❝ BUT MONSTER LIVES FOREVER ❞
No one welcomed ever visited the Lee Manor, so when the doorbell went off, Taeyong took his own sweet time striding to get the door.
Contrary to popular belief, not all rich people had servants, butlers and chauffeurs. Well, it's not that Taeyong's family couldn't afford it, they could afford buying down half of Korea if they really wanted to, really, it's more of a they didn't want to. The ruling Lee family had serious trust issues and even more serious personal issues. Issues which should never be brought to light, nor anyone else's attention for the whole family's sake. Not that there were a great deal many family members left, actually.
Through the surveillance screens by the door, he noted the uniform the man was in before he allowed access through the gate. Pistol tucked securedly at his waistband under his favourite oversized hoodie, he nitpicked at his appearance before stepping out to greet the police officer.
Growing up, he'd learned the importance of image. Even if you were the dumb and good-for-nothing, people would still treat you nicely if you looked good and had good manners. That was how he had survived the turbulence of his childhood. Deemed stupid, deemed just a pretty face, he was overlooked and disregarded as any form of competition or threat. No one bothered him, no one set up ambushes for him, no one whipped him dead, which was great honestly. He enjoyed living this meaningless, unexpectedly dangerous and miserable life. He liked poking sleeping bears in the eye and running hard and fast for his life. He liked the short stolen moments of happiness and the aimless daily notions. He liked feeling the rush of excitement and race of his heart. It gave him satisfaction in ways he could probably not feel when he was well, dead.
"Hello," the police man waved a sweaty hand at him, stepping into the porch. "Are you Lee Sunmi's ward?"
Ward was a strange term to call someone who was actually her brother, but Taeyong had gotten used to this. His sister was technically his guardian anyway. Not factually incorrect.
The Lee boy cocked his head. "Yes, I am."
There was sympathy in the older man's eyes that irked Taeyong to no end. "Do you have any relatives living in the city, kid?"
Kid. The beautiful boy nearly laughed aloud at that. This kid had probably killed more men than your whole department, darling.
Taeyong lifted a shoulder up and back down fluidly, a motion so quick the policeman nearly missed it. "Plenty, I believe."
"You should contact one of them. I don't think your guardian would be returning so s-"
Amusement slid over his face like a curtain over windows. His eyes darkened devilishly and his lips curved. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself, good sir," he mused, highly entertained. "And as for my guardian," he crossed his arms, head still inclined, smiling a grin that sent shivers down the spine of the older man. There was just something about that smile that was unsettling and mocking in subtle unexplainable ways. "Don't worry yourself silly, she'll return home in no time."
..
"You're done?" Yangyang looked up at me, dumbfounded. "You actually found someone to deliver them?"
I threw up a peace sign, "Who do you take me to be?"
We were currently bumming about at the House of Liu. Okay, maybe not we, just me. Yangyang was up and about serving the customers, stopping about once in a while to chat with me in hushed tones.
His grandmother gave him a narrow-eyed glare when she deemed he had been staying next to me for a little too long and he automatically shrank back, moving about to take more orders.
The old woman had gotten used to my presence around her precious grandson, but it didn't necessarily mean that she was exactly on good terms with me. She just... no longer looked at me like I was the dirt under her shoe. Huge improvement, I'd say. Something worth a gold star at the very least?
"By the way," Yangyang popped back when his grandmother retreated into the kitchens. "Yanjun and Tzuyu are going to visit Renjun some time this week, wanna join?"
"You gotta be more specific on exactly when this some time is, mate."
A customer raised his hand and the boy scurried over. The House of Liu was ridiculously short-staffed some days and one of which was today. It wasn't as if there wasn't anyone applying for the job, there were plenty, I'm sure. Everytime I visit I hear at least one person asking if the Tea House was hiring. I had a faint idea it had something to do with Yangyang's visuals, but hey.
"I don't think it's tomorrow, maybe the day after," he was scribbling something on his notepad, stopping beside me for the slightest second before moving into the kitchen to hand his grandmother the new set of orders. "Or maybe the day after that. They've merely indicated their interest to pay him visit."
"Nice. That was totally not vague, no ambiguity at all, nope."
He was far gone by the time I finished my sentence and I sighed.
Guess I'll just text him about this later.
..
Daniel may not be valedictorian of his class, but that PhD he had in Computer Science and IT? Yeah, he earned it through hardwork. He knew exactly what he was doing and so did the group of people around him.
The fervent clicking of plastic keyboard keys and draws of deep, laboured breaths echoing about the room reminded him of University exams all over again and it sure did not bring back good memories. College was basically.... stress, stress and more stress. He literally didn't even have the time to contemplate life with the amount of assignments and new shit thrown at him every week.
At the end of the day, however, he was still glad his majored in IT. It was an easy First-Class with honours for him because he had a strong background- all thanks to La Blance Demoiselle's no chill training- and a semi-strong interest in what he was studying. It wasn't only for the great pay a PhD holder was promised that he furthered his studies, he swore.
He sucked on his teeth and pushed his sleeves up just beneath the bend of his elbows, flexing his fingers. Raising his eyes back to the half-typed code and the blinking cursor point beside the final alphabet, he internally sighed and mentally prepared himself for a long night.
..
Reputation was a funny thing in Sicheng's opinion.
It was just some random widespread belief everyone bought with little to no form of actual confirmation, and the very idea was amusing to him, to say the very least. No one actually knew him well enough to draw an actual conclusion on him so they just made him up to be some super villian straight out of a fantasy book. He wasn't half as intelligent as people fable him to be, really, he was just incredibly perceptive and suspicious. Almost an extreme of both, to some extend, and he loved to create destructive and unpredictable scenarios in his head. It helped the stimulation of his mind and sharpened the reactivity of his senses in times of danger.
The tip of his nail landed on the polished table surface for the nth time as his underboss Jimin, who was currently sitting across him, digested the information he had just received.
"That's," the Park boy begun slowly. "Really risky. The Gwangjin-gu base may not be their home base, but it doesn't fall that far in terms of security, I hear. So how are we getting in and out untouched? Is Guanlin gonna back us up on the back end?"
There was something in the responding gaze Sicheng gave him that made Jimin look away, wishing he could take back what he'd just said.
"Getting attached, Chim?" the Dong boy cocked his head, a tinge of amusement lacing his voice. There was nothing mirthful on his sweet, angelic face, however. "Careful there."
The Park boy was dead loyal, he was sure, but Sicheng never had the habit of sharing any sort of information to anyone who would not be of use to the situation. Guanlin's current... position was interesting, but letting Jimin know would only ruin the bigger things set to run since the poor boy really can't act to save his life.
Jimin swallowed, "No. I was just asking. We should make full use of what we have, afterall."
There was a sort of wry, unreadable underlying emotion behind Sicheng's cold smile now. "The trump card is never pulled too early."
❝That is a step on which I must fall down, or else overleap, for in my way it lies.❞
- William Shakespeare, Macbeth
...
Taeyong had expected a response from Yilin, hence he wasn't exactly surprised to receive a parcel he clearly did not order. But he was currently receiving two from two different people, which was genuinely puzzling now.
"Thank you," he said in bewilderment, accepting both boxes. Wasn't it too overkill to be sending out two different parcels from two different companies? Exactly how much budget was Wang Yilin working with? He signed both the papers shoved in his face quickly and kicked the gate shut, weighing the boxes in his hands. The one on his left hand felt at least two to three times heavier than the one on his right. The right one felt as heavy as a finger-
His blood went cold. What if it was a finger? And if the right one was a finger, does that mean the left one was another organ? He felt the slight acceleration in his chest, felt the roar of blood in his veins. Pushing his house door open and leaving it to slam shut after him, he raced to get a penknife.
Messily, he scrambled to slide the knife through the hardcore tapings, ripping through the layers of wrapping. Neath the shredded mess, a plastic box withheld a single a still warm heart- clearly freshly ripped from a chest- in the sea of a crimson that smelled God awfully familiar.
It smelled like rust. Like iron.
Blood.
..
"Just passed Jimin on the way up. Why does he look like he's on the literal verge of breaking into tears?" I inquired when I stepped into Sicheng's ward, sliding the door shut behind me. "What did you tell him? That his hair is not on fleek today? Well it's true but you could have perhaps phrased it more nicely, y'know."
He rolled his eyes, not very pleased to see me, apparently. "Why are you here again?"
"I'm done with my tasks and all my other friends are busy," I announced. "Minghao's sleeping, Yangyang's working, Tzuyu, Vernon and Yanjun are all in class. Taeyong is no longer my friend and God knows where Guanlin went-" And I don't want to go home. "-So here I am," I finished.
"Glad to know I'm considered a friend, Wang," he said wryly. "Unfortunately for you, however, the good feelings are not reciprocated. I still don't like you."
Understandable, neither do I. "Hurtful, Dong," I remarked. "I thought we'd besties by now. We pulled a whole Lee extermination off together, mate."
"And that ended me here," he gestured about the ward, and then added pettily. "Mate."
If there was anything I learned about Dong Sicheng from our mere interactions, it'd be that he loved having the last say. He liked to win, even if it wasn't about anything particularly big or important. He just liked winning. And to say I'm no different would be unfortunately too correct.
"That was not my fault," I said pointedly, "Blame yourself for being a weakass bitch."
He gave a particularly nasty look. "They were just more skilled than I had expect. It was a calculation error. I am not weak."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Dong."
There was a sort of sobriety and exhaustion in his eyes at that, "If something that minor keeps me up, I'd have a sleep debt of 10 years at the very least."
I understood where he came from a little too well, unfortunately. Guilt was a strange, evil thing. It made you do things you'd never expect yourself to do and it made you feel things you never thought could be so destructive and painful.
Sitting right next to boy who's parents I'd taken mercilessly, I felt it. The crushing, hollowing, gutting feeling of guilt. Maybe that was why I hated him initially. I hated the way he made me feel like I owed him something I cannot repay. I hated the way he didn't even full-heartedly try to take me down. It made me feel so fucking guilty.
"Damn, I hate talking to you," I huffed. "You literally make things so depressing, what the fuck."
"Okay then leave? Bitch. No one even asked you to be here!"
..
La Blance Demoiselle may have been the shittiest mom ever, but she understood the fragility of life and the pain of death.
Before every mission she sent her children on, she'd give them an amulet to wear around their neck. Let the weight remind you that you made a promise to return. Alive. Safe. And for the briefest of moments, faint humanity and maternal concern would slip from the cracks of her cold face.
San touched the crafted piece hung up by the single black string about his neck. This was the amulet she'd given on his final mission. The one she never had the chance to take back. He didn't know whether it really brought him any sort of luck, because although he had been wearing it for years, the amount of good days he has had is still within the countable range of his fingers and toes.
Daniel and Seulgi had similar amulets, slightly different in the fixture, maybe, but still similar enough in the sense that if looked at them from a good distance, you'd think they were all wearing the same or matching necklaces. Gross sibling things, San supposed.
The two were rarely spotted with the amulets, both claiming they didn't believe in that shit, but the Choi boy swore he saw Daniel tying his on before he left the house earlier.
"Nervous?" Seulgi stepped in beside him, loading her gun with ammunition. The girl was the marksmen of the family. Not as proficient as Lee Taeyong, but she was pretty damn close. "Me too. Doesn't feel as solid as our usual missions huh?"
"Yeah, because we'd be done for for real if this goes shit fails," he said, a slight edge to his voice. He tended to get upset when he was anxious, fidgety or just couldn't get something right.
His sister knew him better than to take it personally. "Have some faith," the dark-haired girl mused. "Dong Sicheng may be the biggest liar, cheater and smooth-talker known to mankind, but Kim Soyeon is a woman of her word and Liu Yangyang will miss no opportunity to blow shit up."
"It's not them I'm worried about."
Something in Seulgi's expression changed. "Hold up," she held up a hand. "You're worried Yilin wouldn't hold through?" She threw her head back and let out the biggest guffaw. "Did you see how angry she was towards the Lees? She'll be the last to back out."
Except that was exactly why he was feeling antsy. Knowing the girl, instead of letting go and strategizing before attacking, she was just going to charge head on and take down as many as she could before she meets Death. That was Wang Yilin in a nutshell, stupid and reckless.
"Forget it."
..
Daniel would like to give his utmost sincere thanks to all the marketers out there who made firewalls sound so God damn mighty that the dumbass fools out there think having a firewall meant their data were secured for real and no one would ever be able to hack into their cyberspace, because Lord, his job was made a thousand times easier.
The real advantage of having firewalls is completely dependent on the effectiveness of the implementation of rules and controls on it. Plus, firewalls cannot prevent virus attacks and authentic mechanisms used by hackers like him.
He let out a low whistle when he got into the system, "I'm in."
His fellow hackers made sounds of affirmation, indicating they were in too.
"Very well," Daniel flicked his tongue over his lower lip, small smile adorning his mouth. "Shall we?"
..
Minghao did not go to sleep.
How could he when so many things were happening right now? His head was so muddied by the coming events and plans. His lingering suspicions about everything wasn't helping either.
"Wassup, mate," Vernon emerged into the shadowy alley, cringing at the bloodstained walls about him. "Damn, I thought the name the Slaughter Alley was a joke, looks like I'm the joke instead."
The Chinese boy snorted, "Nothing is ever a joke these days. Things are serious serious."
Vernon hummed his agreement, then glance towards Minghao. "You said you've some to tell me?"
Where to begin? There were so much to say. If Minghao had to go into details, he'd have to write a wholeass book.
"Sicheng and Yilin are allies now," he said finally, deciding to get right to the point.
He was expecting a vehement, violent or panicked reaction, knowing the other boy's hobby of panicking, but Vernon was surprisingly calm about it.
"Oh, I saw that in my Uncle's report," Vernon shrugged, "Was really shocked, nearly broke some of his paperweights by accident, but after a long ass time of processing, I realised it wasn't that impossible. I mean, we been knew. They make a bomb ass team. I've thought about this before. They've just never considered their gathered impact because they were too busy hating each other." He raked a hand through his hair. "But now because of her alliance with Sicheng, making sure she's under the radar is almost impossible. My Clan has vested interests in Sicheng."
Minghao nodded understandingly, "You've done more than enough, I'm beyond thankful."
The mixed boy gave him a pointed look, "Mate, I'm honestly just doing bestie duties, don't take it personally."
The8 cracked a smile, "Yilin is so lucky."
"Right! She's so main character I'm jealous. She literally has it all," Vernon flapped his arms.
The Chinese boy was digging through his bag now, searching for something. "Speaking of everything, I have something for you." He pulled out something that looked suspiciously like a remote control. It was palm sized and thin, small enough to be tucked in the breast pocket of Vernon's blazer and go off undetected. "Well more like Liu Yangyang has something for you, actually."
Vernon eyed the item warily, "I have zero trust in Liu Yangyang after hearing what he did to my Clan in the first war."
Minghao waved the remote control at him, "You're absolutely right not to trust him, he has explosives planted inside your Clan's last base."
Vernon wholeass choked on his saliva, "WHAT?"
"On the bright side, he's passing the control to you," Minghao said cheerfully. "So you can get out of the sticky little situation with your Uncle if he ever finds out your sneaky adventures and get spicy, hot and angry about it."
"You want me to bomb the Headquarters up?" the other boy shrilled. "I- Dude- I- What- What the fuck, no!"
"I'm not saying you have to," Minghao mused. "I'm saying you could." He waved it at Vernon a final time. "If you don't want it, I'm returning it to Yangyang-"
Vernon never leaped for anything any faster.
..
Park Jimin was sitting by himself in one of the House of Kim's many empty benches when I came down from my short and unwelcomed visit to Sicheng's ward, deep in silent thought.
"Why're you still here, mate?" I slid into the empty space a fair distance from him. "Don't you have classes?"
He gave me a pointed look, "I've missed at least a good ¾ of the day, what's the point?"
Mans would fit right in into Gangwon indeed. "Fair enough."
We lapsed into awkward silence.
"How is my sister doing in your school?" he said after a moment.
Oh right. Totally slipped my mind that his sister Park Sana transferred into Gangwon late last year after failing nearly all her subjects and needing to repeat the final academic year.
"I've no idea, mate," I shrugged. "But she should be fine. She's got that Seoul Royale guy by her side, right? Hwang Hyunjin?"
He looked pleasantly surprised I knew that. "Yes, him," he nodded, raking a hand through his hair absently. "The poor guy who's been stuck in bro-zone since forever."
"Oof," I whistled. "Sucks to be him."
"Really does," he agreed. "No idea how he manages. Would have given up after a year. My sister is so demanding."
One the House of Kim's nurses passed us a distrustful judging glance as she stalked down the corridors, lips set in a firm purse.
"When was the last time you've been home? Like properly been there and stayed. Not just to grab something or take a shower."
He was clearly caught off guard by that from the frozen second vulnerability flashed over his face. "A few days, I think," he murmured. "I've completely lost track of time. It's just one battle after another every day. I'm so tired."
We all were, I suppose. I can't even remember the last time I had a peaceful rest.
It was so funny how badly I wanted to remember everything just a few months ago, and now that I do, I'm wishing on every star out there to forget it all again. Maybe then I wouldn't have be caught up in all these bullshit. Just a maybe.
"What about you?" he turned to me. The pearly lights in the room highlighted the lines of exhaustion drawn over every sharp and soft of his face. His dyed hair had faded off into a colour that looked almost like the silvery of Minghao's hair, and signs of his dark roots peeked from his scalp.
"Since the start of your Clan's revolt, I suppose," I said thoughtfully. "It has been a pretty tiring week, I agree."
His lips twitched. "Right."
We fell into silence again, but this time it felt a little less awkward.
"If you don't mind me asking," he begun slowly, "Those years ago.... why.... why did you..." he looked a little hesitant to go on, but I knew exactly what he was going at.
"Why did I kill Sicheng's father?" I supplied. That was the only interesting thing I did years ago, it ain't no Sherlock discovery. "Well, he ordered the burning down the temple I grew up in, and he wanted to take Minghao from me. I was absolutely not okay with it."
Jimin blinked, "Oh well, that didn't turn out too well."
"Unfortunately," I snorted. "Well, A for effort, at least. Right?"
He cracked a smile, "F for execution though."
"It do be like that sometimes, mate," I opened my arms. "Reality is oftentimes disappointing."
"Let's try not to make tonight's operation another for the F in the chats," he stretched his back, wistful expression on his face. "Yeah?"
Of course. Lee Taeyong was pushing my buttons far further than my thin patience allows and Hell, he was going to pay for that.
"I always try my best."
..
Kim Soyeon was the perfect representation of the Kim Clan in more ways than just one. The classy and powerful girl was exactly everything her Clan was. Always calm, thoughtful, calculating, watching. She rarely ever striked, which made her few outrighted attacks come more unexpected and painful than that of serpent stings.
"We'll be moving against the Lees in Songpa-gu. Make preparations, we leave by nightfall."
After her simple order, the entire office scrambled into a flurry of activities. Phone books were pulled, wired telephones were picked and everyone was doing something.
It had been a long time since the main office was this busy. A good full year at the least. The last time they prepared for an attack, it was to go against the Dong-Huangs and it was done in an alliance with the Lees. Look how the tables have turned.
Just a year ago, Soyeon would have laughed in your face if you told her she was going to be standing on the opposite side of Lee Taeyong in a battlefield. No wait, forget just a year ago, she wouldn't even believe you months ago. It was always the Lees and Kims. It had been that way since forever. They were like the Bonnie and Clyde of the Underground, never one without another. And personal feelings were involved. Soyeon had loved Taeyong once upon a time, had dreamed of a happily ever after which could clearly not exist in this line of work, had thought he was her forever and always. But you see, there is no eternal allies nor perpetual enemies, just eternal and perpetual interests, and it is her duty to follow these interests.
"Do we call the Bae-Jeons, Ma'am?"
The Bae-Jeons. Another ally who used to stand firm next to her, but she now no longer even know whether or not she could turn to.
She let out a silent sigh.
Who even had her back anymore? Who could she even cry out for help to anymore? Who would even answer the cry for help anymore? War was a monster, it ravaged and killed, it smiled at the ruthless and laughed at the trying. Who would willingly put itself right infront of a beast like that? Who would willing sacrifice their best soldiers for a battle they wouldn't reap the better portion of the benefits from?
The answer was no one.
No one was that stupid.
"Do we have enough numbers?" Soyeon checked.
Yerim blinked, thinking hard. "Enough for a base attack, not enough if reinforcements come."
That was good enough for the Kim Clan heir. No reinforcements would come if Kang Daniel did his job. No one would be able to contact reinforcements.
That was given Kang Daniel didn't go back on his promise, that is. She closed her eyes. Some things can only be done with trust. A muscle in her cheek jumped.
Fine.
She'd take that chance.
"That's good enough. We draw all from ours, this is not the Bae-Jeons' battle to fight."
..
Byun Baekhyun woke up to cherubs, clouds and what looked like Heaven to him.
Fluttering his long sweeping lashes, he took in his surroundings. Cream, cream and cream. Wonderful colour. Was this a hospital? He doubted Lee Taeyong nice enough to send him anywhere but to Hell, so he supposed someone had saved him in the span he was knocked out and possibly injected with some sort of coma inducing chemical.
He stretched his hands out in front of him and clenched his fingers, feeling the ripple of muscles tensing. There was a soreness in his body that felt a little like body ache, but ache from what he had no idea.
He swung his leg over the side of his bed, letting the tips of his feet touch the cool ground. When it truly set in that he was grounded, he moved. Slow awkward shuffles at first, but as he progressed, he got more confident and started taking larger strides.
It wasn't until he was half way down the corridor did he realise he had no idea where he was going.
"Oh, you're up," came a soothing and familiar voice from behind him and Baekhyun turned, registering the owner of the voice and breaking into a smile by mid-turn. "Sure took your own sweet time, didn't you?"
"My bad," the Head Chemist grinned. "I liked the bed a little too much. It's way better than what I got at home." A rush of relief ran through the older man at the sight of a safe and sound Dong Sicheng.
Unlike the others working under him, the Byun man had personally saw Sicheng a lot more human and practical than the lot of them. The Chinese boy was just misunderstood and trying like everyone else. He was just trying to survive, just trying to make a name, just trying to fill the oversized shoes his father had left behind, and those were no easy tasks, Baekhyun understood.
Sicheng hummed lightly, then spared a slight glance at him. "The World outside is a mess right now."
The older man sobered, growing serious. "It was Lee Taeyong," he told the Chinese boy. "The one who started the rumour."
There was a glint in Sicheng's eyes hinting a wisdom far above his true age, "Ocean waves are not only whipped up by the wind, I'm afraid."
Baekhyun wasn't dense and he definitely didn't like feeling like he was, but unfortunately, any sort of serious talk with Dong Sicheng would always leave him wondering if he had any sort of brains.
What was this now? What about waves and wind now?
"There you go speaking in riddles again," he sighed.
The younger boy turned to him with both raised brows. "There was no riddle in what I just said. I'd merely stated a Geographical fact."
Baekhyun doubted that though. Nothing Sicheng ever said was as plain and straightforward as it sounded. Despite being the one who'd first hand witnessed the Lee heir coming in and wrecking havoc, he had a faint idea he was only scratching surface when it came to knowing what was really going on right now.
"Eitherways," Sicheng had moved on, eyes shining with a different sparkle now. "It's good you awake now. I have a small request to make."
a/n: vote, comment and share!!
coming up next:
"You're outnumbered," one of them called out, almost amused. "Do you really think you can beat us?"
I ripped the bloodied blade from the dead man's head and in the same single motion, sent it flying, pinning the man to the wall behind him like one of the butterfly displays the discipline master in Saejong hung up all over his office.
"Did Lee Taeyong not brief you before the mission?" I inquired, grinning a mirthless smile. "I don't think. At all."
// absolutely not me getting attacked left right center for putting a tw in the previous chapter,,, never putting them up again LESSON LEARNED😩
ALSO,, EARLY UPDATE BC:
WHICH ONE OF YOU MFS BEEN SNITCHING TO MY PROF THAT I'M WRITING SNOWFLAKE😩😩,, JESUS I'VE NEVER GOTTEN FULL MARKS ON THE FIRST SHOT FOR MECHANICS UNTIL THIS QUIZ
SIDE NOTE, HAPPY HALLOWEEN <33