Pain is a very strange feeling. It makes your heart ache, your eyes water, your head feel like bursting into flames and your body shrivels up in a corner. And guess what, the biggest and most painful form of pain isn’t something physical.
Pain is when your finger gets jabbed by a needle, pain is when you fall down and scrape your knee. Pain is when you watch your lover die before your eyes but for Director Kim Joonmyun, aka Suho, of WOAHT, pain is watching someone you have known for years betray you.
He dashed out of his office with his gun in one hand and some random documents in the other. He went down to the basement car park and got in his car. Without even putting on his seatbelt, he put the key in the ignition and stepped on the accelerator. He swerved at the sharp corners of the car park, tyres screeching against the cement flooring and scaring the out of the car park patrolman and even random cats and dogs. One of the patrolmen barely dodged Suho’s death-defying car as it raced past him and almost flew out of the car park.
Suho fumbled with his dashboard drawer as he whipped out a spare iPhone and placed it on the iPhone dock. With a few expert swipes, he dialed for his assistant.
“Sir, where have you been?! The team is immobilized and ready for…”
“I know who Mr. X is.”
“You what?!” Taemin screeched over the phone.
“I’m going to meet him straight away. Send the team to Warehouse 12, and refer all orders to Kris. Call him and get him to infiltrate Warehouse 12.”
“I believe he’s already there with Minho.”
“Good, call him and get him to command the troops.”
“But sir, where are you going?”
“Back home.” Suho swerved around another corner and Taemin could hear the screams of some innocent lady trying to cross the street.
“Back home?! Sir, is…”
“Another thing, Taemin,” Suho said. “Send a team to find Mr. Zhang Yixing.”
“Your boyfriend? But why?”
“He’s in danger, but he probably doesn’t know it. Keep him safe and tell the team that if they let anyone touch a hair on Zhang Yixing, I will fire them. Literally.” Suho swiped 'call off' and focused on the road.
He got him and pressed on the brakes with another screech of the tyres. He ran into the house, startling Tao who was pacing nearby.
“Suho?! What are you doing here?!”
“Where’s Uncle Wu?”
“He’s in his office, why?” Tao gasped in shock as Suho pulled out his gun and cocked it. He marched towards the office and broke the door down forcefully. Mr. Wu and his assistant Jacques had no time to even respond when Suho came in, his gun pointing at them.
“Give it up.”
“What are you talking about?!” Mr. Wu raised his hands in shock.
“The game’s over, Mr. X.”
Mr. Wu gulped in fear.
But the gun wasn’t pointing at him.
It was pointing at Jacques.
******************
Everything happened at whirlwind speed for Kris. After he dropped Tao home, he immediately called the Kim family. Kim Jongdae had taken his family and Baekhyun to his mother’s house on the other side of Seoul to hide. Jongdae told him everything. The missing boys, exploding flowers and how the boys were at Warehouse 12. Kris called his loyal partner in crime, Minho and they both arrived at Warehouse 12.
This isn’t the first time Kris had infiltrated anything. He and Minho expertly hid behind a dumpster a few metres away from Warehouse 12, and saw Chanyeol, Sehun and Kai walking in. The duo turned around and sneaked into the warehouse compound from the back.
“Old crime tactic,” Kris sniggered to himself. “When in doubt, use the back door.” The back was unguarded, with most men inside the warehouse apprehending the three boys. Minho, the expert lock picker, picked the lock on the back door and entered. With guns in their hands and quiet footsteps, Kris could hear every single word that Yongguk was booming.
“What kind of warehouse is this?” Minho whispered as they ducked around a corner, ears poised for the sound of any movement.
“I don’t know.” Kris looked at the wires and tubes that clung to the old grey walls like a spider. Random sockets and tubes that looked like it used to carry toxic chemicals popped out from various corners. Strange paraphernalia lay around covered in dusty old cloths and a flat metal table lay some few feet away from them. It looked like an operating table. Who knows how many bodies have laid there before?
“Must be some kind of lab.” Kris muttered.
“What in heavens…” Minho dug his fist straight into the man’s face that found them. With a few quick punches and a squeeze of his throat, the man was knocked out like a fighter after a gruesome battle. Kris took his machine gun and his walkie talkie. Minho tied the man up with his shredded clothes as they left the bound body and moved forward.
“Oh my god.” Minho and Kris hid their bodies behind a giant unknown machine. In front of them, just a few feet away, were some more of Yongguk’s crew with their back’s facing them. Two weak bodies were held amongst the scene, and judging from the muffled cries, Kris knew it was the Dolls. The three boys were kneeling on the ground, guns pointing at the back of their heads. Yongguk had some sort of remote in his hand.
“What is going on?”
“Let’s go and get them, ready?” Kris looked at Minho. “One, two…” a rough uppercut was sent flying and hit Kris’s cheek. One of Yongguk’s gang has found him.
“Bastard!” Kris groaned as he held back the attack. Another guy had Minho in a chokehold but with an swift kick, Minho had released himself and was now attacking him.
The silent scuffle went on and on; Kris battled the strong enemy, eyes trying to see Yongguk. He heard a splash and with a momentary flip of his head, he saw the three boys splashing around in an underground tank.
“Yongguk!”
“Kris! It’s Baekhyun!! What’s he doing here?!” Minho gave his attacker a good kneeing in the groin. His attacker reached for the phone in his pocket and tried to type something before Minho knocked the phone out of his hands.
“, he must have escaped.” Kris bashed the guy in the head with the back of his gun, but the man avoided the next attack and with a kicked Minho’s back, which sent him flying over and his arm knocking against a valve.
“Damn it.” Minho groaned, looking over at his side. It was a long tube that seeped underground marked Perfluorocarbon. There was no time to figure out what that was. Kris was giving the man a good kick but Kris’s attacker was strong and showed no signs of slowing down. The pain in Minho’s back shot up his spine like an electric flash. He heard cries and whipped his head, seeing Baekhyun bent over the tank and crying his eyes out.
“CHANYEOL!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“.” Minho cursed for the umpteenth time and grabbed a random iron bar. He whacked Kris’s assailant over the head as he fell on the ground.
“We lost a boy Kris!!”
“Not yet we haven’t.” Kris wiped his bloody mouth and reached for the machine gun. Minho took the other one and the two crept forward. Yongguk was just about to pull Baekhyun’s hair when he heard a machine gun from behind him, and a sudden chill that was never there.
“Freeze, Bang Yongguk.”
***************
“Freeze.”
“Suho, don’t do anything stupid.” Mr. Wu said, trying to get up. “I’m not Mr. X.”
“I know.” Suho said. “Jacques is.”
“What?” Mr. Wu turned his head to look at his assistant who just seemed to be staring at Suho with a stone face and cold eyes, he didn’t even have his hands up.
“Mr. X,” Suho inched forward, his gun held forward. “It was you all this while. You were Mr. X.”
“That’s impossible.” Mr. Wu breathed.
“No, it’s not. How else would he be able to conduct his operations with the help of politicians, businessmen and governors? He had to be someone famous, someone powerful, or at least, the trusted assistant of someone powerful and famous.”
“Suho…”
“You contacted all those people thanks to Mr. Wu’s influence. You got to know them through all those meetings you had following my uncle. You embezzled thousands from his account, running an entire secret operation under his nose because he trusted you. My uncle gave you the rights to run the Martha Wu Art Gallery, which is why my uncle didn’t even realize the storage facility had changed. You changed it all without letting him know.”
“Mr. Kim,” Jacques spoke up. “There must be some mistake.”
“There is no mistake. The only mistake here is the ones you have made.” Suho gritted. “The names of all those accounts are people who you have killed. You used their identities and kept the accounts alive, so that none of the money would be wired to you but you could still have access to them.”
Jacques did not say a word as Mr. Wu looked at him in shock. “And Rataw Hum? The labourer?” Suho scoffed.
“Wha…what about that?” Jacques asked calmly.
“It’s an anagram.” Suho said. “For Martha Wu.”
“What?!” Mr. Wu straightened in shock.
“Jacques killed Aunt Martha, and drained all the money from her account to fund his dirty business. Remember Uncle Wu? Which accountant did you hire to deal with Aunt Martha’s assets?”
“I hired…” Mr. Wu could feel his blood draining from his face when the shock of realization hit him. He curled up his fist and tried to grab Jacques by the collar.
“You ing son of a !! You killed my wife!! You killed…”
“Shut up!” Jacques pushed the old man down harshly.
“You made a mistake messing with us.” Suho threw a folder down on the table, and a small cheque had fallen out. “In the midst of all your secret documents, I found a cheque. A private cheque, used only by the property of Mr. Wu himself. No one could have accessed to this, unless they did business with my uncle.”
“But I don’t. I work for your uncle.”
Suho held up the cheque, and in bold, curved letters the words To my favourite assistant, Jacques,was boldly stated. “Why would Mr. X have a cheque like this? Unless…”
“I am Mr. X.” Jacques breathed. He looked at the young man with stony eyes. His long fingers reached for a button underneath the table and suddenly, one of Mr. Wu’s book shelf moved, revealing a secret entrance. Out from the doorway, came Zelo and a little girl.
“Jenny!!!”
“I’ve been keeping Jenny here all this time.” Jacques grabbed the little girl by her neck. Jenny screamed as she was manhandled and put in Jacques’s arms. Zelo grabbed a very weak and feeble Mr. Wu as Tao came in, kicking and screaming with his hands tied by another one of Jacques’s men.
“Appa!!”
“Jenny!!!” Jenny my baby!!!” Tao screamed. His eyes turned to the man holding Jenny and a string of curses flew out from his mouth.
“Jacques?!!? You motherer!!! You let go of my baby!!”
“I knew you were on to me, that is why I have her.” Jacques whipped out a gun from his back pocket. “You should take better care of your precious baby, so she wouldn’t run off with bad men.” Jacques laughed evilly. He pointed the gun at his old employee and smirked.
“You stupid, stupid man.”
“Jacques…”
“What I have been doing all this while is so unforgiveable. And you still trust me?”
“You…”
“I killed your wife. I stole your money. I misused your gallery. I committed a crime under your name. I’m about to ruin your company and your family. I’m about to burn everything you have to a crisp and watch you suffer along with them. And yet you still trust me?” he used the gun to lift the old man’s head. “Now I’m about to run off with your darling granddaughter, and you will have no choice but to trust me. Because you always have.”
“Father!!” Tao screamed as Jacques pressed the gun into the old man’s stomach and shot him. Mr. Wu could feel his eyes rolling backwards as he slumped down to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Suho dropped the gun and ran straight for his uncle.
“Uncle Wu!!!”
“So long suckers. It was nice meeting you all.” Jacques left with a crying Jenny in his hands as he and Zelo entered the secret entrance.
“Now you know what it feels like to lose everything you once had.” The entrance closed as Suho held his uncle in his arms; Tao was on his knees, crying as loud as he could. Jacques henchmen had left along with him and from the corner of Suho’s eye, he could see a van speeding away.
“Tao, call the ambulance.” Suho stood to his feet and ran out the door. He jumped back into his own car and sped after the van. He swiped his own phone, dialing for a number that he needed most. Kris, Kris, Kris….
He looked at his own bloodied hands. His uncle’s blood covered his fingers and dripped down them like ink.
I will not rest until I see Jacques blood on these fingers.
And with that, he stepped on the accelerator.