Even though night had already thrown its black cloak all over, she had no problem in edging between the narrow streets. Her high heels brought to life every single paving stone that she stepped on. After a short while their noise got an echo and she hold out her hand. On her black glove, five white delicate fingers clenched easily.
“Any idea what’s up now?” she asked as easy as she walked, moving her fingers a little up on the other’s girl arm.
“Nope, but I surely wanna find out”, said the brunette taking off her gloves. “Your hands are frozen! Take this!”
“Thanks!” her friend smiled fondly. “I was such in a hurry and I forgot about it”, she said putting on the gloves.
They stopped in front of a simple door. They knocked twice then entered.
“Hi there, Mathias!” the brunette yelled and gave her coat to a roundish sweet old man.
“Welcome, Miss Ally, Miss Briana. He’s waiting for you up stairs.”
“Thank you”, Briana smiled and followed her friend up the stairs.
From outside it looked like a very small room, but after you got by the dark, austere hallway the cheap glamour smashed your eyes. You could find every thing in there, from famous paintings to pointless curtains and tasteless kitsch. They both smiled and stopped in front of a big oak door. Ally pushed the door handle someway nosily and stomped in, followed by Breanna’s gentle steps.
“Girls!! You moved so fast!” a man said smiling arrogantly, without even getting up from his way too comfortable armchair. “Missed me that much?” he kept on mocking them with a smirk.
“Yeah, we did if you got somethin` for us”, Ally smiled and sat on the left arm of the armchair greeting him with a smack on his head.
“You know, other people don’t treat their boss like that”, he pouted.
“We are partners, not subordinates”, Briana’s annoyingly calm voice interrupted him and Ally uphold her with a large smile.
“Ok, look… I know we haven’t done this before, but you’ll manage”, said the man finally getting up with a heartily sigh. Although he wasn’t in his first youth any more, you could easily mistook him for a 30-ish man; he wasn’t really tall, but his dark hair and almond eyes perfectly completed his figure whose central attraction were the full, sharp lips, and his stretched t-shirt gave away the long hours at the gym. He guided them with one sign to follow him to a nice, flower-decorated desk. Briana moved her hand over the delicate flowers and rested her elbows on his shoulders, looking over to the computer screen. After a couple of moments and about two mouse clicks, one picture took over the screen.
“What about them?” Ally frowned.
“They are your target”, he said in a loud laughter.
“2,3,5… aren’t they too much for just the two of us?” Briana asked without taking her eyes off of them.
“Neah, you won’t have any troubles at all. They’re I D O L S”, he spelled underlining they were no good anyhow.
“I D O L S”, Ally quoted him, “equals bodyguards and staff always around them”.
“Well, that’s why I asked for you, if it were an easy job, I would’ve sent in a mole”, the man pouted again and lit a cigar.
“They’re gonna kill you someday”, Ally hopped on throwing the cigar in a clean ashtray.
“So… what they did wrong?” Briana asked.
“They’re rich”, came the man’s amused answer.
“So? What good would they do to you if they’re two feet underground?” Ally joined his amusement. “Oh, we’re not gonna… “, she stopped smiling when he put on a very pleased face.
“I don’t want them dead. My bank account ain’t what it used to be, so I need my rabbies…”
“I don’t get it…” Briana whispered to Ally.
“Now we’re kidnapers too?” Ally burst out laughing.
“We have needs too, don’t we?” the man raised his eyebrows in a very innocent figure.
“Yeah…”, Briana answered stretching her hand out to get the newly printed picture. “So? Where too?” she asked carefully folding the picture and gently stuffed it into her jeans’ pockets.
“Seoul…”
Briana put her sunglasses next to the white coffee cup. Without any sudden moves, she grabbed the little spoon and started stirring the cream, pretending she was totally preoccupied with it. Her eyes got up just as much as they needed to see across the room, to that table where a good-looking man and his date, enjoyed a good time. She subtly passed her thumb over the small cellphone screen, checking a picture. The same white face, the same black, playful eyes, even the same hairdo could make anyone understand she found the right person. She easily got up following the man’s date when she went to the rest room. With no words what so ever, she took the glass soap holder and suddenly hit the woman’s head. She quickly caught her so that it won’t make any noise when she’d fall and in a couple of minutes, she silently exited. Briana kept on spying the man, continuously checking the watch on her cellphone. After more than 40 minutes, the man gets up. He slowly steps towards the rest room’s door. She quickly throws some money on the table and rushes to the man’s direction. In a couple of so-called absent-minded steps, she bumps against him.
“Oh, God, please forgive me!” SeungRi quickly said. “Are you OK?”…
“It’s all right…” she answered so slowly that he barely could hear her, and bent over to gather up all of her cellphone’s components. Underneath the big brown sunglasses he could see only a small, full mouth. Suddenly a tear dropped.
“Ar… are you crying?...” SeungRi asked in astonishment. “…over a cell phone?...”
“No…, no I’m not… I’m sorry…” she quickly took back the phone’s battery and hurried outside.
For an unknown reason even to him, he followed her.
“Wait! Wait a second, please!...” he said running.
After several quick steps, he caught her hand.
“Look, I …” he started saying when she covered his mouth with a white tissue. At first, he didn’t understood her reaction, but in a matter of seconds he started feeling numb and his legs failed him.
***
“DaeSung-Ah, shall we?” the man asked throwing a towel on his shoulders.
“Five more minutes, OK?” DaeSung calmly answered, trying to keep his breath steady on the fixed bike.
“Fine! I’ll get my clothes and we’re off!”
“OK, OK!” DaeSung smiled and got so lost (again) into his exercising that not even the big thud could make him lose his focus.
Ally cut through that man’s stretched limbs and edged quietly to DaeSung’s back. Before she could reach him, she easily clenched her hair up, in a ponytail and covered her face with a black scarf. She was three steps away from him; she folded another scarf on her fists and with one quick move, she covered his face, knocking him on the ground.
DaeSung was not an easy match; he freed himself in a couple of quick moves and was about to change the odds of faith in his favor when a cold, steel gun pipe stopped somewhere on his forehead.
“Stay put!” Ally mumbled and a sharp pain in the back of his head lain him at her feet. ”You looked so much smaller in the picture” she grumbled carrying him away.
The pointed heels dipped into the fuzzy carpet leaving round marks of her steps. It was so dark that you couldn’t even guess the colors around. Briana pulled the black hood over her face and with one finger, slowly pushed the bedroom’s door – the same darkness all around. The only thing guiding her to where she had to go was the soft snoring sound. She got closer to it, wetting a small handkerchief with something from a little bottle. The man’s breath was now merely a calm beat that she pleasantly listed to. She stretched her hand out in search for his nose, when a sudden noise startled her and her hands smacked the man’s face.
SeungHyun’s eyes widen in a second. He gets up to look around. He rubs his cheek in pain and checks the vibrating telephone on the nightstand.
“2.55” he read and after a short fight to keep his eyes open, he looks for the appellant’s name: JiYong. He rolls his eyes and hits the green key.
Briana prayed from behind the drapes, hoping that he will not turn on the lights. She could hear him talk, but couldn’t understand a word, except for the “yeoboseyo” from the beginning. In a very short while, the talking was over and a deep quietness took over. Too deep… something wasn’t right. She pushed the drapes just in time to see and duck the golden golf club that smashed the glass in thousands of noisy pieces. He came at her with a new attack and she had to roll over to avoid him. When she got up, he caught her hood and a bloody-red ocean glided from underneath it, covering her entire back. He wasn’t sure how to react this time. The quietness took over again, the only noise were their two beating hearts.
“Turn around… easy…” SeungHyun ordered when he snapped out of it, and because she didn’t obeyed he raised his voice, shouting “Turn around!!”. He grasped the club’s handle raising it above his head.
A weapon’s click made his eyes get bigger and the sound of a gunshot froze him. He waited for the pain of bullet to pierce through his flesh, but it never happened. Her gun was steaming but it wasn’t pointed at him, just a little more to the right.
“Drop it!” Briana said on a low voice, gluing the gun to his forehead.
The cold steel made his hands lower themselves easily.
Suddenly the small phone on the nightstand began singing again. This could’ve been the right timing for SeungHyun to make a move if Briana, in the heat of the moment, wouldn’t had caught his hands and disarmed him. She waved the club above her head three times and knocked him down. Two drops of blood stained the white carpet almost instantly.
“Oh crap…” Briana rushed to check his vital signs – his wound was large but shallow.
“Yaa, Prince Charming, let’s get you home!” Taeyang caught Jiyong’s arm to help him maintain a two-footed posture.
They just left the excessively noisy clubhouse behind, trying to reach their car from the deadly silent two-storied parking lot.
“Someone’s following us” JiYong suddenly said.
“Yes, and her name it’s ‘conscience’ “ Taeyang laughed at his friend, helping him to put one arm over his neck.
“No really, I may be a little sizzled, but I’m not deaf!” JiYong whispered pouting and he refused to go any further.
Taeyang perked up his ears and indeed someone was closing in. He turned around to see who was it, but the only thing he got to see was a fist-clenched glove punching his face.
JiYong tried to back up his friend launching a “surprise” punch-attack. Ally caught his hand, twisting it to his back, and she molded around his body like a puppeteer with his puppet.
The time Taeyang begun his attack, she coiled her hand into JiYong’s soft hair. With one strong push she made him hit his friend’s face and Taeyang had to hid it into his hands to stop de bleeding. JiYong tried to mutiny against the “hidden face” who caught him, but the only thing he managed to pull was a kick in his stomach. Like pushing an invisible, magic switch all the fluids he ingested `till then craved out in a long spurt. TaeYang jumped to help him but a muffled thud and an unknown pain in the back of his head chopped away any connections with the real life. Briana covered her mouth in disgust and the other hand she used to point the gun at JiYong, who already understood he was not able to fight back, so he kneeled and raised his hands above his head.
“What? No more bad guy?” Ally mocked him while he stared at her trying to catch any detail he could about her face. It was quite impossible since it was all covered up. He hung on the hand that covered his nose with a sweet-scented tissue and just kept on watching Ally. Before he could finish thinking “They look like girl’s eyes” everything turned black and silent again.
***
B I G B A N G Briana typed without haste then loudly pushed the “enter” key, throwing one eye over to the five stuttered boys on the floor.
“Monster? Hmm… Play! Show me what you’ve got, little beasts,” she whispered as if she didn’t wanted to wake them up. A big smile got born on her face. Her finger tenderly pushed the “replay” key and the volume highly increased.
“I love you, baby I’m not a monster…” went by to SeungHyun’s ears, just like a sunken noise. The pain in the back of his head stole him a soft moan. He blinked a couple of times, trying to pierce through the darkness around his eyes, but he couldn’t do it. His numb hands made him understood his position. With one sudden move, he tried to free himself but he could only make thin blood grains to stain the rope around his wrist and sting him. His breath begun winding when he understood there was no way he could do it. His terrified eyes looked for any source of light, but all he could see were the evenly, black knitted spread loops covering his entire face. As if it weren’t enough already, this wasn’t the thing that scared him the most. He was absolutely horrified by the fact that there were only their songs playing over and over again, and all of the scripts he could imagine made his breath wind even more.
“Oh, my head..” he recognized JiYong’s voice.
The same chorus obsessively repeated over and over making JiYong to swallow any kind of manifestation. He rested his cheek on something hard, which seemed to be wood, or something harder, but his face was protected by something that felt like a black, thick hood.
“What’s this?” he kept on rewinding the same question because of the countless time he could hear “Baby I’m not a monster…” part. He felt his hands so heavy and even if he tried, he couldn’t move them.
“This must be the worst hangover ever…” he tried to cheer up, hoping that this he felt were only the sign of an uglier boozing when his kneeled image rebirthed before his eyes. His heart went for a run and he started struggling around, but it was all with no use. Every move he made stung his arms and his mouth bit on his lower lip to keep inside any sound that he might regret later. A warm hand caught the lip of his finger, calming him down. By its hold, it felt like DaeSung’s hand, but he still had no courage to ask anything.
It was indeed DaeSung who tried to calm him, although his posture wasn’t exactly one that afforded hands holding. He already had his attempt of breaking free and it all ended with even tighter and more uncomfortable grasps around his wrists. Even now he could still feel the cold pipe on the top of his head and that sweet scent never left his nostrils. The same scent he felt right now warping around his curled body. He took a deep breath and the walking footsteps quietly stopped next to his ear.
Taeyang rested his head on the hard floor. His hands were caught somewhere under him, but this didn’t stopped him to feverishly look for his big ring that could help him cut the rope in half. He kept hearing his part in “Ain’t no fun” and just one thought terrified his mind. He really couldn’t believe this; he knew they were loved and even obsessed over for but this was just too much! His thought suddenly ran to the kneeled JiYong he left “behind” in the dark parking lot.
“Oh… what happened?...” they all could hears SeungRi’s voice that broke every one’s concentration and brought total silence.
“Damn!...” he said again after few wrist twists hurt him and stung his arm all up `till the elbows. “Where am I?” he went on but the noise of some high heels froze him. After ten counted steps the noise stopped. A bright, big, white light shut his eyes tightly. After several moments he was able to open them slowly and the same big, brown glasses showed up.
“Who are you? he asked, but got no answer; he didn’t waited for it because he saw his friends curled on the ground.
“Hyung!!” he yelled and rushed to Taeyang, but his legs, as tied as his arms, knocked him on the ground even before he could get up. “Who the hell are you?? What do you want?!” he shouted.
***
A big iron gate’s creak made everybody turn their heads all around, and only SeungRi could watch Lee entering the room with one really big smile.
“I can’t believe this!” he said in a loud laughter trying to free his face from under the rebellious fringes mutiny. His eyes were all swollen and bloodshot with tiny red threads slicing from one end to the other.
Briana took three steps back; she couldn’t sand him when he was like that, so she turned her back at him.
“Honestly girls, I wasn’t expecting this when you said you’ve got somethin` for me!” he kept on laughing while Ally approached him. “Problems?” he asked loosening everybody’s hoods.
The first glimpse of light had the same impact on anyone.
“Hyung!!” they all screamed at once, trying to reach each other, but they all ended as SeungRi.
Lee’s hysterical laughter froze everybody.
“You really should’ve told me!” he insisted. “I should’ve brought my camera if I knew!” he shouted in joy, and then all of a sudden, he grasped at SeungHyun’s collar and started punching him.
“What the hell it’s wrong with you?!” Briana jumped holding his hand.
“You want some too?!” he caught her hair but stuck hands up when Ally’s gun touched the back of his neck.
“Told you this shit will get you killed one day…” she said easily hiding Briana behind her.
“Chill, darlin’ “he said raising his hands in defeat. “I was just playing. You know I’ll never hurt you” he caressed Ally’s head.
She hesitantly hid her gun, after which she grabbed Lee’s shoulders pushing him away. Nevertheless, he wasn’t ready to quit just yet, so he launched a new attack against an already immobilized and knocked down SeungHyun.
“I said stop it!” Ally shouted blocking his way.
“OK, OK!...” he laughed. “I was just having fun, that’s all…” He turned to face Briana: “Why isn’t your face covered?”
“Why isn’t yours?” she asked back without even looking at him.
“`Cos they won’t live to tell,” he whispered hoping no one will hear him. “Let’s see now…” he chose the black cellphone from the table with a little kid’s game. “No password? I like this…” he said accessing the phone’s main menu. One vicious smile lit his face. Without haste, he started walking towards SeungHyun who never took his eyes off of him, even though he had difficulties looking through the red trail that covered his eye, draining downwards where more red threads painted his entire mouth and chin. When Lee caught his neck collar, he gathered all the liquids he had inside his mouth and spit his face. He even could sketch a smile when Lee roared, frenetically looking for his embroidered handkerchief.
“Hyung…” he could hear JiYong’s soft voice. He knew this scene very well, and could anticipate what was about to come; he tried to reach his friend but once again the tight knots kept him on the ground.
Frenzied, Lee threw himself towards SeungHyung, but after a couple of kicks Ally’s silver gun froze him.
“Do what you have to, and then be gone!” she calmly said.
Briana backed up her friend by copying her move.
“Girls…” Lee puffed “… I’m afraid you misunderstood your spot in here…”
“I’m afraid you had!” Briana felt the urge to stop him.
“What’s wrong, kiddo? You fancy `bout him?” he mocked her, pushing her gun with one finger, then he kneeled in one knee. “I’ll let you choose who to call” he stuck the phone under SeungHyun’s nose. “Shall we call mommy?” he laughed at the picture where a smiling SeungHyun hugged his mother, making him to desperately try sitting up, just to hit him at least once.
“Hold it there, tiger” Lee calmed him down grabbing his hair. “Here!” he said touching the green button on the screen. He glued it to his ear and whispered: “Mind what you’re sayin` “.
“Hello! Hello!”
JiYong’s eyes widened. It was so much silence in there that they could hear Yang Hyun Suk’s voice. The other three boys exchanged looks and SeungHyun needed a hard swing to throw a weak “Hello”.
“Hello? TOP is that you?!?” the man yelled from the other side.
“…Sir…” SeungHyun tried to talk.
“Sir?!! Don’t you ‘sir’ me! It’s past noon! Where the hell are you?!! It’s this respect you show me…” CEO felt the need to cut him off.
“Wait, SIR…” SeungHyun almost yelled to make his CEO understand something was wrong, but it all ended with a new kick for him, which knocked him on the ground again.
“Shut up and listen!” Lee took over the phone. “In less than 20 minutes check your email!” he said then threw away the phone. “What now?” he innocently raised his eyebrows when he met Briana’s upset face. “See you in 20 minutes!” he proudly smiled walking towards the big iron door, humming GD’s Michi Go.
JiYong struggled to win the fight over with some gathering tears.
“Are you OK?” he whispered to SeungHyun who felt facing him.
His friend’s warm smile made him lose focus and the tears came tumbling down. He angrily shook his head to throw them away when his face almost hit the black boots that stopped too close to him. He raised his eyes and all of his hate met Ally’s covered face. He could feel her trembling hands pushing him up, until he could sit on his knees. She did the same for the other two. Briana followed her lead helping DaeSung and SeungHyun. He did his best not to watch her, but that sweet perfume stole him a quick look-in. She wanted to take a short glimpse at him and their eyes met, freezing them. She mumbled a really weak “Mian-hae…” and he pulled himself watching away from her. She easily got up.
Ally opened up a water bottle, pointing it towards everyone.
“No one? OK…” she said tapping it.
“Wait!...” SeungRi cracked the silence again. “I want some…” he said trying to walk on his knees.
Ally bent over to reach him.
“Thanks…” he blushed when his stomach made strange noises.
Briana smiled and in less than four steps, she sat in front of him.
“I don’t think I can cook what you guys usually eat, but I haven’t yet met someone who won’t enjoy some French fries…” she said smiling.
“No…” SeungRi tried to answer back to her smile and had a bite.
The others wouldn’t give up their pride and just stood there, gulping into thin air.
Ally sat next to Briana, luring them.
“I’m not a retard to be fed by others!...” JiYong muffled.
“For the moment you are” came Ally’s amused answer. She took off the scarf covering her face and stuffed a load full of French fries in her mouth. Her white skin and red lips had a strange impact on JiYong who found himself contemplating on her perfectly harmonious figure.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” they could hear SeungRi funny laughter.
“It’s OK” Briana laughed back rubbing her finger in pain, which he bit in search of food. “I kind of deserve it, anyway…” she said barely abstaining a laugh, holding his food with only the tip of her fingers.
“Umm… could I…?” DaeSung slowly asked with his pleasant voice.
“Sure!” Ally answered and took her role as a ‘mommy’.
“What the fuck it’s wrong with you!?...” JiYong grouched using Korean language, hoping the girls wouldn’t understand.
“Play along, maybe they’ve got a plan” Ally whispered in his ear when she moved closer to DaeSung. To stop any other nasty comments that might have come from him, she stuffed several fries in his mouth. He would’ve spit them immediately if only that salted taste wouldn’t had conquered his taste buds making them thrill with joy. He lowered his eyes chewing too much before he swallowed consumed by guilt. He looked over to SeungHyun who created a more comfortable position, giving up at sitting on his knees resting on his bottom. He stared at the floor, without any move whatsoever. His eyes got bigger and black shadows veiled them when the big iron door creaked again and Lee stepped in.
*** ...part V
***
“DaeSung-Ah, shall we?” the man asked throwing a towel on his shoulders.
“Five more minutes, OK?” DaeSung calmly answered, trying to keep his breath steady on the fixed bike.
“Fine! I’ll get my clothes and we’re off!”
“OK, OK!” DaeSung smiled and got so lost (again) into his exercising that not even the big thud could make him lose his focus.
Ally cut through that man’s stretched limbs and edged quietly to DaeSung’s back. Before she could reach him, she easily clenched her hair up, in a ponytail and covered her face with a black scarf. She was three steps away from him; she folded another scarf on her fists and with one quick move, she covered his face, knocking him on the ground.
DaeSung was not an easy match; he freed himself in a couple of quick moves and was about to change the odds of faith in his favor when a cold, steel gun pipe stopped somewhere on his forehead.
“Stay put!” Ally mumbled and a sharp pain in the back of his head lain him at her feet. ”You looked so much smaller in the picture” she grumbled carrying him away.
The pointed heels dipped into the fuzzy carpet leaving round marks of her steps. It was so dark that you couldn’t even guess the colors around. Briana pulled the black hood over her face and with one finger, slowly pushed the bedroom’s door – the same darkness all around. The only thing guiding her to where she had to go was the soft snoring sound. She got closer to it, wetting a small handkerchief with something from a little bottle. The man’s breath was now merely a calm beat that she pleasantly listed to. She stretched her hand out in search for his nose, when a sudden noise startled her and her hands smacked the man’s face.
SeungHyun’s eyes widen in a second. He gets up to look around. He rubs his cheek in pain and checks the vibrating telephone on the nightstand.
“2.55” he read and after a short fight to keep his eyes open, he looks for the appellant’s name: JiYong. He rolls his eyes and hits the green key.
Briana prayed from behind the drapes, hoping that he will not turn on the lights. She could hear him talk, but couldn’t understand a word, except for the “yeoboseyo” from the beginning. In a very short while, the talking was over and a deep quietness took over. Too deep… something wasn’t right. She pushed the drapes just in time to see and duck the golden golf club that smashed the glass in thousands of noisy pieces. He came at her with a new attack and she had to roll over to avoid him. When she got up, he caught her hood and a bloody-red ocean glided from underneath it, covering her entire back. He wasn’t sure how to react this time. The quietness took over again, the only noise were their two beating hearts.
“Turn around… easy…” SeungHyun ordered when he snapped out of it, and because she didn’t obeyed he raised his voice, shouting “Turn around!!”. He grasped the club’s handle raising it above his head.
A weapon’s click made his eyes get bigger and the sound of a gunshot froze him. He waited for the pain of bullet to pierce through his flesh, but it never happened. Her gun was steaming but it wasn’t pointed at him, just a little more to the right.
“Drop it!” Briana said on a low voice, gluing the gun to his forehead.
The cold steel made his hands lower themselves easily.
Suddenly the small phone on the nightstand began singing again. This could’ve been the right timing for SeungHyun to make a move if Briana, in the heat of the moment, wouldn’t had caught his hands and disarmed him. She waved the club above her head three times and knocked him down. Two drops of blood stained the white carpet almost instantly.
“Oh crap…” Briana rushed to check his vital signs – his wound was large but shallow.
“Yaa, Prince Charming, let’s get you home!” Taeyang caught Jiyong’s arm to help him maintain a two-footed posture.
They just left the excessively noisy clubhouse behind, trying to reach their car from the deadly silent two-storied parking lot.
“Someone’s following us” JiYong suddenly said.
“Yes, and her name it’s ‘conscience’ “ Taeyang laughed at his friend, helping him to put one arm over his neck.
“No really, I may be a little sizzled, but I’m not deaf!” JiYong whispered pouting and he refused to go any further.
Taeyang perked up his ears and indeed someone was closing in. He turned around to see who was it, but the only thing he got to see was a fist-clenched glove punching his face.
JiYong tried to back up his friend launching a “surprise” punch-attack. Ally caught his hand, twisting it to his back, and she molded around his body like a puppeteer with his puppet.
The time Taeyang begun his attack, she coiled her hand into JiYong’s soft hair. With one strong push she made him hit his friend’s face and Taeyang had to hid it into his hands to stop de bleeding. JiYong tried to mutiny against the “hidden face” who caught him, but the only thing he managed to pull was a kick in his stomach. Like pushing an invisible, magic switch all the fluids he ingested `till then craved out in a long spurt. TaeYang jumped to help him but a muffled thud and an unknown pain in the back of his head chopped away any connections with the real life. Briana covered her mouth in disgust and the other hand she used to point the gun at JiYong, who already understood he was not able to fight back, so he kneeled and raised his hands above his head.
“What? No more bad guy?” Ally mocked him while he stared at her trying to catch any detail he could about her face. It was quite impossible since it was all covered up. He hung on the hand that covered his nose with a sweet-scented tissue and just kept on watching Ally. Before he could finish thinking “They look like girl’s eyes” everything turned black and silent again.
***
B I G B A N G Briana typed without haste then loudly pushed the “enter” key, throwing one eye over to the five stuttered boys on the floor.
“Monster? Hmm… Play! Show me what you’ve got, little beasts,” she whispered as if she didn’t wanted to wake them up. A big smile got born on her face. Her finger tenderly pushed the “replay” key and the volume highly increased.
“I love you, baby I’m not a monster…” went by to SeungHyun’s ears, just like a sunken noise. The pain in the back of his head stole him a soft moan. He blinked a couple of times, trying to pierce through the darkness around his eyes, but he couldn’t do it. His numb hands made him understood his position. With one sudden move, he tried to free himself but he could only make thin blood grains to stain the rope around his wrist and sting him. His breath begun winding when he understood there was no way he could do it. His terrified eyes looked for any source of light, but all he could see were the evenly, black knitted spread loops covering his entire face. As if it weren’t enough already, this wasn’t the thing that scared him the most. He was absolutely horrified by the fact that there were only their songs playing over and over again, and all of the scripts he could imagine made his breath wind even more.
“Oh, my head..” he recognized JiYong’s voice.
The same chorus obsessively repeated over and over making JiYong to swallow any kind of manifestation. He rested his cheek on something hard, which seemed to be wood, or something harder, but his face was protected by something that felt like a black, thick hood.
“What’s this?” he kept on rewinding the same question because of the countless time he could hear “Baby I’m not a monster…” part. He felt his hands so heavy and even if he tried, he couldn’t move them.
“This must be the worst hangover ever…” he tried to cheer up, hoping that this he felt were only the sign of an uglier boozing when his kneeled image rebirthed before his eyes. His heart went for a run and he started struggling around, but it was all with no use. Every move he made stung his arms and his mouth bit on his lower lip to keep inside any sound that he might regret later. A warm hand caught the lip of his finger, calming him down. By its hold, it felt like DaeSung’s hand, but he still had no courage to ask anything.
It was indeed DaeSung who tried to calm him, although his posture wasn’t exactly one that afforded hands holding. He already had his attempt of breaking free and it all ended with even tighter and more uncomfortable grasps around his wrists. Even now he could still feel the cold pipe on the top of his head and that sweet scent never left his nostrils. The same scent he felt right now warping around his curled body. He took a deep breath and the walking footsteps quietly stopped next to his ear.
Taeyang rested his head on the hard floor. His hands were caught somewhere under him, but this didn’t stopped him to feverishly look for his big ring that could help him cut the rope in half. He kept hearing his part in “Ain’t no fun” and just one thought terrified his mind. He really couldn’t believe this; he knew they were loved and even obsessed over for but this was just too much! His thought suddenly ran to the kneeled JiYong he left “behind” in the dark parking lot.
“Oh… what happened?...” they all could hears SeungRi’s voice that broke every one’s concentration and brought total silence.
“Damn!...” he said again after few wrist twists hurt him and stung his arm all up `till the elbows. “Where am I?” he went on but the noise of some high heels froze him. After ten counted steps the noise stopped. A bright, big, white light shut his eyes tightly. After several moments he was able to open them slowly and the same big, brown glasses showed up.
“Who are you? he asked, but got no answer; he didn’t waited for it because he saw his friends curled on the ground.
“Hyung!!” he yelled and rushed to Taeyang, but his legs, as tied as his arms, knocked him on the ground even before he could get up. “Who the hell are you?? What do you want?!” he shouted.
***
A big iron gate’s creak made everybody turn their heads all around, and only SeungRi could watch Lee entering the room with one really big smile.
“I can’t believe this!” he said in a loud laughter trying to free his face from under the rebellious fringes mutiny. His eyes were all swollen and bloodshot with tiny red threads slicing from one end to the other.
Briana took three steps back; she couldn’t sand him when he was like that, so she turned her back at him.
“Honestly girls, I wasn’t expecting this when you said you’ve got somethin` for me!” he kept on laughing while Ally approached him. “Problems?” he asked loosening everybody’s hoods.
The first glimpse of light had the same impact on anyone.
“Hyung!!” they all screamed at once, trying to reach each other, but they all ended as SeungRi.
Lee’s hysterical laughter froze everybody.
“You really should’ve told me!” he insisted. “I should’ve brought my camera if I knew!” he shouted in joy, and then all of a sudden, he grasped at SeungHyun’s collar and started punching him.
“What the hell it’s wrong with you?!” Briana jumped holding his hand.
“You want some too?!” he caught her hair but stuck hands up when Ally’s gun touched the back of his neck.
“Told you this shit will get you killed one day…” she said easily hiding Briana behind her.
“Chill, darlin’ “he said raising his hands in defeat. “I was just playing. You know I’ll never hurt you” he caressed Ally’s head.
She hesitantly hid her gun, after which she grabbed Lee’s shoulders pushing him away. Nevertheless, he wasn’t ready to quit just yet, so he launched a new attack against an already immobilized and knocked down SeungHyun.
“I said stop it!” Ally shouted blocking his way.
“OK, OK!...” he laughed. “I was just having fun, that’s all…” He turned to face Briana: “Why isn’t your face covered?”
“Why isn’t yours?” she asked back without even looking at him.
“`Cos they won’t live to tell,” he whispered hoping no one will hear him. “Let’s see now…” he chose the black cellphone from the table with a little kid’s game. “No password? I like this…” he said accessing the phone’s main menu. One vicious smile lit his face. Without haste, he started walking towards SeungHyun who never took his eyes off of him, even though he had difficulties looking through the red trail that covered his eye, draining downwards where more red threads painted his entire mouth and chin. When Lee caught his neck collar, he gathered all the liquids he had inside his mouth and spit his face. He even could sketch a smile when Lee roared, frenetically looking for his embroidered handkerchief.
“Hyung…” he could hear JiYong’s soft voice. He knew this scene very well, and could anticipate what was about to come; he tried to reach his friend but once again the tight knots kept him on the ground.
Frenzied, Lee threw himself towards SeungHyung, but after a couple of kicks Ally’s silver gun froze him.
“Do what you have to, and then be gone!” she calmly said.
Briana backed up her friend by copying her move.
“Girls…” Lee puffed “… I’m afraid you misunderstood your spot in here…”
“I’m afraid you had!” Briana felt the urge to stop him.
“What’s wrong, kiddo? You fancy `bout him?” he mocked her, pushing her gun with one finger, then he kneeled in one knee. “I’ll let you choose who to call” he stuck the phone under SeungHyun’s nose. “Shall we call mommy?” he laughed at the picture where a smiling SeungHyun hugged his mother, making him to desperately try sitting up, just to hit him at least once.
“Hold it there, tiger” Lee calmed him down grabbing his hair. “Here!” he said touching the green button on the screen. He glued it to his ear and whispered: “Mind what you’re sayin` “.
“Hello! Hello!”
JiYong’s eyes widened. It was so much silence in there that they could hear Yang Hyun Suk’s voice. The other three boys exchanged looks and SeungHyun needed a hard swing to throw a weak “Hello”.
“Hello? TOP is that you?!?” the man yelled from the other side.
“…Sir…” SeungHyun tried to talk.
“Sir?!! Don’t you ‘sir’ me! It’s past noon! Where the hell are you?!! It’s this respect you show me…” CEO felt the need to cut him off.
“Wait, SIR…” SeungHyun almost yelled to make his CEO understand something was wrong, but it all ended with a new kick for him, which knocked him on the ground again.
“Shut up and listen!” Lee took over the phone. “In less than 20 minutes check your email!” he said then threw away the phone. “What now?” he innocently raised his eyebrows when he met Briana’s upset face. “See you in 20 minutes!” he proudly smiled walking towards the big iron door, humming GD’s Michi Go.
JiYong struggled to win the fight over with some gathering tears.
“Are you OK?” he whispered to SeungHyun who felt facing him.
His friend’s warm smile made him lose focus and the tears came tumbling down. He angrily shook his head to throw them away when his face almost hit the black boots that stopped too close to him. He raised his eyes and all of his hate met Ally’s covered face. He could feel her trembling hands pushing him up, until he could sit on his knees. She did the same for the other two. Briana followed her lead helping DaeSung and SeungHyun. He did his best not to watch her, but that sweet perfume stole him a quick look-in. She wanted to take a short glimpse at him and their eyes met, freezing them. She mumbled a really weak “Mian-hae…” and he pulled himself watching away from her. She easily got up.
Ally opened up a water bottle, pointing it towards everyone.
“No one? OK…” she said tapping it.
“Wait!...” SeungRi cracked the silence again. “I want some…” he said trying to walk on his knees.
Ally bent over to reach him.
“Thanks…” he blushed when his stomach made strange noises.
Briana smiled and in less than four steps, she sat in front of him.
“I don’t think I can cook what you guys usually eat, but I haven’t yet met someone who won’t enjoy some French fries…” she said smiling.
“No…” SeungRi tried to answer back to her smile and had a bite.
The others wouldn’t give up their pride and just stood there, gulping into thin air.
Ally sat next to Briana, luring them.
“I’m not a retard to be fed by others!...” JiYong muffled.
“For the moment you are” came Ally’s amused answer. She took off the scarf covering her face and stuffed a load full of French fries in her mouth. Her white skin and red lips had a strange impact on JiYong who found himself contemplating on her perfectly harmonious figure.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” they could hear SeungRi funny laughter.
“It’s OK” Briana laughed back rubbing her finger in pain, which he bit in search of food. “I kind of deserve it, anyway…” she said barely abstaining a laugh, holding his food with only the tip of her fingers.
“Umm… could I…?” DaeSung slowly asked with his pleasant voice.
“Sure!” Ally answered and took her role as a ‘mommy’.
“What the fuck it’s wrong with you!?...” JiYong grouched using Korean language, hoping the girls wouldn’t understand.
“Play along, maybe they’ve got a plan” Ally whispered in his ear when she moved closer to DaeSung. To stop any other nasty comments that might have come from him, she stuffed several fries in his mouth. He would’ve spit them immediately if only that salted taste wouldn’t had conquered his taste buds making them thrill with joy. He lowered his eyes chewing too much before he swallowed consumed by guilt. He looked over to SeungHyun who created a more comfortable position, giving up at sitting on his knees resting on his bottom. He stared at the floor, without any move whatsoever. His eyes got bigger and black shadows veiled them when the big iron door creaked again and Lee stepped in.
*** ...part V
“Aww… you’re having dinner? So sweet of you, girls!” he laughed scoffing them.
“What do you want now?” Ally rolled her eyes and slowly got up.
Briana threw her eyes on the floor, refusing to look at him, but her heart started pumping faster which showed on her face through a slight opened mouth and trembling hands. SeungRi noticed this and kept an eye on her.
“You’re still mad on me?” Lee easily touched her head.
“No” she blankly answered, stepping further from him.
“Guys, group hug, please!” he smiled and several quick flash lights placed them on the small camera screen. “How about a close-up?” he played as a paparazzo. “There we go!... You! why are you so…clean?” he caught SeungRi’s face into his hands. His powerful laughter filled the room when SengRi outfaced him, without even a blink. “I like this kid!” he said easily tapping Ri’s face.
“Download these!” he handed over the camera to Briana. “I’m gonna need an email address” he talked while lighting a cigar. “Should I find it out on my own?” he sat on the table’s corner.
“Yanggoon Hotmail” came the answer from the silent Taeyang.
“Thank you” Lee smiled. “If anything bad happens to you, it will be all his fault, so you know” he turned around to watch the computer screen. The pictures were already uploading inside an email. “Allow me” he pushed Briana’s hands and started typing something really fast. He wrote in Korean, and Briana, even if she had the figure of an Asian girl, she was born and raised in Europe, so she had no idea about writing in Korean.
“There you go, kids! Now it all depends on this Yanggoon guy. If we’ll have no answer in 24 hours, we’ll start with the little one” he smiled to SeungRi and got lost behind the iron doors lighting up a foul smelling cigar.
"I'm really regretting this!...” Briana whispered to Ally.
“Don’t worry” Ally said caressing her friend’s hair and she hid her face in it. Whispering something back.
Briana’s face lit up making them both smile. She looked under her table for a black traveling bag, grabbed it and stopped in front of SeungHyun. She kneeled before him. He turned his face to the other direction but she caught his chin forcing him to watch at her. Big mistake! She could not resist his look and quickly had to glue her eyes to the bag’s zipper. She took out a soft piece of cloth that she damped into a lot of abstergent solution. She stuck hands up, not because she hesitated but because he violently withdrew his face, refusing any help from her. She warmly smiled and put her hand on his cheek, then she cleaned his face with delicate, trembling movements.
“What’s this?” SeungHyun tried to incite his body to mutiny against her. “First she kills you then she acts like she’s sorry…?!” but her sweet perfume played as a powerful anesthetic and her cold long fingers spread a strange warmth over his body. He looked at her but her eyes wouldn’t show from behind the big, brown glasses she was still wearing; all he could see was his tiny, squatted reflection. He never took his eyes off of her, not even after she was done with him; he kept on watching her when she cleaned everybody who needed it.
Ally smiled during this all time, playing with a small knife. When Briana finished, she hand it over to her after she grabbed a kitchen knife for herself.
The boys widened their eyes; the way light made those blades shine made them picture all the worst scenarios.
JiYong clenched his eyes tight when Ally grabbed his shoulder. Instead of feeling the sharp knife through his flesh, he felt his hands free.
“Don’t over joy…” she easily thrilled at his excitement and she waited until he rubbed his hands in pain several times. She pulled his sleeves over his hurt wrists and tied him again, but much more loose. JiYong’s joy turned into a pout that Ally couldn’t resist it without a chuckle. With one cut, she cast out DaeSung’s ties. Because he wouldn’t sketch any movement, she found herself solacing his hands. He stood there, without a word, enjoying her soft touch until she realized what she was doing. She suddenly stopped and tied his hands again, just as she did with JiYong.
Taeyang followed their moves and couldn’t understand what was going on, why nobody even tried to react and fight for their freedom, when SeungRi’s voice made the girls laugh. He thanked Briana through a deep sigh.
“Aish… just a little bit more, please…” he ducked his hands when she wanted to make a new knot. “And… these?” he asked moving his sneaker’s tips.
Briana filled his request and his first reaction was to jump up.
Taeyang finally smiled, but his smile lasted just half of a second – SeungRi fell on the ground, face down, cursing and whining.
“Your legs were tied for more than 12 hours, honestly what were you thinking?” Ally laughed cutting Taeyang’s ropes.
With no words at all, SeungRi gathered his legs to his chest, gluing his eyes on the ground.
This way Taeyang got his answer, so when Ally freed his hand, he massaged them quietly. After she untied his legs too, he sat in the lotus posture, without saying anything.
Briana jibbed at getting close to SeungHyun but eventually did it; she kneeled behind him and cut the ropes on his hands. He stood still as a statue but she didn’t had the courage to do what Ally did for DaeSung; she lightly tied him back, freed his legs too, then she got lost behind her computer.
DaeSung and Taeyang seemed lost in meditation, SeungRi rested his head on his knees, SeungHyun stared at the floor, just JiYong laid on his back, nailing his eyes on the extremely tall ceiling. He started by counting all the neon lights, he continued with the storage of every box and every cement bag. “Beautiful hangover” broke his thoughts and he again found himself contemplating on Ally’s figure. He eyes her while she took out from a paper bag several small packages. She gently squeezed them in her arms, then she let them fall on a small table, in front of a cooking stove. With a little fight she managed to break one of it open and she threw the noodles inside the boiling water. Six more noodles packages had the same faith. She engirt a frying pan with a little butter and she poured the rice all at once.
“Oh, no!” she yelled and rushed over to the paper bag from where she took a plastic spatula to stir the noodles that looked like an compact mass right now. She desperately shook the pan to banish the think, brown smoke that made a long column towards the ceiling.
Taeyang rolled his eyes; he easily got up, checking the connections between the legs and the rest of his body. He was able to stay up so he walked to her, sighing. He caught her wrist with his both hands and helped her to calmly stir, with circular moves. Without the use of any word, he pointed her to catch the pan’s handle. He grabbed her hand again and they shook it so the rice won’t stick to it.
For an yet unknown reason, JiYong’s heart startled gathering all of his blood in small spots on his face. His eyes glued to the both of them. All of a sudden he jumped up so explicit that SeungHyun had to stop him by grasping onto his pants.
“Where to?” he quietly whispered, without a hint of Ji’s real intentions.
“I’m not gonna stand around for the 24 hours to pass by!” JiYong easily lied and jumped back on the floor near his friends. “Tonight no body fall asleep!” he ordered grunting with his fist clenched, peeping from time to time to those two, who seemed to really enjoy each other.
“Wow! Now that’s what I call cooking!” Ally broke out without being able to take her eyes off from the nicely decorated plates.
“Now that’s something one could actually eat!” Briana brought her praise choosing one of them.
“Thanks!” Ji blew Taeyang off when he handed one of the plates.
“What’s up with him?” he whispered to DaeSung who couldn’t answere, being busy with his own food.
“Please, take tjis…” Briana told SeungHyun on a sweet-tempered voice.
Because she wouldn’t leave from his face, he accepted the plate without any words.
It was the most quiet meal ever. They were all eating, except from Briana. After she has a few bites, she just let the plate on the ground pretending to be completely absorbed by it. In fact she was studying everyone around, but every once in a while, her eyes kept on blocking on SeungHyun’s face. She even tried to make future plans, but the words of those she saw on every international forums stumbled in her head; she ended up agreeing with them – he was indeed irresistible, especially in this light and this vulnerable situation… they all were. She smiled without realizing. Suddenly SeungHyun raised his head and their eyes met, making her creep. She quickly searched for the firm spot on the ground and her fingers slowly squeezed the woolly sleeves.
JiYong noticed the discreet smile on his friend’s mouth; the same evil joy sprung in his eyes too.
After the quite long dinner, Briana gathered all the dirty dishes all in one place, she was about to stick them into plastic bags when a stepping noise caught her ears. She froze. SeungHyun was approaching her, and she had to do her best not to shake like a dumb Chihuahua, continuously repeating to herself “Breath! Breath! Keep breathing…”
*** ...Part VI
“Thank you” Briana heard the most charming English pronunciation. She would’ve ask him what for, but for the moment she forgot how to open her mouth. She tried not to watch him, hoping that he will go away if she’ll just ignore him. She stuffed the cutlery in a paper bag when he caught her hand, making her to stop.
“What?” she managed to flare up at him, even if a strange numbness stung her feet and it quickly made its way up `till the tips of her ears, coloring them. He took her face in his palms and glued his lips onto hers. At first she felt like she caught fire, but after a short while her mouth started to follow the lead of his lips. She couldn’t even feel his hands gliding down towards her belt where the small, silver gun was.
The click that the gun made, woke her up and the devilish smile that flourished on SeungHyun’s lips disappeared as quick as the air he struggled to swallow through the knife’s sharp head that butted against his trachea.
“Not yet” she whispered slowly, barely ungluing her small lips from his.
She stretched out her hand as much as she needed to recover her gun, after which she dangled towards her computer, where Ally just pushed the “play” button. ‘Beautiful hangover” started playing again, as Briana sat in her friend’s place.
“See what happens if you’re too soft…?” Ally whispered when she got up.
Briana’s answer came from the two teardrops that she had to easily wipe away, with a gesture that coined on SeungHyun’s mind, playing and replaying over and over again, making him unable to move for several moments.
“Nobody sleeps tonight! No one will close their eyes!” JiYong whispered when they finally gathered all up. “This is it, guys! Tonight we’re leaving! It’s just two of them and 5 of us! The hell?” she yelled through a whisper.
“Hyung…” Daesung slowly started whispering too. “I can’t do it. I’m sorry… but I’ll never hit a woman… no matter what…”
“Oh, pHlease!” JiYong exhaled a little louder than he should have, drawing the girl’s attention.
Ally draw a smile, and turned up the volume.
“Honestly, they’re mocking us right now…” Daesung continued talking without looking at anyone.
“SeungRi-Ah!” JiYong faced hid friend.
“Yes, hyung?”
“Go keep them busy!”
“OK!” SeungRi nodded and slowly walked to them.
“Yes?” Ally smiled at him.
“Um… why do you keep on listening just this one song?” was the first thing that came out from his mouth.
“Does it bother you?” Ally asked amused, while Briana moved over to invite their new friend to join them.
“To be totaly honest… It kind of does… You know, my part isn’t too big in here. May I?” he asked for permission trying to reach the keyboard. In less than 2 seconds ‘Strong baby” began playing and the girls played thrilled, but they were actually keeping all the other under strict observation.
It was late: the watch Briana had on her wrist showed 3:25. It was so quiet, only the light remained up and glowing, everybody else were asleep: the boys were all rounded up, one next to the other, Briana fell hands crossed on her computer table and Ally nestled somewhere in the corner, between board boxes.
SeungHyun opened his eyes really slow and sleepy; he circled them around a bit, then he easily touched JiYong.
When he felt that touch, JiYong jumped up in a mechanical move; looked around a little then he tiptoed to Briana. Her gun was showing from underneath her sweater, he quietly stretched out for it, when Ally’s sudden change of position made him watch her. She seemed to sleep so peacefully. She had one hand covering her tummy and the other all raveled around; her black fringes curled up covering almost half of her face. He kneeled before her. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do… could he strangle her? Her neck was just so unclosed that for several minutes he lost himself following on veins pulsing through that way too white skins of hers. He reached across it. What did he had to do? Strangle her?... Kiss her?... Unfortunately, this short moment of hesitation cost him much: Ally stuffed the long pipe of her gun below his chin and smiled.
“Next time…” she talked without opening her eyes “…don’t hesitate. Try to be more determined.”
With one quick move she caught his hand on the gun handle and glued it to her forehead.
“Don’t ever hesitate! You won’t have time!” she said watching him straight in his eyes.
The big iron doors creaked and a disturbed Lee barged in.
“Still no sign! What the hell…” he planned on finishing his sentence but he couldn’t: SeungHyun knocked him down with more rage than a big, hungry tiger. Even he still had his hands tied up together, he didn’t had any difficulties in punching Lee over and over… But this situation didn’t last for long; the several fight scenes he had to act in his movie were no match for a life time of training, so Lee managed to free himself and turn the odds in his favor.
“Who the fuck let him loose?” he roared.
Daesung decided that there was no time to waste so he snapped at Lee, knocking him down…again.
Lee understood he wasn’t dealing with an amateur anymore, so he thought was the right time to go for his ‘emergency’ help – in the very short time he had between Dae’s hits, he took out the gun from his boot’s hidden pocket.
Ally saw his move and quickly understood his intentions. She pushed on JiYong’s hand, creeping her finger on the trigger and fired once.
The gunshot made everybody stop for a split second and Lee lose his weapon.
She hung on JiYong’s wrist again, so it will look as he was pointing the gun to her head.
“There’s a door behind those boxes” she quickly whispered to him then she cried for Lee’s help.
Daesung claimed the gun Lee was rushing too and he stopped him.
“Guys, over there” Ji yelled indicating the boxes Ally told him.
Taeyang and SeungRi jumped on them, planning to crash them all at once… maybe thy would’ve done it if they were empty, but they all had powders and mixed solution sets used in masonry. After they cursed a little, they both grabbed it and threw it on the ground spreading its contents all over the place, making everybody choke.
Lee took advantage of this, and in one move, he disarmed Daesung and pulled the lock on the gun. Briana guessed his next move, so she pretended to slip over on SeungHyun, pushing him behind some boxes. Lee fired; with an automatic move, she grabbed her shoulder and blood flew out from between her shivering fingers.
***...part VII
Her eyes got lost for a short while into Lee’s and he started lowering his gun, but SeungHyun dragged her behind the boxes, making him to fire frenetically.
Briana had no time for shocks right now, she reach the gun from her back pocket and handed it over to SeungHyun.
“Can you shoot?” she quickly asked him. She got no answer, so she changed the question: ”Have you ever used a fire gun?”.
“Not a real one…” SeungHyung shook his head.
“You will now” she quickly said trying to pull the lock but she couldn’t do it with her injured arm.
SeunhJyung suddenly pulled her in his arms when Lee’s bullets cut through the boxes’ barricade.
JiYong had already received his firing lessons and now he was testing his abilities, slowing Lee down, forcing him to look for cover behind piles of cement sacks.
“Bree!!...” Lee shouted, “are you OK?”
Of course his answer came in the guise of a bullets rain.
“Stop…” Briana slowly touched SeungHyun’s hand. “That’s all we have…” she gave him a narrow rectangle cartridge.
“Let’s go!” SeungRi yelled when they were able to finally open the door.
The intense darkness froze him for a short point, before Lee’s crazy bullets brutally woke him up. He used all his power to focus on the steps he had to take to be able to advance in that thick night. The way they felt it seemed like they were running on some sort of railways… or this was truly ‘the end of the line’? … they had no time to think details, Lee was closing in. but in a short while, judging be his roars, Lee was out of bullets and he gave up on chasing them.
The warm wind scattered the clouds to all four points and the yellow moon light revealed, somewhere not far from them, four silhouettes that looked like railcars.
“Where are we?” JiYong asked but he got no answer.
They kept on following the railways without a haste. Ally was outflanked by JiYong and Taeyang, but none of them touched her, SeungRi and DaeSung were the firsts in the row, and Briana was holding hands with SeungHyung without even realizing it. They all looked at the railcars as they passed by them.
“Wow, I haven’t seen one of those in a while…” smiled DaeSung moving his hand along the rusted red paint.
“Where are we?” JiYong came back with his question.
SeungRi suddenly stopped making everybody else to stop too. He ran to the first railcar. Its windows were broken and green invaded its train wheels, but he was looking for something.
“We’re in Gwangju!” he shouted but after everybody’s “sst!!” he turned to whisper to Ally: “Isn’t that so?”
“Yaa…” they could hear SeungHyun’s strangled voice. They turned to face him and he was trying to sustain Briana who seemed like she was melting.
“Bree!!” Alyy yelled rushing to her. “Bree, can you hear me?” she yelled again catching her friend’s sweated face in her hands.
“Ssst!” JiYong whispered pointing to the red railcar.
SeungHyung took Briana in his arms and got inside the indicated place, followed really close by Ally. They looked for a place where to put her. Ally took off her black sweater and laid it on the floor, between what used to be two rows of chairs.
JiYong clogged up admiring her long, thin arms and white shoulders showing of from that small under vest, leaving absolutely no place for any other approach.
“A little help?” Ally asked SeungHyung to catch Briana’s sweater and pull it off, making him to violently blush. She covered up her friend, leaving the exposed only the wounded shoulder. She was about to take care of her, when a gun’s click stopped her.
“Stand up!” JiYong said, taking everyone by surprise.
“Are you crazy?...” Ally tried to keep her cool.
“JiYong…” Even SeungHyun tried to interfere.
“Stand up!” JiYong wouldn’t listen to anyone. “Untie him!” he ordered when Ally easily got up.
“Untie what??” she was heating up. “Oh…” she understood when Ji pointed to SeungHyun’s still loosely tied hands. She did as she was told, but not because she was afraid of JiYong, but because she feared for her friend’s life, and she thought that if she’ll do what he wants he’ll let her care about Briana sooner.
“Why are you doing this?” she tried to talk as calm as she could.
“Why should I answer you? You haven’t answered any of my questions!” JiYong taunted her.
“Yeah, but you weren’t dying!” she finally flared up.
“He was about to!” he yelled back at her, grabbing her wrist that he twisted to her back; he did the same with her other hand and he used the piece of rope she was holding to tie her up… good.
“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you!!” Ally roared trying to kick anyone around.
JiYong held her good, but just to be sure he glued the gun to her head.
“Hyung…” the others tried to stop JiYong, but he wasn’t listening, he dragged her to the other red railcar and made her kneel between the seats.
“Hyung, really now…” DaeSung followed him.
“Don’t you dare moving from here!” he muttered to her then he threw one hand over Dae’s shoulders, pushing him away.
***.... part VIII
SeungHyun threw himself on one of those ex-chairs and just stood there, watching Briana. From time to time, he rubbed his sweated hands on his pajama pants, or he cleaned his forehead with the back of his hand. He slowly glided past her and his eyes widened; he couldn’t see this from where he used to sand.
“Don’t cry… I won’t hurt you…” he whispered to her, using his thumb to wipe away the tears from her eyes.
She opened them, but she had no courage to look at him.
He took off his blue pajama blouse to reach the white under vest. He grabbed its collar with his teeth ripping it in half. After he helped her to get a little up, one half he used to cover her wound and the other he bound it around her shoulder.
“Thank you…” she finally spoke, squeezing tight on her sweater, the only thing she could use for cover. Her eyes hit the bruised spots on his body and burning tears came out with a heavy sigh.
He caught her face in his hands again, looking for her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but her words got lost long before they could come out.
“I…” she tried to speak but the lump in her throat made even the bare breathing painful. He covered up the only way in that air had through her half-opened mouth, and she felt like a strong fire consumed her from head to toes, making her throat dry, burning her lips. He helped her lay back down and their naked hearts met; that first rhythmless beat, turned into a perfectly tuned rhythm that could barely pace their gliding one under the other lips.
Ally curled between the seats. She wasn’t afraid to move, but yet she wasn’t doing it. She was being busy arguing with herself because instead of worrying for her friend she could see only that ‘JiYong brat’s wide smile every time she closed her eyes. She wanted that smile… she needed that smile even if she couldn’t understand why. She wanted it to lighten up her night as it used to do when she secretly peeped at it on Briana’s screen. She curled even more when she heard someone coming. She started thinking at all kind of sad things because she needed some quick tears that dind’t delayed to appear.
It was JiYong who was getting closer and closer… but it looked different… his eyeballs looked smaller and somehow lost in the upper part of his eyes. She completely forgot about her teary plan and just followed him as he dangled his way up to her. He looked possessed… he caught her hair and whispered something in her ear… something that sounded like a verse from the song she used to replay over and over ‘I won’t deny it, nor fight it…” …at least that’s what she understood.
“What?...” she tried to speak but his mouth almost swallowed hers into a very passionate kiss taking her breath away for several moments. She smiled when she felt her hands free, but instead of any other actions, she hung on the edge of his blouse throwing it away continuously kissing him, fingering his ribs tattoo.
“This is so unfair!...” SeungRi sighed, sitting next to DaeSung.
“They too?” Taeyang asked smiling.
“Yeah…” SeungRi pouted.
“Hyung cut you off, this is bad… so bad!” DaeSung poked him laughing.
“Yup, but… beyond any joke, I really don’t think we should leave them alone right now…” Taeyang said getting up.
“You wanna go join them?” SeungRi laughed with really small eyes.
“You have such a dirty mind…” DaeSung chided him.
“C’mon, there are three doors and two railcars… which one do you choose?” SeungRi wouldn’t stop mocking.
“Oh, I get to pick first?” Taeyang played along. “I take this one, you take that one! Is that good?” he laughed walking towards the place he pointed.
“Hyung…” SeungRi whispered to DaeSung “…but… what if SOMETHING really happenes… then what?...”
“Fighting!” DaeSung whispered back, throwing one fist in the air, to look more courageous.
Briana drank on every move SeungHyun took. After the silky pants touched his well-defined waist, he bent over to take his blouse, but he didn’t used it on him though; he covered her shoulders. She slowly slid inside it and he buttoned her all the way up to under her chin, smiling gently.
JiYong glued his ear to her naked chest, calming down his breaths at once with her running heart. As much as he feared that feeling, he completely abandoned himself to it. Ally kept looking at him, caressing his soft blonde hair… she couldn’t find any word to say. She was happy! She finally got that long craved smile and she wouldn’t want anything to break this spell. It was all so quiet now…
“What was that?” she suddenly whispered. “Where are the guys?”
JiYong stood up a little to watch beyond the chairs, then looked under them – he could see nothing.
“I really don’t know…” he said stretching his way to his clothes.
“I…” Briana wanted to start the conversation when SeungHyung’s big hand covered her mouth.
“Ssst!” he stopped her. He easily looked around to make sure it was nobody else inside but them. He tiptoed to the window and slowly raised an eye to look outside. Without a word, he quickly grabbed the gun he had put under one of the seats and covered Briana with his body, holding her thigh. She had no time to ask anything, because the burst fire answered her unspoken question, cracking the remained window-glass, and putting holes into the railcar’s shell.
“Brianaaaaa!” Lee shouted his lungs out. “Ally!!”
Quiet again. No answer from anyone.
“You filthy cowards! C’mon out! Stop hiding under the woman’s dress!” Lee tried again timing his yell with a new gunfire discharge.
“Kwon JiYong” Ally whispered.
“Yes?” he answered a little scared.
“Thank you!” she said smiling gently.
JiYong answered back to her smile, thinking she was probably afraid for her life and she was saying her good-byes. He was about to cheer her up, when she stuck her hand in his hair and glued the gun he left on the ground, under his chin.
“Lee!” she yelled as hard as she could. “You moron! You’ve came to save me or burry me?”
*** ...Part VI
“Thank you” Briana heard the most charming English pronunciation. She would’ve ask him what for, but for the moment she forgot how to open her mouth. She tried not to watch him, hoping that he will go away if she’ll just ignore him. She stuffed the cutlery in a paper bag when he caught her hand, making her to stop.
“What?” she managed to flare up at him, even if a strange numbness stung her feet and it quickly made its way up `till the tips of her ears, coloring them. He took her face in his palms and glued his lips onto hers. At first she felt like she caught fire, but after a short while her mouth started to follow the lead of his lips. She couldn’t even feel his hands gliding down towards her belt where the small, silver gun was.
The click that the gun made, woke her up and the devilish smile that flourished on SeungHyun’s lips disappeared as quick as the air he struggled to swallow through the knife’s sharp head that butted against his trachea.
“Not yet” she whispered slowly, barely ungluing her small lips from his.
She stretched out her hand as much as she needed to recover her gun, after which she dangled towards her computer, where Ally just pushed the “play” button. ‘Beautiful hangover” started playing again, as Briana sat in her friend’s place.
“See what happens if you’re too soft…?” Ally whispered when she got up.
Briana’s answer came from the two teardrops that she had to easily wipe away, with a gesture that coined on SeungHyun’s mind, playing and replaying over and over again, making him unable to move for several moments.
“Nobody sleeps tonight! No one will close their eyes!” JiYong whispered when they finally gathered all up. “This is it, guys! Tonight we’re leaving! It’s just two of them and 5 of us! The hell?” she yelled through a whisper.
“Hyung…” Daesung slowly started whispering too. “I can’t do it. I’m sorry… but I’ll never hit a woman… no matter what…”
“Oh, pHlease!” JiYong exhaled a little louder than he should have, drawing the girl’s attention.
Ally draw a smile, and turned up the volume.
“Honestly, they’re mocking us right now…” Daesung continued talking without looking at anyone.
“SeungRi-Ah!” JiYong faced hid friend.
“Yes, hyung?”
“Go keep them busy!”
“OK!” SeungRi nodded and slowly walked to them.
“Yes?” Ally smiled at him.
“Um… why do you keep on listening just this one song?” was the first thing that came out from his mouth.
“Does it bother you?” Ally asked amused, while Briana moved over to invite their new friend to join them.
“To be totaly honest… It kind of does… You know, my part isn’t too big in here. May I?” he asked for permission trying to reach the keyboard. In less than 2 seconds ‘Strong baby” began playing and the girls played thrilled, but they were actually keeping all the other under strict observation.
It was late: the watch Briana had on her wrist showed 3:25. It was so quiet, only the light remained up and glowing, everybody else were asleep: the boys were all rounded up, one next to the other, Briana fell hands crossed on her computer table and Ally nestled somewhere in the corner, between board boxes.
SeungHyun opened his eyes really slow and sleepy; he circled them around a bit, then he easily touched JiYong.
When he felt that touch, JiYong jumped up in a mechanical move; looked around a little then he tiptoed to Briana. Her gun was showing from underneath her sweater, he quietly stretched out for it, when Ally’s sudden change of position made him watch her. She seemed to sleep so peacefully. She had one hand covering her tummy and the other all raveled around; her black fringes curled up covering almost half of her face. He kneeled before her. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do… could he strangle her? Her neck was just so unclosed that for several minutes he lost himself following on veins pulsing through that way too white skins of hers. He reached across it. What did he had to do? Strangle her?... Kiss her?... Unfortunately, this short moment of hesitation cost him much: Ally stuffed the long pipe of her gun below his chin and smiled.
“Next time…” she talked without opening her eyes “…don’t hesitate. Try to be more determined.”
With one quick move she caught his hand on the gun handle and glued it to her forehead.
“Don’t ever hesitate! You won’t have time!” she said watching him straight in his eyes.
The big iron doors creaked and a disturbed Lee barged in.
“Still no sign! What the hell…” he planned on finishing his sentence but he couldn’t: SeungHyun knocked him down with more rage than a big, hungry tiger. Even he still had his hands tied up together, he didn’t had any difficulties in punching Lee over and over… But this situation didn’t last for long; the several fight scenes he had to act in his movie were no match for a life time of training, so Lee managed to free himself and turn the odds in his favor.
“Who the fuck let him loose?” he roared.
Daesung decided that there was no time to waste so he snapped at Lee, knocking him down…again.
Lee understood he wasn’t dealing with an amateur anymore, so he thought was the right time to go for his ‘emergency’ help – in the very short time he had between Dae’s hits, he took out the gun from his boot’s hidden pocket.
Ally saw his move and quickly understood his intentions. She pushed on JiYong’s hand, creeping her finger on the trigger and fired once.
The gunshot made everybody stop for a split second and Lee lose his weapon.
She hung on JiYong’s wrist again, so it will look as he was pointing the gun to her head.
“There’s a door behind those boxes” she quickly whispered to him then she cried for Lee’s help.
Daesung claimed the gun Lee was rushing too and he stopped him.
“Guys, over there” Ji yelled indicating the boxes Ally told him.
Taeyang and SeungRi jumped on them, planning to crash them all at once… maybe thy would’ve done it if they were empty, but they all had powders and mixed solution sets used in masonry. After they cursed a little, they both grabbed it and threw it on the ground spreading its contents all over the place, making everybody choke.
Lee took advantage of this, and in one move, he disarmed Daesung and pulled the lock on the gun. Briana guessed his next move, so she pretended to slip over on SeungHyun, pushing him behind some boxes. Lee fired; with an automatic move, she grabbed her shoulder and blood flew out from between her shivering fingers.
***...part VII
Her eyes got lost for a short while into Lee’s and he started lowering his gun, but SeungHyun dragged her behind the boxes, making him to fire frenetically.
Briana had no time for shocks right now, she reach the gun from her back pocket and handed it over to SeungHyun.
“Can you shoot?” she quickly asked him. She got no answer, so she changed the question: ”Have you ever used a fire gun?”.
“Not a real one…” SeungHyung shook his head.
“You will now” she quickly said trying to pull the lock but she couldn’t do it with her injured arm.
SeunhJyung suddenly pulled her in his arms when Lee’s bullets cut through the boxes’ barricade.
JiYong had already received his firing lessons and now he was testing his abilities, slowing Lee down, forcing him to look for cover behind piles of cement sacks.
“Bree!!...” Lee shouted, “are you OK?”
Of course his answer came in the guise of a bullets rain.
“Stop…” Briana slowly touched SeungHyun’s hand. “That’s all we have…” she gave him a narrow rectangle cartridge.
“Let’s go!” SeungRi yelled when they were able to finally open the door.
The intense darkness froze him for a short point, before Lee’s crazy bullets brutally woke him up. He used all his power to focus on the steps he had to take to be able to advance in that thick night. The way they felt it seemed like they were running on some sort of railways… or this was truly ‘the end of the line’? … they had no time to think details, Lee was closing in. but in a short while, judging be his roars, Lee was out of bullets and he gave up on chasing them.
The warm wind scattered the clouds to all four points and the yellow moon light revealed, somewhere not far from them, four silhouettes that looked like railcars.
“Where are we?” JiYong asked but he got no answer.
They kept on following the railways without a haste. Ally was outflanked by JiYong and Taeyang, but none of them touched her, SeungRi and DaeSung were the firsts in the row, and Briana was holding hands with SeungHyung without even realizing it. They all looked at the railcars as they passed by them.
“Wow, I haven’t seen one of those in a while…” smiled DaeSung moving his hand along the rusted red paint.
“Where are we?” JiYong came back with his question.
SeungRi suddenly stopped making everybody else to stop too. He ran to the first railcar. Its windows were broken and green invaded its train wheels, but he was looking for something.
“We’re in Gwangju!” he shouted but after everybody’s “sst!!” he turned to whisper to Ally: “Isn’t that so?”
“Yaa…” they could hear SeungHyun’s strangled voice. They turned to face him and he was trying to sustain Briana who seemed like she was melting.
“Bree!!” Alyy yelled rushing to her. “Bree, can you hear me?” she yelled again catching her friend’s sweated face in her hands.
“Ssst!” JiYong whispered pointing to the red railcar.
SeungHyung took Briana in his arms and got inside the indicated place, followed really close by Ally. They looked for a place where to put her. Ally took off her black sweater and laid it on the floor, between what used to be two rows of chairs.
JiYong clogged up admiring her long, thin arms and white shoulders showing of from that small under vest, leaving absolutely no place for any other approach.
“A little help?” Ally asked SeungHyung to catch Briana’s sweater and pull it off, making him to violently blush. She covered up her friend, leaving the exposed only the wounded shoulder. She was about to take care of her, when a gun’s click stopped her.
“Stand up!” JiYong said, taking everyone by surprise.
“Are you crazy?...” Ally tried to keep her cool.
“JiYong…” Even SeungHyun tried to interfere.
“Stand up!” JiYong wouldn’t listen to anyone. “Untie him!” he ordered when Ally easily got up.
“Untie what??” she was heating up. “Oh…” she understood when Ji pointed to SeungHyun’s still loosely tied hands. She did as she was told, but not because she was afraid of JiYong, but because she feared for her friend’s life, and she thought that if she’ll do what he wants he’ll let her care about Briana sooner.
“Why are you doing this?” she tried to talk as calm as she could.
“Why should I answer you? You haven’t answered any of my questions!” JiYong taunted her.
“Yeah, but you weren’t dying!” she finally flared up.
“He was about to!” he yelled back at her, grabbing her wrist that he twisted to her back; he did the same with her other hand and he used the piece of rope she was holding to tie her up… good.
“If you hurt her, I’ll kill you!!” Ally roared trying to kick anyone around.
JiYong held her good, but just to be sure he glued the gun to her head.
“Hyung…” the others tried to stop JiYong, but he wasn’t listening, he dragged her to the other red railcar and made her kneel between the seats.
“Hyung, really now…” DaeSung followed him.
“Don’t you dare moving from here!” he muttered to her then he threw one hand over Dae’s shoulders, pushing him away.
***.... part VIII
SeungHyun threw himself on one of those ex-chairs and just stood there, watching Briana. From time to time, he rubbed his sweated hands on his pajama pants, or he cleaned his forehead with the back of his hand. He slowly glided past her and his eyes widened; he couldn’t see this from where he used to sand.
“Don’t cry… I won’t hurt you…” he whispered to her, using his thumb to wipe away the tears from her eyes.
She opened them, but she had no courage to look at him.
He took off his blue pajama blouse to reach the white under vest. He grabbed its collar with his teeth ripping it in half. After he helped her to get a little up, one half he used to cover her wound and the other he bound it around her shoulder.
“Thank you…” she finally spoke, squeezing tight on her sweater, the only thing she could use for cover. Her eyes hit the bruised spots on his body and burning tears came out with a heavy sigh.
He caught her face in his hands again, looking for her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but her words got lost long before they could come out.
“I…” she tried to speak but the lump in her throat made even the bare breathing painful. He covered up the only way in that air had through her half-opened mouth, and she felt like a strong fire consumed her from head to toes, making her throat dry, burning her lips. He helped her lay back down and their naked hearts met; that first rhythmless beat, turned into a perfectly tuned rhythm that could barely pace their gliding one under the other lips.
Ally curled between the seats. She wasn’t afraid to move, but yet she wasn’t doing it. She was being busy arguing with herself because instead of worrying for her friend she could see only that ‘JiYong brat’s wide smile every time she closed her eyes. She wanted that smile… she needed that smile even if she couldn’t understand why. She wanted it to lighten up her night as it used to do when she secretly peeped at it on Briana’s screen. She curled even more when she heard someone coming. She started thinking at all kind of sad things because she needed some quick tears that dind’t delayed to appear.
It was JiYong who was getting closer and closer… but it looked different… his eyeballs looked smaller and somehow lost in the upper part of his eyes. She completely forgot about her teary plan and just followed him as he dangled his way up to her. He looked possessed… he caught her hair and whispered something in her ear… something that sounded like a verse from the song she used to replay over and over ‘I won’t deny it, nor fight it…” …at least that’s what she understood.
“What?...” she tried to speak but his mouth almost swallowed hers into a very passionate kiss taking her breath away for several moments. She smiled when she felt her hands free, but instead of any other actions, she hung on the edge of his blouse throwing it away continuously kissing him, fingering his ribs tattoo.
“This is so unfair!...” SeungRi sighed, sitting next to DaeSung.
“They too?” Taeyang asked smiling.
“Yeah…” SeungRi pouted.
“Hyung cut you off, this is bad… so bad!” DaeSung poked him laughing.
“Yup, but… beyond any joke, I really don’t think we should leave them alone right now…” Taeyang said getting up.
“You wanna go join them?” SeungRi laughed with really small eyes.
“You have such a dirty mind…” DaeSung chided him.
“C’mon, there are three doors and two railcars… which one do you choose?” SeungRi wouldn’t stop mocking.
“Oh, I get to pick first?” Taeyang played along. “I take this one, you take that one! Is that good?” he laughed walking towards the place he pointed.
“Hyung…” SeungRi whispered to DaeSung “…but… what if SOMETHING really happenes… then what?...”
“Fighting!” DaeSung whispered back, throwing one fist in the air, to look more courageous.
Briana drank on every move SeungHyun took. After the silky pants touched his well-defined waist, he bent over to take his blouse, but he didn’t used it on him though; he covered her shoulders. She slowly slid inside it and he buttoned her all the way up to under her chin, smiling gently.
JiYong glued his ear to her naked chest, calming down his breaths at once with her running heart. As much as he feared that feeling, he completely abandoned himself to it. Ally kept looking at him, caressing his soft blonde hair… she couldn’t find any word to say. She was happy! She finally got that long craved smile and she wouldn’t want anything to break this spell. It was all so quiet now…
“What was that?” she suddenly whispered. “Where are the guys?”
JiYong stood up a little to watch beyond the chairs, then looked under them – he could see nothing.
“I really don’t know…” he said stretching his way to his clothes.
“I…” Briana wanted to start the conversation when SeungHyung’s big hand covered her mouth.
“Ssst!” he stopped her. He easily looked around to make sure it was nobody else inside but them. He tiptoed to the window and slowly raised an eye to look outside. Without a word, he quickly grabbed the gun he had put under one of the seats and covered Briana with his body, holding her thigh. She had no time to ask anything, because the burst fire answered her unspoken question, cracking the remained window-glass, and putting holes into the railcar’s shell.
“Brianaaaaa!” Lee shouted his lungs out. “Ally!!”
Quiet again. No answer from anyone.
“You filthy cowards! C’mon out! Stop hiding under the woman’s dress!” Lee tried again timing his yell with a new gunfire discharge.
“Kwon JiYong” Ally whispered.
“Yes?” he answered a little scared.
“Thank you!” she said smiling gently.
JiYong answered back to her smile, thinking she was probably afraid for her life and she was saying her good-byes. He was about to cheer her up, when she stuck her hand in his hair and glued the gun he left on the ground, under his chin.
“Lee!” she yelled as hard as she could. “You moron! You’ve came to save me or burry me?”
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