Notorious ⊷ Haechan

27 ⊷ Later

⊷ 27

"And I don't think you understand. I'm not the bad guy here," she retorted, looked back at the boy. "But I can be."

She said before she pulled the trigger and his body hit the ground. Echoing through the otherwise close to empty building, the thud of his weight crashing against the asphalt was uncomfortably loud. 

There was a moment of shock where Jaemin, who had been standing behind Ji-yoon, wasn't sure what to think. He couldn't really see Haechan and only saw the girl from behind.

So he hurried up to them, soon feeling relieved when he saw that Haechan was unharmed. At the same time, he did not at all seem unsettled at the sight of the now third man that Ji-yoon had injured within less than ten minutes. 

Truly impressive.  

"For a second I really thought you were going to shoot Haechan," Jaemin mumbled jokingly, trying to laugh it off. 

"Maybe I should have," she wondered. Seeing her speak so sombrely to him was unusual. But she had gotten tired of smiling at Haechan and only getting hesitance and distrust in return. 

All the while, Haechan stood there calmly. He hadn't moved when she pulled the trigger and he hadn't bothered to check what had happened when he heard the thud crash through the air. 

Ji-yoon was hurt by his distrust while Haechan barely felt like he could have shown her any more trust than he just did. Then again, neither of them said what was on their minds and so the misunderstanding went unnoticed. 

Ji-yoon stepped past the two boys and walked up to the third man that was lying close to the doorway, almost blocking the entrance to the room. 

He was groaning in pain, clutching his arm to stop the bleeding. After kicking his gun away from him, she grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him away from the door so he wouldn't be in the way. 

And just as she was done with that, Haechan and Jaemin entered too and hurried over to the boys that were tied to chairs, facing the wall opposite the door. Heads hanging down, barely moving at all, breathing shallow. The smell of blood had stained the cool air inside the room. 

Jaemin crouched down in front of Jeno. Both, he and Shotaro, were too tired, too out of it to properly react to them. It took them a moment to push past the dizziness, past any pain they felt, to focus on them.

"It's good to see you," Jeno mumbled, the slightest of smiles creeping onto his lips. Worry and happiness washed together as Jaemin squeezed the older one's hand.

Meanwhile, Haechan was busy untying both boys. Ji-yoon crouched down in front of Shotaro. She put her hand on his cold cheek, wiping away a line of blood that drew down his face.

"Joon?" he asked, his voice sounding rough. "You came."

He said that as if there was no question in his mind whether or not she would show up to get him. Clenching his jaw, she hummed. He trusted her so much, yet she let him wait so long.

With a sad smile, she nodded. "Sorry for being late." But Shotaro just shook his head and, once he was untied, let his arms fall around the girl's shoulders. "Let's get you out of here."

As she said that, she glimpsed at Jaemin who nodded and helped Jeno get up, then guided him out of the room with an arm around his waist. While he went ahead, Haechan joined Ji-yoon to help get Shotaro out of there too.

Although the way down wasn't that long, it took a while until they made their way through the building and back over to the road.

"I will follow you, so just drive ahead," Jaemin said as he walked Jeno over to his car.