"We need to move him, now." The urgency in Shownu's voice had Mae look up at the man, her greatest fear showing on her face, as Wonho rushed into the room right behind him. She knew this would eventually happen, but that didn't mean she wasn't scared out her mind right now.

"Where would we even take him Oppa? I don't want him in this house a-anymore!" Mae said on the verge of bursting out in tears as she gripped on her sleeping elder brother's hand. Mark had requested that Minhyuk (much to the doctor's disapproval) amp up his morphine and doses so he could heal faster, everyone knew he'd be out for a few days while his body adjusted.

They had expected to have at least a full week to get him healing.

That was until a few minutes ago when Shownu received a call from Michael, himself. His boss informing him that he had just gotten off his flight- one that he'd booked himself, just to get home earlier.

And that would only give them an hour to get Mark as far and safe away from the man.

If Michael were to find out that Mark (for the first time since he was thirteen) had taken a day off- let alone four- he'd kill him for sure. They'd worked so hard to conceal the fact that Mark hadn't left the house. Fuck.

"I- I don't know." Shownu stumbled with his words as his heart pounded against his chest. This was possibly the worst time for Michael to decide to act on his own, twenty-one years the man used Shownu as a rat for all his errands, why did he choose now to fly himself over without informing anyone? At least then they'd have the buffer time of the flight to figure this out.

What made it worse was that Michael had his strings pulled over nearly every politician, lawyer and business in the entire state. He had eyes everywhere, people who worked for him and people who worked with him. The word of them moving Mark out would reach him in a mere matter of minutes, if not seconds.

"Oppa p-please, we h-have to do something! He'll k-kill him!" Mae begged, but Shownu was still trying to get his mind working. They were all so royally fucked.

---

When Mark opened his eyes, he didn't expect to be staring at a carpeted ceiling- last he remembered, his bedroom ceiling was plain white paint. He also remembered that the pain had subsided over the past few, but for some reason his whole body felt like it was being jostled in a cement mixer. He groaned as he attempted to sit up, only to have his body give out mid effort.

"Mark? You're awake?" Shownu's shocked voice came from somewhere beside him.

Mark turned his neck through the pain, eyes taking in his surroundings. He was in the backseat of a car, laid down on his back. He noticed a bag of I.V hanging from the back of the front seat, tube connecting to his left hand.

"M-Mae?" was all Mark's throat allowed him to say. God, it felt like it was closing in on him.

"We're almost there. I'll explain everything when we reach." Shownu said, eyes focused on the road.

Mark wasn't satisfied with that at all.

"W-Where is M-a-" Mark tried again but ended up in a coughing fit. Shownu had one hand on his shoulder as he tried to calm him down while still keeping his eyes up front.

"Mark, please. This one time, just this one time, please." Shownu pleaded as he reached into the seat beside him and held out an electrolyte sachet for the other to suck on.

Mark had no idea what the elder was requesting him of, but he'd only be able to ask him if he watered his parched throat. He slowly brought his mouth to the sachet opening and tried not to gulp it down all at once. When he was half way through the packet, he decided to ask again.

"Where is M-Mae, Hyung?" His voice sounded as dry as a desert, but at least he was able to speak. Shownu took a few minutes before he replied.

"She is safe."

---

"Where is she?" Mark asked after Shownu had tucked him into the thin bed (if you could even call it that).

You'd think that arriving at the edge of civilization itself, being carried into an abandoned warehouse, and introduced to one of the oldest women he'd ever seen in his life- would warrant a barrel of any other questions, but the one about his sister.

Well, Shownu had hoped so. But he should have known better.

"She's safe-"

"Tell me where she is, Hyung." Mark immediately cut the elder off. Shownu sighed deeply. There was no other way to tell Mark, and there was no way this will go according to what Shownu had intended.