"Hoon,"
With his vision growing increasingly blurred, Jake glanced at Sunghoon, who was standing beside him, looking away. To be honest, Sunghoon couldn't bear to hit his own friend either, but he'd been so panicked that he'd acted on reflex.
"Jake, I'm sorry," he said, crying as he hugged the unconscious body.
Thump, thump, thump.
The man's footsteps grew closer until Jay finally appeared in the doorway of the rooftop.
The young man stood silent for a moment, taking in the scene before him.
"Hoon… Jake's all right, isn't he?" said Jay.
"It's my fault, I'm sorry…" replied Sunghoon between sobs.
"What do you mean!" Jay approached his friend, visibly upset.
Sunghoon couldn't reply; he could only repeat the word 'sorry' over and over.
In truth, Jay was still visibly upset too—who knows what they'd been arguing about earlier that had led to this—but this time he would put his pride aside for a moment.
"Let's take him back to the room first," he suggested to Sunghoon.
********
Sunoo was in his cell following Sunghoon and Jay's visit a short while ago; the young man looked confused and felt deeply guilty about the statements made by his two friends.
Despite all the terrible things he'd done, his friends had forgiven him and didn't hate Sunoo; they were certainly angry and disappointed, but Sunoo's reasons for carrying out all that terror certainly couldn't be taken lightly.
The fox-eyed young man sat on the floor, leaning his body against the wall.
"Jake, how are you? Will you forgive me too?" he said softly.
His gaze then shifted to the tinned drink and bread Sunghoon had given him; he slowly unwrapped the bread and began to eat it.
After just two bites, his hand reached inside the bread, which appeared to have been torn open, and Sunoo took something that was tucked inside.
******
"It's just as well that lad was willing to cooperate and not say that the person who came here earlier was from the organisation," said Jay. He then sat down on the sofa alongside Sunghoon.
"One thing's for sure: Jake's now being targeted by both the organisation and the police," said Sunghoon.
"The police? Sunoo testified that it was all done out of revenge; he resented Jake's achievements. He didn't mention at all that Jake was actually a hitman," said Jay.
"As for the organisation, Jay, they can provide evidence that Jake is a hitman if they fail to catch him," said Sunghoon.
"We've only got two options now: we either go ahead or leave Jake and Sunoo behind,"
Jay looked stunned at his friend's words. Was there really no other option? An option with a happier ending.
"You've got a plan, haven't you, Hoon?"
Sunghoon chuckled as he looked back at the young man in front of him. "What do you reckon?"
"You idiot, asking me back," said Jay.
"Why are you suddenly asking that anyway?" said Sunghoon.
"You're acting suspiciously," said Jay.
Sunghoon laughed at Jay's annoyed expression, which he found amusing.
Knock knock knock.
"Excuse me," Jo opened the door and saw the two people in Jake's room.
"All sorted, Jo?" said Jay.
"Yeah, the police told me to go back," said Jo.
"Why don't you just head home as well?" said Sunghoon.
"But what if the police ask me again—"
Sunghoon immediately nudged his friend's shoulder to stop him from speaking.
"Don't listen to him. Sorry for causing you so much trouble," said Sunghoon.
"What Jay said might be right," said Jo.
"Don't worry about it. Just leave it to us," said Sunghoon.
"O-oh, all right then. Thanks. I'll head home first," said Jo, finally leaving.
"You sent him off so there'd be no witnesses, didn't you?" Jay quipped.
"You know me too well," said Sunghoon.
Silence followed until a voice distracted them both.
"Turns out I'm still alive," said Jake, who had just woken up.
"Be grateful you can still breathe," Jay remarked.
Jake turned to his two mates on the sofa.
"You shouldn't have helped me, Hoon," said Jake.
"Helped? You two were arguing and then came to blows, weren't you?" said Jay.
"Because I didn't explain what happened, your mind's been wandering off like this," said Sunghoon, shaking his head.
"Well, that's why you should explain so we can understand," said Jay.
"There was no row. I went up to the rooftop, but Sunghoon turned up there too and persuaded me to go back inside. Just as I was about to take that final step to jump, he hit the back of my neck until I passed out. If he hadn't done that, I'd be in a coffin right now," replied Jake.
"You were that desperate. Sunghoon was right to help you. Don't go anywhere just yet because you've still got us here," said Jay.
Jake closed his eyes, holding back the tears that were slowly welling up.
*****
"You've only got five minutes," said the guard.
"Right, sir," said Sunoo, before stepping into the bathroom.
Sunoo entered the cubicle at the very end, as per the instructions Sunghoon had given him. It turned out there was a fairly large ventilation shaft above that cubicle, which Sunoo immediately used to make his escape.
Thud.
No sooner had his feet touched the ground than Sunoo was startled by a body being flung not far from him.
The person was wearing a hospital gown and a black wristband. As far as Sunoo could recall, patients given that wristband were those who could no longer be saved and were simply waiting for the end.
A figure in a black hoodie—the one who'd thrown the patient—seemed to be approaching, causing Sunoo to slowly back away, but the figure instead moved towards the patient and slashed at their face repeatedly.
"Hey! What are you—"
Sunoo's words were cut short as a handkerchief was pressed over his mouth and he was pinned from behind.
"Don't make a sound," the voice whispered in Sunoo's ear.
Sunoo couldn't hold his breath any longer; he gave in, and the smell from the handkerchief filled his nostrils, making him feel gradually dizzy.
"Can't he just wear a mask and a jacket?" said the first person.
"There's still a checkpoint at the gate; it'll be tricky if he just disguises himself like that," said the person behind Sunoo.
"Is it really safe to wrap him up in a blanket?"
"It looks like we're just carrying ordinary dirty laundry; they'll pile him in with the dirty clothes too, but the risk is he'll struggle to breathe. That's why it's safer to put him to sleep like this so he doesn't feel a thing."
"Oh,"
Sunoo could still sense his surroundings even though his eyes were closed; he felt his body being wrapped in a blanket. He felt scared but was immediately relieved to realise the voices he heard belonged to Sunghoon and Jake.
******
The young fox began to regain consciousness as the sounds of activity around him started to echo.
Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, his other friends were cleaning the house; Sunoo remembered clearly that this was his cousin's house.
"Are we back here?"
Jake, who was holding a duster, turned with a smile.
"Sorry it looks a bit shabby—we couldn't afford to buy a new house," he said.
Sunoo got up from the sofa where he'd been lying. "It's fine as long as we can get together again,"
"We're going to start a new life, beginning everything from scratch without any hard feelings," said Jake, smiling at Sunoo, who naturally returned the smile.