Chapter One: Underground Rats

"We are nothing but Exiled Heathens"

Have you heard of them?

The rats of Seoul?

They walk on two legs, move between humans and live right down your neighborhood. They can speak, they are handsome, young and powerful, and they also know that no one is there to threaten them. Police is afraid of them, and no one is important or stupid enough to challenge them.

They live amongst the citizens, and probably forget that all they are, are a bunch of illegals.

So, have you heard of the rats?

Probably not, because they live underground.

$$$

It’s intoxicating, the smell of money.

He has so much already, but there’s always a part of him asking for more. Even if his bank account is already over-flowing with digits.

The room is red velvet and black, a huge gambling table with green felt placed in the middle of it. Around it sit familiar faces Jongin has been following for a while already. He’s holding on his own share of cards as he glances over them and across, where the richest man sat. Feminine figures catch his attention as one of the women dressed in white lingerie offers him another drink of expensive taste. They are wearing little clothing, advertizing their bodies as instructed by their pimps. But Jongin’s not here for , he’s here for something much more important. And it’s not like he’d end up in here with any of them if he was in need of affection. His standards are pretty high for a man of his kind.

He takes a glance around the table before he throws his cards on the table, standing up from his seat. With a quick move, he’s already brought his gun out and is pointing at the man across, whilst eyeing his two side-kicks. On cue, Minseok and Jongdae stand up to reveal their guns as well. The business man—and his target—raises his hands up in surrender and the other two follow suit. By now, some women have already screamed in terror, running away from the scene and from any possible bullets.

“I’m bored. I don’t think you’d mind me taking what’s mine,” Jongin smirked, moving the gun a bit as if to tell them to hurry. “Empty your pockets.” Minseok and Jongdae are fast to grab the packs of money from the table and throw them in nylon bags. Jongin circles the man his eyes are locked with, his gun lowering just enough for him to caress his neck with the barrel. He moves like a stealthy panther, its eyes digging into potential prey. “I know we had something between us, but sorry,” Jongin then grins, no emotion reaching his eyes and the man gulps in fear. “You’re not my style.”

A gunshot echoes and Jongdae loses all color from his face. “Kai, we said no killing.”

Jongin’s eyes rise from the corpse and lock with Jongdae, “oops.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Minseok motions fast, already by the door and ready to escape.

“If Chanyeol asks for me, tell him I’m busy, okay?” Jongin winks at the other two frozen and shocked men.

“Kai, that was completely unnecessary,” Jongdae scolds him as soon as they are jogging down the corridor, Jongin the only relaxed of the trio.

“You know I love seeing Chanyeol foam from anger.”

“Lay’s waiting at the back.”

With Minseok’s announcement, they let the topic die, and as they pass the front and hear men yell at them to stop, Jongin plainly shoots one of them in the thigh.

He’s too tired of every single one of them.

And more so, of Chanyeol.

It kept his day interesting, though, like nothing else. So he couldn’t afford losing his only source of entertainment.

$$$

Jongin has been like this for as long as he can remember. He has faint memories of a broken, tainted family. His parents, being only a young couple with an unplanned pregnancy and no money for abortion, took a road down south at the news of the awaited child. His mother tried to force a stop to it all, but against her wishes, Jongin was born as healthy as ever. It was years later that his parents divorced, a summer shy before he got into high school. So under the whole neglect, hatred, abuse, hurt, he was suspended soon enough, and has been living a life in exile since.

He can still remember how his mother would come back with a different man each week, introduce him as his new father, only to replace him a couple days later. The apartment stunk of booze and drugs, and they could barely afford the thing what with only Jongin actually having a stable enough job at some local petrol station.

Jongin was fast to learn how to ignore her and her problems.

Everything as he knew fell down the drain one night when he was barely nineteen. He was coming back home from work when he appeared to be at the wrong time and at the wrong place. And from then on, the underground him in, because he’d witnessed a murder and the only way to stay alive, was to obey the murderers. But he liked them. In a sense, he idolized their will to survive, and they also accepted him in because he was obedient enough.

Fast forward to the twenty-nine year old Kim Jongin, and he’s an assassin with his own little cult.

He, Minseok, Jongdae and Yixing have been working together for a couple years already, each coming from a disaster of a home of their own. They’d built their own little underground kingdom where Jongin was treated as a rightful King, and the news of them appearing spread like fire. More people joined with the promise of wealth and fortune, exchanging their loyalty and soul for one seat below Jongin’s throne. And Jongin welcomed the peasants, fully aware that their lives would be in his hands and orders— both already so bloodied.

And amongst all the chaos, there was a fourth person.

Kyungsoo was a pearl buried deep in the soil, never actually taking part in any of the illegal matters, but always by Jongin’s side whenever he needed someone to lean on or to cover him. He was there, with a love so overwhelming that even if Jongin always took and never gave, he still stayed. Kyungsoo has been here for years already, so many that Jongin has forgotten when they met exactly. But it was alright.

He wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

Jongin, the man who held the blood of countless men on his shoulders, would walk into a house of luxury, meeting a table full of food and a kiss on his cheek. Kyungsoo would leave him alone to eat in silence, removing himself from the scene so subtly and silently. He would come back only to clean after his meal but Jongin would need some company and Kyungsoo would just kiss his worries away. It was the same every day, having Kyungsoo wait for him and Jongin feeding on his love. Almost like a vampire, the last and having no whatsoever regrets. Because Kyungsoo was there to please him, and neither had an objection to it.

At the beginning, Kyungsoo would tag along. Through the years, Jongin had taught him how to use all kinds of guns, knowing that he was in danger just for associating himself with Jongin. Kyungsoo never participated much in robberies. He would just keep an eye for any passerby’s, or walk along to cover Jongin’s back, or just be pretty. Whatever it was, Kyungsoo loved spending time with Jongin, even if their dates turned out to be assassinations or breaking into buildings.

It took a crazy person to love an insane one, and as long as Kyungsoo orbited around Jongin’s existence, he was losing his sanity too. Kyungsoo was there to please him, and Jongin would take it, because he thrived on the love yet made sure to show little in return. Kyungsoo was a man who could take some hard loving and would still come back for more, so Jongin left everything at minimum.

There are a lot of reasons why Jongin feels like a King, one whose power and influence has not yet been recognized as much as it should—but he’s getting there. His name wanders the severs as the ‘man who kills’, since paid assassination is what brought him here in the first place. And by closer people, those in his clan in particular, he’s known for his solid addiction to money and card games.

However it is, Jongin lives up to his name, and while everyone knows he’s bat insane, they still look up to him for standing proud in front of a powerful mafia boss named Park Chanyeol.

$$$

Jongdae and Minseok climb into the van, hitting the doo