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The door closed after he was set down on the floor, desperately gripping at his bleeding thigh. It hurt worse than anything he had felt before and he wasn't able to hold in the tears. He'd definitely have to work on that.
Panicking would be the worst thing to do, but there he was nonetheless.
It's his first time on the field all by himself and he gets stabbed and loses the target to the enemy. Great start to his career. He was supposed to become a leader one day. How could he if he was this easy to eliminate?
A fight had broken out at the party he was at and he would've definitely had just been squashed in the crowd of people had it not been for someone swiftly dragging him away. He wasn't able to focus on who it was and where they were going. It could've easily been an enemy dragging him off to be killed in secret.
But the knife went into his artery anyway, he would've bled out within a short period of time even if no one helped him. So he was going to die either way if that was what was going to happen.
He could put the blame on his father for agreeing to send his seventeen-year-old son alone, but Hyungwon himself had been confident in that he could do it. It was just a simple stake-out mission. No fighting was needed, or that had been the plan, and he could just remain in the shadows, observing.
"Hey, calm down." A soft voice spoke to him and he just let out a pained wince as a response, shaking his head. Firm hands grabbed the sides of his head, holding it still. "Look at me." The stranger requested and it took a moment for Hyungwon to focus his eyes on him. There was a handsome boy in front of him with a kind grin on his lips, and he was in a dimly lit room bleeding out from his femoral artery.
"Okay, great, you're still aware. I need you to keep it compressed. I'm gonna look for a first aid kit in here, yeah?" the boy spoke softly, which honestly helped Hyungwon to relax and got him to nod his head. "Am I gonna die?" he let out quietly in the haze of worry, earning a small chuckle. The stranger's lips curved into a comforting smile again as he shook his head. "Don't be silly, Princess."
"Don't call me that." Hyungwon let out, hissing when the other pressed on his hands that were on his thigh. "Just like that. Just don't panic, that's the worst thing you could do." The other stated as if he was a medical professional, ignoring his words, before getting up and walking out of Hyungwon's line of sight.
Hyungwon glanced down at his bloodied hands, heaving out a weak, shaky sigh. He wasn't squeamish to blood. He had often fixed up cuts and gunshot wounds that the other members came back with but he had never had to patch himself up from this kind of a wound. Even with what knowledge he had on the human body and medical shit he probably would make it worse if he was all alone.
"Okay. They don't have much, but it should be enough." The other boy came back with a bag of first-aid supplies. "You still with me?" he asked and Hyungown raised his head to look at the other, nodding a little bit. He felt a tad dizzy, but that was about it. "Great. You can move your hands now."
At that, Hyungwon shook his head, leaning on the wall. If he let go, the blood would just pour out from the vein. His helper let out a small sigh, grabbing the bloody hands and pulling them off of the wound. Hyungwon felt him halt for a moment, so he just glanced at the other.
He was holding his right hand, staring at the tattoo on the back of his hand and Hyungwon could see the guy mouth a swear. "I'm doing this against everything I stand for, so you better be grateful, Princess." Hyungwon's mouth parted at the realization. This guy was his enemy. The same boy he had seen plowing through those guards a few months back and that his father scolded him for asking about him.
The person Hyungwon had, in all honestly, been way too intrigued about even though he was told to stay away.
In any other situation, he would've declined the help. But he could barely walk on his own.
"I told you to stop calling me that." He replied, pulling his hand back. The other just chuckled and shook his head before ripping open the fabric of his jeans to get to the stab wound easier. Hyungwon clenched his hands into fists when the other poured some disinfectant on the wound, face twisting in pain.
"Hyungwon-ssi? Are you okay?" he heard a familiar voice in his ear, finally. The line had been dead for what felt like hours. He slowly brought his bloody hand to his ear, glancing at the boy he was with who was busy fixing up his thigh. "Yeah, I'm fine..." he replied, heaving out a sigh. "Are you still inside? Do you need me to come in to get you?"
"No, it's fine. I managed to hide in one of the spare rooms... I'll get out through the window when everything calms down." He spoke, harshly biting his tongue when a needle sank into his skin to not let out a wince or a pained cry. He glanced down to see how the other was doing; he clearly wasn't too great at stitching, but it would work until Hyungwon got back to the HQ and could get it professionally checked out. "Okay. I'll wait in the car then."
Hyungwon bit down on his lip, quietly letting his enemy stitch him up without complaint. "You sure you can get out through the window?" The other man then spoke and glanced up at him. "It's only the first floor," he muttered, earning a small hum of what seemed to be slight disbelief.
If the guy wasn't helping him, he would've sworn at him. But he could literally rip open the stitches then and there and leave Hyungwon to bleed, so he just kept his mouth shut.
Eventually, the other boy pulled away, giving his thigh a gentle pat. "There. It should be good now," he spoke and Hyungwon just nodded his head, bringing a hand up to wipe his face. Though that was probably a mistake as he smeared some blood onto his face in the process. But he couldn't believe he had cried like a baby in front of the other guy. He probably found him pathetic and helped only because of that. "And thanks for not ratting me out. I'll consider it that you don't owe me anything after that." And that was all Hyungwon wanted. He didn't want to be indebted to anyone. An enemy even less.
Hyungwon just watched the other pack everything back into the first aid kit. "Thank you." he then let out, making the other look at him. His lips curved into a smile again and Hyungwon swears he winked. "No problem. You're lucky I spotted you first before anyone else could. Others aren't as nice"
The stranger then stood up, offering a hand to the wounded man. Hyungwon swallowed a little, grabbed the hand, and got pulled up. He stumbled a little bit, but the other helped him get his balance back.
A thump at the door made them both look towards it before meeting each other's gazes again. "You should go. It's not pretty out there." The enemy stated and Hyungwon could just nod his head slightly, agreeing. He definitely wasn't stepping foot out there again. He was probably the only one from his own group and would get shot right away.
He started making his way to the window in the room with shaky steps when the other called out for him with a simple 'hey' since names weren't shared. "Yeah?" he spoke, glancing over his shoulder at the shorter guy.
"Good luck out there." The fondness in the other's tone surprised him because he definitely didn't sound like anything an enemy would say. Hyungwon could just crack a small grin, nodding his head. "I'll beat your ass one day."
"I'll wait for it."
Hyungwon slowly opened his eyes, only to be met with the dark wood of his office ceiling. He quickly sat up, looking around. He was on his couch when he definitely remembers dozing off at the desk while doing some work.
"Admire... What bullshit..." he whispered under his breath, closing his eyes for another few seconds. He tried to push the dream out of his mind. He definitely didn't need to recollect that encounter, but Wonho himself bringing it up back at the Blood Vipers' headquarters made him remember every bit.
Opening his eyes, Hyungwon sat up with a small groan. He then turned to his desk, seeing Changkyun in his chair with glasses propped up on his nose. "What are you doing?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows a little bit. The other turned to him, a smile spreading onto his face.
"Working. Did you sleep well?" The younger asked, leaning back in the chair. Hyungwon let out a gruff sound and shrugged his shoulders. If dreaming about Wonho counted as sleeping well, then sure, he slept great.
Hyungwon ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it down a little before standing up. "You can go. I'll pick up from here." He mumbled, walking over to his desk but his second in command wasn't moving.
The younger crossed his arms. "Or you could take your sweet ass back to that couch and catch up on some more sleep," he stated, raising an eyebrow at the leader. Hyungwon rolled his eyes. "I'm fi.." "Don't try me. You've been staying up ever since you came back from the Blood Vipers." he was easily interrupted. "And could you tell me how many days it's been?" Changkyun then added, leaning on the dark wooden desk a bit.
Hyungwon closed his mouth, sighing through his nose. "Four..." he then muttered, looking down. "What? I can't hear you, Hyung." "Four! I said four!" he raised his voice slightly, sending a glare the other man's way. "Exactly. So off you go."
Hyungwon huffed and shook his head in disagreement. "I have to work, Changkyun. I have to go through everything we have on the snakes in Oblivion and catch up with our allies. I can't just sleep." he reasoned, waving his hands around. He could already feel the stress piling up on him even just by listing everything he needed to do. "And since when do you give me commands?"
"I can very well do that too. In fact, I've tried to get in touch with three other leaders. Only one has responded so far." The younger spoke, fingers tapping on his arm as he kept looking up at the leader. "And I give you commands when I see your health deteriorating. Now chop-chop." The dark-haired man waved him off toward the couch.
The leader let out a sound that was between a whine and a groan, turning on his heels and walking back to the sofa that his body was way too long for. But he didn't want to go home, knowing someone knew where he lived.
Hyungwon closed his eyes, opening them almost right after. A sudden uncomfortable feeling took over him that he couldn't just shake off. He brought one of his arms under his head, supporting it a little bit.
"Hey, Changkyun." He called out, earning a small hum from the younger man who had quickly returned to typing away on the leader's computer. "Can you look up the ruby jewelry set my father gifted to the leader of the Shadows?" He asked, eyebrows furrowing slightly.
He heard the younger man let out a low hum of acknowledgment and soon the keys on Hyungwon's keyboard were clicking away as the other did his research. The leader chewed on his bottom lip, eyebrows still furrowed.
"This one?" The younger asked, turning the monitor so that Hyungwon could see it from his spot. He sat up muttering out a low 'yeah' before asking how much it cost. The younger turned the monitor back around and even from further away he could see Changkyun's expression turned to confusion.
"It was one of a kind." The other replied, making Hyungwon tilt his head to the left a bit. But why did Son have the necklace then? "Did you hear back from the Shadows yet?" he then asked earning a gruff sound as a response which he took as a negative.
Hyungwon bit down on his thumbnail a little, chipping off a few bits. The tall man threw his legs over the edge of the couch before standing up and walking to the desk.
"So... I need you to be a rubber duck for a moment." The leader spoke, setting himself on the edge of his desk. "A rubber duck?" Changkyun asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. Was that not a common thing to say? His father did it all the time. Hyungwon just shushed the man, throwing one of his legs over the other.
"Just, stay quiet." He muttered, gathering his thoughts and trying to make sense of it inside his head first before saying anything out loud. "Quack." Changkyun let out, breaking the leader out of his thoughts and he gave the man an 'are you serious?' look. The other just smiled back goofily.
At least he's immersed in the role.
Hyungwon then snapped his fingers, turning to the other man who was now sitting comfortably in the leader's regular seat. God, Hyungwon would like to sit there right now. In fact, in this setting felt like he was the smart second in command and Changkyun was the impatient leader when usually the roles were reversed.
"Oblivion pops out of nowhere and no one has heard of such a group before, yeah? The Shadows' leader hasn't been heard of for a few weeks." he started, looking at the younger but not expecting a response. The tall man tapped at the table with his hand. "At the banquet, Son Ilsang and the other man had a matching ring and necklace set." he paused pointing at the monitor screen that still had the picture of the same exact jewelry Hyungwon had seen the pair wear.
"Leaders have been disappearing, I get a threat in my home, a new group appears out of nowhere and the tattoo one of them has doesn't match their name but instead resembles a storm." He put pressure on the word storm. Changkyun still seemed confused, but the red strings on the bulletin board must've been connecting in there. Hyungwon licked his lips. "Tell me why, and I may be reaching here, do they, the members of the said new organization, have the jewelry set we gave to someone else as a peace treaty?"
"They're behind the disappearances? And using their valuables as marks of victory?" Changkyun let out hesitantly, questioning his own words, and Hyungwon snapped his fingers on his left hand before pointing at the man. "Bingo." he grinned, watching the younger's eyes glint up as he caught up but as quick as he did, he fell off.
"What are you hinting at?" The second in command asked and Hyungwon rubbed the underside of his nose a little. "Did you get any contact info when I asked you to look into Oblivion?" he asked, getting a small nod as a response. Changkyun quickly turned to the computer, opened the emails they had recently exchanged, and tapped at the screen. "There is Mr. Son's business phone number. I think. It's the only one there was."
Hyungwon nodded his head, taking out his phone and saving the phone number. "I'll set up a meeting with him. He seemed very keen on working with us." He had a feeling it was all a setup. Both his enemies and allies have been falling quiet as if the city's criminal life had been snuffed out like a candle flame. Someone was reaching for the top where he and Wonho stood.
"And well, you know Wonho's not going to let me die by some other group's hands," he mumbled out, chuckling softly. He knew very well the older man wanted to be the one to cut off Hyungwon's breathing, that much the man had sworn.
"You're tangling Wonho into this?" Changkyun asked and Hyungwon shrugged his shoulders. "If I'm going down, he's coming down with me. I'm not taking loss alone." He was too prideful to let the blood vipers outlast him. In no world, time or space would that be the case. The leader then exhaled. "And he's already intertwined in this anyway. We got matching warnings; it's clear what the enemy wants."
Hyungwon bit down on his tongue gently before letting out a small laugh. "Of course, I might be just overthinking this. And in that case..." he paused, shaking the phone slightly. "It never hurts to have allies in the face of a turf war."
Hyungwon pressed the call button, bringing the device to his ear. He listened to the phone ring, poking his cheek with his tongue a little annoyed for the time the other was taking to respond. He was used to his calls getting picked up just like that.
"Son Ilsang, who am I talking to?" The older man's voice came through the speaker. Hyungwon sent his right hand a thumbs up and stood up from his desk. "Chae Hyungwon, Sir." He replied politely, licking his lips and walking over to the window in his office.
"Oh? Mr. Chae? What pleasure do I have to talk to you." The other said and Hyungwon cracked a small smirk. He balanced his weight on one leg, clicking his tongue. He then pulled the phone from his ear and put it on speaker so that Changkyun could hear it too. "I was just wondering if we could make time for a meeting? I'm always looking into getting new allies and I don't doubt that Oblivion would be a great addition." he hummed out, tilting his head to the side.
The city looked wonderful under the darkening night sky. The thousands of lights almost resembled a star-filled sky that couldn't be seen thanks to pollution.
"I would be more than happy to do that. When were you thinking?" Son Ilsang asked and the leader turned to Changkyun, pointing at his computer and mouthing 'calendar'. The younger man immediately clicked the calendar open, revealing all the leader's upcoming plans.
"I am free this Friday at 8 pm. You know with all the recent disappearances it would be better to handle the negotiations quickly," he spoke out and cocked an eyebrow, hearing a hum come through. "That works for me." the other leader agreed almost immediately.
"Great. Where shall we meet?" Hyungwon asked. He definitely wasn't inviting the man to his HQ, even if the location wasn't exactly a secret. "Shall I send a location?" And Hyungwon agreed, knowing he could prepare for an ambush.
"I'll see you on Friday then, Mr. Son," Hyungwon said, licking his lips. The call ended after goodbyes and Hyungwon set his phone down on the desk, chuckling lightly. That was easier than he had honestly ever expected. "Do I need to prepare back up?" Changkyun asked, typing something on the computer.
"Sure. Tell Jooheon about this, so he knows if the backup is needed he can get to work immediately." the leader said, shaking his head and leaning on the desk. He glanced the younger's way, clicking his tongue. "Tell him to also make the meeting public info. If the Vipers want to find out, let them," he said, giving the younger a pat on the shoulder before yawning.
"Will you be okay if I sleep?" He asked and the other man just nodded his head a few times, eyes not moving from the monitor. "Of course. I'll be here the whole time." Changkyun replied, his smile audible in his voice. The younger must've been so proud about being right about him being tired.
Hyungwon let out a small huff, walking back to the sofa and laying down. A tired sigh escaped his mouth. "Should I get a prescription for the sleep meds again?" Changkyun's voice carried into his ears before he could doze off. Hyungwon just let out a low hum of agreement.
"That might be good..."
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hi. i definitely didn't mean to fall off the face of the earth for a week or so but shit happens-
i honestly don't have anything to say today but i hope you enjoyed the chapter <3
thank you for reading
'til next time
ps. stream wonho's comeback 'crazy' on the 13th!