19: GIVE YOU A CHANCE

"Where Do We Go From Here?" by G.Soul

                I will kill—

                “You,” Naeil whispered aloud, without thinking. She shook her head at herself as the bus stopped and she got off. Throughout Minjun’s piano lesson, she’d barely been able to focus for two minutes at a time. All these years at Jae-Dong, Naeil had quietly hated the iljin, but she had never had to deal with them herself.

                And now, even the walk home from the bus stop makes me uneasy.

                Naeil was beginning to wonder if she could really live like this, constantly unsure of what might happen, never able to shake the feeling that…she was being watched.

                Naeil stopped walking. Her ears itched—hadn’t she heard footsteps behind her?

                Should I walk faster? Is that suspicious?

                It didn’t matter, Naeil began walking faster without thinking about it. Her house was still a few blocks away. Why was it so dark on this street? Pound, pound, pound, Naeil’s steps came faster, closer to the next corner, almost around the corner.

                Her phone went off and Naeil almost jumped off the sidewalk, slamming a hand against her heart to calm herself.

                “Aish, that surprised me!” hissed Naeil, pulling the phone out of her back pocket.

                It was an unknown caller. Unknown callers weren’t Naeil’s favorite and, usually, she would ignore them unless she was expecting a call. But at this point, Naeil was desperate to hear someone’s voice. She picked up.

                “Hello?”

                “Hello,” came a voice. It was low, and cracked over the receiver. “Is this Ji Naeil’s phone?”

                “Who…is this?”

                “Min Yoongi.”

                “Sunbae?” Naeil was surprised but somehow relieved. “Why are you—how did you get my number?”

                “Ehh, Hoseok-ah gave it to me.”

                “That little—”

                “Are you okay right now?”

                That made Naeil pause. Should she tell him?

                “Yeah, I’m fine.”

                “Well I…I heard things aren’t going so great at Jae-Dong.”

                “How did you—”

                “Hoseok-ah.”

                “Seriously?!”

                Yoongi chuckled. “Look, don’t get too mad at him, I—I asked. There’s some things you don’t really understand about this whole thing.”

                “Yeah? Well why don’t you try explaining a thing or two?”

                “That’s why I called.”

                Oh.

                “We need to talk.”

                “O-okay…”

                “In person.”

                “Ah…”

                “Where can we meet?”

                “Now?”

                “Sooner the better. I would have called you earlier, but I know you have piano classes to teach.”

                He hadn’t been at the piano today. Was he still hurt?

                “Do you know where the old judo place is in Mo-bukk?”

                “I think so.”

                “You know the convenience store a few blocks down?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Can we meet there?”

                “I’m nearby. Meet you there.”

                “Okay. See y—”

                He had already hung up. Naeil looked around the mostly empty street and crossed over to the other side where the convenience store was.

                A cheesy midi jingle beeped above her head as the door opened, and the attendant muttered a half-hearted greeting to her. What a relief, to finally be inside a building. The boy at the register was so distracted with a football game on his phone that he didn’t even look up at her, but somehow Naeil felt safer knowing another person was there. [“Football,” a.k.a. “soccer,” if you’re American].

                Naeil bought two cups of ramyeon and some juice. Then she sat at the window, thrumming her fingers against the counter, waiting for Yoongi’s lean form to appear down the dimly lit sidewalk. She’d never wanted to see him so badly as she did now.

                “Are you waiting for something?”

                Naeil turned around to see the attendant looking at her questioningly. He was still holding his phone up, but it looked like there were ads playing now.

                “Yeah, for a…friend.”

                “Oh. Kind of late to be hanging out on a Monday, isn’t it?”

                “Kind of late to be working on a Monday too…are you still in high school?”

                “Yep. I’ll be off in about an hour. It’s no big deal, I don’t like studying anyway.”

                “I guess that—”

                The door swung open and a dark, hooded figure came in with a baseball cap and mask. For a second, Naeil was worried her suspicions had been true, that someone was following her and was coming for her now—until she saw a hint of mint-green beneath the hat and realized it was Yoongi.

                The attendant greeting him, somewhat anxiously. Yoongi ignored him, striding over to Naeil and sliding into the seat next to her.

                “Sorry about the getup,” grunted Yoongi. “I probably shouldn’t even be in Seoul right now. But I need to talk to you. Plus, Namjoon’s out of beer, and right now I can’t stand being sober for more than two hours at a time.”

                He glanced at the ramyeon and juice on the counter.

                “Wait a sec.”

                After a couple minutes in the back of the store, Yoongi approached the cash register and plopped a pack of beer on the counter. The attendant started to ask Yoongi for his ID, but after a glance at Yoongi’s face, he just murmured the price and took the cash from Yoongi.

                Naeil watched in silence as he returned to the seat beside her and pulled out two beers, opening one for himself and offering the other to Naeil.

                “I don’t drink,” said Naeil uneasily, turning away.

                “What, are you serious? Why the hell not?”

                Because it would kill Eomma.

                “Because it’s illegal.”

                Yoongi’s face scrunched in confusion. “Aren’t you about to graduate? Aren’t you eighteen by now?” [Drinking age in Korea is eighteen—or nineteen, depending on whether you use Korean age].

                “Not anymore.”

                “That doesn’t make any sense. I bought it, anyway, so no ID.”

                “Shut up, I don’t drink.”

                “Fine. Suit yourself.”

                He pulled mask down to his chin and gulped down a large mouthful of beer with a satisfied sigh. Naeil shifted away from him, just slightly. There was nothing she could think of to say, nothing that could easily explain how she felt right then. Telling him that sort of thing…

                Naeil shook her head. No. That’ll never happen. She began opening the two cups of ramyeon without thinking about it. She handed one to Yoongi and he looked up at her, gaze lingering carefully on her face as if looking for something.

                He looked away suddenly, swallowing down more beer. “We need to get you out of that house,” he muttered, putting the can down on the counter.

                Naeil fumbled with the chopsticks.

                “Wh-what? This again?”

                He just grabbed his cup ramyeon and stuffed a scoop into his mouth.

                “Haven’t we been over this already?” continued Naeil. “You guys are crazy if you think—”

                “Lrook,” he said through a mouthful of noodles, “I was sort of hoping you’d realize by now how much danger you’re in.” He swallowed. “Today wasn’t enough to make you realize that?”

                “Well…”

                “Hoseok told me you thought people were watching you. You thought you were crazy. Guess what? You’re not. You’re right. You’re totally and completely right.”

                Naeil blinked. She couldn’t think of anything to say, and her noodles suddenly looked unappetizing. Some part of her brain had accepted it already. But what that actually meant to her, well, that was still a mystery.

                “Sunbae…” said Naeil solemnly.

                He looked up at her, a little surprised at her even tone. “Yeah?”

                “Tell me what’s going on. Please.”

                He nodded slowly. “Okay. Okay.” One more especially long drink of beer, a few moments of scratching the back of his head, and he continued with a sigh, “Look, well…I don’t even know where to start with this. There are a lot of things I’d really like to forget…” He cocked his head to the side. “Everyone likes to think of Seoul as the cleanest city in Korea. Clean of all the ugliness and crime you’d see in, you know, like if you were somewhere in Jeolla.”

                “Right—”

                “Wrong. Seoul’s just better at hiding it.”

                Naeil looked at him skeptically.

                “Sa Hyeo Pa,” Yoongi said, meeting her eyes. “Ever heard of them?”

                “Juyoung—”

                “No, I mean have you ever heard of them.”

                “…no.”

                “That’s what I mean.”

                He resumed scarfing noodles down his throat, and Naeil wondered if he would say anything else. She tried to lean over and get his attention again.

                “So, they’re really…serious geondal, then?” [Geondal=organized crime group, i.e. mafia]

                “Mm,” came the answer with a nod. He swallowed. “The cruelest, dirtiest, most unknown group in the country.”

                Silence reigned for a few minutes as Naeil processed this information. Yoongi finished his food and drink. He was just lifting up his cup to get the last savory juices into his mouth before Naeil spoke again.

                “But why do you have anything to do with people like that?”

                The lifted cup of ramyeon slowly came back down to the counter. Yoongi reached for his beer but found it empty, so he grabbed the one he had opened for Naeil and took a few swigs. This time, Yoongi couldn’t get himself to look at Naeil while he spoke.

                “I…look, Naeil…ssi…I…”

                They both realized at the same awkward moment that he had never said her name out loud.

                “…there are a lot of things I regret. As much as I’d like to forget about everything…look, when—when I was young, I did some things that were…well they were wrong, but I didn’t really understand at the time. It wasn’t that I didn’t eventually realize but, by that time, all those mistakes had just—piled up, and I was too far gone. I’ve been trying to deal with it on my own, but I’ve never been able to outrun them completely. But you…you’ve just got to believe me when I say I’ve been through this before, and it’s not safe for you to stay where you are right now.”

                His words were vague and confused. Maybe his brain wasn’t even completely clear. But somehow it made sense to Naeil. She had realized looking back, not without surprise, that he hadn’t lied about anything so far. She didn’t know why, but he hadn’t.

                “Namjoon’s place isn’t so bad when you get used to it,” continued Yoongi. “Taehyung doesn’t stay there very often. Hoseok, Jimin, and Seokjin are never really there much. Most of the time it’s just Namjoon and myself.”

                “That’s worse, not better,” snorted Naeil, but she wasn’t upset at him anymore.

                Yoongi finished off the second can and started putting his mask back on. He stumbled just a little when he stood up. He wasn’t drunk quite yet, but he wasn’t exactly sober, either.

                “I’ve tried looking at it every way,” he said, quietly, “As much as I hate it, this is all my fault. From the very beginning, I never should have…” He shook his head. “I feel…I don’t know, kind of responsible for you now. You have my phone number. If I come up with something else I hope…I hope you’ll give me a chance.”

                He grabbed the pack of remaining beers and left. Naeil didn’t even notice when the door opened and the obnoxious little tune rang out. She was too busy staring absently into the empty space in front of her.

                Give you a chance…is that really such a good idea?

Author’s Note

Dear Serenblossoms,

They finally had ramyeon together at a convenience store ^^

I had a really hard time guesstemating how much two beers would affect Yoongi but….I dunno, anyone have an opinion?

Also, I know it's Christmas Eve/Christmas.....and normal people wouldn't post anything that's not really christmasy, but I'm too lazy for that and I feel bad for posting late already so......I dunno they ate food in this chapter and people eat food at Christmas CONNECTIONS.

Happy Christmas everyone :)