Yoongi's POV
Last three minutes. Time is running out. It's not hard to subdue some rusty, washout gang members who lived their recent years in hiding. What is taking them so long? Is fifteen minutes not enough? The boss does not like to wait.
I peered at the car behind mine. I can't see him through the tinted glass. He must be seething already. Then the car door opened. Fucking finally.
"The area is secured, Mr. Pale Man." Basilisk told me.
"Took them long enough." I replied and checked my watch. "Get the Grim Reaper."
He bowed and marched towards his car. I stepped into the formation and soon enough, the click clacking of his shoes resounded in the area. He halted a few steps ahead of me, his broad shoulders greatly emphasized by his dark coat.
He tilted his head sideways to me and quietly said. "Late."
"They finished a minute before." I replied.
"Not in my watch." He responded before walking in.
I sighed internally. I'll be sending rascals to the dungeon to set them straight. Again. The boss does not like it when time is taken for granted. He required everything sharp and on time. He has no mercy. And so am I.
We entered a quaint, unassuming bar. Well, at least it was. Now it's a wreck full of blood-spattered dead bodies. I felt the crack of broken glass under my shoes. I looked down and noticed that the floor was pooled with blood. That's it. Berluti, we had a motherfucking great time.
We passed through a small, hidden door into a sprawling ostentatious space. Not at all like how it was outside. The place looks like an adult playroom. It was empty. It was quiet except for the labored breaths echoing. At the far end of the room, pinned on a small wooden table by a samurai sword, was a man. A dead man.
The Grim Reaper sat on the seat in front pulled by Kappa. I glanced at him and bobbed my head to acknowledge his good work. Seriously, I do everything in the Grim Reaper's stead.
The man heaved a deep breath as his body shook. He glared at the man in front of him.
"You, motherfucker." He hissed, strings of saliva spewing.
"Wolf's bane." The Grim Reaper calmly said. "Why are you alone? Where are your cousins?"
He tightly pressed his lips. "I don't know." He replied bitterly.
"I heard they're supposed to come. Did they leave you to die here?"
"I haven't seen them. Since you bombed our place and chased us away!"
The Grim Reaper tilted his head. "That's not what a little bird told us."
His eyes widened. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You don't? But I know. You want to hear what else I know?"
He clenched his fist.
"You really should not have heed your cousins and just stay in that coastal town."
He gritted his teeth.
"You should have stayed there." He run his index finger along the back blade of the sword. "With your wife and your son."
"Don't you touch them! You motherfucker!"
"I won't."
He was catching his breath.
"If you only stayed there." The Grim Reaper tsked. "But here you are."
"I don't know where they are! They only asked me to meet them here! I only see them once in a while! We don't tell each other where we are! Please! Please! Not my family." He bawled.
There it is. The hysterics. You tell them that you know whoever in their life and they end up bawling and begging. Wolf's bane is fucking stupid. How could you start a family when you're on the run? You're on the run from us fucker. You will not stop until we say you so. But we won't. Ever. That's the price for blowing up the Hitman's head.
It's an endless cycle of revenge. Nobody retires. And you'll be the stupidest for letting people in your life. Loving and being loved is selfish in this world. You're just going to endanger the ones you profess to love. Because in here, everyone who is significant to you is a weakness. They will be used against you.
"Pale man." The Grim Reaper called me.
I turned to the Basilisk after his signal. I received a phone and handed it to him.
"Let's cut to the chase." He held the phone screen up to his face. "Tell us where the other Parks are and I won't kill your wife and son...ruthlessly."
He glared at him as his body shook with rage. "If that's the case I won't tell you anything."
The Grim Reaper sighed, tossed the phone back to me and rose. "You and your family are of no use then." He turned back and started to walk away.
"Set us free and I will tell you where they are." He stated firmly.
The Grim Reaper halted and quietly let out a sinister laugh. "You don't get to offer. There is nothing on your table." He looked at me and slightly nodded his head.
I bowed before watching him leave. Then I turned to Kappa.
"Go on." I told him.
He quickly pulled the samurai sword from the table. Wolf's bane started a piercing shriek but it was cut short when his head plopped and rolled on the ground. Blood sprayed out of the opened vessels in his neck. I stared up as it reached the ceiling. His headless body wobbled. Shit. My white shirt will be stained. I hastily turned back and began to leave.
"The boss wants you to ride with him." Basilisk told me when I came out.
I raised my eyebrow in response and strode towards his car. I hopped in and saw him texting. There was a small smile in his lips. Goodness. He looks weird.
"Jungkook sent me a photo of his chicken." He said to me.
"He had fried chicken?" I foolishly asked.
"No. His pet chicken." He corrected.
I slowly nodded as if I was enlightened. "What do we do with the wife and son?"
"Why are you asking? You know what to do." He replied without peeling his eyes away from his phone screen. "Still no hint on where the others are?"
"None yet."
"Rattlesnake Bean?"
Ugh. That snake. That fucking traitor. "I'd do anything to get my hands on that motherfucking liar."
He eyed me knowingly and I stared back unflinching. Don't you ever doubt the veracity of my hatred towards that little devil. I trusted him and all he ever did was stab me in the back. He is a pretentious motherfucking traitor. All he ever was when we're together is a lie. We are nothing but lies. I won't betray my kind for him. I am loyal to our group. Not to him. Just like he is to his filthy gang.
He dropped his gaze and looked ahead. "Don't you waver, Yoongi. Don't let him be your weakness. I don't ever want you against me."
"I won't. I'm always on your side." I assured him.
I've known the Grim Reaper for fourteen years. When we're alone, I am just Yoongi and he is my Jin hyung. He is only a year older than me. But I was once his ward. I met him when I was fifteen. I was born and raised in an impoverished province. My mother and I journeyed to the city hoping for a greener pasture. We followed a company of men who promised us a more comfortable life. Unfortunately, we were recruited into a human trafficking scheme. My mother and I got separated when a gang leader bought me. I lived everyday in hell after that.
One day, a group of men went on a carnage at the hideout of the gang leader who owned me. Jin hyung found me, tied to the bed, next to the slumbering devil. I will never forget how he looked at me. There was guilt and misery in his eyes. He woke him up, only to watch him beg for his life, before he slashed the motherfucker's throat. He watched him soullessly as he choked on his own blood. Then, he asked if my name is Jungkook.
He brought me with him even though it wasn't my name. He introduced me to their world. The world of mafias and gangs. A world of violence and death. I was not new to it. I've been living in it for almost a year. But with him, I was not abused and played. Instead, I was protected and valued.
I learned that he was taken in by Hitman, our late boss, at a very young age of eleven. He used to be a pickpocket in the city's streets. He resorted to it when his mother abandoned him after he lost his younger brother at a playground. He was promoted as an assassin at thirteen. He is gifted. Above average in everything. Shoots impeccably, combats adeptly. And is very cunning. He was already in the boss' trusted inner circle at fifteen.
I can't do anything when he took me in. I was weak, scrawny and malnourished. But he would always come back bruised and wounded and he would ask me to patch him up. I studied and learned on my own to stitch him better, to mend his bones safer and to stop his bleeding faster. Turned out, I did everything incredibly well. He asked the former boss to send me to a medical school. Years after, I officially became one of our group's doctors.
For years, Jin hyung never stopped looking for his missing brother. He combed each and every orphanage in the country in search for him. He finally got a lead ten years after losing him. Jungkook, we learned, was adopted by an unmarried old woman when he was seven. Unfortunately, the track stopped there. They moved residence and once again his brother was without a trace. Despite it, he was still elated to learn that he is alive.
He was chosen to acquire the position of the late right-hand at twenty three, the youngest in the gang's long history. The decision was of course rife with controversy. Others thought that there were older, more seasoned members who should have been chosen. Jin hyung wasted no time to prove his worth. The Grim Reaper lived up to his name. He sent many men to the netherworld for every betrayal and insubordination.
Known for his apathy and ruthlessness, his days as the right-hand was laced with fear. His days as the leader, even more so. Jin hyung assumed the positioned five years ago. After Hitman's untimely demise in the hands of my former lover. Was he really? Was he ever my lover? Whatever. Anyway, he picked me to be his right-hand. There's no one else anyway.
Jin hyung appears cold and uncaring. But by now, every one of the members has already realized that everything is just a part of his tough love. Our rivals think that he keeps us line because of fear. Fucking no. It is because of admiration and loyalty. His rigid rules protect us. Like what happened today. He doesn't like for anyone to be complacent of time. He wanted them to learn to wrap things up earlier, not at the last minute, because an unexpected mishap might risk their lives. His presence commands fear but his ways spawns loyalty.
"I want to eat Tangsuyuk." He casually muttered.
"I'll cook for you once we get home." I replied.
He nodded and gave me a small smile.
"Why did you ask me to ride with you? Is there something you want to talk about privately?"
I looked through the glass which separated us from the limousine driver. He handed me an envelope. I reached inside and found a piece of paper.
"What's this?" I asked him as I peeled my eyes away from what was written.
"I'm sorry it took so long. We found your mom."
I stared at the address scribbled on the paper. My sinus started to sting. Perhaps, what brought Jin hyung and I together was this. Our deep longing for someone very dear. For him, it is Jungkook, his younger brother. For me, my mother. We connected because we understood each other. We filled one another's voids. We both tried to find the other's missing piece. I am glad that we found his two years ago. I am grateful that we finally found mine. It might not be the same outcome but with the knowledge of her resting place, I can finally come to terms with her death and send her off in peace.
Tears escaped my eyes uncontrollably. I'm glad nobody can see me. I peered once again in the envelope and what I saw made me ugly cry. There was a photograph. A photo of my mother brightly smiling. She was aged. Older than the last time I saw her. Her head was grayed. But she was happy. She looked genuinely happy. I hope she was during the remainder of her days.
"Look at the back." He told me.
I flipped it.
Yoongi, how have you been? Mother is fine. I always pray you are too.
I am too. It was hard at first but now I am. I'm sorry I'm too late. Rest well. Wherever you are.
Jin hyung gently pat my back to comfort me. I gazed at him through my brimming tears. He smiled and bobbed his head. I don't often tell how much I'm grateful for him. But like my gaze I hope he understood what I want to express through my actions. I would never tell him but I'd do anything for him. I will treat him. I will cook for him. I will kill for him. I will not ever go against him. I won't ever leave him. I will forever stay by his side. I would go to hell if that's where he's going. But with how things are now and after everything he's done, maybe that is really where he's up to. Fuck it. I don't care. I am going with him.