[[CONTENTID1] Vegenance[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] Despair [/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3] [/CONTENTID3]

[CONTENTID4]

Mingyu held his foster mother's hand so tightly that it must hurt her, but she didn't let it show.
"I wasn't sure if you were here yet, but since your father's motorcycle wasn't in the garage, I assumed Jeonghan had given it to you." she said to Wonwoo, who replied something, but Mingyu didn't hear.
He heard absolutely nothing around him except her voice. He mentally clung to that sound to not go insane.
She and Wonwoo talked for a while before Mingyu finally took a deep breath and asked the question tormenting him.
"What's going on, Mom?"
She looked at him. "It's a little complicated." 
"Ah, really?" Mingyu snarled at her, regretting his tone a moment later.
"I'm on the roof." he heard Wonwoo's voice. 

Wonwoo looked back in confusion as he suddenly felt fingers on his wrist.
"Please stay."
Just those words and the look in Mingyu's eyes showed Wonwoo how sincere the younger had been when he said he only had him left.
And it shocked Wonwoo, because he felt touched which triggered a new feeling and made him want to stay with Mingyu.
"Someone has to check the area." he said.
"Activate the motion detectors." Mingyu said, and Wonwoo secretly gritted his teeth in anger. But he couldn't blame Mingyu.
"We don't know if they are working properly either." Wonwoo tried to escape the conversation somehow.
"Send out drones. Do you think I haven't noticed them?" insisted Mingyu.
Wonwoo suddenly heard a laugh. He looked at Mingyu's foster mother. "I don't blame him. Imagine someone raising you all your life only to discover that the person is not who you thought. I would be suspicious too. You'd better be glad he's reacting that way." 
"You'll be fine on your own. She is here anyways." said Wonwoo finally, almost forcibly freeing himself from Mingyu's grip. The latter looked at him nervously, but Wonwoo lost his gaze as he left the room.
He walked up the few steps to the roof and positioned himself behind his rifle.
After a few minutes of frantically trying to concentrate on the scope, he lowered the rifle and took a deep breath. 
It was complicated enough, but their relationship would be strained to the breaking point after the discussion. Wonwoo tried to feel sorry for Mingyu, but all he felt was anger.
And he didn't give a what had happened to him. The only reason he was with him was the tattoo. He was relieved that she had shown up and saved him from the annoying conversation about Mingyu's past.
Finally, a rustling sound was heard next to him. Wonwoo reached for the earplug in his pants and activated it.

Mingyu sat across from his adoptive mother. He felt guilty because he had asked Wonwoo to stay and had given her the feeling that he did not trust her. 
"Sorry... I'm just nervous." Mingyu mumbled, and she smiled at him.
"That's understandable." 
"What's going on here? Why should I be killed, and more importantly, who? Is this system with the families true?" asked Mingyu, sitting down more comfortably. When his mother turned away for a moment, he reached for the earplug in his pants to make sure he had it with him. 
No matter what he had experienced in the past weeks, this little goddamn device had enabled him to communicate. And it had already saved his life several times.
"Yes, it's true. It may sound like a bad mafia movie to you, but this construct had existed since a time when we had to protect you with swords."
Mingyu looked at her in surprise. "You are a Second family member?"
"Of course. Why else would I raise you?"

Wonwoo tuned in the frequency and couldn't help grinning when he heard his voice.
- Where is my postcard? -
"Haven't had time to write it yet."
- Did everything work out? The hideout is well prepared? - Jeonghan asked.
"Minghao locked the security so tight that Mingyu almost blew our heads, offsetting the code." Wonwoo replied.
He heard a giggle. Wonwoo had to admit that it felt good. He had known that giggle since childhood.
A moment later, he scolded himself for his thoughts. This whole operation was making him sentimental, and it was irrelevant.
- Everything okay with Mingyu? -
"Yes."
There was a brief silence in his ear, and finally, he heard an annoyed sigh.
- Is there more information than yes? -
"What do you think I should tell you? We are on vacation, eating pineapple, and sticking our feet in the pool? He's downstairs with her."
- Is she there yet? - Jeonghan asked in wonder.
"Yes, why?" 
- She got a job yesterday. -
"You know she's good. She probably got it done on the way. Did Minghao find out anything?"
- Yes. But it doesn't make sense at the moment. We need more information. -
"Tell me what you know." muttered Wonwoo, and Jeonghan chuckled again.
- Since when do you give a damn about information that isn't confirmed? -
Wonwoo bit his lip to stifle a disrespectful comment.
When Jeonghan said nothing for a moment, Wonwoo sighed.
"Right now, anything is better than nothing." 
-You remember the agreement, don't you?- Jeonghan asked, and Wonwoo laughed bitterly.
"Yes, I do."
"The deal included other information that probably needs to be discovered. Minghao is digging, but we know that Mingyu isn't the only one involved. Joshua, too."
Wonwoo froze.
"What do you mean?"
- I mean that he was also involved in your parents' execution.-
Wonwoo tried to calm his heartbeat. "Give me all the information you have about that, hyung." he whispered, and Jeonghan began to talk.

Mingyu stared at his adoptive mother in amazement.
"What do you mean?"
"The first family assigned us to raise you back then. Since you're involved in this now, there's no need to continue the sentimental bull. We were given an assignment, and we carried it out. The job was you. There's a reason I never went on picnics with your friends' moms or your dad went out drinking beer with the others after a soccer game."
Mingyu felt sick.
"The rules of the families are strict, but they work. It is not a democracy. You say something, and we do it to a certain extent. And that's the way it's always been. But there are flaws in every system that can bring it down. And such flaw was your mother."
Mingyu began to tremble. "My mother?" 
"Yes. Your birth mother."
Mingyu had never thought about who his birth parents were. They had given him away, therefore, he had never wanted to know anything about them. She looked at him long before he could process what he had just heard.
"Please say something! You can't throw something like that at me and sit there like you're waiting for a coffee!"

"Then ask me questions." she said quietly.
Mingyu struggled to keep his composure. "What do you mean about my mother?"
"Your mother had always been a free spirit and very communicative with us for a first Family member. As a child, she always asked to play with us. She was a nuisance. Having the first family member on the playground for us, but we couldn't say no."
"So it's a mistake to be friendly?!" almost shouted Mingyu.
"No. But her manner was so slick. You never knew where you stood with her. One day she met your father."
Mingyu laughed bitterly. "Let me guess. A second family member?"
"Don't be stupid. You wouldn't have been two days old if it had been like that. As if the first family would allow such nonsense."
Mingyu hid his face in his hands. "Then who was he?"
"He had nothing to do with the first family or second Family and put that stupid idea in your mother's head to just run away with him. Things went well for about a year but then we finally tracked her down. Your dad died in a car accident. Drinking and driving. You never know what's going to happen." Mingyu stared at the grin his adoptive mother had on her face. 

"Your mother was a different case. News spread that your rebellious mother had had a child, and even in our ranks, executing a one-year-old is not the rule." 
"What about my mother...?" fluttered Mingyu powerlessly.
"She was shot while trying to escape. You were taken care of and put into an adoptive family. You were too little and couldn't remember anyway. So it wasn't a huge administration effort."
Mingyu laughed bitterly. "Effort...?"
"The problem was that some of the First and Second Family members had started to influence the system because of your mother's action. It was chaos for a while, and finally, the First Family executed members from us and the First Family to restore order."
Mingyu wanted to get up, but she held him by the wrist. He angrily tore himself away, grabbed her other arm without thinking, locked her shoulders, and attempted to topple her as the air was violently forced from his lungs, and he went down gasping.
He saw a pair of shoes in front of him. "I raised you because I had to. Don't think I won't kick your now."
Mingyu struggled with himself for a moment. One part of him wanted to hear more, and the other just wanted to stay on the ground and give up. 
Finally, he pulled himself up.
"And I've been with you guys ever since, right?"
"No, you were given to another family."
"Which one?" asked Mingyu in surprise.
"Wonwoo's parents supervised you for two years."
Mingyu got nervous. "Wonwoo's parents?"
"Yes."
"But Minghao said they were executed when he was little?"
"That's right. Because of you." she smiled at him.

- One reason Mingyu did not disappear completely was that the First Family wanted to show that they would not accept a rule-breaking, but still, an infant would not be executed for it. -
"There's more to it than that?" asked Wonwoo."Until now, this had always been the official statement, and the whole thing had been forgotten. Mingyu had been raised in the Second Family and should never have known about his origins after the mess his parents had made."
- Yes. Minghao has made inquiries with some members who are quite opposed to the system, and one of the other reasons was that Mingyu was being used as leverage. - Jeonghan finally said.
"What do you mean?"
- The Second Family knew about Mingyu's background. The first family planned to kill Mingyu as well. Out of sight, out of mind, you know these bastards. But the Second Family had finally stepped in, and for the first time, there was a severe conflict, not just some quarreling. Eventually, it got out of hand, and the Second family used Mingyu as a blackmail tool for more influence in political operations. Since then, there has been the fourth family branch. -
Wonwoo was mindblown. He had not expected this.
- The family branch that got the most influence was the first one, and since your parents were at the top of the hierarchy, they were chosen to take care of him. - Jeonghan mumbled an then there was a short silence.
"And Ahri." muttered Wonwoo.

"What do you mean?" Mingyu tried to not let it show but he was afraid.
"Wonwoo's parents were assigned to raise you and Ahri."
"Who is Ahri?" whispered Mingyu. 
"Your twin sister."
Mingyu dropped his head. "You're going to tell me I have a sister now, too?"
"You had. She was killed when she was four."

"You're not kidding, are you?" Mingyu asked.
"No."
"What happened then?" whispered Mingyu. 
"After all the chaos, you were put with Ahri at Wonwoo's parents' house. For two years, you grew up together. While Wonwoo trained to protect you eventually, you dug little holes in the sandbox. One day there was a big party in the political area. You needed to tag along because you were a blackmail opportunity for the second family to get more influence over the first family at that party because otherwise, they would have revealed that you were still alive to other members. Wonwoo didn't know who you were then, and he was only five when you joined the family. As I said before, your sister was a annoying little brat."
Mingyu gritted his teeth. He didn't even know her, but being talked about like that made him angry.
"She never listened and was always running away and hiding. She always thought it was funny that half the family branch had to look for her. But apparently, it became known who you were at some point."
Mingyu wanted to ask who found out what had happened but couldn't get a sound out. Everything in him screamed to run to the only source he trusted and felt safe with.
But that source was on the roof.

"There was a First Family member celebration to which everyone was invited. Those who did not know who you were thought you were just the children of Wonwoo's parents. But some people knew very well. Finally, Ahri was poisoned at that party and died two days later in the hospital. Wonwoo's parents had failed to protect her." his adoptive mother said, looking at him with an emotionless expression.
Mingyu said no more. Even if he had wanted to, no sound would have come out. His mouth was so dry that it almost hurt.
"You survived, which was good for us on the one hand because we had at least one bargain left instead of zero, but it was at least known in some circles who you were. So the First Family decided to keep the de