Flashback—Year 2022, Shanghai, China
"I can't believe you're not telling me where it is," Haruto exclaimed, holding onto Joon-ho's shoulders and violently shaking his body.
They were inside an abandoned warehouse, their voices filling the empty space.
Meanwhile, the weak-bodied trainee resigned to his friends' hysteria. He looked into Haruto's eyes and found the light inside him dimming.
Joon-ho knew he had to do this if he wanted some of the light in Haruto's eyes to be retained.
"I hid it," Joon-ho said. "To a place where you can't find it."
Tears welled up in Haruto's eyes, and he kneeled on the floor as he felt his knees buckle.
"Why are you doing this? This was supposed to be our key to debuting! The CEO promised that we'll finally get to debut once I find the briefcase and bring it to him!" he screamed.
"Haruto, do you believe he'll fulfill his promise now?" Joon-ho asked in a weak voice, smiling bitterly.
"They told us we would debut years ago. They kept us here, trained us, and treated us like slaves because we were desperate to debut. They know our weakness—and they're willing to exploit it any chance that they get."
"We've done plenty of things for them—some I can tolerate. However, I don't think I can handle seeing you go down this path, Haruto. The people we're dealing with right now—I don't think it's safe for us to be involved with them," Joon-ho said, his voice still calm despite the weight of his statements.
"This time, it's different," Haruto exclaimed.
"Why?" Joon-ho bitterly chuckled. "Because they're involving us in a much deeper web this time? Is that why you feel this way?"
Haruto pursed his lips, knowing deep inside his mind that Joon-ho was right. However, in the end, his desperation shone through.
"Don't you want to debut?" Haruto asked.
"I do," Joon-ho said without any hesitation. "You know that better than anyone else. I want to debut. This is my dream—but not in this way."
"I thought of taking the shortcut after training for years and years, but now, I realize that it's not worth it. We may have reached our dreams, but we'll lose ourselves in the process," Joon-ho exclaimed.
"That's why I'm doing this for us," Haruto whispered, standing closer to June.
"You can just forget about it. I will take full responsibility. I'll just have to steal the briefcase from that guy's house and bring it to our CEO. It's as simple as that; then, we can go home and prepare for our debut."
Joon-ho chuckled before shaking his head.
"You know it's not as simple as that," he said. "From the start, it was already complicated."
"Joon-ho—"
Joon-ho cut Haruto off before he could finish his statement.
"Besides, it's already done," he said. "I already found the briefcase, and I'm going to keep it in a place where no one could find it. In that way, we can truly forget about everything and have a new start."
Haruto ran his fingers through his hair.
"Why go through all the trouble then?" he exclaimed in frustration.
"Because it's not that I found it," Joon-ho said. "It was given to me."
"Given?" Harut asked, now more confused than ever.
Joon-ho nodded.
"Who? By the man we're supposed to steal it from—Chen Jun Hao?" Haruto asked, finally saying his name.
Joon-ho froze and opened his mouth, about to respond when the door suddenly opened, revealing a dark figure.
Their presence was so commanding that the two hid behind a wide post, covering their mouths to quiet down their breathing.
"Who's that?" Joon-ho asked nervously.
"Shh," Haruto said, not knowing who the man was but feeling a sense of danger emanating from him.
"I think we need to leave," Joon-ho whispered, pointing at the only exit in the building.
However, before Haruto could agree, the door opened, revealing more men going inside.
Haruto and Joon-ho froze when they saw the guns in their hands, chuckling among themselves as they shot at the walls without a care in the world.
The two trainees crouched down on the ground in fear, at a loss of what to do.
It was too dark for them to clearly see the group of people, but it was undeniable that they were up to no good.
A bald man asked something in Chinese, so they weren't able to understand him.
"Yes," the man sitting on the chair responded. "It can't be helped. He had been keeping that briefcase since he found it in the enemy's territory. That damn Chen Jun Hao likes playing games, does he? I promoted him after all these years because he was proficient, but it seems like it's biting me in the ass."
Haruto and Joon-ho looked at each other with wide eyes, recognizing the name in the conversation despite them speaking a foreign language.
Then, the events unfolded quickly. The men went out of the warehouse once more, and the two trainees wondered if this was their chance to escape. However, before they could think of their next course of action, the door opened once again, revealing a different man this time.
Since the door was opened for a moment, some of the street lights came in, revealing the man who entered.
Joon-ho peaked from behind the post and saw a handsome man with a scarred face and a buff body walking toward the man sitting on the chair.
There was no doubt.
This was Chen Jun Hao.
Joon-ho saw him in the picture frame.
Then, they started speaking in Chinese once again, making Joon-ho feel more frustrated. He wanted to know what they were talking about and if it concerned the briefcase that he had hidden.
They first engaged in a calm conversation. However, it escalated quickly when the group of men from earlier entered the room, surrounding Chen Jun Hao and pointing their guns toward his way.
Joon-ho's and Haruto's breath got caught in their throats…
and before they knew it, the man was being shot to death.
It wasn't just one shot.
There were numerous shots to make sure that he was dead.
The two trainees didn't know what to do, the blood draining from their faces.
Then, when things couldn't get any more brutal, the youngest-looking guy out of all of them, walked over to where Jun Hao was, pointed the gun to his head, and fired without any mercy, some of the blood even splattering on his face.
However, at that moment, some of the moonlight shone through the windows, illuminating the face of the man who had ensured Jun Hao's death.
