The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter forty-one: Dirty deal

Iseul stopped breathing, and her entire body froze in fear. Chaewon was right there, a gun pointed at the side of her head, threatening to take her life in a matter of second.

Jaemin couldn't do much, his critical state putting him in a quite delicate situation. He was depending on the girls to stand on his legs, so an attempt to disarm their new attacker wasn't even an option.

"Who are you?"

Iseul didn't even recognize her own voice. It sounded strange, fear lacing her every word. She managed to keep it steady, though.

The man wasn't wearing a hood, but the darkness of the night and the poor light coming from the street kept most of his face hidden in the shadows. His piercing eyes stood out, however, and Iseul was pretty sure she could see a spark of ferocity in them, which didn't help ease the slowly growing feeling of terror twisting her guts.

"It doesn't matter who I am," the man responded with a deep voice, his weapon still in contact with Chaewon's pale skin. The girl had stopped moving the second she had felt the cold metal on her temple, and her cheeks had lost their natural blush. "You should be worrying about your friends," he added, a cruel smirk growing on his lips.

Iseul squinted her eyes and noticed a small scar on his chin, leaving a white line on his dark skin. It had healed a long time ago, judging by its pale color, but it was still visible and added a scary detail to his already menacing face.

"What do you want?" Iseul asked, trying her hardest not to show how scared she truly was. She had almost barked the question. She decided that pretending to be aggressive would probably be a better idea than revealing how panicked she was.

Iseul silently hoped that Kun would be done with their first assailant soon and notice that they were trapped, because at the moment, she didn't know how she could possibly get out of this situation without help. She knew how to fight, yes, but her skills against a weapon wasn't exactly a fair duel.

"Oh, I personally don't want anything. My boss, on the other hand, wants you."

Iseul frowned, and shared a confused look with Chaewon, who was still at gunpoint.

"Let's make a deal, shall we?" the man spoke again, getting closer to her friend. "I will spare your pretty friend here and the boy, on the condition that you come with me."

At this point, Jaemin had lost so much blood that he was now unconscious, the only thing keeping him up was Iseul's firm grip around his waist. His arm was heavily weighting on her shoulders, and she felt like her own legs would soon give up on her too. 

"Willingly or not," the man taunted, "you will come with me tonight."

Chaewon didn't say a word, tears streaming down her face. It was still raining, but Iseul could still see how red her eyes were. Her poor friend was absolutely terrified, and Iseul felt a wave of guilt hit her. Chaewon had nothing to do with any of this, she had simply asked her friend to hang out, and now, she might die because of her. She had put her friend in danger, and if something happened to Chaewon, it would be on her. Iseul knew it. She couldn't let that happen.

It was either her friends, or her, and Iseul had never been one to put herself before others.

"You should hurry," their attacker spoke, looking at Jaemin, "you friend here doesn't look so good..."

Iseul took a deep breath and swallowed down the lump in her throat. She didn't know who the man's boss was and why he wanted her, but there was no way in Hell that she would let her friends die for her.

"Fine," she spoke, forcing on her voice to make it sound strong. "I'll come with you, but you let my friends go."

Despite the pouring rain and the shadows hiding half of the man's face, Iseul still saw a sadistic grin on his face, revealing his yellow teeth.

"Then we have a deal," the man said, slowly putting down his gun.

Chaewon almost fell to her knees once the weapon was away from her face, her legs still shaking in fear.

"Chae," Iseul spoke with a soft voice, worried about her friend's current state of mind, "take Jaemin and wait for Kun to come get you, you'll be safe with him, alright? Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

Iseul should know better than to make a promise she wasn't sure she could keep, but right now Chaewon needed reassurance or else she would lose it.

Chaewon nodded, still in a state of shock, her cheeks wet with rain and tears.

Delicately, Iseul removed Jaemin's arm from her shoulders so Chaewon could help him sit down on the dirty pavement. Once the boy was resting against the cold wall of the alley, Chaewon looked up to her friend, her large eyes showing her fear.

"Iseul," she breathed, witnessing her best friend being held firmly against the tall man's chest. Her hands were tied behind her back, and the gun that was pointed at her a minute ago was now under Iseul's chin.

Despite the clear threat of death hanging above her head, Iseul stood tall, determined not to show her fear. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"You made the right choice," the man cooed in her ear.

Iseul had to hold back the need to throw up at his close proximity, his disgusting breath hitting her skin.

But right as the man was about to turn around to drag her to the black car waiting a couple meters away, something made him stop in his tracks.

Everything happened so fast that Iseul's brain had trouble following. She felt the chest of the man against her back rise, as a guttural groan left his throat. The next second she felt his grip on her loosen all of a sudden, and heard his body hitting the ground behind her with a thud. 

The next thing she felt was a wet and thick liquid in her already soaked hair, slowly running down the side of her face. Bringing her shaky fingers to her cheeks, she realized with horror that it was blood. The red liquid was now staining her clothes, mixing with Jaemin's blood.

"Iseul!" someone yelled before she was crushed in a pair of arms.

Taeyong's scent filled her nostrils and she suddenly let go of her fear, leaning in his tight embrace. She was safe.