✦ 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙚 | 𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪

023 | minus one

"Holy cow," Jihoon mouthed out, realizing that he won the game.

Junkyu groaned on his seat as he lost another game against Jihoon. Both Hyunsuk and Jaehyuk cheered for Jihoon's victory, while Mashiho was comforting Junkyu and telling him to do better.

Meanwhile, Asahi and Yoshinori were seated far from the other guys, having their own little world. Asahi is working with his hacking stuffs and Yoshinori seated in front of the window, eyes staring at the view outside the building.

"When will she come back?"

With a sigh, Asahi eyed the latter. "You've asked that for countless times since Yunhee left," he says. "No one knows where their family is. You can't even contact her or Yunseo─all we can do is wait."

"I want to make sure they are safe wherever they may be." Said Yoshinori.

Asahi bit his lower lip and gave a faint smile towards Yoshinori. "For sure, they are safe. Let's just wait patiently for their return," he said before locking back his gaze on his laptop. "They'll be back soon."

Letting out a sigh, Yoshinori closed his eyes. The warm breeze of summer hitting his skin, washing away the slight worries inside him. It has been a while since Yunhee left─almost a month away to be exact.

After a minute, Asahi's phone rang, showing Noa's name on the caller ID. All eyes were on him and he excused himself after showing Noa's name to everyone. He got out of the room and immediately answered the call.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I just heard from Yedam that Byounggon is meeting up with Seunghun now. I saw their leader left a minute or so."

Asahi felt his chest getting heavy as Noa fell silent on the other line. It was all well when they went almost a month without getting involved on any eliminations. They are having a good rest, but then, this call from Noa ruined everything.

"Do you know where?" asked Asahi.

"The narrow alleyway of the second block by the north. That's exactly what I've heard. I'll be there after this call,"

"I'll be there too."

"Wait, Asahi. You don't have to─"

Asahi did not listen. He immediately ended the call and came back rushing to the room. Yoshinori looked back, confused on why is Asahi in a rush. The other guys did not notice Asahi as they went busy again on their video game.

"Where are you going?" Yoshinori asks in a calm tone.

"Something urgent came," replied Asahi. "I'll be back later tonight." He said one last time before scurrying out of the room with his laptop.

Yoshinori could tell that the latter is hiding something. The way Asahi's eyes getting dark─Yoshinori could tell. He rose up from his seat, told the other guys that he'll buy something nearby and they did not bother to look back after nodding their heads.

Hovering the hood of his jacket above his head, Yoshinori lightly took his steps. After hearing the car engine speeding up far enough, he took a step outside and rode on his motorbike. Asahi took the shortcut and Yoshinori decided to take the long way to avoid any suspicion. Despite taking the long path, Yoshinori's motorbike has much faster speed than Asahi's car and it would not take him long to arrive on the said place.

✕

"I'm still wondering why they aren't getting themselves on any eliminations," Byounggon spoke as he leaned himself onto the brick wall behind him. "Maybe they are ahead of us." He assumed.

"Maybe that's because they won the last elimination against your group," said Seunghun. "I can't believe many of your backups were shot dead by them. Luck was quite on their side."

Byounggon could only click his tongue. They definitely need to change some of their strategies in order to increase their chance of winning against the other group.

Meanwhile, Noa is silently standing by the corner of the narrow alleyway, listening to whatever the two men are talking about while recording it. Luck was always on Noa's side. He is still staying on the rival group without them doubting him. It has been months and his own plan is quite going well.

"How's your little stay with them?" Byounggon asks Seunghun after a moment of silence. "Found anything useful?"

Seunghun thought for a while and a bright smile appeared his face when something crossed his mind. "Remember Jang Yunseo? That guy who's literally friends with everyone."

Byounggon only nodded his head and urged for Seunghun to continue.

"He has a sister, Jang Yunhee─Yoshinori likes her."

That made a playful smirk to form on Byounggon's lips. He definitely had seen Yunhee a few times since Yedam is always bringing her at their place. Seunghun could tell that Byounggon is already planning something on his mind, but what caught his attention was Asahi standing behind the latter.

"You wanna join us here, Hamada Asahi?" asked Seunghun in a teasing manner, making Byounggon to look behind.

Noa started to tremble after hearing what Seunghun said. 'Damn you, Asahi.' he thought while loading his gun.

"If you wouldn't mind," Asahi responded with a shrug. "I mean, this is literally an assembly of traitors. What a sight to see."

"Brave of you to be here," chuckled Byounggon. "But, too bad." He added while motioning to Seunghun and walked back near the corner where Noa is.

An unaware Noa was about to reveal himself from the corner, but he was greeted by Byounggon.

"Another traitor, I see."

"Choke on your own words, Lee Byounggon."

"We'll see," Byounggon smiled before locking an arm around Noa's neck and dragged him out. "See this, Asahi? It all happened because of you." He said before grabbing Noa's gun.

Asahi could only stand still. He doesn't have anything with him─no weapons to use, just himself. "A bunch of disgusting people," he muttered under his breath.

Noa did not try to escape from Byounggon's grip. He knew he's nothing compared to Byounggon.

"So," Byounggon began to speak as he aimed the gun on Asahi's chest. "Are you gonna talk or end this shit right now?"

Asahi huffed and rolled his eyes after. "I don't mind if you shoot me. The choice is on you."

"Oh, but I do mind." Seunghun spoke before a gunshot erupted, tensing all of them.

Byounggon smiled as he felt a sticky wetness on his arm. "What a bummer," he whispered before another gunshot erupted.

Seunghun let out a groan as a bullet hit his right shoulder. "The kids are getting tough, huh?" He spoke as he eyed the person behind Asahi.

"Let another bullet out and I'll fucking blow Asahi's head right in front of you," Byounggon warns Yoshinori who stood quietly beside Asahi with his gun aimed towards him.

Yoshinori lowered down his gun, motioning in defeat with his cold gaze dropping between Byounggon and Seunghun.

"That's what I thought," said Seunghun while he walked towards Yoshinori. "I'll take my revenge next time without you knowing any single shit, got that?" He told the latter, lightly tapping his back with a gun and walked away with a bleeding shoulder.

Meanwhile, Byounggon loosened his grip on Noa's neck. "This is what you get for interfering," he told them while showing Noa's face full of blood with his lifeless eyes still opened. He then dropped Noa's dead body on the ground and walked away without sparing any glance on the two guys left alive.

Asahi could still see how Seunghun sneakily blew Noa's head despite the distance. It made him tremble, dropping down on his knees with quiet sobs escaping his mouth.

Yoshinori dropped his gaze on the ground for a moment and screamed angrily right after while recklessly shooting with his gun, hitting the brick walls and filling the empty alleyway with sounds of gunshots.