JAYB's POV
"You son of a bitch!" I yelled while I was trying to stand up.
My injuries were taking its toll on me so I was having a hard time getting up. Every time I try to stand up my body would ache and it would make me dizzy. I guess I'm losing blood rapidly.
"Now, now, JayB-ssi. It's not my fault we came to this. I DID warn you after all." The man that I was fighting with said as he dragged the steel pipe that he was holding across the ground.
It was making such a eerie sound.
"Let her go you bastard!" I yelled as I charged at him.
He swung his pipe and hit me on the shoulder. I couldn't see straight and my body was getting weaker so I was having a hard time dodging his attacks.
"You see, JayB-ssi. You need to choose whether you call me a bastard or a son of a bitch. I can't be both." He sarcastically said.
I struggled to get up using my arms but he kicked my stomach which made me roll a few meters away from him.
"JayB-ah…" Ji-Eun weakly called out.
"Ji-Eun… Ji-Eun-ah. Stay right there. I'll get you out." I assured her.
The guy laughed again. "You're not supposed to give promises that you can't keep, JayB-ssi."
I couldn't take this guy's talking anymore. "Shut up you bastard! If I knew it was you, I would have done everything I can to hunt you!"
"But you didn't, did you?" He interjected.
I remained silent.
"That's what got you to here, JayB-ssi. And now…" He said as he turned to Ji-Eun with the pipe that he was holding.
"You are going to watch your precious girlfriend die." He said before charging at Ji-Eun with the pipe.
When I saw this, my blood boiled and forced myself to stand up and ran after him but I fell down again.
All I could do was yell and watch him about to attack my girlfriend. "Ji-Eun-ah! NO!!"
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3 hours earlier.
"I got here as fast as I could." Zee said as he entered the room.
We were in a hospital room with the rest of the Alpha members. It was just us together with PD-nim. He made sure that no one would find out that we were here.
"Right. Now that we're all here. Let's listen to JayB's plan." PD-nim started talking in English to prevent the Koreans who were probably tapping this room to understand.
We all knew that in situations like this, we would speak other languages other than the language of the country that we were staying in. It was to prevent anyone from hearing our plans.
"Right now, I want you guys to forget that you are members of Alpha." I told them which made them turn to look at me.
"Right now, we are the prodigies, and we will hunt down whoever took the ball." I spoke in Mandarin.
The ball was our code name for an abducted person. This was to prevent the person's identity from being exposed. Since no one in the media knows that IU has been taken, we were going to work under the radar on this one.
"Dominic…" I called out to him.
He nodded. "I've already prepared the hospital with the best equipment and the best doctors here. I've already let them sign a nondisclosure agreement as well. Seiji has also brought all of his serums just in case."
I nodded and turn to the next person. "Jeong Do."
"I already contacted my informant on the streets and as well as the commissioner of the police to find the owner of the plate number that you gave me. I also told them to do it discreetly. I'm just waiting for them to call. I've also asked them to prepare a strike team just in case we need back up. The weapons they've provided are in my car at the parking lot."
"Good. Matt." I called out Matt-hyung on this one. I spoke in Thai so I didn't need to use any formalities.
"I'm prepared anytime. My guys are also downstairs waiting on your orders. Seiji, Jiwoo and I will be the lead on the strike team." He responded.
"Alright. Support team. How are we doing?" I asked. The support team is made up of Yo Chul-hyung and Zhang.
"Ears are everywhere." Zhang responded in Mandarin.
This means that he has all the entertainment section in the entire city of Seoul on the lookout.
"Great. Yo Chul?" I asked him in Italian.
"Eyes in the skies." This was his code that means that he has every boat and plane on alert as well.
In short, nobody escapes this place without going through our people.
"Now then, Zee. Any updates?" I asked him in Mandarin.
He then turned to me. "All CCTVs are searching for the plate number that you have given me. It should update me in-"
Suddenly his phone started ringing. It must be connected to his laptop.
"Found it! It's in-" He suddenly stopped.
Matt-hyung went over to him. "What's wrong?"
When they he saw it, he also stopped talking.
"Where is it?!" I yelled out which made them jerk a little.
Zee gulped. "It's in an abandoned apartment just outside of Seoul."
Yo Chul-hyung got the gist. "So it's in the same place where the saesang fan who destroyed our dorm disappeared to."
Zee nodded.
"That must mean, the one who ordered the destruction of our dorm and the guy who wanted the ball to be kidnapped is the same person." Seiji-hyung said in Japanese.
When he said that, we realized that this is bigger than we thought. This guy must have something against us to take revenge like this.
"Matt, Jeong Do, get the strike team ready. We're heading there." I commanded as I slowly stood up.
I still wasn't finished with the blood transfusion but I was almost done. Apparently, I lost a lot of blood when I was shot. One of my arteries was hit so it caused a lot of bleeding. Thankfully, I was healing quite well from Seiji-hyung's serum. But he warned me that it would be dangerous to take it just a month a part. We still didn't know the side effects of the serum so he told me to be careful from now on.
"Woah, woah, woah! What do you mean we?" Matt-hyung asked.
I supported myself using the bed as I stood up. "I have to go with you guys on this."
Yo Chul-hyung sat me down again. "Don't be stupid, JayB. We don't need you to be a hero right now."
"I'm fine, hyu----aaaaaaah!" I screamed out as he pressed my wound.
"What the hell are you doing?" Dominic came over to stop Yo Chul-hyung from pressing my wound.
He also checked to see if he did any more damage on the wound by undressing it.
"Thankfully, it's halfway healed because of the serum. But don't strain it too much. It might cause more damage. After you finish the transfusion and the dextrose, you can go with the strike team." Dominic said.
The members weren't too happy with what he said as they started voicing out their complaints.
Dominic raised his hand and everyone else quieted down. "But JayB, you have to stay in the van the entire time. You got that? Otherwise, I have to ask them to bring you back here."
I nodded in agreement.
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"Still no sign of anything, watchtower." Matt-hyung said through the comms.
We arrived at the site where the van that was used by the kidnappers was parked and we started checking the area surrounding the van for clues. Zee was our eyes when we were in the field. That's why he was called watchtower.
"Copy that, tiger. Do a 100 meter-wide perimeter search." He instructed.
"10-4, watchtower. Enroute." Matt-hyung confirmed.
Zee and I were inside the control van together with Dominic, Yo Chul-hyung,and Zhang. Since Jiwoo, Jeong Do, Seiji, and Matt-hyung were the experience fighters, they were out in the field. I'm also part of Matt-hyung's crew if it weren't for this injury.
3 hours have already passed since we started looking for IU. I was getting worried because we didn't receive any phone calls yet. I guess, the person who abducted IU knew that Zee would have easily tracked the call.
I then turn to Zee. "Are you sure that you're not seeing anything from the cameras around?"
"Negative, Big Biz. Nothing seems to come up. I still don't get why we're not catching this guy. We already have a bird's eye view of everything." Zee said.
I sighed. "Yeah. It's practically impo-"
Zee noticed that I went silent all of a sudden, "Hyung... what's wrong?"
I just came in to a realization. "Birds… eye view…"
My eyes widened in the sudden realization. I already had a knife with me so I grabbed a pair of pistols and some ammo. I also got an ear-piece for the comms.
I was about to leave the van when they tried to stop me. But before they could do so, I pointed my gun at them. Everybody raised their hands and backed off.
"What are you doing?!" Zhang yelled.
I pointed the gun at him by instinct.
I teared up a little. "I'm sorry guys. I'm the only one who can go to the field right now to confirm my theory."
"Stop talking nonsense and put the guy down." Yo Chul-hyung said.
I suddenly rushed out of our van and ran as fast as I could while throwing a smoke grenade to cover my tracks. They would have stopped me and would have thought that I was delusional because I was still recovering.
"Where the heck are you going?!" Dominic was too surprised to do anything and just stood there as he yelled at me.
I ran towards the van that was parked outside the abandoned apartment and broke the driver's window. I then put it to neutral and started pushing it forward for a few meters. I then checked the ground to find a manhole that was half open.
"Found you now, bastard." I muttered under my breath.
I immediately lifted the manhole up which strained my wound a little but I didn't mind. The smell coming down there was awful but I started climbing down anyway.
On my way down, I realized that the smell was coming from fake odorizers. A device that was used in this world to give out fresh scents inside a restaurant, mall or other establishments. In this case, it was used to give of a fake sewer-like smell. I continued going down and by the time I reached the bottom. I realized how clean this place was.
It was tunnel that led to a door.
"Bingo." I said.
I tiptoed towards the door and took a peek on the other side. I saw a couple of armed men who seemed to be patrolling nearby and it confirmed that this was indeed their hideout.
"Big Biz! You better get back here!" Dominic yelled over the comms.
"I found their hideout." I told them in a hush tone.
I could hear a gasp coming from the other line and then Zee asked, "Where are you? Where did you find it?"
"I found a manhole underneath the van that was parked outside the abandoned apartment. They put fake odorizers to disguise the place. I'm about to head inside but there are guards patrolling." I replied.
Matt-hyung heard my status report and replied through the comms. "I'm quite far from there but wait for 15 minutes. We're on our way to back you up."
"I'm going, hyung." I said as I was starting to worry about IU.
He then tried to stop me again. "Stay where you are, Big Biz. We're almost there."
I could hear them running towards me. Every second we waste is a second that Ji-Eun could be in danger. I can't afford to risk it like that by waiting. Even if I would jump in alone, I would. This is all my fault after all.
If only I would have done my best to investigate the situation instead of just treating it as a normal case.
If only I didn't make her my girlfriend then she would never be in harm's way.
If only I was strong enough to protect her.
If only…
"I'm sorry, hyung. I have to go." I said before I turned my communications off and snuck inside the hideout.
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