Christmas Eve, huh?

    That gets me thinking.

    If today’s gang world is anything like the gang world of three years ago, that means Christmas Eve is the one day out of all the other days in the year where gangs agree to peacefully coexist. There was always a huge dinner held at the Galmegi; nearly every criminal in Seoul would attend, and everyone would dine with each other like we were all one big happy dysfunctional family.

    Everyone’s guard is down.

    Which makes them the most vulnerable tonight.

    “Guys, I have an idea,” I say, stepping into the Galmegi. “What if we-,”

    My jaw drops.

    “Well, well, well.”

    Moon Jongup and Yoo Youngjae are sitting at the bar next to Himchan, Zelo, and Yongguk. There are wry smiles on their faces as they watch me stagger in, my hands clapped over my mouth.

    “Oh my god, guys,” I breathe, rushing at them and tackling all three of them in one enormous hug. “How are you?!”

    “Whoa, Lia grew up!” Youngjae grins. He pinches my cheeks. “Have you been eating properly? Huh? You look so skinny!”

    “Should I go make something for you?” Jongup asks. I playfully smack him on the shoulder.

    “I’m not hungry, Mr. Kimchi Restaurant in Busan- although you better make me dinner tonight. I need to see if your cooking’s gotten better in these past few years.”

    “I doubt it has,” Zelo says. “You can’t transcend perfection.”

    The boys and I burst into a chorus of ohhhh!s as Jongup bashfully buries his head in his hands. “Don’t overhype my food,” he mumbles.

    “We were just talking about Youngjae’s job with Samsung,” Himchan says. “You’re a software engineer, right?”

    Youngjae proudly straightens up. “Yup. I’m finally able to apply my computer skills to jobs other than hacking security cameras and cracking passwords to databases.”

    “I still can’t believe you work for Samsung.” I scoff. “I’m much smarter than you. I used to guess all those Jeopardy questions right.”

    “Oh, please. Do I need to say the words ‘Mensa puzzle’ to you?”

    “I’ve gotten a lot better at those!” I protest. “We need to have a duel, okay? Update our recent positions and stuff.”

    “Fine, fine! I’ll take you up on that.” Youngjae chuckles. “It’s good to see you again, Lia.”

    I wrap my arm around his shoulder. “You too, Youngjae.”

    “It took a lot of work convincing Daehyun to fly back from Seattle,” Yongguk says. “But he’s on his flight right now.”

    “Is he already out of the country?”

    Yongguk checks his watch. “Should be.”

    “Good, because if he’d waited any longer, I don’t think they would’ve let him fly.”

    Zelo’s eyes widen. “Why?”

    “I just spoke to Officer Hwang, my CRP caseworker. Apparently, everyone in the CRP was notified that we were trying to bring back inactive gang members. They’re onto us.”

    “.” Himchan grimaces. “How did they figure it out so quickly?”

    “It makes sense,” Yongguk says. “When we tried calling numbers in the CRP files, they had all been disconnected.”

    “The police are scared. But for the wrong reason. We’re trying to do good.” I sigh. “But there’s nothing we can do about it. We’ll just keep working. Which brings me to my idea for tonight.”

    “Tonight?” Jongup tilts his head. “It’s Christmas Eve! We’re not going to do any work tonight. Right?”

    “No, that’s exactly why we’re going to do work. Do you remember the Christmas celebration at the Galmegi every year?”

    The boys nod, and I continue. “Everyone was totally vulnerable. This is our chance to attack.”

    Yongguk uncomfortably shifts in his seat. “Isn’t that kind of cowardly, though? Attacking them when they have their guards down?”

    “Have they made the odds any fairer for us?”

    “Touche.”

    “I don’t have camera and voice bugs for all seven of us,” Himchan says, his eyebrows furrowed.

    “We don’t need camera and voice bugs for all seven of us,” I tell him. “Just for one person.”

    “Who?”

    “Me.”

    I can tell where they all are just by seeing the lights in the windows.

The streets of Seoul’s gang district are dark, vacant. But as I continue walking, a large brown building with a neon sign that reads Sihyo’s Oven catches my eye. It is bustling with activity. People sit at tables and chatter away as they slurp up noodles and toss fried shrimp in their mouth; Jingle Bells blares from large black speakers in the corners of the room; a stout old woman hurries around the restaurant and sets down enormous platters of kimchi and rice in front of grinning thugs.

“Are we all set?” I whisper.

“It’s a go,” Himchan responds through my earpiece. “Zelo, Youngjae, Yongguk, and Jongup- are you guys good?”

“Man, it’s been so long since I wore one of these,” Youngjae whistles, his audio feed crackly. “I feel like a real gangster now!”

Himchan snorts. “Did you not remember that you were to be a real gangster?”

“Yeah, but it’s been so long-,”

“Shut up, you guys.” I straighten up. “I’m going in.”

Once I enter the restaurant, every single gang member in there is going to whip out some kind of weapon and come after me. I’m just going to duck and do my best to avoid them- while capturing the entire debacle through the camera lenses in my eyes. Officer Hwang is currently streaming my video feed in the police station, so the instant they come after me, she’ll have enough evidence of illegal activity to come in with her force and arrest their asses.

As long as I don’t do anything particularly violent (or illegal), this should proceed without complications.

I mean, there is the slight chance that I’ll be killed, seeing as how I’m basically walking into Gang Central utterly defenseless and unarmed.

But it’ll be fine!

Maybe.

I’m ed.

But I take a deep, deep breath and stride toward the entrance of Sihyo’s Oven before I can chicken out. My fingers linger on the doorknob for a few moments. The butterflies in my stomach intensify.

Then I yank the door open.

    Everyone’s eyes casually glance up to see who has just entered.

    And then they all double take.

    The entire pub goes silent.

    I swallow. My eyes scan the place- there’s Jina, Mino’s girlfriend, seated next to a man who I presume is Mino. She is gaping at me in utter disbelief, too astonished to look snobbish. I look for a beautiful girl with long blonde hair- there’s Sana, calmly gazing up at me as the girls around her furiously glower at me. BTS is seated in the middle of the restaurant; Jimin is frozen, a chicken leg in his mouth halfway up to his mouth, while the other members simply stare at me with varying degrees of surprise in their expressions.

Taehyung, however, is murderously glaring at me with a viciousness that almost seems comical. I disinterestedly stare back at him, cocking an eyebrow.

Please, Taehyung. Get out of that seat and charge at me. The sooner you do that, the sooner you get to go to jail.

    Everyone is utterly frozen.

    Come on, you bastards. Stand up. Fight me!

    Suddenly, the old woman I saw previously serving food waddles up to me. She briskly pats me down before I even know what she is doing and then announces, “She’s clean!”

    No one moves.

    And then Jimin stands up.

“Glad you could make it, Lia,” he grins. “Come have a seat.”

His words cause everyone’s jaws- including mine- to drop. What the hell is he doing?! I know we’re supposed to be friends, but he’s still supposed to be a part of BTS, and I’m still supposed to be deathly enemies with his gang!

“Why’s everyone so quiet?” the old woman standing in front of me squawks. “Come on! The girl’s unarmed and it’s Christmas! Which means...,”

Everyone blankly looks at her.

The old woman’s face darkens in rage. “I’m feeding you, you brats! What does Christmas mean?”

“A free meal and a place to be!” everyone hurriedly yells.

The old woman nods. “That’s what I thought. Now, then, dearie,” she says in a sugary sweet voice, turning to me with a kind smile like she didn’t just intimidate a few hundred gang members into listening to her. “Let’s fix you up a plate.”

Her words cause the tension in the air to suddenly snap, and within the next few seconds, everyone has started chatting again. Only a few minutes later, it is like I never walked in.

“What the hell is going on?” Himchan hisses in my ear. “They’re supposed to be attacking you right now!”

“I don’t know,” I mutter out of the corner of my mouth. “I think these heads have some kind of Christmas truce. Like the Galmegi did. Except I did not think it would extend to me.”

“Hey, can I come, too?” Jongup pipes up. “I’m always a er for good food-,”

“No!” Himchan snaps. “You’re supposed to be in Busan right now, running your kimchi restaurant! Speaking of kimchi restaurants, you’re surrounded by good food 24/7! Why are you even-,”

“Stop shouting, Himchan!” Yongguk exclaims. “You’re hurting my ears!”

“No, you stop!”

“Are you okay?” Jimin asks, noticing my grimace. “Hey, I’m happy you’re here. I didn’t know you knew this was happening. But it’s fine, okay? Everyone’s cool with you being here.”

    “Uh, that is definitely not true,” I say, sitting down on the bench next to him. “Exhibit A: right here.”

I nod to Taehyung, who- by some incredible of good fortune!- is seated right across from my spot. He is practically growling at me over his barbeque and kimbap.

    “Down, boy,” I drawl.

    Taehyung shoots up, clenching a butter knife in one hand and a bread roll in the other.

    “You little ,” he snarls. “I’m going to ing-,”

    “Easy, V,” Jin says, dragging him back down. “You know the rules. If you’re clean and it’s Christmas...,”

    “It’s a free meal and a place to be!” Hoseok finishes, grinning as he dumps an entire bowl of some strange round food on my plate.

I narrow my eyes. “What... what’s this?”

“Try it!” Hoseok laughs. “It’s delicious-,”

“No, Lia, don’t eat that,” Jimin interjects, snapping my hands away. “Hoseok. Don’t be mean.”

“Wha...,” My eyes widen. “Oh my god, it’s moving! What the ?”

“It’s steamed silkworm larvae,” Namjoon chuckles. He high-fives Hoseok over the table. “Nice.”

“You little !” I exclaim indignantly, whirling around to glare at Hoseok, whose bright smile has turned into a smug sneer. “I’m going to shove these bugs into your mouth-,”

“I’ll have them,” a soft, placid voice says. My eyebrows shoot up in shock as I turn to face Sana, who is standing behind us with a small smile on her face.

“Uh, S-Sana,” Hoseok stammers, shooting up. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

“What did I tell you, ?” Yoongi says between gritted teeth. “Play it cool.”

Hoseok loudly clears his throat. “I mean... hey, Sana,” he says in a low voice. “How’s it... going?”

Sana looks at him for a moment, and then calmly turns back to me. “I didn’t think you’d come here,” she says.

“Yeah, neither did I,” I respond (after taking in Hoseok’s mortified expression with glee). “Uh, hey, by the way... I’m sorry about the street fights.”

She lets out a tinkling laugh. “Oh, no. I came here to thank you for that night. That was the best fight I’d had in awhile.”

“Uh... yeah. Same, I... I guess. You’re a great fighter.”

“Thank you. But you are, of course, better. It’s clear why Suho took such a keen interest in you.”

The smile abruptly drops from my lips. BTS goes quiet around me. My throat constricts and for some reason, my voice won’t work anymore. Sana notices my grim look and furrows her eyebrows.

“You should be honored,” she tells me. “Suho never makes public appearances, and he never picks favorites. So many people resent you because they want to be you.”

“They can take my place any time,” I quietly say.

Sana looks at me for a few more moments, as if she is expecting me to say something more. But I can’t- I don’t want to think about- his face flashes in my mind and the sadness in my heart weighs me down like a block of titanium wedged into my chest- stop it, Hyo!

“I think she’s just tired,” Jimin finally says.

“S-Sorry,” I finally choke out. “I think I’m just hungry. Merry Christmas, Sana.”

She bows deeply and turns away. “Merry Christmas to you, too. To all of you.”

“Merry Christmas,” BTS dully echoes around me.

I silently stare down at my fingers. My mind is in an absolute jumble.

And then someone clears their throat.

“Here,” Hoseok coughs, shoving his plate in front of me without looking at my face. “Eat. I’ll go get rid of this larvae.”

I blink up at him in surprise. “You don’t have to-,”

“Eat,” Taehyung says. He rolls his eyes as I look at him in surprise. “I already know you’re a little when it comes to fighting. Don’t tell me it’s the same with food, too.”

I look at BTS, who are all grudgingly avoiding my eyes- except for Jimin, who is beaming at his friends like they’re babies who just took their first steps.

Then I say, “A little when it comes to fighting, huh? Tell me that the next time I kick your , V.”

Everyone bursts into laughter.

    So I eat Christmas dinner with BTS and the members of the new gang world. Despite the occasional death glare (and that time when I was heading up to get third helpings of apple pie and this guy accidentally tripped me), everyone is being oddly civil. They pointedly scowl at me at the most, and ignore me at the least.

Maybe it’s because that old woman (who turns out to be Sihyo from Sihyo’s Oven) scared them into playing nice, or because Jimin’s vouching for me and BTS is being weirdly nice to me.

But they’re all... fine.

    They really are just like the old gang world. Every gangster in there was a part of the weird, dysfunctional family that is the Seoul crime scene. They laugh. They gossip. They fight. And they’re all bound by a certain camaraderie that comes with being dubbed a no-good criminal by 99% of the population.

    Which I share.

    Which makes me come to a resolution.

    When I take down Joonmyeon and Kim Sangyoon, I’m leaving these people untouched. Somehow.

    And... this might just be coming from the buzz of contentment spurred by the fact that I beat 6 out of 7 of the members of BTS in a thumb-wrestling war (Taehyung and I got a little too “violent” and had to be dragged apart by the rest of BTS before Sihyo threw us all out)...

    But I’m going to try to leave BTS alone, too.

    All of us have just gotten screwed by Joonmyeon and the 1% who exploit us to gain profit. Once they’re out of the picture, the disgusting corruption of the criminal world will stay in the criminal world.

    Better business for us.

A/N: look guys, im fine if you comment "update soon please!!" or whatever after i post a new chapter. but if you're coming on here when i haven't updated, telling me to update, STOP. LOL. i've been updating fairly regularly literally it's been a week since my last chapter, that's not that long at ALL i dont know what yall are expecting i cant magically pull this story out of my okay this bull takes time 2 create, it takes laxatives and in fiber what the do u expect, THESE CHAPTERS AR ENOT BEADS, I DID NOT INSERT ANYTHING IM NOT EXPECTING TO JUST YANK SOMETHING OUT........ ITS 2:41 AM IM GETTING IRRATIONALLY ANNOYED AT THINGS THIS METAPHOR MADE MORE SENSE IN MY HEAD!!!!!!

ANYWAY! so YA gurl is going to college orientation this week (fml!! :)) and then to toronto and montreal so if ur from there u should totally hmu and we can eat that protein thingy with french fries and mustard or whatever the hell is on there no offense but it looks like an abomination jesus christ (jk please dont come after me with pitchforks i in love canada okay i just dont think protein or poot lovato or whatever the hell its called looks very..... AHPPEALING). TELL ME PLACES TO GO IN TOROOONTO AND MONTREAL IF YOUVE BEEN!!!!

ALSO i started watchin old kevjumba videos today- he was like my youtube IDOL when i was like 11??) and i found his new blog and saw this new video he posted and i ing LOST it. i started crying so freaking hard i was sobbing so much i used my tshirt as a tissue because i didnt want to leave my room to GET a tissue bc i didnt want my family members 2 kno i was crying........... like yall dont understand............ i dont cry.......... like i DO not cry.......... i didnt cry when my english teacher died........ i didnt cry when i in like broke my ankle or w/e..... like I JUST! DONT! CRY! IM GOOD AT KEEPIN EMOTIONS BOTTLED UP! BUT! I! CRIED! WHEN I SAW! THAT KEVJUMBA WAS HAPPY! AND OKAY! AND DOING WELL! OH! MY GOD! AND THEN I REALIZED THAT WHEN KEVJUMBA FIRST STARTED MAKING VIDEOS, HE WAS LITERALLY THE SAME ING AGE AS I AM RIGHT NOW!!! !!!! WHICH MEANS THAT..... IM LITERALLY..... I DON'T KNOW I DONT WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT! OR TALK ABOUT IT! AHAHHAHHASDFLASFS

MY A/NS ARE TOO LONG