"I don't want to die, I don't want to die," an old lady repeated. Over and over again, for two days straight, that had been all she said without allowing herself even a second of rest. Ever since she knew she was ought to die by the gallows, it had been all her mind was captivated with.

Jongwoon felt sorry for her. It's not that he didn't mind he was going to die at the exact same day, time and even on the exact same place and way as the older woman, but he had always known he was risking his life with what he did. This poor old lady hadn't had a clue when she had allowed a young stranger into her house as he had knocked on her door in utter panic.

The 13-year old boy, who had knocked on her door, had just stolen a few apples from a market booth and was running from the guards that had caught him doing it. It's not like he'd had any other option though, his family was starving and the poor boy had wanted to help them out by providing them with food. At least, that's what he had told Jongwoon when he wanted to share his story because the poor boy couldn't deal with it on his own any longer. 

Now he was convicted to the gallows, standing next to the woman who had unknowingly tried to hide him and therefore unknowingly committed an inexcusable crime. And each time the older lady repeated her pleading sentence, the boy cried because he knew he had condemned her and hurt not only his family, but also hers; she had 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren.

The stories of the two older men who would undergo the same fate as Jongwoon, the young boy and the older lady mere hours from now, he didn't know. But he doubted they had done anything near what he had done.

He had betrayed the King, in much more ways than the King even knew. The King even personally had come to see him right after the guards had told him his conviction. And he had smiled at it. 

He had been happy with it; he could finally finish what he had started many, many years ago.

And Jongwoon was ready to face the bitter truth. This... This would be his end.

Jongwoon hastily glanced around the crowd as soon as the fetid bag was lifted off of his head. It's not that he had expected to see any alliance members there, whether it was for watching him die or saving him, but he had secretly hoped for it.

His hope, however, was crushed quite rapidly.

But he understood. The first rule that Jungsu had decided on for the alliance was that a left behind man would never be saved. They couldn't risk it, as it could endanger their entire mission and potentially blow their cover. Jongwoon had applauded the rule when it was set, and he still did, even though it would mean he would soon be forgotten and probably never make it into the history books; something he'd secretly wished to accomplish for years.

As he glanced around, it hurt him how people dared to celebrate their upcoming deaths. He didn't mind about his own, but the poor older lady and the young boy didn't deserve to die under the seeing eye of celebrating people. Yet everyone seemed to care as much about them as they did about him.

They didn't care at all.

As the older lady next to him started sobbing, overwhelmed by the number of people who had come to see them die and mere stress, Jongwoon focused on his breathing and staying calm. He knew the King was watching him in particular and he didn't want to fuel the King's happiness about his upcoming death by showing any more emotion than necessary.

He didn't deserve to see Jongwoon's fear, which he did feel slightly in the pit of his stomach as the ropes were put around their necks loosely.

"May death release you!" The King suddenly pronounced, the crowd screaming even louder than they had before.

Jongwoon could hear the older lady standing next to him starting to completely panic and her breathing becoming unsteady even more. The older man on his other side let out a soft fearful noise, and briefly Jongwoon wondered again about what the man had done to deserve this fate.

But before he could think about it more, the hatch below him opened and he fell. He fell just for a couple of centimeters, but it was still enough for the rope to tighten harshly around his neck and taking his last opportunity to take a deep breath away.

He didn't struggle like the old woman next to him. He didn't try to scream like the man next to him. He just hung and allowed it to go by.

At least that was his plan. As soon as he noticed he couldn't breathe while his body screamed for air, he panicked.  He struggled for air, much needed air, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing came in. His lungs were completely devoid of air and the more he tried to breathe, the more they seemed to hurt.

After struggling for what felt like an hour, his vision started to turn black around the corners, and as if that was his cue, he stopped trying. He stopped thinking. He stopped hoping.

As his vision went completely black, he suddenly had the feeling he was slipping into an odd dream. His body seemed to fall and fall. He shortly realized that a never-ending fall would be the last thing he felt and thought of; it was nothing as the stories said. 

He never saw his life flashing by in front of his eyes. The happy moments to remember never came to him.

Henry impatiently paced back and forth through the room, occasionally checking the clock that hung on the wall.

"Is that thing even working?" he eventually asked, cantankerously, to no one in particular. He walked towards it, harshly pulled it off the wall and threw it on the floor in pure frustration. 

"It did, but it never will again," Kyuhyun mumbled dispiritedly, watching as parts of the clock rolled past him on the floor; some parts disappeared under the couch he was sitting on while others traveled as far as to the other side of the room.

Henry sighed and slumped back on the couch for the nth time that day, even though it wasn't even fifteen minutes ago since they had returned from the roof.

"Maybe something went wrong," Henry said pensively, "We need to go back!"

He already marched towards the door confidently, but Kyuhyun stood up hastily and grabbed him by his collar before pulling him back crudely. He didn't really know why, but he felt like he should.

"I doubt a failing thief and a still rather new archer would do them any good," he reasoned, looking Henry in his overly worried eyes. "We should-"

"Archer? I'm not just an archer. I'm a sniper. I could have easily aimed for the rope and freed him already," Henry said, convinced by his own words. "I bet Youngwoon failed, and we all know he's too stubborn to bring a second ax. He just doomed Jongwoon."

The more Henry said, the more angry he seemed to become. Kyuhyun tried hard to understand Henry's feelings, but he really couldn't. He couldn't imagine caring about someone enough to be this freaked out over their fate.

"Please, Kyuhyun..." Henry suddenly said, his voice smaller than before, nearly fragile even. "I can't do this on my own."

"Let's wait a little longer, huh? I'm sure Youngwoon didn't fail his task," Kyuhyun said, soothingly. Henry sighed dejectedly and walked back towards the couch.

"I love him, you know?" Henry mumbled, as soon as Kyuhyun came sitting next to him, pleased by how he had consulted Henry once again; like a professional.

"Sorry?" He asked, not sure if he had heard it right.

"I love him. More than you can ever imagine."

And Kyuhyun had no idea how to reply to that.

"Jongwoon!" Jungsu hissed impatiently, as he pinched Jongwoon's skin with brutal force to get him to wake up - a trick Changmin had taught him a long time ago. It had already been 15 seconds since Youngwoon had successfully flung his ax onto Jongwoon's rope and the latter had fallen down, hitting his head on some wood in the process.

Small hatches be damned. This surely wasn't going to help him wake up easier, the three of them silently realized, as they noticed some blood running from underneath Jongwoon's hair.

They couldn't wait much longer though. If Jongwoon didn't wake up by himself, they had to carry him out of here before the guards would reach them. They were hidden underneath the gallows, yes, but people would surely have noticed Jongwoon had gone missing by now and that a rather large ax had taken his place.

And if the guards were any smart, they would already understand that this was a rescue operation and that Jongwoon wasn't all on his own underneath the gallows.

Despite Siwon, Donghee and Sungmin's distraction, the guards would most likely arrive soon. Having come up with the plan, Jungsu had predicted the distraction to be annoying enough for the guards to enter the crowd and to remove their three members from the scene. For the guards to run back through the crowd to underneath the gallows would take them at least 30 seconds, buying them a little more time.

"This isn't going to work," Han Geng concluded the obvious, as Jongwoon remained motionless on the ground despite their leader's forceful attempts to wake him up. 

Han Geng quickly grabbed Jongwoon's arms and raised the later on his back cautiously. "Where to?" He asked, glancing around warily to make sure they weren't seen by anyone.

"My house," Donghae replied, hurriedly leading them away from the gallows, making sure to stay out of view from anyone they didn't know.

Jungsu was mildly happy that the King liked attention. Because of this, the King always made sure his torture and execution devices were big and made with a lot of detail. Those details were hiding them from the crowd as they hasti