Jinhoo's scream was what had drawn Wooshin's attention to him and away from the enemy in front of him. It felt like he had looked over his shoulder towards the door to the room the scream had come from for less than a second yet it had given the other enough time to hit Wooshin with his gun. The hit was strong and against the back of his head which made him lose balance and fall over to the ground next to a guy he had beaten unconscious already and twisted his neck. Next to the others that Kuhn, Jinhoo and Gyujin were taking care of in the other room, that guy in front of him was the last one he would need to fight and he hadn't planned to lose this yet the position they were in didn't show any good signs or luck for Wooshin's side. He was hurt on multiple parts of his body while his hands were the worst, flaming red, burning in pain after having fought their enemies for at least 15 minutes now.
The guy in front of him grinned mischievously as he was holding the gun onto Wooshin's head whom had slowly raised up his hands, feigning defeat. They had been hurt as a team often, but had never lost against any which was the reason they were one of the well-known gangs within the whole business. Kuhn had made sure they had gotten the respect they deserve for their hard work, yet there were always other gangs trying to push them down to be able claim that they have won over them.
"Didn't think I'd get you to the ground this fast.", the guy, probably around the same age as Wooshin, mocked him. Well I've taken down 1 and fought 2 others of your friends already while all you did was sit and watch., Wooshin almost spit out in annoyance. Despite Wooshin fighting often and being good at taekwondo that didn't mean he was some kind of machine. After some time even him would slowly lose his attentiveness and get exhausted. On contrary this dude had gotten into their hideout last and had stood on the sidelines, watching his friends fight for him. It was as if he had waited for such an opportunity. His eyes showed the euphoria that was burning inside of him. He had woken up today with the thought of killing somebody, Wooshin was sure about that.
"Should I tell your friends anything?", he asked, the grin on his face spreading further as he put his finger on the trigger. Wooshin had been in such a situation before, all of them had so the guy's cockiness didn't intimidate him at all.
Before he could pull the trigger, Wooshin quickly shot his head to the side and slapped the gun out of the enemy's hand with one flat handed slap. Said one yelped in both shock and annoyance, ready to go and get his gun back, but Wooshin pulled him onto the ground and sat onto him, hitting him with his fist again and again for his cocky words.
Wooshin wasn't one to fight unnecessarily, only if needed which also meant that usually he wouldn't be this emotion driven. The right answer, a gang member's answer, to finish this job quickly: To grab the gun and shoot him. His emotions made him hit the guy he was straddling on the ground countless, his own hand already numb while the guy's face was halfway covered in blood. It wasn't even all because of his behavior. More over Wooshin was able to let out all the emotions that had built up inside of him during the past few weeks. The stressful gang jobs, Miyeon obviously turning him down and crushing on his best friend, fights and tension with said best friend and a hit from his leader - and through all of that he was trying to get a degree at university.
Suddenly he felt the cold metal being pressed into the back of his head once again. This time fear crept into Wooshin's mind and he slowly raised up his arms, this time not feigning defeat. Now he was even more exhausted than just a few minutes ago. How would he got out of this? Why couldn't he hear his fellow members fight in the other room? What the hell was going on?
"Get up." It was the Noir's leader's right hand's voice and Wooshin complied instantly. He was one of the most ruthless guys he had ever met; worse than what Kuhn could get in his darkest times or Wooshin as a right hand himself.
As he got up from the ground, hand still raised, the guy he had just almost beaten to death slowly backed away, knees yet to weak to even get up as he grabbed his dear gun to his chest. Wooshin swallowed hard. He wanted to call out for Jinhoo as the fear rose up more and it was getting hard to keep this nonchalant and unfazed facade he had built up since joining the gang going, but he knew one wrong word or sound from him and this guy would straight up shot a bullet through his head. Fights and near death experiences had been often within the past three years. Moments like these were Wooshin was almost completely sure it would be the last one weren't and he scolded himself in his mind for being so emotion driven lately. He was supposed to turn it off, supposed to have this second persona that was just focusing on his job and what needed to be done and yet here he was, thinking about he was supposed to meet Miyeon tomorrow and help her figure out math. He couldn't die today. Especially not after fighting so much with his best friend and him leaving with this terrible I'm sorry, Shin. He just couldn't die. It couldn't be like this.
Wooshin heard the short click of the gun that was still pressed against his head which indicated that the right hand had pulled the protection up which prevented the gun from blowing off randomly. I'm really going to die now.
Wooshin was desperately thinking about how to pull himself out of this. He knew he could. These moments were rare as stated before, but it wasn't the first time. Maybe if he'd spin around quickly enough he could kick the gun out of his hand, but chances were that he would instead just shot into his pretty face or back which might get him just as killed as a bullet through his head. Wooshin wasn't one to give up, but he had to admit to himself that there was no way out of this by himself and for whatever reason s were nowhere in sight. These are the times were they depended on each other, the reason why Kuhn had called them in to be here altogether. In situations like this one they would help each other out. Now it was useless.
A sudden gunshot filled the room and Wooshin closed his eyes as it shook through his whole body yet the pain that he was awaiting didn't come. Instead another gunshot followed and he flinched for the second time. The feeling of the cold metal against the back of his head left in a sudden and Wooshin dared to open his eyes, blinking as he stared into the lifeless eyes of the guy he had beaten up minutes ago. Wooshin backed away in sudden shock that was overcoming him. He wasn't sensitive at all and was able to shut off and not let it get to him, but after almost getting killed after some time he did feel like he would be in some shock and be sensitive for at least the rest of the day.
As he had taken the step back he stepped onto the dead body of the guy whom had almost killed him and backed away. Seconds later he was being pulled into a hug wordlessly. Without even hearing a voice or seeing the face of the person Wooshin knew it was Xiao. He could feel it. The way he hugged Wooshin tightly while burrowing his face into the older's neck was the younger's very own way of hugging him. Nobody else hugged him like this.
"You're bleeding a lot...", Xiao said more to himself than to Wooshin as he had pulled back to examine the older, seeing the multiple bruises on his face and hands. In contrary Wooshin shot him a weak smile, shrugging it off since it was nothing major that would be threatening his life and pulled Xiao with him into the other room to look out for the rest of the members. He felt like his knees were giving in any second due to the heavy exhaustion though, but he wouldn't be able to rest and sit down if he didn't know how the others were doing after this sudden attack, especially as Jinhoo's scream was constantly echoing in his head like some broken record.
Wooshin eyes widened in shock. Quickly taking a few steps further into the room he literally broke down next to Jinhoo, falling onto the cold floor without even scanning the room for other members. Next to him he heard Xiao yell the other member's names while Sunyoul and Hwanhee ran upstairs.
Jinhoo looked terrible with his thick lips now busted, his cheek swollen and a cut through his shirt that was stained red. Carefully Wooshin rested his ear above his mouth to check on his breathing while checking a pulse on his wrist simultaneously. He heard footsteps, people quickly running downstairs, but he didn't bother to check on any. He suddenly just didn't care. Nobody could be more hurt and in more danger now than Jinhoo.
"Is he okay?!", Kuhn asked slightly out of breath as the whole group was gathered in the room. Wooshin didn't look up to him, "Where were you when he was being attacked?"
Kuhn looked back to Bitto and Gyujin whom he had protected from two Noir members earlier. Despite all of them knowing some things about direct combat and guns here and there these two were the worst at fighting and the reason why they were working in the background. Bitto was terrible at hitting and Gyujin didn't have the highest pain tolerance to endure a whole fist or gun fight for several minutes. Jinhoo had called over to Kuhn who was struggling with an enemy, telling him that two guys had run after them into the basement. As Kuhn had finished said guy Jinhoo had reassured him that Wooshin and him would be able to take care of these three remaining people on the first floor, but whatever had happened, Jinhoo had been overpowered which was just as rare as what almost had happened to Wooshin today. Maybe it wasn't just Wooshin himself that wasn't in his best state today. Maybe they were all stressed out from the past weeks and not in their best form.
Slowly, Wooshin looked up from Jinhoo's peaceful face that almost looked like he was just sleeping. Nobody dared to say anything. They were all just wordlessly staring at the two on the ground.
"I suggest that from now on we only work in pairs. Nobody leaves the other's side. We can decide on the pairs later.", Wooshin suggested, voice now as low as possible as he was trying to cover the emotional pain that was caused inside of his heart. It felt worse than Miyeon dumping him, worse than being yelled at by his best friend. Someone was in danger. The closest person to him after Xiao was in danger. It wasn't just anything he would be able to brush off if the worst was going to happen.
Kuhn slowly nodded and looked between the members which basically meant that the rule was signed and would be used from now on. The remaining members shot a quick glance to their leader as they were being looked at and then followed suit, nodding in unison.
Wooshin got up from his crouching position and almost fell back onto his knees again due to the exhaustion and pain from today yet Xiao quickly came to his side to support him.
"Wooshin, you need to sit down now before anything else.", Gyujin ordered as he was crouching down next to Jinhoo while checking his pulse by himself again, "I will take care of him."
Wooshin didn't like obeying like this and always wanted to help each of his friends, but this time he silently gave in, letting Xiao direct him into their infirmary room.
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I hesitated to double update, but I thought as some kind of present and Apology for being gone for a week you guys deserve a double update. Also you probably might have noticed that I'm really into twists and drama. This whole thing would've been able to go quietly and without a trap and I had had planned that at first and the dramatic parts way later into the story, but I felt like it was needed now. We're already at chapter 12 and I don't want you guys to fall asleep. Expect more twists and turns for the future! When I was younger and wrote stories in school I was kind of known for that. Whenever I read a chapter to my friends or teacher, one of them always said "But wait for the twist" and often things happened that people didn't expect to happen. In short: Fear me :) Im joking I love my readers