A punch flew straight into his abdomen, sending him to the ground, crouching. His vision blurred for a moment but with all that he has in him, stood up again to face the man as he was instructed. Unable to watch, the other 5 boys hung their head low, trying to filter out the painful groans. No matter how used they were to this life, it was one of their friends they were talking about and it was certainly not easy to watch.

Jin pulled himself up again, standing slightly ahead of the rest of the boys as he received another blow to his gut, but not fighting back.

This continued for a few more minutes until the man finally raised his hand, signalling for the man to stop. And after a long silence, the man spoke, his back facing the group.

“방탄소년단 (Bangtansonyeondan), you really live up to your name don’t you? After so many blows you still manage to stand up. So tell me, why did my men hit you?”

The tall boy kept quiet, his head bowed and hands locked in front of him. Blood dripped from his lips but he couldn’t even bother to wipe it away. Instead he took a deep breath and with much effort forced out, “Because we only collected half the money.”

The man let out a soft laugh. “Oh no, if that were the case, I would have had the entire group punished. But why only you, Jin?”

Jin heaved out and mumbled with great effort, “Because I allowed them.”

“What? I cannot hear you.”

Jin took in a deep breath and this time, vocalized louder and firmer, “Because I allowed them.”

The man smiled slightly as he tapped his foot. “That’s right. But that’s not how I raised you to lead the group like this. You know how the other guys who did not follow my instructions end up. I only keep you boys with me for so long because you are young and great fighters. Don’t push me to the extreme. Well, but since this had happened, you are obviously doing a horrible job. From now on… NamJoon will be the leader of you boys. If you don’t want NamJoon to end up like Jin, you better behave accordingly.”

The boys instantaneously turned to look at NamJoon who seemed to be experiencing an inner turmoil himself. That was the thing about the man up in front. He just loved playing them like a game of reversi, flipping them here and there whenever he liked. And the boys hated it more than ever at times like these. Not that they enjoyed Jin being the leader and taking the blame but because they knew Jin was used to it and he knew better than anyone to get the group and himself out of trouble 50% of the time. With NamJoon taking over now, they were more concerned over whether NamJoon could even protect himself from the man.

Just as the man turned to leave, TaeHyung looked around frantically before bravely speaking up to gain the man’s attention.

“Sir, what about our share of money? You said that if we got the money you would pay us this time … right?” He requested but his voice weakened as the man paused for a moment, took a deep breath and laughed.

The man’s laughter went from a small one to a hearty one, filling the entire warehouse with his deep cry. But without replying him, he signalled his men towards TaeHyung who showed no hesitance in throwing TaeHyung a few punches before throwing the boys an old envelope. “Don’t say I never paid you.”

The warehouse fell awkwardly silent for a few moments after the man left. No one dared to say a word to each other, especially to Jin who was obviously in a foul mood from all the hits he received and the guilt they felt collectively towards NamJoon now that he was the newly appointed leader. Amidst the tense atmosphere, TaeHyung awkwardly bent down to pick up the envelope an