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"Do I know you?" Mari questioned, his grip tightening around Wooyoung's hand as she gave the boy a hard stare. The door to the room closed behind the pair, leaving them all alone with the boy in question. Jongho didn't say anything after his mysterious two words, only returning the girl's stare with an equally hard one. "Answer me, you have no choice but to." The girl demanded, feeling her brain already festering up with confusion and frustration.

The boy smiled at her, his expression almost teasing in a way. Though his one black eye restrained the moment in his face, causing his smile to be a little lopsided at the same time. "Oh yeah, I know you. Not much of course, but enough to pick you out of a crowd. It's funny, you're a lot different from how people describe you." He answered, sitting up in the seat he was tied to. "Oh, I shouldn't say people. More like... person."

"This is Choi Jongho," Yeosang formally introduced, twirling the keys to the room in his hands. He slid past Wooyoung and Mari to stand right in front of the boy currently under investigation, his expression never wavering from the blank one he wore. "It's been rather hard getting information out of him for the past few days. Yet he seems... rather talkative today."

The expression on Jongho's face dropped almost immediately. The little playfulness that was bouncing between his eyes and voice completely dissipated within seconds. Mari felt a rush of emotions overcome her, namely the despair from earlier. It was as if the boy was projecting his emotions out there for the world to see, unable to mask them to hide his true colors. He must truly be afraid of Yeosang.

She glanced between the two before dropping Wooyoung's hand as quickly as she could and pulling Yeosang back into line. The Consigliere's son stumbled at the sudden tugging as Mari pushed him behind her. "That's okay! We need him to be talkative, right?" Mari raised an eyebrow at the boy, silently telling him to back down before turning back to Jongho. "Listen, we aren't going to hurt you."

"Oh, I know." Jongho mocked, "Everyone has said that so far. I know exactly what you want, you want answers to situations I have no part in!"

Wooyoung rolled his eyes at the boy's words, not too keen on his complaining. "Look here kid, we're trying to be the good guys in the situation. We, well... she, wants to prove your innocence to everyone else so we can let you go free. All you have to do is answer a few questions and you're ready to go." He attempted to explain, though Jongho wasn't buying anything he was being told.

"Listen to me," Mari said, though it was more of a growl of frustration. She took a few steps forward before crouching down in front of him, placing her hands on the boy's shoulders to catch his attention. Jongho winced as a result, perhaps because he may have had some injuries on his shoulders. Mari immediately recoiled her hands, instead of placing them on his lap.

Jongho reluctantly looked down at the girl, his face contorted with pain from his already aching wounds being touched. Mari didn't break eye contact with him, making sure that he paid attention to what she was saying. "I think you need us on your side right now. We're the only ones who believe you're innocent... I'm the only one who believes your innocent. And that must seem like something right? Seeing as I'm high ranked or whatever you wanna call it."

"Of all the people in this room right now," Wooyoung spoke up, crossing his arms as he crouched down next to Mari. "You can trust her completely. Out of everyone in this building right now? She's the only one you can trust. All we need you to do is answer just a few questions so we can find a way to get you out of here." Mari couldn't help herself, unable to hide the growing and happy smile that was on her face. No matter what she decided to do Wooyoung always became her ride or die, even if the odds were stacked against them.

"You two are an impossible duo," Yeosang commented, only to receive snickering from the crouched down friends. Though the Consigliere's son quickly reined them back into a serious manner, needing them to focus while they still could. "Now, Choi Jongho, are you going to comply or not?"

Jongho frowned, completely lost in thought for a second. He looked up after a couple moments of pondering, the chains bounding him to the chair jingling as he fidgeted about. "I really wish I had some... crazy unheard of information for you to hear. But I've been telling everyone the exact same information and it's gotten me nowhere. I don't think it can really help in this situation."

"But I haven't heard this information yet!" Mari exclaimed, her hands balling into a tight fist as she tried to explain herself. "Can't help you if I don't hear the full story. There are such things as loopholes for a reason Jongho, and I'm not stupid! If you're hiding information from me just because I seem like I won't figure out what's going on then you're digging herself a deep hole for own grave."

Jongho frowned, glancing towards each of the teenagers that were staring him down. "It's nothing useful, everyone else seems to think I'm hiding some sort do secret between it all," The boy rolled his eyes as he leaned up against the back of the stair, using his foot to keep him from losing his balance. "I've told everyone that I was out one night like I usually was, trying to.... to make my way back to where I came from."

Mari stared at Jongho for a second, taking note of the sudden pause in his sentence. He opened his mouth to continue on with his recalling of the events he experienced, seemingly not going to explain where he was going. "Don't stop, tell us where you were going. We can only help you as long as you give us enough information to solidify your alibi."

"Do I have to? It's not that important, I swear it isn't." Jongho begged, talking in the form of pouts as if he was a five year old. Wooyoung had to cover his mouth to hide the growing smile and small giggles that continued to escape his mouth, not being able to take the restrained boy seriously. "I mean it! It's not very significant to this whole ordeal so there's no point in—"

"I advise you tell us," Yeosang informed him, his stone cold gaze never leaving the boy's figure. "Either we find out or they find out, you can determine for yourself which one is more beneficial for you."

Jongho grimaced at Yeosang words, not making the boy feel any better about revealing his hidden information. Mari glanced between the two boys at her side before turning back to the youngest one in front of her," Unfortunately it's rather important to this situation. We need to know where you were beforehand so we can check to make sure you're telling the truth. Missing information will only lead to your misfortune."

"I'm not allowed to talk about it. No one is supposed to know that it even exists." Jongho explained, though he took one more look at Yeosang and began to assess the situation he was in a little further. "Actually the more I think about it, it's probably not as much of a secret as the crime syndicate that not only kidnapped me but is taking the time to talk to me right now..."

"You think?" Mari questioned him, earning another childish giggle from Wooyoung.

Jongho rolled his eyes as he thought about what he was going to say next, thinking rather carefully about his words. "The people who know about the place call it the Utopia. It's sorta like... an underground fight club, I guess? Though it has several other functions besides the actual fighting part, that's just what I involve myself in. Every night when I have the chance, that's where I go."

"I know the Utopia. I never went inside, but there have been several men in the faction sent there to discuss negotiations between gangs and factions from this country or others." Wooyoung explained, a confused expression donning his face as he studied Jongho. "You're there for the fights, right? Are you a Watcher, betting on the fights that are held there I assume."

"Watcher? Betting? Oh no, I don't have the money for that," The boy corrected, an offended look on his face at Wooyoung's assumption. "I'm there for the fights, meaning I'm in the fights. I'm what they call a Player I think. I fight other Players for the Watchers entertainment and to get a little money on the side. It works for me! Usually, I come out as the winner there, but when those guys from this place jumped me? I was totally outnumbered."

"That means you've been branded though, you're chained to the Utopia the moment you decide you want to become a player," Wooyoung stated, tensing up at thought of fighting in the Utopia. Mari didn't understand why he was so frustrated with the boy's decision, a decision that was clearly made long before they had ever known about the existence of Jongho. Whatever Wooyoung was going to try to do, convince him to leave she assumed, he wouldn't be able to sway the boy's mind.

"What's done is done Wooyoung, we can't change the decisions of other people," Mari pointed out, attempting to make her friend back down off from whatever emotion-fueled nagging he was going to do. "You should know that, especially being friends with me for so long. But think about it this way, now we know why my dad thinks Jongho was a possible culprit to the attack. He's in the Utopia and factions are known for holding meetings there, plus the fact that he's a... player or something? It makes sense in my dad's head!"

"Shut up!" Yeosang hissed, making the three turn there heads towards the boy. Mari immediately opened her mouth to retaliate but noticed that the Consigliere's son wasn't even looking towards them. His eyes were glued to the door he had locked behind them earlier, watching as the lock twisted and turned in an attempt to open it up. After a short moment of silence, there was the jiggling sound of keys on the other side of the door, followed by clicking the noise of an unlocking door. "Shit."

Mari and Wooyoung both shared worried glances before turning towards Choi Jongho, noticing all the color in his face drain into a single white and his body tensing up against the chains that kept him bound to the chair. "They weren't joking when they said they were bringing them, did they? I'm gonna die here."

The girl's eyes widened at the boy's statement before grabbing Wooyoung's hand instinctively. "We're so fucking screwed."

Yeosang backed away from the door, not daring to try and kept the person out of the room. He stood right in front of Wooyoung and Mari as if making himself a human shield for the two against whatever outside the door was coming inside. They all held their breath as the door began to creak open, revealing not only the Underboss and Mari's own father at the door but someone else. There was a smaller figure behind the two men, their arms crossing against their chest as they tapped their foot impatiently on the ground.

"What are you doing here?" The Underboss questioned, his voice echoing throughout the room loud and clear. The trio began to spew out anything that came to mind, desperately trying to put together an alibi to justify their reasoning for being in the room. Though the Underboss's anger was immediately pointed towards Yeosang, a snarl growing on his face as he spoke," I don't even have to guess do I? You brought them here, didn't you? You know they don't have permission from any higher—"

The man's voice caught off by a hysterical laugh that began to ring out everyone's ears, unable to contain itself to just a mere chuckle. "Now isn't this just hilarious! Who would have ever thought this would have happened?" Mari recognized the voice, she recognized it a little too well for her liking really. Without a second thought, she shoved past Wooyoung with a little more strength than she had meant, sending him stumbling to the side as she stood in front of the two.

The figure easily slid between the Underboss and her father, revealing them to be a female with a dragon tattoo snaking up her right arm, a known symbol of a third lesser-known yet still powerful faction. Her heels clicked on the stone floor as she stood in front of Mari, a knowing smirk growing on his face. "I knew there had to be a reason for that bold and brash attitude of yours. But who would have thought you had all of this to hide, Seo Mari."

"Jaerin," Mari responded, forcing herself to be composed no matter how hard it was to control herself. The last time she had seen Jaerin was during Mingi's party when the girl had coaxed her into drinking some sort of alcohol she had no knowledge of. As of now, it had been almost two weeks since she had last seen her. "What is she doing here? You always have an explanation for things so this one better be as good as the rest." The girl demanded, quickly glancing towards her father for answers.

"This is Lee Jaerin, though it seems you two have met already," He began, walking towards the two girls who were on the verge of possibly attacking each other. Her father placed a hand on Jaerin's shoulder as her smile grew into a sickly sweet one. "She is the daughter of the Godfather in the Lee Faction. You understand what that means right? She's just like you, she's next in line to lead the Lee Faction just as you are with ours. And she's come to pick up Choi Jongho, a member of her faction."