The High-Tiers // Monsta X

Chapter 41

Kihyun

It was Changkyun. There was not a sliver of doubt in me. He didn't drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness, but he didn't do anything to deny what he did to Sungwoon. He didn't say a single thing. And that was enough proof for me.

I tried to focus on Shownu's injured arm, but the image of Changkyun's flat eyes, the eyes that were like blank pieces of paper, kept resurfacing in my mind. Thinking about Sungwoon's encounter with this soulless monster was like cutting apart my own flesh.

"Stop moving," I said, barely able to keep my voice level. Shownu shook my hand off, and that was when I saw the concern on his face.

"Do that later. Myungwon's gone."

My head snapped towards the desk in reflex. Not only the CEO; the COO and the Head of Security were gone too.

"Where's Wonho-hyung!?" Jooheon's frantic voice was panic-inducing. I felt the anxiety and tension emanating from his nervous body language and spreading to his friends. Except for Changkyun, who stayed cool and impassive by the side, keeping a watchful eye on me as if I was a bomb.

Shownu stood up with a grunt. I watched dark matter ooze out of his wounds. It was a nauseating sight, but I didn't look away because it made me queasy, I looked away because it reminded me of the flaw I could never overcome.

"They escaped," said Shownu. "Someone teleported them away when we were fighting."

There was no accusation in his voice, but Minhyuk still took offence. He shot me a glare. "It wouldn't have happened if you had come clean to us in the very beginning."

"We don't know where Wonho-hyung is and you're still trying to start a fight?" Jooheon's voice was shaking. I looked over and realised he had tears in his eyes.

A weird mixture of exasperation and sympathy washed over me when I saw Jooheon in his distressed state, helpless in this mess of a situation. I should have tried harder to stop them from breaking into VALER. Now it was too late.

"But I'm right!" Minhyuk protested, still staring at me with contempt.

I returned the glare but didn't say anything. I was too tired to fight back. My energy should be placed on Sungwoon and the person who had hurt him, not someone who was mad at me when they didn't even know anything about me.

Minhyuk was still talking, but I wasn't listening anymore. I walked past Shownu, then Minhyuk and everyone else, and stopped right in front of the door. Before I left, I took a deep breath, spun around, and gave one last look at Changkyun.

He was barely visible in the shadows, and that itself ignited a flame of anger in my chest. He could hide from the responsibility of his actions so easily, without a care of the torture other people had to suffer through as a result. It was dark, but I had his look memorised and I knew he was still staring ahead with those cold eyes, with that heartless gaze.

I squeezed my hand into a fist until I felt my palm sting from my nails, and squeezed harder still when that sensation couldn't overcome the burning one that was setting my whole body on fire.

When I felt like the fire had used up all my oxygen and I could barely breathe anymore, I opened the door and stormed out. I knew I was powerless against him, just like I had been with VALER. The one thing I could do was try to find more potions, so that was what I was going to do.

I waited outside. No one opened the door to call me back in. I realised I wasn't even upset because I never held any expectations. I was always alone on this. Since the moment I took VALER's deal. There was no one to rely on other than myself.

I walked out of the secretary's office and stopped in front of the elevators. Inside the office, there were at least windows to let in light from the outside. Here, darkness conquered. The outlines and edges of objects got lost in a shroud of black. Everything was washed over in a mixture of anchor and gunmetal grey.

So I completely overlooked the silhouette standing to my left.

And when I felt a hand on my shoulder, my blood turned to ice.

Heart pounding, I turned around, lifting my arm and grasping blindly, hoping I could get in contact with whoever was behind me and use my Power Drain.

"I'm not here to take you away," said the stranger. The light shades of his armour gave away his identity as another VALER security guard.

I managed to seize him by the wrist, but he wasn't doing anything to fight back. I decided not to use my powers but kept a hold on him, apprehension roiling in my stomach as I waited for more.

The guard flicked his head to the side. I caught a flash of dull orange on his overgrown hair, which would have probably looked closer to yellow under normal lighting. His eyes were deep set, veiled by a shadow. "Looks like your plan didn't work out."

I kept calm despite the provocation. I could tell him there had been no plan from the very beginning, not since I failed to save or heal Sungwoon a year ago. Since then, my plan was ruined and nothing I did was going to fix it.

I didn't respond, so the guard continued, "You made the right choice."

I frowned, just now realising the position I was in. Kim Myungwon sent someone to stop me here, but it wasn't to capture me. And I was sure this could only be worse, whatever this was.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

The guard smiled. I couldn't really see it but I knew it was there, the sly grin. "Walking away from them. It was a wise decision. You shouldn't waste time on those people. You can't trust them. You barely know them. What you have to do now is focus on doing what's best for Sungwoon, and you understand that."

He paused, but I knew there was more coming. I stared into the darkness, and clenched my teeth together when the guard slipped his hand free of my grasp effortlessly as the smile I knew was on his face widened into a smirk.

"But you're never going to find the potions by yourself." He twisted his hand in circles to loosen his wrist. "So let me help you. Help us capture the high-tiers who broke in, and we'll give you all the potions you need."

The offer came out so nonchalantly it took me a beat to properly register it. And when I did, I felt a jitter in my heart, one you got when you were excited about something you knew you really shouldn't be doing.

"All you have to do is lure them into a room and contain them. Make them trust you. Pretend you want to help them. Whatever you need to do. Once we trap them, our men will handle the rest." The guard placed his hands on my shoulders. I gulped. "Then you'll get what you really need, and your life will return to normal. Everything will go back to how it had always been."

Your life will return to normal.

The guard was still talking, but it was Shownu's voice that was in my head. He had said something similar yesterday when he tried to persuade me to let him bring me here.

Things can't get worse than this. It can't if you fight back. Even if you don't find the potions, you have everything you need to blackmail VALER...

You can still get your life back.

I couldn't hold back the bitter smile that curled my lips up for a brief second.

There was no life for me. None outside of the one where I gave away my patient's information to keep Sungwoon alive.

"Think carefully," the guard prompted. "Sungwoon's in your clinic, all alone and vulnerable..."

My heart went up to my throat. The fear was sobering.

It was never going to work. Sungwoon would die before I could reveal VALER's evil deeds and make them pay for them.

I stared at the guard, straight into the shadows that shrouded his eyes. "I'll do it."