✔ 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 [𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒]

«... the siren, ....»

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝟐𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓. 𝟗:𝟑𝟎 𝐏.𝐌. 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐒.

𝟗 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝟑𝟎 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄.

"I don't see where he could have run off to," Hoony finally said with regret and let the car roll out.

His gaze wandered slowly and anxiously to the passenger seat, where a rather tense Oh Sehun sat. He had clenched his right hand into a fist and pressed it against the thin line of his lips. One could see the pain he felt for the loss of Exol. He was suffering from mental pain, his sharp mind befuddled. Since the explosion, they had scoured the neighborhoods nearby, hoping the sheepdog hadn't gotten far. Three of the Riots had complained about not participating in the Purge to search for a runaway dog, whereupon Sehun had executed them. Three well-aimed shots to the head at close range. After that, no one had dared to oppose Sehun's demand and they had split up in the search. However, after the first stop and telephone arrangement, they were already missing five men.

They had simply run off, taking their chance to escape, just to get away from the black-haired leader.

"Damn it!" roared Sehun, pounding both fists against the dashboard.

Hoony, who found his boss's love for this dog terrifying as well as fascinating, winced at the noise. He was at a loss for words, didn't know what he could say to build Sehun up.

For a long time there was silence in the vehicle where there were only two of them. Sehun, who was still hanging there hunched over, fists crashing against the dashboard, slowly straightened up and ran his hand over his face, trying to regain his composure. "Gather my people, we'll meet here!" said Sehun suddenly, as his long fingers moved to the door handle and he got out.

Confused, Hoony remained seated, but then reached for his smartphone and dialed the number of each driver, who were traveling with a small group.

It took only ten minutes for everyone in the remaining group to be reassembled. Hoony had also gotten out of the vehicle after the call, but since Sehun had not spoken a word, silence had spread between the two of them.

It troubled him.

This silence.

And although he would have liked to say something to his boss, he kept every word that was on the tip of his tongue to himself. Granted, Hoony possessed a healthy dose of fear of Sehun and didn't want to irritate him unnecessarily, but this silence was straining enough. Even now, with the vehicles in place and the Riots gathered around Sehun, the leader said nothing for the first three minutes. His gaze merely wandered from one person to the next.

"We will give up the search," Sehun finally said in a calm and collected voice. "But we will open a hunt for those who have departed from our group."

The blond companion stared at his leader, stunned. He knew for a fact that Sehun hadn't just shaken off the concern for his dog, and from the trembling tips of his fingers, Hoony could tell that it was still close to the younger Korean's heart.