Oh, this was bad.

His body ached from its position on the ground, the cold of the cement seeping deep into his bones.

This was definitely bad.

He could hear gurgling as his opponent tried to breathe through the hole in his neck.

His hand with sticky with blood, his skin slightly sticking to the handle from the blood that was covering both the knife handle and his skin. He could feel the blood drying on his hand, becoming tacky in the process.

The gurgling slowly stopped, and the puddle of blood that was seeping into his clothes was getting bigger.

Although, he couldn't tell if it was his blood that was in the puddle, if it was the camp's operative, or if it was a combination of both their blood.

It probably was.

That meant that he wasn't feeling cold because the blood and cement was cold.

Yeah, this was bad.

It hurt to breathe.

In the tussle, he had gotten kicked over a railing and made a less than stellar landing on the top of some abandoned car. He already knew that he had broken more than one rib.

At least his chest wasn't getting tighter like it did the one time he broke his ribs when he was younger. That meant that his ribs had yet to puncture his lungs.

He needed to get out of here.

Or at the very least, tell someone where he was at so they could find him later on.

He needed to get his phone out.

He just needed to zip down the little pocket zipper, take out his phone and call someone to go and get him.

But his limbs were so heavy.

He was only getting even colder as the seconds ticked by.

Shit.

"Ijin?"

Seokju?

What was he doing here?

Wait why is he complaining?

He could hear the tapping of Seokju's dress shoes in the warehouse.

He sucked at sneaking around.

He could tell that his teammate was trying to be quiet, but his shoes were clearly working against him.

Note to self, show Seokju how to sneak around.

His ribs throbbed when he took a breath that was a little bit too deep and he couldn't stop the pained groan from slipping past his lips even if he wanted to.

"Ijin?" the tapping of dress shoes got faster and louder. He could feel the vibration of Seokju approaching through the floor. He could see the red of the blood in his eyelids as a light shone onto his face (when did he close his eyes?)

" Ijin!?"

Everything went black when Seokju put his hand right onto his gun wound.

He frowned when he saw the men running up to him.

That was most definitely not Ijin's grandfather.

He exchanged looks with the Team Leader and was somewhat relieved when he saw that the older man did not look confused.

The man with the brown hair got to them first," Major Hamchang Kang," He breathed out, getting straight to the point without letting them introduce themselves," What happened to Ijin?"

They glanced over at the two additional men, who were surely tagalongs.

The major noticed their looks and quickly waved them off," They know Ijin too. What happened to the kid?"

The team leader motioned for all of them to follow them as they walked into the private hospital that served their company," Seokju found Ijin injured in a warehouse on the outskirts of town."

Honestly, it had been a stroke of luck that he had even found Ijin in the first place.

Ijin had asked him to trace someone again, and when Ijin didn't send his customary text of gratitude as he usually did. He got concerned and decided that it was wise to go and check on his friend.

Thank god he did.

By the time he found Ijin, his friend was unconscious in a joint puddle of blood with a body right next to him.

"He has lost a lot of blood and has broken ribs. Fortunately, they were able to save him and he is currently recovering."

They were already at Ijins room, and with a single nod from Major Kang, he entered the room, purposely closing the door right behind him so they couldn't enter with him.

Kang's breath caught in his throat. His stomach twisted dangerously at the way Ijin was laying in the bed.

He looked just as small as he did when he was hospitalized after their mission in Grian after they had gotten hit by that mortar.

There was something about seeing the usually hardy teenager in the bed that tugged at his heart strings.

He was running his hand through Ijin's hair before he realized it.

Ijin flinched away from his hand," It's me," He said quietly, making sure that he wasn't too loud for the kid's comfort.

Just like that, Ijin leaned into his hand, a tired sigh escaping the kid before he opened his eyes.

Kang started before Ijin could say anything," One. I'm happy you're okay," Ijin blinked slowly at him, clearly still being affected by whatever painkillers they were pumping into him," And two. You're a fucking idiot."

Just the fact that Ijin nodded in his head meant that the kid knew how stupid his actions had been.

"I'm sorry." Ijin whispered out, a tone of remorse and exhaustion in his voice.

He was definitely going to get a better apology out of the kid when he was better because no one should be pulling this type of shit.

But that was a problem for later.

"What happened? And don't you dare lie to me Ijin. You're lucky your grandfather didn't pick up when your boss tried calling him."

Just the fact that Ijin was nodding along with his words somewhat annoyed him even more.

"It was 003," the number sent a pang of panic straight through Kangs heart," the camp sent him."

Kang couldn't stop the snarled curse from coming out even if he wanted to.

Ijin just hummed in agreement, leaning further into Kangs hand.

"They know?"

"For a while…"

He loved Ijin. He really did. He was a good kid that was hard working, didn't complain, and was a good kid overall.

But this asshole.

"For how long?"

Ijin sighed heavily, and he already knew that he wasn't going to like the answer.

Averting his eyes and pulling away from Kang, he answered quietly," He was the second one they sent…"

He gritted his teeth.

Ijin had already dealt with a camp operative once and he didn't tell him?

"Why didn't you tell me?" it was taking almost everything he had to not start screaming at his precious little idiot.

Ijin cringed, his eyes avoiding Kangs as he quietly answered," I don't want to leave them…I…I like having a family…"

Geez, what a way to verbally punch him in the gut.

But yet, it was almost incredibly stupid that Ijin had withheld such information.

They had already talked about this hypothetical situation (although it was no longer hypothetical) more than once. So they already knew what had to be done.

He didn't like the idea of hiding Ijin away on a military base, away from his friends and family.

But it was the best way for them to keep Ijin safe and get the camp off his trail.

"I'll tell Han-Gyeol to pick up your stuff and family," that had to be the most defeated sigh he had ever heard from Ijin," Do you want to explain it to your friends yourself, or do you want some of us to do it?"

Ijin still wasn't looking at him as he swallowed thickly," You guys should do it," He admitted quietly," The faster I leave, the better…"

Kang sighed heavily.

Why couldn't this kid catch a break for once?