Interwoven ✔️

54~ The Spymaster

Was I hallucinating?

I gaped at the person towering above me. All my exhaustion was driven out by shock. I took every inch of him in, trying to understand what I was seeing.

There was a boy standing before me. An Outworlder boy. Tall with broad shoulders. Vibrant black Marks curled up his neck and cheeks, as well as spread out on the back of both his hands. Familiar dark intense eyes met mine.

"Taehyung..."

"Jiyeon." His voice was deep, exactly as I remembered.

My mouth fell open. "Y-you're alive?"

A tiny smile quirked the corner of his lips. "Surprise."

And then I was hugging him. Tightly. A little trickle of emotion escaped between the crack of my wall. Simultaneously a few tears ran down my eyes as I embraced him. "They declared you missing in action. They said you were dead!"

He released a short laugh, patting my back. "Sorry to disappoint them, but not dead quite yet."

I pulled back to gaze at Taehyung again. He definitely looked like he'd lost a lot of weight since I'd also saw him and there were shadows under his eyes. But all in all he looked okay.

I exhaled. "Jimin is going to be so happy. You have no idea."

Taehyung nodded. "I can't imagine what he and the others must have gone through when I went missing."

"But how are you...?" I gasped.

A shadow passed his eyes. "It's a long story that I'd rather not go into right now," he said in a low voice. "But first, what the hell happened here?" Taehyung stepped back and his wide eyes swept over the ragged trainees. "I knew something was wrong the moment I saw the fence of the base had been deactivated and torn down."

Ah. So that was how the Pure Reformists had come in.

Behind him I caught glimpse of another Outworlder with cornflower blue Marks behind him. I recalled that Taehyung as well as two others had gone missing in action. Something, perhaps a gut feeling, told me that the third person might not have made it like Taehyung and the other Outworlder had.

As simply as possible, I gave Taehyung the run down of everything that had happened. I refused to go into detail as the memories threatened to overcome me with pristine clarity, like a crystal dagger waiting to tear through my skull.

When I finished Taehyung's face was grave. "Damn," he murmured. "You guys... goddamn. Of all the ways your first battle had to go."

Surprisingly Krystal spoke up. "Yes we suffered a real kick to the ass. But now we need to figure out how to get out of here." She glanced at me. "We have two Outworlders with us now, unbeknownst to the Reformists. We might stand a chance now."

"Yeah." A different trainee piped up behind us, skepticism written all over his face. "We have two Outworlders. Two. We're still basically helpless. They're not enough to get us out of here."

A new, dangerous glint entered Taehyung's expression. I now remembered why I'd always found him intimidating. There was just something that screamed killer from his features. Or maybe that was just his visuals.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself to some of you." Taehyung spun slowly in a circle to meet every trainee's eyes. "My name is Kim Taehyung. I'm the spymaster for the Infinity Council. My buddy right here?" He reached out to pat the blue Marked Outworlder. "His name Choi Hansol. He's also an adept spy. You know what that means? It means we both know every little cranny and secret exits thenceforth of everyplace. Including the base."