Chapter 13

The pendulum in Mr. Lee's office was ticking with strenuous slowness as Jinki lead his way towards tthe large mahogany desk where his father was sitting, a shifty look painted on his face. He was probably aware of why Jinki was there, and if he hadn't figured it out yet, Jinki's stony and pissed off expression probably'd give it away. The events of the night before were still burning inside him. The moment he had seen Kyuhyun, his very own driver, from the window of his room conspiring with Minho in the garden he had almost gone blind with rage. Not only he had felt his pride scatter into pieces, his very own obsession with controlling everything happening in that house had been crushed too. And with serious consequences. Minho and Kyuhyun were currently nowhere to be found. He had warned Kyuhyun the night before to tell him everything he knew before it was too late, but the older man had just shrugged it off, even daring to reply "I don't know what you are talking about."

Jinki, being the brain of the whole family and never failing to prove it every time he could, had let it go temporarily. He knew Kyuhyun had received orders from someone above Jinki to not tell him anything, and this person had to be none other than his father. So there he was, challenging the source of this whole hidden conspiration. Sometimes, to accomplish what you want, striking the heart was easier than striking randomly. It looked less painful too, actually- for both parts.

There was a staring contest going on in the office between the two of them, none of them willing to talk first. Jinki was supposed to greet his father properly, like he had been told numerous times, but at the moment he just wanted to get straight to the point because this whole situation was becoming unbearable for him. He demanded to know the truth. "Looks like I am forced to ask you the question, because you seem rather oblivious to the reason why I am here, father," he said, his voice impassive, not showing even a little of his current rage. He would never give his father the satisfaction to see him crushed and dissatisfied.

Mr. Lee's face went instantly red; he must not have liked Jinki's forwardness as his expression turned wild and his eyes narrowed. Jinki also noticed he was trying hard to not show it, failing miserably. "Choi Minho was summoned by somebody today, and Kyuhyun had to accompany him" he replied, clearly skipping all the parts he was there to hear. His father had always been a clever man, after all.
Jinki crossed his legs, a mocking smile had now replaced his indifferent expression. "Let me guess, this someone goes by the name of Mr. Park, am I correct?" His father had looked startled for an instant by Jinki's guess. A correct one too, judging by Mr. Lee's uneasiness, smartly hidden by a smirk. "That's right," he replied.

It hadn't been hard to guess anyway, Mr. Park was the only person who had had the pleasure of meeting Minho, although it had been under unpleasing and dangerous circumstances. It was weird how Mr. Park seemed to be so interested in Minho just because he had been caught wearing a gun. Something was off. "Mr. Park has explicitly asked of him to conclude the deal you haven't been able to seal." His father's words cut sharply in between them, with the clear intent to make Jinki feel like a . Well, for several seconds, it had worked. But then it finally occurred to him. He had never called Minho by name during their meeting with Mr. Park. The man would have never find out about Minho or about Jonghyun being with them. Unless… "Since you seem so eager to rely on strangers more than your own son, you'd be pleased to know that during my meeting with Mr. Park I have never mentioned nor Jonghyun's nor Choi Minho's name. It seems like our Mr. Park knew Minho beforehand. Which leads to two conclusions: one, Mr. Park has spies in this very house; two, Choi Minho is not who he claims to be."

He caught his father's expression, it was one of pure realization. Jinki was sure the thought had strangely not even occurred to him until then, and now he felt even more less trusting of the man in front of him. Anyway, no matter how much he thought about it, the chances of spies wandering in their house were less than possible. Chances of Minho ing up with them, with him (the idea that the two of them having was Minho's plan from the start made him shiver) were getting higher and higher. "So now, the faster you tell me where that son of a is headed, the faster we can prevent him to up all our plans." And he knew, despite his use of curse words in front of his father (which he would surely pay, sooner than later), the man looked convinced.
Now, the problem was convincing Jonghyun the person he trusted the most had planned to with them from the beginning.

-----

Minho felt like a military prisoner being escorted to a camp as he walked down the narrow road with two silent men on both his sides. When he and Kyuhyun had arrived at their destination in the deep countryside a few kilometers outside Seoul they'd found those two men waiting for them, shotguns stuck on their shoulders, ready to be used anytime Minho or Kyuhyun hadn't complied to their orders. After they'd checked if they were wearing a gun -Minho had totally learnt the lesson- he had understood that those two "soldiers" were there to accompany him to the house, and without further questions he had indeed followed them.

He heard Kyuhyun clearing his throat behind him, a clear sign that he was there covering his back. Minho was a little surprised they had let him follow them, but they must have thought he was not dangerous, "He is just a driver," he had heard them snicker to each other. For a moment Minho wondered if he really was. The journey was very short, but to Minho it felt like the longest of his life. The more he walked down the road, the more he took in all the surroundings: the area was totally covered by trees, hovering over like living giants ready to smash him if he tried to do something against their rules; he could see a tiny white building laying on the green grass ahead, surrounded by a small enclosure. As they reached the wood gate his attention was immediately caught by a few brown horses standing a few metres from the house.

If he hadn't known better, he could swear this house looked like any other countryside houses he used to hide in with his brother to escape the debt collectors. He looked almost too picturesque for a mafia deal to take place. That image was soon destroyed by two armed figures standing by the porch door, looking at him with too much urge. Minho looked back at them as they let him enter the house.

"Ah-Ah. No chances, man," Minho turned around to see one of the men standing between him and Kyuhyun. Minho should have figured, alone means alone but he was too much involved now to retreat back. They wouldn't have let him anyway. Do as they say, he urged Kyuhyun through a meaningful look; then, as he turned back on his steps, he was welcomed by a cozy rustic home, completed with wooden furniture and dark walls. The overall inside looked warm.

He could see one or two men standing by each bright window, and he heard noises from upstairs. However his eyes focused on the figure of a young man sitting on the couch, a glass of red wine in his hand. "Ah, Choi. I was wondering if you had deserted us," he smiled wantonly, "but I should have known better. You are no coward, right?" He showed his palm towards Minho. "Please, have a sit," he urged him.
Minho swallowed before following the order -because it didn't feel like a request at all- and he took the free couch opposite the man. He kept his eyes on him, trying to figure out what was going on. "Who are you? Why am I here? Where is Mr. Park?" he tried to not sound eager, and scared, but he must have failed greatly, because the man smirked.

The man surprisingly gulped down all of his red wine, his smirking lips afterwards. "Rule number one," he showed Minho one finger as the relaxed on the couch, "In Mafia there ain't no questions, only orders and execution of orders." The smirk expanded, "Rule number two, you are expected to follow my orders since you are sitting here in my house, enjoying my propriety."

Minho frowned: who the hell was this guy? "Maybe I am expected to follow your orders, but I follow no orders from people with no name," his voice cracked a little but he was trying his best to sound fearless. This is what Jinki taught me…

"Is this what Jinki taught you?" For a moment Minho was sure the guy could read his mind. "Alright then, we can't just ignore the teachings of the mighty Jinki right? My name is Lee Changsun, and I am here to kill you," he said, matter-of-factly. He must have sensed Minho's immediate fear because he quickly added, "But. I am no beast and I always give my preys a chance to get out of here alive. So, if you follow my orders and you make the right choices… " he left the sentence midair.

Minho was shaking. "I… what… what choices?" he managed to utter, but his mind was totally blurred and confused. "Why do you want to kill me? Are you one of my debt collectors? I promised I would pay!" he hadn't realized he was no longer sitting on the couch, fear and vulnerability preventig his body to keep still while listening to Changsun's threatening words.

Changsun, on the other hand, didn't look affected at all. "Sit," he ordered, stony. Minho was immediately pulled back on the couch by some invisible hands. He was meant to follow orders to get out of there alive, he riminded himself. "I am no debt collector, so there is not way you can pay me to stay alive. But, I have other interesting ways…" he looked disgustingly amused, and Minho would have punched him right in the face if he could.

More sounds came from upstairs and immediately after one of the men was getting behind the coach where Changsun was sitting, whispering to his ear. The young man nodded and smirked. Again. "Seems like everything is ready," he stood up, prompting Minho to do the same, "Shall we go upstairs?"

He was meant to follow order to get out of there alive, he chanted in his mind, so upstairs they went. They walked down a long corridor with a few doors on the side, Changsun behind him, guiding him until the end of the corridor. Where a door was open to a big room, the handful of men inside it probably waiting for them to come in. A table standing in the middle, two chairs around it. A big old revolver with some bullet near it was placed on the dark wooden table. Minho shivered as he took it in. He was going to get killed with that? The thought of the "choices" Changsun had mentioned earlier still troubled him.

"Minho?" a voice interrupted his visual contact with the revolver. Minho's head immediately snapped up, (it can't be…) turning around until his eyes focused on the figure belonging to the last person he would have believed to meet in that room, in that moment and with these people. Kibum.

Minho stood still for a moment, taking in Kibum's whole body. His eyes were teary, but there was no shock in them; the rest of his body was tied to a chair. Minho swallowed and for the first time he felt like he had been trapped inside a game, a very sick and wicked game. He swallowed. "Kibum…" for some reason it felt like yesterday when he and Kibum and seen each other, bickering like two brothers would.

He ran towards the blond haired man -his hair looked so messy, so not like him- and surprisingly they let him. Kibum was smiling at him, Minho smiled back as he kneeled in front of him, "Are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere?" The man shook his head, he was on the verge of crying. "Jonghyun… he is…" Minho touched took Kibum's head in his hands, of course Kibum would be worried about Jonghyun. "Jonghyun is so worried about you. Now I wish I told him where I was going…" Kibum's eyes widened. "He… is… alive?"

Realization fell upon Minho. The explosion. Kibum had thought all this time that Jonghyun was dead. Oh God. But wait a moment. He turned his head and saw Changsung smirking at him. "So Kim Jonghyun is alive. I'm not that surprised, though. Jinki hasn't done a very good job hiding his pupil. Or maybe… he wanted us to find him?" Minho could not find a single reason why these people would be so interested in Jonghyun, but he didn't care anymore. He just wanted this to be over. "You said you would get me out of here alive if I did what you said, Kibum comes with me."
Changsun didn't smirk this time, he smiled; hard to tell which one was worse. "Why, of course Choi! What a great idea you just gave me! I'm impressed," the man said cheerfully, looking like a child who has just received his Christmas presents from Santa. "Why don't you sit so I can explain it to you without any misunderstanding?"

Changsun took the revolver in his hand as started playing with it. "I don't know if you are familiar with the game "Russian Roulette". It's different from the boring French one, where you just have to guess numbers," he paused, as Minho nodded that yes, he knew it. "Russian Roulette is far more interesting and it involves much more than just luck." He pointed the empty revolver towards towards his own temple and pulled the trigger. A click followed. "It involves your life." He put the revolver down, "You put a bullet inside, you spin, you point it to your head, then, you shoot. If you die, you lose. If you don't, you are free to go."

Minho managed to swallow the news down very hard. Was he going to take the risk? But if he didn't he would die anyway… and there was a chance out of six he would not die "I'm in." He said, before he could take it back. "Wait a second. I'm not finished. This was before you told me you wanted the poor kitten with you." Changsun his own lips, looking at both Minho and Kibum. "You are going to put two bullets inside and spin it once. Then, you are going to pull the trigger for yourself, then for your kitten. Whoever lives is free to go. Of course, if you die first, Kim Kibum is free," Minho was disgusted by the fact that to Changsun this looked like the most normal thing in the world. "If you don't do accept it Choi, I can't promise you what is going to happen to Kim Kibum here once you are dead."

-----

It didn't take long for Jinki and Jonghyun to find the house surrounded by nothing but open fields and country. For some reason it felt different from the countryside where is house was placed. This one reminded him of those white houses typical of Italian countryside. He had been there when he was younger, his father had some friend involved with Italian mafia and they had been invited to join a wedding party; the party had been extremely boring, but at least the overall outdoor sight had him completely absorbed. And luckily, he hadn't been all alone in Italy, there was a friend of his with him. A friend he'd rather forget about.

Jinki counted every single man hovering near the front door, no more than five people. He spotted Kyuhyun with them, nervously walking back and forth, glacing at the door more than once in a while. He was surprised to see him there, but he was glad. It meant that maybe he wasn't involved in all this trap Minho probably was carrying on. At first, Jinki had considered both options, but sometimes Minho had been too stupid to look real. Jinki was convinced that Minho had showed the knife on purpose during the first meeting they had with Mr. Park a week ago. There was no other explanation to it.

He felt blood rushing to his head. He was the only one to be too ing stupid to believe Minho's farce.

"We are taking care of all the men guarding the house, you check the back I'll take care of the front door," he ordered Jonghyun, who looked extremely anxious. "Don't go inside. After you are finished you come to the front door." When Jonghyun nodded loading his gun with the silencer attached to it. They didn't want to attract attention from the house. "Be careful with windows, you are not to be seen."

They gunned down every single man without much effort, although Jonghyun took is delicious time to finish and come back to Jinki, who showed him his most annoyed expression, answered with a shrug by Jonghyun. The younger man was clearly more relaxed now. When Kyuhyun had seen them coming relieve was shown all over his face. "I thought the damn gps wasn't working!" he had said as Jinki took down the last of the five men with a record speed. "Are we going inside?" he also asked.

"Where is Minho?" said Jonghyun, expectantly. He of course hadn't believed a word about Jinki's suspicions about Minho. But that was totally understandable. Jinki was just glad that the younger had still agreed to follow him. "They took him inside, I saw another five men in the house. At first I could ear Minho yelling, but then everything went quiet. I think they are either in the back or upstairs," he looked up emphatically.
Jonghyun shook his head, "there is no one in the back." So they are upstairs, Jinki thought, suddenly coming up with a plan. "We need take them by surprise. Jonghyun, you are going inside through the balcony, I'm sure it surrounds the whole house," the younger man nodded, "find out where they are but you are not going inside before I get it. I'm sure the windows are not secured, it's just a ing country house," he thought aloud. "I am going through the front door and I will try to find out what's going on before acting."

He saw Kyuhyun ready to speak, but Jinki anticipated him "You are going to take our car as close as you can," he ordered without any more explanation. Kyuhyun started to protest, clearly he hoped to participate in their little mission too. "You listen to me now, you have no gun, no bulletproof jacket and you are not as quickly as Jonghyun. And I need our ing car here so you either do it or I'll kill you now." He was startled to realize that for the first time he was losing control of his own mind. He had never threatened any of his men like this before. He saw Kyuhyun's crushed expression, but the older man nodded, running away from them without any further word.

"Let's go," he said to Jonghyun, warning him for the second time to not get inside before Jinki.

The inside of the house looked too ing familiar to him. He felt like the Italian house he was staying at during his journey had been materialized there, without any change. For some reason he shivered at the thought. No one could have known about every single detail of that house, no one except…

"MINHO! DON'T!" he suddenly heard from upstairs. Now there was no time to get lost in memories, he chastised himself as he run up the stairs trying to not make any noise; luckily the stairs were steady enough to not creak. There a long and empty corridor and Jinki walked it all as he heard more noises and more talking. When he finally reached the half closed door he stood there, listening.
"Minho, don't do it! This is a suicide!" said a man literally crying out Minho's name, Jinki could almost see the tears flowing down a face he couldn't even picture; it was a voice Jinki never heard before. "Shut the up, !" he heard a hard slap sound, effectively shutting the voice up. "Don't you ing touch him again!" this was Minho yelling, Jinki heard a chair (most likely made of hard wood by the sound of it) being dragged harshly across the floor.

Confusion was the only thing Jinki felt in that moment. He still couldn't place Minho's position in the whole situation. By the sound of it, it seemed like someone Minho knew was taken as hostage, and Minho was going to do something… suicidal?

"Now, now. Guys, let's not get worked up. Ji, you are not touching the kitten ever again unless I told you so. And, Minho-sshi? Please, sit." That voice. Jinki felt like all his oxygen was out from his body in an instant. His eyes were so wide that he felt his sight getting blurred and blurred. Even his throat went dry. It can't be, was the only thought in his mind. He had recognized that voice. Oh, it would have been impossible for him to not recognize it, since it's been on his mind ever since he took in the sight of that house. No one could have known about every single detail of that house, no one except… Joon.

"NOOOO!" Panting hard, Jinki managed to get back to the scene right next his ears. A clear and loud click followed the exasperated cry coming from slapped man. The cries got harder and harder as everything else went quiet. Jinki himself hadn't realized he was still panting. "Very well, looks like our Minho successfully avoided the two bullets inside the revolver. Our very special 'Russian Roulette' is getting more exciting now. How do you feel about it?" Joon's mocking voice echoed in Jinki's ears. Russian Roulette has always been Joon's favorite game, and he was now playing it with Minho?! Realization fell upon Jinki: this was Joon's game, Minho had nothing to do with it, he was merely Joon's playing toy right now, just like I was.

He heard Minho's panting voice growling a " you" followed by Joon's heartfelt laugh. Joon has always had the most sadist laugh, Jinki thought: it always got you goosebumps. "Maybe I will, if the kitten dies." Jinki struggled to hear this, but he was sure he heard it right. Who the is the kitten?

He was still deciding if it was time to act or not, when he was startled by the hard and loud clashing sound of glasses hitting the floor. No. He exactly knew what was going on. Jonghyun. "Oh ." he cursed to himself, as he heard people screaming and shooting. He immediately kicked the door open, his gun ready and loaded. He was totally going to strangle Jonghyun if they ever got out of this alive.

He was welcomed by a weird sight, a few men dead on the floor, Jonghyun holding up the gun against one, and Joon (It's really him…) pointing one on Minho's temple. Jinki didn't even know who is was supposed to point the gun to. He saw a pair of hands holding Jonghyun's waist from behind. Jinki suddenly realized, Kim Kibum is the kitten. He needed to come up with a plan immediately.

"I can't believe it. Lee Jinki." Jinki had the gun pointed against Joon's man, but he was completely focused on Joon and Minho, whose expression was shocked as well; shocked to see Jinki, coming to his rescue. "It's been so long since I last saw you. I thought you went overseas," Joon looked genuinely interested in the conversation, which made Jinki even more annoyed: he wasn't here for small talks. Without even looking at his aim he pulled the trigger, making everyone (including Joon) jump when the bullet hit the wall.

Luckily, Jonghyun immediately reacted and after disarming the man making him scream in pain "SON OF A ", he took Kibum's hand and they ran behind Jinki towards the door. For an instant he hesitated, but he knew Jinki had meant them to escape so he did, dragging the blonde man with him. "Ji, go after them," Joon's composure was almost disarming. Jinki couldn't stop the man, Ji, from leaving, but he was sure Jonghyun would manage it without problems. He had wanted Jonghyun to leave because he needed to deal with Joon alone.

"You never fail to amaze me, Jinki, I wonder how are you going to free the poor Minho-sshi from my grasp." Joon looked calm, but he was annoyed. Jinki knew him too well. "Maybe you ought to play Russian Roulette instead of Kim Kibum, since you have contributed to his escape. You own me this much."

Jinki frowned, he wasn't really asking him that, was he? His eyes wandered on the table, and on the revolver laying on it. Minho's arm was slowly stretching towards it, and Jinki's eyes quickly settled on Joon again. "Are you kidding me? I am not stupid like Minho, I would never risk my life like that. And besides, why would I play some stupid game when I have better things to do?" he replied coldly, almost too seriously.

Joon suppressed a laugh, but he smirked, "You have always considered yourself above everyone," he his lips. Jinki saw Minho reaching for the revolver, his fingers touching it; he swallowed. "We should discuss this again once I kill this little and I take you on the wall…" then he noticed Minho and Jinki cursed to himself, "What do you think you are…" Jinki took this as the only opportunity and he aimed at the window behind Joon, glasses breaking and falling on the floor. Joon covered his head and Minho took the opportunity and kicked him, freeing himself.

Jinki didn't even see it coming. He remembered Joon kneeling on the floor cursing, his hand searching for his lost gun. He saw Minho letting go of the revolver, falling on the floor just in front of Joon's angry eyes. He looked at Minho's eyes, they were so big, and scared; but they looked determined, and surprisingly they looked glad and relieved to see Jinki. Minho was walking towards him, but something broke the eye spell between them: the loud bang echoed, and Jinki knew it was too late. He saw Minho falling into his arms, his body so heavy, so rigid, so lifeless. For a moment, everything became silent, shock was vivid in Jinki's eyes as he watched Joon leaving the house through the window. His job was successfully executed.

No one knew if the revolver was empty or not, but the bullet that was reserved for Kibum was now in Minho's head. Minho sentenced his life with just a spin of an old dusty revolver.

And Jinki had let him.

❞

It's been what? Four months? Five months since I last updated? I am so sorry to all my subscribers and everyone who has been waiting for this ;/ This chapter was kind of hard to write, especially the last scene (you can see it looks so messy as no one beta-ed it for me, yet!) and I hope everything is clear enough ;; 

This chapter... is the last one of the first part. I am planning to post the Epilogue soon (hope so xD), and after the Epilogue I will start Part Two. (So don't be too sad about Minho alright? xD) 

I have introduced so many characters already, but Tae is still not here, but don't worry. He will very very soon^^ I promise :) I can't write anything without Tae baby <3 

Anyway, I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has waited patiently ;; Thanks ^^

PS: For those of you who are wondering... this is how I imagined the house to be http://www.flickr.com/photos/98151166@N00/2253034074/