The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter sixty: Truth hurts

Choosing to ignore the slowly increasing feeling of discomfort in his gut, Taeyong cleared his throat.

"Sorry if I woke you up," he began. "But this couldn't wait."

Everyone was there, including Jaemin, who was more than delighted to finally be able to leave the infirmary.

"What's wrong?" Jungwoo asked, noticing the grim faces of Johnny and Kun standing behind Taeyong.

"Iseul has been taken away from us," he declared.

A wave of worry hit the room, but Taeyong silenced them all with a glare. Donghyuck shyly raised a hand.

"Yes, Hyuck?"

"Do we know who the bastard is?"

He had just gotten out of bed, but the news seemed to have the effect of a slap in his face.

Taeyong shared a long look awith Kun, and took a deep breath.

"Park took Iseul."

As soon as the words left his mouth, instant chaos bursted out.

"What did you just say?" Mark asked, getting up.

"Don't be silly, Taeyong," Yuta chimed in, "you killed the man. How can a ghost be behind that?"

"He's not dead."

If the second before, everyone seemed to be freaking out, they were now silenced by the sudden news. Taeyong thought that their jaws might fall off by the way their mouths were hanging open.

"W-What do you mean, he's not dead?" Jungwoo asked, frowning.

"He means that the bastard is alive and well," Ten snapped, rolling his eyes.

The only ones who didn't seem to react at all were the Chinese members. WayV was already aware of that fact, as they had followed Taeyong one night to find out what he had been hiding.

Thankfully, no one seemed to pay them and their expressionless faces much attention. Instead, most of the clueless members began harassing Taeyong with questions.

"Why the hell did you tell us you had killed him, then?"

"Why are we only discovering that now?"

"Where is Iseul?"

"What's the plan?"

As the room soon turned into a loud mess, Taeyong stayed unbothered, arms crossed on his chest as he let his members yell and panic.

After a while, understanding they wouldn't get answers, the room fell silent, and the screams turned to whispers.

Once they seemed to have calmed down, Taeyong went on, "I'm sorry I lied to you all and didn't tell you about it sooner, but I had my reasons. We'll have all the time in the world to discuss about it later but for now, our priority is to get Iseul back. I think we can all agree on that?"

He uttered the last sentence like a threat, raising an eyebrow as he silently dared them to object.

"Of course," they replied, even though they still seemed hostile at the thought of their leader keeping such a secret from them.

But like Taeyong had pointed out, they would have time to discuss it later. Right now, their priority was to get Iseul back home.

"So what's the plan, then?" Doyoung asked from the corner of the room.

He eyed Taeyong with anger, but his voice remained calm. Clearly, he was mad at him, but at least he stayed professional about it.

"We have to locate their hide-out first, of course," Kun pointed out.

"It must be somewhere isolated, obviously," Renjun thought aloud.

"But not too far, either," Taeyong completed. "I received a call from Park not so long after we came back home with Iseul earlier this evening, and she was already with him, which means it didn't take long for them to reach wherever they're keeping her."

"Wait," Hendery spoke up, frowning, "how did they take her?"

The others nodded their heads in agreement, "Yeah, how could Park possibly break in here without us knowing?"

Jaemin made eye contact with Taeyong, and the youngest seemed to question him silently with his eyes.

Where's Chaewon? Jaemin thought.

As though Taeyong read his mind, he inhaled deeply and turned to Hendery.

"Iseul was not alone in her room earlier," he began, avoiding the Dreamies' glares. "We brought back her friend as well."

"You what?"

"You brought a stranger in our home?"

Once again, everyone started to speak at the same time. Only the Dream members remained silent as they exchanged worried and confused looks.

"We have many reasons to believe she's the one who's behind this, and that she is working for Park as well."

This time, the Dreamies couldn't remain silent.

"Chaewon is not the enemy, is she?" Jeno said, getting up. "I mean, she wouldn't do that to Iseul, they're best friends."

"In case you haven't noticed, Jeno, friendships can easily be broken, and people lie."

Yeah, Jeno thought, I suppose you would know about that better than anyone else in this room.

The cold tone in Taeyong's voice made him sick, but he knew his leader was right. He just didn't want to admit it. 

Truth really does hurt.

"So Chaewon really betrayed us?" Mark muttered as a deep feeling of betrayal crept up inside of him.

He knew there were doubts surrounding the girl, but a part of him still hoped this was just nothing but a big misunderstanding.

"Looks like it, yes," Kun replied. His voice was softer than Taeyong's; he had noticed the sudden change of mood on their faces. They had trusted Chaewon, after all.

"You guys will have time to mourn the girl you thought was your friend later," Johnny interrupted. "Right now, we have to focus to save the one we know for sure is on our side."

Jaemin shook his head to get rid of his growing rage toward Chaewon and got up, determined to get his friend back.

"What do we have to do?" Chenle asked, copying Jaemin as he got up from the couch.

Before Taeyong could reply, his phone vibrated in his hand.

"Who is it?" Yuta frowned.

"It's a text," Taeyong said as he silently read it. "It's from an unknown number."

"Well what does it say?"

"Nothing," he replied as his grip around the phone tightened. "It's just an address."