ENG - Fractured Fates ʰʸᵘⁿˡᶦˣ

25

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Hyunjin POV

My eyes followed the path of the bullet as it snaked through the air, reflecting the faint light of the bulb, before it drilled into the body with a dull thud as it sank to the ground like a sack. A precise headshot, just as you would expect from Chan.
I turned my gaze back to him, who was waving the gun wildly in his hand. „Damn, I missed," he cursed harshly. He ran his trembling fingers through his tousled blue hair, which fell wildly in his face. „I wanted to get the blond pretty boy," he continued to mutter. His eyes glittered dangerously and coldly as he looked at me again. „Because of you, my toy is now dead!"

At that moment, a muffled knock sounded on the door, breaking the silence. A man entered the room, the other nurse, the more annoying of the two. „Felix? I heard from Kazuha what happened. Are you all right?" he asked anxiously, letting the door fall into the lock behind him and stepping into the middle of the room. His eyes widened in horror and shock when he saw the body on the floor and Chan with the gun.
Before the black-haired orderly could react, Chan was already behind him. He wrapped his arm around the man's neck like a snake and held the gun to his throat. „Then I'll kill you," Chan said with a sadistic grin that flashed his teeth. „Then I can make the blond my new plaything." His voice was cold and brutal, just as he was known to be.

Minho behind me slapped his forehead with such force that his palm left a red mark on his brow. A deep, agonized groan escaped his throat as he saw someone else being pulled in.
Felix, on the other hand, paled to the point of corpse pallor. His body tensed as if he was afraid of the very idea of moving even a millimeter. A thin film of sweat shone on his forehead and his breaths became shallow and rapid, as if he was about to hyperventilate.
The black-haired man, on the other hand, began to cry desperately, tears streaming down his cheeks. However, he did not resist Chan's firm grip, afraid that the slightest resistance would result in him being blown off.

With a furious yank, I ripped the damned cables from my arms, scraping my skin and leaving trails of blood. I strode purposefully towards Chan, my eyes glittering with anger. With a sharp grip, I snatched the little boy from him, who was trembling with fear and kept his eyes tightly shut. I shoved him roughly towards Felix, who winced as the other bumped into him and almost went down. „You're not going to kill anyone else here," I growled, my voice rough and full of hatred.
He just eyed me with a look dripping with disgust and disdain. „Oh yeah?" he asked me in a voice as cold and calculating as a machine. He walked slowly towards the blond orderly, who was frozen in fear and terror, his eyes wide with panic, and pressed his gun to his head. His finger on the trigger twitched impatiently, as if he could hardly wait to pull the trigger and snuff out the blond's life.
A sadistic grin flitted across his face as he looked at me in victory. „You sure?" he asked provocatively, his eyes glittering with malice and madness.

Chan was an absolute psycho who delighted in the suffering and fear of others. But I wasn't afraid of him. I was well aware of his obsession with me and it gave me a kind of protection.
I approached him and placed my hand on his forearm. My finger grips dug into his skin as I pierced him with a furious look. Because I was incredibly angry. „Kill my toys and I'll kill you," I growled angrily.
The grin on Chan's face faded. His eyes became black abysses that threatened to swallow me up. „Your toys? Both of them?" he asked, and his gaze turned into a look that couldn't have been more deadly. His voice was no longer cold and calculating, but distorted with anger and hatred. „Yes, both of you," I replied angrily, squeezing his forearm even tighter as if I wanted to break it.

For a moment we just looked at each other, angry and full of hatred, before he snorted and turned away. „You broke mine. Get me a new one and you'll get your fucking job," he snarled, as if spitting out every word. „But you only get the ones that are your specialty. At least you can't get yourself killed and I still need you. Minho can do the rest and die in the process. He's expendable, even if I really like him," he began to say, as if he were talking about the weather.
He pointed his pistol in Minho's direction and looked at him with a malicious grin. „You look like shit, though. Starting to regret it, huh?"

My patience was wearing thin and my muscles tensed as I grabbed his shoulder in a sudden, powerful movement. I forced him to turn towards me and my eyes bored into his. „You should go, Chan," I hissed. My voice was a dark, menacing growl.
He slowly raised his hand, as if he were about to touch a fragile flower, and placed it against my cheek. His face came menacingly close to mine. His eyes glittered darkly as he whispered in my ear with a mixture of contempt and desire: „You will soon come to me and beg me. I'll be waiting for you, my darling." With these words, he pressed his lips to mine as if he wanted to take my breath away. His tongue slithered into my mouth like a venomous snake's head, exploring it as if he were marking me.

I felt his fingers dig into my skin like the claws of a predator as he pulled me against him and then pulled away from me again with a sneer. „My beautiful darling... soon you will be fully mine," he whispered. His voice was a dark, menacing murmur, looking at me with a gaze colder than the grave. „Fuck off, Chan," I whispered back, my voice quivering with anger and contempt.
He detached himself from me completely now and looked at me with a grim, triumphant smile that reminded me of the grimace of a demon. „Don't forget my new toy or you won't get anything from me," he added and left the room with a sneer.

When the door slammed shut again with a mighty bang and Chan had finally disappeared from my field of vision, I slowly turned into the room. The air was stifling and saturated with the icy, metallic smell of blood. My eyes met the frightened, pale faces of the two orderlies clutching each other, their bodies shaking uncontrollably. Their eyes were wide open, reflecting pure agony.
Minho stood next to them with a neutral expression, because this was everyday life for us. Only now did I let out a deep, stressed sigh, ran my hands over my face and lowered my gaze to the lifeless figure on the floor.

„His obsession with you really increases with every damn time," Minho grumbled and stood next to me. He also looked at the corpse, which was lying in an unnatural position, its blood slowly spreading on the cold floor. „His obsession just annoys me, although he was still in a relatively good mood this time," I muttered and looked at my roommate, who was now also looking at me.
With a sharp, almost aggressive nod of his head, he pointed at the two boys, who were clutching each other and howling to themselves. „Anyway, what are we going to do with them?" he asked me and again I let out a deep, stressed sigh. „No idea, man," I hissed now and clicked my tongue. „We need to get rid of this fucking corpse first and clean up the blood," I hissed as I turned my gaze back to the lifeless body.

I looked at the corpse for a moment, my eyes darting over the pale skin and staring eyes. My fingernails scratched nervously at each other as I tried to suppress my excitement. „I'll take care of the body and dispose of it," Minho said. „You take care of the surveillance cameras and delete the footage. Then you'll take them back to our house and keep them there until I get back. Then we'll figure out what to do next."
I just nodded and felt my anger creeping up inside me. „Then hurry, the sun will be up in an hour," I muttered. I helped Minho put the corpse on his back so he could piggyback it. The corpse's arms and legs dangled limply.
Before he left, I plucked at the corpse's hood to cover the face as best I could. The blood had already been removed, but I didn't want to risk anyone recognizing the face. It looked like he was asleep, and hopefully the people walking past would think so too.

After Minho disappeared, I let out another stress-filled sigh and turned my gaze to the two boys who were still shaking with fear. I would deal with them in a moment. First, I wiped away the blood with an endless amount of toilet paper and countless flushes of the toilet until it looked as if nothing had ever happened.
My hands were stained red and I wiped the sweat from my forehead. I stopped in front of the two smaller boys, who looked at me with wide, frightened eyes. With a rough grip, I grabbed the back of the blond boy's neck and began brusquely wiping the left side of his face to remove the blood that had hit his face when the bullet pierced the other's skull.

When I had also flushed these wipes down the toilet and washed my hands thoroughly, I turned to the two of them. „You two," I said angrily, and they both flinched in shock, but didn't dare look at me. Annoyed, I clicked my tongue. I grabbed one of their hands and pulled them behind me like two marionettes.
They followed me with stumbling, awkward movements, but thankfully didn't resist. I pulled them up to the reception desk, stepped behind it with them and sat down at the computer. Impatiently, I clicked the mouse to switch on the black screen and saw the sobering image: login details.

With an angry snort, I turned around on the squeaky, worn chair to face the two boys and glared at them angrily. „Log in, now," I growled, my voice echoing menacingly through the cold, sterile room filled with harsh fluorescent lighting. But neither of them moved. Their bodies were frozen with fear. If Minho hadn't been so incredibly stupid when it came to hacking, I would have preferred to swap places with him instead of playing babysitter here.
In a blind rage, I grabbed the first arm within my reach and abruptly pulled it towards me. „I said log in," I repeated with a more angry tone. The black-haired boy's whole body trembled. A soft whimper escaped his lips, but eventually he obeyed. With shaky, sweaty fingers, he logged in. His eyes were fixed on the screen, trying not to look at me. His hands were shaking so much that he almost missed the keys.

When he had finally finished, I pushed him roughly to one side. He stumbled and fell to the floor, but I didn't care. I started hitting the keys like a man possessed and my knuckles turned white from the effort.
I was incredibly angry that Chan had shown up and put me under so much stress. This could have waited another two fucking days until I was out of this hellhole of a hospital.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the two boys trying to sneak away quietly. Their footsteps were barely audible over the hum of the old neon lights. When I turned my head in their direction, they stood rooted to the spot. Their faces were as pale as corpses and their eyes were full of fear and panic. „Don't even think about moving a millimeter," I said. My voice was calm, almost bored, but still seething with anger. Finally, I turned back to the screen where the green characters of the Matrix flickered in front of me.

It was ridiculously easy to hack into a hospital's system. You'd think it would be secure, but it was one of the most unsecured systems around. And the staff left a lot to be desired too, considering Minho and Chan could just walk in here at night without anyone stopping them or even noticing, apart from those two idiots behind me.
I was on the right server in no time at all and was able to delete the surveillance videos without any major problems. I also installed a destructive virus that would attack their systems and delete all background storage and backups. A stunned grin spread across my face as I hammered the Enter key.

When I was done, I let out a tired sigh and sank into the worn chair. I turned in the chair and looked at the two boys. The black-haired one had caught himself by now, he seemed to be the braver of the two. He put a hand on the shoulder of his blond friend, who still looked like a frightened animal and was howling quietly to himself.
With a sharp, choppy movement of my hand, I straightened up and ordered the boys in a voice that brooked no argument: „Come with me." Their eyes widened in fear, but they obeyed and followed me like two broken animals into the room I had been forced to call home for the last few weeks.
I packed up my meagre belongings - the clothes Minho always brought me and my cell phone. Then I pushed the two boys roughly in front of me and left the hospital with them.

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