CXVIII

“Confrontation seems like the only answer now.”

Sunggyu sighed as he stared down at his intertwined fingers.

“About damn time you finally see the light.”

Zico answered back from next to him.

The two were sitting together in the living room of the werewolves’ home. After the text message you sent to all of them was received, the other half of your message was figured out quickly. All thanks to B-Bomb who deciphered it within seconds.

“She’s saying don’t come. To not help.” Is what he said and only then did it seem to make sense, the word “dont.” Not only did you express your dislike with them going into the Containment Zone, they had no way to get in now without endangering themselves. The floodwaters from yesterday were still receding. And it would rain again tonight, not as heavily, but it still would. Sunggyu could tell that without looking at the weather forecast. He could feel it. He had been feeling it throughout all of last night.

And if they couldn’t go in, and if they shouldn’t go in, that left one thing they could do. Talk to the person who threw you in. The Mayor. They had to confront him. After thinking about it all throughout his workday, which had thoroughly distracted him, Sunggyu came to this decision. Much unlike Zico who knew this was the next step to take as soon as B-Bomb interpreted your message.

“Unfortunately we can’t just waltz in.”

“Can’t we?” Zico raised his eyebrows, a smile appearing on his face.

Sunggyu had to admit, Zico was rubbing off on him. Judging from the fact that Zico had held back till now however also meant that Sunggyu was rubbing off on him as well.

“Can’t we?” Sunggyu repeated back, his lips curving upwards into a smile as well. He knew Zico had most likely planned something just now, in an instant, and he for one was open to hear whatever it entailed.

Zico pursed his lips and raised one finger into the air, waving it in small circles as he spoke, “How about you call that girl I’ve been hearing so much about.” His finger came to a stop as he pointed to something on the coffee table, Sunggyu’s phone.

Sunggyu understood immediately and grabbed his phone from the table, “I guess it’s time to start some internal strife on their side as well.”

Minah quickly packed her things into her bag. She needed to get out of here, and fast at that. Why? Why was she in such a rush that she could barely hear her friend Hyeri’s questioning words? Because nearing her now was one certain younger boy who she couldn’t stand. Not in the same way she used to just one week ago. No, now she was scared of him. He had a temper and contrary to popular belief, she did not like having a string of curse words screamed at her.

“Sungjong?”

Hyeri called to the younger boy who was now standing in front of Minah, blocking her way out of the classroom. Hyeri had heard about what happened between Sungjong and Minah. How could she have not heard about what him and Sungyeol yelled at her? Yet, for some reason, this just made Hyeri take an interest in the boy all the more. He was simply a girly looking boy before but now, now he was a girly looking boy with a temper and Hyeri couldn’t help but anticipate what he was going to say next.

“Please move.” Minah mumbled as she kept her eyes downcast, her grip on her backpack straps getting tighter. She could hear the whispers in the classroom. The murmurs of how she looked like she was once more in for a mental beating.

“Do you want to help L-Hyung?”

Minah’s head snapped upwards immediately and she met his eyes. His rather annoyed looking expression made her falter but still, she knew Myungsoo’s nickname and he had just mentioned she could help him in some way. She was willing to do it. Whatever it was.

Sungjong didn’t want to talk to her. He didn’t regret yelling at her a few days ago like Sungyeol did. He would do it all over again. But he could see it, the fear in her eyes as she waited for his next sentence. He didn’t want to be feared. He couldn’t imagine you looking at him like this, like he scared you. So, he dialed down his tone as he spoke again. Not for Minah’s sake but for his own.

“Sunggyu-Hyung wants to talk to you.” He reached into his pocket and produced from it his phone, dialing a number before handing it to her.

“I don’t understand. Why? Why would Daddy do that?”

“He was angry about a friend of ours stealing something of his. I’m sure you know how angry he can get sometimes.”

Zico watched as Sunggyu spoke to this girl, Bang Minah. The daughter of the mayor. He had seen her a few times but never had he spoke to her. Kyung and Jaehyo associated themselves with her and her friends at a few parties now and then but other than that, he had never once thought about her being a way to get to the mayor; such as in the way, supposedly, that werewolf Myungsoo had been doing for a long time now. Yet look where that got him.

He found it quite funny though that the girl, Minah, didn’t reject the idea of her father doing such a thing, shooting and throwing her boy toy into the Containment zone. They told her about the Containment Zone, explaining it as an underground facility and she didn’t seem fazed by that either. Instead, she asked why. Which meant she knew exactly what her father was capable of and of the secrets he kept. She also knew it was not out of the range of possibilities of what he would do.

Also, he chose to ignore the fact that Sunggyu had just called him a “friend.” For some reason, he didn’t mind it as he once would have. Sunggyu respected him. He respected him enough to ask him not to leave as he had everyone else once Minah arrived. That had garnered Sunggyu the ability to call him a “friend” just this once.

“I do.” Minah nodded once and looked down to her lap, thinking before she spoke. Sunggyu was a calm person and she didn’t feel nervous talking to him. However, she had no idea what to make of the person who sat next to him, Zico. “So then what can I do?”

“Well I’m sure you’ve noticed Hyunjoo hasn’t been going to school either. You helped that happen.” Sunggyu noted which caused Minah’s shoulders to stiffen. Not due to his words but from the intense glare from Zico beside Sunggyu. He had only heard about this minutes before she arrived. That she was the reason you were down there along with Myungsoo. He was in no way looking to hide his anger at that. “Woohyun went after the two of them. We can enter after them but we would have no idea where to look or how far deep in they’ve gone.”

“Woohyun also went? Then, the three of them are there now?” Minah didn’t exactly have time to feel jealous or angry that once more you had found a way to get to Myungsoo while she could not. Instead, she decided to do what she could to get him out of there as soon as possible. This is what Sunggyu meant to accomplish by talking to her. And she knew how. She couldn’t talk to her father, no. But she knew someone else who could help. “I think I know who can help him.”

Sunggyu straightened up in his seat. He was hoping he would at the very least get out of this Minah’s agreement to no longer aid her father. Perhaps even an inside source as to how he was controlling what happened in the Containment Zone. She definitely knew more than she let on. This would give them the upper hand against him. But she said she knows who can help. She knows a person who can help them. This piqued not only his but Zico’s interest as well as he narrowed his eyes at her, waiting for her next words.

“Daddy meets with people. Many people. But there are two people who he’s met with often and he doesn’t like them. I can tell by how he acts afterwards.” She paused and took a moment to pull her cell phone from her bag at her feet. She gripped it tightly in her hands as she continued, “They talked to me once. They said to call in case something happened.” She looked up now, locking eyes with Sunggyu, “I guess this would count as something happening then?”

“Hey hey hey.”

“What is it?”

“Look! Look! Would you put down that book and look?”

Soryong sighed and laid the book he was reading down onto his lap. He looked up at his rather excited twin brother, Daeryong, who was holding on front of him his ringing cell phone. “What? So you’ve got friends besides me. So do I. It’s not something to be excited about. Just answer it.”

Daeryong rolled his eyes and walked around the couch, taking a seat next to Soryong. He held his phone up and grinned as he kicked laid back on the couch, getting comfortable, “It’s not a friend. The little sparrow finally called.”

Soryong’s bored expression changed almost immediately. A smile broke out across his face as he sat up, “Did she now?” He closed his book, no longer interested in the ending. Daeryong’s phone seemed to endlessly ring as he stared at it, his smile unceasing. “Looks like something finally happened then.”

Daeryong let his finger hover over the “answer call” button as though contemplating what to do, causing the person on the other side to wait longer.

“ anymore and she might just give up.” Soryong shook his head disapprovingly at his brother’s mischievous ways.

Daeryong smiled his way once before finally answering, “What might be the problem that you’re calling about I wonder.”

Woohyun’s stance tensed. He let his arm spread out in front of you. He did it on reflex, you knew. Yet still, you disliked it. He was shielding you again. While you appreciated it, the action had become second nature to him, something you didn’t like at all.

“Woohyun.” You called to him and he glanced at you from the corner of your eye. He let his arm slide back down to his side, albeit slowly as he hesitated to let his guard down in front of the person in front of the two of you.

The Man in Black.

He wasn’t moving to attack. He was simple standing there, a few meters in front of the two of you, still as a statue. You could see something red near his chin. Blood. Blood from a wound near the edge of his lips. You figured it must have occurred during his fight with Woohyun and Myungsoo. After all, you hadn’t landed a hit that low on his face. However, right now, you wished you hadn’t landed a hit at all.

You were tired out from that fight. You could manage walking, even running, but that was all mostly the adrenaline rush. Woohyun was tired now as well, you could tell even though he tried not to show it. Plus, the man didn’t seem like he wanted to fight. As though he were also tired of it yet not at all physically.

So instead of fighting again, for the umpteenth time, you wanted to find out why he had to fight the three of you in the first place. Yet, that seemed too much for a first question. So you opted out for something simpler.

“What’s your name?”

Woohyun’s defensive stance faltered. He threw you a questioning look to which you returned a determined one. He understood your silent message and backed down, lowering his guard though if something happened, he would be sure to react to it as quickly as possible.

The Man in Black actually didn’t say anything. Not right away anyway. After a period of silence, he answered your question.

“Tablo.”

Woohyun was stunned and so were you to say the least. He actually had a name. For some reason, it seemed as though all this time he didn’t. As though he were a walking husk who could only think of one thing. That thing being the woman named Shinae.

Thus, your next question was obvious.

“Who is Shinae?”

His answer took even longer this time. He stood there for a moment, as though he were breaking on the inside at the very mention of her. When he did however, you didn’t feel as though you had an answer. In fact, you had even more questions than before.

“My mother.”

There was a knock on the door, causing him to look up. Not a knock on his office door, no, but on a door farther away. The front door of the house. The knock happened again, louder this time. He pushed his chair out, pushing away from his desk, before resigning to go out of his office and answer it. As he descended the stairs, he heard voices outside. Voices that caused him to freeze mid-step down.

“How do you think we should handle this?”

“Like we always do.”

“But the little sparrow surely wouldn’t want him beat up too badly would she?”

“While the nickname is fitting, I will never understand why you like it so much.”

He saw the blurry figures of the two people talking at the front door and he looked back, deciding to retreat to his office. Why? Because he had not invited them today. They came without warning. When they came without warning, it meant that they found something out about what he was doing. He needed to get rid of the things he now had sprawled out on his desk. Copies of the Containment Zone files he had acquired through his source in the Elites. The ones he once had that were burnt by the two Elite Enforcers now standing outside of his front door. He had no idea that the floor plan included in those documents had already been taken, copied, and placed back by the werewolves before they were burnt to a crisp.

Before he could take even one step up the stairs, a voice yelled from the front door, effectively stopping him.

“Surely you’re not going back upstairs to hide something from us. Are you Mr. Mayor?”

“Why don’t you let us in and we can go hide it together?”

“Sounds reasonable, Daeryong. I’m sure we could help him out. He always does have a problem covering his tracks by himself.”

The Mayor, Bang Manshik, gulped down and turned around. He began to walk down the stairs again, towards the front door, as he slowly broke out into a cold sweat.

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A/N:

Let me take a moment to relish in how much I enjoy Daeryong and Soryong scenes. The lyrics of "You Know Me" is definitely their theme song in this fanfiction. So I thoroughly enjoyed writing their scenes in this chapter. That plus the fact that alot happened in this chapter all together has made me excited about what's going to happen next just as much as I hope you are now after reading it. The mayor has a lot of explaining to do doesn't he?

And the Man in Black is revealed to be Tablo! And Shinae is his mother? Looks like you're going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out more!

Currently wondering if last chapter's Sunggyu spam is better than bunny gif.