"Make sure not to strap him up too tightly either. We don't want him to die so easily, right?" Nora smiled disparagingly, alternating her gaze between the two men in the hope to earn a reaction.

However, Namjoon merely proceeded to orbit around Ewan, unknowingly ending up forgetting to acknowledge the female's attempt at deriding the tethered individual betwixt them. Though once he arrived at a point which he could deem as perfect to finally terminate the exceptionally dreary procedure of binding Ewan, he instantly crouched down, shaping a knot out of the leftover rope in an assiduous manner. Namjoon did not realize how far down he had descended into the abyss of his trance until a whimper erupted from Nora upon colliding into him.

Apparently, he had stood up unannounced, thus ramming his shoulder right onto Nora's forehead resultingly— who was, at that precise moment, hovering over him to supervise the task— and sending her to spiral into discomfort.

Immediately whisking his line of sight for it land on her, he instinctively chewed his lip in guilt, "I'm sorry for being such a nuisance. Guess my brain is really all over the place right now."

"Hey, it's alright. I know what's happening here, but try to keep it together? I've already called my subordinates to handle the case from here, so we can leave for the more important task on hand the minute they arrive. Just hang in there till then, please?" Nora's rundown on the situation successfully placated Namjoon's nerves for a while.

Although it lasted only until a certain someone had not chipped in.

"One's going nuts while the other thinks that she's capable enough to take me down. In short, nuts too. What a team." Ewan hissed, his remark contaminating Nora's blood with fury.

"Why, is that busting your nuts, Choi?" But she preferred to gloss over instead. Engaging in an argument with an instigator would not be rational of her, after all.

 "You truly do believe that you can outsmart me—"

"I don't just believe, I totally can. In fact, I totally did." Nora bent over to the extent that their faces remained only a bare inch apart now, "Suck it up, loser."

"For you information, miss, your word against me is not incriminating enough. Sure, you have a houseboy," Ewan glimpsed derogatorily at Namjoon, "who will back whatever you claim on the extortion issue... but what have you got about the hostage part? One thing I can assert without any second thoughts is that Youngmi mustn't have yet figured out that I'm keeping her there as a captive. Wouldn't that difference between perspectives weaken your case then?"

"Wait a second," Nora mumbled, rolling up the fabric of her sleeves to reveal a smartwatch— units of time flashing on the screen, "I completely forgot about turning the audio recorder off. What were you saying, again?"

Ewan's face blanched.

Namjoon swayed his head as he grinned in amazement.

"So, how would you like to compensate for looking down on me?" Nora spared a contemplative glance, "How about a punch on your face? What say?"

Nora had to contain the excitement soaring inside her when two men— dressed in an attire that was akin to hers— stormed into the store, their countenances turning vividly confused upon discerning her arm to be hoisted high up in the air. Nora subtly unclasped her clenched hand, bringing it down to rest it beside her thigh when her embarrassment levels were in fact, quite evidently and contrastingly, flaring off the charts.

An awkward smile eventually bloomed on her lips, allaying the looming unease over everyone's heads.

"The guy." She beckoned at Ewan— who was comparatively unfazed, "Keep me posted on how it unfolds for us."

The two agents nodded in conformation, advancing towards Ewan to unfetter him before dragging him into the car that they had driven up till there, without any further ado. All the while that specific chaos transpired, Namjoon, on the other hand, had had his arms crossed over his chest, a foolish grin steadily etching across his lips as he intently watched Nora dispensing commands to the relative newcomers.

Namjoon was impressed.

Thoroughly awestruck at the pace Nora would switch between her nuanced personalities.

Nonetheless, the approbation had to be put on hold by Namjoon when the very female shifted her attention to him once her two assistants had departed from the scene. A brisk head-bob towards the exit was then rendered by Nora, motioning him into following her lead.

The Rapunzel in the tower may not be prepared to square up to her reality, after all. So, if her castles in the air ought to be demolished sooner or later, why not have it done with kindness?

What even was the purpose behind Namjoon and Nora scurrying down to her, if not that?

▪️

With a discreet movement of one of her hands, Nora signaled Namjoon his cue to step onto her trail that was uncompromisingly leading into the fetid warehouse that they had managed to locate after an hour of perusal. Namjoon gasped, pinching his nostrils shut as he passed a disgruntled look at Nora, causing the latter to gesticulate her cluelessness regarding the same. Fraught, he reeled over to her, brushing aside the spleen that was supposedly assimilating itself into every single cell of his.

"What's the next clue, Dora?" Namjoon warbled, baffling Nora due to the unprecedented mirth that was surfacing on his features.

"I'm out of them, Doc— Wait, did you just call me Dora? Are you seriously ridiculing my name?" Nora guffawed, deciding to bottle up the resentment nevertheless, "Sunsan-dong and the dairy was all that he had referred to. I don't remember anything crucial apart from these two."

"Meaning, we have no option but to sift through ever nook and cranny of this hall, right? I'm no detective but I'm sure that I deciphered it correctly. The ability to understand your ambiguous language has made me a polyglot, thank you so much for that." Namjoon pressed his lips into a thin line, an unamused expression materializing on his face right the next instant.

While Namjoon was relentlessly endeavoring to get under Nora's skin for reasons unknown, she had committed herself to listening to the audio recording that was playing on her smartwatch. Abruptly distancing itself from her ear as she gawked at it in disbelief, Nora reversed the file upto some seconds before carrying on with her impromptu investigation. When her eyes ultimately started to peel open and squint repeatedly, Namjoon had unerringly comprehended the indeliberate implication of her reflexes.

"He says underground... you get what I'm trying to emphasize on here?" Nora relayed softly, a hint of satisfaction peeking from behind her statement.

Namjoon but nodded at once when he grasped that their thoughts were aligning, lurching towards every door that he could spot in that limitless room without bothering to check on his now-convulsing breath.

Namjoon had not felt this alive in a long time. The fact that he was no longer shackled by unseen forces— grounds that would stand in between him and Youngmi like a thick wall whenever he reckoned his life to be a wonderful blessing— jolted a sudden surge of avidity to sear through him. All he had to do in order to reach the other end now was a skimpy attempt away.

A roar in the omnipresent dark that would fuse energy into him.

Energy that would then guide him to Youngmi, his kryptonite.

"Senior! Can you hear me?" He growled, his address bouncing off the walls of the storehouse, "We've come to save you... a—and to get you out of this dungeon. So if you can hear me, please respond!"

"Way to go, Tarzan." Nora cooed, inducing Namjoon's cheeks to flush wine red.

"Senior, are you there—" He picked up from where he had left, only for Nora to lightly rap on his arm— probably to steer him into falling quiet so that she could concentrate.

A faint echo was registered by Nora as soon as Namjoon had ceased his howling, her feet pedaling themselves automatically towards one of the four corners of the silo. The male had veered himself in the same direction too, but when he could stand adjacent to Nora at long last, she instead gestured him to wail like La Llorona for one more time.

Except, unlike the grisly ghost, he would be doing it for the one who had had all his emotions melted into a puddle. The one for whom he had come to garner every sentiment, but not hate. He would simply never.

In fact, he could never— if he was to be forthright.

 "Senior, it's Namjoon! Can you hear me?" He bellowed as per Nora's instruction, eyes shimmering in euphoria when he could catch an answer without the female's aid.

"Namjoon, is my voice getting past this wall? Are you able to hear me? Am I audible to you?" Youngmi must be yelling from the other side, but the raise in her volume had unfortunately gotten watered down to a sheer squeak.

 "Oh my God, yes! I can hear you! How do we help you escape from there? Is this a door that we're leaning on?" Namjoon quizzed, overwhelmed with an ecstasy that was undoubtedly indistinguishable from longing.

"Can it be kicked down, by any chance? What do you opine?" He then swerved his neck to perform the constructive function of breaching the wall with his hearing, and interrogating Nora at the same time.

With a modest smile breaking on her lips, Nora blinked her eyes in agreement, spurring Namjoon to do what he had been itching to— tear down the humongous block of bricks and cement with a blow of his boot— and traverse into the side that was concealed behind it.

Not technically though, the most he could raze was a door. He was very well aware of it.

"On your... right! Yes, right. Don't go too far, though. It's somewhat a step or two away only." Youngmi informed, and Namjoon commenced warming up by springing on his toes.

A conclusively swift thwack was flung by him, though what occurred as a consequence of it must not have been something that Namjoon had envisioned.

"Oh, and don't exert much pressure there's—"

After experiencing an unendurable tumble, down the flight of stairs that immediately succeeded the door on Youngmi's side, the male begrudgingly muttered a string of curses under his breath before resorting to moderately rubbing the back of his head so that the ache was somewhat mitigated. Amidst all that pulling up the brave front and valiantly bearing the brunt of a possible concussion, however, Namjoon could not refrain from beaming contently when his regard got stolen by a figure.

"A staircase right behind the door..." Youngmi's voice faltered when she gathered that she was indeed a bit too late to interfere now, "That must hurt like hell," and expressed her concern, a simper unfurling over her lips soon after that.

▪️

a/n

youngmi has been rescued! but does the story end here? hell nah. you've got a few more chapters of torture hehe. but would that mean waiting another month for this book to finish bcs i update only once a week? absolutely🤡 hahaha anyway, take these picrews of youngmi and ewan as well. mind telling me if you find them cute?😳 hehe don't forget to vote and comment. thank you so much for reading 'sweet tooth'💘