Limitless || Mark Lee

Chapter 40

"Mirae?"

She looked up, seeing Hyunwoo standing in front of her. It had been about an hour since Byungchul had left. Hyunwoo had a sympathetic expression on his face and she could see how genuinely he was worried for her, which only made her that much more disgusted. She pursed her lips, refusing to speak as she glared up at him.

"Mirae, I'm sorry. I didn't want to do this, but I didn't have a choice."

She continued to sit there in silence.

"Please say something."

He sat down in front of her, gently taking one of her chained hands in his own, which she quickly pulled away.

"Did you know the whole time? Who I was, what I was part of? Was it all a plan?" She whispered out lowly.

"No. I had no idea that first night. Actually, for the first few times we hung out. My father trained me but kept me away from the mafia. He said that he wanted me to graduate from university before fully joining, but when he saw you one night while picking me up... things changed."

Mirae rolled her eyes, not believing a single word.

"I swear Mirae, I have no reason to lie about this. He told me who you were and I refused to believe him until he showed me evidence of you with NCT. I'm his son, what was I supposed to do when he asked me to pick a side." Hyunwoo let out an exasperated sigh, dropping his head.

"When he found out about how genuine my feelings were for you, he told me to ask you out. In his mind, you must've reciprocated those feelings. When you rejected me, I didn't know what else to do. He was going to kill me if I couldn't kidnap you. And then I saw you running out of the school and.... I just couldn't pass up the chance. I'm so sorry." Hyunwoo looked at her again, tears in his eyes.

"Sorry doesn't get me out of these chains and back to my family, now does it? If you really cared about me, you'd let me go."

"Mirae, you know I can't do that. Not without getting myself, and most likely both of us, killed."

Hyunwoo stared at her, willing her to understand him. Mirae tried to hold eye contact but couldn't, looking away from the boy who she once thought of as a trusted friend.

"So... this is how I die." She mumbled out with a bitter laugh.

"There's still a chance, Mirae."

"How? You said yourself that you can't get me out of here, and your father has every intention to use me to hurt NCT and then dispose of me."

"Choose me." Her eyes shot up to his. "Choose me over them, Mirae. I can save you from this. Join us and stay with me, I'll give you everything you could ever want. I'll be a good partner for you and you will be able to live."

Mirae couldn't help but scoff at his offer, rolling her eyes.

"As of I'd ever stay with the boy who kidnapped me and brought me here to rot. I'll choose NCT until the day I die over you, I don't even know you anymore." She spat out, menace dripping from her every word.

Her tone must've triggered something in Hyunwoo. Gone was the sympathetic, soft expression on his face. Now he straightened up, his face hardening into a cold glare. One that she'd seen many times on her own members.

"And you think you know NCT? What a joke." Hyunwoo scoffed out. "You might know the personas they try to hide behind, but you have no clue what you're really dealing with."

"Oh and you do?"

"I do actually. I didn't want to do this to you..." he said, pulling a phone out of his back pocket. "But why don't I show you what kind of monsters your living with. The demon that leads the gang and the devil behind the boy that you fell for."