double dealing - nct, chensung

⇄ 2 ⇄

jisung sighed as he pushed open the door of his and jaemin's shared room.

the older boy was nowhere to be seen, but jisung still checked around the room, and the windows to make sure no one else was there, and no one was peeking.

once all those check-ups had been done, jisung opened his closet, pushing away the dozens of outfits hanging on hangers to have access to the box he had hidden there.

it looked like a pile of ordinary shoeboxes, but it was in fact a safe, keeping money and weapons safe.

there were two guns with refills, knives, another smaller box with a variety of poisons, money from different countries, handcuffs, a bottle filled with a red liquid, and a pile of small metallic objects representing a skull, the symbol of their mafia. these were the pieces they left behind after committing a murder or extorting someone, as if to show how powerful they were.

jisung pulled a metallic piece as well as the small bottle containing red liquid, examining it carefully.

this bottle contained a droplet of blood from every of death park's members. this was a ritual that had started long ago in their family, and each new year, the new members would add their blood to the mix. once your blood was inside, you were part of the mafia. and there was no way out other than death. and betraying one of the persons whose blood filled this bottle gave the ability to all those who had a drop of their blood in the bottle to avenge the traitor, as violently as they wanted.

jisung's own blood had been added there when he was less than 1. as the son of the mafia leaders, he was bound to be in the mafia, he had no choice.

"ji..."

the heir to death park slammed the safe shut immediately, turning around to find chenle standing in his doorframe.

"hi, chenle." jisung smiled. "what are you doing here?"

"my mom brought me here, because i wanted to tell you goodbye." chenle explained.

chenle was the only member who didn't live in dorms with the rest of nct.

his parents had bought him a house in seoul, and he was staying there with his mother or his aunts. nobody really knew why, but they didn't question it. as long as he didn't miss any training or activity...

"goodbye?" jisung chuckled, placing the metallic skull in his pocket and tightening his grip on the blood-filled bottle.

"yeah, for 2021... it's the last time we're seeing each other this year." chenle nodded. "tomorrow we'll be in 2022."

"it will still be the same, you know?" jisung told. "nothing will change."

"yeah, but... it's... symbolic, you know?" chenle fidgeted with his fingers. "like... tradition?"

jisung sighed.

tradition...

it was always about tradition.

couldn't things become natural and not recurrent?

couldn't they get rid of all those mafia traditions that became even more stupid with each year jisung participated in them?

and now, even chenle was telling him about traditions...

jisung would never be able to forget about his double-life...

"so...?" jisung raised a brow, looking at chenle curiously.

"so, i came to say goodbye to 2021 jisung." chenle continued, walking in the room and approaching jisung. "can i hug you goodbye?"