Hi everyone. So, Seven is back after a little hiatus in the story. Hope you're enjoying and will try to update as quickly as possible to reach the conclusion. Getting there, chapter by chapter.

Ciphertext: Chapter 21 – Signal Block

It was already 2pm and Luciel had been practically slaving away at his PC since he'd stepped out of the shower – or at least that's how it felt. He'd been so focused on work that he'd unintentionally skipped lunch and his stomach was grumbling like crazy. Despite his high levels of intellectual concentration, the emotional part of his mind had grown so distracted by worrying about where Eun-ji had run off to that he felt obligated to mask it with that same haunting track he usually reverted to; The Sound of Silence

Hear my words that I might teach you

Take my arms that I might reach you

But my words like silent raindrops fell

And echoed in the wells of silence

Eyeing some new information that had shown up in his browser, he furiously transferred it all into an Excel file, ensuring that all the co-ordinates and directions were crystal clear for the client. But his thoughts were wandering further and further away from where he needed them to be and they became increasingly aimless and random. His blood sugar was getting low and he needed to have a break, no matter how brief.

Flipping his headphones off, he walked into the bedroom and swiped his phone from the bedside table and switched it on. As soon as he did, he noticed his call log and balked. There were twenty-two missed calls from Zen.

"What the-? Zen never calls me … but THIS IS INSANE!"

There were no voicemail messages to catch up on. He figured that Zen had probably grown tired of hearing Luciel's annoying recording each time and in the end just gave up. But just as he was about to hit the 'call' button to see what the fuss was about, Zen's own call came through, which caused Luciel to jump backwards a little in shock.

He answered immediately. "Hey Zen …"

"Dude! Where the fuck have you been? I've been trying to reach you for the past few hours. Don't you ever have your phone with you?" Zen sounded furious and hurried.

"I had a lot of work on …" he said, bluntly.

Zen was flustered, like he was walking somewhere fast. Traffic noises could be heard in the background. "Oh really? 'work' is it? That's the excuse you're going to use!"

"Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about. Zen, just calm down and tell me what this is all about. What's up with all the calls? Did you miss hearing my voice that much?" he joked.

"SEVEN! This is no time to mess around! Did she get back to the apartment safely this morning?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't 'hmm' me! Did Eun-ji get back okay?"

Luciel's pupils dilated and he quickly went pale. "D-did you just say … Eun-ji?"

There was a moment of silence while Zen chose his words. "She came to visit me, since she was angry with you."

"WHAT? That's where she went?" Luciel felt the anger and jealousy rising up inside him. It didn't feel good. Not at all. "You bastard! How could you lure her into your honey trap when she's feeling susceptible?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa … no, hang on just a minute Seven! Don't blame this all on me!"

"Why not!? You obviously took advantage of the situation. You thought it would be a fantastic idea since it's been so long since you had a girlfriend, right? And you're such a smooth talker, it would be so easy to just click your fingers and she'd come running over to you like a puppy."

"No! That's not how things happened, okay? Just let me explain!"

"So things did happen then? What is there left to explain Zen? You got it on with her and that's that. Just spare me the details because I really don't want to know!"

"Seven … I know you're angry with me, but it was actually her idea."

"No. I don't believe you. It couldn't have been Eun-ji's idea. Why would she even do that?"

"I think you were too harsh on her dude … she was a mess, and she risked revealing her identity just to leave the apartment talk to someone else about things."

"I told her not to leave the apartment under any circumstances by herself."

"But can you blame her, after what you did?"

"I know I said some things …" Try as he might, Luciel just couldn't shake the mental image of the two of them squirming around naked together in Zen's bed while he spoon-fed her his cheesy pillow talk. "But being the womanising 'wolf' you are, the interaction didn't just stop at talking, did it?"

Hearing that Luciel thought of him only as a shallow vessel of a man pained him a little. "Did I say that we had sex? I understand that you're only trying to rationalise the situation, but … we didn't have sex …" He paused. That was a bit of a lie. "… Well, not exactly anyway."

"NOT EXACTLY?" fumed Luciel, slamming his hand down onto the table. "But there was still something going on between you two?" He sighed in frustration. "I don't need to hear your excuses, and forget what I just said. I do want the details. All of them. Right now!"

Zen stopped in his tracks and from the other end of the line Luciel could hear him turning the key in a door lock. "I'm back at home now, so I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"Go on then, I don't have long before I need to continue with my work again," said Luciel, impatiently.

"She called me and asked whether she could come over to my place to talk. Her heart seemed like it was really breaking and I couldn't just abandon her. It's true that I had some feelings for her, which I now understand can never grow further. So I agreed to console her, and really, truly, honestly … I never intended for things to spin out of control but …"

He was interrupted by Luciel's speculation. "But you just couldn't control the beast in your pants, could you? You just couldn't keep your dirty hands off her for five seconds!"

"It was difficult not to get turned on when she was teasing me so mercilessly with those eyes, and grinding her knee into me, and pressing me up against the oven, and-" He felt a bit hot just thinking about the first half of their sex game, but as he remembered the beatings that followed, his body temperature soon dropped again.

"And what?" Luciel's curiosity was getting the better of him now. "Are you saying … she seduced you?"

"Yeah … that's pretty much what happened dude." He sighed, confident that their friendship was really feeling the pressure at that moment. "But she got ahead of herself and tried to tie me up. Then, she beat me with a kitchen whisk. It really hurt."

Luciel couldn't believe his ears. "She beat you … with kitchen utensils? Are you fucking kidding me?" He felt a pang of remorse for what had happened to Zen, but he was so sure Eun-ji wasn't capable of abuse like that. "Why did she even want to do that?"

"She seemed to think it would be fun to try a little … uh … BDSM role play. Unfortunately, it went horribly wrong and she just ended up breaking down in tears. I was really concerned about her behaviour."

Luciel's heart felt like it had stopped. "S-she's into that kind of thing? I never would have guessed. Did she really hurt you? Can you honestly tell me you didn't enjoy any of it?"

His question seemed a little strange. "Well … of course I had high hopes during the first five minutes. She was really hot and I felt myself getting lost that beautiful glare she kept throwing me. Let's put it this way, she was waking up that beast inside me for sure. I didn't even know what was going on. But then, when it happened … the beating was so gruelling that I was even in tears myself. It was too harsh to be enjoyable and it left marks all over my body."

"Jesus!" Luciel covered his mouth in horror. "I-I can't believe she would even consider doing this to someone. What the hell was going through her mind? I don't get it."

"That's the thing, there's no way she's really into kinky stuff like that. I could just sense it. I mean, it doesn't make sense seeing as … you were her first… you know, so-"

Remembering something, Luciel raised his voice suddenly. "Wait! Earlier, when we started this conversation you mentioned something about her getting back to the apartment safely?"

"Yeah, but I guess it doesn't matter now, she's back there now, right?"

Luciel looked at the floor, his pulse quickening with fear. "No, she isn't back yet."

Zen's mind reeled. "WHAT? She left my place at 10am. That was over four hours ago!"

"Shit!" cursed Luciel, biting his finger. "Where the fuck did she disappear to?" He let out a deep, chesty sigh. "Listen Zen … I'm sorry that I doubted your intentions with Eun-ji. Her safety is more important to me right now, no matter what she did."

"She's just confused about her feelings, but yeah – do what you can to find her. I'm sorry I don't think I can be of any help," said Zen, regretfully.

"Don't worry. I know someone I can ask. I've gotta go. Talk later!"

"Ok, bye. Good luck!" said Zen, trying his best to put on an encouraging voice.

"Yeah … " Luciel seemed uncertain about his own capabilities. "Bye."

He hung up and then scrolled through the phone book to find Vanderwood's number. He hit the 'call' button and waited for him to answer. Finally, after about a minute, the agent picked up.

"Luciel?" came the voice.

"Vanderwood. Where the hell is Eun-ji? I told you to keep an eye on her!"

"I have no idea. I've tried tracking her phone signal but it's firewalled."

"How is it firewalled? You can track anyone's phone signal; I've seen you do it!"

"Not this time. Nothing I do works to unblock it and since she doesn't have a GPS tracker on herself, it's a real task to locate her. The other guys haven't had any luck either. In any case, I can't spend too long on it. Mr. P will go ballistic if he finds out I'm helping you with something like this, especially since we're keeping it under wraps!"

"Keep looking, Vanderwood! I don't care if Mr. P knows about it or not. I just want her back in this apartment, safe and unharmed. Can you do that much for me?"

Vanderwood was silent for a moment. "You do understand that not being able to access the firewall can mean only one thing … right?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Mr. P is the only hacker who knows how to permanently block a signal from other intrusive algorithms. No-one can hack past his obstacles. Not me, not you, or anyone else in the organisation."

"Damn! So … do you think he has Eun-ji?"

"I can't be certain, but this whole thing reeks of his unrivalled hacking skills. Watch your back Luciel. Getting involved further with that girl could lead you into uncharted territory," warned Vanderwood, knowing full well what Mr. P was capable of. "And you know what uncharted territory I'm talking about."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks for the warning but I have to handle this one myself after all. If it is Mr. P I'm sure I will receive a message from him soon. It has to be me he wants to antagonise, to get revenge on. Eun-ji is just the bait here." He paused. "I appreciate your effort for my sake, Vanderwood. Really. But please just keep trying to break the signal block and keep me posted. I'll leave my phone switched on while I work."

Vanderwood felt like he didn't have much choice. He'd already started, so leaving things unfinished would be a grave mistake, especially where Mr. P was concerned. "Sure. But just … don't make any serious errors because you're worried about her, okay?"

"Her life depends on my sanity. There is no room for error."