Shadows: The Black Star

Chapter Eighteen

"E-Eonnie..." Soyeon said, crying as she fought through the ropes that bind her to the chair, but she couldn't escape.

"S-Seulgi eonnie, I'm... I'm sorry..." Soyeon said, as she saw the other men going inside the room, cracking their knuckles and glaring at her.

Another man went inside, smiling at Soyeon while holding a metal pole.

"Hello, young miss. It must be cold in here, no?" The man said, but Soyeon refused to answer as she stared at the ground.

The man grinned, and in a split second he brought out a gun, aimed at one of his men beside Soyeon and shot him on the head, the man slumping down beside Soyeon, the blood splattering on Soyeon's face and body.

Soyeon whimpered, but she gritted her teeth and kept a straight face as she stared at her captor.

"There. Let me see your pretty face."

★

Soyeon sat down the interrogation room slash an empty bedroom in the temporary base, staring at the trees outside the window, a million thoughts running on her head.

Seulgi sighed as she watched her junior staring somewhere else, as she had the other five girls in a separate room, together.

"She's not saying anything, Seul. What should we do?" Seungwan asked, as Seulgi sighed and put her gun out, then put it in the table as she went inside the room, Soyeon still not looking at her.

"Soyeon-ah. You have to tell me everything you know." Seulgi said calmly, but Soyeon still isn't moving--

A tear.

And another.

And another.

A cascade of tears fell on Soyeon's cheek, as she cried until she couldn't breathe, until she couldn't see well as she climbed down the chair she was sitting in and ran towards Seulgi, hitting her sloppily as Seulgi let her.

"You... You didn't come! You promised... You promised that you would save me..." Soyeon said, hitting Seulgi until she slumped down to the ground, Seulgi hugging her tight.

"Calm down. I'm sorry if I didn't come and rescue you when you were there. But now... I need you to tell me everything that you know, Soyeonie." Seulgi said, Soyeon looking at her as she nodded, though still crying.

[Soyeon]

It was supposed to be an intel gathering mission that was viewed to be too easy for a 2nd year agent like me.

I was put into a unit named Stealth, composed of three members; Song Yuqi for the tech support, Jung Seo Jin for the sniper, and I was the runner or the main one, since I was appointed as the leader of the unit.

We went to the extension base of Black Star, located in a forest that was unreachable to many. We were at a disadvantaged point because it would be hard to call back up in the time that something will come and endanger us.

But we still pushed through, planned the intel gathering in just two weeks, twice faster than the standard planning time. We got all the necessary supplies, and I made sure to put Yuqi and Seo Jin outside, because I had a hunch that they were secretly dating, and I wanted them to get out of there safe.

We executed the mission.

Everything was fine, I managed to download the information that the agency asked us to gather, and I was about to exit the base when I heard the most chilling thing that made me lose hope in that spot.

"Do you think you can fool us?" the voice said, in our earpieces. They were tapping into our conversations the whole time.

They knew that we were coming to do that mission.

They knew that we were inside the building, and they didn't stop us until they caught us getting that intel.

They fooled us into thinking that we were going to get out of there alive.

"Eonnie help--"

One gunshot.

"Noona, run--"

Two gunshots.

I couldn't move, couldn't breathe properly, couldn't think as I saw two bodies being dragged inside the base, a bullet claiming their lives and killing them instantly.

"What do you think of our precious surprise, agent?" the voice said again, this time he's right in front of me, grinning like a devil as he pulled my chin up to have me look at him.

"Answer me." he said, as I grit my teeth and avert my gaze to something else, but before I could do so another man hit my head with the back of his gun, making me lose unconsciousness.

[\Soyeon]

Seulgi watched Soyeon sleep, as she wiped the tears that fell on the girl's cheeks.

"We really have to make them pay, do we?" Seulgi said, for the first time letting weakness invade her senses as she cried quietly for the first time.

"Joohyun-ah... You're the one who knows what to do in this kinds of situations. What should I do?" Seulgi said, as she cried--

A towel was dropped on her lap, making her stop crying and drowning in her thoughts.

"What..."

Sinb looked at her, void of any pity or any recognition as she shoved the towel to Seulgi's lap.

"Yennie said I give this to you." Sinb said, as Seulgi nodded and picked up the towel, using it not to wipe her tears but Soyeon's.

"Why didn't you use that to wipe your own tears?" Sinb asked, her tone curious and inquisitive.

"She's my responsibility; you're all my responsibility here. It will be my guilt to carry if anything happens to all of you, so I will do everything I can to take care of you." Seulgi said without looking at Sinb, as she got up and left the room, leaving Sinb inside.

"We came, Soyeon-ssi. You probably don't remember but we came and rescued you, taking you away from that place and hiding you away, making everyone pretend that you died so you can leave peacefully. Sojung eonnie herself even visited you like a sister. Don't blame Seulgi eonnie or anyone, it's the syndicate that we have to eliminate so they can't do this to someone else." Sinb said, her eyes full of sadness, as she stared at her friend and sister in the agency.

She turned around and started to leave, putting on her mask of emotions once again--

"Yuqi-ah... Seo Jin-ah... I'm sorry..."

Soyeon grabbed Sinb's forearm in her sleep, tugging it and not letting Sinb go as the girl stared at Soyeon.

"Elaine... I'll... I'll fight for us, I promise..."

Her grip loosened and fell, as she was back to her peaceful state.

The room was back to quietness as well, as if Hwang Eunbi and Kang Seulgi never visited.