My cheeks burned as I watched the group hurry up the stairs and disappear around a corner, my heartbeat hammering against my ribs as I tightened my grip around the handle of my suitcase a little tighter and clenched my teeth.
I was flustered by the tone Hongjoong had used, the way he had looked at me as if I was nothing but a nuisance at that moment, someone who was only in the way. And then I felt myself get angry, a fire flickering to life within me as I scoffed and glared at the spot on the first floor where he had just disappeared a moment earlier.
"How dare he?" I growled, dragging the suitcase after me as I stomped up the stairs as well, following the trail of dirt and blood on the floor before pushing through a set of doors leading into what seemed to be an infirmary.
I halted in my steps as I watched them help Yunho onto a bed, the man bloodied and bruises and covered in cuts and scratches, a dangerous-looking wound on his head bleeding onto the pillow underneath him.
"What happened?" I breathed, turning to Seonghwa as he uttered my name and immediately rushed for me, trying to push me back out the door and sounding more than out of breath as he said, "You shouldn't be seeing this-"
But I pushed past him before he got the chance to finish his sentence, closer to the bed as I repeated my question, "What happened?" almost as if in a trance.
"Those fuckers shot at us," Jongho growled, clenching his fists at his sides with a look of barely-contained anger on his face, "His motorcycle crashed."
"Who-?" I began only to trail off as I immediately realized that Nocturne had to be behind this. "Why is he here?" I demanded, feeling my heart ache with worry for the man as he groaned in pain and reached for his leg, "He should be at the hospital-"
"No," Hongjoong said, his voice laced with a tone so cold it made my blood run cold, remembering the dark night in the alleyway when I had first found Seonghwa, wounded and bleeding, refusing to go as well. They couldn't risk it, I realized, feeling myself wavering at that moment as my next words escaped my lips before I got the chance to think twice about them.
"Let me help," I breathed. "No," Hongjoong snarled again, the look in his eyes only adding fuel to the fire that was already brewing within me, feeling myself grow angrier as I turned to glare at him.
"I am going to help," I growled but the leader refused to back down, instead moving to stand protectively in front of Yunho as the group's eyes widened, a deafening silence falling over the room as the two of us stared at each other.
"He is going to die if-" I began but Hongjoong cut me off with a scoff as he asked, "What makes you think we need your help, Nari? As far as I know, you're rather expendable so for all I care, you can head home now and let us deal with this. It's all you've been talking about all week, isn't it?"
I felt my cheeks burn as I tightened my grip on the handle of my suitcase, straightening as I snarled, "And as far as I know, you're all unable to help him considering how your second-in-command couldn't even save himself from a stab wound," well-aware of Seonghwa taking a step closer only to halt as I said, "He would have died if I didn't save his life that night and so will Yunho if you don't move out of the way right now, Hongjoong."
The look in his eyes darkened at that but he stayed where he was nonetheless. I glanced at Yunho, my heart skipping a beat as I remembered how bright he had always been, how welcoming, how kind his eyes were, and how they always crinkled when he smiled.
I sighed, mentally cursing myself at the decision I was about to make but I had to know. "Are you responsible for the disappearances? For anything on the news?" I asked, turning back to Hongjoong whose brows furrowed at my question.
"I- What-?" he asked. I rolled my eyes, "Prostitution, trafficking- Are you involved in anything like that?"
The look in his eyes changed at that, darkened, as he growled, "We would never-"
"Then get out of my way," I said, pushing past him and leaving behind my baggage by Seonghwa's feet, not missing the way the leader's eyes widened but choosing to ignore it as I pushed the others away from the bed as well, taking a deep breath as I carefully softly brushed Yunho's hair away from the wound in his head.
"I have no real experience whatsoever but I dropped out of medical school before getting into university which means that-" my words faltered as I turned to see Mingi's jaw drop as the man looked back and forth between Hongjoong and me.
The blue-haired man simply stared at me for a moment before he sighed and gestured to the adviser. "Just fix him," he mumbled, turning to head out the door with the others scrambling to follow as Seonghwa held open the door and tried not to smile before turning to disappear as well.
"No, wait!" I exclaimed, immediately making him turn back to face me with a hopeful look in his eyes. I felt my heart sink as I took a shaky breath and said, "Please don't look at me like that. I need your help but it's going to be horrible-"
"What do you want me to do?" Seonghwa asked, quickly closing the door before hurrying over to stand next to me, both of us looking down at Yunho.
"We uhm-" I paused, "We need to set his leg," I breathed, already feeling dizzy by the thought as I went to get all of the things ready, deciding to leave the headwound for later.
Seonghwa's eyes widened, "What- But-" he stammered. "You can see that it's broken," I said, pouring everything onto a table next to the bed before gesturing at Yunho's leg, "Luckily, it's not a compound fracture, meaning that the wound isn't open but we'll need to set it before we immobilize it so it can heal properly."
Yunho groaned as his eyes fluttered back open, shaking his head, "Actually, the hospital-" he began but Seonghwa cut him off before he got the chance to finish his sentence, "I can do it."
"Seonghwa, no," Yunho breathed, making a move to get off the bed only to cry out in pain and clutch his head as he fell back onto his pillow.
"You're bleeding a lot but that's probably just from the trauma caused by the crash so if we're lucky, it's just a concussion," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze before glancing back up at Seonghwa and giving him a quick nod.
The blond immediately reached for Yunho's leg, making the man jump in pain and cry out again as he clutched my arm tightly and shook his head, eyes desperate. "Nari, no," he pleaded, trying to move away as Seonghwa reached out for him again, this time holding him down, "Please no."
"Yunho, it's the only-" "It's going to kill me," he whimpered, "You're going to kill me-" he stammered, desperately clinging to me as I felt my eyes tear up.
I glanced over at Seonghwa once again as he nodded his head and put both of his hands on the advisor's broken leg, clenching his teeth. "Yunho, I'm really sorry but I promise it's going to be alright. I'm going to make it alright." I said, my voice shaky as he furiously shook his head.
"Please, no-" Yunho tried again but pleas were cut short as a roar erupted from him the moment Seonghwa placed the bone back in its position, the man crying out in pain as his grip on my arm tightened.
〄
I sat by Yunho's side, carefully dabbing his forehead with a damp cloth to wipe away the beads of sweat that still lingered after what had happened earlier, brushing his blond hair out of his eyes to reveal the head wound which I had now cleaned and dressed.
"I'll tell Hongjoong that he's doing better," Seonghwa mumbled, running a hand through his ashy blond hair and patting my shoulder before heading for the door, "We're just down the hall in the meeting room if you need us."
I simply nodded my head, glancing down at the cast on Yunho's leg that we had tried our best to set properly, the thing still a little uneven and homemade but no doubt able to do its job at holding the bone in proper alignment as it healed.
I could hear the echo of my heartbeat in my ears as the silence in the infirmary became almost deafening, simply staring at that cast as the familiar feeling of anger welled up inside me as my gaze drifted back to Yunho's sleeping face and then to the cloth in my hand.
I felt a strong sense of deja vu as I remembered how I had been in this position before when Seonghwa had gotten hurt. How I had also had to save him after Nocturne had gotten involved.
"Nocturne," I breathed, clenching my hand around the cloth, enough for my knuckles to turn white, as I remembered how Chan had tried to hurt me, my thoughts drifting back to the news about the abductions, about the missing women-
"Nocturne," I said again, except this time my voice wasn't small or shaky. This time it was determined and strong as I put down the cloth and I got off the chair before off in the same direction Seonghwa had disappeared in moments before.
〄
"I want them off the map," Hongjoong said, pacing back and forth by the head of the table as the rest of the group's eyes went wide, Seonghwa simply nodding his head in agreement as the leader came to a halt and turned to them, "I want them wiped out. Completely."
"There will be complications," San said, turning to Jongho who clicked his tongue, "And consequences," the fighter said.
"We can handle the consequences, though," Mingi said, "And it's not like we haven't overcome complications like these before. The question is how and when?"
"The gala," Yeosang said, his eyes lighting up as he turned to Hongjoong, "Nova is hosting a charity gala as another cover-up," he said, running a hand through his champagne blond hair, "The invitations aren't out yet but my sources say it's supposed to be a birthday party for their youngest. Everyone will be there."
San hummed, "No one would suspect us. At least not at first," he said, furrowing his brows, "Abyss and Hypo's interests often clash with Nocturne's. Besides, with Nova favoring us over the others, even Kaleido, it shouldn't be an issue."
"So at the gala then," Wooyoung said, "But how? Guns are too obvious. They wouldn't let us in with them and we can't just poison them, either. It'll look bad if they turn up dead in plain sight."
"I don't care about the others," Hongjoong said, his eyes darkening, "All I know is that Chan is going to die with a bullet between his eyes," he growled, "No one touches my family without my permission. I bear the crown for a reason. Empire rules for a reason and everyone knows that, needs to respect that. I can't have rogues like him running around-"
〄
"I'm in," I said, bursting through the doors at the very moment those words had left Hongjoong's lips, all of Empire turning to me with surprised looks as I took a deep breath, hesitating for a moment as I realized that there was no way to take back my decision once I went forward with it.
But I didn't want to, I realized. I didn't want to take it back. And so, I straightened a little as I turned to the leader of Seoul's most infamous criminal organization, lifting my head as I said, "I want in."
A/N:
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