The Diamond Race | discontinued

chapter 28

02:50 Seoul, South Korea 37.5665° N, 126.9780° E

Baekhyun's knuckles were bruised and bleeding, so he stopped for a moment. His body had already taken a beating from the mission. He should have been resting, but he couldn't, not after what had just happened. His ears were still ringing with Kai's words. He would punch this bag until those words were gone until they were only faint echoes, barely-there whispers.

"What? What will you do? You did nothing when your fellow agent got killed, what the hell can you do now? D.O killed her right in front of you, and you did nothing! What can you do?!"

Baekhyun rarely felt anger towards his teammates, so this was feeling was new. He looked down at his hands, which hadn't stopped shaking since Kai's outburst. The skin on his knuckles had split, and blood welled up in the wounds. He looked back up at the punching bag and got back into position.

"You should be resting."

Baekhyun stopped cold. He turned slightly, just enough to see who was standing in the doorway of the training room.

D.O stared right back.

"What do you want?"

"You stormed out--."

"And you wanted to know if I was okay?" Baekhyun sneered as he cut D.O off. "How kind of you."

D.O looked away, his eyes focused on the scuffed mat beneath their feet.

Good, at least he had the decency to feel guilty.

"Look, I just wanted to tell you that you should rest."

"I know that."

"Then why aren't you sleeping, or at least not beating yourself up."

"I'm not beating myself."

"You've been hitting that bag without gloves or bandages at least." D.O countered. "You're only hurting yourself."

"Well, I'm only hurting myself, right? Why the hell do you care?"

There was a pause, and for a moment the only thing Baekhyun could hear was his own breathing.

"Kai was wrong to bring the incident up at the briefing. You know..." D.O refused to meet his eyes this time. "Her death, it's not your fault."

"Of course, it's not my fault. It's yours." Baekhyun could feel it. The rage--- his rage was simmering, bubbling, growing, swelling. He needed to leave, or D.O needed to leave before something they would both regret happened.

"After all, you're the one who pulled the trigger," Baekhyun spat.

D.O flinched at that, and it only made Baekhyun angrier. How dare he act like Taeyeon's death had affected him. How dare he look so sad.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Baekhyun grabbed his water bottle as he strode past D.O. "I have somewhere to be."

"A bed, I hope." D.O replied. "You need rest."

"As if you care."

Baekhyun didn't bother to stick around any longer. If he had, Baekhyun would have heard D.O. and he might have punched the other agent for daring to say such a thing to him.

"I do care."

---

Baekhyun's exit from the training room left D.O all by himself. D.O walked quickly down the hallway, opposite of where Baekhyun had gone. His head ached, and after delivering his report to K and that disaster of a debrief, he found himself in front of the Memorial Hall. The hall of SM agency's best agents.