The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter sixty-two: Broken glass

Iseul took a deep breath and grabbed the candle, heading for the door. Cautiously, she walked around the dead body, making sure to avoid the pool of blood. She was barefoot, after all, and the last thing she wanted was to leave bloody footprints in her trail.

Once she was at the door, Iseul leaned in, pressing an ear to listen. It seemed to be silent in the hallway, and she carefully opened the door.

Like she had hoped, there was no one.

Weird, she thought with a frown.

Iseul was torn between feeling relieved or worried. She didn't want to run into anyone, as she was surrounded by people who were definitely not on her side, but it had been minutes since she had run away from her cell.

Park had been badly hurt, yes -hopefully he would be blind, even- but he still should have sounded the alarm by now.

So why was it so quiet?

Iseul knew that was not a good sign, but she didn't have a choice, she had to keep moving. Silently, she made her way to the end of the corridor, where she had come from, and took another turn.

Everything was deadly silent and empty.

She felt like a mouse in a labyrinth, used as an experiment. She just hoped Park wasn't somewhere observing her from behind a screen with a sick smile on his face like some psycho scientist. Hopefully he had lost the ability to see.

The image of him crying blood and losing his sight brought a smile to her lips.

It was little consolation in her situation.
The thought of someone being blind -even momentarily- by her fault was something Iseul had never imagined would be enjoyable.

That man really brings out the worst in me, she noted.

After walking for what seemed like hours, Iseul finally reached a junction of ways. She was faced with five identical doors in a semi-circle.

Great, Iseul silently cursed, now what do I do?

Shaking her head, she walked to the closest door on her right.

Let's just hope I don't walk into a meeting room full of Park's men, she thought.

Iseul seemed to have a good star watching over her that day, as the door she opened revealed a staircase. She stopped for a second, wondering where to go.

Should I go up, or down?

Deciding to trust herself and the first impression she had had earlier that day, Iseul chose to climb up.

If she was right, and it turned out they were underground, the only way for her to leave was to go up.

Going up the stairs, Iseul realized how sore her body was. After the time she had spent in that cell, chained to a wall, her muscles were screaming in pain at each step.

The burning sensation in her legs only motivated her to go further, though, and she leaned on the wall to support herself.

The stairs seemed to be endless, and when Iseul thought she was finally going to give up, the sight of a wooden door above her head kept her going.

Please, don't be locked, she silently prayed, please be open.

Once again, luck was on her side, and Iseul managed to open the door with ease.
She was now in a small room with large windows.

What seemed to be an office was bathed in morning light, and Iseul closed the door behind her with a sigh of relief.

She closed her eyes to enjoy the sunshine's warmth for a second.
It was so good to get rid of the coldness of her cell.

Her small moment of peace was cut short, however, when someone spoke in her back.

"You shouldn't be here, Iseul."

The girl jumped and turned around, now facing a man she knew all too well. She had not expected to see him.

Kim Changmin, Chaewon's father.

"W-What's the meaning of this?" she asked, taking a step back farther in the room, "What are you doing here?"

The man sighed and ran a hand on his face.
He seemed tired, exhausted, even.

It had been quite a long time since Iseul last saw him, and he seemed to be ten years older than what he was.

There was grey in his hair, and dark circles under his small eyes.

The man she had known as her father's associate was long gone.

"You work for him, don't you?" Iseul went on, putting the pieces of the puzzle back together. "That's why Chaewon's here."

At the mention of his daughter's name, he clenched his fists.

Iseul ignored it and kept going, "It was you," she whispered. "It was you -was it last night?" Iseul stopped a second to think.

How long had she been here? Only a night?
She felt as though it had been days.

"Believe or not, Iseul, I'm sorry."

She let out a laugh, "Right."

"I truly am," he said, shaking his head with resignation. "I always considered you to be like a second daughter. I never meant to hurt you, but I didn't have a choice."

I didn't have a choice.

Those were the exact same words that Chaewon had told her back when she visited her in her cell.

"We always have a choice," Iseul spat. "You made yours."

"I did," he sighed. "Now let's not complicate things. Come with me."

Iseul frowned and took another step back, reaching the desk in the center of the room.

"So you can take me back there? I don't think so, no."

Chaewon's father sighed again.
It seemed like speaking was painful to him.

"Listen, Iseul. Park sounded the alarm. Everyone is looking for you. Trust me, you're lucky I'm the one who found you, at least we can do this peacefully."

Iseul couldn't help but laugh sarcastically.
He wasn't making any sense.

"I'm 'lucky'?" she scoffed. "So let me guess, I should thank you, is that it?"

"Iseul," he cut her off, "we don't have time for this, they will soon come here, and they won't be as patient as I am. We have to get back down, now."

Iseul frantically looked around, but there was nowhere to run to. Weirdly enough, this room had no other door than the one she had walked through to get in, and she wasn't sure she would have time to grab a chair to break the windows.

When she didn't move, Kim walked to her and grabbed her arm. He looked weak, now, but the hold he had on Iseul was strong.

"No," she said while trying to get away from his tight grip, "I won't go back!"

"Be smarter than this, Iseul," he simply said without looking at her. "That's what your father would've wanted."

The mention of her father was the last straw for Iseul, and she started kicking him in the legs. He didn't even budge as he proceeded to drag her to the stairs.

"No!" she screamed, panic now spreading in her chest. "Let me go! Let me go!"

As they reached the door that led to the staircase, a booming sound in their back made them stop in their tracks.

The windows were all broken, and pieces of glass scattered the floor, mirroring the sun all around the room.

If her heart had not almost stopped beating, Iseul would have been astonished by the beauty of the scene. The glass on the floor created a multitude of light colors, and rainbows danced on the walls.

But what caught her attention was the man who had jumped through the space where a window used to be moments before.

He landed on pieces of glass but didn't seem to care, his fiery eyes focused on the hand around her wrist.

"I think she told you to let go."