TOKYO, JAPAN
8:57 PM, THURSDAY

"I don't believe you one bit." Reiji shook his head, not buying any of Daniel's explanations.

Daniel groaned, glancing around them from time to time, making sure no one was listening or whatsoever. Keiko scrunched her nose, scanning down the boy's attire before coming into a realization.

Taehui might've implanted a tracker or microphone in this boy.

We can't trust him. Not at a situation like this.

The girl shrugged her shoulders as younger's gaze had faltered on her for help, but alas, Keiko also couldn't believe him right now.

"Daniel- if you were on our side, then maybe you could do something like fucking freeing us from these ropes." Reiji uttered a profanity, his knife-life gaze boring into Daniel's skin making the younger shiver and look away. He had only seen Reiji look or get mad a couple times, but he never thought he'd see it for him especially.

"And once I'm free, I'll make sure you learn your lesson. Or maybe how about we tie you against a chair instead huh?"

Daniel scowled, letting a deep sigh escape his lips. "I'm serious. I don't have a tracker on me or a microphone—"

"And what makes you say that?"

"Well, for one, Taehui doesn't—" Daniel was cut off shortly when someone had barged into the room. That person being a very familiar face to Pandora's Box workers.

Keiko's mouth went slightly agape, staring down at the woman who strutted towards them. Red high heel pumps stilettos clanking against the wooden flooring, her hips swaying ever so slightly as she smiled widely at them with her dark red lips.

"Wow-" Reiji murmured.

"You're sexy." Keiko blurted out randomly.

"Aww thank you babe. I know you remember me well, Cerise."

Keiko hummed, nodding slowly, "I definitely do. I saved you from getting drugged, Rose."

The female irked at her choice of nickname, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she leaned onto the chair Daniel sat on. "How's it going here? You better be keeping your mouth shut, Jeong Daniel."

Daniel held a stoic face, eyes emitting slight fear upon Dasom's arrival. "Of course. Like I would speak about anything." 

Dasom smiled, patting the top of Daniel's head, "Good boy. I'm gonna go, how about you stir me up a drink, Cerise?" Then her eyes landed on Keiko's tied up hands, "Oh wait- I forgot, you can't."

Keiko sniggered, rolling her eyes at Dasom's mocking words. "The first thing I'm gonna do is definitely poison you."

"Not the same Keiko I met who saved me from getting drugged."

"Yeah, and you're not the same Rose I met who I saved from getting molested."

Dasom scoffed, "I'm heading out. You better not go behind our backs, Jeong Daniel." She uttered out before exiting the room, the sound of her heels clanking on the floor gradually descending.

"As I was saying–"

"Daniel just shut up for a moment, will ya?" Keiko shot him a quick glare, harshly telling him to stop talking.

Daniel furrowed his eyebrows, confused as to why Keiko suddenly acted like that, though he did figure that it was because of his recent measures such as 'betraying' her. He sighed, thinking back to the old days during his time with his two friends.

Daniel could remember the first time he had met them – at Pandora's Box; where his friends had decided to go check out. He could even recall the jaw-dropping moments. But that wasn't important right now, he had to make them believe him, or believe in the actual plan.

Silence encaged the trio almost abruptly. Harsh whirring of the air condition could be heard from time to time. Reiji's nose crinkled, hearing faint tapping noises coming from somewhere near. His gaze faltered onto Keiko, noticing how she constantly tapped her forefinger against the wooden backrest.

Mouth forming an 'o' shape out of realization, he immediately snapped his head towards Daniel, who seemed to be minding his own business, diverting his attention from one end of the room then to the other.

Reiji cleared his throat, managing to gain the younger boy's attention. "What?"

"I think I heard a gunshot from the room next door, could you check if everything's okay?"

Daniel cocked an eyebrow up suspiciously, "Uhh...sure?" As he stood up, ready to head out to the door, Reiji stopped him mid-way.

"I thought you wanted me to—"

"Yeah, but do not go outside. Just...press your ear against the wall."

Daniel sighed, "Fine." He did as told, hearing nothing but plain silence. He frowned, "What the hell there's nothing—" his gaze flickered down onto Keiko's backrest, noticing how she tapped her fingers and a light thump was heard every time she did.

Morse code.

- .... . -.--
-- .. --. .... -
-... .
.-.. .. ... - . -. .. -. --.

They might be listening.

Daniel gulped and walked back to his seat, facing Keiko with the same stern gaze.

.. / .- -- / -. --- - / .-.. -.-- .. -. --. /

I am not lying.

.. / .-. . .- .-.. .-.. -.-- / .... .- ...- . / .- -. / .- .-.. .-.. .. .- -. -.-. . / .-- .. - .... / -. -.-. -

I really have an alliance with NCT.

Keiko looked at him for a bit, eyes wandering deep down, searching for any signs of falsity, fortunately, there seemed to be nothing.

She nodded her head slowly.

.. / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / -... . .-.. .. . ...- . / -.-- --- ..-

I will believe you.

-... ..- - / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . / --- -. / .--. .-. --- -... .- - .. --- -. .- .-. -.--

Daniel sniggered, flashing Keiko a soft smile before replying shortly.

.. / .--. .-. --- -- .. ... . / -.-- --- ..- / .-- . / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / .-- .. -. / - .... .. ...

. . .

NEO CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
139 - JAPAN BASE
10:30 PM, THURSDAY

"Jeez, they just had to kidnap her before the party, I wanted to style Keiko up!" Jaemin muttered to no one in particular, his tone filtered annoyance as he watched his co-members training hand-to-hand combats.

"Well, that's Taeyong's father for you. He could've just plotted something like blowing up the party area or whatever. The kidnap part is a bit unnecessary." Jungwoo chuckled, shaking his head along with.

"I know right- but still, we shouldn't doubt him. He might be planning something more worse than this."

Meanwhile, at the garage, both Ten and Yuta were showcasing their new designs towards a few of their co-members and associates.

Yangyang gawked at the car, marveling it from afar then up close. Ten could've sworn his eyes sparkled with joy for split second upon seeing the car. Ten had re-designed the built and worked with Yuta to upgrade a few parts of it – you could say they turned Yangyang's car into his dream car for ages.

"You guys are like the best!" The younger exclaimed, giving both of them a side hug before rushing over to try it out.

Ten gave Yuta a high-five, proud that they have been successful in making Yangyang happy. After the news of Keiko being gone, Yangyang was also one of the ones who couldn't stand and just wait – he wanted to do something but he wasn't allowed to, and so he kept fidgeting for the rest of the day like some of ther boys.

Ten always saw a soft spot in Yangyang's heart, despite every bad or awful word thrown upon us, he still understood how others would possibly react.

However, Yuta was on the downside. It was fairly great, that he could be able to come back to his hone country, but what was he going to do here? He had no family left nor close relatives. Yuta was all alone.

He could still remember that time his parents told him to run away, to leave their house and never come back again. At first he thought they were joking, but no, they weren't. Turns out they had a huge debt towards a mafia group and they weren't able to pay up, thus resulting in a death penalty.

Yuta started taking jobs to support himself and luckily he had found Ten in an old repair shop. The two clicked with each other pretty well and soon enough they were both recruited by Taeyong. Ten could be even remember the exact phrase the Japanese would always say.

"If only I can fix myself like how I fix machines." Both ended up muttering at the same time, surprising each other.

Yuta chuckled, "You still remember huh?"

Ten scoffed, "Oh of course. How could I forget that?"

"By the way," Ten pointed a finger at him as a now perplexed expression fell over his face. "You should really make up for what you did to Keiko."

"I know- I will. Once she's free."

—

so this doesn't affect anything at all
well maybe but we'll see 🤷‍♀️

y'all gotta choose

hyuck ☀️

xiaojun 🌙

EDIT: VOTING IS NOW CLOSED!!

n e ways~ i think i'll be able to finish this by the end of this week or something djdjsjs i don't know :') it's just a few more chapters left