PICK A SIDE ㅡ chapter 18

( warning : mature themes
further down the chapter. )

INSEONG must've been sleeping for a long time since his body felt heavy when he move in the bed enjoying the warmth of the blanket.

wait, this feels weird somehow...

his eyes shot wide open to see white ceiling staring back at him.

where is he?

inseong sit up from the bed, looking around the new environment through tired, squinted eyes.

a huff of wind kissed inseong's skin and a scent of sea, sand and white jasmine greeted his smelling sense.

he focused on the direction of the wind, through his blurry sight, it was where most of the light in the room came from. he rubbed his eyes to see clearer.

someone was standing in the balcony with their back towards him.

inseong's eyes widen as he look around to scan the place once again.

no.

no!

please no!

the world felt like it was crushing down onto him as soon as he realised.

he didn't escape.

he's in his given room. again.

in the mansion of assassins.

back to square one.

great.

"so this is how you tried to escape," a female voice said, too familiar yet strange. "jumped off this balcony, climb the wall and over to the next property." she shortly summarised. "you could've escaped if only you kept running." the person standing on the balcony said, turning to face him.

dark red hair seemed more vivid under the sun.

victoria walked inside, closing the door behind her with swift hands.

she didn't don an expression. her normal blank, emotionless expression plastered on her face.

her black tank top, black straight pants, leather gloves and sound absorbent shoes suggested that she has just arrive from an operation.

"why am i back here?" inseong asked, eyebrows crashed against each other angrily.

"simple. you failed to escape." victoria neared his desk with the books scattered on it. "it's a chemical side effect we designed after an adrenaline rush. when your heartbeat is more than 60bpm for 20 seconds, the antidote instantly directs the blood flow to the muscles and does the process faster than adrenaline. but, when you slowed down after climbing the tree, the adrenaline vanishes and the side effects are paralysis and extreme exhaustion."

"you injected that into me?!" inseong yelled, but that didn't surprise nor faze victoria.

"we can't have you walking around like this is your house and you're not here for a vacation. you're free to roam, eat, use the bathroom, but you still need restrictions."  victoria said, kind of disappointed that inseong didn't expect any thrill while he's staying here.

"don't worry, it leaves the body through sweating while asleep then after it's gone, victim will gain consciousness. which means you don't have it anymore." she spotted the open book from the library.

inseong scoffed. she act as if it's a normal thing.

think about it though. if it only worked once, why should it have been this time? why not any other time while he's in the house to rid of it? why did it have to be that time he finally got the chance to escape?!

he rolled his eyes, tired of all this mind reading-like group who seems to plan and think everything through.

everything.

she's even here when he finally wakes up so she can tell inseong how stupid and predictable he can be.

how convenient right?

"what about my... grandparents?" inseong asked lowly, his voice trembling and his eyes shaking while they search victoria's.

"you knew we weren't gonna do what we told you. that we weren't gonna cut the line. that's why you escaped." her words begin to sting. "you want to mock us."

"no.. i didn't.."

her face contorted to a resting bitch face she always have - an unreadable expression on her face that makes inseong's insides burn with so many questions.

then her lips curled to a smile, eyes suddenly shining.

"i've never properly talked to you, so i decided to visit today." victoria chanted, paging through pages in search of a certain one.

"what? butㅡ" victoria ignored him.

the yearbook was from 2017. the year where they were complete so far.

she stopped at the group photo.

the group photo where there were seven of them grouped up in front of the beach with happy smiles on their faces.

✧.*ೃ༄

"it's counting it's counting!" victoria alerts the group, running as soon as the camera beeps loudly.

"ya chani! what are you doing? hurry here!" jaeyoon calls the youngest member over.

"i'm coming i'm coming!" chani sprints but the sand laughs at his attempt after slowing him down. "ugh!" he groans.

when he finally nears the group, his feet said nope and he slips on the sand.

*click~!

the group groans.

chani lays flat on the sand, aware of what just happened.

"it captured the moment where he was about to fall!" dayna laughs after she and victoria checked the photo.

baron helps the fellow member up and helps dusting sand off him too.

"happened to me once, almost swallowed sand." baron reminisces the traumatic moment.

"ew, hyung." chani exclaims.

"let's do it again guys, chani, you stand there now, don't do anything stupid." victoria jokes making chani roll his eyes nodding and standing next to jaeyoon.

victoria runs and one moment she almost falls, but quickly gains balance and saving herself. chani laughs loudly at the short moment.

"you almost fell!"

"but i didn't~" victoria chants, standing next to hwiyoung, who wraps an arm around her shoulder and they all smile and pose for the camera.

*click~

✧.*ೃ༄

victoria's golden eyes fell onto the other girl of the group, dayna.

she's been missing for almost three years now ever since they got separated after a bomb explosion one mission.

the group only found victoria, they didn't know where dayna landed. they've searched the area and the surroundings, but she's nowhere to be found.

her trackers were gone and not even baron knew where she really was.

as if she just disappeared through thin air.

everyday victoria regrets not checking the perimeters thoroughly.

if dayna didn't go missing, mason wouldn't be depressed, baron wouldn't be faking his smiles and dayna wouldn't be in bad hands right now.

"inseong, how did you end up here? in a mansion out of nowhere, with assassins surrounding you left and right?"  she turned to him, keeping the book open at the same page.

"you kidnapped me because my terminally ill uncle signed an interminable contract that requires a blood relative to inherit the things he has. and i'm the only blood relative alive."

hm, he's got good memory.

"but why do we need you?"

"you need me for a high ransom." inseong concluded, it wasn't something they told him. if his uncle dies, they don't need him. but he knows they won't let that happen.

"ransom? do you think we need your money?" victoria raised an eyebrow, signalling inseong to look around him.

he's surrounded by modern, high quality things. even the bathroom he has right now is better than the ones in his house.

he cleared his throat.

"then you want me for more money." inseong saw victoria sigh and roll her eyes. "i don't understand. do you not?"

"kim inseong, you ended up getting tangled with us - who are your uncle's problem - because you want to prove him something. we know we're a top class when it comes to scoring, but you didn't need a score to be promoted to ranger93. you want something else in return."

inseong's eyes shake, heart starting to pick up a pace at victoria's exact words.

"i saw your files. after two years in police school, got transferred to rage shooting and trained for another two years and now you're immediately in ranger93." victoria said, grabbing the thick envelope from the desk and taking a document out.

"in your portfolio, you didn't want to be a policeman. you majored in journalism and communications and originally wanted be an announcer." victoria read through the copy of document. "kyunghee university too. fancy that."

inseong scoffed. "i changed my mind."

"obviously." victoria added. "but why? what is it that you wanted from the start?"

her words are calculated and the same time curious and wondering.

why?

why did he enroll for police school?

why did he accept the fact that he will put himself to danger when he said yes to his uncle's conditions?

"i..." inseong trailed off, eyes fell down onto the blanket. "i wanted to find my missing sister. that was my goal from the start. my uncle will help me if i graduated police school and finish rst. then when i got to ranger93, he won't help me unless i catch you guys."

his eyes shot wide in realisation.

his uncle set goals for him one after the other.

"but.. why would he do that?" inseong muttered. "why wouldn't he want to help me find my sister?"

victoria only smirked.

oh you'll know.

"you have to tell me more." inseong said, more like a command than a request.

"you see, the contract isn't like any other contract. the contract holds the prevention of exposure. exposure of your uncle's crimes."

inseong only listen in anticipation, not even bothering to act clueless and just hear what victoria has to prove.

she searched for files in the envelope, pulled them out and dropped them on the bed for inseong to see.

they're all wrapped in fingerprint exposing folder that inseong recognised. they're all labeled to have come from the confidential vault. the one only the head officers of the division have access to through a 20 digit code and fingerprint access.

black iris managed to get through the vault?

"wear these and look through them." victoria threw him a pair of leather gloves. "you know why."

inseong put it on with a glare and opened one of the folders.

the forst document was an incident report.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

POLICE REPORT
District Police of Sochi, Russia

Case No: #70122009
Date & Time Reported: July 14, 20019  01:21PM
Incident/Type of Offense: Massacre w/ GBH

Victims: A total of 60+ people.

Offenders: Unknown.

Incident: A massacre of 60+ victims, all of Russian nationality. All died of brutal murder, rape, suffocation and grevious bodily harm with weapons (machetes and pistols).

Detail of Event:
The bodies measured to all have died on July 12, 2009 around 00:00 to 3:00 give or take.
The location, Vanizyske Resort in Sochi, was reserved for a festive event by the family Sirinova (who also died in this event). The resort was reserved for two days (July 11-July 12) for both preparations and occurrence.

Local incidents has reported to have seen a grill party by the beach and seemed to have quiet down in the evening with the attendants inside the reserved hotel.

Two days after, the resort's staff and their cleaning company came to the stench of blood and to their shock, they open the hotel to a pool of blood and dead bodies left and right. All notably dressed in fancy suits and gowns that matches the hotel's ball setup. A staff of the hotel rushed to call the department as soon as possible.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

inseong's eyes widen even more after reading the whole report. it was a translated copy, but it still hits him. the date especially.

july 12 is his birthday. and that year was the most memorable because his aunts, uncles and cousins who were flying from taiwan to come to inseong's party, crashed their plane - or so he was told by his uncle who came to seoul a day after.

he didn't get to celebrate with his parents and grandparents because they were all out for a business trip with a big company so he only celebrated with his older sister and his close friends.

"it says... sirinova here.." inseong said quietly, hesistant to look into victoria's eyes. "isn't that your last name?"

"yes." victoria answered shortly. voice unaffected. inseong finally meet here eyes, locking them with his. they're empty and blank. a void of nothingness as if the event meant nothing. "turn to the next page."

inseong did as he was told and turned to the next page.

an autopsy report.

kim junhoon.

wait ㅡ that's inseong's uncle.

'findings: stab wound #1 to the chest ; fatal, jab wound #1 across the throat slashing both carotid artery and jugular vein ; fatal.'

what?

inseong flipped to the next page.

kim yeren. his aunt.

'findings: stab wound #1 to the spinal cord ; fatal.'

"but they died... in a plane crash on their way from taiwan to seoul." inseong looked at victoria for some kind of explanation. the files were original documents. even signed by a well known doctor. "that's what uncle.... told me.."

uncle.

inseong flipped the pages and sure enough, his three cousins were there all three stabbed and died of blood loss. then he arrived at the page of two major names.

kim seolbin. kim injeong.

his parents that died in a car crash on august 11, 2009.

"uncle said they died after colliding with a cargo truck." inseong said, looking at the crime scene photos. "but he lied about that too. the deep depth on the left side of the acura is only situated on the lower half, telling us that it is hit by a smaller vehicle. so it's impossible to be a cargo truck since they mostly have flat fronts and they're bigger and wider."

"not bad."

"what else did he lie about?" inseong looked angry and disappointed. two emotions victoria knew too well.

"your grandparents." inseong scoffed in realisation at victoria's statement.

he's not even shocked at this point anymore.

"of course. they got admitted right when i joined police school, forcing me to work harder for him to support them medically."  he scoffed again, getting up from the bed. "unbelievable. what is his problem? why is he doing this?!"

"they're all witnesses of the massacre." victoria said, referring to the incident report inseong read first.

she gestured him to the desk where the family book was. that was one of the books inseong looked through halfway before he escaped.

inseong watched as she turned the book to almost the end of it, finding a picture.

it was a photo of a lot of people standing next to each other and smiling to the camera. each wearing fancy suits or gowns. but the ones with the fanciest clothes was the front line. the same family inseong saw in the family album a few days ago.

"that'sㅡ"

"this is the photo of the attendants of the doom. the one and only. got it from the photographer who now rests in peace."  victoria said, making inseong purse his lips.

"everyone's in the picture. see, that's my parents, my grandparents. that's jaeyoon's family and him. ooh! look that's the assassin your division have captive, my brother."  she chanted.

"is he.. the only one... alive?" inseong cautiously asked. he don't know victoria and how she handle anger, but sometimes quiet people burst the worst.

he looked at he side profile intensely, but victoria kept the blank expression well like a fort. but the next thing inseong knew, she was pointing at each of them and stating their death causes.

"renoir and alma doma were raped and killed by hyungeuk cho, dianna was hanged like a chandelier and was the first in our family to die, damia roy was decapitated and my younger sister karlamainna was stripped, molested and tortured before slowly dying of a missed bullet in the head."

inseong was about to throw up.

how can victoria say that with a straight face?!

"kim yoogeok has been my father's consigliere since 1985, 8 years before we both were born. my father set him to be the head of the korean branch and trusted him with everything. even with taking care of us. he was a great negotiator due to his manipulating and communicating skills." victoria said, turning back to the picture. "until now i still don't know the exact reason why the whole korean branch turned against us."

victoria pointed at the photo and there he saw his uncle, his parents, his aunts, uncles, their children and their grandparents.

his throat suddently turned dry at the sight.

his brain trying to make up excuses.

is this the reason why they're all dead? because they were witnesses to his uncle's crime and killing them will rid the witnesses.

"you know, i'd understand if they did it to stop my family from being dangerous. that they did it for the good. start a new life with our money, help the ones in need, donate, help change the world. but most of them took the incident for granted."

inseong listened closely to victoria's next words.

"they corrupted, traded drugs, trafficked humans, gambled, bought slaves and more. at the same time appearing as good, righteous people with titles in front of the media."  her hands clenched to fists, knuckles turning white.  "not even my family did any of those things. they kept me, karla and baron away from them. but i still knew. i knew what they were doing."

"i mean, have you seen maids and butler being included in photos like this? look at their smiles! they were happy to serve us because we helped them. my family never mishandled any of them - ever since our founder started the legacy."  victoria turned to look at inseong dead in the eyes.  "we were never as brutal as they."

"so.. you took me so my uncle will be exposed of his crimes which are killing of my and your loves ones."  she nodded at inseong's statement. "but i don't understand why you had to kill kim seokhun? what does he have to do with all of it?"

victoria chuckled, ushering inseong the check the folder again. "he was one masochistic guy, who had a record of human trafficking. caught once with his roommate that he tried getting to sex slavery. never came out in public because he was the commander of troop065. your uncle hid the cause to prevent such appeal of his division. but seokhun got out of control and killed the girl."

"he was your cousin from the uncle you never got to meet. he wasn't in the airplane so he lived his childhood and the rest of his life with no parents. even yoogeok was surprised to find out about that. but, it was too late." her dubious smirk plastered at her lips, knowing that inseong now understand why she did the things she did.

"so taking me was to make him panic since he didn't know about seokhun yet?"

"yes."

"is that why you killed doyum?"

"yes and no." victoria said, taking a deep breath. "you see, you might've misunderstood it when i told you the first time. you were meant to misunderstand it. but, we didn't kill doyum. it was his girlfriend who killed herself 10 days after his death. he died while you were starting halfway your supposed years in rst, but your uncle had to get you in the division as soon as possible. to keep you close."

"we don't kill innocent people like him.. like you."

"i'm the only one he has left. and if i supposedly die, he'll be arrested."

"wrong."

inseong looked at her in confusion.

"you're not the only one left." victoria turned to the yearbook, staring at dayna's unmoving pictorial eyes.

victoria opened the envelope once again, searching for pictures. one found, she layed them in the table, spreading each to be clearly seen.

inseong's eyes had never gone wider. his jaw fall open at the sight. tears brim his eyes as he look at the photos, trying to comprehend everything.

"wh-what.. i-i.. s-she.." he stammered, unable to form proper words.

he's in total shock.

"your uncle has your sister, kim inseong." victoria said, stating the obvious. "he has her all these years. used for his guilty pleasures - judging by how her skin lacks color, how unhealthy thin she looks, how her has bruises on suspicious spots and how she didn't seemed to be walking properly."

"are you suggesting that heㅡ"

"just deducing. nothing confirmed."

"no.. my sister... sheㅡ" inseong turned to victoria. "please you have to get her out! it's- it's..."

victoria showed no clear sympathy through her golden eyes that's supposed to represent warmth and happiness.

it would've suited her better if her eyes were silver.

"we have a showdown first."

EDITED.

[ GLOSSARY ]

' ✧.*ೃ༄ '  ㅡ  flashback icon
RST ㅡ range shooting training
DAYNA ㅡ a member of black iris who
went missing almost three years ago
RENOIR SIRINOV ㅡ born september 17, 1988
ALMA DOMA SIRINOVA ㅡ born february 18, 1990
DIANNA SIRINOVA ㅡ born may 19, 1991
DAMIA ROY SIRINOV ㅡ july 20, 1992 ; the only closest older brother victoria was to
KARLMAINNA SIRINOVA ㅡ december 26, 1995