Chapter 6

Scales Base, PJ’s (Park Junho’s) Office

“What the hell dad, since when?” Jinyoung immediately demanded for an answer as soon as the door of the office closes. PJ, his dad’s established nickname among his gang, sighed. “We have always been a Python, Jinyoung. It’s a heritance from your great great grandfather.” He answered.

“Great grand pops?” Jinyoung asked again while his friends just listen to the conversation the father and son are having. His dad nodded. “Well does mom know about this?”

“She might be having her suspicions already. She already knew my family was a Python but I don’t think she knows about me leading it already.” Mr. Park explained. “What are you doing here anyways?” he asked as he realized that the boys shouldn’t be there in the first place. That’s when Mark started speaking up.

“Sir, we’re very sorry we just barged in here like that. But do you know if Hyunwoo’s been here or if he’s seen somewhere near here last summer?” Mr. Park turned his head to his son after hearing Mark’s question then raised his right brow. Mark saw the gesture and immediately explained to Junho. “Sir, I dragged Jinyoung into this. He did nothing wrong.” The elder raised his hand to make Mark shut up.

“Son, you know you could get in trouble by doing this, right?” and Jinyoung nodded as an answer. “And you are willing to face the possible consequences?”

“Yes, dad. The authorities aren’t doing anything about the investigation and it just not right with me.” Jinyoung reasoned out. “I know they wanted to rule it out as suicide but I just know Hyunwoo wouldn’t do that.”

Mr. Park nodded his head slowly. “Very well. I’m not stopping you but you need to be careful all the time, understood? And don’t tell your mom I know about you and your friends’ own investigation.” The look on their faces instantly showed surprise as they heard that.

“Really? You’re not mad? You’re not stopping me?” The younger asked as if he wasn’t believing his father’s words.

“No. One of these days, you will take over and be the Python’s king. I think this little detective thingy you’re right now might help build up your character.” Mr. Park smiled.

“Well, okay. I wonder how you build up your character? A Python king who is afraid of his wife?” Jinyoung chuckled and his friends giggled while Junho snorted at that. “Well, technically, she is the queen. She is my royalty.” He replied.

“Cheesy. So, what do you know about Hyunwoo? Any information to share with us?” Jinyoung asked, going back to the main reason why they were in Scales Base in the first place.

“About that. I did see him two weeks before he was found dead in the river.” He started. “Just to be clear, Pythons aren’t what the towns people believe we are. We don’t actually deal with drugs. Rather, I gather people who has a bit of a grudge on the town. I keep them in check and give them shelter and food to eat. Some go by the rules but some still stray. But if those strays do something bad, we give them what we call a trial to see what punishment to give them or if they should still be accepted in the gang.” Mr. Park explained.

“We understand, Mr. Park. So, about Hyunwoo?” Jackson asked, getting a little impatient.

“Yeah, so I did see him. 10^th of August. He came here himself voluntarily. He was asking me for a job but Scales Base doesn’t have slots which need to be filled. We’re all full and it would affect the gang’s budget if I add another employee in this bar.” He sighed. “But I noticed his car looked expensive and his clothes and accessories don’t look cheap at all either. Until I realized he was the Im’s third son. And I thought, for a kid who belongs to ridiculously wealthy family to ask for help from us? Some must have gone down badly in his family and he really needed help that time. But like I said, we couldn’t hire anymore workers. But I did assign him to one member of mine, though. I never asked how it went but if you want to know, you’re going to have to ask Rattle.” Mr. Park finished.

Bambam jumped in the conversation then, “With all due respect to your gang member, sir, but can’t we speak to another one of your minions? That old man really gets on my nerves.”

Mr. Park chuckled. “He gets a bit too much sometimes, doesn’t he? But I’m sorry kid. I assigned Hynwooo’s case to him. And if a direct order is given to them by me, it will only be between myself and the person I gave my orders to unless I give them permission to share it with someone else. So, you won’t get anything from anyone aside from Rattle himself.” Junho shrugged.

“We understand, sir. Thank you very much for your time.” Mark said. Mr. Park smiled, “You kids need to know anything, I’ll do my best to help. And Mark? Don’t mind my wife nagging our son about your friendship with him. She’s just worrying too much.”

Mark beamed at him, “As I’ve been told by the Python prince.”

“Python prince? Hmm, I like that. Suits my heir just right.” Junho said making Jinyoung scoff. “Well, thanks for your time, dad. We’ll get going now.”

When the boys went out of the room, Mr. Park quickly reached for his phone and called Rattle but the guy can’t be reached. Junho started fidgeting. Contrary to his calm and collected character awhile ago, he was actually worried a lot and was anxious for his son and his friends. He knows what they might be possibly getting involved in and he wasn’t sure they were ready for it.

The six of them headed downstairs and Mark and Jinyoung’s eyes immediately started searching for Rattle but there were no signs of him in there anymore. “Maybe we should just head home for tonight and just look for him tomorrow.” Yugyeom suggested.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. My dad texted me. He wants me to come home by dinner.” Youngjae said.

The MiniPlais, 8pm

“So, how was my son’s day?” Seojin asked Youngjae as he was sliced a piece from his steak and put it inside his mouth.

“It was fun. I hung out with my newfound friends here.” The younger replied casually not explaining further how they hung out at Scales Base. But it seems like he didn’t need to hide anything at all when his father asked him a question, he did not expect at all.

“Really? Was it fun hanging out where all the Pythons gather, dear?” as soon as the question was asked, Youngjae looked at his father incredulously. “You were following us? What the hell, daddy? Was that necessary?” he asked irritably.

“Not really. I didn’t follow you there. I was crossing there on a way to some business when I found you guys entering Scales Base. I had to make sure my baby comes out of their alive, though. You spent quite an amount of time inside there, by the way.” Mr. Choi answered before putting another piece of meat in his mouth.

“You watched us? What is wrong with you?” the younger dropped his cutleries and crossed his arms on his chest.

“Youngjae, what were you doing there? You know how dangerous that place is!” His mother exclaimed, concerned for her son’s safety.

“I just helped a friend find out about something, that’s all. Stop overreacting, please. I’m old enough for this.” Youngjae frowned at his parents then left the table to go to his room. He was reading a book when he suddenly thought of something. ‘What kind of business was he doing there? He perfectly knows it’s the shady part of the town. Was he really there for business or he was really just tailing us?’ Youngjae sighed. He thought maybe he was overthinking stuff again just like how he did when he heard of the anonymous.

Arzenville High’s Gym, Bulldogs’ practice

Jinyoung was cooling down already and Mark was waiting for him by the bleachers while reading some book. They were planning to pass by Charlie’s first before walking home together.

After cooling down, Jinyoung headed to the locker room to have a shower. And while the younger’s in there, Mark received a call from Yugyeom.

“Hey, what’s up?” Mark’s calm demeanor morphed into a horrified expression and started walking towards the locker room. He was pacing back and forth in front of the room looking very anxious.

As soon as Jinyoung got out from inside, Mark instantly grabbed his arm and started dragging him outside of the school.

“Hey, hey! What’s the matter? Will you stop dragging me and start telling me what’s going on first?” the younger demanded, pulling his hands from Mark.

Mark wasn’t saying anything. He just looked at Jinyoung while frowning and biting his lips. Jinyoung knew that look. His eyebrows started meeting in the middle too as he asked the older, “What happened?”

“Yugyeom called.”

Cloudy Complex, 6:00pm

*Sirens wailing*

Mark, Jinyoung, and the rest of their friends were watching the whole scene in front of them. With the occasional red and blue light flashing across their faces coming from the police cars in front of the building.

Jinyoung thought that it must be some sort of joke. He couldn’t believe everything that’s been happening.

“How did all of this happen again?” Jackson asked. Yugyeom and Bambam held each other’s hand. They must’ve been terrified with what they saw a while ago in one of the apartment’s room. “We decided to see him and seek answers. But when we got there, his room was left open. We went inside and saw his body in the bathtub.” Bambam answered.

“Jinyoung.” Mark called out to the younger. “I get the feeling we might get something from this.”

“Agreed.” Jinyoung replied.

FLASHBACK

Mark wasn’t saying anything. He just looked at Jinyoung while frowning and biting his lips. Jinyoung knew that look. His eyebrows started meeting in the middle too as he asked the older, “What happened?”

“Yugyeom called.”

“And?”

“It’s Rattle. He was found dead inside his apartment just now. Yugyeom and Bambam already called the sheriff.” Mark revealed.

“What? Rattle? What’s the cause of death?” Jinyoung asked curiously.

“Suicide.”