CHAPTER 198: CHAPTER 197. ALICES IN THE RABBIT HOLE

Andrew widened his eyes, once again feeling like his heart was shoved into his stomach.

The police? What the fuck did this senior mean by the police? He wasn’t told anything about any bust! He thought he was only to record Jasper and then get out of there...normally.

"W-what do you mean, Senior?" Andrew clutched Noah’s sleeve, so panicked that he couldn’t think about being rude or whatever. "Why didn’t you tell me about this?"

"Because you’re not an actor yet," Noah smiled and took his sunglasses off and placing them on Andrew’s hand while standing up. "We need to go."

He glanced at the movement of the staff members, consisting of half scammers and half gangsters. Some of them were still serving the half-sober clients, but the rest were looking agitated, glancing toward the entrance. The host manager was nowhere to be seen, and the guards were walking around busily as if they were preparing for something.

Naturally, they would have already seen the vans of the police forces and the prosecutor’s office entering the front lawn of the hotel. The ambitious prosecutor was probably already entering the fake party hall with the advance force, and the front manager was trying to contain them while the host manager was trying to decide what they should do with the real party.

This was the thing when they had already gotten too used to being protected by the local authorities; they thought even if a bust happened, they would get a heads up.

Too bad, not this time.

What would they do with all these clients when half of them were only half-sober, and some were already becoming permanent residents of their mind’s paradise? Would there be enough time to get everyone to the exit or into the hotel rooms, pretending to be asleep?

No matter what, no one would be able to escape tonight, so Noah and Andre had to make their own.

In confusion, Andrew watched Noah grab the drink on the table and drank--no, pretending to drink while pouring the contents in front of his shirt. In the next second, he cursed out loud while glaring at Andrew and angrily threw the glass to the floor until it shattered.

Andrew, who was just getting cursed at out of nowhere, froze in place with a pale face and shaking hands as a staff member approached them. There might be a distraction out there, but that was why the staff members were watching the guests even more closely.

"Is something the matter, Sir?"

"Get out of my way!" Noah barked, wobbling slightly while grabbing his sunglasses from the frozen Andrew’s hands, shouting angrily at the poor idol. "You useless fool!"

He tottered past the confused staff member, who was shifting his gaze toward the scared idol. "Excuse me, are you alright?"

As if being electrocuted, Andrew flinched and snapped from his fright. Ignoring the staff member, he rushed over to chase after Noah. "S-senior!"

The staff member turned on his heels and chased Noah too--they couldn’t afford a rogue guest when it was already chaos outside, after all. "Are you leaving, Sir?"

"Restroom," Noah grumbled with bated breath, reddened eyes behind his sloppy sunglasses as he looked around groggily. "Where’s the--fuck--where’s--"

The staff member carefully gestured in a direction. "T-that way, Sir..."

"I-I’ll help you, Senior!"

Andrew hurriedly held onto a tilting Noah, trying hard to support the bigger man. They started to walk again, but a commotion suddenly broke out at the door, which made Andrew gasp and the staff member flinch.

As if he couldn’t sense anything else, however, Noah snapped at Andrew. "H-hurry up! I’m gonna--"

"Y-yes!"

Leaving the staff member who got fixated on his earphones, Andrew and Noah walked hurriedly--as fast as they could while wobbling. Once they turned into a corner where the eyes of the staff members no longer followed them, Noah straightened his back and fixed his sunglasses, activating the mini map.

He grabbed Andres’s wrist and pulled him to another path. "This way."

Instead of the restroom, they went deeper to a more secluded place, which not even staff members used. Based on Sol’s team’s investigation, this section was cleared up as an emergency exit for the group, a different one from the one guests should use. If it were impossible to get the guests to flee, they would escape by themselves while destroying evidence.

For all Noah knew, however, members of rival gangs were already situated inside the hotels as guests or new employees, to make sure this group couldn’t do it. Once they realized it, they would try to escape through this secret exit, so Noah and Andrew had to use it before they could.

It would be better if he could bar the exit afterward, but...escape first!

"This is it," Noah stopped in front of an emergency stairs, but went to the side instead of climbing them. There was a door with a ’cleaning supply’ sign on it, but there was no cleaning supply inside--except for a single mop.

So much for a supply.

"Go inside," Noah said while pushing Andrew, who had no choice but to clasp his mouth to prevent any scream.

He definitely didn’t sign for any of this!

Closing the door, Noah used the single mop to bar the closet door from anyone who would try to escape through this path. Narrowing his eyes to the minimap on his night-vision sunglasses, he grabbed his partner’s wrist again and ran through a hidden corridor.

Andrew was grateful that Noah kept on dragging his arm because he would be too bewildered to follow the man otherwise. Why did it feel like they were in an action movie? With this kind of flow, wouldn’t there be someone guarding this kind of path--

"Who goes there?!"

A glare from a flashlight assaulted their sight, and Noah halted his steps. Andrew clutched the older’s back and cursed his own mind.

Was this a jinx or something?

"S-senior! What should we do?" he whispered with trembling lips.

Noah straightened his back and took a deep breath. "You! Hey, you!"

Again, Andrew could only look at Noah with confusion. "S-senior?!"

The flashlight made a circling motion and they could see two people on the path, walking toward them. "Who are these people?"

"It’s a mess back there, we need to get out! Where’s the exit?" Noah asked urgently while walking forward without any hesitation.

The guard who held the flashlight tilted his head. "What?"

The answer came immediately from the other guard who was holding a radio communication to his ear. "Shit, hyungnim--there’s a bust!"

"What?!"

Noah didn’t waste his chance, adding in agitation. "That’s what I’m talking about! I need to get out of here!"

The guard flinched at his commanding tone and immediately made way. "Right, just go straight from here," they said, like a good guide.

"Hmph! Can’t you be even slower?"

Noah stomped his way past the guard, shoving Andrew in front of him--who was still in a daze and disbelief that it actually worked. The guards weren’t new to haughty clients, so they just rolled their eyes while walking toward the entrance--the door on the stairs.

"What the fuck is wrong with these people?" the one with the flashlight grumbled.

"Wait," the radio guy stopped. "How do they know this path? Only our members know it. Clients should be directed to the regular emergency exit."

"Huh? So, what--"

"Catch them!" the radio guy turned around. "Bae Hyungnim said they might be a mole that caused this bust!"

"What?! Son of a bitch!"

The sound of the guards’ footsteps and their shouts was loud enough for Andrew and Noah to hear. "Oh, I thought it’d work," Noah chuckled, even though Andrew was almost shrieking in panic. It only took a few seconds for the light of the flashlight to reach them again. "Damn, they’re quick."

"Oh, no!"

Noah stopped and turned around, telling Andrew to step away from him before raising one of his arms in front of his face while unbuckling his belt with the other. Naturally, it only made Andrew even more anxious. "W-what are you doing, Senior?"

Noah smiled. "Wanna know a secret, junior?"

"What is this prick do--"

Before the guard could finish his words, something flew toward him in a flash, slapping his wrist and throwing the flashlight out of his hand. A sinister cracking sound filled the darkness, reminding them of their father’s punishment in the past. Flinching in unfortunate reflex, the guards were too late to realize a kick and a backhand targeting their solar plexus and temple by the only person who could see inside that tunnel.

Before they knew it, they were already on the floor, groaning and slipping out of consciousness. Andrew blinked within the silence, trying to figure out what had happened from the light rolling on the floor. Suddenly, a hand pulled him up and back to the path, and he could hear a familiar voice.

"I never use a stuntman," Noah said, sounding rightly smug.

Andrew gulped, barely digesting what had happened as he continued to run along the path and arrived in front of a wall. A door, to be exact. Noah pushed it open and they were greeted by the dim lights of a basement parking lot.

"Hyungnim, you’re already--who the fuck are you?"

Unfortunately for them, there were other guards--looking more like gangsters this time--near the door. They were leaning against a car before, smoking, when the door of the emergency exit opened and two strangers came out instead of their leader.

"Fuck? Who the fuck are you cursing at?" Noah lashed out once again. "Can’t you see I’m a guest?! I need to get out of here before those police get us!"

Bewilderingly, it worked again. "Oh, r-right," the gangsters straightened their backs and cleared their throats. "Where is your car, Sir? We’ll--"

"Don’t let them get away!" a heavy shout came from the path, echoing with a groan. "These people are sus!"

Or not.

Noah threw his hands. "Ah, fuck."

He should have hit them harder.

"Stop there! Move and you’re dead, you bastard!" one of the guards took a one-eighty and fished out something from his back, pointing it at the lost guests.

A gun.

"Ah, double fuck."