*Not Beta read

"I'm in position."

A figure sat listening to the commlink in his crouched position as he looked through his binoculars at the unsuspecting-looking building. So far, everything was quiet, and there were no signs that they were tipped off about anything.

"Alpha unit is secure."

The man lowered the binoculars and glanced at the watch he had on his left wrist—two more minutes.

"Point of entry is in our sight. No sign of resistance."

One minute.

"Beta unit is secure."

Thirty seconds.

"Let's kick some ass!"

The man stood from his position and reached into his pocket, pulling out a black ski mask. Securing it on his face, he grabbed a basic Glock from the holster of his solid black outfit. The weapon's weight was familiar, but the feeling of the grip was so different from what he was used to. He flexed his fingers around the unfamiliar feeling before he clicked off the safety.

Rolling his neck and shoulders, Seonghwa prepared himself as he took a step forward into what could be the end.

"I'm coming for you, Hongjoong."

XxX

Four days earlier

The rhythmic tapping of shoes on tile was the only thing sound in the early morning din of the hallway. Seonghwa had made sure to try and come in as early as possible to avoid running into anyone else. There was a certain amount of anxiety that came with sneaking around the CCG. There is no telling what could happen if he were caught. There was a lot of sensitive information held within these walls and it can be devastating in the wrong hands.

The first plan of action was to grab a security tag from one of the front desks that had authorization to one of the central rooms where they performed data entry. If Seonghwa's hunch was correct and the CCG did have Hongjoong, there should be an update to his file or any logs for the Ghoul research facility and prison they had outside of Seoul: Wonderland.

Seonghwa really had to question that name now. He could guess that being there was no picnic or trip to the carnival. Only a handful of agents have ever set foot into Wonderland as it was one of the few places with the highest level of security clearance in all of Korea. Even as a highly ranked agent, Seonghwa himself had never visited, and he wasn't even sure of its location for safety reasons. If a Ghoul found out about Wonderland's location, it would surely become a battleground in a matter of minutes.

And Seonghwa was about to give it to them willingly.

Swallowing down his mounting anxiety, Seonghwa felt around for the stolen ID in his pocket as he pressed the button to the lobby floor elevator. A ding sounded, signaling its arrival and the doors slid open.

"Seonghwa?" Startled, the agent looked up to spot a group of three people standing in the elevator door, a man in a well-tailored suit and a man and woman dressed in lab coats.

"Director," Seonoghwa bowed respectfully at the group as they stepped out. "I didn't expect you to be in the office today."

"Had a few loose ends to tie up. You know how it goes." The director said in a friendly manner and a smile that showed the wrinkles around his eyes. "It's funny running into you here, though. I thought you were on leave for another day or two?"

Crap. That was true. Technically no one from his squad was expected in the building for a few more days due to injuries they had sustained during the auction raid. In fact, Jongho and Yeosang wouldn't be back to work for at least two more weeks due to theirs.

"Was feeling alright and decided to get a little work done before I fully came back." Seonghwa managed through a suave smile that he hoped was passable. "That report isn't going to write itself."

"I thought agents took your statement while they were patching you up?" The director questioned with a raised brow. "Eden has already turned in his report of the events that happened that night, and I won't need yours for another week."

"Right," Dammit, of course, Eden had already turned in his report of the events. Internally, Seonghwa was worried. What kind of things did he write in it? Did he mention Maddox showing up dressed as one of the Lady Reds?

"I actually remembered something that happened, and I wasn't sure if Eden had reported it, but, knowing him, I'm sure he has." Seonghwa was quick to cover. "Wanted to put it in the file before I forgot."

"Good thinking, Park." The director nodded in satisfaction, momentarily appeased. The woman in the lab coat then leaned over and whispered something in the man's ear for a moment, and his mouth grew thin. "It seems I have to get going now." The man huffed before walking forward. "I expect your report on my desk at the beginning of the week."

As Seonghwa watched the director walk away and exit the building, he released a ragged breath. He was glad that moment was over. Any longer, and the situation would have gotten rather tricky.

Now free of any other passengers, Seonghwa entered the elevator and waited for the doors to close before he reached into his pocket and pulled out the stolen ID. He held it up to the small, almost undetectable scanner underneath the buttons for the floors.

"Access approved, data analysis unit," The automated voice read over the intercom after a beep, and suddenly the whole elevator was doused in red light. There was a shift as if the lift itself was moving tracks. Seonghwa felt as if his body were moving sideways before he made his way down, down, down....

Finally, the doors opened and the agent found himself on an empty floor that didn't look much different from the other hallways in the rest of the building. Walking with purpose and a destination in mind, Seonghwa walked towards the end of the hallway.

The door was a thick metal with no doorknob and a keypad on the side. Taking out the ID again, Seonghwa pressed it near the sensor and prayed that whoever's ID he had taken had access this far into the building. The records department was extremely secretive and usually, only the highest of ranked agents and researchers were able to enter the main database.

Finally, after a few very suspenseful seconds, the door beeped, followed by a green light. The door in front slid open and Seonghwa slipped easily inside.

The room itself seemed like something out of a sci-fi movie. The interior was dark and in the center stood a tall blinking tower that served as the mainframe for the building. Spanning out from the tower-like roots to a tree were thick power cords connected to several of the computer stations scattered like a web throughout the room. Were it usual working hours, he could imagine each one of these spaces filled with data entry analysts but, thankfully, the room was mostly dark and empty.

Not wasting any more time, Seonghwa walked right up to one of the computers and placed the ID card in one of the slots next to the monitor. The computer recognized the barcode and in a matter of moments, the system began to light up green. The monitor was the last to flicker on and it displayed the traditional CCG backdrop with a blinking cursor awaiting a password entry.

Cursing under his breath, Seonghwa at the blank search bar. Of course there would be a password. None of the researchers would be careless enough to leave that information lying around. He could try his hand at guessing but there was a very high chance that if he got it wrong more than twice, an alert would go out and the system would be locked or even wiped entirely. There was no way that he could risk something like that.

Realizing that he had no other option, Seonghwa racked his brain for what could be the password. Finally deciding on something, the agent took to the keys and typed out a series of numbers. He hit enter.

The screen blinked red momentarily and the bar he had typed in shook with his incorrect guess. Seonghwa bit his lip to keep his cry of frustration in. Ok, so it wasn't the CCG's founding date. Understandable. That might be a little bit too easy to decipher, but now it left the agent with minimal options.

He could think of one other sequence that he figured would be significant enough to work but should he even risk it? There was a very high probability that this could be his last option and it was a bit of a long shot. Figuring he didn't have much to lose at this point, Seonghwa reached for the keys and clicked in his answer. Holding his breath, he hit enter.

He was in.

Seonghwa exhaled heavily and quickly pulled out a flash drive from his pocket and plugged it into the console. He had to work quickly now and grab anything that he could. Moving his mouse over one of the file folders, he tried to find anything pertaining to Wonderland: blueprints, prisoner files, and any research.

After a few clicks, he managed to find the files where they input new Ghoul information. Unable to resist, Seonghwa clicked on the file he and his team had created themselves: Pirate King.

Quickly scanning the page, he realized that there wasn't much information updated since the day of the botched recon mission for the Butcher. The picture on the page was still the same grainy one they had pulled from the security camera with his one-eyed mask. Did that mean that, if the CCG did have Hongjoong, they didn't know his Ghoul identity? If Seonghwa remembered clearly, Hongjoong didn't have on his mask when the rest of the agents had shown up. They might have known his face, but not that he was already in the system under an alias.

Quickly flipping through some more Ghoul profiles, he noticed that no new ones were created since the auction day. This information didn't bode well for Seonghwa's theory. He was kind of betting on the CCG having Hongjoong because then he would at least be a bit easier to track. He didn't even know where to begin looking if Maddox happened to have taken him.

Not letting himself be discouraged just yet, Seonghwa went into the Wonderland files to see if any new logs have been created for inmates. Clicking, the agent saw that there were three new logs from the auction until now. There wasn't much information regarding any of the Ghouls taken in, but he had to hope that one of them was Hongjooong.

Transferring that file and a blueprint of Wonderland into the drive, Seonghwa was about to remove it when a thought struck him that had been bothering him from before. Closing out of the folder he was currently in, he clicked into another. After scanning a few of the names, he found the one he was looking for and clicked on it.

Eden.

Seonghwa had pulled up the file of Eden's report to the director from before. Scanning it, the agent tried to read Eden's summation of events. The first half of it Seonghwa hadn't recognized because it didn't overlap with his experiences, so he quickly skipped down to the middle. The more he read, Seonghwa's eyes widened.

'Unidentified Ghoul engaged in combat with Agent Park and myself....'

There was no mention of Maddox in the whole report.

But why would he do that? Why would he leave such a vital piece of information out of his report? If this came back to the director that Eden hadn't been entirely truthful, he could get in severe trouble. Suddenly, the words he spoke at the hospital came back to him.

"He was too pure for this world, for the fate fo the damn- the forsaken- and I would rather die by my own hand than to let that image of him be tarnished."

Seonghwa felt a hit of guilt slam into his stomach. Eden did really care about Maddox, and he had done nothing but push his own pain and guilt onto the other when he was suffering as well. Leaving Maddox out of the report was Eden's way of protecting the fallen, for Maddox to be remembered as a hero who had died in combat and not as a Ghoul who tried to attack his former comrades.

"You'll come to find out this world is full of secrets, and sometimes, we aren't supposed to know what they are."

Not knowing what possessed him, Seonghwa started pulling random files and copied them into his flash drive. There was a pinching in his gut that had told him that the information might come in handy later and his gut normally didn't steer him wrong. He just hoped that it didn't backfire.

Just as he entered another file, there was a sound coming from the direction of the door. Scrambling, Seonghwa quickly pulled out the drive he was using and shut down the computer. He dived behind one of the computer desks just in time as the door opened and light filtered in from the hallway. Two people dressed in lab coats walked in. He recognized them as the man and woman with the director earlier.

"Subject 13 may be ready sooner than we anticipated. The director should be happy to hear that." The man said as he read from a clipboard in his hand. Seonghwa peeked around the corner to watch the two and wait for his opportunity to leave. He pulled out his phone and typed a quick message, hitting send.

"He better be ready," The other woman replied. She seemed a bit more uptight than the other man, but that may have been attributed to stress. The bun on the top of her head seemed to be frazzled as if she wanted to run her hand through it. "The director won't tolerate another failure after the last time."

Seongwha waited with bated breath as the two walked a bit too close to where he was hiding but exhaled as they walked right past.

"What about Subject 88?" The woman continued to inquire. "Is he fit to start testing?"

The man shifted, just a little uncomfortable at the question. "I'm not sure if proceeding right now would be such a good idea."

This caught the woman's attention. She whipped around and gave the man a stare that made him cower back in fright. "Excuse me?"

"T-there's been a development." The researcher stuttered. "The suppressants are metabolizing so fast in his system that he won't go down in order to move on to the next stage."

"Up the dose the next time and see if that works." The woman's heels clacked on the ground authoritatively as she walked to the other end of the room. She held up her ID to a door that Seonghwa didn't notice before. The scanner beeped and the door slid open, allowing them through.

Seonghwa sat and waited a few more minutes to ensure that the two researchers weren't coming back. When the coast was clear, the agent exhaled and shifted up from the floor. That was too close of a call. He needed to hurry out of here before anyone else decided to come in.

Just as Seonghwa was about to exit, he felt his phone vibrate. Figuring it was a reply to his message earlier, the agent pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly glanced at the message on the screen. It was from an unknown number.

"Careful who you trust."

XxX

"Whatcha looking at?"

San sat up from his drawing table as he saw Wooyoung stride in from the back room. With Seonghwa risking himself against the CCG, the two had decided to stay together if there was word of any news. To dispel any nervous energy, the two had spent the afternoon organizing the shop.

Seeing that San wasn't responding, Wooyoung's eyes trailed down and locked into what the shop owner had in his hand. "The arrow?" The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Why are you staring at that old thing?"

San sighed as he turned to look back down at the arrow in his hand from the night the building at his former gang's compound. He twirled it in his fingers slightly. "With everything going on, I almost forgot about this." He frowned. "We still haven't figured out why the Lady Red gang would encroach on our territory."

"I thought Seoho and Keonhee had a theory that it was just a ruse by the Seongsu group because they had been so aggressive lately," Wooyoung said as he walked closer to San. He reached out and grabbed the arrow from the other's hand. "You think it was the real Lady Red gang?"

"Who knows." San shrugged. "We don't know anything about these people we are going up against. Their plans just seem miles ahead and we are scrambling just to catch up."

"We'll figure it out." Wooyoung placed a reassuring hand on the other's shoulder. "We're a lot further than we were before."

"But what if we never catch up?" San said worriedly. As much as he appreciated his boyfriend's support, there were a few concerns he needed to voice. "They could pop out of nowhere and we would have no idea."

"Then we just have to be prepared for anything." Wooyoung pursed his lips into a thin line. As much as he didn't want to admit it, San's worries were totally valid. The Lady Red gang could appear tomorrow and they were totally unprepared. They knew the basics but the end goal they had in mind was still a total mystery.

The two Ghouls were brought out of their musings as San's phone vibrated from where it was sitting on his drawing desk. Picking it up, the shop owner unlocked the device and scanned whatever message was on his screen.

"It's from Seonghwa." The ex-gang leader answered the unasked question. "He says he got the information."

"Well," Wooyoung huffed, "Guess we better be ready for whatever happens now."

XxX

"I can walk by myself, you know...."

"I don't care," Yeosang huffed as he pushed Jongho outside into the hospital gardens in a wheelchair that the staff had provided. The younger agent, upon seeing it, had protested vehemently at its use but the sandy brunette wouldn't hear it. Jongho, despite having mostly superficial wounds, had still lived through an explosion. His muscle tone had grown a bit weak during his five days unconscious and he was still regaining strength in his body.

"Aren't you also injured?" Jongho fired back, not backing down. "You really shouldn't be pushing me with your bruised ribs."

That fact was also true. Yeosang's ribs hurt like a bitch with the exertion, but he wasn't going to let the younger see that. He had promised to be there for the other agent once he had finally woken up and he wasn't going to go back on that for anything.

"We're almost there," Yeosang said instead of answering. In the next moment, the two had walked through the door and out into a rather peaceful serenity garden. It was still rather cold outside and all of the flowers were frosted over but it was empty and offered the two a bit of peace and fresh air.

Yeosang pushed Jongho close to a nearby bench and, once the younger was parked, plopped down onto the wood next to him. Together, the two stared in silence out at the garden as they breathed in, the brisk air cutting into their lungs.

"You never told me what happened," Jongho suddenly spoke, breaking the silence. Yeosang looked over at his companion curiously but he was still staring forward. "At the auction, you never said how you got hurt."

The sandy brunette bit his lip. He knew this conversation was coming but he wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Sighing, he leaned back on the bench and tried not to wince at the pull of his ribs- a stark reminder of that night.

"I was captured." Yeosang figured it was best just to bite the bullet. "They were auctioning me off before shit started to go down."

"What?!" Jongho exploded as he quickly turned in his chair. Yeosang grimaced. "What do you mean you were being auctioned off? How did they get you? What about the pen? Why didn't you contact me? Fuck Eden's task force. I would have run to find you."

"I dropped it..." He was ashamed to admit.

"You dropped it?!" Jongho's voice climbed even higher, his hysteria growing. "How did you manage to drop it? I don't think you would let that happen unless-" It dawned on him. "Not unless you were taken against your will."

Yeosang didn't say anything. He kept his eyes forward and away from the judging stare. He really didn't want to have this conversation right now.

"You have a guilty look on your face." Jongho continued to pry. "What did you do?" Yeosang stayed silent. "Yeo!"

"I wanted to help, okay?!" The brunette couldn't hold it in anymore. "I felt so useless! You were on your task force to look for the person who killed Xion, and I was just sitting around injured." The outburst seemed to take a lot from him, and suddenly, Yeosang deflated just a little. "I thought I could do something meaningful for the group."

Jongho, seeing the sorry expression on the other's face, felt the anger simmer down, and he exhaled heavily. The agent figured he couldn't blame the other man. If he had been in that position, there is very little doubt that the younger would have done the same. He was only angry that Yeosang ended up getting hurt, but it could have happened to any of them. Hell, Jongho was sitting in a wheelchair now. He was just thankful that both of them were still alive.

"Well," The young agent said softly. "Did you at least get what you were looking for?"

"Hmph, no," Yeosang huffed in resigned frustration. "Part of me feels like I was responsible for a lot of the mess that happened the other day." He looked at his fingers. "I was there when Maddox showed up. Seonghwa fought him."

Jongho's eyes widened. Hwanwoong had told them that Maddox was alive, but he hadn't gotten many details of what exactly happened that night. Apparently, the fallen agent was on Lady Red's side and very possibly might be the Butcher they had been hunting for the past weeks. All the information going around was enough to make one's head spin trying to keep track and make sense of it all. Their work wasn't even close to being done.

The young agent sighed as he leaned back in his wheelchair and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, what now?" Jongho mumbled. "I can't imagine how Seonghwa must feel."

Yeosang shrugged. "Beats me. My priority now is just healing and see what the next orders are. What we set out to do is done."

Jongho, hearing this, was relieved, but something was nagging at the back of his head. "Do you wonder why that bomber was even there?" Yeosang looked over at his companion and frowned in confusion but didn't say anything. "It just....felt kind of easy, you know?"

"What are you talking about?" Yeosang sat up straighter on the bench. "It was an auction. We knew there would be Ghouls there. She launched several explosions- hell, she almost blew you up!"

"I know that, but," Jongho sighed. "Something just doesn't feel right. My first raid with my task force after vowing to find her, and she just magically shows up? We thought the Lady Red gang could appear but there was no hard proof. And I just so happen to find the very person I'm looking for? It just feels...too convenient."

"Jongho," Yeosang started in a rather condescending voice. "You're overthinking this. You just survived a major battle and took out your enemy, and now that you've completed the goal you've set out to do, you feel a little empty. You just need to find a new one."

The young agent pursed his lips in a thin line but didn't comment. Maybe what the other was saying was true. Maybe he had worked and prepared so hard for this moment, and now that it was over, he didn't know what to do with himself. There was still just something festering at the back of his mind that he couldn't let go of, however....

A hand sat down on his thigh and Jongho looked up into Yeosang's warm gaze. The older gave a slight squeeze to appease the other.

"Does this mean that you can come back to the squad?" The brunette said breezily but with a hint of an underlying suggestion in there. "Back to me?"

In that moment, everything left Jongho's mind, every doubt and every worry. Smiling back, the young agent looked down at the hand one more time before placing his own on top of it. He gave it a small squeeze.

XxX

"Yunho!"

"Yeah?" The barista called from where he stood by the sink, washing a bowl that had previously had popcorn in it. He and Mingi had decided to watch a movie to dispel some of the nervous energy the two felt as they waited to hear from Seonghwa. Mingi had insisted he do the dishes since he was the one who ate the popcorn, but Yunho wasn't having it.

"There is somewhere at the door for you." Curious, the blonde set the bowl aside and grabbed a towel to dry off his hands. Putting the washcloth to the side, Yunho made his way to the front door where Mingi was standing to the side with the door open. A man with a black trench coat stood in the doorway with his face half-covered.

"KQ," Yunho said in minor surprise. "I wasn't expecting you."

"I wanted to see how you were," The older man said as he stepped into the entryway and slid off his shoes. He gave a side glance over to Mingi. "Is everything alright?"

"It's okay," Yunho offered to the other man, seeing his hesitation and seeing Mingi there. "He knows."

KQ raised an eyebrow, "He does? Well, that may make this conversation a little bit easier."

Together the group made their way towards the couch. Mingi, still a little confused about what was going on, sat down in the corner while Yunho sat next to him. KQ remained standing.

"Nice to see you are alright, Mingi." KQ nodded at the younger one sitting on the couch. Still rather confused on who exactly this man was, Mingi just raised an eyebrow. "I'm KQ, and I own the cafe. I'm glad to see that you have woken up from your coma."

Mingi nodded in understanding but was still rather unnerved that someone knew him that he didn't recognize. "As good as I can be." He reassured.

"I heard that the auction was a bit of a mess," KQ raised an eyebrow. "I heard we lost the supplier."

Yunho thinned his lips. Though it wasn't exactly Wooyoung's fault that they lost Madame A, it was a big blow to their operations. They needed to get this drug off the street if it was as dangerous as they have been suspecting. To find the supplier should be their first goal and stop it at the source.

"We'll find another supplier," Yunho was quick to reassure. "This stuff is getting on the street somehow."

"Well, if we could get a hand on one of these drugs, we could analyze its ingredients and see if we can't track it down from the source." KQ supplied while bringing a hand up to his hidden chin. "We already know some basic information from the sample I took from Mingi's blood, but it had already been in his system for a while, and I couldn't tell much else."

"I may have a solution to that," Yunho offered while standing up on his feet. Seeing the blonde about to exit the room for a moment, Mingi hopped up after him.

"What are you doing," The brunette whispered once Yunho had entered his bedroom. "I thought we were going to give that sample to Seonghwa so he could analyze it using the CCG's resources."

"I know that," Yunho tossed over his shoulder as he reached into his bedside drawer. "But you know the saying, 'never put all your eggs in one basket.'"

"What do you mean?"

He pulled out the drug they had secured from the auction and then walked over to his closet, where he rummaged around for a moment before emerging with another small vial. "For now, Seonghwa is on our side. But what would happen if he double-crossed us?"

"You really don't think he would do that, do you?" Mingi spoke with wide eyes. "You saw his devotion to Hongjoong. He is risking everything to help us out!"

"No," Yunho shook his head. "I don't think he would betray us intentionally, but the CCG is crafty." Taking a pipette he had, Yunho carefully filled it with about half of the drug and deposited it into the other, empty vile. "There is a chance Seonghwa gets found out, and if that happens, we could lose everything. It's best to split the sample so, even if we get caught, we can still hold onto this information."

Finishing his explanation, the barista capped the new vial and placed the original back in his bedside drawer. Holding up the new vial, he wiggled it between his fingers at Mingi as if to say, 'see.'

"So we're giving half to Seonghwa and the other half to KQ?" Mingi clarified.

"Exactly," Yunho nodded. Just then, the barista felt a buzz coming from his pocket. Fishing out his phone, he saw he had a new message. "Looks like Seonghwa is done with his part. He should be heading here in an hour or so."

Mingi nodded, finally on board with his boyfriend's plans. Together they headed back out of the blonde's room and towards where KQ was waiting for them. It was time to plan a raid.

XxX

Present

Four days of planning led to this moment as a ragtag group of Ghouls stood outside Wonderland waiting to invade. They still weren't one hundred percent sure that Hongjoong was here, but after speaking to the others, they figured that they needed to try. Otherwise, they would regret it. It took them the rest of the following days to comb through the information that Seonghwa had stolen from the CCG and studying the prison layout to get to this point.

Their plan was alarmingly simple in its conception but clever in its own way. During shift change, San and Wooyoung will cause a distraction to bring all the guards in one area towards them. It would mean that they would most likely be facing more guards than usual, but they wanted to take advantage of the chaos because the new guards wouldn't have time to be briefed.

While the guards were distracted on one end of the prison, Seonghwa would incapacitate a guard on the other side of the building. If everyone were running to protect the West end, they wouldn't think that there might be someone trying to slip in on the East end.

Once Seonghwa was in, then he needed to act fast. There had been three Ghouls that had been taken in since the auction. By trial and error, they would have to check all three cells and hope that Hongjoong was in one of them. Seonghwa had studied the prison's blueprints thoroughly in preparation. At this point, if he closed his eyes, he swore he could see the map right there, glaring back at him.

While the agent searched for their lost friend, Yunho would play lookout and make sure no one was on his tail while also cutting any alarms. Priority number one would be keeping everyone's identity secret, Seonghwa's specifically. Get in and get out.

Mingi, though it took quite a bit of convincing, was back at Yunho's apartment. This fact had caused quite an explosive argument seeing as the brunette wanted to be more of help this time rescuing his friend than last time, but Yunho flat out refused to put his human boyfriend in danger, and Seonghwa was inclined to agree. He was against anyone being a part of the mission that wasn't a Ghoul or trained for this kind of thing. Finally, they settled on Mingi running point and communication in a safe location. This way, he at least was a part of the action and didn't have to sit back worrying like a wife whose husband went to war. 

So far, things had gone exactly to plan. The agent wasn't sure exactly what San and Wooyoung had done for a distraction but, judging on the large booming sound he could hear off in the distance, he wasn't sure that he wanted to. It was clear a scuffle was about to break out, but no alarms had been rung yet, meaning that Yunho has done his job.

Sliding down the fire escape of the building he had been perched on, Seonghwa landed on his feet without nearly a sound. As expected, there was a newly placed guard standing watch, but as soon as the boom happened on the other end of the facility, the man turned his head. The next thing he knew, the guard was on the ground as Seonghwa stood behind him with a collapsible baton.

Looking up, Seonghwa saw Yunho walk out from his hiding place while he tossed aside a pair of wire clippers. Nodding to each other in a silent conversation, the agent grabbed the fallen guard's security clearance tag and placed it on the keypad. There was a beep, and the door opened.

Quickly, the two didn't spare a second as they darted inside. Having extensively studied the layout, the two of them knew every nook and cranny of this place and how to avoid the security cameras set in place. Both of them were dressed in all black with ski masks over their heads which was perfect for night recon but compared to the stark white of the interior and harsh fluorescent lighting, they surely stuck out.

Knowing they were on a time crunch, the two had come up with a plan beforehand. All the new intakes were kept on the same floor until they could be further evaluated to see what ward they would ultimately be placed in. Though it had already been a few days, Seonghwa hoped that none of the Ghouls had been moved. The most updated data had three room numbers that don't appear to have been changed, but you never knew what to expect when in these types of situations. The two would check the first room together and then split up for the other two to maximize their time.

Seonghwa could only pray they find what they were looking for.

Coming up to the first door, Room 1008, the two got into position. Seonghwa stood off to the side as Yunho stood in front of the door. There was no way of telling what was on the other side of that door, and it was better if Yunho went in first as he had infinitely more experience when it came to Ghoul matters. With a deep breath, the two prepared mentally before Seonghwa gave the signal. He held the stolen key up to the pad—a beep. The door slid open and-

Nothing.

The room was empty.

Trying not to be discouraged as they still had two more doors to check, Seonghwa darted on ahead. He had agreed to take the one in the middle while Yunho took the room furthest down the hall. If push came to shove, the Ghoul was much faster if he needed to move, and speed was everything right now.

Running down the hall, Yunho darted ahead with the ID key that Seonghwa had stolen earlier that week. The agent was sure that the Ghoul could probably just as easily tore open the door if he wanted to, but they run the risk of setting free a feral or rogue Ghoul. Something like that would be the last thing they would want to deal with right now.

Skidding to a halt in front of the desired door, Seonghwa watched Yunho continue for just a moment to make sure he was clear before the agent turned his head back forward. Taking another fortifying breath, the man reached behind him and pulled out his Glock. He sincerely hoped he didn't have to use it, but the familiar weight of it in his hand was empowering and gave direction to the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He brought his hand up with the key card, ready to scan.

Room 1024.

A beep. The door opened. Seonghwa took a step inside.

Nothing.

Seonghwa felt his heart freeze in his chest as his body went numb at the sight of an empty room. Hongjoong wasn't here. He may not have ever been here. And that thought fills him with more unexpected dread than he knows what to do with.

Nothing but bright white greeted his eyes as they swept around the harsh-looking room if it could even be called that. It was more like a space devoid of anything besides a small, mostly untouched cot in the corner. Most disturbingly were the barely visible scratch marks on the walls as if someone had been in here struggling.

The agent suddenly feels sick. The hot burn of bile roles in his stomach, and he isn't prepared for such a visceral reaction. His eyes were locked on the scratches, and he couldn't bring himself to teach his eyes away. Someone, somehow, suffered in here, and just the thought of it now shook him to his core. He didn't want to dare imagine Hongjoong in this spot. Or Yunho. Or even Wooyoung or San. After spending these few days together with a common Ghoul, he had nearly forgotten entirely that they were all Ghouls.

Seonghwa was suddenly brought back to that day they had first talked about Mist. It had felt like eons ago now, but in reality, it may have been a month or two. The face of the tortured woman screaming horrendously as she foamed at the mouth and tore at her hair. The frozen image the director had paused it on forever ingrained in his mind.

Unable to stare anymore for the risk of losing his stomach, Seonghwa brought his hand towards his mouth and turned his head away. He could feel the bead of sweat roll down his back as he clenched his eyes shut to quell the nausea. He made a move to leave the room-

A shove. Pain blooming in the back of his head as it bounced off the wall he had been pushed into as a weight slammed into him. He gasped from the shock as his breath escaped him and the impact made him dizzy. Groaning, Seonghwa tried to blink past the bleariness as his sight came back into focus.

He found two bright red eyes staring back at him.

Notes: 

Hello, I apologize that this took so long to get to you all. I was really having trouble finding a bridge to get to the next part and, personally, I still think I failed in that regard. The pacing and transitions are rather clunky and it just feels like a fluff filler chapter. This one was definitely not worth the wait and I hope you can forgive me as this book has grown by so many reads while I have been away. 

Hopefully, I can update faster soon since this hurdle has somewhat been crossed but I've been going through a shit ton of stuff both professionally and personally, and honestly, I'm surprised I haven't completely exploded from it all. I've been in a really dark place for a really, really long time (honestly years) and I don't see that changing anytime soon, especially with everything I have going on now. Writing is what used to keep me going and right now I tend to avoid it but I will never give up on this story as I have come too far. It might just take me a bit longer as I can feel (and see) my writing deteriorating.

For those that care, I am currently working on the Asphyxia Look Book and will try and post a few chapters of it soon with some of the outfits, looks, ect. that inspired my descriptions or just what I picture in my head. If you read By the Moon, I should have a new chapter for that soon as well to make up for my absence. 

Thank you for your understanding and I hope you stick with me until the end. I appreciate you all.