The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Prologue

Tick-Tock.

Tick-Tock.

Ti-

The repetitive sound of the clock suddenly stopped, and the man raised his head that was resting between his knees. A shaky breath escaped his lips, and the sharp pain in his lungs made him wince.

It was never a good sign when the clock stopped ticking.

Sitting on the concrete floor, the man could feel the muscles in his legs tensing up. For how long had he been here, in this cold basement, attached to the wall by chains like some dog? Hours? Days? He had no idea.

His only reminder that time still passed by was the clock he guessed was somewhere in this room, on his right. But other than that, he had no way of knowing if it was day or night, or anything else for that matter.

There was no window down there, the only source of light coming from the light bulb hanging from the ceiling. However, the only time the light was turned on was when they came down to visit him.

Oh, how he wished they'd just kill him already. But that would be too easy, and most importantly, less fun. He had noticed the crazy spark in their eyes when they came down to 'talk' like they called it.

In reality, they'd just ask questions, and he'd end up being beaten up for not answering them. The same thing had been happening over and over again for a while now, and like the hours he had spent here, he had lost count of how many exactly.

Just like he expected, the scraping sound of a metal door being opened reached his ears, and the man instinctively curled up against the wall. Just like always, he was desperately -and foolishly- hoping they wouldn't see him hiding in the dark corner of the room, but they did, and he shivered at the sound of their heavy footsteps hitting the ground while getting closer and closer to him.

The man didn't raise his head, instead, he kept it as low as possible. He didn't want to look at them, he didn't want to see the eyes that haunted him every night. Looking at the ground, he noticed that instead of two, there was now a third pair of shoes right next to him.

"Get him up," a voice he didn't recognize spoke.

Two pairs of arms suddenly grabbed him and forced him up, but his legs gave up almost instantly and he fell right back, making the other men in the room laugh at his weak state.

One of them let out a heavy sigh as he crouched down to be one the same level as him.

"How pitiful..." the man taunted.

He just observed him, looking at him with his piercing eyes, but what surprised the poor soul on the ground was the dark scarf around his torturer's neck. He didn't know much about the environment he was being held captive in, but what he knew for sure was that it was unbearably hot down here, why on earth would someone wear a scarf by this heat?

"Well, looks like we won't get anything from you," the man spoke as he dusted himself while getting up. "We won't be needing you anymore."

He then turned to the two men behind him, the ones that had been torturing their prisoner and haunting him whenever he closed his bruised eyes.

"Do what you will with him," he spoke as he checked his watch. "But his time don't forget to actually finish the job," he threatened.

The two nodded, and one of them suddenly opened his mouth to speak.

"Sir, where do we put the middle finger, this time?"

Park Min-Seok turned around with a devilish smirk, "Send it directly to Taeyong, I'm sure he'll like the gift."

—-
Alright, here we go.
Hope you're ready!