warning: character death

Jongin woke up to a bulb hanging above him, casting ominous shadows throughout what looked like a basement. He was sitting on a metal chair, arms behind him -- long gone numb, but he could still feel the chaffing handcuffs.

He looked up and saw the man he had somehow come to love. “Kyungsoo?” he croaked out.

The man laughed, sharp teeth glinting in the darkness and he looked like a stranger. “I know how you kill your targets. You shoot them and they die cleanly. But I'm not that kind.” Dropping down to eye level, he revealed a small dagger.

Jongin stared at the weapon. He could guess as to what was going to happen, but he didn't want to believe it. It didn't make any sense. Nothing ever made sense.

Kyungsoo gently caressed Jongin's cheeks with the blade and let it drop down until it rested under his throat. It drew blood easily with the slightest pressure and Jongin winced in pain.

“This is the only way I can do it,” Kyungsoo murmured, almost apologetically. “I need you to stay alive long enough to understand.”

Jongin blinked slowly -- dragging his heavy eyelids down and back up, as if death was already catching up to him. “Who are you?” He forced those words out his mouth. “Why?”

“Don't worry,. I'll answer both of those questions before you die.” Kyungsoo gently swept Jongin's sweaty hair out of his face. “But where should I start?” Absently, almost casually, he sliced through Jongin's shirt, splitting the fabric and leaving a clean cut down his chest and abdomen.

“I know who you are, Jongin,” Kyungsoo said. “But I still don't know if I should call you that, or Junmyeon. Or maybe Kai?”

“N-no!”

"You're right. I shouldn't call you Kai, because you're not the killer here. I am." Kyungsoo laughed and the dryness of it chafed at Jongin's skin. “But aren't you curious as to how I know that?”

Jongin couldn't tear his eyes away from Kyungsoo- his target, his boyfriend, his love and now, his killer. But how was that possible? How?

“You-” His question and accusation died on his lips, just like how he knew he was going to die soon too. He slumped down into the chair and wondered why the unforgiving cold and hardness was always associated with death scenes. Three months ago, his last target had died on a lush rug and his disoriented mind latched onto that insignificant detail.

“It's easy for me to find things out. For example, I knew who killed Kim Himchan, but BAP didn't. And when Yongguk came to me, desperate and furious, I told him. But I told him he could have the one closest to the killer, because the killer was mine.”

His words sunk in. Jongin was Himchan's killer, and the one closest to him . . .

“You killed Jongdae?!” Jongin cried, ignoring the overwhelming pain everywhere. It was nothing compared to this -- to this betrayal. Kyungsoo smiled and Jongin's vision blurred until all he could see was that smile. “Why? He did nothing wrong! And I- I went to you and you gave me- you ing comforted me, you held me, you let me cry, you two-faced little- It was the reason why I started to doubt things, but you-” He broke off with a gasp and a cough, black blood dribbling down his chin.

Kyungsoo moved to wipe it away with a warm thumb, leaving a coppery smear. “Betrayal,” he explained gently. “I wanted you to feel it. And aren't you a hypocrite for calling me two-faced?”

Jongin shook his head violently. Why was this happening? Why did this have to be the end?

“You asked me why I'm doing this,” Kyungsoo continued as if reading the other's mind, twirling the bloody dagger. “Well, let me just say that I hate you. I hated how you thought you were invincible, as if you're a god, deciding the fates of mundanes. So I thought I should tell who you really are -- a human, a mere human. Someone who will die. I worked so hard, setting up everything, creating a reputation, gaining connections . . . I have went through so much, but people like you exist. You, with your arrogance, your priveleges. So I orchestrated this grand scheme, and you fell into it easily.

"You were so busy doubting what you did, but did you ever think that someone was playing you instead? No, because you thought too highly of yourself. You never even imagined that you were naive and someone else had power over you. Now you know and your mind is reeling from the information. Now you know how your victims felt -- killed unceremoniously by the person they loved and thought loved them back. How does it feel to finally be the prey, toyed by someone and killed at the end for sport? I really wish there's a way for you to have this horrible heartbreaking feeling and live forever to feel it forever, but sadly, things don't work out like that. You will die and be spared of that agony.”

“But- but-” The anger was gone. There was no more energy, no more life in Jongin. “I wanted to change. I was going to change! I wanted to stop all this-"

"And you think saying that, wanting that, will redeem you?" Kyungsoo interrupted, not wanting to hear the pathetic excuses.

But Jongin kept going. "I wish I can just be a normal person, without all this blood and death. I really do, but I was born into this. What was I supposed to do? And  . . . like Sehun and Tao! Tao was going to quit his g-”

Jongin's desperate rambling was cut short by Kyungsoo's harsh laughter. “Oh my, I almost forgot about that, but really, that was the real reason I decided to end things so quickly. Tao came to me today, asking to quit. And I let him, but in his excitement, he forgot what that means. He has become too foolish and he will pay dearly.”

“What do you mean?” He didn't really want to know.

A cut appeared idly under Jongin's and reached down to his navel and he gasped in pain as Kyungsoo explained gently, “He came to me because I am the leader of his so-called gang, although I prefer it being called an organiztaion.” The blade sunk deeper, cutting through tendon, muscle, trust. “He came to me and now he, and Sehun, are dead.”

Jongin could feel daggers tearing into his heart. Dead. Leader? Dead?! With the little energy he had left, he searched frantically in the other man's eyes -- those large eyes that seemed to hide nothing -- nothing but secrets and lies.

“Kyungsoo . . .”

“I really do hate that name,” the man said mildly. “It's more fake than Junmyeon.” Seeing Jongin's expression, he laughed, the dryness slapping Jongin in the face. “Since you're about to die soon, I guess I should tell you my real name. It’s only fair.”

“My name is . . . Minseok.”

~ ~ ~

“Minseok . . .” Jongin echoed lethargically, tasting the foreign name. He was dying soon, but he had just found out the real name, the true identity of the man who had single-handedly changed and ended his world. “Minseok, did you . . . love me?”

Minseok didn't answer.

He reached for the gun hidden in his back pocket and shot Jongin instead.

Bang bang.