All the while, the security guards had blocked them off once again. Behind them, they were frantically pulling down the thick barricade shutter that was used during fires. However, the crowd was already surrounding the building in thick layers.

“In any case, we better talk about what we should do. It’s not like we can shoot all of those people,” Mark said worriedly. He turned to Josh and instructed, “Go to the back. I’m going to stay here and watch the situation unfold a little more.”

“Yessir,” Josh replied before quickly moving along. He could almost faintly hear the people’s cheers—which were more like howls at this point—from outside the building.

Act 8

The meeting room was silent. Nobody dared to open their mouths. Chase, who had been brought to the meeting room after everything was done on his end, hadn’t said a single word while he was being updated on the current situation. All he did was stay in his seat with a straight face.

“So,” Chase finally opened his mouth after the manager had finished telling him everything and there had been a long and heavy silence. “We can’t go back?”

“No,” the manager began cautiously as if to read the atmosphere. “The head of the security team is currently searching for a way. It seems like it would be difficult to get in the car and go back like the way we came. The building is completely surrounded…”

The manager’s voice gradually died down. Chase didn’t say anything. His face remained as expressionless as a doll.

Everyone was anxiously glancing at each other when Chase suddenly moved. All he did was stretch his hand out to the manager, but everyone who had been watching him at that moment all held their breaths together. Was he going to hit the manager? With the same exact thought in mind, everyone tensed up. Just then, the manager hurriedly pulled out a black metal case from their pocket.

Cigarettes.

Sighs of relief arose from all over the room as the tension eased. Chase silently lodged the cigarette between his lips and lit it ablaze. As he exhaled the smoke deeply, everyone nervously waited for Mark to arrive.

“Mr. Miller, would you like anything to drink?” asked the secretary, who had just been glancing at him until then.

However, what returned was Chase’s cynical sneer. “What kind of trash are you planning to make me drink?”

“…I’m sorry.” The secretary quickly stepped back. Silence settled into the room once again. 

Josh truly felt as if he were suffocating. To be with Chase Miller in a small, enclosed space like this—the scent of the pheromones that constantly poured out of him was driving Josh insane, and the tension added on top of it was killing him.

‘Should I just say that I need to use the bathroom?’ contemplated Josh, cautiously glancing toward Chase. Without warning, their eyes met. Josh froze in shock.

He quickly realized that Chase could have been staring at him all this time. Of course, it must be a delusion. Strangely enough, however, he didn’t look away.

Josh didn’t know what to do about the persistent gaze that continued to stay fixed on him. Chase’s obstinate stare almost felt as if he were waiting for their eyes to meet.

Josh gulped. The sound of his saliva rolling down his throat felt abnormally loud. Chase was still staring at him and his Adam’s apple that bobbed wildly up and down. At that moment, Josh felt the nerves throughout his entire body sharpen, pricking on his skin, wanting to stab through.

Just then, a knock sounded on the door, and Mark walked in. Josh finally felt the tension in his nerves relax. He sighed in relief, but Mark’s expression didn’t seem all too good.

“The barricade has fallen,” announced Mark.

Henry let out a painful groan. Chase finally took his eyes off Josh, but he still remained unresponsive.

Mark continued, “It seems impossible to move right now. The police are in the process of dismissing the crowd, so if we wait a little bit—”

“How long?” Chase’s indifferent voice cut off Mark’s sentence. Mark hesitated. Chase waited for a few seconds before asking again, “How long do I have to wait?”

“I’m not sure,” Mark blinked, looking disconcerted. “At least three to four hours—”

“Hahh,” Chase let out a short sigh. At the same time, everyone shut their mouths. He creased his brow without a word. The faint scent of his pheromones slowly became stronger. He was irritated. It was getting very difficult to bear for Josh. 

“Um…” Seth quickly began, a beat earlier than Josh. Josh had missed the timing to speak.

“Do you have an idea?” Isaac urged on.

“The route that we planned out has no problem, right? We just need a way to get there somehow.”

“Getting there is the problem, dumba*s,” spat Henry, as if he had been waiting for it. Isaac glared at him in annoyance—as rare as it was for him to get annoyed—but soon turned away his gaze. 

It happened all the time, so Josh casually pat Isaac on the back and intervened, “So… Mark?”

Once everyone had settled down again, Mark continued, “The police are trying to dismiss the crowd, but it’s not easy. They think it would be the fastest for us to get out of here first.”

“But is there a way for us to get out?” asked Seth.

Mark glanced toward the door, and the team members followed him outside. Josh could finally breathe freely. Only after they huddled into a circle in the hallway did Mark gravely continue, “How about one of us act as bait?”

“Ugh, no—” Henry was about to shoot down the idea right away, but when everybody glared at him at once, he immediately shut his mouth.

Mark explained, “It may be a cliché, but it’s a cliché because it works. Here, we add another trap. The first wave will be bait, and then we’ll send out the second wave right away.”

“But the real thing will be—”

“The third wave, yes,” Mark nodded. “The first and second waves will drive away in different directions. Then, the crowd of fans will also split into two groups. They’d expect one of the two to be bait, but they wouldn’t guess that both of them are bait. Once things calm down a little, we take C and get out of here. Got it?”