YONGSAN-GU
MAD CITY
7:56 PM, SUNDAY

3RD PERSONS VIEW。

Daniel gritted his teeth, feelings conflicted by what had just happened. Scrunching his nose, he turns around only to be greeted by a fist, sending him falling back onto the ground.

"What the fuck!?" he exclaimed, a sting by his lips, licking the metallic taste of blood. Lightly dabbing his finger to see the red color he glared up at the faded blue-haired mafioso.

Jaemin stood in front of him, eyes displaying nothing but rage. "Dickhead, you're making Keiko fall into a more dangerous trap."

"More dangerous?" Daniel cocked an eyebrow up, ridiculing Jaemin's words as a scoff left his lips. Shaking his head lightly, "She's living with a bunch of twisted mafia members and I'm trying to save her from that."

Jaemin pointed back at Donghyuck who was busy fighting off a few Nightwalkers. "And you asked the Lee Taehui to help her escape?"

"Dude- that man is twisted as hell. He may be one of the most successful businessmen out there, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have dirt nor doesn't he do any secret businesses with an illegal organization." Jaemin remarked, his lips curling up to a sly smirk. "You know nothing about what happens behind the curtains."

Daniel shook his head, not wanting to believe Jaemin. "No. You're just manipulating me! That's what you're all good at- you try and manipulate people so they won't mess with your plans!" he yelled out, his fists clenched as he stood up.

Donghyuck faked a yawn, "Man, can't you just shut up Daniel?" he rolled his eyes before knocking out the last guy from the group. Approaching the two, he crossed his arms with a stoic look plastered on his face.

"Did you even see Keiko's eyes? She was hurt by what you did, Daniel."

"Please, who's hurting her more?"

Donghyuck pushed his tongue against his inner cheek in annoyance, cocking his gun up, "I could literally kill you right now, right there, but Keiko would hate me if I do." he chuckled dryly and kept the pistol in his holster.

Daniel rolled his eyes before grabbing the collar of Donghyuck's black leather jacket, roughly yanking him up, "You think that will make Kei trust you?" The apprentice laughed, "Stop dreaming! Keiko will never love you- heck she won't even trus—" his words earned him a headbutt from Donghyuck.

The purple-ish haired boy stared at the groaning boy, "You have the guts to say that, Keiko's probably doubting you now." He turned towards Jaemin, "Let's go, he isn't worth our time."

Jaemin gave the boy one last look, "Are you sure you want to live him like this? I mean- I have enough bullets spare."

Donghyuck rolled his eyes, "He'll learn his lesson, not from me, but from Keiko herself."

.            .             .

NEO CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
MAD CITY BASE
8:02 PM, SUNDAY

"Thank God you're back! Is Keiko okay?" Doyoung rushed into the garage, eyes scanning for the silver-haired. He let out a sigh of relief once he saw Ten carefully carrying her out of the car.

"Where's Taeyong?" Ten questioned the consigliere as soon as he brought Keiko out in his arms.

Doyoung sighed, "He and Johnny are on their way to the restaurant Mikami Eiichi booked for their private meeting." He glances down at the sleeping figure, "Get her to her room, she needs rest."

Ten nodded and walked away, leaving Doyoung standing there, waiting for the others to arrive as he talked to Yuta. "You think everything will go alright?"

Yuta, who was busy examining Yangyang's car, only hummed in response and couldn't really predict what would exactly happen. It was Mikami Eiichi and Lee Taeyong they were talking about – anything could happen; be it a feud or an alliance.

"Eiichi just wants her safe, that's all." Yuta shrugged and sighed deeply before shooting a glare towards Yangyang. "Didn't I tell you to be careful?"

Yangyang pursed his lips together, rubbing his nape sheepishly, "Did you...?" he mumbled making Yuta hiss and raise his arm.

"I swear- Liu Yangyang!"

"Okay! Okay! But like, it was like a middle of a crisis and I was too busy checking if Keiko was okay and like the fedorawalkers were like really close, but then we're like still in the main streets so I can't really go like super duper fast cause then—"

Yuta waved his hand, signaling him to stop talking and he did. "Okay, I've heard enough. Just don't be so reckless."

Yangyang nodded with a faint smile, "I will!"

The sound of the alarm going off made Yuta run behind the panels, pressing a red-colored button as the vast metal gates opened wide, a few cars and motorcycles coming in which belonged to the group recently out.

Donghyuck hopped off his vehicle and went straight in, not even bothering to talk to them and they clearly understood why. Jaemin watched the purple-haired exit the garage and sighed, "I hope he doesn't do anything stupid."

"You should've beaten the hell out of Daniel." Renjun said in disappointment, "Or at least ask me to do something about him–"

"Donghyuck didn't want to hurt him, which was definitely a rare thing for him to do," Sicheng uttered out, following Jaemin's gaze.

"Well, knowing Haechan, he's probably venting out all of his anger right now," Doyoung mumbled, worried about what the younger might do. He made sure to note it down and check on him later, for now, he had to make sure everything is going well and okay despite Taeyong not being present.

Doyoung made his way to Keiko's room, seeing Xiaojun and Taeil. "Oh? Xiaojun? What are you doing here?"

"I just- I—"

Taeil placed a hand on Xiaojun's shoulder, "I asked him to help me check on Keiko."

Xiaojun nodded silently, biting down his bottom lip as his gaze landed back onto the resting girl. No, you didn't. I came by myself.

Doyoung nodded, "Is she alright?"

Taeil hummed, "Well, nothing much really happened, her wound is also healing fast so there isn't much to worry about... physically. Talking about mentally... I don't know how she'll manage..." he frowned deeply; based on their research about Keiko's life and some of her co-workers, he knew how close she was with them to the fact they were like family to her.

Growing up wherein the only person she could trust was herself, Taeil understood that it was hard for her to connect herself with others. Studying about her personality and the way she acted towards them, he knew she had her own trust issues.

"She'll be fine... hopefully." Doyoung murmured before placing both of his hands on one side of their shoulders, "We have a meeting in thirty minutes, don't be late."

The two nodded as the consigliere left, leaving Keiko to their aid. Taeil grabbed a pill bottle from his lab coat's pocket before tossing it to Xiaojun who caught it easily.

The boy raised a brow before eyeing the amber-colored bottle, "Prescriptions?"

"I bet Keiko won't be able to sleep regularly from what she had just experienced, those are sleeping pills, she might need them if ever," Taeil said before walking out.

Xiaojun sighed and placed the pill bottle on top of her bedside table before leaning back onto the wall, eyes steadily cast on her figure. "If you forgive Daniel for what he did– he really doesn't deserve you," he muttered softly.

He shrugged and walked towards the door, glancing back at her before closing the lights, "But then again, no one does."

—

daniel you fucked up big time 😪

keiko just needs someone
she can truly trust 🥺

tbh i lowkey wanna see jeno x keiko moments 👀