Kyuhyun’s breath caught in his throat and he took half a step back. Minwoong gazed at him calmly and took a seat. Kyuhyun followed him with his eyes. How could he have missed the subtle similarities? The way the dark hair parted was the same, the long hands were the same and the dark eyes were the same but the emotion inside of them was different.
Jiwon’s eyes had been dark, cold and uncaring stone. But Minwoong’s eyes were warm, kind, innocent liquids. So how could Minwoong be Jiwon’s flesh and blood?
“What…..?” Kyuhyun asked, his voice shaky. Minwoong smiled and shook his head.
“Didn’t you hear what I said? I’m Chung Jiwon’s son,” Minwoong grinned
“That’s not….possible,” Kyuhyun’s head was reeling. It was impossible for that to be. Kyuhyun felt faint. He needed Sungmin here with him.
“Obviously it is, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Minwoong rolled his eyes. Kyuhyun glared at him.
“Don’t get smart. You’re the blood of the one who nearly killed my husband. How do I know you won’t try the same thing?” Kyuhyun snarled. Minwoong’s expression fell and he looked down. Kyuhyun felt a savage stab of satisfaction at the look on Minwoong’s face.
“That was him. Not me,” Minwoong whispered. Kyuhyun ignored him and walked to the door. Pulling it open, he walked into the hall.
“Yunho! Yoochun! Changmin and Junsu if you’re awake! Come to my office. I want to talk to you!” Kyuhyun called. He strode back inside his office, slightly angrily.
“What are you doing?” Minwoong asked, standing up. He watched Kyuhyun with cautious eyes. The elder male was trembling and Minwoong felt slightly afraid.
“I think everyone should hear this,” Kyuhyun answered. Changmin raced into the office, quickly followed by Yunho and Yoochun. Junsu walked confusedly in and looked around at everyone.
“What’s going on?” Changmin panted.
“Tell them,” Kyuhyun motioned to the magnae. Minwoong stared at the ground.
“I’m Chung Jiwon’s son,” Minwoong repeated for the rest of the safehouse. There was a large intake of breath from Junsu while Yoochun looked surprised, Yunho looked at Minwoong closely to see the resemblance and Changmin’s mouth dropped open.
“You’re….?” Changmin managed to say. Minwoong nodded miserably, looking at the ground still. Yunho felt the tension in the room and narrowed his eyes. He put a comforting hand on Minwoong’s shoulder and guided him to sit back down in the chair.
“Minwoong, tell us everything. Don’t be afraid,” Yunho encouraged, staring fixedly at Kyuhyun as if daring him to terrify Minwoong. Kyuhyun glared back and turned his face to the side. The magnae nodded and looked up at Kyuhyun before looking away at the wall.
“People say I’m young for my age. And they are correct. I am not twenty years old. I’m sixteen. I joined the police force saying I was twenty and thank heavens they don’t look at birth certificates carefully. I was afraid that I would be found out, so I had a fake birth certificate made. Then I could relax. But I think I started in the wrong place. I should begin at the very beginning,” Minwoong looked up a little.
“That would be nice,” Yunho teased lightly, hoping to ease some of the tension in the room. Minwoong smiled lightly.
“My mother was in love with Jiwon since the beginning of high school,” Minwoong started. “She always said he was as handsome as a god. And she was utterly thrilled when he took an interest in her. The two of them became a couple and they were happy. Then she got pregnant. Typical teen pregnancy. And his parents stopped him from supporting her.
“So for the first five years of my life, I was living on welfare in a broken, rundown house because my mom’s parents threw her out. I had a happy childhood despite my life in the slums of the city. I didn’t realize the pains my mother put herself through for me to have the experiences that made me who I am.
“She taught me compassion and kindness because that was her nature and she wanted it continued. She didn’t like all the suffering in the world. She wanted there to be more love. So she taught me how to take care of those younger than me, older than me and more unfortunate than me.
“So I had a good life. Until I was seven, nothing went wrong for me. And then Jiwon came. My mother was so happy, he finally came back. I too was happy; I knew my father had always loved us and would try to find us. But my mother realized something almost as soon as he held me for the first time.
“He had changed. He was looking at me like I was a piece of meat. I didn’t notice this. My mother did. And then later, she found out who he really was. He was the leader of a gang, Black Hand. And he wasn’t the same person anymore.
“My mother overheard him one night, talking to someone on the phone. He was saying that I was the perfect person to be trained for street battle. My mother didn’t want me to become that. I was only seven. So one night, she packed the little we had that we could take and she told me that we were leaving because ‘Daddy’ was going to do something bad to me.
“So we snuck out that night. We were almost to the rich part of Seoul when we were caught. We were surrounded by men in black suits, waving long poles and in the middle of it all, the man who was my father walked in. He stared at my mother who pushed me behind her. He didn’t hesitate. He raised a black gun and shot her through the head.
“I screamed and started crying, saying that she was trying to protect me from him. He backhanded me. It was the first time I had ever been hit and I was so surprised, I became silent. He told me that, to him, I was not his son. I was his weapon,” Minwoong breathed in shakily. Yoochun made a sympathetic noise and Junsu placed a comforting hand on Minwoong’s back. Changmin made no movement.
“What happened then?” Yunho asked, gently pushing Minwoong on.
“He took me back to his base and told me that this was my home now. He told me to remember that I was his weapon, not his son. I heard that phrase so many times; I nearly began to believe I was a weapon. I told myself that he was doing this because he loved me and wanted me to be strong. But it didn’t really stick.
“Two years of training went by and I could shoot a gun and take down a cat from a mile away. My father would always tell me ‘You’re a weapon. Not my son’. And still, I deluded myself into thinking that he really did love me. My shooting was trained to perfection but my hand to hand combat left much to be desired.
“I was trained for another year. So since I was seven, I had three years of training. That brought me to my tenth year. Jiwon had had many lovers during that time but there was one he was intent upon breaking. That was Lee Sungmin. Jiwon was always saying how he would use me for his ultimate break.
“But I had a test to complete. And I wanted to do it. I wanted my father to love me as his son, not as his weapon. Sungmin had two friends, Zhoumi and Henry. Jiwon was angry that Sungmin had a way to gain strength. So I was put in the team that would bring them in. I didn’t realize that meant torture as well.
“I had never seen it or tortured anyone. But because I was part of the team that brought them in, I was obliged to hurt them. But I couldn’t. I felt like breaking every time I moved forwards. So I stayed back. Then Jiwon came and he ordered for Zhoumi to be raped and killed because he wasn’t talking. I watched the whole thing and I don’t know how I didn’t run away screaming.
“Once Zhoumi was killed, they turned on Henry. But there really was no need. His torture had already happened and he was already dead. He died when Zhoumi was killed. His body was alive but the rest of him wasn’t. The spark of life in his eyes was gone.
“I had to bring him back to my father’s house and tie him up in Sungmin’s bedroom. I apologized quietly to him. He looked at me and for the first time, he noticed how old I was. He asked me why I was there. I told him that I was a weapon. He nodded and turned away.
“For a week, Henry was tortured. He let no sound of pain cross his lips, nor any words either. And Jiwon was angry. Eventually, he decided to give up. He wasn’t going to wait any longer. Henry’s death certificate was signed and sealed.
“He was going to be exterminated. And he chose me to do that honour. Henry was thrown in front of me and a gun was put into my hands. I didn’t know what to do. I had never had to kill someone before. But I wanted my father’s recognition so badly that I was torn inside. Henry looked at me and nodded, as if giving me permission to take his life. That day, I became a murderer. Afterwards, I couldn’t stop crying.
“Taekyung called me a weakling and laughed loudly every time I walked past him. I was still only ten years old. Jiwon called me to him and beat me nearly to death, shouting and asking why his weapon was so weak. It was then that I realized that Jiwon would never love me and never could. I began to hate him and plan his downfall. My plans were never successful.
“A year passed and I turned eleven. I was still doing his dirty work and killing those he deemed unworthy. I hated him for it. I began to resent everything and everyone around me. I wanted to escape but you can’t just walk out. You’re killed before you can leave. Then, a man named Kim Seunghae took me under his wing.
“He told me he was part of a group working to bring down Jiwon. I told him that I wanted to help. He knew that I was Jiwon’s son. And he accepted me. So we began to set plans in motion. We began to plot and I would always hear Jiwon gloating of whatever he did to Sungmin.
“One day, he was in a particularly good mood after he had five men rape Sungmin. And I was tired of it. I wanted to be free. So I began to plan my own demise. I wasn’t going to let myself die here, perhaps fighting with a rival gang. But I never needed to put my plan into action.
“Three weeks after Sungmin’s beating, I got the word that Jiwon had been arrested and convicted. I couldn’t have been happier. But I had to hide. If the police found me, who knows where I could have ended up? So I ran. I hid with other members of the gang.
“For a year, we lay low. Then we convened with other members who had eluded capture. Within those who hadn’t been captured was Kim Seunghae’s brother. He wanted revenge for the killing of his sibling. I agreed to help him.
“I was thirteen years old, part of Black Hand, a trained ex-weapon and a rebel. Then the other members and I received information that the leader was back. We were collected and taken back. The leader was definitely back. Everything was as it was before and somehow, better and crueller than ever.
“But something was different. The leader didn’t feel the same. Was it possible Jiwon had gotten even crueller? It was. But it could be someone else. And it made me afraid. Because who could be as bloodthirsty as my father?” Minwoong asked, looking around at the people assembled.
“You are pretty evil yourself, Woongie,” Yoochun commented. Junsu hit him on the arm and Yunho reached over and mussed his hair.
“Shut up, Yoochunnie,” Yunho teased. Minwoong made a face at his hyung. Changmin still remained unmoving. Kyuhyun wasn’t glaring as hard at the wall anymore and Minwoong took this as a good sign.
“Anyways, I didn’t want to go back. The only way out of it was to either kill myself or run away and hope for the best. At fourteen, I was still a weapon. And the leader knew it. It gave me no leads. Everyone knew what I was. That was my name. Weapon of Jiwon. So I couldn’t be sure of the leader.
“But I had to get away. I had enough of being a member of the Black Hand. I wanted a normal existence. I had been brought into this world since I was seven and for six years I had been someone that my mother tried to stop me from becoming. So I swore I would start over. The question was, how?
“Kim Seunghae’s brother was willing to help me out. He created a diversion and allowed me to run. I got away and then I made it look like I took my own life. I stayed in the slums of the city for a while, just to be certain that I really was home free. But I had to find a way to survive. I was living off of scraps of food that I managed to beg from others.”
“Eventually, I knew I had to get a job. But I had no formal training in anything except how to shoot a gun and hand to hand combat. Kim Seunghae’s brother decided to help me out. He told me to become a police officer. I could do the training, I was already skilled in the area of fighting.
“I went through the training and joined the police force as a decoder. I was only fifteen at the time. But I knew that Kim Seunghae’s brother would be there and would be watching over me. I could trust him. And he was keeping me updated with what was happening in Black Hand,” Minwoong explained. The safehouse inhabitants stared at him. Then Junsu voiced the question that they were all thinking.
“Who is Kim Seunghae’s brother?”
“You don’t know?” Minwoong asked, looking surprised.
“No. Is he part of Black Hand?” Yoochun asked.
“Yeah, he’s supposedly an informant but he feeds false information and in turn lets a little bit about the gang be known every month to the police force. It’s the head of police, Lee Youngsoo. His real name is Kim Youngsoo. He’s the reason why I’m here right now,” Minwoong told them.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all that, Minwoongie,” Junsu hugged Minwoong.
“I’m not done explaining yet,” Minwoong laughed. Changmin still said nothing and Kyuhyun was still staring at the wall but with no expression now. Yunho, Junsu and Yoochun, however, were all engrossed in the story and waiting for more.
“Continue, Minwoongie,” Yunho said excitedly.
“Okay, Yunho-appa. Well anyways, you remember when I joined right? You all said I looked young for twenty. Youngsoo heard you and made me a fake certificate so nobody would question twice. Anyways, about half a year ago, Youngsoo passed on the information that the boss was targeting Sungmin.
“I looked up Sungmin and looked through all his medical records and I discovered something. Sungmin had an extensive amount of injuries in the past. That meant if the boss got a hold of him, history would invariably repeat itself. So I asked Youngsoo to keep me updated. He did so and when you guys went out for dinner one night, Black Hand broke in and placed microphones around your house.
“I knew that they were serious about this if they put microphones into the house. The last time that happened, Black Hand slaughtered the entire household. I was part of that attack. I’m not proud of it,” Minwoong’s eyes narrowed.
“We know that. You’re a good person,” Junsu nodded. Minwoong smiled at him.
“Thanks Junsu-hyung. Well, I knew I had to do something. So I began sending you guys letters in code, warning you of the danger. But you never figured it out!” Minwoong exclaimed.
“You were the one to send us the letters?!” Kyuhyun gasped, speaking for the first time, shocked out of his thoughts. Minwoong nodded.
“The code is you take the last two letters of every word and that gives you the answer! It’s such a simple code! And yet, you still couldn’t figure it out! So I got Youngsoo to send you the flower code in hopes that you would realize you were being watched from the inside too” Minwoong said.
“Well we did realize that,” Kyuhyun admitted.
“Wait, did you lie the entire time about not being able to crack the code?” Yoochun asked.
“I had to. I couldn’t tell you what it meant without exposing all of this too early. And I didn’t know when to tell you without it being too late. But…I guess now is too late,” Minwoong looked down at the floor.
“You think?” Kyuhyun snarled. His worry level was rising quickly. Yunho shot him a glare as if to reprimand him for being a jerk while Minwoong was spilling his soul.
“But I can help you. Youngsoo kept me updated on what Black Hand is doing. Youngsoo had to tell the boss something honest or they would have gotten suspicious. The basement isn’t wired. So they could get in and out. That’s how Sungmin got out. Right after knocking me out,” Minwoong grinned slightly.
“Sungmin knocked you out?!” Junsu exclaimed. Minwoong nodded.
“I asked for a patrol shift that particular day because Youngsoo told me that the threats had been made and Sungmin was going to leave. I asked for the patrol so I could slow him down and tell him everything. But he got me first,” Minwoong grinned sheepishly.
“What were these threats?” Kyuhyun asked, looking directly at Minwoong.
“They threatened to kill you and the rest of his family if he didn’t go.”
Now Kyuhyun understood why Sungmin had left. But he had promised himself that he would never let Sungmin go. This time was no different.
“Where is he?”
“They’ve got him at their base. It’s a factory. I know where it is. I can take you there. But we need reinforcements. They plan to torture him until the boss gives them the go ahead to end his life. That could happen anytime,” Minwoong stated seriously. Kyuhyun stood up in anger.
“What? They think that they can torture my Sungmin? What purpose do they have for that?” Kyuhyun hissed.
“The boss wants revenge. If he knew I was alive, I would probably be part of his plan right now,” Minwoong answered.
“How do we know that you aren’t part of his plan right now?” Kyuhyun asked, staring hard at Minwoong.
“You don’t. You only have my word for it. And I promise you, I am notlike my father,” Minwoong looked defiant. Kyuhyun walked out from behind his desk and towards Minwoong whose eyes widened. Changmin finally moved and stepped in front of Minwoong.
“Don’t you dare hurt him,” Changmin glared. Yunho put a restraining hand on Changmin and pulled him to the side.
“Wait and watch,” Yunho instructed.
“If you hurt him….” Changmin managed to say.
“Changmin-hyung?” Minwoong questioned softly.
“It doesn’t matter to me whose son you are. You aren’t your parents. You’re yourself, you’re Minwoong…….my Minwoong,” Changmin answered. “Which is why if you hurt him, I won’t hesitate to harm you,” the second youngest promised.
“You aren’t rejecting me?” Minwoong asked. All attention shifted from the approaching Kyuhyun to the Changmin/Minwoong conversation about their relationship.
“Minwoong, you’re yourself. Not your parents. It’s you that I love. Nothing else matters,” Changmin stared at his younger lover.
“Changmin-hyung….” Minwoong found words beyond his grasp. Everyone still accepted him despite his parentage. Everyone, except Kyuhyun. The magnae stared up at his hyung who looked back at him.
“Thank you, Minwoong. Thank you for helping,” Kyuhyun bowed. Minwoong’s eyes opened in surprise.
“You’re welcome, Kyuhyun-hyung,” Minwoong responded shyly. The elder man nodded and then walked back to his desk. He picked up the phone and dialled a number.
“What are you doing?” Yunho asked.
“Calling reinforcements,” Kyuhyun answered.
“Reinforcements…..?” Yoochun asked.
“Hello, Shinjung? It’s Kyuhyun. It’s time to move.”
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
“You aren’t even supposed to be alive,” Sungmin gasped. The man smirked.
“You came back from the dead, why can’t I?”
~₴~≠~₴~≠~
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