Kang Min-Ju wasted no time and dragged her daughter through a few corridors, ignoring her complaints.
Iseul's head was spinning.
Everything was happening too fast, and her body still had to recover from her time in captivity. Her mother noticed how Iseul's body was getting weaker by the minute, but showed no intention of slowing down their fast pace.
She seemed to know exactly where she was going, taking sharp turns in the dark until they finally reached a wooden door.
Iseul wondered how her mother even knew where to go but didn't ask. The only thing Iseul wanted was to go back upstairs, in the small office where Taeyong and Park still were.
The sound of metal clicking made Iseul look back at her mother.
The tall woman was trying to find a key among plenty of others with one hand, still holding Iseul tight with the other. After a few seconds of struggle, she seemed to find the one she was looking for and inserted it in the lock.
"Let's hope your friends live up to their reputation," she spoke, pushing the door open.
Iseul frowned in confusion, but before she could ask what her mother meant, the strong smell of blood made her stomach turn once again. Even after everything she had been through, Iseul was positive she would never get used to that smell.
The room they walked in was pure horror. There was blood everywhere and bodies piled up on the floor. Iseul tried her best to ignore the sick feeling in her gut and desperately tried to identify the dead bodies.
The fear that she might recognize one of her friends made her blood turn to ice.
As if her mother was reading her mind, she spoke up, "These are Park's men."
A wave of relief spread in Iseul's chest. She felt no empathy for them and was genuinely glad that she wouldn't find any NCT member among the victims.
"Hurry, we don't have much time," her mother pressed, dragging her away from the gruesome sight.
"Much time?" Iseul repeated, almost tripping over her feet. "What do you mean?"
After all, Taeyong and Park were probably going to take a while to settle their accounts, leaving them all the time in the world to flee.
"What do you think your little friends are doing as we speak?" Kang asked harshly.
When Iseul didn't respond, she went on, "They're patiently waiting for their boss to come out with you."
They walked through an empty room before they reached another door.
"When I open that door," Iseul mother instructed, "all your friends are going to realize that it is in fact not their boss who's leaving with you, but me. Then everything is going to happen really fast, so we need to be quick. All we have to do is to reach the other side of the road, where my own men are waiting for us, alright? Then we'll be free."
Kang's voice almost became a whisper as she spoke the last words, as if it sounded too unreal to say it aloud.
Iseul completely ignored the hope in her mother's eyes, too focused on the information she gave her.
NCT, her friends, her family.
They were all waiting on the other side of that door.
You're kidding yourself if you believe for one second that I'll go anywhere with you, Iseul thought.
The girl was now motivated by a new hope, determined to go back to the only ones she had ever felt at home with.
They were just one door away.
She could do this.
YOU ARE READING
The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA
Fanfiction| SEQUEL TO HOUSE OF CARDS | Now that the House of Cards is finally stabilized, everyone thinks the game is over. Wrong. The game has just begun, and the Hidden Card is about to join the party.
