'Jung Ji Wo...' Yoonah gulped the saliva stuck inside of her throat as beads of sweat rolled down her temple. 'Hoseok's sister.'

The temperature surrounding them unexpectedly fell as silence engulfed the three. Yoonah, especially her, found it almost impossible to breathe— it's as if the frigid and cold hair had kept her frozen, wicking away her body heat faster than it is replaced. Her clothes, already ripped and battered, felt thinner than they are as she locked eyes with Jiwoo from the rear view mirror, who's observing the two girls behind the driver's seat.

"I didn't expect for us to meet this way..." (Y/N) mutters in a breathy tone, catching both Yoonah and Jiwoo by surprise. The (h/c) haired female cautiously brought one foot to her right hand, glancing at Jiwoo from time to time, as she unties her shoelaces. "Jung Jiwoo. The moment I closed the door and you started driving, I recognized you because Hoseok has picture of the two of you in his bedroom."

Jiwoo gripped the steering wheel of her car and gritted her teeth. "And you're the infamous (Y/N) (L/N), I presume. I heard a lot of stories about you from Hoseok. He didn't fail to mention every single details— from the moment he saw you, the moment he fell in love with you, and the moment you escaped."

"He called me earlier, right after I was discharged from the hospital," Jiwoo chuckles before raising an eyebrow, "you know (Y/N)... I really did hope that you were going to be my friend... my best, best friend because of how Hoseok described you to me. And I still am hoping for that, but it seems like the slot is already taken by her. I don't appreciate it when something I like, something that I want has been taken by someone else."

Yoonah sucks in a deep breath as Jiwoo's threatening words robbed her the ability to move. Her muscles cramped together tightly, the paralyzing fear dictated her stomach to lurch and disgorge the little food she had in her stomach. Too incapacitated with fear, she blinks slowly, her eyelids feeling heavier than what it really is. Her eyes moved to the scenery beyond the window separating her from the freedom she aches to have... then her heart began beating, pounding against her chest as if it was ready to jump out.

The road ways.

The street signs.

Everything.

It all seems familiar.

That's when she realized...

They were going in circles.

She began to panic. Sweat dripped off her forehead, the bead strolling down her cheeks, jaw, until it splattered on the collar of her shirt. She dug the jagged parts of her nails into the frail tissue of her skin, drawing out crimson blood to pool on her clammy palms. Yoonah crumbled to her seat as the crushing feeling of hopelessness plagued her mind.

Multiple thoughts flashes back and forth as she attempts to think of a way to get themselves out of this car. She thought of using the knife (Y/N) carried earlier, but she remembered it was used to kill the guard that almost caught them. Retrieving the weapon was useless for they already passed the walls; to go back and climb the barrier again would've been dangerous, risky— they would've been caught by another set of guards.

She glanced over her friend, which who she found too calm... too composed in this state of matter.

(Y/N) was frightened, she can't deny that, but this fear is another challenge of her's, another crude and gnarly demon to slay. The only way out is to order her brain to function, to act quickly and create solutions rather than drown herself in her crazy-making circling anxiety.

She knows to be better.

So though her bones and muscles were ready to concede defeat for they are running out of power, she chose the option to remain still for now, chose to be quiet enough to settle on how to fight and use the remaining energy she had left to its full advantage.

(Y/N) gulped... her gaze falling to the ends of the shoelace encircling her hands.

"Get ready," she mumbled to Yoonah.

Not even the ever-present darkness of the Mariana Trench could conceal the way Yoonah's eyes visibly widened as she realized (Y/N)'s plan. Yoonah rarely, if not, had never seen (Y/N) this way; the violence in her eyes, the confident and uncaring tone of voice— she had never seen it until now.

All Yoonah heard was a loud thud of feet colliding with the floor of the car, then the sound of (Y/N)'s screams as she attacks Jiwoo from the behind. Acting quick, (Y/N) wrapped the shoelace around Jiwoo's neck, pulled her back until she was trapped against the driver's seat.

"We can be best, best friends," (Y/N) mocked, taunting Jiwoo as her face turns purple from the lack of oxygen, "but I'm afraid I have to postpone it on our next lives, Haemin."

"(Y/N) WATCH OUT!!" Yoonah cried a deafening scream.

The blinding white light of another vehicle flashes their visions. One moment the road is there, wide open, and safe, the next there are loud noises, acrid smells and pain that neither may or may not recover from. Yoonah snapped from her trance and jumped forward, veering the steering wheel sharp left straight to the roadside. (Y/N) and Yoonah braces for impact, ducking down behind the front seats as the car came in contact with the roadside tree.

As if in slow motion, cracks formulated through the windshield, even the bird swooping to catch its eggs nesting on the branch from the terrible disaster seems to slow down too. Then, like a poorly edited show or movie, there is no impact or sound of breaking glass, only a raining down of fragments sharp enough to cut on contact.

"Y-You... you alright Yoonah?" (Y/N) groans as she rose up from her spot, checking Jiwoo if she was still conscious and to their luck, she's knocked out cold.

"Yeah— yeah I think I'm fine," Yoonah paused to look at Jiwoo, "do you think she's alive?"

"She's still breathing. The bitch will be alright. Either way, it doesn't matter. The boys knows that we're on the run, we can't stop here."

"(Y/N)... I think we should give up. There's no hope. We will never esca—"

"Hey. Don't say that, okay? We'll get out... or... or you'll get out."

Yoonah furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"The boys are after me—"

"No."

"Yoonah—"

"I won't let you give yourself up for them!"

"Yoonah! Listen to me!"

"I'm not leaving you," Yoonah shook her head, "I will never leave you! I will have to fucking die if I let you go with those monsters, you fucking hear me?! We will leave this country together, forget these crazy shit, and start a new life. Fuck them! Fuck all of them!"

"We won't be able to start a new life if any of them are alive. Blood must be spilt if we want freedom and I'm willing to do just that. Even if it takes me years, even if I have to endure more pain... as long as you get out first, as long as those motherfuckers die... then so be it. It takes a monster to kill a monster."

As those words tumble out of (Y/N)'s delicate lips, her predacious heart thumped faster and faster. "In the end, I promise I'll get back to you so for now... be safe, Yoonah."

The promises she said touched Yoonah in ways as intimately as her past lover's hands, but the imagery of (Y/N) killing more men, even if they deserved it, frightened her. It was as if spilling blood is all levels of delightful and as strong as any drink or drug that had ever intoxicated (Y/N).

Yoonah gulped and scooted her body upwards to see the owner of the vehicle that was about to crash onto earlier approach their car. She nudges her head to his direction, signaling (Y/N) of the approaching male with caution. (Y/N) rose from her position, opened the door, and was faced by an unfamiliar face— one that she had never seen around the mansion.

"Oh my god," he said, breathless.

His eyes fell to the two injured females on the back seat, then to the one on the front. He fishes for his phone inside of his pocket, intending to call an ambulance, but a bloody hand stopped him from doing so. From (Y/N)'s perspective, he's still suspicious. He might be working for the boys, or he might not. Whatever the case is, she couldn't let her guard down.

"No. Don't call anyone."

"Why?!? You're heavily injur—"

"Don't give a shit about the one on the front. The two of us were kidnapped and that girl," (Y/N) pointed at Jiwoo, "was one of the assailant. Do not call anyone."

The male swallowed a thick ball of saliva stuck in his throat, confused if he should believer her story or not. A shiny badge clipped to the male's chest area caught (Y/N)'s attention.

"Cha Eunwoo..." (Y/N) whispers, her mind recalling the times she caught Jaemin uttering that name late at night when she goes to fetch water in the kitchen.

From what she made out of it, Eunwoo was Jaemin's older brother based by the amount of times he called him "hyung" through the phone call. It was odd though; they had two different last names, but Jaemin did state that he had to lie on his resumes so maybe... just maybe he had to change it to hide his heritage. And if it that was the case, the boys won't be able to trace Eunwoo as Jaemin's brother because it shows they have no correlation at all.

"I know your brother. Na Jaemin. Or should I say... Cha Jaemin." The shock on Eunwoo's face was enough of an indication that (Y/N) was correct. "Your brother helped both of us escape. Please— please help us. You need to take her as far away as you can. Don't bring her to any hospitals owned by the Kims or she, even your brother, would be killed. Please Eunwoo."

He nodded his head. "(Y/N)... Yoonah, correct?"

"How do you know our names?" (Y/N) questioned whilst holding Yoonah's hands tightly from behind her back.

"My brother mentioned a lot of things... I wasn't sure if you two were the gals he was tellin' me stories about, but once I saw your conditions and heard your stories, everything was confirmed..." he motioned for them to follow him, but when he saw the hesitance written across their face, he put on his best smile, "come. I know a good doctor in my small town. Don't worry, I'm not like those seven bastards who'll hurt both of you."

(Y/N) forced a painful smile before turning her head to Yoonah. "Go with him and I'll stay here."

"Don't make me leave you (Y/N)."

"Hey. I made a promise that I'll come back to you and you know that I never break my promises. You trust me right?"

"Yes, but—"

"You said you have trust in her then have trust in her," Eunwoo chided as he grabbed Yoonah by the arm and dragged her to the car.

Although he didn't know what type of person (Y/N) is, or what's going inside of her mind, he didn't question her decision of staying behind. He saw the flame and the spark in her eyes, one that brings the ashes to birth a flock of Phoenix birds.

Yoonah's mind raced but she wouldn't let (Y/N) or Eunwoo see her start of panic. A steady pace, along with some few occasions of stumbling, to the car was a difficult task for her legs felt weak and was ready to tumble. Large crystal tears started to drop down her cheeks as Eunwoo closes the car door shut. She wept, hot tears soaking into the fabric of her clothes leaving damp evidence, but the proof was written on her face. Even crying was hard to hide so how can she hide from the boys?

As the car engine began, Yoonah looked back to see her friend one more time, but all she saw was an empty space occupied by air.

(Y/N) was gone and no where to be found.

"Try to trust your friend Yoonah..." Eunwoo said softly.

"You don't know us... I mean no offense but we barely just met."

"Well would you like to know more about me?" He smiled. "It's better to know about each other if we're going to be side by side for quite a while. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask."

"Why are you helping us? Is- is there something you want?"

"I mean... everyone wants something right? Greed is a driving force to human nature. If you want that something enough, it will drive you beyond the expectations you've limited yourself in. You become blinded from it. Tortured by it the longer you don't have it. The only force that could stop you from harming everyone around you or yourself is well... yourself."

Yoonah nodded and Eunwoo continues. "But luckily for me and you, I'm in control of my greed. I use my greed for good unlike Jung Hoseok and his sister. They were an infamous siblings in my training camp back in the day."

"Training camp?"

"Yes... I was in a training camp, preparing myself to serve the citizens, to serve the country when it's in need of desperate help. I was the top, better yet, the valedictorian of my class. Yet it all tumbled down when I found out that Jung Jiwoo was hiding all of her brother's crimes. You see, robberies of multiple banks and so on forth we're occurring during that time yet little to no evidence could be found. Turns out, Jiwoo was destroying all of them."

"So all of his money, all of the things Hoseok was—" Yoonah was cut off by Eunwoo.

"Stolen."

"I've always wondered what Hoseok's occupancy was yet I never figured it out."

"Mmhh," Eunwoo inclined. "When I decided to confront Jiwoo about all of that, she tore me down and made sure I can never become the police I worked so hard for. I wanted to be on the stage where I receive my badge. I wanted to see my grandma and brother smiling at me, proud of me— that they know all of their efforts of putting me up that stage wasn't worthless."

Yoonah began to catch onto Eunwoo's motives.

"I wanted to keep fighting back, but when I found out that my brother began working for them... I was furious. I wanted him to quit, but we had no options. We were a poor family. When my brother told me two young women were being held captive by those seven men, by Jung Hoseok and his sister, I knew I wanted to help. I didn't want someone else to be ruined by them, just like how they ruined me."

"Does... does your brother know that you were here tonight? Helping (Y/N) and I?"

"No. He just told me he was going to help you guys so I came rushing here just in case you guys needed extra help. Tell me Yoonah, are you still worried about (Y/N)?"

"Of course I'm worried. It's her against them."

Eunwoo purses his lips as he grips the steering wheel. "The heart has to go down before it gets up to live. She'll face utter hell, but I know from her eyes that she'll go through it. It's about time those corrupt motherfuckers meet the devil to their hellish games."

"We could only hope."

"Pray for her maybe.. that's nice too."

"She's an atheist," Yoonah deadpans.

"Doesn't hurt to pray," Eunwoo slyly retorts.

"Pray to who, Satan?"

"Whatever fits your boat."

"Don't start."

"Okay," Eunwoo awkwardly smiles.

.
.
.
.
.
.
A/N

Hey y'all! Sorry for not uploading for so long! It's been an eventful few weeks for me. With my studies, mental health, and to this shitty life in general, I've been pretty busy lol.

Long story short (you guys probably don't care lol), I got the police called on me because I was about to commit suicide (I'm laughing cause this is my only way of coping don't judge meh haha), and almost got kidnapped because two guys were following me around the mall for almost an hour. Luckily people were there to help.

Anyways, I'm going to start writing again!

And if you guys don't mind checking out, I have a depop account ( bunbunfrance ). I make smol handmade cute rings and necklaces.

Thanks a lot! And see you again :)

—France💛💛