Chapter Text
Minhyuk cringes at the bodies that litter the marble foyer. The blood seeps across the shiny white, and it's every sort of morbid. "Kihyun's not gonna be happy," he mumbles. Ahead of him, Hoseok snorts.
"When is Kihyun ever happy?" He tightens his hold on the squirming body, yanking harshly on blood-soaked strands. The guy flinches. Hoseok just rolls his eyes. He's not really in the mood for a struggle. It's late and their home was just broken into. He'd had a fight with Kihyun the night before and was seriously looking forward to make-up sex that probably wasn't going to happen. He pushes the man into Hyunwoo's study.
The carpet had long since been replaced with specially-treated hardwood, so any blood that drips can be easily cleaned up. And there's a metal folding chair. The man gets sat on it, but they don't bother to tie him down. It's five against one. And the man is injured; he's not going anywhere. Hyungwon leans agaisnt the heavy desk and turns her focus onto the TV that always has Spongebob playing. She's tired, too. "Hurry up," she whines. Her head drops onto Minhyuk's shoulder with a sleepy sigh.
Hyunwoo oh-so casually flips the knife he's holding. It's shiny and serrated. He paces calmly; back and forth for a minute or two. "So." More pacing. "What, exactly, were you hoping to accomplish?"
The man scowls. "Nothing." He's glaring, or at least trying- the left side of his face is pretty fucked up. "We just wanted to kill you."
"Lie." It'd be kind of scary, how calm Hyunwoo was, if Hoseok hadn't been in the business for years. Hyunwoo was very carefully trained in the art of being a criminal. He'd been bred into it and, subsequently, so had Kihyun, his adopted sister. The Son family ran the biggest crime ring in South Korea and, when his father died, Hyunwoo took over. Hoseok, as Hyunwoo's right-hand, had seen the man at his angriest.
"That's a lie. Because there were three of you. Too many for a recon mission but not enough for you to hope to get away with killing all of us. There are at least seven guards posted at various areas of the house. You were looking for something, but you knew you needed backup."
The guy smirks, which is infuriating. "At least you know your security sucks."
Jooheon snorts. "Well, as you can probably tell, we can take care of ourselves pretty well. The man power is better used elsewhere."
Hyunwoo slams his hand on the table; the loud sound makes them all jump a little. He gets in the guy's face. "What. The Hell. Were you looking for?"
The man flicks hair from his eyes and licks at blood rolling down his lip. He glances at Hyunwgwon. "Hey sweetheart. Why don't you put the news on?" Minhyuk growls lowly in his throat, irritated, but hands Hyungwon the remote. She flicks the TV to channel 5. Her stomach feels uneasy.
They watch the report on a car accident on the highway. Hyunwoo feels the anger building up under his skin. He doesn't like being toyed with. He flicks his knife around and faces their prisoner. The man is smiling. "I'm going to slit your-"
"...hyung..." Minhyuk turns the TV up loud.
"... at about ten this evening, the police were called in response to a shooting at River Street Apartments. When police arrived at the scene, there were four bodies with multiple gunshot wounds. The apartment belongs to Shin Hoseok and Yoo Kihyun. The whereabouts of either, along with their ten-month-old son, Changkyun, are currently unknown." The TV screen is temporarily graced with Hoseok and Kihyun's driver's lisence photos, and a picture of a smiling toddler."Police say there were signs of forced entry and a struggle, and that the shooting occured most likely in self-defense."
The rest of the new report is drowned out by a scream of pain. Hoseok leans on the knife he's buried in the man's thigh. "What the fuck do you want with Kihyun?" he snarls. The man is clearly in excruciating pain, but he tosses his head back with a laugh anyways. Hoseok kicks the chair back and his head hits the wood with a sickening crack. "Where are they?"
"How should I know? I'm here with you." Hoseok's boot meets the man's fingers with a quite awful crunch. The guy cringes. "Ow. Fuck."
Hyunwoo leans over him. "Start talking. Or you're going to start losing body parts."
"Look. She has something that my boss wants. And she's great leverage. Little sister of the leader of the Son syndicate, and the fiancee of it's second-in-command? Not really sure what he's planning to do with the baby." He shrugs carelessly. Then he glances back at the TV, where there's a picture of the three on display. "Besides. She's a pretty hot piece of ass."
"I'm going to kill you. Slowly."
"Hoseok." Hyunwoo frowns. "What does Kihyun have that your boss wants?"
"Not too sure, really."
"You're not sure."
"Nah."
Hyunwoo tilts his head. "Well then you're no longer of use to us. Hoseok. Make it quick. We have somewhere we need to be." He keeps his composure until he's in the hall. "Oh my God." He leans back on the wall. He feels sick, so so sick.
"She's fine, Oppa. She'll be fine."
"Call her, Hyungwon. Please."
Hyungwon nods easily and slips her cell phone from her back pocket. Kihyun's contact name was 'Eomma'. It didn't even ring, just went straight to voice mail. "Her phone is off."
They break about ten laws getting to the apartment building. Hoseok's not too worried about speeding tickets. It's a quiet, tense ride. They try Kihyun's cell a few more times. Even her burner, which they aren't supposed to call at all. There's no answer. The tension rises each time they're sent to voicemail.
The soft music that plays in the elevator on the way to the nineteenth floor is agitating.
There's yellow tape across the door of 18C and the door is locked. The tape gets yanked down. Hoseok pushes the door open and it hits the wall with a loud noise.
Other than the bodies being removed, nothing has been has been touched. Blood spatters on the gray tile. The shoe rack has been overturned. Kihyun's .9 mm is on the coffee table. It's also very cold, colder than it is outside. Hoseok rests a hand on the glock he has tucked into the band of his jeans. "... Hyunnie?" he calls. There's no answer. He didn't really expect one.
"Hyung, look." Jooheon holds up an iPhone and a Nokia flip phone.
Minhyuk frowns. "She left both phones and her gun? That doesn't make any sense."
"Actually, it might." Hoseok moves to the back, where the bedrooms are. The blankets are overturned on their king-sized bed, which means Kihyun was in bed when it happened. He flicks the lights on. The closet door is closed, but upon closer inspection, it isn't latched shut. He pulls it open. "Her bag is missing, the leather one. Jooheon, Minhyuk, move the mattress on the bed." They give him a confused look, but obey. As expected, there's nothing but a sheet skirt beneath it.
Hyungwon points at a leftover impression. "Was something here?"
"Yeah. A Sig, our fake Passports, and about ten million won and ten thousand US dollars."
"So they got out. Do you think she went to one of the safe houses?"
Hyunwoo snorts. "No. She's never thought they were any safe."
"So... search party."
"No," Hoseok says. "If we're being watched then we'd lead them right to Kihyun. And she's got Changkyun. She isn't going to come back until she knows for sure it's safe."
"Kihyun is well-trained. I trust she'll stay safe. Her and Changkyun."