The gang, now fuming, clambered out of the roof-top door. Their chests heaved in anger, guns in hand. I noticed that there were less of them as there were back at the gym, which wasn’t exactly a relief. Jiyong wasn’t there either.

Daehyun’s clammy hand turned ice cold. I automatically obeyed his pull as his body drew back.

The roof-top felt as though it was growing smaller and smaller, closing in on us. There was absolutely no where to run to and no where to hide. The expressions of the men in front of us sent chills up my spine. If looks could kill, those thugs would already have skinned our hides.

The man currently leading the pack, who looked no older than Daehyun or I, sneered and lifted his pistol. His lips moved up and down, words spilling from his mouth, but for some reason, my ears blocked them out. Perhaps he was telling us to give up again, or maybe he was giving us some kind of ultimatum. But why did I feel like it was too late for all of that?

I was backed against the outer stone ledge of the rooftop. My eyes slid over to Daehyun for help, but he gave me no such consolation. Beads of sweat dripped from his brow, his enlarged eyes only staring intently ahead.

Shots shattered the otherwise calm night air. I was yanked down onto the gravel tiled roof-top, the last glimpse of the monsters in front of me disappearing in the mere blink of eye. My body collided into something hard and the world felt like it had come to a stop. After that, I lay for forever, motionless.

I felt a throbbing in my neck and realized it was my heartbeat. I was still alive. My eyes flew open, but I couldn’t see anything. My lungs felt like they were about to burst. Desperately fighting for a breath of air, my arms flailed around until they found their grip on the stone around me and, using the only ounce of strength I could manage, I tried to pull myself up.

Daehyun has fallen partly on top of me. His right arm rested on the low of my back and his leg was intertwined with mine. His hair obscured his closed eyes and his face was angled downwards into the ground. He was very still.

“What’ve you done?!” Somebody screamed, tearing me from the daze I didn’t even realize I was in.

My eyes wearily drifted upwards. Jiyong towered over the rest of the boys, his chest puffed out. He was red in the face, a whole new level of anger seeming to explode out of him at once. He yanked the steaming gun from his companion’s hand and threw it to the ground. “You were supposed to get the money from him, not shoot him!”

The scruffy looking hoodlum, clearly taken aback, gave an uneasy chuckle. “Growing a soft spot for your old friend? C’mon Jiyong. Do you really think he’d just hand over the money? It’s over... Let’s just go find it ourselves. I bet he has it all stowed away in his apartment...” There was a certain edge to the man’s voice, an unforgiving, cold tone that offered no empathy.

Jiyong’s eyebrows shot up. “What?!” The conversation between the two quickly escalated, but I did my best to block them out.

My attention was on Daehyun. His name urked past my lips as I attempted to turn his body around. I knelt over him and brushed the platinum hair away from his eyes. My other hand skimmed against part of his chest, which was oozing warm, sticky blood. My eyes gradually widened as I took on the full force of what I was witnessing.

I suddenly wished for time to turn back, to go back to the day I had first moved in to Daehyun’s apartment. If I had never gotten in his way that day, if I had never argued back with him and if I had never picked all of those fights, perhaps I would be sitting all nice and safe and sound back at my apartment right now. And none of this would have happened to him.

Pushing the the regretful, guilty thoughts that had begun to creep into my head, I did my best to focus. “Daehyun, don’t do this…” my hands shook as I tore the jacket from his torso. I then used the jacket to apply pressure to his wound in a hurried attempt to save the person who had gone this far to save me.

My eyes flickered upwards as I realized the bickering had ceased between the two. Jiyong’s gaze was fixated down at Daehyun and written in his eyes was something I couldn’t quite define. His expression hardened at the sight of us, and he appeared troubled.

“See?” The strangely content hoodlum chortled from beside him. He knelt and picked up the pistol from the ground and studied it. “Even though this has been thrown on the ground, because it’s tough, made of steal, it survived,” his grin was widening. “Get it? The strong survive and the weak perish. We’re strong, after all, we’ve made it all this time. Therefore, we deserve to survive and live in this world. If this gun was made of weak, scrap metal it would have shattered when you threw it on the ground. There’s no use in a broken gun, get what I’m saying?”

Jiyong appeared disgusted. “Stop… Don’t say anymore…”

“Why? You know better than I that once a person’s been shot, he’s as good as dead. And the girl will only cause problems if we let her go. I’ll end it right here. And there will be no witnesses, no evidence, nothing. We’ll get away from this clean.”

The rest of the gang had fallen silent. They listened with bated breath as their two leaders toggled and bargained with our lives, waiting for the outcome they had been hoping for. And at last, the outcome had been decided.

“We’ll get away from this… clean?” Jiyong let the word linger on his lips, tasting the tantalizing sweetness that it offered. Whatever high position in the gang Jiyong seemed to own before was gone. This new man, Jiyong’s right hand, was stronger, sneakier, deadlier. Now I understood why Daehyun had wanted me to find Jiyong if I became lost. He didn’t really want to hurt us...right? He was greedy, sure, but not a killer. Not like the others.

But sadly, a certain poison was spreading throughout the already stained men. Apathy, cruelty, utmost selfishness, and maybe even a little hate. And it dawned on me too late that Jiyong had been tainted.

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Annyeong! :D First off, I'd like to apologize for my lack of updating lately^^;; I've been busy and I just haven't been able to get much inspiration for writing, but I've still been working hard trying to get this chapter out. Anyways, we're nearing the end of My Jerky Neighbor!! Wow, this has been one long, but incredibly fun to write story and I want to thank each of you for taking the time to read, subsribe, and comment. : ) Your guy's support means so so soo much to me and I love you guys so much!! <3 <3