"It's wise for you to follow me back to the cafe and we'll-"

He retracts his words as her head lolls to the side, eyes closed. She has fainted, and a mild panic runs over him as he thinks about how the others would react if he brings back the unconscious girl. He had never meant to scare her but he got carried away when he was trying hard to catch up with her, so he resulted in chasing her by using the access points on the buildings' roofs instead.

He came down when he saw her crashing against the metal dumpster, taking the opportunity to get close to her. He needs to ask her to come back to the cafe so they could... sort things out.

"Uh- well- that ended badly." He jumps off the dumpster, holding on to the shoes and scrutinizing her condition from far. He frowns when he notices the blood on her arm first then the cuts littered across her legs then ended on her soles. He finally notices the broken glass near her feet, and it's made worse because she didn't have any shoes on. "She's hurt really bad..." he whispers to himself.

He mulls over his decision before he crouches in front of her, pulling her so that her body rests against his back. Being careful as not to touch her wounded arm or brush against the cuts on her legs, he heaves her up, letting her head rest at the crook of his neck. As his left hand holds her shoes, he uses his right hand to pick up her scattered belongings, shove them back in the bag and pick it up, making sure she doesn't fall off from his back.

"I really apologize for having to... touch you," he says to her, although he knows she probably cannot hear him. "You're hurt really bad so I need to bring you back to the cafe." Then after another thought he adds, "Please don't sue me for harassment."

He treks the path back to the cafe, her feeling heavier on his back as she's unconscious. The light from inside the cafe spills onto the ground outside, as if creating an end point on where he's supposed to go.

He enters the cafe with the rest showing various reactions; some are pacing back and forth, while some look worried, anxious. Hongjoong looks the most distressed, with Yunho beside him biting on his nails hurriedly. Seonghwa and San just woke up from their slumber, hair unkempt and eyes bloodshot.

When they see she has fainted, Seonghwa instructs to place her down on the sofa they have in the store at the back. He goes upstairs in a flash to take the first aid kit, disappearing into the store to tend to her. He doesn't let anyone else enter the room, because he doesn't want it to be crowded.

Out of the eight of them, he has the most knowledge in basic medicinal skills thanks to his past experience, so they always turn to him whenever they have any injuries. He looks at her forlornly, remembering that she was the girl that had stumbled and tore her skirt when they were apprehending the thief.

He tears Byul's sleeves, exposing the skin along her arms, and unknowingly he sighs loudly when he sees the condition of her skin. It's not the glasses stuck or the blood seeping out from the wounds that's making him pause, but the original condition of her skin before it got torn. Burn wounds. She has burn wounds along her arms, hidden away neatly under the long sleeve of her shirt.

Steeling himself, he takes a pair of tweezers before picking out the pieces of glass that has plunged into her scarred skin, dropping them onto a shred of tissue and disinfecting the wounds. He wraps them up, then moves on to her legs. Thankfully, the skin on her legs and soles are only superficially torn, so he deals with them accordingly. After he's done, he orders for San to take a blanket upstairs, covering her body.

They have locked the entrance of the cafe, the roller shutter in place to hide the interior from the outside world. He goes out into the main area of the cafe to find them huddled in front of Mingi, who already has his laptop. Beneath his glasses, Mingi's eyes move fast across the screen, typing something with speed before he presses down the 'enter' button and leans against the chair. He reads the details on the screen before turning the screen to face the rest. He joins in.

Wooyoung helps to read the details, "Han Byul, 23 years old, recent graduate of Chrysalis University. Currently unemployed, permanent address is at a student flat in Utopia District. Born there, too. Nothing about her seems suspicious, and she's a normal person with a lot of student debt. Doesn't really have a social media presence. Her life is pretty... bland. Joined a few clubs during university, but never held a top position, mostly she became a participant. Has a few mediocre soft skills, is a black belt in taekwondo, but nothing suggests that she could be a spy that was sent to us deliberately. She did seem to stumble upon this cafe by accident; she had a job interview scheduled this morning in this district."

"Not too fast," Hongjoong says. "What about the information on her family?"

Mingi takes back the computer and shakes his head. "That's the only information on her which I could not find. I could dig everything else except for that; no details about her parents or siblings, or even any of her relatives. She lived with her aunt before she moved to live alone, but apparently they're not related by blood. Just a lady she called as her aunt, and nothing that could trace back to any of her relatives. Clean criminal record, not even a speeding ticket, it seems. Doesn't own a car or any property of sort."

"So she's from the main city, graduated from the top university, and there is no available information about her family," Jongho starts. "That is kind of suspicious."

"She never had a job?"

"If we look at her records we can see that she's had a lot of part-time jobs when she was studying, most likely to sustain her life in university. Restaurants, department stores, cafes, you name it. She has a lot of experience in retail and customer service. For now, she doesn't have a job. She has been going around for job interviews ever since she graduated in May, but none was successful. No relatives, no close friends, she was a loner. Let's just say... if she's missing, no one would notice it."

The captain takes a moment to assess the information, weighing down all the pros and cons of the choice they have to make. Yeosang, his right hand man studies his expression, but he doesn't have to say anything to know what's on their leader's mind. Everyone knows that they currently only have two choices since their identities have been compromised: either kill her or take her in. Letting her go simply is not a choice because there is a risk of her revealing it to others, even if she would say she wouldn't.

They can't let her go, because they learnt the hard way why they shouldn't do that.

"We can't just... let her go, can we?" Yunho shifts in his seat, uncomfortable. He serves it as a question, but he already knows the answer. "She's just someone unfortunate to stumble upon our cafe and it's not even her fault she found out about it." He eyes the captain, whose mouth is twisting as he knows his big mouth is the reason for this mess.

"We can't risk it. Since we have to make a decision, we have to take into account everyone's opinions. Take her in... or kill her. You, Yeosang, what do you think?"

Yeosang flicks his eyes to the back door, which passage is dark as if it's leading into some ominous abyss. That's where she's currently lying at, her fate waiting to be chosen by eight strangers she just stumbled upon today. Her life is in their hands...

"I say kill her," he says coldly. "No point in taking her in when she'll just be a nuisance. We don't have the liberty to take in another person under our roof. Get rid of her, our secret stays safe."

"Aren't you being too harsh on her?" Yunho raises his voice. "You're saying that you would kill her just when it's not-"

"-even her fault?" Yeosang finishes. "Then what, you want to take her in, train her, and all that stuff so she can be a part of our team? Did you forget, Yunho? Life doesn't always go the way we want it to and it's her fate to be tangled up in this mess. Like how it was our fate in the first place-"

"Don't bring that up!" Seonghwa shouts. They are startled because he rarely gets angry at Yeosang, but it seems that he has touched a sensitive spot. They don't know whether his eyes are red because he just woke up from sleep, or because he's now angry. Yeosang glares at Seonghwa as the latter utters, "I agree with Yunho, it's not even her fault. The least we could do without compromising anything is take her in."

"Guys, come on. It's not the time to fight. We don't have much time to reach a decision before she wakes up." Mingi closes his laptop. "I agree with both Seonghwa and Yunho. We invited her in for a cup of coffee even when it was past opening hours and it was-" he continues cautiously, "-Hongjoong who spilled it. She was just a person at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I say kill her-" both Wooyoung and Jongho say simultaneously, before sheepishly pressing their mouths into thin lines.

Wooyoung tries to quickly justify himself, "I know it's... heartless." He really looks guilty, for someone who just gave a decision to kill an innocent girl. "But... all of you know," he sweeps his vision to the rest, "she'll end up being killed, even possibly tortured first, in the end because she now knows about what we do. She'll be hunted down by them and killed. After they're done with her, we'll be next."

A shiver travels along their spine as they hear the word 'them'. Such a heavy meaning to such a simple word.

San huffs. "So to avoid us getting killed after because we compromised our identities, we should kill her? We don't admit our fault, and let the girl pay the price first. This is crazy."

"Our life is fucking crazy as it is," Jongho mutters. "We kill people for a living, so why stop at her? If she ends up being a spy that was sent to break up our team, you will regret your decision to take her in."

"Choi Jongho!" Seonghwa knocks a fist on the table. "You saw her condition when you brought her back but now you want to kill her. Do you really feel nothing at all, when you see her bleeding?"

"No," he replies, but turns his face away. The look on his face betrays him as his lips slightly tremble. "Call me selfish for wanting to kill her, but I want to live. I don't want to get killed after we got this far. The secret will die with her, they don't know, we go on like normal."

"Aren't you the one being a hypocrite, Park Seonghwa?" Yeosang butts in, crossing his arms. "You're a sniper that kills people from far, in which your victims don't even know your face. The next thing they know is they're dead. Why are you being such a softie with her? You like her or something? Why, she reminds you of-"

"Shut up, Kang Yeosang before I batter that face of yours."

"That's enough, all of you," Hongjoong's voice booms through the cafe. They wonder if it could be heard until the back, where Byul is still currently unconscious. "No use in fighting. It was my fault, I should have been more careful. You're right, she was someone unfortunate to have heard what I said. But..."

"Kim Hongjoong," Seonghwa warns him. "Your decision will make or break this. Four want to take her in, and three want to kill her." His head snaps to the right, where Wooyoung and Jongho have their head down after putting in their choice. Only Yeosang's face remains stone cold. "If you decide to take her in then it's the majority. If you decide to kill her..." he taps a finger on the table, "that's a tie and we have to find some other way to reach an agreement."

Yeosang snorts. "I can't believe that we're really putting our necks on the line because of her. You do know that she's going to end up being killed anyway, don't you? The moment she found out, it was already game over. If we let her go, they will find her and kill her. Then we're next, because we showed her mercy. If we take her in, it will eventually be blown apart, they find out and kill her. Then we're next. So why don't we just save the trouble and kill her early on?"

"If we take her in, we can at least buy some time until we decide what to do with her," San interjects. "Protect her for the time being."

"This was why we were trained to not show our feelings," he bites back. "because all of you end up having your judgement clouded. Ah shit." He runs a hand through his hair, "All of you are really making me feel a little bit of sympathy for the girl back there. I wanted to kill her and get it over and done with, but you guys are really making me question my own decision."

They wait for Hongjoong's call, the leader in a bind. It was full on his fault, but whatever Yeosang said was right. The girl never had the chance to live the moment she found out; taking her in would only buy time before they know. He needs to protect his own team, but killing the innocent girl doesn't sit well with him. He takes a deep breath.

"Kill her."

---

[A/N: ATEEZ in Indonesia and I just :') brb crying--- I hope Mingi is resting well and I hope that he gets better!!! Since I miss Mingi:

Can you believe a man like him exists? Like... wow. A masterpiece. That's all I have to say.]