Chapter 66

Dae Sung squinted his eyes slightly as the lights in the conference room glared down at him until Dae Sung felt a hand on his shoulder.

Dae Sung blinked, before his eyes widened slightly in realization when he saw TOP beside him. Dae Sung had thought that TOP would follow G Dragon because of his amazing fighting skill.

“You think I would let you handle all these irritating reporters alone?” TOP told Dae Sung, a mocking smirk on his lips.

It took a while for Dae Sung to recover from his surprise and smiled in triumph.

When Dae Sung and TOP heard the announcer announced for the press conference to begin, TOP reached for Dae Sung’s hand and grabbed onto it, squeezing it slightly, offering non verbal encouragement. Dae Sung looked up at TOP and gave him small squeeze back.

Understanding passed between them and without saying anymore, Dae Sung and TOP faced the reporters, ready for anything ahead of them.

***

Before Tae Yang could say anything he felt a shooting pain in his leg. Tae Yang cried out and fell to the ground, feeling another bullet shot right through his shoulder.

Incredible pain filled Tae Yang's body and he couldn't help the scream that left his mouth.

Hyun Seng clutched the gun in his hands tightly, forcing his hands to stop trembling as he gritted his teeth.

“If I knew that you are using me all the while...” Hyun Seng spoke, his voice tried to remain steady, despite the knots twisting in his stomach.

With strained efforts Hyun Seng continued, sarcasm beginning to drip into his tone.

"It hurts doesn't it? Death does hurt… slowly it rips one's soul from the body, leaving nothing more then an empty shell. It is a fate most fitting for you.”

Rage and hatred began to boil in him. Hyun Seng could feel it rising up in him, its dark intentions encroaching upon his consciousness, fostering a desire to get good, solid revenge on Tae Yang, to hurt him with as much, if not more pain than he had been forced to go through.

Hyun Seng channelled all his fury and loathing into the weapon in his hands as he narrowed his eyes. It is time for him to make a merciless move.

Hyun Seng aimed the gun at Tae Yang once more and Tae Yang who was waiting for another bullet to shot at him, did not hear any gun shots leaving the gun. Tae Yang wearily opened his eyes and he felt his breath hitch in his throat. Seungri was standing in front of Hyun Seng, using his body to shield Tae Yang.

Hyun Seng gaped at Seungri in genuine shock before his lips twisted into an evil smirk with the gun still pointing at Seungri.

"I am glad that you are finally here, Seungri. “ Hyun Seng spoke in a deadpan tone “You are right on time to witness a glorious moment.”

Through tear filled eyes, Seungri stood defiantly in front of Hyun Seng, hoping that Hyun Seng would drop the gun.

"Hyun Seng Hyung, let’s stop." Seungri pleaded in a raspy whisper.

Hyun Seng did not reply as he continued to aim the gun at Seungri shakily and tears started to gather in his eyes. Seungri was so intent on protecting Tae Yang that even at a time like this, he was more concerned with his band mate's safety rather than his own.

Without saying another word, strings of tears dripped down Hyun Seng's face before he pointed the gun towards himself.

Seungri and Tae Yang stood in complete shock by Hyun Seng’s sudden action.

Before Hyun Seng could pull the trigger to shoot himself, Seungri ludged himself towards Hyun Seng, making both of them fall on the ground and Hyun Seng had dropped the gun in the surprise due to Seungri’s sudden action.

The initial shock wore off and before Seungri could push himself onto his feet, Hyun Seng grabbed Seungri from the collar of his shirt and pulled him roughly to face him.

“Seungri, you really have to stop interfering with what I am doing!" Hyun Seng’s face constricted into one of rage. “Why couldn’t you just leave me alone!” Hyun Seng continued, roughly shaking Seungri before sending a very hard punch on Seungri’s face, snapping his head to the side.

Seungri felt as if his jaw was on fire and when he saw Hyun Seng aiming another punch at him, Seungri kicked out with his foot, swiftly ing a kick on Hyun Seng’s stomach, making enough distance for him to escape from Hyun Seng.

Seungri tried to block the forceful punches that Hyun Seng kept on raining down on him until he realised the sound of creaking concrete started echoed morosely with every step Seungri took. In the back of his mind, he was slightly concerned about the condemned building's ability to support their weight.

***

Tae Yang watched as Hyun Seng keeps attacking Seungri. There was nothing he could do.He was injured and there was nothing around him that he could use as a weapon. Just as Tae Yang noticed the gun lying only an arm length away from him, Tae Yang had completely lost his rational thinking.

Tae Yang’s eyes blazed and radiated so much hatred when images of Hyun Seng trying to kill him appeared in his mind. Tae Yang stumbled shakily to where the gun lay, snatching it up and holding it in his bloody hand.

 Aiming the gun at Hyun Seng, Tae Yang pulled back the trigger and started to shot mercilessly.

All of a sudden, Tae Yang saw everything happen as if in slow motion. He saw Seungri roughly pushed Hyun Seng away and the bullets shot Seungri instead.Tae Yang felt his world crash around him as he saw Seungri being struck with the bullets.

Hyun Seng watched in dumb disbelief, as he saw Seungri took the bullet for him and Seungri's body crashed to the ground. For a moment, Hyun Seng's eyes were fixed on the motionless body of his friend, willing him to get back up. But Hyun Seng knew no one could get back up after being struck that badly by the bullets.

Hyun Seng didn't know what happened after that. It was as if everything around him vanished and it was just him and Tae Yang left on the battlefield. Hyun Seng's eyes were filled with angry tears as he locked his gaze with Tae Yang. Tae Yang pointed the gun at Hyun Seng, but he barely noticed. He couldn't hear anything, sense anything but burning rage as he looked at Tae Yang.

The only thought of Tae Yang killed Seungri kept running in Hyun Seng's mind. His rage filled eyes burned into Tae Yang and all Hyun Seng felt at that moment was pure, unadulterated anger towards Tae Yang.

Fear was evident in Tae Yang’s eyes. When Tae Yang heard Hyun Seng roar in outrage and ran towards him, Tae Yang instinctly shot the ground mercilessly with his shaky hands before introducing the unbearable pain of a gunshot into every visible part of Hyun Seng’s body. Tae Yang only relented when he pulled back the trigger for the dozen time, only to realize that he had run out of ammunition.

***

Seungri struggled to open his eyes as consciousness started flooded in. Seungri tried to make sense of what was happening when the smell of blood became thicker and thicker in the air. However, Seungri never got a chance to find out what happened when he saw Hyun Seng’s body smashed on to the ground and he felt the unsteady concrete trembled under him.

The building had been through a lot in the last hour or so as the bullets and impact forces had hit the old and weak infrastructure numerous times. Seungri saw the cracks appear where Hyun Seng was lying and he only had a moment to react. Without thinking, Seungri forced himself to stand and held on to Hyun Seng’s hand with the intention of dragging Hyun Seng away from the cracking concrete. However, the concrete where Seungri was standing suddenly gave way as well, making Hyun Seng and Seungri went crashing to the ground together.

The sight of Seungri and Hyun Seng falling down the huge hole in the building made Tae Yang came back to his senses. He stared in horror at the gruesome sight, at what he had done. There was so much blood and debris around Tae Yang and it occurred to him that he had caused this.

The gun slipped from Tae Yang's trembling fingers, falling onto the ground with a clang that echoed loudly in the empty silence of deteriorating flat open air roof.

The realization was too overwhelming for Tae Yang. His vision was blurring. Contrary to his initial belief, it was not from exhaustion.

All of a sudden Tae Yang found himself on the ground, breaking down at his horrible deed, fear, sadness and frustration twisting his heart in such a way that he found it hard to breathe.

Tae Yang hugged his body close to himself, sobbing his heart out alone in the disaster scene and G Dragon who had just arrived, stood where he was, feeling every last drop of blood drain from his face.

***

Seungri opened his eyes but he couldn't focus because his sight was blurry and hazy. It took him a few minutes to fully wake up, for his mind to come out of it's numbed state and when he did, he almost passed out again. The pain was almost unbearable. It was to such an extent that Seungri didn't know where the pain was originating from. Every part of him hurt and even breathing was difficult as his sides hurt too much for him to take in a full proper breath. Seungri lay there, feeling blood trickling out from the cuts on his body until he felt Hyun Seng held onto his hand.

"Why?" Hyun Seng's shaky and weak voice cut through the blinding pain Seungri felt. "Why do you want to save me? Don’t you hate me as well?"

Seungri gave a dry laugh.

"I have no idea…” Seungri's voice trailed off before he gazed at the sky above him. “I just wanted to…”

Hyun Seng didn't respond and instead stared at the sky above him, not having anything to say in response.

No one spoke for a few minutes. Both lay on the ground in silence, gazing at the night sky and looking at flakes of snow began to drift down, until Hyun Seng finally broke the silence.

“Seungri, sorry if I killed you back then.” Hyun Seng mumbled inaudibly as he no longer had the strength for anymore words.” Do not forgive me.”

For some reason, what Hyun Seng said broke Seungri. Seungri let go of the weakening grip he had on his emotions and let his cheeks stained with the endless stream of tears from his glossy eyes and cried until his throat hurt.