual is from one of our agents who got into the roof of the warehouse,” he said.

                On the video, Jun-hyung already got the guitar on his hands. “Hey! You grumpy guys! Don't you want to try playing with him?” I heard L say, but a bit faint. “Let me hold...”

                “What the heck! L, stop being so reckless!” Catherine hissed although L couldn't hear it. “First gunning Sung-yeol and now this?” I shivered. It was reckless.

                From the new video, we could see L move to the figures in black whom we recognize as one of the guys who got out of the warehouse.

                There were only three of the men in black. Two almost gave up their guns but refused when the third shrugged his head and pointed his gun to L.

                “Whoa,” The old man, on the other hand, seemed clueless about what was really happening. “Let's just hear it from my grandson.”

                “This is for you, Mae,” I heard loud and clear. Then I heard music playing. I Won't Give Up on Us by Jason Mraz. He continued playing until I heard another tune, familiar yet faint, playing along. What was that song again? The one Infinite played in the practice room...

                “60 Seconds?” I muttered and Catherine turned to open a drawer, took a gun and at the same time yelled onto a microphone. “Guys, get ready! We're moving in in less than 60 seconds.”

                “You've got 40!” I told her.

                We inspected the video, and noticed something. Hyun-seung went behind, unnoticed by everyone and was moving close to the two guards in black. The third one stood beside Jun-hyung's grandfather where L stood beside him.

                Sixty seconds wasn't over yet when suddenly L swung his guitar, hitting the armed man standing beside him. At the same moment, Hyun-seung hit the two men in black with the butts of the guns he was carrying. When he was about to point the gun to Master Im-ho, he stopped.

                “Oh shi–” Gi-kwang failed to stop himself. Doo-joon was as stupefied as I was.

                “I knew something is fishy about all of this. You think I wouldn't notice?” we heard Master Im-ho say while he was holding a gun right next to L's head. “It has been three and a half years... You two weren't originally assigned to this but you insisted. That's when the plan derailed.”

                “Catherine ran away, leaving Jun-hyung when they were already engaged; We watched Clear SOS because you told us to when in fact, the group Jun-hyung was working with in protecting his girlfriend was these bunch of kids!” the old man pushed L's head with the tip of the gun. It was visible how L took a deep breath after that. “If you think I wouldn't notice how you tried to eliminate my men with your music tricks, then you're wrong! I've got dozens of men outside!”

                “Really?” L said. “If that's so, then why aren't they returning?”

                “Where are the agents?!” Doo-joon said beside me. The old man moved to pull the trigger when suddenly a gun-shot was heard. Several shrieks followed after that. The next thing we saw in the video was the old man holding something red.

                In an instant, men in black vests with the letters FBI written onto it flooded the warehouse.

                “Hey! Are we good to go?” Doo-joon shouted to a microphone. I didn't wait for a definite go signal. I just ran out of the van and searched for the warehouse where all agents were into.

                When I got there, the people were already taking the men to their vans. I walked past them to see the center of the warehouse. There he was, already freed from his restraints. In that moment, I let myself go.

                I didn't mind about the impact when I threw myself to him. The moment my arms settled around him and my chin rested on his shoulder, I felt as if a huge boulder was removed from my heart. I could easily breathe with him around.

                “Thank God! I thought I'd never see you again.”

                “Me too,” I muttered. “Why don't you ask me now?”

                “Ask you what?” Jun-hyung said.

                “If I missed you,” I told him. I heard him chuckle before he pulled me away and set me on my feet.

                “Actually, I was planning on asking you something else,” Jun-hyung took my hand and looked into my eyes. “My beloved miss, Charmaine Rallos, will you spend the rest of your life with me?”

                I could see how the smile in his lips slowly vanished when I wasn't able to speak right away. Then he spoke again, “Of course I'm not asking you to marry me right away, I mean–”

                “I will,” I told him.

                “Really?”

                “Only if you will be willing to spend the rest of your life with me,” that moment an even bigger smile crept into his face. He pulled me and I rested my cheeks onto his chest.

                “I will always be willing,” he said. “I'll always love you, Mae.”