“The number you are calling cannot—”

“For God’s sake.” Chanyeol was struggling with the car key while his other hand was busy dialing home. He was never good with keys anyway. He had just finished the meeting with Kim Joonmyun and it was overall a very nice one. Of course, he had heard the rumors; that the respected diplomat who seemed to stand on the neutral side was actually working for the Huangs. No one was actually neutral in this republic anyway; it was either the Huangs or the new regime he was fighting for. Well, at least the guy was being cooperative enough so far.

After a good five minute, Chanyeol was finally able to get inside his very own Rolls Royce. It was a little bit peculiar that the alarm just suddenly wouldn’t work, which forced him to open the door in a classic, manual way (which he wasn’t really fond of due to his problems with keys in general). He started the car but decided to phone home (again) first because he seriously needed to talk to a certain man, as soon as possible.

“The number you are calling—”

“Seriously, Kris, I am not amused.” He tried to dial the number for the fifth time and he swore if Kris was off doing anything stupid somewhere, he would definitely smack the hell out of—

Chanyeol’s phone buzzed.

“Hello—”

“Where have you been, old man? Why didn’t you pick up the phone?”

“Sorry, sweetie, I was checking the papers Jongin—”

“No, you weren’t.”

“Well, no. I mean yes, I was working. The usual.”

“Kris.”

“Fine, I was... defecating. Happy?”

“Jubilant!” Laughter roared inside the car as Chanyeol was slowly drifting off the ministry building.

“So, you’re saying that Joonmen was actually offering to help the project? That’s impossible.”

“Not impossible, Krissy. Just a little bit unlikely… and it’s Joonmyun, actually.”

“Whatever. I can’t and I would never fully trust that guy though. We should be—”

“Hold on.”

Chanyeol hadn’t been driving for long when he saw a man standing on the side of the road. He was clutching his stomach and seemed to be in a lot of pain.

“What’s going on, Chan?”

That night, the road was empty. Anyone could tell that this man needed help and he didn’t see any other car driving this way. Plus, Park Chanyeol would never just go past someone whose mere existence was screaming for help. There’s a reason why he dreamt of being a superhero back when he was five, wasn’t it?

“Sorry, Krissy, I’ll call you later.”

“Wait—”

He stopped on that certain side of the road and opened the window to get a better view of that man. He looked pretty young; they might be the same age even. There was a slight trace of bruise on his left cheek; that man was definitely not just having a late night stroll. He was wearing this oversized coat with his right hand clutching his stomach.

“Are you alright?”

Chanyeol didn’t understand why he could see guilt in his eyes though.

Not yet.

***

He had been sitting under that certain tree for about an hour now. The silence that surrounded him started to get sickening. He could hear his own heart beating a little bit too loud, a little bit too fast, as if it was trying to get out of his bony chest. Perhaps it was normal; perhaps he was just being nervous. He was just a clumsy young lad after all.

Of all people in this planet, why me?

He had been chanting the exact same question since the previous night. He would do anything, anything but this, to be honest. But this was something he could not reject; not that he ever had any privileges to do so in the first place. He was always someone who obeyed, someone who listened to the order.
How he wished everything turned out to be another dream he would forget in less than a minute, waking up on the wrong side of the bed buried in his comfy old blanket.

This is torture. What have I done wrong?

“Code Name X, can you hear me? Report your position. Over.” He jumped and nearly shrieked because of the sudden income to the earpiece he had been wearing. The heavy silence was replaced with a pounding head and nervous breath.

It was time.

“Y-yes, I can hear it clearly, sir.” He didn’t know whether he had to be thankful because the previous silence might turn him unhinged any minute. But as reassuring as it was to finally speak with someone else (no more arguing with his inner self), it made him dizzy; dizzy with the reality which was about to be slapped right on his face soon. “I am standing on the exact position you assigned now, sir. Over.”

“Good. Now, listen. He is about to pass the road anytime soon. You remember what’s next, don’t you?”“I guess, sir.” At this moment, he wanted to forget everything, every single instruction. He was one forgetful person, but why did he remember everything about this so clearly?

“Very good. Now get ready and… remember the last thing I said this morning?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good luck, then.”

There it was.

That certain car just needed to pass his way. Just, why? He really wanted to scream and tell the person inside to turn over and run as far as he could. Or maybe he should be the one to run, away from his so-called duty. And so, he started waving his left hand, asking for help. It was both lies and truth, though; the need for help.
And that certain car just needed to stop. Why couldn’t he just be ignorant as and drove off? Oh, and he just so needed to roll down the window. Very good.

“Are you alright?”

The tears were suddenly doing a free fall from to his cheek. Nice timing.

“My goodness, come get in, please. I’ll drive you to the nearest hospital.”

A genuine worry was all he could see on his face. There was a reason why people loved this man, and now he understood exactly why they voluntarily fight along with this certain young man. He got inside and for a brief moment, he was just thinking of how everything that would happen after this was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. The window was rolled back up and they were ready to go.

Why are you so kind?

“Can you wear the seatbelt on your own?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Let me help—”

“I’m so, sorry.”

He wasn’t clutching his stomach.

He was clutching the gun all this time.

Author's note:

I'M ALIVE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. You might (or might not, well... mostly not) be wondering where the hell I have been all this time. College, is all I can say. Funny thing is, I'm supposed to be working on my final thesis now but instead of writing something scientific LOOK AT ME, I'M WRITING A FICTION. I can't help it! Not being able to write is a torture.

Does anyone still read this junk by the way? :(

I've been away for sooo long that the new chapter editor confuses the hell outta me! I haven't even figured out how to change the font LOL. If anything sounds awkward/weird/awful/ty/grammatically-wrong in the chapter above, I'm genuinely sorry. It's been a long, loong time since I last wrote something. Please excuse me *deep bow*

Anyway, happy Eid, merry Christmas, happy new year, happy Valentine's day, happy Chinese new year, happy birthday, happy whatever-I-have-missed-all-this-time!

Until then!