Blood and Roses || Lee Taeyong

Chapter 41 | "unhinged"

When Chaerin woke up the next morning, she was happy to see that the cameras in her room had been removed. She smiled to herself, knowing that it was Taeyong's doing. She thought back on their conversation the previous night.

Did she mean what she said? Yeah. Yeah she did.

Chaerin was well aware of the danger and heartbreak she had subjected herself to when she decided to stay, and she knew that for her own sake, she should've walked away when she had the chance.

But even knowing all of that, did she regret it? No.

Would she change her mind if she had the chance? No.

She trusted Taeyong, even when it angered her. He would keep her safe. And they were her family now, she loved the guys... she loved him.

After getting ready, she strolled into the main room, only to see the gang gathered. At first she thought they were playing a game or something, but she quickly realized that it was something serious based on the way their faces were contorted into panicked frowns.

"Everything alright, guys?" She asked as she took a seat between Jaemin and Jeno.

"Um... not exactly." Yuta said. "Chae, have you seen Taeyong anywhere? Or happen to know where he is right now?"

She shook her head, feeling her heart stop with worry.

"Shit, okay." He muttered, exchanging looks with the others. "We were kinda betting on him telling you where he was."

"He didn't say anything to me." She replied. "Why? What's going on?"

Jaehyun let out a deep sigh as he slid her his phone.

"He's gone off the deep end again."

Her eyes widened as she read the reports flooding Jaehyun's screen. Reports from their field workers of murder all around the city. Brutal killings. Slit throats. Torn limbs. Burnt bodies.

"Did he do this?" She asked quietly, willing it to be a lie but Johnny just nodded his head.

"Classic Taeyong monster mode." The tall boy sighed. "Tear off the limbs, two bullets to the gut, slit the throat and let them bleed for a bit then burn them before they're fully dead to maximize pain."

She felt her stomach turn at the description, glancing back down at the phone. The first report was time stamped 20 minutes after she had left his office.

Her eyes widened, how did it happen so fast?

"Do we know who the victims are or where they're happening?" She asked, passing Jaehyun the phone.

"No, the bodies are all too unrecognizable to identify but we have their location." Kun reported.

"So, do you know where he's going to be next?"

"No, his killing is too erratic right now. There's no organization." Jaehyun replied with a shake of his head.

Chaerin cocked an eyebrow at him. Taeyong was many things. Ruthless. Brutal. Cold. But never wasteful. His killing was always done with firm intentions and she knew that.

"If you're sure that this is Taeyong doing this," she began. "Then I promise you there's a pattern."

She stood up, grabbing hold of Renjun and Hendery and dragging them towards the computer office.

"Jae, send all his locations in order to our files and keep us updated. I'll figure out where he's gonna be."

She rushed into the computer office, immediately taking a seat and starting to type away as Renjun and Hendery watched.

"Chae, how are you planning to do this?" Hendery asked. "Even if there is somewhat of a pattern, that could take days to figure out, let alone pinpointing his next location."

"Don't worry." She said, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "I won't be doing any of the work, the computer will."

"What do you mean?"

"For my senior project, I created a new computer program that I figured would come in handy for our gang someday. It'll algorithmically predict his next location with about 98% accuracy." She informed the boys as they shared a shocked glance. "I've been so preoccupied that I forgot to install it, I'll teach you guys how to use it later."

The computer beeped as a map popped open, little red dots scattered around the city from the information that Jaehyun had send her. She leaned back in her chair as bright lines flashed across the screen, the code trying to figure out his pattern.

"Is it working?" Renjun asked in a whisper.

"Yeah, just give it a second." She replied, watching it work.

After a few seconds, it let out a loud beep and a bright green dot appeared on the map.

"That's his next spot." She said with a satisfied smile. "He'll be there within the next 20 minutes."

"What are those?" Hendery asked, pointing to light blue dots slowly appearing.

"His next predicted locations incase we don't make it to the green one in time." She replied, standing and walking to the door. "Speaking of which, I have to get going if I'm going to reach him. Keep an eye on this and call me if anything changes."

"Wait Chaerin!" Renjun called, causing her to turn back around. "Be careful, alright? You've never seen Taeyong fully unhinged before."

She let out a sigh, nodding her head to them with a reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine. Keep things locked down here until I get back, and someone inform Jaehyun of what's going on."

With a dip of her head, she bolted out of the office, grabbing her weapons and heading straight to the garage.