You're My Target

Chapter 60

Troy kept his gun pointed at Hwayoung, who slowly tried to move away from him and find something to hide behind.

"Troy, seriously, stop it, youre scaring me. dont point that thing at me." She pleaded as she ducked behind her couch. Troy dialed Hwayoungs phone and put it to his ear.

"hey. its me. i got her." he said quickly before hanging up.

"Troy im going to scream if you dont stop right now. this isnt funny." She poked her head up to see if he was still there.

"then you will never hear what i have to say." troy told her. he flicked the gun up and down, signaling her to get out from behind the couch.

"so if you want to tell me something, why do you need a gun? are you gona spring one of those, if i tell you ill have to kill you cliches on me?" she said slowly rising to her feet.

"normally, yes actually. but, today you are the one exception to that. however, i have to make this look believable, so just follow me lead." Troy showed her the side of his gun. he pointed to the safety mechanism, it was on. He winked at her. Not a moment later, Hwayoungs door flew open. The man from the dark van stood in hwayoungs doorway. his emotionless face, eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his bald head didnt make him appear very friendly.
"well, dont make a scene, shut the door." Troy said to him. the man was a little stunned, but did as Troy asked.
"I know you guys have a certain procedure when it comes to this sort of thing, but this time, we're gona have to do it a little different." Troy said to the shady character.

"I dont think youre able to go around procedure, we need to just stick to the books." He replied to Troy. Hwayoung watched, stiffened and confused.

"i have a real priority package right here. one who i was able to convince to come along peacefully. this is the type of package you dont want to have to bring in any other way, if you follow me." Troy said quietly, but urgently. "all you have to do is, bring me in with her. heck ill even ride in the back of the van too."
The man rubbed his chin and thought about it.

"actually, bringing you along would be better if she was to try anything funny. i wouldnt wana be alone in that situation." The man accepted Troys request.

"come on lets go."Troy turned to hwayoung he lowered his gun and waved his hand for her to follow. She hesitated at first.

"this is the way it has to be done." Troy said to her holding out his hand. Hwayoung looked at Troys eyes. she first started to look away, but eventually, nodded and walked to Troy.

"lets do it your way then." she said to him. Troy winked at her again. Troy grabbed his bag and Hwayoung hopped back into her shoes. They followed the Van driver back to his van which was nearby and quickly got in the back. The driver got in and started the engine, without wasting anytime he drove off down the road. They drove for a few minutes before Hwayoung decided to finally speak.

"You're a stupid jerk!" Hwayoung said punching his arm. "Pointing a gun at me!"

"OW OW! i showed you i had the safety on the whole time!" Troy said clutching his arm that was throbbing from Hwayoungs assault.

"your whole plan was stupid, you could have just explained to me what you were planning instead of being all mastermindy." She said pushing him.

"master-mindy?" Troy coudlnt help but point out her choice of words.

" i will hit you again." She snapped. "now, i played your little game. start talking. or is this more lies."

"good idea. it will help pass the time since i assume this ride is gona be a long one." Troy said. he was still holding his arm. "where should i begin..."

"how about explaining this situation. the van. the gun. you being all secret service and stuff." Hwayoung asked.

"how about, i start with telling you Elementians are real. very real. ive seen and encountered more than 1." Troy said his tone got serious.

"are you sure they were real though?" Hwayoung questioned his claim. "the ones you saw?"

"hey hey hey, i thought you wanted to believe they were real. here i am telling you for sure they are and you doubt me." Troy whined.

"Troy you have done nothing but lie to me since i met you and now you just expect me to believe you? please..." She said blowing him off.

"im telling you ive seen them in person. People, that can do things you only see in movies and in comic books. manipulate the wind, throw fireballs. stuff ive know ive seen, stuff so crazy, i still have a hard time believing i saw it myself. they arent a myth or an urban legend. they are very very real."
Troy tried hard to sound as serious as he could. he wasnt expecting Hwayoung to be so unwilling to listen.
 "everything Areum said that day in my house... it could all be true."

"could be true? why could? you sound so unsure yet want to be so convincing.." Hwayoung didnt quite understands uncertainty.

"because she said things that i wasnt even aware of about them." Troy answered. "i know they exist. i know what they can be capable of, but i dont understand how or why."

"So then. the devil man. he exists?" She asked looking at Troy skeptically.

"yes. he did." Troy nodded once.

"i knew it, Troy! and did he kill Jang? he did didnt he?" Hwayoung couldnt hold back her desire to know. her skeptism was pushed aside and overcome with eagerness.

"yea, you could say he had a hand in it." Troy was still trying to be as honest as possible.

 "why didnt you say something? why did you deny it all this time?" Hwayoung pushed for more answers. "the devil man, elementians.."

"thinking about it. i guess i could have..... you know. where im from. People know about Elementians. they know they exist. i mean we havent always known but now a lot of people are aware of them." Troy thought.

"you mean the city? they really know out there but we dont out here. thats strange.." Hwayoung replied.

"well. when you say the city. youre on the right track but. ill get to that later. why dont i tell you about Evan." Troy suggested.

"That name you kept saying in your dream!" Hwayoung seemed excited. "who is he?"

"Evan was actually... a girl. and you could say she was my first girlfriend. my first love." Troy said with a sad sigh.

"that would have been my second guess. first guess was boyfriend. seems i got too caught up in all of Hyomins talk about you being gay. sorry." She smirked.

"anyway. Evan .. passed away." Troy said getting choked up.

"oh, im sorry Troy. i had no idea." Hwayoung quickly apologized.

"i should say she was killed. and it was all my fault." Troy continued.

"im sure it wasnt, you shouldnt say that." Hwayoung tried to console him.

"no. it was. my decisions, and my actions are what caused her to be killed. and despite the amount of guilt and the promises i made to her and myself to never make those mistakes again, im making them! and i was aware i was making them." Troy said getting angry at himself. "Hyomin wasnt kidnapped by some strangers. she was abducted by people whom i know.. and i told them to do it."
Hwayoung froze, her face went pale. her eyes twitched and Troy could tell she wanted to move or speak but she was just completely shocked.

"the truth is, Hwayoung. I am not from a city in this nation. I am from a city thats actually, pretty far from this nation. a nation named Grand." he looked at her for a reaction. she still sat in awe beside him staring off to the side a bit. "i came here to investigate Suspected Elementian Behaviors and Operations. im not even a student where im from. and im not even a freshman. im 19 years old."

"hey wait. I know about Grand. Our nation is like, allies with them arent they?" Hwayoung asked snapping out of her bewildered daze.

"yes actually. though they arent quite aware of our little operation here. thats why everything is so, 'hush hush'. thats why i pretended to know nothing.." troy said when he was cut off by Hwayoung smacking him across the face.

"what was that for?" Troy said, his face was already welted from her smack.

"it was delayed, this is all so much to take in.. but it was for Hyomin! yea it was kinda for me as well. what with you lying to me when you could have agreed with me so many times but you had Hyomin abducted? how could you do that to her Troy! just because she said you were gay! was that it?" she raved.

"what i did to Hyomin was.. a mistake. a terrible one i regret. i felt so guilty i was ready to just let the police send me away." Troy confessed sincerely to her.

"you did seem awfully torn up now that i think about it." Hwayoung seemed to believe him.

" i just, i thought she knew about me. my identity. no one is supposed to know, so i panicked. i thought she knew for awhile. remember, the letter you and her found?" Troy asked.

"oh yea.." Hwayoungs eyes beamed.

"that was from Mou. he is, just like me. From Grand.. but hes more than just 'a friend from back home'. he got me the moped to help me do what i needed to out here. i thought hyomin knew something she shouldnt have. but she told me she wouldnt rat me out. im not sure why, but i believed her. i was always nervous she'd turn me in. one day she finally lashed out and said she was gona tell everyone.... so i panicked and initiated a procedure for such an event. however after doing so, and realizing i made a mistake. that she didnt know about my identity, i tried to have it stopped, but it was too late. so i had to do the next best thing. i told them she was an elementian candidate..."

"mhm. i really dont fully understand a lot of those terms." Hwayoung admitted. "but now i kinda see why you lashed out at me when everyone found out Hyomin was "missing.""

"yes, and i apologize. even with your suspicions and instigating, it really was no ones fault but my own, just like you said. Thats why im here right now. doing this. ive done nothing but cause problems since ive come here. i feel like all i do is negative things and hurt people. im done doing that and im going to do everything i can to make things as close to normal again as i can." Troy said taking a deep breath.

"you knew about elementians, you knew about the devil man. you knew about hyomin..." Hwayoung said rubbing her chin.

"you were right all along, Hwayoung." Troy nodded. "im not a normal high-schooler. im here to track down targets that show signs of elementian activity. if and when i identify one, we're supposed to take them back and.. study them. which is why i told them Hyomin was a target. so they would keep her alive and research her, instead of just. disposing of her..." Troy sounded grim. and his face looked grimmer.

"so then, let me ask you. why would you take such drastic measures against Hyomin over one threat, and never against me who was suspicious even before her?" she asked honestly.

"well..." Troy thought about it.

"is it because.. you love me?" She asked suddenly.

"what? no!" he said shaking his head violently.

"well you didnt have to say it so, disgusted." She said getting defensive.

"i didnt mean to say it like that you just, shocked me. i mean yea youre perky, and cute. you and your friends are all cute in your own way. i just, you know.." Troy rambled trying not to make her feel bad.

"yea yea. i know. SOYEON. whatever i was just making a joke." Hwayoung said pretending to gag.

"odd time for a joke but like i was saying, i guess, hyomin was a direct threat to me. i never really thought of you as a threat. even with your doubts and suspicions. your desire for the truth wasnt about, hurting me. you were looking out for your friends. so i never really had to worry about you."

"I guess that sort of makes sense." Hwayoung said nodding at Troys explanation. " i always had a feeling you knew more than you let on, like you were too afraid to admit you saw the devil man, how people would react if you said you did kind of thing. i would have really never guessed you were keeping all this inside. which im still not 100% sure of whats going on."

"this, my dear is my plan to get hyomin back before it's too late..." Troy said, sounding way too nervous.

"what do you mean too late? you said they would study her, she is safe isnt she? TROY?" hwayoung grabbed his jacket sleeve and shook him.

"since im being so honest ill continue on that and admit i didnt think out my plan very much. i never thought about what they would do when they finally realized Hyomin would not display any elementian behavior." Troy said gravely...

"Troy you arent answering my question!" hwayoung yelled again interrupting Troy

"as far as i know she is. but she wont be much longer. this was the only way i could think of to possibly help her. i couldnt do it alone. you were the only person i could think of to help. im sorry." Troy turned to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "i am really sorry i had to drag you into this mess and face the possibility of ..."

Hwayoung shook her head at him. "you made a lot of bad decisions Troy. i think we can agree on that. but this.. this was a good one. thank you for being honest with me" She reassured him."if its for hyomin like you say and for once i can say i actually believe you. then just tell me what you need me to do."
Troy looked back at her determined face. He was still feeling the nerves in his gut. but seeing hwayoung so willing, helped him dig up a little courage of his own. After all it was too late to back out now. It wasnt only Hyomin, but now Hwayoung was also involved as well.

"i just need you to be Areum." He said with an awkward smile and shrug