Kyuhyun was worried. There had been no new messages for the past few days and it bothered him. It made him wonder what the gang could be planning. He knew for certain that Jiwon’s old gang would stop at nothing to harm Sungmin. And their silence was ominous.
So he was taking his own measures. He was getting his own security system. He knew that if he was found out, he could be arrested and sent to prison. But if these measures kept Sungmin safe, he would be fine with that.
A long time ago, a really long time ago when Kyuhyun had been sixteen, he had been part of a gang. He had created one with one of his friends from their “rich” neighbourhood. He had been the head of Rebel Heirs, made up of rich kid teenagers who wanted to cause havoc and rebel against all their parents’ wishes.
It was a great outlet when there was no other way to become rebellious. He had hated his home life and perhaps his being in a gang had been part of the reason for his home behaviour which caused his mother to dislike him to a great extent. He never cared much. He was too busy being a delinquent. He had never told Sungmin this because he wanted to protect him. Not scare him.
Their gang, Rebel Heirs, had disbanded when Kyuhyun was eighteen after the police had begun tracking them and arresting their members. Kyuhyun had evaded capture by laying low and allowing his mother to vehemently deny the fact that her own son would be part of a gang.
Those who had managed to not go to juvie had either moved away with their families or lay low. But they all promised to get back together one day. Kyuhyun, being one of the leaders, had all the contacts of the members who had managed to evade capture. And now, he needed them all. After all, fight fire with fire. And Kyuhyun would take whatever measures necessary to protect his Sungmin.
So that’s what he was doing right now. He was calling up all members of Rebel Heirs whom he had the contact information for. He had to make sure that nobody could hear him and he was sticking his head out of the door every so often to make sure that nobody was listening in on his conversations.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Shinjung.”
“Who is this?”
“A rebellious heir who succeeded in getting away. Do you remember me? I was a leader of your gang.”
“Cho Kyuhyun?! You haven’t talked to me in years. What have you been doing? How have you been?”
“So you do remember me.”
“How could I not? You were the one who almost killed the store owner before the damn alarm went off. Our fearless leader.”
“And you, Lim Shinjung, the best marksman in the group. Able to hit a target from a mile away. But as nice as it is to reminisce with you about old times, I want to talk to you seriously. Are you in Korea right now?”
“At the moment, no. I’m in Japan. I’m going to give a proposal to a company so that they want to buy our electronics.”
“Well, as soon as you can, come back to Korea. We’re having a reunion and maybe cause a little havoc. Do you remember our gang fights?”
“Hell yeah. I’ve been longing for some action. Fibre optics aren’t all that thrilling after a while.”
“We won’t be engaging in gun warfare just yet. I want you to stand by. There’s another gang after my husband and I want him to be safe. We have police watching us and protecting us but I want an outside force just in case.”
“I see what you mean. Okay, as soon as I can, I’ll come back to Korea. Do you want me to contact anyone else?”
“Everyone you can. You’re the other leader so you have all the contacts. Call everyone and tell them to come to Korea for a ‘reunion’. The old house that we used to have is still there. I’ve checked up on it. Tell them to hurry and that they may experience the action of the old days. This is a protection mission. I’ll call you with the orders once I’ve got more information.”
“Okay. I hope this turns out all right in the end for you, Kyuhyun. It seems like a serious situation. We’ll do our best. I’ll call you back with who can come. It may take a couple of days. I’ll talk to you then. Over and out.”
“Over and out.” Kyuhyun hung up his cellphone and smiled. He would protect Sungmin at any cost. Now he would have double the protection. Kyuhyun got up and walked to the bookshelf that was in his study.
He pulled out the “G” volume of the encyclopedia and opened it. The pages had been cut away to create a space. In that space, a slim silver handgun rested contently, waiting to be used. Kyuhyun prayed he would never have to use it.
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
Sungmin was glad that he and Yunho had made up. It made everything seem better, especially in their bleak situation. But he still wondered, could it truly be his fault that Jaejoong died? After all, he was the cause of the gang being there in the first place. So all in all, everything pointed to him.
Of course, Yunho apologized for blaming him needlessly but Sungmin still wondered sometimes. He and Yunho had a good understanding now and were back on track but it still haunted him that maybe, just maybe, he was to blame for all that had happened.
Sungmin pushed those thoughts out of his head and continued to prepare lunch for the two decoders/hackers downstairs in the basement. He put the two bowls of rice on a tray followed by kimchee soup. He knew the two of them would be hungry.
Carefully balancing the tray, he walked down the stairs and into the basement hallway. The wide, spacious place decorated with white lights made Sungmin feel happy. He walked to the third door on the right and opened it slowly. He could see the two sitting at the long desk that was set up for their computers, Minwoong scanning the letters into a computer and going over them bit by bit and Changmin processing something with a lot of zeros and eights.
“Changmin-hyung, help me with this code!” Minwoong demanded, unaware of Sungmin’s presence in the room.
“Minwoong, you know you’re the best decoder. Why are you asking for my help?” Changmin asked patiently.
“Because you know codes too! And I’m wondering if it could possibly be a number code. You know, the ones where each letter represents a number and then you mix the numbers to get the proper words. And you know numbers well. Please, Changmin-hyung?” Minwoong begged.
“All right. What are you looking at?” Changmin walked over. Sungmin smiled as he saw Changmin’s arms wrap gently around Minwoong’s shoulders. He could tell Minwoong was leaning into Changmin because the hacker let his head rest on top of Minwoong’s. Sungmin walked into the room and stood their quietly, wanting to see the true behaviour of the hacker team.
“The second letter they received, the first line and the fourth word. Opera, the numbers are fifteen, sixteen, five, eighteen and one,” Minwoong typed the numbers into the computer. 15, 16, 5, 18, 1 flashed onto the screen.
“Are you counting the letters or the numbers?” Changmin asked.
“The letters. There are less than eighteen words in the line and there are 102 letters. So that makes V, I, O, E, B,” Minwoong explained.
“And what can you possibly take from that?” Changmin asked.
“Have you never added letters?” Minwoong sounded shocked. He typed in the numbers 22, 9, 15, 5 and 2. He highlighted and clicked on all five and then waited for a moment before the number 53 popped up on the screen.
“Now that you have fifty-three?”
“Changmin-hyung, that is the number for letters. We substitute letters back in again. That makes E and C. What words start with E and C?”
“Ecstatic, ecstasy. So they could be saying they’ll be happy when he dies or something?”
“Good for you! You’re learning! Of course, I’ll need to figure out the rest to be certain but I think I’m onto something! Thanks, Changmin-hyung!” Minwoong turned in his chair and hugged Changmin fully.
Sungmin smiled as he saw Changmin close his eyes and gently nuzzle Minwoong’s hair. The youngest male didn’t appear to notice. He turned back to his computer. Changmin gazed at him, the look in his eyes gentle.
“So this is what you’re doing down here,” Sungmin smiled, walking towards the two with a tray. Changmin jumped and turned to face him, blushing slightly. Minwoong smiled brightly at his hyung.
“You brought us lunch! Thanks, Sungmin!” Minwoong jumped up and grabbed his rice and chopsticks, immediately beginning to eat and disregarding the mess he was making.
“Thanks, Sungmin. We needed this,” Changmin smiled. He picked up his soup with much more grace.
“You’re welcome,” Sungmin smiled. He motioned for Changmin to come closer. “Help him more with his decoding. He likes it and so do you.” Sungmin grinned as a blush spread over the younger man’s face. He waved and turned to leave.
He walked down the hall, thinking happily of the gentle relationship that Changmin and Minwoong had. He was just at the stairs when something clamped onto his wrist and tugged him backwards.
A gasp of surprise escaped from his lips but he had no time to do anything else. He struck out with a kick that he had learned from his martial arts but whoever was holding him dodged it. A hand covered with a leather glove clamped over his mouth and he was dragged backwards into a storage room. A blindfold was put over his eyes and Sungmin whimpered slightly, the loss of sight making him nervous.
“Stop struggling. Then you and your friends will live longer,” a deep voice said from above him. Sungmin complied. He felt weak as fear raced through him.
“What do you want?” Sungmin whispered. “Who are you?”
“That is not of relevance to you. It is absurdly easy to break in here. You should enhance your security. It’s pitiful. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to deliver a message. Listen closely because if you do not remember this, your life and others are at stake.”
“Yes…” Sungmin’s voice trembled.
“As I have just proven, it is absurdly easy to break in. More will follow my example if you are not at the bus stop on this road at four o’clock in the morning tomorrow. Obviously you know where I am from. We will be waiting there to pick you up. You know who ‘we’ are. Be there or the punishment will be terrible.”
“What if I don’t comply?”
“Then Kyuhyun will die.”
“What?!”
“Kangin, Eeteuk, Yesung, Ryeowook….they will all be killed. Anyone associated with you will die. It is no idle threat. Will you obey?
“If I do, will you hurt them?”
“No. We will not touch a hair on their heads.”
“At four tomorrow morning?”
“Yes. You will see a black car there with the licence plate K1L13R5. Do not tell anyone where you are going. Do not tell anyone of this. Leave no messages, notes, codes or videos of what is happening. If you do, we will know and wipe out all you hold dear. Are we clear on this?”
“Yes…I’ll be there.”
“Think of this as the best. Without you in their lives, they will all be much happier. Because it is your fault that all this is happening. Now nobody will have to worry about you or their family members because of you. After all, it is your fault that Seunghyun was shot, Jaejoong killed and the reason for the stress upon all of your friends. Won’t it be nice to give them a break?”
“…..Yes…”
“Good. And one more thing.”
“What now?”
“The boss is dying to see you again. Do not take off that blindfold until twenty seconds have gone by. I will see you again tomorrow. Remember the threat, our promise, Sungmin. We will carry out those threats, and have no qualms about it. Goodbye.”
Sungmin heard footsteps walking away from him. He heard something open and close and he ripped off the blindfold, regardless of the time. He was in a dark room and the only light was the light shining from the basement window which was swinging lightly.
So that’s how he got in, Sungmin thought. He walked over to the window and pushed lightly. No alarms sounded. Despite all the precautions of the police force, nobody had thought to wire the basement window.
Now Sungmin was trapped. He couldn’t let them hurt Kyuhyun or anybody else. But how was he supposed to get out? He sank to the floor as he tried to think of ways to get out of the heavily guarded house. He would have to do it for Kyuhyun. And then something cracked in Sungmin as he realized something else. It really is my fault all this is happening.
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
Kyuhyun was working steadily in his office when the phone rang. He picked it up quickly, wondering if Jiyong was calling him to ask him about the late budget sheet.
“Hey, Kyuhyun. It’s Shinjung.”
“What? How can it possibly be you? Can nobody come?”
“No. Everyone answered. We’re all coming back. In fact, everyone is in the house now.”
“That was fast.”
“I’m the only one that was out of Korea at the time. I caught a quick flight back on the company jet. So now I’m here and we’re standing by.”
“Good work. Hopefully I won’t need to use you guys but I want to be careful. Sungmin is everything to me.”
“It’s just like you to gather the whole gang for someone you love.”
“I want him to be safe, Shinjung. Anyways, how is everyone?”
“Excited for this. They want some action. Rebel Heirs is back.”
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
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