What May Change [Min Yoongi FF]

Chapter 17

[A/N: It's been a while friends. As aforementioned this story did WAAAAY better than I expected it to sooo bonus chapters at the end. Anyhow, I promised myself I'd finish this damn story I've been neglecting over winter break. Winter break is almost over and it's been months since I updated. I owe yall I swear I'll come through. I'm just the typical unreliable artsy type. Procrastination and all that.]

That morning, there was a clip playing on the local news. Violent crime is supposedly low in Korea, and granted guns are obscenely hard to come by, so there's a lot less murder and more "break your leg with a bat, knife slicey-dicey" stuff but it often goes unreported due to fear of the mafia's repercussions. Loan sharks especially figure greatly in organized crime over there. 

On the screen a woman's face was ghosted out and her voice had been altered. 

"There were seven of them in total. At first a middle school boy came into the store and came up to the counter to buy an ice cream. Then, he started asking where my husband was. I wondered how he knew my husband worked there too as he wasn't a customer I'd seen before, but I told him he was in the back stocking but we would be closing in a few minutes so he'd have to talk to him tomorrow. He was wearing a hat down low so I couldn't see his face. He pointed to the storage closet and asked if it was that one. I was confused, so I just nodded yes and he just said, 'You should leave, and don't let your husband borrow money he can't repay anymore'-" at this point the woman broke into a sob- "Then they all burst in, threw open the door and- and-" 

As the woman lost her composure, a newscaster picked up where she left off. 

"Mrs. A's husband was beaten badly with a bat and taken to the hospital with several broken bones, though it is believed he will recover from the incident without permanent damage. Mr. A refused to comment on the story, but security footage on the street caught the assailants coming in and out of the building-" the grainy, black and white footage began to roll- "as well as Mrs. A rushing out of the building once the violence broke out in order to seek help. The assailants are seen in an array of animal masks, making them impossible to identify by the footage alone."

At the camera rolled, Eunji and I stared at the unmistakable forms of our friends.  Jin's lanky, awkward form played lookout as the rest ran inside, wearing a monkey mask. Jungkook, the middle schooler, turned and left the scene with his back facing the camera as soon as his role had been finished. I watched in horror as Yoongi's lean, fit form puffed up and waltzed threateningly into the building under a dragon mask beside Namjoon with his bat disguised as a tiger, and Hoseok bemasked as a rabid dog. These three did the damage. V, masquerading as a snake, followed by sweet little Jimin in a terrifying horned goat head, entered with hammers just as the newscaster noted some property destruction. 

"The camera also caught Choi Jaesung, a seasoned criminal, brazenly joining the team of assailants moments later. He did not bother to conceal his face, and police believe he must have been the one directing the masked men, who are believed to be quite young. Seoul City Police Inspector Kim had this to say:

             "We believe this incident to be related to a series of loan shark crack downs on the North side of the city. We are doing everything we can to crush organized crime, but suffering dead ends due to lack of information from victims, who have reasonably been frightened. There is a saying in America, 'see something, say something', and it applies here. We are asking anyone who believes they recognize the assailants or has info on Choi as well as any other similar instances to contact-"

I tuned the rest out after that. They'd done it. They'd gone off and beaten a man and terrorized his family to please Namjoon's father. I knew they had no other choice, but I couldn't feel more disappointed in someone in my life. I should've known better. Sometimes looks aren't deceiving at all, and all too often girls are tempted to seek out a 'bad boy' in the hopes of 'fixing' or 'changing' him. Just that fast, I realized I was in too deep. Yoongi- and all of them- was a good person, but they'd gotten themselves in over their heads just trying to get by, and now I was in it too. 

I knew the easiest, safest, best route out was to shake Yoongi, but...

I couldn't do it. 

It was dangerous to delve deeper but I felt like I didn't have all the information. If I just knew more about the situation, we could surely think of a way out for them. There had to be some solution if we all put our minds to it, there had to be an explanation that rendered the boys innocent of last night's attack, like that the other man had done the damage and they'd just been forced to tag along-

No. They had done it. A deep, dark, pit in my stomach confirmed it. I knew they'd done it. They had actually hurt someone, and now they were wanted criminals. 

I made eye contact with Eunji, whose eyes were watery and mouth wide in disbelief. She rushed past the kitchen and out the front door, and I gathered everything within me to pull myself together and feign some semblance of normalcy. 

"We're heading out, Mom, see you later," I stated in robotic monotone, my eyes glazing over as I said it. I slipped on my shoes and numbly exited the apartment. I found Eunji crying just outside. She seemed in near hysterics. 

"What the hell are we supposed to do, they're wanted!" Eunji sobbed,  "By the police! They- they did something horrible Whim, this isn't fun anymore. I'm scared," She wailed. 

"Get up," I ordered, bottom lip quivering. "We need to get the whole story first, and we need to know if they're all okay. Come on, we're skipping school." Eunji took a moment to get herself together and then climbed to her feet. 

On the way over, I tried Yoongi's phone. Actually, I tried all of them, but the message was the same-

"This number has been disconnected. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

We ran into Soomin on the way, looking more somber than I'd ever seen her. When we reached the door, we were all silent. My heartbeat was double-speed. 

I pushed open the door decisively without knocking.

For a moment, I'm sure we'd all come to the terrifying conclusion that the house would be empty, the boys long gone. But then a voice came from beside me. 

"What the hell are you doing here?"