abide

chapter 2

jihoon raised his dull gaze, which glistened with agitation the moment he saw junkyu bending over his desk. the leader quickly calculated that one of his subordinates had improved – the last time it took the boy an hour to rummage through every source he could get access to, after today the time diminished to half an hour.

"kanemoto yoshinori, japanese. there was no further leakage of his personal information, no pictures either apart from some glitched and indistinct CCTV footage, it was nothing but rubbish." he stated, a single sheet of paper with a freshly printed ink in his hand. "but there is one thing you may find the useful boss."

here his finger implied that one should look at the address being proudly written on the almost fully blank page. jihoon took the paper in his hand, fingers subconsciously squeezing it a little harder.

"it's in our district," he muttered, his eyes wandering from left to the right.

not only was it in their district. it was almost in an opposite alley.

since junkyu has been idly standing by his desk, he dismissed him the second after he remembered about a careless "thank you." as the paper was cast somewhere among the other files and documents, it soon became forgotten, resembling now other sheets which made jihoon sick just by looking at them. this whole paperwork was much of a trouble, but as the leader jihoon must have taken the responsibility.

the boy usually didn't go home at all. and calling this place with roof and walls "home" would be an overstatement. jihoon lost his home. the moment his mother gave up on him and his brother, the so-called hearth could be never retrieved. as a fourteen-year-old, he had to take care of his ten-year-old brother all alone. merely a year later someone showed him that there is a way to get money within a short time. eight years later, he took over the most powerful position in the group and found himself sitting in the lounge, practicing his aim by throwing pocket knives toward the wall.

less familiar footsteps snapped him out of his thoughts, his hand involuntarily clenched around the handy weapon he had been playing with, his shrewd gaze excelled the speed of light, his eyes meeting with a silhouette standing by the door frame.

"get inside junghwan-ah, what's the hesitation?"

he blurted out, sprawling on the place again after his tension decreased. with a swift blow of the air, another knife dug a hole in the parget.

"there is something you should know boss."

jihoon didn't even flinch, his expression as unfazed as before.

"is it about our supplies?"

"no boss."

"then what's all the fuss?"

he huffed, his irritation slowly emerging. he has never been a patient type.

"one of our clients canceled his order today. again."

jihoon's fingers wrap around the handle, the tip of the blade already aiming at the spot in front.

"we won't get any money this week, all of them called off."

the knife missed the chosen, last intact space. jihoon sent a piercing gaze towards the boy in the room, gauging that targeting his arm would give him twenty points if playing darts.

"the reason?"

"they got a better offer from the red-hair guy."

jihoon chuckled shortly but aggressively, something about this sound made him look like a psychopath. his eyes darkened, he crossed his arms, hardly squeezing his skin. it was hard to control himself, he still had one of the knives in his pocket, luckily he had some decency left in his head – he needed junghwan to beat rascals, unruly or finicky ones so he couldn't make him crippled in any way.

"junghwan-ah..." he mumbled, voice jittery. "find hyunsuk and in five minutes we set off."

the other boy didn't dare to pester continuously, he left the room right away after bowing ineptly. the moment the doors shut, jihoon groaned deeply, and the blade cut through the air, creating a hollow which most probably showed on the other side of the wall, making junkyu jump slightly.

"it's not a kitty this time, it's a tiger. I see..." he said, the words let out in a hasty pace. "it's my territory. I will make him leave on his knees."

he grinned at a transparent soul he had been talking to, and after collecting eleven knives, he left the room, leaving the wall in a run-down state.

// ✧ //