"How did you..."
"I know everything."
[*A day ago*]
"Hyung?"
Eun turned to look at Min who's approaching his way.
"Yeah?" He answered as he slowly put the last card on the peak of the card castle he's balancing.
"Can I talk to you?" Min asked and Eun nodded the moment he placed the last card successfully.
He heaved a sigh of relief before looking back at Min.
"What is it you want to talk about?"
"Uhm..." Min's eyes wandered down the floor. "How long have you known manager-nim?"
Eun tapped his chin. "Ahh~about seven years already? I think? She's been already my manager back when we were still trainees, so I guess it's really seven years. Why?"
"Ahm... I was just confused lately," Min sat down the couch beside them and Eun did the same.
"Why is manager-nim so protective towards us? Well, not just us but also to our families. Is it because she loves you?"
"Oh hey there! I hate to break this to you but she loves all of us," Eun twitched his lips. "She won't do any of these if she doesn't."
"Hmm... you're right but to be honest, that ain't my real question."
Eun raised a brow. "What is it then?"
Min's lips folden into a thin line. "Have you seen the tattoo, manager-nim, had in the midst of her fingers?"
"No. Does she even have a tattoo?"
Min nodded. "By any chance, do you know anything about Scarlevounoir?"
Eun's forehead creased. "Scarlevounoir? You mean, the family of the faceless assassins?"
Min almost exhaled his last breath by Eun's reply. "What do you mean by family of the faceless assassins?" He gasped.
"Don't you know? Scarlevounoir is the family of assassins who killed the first families of the Southern countries."
Min shook his head in horror. "You must be kidding, right?" He muttered.
Eun stared at him. His eyes squinted, reading Min's reaction.
"Scarlevounoir..." he said almost in a whisper. "Is the tattoo on her finger, am I right?"
Min nodded, still not sure whether to believe Eun or what.
"Are we even safe here?" He asked, voice breaking.
Eun bit his lip. His thoughts ran to and fro and nowhere to go.
"Seiji must have known something about this. They're childhood friends," Min said, pointing Seiji who's walking across the corridor with his usual messy hair.
"You're saying that I should ask him?" Eun grimaced. "Not a chance because even if he does know something about it, he probably won't tell anything."
"Should I believe that alibi, hyung?" Min asked.
"Yes, you should!" Eun hissed.
"Shesh! You can't fool me, hyung. You and Seiji-ah went distant with each other because of manager-nim. We're not dense not to notice that."
Eun rolled his eyes. "How your minds work is totally eccentric. I should just ask Sebastian instead. He's been working with manager-nim ever since. He must have known everything."
The two separated their ways and as said, Eun went to find Sebastian but unfortunately, he's nowhere to be found. He's been asking every maid in every corner but no one seems to have laid an eye on him the whole day.
Frustrated, Eun walked towards the nearest couch on the corridor and threw himself for a rest.
"Wow! I only consumed 12 minutes by finding that invisible butler but I'm already out of energy," he sighed, looking at his watch.
He wiggled up until his head rested on the small pillow just above him. His height perfectly fit the entire couch making him feel relaxed and drowsy and unknowingly fell asleep.
***
"Oppa? Yah! Oppa. You shouldn't sleep out here. You might catch cold."
Eun's eyes wobbled when he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. He peeked with his other eye before opening them both.
Shane's worried face welcomed him, so he immediately sat down, but because he always had this iconic reckless trait, he ended up bumping his forehead against hers.
They both groaned in pain, rubbing their foreheads as an aid.
"Mianhe, manager-nim!" Eun managed to say through wincing face.
Shane chuckled and stood up properly. "It's okay. It's not that painful tho."
He's about to talk again when Sebastian appeared behind Shane and placed an ice pack on her forehead.
"Here's yours, master."
Eun took his ice pack and placed it on his forehead.
"That was abnormally quick, Sebastian. Thanks tho," Eun said, raising his thumb up.
"My pleasure to help, master," he nodded.
"Hmm... so I guess we should go inside. The others might have been looking for us by now," Shane said and walked away.
Sebastian was about to follow her when Eun spoke. "Sebastian? Can I talk to you for a while?"
The emotionless butler only looked at him without any trace of confusion.
"What can I help, master?"
Eun placed the ice pack beside him and stood up to face Sebastian who's a lot taller than him. He's almost as tall as Yi who stands 6'2.
"I won't believe you if you say no," he spoke beforehand. "You worked for manager-nim ever since she was young. You've seen everything from her past up until now, so I supposed you know something about Scarlevounoir?"
Sebastian remained emotionless as if he didn't hear anything from the curious lad.
"The story isn't mine to tell, master," he answered briefly. "My lady's life is nothing to do with our concern."
The butler left Eun with unsolved puzzle, making him felt more uneasy.
"So, I slept for two freakin' hours. Holy heck!" He groaned, tracing his way towards the dinning area where the others are.
"Got anything?" Min mouthed and Eun shook his head.
Same question kept on running inside his thoughts until the sun set and so, he thought of something.
Eun and Min sneaked into the library after dinner to find answers to their questions.
"Are you sure we're searching on the right place, hyung?" Min whimpered as he opened each of the books in front of him.
"Just keep on looking. We'll find something, eventually," Eun said, doing the same thing.
"And what the hell are we even searching for anyway?"
"There could be old photo albums in here. I mean—all mansions have them in their libraries... at least that's what I've watched in suspense movies."
Min stopped and looked at him, grimacing. "So you were saying, you really don't have any idea what we were looking for?"
"How should I put this..." Eun grinned. "I was only playing around with my hunches."
Min rolled his eyes. "You wasted my time, hyung! I should have gone to work-outs with Seiji by now."
"Oh, hey! You're the one who opened this confusion on me so you should help me solve this."
Min pooched his lips. "Fine..." he snarled. "One hour. After that, we'll leave."
"Fine with me then," Eun agreed through thinned lips and they continued searching for clues.
"I didn't know books interests you, hyung."
"Goodness heavens!" Eun gasped when Seiji suddenly appeared behind him.
"Aish! You startled me, Seiji-ah!" He whined as he placed the book he was holding back on the rack. "What are you doing here?"
"Ahh~" Seiji spaced out for a moment and looked at Min who's already grinning behind his little hyung.
He sure loves teasing people around. Seiji batted his eyes and looked back at Eun.
"Nah! Was just only passing by when I saw you, guys, inside here so I, you know, decided to barge in?"
"O-oh, okay," Eun said in a low voice, trying his best not to have any eye contact with Seiji.
Min seem to feel the awkwardness between the two so he decided to join the conversation.
"Yo~this book is so cool!" He vexed with a wild smile as he was waving the book to them and placed it down.
He scooted near his hyung and tagged him towards the exit. "Thank you for accompanying me, hyung," he then looked back at Seiji. "Let's go, Seiji-ah!"
Seiji nodded and followed them right away.
"Yah! Why did you do that?" Eun whispered, secretly pinching Min's arm.
"Shhh... I found something," he placed a finger across his lips.
Seiji was only following them. He looked calm of what's happening around but deep inside his thoughts, a lot of things were bothering him.
"All ten members? COMPLETE!" Yi marked as soon as he's done counting his members.
"You should always do this Yi oppa," Shane chuckled from the entrance of her room. She was only leaning on her door frame with her unusual smile. She seem to be at peace right now.
"Hmm… I hate to bring this up in a middle of a good aura but can I ask if there's any progress about Sunho hyung's case, manager-nim?" Zen asked out of nowhere which brushed Shane's smile away.
Zen is the most sincere member in the group which can't make anyone hate him for his sudden question. Besides, all of them looks like they want to know as well.
Shane drew a sigh shaking her head. "But I'm doing my best to find him and put an end to all of these fears," she turned towards Eun and Seiji which took the two aback.
Grins were plastered on the members' faces again which the manager didn't give any heck.
"Never mind. Good night," that was the only thing she said before she turned to her heels and closed the door of her room.
"Lol! What was that?" Yi tittered.
"Let her be, hyung. She might be really exhausted. She barely eats nor rests," Ten moaned. "I wish I can help her."
The boys slept early than usual to have a beauty rest for the ball the next day. Well, except for the guy right around the corner who kept on tossing and turning, knowing he's living together with all the mysteries that keeps on bugging him.
Eun looked at Chan who was sleeping beside him and Min who was on his other side. They aren't on REM yet so they might wake up if he moves.
"I'm going to the toilet," he whispered and slowly stood up, careful enough not to startle anyone and sneaked all his way out.
He was wearing his pajamas and a pair of cotton socks which made him feel uneasy to walk so he had to remove them. The corridor is dark yet he didn't find it scary since he knew numbers of guards were guarding the whole place. He can just scream for help if someone attacks him, he thought.
He always had the hunch that he'll find something in the library so he went back there and luckily, the lights were turned on.
He immediately run his way towards the book rack and pulled one book after another.
"No! No! No and no!" He hissed as he turned at every page but still, he found nothing. "Min told me he put it back here! It should be right here—ai kkamchagya!" He yelped when he accidentally nodged the book rack with his foot and it moved back. "Oh, great! Now I broke something."
Eun immediately knelt down to fix what he thought he broke but instead of fixing it, he only ended up pressing it deeper.
"Oh, no! No! No no no!" He was taken aback when the ground slowly parted and froze at one pace when he saw a staircase leading down towards nowhere.
"Holy mother of nature!" He muttered as soon as he got a closer look of the stairs. He knew he had unlocked one part of the mystery, so he wasted no time and immediately went down.
The stairs closed by itself as soon as he entered in but the voice, which came from nowhere, comforted him from the thought of being trapped inside. The place only looks like an ordinary underground with nothing inside but white bricks until a small speaker and a button, with ⬆️ sign, popped right beside him.
"Must be the exit button," he muttered. "That is just so cool."
"Welcome, Scarlevounoir code L-1485," a voice of a woman bot welcomed. "Please confirm voice verification."
"Oh, great," Eun grimaced in hesistation yet scooted near the speaker and whispered. "Hi. I'm Eunji Byun. Nice to meet you."
"Voice verification failed. Please try again," it said.
"Ahh~Eun the cutest EcZo member?"
"Voice verification failed. Please try again."
"Scarlevounoir?"
"Voice verification failed. Three attempts did not match. Prepare to be terminated in 10 seconds."
"WHAT THE WHAT?!" Eun almost lost consciousness upon hearing those words. "WHAT THE HECK IS THE TERMINATION FOR?!"
"10"
"Oh, goodness! Help!" He screamed and continuously pressed the arrow button but it's not working aymore.
"9"
"AHHH! HELP!"
"8"
"Oh! Where's that voice!" He nervously screamed as he searched something on his phone.
"7"
"6"
"5"
"4"
"3"
"2"
"THERE YOU ARE!" He winced and immediately tapped the recorded audio.
"Hi. I'm Shane Irie and I'm going to be your manager's manager."
"Voice confirmation, verified. Termination aborted."
Eun fell down the ground out of exhaustion by the thought that he almost died. Cold sweats ran from his forehead down to his cheeks. He could feel his entire body shaking.
"I'm so not doing this ever again!"
"Welcome back, Eris Scarlevounoir."
The white-bricked wall in front of him has been divided into two and a blinding light stroke Eun from the other side.
"Holy… mother of titans!" He gasped as soon as he put his vision straight to what's in front of him.
It's a secret room full of lethal weapons.
He carefully stood up and walked inside with parted lips as he was eyeing those different kinds of guns that were being displayed on the left side of the room. Beside those are different kinds of daggers, shuriken, kunai, and even poisoned needles.
There were also bullet-proofed gears and black leathered clothing that were usually seen in action movies and a black motorcycle.
"Where in heavens am I?" He gasped. "I might cry!"
At the end of the room was a white cabinet. Eun didn't waver and opened it and to his contentment, he saw tons of cassettes, a CD, and a photo album that will probably answer all his questions. Everything was inside a plastic box.
He took all of them and was about to leave when he saw another box on the backmost part of the cabinet.
"My greatest fears," Eun read the note stuck beside the box. Out of curiousity, he also took it along with the other stuffs he stole and crept out the room.
Eun sneaked towards the movie room and played the CD which has a note written on it, but it's in a language he doesn't understand, so he paid attention to what's inside instead. Everything started in a black screen until a voice of a man was heard.
"We have left nothing but ourselves," after the scary introduction, a woman, carrying a dagger popped on the screen.
The video quality is so poor but the voices are so clear that even if you'll just listen, you'll understand. Eun felt nauseous yet he chose to continue to understand everything.
"Look closely, Eris! This is what we are. They made us like this."
The camera focused the little girl who was standing behind a woman.
"No! No! NOOOO! UGH!"
Eun closed his eyes as the voice of the man echoed inside the room he was in. The woman continued stabbing the guy who has been tied in a chair until he died.
Different scenes were shown, Shane killing tons of men in one sniper shot, dagger attack, and even from a hand to hand combat. She's so good that she can kill anyone in one blow even at a very young age.
She seems to be enjoying everything! She's a blood-thirsty demon until the scene went blur and one voice can only be heard.
"I mean it! I'm quitting," Shane's cold voice kept Eun stiff on his seat.
"But you won't survive out there. You might only kill them," another woman's voice argued.
"I can't kill the person I love. I'm sorry but I have to leave. I know now who I should protect and it's them," smile crept on Eun's lips as he glanced at the box a while ago. "I'm gonna be a new person from now on not just for the better but for him. I have to go."
The screen went black again and everything went quiet. Eun played the cassette next and decided to look at the photo album while listening.
"Ahh~this is my first time to sing so—please bear with me."
Eun's brows raised skywards when Shane started singing.
"She can sing?!"
"We were both young when I first saw you. I closed my eyes and the flashback starts. I'm standing there… in the balcony is summer air~"
Eun was smiling as he look at Shane's pictures from her childhood days up to the age she's currently in.
"Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone. I'll keep waitin' all there's left to do is run. You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess. It's a love story. Baby just say, yes!"
What more which made him happier is his photo stuck on the last page of the album. Baekhyun immediately took the other box and opened it. Inside was a paper folded into fourths which he immediately read.
"My greatest fear is to loss this guy. I'm afraid that if he left, I might never see the light and end up being alone in the dark once again."
Baekhyun held the letter tight.
* * *
"Whether you're Shane or Eris, it doesn't matter, I don't care! I will always be with you," he clenched his fists as he pulled Shane for a tight hug. "I will never leave your side from now on."