Yeonmi stood in her room, still shaking with fear. It was now late at night, 9:30. Only a few hours ago her brother dropped drunk on the ground, and it was only now that the pain subsided.
Her hands shook as she dabbed ointment onto old and new bruises. It was painful dealing with it everyday, but since it happened everyday she was used to it all. The abuse never surprised her, but for some reason the pain felt new every time. She deserved some of it anyways, but that's a story for another day.
After attending to her wounds, Yeonmi made her way to her desk. She took the pack of cards and pocky out of her jacket pocket, and rummaged through her desk to get a black marker. She began writing messages on the back of the cards, during which she snacked on pocky.
Once she finished she slipped all the cards back into the case, placing the case back into her jacket. Her phone began buzzing, messages lighting up on her screen. Unlocking her phone she checked the messages.
Jaemin:Sorry I couldn't text earlier
Jaemin:Are you alright?
Jaemin:Did he hurt you again?
Jaemin:How bad is it?
Jaemin:Help me Jisung is using aegyo to get money
Yeonmi:It's okay Nana
Yes he did but I'm okay it's nothing much
Yeonmi:Tell everyone I said hi
Yeonmi:Avoid Jisung's eyes he'll use them to get to you
Jaemin:I will and please stay safe
Jaemin:Too late I already gave him some
Yeonmi:I will see you tomorrow
Jaemin:See you tomorrow <3
Yeonmi:<3
Yeonmi shut off her phone and stared at the ceiling. What now? There wasn't much she could do, and she wasn't tired enough to sleep.
She wasn't allowed to leave the house, her brother was passed out drunk, her friends were busy, and she had no one else to spend New Years with. However it took a minute for her to realize her current situation.
Her brother was the one that set the rule, but he was passed out; which means he wouldn't know if she went out unless she was gone till six in the morning. A smirk formed on her face before she grabbed her phone and jacket.
She tiptoed her way downstairs and snuck out the front door, carefully passing her brother who was passed out on the ground. There was one place she knew she could go, a place she could watch the fireworks, and a place where no one would be to bother her: the old, abandoned, park.
It was so run down people rarely went to it. The playground was rusty, grass barely grew, trees rarely bloomed any leaves. It was still opened, and no one bothered to help it thrive. The park was at one end of a lake, the other end held the better park; where everyone else would be to celebrate the new year.
Yeonmi walked her way to the park, there was no need to run; not like she was running to meet anyone. Once arriving at the park she went behind a tree, to face the lake, with her back to the playground. There was an hour left until the New Year. Only an hour until the fireworks explode into the air.
She spent the time playing games on her phone, enjoying the cold winter air. It wasn't till she heard multiple footsteps that she turned the volume of her phone off.
Who's here?
Panic was the first thing that came to Yeonmi's mind, thinking it could be her brother, but then again she was a public park. She peered behind the tree for a split second to see men dressed in all black, with oddly large duffle bags by their sides.
More footsteps were heard but she didn't do anything. It wasn't a big deal, but there was a pit in her stomach; something just didn't feel right. Her body froze, her instincts were screaming at her to not get caught.
There were moments of snickering before it all went silent. Suddenly a voice spoke, and Yeonmi held a hand over her mouth. The voice sounded far too familiar, but it couldn't be him.
"Just give us the guns and we'll leave, we don't need trouble."That voice, she hadn't heard it for a while, it was one she missed, and one that brought her some heartache. However in this scenario it couldn't be his voice.
Wait, guns?
It didn't take her long to realize what was happening. Panic flowed through her brain, not knowing what to do.
"I see they sent the maknaes."
Yeonmi listened in, careful to not make a sound. Then suddenly a hand grabbed her arm, making a yelp escape from her lips. All attention diverted to the tree.
"Hey boss! Found this little one behind a tree, what should we do with her."The man roughly pulled her from behind the tree and revealed her to everyone.
Yeonmi's skin whitened with shock and fear. The last thing she expected to see was her friends. They were dressed in all black as well, with blank expressions on there face. As soon as they saw her, they didn't know what to do.
Jaemin was the first to react, gulping on air. Jeno couldn't move a muscle. Renjun became a statue in his place. Haechan's eyes widened. From behind them was Chenle who couldn't believe what was happening. Next to him was their maknae Jisung who didn't want to believe what was happening.
Then Yeonmi saw him, the one she hadn't seen for the longest time, Mark. Unlike the others he was emotionless, something she wasn't used to seeing. His face was blank, and his eyes were dull. What happened to the Mark she knew and-
"It looks like they know her."One of them spoke.
"I've never seen that girl in my life."Mark spoke, and Yeonmi only looked at him in shock.
What is he talking about?
"Wasn't talking about you, Cards."That same one spat back at him.
Cards? What's happening?
The eldest turned back and looked at the younger members, and they snapped back instantly. A face of ice brushed over all of their faces. Yeonmi stared at all of them.
"I don't know who she is."Jaemin muttered under his breath, not being able to look her in the eye.
"I've never seen her."Jisung said out loud, and Yeonmi couldn't believe her ears.
Surely there had to be a good reason why they were lying. It was either to save her ass or theirs. Yeonmi hoped for both.
"So you wouldn't mind if we kill her now? Or maybe we should just bring her to the circle?"None of them could move, except for Mark of course.
The boys all knew what the circle was, it was morbid and horrifying. A place no woman or man would ever wish to be. It was a basement of endless pain and suffering.
"No need to bring harmless civilians into this."Mark tried to reason.
Suddenly a gun pressed to Yeonmi's head. Her breathing quickened. This couldn't be real. Tears silently flowed down her face as she could feel the cold metal pressed against her skull.
"Please don't kill me."She quietly begged, and her friends watched on in silent pain.
It was pathetic begging, but it was something.
"Maybe we won't kill you, but we can hurt you in the best way possible."The one holding her whispered into her ear, and it was a phrase she heard before.
"Please let me go."She begged once more.
I should've stayed home.
"Let her go. She has nothing to do with this."Haechan managed to confidently say.
"Oh, but she's a witness now."The enemy's leader tells them
Jaemin was on the verge of breaking, his hands were shaking. Jeno stood next to him unsure of Jaemin's motives. Someone else moved, and it was another lackey. He moved close to Yeonmi, placing a cold blade to her neck.
"No, no, no, no."Yeonmi continued to beg.
The knife ran along her neck, a small slit being made. She didn't scream, in fears others could hear and rush to the scene; which probably should've been the better choice. She took all the pain in, her screaming shown through her silent tears.
"You're all pigs."Mark looked at them disgusted with their actions.
"Let her go, she's done nothing."Jaemin spat at them.
"I think I'd like to keep her for the circle."Their boss tells them.
"Hey boss, isn't this the girl that Tanh snapped photos of with that one?"One of them asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."Jaemin lied once more, knowing for a fact it was true.
Then it was time, midnight, fireworks blasted into the air. In a swift motion the boys pulled out their guns, shooting the enemy. Yeonmi was released from her captor's clutches as her friends all run towards her. It was finally clear to her, they weren't normal.
"Yeonmi, are you okay?"Renjun was the first to act.
"Renjun,"Yeonmi hugged him while crying into his chest.
"Mark hyung, we need to call Taeyong. We need to get rid of everything."Chenle whispered to their leader.
"We need to make sure that Yeonmi noona is okay."Jisung insisted instead.
"Those bastards are going to pay for what they did to my child."Haechan muttered under his breath.
"Yeonmi, I'm sorry I didn't do anything sooner."Jaemin apologized stepping closer to his best friend.
"You guys are- you guys are monsters."Is all she managed to say through her rapid breathing.
"Yeonmi noona-."Jisung tried to start.
"Park Jisung you are seventeen(16 int.), what do you think you're doing?"
"Noona, we're the good guys. They're the bad ones."Chenle tried to reason with her.
"You killed them."
"And if we didn't they would've killed us, and, or run away with you. They would've done horrible things to you. If anything you should be thanking us."Mark heartlessly says.
"Who are you?"
"It's Mark."Jeno answered while on the phone, clearly not understanding what she meant.
"How are you so heartless? You just killed someone. They had a life, friends, and family."
"I saved your life."Was all he said to her before walking away.
"Mark hyung, she's scared."Renjun mentioned while still holding Yeonmi.
She couldn't process anything that was happening. All she knew was fear and panic. She could hear the gunshots ringing in her ear, and past trauma was creeping up on her.
"Then why isn't she scared of you?"Jaemin questioned.
"All of you guys killed them before I could even retrieve my gun."Renjun admits.
"Taeyong is on his way. What are we supposed to do?"Jeno asks, joining the conversation.
"Do as usual, stack the bodies for the bag."Mark instructed without remorse.
"I'll stay with Yeonmi, she shouldn't be around while her friends are hauling bodies."Renjun tells them, before walking with Yeonmi to back to where she was hiding before.
"Renjun, how could you guys not tell me?"
"You would've been in danger, but now you most definitely are."
"Why are you guys doing this? How did this all happen?" Yeonmi says still flustered about what she just witnessed.
"We were born into it by our families. I can't tell you much, but I promise you we only kill bad people."
"How many times has he lied to me?"Yeonmi whispered under her breath.
Renjun solemnly looked at her, unsure if she actually wanted an answer.
"He never liked lying to you. Every night we'd catch him crying, for lying to you. It ate him up, you're his best friend, and he didn't want you to know what we did."Renjun softly explained to her.
"Mark, he's changed since I last saw him."Yeonmi mentions, trying to avoid any awkward silence.
"He's been through a lot since high school. He's second in charge, in all of our units, and has the second highest kill count. Since he's left high school, there's been more work for him; and more work he's now allowed to take since he has more time."
"If he's second in charge I'm guessing whoever Taeyong is, is the leader; Chenle mentioned him. I'm assuming he's the one with the highest kill count."Yeonmi was just trying to make sense of everything, in hopes that things would seem normal.
"Jisung and Chenle."
"What?"Yeonmi stared at Renjun withh wide eyes because how could someone so adorable be a mass killer?
"They go together on every mission together, it's how they like it. Since they're the youngest nobody expects them to be much of a threat, which is how they have the most.
Also, we all have special bullets of our own, so before we take what's useful from the bodies, for purposes I'm sure I can't tell you, we can see who killed them.
Jisung and Chenle are like twins they want the same of everything; they have the same bullet. When it's not bullets it's knives. Everyone has their own place where they kill, it just happens."
"Renjun, you're scaring me with that talk."
"Ah, sorry. I'm over sharing, sorry. "Renjun apologized, he probably just made the situation even worse.
"Yeonmi, Taeyong wants to met you." Jaemin says while approaching them.
Renjun only placed a hand on Yeonmi's back and helped guide her. The three walk back through the park, everything was clean; as if nothing wrong in the first place. They approached a man with pitch black hair and a scar near his eye. As much as she didn't want to meet him, Yeonmi had no choice at this point.
"Yeonmi? I'm Taeyong, I'm so sorry that you had to witness all of this. Is your neck alright? I heard it got- hold on. You idiots didn't even clean it up or wrap it? I raised you all better. Jaehyun get me the med-kit."Taeyong stepped closer to her and examined the cut. "It got on your clothes, sorry about that."
"It's alright, I can wash it out."Yeonmi tells him, and somehow it was easy for her to talk to him. He wasn't as horrific as she thought he would be.
This Taeyong guy seems comforting.
He patched up the cut for her, and Yeonmi shyly thanked him for it.
"Please, come with us. We need to discuss what's going to happen with you. Your life is in danger. Is there any family we should inform?"
"Not unless you can talk to my older brother, which I highly doubt."
"Doubting my abilities?"Taeyong teased.
"No, doubting he'll care."At that Taeyong lead her and the other members to the cars.
"Who wants to ride with the bodies?"Jaemin asks.
There were three cars, one that held the bodies, one for the duffle bags, and one for passengers only. Besides the driver all of them could fit, but one would also have to be in the car with the bodies.
"I'll go,"Renjun volunteered.
"No, no, stay with me please."Yeonmi pleaded.
"Who's going then? Jisung and Lele aren't old enough to ride with the bodies, Jeno gets sick by the smell, Haechan will want to stay with Yeonmi, Renjun has to stay with her, and Jaemin is her best friend."Mark questioned.
There was a moment of silence. A gust of cold air passes them and Yeonmi hugged herself shivering. Her hand brushed over her pocket, and remembered what was in there. Pulling it out of her pocket she chucked it at Mark. It hit his chest before falling to the ground. Everyone looked at her in shock.
"You can, those can keep you company."She coldly says to him before leading herself to the van.
It took a split second for the others to follow. Before heading to the van, Mark picked up the box on the ground. He was confused until he saw that they were playing cards.
Is it because of the nickname she just found out? Or is it because she found out about what I did in high school? Either or suck.
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Edited 2/18/21
I just realized because I'm editing 90% of the comments aren't even clipped to paragraphs because I changed them. Sad hours, all the first time reactions are lost in the general comments