Stronger || NCT mafia au

Chapter 5 | "I won't let it happen again"

Johnny and Jihyun have been ignoring eachother for days back at the NCT mansion. It's been a few days since their argument and the members were currently in the lounge, slumped around the couches and taking about what went down in each of their classes as Jihyun, Taeyong, and Jaehyun returned home. The three had stayed longer to debrief with the other unit leaders before leaving.

"And then I was like, 'you hoe, I'll kick your ass!' and this sassy bitch right here decided to say 'good luck short stuff' in front of all the students! They laughed at me!"

"Well you are-"

"LUCAS IT IS NOT MY FAULT THAT YOU'RE TALL, RESPECT ME"

"Whatever you say, eleven"

"ITS TEN YOU-"

The conversation cut off as the leaders entered the room, the two boys laughing at the conversation they overheard and Jihyun trying to fight back a smile.

"You really aren't that tall, fruit punch" Jihyun mumbled as she stared at Ten's angry expression.

"You're literally 6 inches shorter than me!"

"And she'll still kick your ass"

"LUCAS WONG I SWEAR"

The taller sprinted out of the room, closely followed by Ten who was running after him, holding a flower vase.

Jihyun rolled her eyes knowing she'll end up cleaning the soon to be shattered vase later. She walked over to the couch where YangYang, Sungchan, Shotaro, and Yuta were talking.

"Anything interesting happen to you guys today?" She said, taking a seat next to Yangyang.

"Not really, had some fun sparring with a few level 2s and then checked up on Itzy's level 1 spy class. There's this one kid, I think his name was Chenle? He's hilarious, you should hear his laugh, swear he broke my eardrum when I told a joke, I have no idea how he's so good at the spy stuff. How was your day, Ji?" Yuta asked her, leaning back in his seat.

"My day was pretty boing. Yelled at some kids, threw some knifes at one's head. Some dumbass forgot to put the safety back on his gun and almost shot my arm, but I got rid of him quick. Nothing too much, just a little more blood." She rested her head on Yangyang's shoulder, running her fingers along one of her knives.

"Don't you think you're being a bit harsh? We've known them for months now, and they're just kids, isn't this too much? Can't we start being a bit nice?" Yangyang asks, and by we, he meant Jihyun of couse, as all the others had been steadily taking down their evil facade around the students. Upon hearing his words, she abruptly sat up, straightening her posture immediately, as dark look overtook her features.

"Being nice is how people die." Her gaze clouds, a deep frown on her face. "I can't just trust people. I can't be nice. We'll get stabbed in the back when we least expect it. I won't let it happen again." With that she stands and stalks out of the room, her hands clenched tightly into fists as the other shared confused glances.

She runs through the house, down into the basement training area where she quickly throws off her jacket, approaching a punching bag. She goes at it, all her suppressed emotions and stress bubbling to the top and exploding into the bag with each punch.

She keeps going until her knuckles start to bleed, sweat dripping down her face as she continues to jab at the bag, almost sending it completely off it's hook. A hand on her shoulder wakes her from her trance, causing her to spins around with a fist raised at her attacker.

"Oh, Sungchan it's just you." She lowers her fist, seeing her fellow member holding a bottle of water out to her. She takes it, shooting a grateful glance at him, before slumping down to the ground.

"Everything ok? Do you need something?"

"I think I should be asking you that question. What happened back there?" He asks, sitting directly in front of her and awaiting her response.

"Nothing happened, it's just been a while since I trained. This school has been keeping me busy and we haven't done any missions recently. Don't want to lose my touch." She sends him a fake smile and he sees right through it.

"Bullshit. Jihyun, you trained me yourself, I can tell when you're lying. Plus, I know you've been down here at 2am everyday when the rest of us are sleeping." He stares her down, a triumphant smirk on his face as he sees the shock in her eyes. He reaches out a hand and gives her knee a comforting squeeze.

"Jihyun, you can talk to me. You've seen me at my very worst and literally built me into a mafia member. You can trust me."

"I know, Sungchan, I do trust you, with my life."

"Then what is up? Why are you so mean to the kids? Why did you say 'i wont let it happen again?'" He pushes her, searching her face for any clues. She takes a deep breath before looking at him with a pain-filled gaze, tears brimming on her eyes.

"You know I was born into this right? Thats why I'm the heiress?" He nods his head, urging her to continue. "Well, I wasn't always the heir. I had a brother."

"Do you mean Johnny?"

"No, not Johnny. He was adopted before I was born, he can't be an heir since he's not a blood tie despite being older than me. He'd only take over if I was dead. I had another brother. His name is Wooyoung, three years older than me.

He was my best friend. My rock. My light. We did everything together, we promised to always stay with each other, no matter what." She stares off into the distance, clenching her fists as she continued.

"We were inseparable. He was everything to me as our parents were always busy. He was the only one I ever had to turn to during my training. After my first kill, my first fight, everything. He was the only reason I stayed sane through all of it."

"so he's dead, right? Since you're the heir."

"No...he is still alive, but he's a traitor." Jihyun takes a big sigh before continuing, closing her eyes and preparing herself.

"He thought that because he was the heir, he was guaranteed to be the leader and ace of NCT, so he didn't train basically at all. When I turned 10, and he was 13, the Council decided that they needed to start selecting hand picking the next members of NCT. To train us to be unbeatable and grooming us into complete killing monsters, like what we're doing at the school. They chose 5 trainees, and he wasn't one of them." Tears slowly start to fall down Jihyun's face as she tells Sungchan her story.

He stared at her in shock once he noticed her tears. Hardly any of the members had ever seen her cry. She's pretty cold to everyone, but they all love her the same as she loves them. She never breaks her facade, it's not an act for her anymore, it's become who she is, and to see her crying broke his heart.

"I was always better than him in skills, but he never really cared. He always told me that once he was leading NCT, he'd have me at his side to help protect him. After the sort, he wasn't even considered for a part of NCT. They wanted to keep him out of everything, since he wasn't skilled enough, functioning more as a business man."

"Who did they pick?" Sunchan jumps in, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Aside from me, they chose Jaehyun, Taeyong, Mark, and...." she trails off, a pained expression taking over her features. "H-hansol."

"Hansol?" Sungchan asks, not knowing anyone in the mafia named Hansol.

"Hansol was my best friend. He grew up with Wooyoung and I, basically family. When Wooyoung found out about his sort, he lost it. He hated all of us, especially Hansol and I. He stopped talking to me completely, avoiding us to the point where weeks would go by without me even seeing him. In that time, the 5 of us continued training together, that's when I got so close to Mark, Tae, and Jae. But then one day..." She cuts off and looks down as her hands start shaking, painful memories being brought to the surface after spending years trying to forget.

"One day Wooyoung called me."

———
It's backstory time~
This concludes the first chunk of the story, from here on out, I'll release one chapter every day (unless something comes up) so happy reading!
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