The Aged | Gyuhao (Sequel to Youth)

- 25

| Chapter Twenty - Five — A series of unfortunate events |
| 📍 Berchtesgaden, Germany |

"Talk."

Another wave of bolts vibrate throughout Minghao's poor body.

He merely screams as loud as he can, shuddering when the electricity pauses again, "P-Please," He begs, voice so broken it doesn't even sound real, "L-Let me g-go, please— P-Please—"

Another zap.

Minghao's tied to a chair.

There's so many wires running around his body he feels like he's suffocating from those alone.

He feels hopeless, like a little twig that has been tainted by lighting and left to burn alone.

He slumps into the chair when his interrogator stops electrocuting the shit out of him, chest shaking as he struggles to breathe, "S-Stop."

"There's only one way to stop this," The voice pricks at his ears harshly, makes them want to bleed in and out, "Talk. Tell me everything you know about Kim Mingyu."

Silence.

Minghao's zipped his mouth shut.

No matter how much pain he'll be put through from here on out, he will never, and he means ever, rat out Carmine, let alone Mingyu— even if that's what— as a Cerise member— he was supposed to do.

He'd rather die.

"Very well." Minghao keeps his eyes on the head of blonde hair as the awful boy walks around the room with a finger on his chin, as if to think, "I can't kill you, so I'll stop with this for now, allow you to get some rest."

"How thoughtful." Minghao breathes, still trembling from the amount of volts that had just beamed throughout his veins.

The blonde bares his teeth, "You don't want boss to come in here. Believe me."

"I'm sure anybody would be better than you," Minghao huffs, shivering despite his determination to seem strong, "You're nothing but a teacher's pet—" An abrupt thrill of electricity shoots throughout his body, a scream tearing it's way up his throat, so loud a few veins pop on his throat.

Then, it stops.

Minghao hunches forward in agony, tears streaming down his face that he unfortunately can't stop from doing so.

"That's enough, Quanrui-ssi." The sound of heels clicking suddenly ring through Minghao's fuzzy hearing.

'Quanrui' sighs, "It's Ricky, ma'am."

"My apologies." It's a woman. She follows Ricky's with a sigh of her own, walking over to Minghao slowly. He can barely see her through the tears in his eyes, "Have Mr.Xu shown to his room. Let him rest. We'll continue the discussion of Carmine tomorrow."

"Yes, Mrs.Park." Ricky bows at a literal 90 degree angle, already trotting over to unhook the wires from Minghao's body.

Minghao would throw a punch or two, but his arms feel like jelly.

"M-Mrs.Park?" Minghao repeats, small and weak, "You're the boss."

Mrs.Park smiles at him. She leans down, short hair haloing around her face, "It's Jihyo, dear. After all, we'll be getting to know each other for a while, hmm?"

Minghao's too tired to ask what that means. He's somewhat grateful when she catches onto his confusion.

"Sorry with the tactics it took to get you here," She hums, frowning sarcastically as she stands straight again, "This whole gang knows it wasn't our business to peek into whatever conflict Carmine and Cerise have going on.... but you see, we're known for not liking to be left in the dark. We had to join this fight. We couldn't miss out on all the fun, now could we?"

"F-Fun?" Minghao blinks slowly, feeling himself behind hauled into a new pair of arms, Ricky silently instructing the new member to pick him up like this, "You think kidnapping me and risking the lives of hundreds of people is fun?" He scoffs, "What sick gang are you?"

Jihyo frowns, "I'm sad that you've never heard of Cardinal, honey."

"Cardinal?" Mingyu might've mentioned it once or twice, but Minghao thinks he wasn't paying it any mind then, "I...I don't—"

"Well," Jihyo's grinning like an insane person, moving closer to his face, as if to check if he were lying or not, "You really don't know us, huh?" She clicks her tongue, "That only makes it more fun for us." She cackles, moving away.

Minghao furrows his brows, still half awake, still half faint, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying how much I love how all this will turn out, don't you see?" Jihyo snorts as she giggles, "Cardinal swiped Cerise's leader just like that, and right under his lover's nose, never mind him being the leader of Carmine. It only makes it more interesting."

Minghao whines, "Don't hurt Mingyu," He begs, "He has nothing to do with this—"

"Why do you think we stole you, sweetie?" Jihyo pouts, "We needed leverage. We have Cerise's leader and Carmine's lover.... We have a weak spot for both of you."

A tear rolls down Minghao's cheek, "Why?" He asks, tired, exhausted, "Why must you all be so evil? What does this do for you?"

Jihyo sighs, patting his cheek softly, "It makes me happy, Minghao. After all, you should know the feeling," She taunts him, "You killed your parents in cold blood. Remember?"

"Shut up." Minghao grits his teeth, "You have no right to speak of that."

Jihyo merely rolls her eyes, glancing over at Ricky, "Take him to his room. Our guest needs a good night's sleep to prepare for tomorrow."

Minghao pales, "Tomorrow?"

"Oh, honey," Jihyo sighs, cupping his face again. He's too weak to move away, "You thought this was bad? Just wait until you find out what we have in store for you."

"W-What do you mean?"

Minghao hears Ricky chuckle behind him, "I promised we'd torture answers outta you." He says, lips cold against Minghao's ear in a type of warning.

"And I never break my promises."