REPLICA (BOOK 2)

A Snake

San and Yeji rushed into the car, joining Wooyoung. Both of them were in a hurry to leave as soon as possible.

"Yeji? When did you get here?" The leader asked.

"What do we do?" San asked the assassin, too frazzled to function as he drove.

"We need to go to Cyber Industries." She replied.

"Why? Isn't that the last place we'd wanna be?"

"If they're here, they're not there. We need to move quickly before they-"

"Stop it!" Wooyoung interrupted. "What the hell is going on?"

"The Serpent Corps is working with Cyber Industries."

Wooyoung's jaw dropped, feeling sick to his stomach. That could mean many things, and most of them have to do with Hongjoong.

"Wait, how do you know?"

"Jungkook and Taehyung were by the safe, I know it was them." San replied.

"You got that close?"

"I wouldn't have if she didn't show up."

"You know, I thought you'd be proud. But my experience looks like child's play now." Wooyoung pouted.

"What'd you do?"

"I killed two of them! And I took pictures for Mingi. I tried to be so careful, but it sounds like you two had the time of your lives."

"Call Seonghwa now." Yeji demanded.

"I can't. Him and Hongjoong are attached at the hip, especially now." Wooyoung paused, realizing this may have gotten worse. "He's in our house. Fuck, San! The fucking clone is in our house."

"So are we automatically assuming that Hongjoong is messing with Seonghwa right now?" San mumbled, wishing that wasn't the case.

"I think so."

"Fuck."

"Go to Hyunjin's. All of us need to talk. Jisung is staying with him and Felix too. I'd want his opinion on this."

"So we're not going to Cyber Industries right now?" Yeji asked.

"Shit." Wooyoung groaned, completely forgetting. "Should we wait?"

"For what exactly?"

"Back up?"

"We should wait." San nodded, siding with his husband.

They walked into Felix and Hyunjin's shared apartment unannounced. The couple, including Jisung, were sitting on the couch mindlessly scrolling through their phones in silence. If they were bored, they certainly wouldn't be for long.

"Evening." Hyunjin wasn't fazed by his best friend barging in.

"Cyber Industries is involved with the Serpent Corps." Yeji said to her brother.

Felix slapped his forehead and sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Serpent. Cyber. Yeah, I can see it." Jisung shrugged.

"We went back to the mansion." San said.

"You what?"

"They were there and they were trying to get into the safe. They ripped it out of the ground. Armed men everywhere, cranes, tents, lights - the whole nine yards."

"Did they see you?"

"No, but they definitely know we were there."

"How?"

"We killed six of them."

"Six?" Hyunjin gasped. "Wasn't there thirteen?"

"Eleven since Felix and Lia took down two before tonight. Wooyoung killed two and Yeji got four more."

"So that means there's only five left."

"Or so we thought." Yeji chimed in. "With Jungkook and Taehyung being there, that could mean a lot of things."

"I can't help but feel like there's more to it." Felix said, deep in thought. "San, did all of those guys strike you as killers?"

"Nope." He replied. "Jungkook and Taehyung did though. But Jin and Jimin? Not so much."

"What about Hobi and Namjoon?"

"Debatable."

"And Yoongi?"

"That's a whole different situation to me. He looks capable, but at the same time, why give Hongjoong away to Seonghwa?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hyunjin interjected. "So Hongjoong can finish the job. He was in the safe when you got to the house. He now knows the combination. How much you wanna bet he was going to wait in there until they came so they could steal the money?"

"So we're all in agreement that Hongjoong is working with the Serpent Corps?" Wooyoung asked.

"No." Jisung shook his head.

"Just to rewind, Hongjoong played all of us. Let's not forget that. He was the captain of Black Legion, trained Yunho and Jongho, fought alongside Chan like they were brothers. All of us thought he was like family. Then only to find out he was Minho's right hand man the entire time? I mean, are we really going to ignore that? He killed forty men just for this safe; he killed his own dog! Now he has Seonghwa wrapped around his finger and it'll be easier than ever." Felix angrily replied, not understanding what his best friend wasn't seeing.

"Wooyoung, you had conversations with him as he was remembering things. He couldn't make all that up, right?"

"I don't know." The leader mumbled. "I'm kinda stuck on something right now."

"What?"

"The clone could hardly walk or talk that first day. Then the second day, you're telling me all it took was a good night's sleep for him to full function? What if he was faking it just to seem like a mind that could easily be manipulated? There's no way that was the first time he was out of that clone chamber. Yoongi was playing Seonghwa from the start, I'm pretty sure of it."

"How about the fact that Hongjoong had the most healthy reaction to finding out Seonghwa killed him?" San added. "That wasn't normal."

"What's your point?" Jisung asked.

"My point is that Hongjoong is going to do everything he can to keep Seonghwa distracted and happy. All he cares about is that money in the safe. Once they break in and get it, he'll just kill him."

"So are we just supposed to kill the clone?"

"No, we need to talk to Seonghwa first and see what he'll do."

"You know he won't believe you. He's so far into la la land right now - getting through to him would be impossible."

"I can do it." Wooyoung nodded. "If there's one person he'll listen to, it's me."

"Poor guy." Hyunjin sighed.

"When will you talk to him?" Yeji asked.

"Tomorrow at work." Wooyoung replied. "It's gonna be rough, I'm sure. But in the meantime, San, stay home with Hongjoong. Yeji and Felix, bring whoever you need back to the mansion site and get into the safe. Take everything you possibly can and bring it to the office. Jisung, meet up with Mingi and give him all the details. I'll send you the pictures I took to see if he can identify the men I shot. The more we know, the better."

"Sounds like a plan."