Rule #40: If you can't take people making deductions about you, then you have no right making deductions about them

Mark walked into Youngjae's hospital room with a bag of snacks and a duffle bag full of his clothes and favourite things.

Sleeping wasn't working for him. All he could think about was all the times Saera had told him that she loved him and all the times that he didn't say it back when he should.

He gulped when he saw the boy sitting up, staring vacantly at the wall across from him, not even reacting at Mark's entrance.

"Hey man." Mark said softly while pulling a chair beside Youngjae's bed."How have you been doing?"

He didn't speak and just sat still with an IV drip hanging out of his arm.

"I…I brought your favourite comics and some clothes for you. I even brought your favourite food and some dr--"

"I know none of it is true. I'm not stupid. People need to stop thinking that they can lie to me just because I'm young." Youngjae said weakly.

Mark's eyes darted to the pale boy, "Is this about Saera?"

"She's done a lot of bad things but I know she isn't a serial killer. That’s ridiculous and whoever believes that is an idiot." He said while he continued to stare at the wall.

Mark looked at his lap, "I know. I believe your sister too."

"So you know about her secret?" Youngjae asked, his face barely regaining colour.

Mark looked down at his lap, "Yeah, I do."

"And you're still around?" Youngjae asked in surprise.

Mark stared at the bracelet on his wrist and played with it gently, "I think I'm starting to understand your sister a bit more."

When he saw how the young boy turned quiet again, Mark let out a deep breath, "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that and that I wasn't there with you. It couldn't be easy to learn all of that information about your parents at once. Ho-How are you holding up?"

"How do you expect? Everything I thought I knew about my family was a lie. I don't even know what my childhood was. They even told me that Jinyoung killed himself. Is that true?" Youngjae said with a soulless laugh.

Mark felt his heart break for the boy. The boy who needed his sister beside now more than ever, "That's what the coroner's report says, but that doesn't mean that he loves you any less. I'm sure you and Saera were the most important people in the world."

"Then he wouldn't have killed himself." Youngjae muttered.

Mark looked away, "I won't let her take the fall for anything. I promise."

"Park Youngjae. I don't like the way that sounds." He said in disgust.

Mark gave him a feeble smile, "You don't need to. Choi Youngjae is just fine. In fact, if you want, we can legally change it to Choi."

"Where is she?" Youngjae mumbled insteadd.

Mark closed his eyes, not wanting to admit this, "I…I'm not sure."

"What?!" Youngjae exploded as he sat up, "You're not sure? My sister is missing and there's a psychopath after her and you don't know where she is? What the hell are you doing here? Why aren't you out there looking for her?"

Mark winced but let the kid unload on him, "I'm on suspension, I don't really have the resources to loo-"

Suddenly, Youngjae's fist came flying before it connected swiftly with Mark's jaw.

"Owwww!" Youngjae hissed while shaking his hand.

"Ow? You're saying ow?" Mark groaned while holding the side of his face, "What the hell was that for?"

Youngjae massaged his fingers and rotated his wrist while glaring at him, "That was for barely putting up a fight for my sister. I thought you cared about her. How could you just throw in the towel when she could be possibly kidnapped? You're the only outsider my sister ever trusted so I hope you don't honestly expect me to believe that you're not going to do anything about her."

"Of course I care about her!" Mark snapped, "I haven't cared about someone as much as I care about your sister in a really long time, but there's only so much a regular civilian can do. That's what I am now. A regular civilian."

Youngjae sneered at him, "So was Saera and yet she managed to track down one of the most notorious serial killers for the cops. Are you really going to let yourself be taken off of a case that easily? You know everything about her. You have to be able to track her down."

"I don't know what you expect me to do." Mark said in resignation, "I want to find her, god I want her home and safe just as much as you do, but what do I do?"

Youngjae's body started to tremble in anger, "My sister is smart. She's strong. She's not going to wait around until you find her but that doesn't mean you can just give up. Find her."

"I'm not giving up." Mark said sternly. "I'm just…" Scared. Worried. Going insane without her.

Mark couldn't meet Youngjae in the eye. If it was easy to find Saera, he would've been the first one through the door, but he had no idea where to start.  

He never had someone he loved be kidnapped before.

Without his badge or gun, he was nothing.

But here was this helpless 16 year old kid who had no family but his sister and he was depending on Mark to make sure that she stays safe.

How could he let him and Saera down?

"I think you're right." Youngjae said softly and sadly, "You're not my role model…Saera is."

-----

Have you ever heard of the Pavlovian Conditioning experiment?

It was done by a Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, who discovered that he could make a dog salivate by conditioning it to.

He would ring a bell before giving his dog a treat. His dog was conditioned, over a long period of time, to associate the sound of a ringing bell as a sign of him getting a treat which would cause him to salivate.

Soon, just by the hearing the sound of the bell, the dog would start to drool because it expected a treat.

That's what Yoo Chang was doing to Saera.

He was conditioning her to associate begging with being able to eat and drink.

He would not feed her unless she begged for it so that soon enough, she'd would reflexively associate begging as a means of surviving.

He wanted her to think that if she begged, she might actually have a chance to live. He wanted to see her grovel.

But Saera wasn't stupid.

She knew the last thing he would do was let her free, so she had no intention of begging for anything. If he was going to let her starve to death, she would welcome it with loving arms.

Why? Because she'd rather die because her body failed her than die by the hands of her father.

So 24 hours and she hadn't had a single thing to eat.

Her father was keeping Sang Min away from her and that made her feel great, it made her realize that he was scared about what she was capable of doing to his little pet.

And when starving her didn't look like it was working, he pulled out the big guns.

It started when he strolled into the room looking far too relaxed, that's when the red flag immediately shot up.

She watched him with diligent eyes as he set a tray of food in front of her and stepped back.

She scoffed, "What? No taunt?"

"You were looking very frail and weak, I thought I'd give you a freebie." He said in mock kindness.

Saera wasn't sold, "Nothing in life is free."

"Smart girl, I raised you well." He said with a grin.

Saera looked at him in scorn, "I raised myself."

"And Youngjae, very well I might add." He said with a friendly smile.

Saera pushed herself further against the wall, "Get out."

"How is my son? He's so grown up." He asked casually.

Saera looked away, "He doesn't even know who you are. He barely remembers his parents and I'm in no hurry to tell him stories."

"Do you treat him just as well as you treated Jinyoung?" He inquired.

Saera hated hearing her brothers' names come out of his mouth. "Why does it matter to you?"

"Do you have nightmares?" He asked abruptly.

Saera closed her eyes, "I'm done playing 20 questions, either kill me, or get out of this room."

"Do you have nightmares of Jinyoung?"

Saera opened her eyes and stared at him, "Not as many as you probably do."

Something sparkled in Yoo Chang's eyes and it unsettled her, "Honestly, luck was never in your favour. Not since the day you were brought into this wonderful world."

"I don--"

"You were never supposed to be the one that found him. I thought the landlord would get curious about the odour and find him first."

Saera's heart turned numb to the point where it just felt like an unmoving weight in her chest.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, her voice falling two octaves lower until a whisper.

He chuckled, "Remember when I said that you weren't the first member of this family that I killed? Well, neither was your mother."

-----

Mark had learned that the there was only two people in the world that could get him this fired up.

Saera.

And Youngjae.

Which was why he drove straight from the hospital to the precinct and kicked the office doors open and barged in.

Everyone turned to look at him and even the Chief looked at little surprised. "I thought I suspended you indefinitely."

"No. That's it. I'm done with your bull." Mark barked angrily. Jackson suppressed his smile and just watched with a raised brow, he was wondering when his friend would get a kick in the pants.

Everyone held their breaths, "Excuse me?" The Chief balked.

"Since day one you've been giving me even though I was the only one who brought results. I'm done. I'm done listening to you. I'm done taking your orders. I'm done looking to you for leadership. I'm doing this my way and I would never trust her life in your hands. Never." He growled.

Kwon looked speechless as he gaped at Mark.

"I'm going to get her back myself and I don't give a ing what you say. You can fire me if you want but I'm getting her back and hoping to undo every mistake you made." He stepped up to his Chief so that they were chest to chest.

"And you better pray to god that nothing and no one touches her because if she gets hurt, I will personally put a bullet through your head."

Jackson's jaw dropped but his eyes glimmered in admiration.

Kwon looked at Mark but his eyes almost held the same