"What is that on your arm?"

     As it had been the place where they first met, Junhong and Hei-Ryung tended to gravitate toward the roof whenever they wanted to be alone. Currently, they were eating the lunch Hei-Ryung had packed for the both of them and trying to guess what shape the clouds overhead were taking. When a particularly difficult ball of fluff had passed overhead, though, Hei-Ryung had turned her attention away from the sky and found her eyes accidentally landing on Junhong's arm. The sleeve of his uniform had ridden up, revealing a splotch of what appeared to be black ink hiding just underneath the fabric. Raising an eyebrow, Junhong glanced down to see what she was talking about and immediately upon seeing it hurried to pull his sleeve down.

     "I don't know what you're talking about," he grunted, hiding the mark from Hei-Ryung's sight. She wasn't about to be deterred so easily, though.

     "Come on, you can show me!" She whined, latching onto his arm and batting her eyelashes up at him. Rolling his eyes, Junhong tried to shake her off, but Hei-Ryung had a firm grip and showed no signs of letting up any time soon. "Junhong, you know you can trust me. I promise not to tell anyone."

     "It has nothing to do with anyone else knowing! You're the one I don't want to know!" He snapped, ripping his arm from Hei-Ryung's grip and descending into a sulky silence. Frowning, Hei-Ryung refrained from grabbing his arm again, but wouldn't stop glancing pointedly at it. Eventually, her stare wore down the young man, and with a long sigh he shrugged of the uniform jacket he was wearing. "Just don't jump to conclusions, okay?"

     Hei-Ryung nodded mutely and tried to keep explanations for the raven Junhong had tattooed on his arm from racing through her mind. There was one image she couldn't fight down, though. Recently, a news story had described the arrest and trial of a member of the local Black Raven gang, an established group of criminals that had recently been increasing in size. The video footage they showed of the member had focused, briefly, on his arm, where he had a tattooed raven eerily similar to Junhong's. Swallowing hard, Hei-Ryung kept her expression as neutral as possible, but apparently didn't do a good enough job. Groaning, Junhong ran a hand through his hair before hiding his face in his hands.

     "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," Hei-Ryung mumbled, unsure of what else to say.

     "No, it's... it's okay. I hated lying to you. I just... don't like the alternative much, either."

     "It wasn't exactly lying. Just an omission of details." Junhong shrugged off this explanation and went back to staring silently ahead. Although there were hundreds of questions burning in her mind, Hei-Ryung kept shut and waited for Junhong to feel comfortable with sharing. If he felt comfortable with sharing, that is. Being a member of one of the city's most infamous gangs was kind of a big deal, and not exactly the kind of thing you wanted to go around telling everyone. And yet, after a few minutes had passed, Junhong let out a low sigh and tilted his head back.

     "Zelo. That's... what they call me... I don't know why I told you," he groaned, holding his head in his hands. Not sure how to respond, Hei-Ryung continued to keep quiet and waited for him to continue. "A-anyway, I... I ran away from home when my parents started fighting. They're always... screaming, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I didn't have anywhere to go, though, and they took me in so I didn't have to sleep on the streets. They even told me to go back home- said any parents were better than no parents- and promised I could go to them if I ever needed an escape again. I... I took them up on the offer, a lot, and eventually they asked if I... if I wanted to join." Junhong fell silent again, and Hei-Ryung could see he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, waiting for a reaction.

     Not wanting to make things worse, Hei-Ryung took a moment to organize her thoughts. Nothing poignant came to mind, though, so she wrapped her arms around her knees and pulled them against her chest and went for the first thing that came to mind. "And you accepted?"

     "Yeah," Junhong grunted, averting his eyes.

     "Do you... I don't know, do gang... stuff?"

     "Gang stuff?" Junhong chuckled dryly. "Not really. I don't go around shooting people or robbing banks, if that's what you mean. I mostly just stand there and look threatening. I'm only a teenager, but I'm... tall." Half a second passed in which both teens were quiet, before they both broke into laughter. Any sort of humor was enough to break the tension that had been growing between the two of them, and immediately they both felt the relief. Covering to try and stifle the giggle fit that had taken over her- this wasn't really an appropriate time to laugh- Hei-Ryung watched as Junhong hid his face in his arms. "I don't know, they don't have me do much of anything. Sometimes I'll take things from one place to another, but most of the time I just follow our leader around and glare at people who look threatening. Not exactly an exciting life, but that's kind of what I was trying to get away from when I joined them."

     "Were you already a member when you met me?" Hei-Ryung asked hesitantly, unsure if asking questions would only make Junhong turn quiet again. He seemed much more comfortable about the situation now, though, and nodded his head. "And yet you still helped me," she mumbled, mainly to herself, though Junhong was able to hear. Again, he nodded. "You're a member of one of the police's highest priority gangs, but you still prefer chocolate milk over regular and went out of your way to stop me from jumping," as she spoke, Junhong's face colored but Hei-Ryung kept going, "so I don't think you're all that bad. You had your reasons for joining the Black Ravens, and it isn't like you're going around murdering people or tossing bodies in the Han river."

     "Actually, I've heard they prefer dumping bodies-"

     "Junhong, I'd really rather not know."

     "Right, sorry."

     Still, despite Junhong doing his best to omit the more unpleasant details, Hei-Ryung found herself learning more about Zelo's life. It never really crossed her mind that the more she learned, the more involved she became with the Black Ravens and the more trouble she would get into if anyone found out, though, even if it had, she would have continued listening as Junhong unloaded his secrets onto her.

     He had been a member for nearly a year now, but hadn't been included in much of the gang's activities. For the most part, Junhong was treated as extra muscle and spent the majority of his time standing around, trying not to notice too much about what was going on around him. What he did notice, he wouldn't tell Hei-Ryung, and though this only made her more curious, she was still grateful. Every time Junhong began talking about it, his face would darken and he would go quiet for a long time. Whatever he had seen, it hadn't been good, and Hei-Ryung wished she could do more for him. Short of erasing his memories, though, there wasn't much a high school girl could do to help a member of the Black Ravens. The little she could contribute was to listen, and she made sure to do a good job of that.

     Three weeks after she initially learned of his involvement with the Black Ravens, Junhong explained that there had been some internal conflict.

     Rolling up the hem of his shirt- which almost drove Hei-Ryung to look away, but Junhong was eager to show off his first battle wound- he showed her the bandages wrapped around his middle. Just off center was a small patch of red, which was apparently where he had taken the bullet. Cringing, Hei-Ryung listened as Junhong related the tale of how one of the members, deciding that it was time for a change in leadership, had attempted to assassinate the current leader. Junhong had taken the shot instead, though, and immediately things turned chaotic. Several of the members who had helped the initial upstart had been 'removed'- Junhong carefully danced around the details of their fate, but knowing what kind of a gang the Black Ravens were, Hei-Ryung didn't have trouble guessing- but the man himself had gotten away.

     "So... you should be careful," Junhong concluded, his face beginning to redden as he looked away from Hei-Ryung. "I'm the one who stopped him from killing our leader, after all. He might want to get back at me." For the first time, it hit Hei-Ryung how serious her involvement with Junhong was. Though she had never actively participated in his gang activities and only knew the side of him he showed at school, to anyone on the outside, she wouldn't look quite so distant. Even she didn't, on occasion, feel all that distant from the Zelo she had only heard stories about. Swallowing hard, she nodded and tried her best to not look concerned. The last thing she wanted was for Junhong to regret having gotten involved with her, because if he were to leave, things wouldn't go back to the way they were before; they would be worse. And not just because Junhong had made everyone even more annoyed with Hei-Ryung than before because of how protective he was of her, but because his absence would hurt ten times more than his never having been there at all. Now that she had experienced what it was like to be this happy, she didn't think she'd ever be able to go back.

     Sensing that things had gotten tense between them, Junhong reached over and nervously rested one hand on Hei-Ryung's shoulder. "You should be fine, though. He probably doesn't know about you, and even if he does... I'll make sure you're okay."

     "R-Right." Immediately, Junhong removed his hand and the two went quiet again. Blushing, Hei-Ryung turned her head away so Junhong wouldn't be able to see her face.

     "Do you want me to walk you home after school? Just to make sure..."

     "...Alright."

     Nothing had happened on the way home, but Hei-Ryung hadn't really expected anything to. It wasn't until she found herself walking alone that night that she really started to worry. Yet she couldn't exactly have told her parents that, no, she couldn't run down to the store and buy some extra spices for dinner because, believe it or not, she was involved with a gang member and may or may not have someone after her. Not only would they have not believed her, they would have gotten angry.

     Sighing, Hei-Ryung tightened her grip on the plastic bag she held and ventured out into the darkness. She could understand why Junhong had looked to the Black Ravens for escape from his family life, but she didn't think she would be able to hold up as well. If she could even get in; the Ravens would most likely just laugh at her and then, knowing them, kill her. She just wasn't cut out for the life of a gangster.

     "That's not necessarily a bad thing, though," Hei-Ryung thought aloud, hurrying to the next street lamp. Although the small circles of light would do little in the way of offering protection, it helped create the illusion of safety, and that's really all she could ask for. As she moved, she could feel her cell phone bouncing in her pocket and wondered how Junhong would feel about her calling him in the middle of the night to ask for a guide home. More likely than not he would be busy doing Black Raven things, and calling him would only get him in trouble. So she left her phone in her pocket, and instead quickened her pace. Maybe she could out-speed walk anyone who tried to go after her.

     When she rounded the street corner, Hei-Ryung stopped in her tracks, though. A few feet ahead of her, a car had parked horizontally across the street and had its headlights glaring on the backs of three figures. The terrible driving skills of whoever owned the car weren't what grabbed her attention, though. It was a fourth figure lying curled up on the sidewalk, the obvious victim of a beating that must have been going on for a while. As she watched, Hei-Ryung wondered what she was supposed to do in this sort of a situation. Did she call the police, or try to intervene? Or did she turn around and try to find another way home, pretending that she hadn't seen anything? It didn't feel right, but what was one high school girl supposed to do against three-

     Hei-Ryung winced as one of the three kicked the fourth in the face, flipping him onto his back. Cracking one eye open, she risked another look at the victim and felt her blood run cold. Raising himself up on one elbow, Junhong wiped away the blood pooling at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and glared up at the three men.

     Junhong. The same Junhong who had stopped her from making the worst mistake of her life. The same Junhong she made sure to buy chocolate milk for every day. The same Junhong who made fun of her for being so short, but still went around bumping his head in doorways. The same Junhong she had spent months getting to know was now lying on the ground being beaten.

     As one of the men raised the baseball bat he had been carrying, preparing to strike Junhong again, Hei-Ryung dropped her bag and sprinted forward. It had been stupid of her, but the only thing running through her mind was that Junhong was in danger. "Stop!" She screamed, slowing to a stop just a few inches behind the men. Startled, they momentarily forgot about Junhong and turned to look at who was interrupting them. Junhong, too, looked up to see who was intervening, and locked eyes with Hei-Ryung.

     He looked horrified as he realized who she was, but it was too late for either of them to fix her being there. Trembling, Hei-Ryung stared at Junhong's assailants and tried her best to look threatening. "L-Leave him alone. D-Don't hurt h-him!" She had meant to yell at them, to sound like a lion, but all she came across as was a mewling kitten, huddled in a corner as it faced three snapping dogs.

     "Get out. Just forget you saw anything, and we'll-"

     "No!" Although the men had already been turning back to Junhong, they immediately rounded on Hei-Ryung when she found her voice and dared to contradict them. The one with the bat narrowed his eyes, and took a step toward Hei-Ryung. Shuddering, she forced herself to stand her ground. She wasn't going to abandon Junhong; not after everything he had done for her.

     "Hei-Ryung, just go. I'll be fine," Junhong pleaded desperately, but she could tell that he didn't mean it. If she didn't think of a way to get him out of there, then they would both be corpses that weren't dumped in the Han River, but some other placed she would never know about because Junhong recognized that she was squeamish.

     "Let him go. I don't know why you're doing this, but just let him-" Hei-Ryung was cut off as the bat came whistling toward her and connected hard with her skull. Yelping, she crumpled to the ground and held her head in her hands, trying not to think about the blood she could feel trickling between her fingers.

     "Don't be a hero, kid, and stay down." Though her ears were ringing and her vision had gone blurry, Hei-Ryung was still aware of the sound of metal meeting flesh as the men continued to beat on Junhong. Wincing with each hit, she struggled to even just get onto her knees, but the world spun wildly with even the slightest movements. She wasn't going to keep letting them do this, though. She couldn't stand by and do nothing while Junhong was being beaten.

     "Stop!" She could barely get to her feet, let alone speak, yet somehow Hei-Ryung managed both. As reasoning with them was impossible, Hei-Ryung did the next worst thing she could think of: she bolted between the men and threw herself in front of Junhong. Surprised by this sudden move, they hesitated for a moment and held back. "I-I'm going to get you out of here. I promise," she whispered, gently cupping Junhong's face between her hands. As far as she could tell, he had already passed out after taking so many hits. "I don't know how, but... I'm going to make sure you're okay." Overhead, the storm clouds that had been building up throughout the course of the day suddenly burst. The hiss of rain hitting the pavement filled the air, punctuated on occasion by a burst of thunder overhead.

     It was silly of her, but Hei-Ryung couldn't help but worry about this sudden storm. When she had been about to kill herself, the skies had been clear, and she hadn't died. But now... shaking her head, despite the throbbing pain this caused, to clear her mind, Hei-Ryung tried to think through the fog that had descended on her brain. She needed to get them out of here somehow, but she didn't imagine this moment of peace would be long enough to call the police. And, even if she could, who knew how long it would take for them to arrive.

     There was no monolog, or even a villainous catch phrase. Nothing to warn Hei-Ryung of the incoming blow as the men behind her, tired of her nonsense, brought the bat down hard. She didn't take the blow, though. Wrapping his arms around her, Junhong shifted their positions so he was the one in danger. Clenching his teeth, he adjusted one arm so it was propped against the brick wall behind them, while the other pressed her face into his chest, presumably so she would be unable to watch.

     And though she wanted to struggle and tell him to stop, Hei-Ryung didn't. She just sat there and sobbed, only barely listening to Junhong's attempts to comfort her. It didn't matter how many times he assured her everything would be alright, though. Hei-Ryung couldn't bring herself to believe him. She knew that everything was not going to be alright.

     It wasn't until Junhong's body finally gave out and he collapsed on top of Hei-Ryung that the beating stopped. Wrapping her arms around his waist to keep him from falling to the ground, Hei-Ryung tried not to think about the amount of blood she could feel soaking through the middle of his shirt, or the fact that just that morning he had been showing off a fresh bullet wound that could easily have reopened after being aggravated so much. Trembling, she did her best to bite back the tears and listened as the men abandoned the two teenagers and sped down the road, leaving the both of them in absolute darkness. Right now, she needed to keep a hold of herself.

     Still supporting Junhong's unconscious form with one arm, she used her other hand to fish her cell phone out and call an ambulance. When the operator answered, Hei-Ryung could barely speak through the sobs as she tried to coherently explain what had happened and where they were. She did make herself understood, though, and after being assured that an ambulance was on the way, she pressed her free hand against his stomach to try and staunch the worst of the bleeding. "Please, please be okay," she pleaded, her voice shaky as she fought through the tears. "Please... please, Junhong, please be okay. Please don't die. Please, please, please, please..."

     When the paramedics arrived, Hei-Ryung could tell by their faces that it was too late. She hadn't allowed herself to cry, though, because it would confirm what she already feared. Instead, she had kept herself together and rode in the ambulance with Junhong, watching with hollow eyes as the paramedics did their best to stop what little blood was left from leaving his body. She couldn't stop the shaking, though. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop every inch of her body from trembling, as though she were about to shatter into a million pieces at any moment.

     Though she begged to be let into see Junhong, the nurses had forced her to remain outside the ICU. Dry-eyed and quiet, she had anxiously sat in the waiting room, feeling each passing second driving her further and further over the edge. Just ten minutes later, she recognized one of the doctors who had gone in with Junhong as he passed her, and immediately rushed to confront him. He wouldn't even look at her, though, just kept moving forward and pretended as though she weren't there. After the second doctor passed her in the same solemn manner, Hei-Ryung found herself sitting on the floor and staring blankly at one of the hospital's white-washed walls. Even when the nurses came to tell her that, despite their best efforts, they had been unable to reverse the amount of blood loss Junhong had sustained, she wouldn't move. It hadn't taken the quiet words of the nurses to break her, after all; the silence of the doctors was more than powerful enough to shatter every inch of Hei-Ryung.

     After that, things became a blur. She sat in the emergency room for hours, silently staring at the wall ahead of her as the tears fell down her cheeks, until one of the nurses managed to get her parents' phone number out of her. Her parents came shortly after they were called to pick her up, and took her home, where she stayed for nearly a week, refusing to eat or speak to anyone. She didn't know when the funeral took place- his parents never contacted her- and Hei-Ryung never learned where Junhong's remains were left to rest. He hadn't just died; he had been ripped completely out of her life.

     If it had been up to Hei-Ryung, she would never have left her house again. She wanted nothing to do with the cruel, merciless world that had taken Junhong away so unfairly. Her parents insisted she go to school, though, and so after spending a week of mourning, Hei-Ryung returned to the world she had come to hate and fear. She avoided the roof and wouldn't look directly at Junhong's old desk. She would hurl after just thinking about chocolate milk, and for a while stopped eating lunch altogether. The reason for Junhong's sudden disappearance was kept hushed by the administration, though the students speculated that he may be the unnamed youth who, after becoming involved in the Black Ravens, died due to gang violence. Initially, they approached Hei-Ryung in the hopes of finding out the truth, but at the mere mention of his name she would run and lock herself in the girl's bathroom. She had broken, and the jagged edges of what she used to have left a permanent, stabbing pain in her heart.

     She became a listless shell, drifting wherever she was directed and unable to speak for any length of time without the risk of crying. Her parents became frustrated with her and eventually gave up on trying to understand why the death of a gangster had affected her so badly. What little caring they had once held for her was lost, leaving Hei-Ryung even more alone. At school, her peers began to bully her again. Just as she had predicted, her life became even worse of a living hell the moment Junhong left it. The brief moment of heaven he had brought was gone, and she had no one to catch her as she plummeted back to Earth.

     Eventually, she began to question if all this was punishment for killing Junhong. If she hadn't interfered, things may not have escalated. They may have left him alone after making their point. Or, if she had kept quiet and called the police, they may have been able to make it in time to save him. But, instead, she had forced him to intervene on her behalf, and had gotten him killed.

     She had killed Junhong, and she couldn't forgive herself for it.

     She tried to distract herself by focusing on her writing, a hobby she had always been interested in, but no matter how hard she worked she could never produce anything worthwhile. Her grades, too, dropped, which only made things worse between herself and her parents. Eventually, Hei-Ryung simply couldn't picture a future; her world had gone dark, and she didn't expect it to ever brighten again.

     And yet, against all odds, it had. When she was at her lowest and prepared to take her own life- this time with no hesitation- the woman who sat behind her on the bus ride home had approached her. Seulki had given Hei-Ryung a future, she had offered a light, and while Hei-Ryung could never forgive herself for what happened to Junhong, she realized that dying was not the way to begin making amends. He had saved her life twice, and no matter how painful that existence might be, she wasn't going to squander it. So despite the terror she felt about how uncertain the future was, Hei-Ryung had accepted. And, slowly, the light grew larger and larger; yet, she could never seem to shake the shadows.

     Staring dully down at the tear-stained writing, Hei-Ryung stood. She hadn't even realized she was crying, and yet as she wiped the back of her thumb across her cheeks she felt that they were completely soaked. Sighing heavily, she headed back toward her room and crouched down beside her bed, ignoring the orange light of a new day filtering through her window. After searching for a brief moment, she pulled out a small box of various memorabilia, and rummaged inside. When her fingers brushed against the familiar frame, she gently removed it from amongst the other memories and held it in front of her.

     "I'm sorry, Junhong, but I don't think that was very helpful," she mumbled, wrapping one arm around her knees and resting her chin on them. "This world we live in is a very cruel place. But it can also be very beautiful, and I don't want to miss that part of it because of a past I can't change." Smiling softly, she hugged Junhong's picture and let out another sigh. "So, if you'll forgive me, I think it's time for me to move on. I won't forget you, but... I can't keep living in the past like this." As she spoke, the tears began to fall again. "I'm sorry for everything, but I'll be even sorrier if I don't use the life you, and everyone else, have given me. I can't just throw everything away. You understand, right?"

     There was, naturally, no answer, but Hei-Ryung still felt slightly better as she stood and returned to her writing, Junhong's picture still clasped tightly in her hand. Rubbing away the tears, Hei-Ryung took a moment to compose herself before she carefully cleared a space on her desk and rested the picture there. She was done hiding from the past. Smiling tentatively, she scooped up her notebook and flipped it closed. "You know, Junhong, you've been my inspiration for every leading male up until this point. All except for one, at least. He's... inspired by someone else. I hope you'll forgive me for that, too." Printing ink had locked Junhong's expression into an immortal smile, and yet she felt that Junhong truly was smiling.

     Shaking her head, Hei-Ryung turned her back on the picture and headed for her door. Forgoing proper shoes, she put on a pair of slippers and shuffled her way out into the still hallway. After carefully closing the door behind her so as not to disturb anyone, she made her way toward the elevator and headed to the elevator. Though it would be more practical to merely send the notebook down the chute, she didn't believe it would be nearly as satisfying. Besides, she needed to ensure the destruction of this story; nobody but her would be reading it.

     By the time she reached the ground floor, Hei-Ryung could hear the building starting to come to life. Quickening her pace, she hurried into one of the back rooms. Inside, the building's incinerator hummed quietly, waiting to be fed the discarded items of the building's tenants. After taking a deep breath, Hei-Ryung opened the door and, with only a moment's hesitation, threw the notebook into the flames. She didn't leave until the pages had completely blackened and turned to ash, and every word she had written was forever gone from anywhere but her own mind.

     "No more running, Hei-Ryung. It's time you took control of your life."

Author's Note:

THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA!!! WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?! *crawls into a corner and sobs* Why, why, why would I kill Zelo off? THIS WAS SUCH A BAD IDEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽

I should have given myself a few days to prepare myself emotionally instead of writing it today... (✖╭╮✖)

And, if anyone is curious, the Black Ravens are a part of my discontinued story Never Betray the Raven. At first I was reluctant to put them in here because a) nobody will know about them and b) the story is two years old and absolutely terrible, but I've been thinking about completely redoing it and starting from square one again. Not until DDTTD is finished, though!

((I guess I'll mention that this is, basically, the end of Hei-Ryung's... I dunno, story arc? She'll still be in a LOT of the story, because, y'know, one of the main characters, but since her problems have been dealt with... it's time to move on to Youngjae becoming CEO- which has sort of been neglected up until this point, I think.