"Never gets easier, does it?" Eun Ah said as her and Yongguk walked out of the viewing room at Kris's funeral.

It was like any other funeral, except there were no sobbing parents or wailing relatives. It was just filled with colleagues who wore sombre expressions as they stared at the man who had led a once promising team.

EXO M were quiet. Tao's eyes were red and bloated, but the others were just stoic, dressed completely in black except for a silver pendant handing over each of their ties.

Luhan was seated a part from the rest, dressed in black but no silver pendant.

The whole affair was making her feel claustrophobic and she was glad that it was closed casket because she wasn't sure if she could stand seeing a dead body.   

They spoke to Luhan, exchanging long hugs and sad goodbyes to the man who was a few hours away from landing in his hometown with no intention of coming back.

But regardless of the situation, Luhan seemed genuinely happy, like he believed that he had a second chance at life. Even though she wished she could've gotten to know him better, she didn't have it in her to convince him to stay.

Yongguk strode in step with her, his hands in his pockets, "What do you mean?"

"I thought that maybe since I made it through your funeral somehow, that this one would be easier. But death is still death, no matter who it is." She said softly.

"That feeling only means that you're human. Humans empathize, they feel loss and they miss the presence of others." Yongguk mumbled as he took one hand out of his pocket to lace with hers.

"What about you? You've seen death a lot, are you immune to it?"

Yongguk tilted his head, "In a way. Yeah, I am. I'm immune in the sense that I can stay emotionally detached about 90% of the time. But that other 10%, because it's so small, is so concentrated that it feels like death effects me 10 times worse."

"I don't understand." She said while pulling a face.

"Deaths like Kris or Bohye, don't affect me as much as if it happened to people like you, Yongmi or the boys. But because  I only sympathize with a small fraction of people, it just means that it hurts worse when it happens to the few people that I actually care about. You sympathize with death in general. I only sympathize when it's people close to me."

Eun Ah squeezed his fingers, an action he returned, "Is that…hard?"

"Sometimes." He said softly. He let go of her fingers and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his blazer clad torso. He kissed the side of her head and continued to walk.

"What did your dad say about my arm?" She asked curiously.

Yongguk made a face, "He  kept apologizing for loosening your zip ties. he didn't think you'd run in front of a speeding bullet. He was worried sick. Almost more than I was. I had to send him home because he was stressing me out."

Eun Ah grinned, "I feel bad. We should invite him for dinner once."

"Sure. Let's reward him for getting you shot."

Eun Ah smiled and nudged his chest together as the both of them reached the lobby only to see rain drizzling against the glass. Yongguk frowned and glanced at her arm.

"The doctor said not to get your brace wet. Stay here and I'll just run out and bring the car up front."

Eun Ah nodded and watched as Yongguk jogged out in the rain, heading straight for his car. It felt so strange being at the funeral, the longer she had sat in the room, the more she wanted to run out of it and she knew Yongguk could tell.

Even if it was a different hall, she couldn't help thinking about Yongguk's funeral.

Suddenly, from the depths of her pocket, she felt her phone buzz. She pulled it out and furrowed her brows when the number was blocked. She declined the call and made a move to slip it back into her pocket when she got a text alert.

She frowned when the sender was blocked as well. She opened the text out of curiosity only to see that she was a sent a picture message. She clicked on the picture that was attached and squinted her eyes as she tried to make out the contents of the image.

The picture was so poorly lit and blurry that she started to wonder if someone sent her the text by mistake. Suddenly another image popped up on the chat, one that was barely more visible.

It looked like someone sitting on a chair, in the middle of a room, it almost looked like they were tied to the chair, but that wasn't what caught her attention.

It was the signature, long red hair that did.

Yongmi?

She couldn't see the face all that clearly but that hair was a clear identifier.

A short buzz indicated a new text, the bubble popping up from under the picture.

Answer the call.

Her phone started buzzing again with the same unknown number, in her hand. She looked around for Yongguk, but he had yet to come back with the car. She debated in her head for a second before accepting the call.

"Hello?"

"I hate when people screen my calls."

She recognized that voice.

The voice that fuelled anger and hate in her system.

She would always recognize that voice.

"Where is she?" A growl erupted in .

Ryu chuckled. "Straight to the point, huh? No greetings?"

"Don't ing play around. Where is she?" Eun Ah felt her whole body shake in anger.

He took Yongmi.

"She's a pretty one, isn't she? She looks exactly like her older brother, except for the red hair, but I like it on her. It makes her firey. Her boyfriend is handsome too, but he's pretty protective…isn't he? It took me extra long to get her away from him."

"What did you do?" She heaved out, her body shaking. Her vision was slowly bleeding red.

Ryu chuckled. "Isn't it obvious? I've taken her. I've taken the great Bang Yongguk's precious little baby sister. While he was too busy protecting you, he left his own blood vulnerable and I managed to steal the next most important person in his life."

Eun Ah felt everything zoom into clarity so quickly she stumbled back. "Not for long." She hissed.

She looked up and saw Yongguk's car slowly drive towards her. "You think you're going to get away with that? How many times have your kidnapping attempts failed pathetically? Too many to count. Do what you want, we will get her back without trouble."

Ryu chuckled joyously. "Not this time. This time I'm going to play it a little differently."

Eun A frowned at his confidence. "What are y--"

"493 Kyung Wang Do." He said casually, cutting her off.

"W-what?"

"That's where I'm keeping her. 4…9…3 Kyung. Wang. Do. If you want her and me, that's where I'll be."

Eun Ah's eye twitched. "What's your game? Why you giving me that information? Don't you get off on us running around like chickens with our heads cut off."

He chuckled. "This time, I'm going to face Yongguk straight on. I'm not scare of him. I'm tired of playing games. I'm ending you once and for all."

"This is a trap, isn't it?" She hissed in venom.

Ryu whistled lightly, "You won't know unless you go to 493 Kang Wang Do."

Yongguk came to a halt in front of her and waited for her to get in.

He tilted his head to peek out the window when she stayed rooted in her spot before noticing the scowl on her face and the phone against her ear.

He got out of the car and walked over to her, just as she made eye contact. She quickly put the phone on speaker and braced herself for his reaction.

"So tell Yongguk that he has one hour to come to 493 Kyung Wang Do or he can say goodbye to his pretty little sister."

-----

Eun Ah was jogging behind Yongguk, barely keeping up with him as he headed to the car. "I'll call the my dad and we can go after him. It's fine. we'll get her back."

The tension and wrath was still shaking in the back of his throat.

The second she explained the situation and showed him the picture, his whole body tensed up and leader Bang Yongguk emerged.

Eun Ah chewed on her lip, "I don't trust him. Why is he making this so easy?"

Yongguk shook his head, Ryu wasn't making this easy. He knew that it was only going to get harder.

"This isn't about us tracking him down, this is something bigger. He has something big planned for when we get there. Something that he didn't want us wasting time finding him. He wants to meet us head on because he had something he wants to do. He wants to get to the point and he's using Yongmi to do it."

Eun Ah felt uneasy as the Yongguk unlocked the car. Just as she reached for the handle, she felt her phone buzz. She pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the screen to see a familiar ID.

She opened the message , her heart immediately dropping. She felt her breath escape her lungs as her blood ran cold. It was like everyone around her started to spin. A heavy weight settled on her chest like someone was sitting on her.

 No.

"Hey." Eun Ah jumped with a yelp as she snapped her head to the car where Yongguk rolled the window down. "You okay? We need to go."

Eun Ah gulped and glanced at her phone before taking a step away. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

Yongguk shifted uncomfortably, not liking the tone in her voice, "What are you talking about, Hwang? For what?"

She gripped her phone to her chest, trying to hold back her tears, "I-It's just, with my arm and everything, I'll only be slowing you down. Maybe I should just go home and sit this one out. I'll call Hi-Him-Himchan or someone to stay with me. That way you can focus on getting Yongmi back without worrying about me getting hurt. I'm sorry I can't go and help."

She shrivelled under Yongguk's intense stare as he scanned her eyes, looking for a lie. His eyes suddenly softened as he leaned closer to her side of the door.

"Hey, love." He started delicately. "I understand. Don't apologize, it's not your fault. I know you want to help, but get in. I'll drop you off at home first."

Eun Ah frantically shook her head before her eyes flickered around the parking lot until they landed on one familiar head.

"No. Don't waste time, just go and fin