The silence in the room was deafening.

Seunghyo's face was devoid of emotion as he held the bow steadily trained on Jinyoung. In one second, he had gone from a trusted traveling companion to a stone-faced threat.

Jinyoung knew that if it was hard for him to accept the reality of the situation, it was worse for his sister.

He heard Youngho speak behind him. "Put the bow down, son. Whatever it is, I'm sure we can work it out."

It was hard to tell if Seunghyo even heard him. He didn't blink or shift his weight or give any sign that he had heard his former father-in-law's words. While Hana and Youngho were both fighter class players, Jinyoung wasn't. They might be able to take a direct hit and walk away, chances were any attack at this range was fatal for him.

The only good thing was that they were at relatively close range. Seunghyo was only five or six meters from Jinyoung, which meant the others were only one or two meters further behind him.

Hana, at this range, he'll only be able to get one shot off before you and the old man are on him.

He waited for a response, but none came. He tried to match Seunghyo’s stare and not give away himself or his plan.

The old man'll follow your lead, Jinyoung continued. So move as soon as you see me [dash]-

Jinyoung, Hana interrupted. Seunghyo is a pathfinder which means he has perception skills. If you try to [dash], he'll see it before you can execute your skill and shoot you through the heart.

I can do this, Hana.

No, you can’t.

Jinyoung felt a chill creep up his spine and did his best not to shiver. This whole time, Seunghyo had stared straight at him almost dispassionately. As if he weren’t a person, but a lifeless target. It was unnerving. And the longer Jinyoung held the pathfinder’s gaze, the more he itched to move. To simply [dash] out of the way and tackle him down.

And he would have. If not for a faint shout that both Hana and Jinyoung heard clearly.

Sunbae!

The silence after spoke volumes. Neither sibling needed to say a word, in clan chat or otherwise, to understand what had to happen next.

Jinyoung held his hands up, palms forward. “Okay, Seunghyo. What’s next?”

Seunghyo removed their weapons and walked them up two more flights of stairs. There were no other survivors up this way, but even unarmed, it would’ve been easy to overpower Seunghyo. Except, someone had certainly taken Willow and Seunghyo most certainly knew that.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

On the eighth floor, Seunghyo marched the three of them out the fire escape into the cold outside. It was especially chilly given the betrayal they had all faced. Hana was particularly grim as her ex-husband directed them across narrow bridges going rooftop to rooftop.

Once they had left the survivor’s camp far enough behind, Seunghyo stopped the party and called out.

“Henry, we’re here.”

There was no response. At least not in words. Instead, a shadow stretched out from the nearest structure and wrapped itself around Hana, Jinyoung and Youngho.

The last thing they heard was Seunghyo call out a warning. “Watch your step.”

***

Willow tried not to cry out in shock when the three familiar shapes tumbled out of the shadows and landed on the ground in front of her.

Hana stood up and quickly took stock of her surroundings. Jinyoung was up a second later using [scan] to look for dangers or, more importantly, Seunghyo and his comrade Henry. Their father stood up more slowly, mumbling about knees and unruly rogues.

Somehow, the party had moved from the industrial district of Pyong-gang to a lab facility. The clean floors and walls reminded Jinyoung of the halls they had seen when they first arrived in the north. Except the computers blinked with active power and the room they were in was actively lit instead of dimly lit with emergency lighting.

Jinyoung squinted his eyes and tried to think. “How the hell did we get here?”

“[Shadowstep],” Youngho grumbled.

Willow nodded in realization. [Shadowstep] was a rogue skill learned by higher level players. It was a useful skill that allowed a player to enter a shadow at one point and emerge from another. Generally, players used it to move quickly from cover to cover but Willow had never heard of it being used to kidnap or teleport players.

An accented voice called out. “Good eye, sir. I guess nothing accounts for experience.”

A man stepped out of the shadows followed silently by Seunghyo.

The man walked forward and bowed. “Allow me to introduce myself, I am Henry Vilais, Senior Operations Lead at the Cha Bell Corporation.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hana flinch. The man smiled thinly.

“I see you know of us, Shield Knight of the Blade. Of course, we haven’t personally met, but my colleagues at Cha Bell have informed me of your history with our company.”

“Is that what this is all about?” Hana shot back.

The man put a pained look on his face. “Madame, banish the thought. I speak for the company when I say our books are settled. This has nothing to do with you or the young lady.”

Young lady? Jinyoung thought. Willow?

All this talking in circles had ground on Youngho’s nerves. The initial shock of encountering his children and the anger of Seunghyo’s betrayal had chilled his blood. Now he was experiencing that grand emotion that all men of his age seethed upon: annoyance.

“Why don’t you just tell us what the hell we’re doing here then?” he shouted.

Henry smiled. This was more fun than he had expected. All the days spent huddling in the cold had been worth it now.

“I would tell you, but it isn’t really for me to say is it?” he replied. Instead of walking back into the shadows, he made his way to the door and opened it. “I’ll let ‘Hyo explain it to you. After all, he’s the one who brought you into this mess.”

The man walked off while the door slowly swung back and closed behind him.

Slowly, four pairs of eyes turned and put their gaze on Seunghyo who returned each gaze before stopping on Hana’s.

“I need your help.”