48: ONE WORD AWAY FROM DEAD

"Dark Clouds," by Heize

                “Buk…Buk Gil Pa?” stuttered Yoongi. “Isn’t that a Busan syndicate? What the hell are you guys even doing here?”

                The boss in the chair was still recovering from the evidently very amusing idea that anyone could possibly think he was a part of Sa Hyeo Pa, but Yoongi’s comment made him straighten a little and furrow his brow.

                “Kid, I was under the impression that you were the one being interrogated, not me.”

                 “I just…it doesn’t make any sense,” said Yoongi, a little more mildly this time.

                “Well, imagine our confusion when we found our target out in the middle of nowhere, talking about exactly the sort of things we’d like to know about?”

                “Your target?”

                “The big man’s kid. What’s his name, Ryu?”

                This question appeared to be directed at one of the burly gangsters standing just to the right of the couch which confined Naeil and the boys. He looked concerned at this question. “Uh…his name…uh…”

                “Shin Juyoung, it was Shin Juyoung,” said another.

                “Ah! That’s right, hyung-nim!”

                “You were after Juyoung?” squeaked Jungkook, finally managing to get some words out of his mouth.

                The man in the chair growled. “These kids…again with the questions!”

                Jungkook burrowed farther into the couch and shut his mouth more tightly than it had been shut before. Naeil was beginning to get the feeling that they had got themselves into exactly the sort of situation they really shouldn’t have gotten themselves into. And maybe that this whole thing a little bigger than they thought.

                “So…” growled the man in the chair. “Who are you punks, anyway?”

                One of the men standing to the side came forward. “We only know about two of them, hyung-nim. That one,” he said, pointing to Seokjin, “Is Kim Seokjin, son of Assemblyman Kim Moohyun.”

                Naeil’s eyes popped and she turned slowly to look at Seokjin. What did he just say now?

                “And that one,” the man continued, pointing at Yoongi, “Is named Min Yoongi. Apparently he used to do some minor work for Sa Hyeo Pa, but he disappeared a couple of years ago after betraying them.”

                That made the boss smile a little. “Well, sounds like the type of traitor I’m in the mood not to kill.” He frowned. “At least, for now. I might get in trouble if I mess with that Seokjin kid, hm. And? What about the rest of them? They look pretty useless to me! Kid! What’s your name? Eh?”

                “M-me?” asked Jungkook, pointing to himself.

                “Yes, you. Speak up.”

                Jungkook glanced at Yoongi before speaking. “I’m…my name is Jungkook. I used to be friends with Shin Juyoung. But he started doing really awful things, and he came after my hyung, and he—”

                “Which hyung?”

                “Oh…um…Yoongi. He’s my half-brother.”

                “Is he? Looks like poor decision-making runs in the family ha! Well, you’re not done are you? Speak up!”

                “Y-yes, sir. Actually, I was mostly done…actually.”

                “Were you? Well, why didn’t you say so? You! Girl! How did you get stuck with all these stupid boys here, hm?”

                By this time, Naeil was both unspeakably irritated as well as unspeakably terrified. While a large part of her wanted to spit out her frustrations at this infuriating little gangster, her tongue couldn’t even find the strength to budge.

                “What’s that?” growled the man in the chair. “Speak up, sweetheart!”

                “My name is Ji Naeil.”

                The man blinked. “…and?”

                “And that’s pretty much it. I’m not part of a gang or anything. I’ve always avoided Shin Juyoung. I only met most of these guys this year.”

                “Then what the devil are you doing here, dear? Did you just want to see how close you could get to dying for fun or were you too bored? Are you just wasting my time? Is that what you’re doing, hm?!?”

                “Sir!” interjected Yoongi quickly, “She’s just with us because Sa Hyeo Pa threatened her family, and she wanted to help us.”

                “Well, why would they threaten her family, then? And help you with what, I’d like to know!”

                “They…well…it was all a mix-up actually. It was my fault. And she’s trying to help us take down Sa Hyeo Pa.”

                For a moment, the man didn’t say anything; he just stared at Yoongi and the rest of the kids with a blank face. Then, suddenly, he burst out in more laughter.

                “Take down…Sa Hyeo Pa?” he gasped, in between guffaws. “By…by yourselves?! Ha! What a story! What a story!”

                “You don’t believe us, or what?”

                “Believe you?” Once again, the man’s smile disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. “Now, why would I do a silly thing like that?”

                Slowly, the boss leaned forward and pushed himself onto his feet, slamming his meaty palm onto the desk before him.

                “Listen here, kids. I’ve just wasted about five very important and potentially profitable months of my business’s resources on trying to keep my son, my precious son, safe from lowlifes like you and Shin Juyoung, which I should’ve spent making boatloads of money—”

                “Did we look like we were friendly with Juyoung?”

                “Interrupting again! But who cares what it looked like? I still have no reason to trust any of you. In fact, I’m getting pretty tired of sitting here and talking to you guys. You’re not really my favorite sort of people. And so far, you haven’t really told me anything that could be even remotely useful to me.”

                “But sir—”

                “Okay, that’s it. Get rid of them.”

                “Get—get—”

                “What?!”

                All at once, Yoongi and Jungkook jumped up from their seats, pushing Seokjin to the side and bumping Naeil, who plopped down on the couch sideways and then nearly fell off.

                “We haven’t done anything to you guys!” roared Yoongi.

                “Right, nothing but pissed me off, you punk! And how dare you shout at me like that!”

                “Why do you think I’m shouting?! You guys are freaking crazy!”

                “C-crazy? What did you say, you crazy bastard?!”

                Naeil pulled herself up and scooched over to Seokjin. His expression was surprisingly calm, even amused. “Uh, Seokjin-ssi,” she whispered.

                “Mm-hm?”

                “Are we…going to die?”

                “I doubt it.”

                “But he said…”

                “He can’t get rid of us without my father noticing, since I’m here. They’re far outside of their usual boundaries already. Although…” Seokjin grimaced. “Aish, my parents are going to kill me when they realize I won’t be coming to that dinner they planned tonight.”

                “So your dad really is a senator?”

                “Ah, es. Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

                “Oh that’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

                He turned and smiled. “Thanks, Naeil-ah.”

                By this time, about three gangsters were grabbing Yoongi while Jungkook stood to the side with his arms stretched out, uncertain of whether he should step in or not. Yoongi was kicking and jerking around like an angry cat, giving his assailants a hard time.

                When someone drew a gun, the room suddenly went silent.

                “Now that I’ve got your attention again,” drawled the boss, looking at Yoongi. “Let me ask you one more time. Why shouldn’t I shoot you in the head right now, kid?”

                He wouldn’t say a word. He just glared.

                Good grief, sunbae, just say something. Anything. Please.

                “Not convincing enough,” said the man after a long silence. “Well—”

                “WAIT!”

                Everyone turned at the sound of the distant scream. It came from outside the room. There was a loud bang against the door as it swung open and a boy stumbled into the room.

                “Stop! Don’t! They’re my friends!”

                “P-park Jimin?!” stuttered Yoongi.

                “Oh…um…hi, hyung?”

                Sure enough, standing there in the doorway with a stupid, worried look on his face, was Park Jimin. His chest was heaving. He must have run a long way to get to that room.

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

                “I…”

                “You know these kids?” said the boss.

                “They’re my friends. They’ve helped me. It’s my fault that they got into any trouble in the first place. Please don’t hurt them, appa—”

                “APPA?!?!”

Author’s Note

Okay so who saw that coming