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Wooyoung didn't exactly know how he ended up where he was. The last thing he remembered was trying to follow after Mari in the nearly pitch black manor, the sounds of gunshots and screams from power struggles echoing off the walls. They had tried to stick close to the walls of the manor, out of the middle of the fight against Mari's will. As much as the girl itched to throw herself straight into the middle of a fight, Wooyoung had to keep her on track. They weren't trying to start a massacre, they were trying to find Jaerin.

Though Wooyoung doubted Jaerin would be in the Seo Manor anymore. The girl was as soft as dough, she nearly cried when Mari had attacked out of pure frustration and she wasn't even armed with a weapon. Why in the world would the Lee Faction heir stay in the manor where the fight is occurring? She most likely had run away the moment the Kim Faction had signaled the beginning of their assault on the Seo Manor.

Despite his very many doubts that were brewing up in his head, he continued to follow after Mari. He had no choice but to do so, not when there was a possibility of her being hunted down by a pack of wolves. He'd rather die than let Mari be mauled to death by the people who were planning to kill her father and murdered her mother in cold blood. Plus, the girl was absolutely unstoppable at the moment.

In a sense, she was like a cobra. Slithering through the darkest parts of the room and waiting for her chance to strike. Mari's anger was her venom, festering, and growing stronger within until she found her prey and was able to attack now that she was provoked. She really did live up to that snake ring on her hand, the basic embodiment of an infuriated snake.

Somewhere along the line, however, the two were separated. Mari was no longer in his sights, long gone and off somewhere running around the manor in a fit of rage. He was supposed to stay by her in order to keep her from making some sort of irrational decision or being attacked by their enemies, not only Yeosang but her own father had appointed him to do so. Yet here he was, confused on where exactly he was and what was going on.

He had entered a room trying to find her, squinting hard and hoping that his eyes would adjust to the darkness of the manor. He was standing right in the door frame, not daring to walk in without any sort of backup to follow behind him. "I'm not that stupid..." Wooyoung mumbled, carefully peering towards the eerily silent room. Everywhere else in the manor was bustling with action and noise but this singular room was quiet and it simply didn't sit right with his stomach.

He tried to back away from the room, turning his heel into a totally different direction until he felt a hand grab at his ankle from the shrouded darkness. Wooyoung bit back a scream of pure terror, caught off guard, and immediately assumed it to be one of the soldiers who had fallen in battle with the rival faction. However, the hand was warm and alive, digging their nails into his skin and dragging him back into the darkness of the room. The boy grabbed a hold of the door frame, trying to keep himself from being pulled away by the mysterious person and shaking them off his ankle.

"This isn't the fucking Jigsaw movies!" He yelled in frustration, flailing his leg around to try and make them lose their grip on his ankle. Yet they seemed keen and dragging him away, their grip tightening and their strength increasing with every second. "Let go of me!"

He lost his grip as he tried to heave himself out the doorway, his hands fumbling and slipping on accident. Immediately Wooyoung dragged away, aimlessly clawing at anything he could get his hands on to stop him from moving. Yet the speed he was being pulled at was much faster than he could shoot his hands out to grab at any object that whizzed straight past him. He mumbled curses to himself as he reached down towards his leg, reaching out the hand wrapped around his ankle to pry them off instead of fighting against it.

Once he was far enough in the room, however, he was let go. They released their hands from his leg despite leaving a rather harsh red bruise from holding onto him so tight and quickly stepped away from him while they still had the chance. Wooyoung's eyes struggled to adjust to the even darker room, only being able to make out blurry shapes and unable to identify what they might actually be. As he got off the ground, rubbing his leg to soothe the pain it had endured a few seconds ago, the doors to the room shut closed.

A locking sound followed after the closing of the doors, signally that he was trapped inside of the dark room with no known way out. "Are you serious right now," Wooyoung mumbled, blinking his eyes rapidly so that he could adjust to the darkness and begin exiting the room in any way possible.

To his knowledge, there was absolutely nothing in the room he had been dragged into. It was a big empty space with tiled flooring, but that was it. No furniture dotting around the room, no objects randomly scattered about, not a single remnant of life was in the room. It was just dark and quiet and empty, the only thing he could truly hear was the sound of his nervous breaths and the pounding of his heartbeat in his chest. At least he knew he wasn't alone for the most part, as the person who has dragged him inside of the room was most likely locked inside as well.

The sound of heels clicking against the floor caught him off guard, nearly jumping out of his skin at the sudden eerie noise. "Wooyoung?" A voice asked, feminine and familiar to him, but he couldn't exactly place his finger on where exactly it was familiar from. "That's you, right? Jung Wooyoung?"

"Who's asking?" He replied, indirectly answering their question. The sound of approaching heels stopped, the last click echoing through the room's walls and distorting his sense of direction. Though his response made the voice chuckle, her sickly sweet laughter flooding the room and messing with his mind again. Her laugh was bouncing off the walls like a ball, making it hard to pinpoint where she was truly located in the room.

Just as Wooyoung opened his mouth to reply, something stabbed him in his side. It was a small aching pain, too small to be a knife piercing into his side. Yet when he suddenly felt his brain begin to shut down, all sense of consciousness washing from his body, he knew something was wrong. He held his hands up towards where the punctured feeling, determined to take whatever had entered his body out, but the minor aching began to spike in pain. His side was practically throbbing as he fell to his knees and soon to the ground completely, fading in and out of consciousness as his head began to spin.

Wooyoung tried to force himself off of the ground, reaching towards the locked doors desperately as he lost all feeling within his arms and hands. The heels began to approach him, slower this time, and making their clicking of the ground more melodic than before. "Don't worry, sweetheart. You'll find out soon enough. For now... I just want you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. After all! We're approaching the main event now."

"They won't..." Wooyoung mumbled, involuntarily closing his eyes as he tried his best to stay awake. "Let you get away with this," Yet the combination of the throbbing pain in his side, the dizziness in his head, the loss of all movement in his body was making it difficult. It was only a matter of time before he completely blacked out, unable to speak and move and vulnerable to the enemy that stood before him. 

There was a slight chuckle in the air after his consciousness was gone. He was still breathing but was no longer aware of his surroundings enough to stop anyone from doing something to him. "Oh but sweetheart...," they spoke, watching the rising and falling of his chest to make sure he was still alive, "I already have."

Mari hid behind the corner of the hallway, her back pressed up against it as if she was trying to phase into the structure. On the other side of her were several loud gunshots that were following the bullets that whizzed past her, embedding themselves into a door that's on the opposite side of the hallway. A few Kim Faction goons had spotted her trying to creep away from the danger, searching for Wooyoung after losing him amiss the chaos. Armed with no weapon on her person she was forced into hiding, running away as fast as her legs could take her.

"Wooyoung, where the fuck did you go?" She mumbled as the sounds began to cease, only to be followed by the reloading of a magazine into a firearm. Mari cursed under her breath as she peered around the corner, greeting by the sight of a muzzle being pointed right in her general direction. The girl disappeared around the corner again when her enemies pulled on the trigger and began shooting at her again, forcing her to her knees and covering her ears to block out the noise.

How long was she going to wait in this little hideaway of hers? Until the Kim Faction soldiers ran out of ammo? They were in the Seo Manor to wage war on their rival faction, they were undoubtedly armed with as much ammo as they needed to continue pushing on the fight.

Her only current option was to continue walking down the dark hallway and hope it didn't come to an end. Who knew when those men would realize she was hiding anymore and trying to make her escape. If Mari was walking towards a dead end they'd catch her in an instant. "I'll take anything at this point," she told herself as she cautiously began to sit up, her legs weak from the anxiety that tried to arise within her. "A pistol, a baseball bat, a fucking hairbrush. Anything that can get me out of this situation."

She wondered if the Kim Faction members could see her face. Maybe that's why they were relentlessly attacking her? Because they recognized her to be one of the main targets that their faction was after? Or maybe it was just because she was on the side of their rivals and they were ordered to murder anyone of them on sight. Whatever it was, Mari didn't like the idea of either of them.

"Where the fuck are the snipers when you need one," She growled, lamenting on the day San had been temporarily working as a sniper for the Utopia mission. What she wouldn't give to get him on her side again.

Mari waited until the shooting had ceased, listening for the enemy to reload their weapons again as she began sprinting down the hallway. Her running form wasn't the best it could have been, slightly sloppy due to her pushing out as much energy as her Boyd could exert to get down the hallway. A loud and sharp pop noise exploded from behind her as a small object whizz just past her, penetrating the wall beside her instead of her head. She turned around with an arrogant grin as she yelled back at them, "Stormtrooper aim!"

Terror waved over her face as her eyes landed on her attacker, nearly stumbling due to the mere shock of the sight in front of her. Standing where the men of the Kim Faction originally stationed was a lone figure, aiming their shotgun at Mari's body with great concentration and focus. Lightning struck the ground outside of the manor, flashing the windows with its bright white light and illuminated the figure in front of her. Her attacker was rather small, not that far from a petite figure, dressed in all black clothing and a mask covering their face to hide their features.

The assassination group had caught up to her, but she didn't even know where they had come from. "You're fucking kidding me."

Lighting flashed again as the rain began to pour down outdoors, lighting up her attacker's face and displaying the crinkling around their eyes as if they were smiling at her. Their hands rested upon the trigger of their weapon as they focused in on Mari, evaluating where she was the most vulnerable at the moment. The girl immediately fixed her running form and pushed herself to run faster, sliding across the carpet in the hallway as she tried to make her getaway. As much as she'd love to fight the assassination group that was failing after her, she wasn't well equipped to take on the challenge.

"Dammit, Wooyoung!" Mari cursed as one shot was fired, just barely missing her shoulder when she made a sharp turn down a hallway. "You're my appointed bodyguard for a reason, where did you even go?" The girl spotted a door on the hallway that was left open, probably after whatever men that were inside had rushed out to defend the manor. She practically threw herself inside as another shot was fired, shattering a glass vase sitting on top on a round table.

Mari slammed the door shut, locking herself inside and immediately darting out of the way of the door. She held her breath as her attacker tried to open it, yanking and pulling on the door handle aggressively to try and force it open. Her eyes began to scan the area for any sort of makeshift weapon she could find, anything that could at least be a little helpful against an assassin armed with a shotgun. Though the room she had entered seemed like a common conference room, a big round table in the room and chairs surrounding the object. The chairs were scattered about the room creating a rather complex terrain to move through, so she could possibly use that to her advantage.

"Gun, gun, gun..." She repeated to herself, quickly searching through every bookshelf and hidden compartment she could find. "It doesn't even have to be a gun," Mari spoke as if trying to bring the luck gods into her favor. "In fact, I can take a stapler and make it into a weapon! As long as I don't die here it's fine."

A clicking noise echoed through the rather empty room as thunder slowly began to roll through the area after the lightning strikes, signaling that the attacker was reloading the shotgun in their hands and getting ready to simply aimlessly fire into the room. Mari cursed as she opened up a drawer next to a bookshelf, nearly forcing the drawer out of its place, before being greeted by an unused black pistol.

It seemed new, like it had been bought, loaded, and forgotten about all in one day. She quickly snatched the gun out of its resting spot as a bullet penetrated the wooden door, a warning shot for her enemy's arrival. Mari jumped to action immediately, pressing her back against the wall and tightly holding onto the pistol's trigger as she waited for them to enter.

Instead of busting the door down, the door handle jingled around for a few seconds as the lock was picked. The muzzle of the shotgun entered the room first as if it was stalking and sniffing her out before the actual person decided it was safe to walk in. Quietly they began to creep through the door, their eyes focused on what was in front of them instead of Mari who was silently standing beside the door. "Surprise," The girl chirped before letting go of the trigger as she aimed towards their chest.

Her aim as a little off due to the close proximity, lodging the bullet right in between their collarbone and shoulder blade. Her attacker shrieked at the sudden hit, stumbling to their knees as soon as they tried to cover up the bleeding wound she had created. The black fabric of their clothing started to grow thick with their blood, revealing a rather nasty image of their injured skin.

Her attacker gasped rapidly, trying to soothe the pain despite knowing the bullet was stuck in an uncomfortable place in their body and reached for the shotgun they had dropped after collapsing. Mari kicked away the weapon from their grasp, watching them reach for their only source of protection pitifully. "Where is Lee Jaerin," She demanded from them, pointing the muzzle of her pistol towards her injured attacker.

The assassin cautiously raised their head towards her, one hand clenched around their wound as they spoke. "I'd rather die," They spat her voice rather high pitched and muffled thanks to the mask they wore around their face, "than answer a snake like you."

Her grip around the black pistol tightened as she pressed her finger hovering over the trigger, aiming the muzzle at their forehead. "You're going to die here in this manor anyway, you might as well be useful while you still have the chance." She threatened, glaring down the Kim Faction assassin. "Now answer me, where the fuck is Lee Jaerin?"

Her attacker's lips were sealed, refusing to hand over the information they knew and returning her furious glare with one built with fire. Before Mari could unleash a fury of gunshots, the weakened assassin spoke to her. "Escaping," They told her, forcing themselves to stay conscious. "You are not the only one... who wants her head on a silver platter."

Mari thought about their words for a moment before cursing to herself. The Kim Faction was going to kill Jaerin in order to silence her and keep her away from the Lee and Seo Faction. "I have to get to her before they do." She cursed, leaving the dying assassin where they were and immediately sprinting out of the room. If the Kim Faction got Jaerin before she did, it was truly game over for her.

Murdering the daughter of the Lee Faction's Godfather would spark outrage within the faction, bringing them into the war between the Kim and Seo factions and stripping them of their alliance with the faction. As much as Mari didn't like Jaerin, she would much rather keep the devastation under control instead of letting the fatalities rise in numbers because of an additional powerful faction coming into play.

The rain was pounding against the walls of the manor as she skidded down the hallway, rushing out onto the second floor opening where she could everything below her. Complete and utter chaos was occurring everywhere she looked, fighting between members of the Lee, Kim, and Seo faction as they battled it out against each other as if they were in the middle of a battle royal. When lighting would flash and thunder came booming through everyone's ears, she was able to catch sight of a few other figures as well: members of the Japanese yakuza fighting by the Seo Faction's side and several members of the assassination group the Kim Faction had put together attacking anyone they catch sight of.

None of them were Jaerin though, none of them were Wooyoung. She couldn't find them amongst the wild crowd no matter how hard she squinted to find them. "Incoming!" A voice screamed as a bottle was thrown through the air, carrying a fire within its container before shattering on the ground and bursting everything that came into contact with it a flame. Mari's eyes went wide as she watched the fire began to spread quickly, forcing the surrounding people to flee away or attempt to put out the flames as quickly as possible. The only thing Mari could think about was the burning Utopia, watching the building catch ablaze and nearly trapping her friends inside.

"Watch out!" A familiar voice called out, slamming right into Mari's torso and making them both tumble towards the ground. A stray bullet smashed against a window, shattering the glass as she hit the ground with a heavy thud and wincing at the pain that shot up her back. When she looked up she saw the apologetic smile of San hovering over her, quickly jumping back onto his feet and urging her to do the same. "Sorry, I did that on instinct. Where's Wooyoung, wasn't he supposed to be with you in case that assassination group is here?"

"Good question," She answered him as she stood back up, noticing the angry red flames that tried to arise had been put out and covered the manor into darkness again. "I have absolutely no clue. We got separated and I haven't seen him since, but it's too late now anyway so I'm most likely their current target. They know I'm here, I just don't know where they are."

"Are you serious?" San mumbled, visibly frustrated by the news he had received. "At least we know they're not after the boss, you can stand a chance on your own better than he can at his age."

Mari nodded her head in response, noticing something moving in her peripheral vision. When she turned to confront it, she only saw the back end of a heeled shoe disappearing around the corner towards where her father's office was located. There were only two prevalent women in the girl's life that would hear heels in the middle of a fight like this and she didn't like either option. "Scrap what I said, I think my father is the target."

San gave Mari a confused expression, peering off towards where she was looking but unable to catch the same sight she had. "What do you mean? Was the assassination group not after you just now?"

"Hey San, I know we haven't addressed this yet but I'm really sorry for lying to you," She quickly said, spewing out whatever words came out of her both as she began to back away towards where the heeled shoes disappeared to. "I didn't want you to treat me any differently just because I'm the daughter of the Godfather all, but I've realized that you would have seen me as a friend either way and I appreciate you so much for that."

"What—," He began, unable to keep up with Mari's pace. "That's not important right now. Why are you—"

"I need you to trust me again, just like you have in the past no matter how many times I've nearly pissed you off or brushed off your need to be there for me as a friend," She demanded. "Go find Jongho and Wooyoung and bring them to my father's office. Come armed, and if I don't answer the door when you get there just bust in there guns blazing, okay?"

"It sounds like you're preparing for the worst." San pointed out, immediate worry donning his face as the worse processed in his head.

She smiled at him, spinning the black pistol by its trigger guard. "I might be. It all depends on how angry I am when I get there."

Without letting him reply, Mari quickly dashed off towards where the heeled shoes were spotted. The adrenaline was pumping within her veins like gasoline to the car, fueling her anger and anxiety as if festered up inside of her. Whether it was Jung Chaeyeon or Lee Jaerin, she wasn't going to let either of them lay a finger on her father. It didn't matter whether she was on good terms or horrible terms with him, that was overstepping the line.

She skidded to stop as she turned the corner, reaching the hallway that led towards the giant mahogany doors of her father's office. The door was propped open, slowly closing behind them as they entered inside. She couldn't see who was there, but she could definitely make a wild guess as who was trying to get in. "Lee Jaerin!" Mari screamed, her voice cracking as she did so. "Jung Chaeyeon! Either one of you, I don't care. Take one more step into that room and I swear to god I'll do more than just shoot your heart out of your chest."

There was a small chuckle that came from the opened door before being slammed shut in her face. "No! Fuck no, fuck no!" She cursed, rushing towards the mahogany doors, grabbing ahold of the handles and pulling them over. To her relief the doors weren't locked, swinging wide open to reveal the insides of the room. It was dark, just like the rest of the manor that had lost its power, the only light that was filtering in from the windows was the lightning that would strike the ground every so often outside.

Mari cautiously walked in, trying her best to remember the layout of the office so that she didn't crash into anything. It seemed like anyone was inside the office either, no sight of her father, Yeosang, or the heeled figure anywhere inside. It was empty. It was silent. And then the mahogany doors shut behind her, the slamming of the doors booming and echoing through the room as she turned around to aim her pistol towards it again.

Lightning struck the ground outside, thunder blaring in her ears as the light flickered in through the windows of the room. The white light illuminated a figure that stood at the door, their gloved hands holding the door handle to the office shut and their body hidden within the black clothing that adorned their body. The familiar fedora like hat sat on their head as well, hiding their more prominent features like their eyes and hair away from her. Slowly they turned their head, glancing over their shoulder to stare at her in the darkness left by the lightning strike.

As thunder rolled through the manor once more, Mari shot at them though missing either way. It was a trick, luring her into her father's office and separating her from the rest of the faction. She wasn't going to waste any time now as she agitated a fight between her and the Kim Faction's assassin. All she needed to do was immobilize them, grab the information she needed, and run while she still had the chance. Their goal was to either kill or kidnap Mari, her goal was to find Jaerin and expose her to the Seo Faction before the Kim Faction killed her.

The Kim Faction member moved in the darkness, using it to their advantage as they traveled around the room with a quickness that Mari could barely keep up with. She tried though, aiming her pistol towards where they made the most noise and shooting a bullet with the best aim she could possibly do in the darkness. Mari assumed she at least grazed them a few times, a grunt or wince of pain escaping their mouth every so often she'd shoot.

Though the sound of the gunshot was distorting, the noise ringing in her ears each time she pulled the trigger and forcing her aim to get worse and worse. She cursed under her breath when she pulled back on the trigger again, only to find that she had completely emptied the pistol and needed to reload. Yet she didn't have an extra magazine on her as she simply grabbed a pistol in a rush to defend herself.

She yelped when she felt a pair of hands wrap around her neck, shoving her to the ground and nearly crashing into a table on the way down. Mari squirmed under the weight of their body, trying her best to push them off of her as the air to her lungs was suddenly blocked. This was an attempt to kill her, choking her out on the floor of her father's office.

"This..." they growled, squeezing tightly against her neck to completely break the transportation of air in her body. Their voice was muffled behind the mask that they wore, though they were barely speaking over a whisper. Mari could barely catch it as she was preoccupied with removing their hands from her neck. "Will be the last time you interfere with us."

The mahogany doors opened up behind them, catching both of the two off guard with the sudden intrusion. When the Kim Faction assassin turned their head, their grip loosening on her, Mari raised her leg to kick them away. She put as much strength into her legs as possible as she slammed both of them straight into their chest, sending the assassin tumbling into a table and tipping it over. Everything on its surface fell to the ground, shattering on impact and echoing throughout the room as a laugh flooded their ears.

"Isn't this a sight for sore eyes?" Jaerin's voice spoke, her figure standing in the door frame. Mari immediately started to feel around for her pistol, dropping it when she had been trapped and choked on the ground. Yet she ceased all movement when she heard a gun being loaded and cocked, her eyes turning toward where the Kim Faction assassin stood and coming face to face with the muzzle of their pistol.

"I can only imagine what's going through your head right now," Jaerin commented, closing the mahogany doors behind her as she began to walk around the room. "Why is Lee Jaerin here, she has no business to be here after all of the chaos she's caused," She spoke, strolling around in the dark office as if Mari wasn't on the verge of being murdered on the spot. Though Jaerin was the only thing keeping the Kim Faction member from putting a bullet in her head.

The girl's hands dragged along the couch's cushions as she approached Mari, her heels clicking against the floor as she spoke. "I've simply come to watch the show, maybe even spice it up a little bit," Jaerin explained as she took hold of Mari's hand. She immediately tried to snatch her hand away from her, the sound of a trigger being fiddled with forced her to stop. The Lee Faction girl laughed as she snatched the snake ring off of her index finger, twirling the small ring around her pinky as she admired it. "How pretty is this... where did you get this from? I want it to be mine."

When Mari didn't answer her, her glare burning holes into Jaerin's head as she held the snake ring, she sighed in frustration. "Fine, I'll just take this one myself," She shrugged, turning to walk out of the office. She stopped as she placed her hands on the door handle, turning to the Kim Faction member who was still in the room. "Go ahead and kill her, she's all yours."

"Wait! Hold on!" Mari yelled just before the Kim Faction member could pull the trigger and Jaerin could walk out the room. The girl stopped in her tracks as another lightning bolt hit the ground, illuminating the room with its bright light as she reached her hand out towards Jaerin. "I'll do anything," She begged, gesturing towards the ring in her hands. "I'll do anything if you just give me back the ring. I promise you, Jaerin. I don't ever go back on a promise."

The girl turned towards Mari, a sinister aura radiating off of her as she held the snake ring in her hands. "Anything?"

"Anything." She repeated. "Anything for that ring." She could feel Jaerin smiling at her as she gestured away from her, pointing towards the Kim Faction member who had their gun aimed at her.

Mari cautiously turned to them, noticing how their posture had faltered and the muzzle of their pistol was aimed at the ground instead of her body. Her eyes traveled up their entire figure, trying to understand why they were suddenly hesitant to attack their enemy. She saw their figure move under the darkness before a lightning strike from the storm flashed again, revealing the fiery red hair all too vibrant and familiar for her to forget. "Princess?"

"Hongjoong?" Mari questioned, her voice much more shrill and hesitant than when she was speaking to Jaerin. All the confidence within her body was washed away in an instant upon laying her eyes on the boy in front of her. "You're joking, right? This isn't... this can't be."

The pistol fell out of his hands as she approached him, taking a hold of his arm and pulling the black glove off his right hand. Thunder rolled through the manor as another lightning bolt struck the ground, giving her all the light she needed to spot the sun, moon, and stars inked on his wrist. It was nearly the same as the tattoo on her wrist, the sun tattooed on his arm colored in black to oppose her moon. "Mari, listen I—"

"Then kill him, Seo Mari," Jaerin offered," since you want this ring back so bad. Kill Hongjoong and I'll give it back to you. He is the heir to the Kim Faction after all, murdering him would give you all the vengeance your faction seeks and your poor mother's ring back. I promise, I cross my heart and hope to die."

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Sorry for all the typos,,,,,
I got excited :D