I slyly sneak down the corridor towards the east elevator still wondering why any of these nitwits would think it okay to go this way in particular. That top level is constantly monitored by the East. Anyone who entered would be caught within seconds upon arrival. TaeGu, Jisoo and Lee Joon should know that better than anyone, and they know what happens to them once they step into the East cannot be helped. I stop in my tracks just as I hear scurrying footsteps and pin my back against the nearest wall.

“He’s put us all in danger now.” I hear a male voice whisper.

“Well, can you blame him? His son’s in danger and it’s kind of our fault….” Another one responds.

“We should’ve made sure he stayed out of this.”

“How? He’s pretty much been a part of this before any of us.

They must’ve been talking about TaeGu. I peek around the corner to try and get a glimpse of who exactly was talking, but just as I do, I’m grabbed by the arm and yanked back. I whip around in complete shock.

It was Jisoo.

“You should try to be more discrete when sneaking around.” He says, simply. I yank my arm free and glare at him. “Who said I was sneaking?” I snap at him. He just crosses his arms. “I was trying not to get caught….” I add, turning my head back towards the voices. Jisoo scoffs and grabs my arm once more dragging me away from my hiding place. “Ya…ya! What do you think…”

“Look who I found lurking in the shadows.” He says, as I cower a little behind him, trying to hide my face. This brat.

“Why don’t you ask her where she’s been all this time?” he adds.

“Kang Minji?” one of the voices from earlier asks. He sounded shocked. I look up out of curiosity.

Hong Lee Joon.

My eyes go wide as I notice the other voice was Park EunGyul and I look at all three of them in confusion. Why were they all still here? And where was everyone else? What exactly was going on?? EunGyul seems to notice my confusion, but he doesn’t say anything. So I decide to speak instead. “Wha-what’s going on here? Why is this entire place empty? And what’s this I hear about you guys going to the East?” I ask. Joon takes one step closer, “How do you know that?” he asks. “You don’t have anything to do with this….do you? Is this another one of your games?” he asks. I roll my eyes and yank my arm free of Jisoo grasp once more. “I have NOTHING to do with this.” I clarify, but the boys are not easily convinced.

“Then how did you know about the East Wing?” Jisoo asks.

“And why did you suddenly pop up out of nowhere?” EunGyul adds.

I adjust my shirt and exhale. “I just met that girl. You know, your little girlfriend’s friend or whatever-“

“Haneul.” Joon interrupts.

“Whatever. She was trying to escape with some kid. Told me you guys were all going East through the top level. Don’t you know how stupid that is?” I tell them.

“Yeah, well, you got a better plan? For all I know they’ve probably already got Alex. I was just hoping that if we did get caught they’d take us to wherever they’re holding him.” Joon tells me.

“Well what makes you think they’re holding him? He’s probably already dead.” I say nonchalantly.

“You all better hope that’s not the case.” Joon says, smiling. Just that sent chills down my spine. It was just like Chief’s sickening smirk…..though I hate to compare….

“So what were you planning to do? Find us in the top level and tell us to come back?” EunGyul asks, arms crossed.

“Oh god no, I don’t care if you get caught or not.” I “falsely” clarify, causing all of them to scoff.

Please people. I still have my pride.

“I was going to take a short cut to the East. Beat you guys there, maybe. I just want to help get the kid back. What happens to you guys means nothing to me.” I assure them.

“And why would you want to do that? Crushing on Alex now?” Joon asks with a chuckle. “Don’t worry about it.” I tell him with a sarcastic smile.

“What’s this shortcut?” EunGyul asks. He seemed to be the calmest and most mature one here. He had a certain….iciness about him.

“And why would I tell you that?” I ask him.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “We are running out of time. Will you tell me where it is?” he asks again.

Honestly I didn’t know if I should….Chief would find out. He’d go crazy if I took them through his den…

EunGyul seems to get sick of my nonsense quickly. He whips out a knife from his back pocket, rushes towards me, wraps his arm around my neck, and whips me around. I’m shaken because it all happens so fast. He presses the knife to my neck and I wince in pain.

“Any other time I’d put up with your crap, but now, we need to find Alex.” He snarls from behind me.

I clear my throat.

“Now I’m no longer asking. I’m telling you.” He says.

“Take us to the East.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I lead the three of them down the North corridor right back towards Chief’s office. For a while none of us say anything. I don’t speak and neither do they.

But after a while Jisoo decides to break the silence.

“So……this is it? No secret passageways? No hidden buttons?”

I look back at him and roll my eyes, pushing the door to Chief’s office wide open for them to enter. “Let’s not ask stupid questions kid.” I suggest with a fake smile. He glares at me and walks inside first, then he’s followed by Joon, then EunGyul. “We’ve already been in here plenty of times. We know this place like the back of our hands.” Joon tells me as I’m walking over to Chief’s “closet”. I push the door open to reveal a long dark, almost pitch black, hallway.

“Do you?” I ask them as they look on in awe.

“Why are there so many damn hallways in this place?” Jisoo asks.

“I always thought that was a closet.” Joon adds, arms crossed.

I chuckle, “That was the idea kids.” I tell them. They all seem to grimace at the term, but they don’t say anything. I motion for them to enter quickly and this time EunGyul moves first. “I wonder how much else you know about this place.” He mumbles as he passes me. Joon follows closely behind, simply glaring as he passes and Jisoo motions for me to go first. These guys were seriously something else.

As we travel down the corridor I drag my hand across one of the damp walls. It was so dark I couldn’t even see too far ahead of myself, but that wasn’t what I was feeling for. I was looking for Chief’s files, but as I continue to walk along, I notice that the entire place is empty. Everything was gone. Every single file and corrupt record there was on Chief (and a good amount of members of the “justice system”) I gasp. I was crushed. Exactly how was I going to catch him now? How would I bring him to justice? It took me so long to find this place, or to even gain curiosity in his “closet” and he hadn’t known I had discovered it….right? But why else would he wipe it clean? These were the only hard copies I had access to.

The boys seem to notice I stopped moving or something. “What’s the problem?” EunGyul asks. I pull myself out of my thoughts and feel around for the light switch. It had to be around here somewhere….

“Kang Minji what’s going on here?” Joon asks next. I could almost hear worry in his voice. And then I found it.

Flick.

And then I could see.

The boys look around and seem to be a little shocked by how big the place was in reality.

“Wow, it feels a lot tighter in the dark…” Jisoo mumbles, then he notices the empty shelves. “But….why are there shelves in here?” he asks.

“This is where Chief kept all his corrupt files and records, mostly with the legal system. His gang business is held elsewhere.” I tell them.

“So it’s really not a closet.” Joon concludes. “But where is everything?” he asks. I shake my head. “I’d like to know the answer to that too….” I tell him. “How do you know about this place?” EunGyul asks, like I was unworthy or something. “Why would Chief trust you with fire power like this?” he adds. “I wouldn’t.”

“He didn’t trust me with anything. And that was a smart move on his part.” I tell him matter-of-factly. “I found this place on my own.”

“What do you mean it was a smart move?” Jisoo asks out of curiosity. I chuckle. “I mean, if it were up to me, you father would’ve been in jail, or worse, a long time ago.” I smile.

The three of them look at me in shock. “Were you ever loyal to him?” EunGyul asks, earning a scoff from me. “Why would he have ever deserved my loyalty?” I ask them, eventually pushing past. “Now it was you guys whining about how tight you were on time, so let’s end the questions here.” I suggest, leading them down the continuum of the corridor.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Next stop, East Wing.” I announce, pushing the door to the end of the hall open. The boys slink out into another dark room. “What’s with all the darkness?” Jisoo asks, as I follow him out of the hall. “Where are we exactly?” EunGyul asks, and it almost seems as if there’s a hint of suspicion in his voice. “The East Wing.” I answer stupidly. “Isn’t that where I said I’d take you?”

Even though there were no lights on and it was still pretty dark, the faint light from the moon coming through a large and nearby window brightened the room just enough for me to see Joon feeling around for a light switch on the walls. The room we were in almost looked like an equatorial room or an observatory, but what was a place like that doing in a section like this? Wouldn’t this be in the North with the head? “You lead us here and you don’t even know this place?” EunGyul asks through gritted teeth. “Well I know of it….” He must’ve seen the confused look on my face.

“Have you ever even gone any farther than that hallway?” he continues.

“No.”

“So how’d you know it’d lead us here?”

“Where else would it lead to?” I ask stupidly. I guess I really didn’t think this through…

“You’ve never been in the East Wing at all….have you?” he asks, as the others seem to gain suspicions as well.

“I have….just not in this specific place….” I was starting to worry myself now…

Joon walks over and decides to speak. “Kang Minji….by any chance, are you-“

Just then the lights flicker on. We look around in confusion until our eyes fall upon a bunch of men gathered near a doorway. My heart stops as I realize I don’t recognize any of the faces, but I don’t say anything. EunGyul shoots a glance directly towards me then back towards the men as he, Joon and Jisoo begin to huddle closer together. “What’s going on here?” Joon asks me through gritted teeth. “I-I don’t…I don’t know!” I tell him, frozen in place. One guy steps forward with a sly grin on his face. “Well. Well. Well.” He begins, walking closer towards the boys. They shuffle back a little looking ready to fight, but also thrown way off guard. For a moment I think about slinking back off into the darkness. The entrance was right there…

“I thought I’d die before I’d be able to see your faces here.” The man rumbles. His voice sent shivers down my spine and I remained frozen in place.

“Who the hell are you?” Jisoo asks, fists balled up by his sides. The kid couldn’t fight like his brothers, but when feeling threatened, he knew how to hold his own.

The man chuckles and crosses his arms. “No one you should worry about just yet.” He answers. “The question is, what business do you guys have on this side of the spectrum? You should know by now what happens when you step into someone else’s territory.” The guy adds, motioning for his guys to move. When he does they all rush forward quickly taking ahold of the boys, who surprisingly don’t put up much of a fight. Only Jisoo resists a little, but he too eventually gives in. Then they all glare at me at once. They didn’t think I was responsible for this…did they?

“Your father won’t miss you too much. From my understanding you all have been giving him….a hard time lately.” The man laughs. Jisoo yanks his arm one last time before glaring at the man. “Whose father?” he asks through gritted teeth, which earns a laugh from all the men around him. “Jisoo.” I see Joon mouth to his brother. Jisoo turns towards him, they exchange glances, but there is no more verbal exchange. “You asked what our business here was.” Joon begins, looking back towards the man in charge. He seems interested. “We’re trying to bring him down.” He explains. My eyes widen. Why on Earth would he admit to something like that??? Here?? With these people in particular???

The man smiles.

“And what makes you want to do that? You guys aren’t in a position to take over.” He says.

“Who says we want to take over?” EunGyul adds. “We just want him gone.”

The man seems to think this over, but doesn’t take it too seriously. “This is your father you’re talking about. Do you think we’re stupid?”

“What’s a father if he doesn’t see his sons as sons?” Jisoo throws in. He seemed to have the most hatred built up towards Chief. The man thinks again.

“So what? You come into my territory to ask for help? To kill your own father? And my partner?” he almost laughs.

Joon smirks at him. “Don’t give me that.” He begins. “If you cared so much about your partner, you’d know that kidnapping his sons isn’t a smart move on your part. But if you don’t want to…”

 “When he’s gone, that leaves an entire empire for you to rule on your own. No strings attached.” EunGyul quickly explains, earning curious glances from Joon and Jisoo.

 The man looks at them, hands folded in front of him. “Having this whole thing for myself does sound…appealing….” He thinks and inside my head I’m not even shocked. Every person around this place was corrupt. So corrupt that they’d turn on their own flesh and blood in a heartbeat. “But I’m afraid your father has other plans. For now.” He adds with a smirk. The boys look at each other in a mix of shock and confusion. “Wha-what do you…?” Jisoo stammers looking a bit worried. “Kid, he wants you first.” The man concludes before motioning for his men to take Jisoo. They jump at his command and begin to drag Jisoo from Joon and EunGyul. “H-hyung!” Jisoo stammers to his brother.  I could see the terror and fear in Jisoo’s eyes and the anger in Joon’s. “Where are you taking him!” he shouts as the men continue to drag his younger brother away from him and towards the door. Jisoo struggles to break free, but fails. I take a step forward but stop. There was absolutely nothing I could do.

Nothing.

Joon struggles to loosen the grip of the men binding him. “Relax. Nothing’ll happen to him.” The man says pulling on a pair of gloves calmly. Joon’s eyes widen. “If you hurt him I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!” he shouts, but the man only chuckles. “That’s a pretty hefty threat coming from someone in your position.” He replies, giving them one last smirk. “Perhaps you’ll have the chance another time, but right now, we all have places to be.” He concludes before nodding his head at the remainder of his men. When they see, they begin dragging Joon and EunGyul out of the room as well, taking them in the opposite direction they took Jisoo. They fight and resist but not with much success. “Kang Minji.” The man booms, causing me to jump. How the hell did he know my name? I look at him with wide eyes. “With me.” He finishes, heading towards the door.

Both Joon and EunGyul glare at me once more. Joon had a look of complete hatred while EunGyul just looked like he wasn’t even surprised. “Of course.” He says, smirking as he’s shoved pass me. I just wanted to wipe that smug grin off of his face. Joon is shoved past me next. “You’d better hope they kill me back there.” He says through gritted teeth. “Because if they don’t, I’ll make sure to come and finish what I should’ve a long time ago.” My heart stops. They really did think I played a part in this. “I didn’t- I had no part in this!” I shout at him, but he doesn’t even give me a second glance. “I didn’t set you guys up!” I continue shouting, but soon I’m left in the room with just one last goon. “You want to go? Or should I help you?” he asks threateningly.