ILLICIT ° nct dream, wayv + srg

Chapter Twenty-one: Her Hesitation

I went ballistic because of this chapter. And I'm the author.

Dedicated to:
cizycisia

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Finally, after all that walking, Mark, Haechan and Koeun had arrived by the living area, and it wasn't a pretty sight to see, especially for Koeun.

"Oh, God..." She mumbled to herself when she saw the pile of presumably-dead bodies scattered everywhere. She felt terrible for these men to end up being like this.

She began to think about the life these men may have lost, families that they will abandon, friends that will never get to see them again, lovers that will never get to embrace them again. All of these just to catch the X-Force, and to save her...

They don't deserve this. And that was when she noticed something odd about them.

"What happened here?" Mark asked Jeno as the three of them approached Jeno's unit.

Apparently, the three boys had survived fighting the group of agents with just their barehands. To be frank, it was too much for them to handle, but they knew they couldn't stop and let these men get them. It eventually ended well for the group.

"We ran out of ammo so we fought them. We managed to eliminate all of them." Jeno explained, panting a little.

"It was hell," Jaemin commented, still found the courage to be happy about it. "but we did great." He even did a high-five with Jisung.

"We blocked the doors while you were still upstairs." Jeno added, motioning towards the main doors which were blocked by the chairs and tables. "It will hold them off for a while."

Just then, they heard several footsteps thudding against the floor. All of them turned to see who they were. "Got everything I could grab." Renjun told them before he handed Jeno the duffel bag of weapons. "Guns, ammunition, knives- you name it."

"Thanks." Jeno said as he unzipped the bag to hand everyone some supplies.

"Koeun," The girl was startled when she only noticed Renjun appearing from her side. "are you okay?"

Koeun removed her stare at the bodies to meet Renjun's eyes, which were genuinely concerned about her. She gave him a nod. "Yeah..."

"I'm sorry that you had to see... this." Renjun motioned their surroundings. "I know you're still new to these things."

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. Kidnapped or not, I'll still see this in my line of work either way." She reassured him but it only turned out as a little harsh than expected. She watched how his expression changed but she hesitated whether to apologize or not.

"Renjun, is there any way for us to get out of here?" Mark intervened the two.

Renjun was back being serious as he averted his attention towards Mark. "Apparently, all the other exits are being guarded the last time I checked. I say, the main entrance is the best shot."

She lost her chance to apologize.

"The entrance?" Jaemin asked in disbelief. "We can't go that way! We'll be immediately swarmed with bullets!"

"It's the closest exit towards our cars." Renjun added. "Our cars are just literally outside!"

"Is there another way?" Chenle butted in. "There should be another way for this."

Renjun thought about it for a moment before he spoke again. "The backyard is available, though it'll only prolong our escape." He said. "We basically had to run around and meet a bunch of armed men along the way. Do you want to waste bullets for that?"