Hongjoong was doing most of the work, but Seonghwa didn't mind. By the time he hurried up the seemingly endless stairs leading up to the tower Terada had to sit in, his way was already lined with dead or unconscious bodies. Hongjoong was ruthless, leaving nothing behind for Seonghwa to take care of. Seonghwa felt oddly coddled by that treatment, but he could still complain later.

For now, he was just glad to be able to follow. His head had cleared up considerably since Hongjoong's surprise favour, and he was now back to his usual self. Well, as usual as it was since he was still waiting for his rut.

Seonghwa jumped up the stairs taking two at once as he pursued Hongjoong. By the time he reached the grand double doors at the top, Hongjoong was just pushing down the last guard. Their eyes met with a fierce determination reflecting in each other, then Seonghwa hurried past him and pushed the doors open.

The room was round and had a glass dome for a roof. Its centre was open, letting the cool night air stream in.

Terada was there too, pacing over the circular edge that led through the room underneath the roof. At the sound of Seonghwa stepping in, he looked up, the fingers around his gun tightening.

Hongjoong sneaked past Seonghwa and behind one of the two grand obelisks decorating the room.

Seonghwa refrained from glaring at Hongjoong, and instead focused on the angry yakuza. He was terrifyingly calm, his posture nearly too relaxed. Cautious, Seonghwa watched out for traps or hidden entrances as he stepped further in. Maybe Terada hadn't seen Hongjoong yet, and he would have a chance to fend off anything coming their way.

"You shouldn't have come here, Mister Park. This is my province, not one of your rotten little tombs," Terada spoke quietly. Seonghwa narrowed his eyes at him.

"Tell me about the amulet, Terada." He had to know something about it. There had to be some secret that they had overlooked, something to make it precious even for the yakuza.

"What about it? What is it that fascinates you, Mister Park?" He resumed walking, slowly pacing left and right. He even took his eyes off Seonghwa, a risky thing to do.

"Let me have a look at it, and I'll tell you," Seonghwa replied cockily. All of his senses were on high alert, checking for unfamiliar scents in the room, and listening for anything on the stairs. Terada might have called for backup already.

"Your persistence will be the death of you. You have disrespected me. You have broken into my house. You have killed my men..." He stopped in his tracks, turning to glare at Seonghwa again. Seonghwa pushed his hair back with his free hand, trying to look innocent. The blood on his suit ruined the look.

"I've simplified your payroll, and now, if you don't mind, I'll streamline your inventory. Are you surprised? This was never your artefact to claim anyway." Seonghwa watched him like a hawk as the man reached into his pocket. What he pulled out was the piece of shimmering metal on a necklace. Immediately, Seonghwa tensed again.

"You speak of this. It is the most prized of my collection." Terada ran his thumb over the surface possessively. Seonghwa tried to ignore the insane glint in his eyes. Treasures could make people like that.

"And why is that?" He was playing for time. He had to know if the man was expecting backup, had to gauge Hongjoong's reactions. It was hard to fight one enemy when the other one was right behind the corner.

"I am fond of recovering objects from dead Englishmen - in this case, one of your damsels. Some have even said the possessor was one of your King Arthur's affiliates. I do not know how the fool came by it, for it is clearly far older than the eleventh century when your people lived in huts of mud." He dangled the piece in front of his face, watching it swing back and forth. His face twisted into an unsettling smile.

Seonghwa rose his brow at him.

"And for this reason, you'd rather die than hand it over," he concluded based solely on the weird reactions the young man had shown. He believed to hear Hongjoong snicker in his corner.

Terada chuckled lowly.

"No, for this one." With that, he suddenly lifted his gun and shot at Seonghwa, aiming right at his head.

Startled, Seonghwa took a long moment to react, nearly getting killed right away.

It was only for the fancy dress shoe that was stained with blood kicking him in the knees that he lived. He went down in exactly the right moment to dodge the bullet while Hongjoong sidestepped him to open fire.

"Oh, you came together? Sweet. I've been told that you aren't quite at the best of health today, Mister Park. Did you need a lackey to ensure your survival? Pathetic. What would the media say?"

"The media would tell you to shut the fuck up because you don't even know who you are facing right now." With that, Hongjoong shot Terada in the shoulder without hesitation. The man cursed, dropping the amulet. However, he had been too far from the edge. He picked it right back up, cradling it against his blood-stained chest. Red was spreading over his white shirt fast.

Seonghwa jumped back on his feet quickly and drove around to the door when he heard a lot of steps come up the stairs.

"It's a trap! We are in a dead-end!" He moved back, more towards Hongjoong as the first men appeared and opened fire right away. Seonghwa immediately fired back.

"You're doing great, sweetie. Distract them for me." With that, Hongjoong's heat left his back as he moved to hunt down Terada, who was, without a doubt, trying to flee again.

Seonghwa wanted to turn and cuss him out, but the yelling enemies took his attention away from him first.

Seonghwa had to blindly trust into not getting hit in the back by a bullet as he tried shooting at all the men at the same time. The struggle behind him was severe, too, Terada's angry yelling notifying Seonghwa of his lack of strength against Hongjoong.

Hongjoong sometimes worried Seonghwa. He had never seen an omega who could fight like that. But then again, most of them just wouldn't dare to because of the stigma and what alphas could do to them.

He didn't want to dig into it further. Hongjoong didn't interest Seonghwa save for how he could get rid of the annoying redhair.

Somewhen into the battle, the noises behind Seonghwa finally quietened down, and the fire of two pistols joined him at his task. Seonghwa had only been brushed by a bullet to his hip so far, but apart from that, he was fine. The yakuza had more losses to mourn.

The last man standing managed to get another hit at Seonghwa. His shot grazed his shoulder intensely, making his arm flare up with pain. He faltered in his fighting for a second, and Hongjoong was the one who had to shoot the man.

"Come on, let's go."

Seonghwa turned to Hongjoong while he put his weapon in its place on his back and moved to press his hand down on the injury on his shoulder.

Hongjoong was about in one piece, and he had ditched Terada's body in a puddle of blood. Now, he was standing in the middle of the room, holding onto a rope ladder that had come through the roof.

Seonghwa blinked, looking up.

Hongjoong's chopper was floating above them, waiting for them to come up.

Curious, Seonghwa cocked his head.

"Me?"

"Do you see anybody else here? Come on, I'll give you a ride." Hongjoong impatiently nodded at him to come over.

"I'd rather not."

San and Hongjoong chided him at the same time.

"There are more coming up right at this moment, you just killed their boss!" San protested loud in his ear, making Seonghwa wince. Hongjoong, too, commented on their nearing scents.

"Stop being difficult. We will take you to our hotel, and you can stay the night and treat your wounds. You can disappear right away in the morning if you want, but I'd feel bad ditching you here after all I did to ensure your survival." Hongjoong rose a brow warningly, reminding Seonghwa of his debt.

Right, he had no room to discuss.

With a huff, he stepped to the ladder, grabbing onto it. The chopper immediately took off, ascending to carefully get them out of the building. Seonghwa and Hongjoong tiredly climbed up on both sides of the ladder, their muscles losing their strength as the adrenaline began to seep out of them.

"Who told you I won't put a bullet through your head as soon as I can? You've been a pain in the backside all this time."

Hongjoong gave a dry snort before pulling himself up into the chopper that took them over the lit city securely. He didn't pull up Seonghwa, but he managed just fine for himself anyway.

"I doubt that strongly with the taste of your cum still on my tongue. Hey, Jongho," the redhair gleefully greeted the young pilot who just threw a flat look over his shoulder. He smelled of beta, immediately calming Seonghwa down further. Exhausted, he dropped on the seat opposite of Hongjoong, looking out over the night skyline.

"Welcome aboard, Seonghwa."

Seonghwa arched his brow at Hongjoong when he noticed the familiar tone Jongho addressed him with.

"Hey, nice to meet you finally. I only ever saw you from a distance."

Jongho merely chuckled at that before concentrating on his work again.

"He's part of my pack. If you ever come over for tea, you can meet the rest of them too."

At that, Seonghwa pricked his ears. Hongjoong worked together with his pack then, just like Seonghwa did. Did he have a pack alpha? Was he mated by any chance, and that was why Seonghwa couldn't smell him that well? It made perfect sense.

"How many people are you?"

There was so much he didn't know about Hongjoong. He had never bothered to ask as he was too fixed on their rivalry, but now it seemed like a good idea to gather some intel. It might come in useful when he decided to ambush the man in the future.

"Four. Two betas, an omega, and me."

So no alpha. That would explain why Hongjoong lived as risky as he did.

It also explained why Hongjoong had dropped to his knees so willingly for Seonghwa. He wasn't used to having an alpha around.

It made Seonghwa feel just a little bit more powerful.

"Are you mated?"

The question slipped out without Seonghwa wanting it to, again. It seemed like his filter turned off whenever he was confronted with this man. He wanted to hit his own mouth for its stupidity. Quickly, he tried to save himself.

"Not that I care too much. It won't change my opinion on you, I'm just curious. You know, because it is only fair to ask, after all the years. Yes." Nonchalant, he adverted his eyes from Hongjoong again to look out of the open doors. They seemed to be going down already, having reached their goal.

"I'm not," Hongjoong simply answered with an amused chuckle.

Somehow relieved, Seonghwa nodded. Thank God, the man had gone easy on him.

"Are you?"

Suspicious, Seonghwa glanced over to him. The man had leaned forward slightly, the interest in his eyes real. His eyes travelled over Seonghwa's neck, trying to find any signal of a bite, but then again, it could be anywhere.

"...no."

A moment of silence passed between the two of them. Seonghwa would die to know what Hongjoong was thinking at the moment.

Jongho cleared his throat awkwardly.

"We're nearly there. Do you need me to get anything apart from bandages?"

Mortified, Seonghwa buried his face in his hands. He was having this conversation while Jongho was right there, listening to every word. He was clearly too tired for this.

"Some food would be nice. Seonghwa, what do you want to eat?"

"How about some steak?" Seonghwa muttered into his hands. Hongjoong understood him through some miracle.

"Order us some steak, please. And some cake... Strawberry cake."

Seonghwa narrowed his eyes at Hongjoong. Did he know it was Seonghwa's favourite kind of cake? He couldn't, right? He had to like it himself.

"Will do. Hold onto something, we're going down.