Chapter 12

Taemin opened his eyes slowly. He felt restrains on his hands and he cursed softly. He was tied to some metal bar that was protruding from the wall. He knew he should have seen that coming. He pulled harshly on the chains but he just couldn’t get them loose. Taemin cursed at the fact that it was chains and not ropes which he could have found a way to untie it. He could do nothing else but wait.

The space was about the size of a small living room. It was some sort of basement or so Taemin guessed. There were some broken things scattered on the floor, but otherwise mostly empty enough for there to be echoes heard. There was a door to the side on the opposite wall that looked like it could be kicked down if Taemin could just get himself free.

The door opened and in walked a man in his mid twenties.

Taemin vaguely recalled him to one of the people he talked to yesterday and then he realised that he didn’t even know if it was yesterday.

“So you’re finally awake,” the man said with a menacing smirk.

Taemin opted not to reply since he thought the answer to be pretty clear.

The man chuckled. “Such an uproar; the Zutters are all looking for you.”

Taemin glared at him.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” the man chided while still sporting a smirk on his face. “What is your name and what is your number?”

Taemin did not reply.

“You know, the rich kids are also looking for you.”

Taemin kept glaring at him.

“If I hand you over to them, I might get a lot of money,” he continued, “but then you’d have to answer to their questions.”

Taemin still did not reply. He did not even know if there was anything to say.

“Even better, I can give you to their parents. I’m sure they would love to talk to you.”

Taemin did not bother telling the stupid guy that he could probably easily escape from the people who apparently wanted him. And as far as Taemin could tell, the man already knew what he was going to do with him.

The man started to get more annoyed. “Answer me dammit!” he shouted in frustration and anger.

Taemin was not one to be intimidated by some sort of idiot so he just kept glaring at the man, also slightly satisfied internally that the man was getting frustrated.

The man, in his anger, slapped Taemin on the cheek.

It hurt, but not enough for Taemin to show it.

“Calm down,” the girl from yesterday stood a few steps behind the man. She looked at Taemin with distaste. “Let’s start easy. My name is Woo Yuna. What is yours?”

Taemin did not reply.

“I’m the leader of the Black Skulls. You’re one of the Zutters?”

Still, Taemin did not reply

“Tell. Me. Your. Name,” she said through clenched teeth as she got closer to Taemin.

Taemin simply looked at the girl named Woo Yuna.

She had long hair that was dyed silver, with some black streaks. She had brown eyes which looked extremely dark and close to black. She wore black jeans and a black tank top which revealed the tattoo on her arm. She wore some simple silver chains around her neck. Overall, she looked quite pretty, that is, if you ignore the angry expression that was ruining her face.

TOP had ordered a few of the Zutters to wait until the bunch of idiots Taemin knocked out to wake up.

And that was why Bobby, BI and Jongup were waiting patiently for the idiots to wake up. Of course everyone’s definition of waiting patiently was slightly different.

BI was clearly annoyed and glared at the unmoving body.

Bobby was pacing around, randomly kicking things that were lying on the ground (which included bodies)

Jongup was cursing at a still unconscious person and at Taemin for losing.

“How is this even possible?” Youngjae popped out of nowhere.

“What do you mean?” BI asked.

“Well because usually gangs gang up against us and Taemin and most of us are used to taking on large groups,” Youngjae explained.

“And usually large groups lack any sort of good teamwork,” Bobby added.

“Well this seems to be an exception,” BI said, clearly annoyed.

“A pretty big one,” Jongup added.

One of the men seemed to wake up and successfully distracted them from their conversation.

BI was the first to ask a question, “Where did you take the brat?” The rest of the Zutters ignored the fact that BI just called Taemin a brat.

The man seemed to almost faint again under the pressure of BI’s glare.

“I- I- I- d- d- don’t k- k- know,” he stuttered.

BI did not seem to buy it. “Tell me or I’ll force it out of you,” he hissed.

“I- I don’t k- k- know,” the man stuttered in a barely audible voice.

“Explain,” Youngjae said, being on of the more reasonable person at the moment.

“It’s a pack between four gangs,” another guy, who had just woken up, answered. They shifted their attention to the guy who was now held by Namjoon.

“Only the leaders know the entire plan and the reason behind it,” he continued but gulped as he saw all their glares.

“Which gangs?” Bobby demanded.

“The Black Skull, Chain, Breakout and Bloodback”

“They sound more like a bunch of wannabe rock artists,” Jongup said, clearly annoyed.

Bobby shook his head. “The Black Skull is a gang that has about twenty smaller gangs spread through the country. They’re pretty well known.”

“It explains a lot as to why Taemin wasn’t able to get away,” Youngjae said.

“What about the others?”

Luhan, who apparently had been there for a while but kept his presence unknown, suddenly spoke up. “The Bloodback is a reasonably small gang consisting of people who survived on the streets to begin with. They are built on people with great survival instincts and their fighting skills could match Jongup’s”

Jongup gulped nervously.

“Chain is one of the oldest gangs around. They aren’t that special overall but they have a few people you should be careful of.”

BI has had once come in contact with a few of these people, but they did not seem special to him.

“Breakout is a rising gang at the moment. They came out of nowhere. Those people are aggressive and try to get everything through violence.”

Namjoon glared at the man. “Who came up with the stupid idea to gang up on us?”

The man shivered. “I’m not sure. I believe someone else asked our leaders”

Jongup sighed, “Pretty much old news.”

Jongin was far from happy. They were sent home the moment Key finished explaining.

Jonghyun who recovered slightly from the shock tried again. “What happened?”

“Key, you can explain to them, I’ll be going now,” Jiyong stated.

Key stared at them and staying quiet, not knowing what to say.

“This is ALL YOUR FAULT!” Jungkook yelled at Jongin’s group.

“There’s no point in yelling at them,” Namjoon stated.

Key sighed, “Simply put Taemin got abducted by another gang”

“But Taemin was one of the stronger numbers right?” Jonghyun asked.

“Was and still is,” said Namjoon.

“But they’re probably from a few different gangs,” Luhan explained.

“Because of the large number of people?” Suga asked.

“Yes,” Key answered pointing at the red or blue bandanas on some of them and some of the tattoos on others, “And most gangs have some sort of identification which makes it easy to recognise them.”

“Especially in bigger gangs; you can never know exactly who is a member of your gang and who isn’t. It’s to make sure they don’t start fights amongst themselves,” Luhan continued.

“But I was under the impression that  you were well respected,” Jonghyun stated his observation.

Some of them laughed bitterly and rather grimly.

“There’s no such thing as respect between gangs,” Key said, “It’s called fear.”

“Simply put most of the gangs fear us,” Luhan explained, “But if they have the confidence that they can beat us, they will do so.”

“And you have a bunch of idiots who bother us because they don’t know us,” said a guy wearing a hoodie.

Jongin looked at him, trying to figure out if he met him at their hideout before. “Have we met before?”

“Yes.” He said, annoyed.

“Name?” Jonghyun asked.

“None of your business.”

“Back to the main point,” Baekhyun said to the rich crowd, “You’re a bother here, go away.”

Jonghyun just looked at him but did not move. “Is it alright for me to assume the gangs are together at this moment because they are sent by some external person?”

“That’s a good possibility,” Luhan answered, “There’s about a 95% chance that they’re someone sent from outside.”

“What makes you say so?” Yixing asked, unable to decipher the conversation between his friend and Jonghyun.

“The weapons, too good quality to be randomly carried by them,” Luhan explained.

“Any idea on which gangs?” Jongin asked out of curiosity and worry.

“Didn’t we tell you to go home to your mommy?” The guy with the hoodie, Mino, asked angrily.

Jongin raised an eyebrow. “If you need us just tell us,” Jongin offered, “Let’s go.”

The others just vaguely nodded.

The Zutters really looked annoyed.

“Whatever,” Mino said.

TOP appointed people to watch the bodies spread through the alleys and then the members split up.

Jongin could not understand why he felt so restless. The Zutters were struggling and he wanted to help. He felt that Taemin’s disappearance affected him more than it should and he couldn’t help but feel worried.

The group, which included Junmyoon, Jongin, Jonghyun, Jin, Suga and Seungri, was busy trying to figure out what was going on.

“I kind of understand what Key meant by the fear thing and how these gang fights come about, but that doesn't explain anything,” Jonghyun said in frustration.

“I agree. Why would they kidnap Taemin?” Jongin said.

“Maybe to lure out the leader?” Suga suggested thoughtfully.

“Could be, but what if Taemin’s the leader?”

“No, I don't think Taemin's the leader,” Jongin spoke up, remembering that Taemin once told him his number.

“Why would you say so?” Jonghyun, surprised at Jongin’s confidence on the matter.

Jongin stumbled a bit, not knowing how to respond. He needed to think of something fast. “At least I think Jiyong is a higher number than Taemin,” he managed to say.

All of them seemed to contemplate it for a bit.

“I think Jiyong is the leader,” Seungri said.

All of them raised their eyebrows. Seungri continued to explain.

“What makes you think that?” Suga asked curiously yet looking indifferent.

“When the Zutters first approached us all of them said their leader was curious right? But Jiyong said ‘I’m curious’.”

Then it dawned on them and they were frustrated at themselves for not figuring it out sooner. Seungri was the most observant it seems.

“So they’re after him?” Suga questioned.

Seungri nodded hesitantly.

Jonghyun started to feel sorry for the Zutters and he did not know why. He definitely was not supposed to. They were not worth it or so Jonghyun tried to convince himself. Deep down, he knew he was wrong. He was in fact grateful to the Zutters, if they were not there when they first went to the ghetto, most of his friends, including himself, would probably have lost a few limbs and possibly their lives.

“Which brings us to the next question. Why are they after Jiyong?”

“Because he’s the leader and the Zutters would not exist without him,” JIn postulated.

“What if it’s not related to the Zutters? Afterall, they did say it was someone from outside. Maybe that’s why he’s worried about the Zutters getting involved.” Jongin said.

“Sounds reasonable,” Jonghyun said, “But then again it could also be something personal against Taemin.”

Jongin felt his stomach churn at that statement. His heart started beating faster from fear and his face became paler while his palms became sweatier. He did not like it at all.

Jonghyun saw Jongin’s reaction to his statement.

Jongin seemed to realise something.

And at that moment, they both knew.

It was just a feeling, but they both knew.

They were way too deep into something they should have stayed out of.

Jongin especially.