The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter fifty-three: Bite back

Iseul's blood was boiling as she helplessly watched Park call Taeyong right in front of her. She had tried so hard to free herself from the chains tying her to the chair, without any luck.

The provident man had made sure she wouldn't be able to scream or make any noise at all; he had gagged her.

When he had mentioned scarring her, Iseul had felt a drop of cold sweat run down her back. That man was crazy, who knew how far he was willing to go? She didn't want to find out.

Once Park put an end to the phone call, he turned around to face her, a finger on his lips in a contemplative gesture.

He didn't utter a word, but his wicked eyes were expressive enough. What Iseul didn't get, however, was how indecisive the man appeared to be.

He wanted her here, Iseul didn't doubt it, or else she would still be safe at home, but he didn't seem to have a clue regarding what to actually do with her. Iseul frowned at her own thoughts.

Safe? She asked herself, clenching her jaw when she realized what she had been thinking. She hadn't been safe, there. Someone had kidnapped her from the inside of the house.
The thought made her sick to the stomach. Who?

She tried to speak, to ask, but the gag in her mouth made it impossible for her to utter a word. Only a guttural groan came out of her mouth and Park smiled.

"Yes?" he taunted with a smirk, perfectly knowing that Iseul would only be able to speak if he allowed it.

Iseul groaned again, and the smirk on his face grew larger.

"What a savage attitude coming from such a pretty lady," Park muttered, stepping closer.

Iseul glared at him with all her anger, but that only seemed to amuse him more. He crouched down and slowly brought a hand closer to her face. The girl instinctively jerked away, and Park chuckled.

"Oh, my bad," he apologized with a fake smile, "I thought you wanted me to take off that thing from your mouth."

Iseul gave him a death stare and tried her hardest not to move away this time as he got close again. Taking all his time to watch her suffer from his proximity, Park slowly untied the knot of the thick fabric behind her head.

When her mouth was finally free, Iseul couldn't help but bite his fingers off violently.

The man let out a deep groan as he pulled back his hand with an enraged look on his face.

"You bitch!" he yelled before slapping her across the face with strength.

Iseul felt the violent impact through her entire body. Her cheek was burning and the snapping sound of the bones in her neck cracking echoed in her ears.

Park eyed his damaged hand, rubbed his fingers to try to ease the pain, then looked at the girl dead in the eye.

He brought his face close to hers, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt and growled in her ear, "I was thinking of giving you a clean death, but I guess after that little stunt of yours, I'll just make it painfully slow and messy instead."

In response, Iseul spat the blood out of her mouth directly in his face with a death stare.

Park shot her a dreadful grin, his fierce eyes locked with hers as he slowly wiped away the gore.

"I see why Taeyong likes you," he spoke in a low voice. "You're a feisty one."

He got up, restoring the distance between them.

"Too bad it'll get you killed."

Iseul tried to hide the fear spreading through her veins at the threat and decided to glare at the man instead. As he was about to leave, she suddenly stopped him.

"Wait!"

Iseul silently cursed herself at the sound of her voice sounding way more desperate that she had intended to be.

Park turned around, raising his brows.

She took his silence as a sign for her to continue.

"Who?" was all Iseul could manage to ask.

Park frowned for a second, not sure what the girl meant, only to grin at her the next.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Iseul promised herself that if she made it out of this place alive, she'd make sure to rip that exasperating smug look off his face.

"It had to be someone from the inside," she said, failing to conceal the painful feeling that was building in her chest at the thought of one of her friends betraying them all.

"You should be more careful, Iseul," Park said.

She hated how her name sounded in his dirty mouth.

"I'm afraid you have terrible taste in friends. You probably shouldn't trust people that easily and make sure you actually know the people you surround yourself with. After all, we wouldn't want you to get stabbed in the back and find yourself in a bad situation...-oh, wait," he smirked, "looks like it's too late for that."

Without another word, Park walked out the cold room, leaving the girl alone with her tormented thoughts.

She had learnt nothing.

If anything, Park had just confirmed what she was already worried about. One of her friends had done this to her.

But why? And who?

Iseul closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to visualize her last moments at the house before being brought here.

The drug Park had given her must have been really strong, because her mind was still foggy.

Come on, think, she scolded herself.

Slowly, pieces of memories came back to her. Iseul saw herself in the alley with Jaemin and Chaewon. Then she remembered Kun and Taeyong coming to help them and going back to the house.

The more she thought about it, the more memories emerged from the blurry mess that was her mind.

They got back to the house, Jaemin got treated for his wounds and Taeyong told her to stay in her room with Chae.

Then she went to visit Jaemin, and talked to Taeyong, and went back to her friend in her room.

Nothing seemed out of place, she thought.
I must be missing something.

Iseul breathed in slowly, then breathed out. She replayed the memory in her head.

Then it hit her. Chaewon.

The girl wasn't there when she had come back to her room. The place was empty.

Iseul remembered being confused and opening the door that lead to the small bathroom. She also remembered a voice from behind her.

"I'm sorry, Iseul," the voice had said.

The memory faded, and no matter how hard Iseul tried to remember, it was all a blank after that.

It hadn't been Chaewon's voice, though, Iseul noted.

She was trying to analyze what she remembered to find a clue, any clue at all, that could help her understand.

The voice was manly, it belonged to someone she knew, Iseul was sure of it. She had heard the voice before, but where?

It was very familiar, which indicated that she most likely also knew the person it belonged to.

Iseul frowned deeply, scanning her memories to try and find the person, but before she could come up with a name or even a face, a metallic sound snapped her out of her thoughts.