Warning. That's all I'm saying.
Jaebum convinced Hoshi to drive to his house after a rather relieved reunion of Bambam and Hoshi, Mark holding onto the baseball bat from before. The black paint on it had dried, like most of the objects that were in the house.
There were a lot of things that Mark couldn't understand.
The first was why Jaebum had destroyed the note that Youngjae had left behind on the wall before they left as the police sirens were getting closer.
The second was the reason that Youngjae had trashed the house of the youngers and at the same time, drugged Jackson. They'd all been friends for years, for so long it felt like they had outlived everyone else.
The third was why Mr. Wang insisted on using someone else to get to Jackson and Jinyoung. Jaebum was an easy target, as much as Mark hated to say it, because of his father. He had also become a very important target because he was the "leader" of the group of friends, Jackson would listen to him, Jinyoung even more.
Why target Youngjae?
They pulled up to Jaebum's apartment complex and Hoshi and Dino decided that they would wait in the car, not really wanting anything to do with anything Jaebum was doing at this point.
Jaebum said hello to the receptionist at the desk, the woman smiling at him before going back to typing.
"You live in a nice place," Bambam commented, seeing even the receptionist looking beautiful while she typed away on the computer. He tripped and Yugyeom grabbed his hood on his hoodie, looking up at the roof as the elder realized what he said.
Jaebum chuckled and they got into the elevator as he explained, "The top floors are penthouses owned by really rich people so they insisted that there was a receptionist so that they wouldn't have to deal with people just wandering around."
Mark nodded and asked, "So do you live here alone?"
Jaebum shook his head and replied, "My father lives here too, but since he's in the hospital still, I am living alone."
The elevator opened and the leader guided them down the hallway, the two youngest boys playing around with each other and making weird faces at the other's face.
"My apartment is right down this hallway--"
The dark-haired boy was cut off when he spotted an extraordinarily drunk Youngjae slumped in front of his door, broken bottles on the ground all around him. Jaebum hurried over to the boy, despite the warnings from Mark, and shook Youngjae slightly as he knelt next to him.
He whispered quietly in his ear and waited for the boy to react.
"He's dead drunk," Bambam spoke with awe. It took a lot for Youngjae to get wasted, much less drunk to the point where he passed out. They had never seen this happen before.
Yugyeom counted at least twenty broken bottles and ten more intact but still drained of any poisonous alcohol.
Jaebum felt worry rise in his throat like bile when the younger didn't move, not even a twitch. He shifted to kneel in front of Youngjae, putting both hands on the sides of the younger's face...his oddly cold face.
His heart plummeted when he felt blood and vomit threatened to burn his throat.
"Youngjae," Jaebum started to panic, lifting Youngjae's heavy head up to look at him, "Youngjae, look at me!"
Two dead, glassy eyes stared back at him, his soft bangs piercing the gaze of the pain-streaked brown orbs.
Mark could see the horror scream onto Jaebum's face at breakneck speed and he quickly stood in front of Yugyeom and Bambam, sensing what the leader must be seeing.
