𝙫𝙚𝙞𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 ↞ 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑒𝑛

Eun sat with her head pushed against the seat, grinning at the satisfaction of racing through to the lake. Whilst she sat in delight, Changbin continued to grip the grab handles on the roof of the van, sighing with relief at his very existence. He patted himself down before unlocking his door, turning to the girl to clear his throat and speak.

"I'm going to get some fresh air."

He refused to make contact with her for a long amount of time, he feared for his life thinking of returning to Chan.

Eun shrugged and unlocked her side of the door, jumping out to make her way to the back of the van. She pulled open the doors to see Jisung glaring at her, a pile of bodies climbing over him. He ran his tongue over his teeth distinctively, making Eun aware of what she'd gotten herself into.

"We can put Changbin in the back, if you'd like?" she stuttered, trying to smile away her fear. Eun finally reached her hand out to him, offering to pull him out from the pile of rotting bodies - the stench made her gag, she couldn't imagine how Jisung felt being trapped with them on a rough ride.

Jisung began to walk away, heading towards Changbin who'd squatted himself down, staring at the lake with his hands scraping at the stones beneath him.

"Jisung," she paused him from walking further, dragging him back with her hand wrapped around his index finger. "Do you mind if I take a look?"

He turned to her, confused by her questioning. "What're you asking, exactly?"

She hesitated to look back at the victims in the back of the van, her hand still tightly wrapped around his finger.

He stared in her direction, shrugging and pulling away his hand, "be my guest."

Changbin returns with a salty look, his brows furrowed as though he disagreed with Jisung's acceptance. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"She seems to think she can do it, let her," Jisung shrugged once more, not bothered by either of you.

As Jisung walks away kicking his feet to the floor, Changbin glares over at her for just a second, motioning towards the open doors of the van. "Are you sure Chan's going to be okay with this?"

"I already asked him," she spoke with slight aggression in her voice. By the sounds of it, Eun was frustrated by most of the boys already - only one of them seemed to trust her enough; that was Chan. "If Hyunjin's friend wasn't capable, you could at least give me a chance."

She shuffled herself to sit in the van, pulling out the bodies to lie beside one another. Changbin headed to the passenger side, returning to the back of the van with a flask of coffee. "Thirsty?" he looked over at her for a brief moment, nudging the cup her way.

Eun looked down at the flask, nodding her head just once for Changbin to pour her a drink. She'd been thirsty for hours, but she felt like she'd be getting in the way, it wasn't as important as the situation they were currently in.

He handed her the cup and she gulped it down immediately, handing it back to Changbin within just seconds.

"Maybe try and taste it next time," he chuckled, grinning as she wiped her lips with her arm. Eun immediately focused back on investigating the bodies, deciding it was best to ignore Changbin for even just a minute. "Chan seems to trust you a little," he sighs, taking a sip from the same cup of coffee she'd drank out of just moments ago. He stared out at the lake, focusing his attention on the light of the moon shining down onto the water. "Why haven't you left? Do you want to stay?"

His questions put her off, she felt slightly intimidated, perhaps even insulted by the way he spoke.

She dropped the victims arm from her grasp, sitting on the backs of her legs and looking over to him, "do I have a choice?"

"Are you over the age of 18?" he raised a brow.

"Well, yes-"

"Then, of course you have a choice."

Eun lifted the corner of her lip, smiling briefly at his funny comment. "Stop distracting me," she made it out to be some kind of joke rather than an order - if she'd spoken harshly she'd feel guilty for acting mad.

For the meantime, Changbin watched Jisung staring out at the water for what seemed like hours but was only minutes long.

"Changbin," Eun tugs at his arm, spilling a drop of his coffee as he swivelled around to face her.

"Hm?" he swallowed the remaining liquid swishing around his mouth, "what?"

She began to tear the shirts of the victims; just their shoulders. "They all have a tattoo."

"They're the same," he frowned, shuffling himself closer to inspect the tattoos. He brushed his fingers over multiple of them, "they're fading just as quickly as everyone else's. Is this some kind of gang?" he scoffed, joking to release tension.

Eun cleared her throat, lifting up her jacket to hide the mark on her shoulder.

"It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is," he thought, humming to himself, "is it some kind of symbol?"

Each of the tattoos had been cut through; after or even before killing the victims, someone took a knife to the tattoos, as if they were crossing them out.

"What does it mean if they're crossed out?" he questioned.

"Perhaps it's some kind of protection symbol," Eun bit the inside of her cheek, trying to hide what she knew about it. "A lot of gangs get personal tattoos. If someone notices your tattoo, they're protected by their gang, or even owner."

"Owner?" he frowned at the word.

"That's besides the point," she shrugged him off, "it means they're no longer protected."

"Does that mean someone crossed them out before they were killed?"

Eun hummed to herself, thinking over the multiple possibilities there could have been. "If I were them, I'd fight off whoever tried to cross out my tattoo. Not because I'd be scared of being unprotected, but for the simple fact of not wanting a blade being put to my skin."

"It doesn't look like any of them had been fighting."

"They'd have bruises, but they're clean. Apart from the actual killings of them," Eun nodded.

"You said gangs get tattoos for protection. If these were crossed out after killing them, what was the point in the tattoo? They were never protected in the first place," Changbin frustrated himself with the confusion of his questions.

"Unless it was their protector who went after them."

He raised a brow, "is that a thing?"

"It's not the tattoo that decides if they're protected, it's their owner."

"Then, we find their protector?"

Eun knew who it was, but she couldn't give away their name just yet. She was under the same owner, so of course she knew. But, it'd be fun to do some more research, right?

"Chan called," Jisung rushed over, "he's given us the signal to go back.

"Good timing," Eun nodded, leaving the back of the van to get into the drivers seat.

Changbin walked back to the passenger seat where Jisung halted him, "you have no idea what I went through sitting in the back. It's your turn," he pushed him back, closing the doors behind him as he waved.