Zelo was beyond nervous, his whole body trembling.

 “Hyung, I'm not feeling well... Hyung...Himchan hyung...” but Himchan did not stop walking until they were inside his house. He opened the door and shoved Zelo inside before closing the door and locking it. Himchan rested his forehead a few seconds against the hard surface, breathed deeply, and then turned towards the young teen. Zelo stepped back scared. He had seen the elder serious but never angry, and the expression Himchan had in his face was a terrifying mix of both, but what made him more uncomfortable at that moment was the disappointment in the other's eyes. Zelo bit his lower lip and looked down.

   “So it's true.” Himchan's voice sounded raspy and mighty through the room. Zelo didn't reply although he could still feel the elder's gaze on him. And it hurt.

   “How did you know?” His words were a mere strained whisper.

And silence invaded again the room.

   “Youngjae trusted you, you know?- I correct myself, Youngjae trusts you.” Himchan waited for some kind of answer but nothing came. He shook his head pissed off. “I told him...I ing told him to be careful! And then, and then you! You who appears out of nowhere...” Himchan closed the distance with a few steps and Zelo quickly moved backwards, making the short guy to stop in the act “I'd never hit you Zelo...” He stated with surprise “Even now, when I really want to beat the out of you I can't, want to know why? I promised Youngjae no matter what happened to him I would never let anybody hurt you and yeah, he was really insistent with including me in anybody.”

  Zelo kept silent and bit his tongue, he didn't want to cry in front of Himchan. He understood nothing! Who was he betraying? What he believed in or Youngjae? What would Yongguk said if he looked at him now? He bit harder and tried to breathe normally but it became a fail, the weight over his shoulders getting heavier and heavier as Himchan did nothing but stare at him.

   “Since when you know?”

   “I suspected something when I met you. You had to be really good to prepare everything and pass the controls...but Youngjae liked you...so I pretend it was something of my mind, but dear...you were not trained for being a spy, give thanks for being able to pass information.”

Himchan tsked and moved to the door fast.

   “Where are you going?!” Zelo asked automatically even he already knew the answer.

   “I'm getting him back...”

***

   “Let's make somethin' clear from now on, 'kay?” Daehyun turned to him once they left the room “To be honest, I have no interest in saving your so I suggest you to follow whatever I say, even if you don't like it, got it?” He stared at Youngjae, waiting for an excuse to just let him there by himself and hopefully find him next day with some bones broken. He was sure even Yongguk wouldn't mind that much. But Youngjae nodded not too confident, if he wanted to survive he would have to...

   Everything said, Daehyun started his way to another unknown place for Youngjae, who followed in silence. He was screwed. That's the only thing he could think. He was screwed, but if he was able to survive for at least three days he could escape in less than planned . Of course he was injured, and every step he gave hurt as , but it allowed him time. Time to observe and calculate a way to run from there. His eyes flew over his surrounding to stop at the back moving in front of him.

That guy- Daehyun- was now the main problem he had.

He knew close to nothing about him, his abilities or weak points which he could take advantage of. Daehyun broke his chain of thoughts when they reached a new door and came in.

   “Close the door.”

Youngjae did as told and while Daehyun looked for some yellowish sheets and a small pillow he studied the place. It was old, cold and a little bit humid; in the verge to be unhealthy, and terribly small. He could not help to compare it with his big, warm and comfortable flat. They had nothing to relate to...or almost nothing.

   “Nice poster.” Youngjae pointed with his chin to the thin and wasted layer on one of the walls, trying to break the silence. “Do you like Bluey Robinson?”

    Daehyun stopped what he was doing to stare at the poster and then Youngjae, and went back inside the little closet.

   “It is there to hide holes.” Muttered.

Youngjae pretented he had not heard that and this time paid more attention to the pictures posted everywhere. They were not so many but old enough, at least a couple of years, some of them even had lost the colors but he could conclude that that guy had a good music taste.

   “Where I'm supposed to sleep?” Youngjae asked after observing the conditions of the place.

   “You see that corner?” Daehyun replied and Youngjae nodded in understanding as Daehyun smiled sweetly and threw a small pillow and some blankets there, full of pipes and filth “Say 'Hi' to your new bed.”

 Youngjae said nothing but it took his time to move to his new spot under the supervising stare of Daehyun. Once he lied down after some sounds of pain and discomfort the other grabbed one of his hands in a quick movement that got him handcuffed to the closest pipe. Youngjae pushed Daehyun as hard as he could away from him and looked in disbelief to the cuffs, his mouth slightly open.

   “What the ?” He turned at Daehyun, moving vehemently “WHAT THE !! What I was supposed to do, besides sleeping?” A smirk appeared on Daehyun’s face, who seemed to find the whole situation funny and enjoyable, pissing him off even more. Youngjae had to bit his tongue, remembering his own words in order to survive, and took a deep breath. “I. Am. Not. A. Kill-”

He couldn’t even finish the word, he already had Daehyun over him, chocking him using his forearm. “Don’t even dare.” He kept pressing down, fighting against Youngjae’s desesperate moves to get him off of him “You do are. You are a killer.” He stated looking directly into his eyes, his face getting paler and paler. Not sure if it was due to the lack of oxygen or because it was probably the first time he faced the truth. Daehyun got closer to his ear and two octaves lower than his regular voice he sentenced him. “You are a killer, a murderer, a butcher, a slayer.”

Finally he set him free and moved to his own bed, Youngjae’s coughs as background noise and dark red blood soaking the floor. It was going to be a long, uncomfortable night.

***

Yongguk knew it was dangerous to have him in that place. Youngjae was a relevant piece in the revolution they were living and having him in his power was at the same time a two-edged sword. Killing him, forcing him to work for them, using him as an exchange, everyone was already thinking to give him an use. Even dead he was useful. That would be symbolic, but it could work against them. Youngjae wouldn’t be a martyr, not while he was still in charge.

His room’s door was knocked and Jongup’s head appeared, asking silently for permission.

    “Tell me” said Yongguk once the younger boy entered. It was not an order but kind of sounded like one, making Jongup slightly uneasy.

But he went straight to the point.

   “What about Junhong?” Yongguk kept silent. Half not knowing what to say, half waiting for what was about to come. “We must get him back.”

He was not wrong with his assumptions about the others’ desires but he didn’t expected Jongup to be the first one asking to give their hostage an use. “Exchange that bastard for him.”

   “No.”

Jongup looked at him, measuring his words before talking. He was not the kind to mistrust his leader but at least he wanted to know why. He had witnessed it. After Daehyun knock out the scientist he had to fight against, according to his outfit, a commander. It was not easy and he had to interfere to help him. At the end they got their target and Junhong, Zelo, or whatever they decided to name him was now with that commander and they did not for sure if his story was still believed as real. If not, he was in severe danger.

   “You can’t leave ‘im.”

   “Of course not. I’m not gonna leave’im.” said Yongguk, his voice becoming scarier as he kept talking, anticipating the other’s irritated sentence. “Watch your mouth Jongup.”

Jongup grinded his teeth and closed his fits in anger. He trusted Yongguk but…something was getting weird.

   “You have no right to judge me, Jongup.”

   “I’m not judging you, I am just afraid of what you decide. Sending him out there wasn’t a good idea.”

   “Leave.” He passed his hand through his hair “We’ll talk tomorrow ‘bout this.”

Daehyun, overheard the whole chat-if not all, most of it- in silence out of the room, against the wall. He wanted to talk with his leader, not to tell him he almost killed their hostage obviously, when he noticed the conversation going on. He recognized the typical silence from Yongguk meaning the talk was over and he proceeded to hide himself, few seconds after he saw Jongup passing by. He would have to wait for talking with him but Yongguk’s voice stopped him from going back to his place.

   “Daehyun” Yongguk stared at him from the door frame with a tired smile “Eavesdrop what your friends discuss is a nasty habit.”

Daehyun smiled back. “Good night hyung.”

“Night.”

***

He went to the main quarters after making sure Zelo couldn’t leave his apartment. The kid needed time to relax, think and whatever he wanted. On the other side, Himchan had to cover their quick escape from the place, prepare an alibi to make sure Zelo was still undercover and that the senior members knew nothing, he had his own plans for him, write a report of the incident and get all the information available about Youngjae’s situation as soon as possible.

He was aware that the military commands depended on him, how? That was something he really didn’t want to know. Information is power but sometimes it may get you killed. That was something Himchan knew very well and he was not so naïve to believe it could not happen to him, even when he was a commander. He had to choose what to know or not. Lying in the army was not so easy.

He went straight up to the highest floor. That one that seemed nothing ever happens there, noiseless and radiant, but that time that was not the case. Voices and people going from one office to the other, serious faces and a couple of scientists here and there.

The meeting had started once he got in but nobody seemed to notice. The high commands were nervous, he was nervous, but Youngjae was not the main topic to his back luck. It was planned to close the borders and that insurrection was the catalyst: Nobody could go out or enter South Korea, only by government consent.

   “Moving to the next issue, our jails are starting to get overcrowded and congested. These one are some of the possible sol-”

   “What about Yoo Youngjae?”

Himchan couldn’t wait more nonsense, plus he already knew beforehand the ‘possible solutions’ that guy could offer. Bull. Bloody bull.

Silence filled the room. The question everyone couldn’t wait to hear finally over the table.

   “I am in charge of that…issue ,Himchan-ssi” Himchan stared at him. The high commands had no idea what they were actually doing, indeed. “You don’t hav-”

   “Kim Himchan for you. Second, Yoo Youngjae is not an ‘issue’. We have to find him. Alive.” He specially emphasised the last word. Silence was only broke by a couple of knocks against the wooden table by a significant dignitary.

   “It is impressive the love and care you feel towards your country Himchan-ssi. Jae-bum is still young, but has promoted quickly and with honours. Not matter what, everyone here I assume agrees, he still may need some guidance.” That was it. An implicit order that they will have to work together. That’s not what Himchan had wanted but at least he could get the information about his friend not biased or modified at all, that if Jae-bum wanted to carry on living.  “It is right Yoo Youngjae must be, if not our first priority, the second. Some of you don’t know, but we need that man to keep running our military hardware. He has to be back within 2 months, otherwise gentlemen, we are weaponless.”

The meeting lasted for around six hours, one break of 5 minutes. Himchan was fast getting out of the room, avoiding his now team mate Jae-bum but he was sure the kid would message him to his phone, even if he didn’t know the number. Youngjae was surrounded by dangerous people although he didn’t realize, or more like he pretended not to know, and Jae-bum was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

He got in the lab section, everyone there with white robes and usually focused faces but today, and probably since the uprising all looked lost, worried.

   “They think it could have been any of them.” said Dani once she got close enough and with a low voice. Himchan and surely Dani too knew it was false. The target had always been Youngjae. “Anyways, Zinger gave this to me, it’s for you. Also…” she shifted weight from one leg to the other in discomfort “Youngjae had this on his table. I saw it this morning when I arrived.” Himchan looked at her and grabbed the letter and hid it inside his jacket. “I checked the cameras to discover who left it there but I believe they have been hacked. There was nothing on the screens. I have no reported anything though, I thought it was better to tell you first.”

   “Thanks Dani” He smiled relieved he had someone like her “You are still the best.”

   “I know darling, I know.”

***

He didn’t sleep at all that night and his dark circles were an obvious evidence of that. He could still hear Daehyun’s voice rolling each word out of his mouth, as he enjoyed it. What he said was nothing new, it was an idea, being a killer, that stayed at the bottom of his brain and appeared certain nights once in a while to destroy him softly from within.

But he had a motive, a reason. And some people, like Daehyun, couldn’t get it at first sight. Daehyun understood nothing at first sight even when it was that obvious… Youngjae could only wear now his ‘occupation’ and its stigma as a shield…once he knew what he was it couldn’t hurt him anymore, right?

The water falling down his back even hurt too. They had to wait and make sure nobody was using the public bathrooms and when they finally came in Daehyun started complaining. No hot water. As expected.

Youngjae guessed it was one of the few luxuries they could have there, the facilities in general were not too good but they worked for their purpose, and he had denied it to Daehyun and he didn’t doubt about letting him know.

Hyosung received them both and raised an eyebrow, she didn’t expect Yongjae to recover with one night, obviously, but his state was way worse than yesterday’s. She looked at Daehyun reclaiming silently an answer but he didn’t bother to look at her, just went to a chair and seated.

   “Strip and lie down on the bed” she said, as the day before. This time Youngjae said nothing, did as ordered and Daehyun took his time looking at him.

Purple and yellowish marks covered his pale body, evidence of what was done to him once he arrived there, but he was still alive. Daehyun was sure he had had better times but even in those conditions he couldn’t claim Youngjae was ugly. Even when he was the enemy. The woman started touching him and writing notes, putting creams, and both of them were shocked when the silence was substituted by deep breathings and no longer hisses of pain. Who could fell asleep when you are being touched in every wound you have?

   “Daehyun, this is his prescription with the doses he has to take.” Daehyung grabbed the paper and the medicines she was giving him but did not look at the notes.

  “Noona, he needs more.” Hyosung turn to look at Youngjae and made sure he was sleeping before asking the reason. “We are leaving.”

***

When Himchan arrived home Zelo was still on the sofa and, although he looked at the older he didn’t dare to say something. Himchan went and sat in front of him and opened both letters. He read first Zinder’s, looked up at Zelo and once again the paper.

“It seems someone is blackmailing me in order to keep you alive, Zelo-ssi.” Said Himchan staring at Zelo, trying to see through his reaction “Although it is not likely to work. Did you know you had backing here? I guessed so.” He stated after Zelo’s nod.

Himchan put aside the letter and opened the new one. When he was done, he stood up quickly and before gathering some belongings ordered Zelo “Get ready. We are leaving now.”

“Why? Where are we going?”

“Shut up and do it!” He stopped what he was doing and looked at him, as seriously as it ever has been “I am exchanging you for Yongjae.”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Lilmonster's note:

Next Chapter: (No) Angel [(-) 1004]

'You are no angel either.'

'Tell me this is a joke.'

'They are my lies. What about yours?'