Bad Enough For You | Minsung

thirteen

Chapter 13 - Upside Down

    Donghyuck woke up about an hour later. When he finally came to, he jumped up fearfully with his fists out. Minho slowly approached him with his hands raised until the scared boy realized where he was and settled down. Jisung stood back and watched, too afraid to get involved deeper.

    "What happened again?" Donghyuck asked, rubbing his head as if it was hurting.

    "You were attacked in the street by some group. Do you have any idea who they were?" Minho said softly, taking a seat on the corner of the couch.

    Donghyuck looked at Minho with wide eyes and a trembling lip. "I don't know them personally, but I know they're with a rival gang."

    "They said you went against their wishes and told something to your members," Minho explained, but Donghyuck didn't speak a word and stared down at the ground instead. "C'mon, I'm just trying to help but I can't help if I don't know what's going on. You know I'm not here to judge you, your brother wouldn't want that."

    Donghyuck sighed in defeat and wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "Fine. One of their members started a fight with Jungwoo and hurt him pretty badly, but he dropped his phone in the fight. So we sold it to a second hand store for some extra money."

    Jisung couldn't help but breathe a tiny sigh of relief at the blonde's words. Based on what he heard from the rival gang, it sounded like he had done something much worse.

    Minho's eyebrows furrowed. "What were they threatening you with, then? Surely they're not going to kill you because you stole a phone."

    "They weren't threatening to kill me, they're going to break into my house and take enough stuff to make back the money."

    "Holy shit," Jisung muttered. "That seems a little drastic, I doubt they'd actually go through with it."

    "They would," Minho stated solemnly. "It seems petty but they're trying to make a statement and teach him a lesson. I've seen it happen in the past." He looked back at Donghyuck. "Do you have the receipt from when you sold the phone?"

    Donghyuck shook his head sadly. "And it's not like I can just buy back the phone because they're going to sell it for like five times the price."

    "I have an idea," Jisung stated. "I'm good at persuasion. Let me talk to the shop owner."

    Donghyuck scoffed loudly, clearly not having much confidence in the brunette. Jisung didn't let it get to him because he was confident in his own skills and knew he could do it.

    "Wait, he's right," Minho said with a flare of hope in his eyes. "Jisung is very convincing. It's worth a shot."

    They sat there for a few seconds, considering the idea. Deciding there was nothing to lose, they set off to the second hand shop.

*･ﾟﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*ﾟ:*:✼✿

    "Ready?" Jisung asked Donghyuck once they finished waiting for the store to open.

    "It's not going to work," the blonde grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest to warm himself from the chilly fall weather.

    "Sure, buddy," Jisung said. He took a moment to glance back at Minho who was waiting in his car. He gave the younger a thumbs up, and with that, they entered the store.

    Jisung and Donghyuck strolled in and made their way towards the front desk. A middle-aged balding man sat behind the counter while reading a newspaper. Jisung took deep breaths in order to make himself relax. He could do this, he knew he could.

    "Good morning, sir. Are you the owner?"

    The man looked up with a blank expression and nodded briefly before looking back to his newspaper.

    Jisung cleared his throat to get the man's attention again. "My friend here sold you a phone a few days ago, but it turns out he left some important information on the phone. We were wondering if it would be possible to get it back."

    "Do you have the money?"

    "Yes, we do," Jisung said as Donghyuck held up the cash.

    "Do you have the receipt?"

    "You see, he lost the-" Jisung started.

    "No receipt, no transaction," the man stated firmly.

    "I understand that," Jisung said calmly. He prepared to spit out a big lie, praying that the man would buy into it. "The thing is, my friend and I are just starting a business. That phone has the contact and purchase order information from all his clients on it. If it gets in the wrong hands, just think of what will happen."

    The man's attention seemed to be captured at the mention of the business, which was exactly what Jisung was trying to accomplish. He didn't like to lie, but the situation was dire. He had to give the man something to relate to- the struggles of owning a business.

    "Hm, what is your business?"

    "We uh... sell old records," Jisung said after his gaze landed on the record player sitting behind the counter. "We buy them at flea markets and then sell them on our website so music lovers can find old records from their golden days."

    The mans face was blank for a moment, when suddenly a soft smile played at his lips. "That sounds like a lovely business. I'm a huge fan of old records, they remind me of my teenage years." He pondered for a moment while Jisung held his breath. "I'd hate for something to happen to your business... I'll tell you what. Just this one time, I'll make an exception."

"For real?" Jisung said in the most excited tone he could muster up. "Gosh, thank you so much."

The man disappeared into the back room for a short while. When he returned, he handed the phone to Donghyuck in exchange for the cash. After wishing them good luck with their business, the two boys exited the store and ran to Minho's car. Jisung felt sickly guilty for what he had done, but he knew it was better than sitting back while Donghyuck's house was robbed.

Minho smiled when he saw Donghyuck waving the phone in the air.

"I knew it, I absolutely knew it," Minho said, smiling at Jisung. "Donghyuck, I'll drop you off at home and then Jisung and I will head to school," he said while the two boys buckled into their seats.

"Wait, how do you guys know each other anyway?" Donghyuck asked after they began to drive.

"Oh... uh..." Minho stammered. "We both teach calculus."

"Ew, math," Donghyuck gagged, earning laughter from Minho.

next chapter is ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) hope y'all are ready.

sorry this one was kinda boring lol I'll try to update tomorrow!