─── chapter two.
❛ MISTAKES ❜
SLEEP, or more accurately lack of, hung off deok-su's eyes as he and his sister walked through the path of hell (more commonly known as the school gates).
last night's surprise appearance left a funny feeling in his mouth and a knot in his stomach. he couldn't even bring himself to swallow his breakfast (deok-ja ate it for him).
"you can skip school, you know." deok-ja hummed as she steadied her brother before he tripped over his own shoelace. "breaking a few rules won't kill you."
"i'll just take a nap. the teacher's hardly in the classroom anyway." deok-su replied.
"i'll walk you." she offered, shooting a glance to the architecture department door. "it's too early in the morning to listen to those dumbasses."
deok-su only yawned and leaned against his sister for support.
to the teen's immediate discomfort, he was greeted by loud chatter the moment he slid open the door.
"yesterday zack beat up some convenience store piggy. it's his nude pic!" some long faced goon laughed loudly.
deok-su paused at the front on the room, seeing someone sitting atop his desk. all of a sudden the thought of placing his head down for a nap on the same surface sounded like a punishment.
"where's your desk?" deok-ja asked, ignoring the loudness for the sake of her sanity.
"next to that kid wearing a tub of hair gel." he muttered.
deok-ja, catching her brother's obvious inner turmoil, shouldered through the crowd and slammed a hand on deok-su's desk, effectively earning the class's attention.
"no, i can't see... gross!"
"as a boxer..."
"pigs are born from pigs..."
and all other conversation was cut off, their focus on the dark haired girl. deok-su, grateful for the distraction, leaned against the wall and watched with interest.
"you guys are so fucking loud. did you have fun beating an innocent kid?" she snarled, and suddenly everyone took notice of the insignia printed on her grey coveralls.
when her piercing eyes landing on deok-su's seatmate, she raised an eyebrow.
"i can see why that girl doesn't like you back." deok-ja scoffed, and sent a withering stare that sent the kid atop her brother's desk scrambling.
as she passed by deok-su, deok-ja gave him an encouraging nudge.
"problem solved." she grinned up at him, grabbing a wrapped piece of bubblegum from her pocket and placing it in his blazer pocket before popping a piece in her mouth.
but as deok-su cracked a smile at his sister and turned to sit down, his smile dropped to his stomach at the sight of every single pair of eyes in the room staring back at him.
'problem solved' my ass.
DEOK-JA HATED BEING NAGGED. especially over her daily dose of sugar (aka her gum), to which the entirety of the architecture department was craving (something about the sugary treat tasting sweeter being handed to them by a girl).
"but you gave jace one, so why not us?" someone protested, pointing at the grinning boy chewing happily on him gum.
"and you gave one to vasco too!"
"that's because he was bawling like a fucking baby and jace is because he's the only civil person in the goddamn department!" deok-ja argued, holding her gum protectively.
true to her word, jace was in the corner handing vasco a tissue for the glistening stream of manly tears streaming down his face as he chewed his gum.
"favoritism!" another scoffed, arms crossed and expression sour.
"go fuck yourselves! these are mine and the next person to complain is going to be chewing on their own teeth!" deok-ja yelled loudly, claiming her desk on the corner and ignoring any further grumbling.
" — FASHION DEPARTMENT!" her enjoyed silence was stolen by some madman running through the halls, yelling loudly about something.
"FIGHT IN THE FASHION DEPARTMENT! ZACK AND THE TRANSFER!"
fashion department... transfer...
deok-ja leaped out of her seat at the realization, alarming the grey-clad group.
"man, she must love fighting..." someone muttered after her as deok-ja hurriedly ran out of the classroom.
adrenaline pumped in her veins, urging her to move faster at the thought of deok-su getting into a fight. it seems the prospect of another transfer student getting into a fight had slipped her mind, which was currently occupied with the image of limbs bent at odd angles and blood.
her brother might've tried to give up fighting and forget about his nature for carnage, but deok-ja knew that his hunger wouldn't disappear. last night's conversation with gun had only reminded her of his past self.
the flood of relief arrived like a broken dam, washing over deok-ja as she skidded to a halt in front of the fashion department only to find deok-su sitting in his seat, chewing a piece of gum rather angrily as he kept his focus on his lap.
as it turned out, 'the transfer' they had been referring to was not deok-su, but rather some pretty boy who could somewhat fight (fight, as in dodge and punch).
i got scared for no reason, huffed deok-ja as she turned and walked away at the sight of the guy she told off earlier curled on the floor.
not an ounce of pity for the boy on the floor filled deok-ja, who was quite content with watching him get knocked down from his pedestal. maybe it might teach him not to hit innocent part-timers.
with lifted spirits, deok-ja hummed as she walked back to her department, where she would worry about being bombarded when she opened the door. for now, her mind was at peace.
HE HAD REALLY WANTED TO PUT VIOLENCE BEHIND HIM. last night had been a slip of his tongue, his old self.
deok-su wanted to finally move on from this ceaseless turmoil in him and turn to a calmer sea. no crashing waves or stormy weather. just simple serenity.
apparently, no one else seemed to share his sentiment of keeping the peace in the classroom (other than mira, who didn't dare inch closer to the crowd surrounding the back of the room).
the bespectacled teen kept his focus forward and did his best to block out the sound of fists swinging in the air, but it was all too fresh in his mind.
the blood of his foes, the fear on their faces as deok-su crushed them one by one, his expression wild — he just wished to forget it all.
his body had grown used to the conditioning of constant warfare, so much so that even when deok-su did not wish it he could not stop until he was the only one standing.
he was civil, now. no bloodshed, no fists, no nothing.
a tame beast.
"are you alright? you're looking pale." a soft voice interrupted deok-su's train of thought.
the brown haired girl, mira, was standing closer to him, her eyebrows knotted in concern.
"i'm fine." he replied coldly, before realizing himself and adding in a softer tone, "just not a fan of fighting."
with a knowing smile, mira nodded along to his words. she seemed to not mind deok-su's hardwired stoic expression as much as others usually did, and that made deok-su feel slightly less uncomfortable.
"me neither." mira laughed before wincing at the sound of someone finally getting hit.
"you should go check on him." deok-su nodded over to where zack would usually be sitting with his feet propped up and an expression of superiority written all over his face. in truth, he just wanted to be left alone but couldn't bring himself to tell that to her.
and as the aforementioned boy's shouts filled the room, mira could only smile kindly at deok-su and excuse herself to see who had won.
deok-su only sighed tiredly and cursed whatever had brought him to sign up to this school of fighting addicts.
LUNCH WAS, to put it nicely, a mess. this time, deok-ja lacked the energy to snap at bnc for following her to her table, and deok-su was in a sour mood the entire time.
so with little to no patience, deok-ja returned to her class after eating her food. nobody dared to disturb her when she put on her headphones and blasted her music, too afraid of getting their limbs torn off.
deok-ja, though many people didn't know, often times mirrored the feelings of others when they were directed at her. if someone was yelling at her, there was a good chance she'd yell back. if someone was ignoring her, she'd ignore them also.
it was very bad for communication, but deok-ja got by like that. her instinct was to protect herself, whether from emotional or physical pain, before it struck too deep.
so when deok-su refused to answer her questions about the fight in his class, deok-ja too closed off and decided that she wouldn't talk to him until later.
she wasn't angry at him (though part of her wished she could be), deok-ja understood her brother's newfound lack for violence and didn't see the point in pushing him to recount something he didn't want to be involved in any longer.
that didn't mean she would speak to him first, though. maybe if he hadn't snapped at her so brutally, she might've found some more sympathy in her heart to be the first to apologize, but at the moment deok-ja felt more upset than anything.
who even calls their beloved sister "an attention seeker with bloodthirsty fists and a temper", or tells them to "shut the hell up and take your new goons somewhere else" because he's "not in the mood for entertaining your mindless whining" ?
not even deok-ja could find a reply for that.
of course her instinct would be to isolate herself and avoid driving her fist into somebody's sorry face. despite her mild annoyance at the worried glances vasco would shoot over his shoulder at her, deok-ja would say she was handling her emotions better than usual.
as long as deok-su didn't say anything to jab at her heart, deok-ja could take the emotional barrage of his words. after all, she wasn't called tough for nothing.
in the end, deok-ja knew she would forgive her brother for anything, as long as they were together. he was her only attachment, her only family. she'd rather they didn't part for something meaningless like childish bickering.
"here." jace interrupted deok-ja's sour thoughts with a small milk carton and a fresh pack of strawberry flavored gum.
the dark haired girl's first instinct was to shove the items off her desk and tell the big eared boy to leave her alone, but at the sight of his genuinely concerned eyes and reassuring (albeit nervous) smile, she felt a bit of her anger wash away.
"vasco went to get them from the store..." jace trailed off at the awkward silence filling the room and at deok-ja's prolonged eye contact.
her gaze flitted to the tattooed man in the corner looking serious, though his eyes shone with minuscule stars of hope as he watched her.
"thanks." was deok-ja's quiet reply as she pocketed the gum and stabbed the straw through her milk.
she wasn't even that big of a fan of flavored milk, but drank it anyway to show her appreciation. sure, deok-ja spent more time cussing them out than actually holding a proper conversation with them, but she knew when to show gratitude when it was deserved. she wasn't evil.
at least, not completely.
HE KNEW THE HARSHNESS BEHIND HIS WORDS, though not at all his intention, had harmed deok-ja from the way she refused to answer any of his texts.
honestly, he was just so drained of all energy because of the scene his sister had caused, leading to the inevitable bombardment of questions from his peers. the sentiment of the action was appreciated, but deok-su just wished she'd done it in a way that didn't leave everybody's eyes on him, or just not done it at all.
he was growing too reliant on deok-ja. it seemed to be her who fought all the hard battles while he just hid himself away, enveloped in his fear.
yes, he was sorry for snapping so harshly at her during lunch. no, his paranoid vision of eyes watching him from ever direction did not excuse what he did, and neither was he trying to justify it as that. what's wrong is wrong, and clearly that was where deok-su stood.
he knew that deok-ja would forgive him in a heartbeat if he uttered the few simple words of an apology, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to do such. deok-su would apologize later, but for now all he wanted was some space.
the kil siblings had never lead a healthy and happy life, anyways. what was one more day of fulfilling their role as spiteful creatures?
things would go back to normal soon, and deok-su would have one less thing to worry about. feelings were momentary, a fleeting emotion that passed over time. apologies, confessions, promises — they were all word that meant nothing at the end of the day.
they had no value to deok-su other than a means to lower his walls, attempts to slowly pick at the stone encasing his chest in hopes of catching sight of his heart.
he wouldn't let them pry into his life only to leave.
things were just so confusing. deok-su just wished he was an insignificant spec of dust traveling the world. at least that way he'd have no worries. instead the world burdened him with lack of compassion and a fear of opening up (even to those who'd sacrifice their life for his happiness).
as much as the words 'i'm sorry' could easily flow off his lips, both he and deok-ja knew he could never truly feel sorry for his actions.
that was deok-su's curse.
DEOK-JA MUST BE GOING CRAZY. she was fully prepared to look at deok-su's face without feeling that pang of hurt in her chest.
it was strange. suddenly she didn't want to see him. if he was so annoyed by her 'mindless whining', then deok-ja would spare him the trouble of listening to it.
that was the first time she willingly left her brother behind.
deok-ja wasn't angry at him, but she wan't quite happy either. the dark haired teen just wanted to forget about everything.
maybe that was why she agreed to mindlessly accompany a certain someone.
there were remnants of guilt embedded into her heart, guilt from leaving her family for a stranger, but she brushed it off. deok-ja wasn't leaving deok-su. she'd come back. she'd always come back. all she wanted was to see if he truly valued her. call her cruel, heartless, whatever — deok-ja had always loved red anyway.
deok-su could live a few hours without her. deok-ja needed a few hours away.
"you actually agreed, what a surprise." gun barked out a laugh at the sight of deok-ja leaning against a streetlight in her grey uniform.
from behind him was a blonde in glasses carrying a shopping bag, a string of curses leaving his annoyed lips.
"where's your brother? did you two finally get over your separation issues?" he added in a taunting voice, narrowly dodging the kick deok-ja halfheartedly shot out at him.
"we had a fight." was her simple response, her nose scrunching at the sight of gun's dark sunglasses.
deok-ja would never tell him what she and deok-su fought about (he didn't deserve to know), but she'd known him long enough to know he hardly cared about anything that didn't involve fighting or finding his successor.
"no wonder our little saja's upset." goo chimed in with his wicked grin, handing the shopping bag over to deok-ja. "your clothes."
with an eyeroll at the playful name, the teen took the bag in her hands, peering at the all-black attire inside.
deok-ja let out a small breathy chuckle as she shook her head, unfolding the fancy suit and white dress shirt. "the shoes were unnecessary... i guess gun picked this out."
"simple yet effective." gun shrugged, ignoring goo's addition of "just like you, deok-ah~!"
"i just wanted a day out, not to act as some spoiled kid's guard dog." deok-ja mumbled to herself as the three walked to a nearby cafe to allow her the chance to change into her overly formal clothes (though deok-ja supposed, with both of them dressed the way they were, she'd fit right in).
to her subdued relief, the clothes fit loosely against her toned frame and the shoes (weirdly) fit just right. deok-ja hated feeling so dressed up, but she appreciated that gun had the decency to choose something that flattered her (maybe it's because the dark eyed teen knew deok-ja might actually kill him if he placed a short dress and heels in that bag).
with one small glance at herself in the bathroom mirror, deok-ja admired the suit's quality before walking out with a shake of her head, aware that she was probably decked out in ridiculously expensive brands. leave it to that duo to waste money as if it grew on trees (secretly she was envious of their ability to spend tens of thousands of dollars in the blink of an eye without worrying about their wallet).
"so, how do i look?" deok-ja raised an eyebrow and let her lips settle in a slight smirk.
goo whistled lowly and grinned widely. "very pretty, deok-ah!"
the teen beside him only stared at the fabric with satisfaction, as though proud of his taste for clothes.
"gun's driving~!" goo added as the trio exited the cafe with their coffee in hand (gun's was black, just like his soul — deok-ja added creamer and half a sugar pack. goo took the other half plus two others and a load of creamer).
following them outside to the fancy car parked a short walk away, deok-ja let herself forget all about her inner turmoil and spent the rest of the day with slightly lifted spirits.
after all, if there was one thing that duo was good at, it was having deok-ja's type of fun. and by fun, she a visually meant fighting.
IT WAS DARK BY THE TIME THE TRIO FINISHED, fancy handkerchiefs rubbing the blood that stained their knuckles and adjusting their blazers.
goo, who had removed his overclothes so they wouldn't get dirty sat in the backseat with his shirt slightly unbuttoned. deok-ja and gun sat up front, both fully clothed and without a speck of blood on the fabric.
"ah shit, i should've asked for money before i agreed to beat up all those thugs with you." deok-ja muttered, loosening the red tie resting against her neck with one hand.
gun, as though remembering the other day in which he ate her food (she was still slightly angry at him for it), chuckled lowly, tossing a large wrapped stack of money into the shopping bag with her clothes in it.
"it's from the chairman. he said to thank you for your time."
her lip curled maliciously at the mention of the man, examining the stack's thickness.
"weird. he never gives me this much for small jobs like this, even when i go alone." she voiced in a murmur, placing the money underneath her folded burn knuckles uniform and backpack.
"half's from your favorite geniuses<3!" goo smiled as he angled his body forward to poke his head over to the front of the car.
deok-ja gave a short laugh at his proclamation. "that's funny. last time i checked, diego filled that spot."
at the mention of the pink haired male being her favorite, goo's nose crinkled and his eyebrows furrowed.
"hmph, that annoying bastard." he said dramatically, crossing his arms and looking away. "i'm way better than him."
"oh, let me off here. i'll walk the rest of the way." deok-ja ignored goo and tapped the car's dashboard gently to alert gun.
with a slightly irritated look, he begrudgingly unlocked the door for her and stopped the car.
"night." she waved a hand to them as she stepped out with her shopping bag and hidden money in tow.
"sweet dreams!" goo called after her as gun grunted in return. "dream of me!"
"no thanks — i'll get nightmares." deok-ja grinned in response, shutting the door.
she watched them drive away before she began walking again. with the flickering streetlights illuminating her way, deok-ja took her time walking home, not really up to getting heavily scolded by deok-su at the moment.
her walking slowed when she came across a crowded alley, spotting a familiar tattooed silhouette and the chubby face of the convenience store part-timer.
vasco was holding up one of the goons deok-ja remembered to be from her school, leaving the scrawny teen to gasp and claw at his arm in hopes that he'd let go.
"you guys are bad guys," he said sternly through the sounds of coughing and gasping.
"you'll kill him if you hold him up for much longer." deok-ja hummed as she walked towards them, hands in her suit pockets (it made her look like a cool and important character making her entrance, and she'd always been a fan of epic entrances).
vasco, in his shock at hearing her familiar voice, obediently dropped him.
"didn't i tell you all to find something better to do? first pretending to be adults to buy cigarettes, and now making weaklings fight... how much lamer can you get?" deok-ja sneered at the three goons, ignoring the blonde girl eyeing her with an awed expression from their side.
suddenly they remembered her outburst the other day and the way she easily shook off vasco's grip before turning to said teen and shivering — if vasco was this tough, how tough was she?
"get lost." deok-ja ordered, and with her glare combined with vasco's menacing appearance, they immediately scrambled.
"you said you were a bad person." vasco murmured as he watched deok-ja.
she shrugged. "i am. they were too loud and annoying, that's all."
deok-ja didn't know how, but she ended up sitting on the sidewalk beside vasco and the two weaklings that were fighting each other, a carton of milk in her hand (what's with vasco and milk anyway, she thought to herself as she took a sip of the sweet dairy he seemingly pulled out of nowhere and handed her).
"do you guys know me? are you from our school? vasco asked curiously.
the stick weakling spoke up timidly. "y-yeah. i'm in the fashion department."
the convenience store weakling only eyed deok-ja strangely without saying a word.
"fashion department... that's the transfer's class, right? the one who beat zack?" the tallest teen questioned.
"yep." the scrawny weakling replied, slowly gaining volume in his voice.
"tell the new guy, don't screw around." vasco said, a tear trickling down his face.
oh, just great. the one thing deok-ja was absolute shit at — comforting others.
"okay." was the kid's response.
"jeez, what's with the tears..." deok-ja muttered as she checked her pockets for anything to wipe them away.
"shit, it has bloodstains." she murmured to herself as she pulled out the handkerchief from earlier, only for it to be stained red.
huffing in annoyance, deok-ja leaned in and, as gently as she could, quickly wiped the tears off vasco's face.
"don't cry. it creeps me out." she shuddered, stuffing the dirty cloth back into her pocket.
ignoring the sparkle in his eyes at her small act of kindness disguised as annoyance, deok-ja pointed to the part timer. his name tag read daniel park.
"you. night shift is dangerous. get stronger or something." she said, staring down at his obviously out-of-shape condition.
"later." deok-ja called to the three left sitting on the curbside, waving her arm slightly as she walked away.
"why's she wearing such an expensive a suit to walk through the dirty street..." the scrawny weakling said aloud, watching deok-ja's retreating figure.
"she's strange."
TEARS. the one thing deok-ja had absolutely no knowledge on how to stop, or what do do when someone had them streaming down their face.
especially not someone as strong as deok-su, whose face was pale and shiny from the amount of water leaking from his eyes.
the thought of possibly being angry at what he said completely left her mind as he collapsed to the ground in a sobbing heap, gently rocking her against him as he bunched her new clothes.
"i thought you died." his voice cracked hoarsely, flashing his phone in her direction.
on the screen was a message from gun with a picture of deok-ja, her neck covered in blood and wearing the same suit she currently was wearing. her head was rolled back against her shoulders, and her body leaned against a stone wall covered in blood.
huh.
no wonder gun was so adamant about her wanting to pretend to play dead and drew a line around her neck with some random thug's blood.
below the picture was a few sentences.
sorry for your loss. please consider becoming my successor.
patting deok-su's trembling back with her hands, deok-ja gritted her teeth in anger.
gun was so dead.
# LOVE, RAY !
this chapter was all over the place lmaoo
the kil siblings are both red flags 😭 but they have some green in them too i promise !!
more of gun/goo + deok-ja and vasco + deok-ja interactions (sorry deok-su, you'll get more scenes next time)
idk if it really fits into the storyline but i didn't know what else to write
the real question is how do the twins know the geniuses 🤔 will be revealed soon!! as for the "offer" from last chapter, it does have something to do with the four major crews + gun finding a successor!!
the first 2 chapters were both pretty long so hopefully i'll be able to keep going like this to give more background info than just the main storyline<33 rn we're done with ep 1-8 and halfway through episode 9!! next chapter will probably help deok-su get closer to his fashion dept peers and also when big daniel and vasco meet 😱
don't be afraid to vote and comment !! love y'all and stay safe <33