ENGLISH IS IN BLACK

CHINESE IS IN RED

~~~

“So you’re telling me you guys are a gang?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

You laugh.

“Stop laughing. It’s not funny.” Hana says, but it lacks bite.

“But what the actual .” You bend over trying to catch your breath.

“What what the actual ?” Ari looks confused.

The others look at her with wide eyes. She wasn’t the maknae, Minjee was, but everyone knew which one of the two was more corrupt.

“Yah, don’t say that. It’s a bad word.” Serin, the oldest, says, gently chiding.

“What? Actual?” A collective sigh of relief fills the room. She hasn’t been tainted yet.

“It’s fine. Never mind.” Sujin, the 2nd eldest, pats her head.

You watched this take place, your thoughts jumbling up in your mind. Gangs? How can these 5 girls be in a gang? They’re the sweetest people I know. This has to be a prank. Just look at Ari. The cutie thinks ‘actual’ is a bad word!

“I don’t believe you. Can you look at yourselves now? You five gave this a good try, but if you want to trick me, you better think out your plans and lie better next time.” You cross your arms.

Five pairs of eyes look at you and deadpan “We’re not.”

You stand, getting slightly annoyed. “Then why are you telling me that you’re a gang when clearly, you’re not?”

“Because we are. We’re telling you this because we trust you.” Serin also stands and walks to you. “If you don’t believe us, it’s fine, but you will once you come with us tomorrow night.”

“What? Why would I go with you guys tomorrow night? Where are you going?”

“Just come. Please, I promise that we aren’t lying, so let us prove it to you.” She takes your arms and squeezes gently.

You think about it. What if they really were telling the truth? You shake your head. No, don’t think about that. Just go along with them wherever tomorrow and see what happens. After all, they are lying, right?

“Okay. Fine.”

“What? Really? You’re willing to let us show you?” All 5 girls look at you with shock written on their face.

“Yes. Just tell me when or whatever.” You pulled a nonchalant face.

“10 pm at the corner of 3rd and 6th street.”

~~~

  You showed up at the said spot at 9:55 only to see no one.

(A/n: the area isn’t really a corner, but it’s just called that. It’s actually an alley. Just clearing things up before they get confusing. Please read on.)

 “Tch, I knew they were lying to me. There’s no one here at all! I should just go home.” You turned to leave but a hand grabbed your arm before you make it far.

You froze, too scared to move. Gathering enough courage to slowly turned your head to look at whoever it was behind you.

“Calm down, It’s just me.” Minjee’s familiar voice broke through the tense silence.

You looked a bit closer to see that under the mask she wore over the bottom part of her face, it was, in fact, Minjee. Movement from behind her caught your eyes and you watched as the rest of the girls walked out of the shadows to join the two of you. All of them were dressed in all black, donning masks over their faces so that you couldn’t be sure who was who.

“Unnie, you really came!” Ari’s high pitched voice called, and you smiled a little in her direction.

A figure you assumed was Serin stepped out. “So are you ready to witness this?”

You nod mutely.

She gave you a weak smile.

“Then let’s do this.”

As those words left , an arm swiftly pulled you backwards so you were up against a wall of a building, stuck in a narrow slot between two buildings. .

“Stay.” A voice whispered, and you recognized it as Hana before the strong arm pinning you to the wall disappeared and you saw her figure slip into the line the girls had made.

“You can come out now.” Sujin spoke seemingly to nothing but seconds later you noticed a person drop from the roof of a building, followed closely by another and yet another. More people landed softly before the girls and from your little nook you realized you could see everything that was going on without anyone knowing you were there.

You squinted a bit in the darkness and counted 6 foreign heads.

“So how are we going to do this?” An extremely deep male voice said.

“How we usually do it.” You were surprised to hear how cold Serin’s voice was. It reminded you of the first time the two of you met.

With a nod, the deep voiced man said “No weapons.” and started running towards Serin.

As if it were a signal, the rest of his group also snapped into action. They each ran to one member and before you could process everything, fast punches and rough kicks were being thrown. But your friends were just as fast, and more nimble, and you saw them each take only a few hits compared to the great amount they landed on the enemy. Soon, all the boys were down, coughing and clutching their pained areas. The girls stood in a circle, panting loudly and nursing each other’s wounds.

Through the entire ordeal, you were frozen, mouth wide open and eyes bugged out. Quickly, you dashed out of your hiding spot.

“W-what- You’re all- What?” You were unable to form proper sentences and stood with a finger pointed at all of them and your face wide with awe.

“This is that girl you said didn’t believe you? You must be losing your touch, dongsaeng.” Deep voice man laughed.

“Shut up.” Serin crossed her arms and pouted, lightly kicking his side, eliciting a yelp.

“Okay, okay. Gosh, you’re always so touchy.” He grumbled and turned away.

“Kate, do you believe us now?” She sighed with a hand on your shoulder.

You flinched. She noticed, and slowly dropped her arm.

“Yes, but it’s just so much to take in.” You whispered.

“Then let me tell you something now. We can help you. Just join us, and we promise that life will be much better. All that we have right now is yours too, just take this last thing.” She held out her hand, waiting for you to take it.

Without really understanding, you felt safe near these people - no, you friends. In a moment of impulsiveness, your arm lifted and you hand landed gently on Serin’s outstretched palm. Wrapping her fingers around your hand, she pulled you into her body for a bone crushing hug, the others coming to join after a few moments.

~~~

It had been almost 4 months since you first gave in and accepted the gang, and you never regretted it. That night in that dark alley had been the start of a new and exciting life that now, 4 months later, you would give anything to keep living. Those 4 months of bonding not only with the girls but with BAP were amazing and you learned a lot of new things. However, there was just one small problem that was ticking you off.

1st Person POV

“Hey Kate! Come to my party on Friday night. It’ll be awesome with you there!” Someone says, handing me a piece of paper with an address, a phone number, and a name on it. Sarah Kurr. Some girl I don’t really know. I keep walking.

On the way to first period, calls of “Hey, Kate!” and “Wassup?!” rang out at me from all directions. I always returned their greetings with a slight nod of my head and a small twitch of my mouth.

Things had changed drastically since I had first come last year, and it had opened my eyes up to how horrible a place the world actually was, people becoming your friend just because you were pretty, people changing opinions about you like it was nothing, and the disgusting things people would do to reach fame and popularity.

All I had done was lost a bit bunch of weight, learned how to dress well, and put makeup on. But suddenly, there were TONS of people lining up to be my friend.

An arm wrapped itself around mine and I tensed up, but after a “Relax, it’s just me,” I relaxed my shoulders and let a soft smile show on my face, continuing my walk to class with my best friend while reminiscing memories.

It was my second year of high school, and as a mere 14 year old who had been bullied since the age of 7, I had not seen the world fully in its true light. But now, one year later, I learned through experience that the world is an unforgiving place. I remembered seeing that one junior girl, the most popular girl in the school, be kicked around and called just because of her clothing. The girl was pretty, all the girls wanted to be her friend, and all the boys wanted to date her. Then one day, for seemingly no reason at all, everything her. She lost her so called ‘friends’ in less than a day and her name was soiled by rumors and lies. The next week she was gone, moved to a different state and soon the school just…forgot about her.

I laughed at how dense people were. One girl, worshiped for three years straight, had been abandoned by those who had praised her and then forgotten after a few short months.

“Hey, what’re you laughing at?” Heechul nudged me in the ribs gently.

“Nothing much. Just about people.” I replied softly.

“Hm.” He hummed and we kept walking, chatting on about how our weekends had been.

~~~

Schools goes by smoothly, no one ever bullies me anymore. I leave the school grounds with Heechul, telling him that I was going to meet up with the gang before walking in the direction of the warehouse.

I walk in only to see that the girls are playing xbox with the guys, whooping and hollering whenever a character is down on the opposite side. I sigh, dropping my heavy backpack on the concrete floor and taking up a pillow sitting on the floor by my feet.

“Yah yah yah, what do you think you’re doing? We’re supposed to start practice in a few minutes AKA once I get changed and yet here you are playing video games and eating junk food!” I yell, whacking each and every one of them on the head with the fluffy pillow. I walk around the couch and pick up the wrappers of a few eaten candy bars, the evidence left behind that showed they broke their diet.

In the 4 months that I joined the gang, Serin had felt like she could trust me enough to become the official leader of Breath. She wasn’t much of a leader type of person, and was more fitted to be the intimidator, standing behind all of us menacingly, like a mother dragon watching over her young. Sujin, the second eldest in the group, was also another mother figure, though definitely less menacing. She was a quiet girl, choosing to observe more than participate. Though she could definitely nag our ears off whenever she wanted to. I turned to give her a disappointed look and she shrugged back as if saying ‘this was way beyond me, I didn’t do anything’.

“Nooonnaaaaa~” I snap out of thinking reverie and sigh when I heard that whiney voice near me.

“Yes, Zelo?” I turn slowly.

“Noona, we weren’t trying to make you angry, we just wanted some food and there’s nothing to eat but those at home so we…” He trails off, eyes already filling with salt water and lip quivering just a bit - all tell-tale sign of the waterworks to come.

“Yeah, we didn’t mean to, we just wanted to eat a little bit of food.” Great, Minjee just had to chime in right then with her own matching expression.

“, why am I so weak?” I grumble. Just Zelo or just Minjee, I can take no problem, but the two together is almost an unstoppable force. Thank God that Ari, who’s the real maknae, either doesn’t posess such skilled aegyo or just chooses not to use it in evil ways. I share a woeful look with Yongguk before deciding that we’ve wasted enough time.

“Alright, I won’t punish you this time, but you still need to pay.” I smirk. “One extra set of everything and an extra round of sparring is fair payment, isn’t it?”

Groans and complaints are hears all around the room. “Now now, we shouldn’t complain. This is for your own good. Think of it as a more thorough training session, neh?”

I herd them into the underground basement and flick on the lights. The room is lit in florescent bulbs strung above and contains a boxing ring in the middle of the room and various other things to aid in our training such as pads and mats.

“Come on now, let’s get moving.” I lightly touch Serin’s arm and she nods, taking up her place in the corner with the punching bag with Ari following her like she always does. Soon enough, everyone finds their corners and partners and I begin my own practice with Yongguk, stretching my limbs and back before we begin. Once 30 minutes pass, everyone rotates, moving to a new area of the room. 3 hours pass like that, the room full of grunts and the sound of punches from the pair practicing with the pads and the two at the bag. We gather in the middle of the room by the ring, and rest a bit to rehydrate and let our muscles relax some.

“Jongup and Ari first.”

“I’m not going to go easy on you just because you’re the maknae.” Jongup sneers and with that, the round began. 

The both of them circled around the ring before Jongup lunged at Ari. Unfazed, she quickly doged the fist flying at her and maycjed it with a sweep of her foot. They kept going at it for a while, pretty faily matched, before Jongup aimed a punch at her stomach and caught her squarely in the side, an audible thud resounding through the room which had gone silent since the fight began. Ari gasped for air and clutched her side, and as her guard dropped, jongup went in for the kill and slammed her on the mat. 

Seeing that Ari's on the ground, I step into the ring and stick out a hand. 

"Break." As the words leave my mouth, Jongup gets off Ari and sticks out a hand to help her up. He dusts her off lightly. 

"I told you I would win." He said cockily, but his eyes are gentle and friendly. 

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Ari grumbled. 

"Next." 

The two are replaced with Jongup and Minjee. 

"I'm going to beat you to a pulp, dancer boy." Minjee smirks and cracks her knuckles. 

"Huh?" Jongup doesn't even look like he know's where he is. 

"Fight." 

The second the words leave my mouth, two things happen instantaneously. One, Minjee lunges, and two, Jongup looks like he's just gone theoigh the awakening and turns just in time to dodge the elbow at his face. The two take a bit longer to finish up, and Minjee only wins because she distracted Jongup by yelling "squirell", but in the end it was who was on the ground and who stood above them that counted. 

"I told you." Minjee said as she walked off without bothering to help him up. 

"Told me what?" Jongup dragged his body up and out the ring. 

The resounding noise of all of us slapping our foreheads was amazing. 

After the others each fought twice with different partners, it was finally my turn with Yongguk. It was custom that the leaders always spar each other first. 

"I'll beat you this time." Yongguk growled, starting to circle me. 

"You seem to say that every time." I sneer back, and then without a warning, I attack his center. 

We exchange a few light hits to judge strength, though I already knew what Yongguk was capable of. Deciding that it's time to actually get started, I take a swipe at Yongguk's head, neatly clipping him
In the ear. Stepping back, I just barely had time to watch his fist whoosh past my face. Too busy turning to dodge another attack by his other arm, I fail to see the leg coming up towards my middle. A second later, all the air in my lungs rushes out in a breath. 

"Pay attention." Yongguk's deep voice rings out, pulling me back from the reverie I'm in. 

"I know." As the words leave me, I return a kick, leg reaching his face and whipping his head to the side. 

"There we go." He smirks and we begin again. 

Around ten minutes later, we're both panting and sore. I rub my ribs, checking for damage. However Yongguk's in no better shape. He has visible bruises littering his face. I narrow my eyes and lightly hop from foot to foot, assesing his open areas and weaknesses. Spotting that he continuously leaves his front open, I decide to go for that area. I take a few running steps and fake a hit at his face, before ducking his arm and waiting for him to step back a few steps before jumping. Both my feet come up off the ground and I launch myself feet first at him. My feet hit him squarely in the stomach, and the momentum pushes both of us down, me on top of him. On the floor, he lays without any indication of wanting to get up. Taking it as a signal that I won, I got off him and helped him up, patting his back as he tried to regain breath. 

"Damn, you've improved so much." He says, eyes soft and smile gummy. 

"I know." I smile back. 

~~~

2nd person POV

You walk into class just as the bell rings. 

"Ah, Miss Wu. I was just wondering when you were going to get here." 

"On time." I say without emotion as I sit in my seat. 

Miss only sighs before turning back to the board. I tune her out as I close my eyes and lay my head down on my desk. I already knew all this stuff, so what was the point of paying attention? It was better to replenish my body through sleep anyways, and I had stayed out late last night with the gang. A lame rookie group was trying to make a name for themselves. That was all fine and dandy, except they chose to do it on out territory. Poor kids, they didn't even take their spray cans with them. 

Breathe, as a gang, didn't really bother with marking our territory. All the others knew where our space began and ended anyways, so we couldn't really blame the rookies for choosing the wrong spot. 

"Miss Wu." A hand rapps on my desk. "Miss Wu, I was just calling you up to answer the questions on the board. Were you paying attention?" Miss' face loomes down on me. 

"No, but I can answer your questions." I get up and walk to the board, picking up the marker. A set of ten questions are written up there, and I take a moment to look at all of them then slowly print the answers one by one in your messy scrawl. Taking one last look at your work, you nod to yourself and sit back down, immediately resuming your original feet-on-desk-chair-lent-back pose. 

Miss just spluttered quietly. 

The rest of the day passed quietly. No other teachers bothered you about your always-right-on-time-but-never-late mindset. 

"I need to get to the hideout right after school. You can walk home alone, right?" You pat Heechul on the shoulder. "Ah, who am I kidding. You're a grown man that can take care of himself. You don't need me to walk you home." You chuckle. 

"That's right. Remember when it was ME who walked YOU home after school everyday? How time flies." Heechul fakes a sigh dramatically. "I'll be fine, so don't you worry about me." He waves as he steps off campus ground. 

"Oh I always worry." You call back as you turn away. 

"I'm here." You say as you walk in. 

"NOOOOOONNAAAAAA!!!" A screaming Zelo rams into your body without warning. 

"What the heck. Someone get him off me." You wrinkle your brow. 

"Noona, Minjee was bullying me." Zelo turns to glare at said girl. 

"What? No I didnt! You just want Unnie's attention you attention ." Minjee sneered back. 

"WAAAHHHH! Noona, Minjee called me a ! Did you hear that? You should punish her!" Zelo sniffed into your neck. 

The rest of the group had gathered around to see what the commotion was about and you could see that both Youngjae and Sujin covered Ari's ears and eyes. 

You sigh. "Zelo, when you complain and whine, complain and whine at Yongguk, not me." You hear a deep "Hey!" From said guy but ignore it. "Also, I may not trust in Minjee 60% of the time, I know that she is not a liar. Now stop those crocadile tears and man up. It's homework time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ah yes, you had changed much over the past few months. You had decided that you wouldn't show your emotions to those who didn't deserve to see them. Thus, you had become quite cold at school, but the same bubbly you at other times. 

Heechul understood your changes and stayed by your side, still taking care of you and being the lerson you would always confide in. Kris and Sarah's relationship bloomed beautifully, and you and Sarah's relationship was also doing well. So well in fact, that you already thought of her as 'sister-in-law'. Not only that, but no one bothered you at school and the gang had made it to the top and a large area of land was under the tag of you turf. You also had many lesser or new gangs working for you. No one bothered you there either. 

Life had finally become calm and enjoyable to a certain level. So it was definitely a shock when your father said the fateful words after a peaceful 3 years. "Kids, we're going back to Korea." Both you and Kris dropped your forks in the middle of dinner in surprise. Kris, because he had decided to transfer to Seoul Uni just 2 months ago and was feeling apprehensive ablout leaving you and your father alone in America as he stayed in Korea with Hanah, who had also transfered there the month previous. However, you dropped your fork in shock because Korea. Wow, it had been such a long time since you had even thought of going home. 

"Excuse me." You take your plate to the sink and go to your room quuetly. 

"Heechul, I'm going back to Korea." 

"What?!" 

~~~

 Aaaaaand....I'm back! Hey guys, sorry about the long wait and stuff, I kinda went through a period where I didn't want to weite anything at all so yeah. But I'm better now, and back to writing and stuff. Plus, it's summer break right now. I'll have more time to write now that school is out of the way for a while. I hope that you guys will stick around longer because now that I'm going to send them back to Koreac, everything will be set into motion. So just hang on tight, because this will be an interesting ride. 

This has been a message from the author who is currently residing in Korea haha.

As always, please subscribe, comment, and upvote!! I love you all <3