hello my lovlies~
how are you all?
i hope you all had a wonderful christmas/hanakah(sp?)/boxing day/whatever you celebrate ^^
also a (late) happy new year and happy chinese new year for all of you who celebrate that ^^
since im in china, i'll be setting off firecrakers this CNY so im ING PUMPED for that
YEAHBURNINGSHIET
that should totally be a legit page LOL
ANYHOWS
sorry for the super late (and also shorter than usual) update OTL
as i mentioned not that long ago, im in china right now and i dont have much time to sit down at a laptop 
so i dont have much time to sit down and type up a full 3000-4000word chapter
so sorry about that
anyhows
ENJOY~
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“Then who’s second in line?” I asked.

She was silent for a bit and put down her pencil, looking back up to me carefully.

“Me.”

– GD’s POV –

I stared at her for a second, expecting her to burst out in laughter, point at me mockingly and tell me that she had fooled me for a whole week. But no, the look on her face was far too serious to be a joke. In fact, I’d never seen her this serious in my whole life.

“You’re not serious are you?” I asked, not wanting it to be real.

“I'm dead set serious Jiyoung.” She stared back at me with a glare so hard, she could burn a house down with it if she wanted to. I was speechless. “It’s still far too dangerous for you or your mother to go anywhere near your father. Your face is practically the same as when I met you and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if your father has dogs trailing you.”

“So?” I asked. “I can deal with it.”

“You can deal with it, sure. But the family and your mother can’t have any sort of threat when we’re dealing with the Kwons.” She replied. She looked unfazed, probably because she had been thinking about it for so long. “Plus, I’ve been in the business longer. I can just get the info off you and I can lead the family just fine.”

“But you’re still in high school! And you want to go to uni and get a job and get married and have kids and–“

“Shut up Jiyoung. Don't go telling me what I already know.” Her voice was hard and cold. It was a rare occasion that she would use this tone with me and it was times like this when I didn't know whether to call her Sunghee or agasshi.

“Sorry.” I apologized quickly, not wanting to say anything more in fear of further irritating her.

She didn’t say anything more and simply looked away.

We must’ve been there for quite some time because Taemin came out a while later with the excuse that he needed a glass of water. I went to fetch the requested item and in that time, Sunghee had disappeared again. I guess our discussion could wait.

– 3 days later –

– Sunghee’s POV –

Two things were really bugging me. Number one was the conversation that I with Jiyoung. He was right, I did want to finish school, go to uni, get married and go along with the whole sha-bang that came with it like every other person in the world. But I wasn’t exactly like every other person in the world, now was I? I already had a family to look after, and haraboji has already been so kind to let me experience the world as a ‘normal’ highschool student and make friends outside the family and I needed to pay him back however I could.

The second thing that was bugging me was Taemin and his gang. That child was beginning to worry me. I knew Taemin didn’t come from a good family, so breaking up with the closest thing he has to one was going to be a big thing. Speaking of his gang, the short one that looks like a dinosaur with spiky hair ran up to the two of us as we were walking down the school halls together, sputtering franticly jumbled crap.

“Whoa there hyung. Say that again?” Taemin asked. I noticed how he still called him hyung.

“Key. Picked. Fight. With. Beast.” He puffed out, taking a breath after every word.

I didn’t even have time to process the whole sentence before I realized I was left alone in the hallway. I rolled my eyes and made my way to the front gate. I knew they liked to make a scene. Beast were close rivals of BIGBANG and what’s more, they were attached to a branch of the Kim family.

As I expected, the whole school had ditched their class to gather in a massive ring around the two gangs. The kingkas and visiting jjangs were well underway with their fist-throwing festival, save Junhyung who I couldn’t quite see, but assumed he was busy swooning shallow girls with his alluring smirk and cheeky grin. That attention . I smirked at the thought and made my way down the steps.

“Move.” I made my voice clear behind the first few guys gathered at the back. They looked at me in a pathetic, frightened kind of way and backed off immediately and the ones in front of them followed suit. It was quite a scene really. I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea.

The leader of the visiting gang had to do a double take when he saw me, and got socked in the face because of his inattentiveness, but I easily picked Key off him and the fighting quickly ceased.

“Play fair, Key.” I told him. “Kikwang stopped hitting you for a reason, not so you could take a free swing at him.”

“But-“

I clamped a hand over his mouth. “Arasso?” I asked him to confirm and he nodded his head. It was nice to get the loudmouth to shut up every now and then.

“Hyunsuk.” Kikwang spoke up.

“Kikwang.” I acknowledged him. “What brings you?” I asked.

“Your diva friend got himself drunk and decided to pick a fight with me whilst accusing me of hurting some kid by the name of 'Taemin'. He didn’t show up so we came to pay him a visit.” He told me.

I looked at Key, who turned away looking guilty of something that I assumed was going to be a really stupid move.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Kikwang asked.

“Well, his is my school now, which means I’m looking after it. That includes these idiots here so if you could just leave and forget this ever happened, it would make it a wonderful day for me.” I told him.

He scowled at me and didn’t say a thing, but it was obvious as day that he needed a little more persuasion to leave the grounds.

“Scram.” I repeated myself.

The short male scoffed and nodded reluctantly. “See you around.”

I turned back to Key. “You look like a ing mess.” I noted aloud, subconsciously patting the dirt off his shoulder.

“I didn’t need your help.” He told me harshly.

“I wasn’t helping you, idiot.” I replied. Key looked rather confused. “Three of them have their SAT’s soon. The last thing they need is to be wasting their classes to settle fights with children who run away from their deals.” I told him.

“.” He spat.

“Bros before hos~” I said in a singsong voice.

He scowled at me and I smirked back and made my way to class.

We had lunch on the rooftop as per usual, except this time, we didn’t say much. So I started the conversation.

“Don’t you think it’s time you went back?” I asked.

He didn’t say anything and quietly bit into his sandwich again.

“Key is obviously worried over you enough to drink himself stupid and you still care enough to get into a fight for them at moment’s notice. Isn’t that enough for you?” I asked.

“But… they’re still thickheaded bullies.” He said.

“They’ll change if they really want to keep you as their dongseng.” I told him.

He turned to me and smiled a bit. “Thanks for looking after me for all this time, hyung. You really are the best.”

With another grin and a tight hug, he was off like the wind. I chuckled and shook my head.

The seongsaengnims were all still the same, being cheerful and happy in the office. Kyuhyun was boasting about his new highscore or something in StarCrap and Heechul was playing with his new kitten, Heebum. Sungmin, Henry and Shindong were being childish and playing a game to see who could fit the most grapes in their mouth and Siwon was reciting multiple chapters of the bible to Kangin, who was busy chasing Hangeng around, telling him he should be doing more sport, who retaliated by cursing at both of them in Chinese. Ryeowook and Kibum were making tea and gossiping as Zhou Mi and Eunhyuk marked some work. And Donghae was asleep on the couch.

As soon as I entered the room, I was tackled and stacked on and flooded with ‘I missed you’s and ‘where have you been’s. I answered vaguely, and told them I had been ‘busy’ and ‘just hanging around’ and they took it as a good enough answer and ushered me to the couch, kicking poor Donghae off in the process.

At any other school, I wouldn’t be caught dead hanging around teachers, but these guys were pretty neat. Another thing I wouldn’t be caught doing was having a mouth stuffing competition with them. Evidently not the case here. Well you know what they say, there’s always time for a first.

Heechul had flat out refused to participate in any which way or form, claiming it was undignified and whatnot. Ryeowook was taken out first with five grapes because of his unfortunately small mouth. Next was Siwon who forfeited at six grapes, going on about how it was improper, unholy or blahblahblah. Then Kibum, at seven grapes, because he found his hyung’s rant much too hilarious and choked on the fruit, which then caused Kyuhyun to laugh at him, which then caused him to choke, taking him out as well. Zhou Mi, Hangeng and Yesung dropped out at ten grapes simply because their cheeks weren’t elastic enough to fit the fruits. Donghae got cocky and smiled with eleven grapes in his face, effectively squishing the grapes to a pulp of some sort, which then disqualified him. Kangin and Eunhyuk were taken out at twelve grapes and Sungmin at thirteen. Last to get knocked out was Shindong at a whopping fourteen grapes bulging out the sides of his face. And he didn’t simply lose because his face couldn't fit them; his stomach just couldn’t resist the temptation of the sweet, green, juicy fruit in his mouth. So he ate them all.

Which then left Henry and I staring at each other in the face with eyes slit and grapes practically falling out of our ears. I shot him a glare, daring him to put another fruit in his mouth.

“One more!” Hangeng shouted, urging us to fit another grape in our bulging facial tissues.

He accepted the challenge and we both picked up a small grape and non-strategically stuffed it in our mouths. Then all of a sudden, a small line of clear liquid shot out of the corner of his mouth and onto my cheek. Hangeng wiped it off my face with his thumb and then it. The second that we waited for his verdict seemed like a year, but when he nodded his head, I knew I had won the grape game.

The hyungs started cheering and throwing grapes all over the place in celebration of the crowing of the new King of the Grapes. It was a stupid reason to be happy, but there I was; the happiest I’d been in days.

The day ended well. School went by without any idiots picking a fight with me and Taemin moved back in with his gang. I was whistling a happy, perky sort of a tune on my way home, when I felt a hard glare boring a hole into the side of my head. I did a quick scan around me and caught sight of a familiar face. He sent me a glance and quickly disappeared into the alleyway he was standing next to. I quickly re-scanned the people around me, making sure no one I knew was there, before following him in.

– A Couple Days Later –

– Key’s POV –

Hyunsuk hadn’t been at school since the day Beast showed up. I don’t ever remember him missing a day of school before. Taemin even took us to visit their apartment (Hyunsuk had left him a key in the case he ever needed it) but when we opened the door, the only sound I could hear was the dripping of a leaking tap and the ticking of an old clock. I was quite surprised to be honest. I guess I was expecting some hardcore looking liar of some sort with posters or half girls on graffitied walls, empty beer bottles all over the place and dirty clothes lying around everywhere. Instead, we found a small, cozy, neat and unexpectedly clean place.

Anyhows, BIGBANG didn’t leave any sort of a note and Taemin’s text message inbox was empty. Calling them didn’t do anything either because none of them picked up. I highly doubted they just decided to pick up and leave because they left tin half full with notes and coins just sitting on the kitchen table and there was half done washing sitting in the laundry. The only thing I could think of was that they got into a fight one way or another and now they were in some faraway corner of the world. Taemin was worried sick. I could feel it in my bones. But he said that they ‘must be out shopping or something’ and left first, handing me the keys to lock up behind everyone else.

However, another week passed and I saw Taemin grow restless. He couldn’t focus on homework and he didn’t eat anything either. What’s more, I was getting worried too. Not only for Taemin, but also for Hyunsuk. What possible reason could keep him away from his daily life for that long? I didn’t know him terribly well, but I knew enough to know that he valued his education above everything other than friends and family.

Finally, one night, I had had enough of worrying my guts out for a bastard that I wanted to think that I hated with my whole soul. I made my way to the bar where I got drunk and picked a fight with Kikwang. I found the room in the back of the club where they hung out and knocked on the door.

A guy who I didn’t remember seeing last time opened the door.

“Well, hello, hello. I’ve been hearing stories about your last encounter with my gang. Fortunately for you, the shorty is back home studying so come in and make yourself at home.” He opened the door wider.

I glanced in suspiciously and took a look around. The two youngest looking ones were sitting opposite each other on the couches talking and laughing about one thing or another.

I walked in far enough for him to shut the door behind me.

He came up behind me and slung an arm around my shoulder, and pushed me to the couch and sat me down at the end of the ‘U’ shaped lounge before walking back next to the taller of the two other guys.

“Would you like anything? Juice? Soda? Water?” he asked me.

“I’ll be fine.” I replied.

He sat down. “Alright then, what’s your business here?” he asked.

I took a breath before continuing. If I had this wrong, I could be in deep .

“It’s to my understanding that Beast and BIGBANG have some sort of a rivalry friendship.” I questioned.

“That’s right.” He replied.

“They’ve disappeared. No one’s seen them for two weeks.” The two others glanced at each other before looking to the leading male, who was staring me dead in the eyes.

“Yoseob, call the other guys. We need to discuss this together.”

The male sitting opposite him nodded and disappeared into the back room.

A few minutes later, Kikwang and the two other guys turned up. By then, I had learnt the names of the whole gang. The one who made the call was Yoseob who they called the visual maknae. The tall guy who hadn’t said anything was the real maknae, Dongwoon. Junhyung was the guy who opened the door. He’s the acting leader of the group. His uncle owned the club, which explained how he and his under-aged friends got in. Doojoon was the eldest and the real leader of the group, but let Junhyung take over that year because he was particularly busy with studies and his father’s business and Hyunseung was Doojoon’s foster brother. And Kikwang was the short guy that I picked a fight with.

“Hello there, diva-boy.” Kikwang unceremoniously greeted me.

I just shot him a glare. “There are more important matters at hand than our silly fight.”

Kikwang just looked at me weirdly. “The kids got a point.” Junhyung spoke up.

“Your cousin and his gang went incognito again.”

Kikwang suddenly perked up and straightened out his smirk.

“How long has he been gone for?” he asked.

“Two weeks.” Junhyung replied. “Not your average four-day disappearance off the face of the planet.”

I was beyond confused. “Cousin?” I asked aloud.

“Seungri is Kikwang’s older cousin.” Doojoon explained.

“Ok then…”

Then Hyunseung spoke up. “Hey guys, have you heard the rumor that BIGBANG has mafia attachments?” he asked.

All heads turned to him.

“I mean, it’s just a rumor but they are a really skilled gang that could probably go up as a legitimate street gang. I actually wouldn't be surprised if they already are. And half of them aren’t even out of school yet.” He said.

Doojoon spoke for the first time. “We should do some digging. BIGBANG are really close friends of ours and they’re also our family so we’ll definitely be looking into this. Don’t feel pressured by the little quarrel between you and Kwangie. Whether you want to work with us or separately to us is your choice, but any offered help would be appreciated. They’re a tough gang to find because they always seem to know when you’re looking for them.” He didn’t sound particularly authoritative but there was an air of authority around him. He spoke like a leader and it was then that I realized SHINee wasn’t the greatest thing ever. I don’t want to sound like I wanted to leave them or anything, but I never realized how inferior we were to other gangs like theirs.


“But, if they knew you were looking for them, wouldn’t they let you find them?” I asked. “They seem like the kind of guys to help out when they can.”

“Not really. They do help out when they can, but not if it’ll expose them to anything big.” He explained.

“Anything big?” I asked.

“Like mafia gangs. Except for the Kim Family. Kikwang’s uncle, who looks after him, works for a small branch of the Kim Family and they seem to be perfectly fine around him. But whenever it involves something like the Kwon’s, the Choi’s or the Kang’s they just disappear.” Doojoon explained.

“Come to think of it, uncle always cleans up the place whenever BIGBANG comes around.” Kikwang said. “More specifically, when Hyunsuk drops by. Otherwise he does his best to avoid him. Maybe he’s the one with relations to a real gang?”

My head was swimming. “Legit gangs? We aren’t actually going to go confront them are we?”

“That depends on how long they’re gone for and how desperate we get to find them.” Junhyung said. “I don’t know about you guys, but me and Hyunsuk are tight so I’m going after him at all costs.”

“Taemin is in the same position as you so we’ll be going through with this till the end as well.” I said.

“Well then, why don’t we meet up here tomorrow at 4pm and start digging?” Junhyung offered.

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OK I GOTTA GO TO SLEEP NOW
BYE GUYS<3
xxsaranghae Tom

kekeke i used my nickname this time~