"What do you mean she escaped?"

The loud voice echoed through the tense silence of the room.

"We’re sorry, Mr. Yoon, but we don’t know how it happened," a young man in office attire stammered, his gaze fixed on the floor.

"Useless. Absolutely pathetic. I don’t know why I even bother paying you," Yoon snapped, slumping into a chair. He raked his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"How could this happen? No one apart from my people even knew she was alive! Wait..." Yoon stood abruptly, his eyes narrowing. "Did you check the CCTV footage yet?"

"We did, sir, but..."

"But what?" Yoon interrupted, impatience and anger bubbling in his voice.

"The cameras weren’t working for the past two days. W-We wanted to inform you, but..."

"Great."

The single word fell from Yoon's lips like a death sentence. Without hesitation, he pulled out a gun and shot the man standing in front of him.

The room fell silent, save for the gasps of the others present.

"Clean this mess," Yoon ordered coldly before storming out, as if the incident meant nothing to him.

ᯓ ᯓ ᯓ

"Don’t worry, everything will be fine. We can do this," Leehan whispered, glancing at the girl beside him.

They were huddled behind a cluster of bushes. The night was frigid, and the cold only added to the tension of the situation.

"What if he catches us?" Ma-ri asked, her horrified expression betraying her fear.

"I don’t know what’s going to happen," Leehan admitted, "but you have to take this risk if you want to live." He gave her a small, reassuring smile.

"How did you even know I was alive?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Sungho hyung figured it out," Leehan explained. "The clues we found pointed to something bigger, and then the letter you wrote to Taesan that day made it clear."

"But nobody knew where I was... not even my address. How?"

"It was on the letter, Ma-ri. Sungho hyung pieced it together, and, well... let’s just say your dad isn’t exactly subtle about leaving clues." Leehan's sarcastic tone brought a faint smile to Ma-ri’s face.

"For how long are we going to stay here?" she asked as a shiver ran down her spine.

It had been half an hour, and the cold was becoming unbearable for her.

"Let’s go." Leehan stood, gently pulling her to her feet.

ᯓ ᯓ ᯓ

"Nothing is working." Taesan’s frustration was palpable as he tossed the phone aside.

"Let’s try one last time," Riwoo said calmly, picking up the device.

He closed his eyes and keyed in the final sequence of numbers they could think of. A soft plop sound filled the room, and his eyes flew open.

"It worked!" Riwoo exclaimed, his face lighting up.

"Finally," Jaehyun sighed in relief.

"Should we call the cops?" Taesan asked hesitantly.

Riwoo shook his head. "If the cops could help, we wouldn’t be stuck here in the first place. And what if that psycho has connections with them? It’s too risky."

The others nodded, understanding the elder’s reasoning.

"Then what?" Taesan asked.

"Should we call Sungho hyung or Leehan?" Jaehyun suggested.

"Good idea," Riwoo said, quickly dialing Sungho’s number.

ᯓ ᯓ ᯓ

"Do you think you can escape me this easily, Ma-ri?" Yoon muttered to himself.

The frustration inside him was boiling over, clouding his judgment. In his rage, he took a sharp turn and collided with another car.
He got lucky to escape without any major injuries, but his temper only worsened...

He stormed out of the hospital after his injuries were treated, his mind racing. As he approached his car, something- or rather someone- caught his attention. A figure was rushing past, head down, seemingly in a hurry.

Even in the dim light, Yoon recognized her instantly.

Instead of chasing her, he smirked to himself, watching as she disappeared into the crowd. With a deliberate calmness, he slid into his car and drove off.

"You think you can outsmart me? With the help of a bunch of kids, no less? How foolish, daughter." His smirk widened as he whispered to himself, ignoring the sharp pain from his freshly treated injuries...