TWENTY

"Messes."

For a while, I just laid there and stared at the ceiling. I thought about what I had been through and what had gone wrong.

"She's a monster." The trigger words that had left my lips had been enough to make Rika inevitably want to draw blood from my body.

What had happened to the girl that V knew - a girl that had loved his photography and kindness - that had twisted her into that? I wanted to despise her, to hate her for what had happened, but I couldn't bring myself to hate the woman. I could only pity the person she had become. To think V still loved her with all of his heart pained me, hurt me in ways that hit too close to home.

He, too, was trapped in a love that blinded him to his misery. My promise to him still stood. If I could free Saeran from this place, I would do whatever I could to help V take her down. She needed to be stopped before someone got seriously hurt. I didn't think anyone had been killed in this place, but those cleansing ceremonies could really ruin someone.

They could hurt them like it had Saeran and Ray for so long.

My hands were bound together with a loose layer of tape that I could easily snap apart if I applied the right force but my head was spinning from the encounter and the pain that ached all over my body from Rika's lashing. She had tied me back so I wouldn't do anything but yet, she was the one to hurt me. Rika left me here to my own devices after the door locked behind her - there would be Believers stationed outside in her wake, no way out.

Saeran.

If Saeran was trapped with Rika inches away he might never be able to run. I didn't want to think about what could become of him if that were the case. She could have drugged him beyond the point of no return. I couldn't bear the fear my stomach felt.

"What am I supposed to do...? If he doesn't wake up soon and I can't talk to him again... I'm doomed." I whispered - hoping someone would answer me, but no one would. I could only sit here. What could I do? These four walls surrounded me and I had no way out of here.

The shimmering liquid that was called the elixir of paradise wasn't anything that I wanted to taste. In the light of the room that flooded in through the window, I sat there and cried.

LUCY

It was a holiday weekend and the police didn't her seriously when she told them her sister might be in danger. She got turned away and would have to try again once it was the start of the week, and that might be too late. There were no signs of a struggle and the only thing that noted she was gone was her bag being gone. Lucy had to think of something.

Where did Lila go?

What were the common spots she visited?

The quest ensued from that point. She ventured into town, checking every spot that she knew her sister would frequent.

She had caught her old friend on duty at the local cafe, flagging her down when she stood at the front desk with a coffee in hand. Lucy didn't want to seem frantic so, she took a deep breath and greeted her friend, getting the small formalities out of the way before asking the really big questions. "I know Lila drops by a lot during the weekdays. The last time you spoke to her was when?"

The waitress leaned against her post, she thought about that. This was the worst cafe in town but the last time she had seen Lila was a busy night. But she had seen her walk to her apartment. She should have been alright. "She came into the shop a few weeks ago to grab some dinner. She looked pretty sore about something, I think your Mom had visited her or something like that. I was in a crunch at that hour so I couldn't talk to her. Is she alright, Lucy?"

"I'm not sure." Lucy's shoulders slumped. "She wasn't home and her phone and keys were gone. It isn't like her to just pick up a trip and leave "

A patron called her from across the room. A frown settled on her face as she shared a parting look with Lucy. "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she just took a trip, I gotta get back to work. If I see anything or hear anything, I'll call you, Lucy!"

This would become a pattern the rest of the afternoon when Lucy visited every spot that she could think of. The bakery that an old family friend run, the little convenience store, and even the little farmers market that had the sweetest strawberries. Nobody at any of those places had seen Lila in quite a while. But, nobody thought it was strange since Lila had spikes every other month where she just didn't leave her house.

Back at square one, Lucy sat at the table in her little sister's apartment with her head folded into her hands. When she looked up she caught sight of a painting that was still resting against the easel with some old painting supplies skewed around underneath it and out of the way. The painting wasn't dated yet. It was a flower garden with a little hedgehog sleeping peacefully amongst the primrose flowers. It was a beautiful peace even if it wasn't finished in Lila's eyes.

"It's beautiful," Lucy mumbled underneath her breath as she went to inspect the painting. "This has to be the gift she was talking about for Mia's nursery. I can't believe she got this much done already."

After staring at the painting and feeling like she was at a loss. Lucy decided to check around one more time. She must have missed something in her first search that could give her a tip-off.

The clock on the wall read that it was just a little past three o'clock in the afternoon. There was still time to check a few more things out before she had to check up on her daughter and her mother. Lucy looked around some more, her eyes set on the laptop that had been abandoned on the bed. Lila spent a lot of free time on her computer but she was never sure what she was up to doing.

She turned on the laptop.

It launched to life and she opened the browser. It asked if she wanted to open the recently closed tabs and she did it. Lucy noticed that some things were that were out of the ordinary. There was some music in one tab, a social media profile in another, and a mysterious looking tab. She clicked the tab and it sprang to life in front of her eyes. There was an image of some kind with animated characters, and with Lucy clicked it and raised an eyebrow.

"What the heck is Mystic Messenger?"

Wisteria has entered the chatroom.

Yoosung has entered the chatroom.

Yoosung: Wisteria! The messenger was a little weird just now, wasn't it?

Wisteria: It was. It wasn't just you. Could you inform the intelligence unit?

Wisteria: Please?

Yoosung: I will! I think I can hear Jaehee sighing again. She told that she's basically buried in her work... I tried to log in but it was blocked for a long time and I couldn't figure it out. That was scary.

Wisteria: It's good that you can get in now though.

Yoosung: I'll say... I was so scared our messenger would be gone.

Yoosung: Oh, Wisteria, about all that stuff with V and Zen last night...

Wisteria: It's reached a tipping point, yes, there's no way that things can be undone from here but we can start to go in the right direction from here, don't you think?

Yoosung: At least now... I thought the fundamental reason why V told us his secrets. Now that he was honest, don't you feel so much better?

Wisteria: I think the question would be, don't you feel a little better? It's good that he's decided to be honest, so, it's time to hear him out when he decides to speak with everyone.

Yoosung: I hope he'll find the courage to do so... and tell us everything. Everyone can cooperate and find Seven! I hope... Personally, regarding V, I think now... well... I'm less suspicious of him now.

V has entered the chatroom.

Yoosung: Oh.

Wisteria: Hello V. Have you heard anything out of Seven?

V: Not yet...

Yoosung: Oh no T_T

Wisteria: I'm getting uneasy about this whole thing.

V: I'm on the edge of myself as well.

Yoosung: Seven is going to be okay, right? CRYING EMOJI

Yoosung: It's been hours since Seven logged in. What if something bad already happened?

V: I wish I could do something right now.

Yoosung: Since there's so much that we don't know we can't help even if we want too... Am I correct? T_T

Wisteria: V, you can do something. Please have faith.

V: Yes, I will.

Yoosung: SHOCKED EMOJI

Yoosung: Seriously!? You will? Are you sure your name is V?

V: I tried to wait until Jumin returned... but there isn't much time.

Yoosung: Right. There isn't. By then it would be too late. First, why don't we call the police?

V: Police won't be able to help us.

Wisteria: Public power isn't a part of this. This is more personal.

V: Jaehee told me that our loss of contact with Seven is irrelevant to our recent encounter with the prosecution service.

Yoosung: She did?

V: Yes. Whether Luciel was taken by the public power or not... I can guarantee it's because of his personal relations.

Yoosung: Personal relations? Can you give me the details?

V: I'm about to.

Wisteria: Really?

Yoosung: V, are you.. going to unleash your secret?

V: Yes. I will soon publish all of these in the media. I was originally planning to keep them confidential until then. However, I decided that the fact that there is no way to protect everyone and at the same time make sure...

V: Everyone is happy.

Wisteria: I'm glad you finally saw that.

V: There's no time to consider that.

Yoosung: You can say I was forced to take another step of growth... You're growing up, V.

V: Yes... It seems so. Hehe... SWEATDROP EMOJI

V: From here on, once you hear my story and decide that the RFA is too dangerous... You're welcome to leave the RFA.

Yoosung: ! Ugh.

Wisteria: That's a little rough to toss out so suddenly like that, V.

V: He deserves a choice.

Yoosung: So you know that I'll listen to this until the end... since you're being so serious about this, let me brace myself.

V: Very well.

Wisteria: There's... There's not much time, V. You should do it now.

Yoosung: So tell me! What is Seven's secret?!

V: Sure... I'll tell you everything.

V: Seven is working at an agency comprised of hackers. Since his agency frequently treats nationally confidential information he would often find himself in life-threatening situations. He must infiltrate anonymously and make himself escape anonymously.

Yoosung: So he was being honest... I just can't imagine what he'd been through... Just what made him work at such a dangerous place?

V: ...It's to hide from his father.

Yoosung: CONFUSED EMOJI

Yoosung: Who is his father? And why would he want to hide from his own father?

Wisteria: Brace yourself.

Yoosung: Deep breath...!

V: Luciel is... The illegitimate son of... the prime minister who wanted to buy my pictures.

Yoosung: ...

Yoosung: ...?!

Yoosung: ?!

Wisteria: Yoosung, please, don't freak out. Breathe.

Yoosung: SHOCKED EMOJI

Yoosung: SHOCKED EMOJI

Yoosung: You mind if I read that again? I just. What?

V: He became an agent in order to hide who he really didn't really want to, though. Because he wanted to be with his younger brother.

Yoosung: ?

Wisteria: Yes, he has a younger brother.

V: And Wisteria happens to be with Luciel's brother.

Yoosung: What?

Wisteria: It's the truth.

Yoosung: I think my brain is overloading right now. Before we get to his brother... um, could we wrap up the part about the Prime Minister?

V: Very well.

Yoosung: uh wait. Where should I start?

Yoosung: Did Jumin and Zen get interviewed because the Prime Minister did something?

V: That's right.

Yoosung: What?

V: Luciel already officiated it.

Yoosung: CRYING EMOJI I'm completely freaking out here! T_T This is getting bigger and bigger.

Yoosung: than m yh he ead can take.

Yoosung: uh

Yoosung: Then my head can handle**

Yoosung: So is his younger brother also an illegitimate son?

Wisteria: They're twins. Which is why he could be in just as much danger as Seven.

Yoosung: Why did you tell Wisteria first?

V: I'll tell you why very soon.

Yoosung: No way - So both Seven and his younger brother... are in danger right now?

Wisteria: Yes. His brother isn't... I mean, the Prime Minister doesn't have his hands on him yet. He's okay.

Yoosung: That's good but what about Seven? I should call the police. wait wait wait. If we're against the Prime Minister shouldn't we protect his brother too?!

V: About him...

Yoosung: Where is his brother? We need to protect him!

Wisteria: Yes... He needs protection more than ever.

Yoosung: Ugh seriously? I can't imagine how scared he must when his older brother's been kidnapped.

V: Thankfully he's not shivering in fear because of his father.

V: Because his twin brother is the hacker that attacked our messenger.

Yoosung: WHAT?

Yoosung: ...Why would his brother...?

Yoosung: Did he want to join the RFA?

Wisteria: He's been manipulated and tricked to hate the RFA, I'm afraid.

Yoosung: What? This is just some kind of movie, right?

Yoosung: Tell me... This is just a joke.

V: While Luciel was living the life of an informant... his brother suffered unimaginable pain. I have no right to see his brother...

Wisteria: V, you had no control of the situation. You couldn't have handled that entirely.

V: Do you think so?

Yoosung: About what hurt his brother... was it something that you could stop?

V: I would've stopped it if I could... if only I had now beforehand. But...

Yoosung: You didn't...

V: No...

Yoosung: So then did he hack the messenger because he hates the RFA? Because Seven's a member? What about Wisteria?!

Wisteria: ...I became a part of this unwittingly, so to speak, I was also played and used here.

Yoosung: What? So was Wisteria chatting with us all this time while knowing what's going on... on both sides?

Wisteria: At first, yes, that is a how it was. I'm sorry that I couldn't be frank about that in the beginning. Now I'm doing this to protect Seven's brother and the RFA the best that I can - from any danger here.

Yoosung: No way.

V: She is doing her best so both sides can reach peace. Although she is still in the same place as the hacker.

Yoosung: SHOCKED EMOJI

Yoosung: Is she really with the hacker? You mean this entire time? What? Is she okay?!

Wisteria: Yes. I'm okay, that's the point. I've been alright this whole time because of his brother.

Yoosung: V, you knew this, didn't you?

V: I tried my best to protect her. She's safe because she's been holding herself very wisely.

Yoosung: Wisteria... You're amazing. You were the one who told us we can trust Wisteria!

V: I already knew where she was, along with the fact that she's an innocent person being exploited.

Yoosung: SHOCK! CHAOS! One more thing... Aren't we against two hackers?

Wisteria: There's only one hacker, Yoosung. There's only been one this entire time. He has gone through a lot of trauma, and because of that it gradually shifted his personality into two different people so to speak. So, yes, he's one person - just with two personalities.

Yoosung: ...Whoa. Now I'm getting really scared. I just can't imagine what kind of place he was in. But since I'm already getting shocked with so much... I'll have to leave that for later. Seven knew nothing about this?

V: He doesn't know that the hacker is his brother.

Wisteria: It would have been very hard if he learned that.

Yoosung: He would've been heartbroken but he deserved to know about it! He's his brother!

Wisteria: ...

V: I didn't know at first either. It was too late by the time I realized who it was. That's why I asked Jumin for help. Help was able to materialize as the intelligence unit.

Yoosung: Oh.

V: Now that we have reached this far, I thought that once Luciel finds out about everything... There may not be a solution to this... only the tempest of his rage.

Yoosung: Doesn't Seven have a right to be angry?

Wisteria: Of course he does. Anger will never solve anything, however. It just makes things worse.

V: She's right.

Yoosung: He's the one who's been fighting the hacker!

V: I thought that's the only way I could protect him... among other things... until now.

Wisteria: This is very heartbreaking but the truth is something everyone has to face. It can't be avoided any longer. I'm just glad we're getting this out now. Before it's too late to do it.

V: Yes... There is no option left for me but that.

Yoosung: Wait a sec

V: Yoosung

Yoosung: There's one more thing I want to ask.

Wisteria: About the person who used Seven's brother?

Yoosung: Yeah.

V: wait a minute. I I think I have to lea

V: ve ri

V has left the chatroom.

Wisteria: V...

Yoosung: I can see why he didn't tell us anything now. I'm having a hard time trying to not freak out. This is such a huge secret. So V was saying no to the Prime Minister this whole time because he was pretending to want to buy his pictures?

Wisteria: That's right. He's been trying to protect them this whole time.

Yoosung: I'm starting to admire V, for not shivering, in front of that man. So that's why the Prime Minister kept saying he wants to give us commendation. in reality, he wanted to find out about Seven. This is so scary! So in the end, the Prime Minister managed to call Zen and Jumin for interrogations to ask about Seven.

Wisteria: I'm sure there was nothing he got from either of them.

Yoosung: T_T So Seven is... the illegitimate son of Prime Minister and he's now... missing. Seven... This is... really dangerous, isn't it?

Wisteria: His brother is in danger too.

Yoosung: Ugh... Did Rika know about this when she was alive...?

Wisteria: ...

Yoosung: I _ 455453450345045

Yoosung has left the chatroom.

Rika has entered the chatroom.

Rika: You were chatting with Yoosung. I must see whether you've said something you shouldn't.

Wisteria: V and RFA are going to confront the truth, Rika. Everything about those twins is going to be out sooner or later.

Rika: And do you expect me to be scared? Your threat is very weak, nothing but a ridiculous monologue to me. Ah... I don't know. That's new. I wasn't aware their father was after them.

Wisteria: Saeran is in danger as well, from more than just you. What part of that don't you understand?

Rika: This place is safe. If only Saeran grows into the person I want him too... I would get to meet Yoosung in person very soon. I have a perfect place for him to be nurtured. My heart ached so much to see him lost.

Wisteria: The RFA would never find themselves here. You're a delusion to think otherwise.

Rika: Are you playing prophet? You have no power to stop me or to direct what I can manage. I miss Yoosung... I miss him dearly.

Wisteria: If you loved any of them you wouldn't do this.

Rika: What do you know? You're just a little girl pretending to be brave, aren't you? I have no time to argue with you. You haven't said anything that displeases me to the RFA yet but I'm watching you.

Rika: I wonder when Saeran will wake up. I must return to nurse him.

Wisteria: Can you just tell me if he's alright?

Rika: He's under my care. He's none of your business. I'm leaving. For eternal paradise.

Rika has left the chatroom.