It was the next day and Kai was panicking.
Soobin was nowhere to be found.
He knew they should have exchanged numbers but Kai was too nervous to ask.
Feeling defeated, he took a seat on the couch and buried his face in his hands. Kai's job was to watch over Soobin. It's only the second day and he already failed.
Kai thought about calling Nurse Choi, but he didn't want to risk losing his position.
Not knowing what else to do, Kai just decided to wait until Soobin came back. He had to make sure the taller boy was okay, even if that meant he stayed a little bit longer. Soobin will come back home tonight, right?
-
Soobin made his way into the all too familiar abandoned building. He noticed a few people were looking at him. They were probably talking about the events that happened yesterday. Soobin wouldn't be surprised if Taehyun took the opportunity to announce how he "brutally" beat up Soobin.
Soobin noticed that San and Jongho were whispering some things and giggling. On the other side of the room Chanhee was not even trying to hide the fact that he was glaring at him.
Soobin still couldn't believe how easily Taehyun was able to convince everyone that Soobin was a bad guy. They were a family. They were supposed to get along. They should all be working together to get rid of the outsider.
Whenever Soobin would try to bring it up they would just tell him that it was his fault Taehyun now a part of their gang. Which is true. Taehyun was Soobin's friend before he joined, but that doesn't mean he wants him here.
Pushing away his thoughts, Soobin focused on what he was doing here. Yeonjun texted him and said that Taehyun had done something unthinkable and Soobin needed to know what he was planning.
Soobin made his way up the stairs, knowing Taehyun tended to stay in the last room on the top floor, and slowly opened the door.
Taehyun was sitting on his makeshift throne smiling down as his bat and Yeonjun was standing next to him. Taehyun looked up at Soobin and his face immediately dropped.
"What do you want Soobin?"
"What did-"
"Don't tell me you're here for me to beat you up again," Taehyun whined, "I mean, I can do it, but my arm is still tired from yesterday and I don't want to mess up the new changes to my bat."
"It's not your bat," Soobin stated through gritted teeth.
The bat Taehyun was holding was a trophy passed down from leader to leader, starting when the Choi Family gang first started all the way back in the 1930s. Every leader would carve their full name into it to remind our family of the great leaders we've created. Most importantly, it is not supposed to be used for combat. It was for display only, but Taehyun doesn't seem to care.
"And what do you mean by changes?" Soobin asked, realizing this must have something to do with what Yeonjun was talking about.
"I just added my name to the bat," Taehyun said.
"You're supposed to add your name to the bat after you've been a leader for a year," Soobin sighed, "It's only been three months since you've taken over."
"Well that's too bad because I already did it," Taehyun turned over the bat to reveal the word 'KANG' painted over the other names in bright red paint.
"What is wrong with you Taehyun?" Soobin shouted. He knew Taehyun didn't care much for our traditions and rules but he could have at least left alone the one thing that had sentimental value, "That's too far!"
"It's just a bat," Taehyun shrugged as he swung it around, "It looks a lot better now. Don't you think so Yeonjun?"
"It looks great," Yeonjun responded, refusing to look in the younger's direction.
"You're such a child!" Soobin clenched his fist.
"Huh?" Taehyun turned his attention back to the angry boy in front of him, "No, I just turned eighteen."
"Then start acting like it."
Taehyun tossed the bat to the side and rolled his eyes, "Well, now that you ruined my mood, is there a reason you came up here to talk to me? Or did you just intend to scold me?"
Soobin's eyes followed the bat as it rolled across the floor, but didn't say anything.
"Since you're already here, I need you to do something," Taehyun stood up and made his way over to Soobin.
"And why should I do what you want?" the pink haired boy glared at him.
"Because I'm your leader, whether you like it or not," Taehyun snickered, "and if you refuse I have the power to kill you."
Soobin gulped, "Fine."
Taehyun grabbed a folder from Yeonjun and handed it to Soobin. Soobin flipped through it and there were a bunch of pictures of some boys he didn't know. Eight boys to be exact.
"Who are these people?" Soobin closed the folder and looked up at Taehyun.
"Some group that formed not that long ago," Taehyun explained, "They're trying to take over this city, but we can't let them do that, now can we?"
"Do they have a name?"
"Umm, I think it's something along the lines of Baby Photos. No that's not right," Taehyun scrunched his face as he struggled to recall the name, "Was it Shy Boys?"
"They're Stray Kids" Yeonjun stated.
"Oh I remember now!" Taehyun clasped their hands together, "They go by the name Stray Kids."
"You're so stupid," Yeonjun scoffed, "Where did you even get those names from?"
Taehyun rolled his eyes and Soobin giggled. Ever since they were kids they would fight like this.
"What are you laughing at?" Taehyun glared at him.
"Nothing," Soobin turned his attention back to the photos, "What do you want me to do?"
"Ideally, I would like for you to kill them all."
"I've told you before I don't like killing people if they haven't done anything wrong and-"
"Yeah I get it," Taehyun waved him off, "You're a wuss."
Soobin scowled but didn't bother replying.
"Since you don't want to do things the easy way then I want you to kidnap one of them and bring them back here," Taehyun grinned, "We need to assert our dominance and show those wannabes that this is our turf and they aren't welcome."
"I can do that, but I would like to have someone accompany me," Soobin let his gaze wander over to Yeonjun, "We don't know their strength so it's not smart to go alone."
"Are you scared or something?"
"No, we just shouldn't underestimate our enemy," Soobin explained.
"I don't care if Yeonjun goes with you," Taehyun crossed his arms, "As long as you return with one of them."
"Is there a certain member you want?"
Taehyun snatched the photos back from Soobin and skimmed through them. A big grin appeared on his face as his eyes landed on their victim.
"Honestly any of them would be fine, but," Taehyun pointed to a boy with dark hair and showed Soobin, "If you can get this guy I'd prefer him. He's cute looking and everyone loves the cute ones."
"Yang Jeongin," Soobin read the name out loud, "I'll get him."
"Good," Taehyun made his way back to his 'throne', "You guys should investigate tonight and try to find their base. Maybe try to dig some more dirt up on them if you can."
Yeonjun walked over to Soobin and put the photos back in his bag, "We won't let you down."
-
"How did we manage to get photos of all of the members but couldn't find out where their base is?" Soobin asked as they scouted the area.
"Don't ask me, ask Minho," Yeonjun said as he stared at the photo of Jeongin, "He's the one that took the photos."
Soobin sighed as he continued to look for any suspicious faces. He was notorious in their gang for abducting people but today he felt off. He wished he could just sleep instead and worry about the whole situation tomorrow.
"Do you think they'd be somewhere obvious like the alleyways?" Yeonjun asked, "Since they're new in town they probably haven't found all of the good places yet."
Soobin shook his head, "Just because they've appeared recently doesn't mean they haven't been planning ahead of time. I'm sure they have a base just as good as ours, if not better."
"Do you think they know about us?"
"I doubt it. I think Taehyun is an awful leader, but he's really good at keeping us underground," Soobin explained, "That's the only thing I'm willing to give him."
Yeonjun hummed in agreement as they continued on their search. Yeonjun was about to ask Soobin if he had any idea where they should start when suddenly a boy was running right for them.
"Move!" the boy shouted as he pushed the both of them out of their way. Yeonjun stumbled but managed to look at the boy as he continued to run. He had a purse in his hand.
"Must be a petty thief," Yeonjun observed. He looked back at Soobin to make sure he was okay and that's when he noticed his cousin was gone. Confused, he looked back to where the thief had fled and noticed that Soobin was chasing after him. "Soobin!" Yeonjun yelled, "What are you doing?"
Soobin must not have heard him because he didn't respond. After realizing hat he didn't have any other option, Yeonjun reluctantly ran after him.
Eventually, Yeonjun caught up to Soobin as he was peeking at something from the corner of a building, "Soobin what are you-"
Soobin quickly covered Yeonjun's mouth with his hand and whispered, "That's Seungmin."
"I don't know who that is," Yeonjun whispered back.
"One of the boys in the pictures Minho took."
Yeonjun said something else but Soobin didn't bother to pay attention as he focused on Seungmin. There was something strange about the boy's behavior.
Seungmin looked terrified.
A person can't be scared in this kind of business. Soobin couldn't tell what the boy was scared about either. Seungmin was standing by himself outside of a subway station. There was nothing for him to be scared about up here, unless...
"Get back!" Yeonjun pulled Soobin towards him as Seungmin began to scan the area.
"Thanks," Soobin got down and only slightly peeked, "I wasn't paying attention."
"I could tell."
After making sure the coast was clear, Seungmin headed down into the subway.
"That must be where their hideout is," Soobin said as he stood up and dusted off his clothes.
"In a subway station?" Yeonjun furrowed his brows, "but isn't that too obvious? It's a public place."
"Not if they meet in that abandoned train on the other side of the tracks," Soobin said, "And with it already being dark outside it probably isn't hard to get across since most people are inside."
"Okay, cool. Should we go back to report to Taehyun now?"
"No way," Soobin was tired before, but now that he actually found him he feels a new rush of energy, "We're gonna follow him."
"But Taehyun said to just find out where their base is," Yeonjun shot down the idea.
"He also said to find any dirt on them if we could," Soobin reminded him, "Also what would happen if I'm wrong? We would lose our only lead."
Yeonjun groaned because he knew the younger was right, "Okay fine."
The two boys made their way down the stairs as fast as they could and sure enough, it was empty. Soobin looked over at the abandoned train and saw a pair of legs disappear and climb into it.
They just missed him.
"Was that him?" Yeonjun asked.
"Had to be," Soobin stared at the train. He wanted to go across the rails and see if he could find anything out, but he realized now how risky that would be, "Let's go."
"You don't want to look around some more?"
"I think we learned enough for now."
Yeonjun was confused why Soobin was so eager to come down here just to leave but he trusted Soobin and agreed to leave. This kind of stuff was his speciality after all.
-
Soobin and Yeonjun returned to the abandoned house to report to Taehyun who seemed ecstatic that they already found out where the boys were hiding.
After they were dismissed, Soobin agreed to walk Yeonjun home since Yeonjun lived a lot farther away from their base than Soobin did. They said their goodbyes and Soobin turned back around to get to his house.
Soobin couldn't wait to get back home and sleep. He hoped his mother was not home. They rarely get along already as it is and if she were to see him coming home so late she would be livid. Soobin checked the time on his phone and it read 10:42. He let out a sigh of relief There were still eighteen minutes left until she got off of work. That's more than enough time for him to walk home.
Once he got outside of his house he checked the time again and now there was only five minutes left until she got off from work. Soobin hoped he could take a quick shower and hop in bed before she got home. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Soobin quickly opened the door and was not happy at the sight in front of him.
The nurse boy from yesterday was slouched over on his couch and fast asleep.
Wasn't he supposed to leave almost six hours ago?
All Soobin wanted to do was get some rest but first he had to take care of this kid. There was no car outside so Kai must have walked here and there was no way he could bring Kai all the way home and back before his mom got back. On the other hand, if he left Kai here and his mom saw him she would have a bunch of questions and he wasn't sure how reliable this kid was.
In other words, Soobin was screwed.
Not knowing what else to do, Soobin carefully picked up Kai bridal style and carried him upstairs to his room. The boy stirred a bit but never completely woke up. Soobin made sure to tuck the boy in and locked his bedroom door after he left to go shower to make sure his mom didn't try to check up on him while he wasn't there and see Kai.
Soobin is going to have a very long talk with this kid when he wakes up tomorrow morning.
'''''
Hello
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