Guts & Glory | Markjinson

† Fourteen †

" 'Cause I'm heartless and I'm back to my ways 'cause I'm heartless ." 

Heartless, The Weeknd, Heartless 

A scream tore through Mark's lungs, though slightly muffled by the mask he wore, as he walked up the stairs from the basement. He pointed at the nearest Black Rose and signaled for them to go downstairs. 

Jackson rounded the corner as he heard Mark scream, concerned. 

"I want to kill him," Mark immediately said as Jackson got close, ripping off his mask, "He's infuriating!" 

"He's playing a game with you, Mark, and you're letting him win," Jackson clarified. 

Mark laughed, "He isn't in the position to play games with me of all people! I kidnapped him. I have him. He's mine and I'm better than him!"

Jackson nodded, not knowing what to say. 

"How do I break him?" Mark mumbled, "How do I break him? How?" The man started pacing around and suddenly stopped, "I don't break him, I break Jaebeom. That's right, I forgot. Youngjae is the way to get Jaebeom around my finger."

"Do you want me to get in contact with him?" Jackson asked. 

Mark turned his attention back to Jackson and narrowed his eyes, "I can contact Jaebeom but we're going back to Seoul. I want to play from the center of the board. We have enough Roses here, just in case they track Youngjae down." 

Jackson sighed, "Are you sure this will be enough?" 

"It's just one person," Mark smiled, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Youngjae's phone, "Let's go." 

Jackson gave Mark an unsure smile yet nevertheless followed the man out of the house. 

×××

"Youngjae disappeared, his phone is off and there's no surveillance of Youngjae ever leaving the office?" Hyunjin clarified as he watched the buildings of Seoul pass by. 

Seungmin shook his head but kept his eyes on the road, "There's no surveillance at all. All of today's footage from the Lobby to Youngjae's floor has been cut," Seungmin corrected. 

"This can't be happening, not again," Hyunjin whispered.  

Seungmin didn't respond. 

×××

"You got here rather quickly," Jinyoung stated as he heard the sound of footsteps, he looked up and smiled, "Well, all three of you." 

"We weren't so far away." 

Jinyoung nodded, "Let's cut to the chase then. Youngjae is gone and Black Rose took him. I know that for sure, it's payback for the docks. I need him found immediately and for that to happen, Stray Kids needs to come back together. It's an order, Chan." 

Chan cleared his throat, "Of course." 

"I know what happened to Woojin and I know this situation is putting salt into a wound but that's the nature of our lives. People we love and care about will die. This lifestyle will kill us, regardless of if we're still playing it or not. We were too late to find Woojin but we can't let history repeat itself."