─── chapter thirteen.
❛ PATHETIC JIHO ❜
THERE ARE MANY THINGS PEOPLE GET ADDICTED TO. for some it might be booze, smoking, drugs — things that people consumed in order to relieve themselves. other people are addicted to feelings; adrenaline, pleasure, emotions that fuel them.
for jiho park, it was illegal gambling.
no matter how much he'd spend, gain, or waste, his mind could never stop thinking of the next thing he'd do in order to get money to gamble.
deok-su felt despair just by watching his sullen figure, eyes sunken beneath his square frames, dragging himself to school like a sack of bones.
every day, he'd arrive worse than before — jiho's face was so gaunt that his cheekbones jutted out and his once baby fat she'd and left hollowness around his features, lips so chapped they bled every time he picked at them.
it was honestly not too much of a surprise for deok-su, who'd watched the boy often follow those that he saw benefit from, only to be trampled into the dirt by their feet.
an addiction was not a pretty thing.
deok-su was not prone to feeling sympathy for anyone who walked into their own demise. he didn't care whether someone he didn't know ruined themselves due to trusting the wrong people.
the sentiment was not equally shared, however, when it came to his sister. and unfortunately for deok-su, deok-ja always found herself in the wrong situation.
every single time.
UPON SEEING A FAMILIAR GROUP INSIDE THE STORE, deok-ja tried turning back and walking out of the building, only for her to catch sight of a certain nerdy looking boy sobbing his eyes out.
sympathetic gazes skimmed over his figure as some patted his back. deok-ja's nose crinkled at the sight of mud and dried blood coating jiho's almost naked body.
"deok-ja?" daniel called out for the dark haired teen in surprise, tilting his head at her appearance.
unable to leave quietly, deok-ja walked over to them, leaving her umbrella on the store floor and lowering her hood.
"what's going on?" she asked, everting her eyes from the mess that was jiho.
the girl ignored crystal completely, who was standing a few feet away with her eyes on the two nerds. zoe, who seemed slightly less worried at her arrival, bounded over and attached herself to deok-ja's arm.
"...illegal gambling?" the architecture department student raised a brow as little daniel finished explaining. her eyes momentarily flickered to crystal, who looked to be contemplating something.
"don't call the cops yet." she finally spoke up, timidly approaching deok-ja with. hopeful expression.
"could you call him for me?" crystal asked, shakily meeting her gaze. in her shorter body, she had to crane her neck to look up at deok-ja, which certainly didn't help quell the murderous aura surrounding the taller of the two.
deok-ja glared down at her, crossing her arms.
"he'll say yes if it's one of you two." crystal pleaded.
with a final click of her tongue, deok-ja fished her phone out of her pocket and clicked on a certain someone's number.
"what the —?" the person on the other line muttered angrily, and deok-ja heard the faint sounds of keyboard clacking.
"answer with hello, grape head." deok-ja snarled into the speaker, and she heard the unmistakable sound of a thud followed by cursing.
"ah shit, you scared me." kouji winced from the other line. he must've fallen off of his chair.
"i'm sending you this location. come over quickly." she added.
"what's in it for me?" came his greedy reply.
"you get to keep your face the way it is now." she replied simply, sending him her location.
"if you keep threatening people like that, you're never gonna get a boyfriend y'know." kouji muttered sulkily, before saving himself by adding, "alright, alright. don't go all feral on me. i'll be there in twenty."
"see you." deok-ja voiced out, ending the call with a grimace. "he's so annoying."
with one last glance at the four in the room, the dark haired girl grabbed a pack of gum and tossed it on the counter.
"i have some other business to get to, so i'll send deok-su over to make sure kouji keeps his end of the promise." she said idly, paying daniel and walking back out, snatching her umbrella by the door.
in truth, deok-ja had no clue to where she was heading, only that jace had shared his location with her.
and knowing jace, the girl was more than certain he was with vasco.
the flashing of her phone stopped as deok-ja reached a foreboding alley. she couldn't make out anything through the rain, but the soft overlay of voices weaved in and out of earshot the closer she got.
"jake kim, you have failed. such a pity." a familiar deep voice surprised deok-ja, both by the words leaving his mouth and by his general presence.
the name uttered in slight distaste, a faraway voice in her head that spoke with a grin.
this was a fight deok-ja would never be willing to intervene in.
instead of approaching, she hid in the shadows as gun berated the tall boy before him, his scarred lips parting in surprise and anger. the sound of yelling and loud thuds and screaming followed, and she stepped out, umbrella held out to prevent any rain to mingle with her clothes.
"that's enough, gun." deok-ja commanded, stepping between his hungry figure and the teen lying in a bloody heap on the floor.
gun's dark eyes scanned her in surprise, mouth curving slightly in a smirk before backing up.
"i didn't think i'd see you both together again." he chuckled at her scowl, wiping the blood on his knuckles with a white cloth from his pocket.
"shut up." deok-ja snarled at the dark eyed teen, her eyes sharp and cold.
"deok-ja... who are you, really?" vasco murmured from his position on the floor, eyes wide and body stiff with shock.
gun's grin grew, and his eyes flashed malevolently as his mouth opened to speak.
"looks like you kept secrets from them, too." gun directed his gaze to vasco and jace.
the rain had ceased, and deok-ja could feel the moisture in the air slowly draining away, just like the blood from her face.
"i guess you never properly introduced yourself. kil deok-ja..." he gently pulled deok-ja closer to reveal the tattoo of a star against her collarbone.
the one she had previously shown them in that loud library room. upon closer inspection, there were the minuscule initials 'b.d.' imprinted below the figure.
"...was a former member of big deal."
BEGRUDGINGLY, deok-su had been hauled out of bed by his sister's request, and was now sandwiched in between his least favorite purple haired genius and zack lee.
jiho, who was crying like a newborn child, stood in the center of the convenience store, repeatedly bowing and thanking kouji, who looked at him with mixed feelings.
"next time, don't be so stupid." kouji scoffed while holding the enormous amount of money they earned in his arms. "here, buy yourself something to eat with this."
he handed jiho 10 dollars before catching deok-su's bored gaze and scrambling to hand the taller boy a stack from his winnings.
"next time, tell your sister not to threaten me over the phone." he muttered sulkily before disappearing through the front doors.
deok-su cracked a small smile, before it went away as zack elbowed him lightly.
"who was that?" was his curious question.
"some kid." the bespectacled boy replied vaguely, not interested in talking at this hour.
the boxer frowned and leaned closer to deok-su with narrowed eyes. "come on, don't be like that."
the two boys stood at equal height, though zack's hideous haircut gave him the advantage of a few more centimeters. deok-su easily met his eyes, more accustomed to the intensity than without it.
"don't be like what?" he replied innocently, as though he hadn't been doing his best all week to get away from his seatmate.
"ever since the daehoon incident, you've been acting like i've got some contagious disease." zack answered, bringing a hand to slightly mess up his hair on accident. he seemed to have that habit more when around deok-su.
"no i haven't." the bespectacled boy lied, and tried to get away from the confrontation by walking out of the store, only for zack to follow.
"yes you have. every time we make any physical contact you glare at me and move away. so, what's the matter?" he asked, bringing a hand to deok-su's shoulder as a demonstration. as if to prove his point, the other boy shrugged off his touch and gave him a look.
"see?" zack added as deok-su's gaze faltered and flickered all over the boxer's face.
"sorry." deok-su murmured awkwardly. "i just don't like when you act like we're close after treating me like your personal slave."
it took a while for deok-su's words to sink in before zack's eyes widened in realization and his face fell.
"is that how you thought of it?" his voice could've been a harsh whisper, almost swept away by the breeze. the boy's eyes were soft around the corners, staring at deok-su foreignly.
"you made me run all your errands, feed you, take care of you, work for you, and only to find out that your arms were already healed. how else could you describe a personal slave?" the rising of his own voice scratched at his throat, a feat so strange that deok-su hardly remembered the last time he ever raised his voice at someone.
"you never complained." zack said weakly.
"you never let me." his lungs felt like they were tearing, and it was difficult to breathe.
the boxer gave him another guilty look, his frown creasing further into his face and eyebrows.
"you're right. i guess i forgot you don't want friends." zack sighed at last, giving deok-su his answer.
yet why was it that the one zack gave didn't satisfy him?
before the other boy could walk away, deok-su inhaled and called after him. zack stopped and turned in surprise.
"it's not that i didn't think of you as a friend." he began, fiddling with his scarred hands and refusing to meet zack's eye.
"i just wasn't sure if you thought the same."
"aren't we?" zack asked in confusion, once more messing up his already messy hair cascading over his eyebrows and forehead. "friends, i mean. i thought we were..."
warmth seemed to pool in his chest against deok-su's will, filling him with a cozy wobbliness that softened his face when he looked at zack. yeah, deok-su didn't want friends, but seeing the torn look upon the boxer's face made him feel as though it might be okay to have some.
perhaps his sister was right. he could afford to let others in without getting hurt. it worked out well for her.
"i guess so." deok-su smiled tenderly, unclamping his hands. the tension around his throat eased and the knot in his stomach untangled and fluttered away into a pleasant nothingness like smoke butterflies.
zack's face broke into a wild grin, his eyes creasing slightly and his hair falling over his face. his eyelashes batted together as he blinked, nose, lips, and ears red from the wind. looking at him then, deok-su thought the boy before him was unreal.
he had never seen someone so breathtaking.
the boxer cleared his throat, patting away at the warmness of his face as he glanced at deok-su.
"sorry. about how i treated you." he said sincerely, locking eyes with the bespectacled boy.
deok-su gave a small sigh, the tension fully exiting his now relaxed body. he offered the boy his outstretched hand as a sign of peace.
"you're forgiven." he added as zack took his hand swiftly and shook it, their grips lingering more than needed.
"night." deok-su murmured to zack, fixing his own tousled hair with his fingers.
"night." he replied earnestly, watching as deok-su walked away, his eyes never leaving the boy's retreating figure.
EVERYTHING WAS CRUMBLING. deok-ja wished she could look at her fellow burn knuckles member's reactions, but fear and guilt ate at her too much to even dare to turn her head a centimeter in their direction.
she squatted down beside the beaten teen lying on the floor, a mixture of emotions flickering in her face.
"you really do make the worst decisions, idiot." deok-ja sighed softly, rubbing her eyes with her knuckles.
the faraway sounds of sirens irked her, unsettling her bones and making her jumpy. as if the two pairs of eyes watching her intently weren't nerve wracking enough.
pressing her hand to jake's matted hair, deok-ja frowned.
"take a break. i'll take it from here." she dusted herself off and stood up, her eyes straying from his limp figure to her classmates.
"deok-ja, why did that man in sunglasses say you were part of big deal?" vasco asked the second their eyes connected, eyebrows creased and face pulled into a devastated frown.
"i was." she replied simply.
"what's your connection to that guy?" jace said angrily, jabbing his finger in jake's direction.
"he was my boss, and my friend." deok-ja shrugged, turning her head to glance back at the oncoming flare of blue and red. "shit."
"i'll explain everything later. for now — run." she whispered urgently to the two leather jacket clad teens, pushing them to move.
the only sound in those deserted streets was the harsh latter of soles against concrete, the faint sounds of sirens encasing the area, and their heavy breathing as they ran away from that bloodied and beaten boy left on the floor.
# LOVE, RAY !
wow i finally updated 😭 a slightly longer chapter as an apology for ghosting yall <33
also yes i've been waiting to reveal deok-ja's past affiliation with big deal!!! so it was all planned and not randomly thought of while i was writing for once lmaoo
i hope y'all enjoy the story<33 it covers up until ep 90! the next ch will probably be ab the sports festival
pls vote and comment, i love interactive readers!! love y'all and stay safe<333