Poignant

Chapter Sixteen

Miyeon's POV

After a twenty minute walk, Minnie and I had reached the building in which housed the entrance to the underground market.

Giving a wave and a smile to the barista, I ordered a quad for myself and an herbal tea for Minnie as we looked around for the guy who allowed people to enter the secret forum that lay beneath the coffee shop.

Typically, the person will wear a darker color than the people around them and have a small symbol on their shirt for recognition. This time, though, it was quite hard to spot them considering that the shop has been flooded with a bunch of college students, sporting hoodies, and pajama pants as they study with the occasional conversation.

Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder, which made me immediately turn around. It was a black man, around 6'2, and he was wearing all black. He even had black sunglasses, and sported the symbol right on his shirt's pocket.

"You both look a little out of place here..." he stated in a deep voice with a suprisingly natural accent. "I assume you guys are here for confirmation?"

It took me a second to realize why he knew what we were here for, but when I remembered that both Minnie and I were decked out in full on gear, it became pretty obvious why he was able to make such an inference.

"Indeed we are. Here you go, sir," Minnie offered her ID over, which I quickly followed with my own.

Checking the pictures and our faces, as well as the company we were under, our squad name, and our code name, he gave a small, satisfied smile.

"I didn't realize that we had such well-known people entering... You're free to go. Good luck with whatever business you have down there," he chuckled, handing over our IDs respectfully, as well as cards of entry.

"You as well, sir," I thanked with a bow, giving a wave as I headed over to the counter to pick up our orders.

After doing so, we both entered the bathroom and then opened the stall at the very end. Doing a familiar rhythm of knocks on a specific brick of the wall, a small slot opened for our cards.

I took Minnie's, put them both in, and soon enough, the wall had opened for us, leading to a dark staircase that we quickly went down.

Yes, there are other, much more conventional ways to access the underground market. Some people even make their own entry points. However, when you want to do it the legal way—legal in terms of a criminal organization that is—everyone agrees that going through the verification process is the most respected and civil. Besides, you can pick up a drink or a pastry on the way down.

When the door to the marketplace wad opened, we both recoiled at the pungent smell of death and corpses. The sight of it, too.

Blood had been splattered, smeared, and spilled everywhere. The strong smell of urine and feces also encompassed us, along with the noisomeness rotten flesh. The worst of it all, of course, was all of the corpses that lay around us, one right at our feet as we hesitated to take a step.

Looking at the wall, Minnie and I were not surprised, but still filled with remorse as we saw the familiar symbol in red ink. Actually, not ink.

Blood.

It was very similar to the picture Soyeon had shown us at one point, but I could assume that this time, it wasn't painted in the blood of a child.

Considering how horrible everything smelled and looked, the event did happen while Yuqi was here. Would we be able to bring her back alive? Would Soyeon recover from being the zombie that she currently is acting like?