Risk
(Prologue)

 

“I’m rich. I don’t need to work for my money.”

Jongin said nonchalantly as he took another sip of his just arrived top class wine. However, he was not able to enjoy it to the fullest, not being able to completely register the rich taste of the shot red liquid because of a certain person. How much he loved company, especially when he wanted to enjoy the richness of Mother Nature.

“But Jongin, listen to me first. If you win, you not only get to win all the money,” Taemin moved his lips to the other’s ear, “you’ll be the King. The King can do as he pleases.”

Jongin scoffed, “I don’t need to be a King to do as I please.”

Taemin furrowed his eyebrows, “You do know the privileges of the King, right?”

An uncaring sigh left Jongin’s mouth as he leaned against his black leather chair comfortably, “Enlighten me.”

“Jongin, this isn’t just your typical game we’re talking about. We’re talking about sly intelligence, dark geniuses, and manipulative charmers. If you win the Risk, you’re the new King. The King sets the rules, the King is everything.” Taemin grinned slightly, “I thought Kim Jongin liked power.”

“I like power that I can at least use,” Jongin glared at him as he spoke, “not some foolish title that’ll give me nothing.”

“Who said the title won’t get you anything? We’re talking about the filthy riches here. When you’re King, you could order them to do anything. You’d be able to have control over the most influential adolescents of South Korea and further, Kim Jongin. You’d be able to do anything.”

If there was one thing Jongin possessed, it was childish ambition, passionate overconfidence. Jongin was confident he would be able to win this game easily, and if being the King would make him more powerful than he was right now, then he may be willing to join this pathetic game for the sake of it.

A smirk appeared on Jongin’s lips as he swirled the wine in his glass, “So, when do we start?”

-

“If money’s what you need,” Jonghyun said as he watched his friend, “you could just tell me. No need to play some foolish game for the sake of it. We’re friends, you know, and friends don’t make their friends work for their money.”

Luhan sighed as he eyed his friend, temporarily putting the stacks of paper aside, “I don’t need money, Jonghyun. I’m doing just fine financially, don’t you worry.”

“Then why in the hell are you joining some kind of pathetic-” Jonghyun eyed the white, glossy card in his hand with disgust, “-grand yearly event. God, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

 Luhan grinned a little at his friend’s reaction, “It’s interesting.”

“Hell yeah is it interesting. They’re putting twelve well-known handsome men on some kind of island to what – Play some game? What, are they aiming for some male harem, because if they are, that’s going to be one hell of a show. I’d die to see my friend pole dancing with nothing on.”

“This crazy imagination of yours perplexes me each and every time, Kim Jonghyun.” Luhan simply remarked as his attention was back on his paper mountain that needed to be taken care of.

“And so do your shocking decisions. So, what now,” Jonghyun played with the shiny card, the gold lined edges screaming high class, “you’re really going to go to some unknown island, just to play this game?”

Luhan nodded without looking at him, which caused Jonghyun to frown in consideration, “Explain why.”

“It sounds fun.”

This was not anything Jonghyun had expected as an answer. Most certainly not.

“It sounds fun? Having some nice quality time with me sounds fun too, but I don’t see you jumping on me with excitement to do so.”

“Jonghyun,” Luhan let out a sigh, “let me finish these cases peacefully.”

-

“Are you going?”

Sehun asked Chanyeol as he leaned against the other’s shoulder, head resting on it comfortably. Chanyeol eyed the invitation card silently, and when Sehun glanced up, he could see the playful grin lingering on Chanyeol’s lips.

“Yes,” Chanyeol nodded his head softly, “yes, I think I am.” He looked down to meet Sehun’s eyes, putting Sehun in an tight embrace as he put his head on top of Sehun’s, “Are you going to accompany me?”

Sehun eyed him surprised, “Why would you want to go?”

“I don’t know, it seems interesting. Don’t you want to go, then?”

Chanyeol watched Sehun with amusement as his lover’s eyebrows knitted together, a sign that the other was concentrating hard on the matter. It made Chanyeol laugh, moving his to Sehun’s forehead so he could rub at the point the two eyebrows were meeting each other with the palm of his hand.

“Don’t frown, you look ugly when you do.”

“I was just thinking,” Sehun said with a serious expression, and Chanyeol had to fight the urge to repeat his action again.

“And, what’s your answer?”

Sehun did not reply. Instead, he escaped Chanyeol’s embrace, moved his body so his head lied on Chanyeol’s lap. The younger male looked in his eyes silently, not responding to the expectant expression of the other.

“Do you want me to go?”

Chanyeol laughed again, “I’d want nothing more but to have you go with me.” He moved his long fingers through Sehun’s hair, “I would want nothing more.”

This caused the younger male to smile so innocently shy, that Chanyeol could not stop himself from smiling back.

“Alright then,” Sehun said gently, “then I’ll go to.”

-

“You just killed a person.”

Zitao did not stop walking even though the other was talking to him. Instead, it made his footsteps all the rougher, all the faster. He was in no mood to deal with emotions right now.

“You killed a person with your own hands.”

Maybe if Zitao put effort in blocking out the other’s voice, he would succeed in not letting the other’s words reach his chaotic mind. He still had things to do, to manage. There was no time for this.

“Zitao, you killed-”

“God damn it, Baekhyun, I know I killed a person!” Zitao suddenly yelled, finally snapping, “You don’t have to remind me of something like that! I know damn well that I killed someone!”

Baekhyun looked down, the hand he had been reaching out falling limply back to his side, “I… I just wanted to-”

“To talk? Is that what you want?” Zitao clicked his tongue in frustration, “Do I look as if I’ve time to spare to speak with you? Do I look as if I’ve time to have a nice conversation with you over a cup of tea? Do I?”

“Baekhyun shook his head slightly, “N-No, no, you don’t… I’m sorry…”

A frustrated sigh left Zitao’s mouth before he turned around again, ready to walk away from Baekhyun, but the other stopped him just in time.

“Are you going to participate?” Baekhyun asked hesitantly, “You… You got an invitation too, right? Are you going to participate, Zitao?”

Zitao’s eyes fluttered close for a moment, before the snapped open again, “Yes,” He began to walk as he spoke, “yes, I am.”

He did not stay long enough to hear the other’s reply.

“Then I am too.”

-

“Yifan, let me explain-”

Yifan turned around sharply, throwing daggers to the other as he eyed him angrily, “What’s there to explain? You slept with the bastard, Sunhwa, you slept with him.” An empty smirk danced on his lips as he continued, “Be glad I’m not going to kill you for it.”

“But I still love you,” Sunhwa whispered, a plea Yifan did not know whether to accept or not, “I still do, Yifan.”

Yifan’s hands turned into tight fists, his mind trying desperately to block away those filthy images he had just seen, “If you loved me, you should’ve kept your hands off of him.”

It was haunting, truly haunting to see your girlfriend sleeping with some other guy. It was painful, heart-wrenchingly painful to see your girlfriend begging for forgiveness, when she did not even seem to regret anything she had done.

“I didn’t mean to – Kwanghee, he, he was the one!”

A crooked smile was plastered on his lips, “He did it? What, he forced you to go to bed with him? Stop kidding with me, Sunhwa! Nobody would dare to touch you if you didn’t want them to.”

And with that he slammed the door closed, not caring about her. He did not want to confront her any longer about this matter. A tired sigh left his mouth as he moved his hand through his hair, exhaustion taken over his body. Without hesitation, he threw himself on the couch, lying on it comfortably. From behind the door, he could hear her soft crying, her almost inaudible pleading, but he decided to ignore them. Instead, his eyes landed on a particular card lying on the coffee table. It was glistering white, the kind of expensive material people used for invitation cards to show off their wealth. It succeeded in triggering Yifan’s curiosity, though. His hand lazily reached out for it, the card comfortable to hold onto.

You are hereby invited for the grand yearly event – Risk.  

Maybe a change was a good thing. He eyed the door, noticing the silence on the other side, before glancing back at the card. Yes, maybe it was time for something else.

-

Minseok paced around the room as he waited for the other to arrive. Kyungsoo was never the kind to be late, he thought as he heaved yet another sigh. Traffic could be quite the childish lover, he convinced himself as he threw himself on his chair. He glanced at the invitation card lying on his desk, not quite sure what to think of it. He was not interested, not the slightest bit, but he knew he would have to go. Those who got an invitation had a justified reason to be invited, and those who did not go would have to bear the consequences of humiliating those who had chosen him for the game. It was a wicked game, but it was infamous amongst those high enough in society.

Risk.

He had heard stories about it. He had heard about how this game triggered all the dark things people entertained themselves with. It was all about manipulation, seducing, taking advantage of the right moment in order to win. It was nothing Minseok particularly liked to do in his spare time. He heard about revenges being taken, lovers being stolen, people getting killed. All just to achieve the title King. It made him shiver just to think about it.

A knock on his office door woke him up from his thought, and he quickly rushed to open it. And indeed, it was Kyungsoo who stood on the other side, eyes innocently wide as he smiled a little at Minseok.

“Sorry for being late. I had some things to do.” Kyungsoo said as he entered the office.

“No problem.” Minseok simply replied, eyes lingering on the other nervously, “You got an invitation?”

Kyungsoo frowned, “Yes.”

“It’s ridiculous. Why would they want to us to participate in it?”

This made Kyungsoo laugh, “Well, maybe because you’re the heir of Kim Corporation and I’m the head of Do Company? Come on, you know rich people’s games are sick like this.”

Minseok furrowed his eyebrows, “But… It’s not only going to be clean businessmen, Kyungsoo. There’ll be dangerous people from the dark underground world, too. This isn’t going to go well, that I know for sure.”

Kyungsoo patted him on the shoulder, trying to reassure both his friend as himself that this was going to end well.

-

“Bravo!”

Yixing smirked victoriously as he eyed his opponents whose faces had been drained from its color. Winning was such an easy task these days, but Yixing was not going to complain. He adored money too much for that.

“H-How did you know I was lying?” The man stuttered.

Yixing grinned, “People who wear glasses are bound to lie.”

“As expected from our poker prodigy!” Another man exclaimed excitedly, “Amazing!”

The said praised young man smirked satisfied as he reached out for his wine, but before he could drink some of it, someone tapped him softly on the shoulder. He turned around, eyes curiously looking at the butler who was holding onto a card or something.

“I was told to bring this to you as soon as possible, Mister.”

Yixing nodded before taking the card, gesturing for the butler to take his leave again. His eyebrows knitted together as he eyed the card – which he saw was an invitation card now – suspiciously.

Dear Mister Zhang Yixing,

You are hereby invited for the grand yearly event – Risk.  

When Yixing finished reading the invitation, an amused grin appeared on his lips.

“Risk, huh?”