Chapter Text
Baekhyun feels the tight ropes around his sore, bruised wrists, become tighter and tighter as the man tries to keep him near by basically ripping out the hair from his scalp. He is currently in the waiting room, waiting for the boss to pay him a visit and say something "really, extremely important"— something that absolutely cannot wait until the evening.
He struggles to break free, the good part in him still wants justice to win, still feels like he has a chance of escaping from this hellhole - it’s the one and only good part that still lingers inside, like a dying flame of a fire out in the wind.
It wasn't his choice to join the mafia, people who have known him since childhood are aware of what kind of person Baekhyun had been in his past life. He is not the type of person to ever think about doing illegal activities. Growing up in a household where both of his parents worked with the police, Baekhyun always had a strong sense of justice and stood up for those in need in school,even in college. He would never give up on his dreams in order to violate laws and kill people for fun.
He had even joined the National Intelligence Service. He was there as a young recruit who needed to be taught and educated. The instructors and those who were in charge of "teaching those youngsters" had been amazed by him - Byun Baekhyun who learned everything in minutes, who was so eager to know and learn that he even stayed up late at night to study something ahead of the class. He had been the first one to be picked for a so-called "educational field trip", one where recruits get to see how the work is actually done.
Except it wasn't a field trip.
Baekhyun screams when his partner gets shot in the arm and falls down to the ground, watching as he hisses in pain as blood comes rushing down his forearm and drips onto the dirty ground. They were trapped in a closeted room with no where to escape and the mafia organization they have been trying to catch for almost half a year now outdid them in numbers and weapons.
And he was about to make the biggest decision in his life. He had never touched a gun, never held it in his hand, but now, as blood starts pumping through his limbs with the adrenaline in his nerves, Baekhyun quickly gets closer to his teammate and grabs his gun. He still wasn't allowed his own weapon, he is too early in his education and training.
He points it towards the door they blocked before, the one that looks like it's going to break at any minute. He waits for something, shields his teammate with his body and just looks out of the window but still yelps when the door is kicked open. The mafia boss himself stands at the entrance, a gun pointed directly at Baekhyun.
"You're the hacker kid, right?" He asks and waits for an answer.
Baekhyun truly wants to answer him, he really does, but his tongue feels so heavy against the roof of his mouth and his hands start trembling. This is not training anymore, this is the real deal, the reality of their lives and Baekhyun is about to pass out from fear.
The adrenaline in his blood doesn't allow him to do that though, and he raises his gun to point at the criminal. He is ready to shoot when his teammate - the one who is supposed to mentor and protect him - kicks it out of his hands and Baekhyun feels the air rush out of him when he's slammed to the ground, wrists getting pinned behind his back in a forceful grip.
"Good job. You really have a weak student, huh?" The man laughs as he kicks the gun to the corner of the room and squats down to look at the young NIS agent in training.
Baekhyun struggles to break free, uses all of his powers to try to knock down either one of the two, but the more he does it, the more energy he uses and at one point it becomes too much for him. A punch gets delivered right at the back of his head and he just passes out, eyes rolling at the back of his head with sharp pain blooming all over his head.
It was all a planned operation. His partner, as he learned, was actually in a mafia organization, his job is to get someone from NIS to join the team. And he picked Baekhyun because "he was the naive soul who thought he would be able to save the whole world.”
How stupid of him to think that the NIS and the justice system in general is perfect. He now understands why his father had so much money in the past and why his mother always had those strange looking bruises on her neck that his father would despise. They were all sold to different mafia organizations, were all a part of them and their main duty was to allow illegal products like drugs and weapons to enter the country safely.
They were never a perfect family and Baekhyun’s entire life is a lie, an act of bad people playing good citizens.
The mafia took over. The greed for money and wealth took over.
And now, looking back at the times when Baekhyun thought his life was perfect - all planned out from the very start to the finish - he really doesn't know what to do. Everything didn't matter anymore, his whole plan to try and make his parents proud is useless.
The atmosphere in the waiting rooms feels heavy on his tired, slouched shoulders. It feels as if he is carrying the weight of a heavy burden on his shoulders. He has no plans to break free, he knows there is no point in doing that anyway. No matter how hard he tries to escape, how well-thought his plans were in the past, they always caught him.
They didn't do anything bad to him. Just kept him locked inside of a room with a laptop on a desk. A man would come to him every single day with a short list of orders he needs to do - usually government accounts he needs to hack or information he needs to gather. Nothing special.
At first, it felt like a true crime to steal from his own workplace and give the information to the boss to use it in his own, wicked plans. But now, as time progressed, Baekhyun simply didn't care anymore. Not when the NIS itself is a corrupted organization.
Baekhyun wakes up from his afternoon nap and looks at the room, noticing how there is a new piece of paper on his table next to his laptop. He fell asleep when he was waiting for a big file containing the information about other mafia leaders to download. Now the folder is on his desktop, ready to be hacked and opened. And the files will get leaked.
He stands up and feels a familiar sense of nausea creeping inside of him, twisting and turning his stomach, playing with his mind. It's the sad thing that his 'right' mind does sometimes - tries to remind him how he was once fighting for good.
Baekhyun swallows the saliva in his mouth and walks over to the desk to pick up the paper with a new to-do list. It's not very hard, just one thing: hack a certain government file that would tell them which part of the city the police has plans on raiding next.
Taking a seat and looking at his sad, dirty mug that once was white on the table, Baekhyun feels like he resembles that mug: he was white and now he is dirty. No longer the same.
A fly clicks on the keyboard and he is on the government server, searching for the files and quickly downloading them to his flash drive. He then knocks on the door and immediately, a man barges in to take it away from him. They usually never talk - the guys don't really fancy him here and the feeling is mutual. Baekhyun only talks to the boss and to a maid that cleans his room once a week.
"Boss wants to see you."
Baekhyun knows that he can't ask any questions about it so he nods and stands up. His hands get tied and a blindfold covers his eyes, even though he knows his surroundings.
That's how he ended up here, on his knees right in front of the boss's office room. He is currently having an important talk, as Baekhyun was informed, but he still wants to see Baekhyun and tell him something important.
"Come in," the voice behind the door says and the man that is holding him helps him get up and walk inside. He gets on his knees once again and stares at the dust on the marble floor.
There is a second pair of shoes near him but he can't see the owner of those. Only him and the boss are in the room at the moment.
"We have a very dear guest of mine with us today." Baekhyun nods and the boss continues. The room smells like expensive alcohol and smoke. "I think you remember our little plan, when I offered you freedom in exchange for a very good favor."
"Yes, I do remember that. I would need to destroy the organization from the inside and then I am free. You won't touch me nor call me after this." Baekhyun swallows the lump in his throat, hands trembling as he grips the ropes to try to calm his nerves down. Every time he is in this position, with his head down and his hands tied behind his back, he is afraid that will be the last time he would ever breathe or even live.
The boss is unpredictable.
"Sure, smart thing. Now, the perfect candidate is here. His name is Park Chanyeol and the only thing you have to do is destroy his little empire and knock the crown off of his head. And then you are free. I won't touch you. And I keep my promises."
Baekhyun looks away and listens to his beating heart. This is the first time he has ever heard someone say that to him out loud. He won't be trapped in this shithole. He would actually be able to get outside and start a new life, forgetting this chunk of something like a bad dream.
"You have two weeks to download a file from his computer. It has a number as the name of it and it contains a very important piece of information that I need." The boss stands up, his shoes making a squeaky sound on the marble floor despite the thick layer of dust floating on the surface. He walks up to Baekhyun and lifts his chin up to look and smirk at him. "I will sell you and you will destroy his stupid little clan like a crashing tsunami. He is going to burn from the inside."
Next thing he knows, he is in front of his 'new, temporary boss', his shoes reflecting the chandelier light and body reeking of high-end cologne. Voice deep but calming and very reassuring as the man has a little talk with his boss. Not even looking at him.
"Who is this, Honjoo?" This is the first time Baekhyun hears his boss's name - or at a name, other than 'boss'. "I am not in need of prostitutes or escorts."
"He is anything but that." The atmosphere gets hotter and hotter. The walls begin to actually suffocate Baekhyun and he has to gather all of his power not to scream and thrash around. He can't believe this - even though this is a fake act - his boss is still 'selling him off' to someone. Not even asking for money. Not even doing anything or asking for a favour.
Nothing.
"This kid was training in NIS. He is actually a very good hacker so I thought I needed to share him with you. Heard you were having some troubles with the sails ship?"
This is the feeling he is dreading the most - the feeling of being just a display toy for others to play with, not being able to control his life at all, no matter what he wants to do. He has been living in this nightmare for over a year now and it truly has no signs of stopping any time soon.
The voice in his head tells him that he needs to wait a bit more, the end is so near and he just has to hack one computer. One computer in exchange for freedom. One computer of a criminal that deserves to be in prison for all their crimes.
"Oh."
The voice is incredibly deep. So deep it sends chills down Baekhyun's spine and shocks his overwhelmed nervous system as he patiently waits for his future. Just a bit more and he would either end up dead if the agreement won't be beneficial for both sides or he would go to his new home for the next two weeks to complete his side of the deal.
"Is he the hacker that has been leaking all of the information from the government lately?" The voice gets nearer and the next thing Baekhyun catches is a pair of hands lifting his chin to look at his face.
"What a pretty thing." The man breathes out, words floating out like honey. Even though he is a criminal, Baekhyun takes his time to look at the handsome mafia boss in front of him. Unlike his current boss, Chanyeol looks way younger and elegant-like; dark hair pushed back from his face to reveal a pair of piercing brown eyes, sharp jawline, veiny hands; an expensive suit only complimented his overall looks and to Baekhyun, Chanyeol is how people actually paint the mafia in their minds when thinking about them.
Not all of the mafia bosses looked like that. Baekhyun was able to actually meet some of them whenever he was taking orders to hack something and he also understood how the mafia hierarchy was built: the small ones resemble gang members dressed in casual, street style clothing. The top ones, however, dressed like businessmen, attended luxury events and even had ties in the government.
And Chanyeol is one of them.
“How much?” He asks and walks away to talk to someone else standing in the corner of the room. That someone had a suitcase in hand and hustled to open it.Big stacks of money is revealed as Chanyeol makes sure to listen to the price.
“Free. All yours,” Honjoo smiles and waves his hand so the guards untie Baekhyun’s hands and let him stand up on his own feet. “I don’t need money from you. I just want you to enjoy my present.” He points at Baekhyun, indicating the young hacker boy is the present himself. “Besides, your business is growing. This is just my way of congratulating you.” And a familiar smirk that his boss always does appears on his face, the smirk being as sharp as a knife.
Chanyeol doesn’t respond and all Baekhyun can do is look to the side as he waits for his future to be decided in this exact room by two powerful men. Chanyeol is a powerful man, even more powerful than Honjoo, but Honjoo has something the other mafia boss lacked at the moment: connections overseas and important ties in the government. And the paper that Chanyeol actually wanted could be his golden ticket to introduce the rest of the mafia organizations around the world to him.
Baekhyun actually has no idea what file his boss wants to have. If anything, he would have to look for it in the computer system and actually read it himself because his boss never tells him about his plans. Baekhyun is just not that person.
The person with the suitcase full of money suddenly walks up to him and grabs his wrist to drag him over to Chanyeol. The boy doesn’t resist, he knows it’s better not to act like that at the moment, and just walks behind the helper.
They almost make it out of the room - Baekhyun sees armoured men in the hallway waiting for Chanyeol to come out - but Chanyeol stops and turns his head to face Honjoo. “If I discover this boy and you are planning something against me—” He takes out a knife out of his pocket, a small, sharp knife littered with gold with Chanyeol’s name engraved on the blade, and points it at Baekhyun’s neck. “I will not hesitate to kill him and then kill you. It would be a great message to the public to indicate that I do not tolerate betrayal.”
And with that, they walk out.
The walk to the car is silent, probably one of the most stressful things Baekhyun has experienced in a while. Being surrounded by so many men, armored, guns out and ready to shoot whoever attempts to walk up to them, Baekhyun feels a panic attack creeping inside as the feeling of being surrounded sits heavy on his shoulders. No one says anything, not even a word, their movements in sync as if these people were simply robots created to do only one thing: protect.
Chanyeol is walking ahead of him and these men protect the mafia boss the most. Of course, this is the mafia boss everyone has been talking about lately, every rumor - no matter how ridiculous it sounds - is spreading among people like wildfire with new information adding to the old one. It's no secret that Chanyeol is aiming for the government, or at least getting ties in the government.
That way, shipping products is way more easier as the government gives you protection and freedom. For someone like Chanyeol, this is crucial.
The person next to Baekhyun doesn't hold him. No one in this clan tries to hold him, no one tries to invade his personal space or scare him off, like his previous mafia group. Maybe the only thing that is stopping them from doing that is the fact that they know Baekhyun is going to "get" them information.
With these thoughts circulating in his head, Baekhyun silently follows Chanyeol and the rest of the clan into a train of black cars that stands in front of the mansion. Chanyeol gets into the first one and Baekhyun freezes on the spot, not knowing what to do. Previously, if he did ever go out with the boss, he always took separate cars and tried to be as invisible as possible, not wanting to draw attention to himself. That always worked and not getting attention meant he would not get weird stares from the rest of the clan; not all people liked him there, knowing that he once worked for the NIS.
"Don't just stand here," He hears someone say behind him. Baekhyun turns around and sees a different face standing behind him with his hands trying to push him in the car. "Chanyeol hates waiting. Get in."
He doesn't have time to ask any questions as he quickly gets into the car and sits behind Chanyeol, the person that pushed him in taking a seat next to him.
"I'm Jongin," The person says casually, not even looking at him, tone light and airy. "Sorry if I sounded rude. It's just not really safe to stand out there. We are not ordinary people." Jongin finally turns around to face Baekhyun and smiles briefly. "I'll explain everything later, okay? I'm sure you have questions you might want to ask."
The former NIS agent just nods and looks out of the window to avoid eye contact. The car falls silent, only Chanyeol and Jongin engage in a rather small conversation later on as the cars make their way to Chanyeol's place. They pass the downtown area rather quickly, the scenery flashing before Baekhyun's eyes as he tries to distract himself from all kinds of thoughts.
It doesn't matter what is going to happen in the next two weeks. The most important thing he has to do is to simply hack Cahnyeol's computer and get away from there unnoticed. The only thing that is keeping him awake despite the soft roaring sounds of the car as it drives along the smooth road, is the intrusive thought that the nightmare he has been living in for the past year will be over soon.
He is going to go home.
Trying to act sneaky, he turns his head to look at Jongin as the man falls into a deep slumber right in the car, snores being the only sound he makes. Chanyeol is busy looking at his phone, notifications disrupting the overall quiet atmosphere in the cabin. Jongin is well-built, almost the same height as Chanyeol, dressed in a pair of slacks and a simple t-shirt, unlike his boss, who looks absolutely breathtaking in his suit.
Jongin also has a honey-like voice, Baekhyun thinks. It's a bit nasally, which only gives it more charm, with warm undertones. If they weren't in a mafia clan together, Baekhyun would've thought Jongin was a friendly business owner. He actually has no idea what Jongin is in charge of, to be honest. The man has the most charming smile but the most manipulative eyes that change in a matter of seconds, depending on the situation.
Baekhyun still needs to find someone he could trust. Some who could help him accomplish his little plan.
Meanwhile, the car passes the city and goes into a more rural, secluded area. Trees are the main scenery here and they fill everything up with green colours. Late spring is Baekhyun's favourite time of the year, the weather is more forgiving and warm compared to the beginning of the season. Baekhyun despises cold weather in general, he always gets cold and the feeling is awful.
They turn around and stop in front of a large gate with engravings. Someone walks out and opens the gate for them and the cars start moving again. They end up driving for another ten minutes and Baekhyun assumes this is Chanyeol's mansion.
There is a big garden they pass with big trees and a lot of comfortable looking armchairs hidden from the passer's view. Baekhyun only saw them in movies. The mansion itself resembles just a usual mansion, nothing like the mansion Honjoo has.
The car stops and more people walk out of the mansion to open the cars' doors and let people out, with Chanyeol being the first one. He stands up and cracks his neck, breathing out a low groan. "Come out."
And only then does Baekhyun realise that Chanyeol is talking to him. He scrambles out of the car and accidentally punches Jongin in the shoulder along the process, knocking a low whine out of him. He wants to apologise, but the man quickly turns away and falls back asleep, and Chanyeol is still waiting here, waiting for him specifically, so Baekhyun purses his lips and finally gets out.
"I don't know who you really are - a real NIS agent or just a fake toy Honjoo sent to play with me - but I'll keep an eye on you, okay?" Chanyeol's tone is calm and holds no real threat to it and Baekhyun nods, not trusting his voice. "I'll have someone help you settle down and I won't test you today. Tomorrow, though, I expect you to be in my office after breakfast."
With that, the boss leaves with a couple of men with him, leaving Baekhyun alone near the car. He doesn't know what to do, everyone has already left to do their own business and Jongin is still sleeping, not even thinking about waking up.
Baekhyun turns around when he sees another young man approach him with a light smile on his face. "Hi! I'm Jongdae, I'm Chanyeol's helper slash secretary. I'll help you and show you around, okay?"
The hacker nods and shakes Jongdae's hands, not sure what else to say. "I'm Baekhyun, it's nice to meet you."
"Yes, same!" The secretary excitedly shakes his hand and doesn't stop smiling whatsoever, going inside the car to wake Jongin up and make sure the man walks into the mansion. "To be honest, everyone has been waiting for you ever since someone in our team said there is a hacker kid that may be joining our team soon. And turns out, the rumors were tight!"
Jongdae then moves and takes Baekhyun with him, talking the entirety of their little mansion tour. He explains everything, talks about every single detail in every single room, not missing anything. Baekhyun just nods and follows along as he makes mental notes in his head about the mansion.
Either Chanyeol's team consists of pure idiots - which he doubts - or they are just on the friendlier side compared to other mafia clans. Baekhyun has never felt this welcomed by a mafia clan that runs an illegal business and kills people.
The inside of the mansion feels even more luxurious than the outside, with expensive furniture, famous art pieces and even statues of some Greek Gods. Baekhyun wants to ask if those are all stolen but Jongdae answers that before he even has a chance to open his mouth.
"These are gifts." He points at the statues. "Rich people like giving away strange things and Chanyeol just takes him because he has to be nice with them."
"With whom?" The hacker asks, not getting the hint.
Jongdae lightly taps his shoulders, chuckling. "With other mafia clans, with investors, with businessmen, with government officials. You never know when you need help." He shrugs and opens a door that leads to a long, carpeted hallway.
"This is where all of us live. Chanyeol lives on the second floor and we live here. I think he wanted you to live next to me so I can keep an eye out on you," The secretary quickly walks to the next door and opens it with a key, letting Baekhyun go inside first.
The room is big and spacious, nothing like the room Baekhyun had in his previous mafia clan: there is a big, king-sized bed on one side of the room with blankets, sheets and pillows, a big, spacious desk, filled with electronics that he might need when hacking, a closet, and a door that Baekhyun assumes leads to the en-suite bathroom.
Baekhyun looks around and then turns his attention back to Jongdae who is looking at him with a smile. The hacker tries to smile in response, he really tries, but his lips just won't stretch. This clan is weird - this is the only conclusion Baekhyun has after being around them for some time. The clan is weird, Jongin is weird, Jongdae is even weirder, and Chanyeol...
He doesn't know how to feel around him. How to act in front of him. No idea what he is allowed and not allowed to do in this mansion, what he is allowed to say or what his true purpose is.
He is not even sure he is going to be able to steal that file. It might take more than two weeks for him.
"So," Jongdae interrupts his train of thoughts. The secretary steps inside the room and looks around as if he is trying to find something. Baekhyun just waits, still having no idea what to say or how to act in front of people.
If what Jongdae previously said is true and they were all waiting for him, then he has no idea how to act in front of them. They might expect him to be this world class agent that is skillful in every aspect, but the truth is, he wasn't. He can't even hold a gun properly, not to mention his fear of loud explosions.
"Um," Baekhyun chews on his lower lip until the skin is raw and almost bleeding, hands getting restless as he keeps them inside the pockets of his hoodie. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What is bothering you?" Jongdae asks.
"Is there a set of rules I should follow? Like, what am I allowed to do here?" He doesn't know how to continue without telling that the previous clan had a list of do's and don'ts and Baekhyun had messed up once, only once, but the boss had been extremely convincing when telling him what he does to people that mess things up.
Jongdae falls silent for a moment, trying to come up with an adequate answer. "Well, depending on what you actually mean by that. Generally, I would say you are allowed to do everything that is considered common sense, but," He turns around to face Baekhyun as he continues, a serious look on his face, "no touching the weapons room, no hacking into the security system, no sabotaging, no trying to escape with an important piece of information. That's it."
Baekhyun feels his breath getting stuck in his throat. Even though Jongdae said it with such casualty in his voice, his Cheshire looking eyes kept scanning his face, trying to look for any hints as if he tested Baekhyun.
"Oh, okay." Baekhyun quickly responds, voice a bit higher than his usual tone. "I thought it would have been more than that."
"Nah, Chanyeol doesn't really like making up a lot of rules. You'll see - he is way better than those other mafia bosses and he is actually a good person to talk to." Jongdae pats his shoulder once again - Baekhyun questions if that is a habit of his - and smiles before leaving the room. "Your new clothes are in the closet. Dinner will be served at 7 o'clock, so please come down to eat. And don't be late, okay?"
And with that, he leaves, shutting the door behind him and letting the silence swallow Baekhyun's frame. The hacker stands in the middle of the room with an empty head, not knowing what to do until dinner. The bedside clock shows a bright 2:48 pm, so he has almost five hours to go.
The task seems simple and the rules are not that harsh or strict (knowing that Baekhyun is planning on breaking a couple of them anyway). The clan is weird, but weird in a good way. He still has to observe the rest of the team and start planning his mission if he doesn't want to get caught. It all seems so easy, but still, why does he feel so icky inside?
Baekhyun spends the next couple of hours just exploring his room: it's really nothing fancy but it still feels nice to be in a decent, well-furnished room that satisfies all his needs. When he still was in the previous mafia clan, he had a small room with an old bed and an equally old desk.
They even gave him an old laptop to work with until it died from running complicated tasks. Honjoo wasn't too fond of buying him a new one but when Baekhyun successfully hacked yet another website without leaving any traces behind him, the mafia boss finally decided it was time for a new one.
Baekhyun isn't a person who wants expensive things. He just wants peace and with the mafia, that's the only thing he lacks and misses. When he thinks of his past life, he also realises that working for the NIS wasn't helping his desire to live calmly, yet it was still better than this. Still better than living and knowing anyone could knock on your door and kill you without any second thought.
And Baekhyun is scared of that. Scared of living with a constant fear of losing his life or thinking about his own death in general. Mafia people are scary, they regret nothing, have no second thoughts and no plans for the future. So they have nothing to lose. They fear nothing. As much as he likes this mindset deep down, the fear eats everything up. He can't live like that.
To help those thoughts go away, Baekhyun decides to check out his new electronics. On the desk, there are a brand new laptop, a tablet and a phone, all for him. There is even a little note that says he can do whatever he wants with these since there are all for him.
He thinks it’s weird that they had the computer ready for him without really knowing who he is. Even though there were rumors about him coming here, they still did not know if they were real or not and Chanyeol did not tell anyone about him.
So, why is it here?
Trying to push those thoughts away as they only brought a sense of fear to Baekhyun, he sighs and shakes his head. Whatever may be the reason, he will think about it later.
Picking up the phone, he unlocks it and scrolls through the settings to see if it's a brand new phone or was it used before. Then, he takes out his hard drive out of his pocket and turns on the laptop to run a couple of programs there just to check if he is being watched.
Then, after that, he also searches for any hidden spy cameras in his rooms in case the boss wants to keep an eye on him. Not finding any, his paranoia tells him to check everywhere as in everywhere, so he spends the last free hour crawling in his room, checking every little and hidden corner just to see if there is anything.
It's weird how Chanyeol didn't bother to put any cameras inside his room or track his electronics. He is still an intruder and an imposter among them, he really should have no trust here, but Chanyeol still gave him privacy and respects it.
A sudden knock on the door makes him jolt in place before he calms himself down, stands up and opens the door. Turns out, it's Jongdae who smiles at him and stretches his hand out. Now, Jongdae is dressed more casually, compared to a white shirt and blue slacks he saw him in when he showed him the room. The man is sporting a comfortable looking pair of sweats and a hoodie to keep him warm during the evening.
"You can come down for dinner, it's going to be ready in a few. I see that you still haven't changed so I can leave you here if you want or need to do that," With that, Jongdae closes the door and walks away, leaving Baekhyun alone who has no choice but to open the closet and look at the clothes inside, picking a simple looking t-shirt and deciding to keep his jeans on for dinner.
He quickly changes, ruffles his hair one last time, thinking whether or not he should take the phone downstairs with him, but in the end, when the rational side of him suggests that he has nothing important to do with the phone, he leaves it and goes out of his room.
Jongdae is patiently waiting for him in the hallway, typing something on his phone when Baekhyun goes out of his room. He notices him and quickly calls out his name to get Baekhyun's attention. Baekhyun walks up to him and notices a weird looking bracelet on Jongdae's hand that keeps beeping and blinking.
"Are you ready for dinner?" The man asks him as they make their way down the long set of stairs only to bump into other workers - Jongdae introduces them as housekeepers and cooks - and Baekhyun smiles shyly, bowing and greeting all of them. Then, they walk into the dining room where other people are already busy choosing their food among lots and lots of possible options served on one side of the room, akin to a continental type of dinners that are usually served in hotels.
"Choose whatever you want and then pick a free table. I'll be with you shortly, I just have to check on the cooks in the kitchen," Jongdae pats his shoulder and disappears as if he wasn't even near him in the first place, leaving Baekhyun all alone in the middle of the room with others. No one really paid attention to him - or pretended like they weren't paying attention to him - and minded their business, chatting, eating and drinking.
Chanyeol also wasn't here and Baekhyun guesses that the mafia boss probably eats in his private room. His previous boss did so too, as he said there is a lot more privacy and safety in eating alone.
Baekhyun never tested or questioned it.
He picks up his dinner, choosing a rather light one as he still has a strange feeling of nausea in his throat and goes to sit in a corner, far away from everyone else. He sighs, thinking that he picked out a good spot for some alone time, but that thought vanishes as quickly as Jongdae sits in a seat opposite of him with a plate full of food.
"Found you! You have no idea how hot the kitchen is, you should've gone there with me!" He says and immediately starts savoring the food on his plate, not even minding that Baekhyun did not respond. "Yeah, and Chanyeol wanted to see you. Have I told you that?"
Baekhyun stops eating and looks up at Jongdae. "Chanyeol said that he wants me in his office after breakfast tomorrow. Are there any changes?"
"No, I believe not. He told me the same thing but asked to double check in case he hadn't told you himself. But since you know, I will tell him that," Jongdae nods to himself, it feels like everything he does is for himself as he doesn't even bother to look in Baekhyun's eyes most of the time, and quickly finishes his plate. Immediately, one of the workers comes up to take the plate away from him and serve him a large glass of water which the man finishes in seconds. He stands up, thanks everyone and turns to Baekhyun, his phone already ringing.
"I have to go now. Enjoy your dinner, Baekhyun." Jongdae bows to him and leaves.
Baekhyun wants to shout a reply but with the room being full of people, he decides against it and resumes eating his dinner. More and more people come into the dining room, a loud cacophony of sounds filling the walls, and Baekhyun tries to finish as soon as possible to leave and only come back for breakfast.
He hates loud people.
"Would you mind if I join you?" A familiar voice comes from behind, startling Baekhyun. He drops his fork and looks for the source of the voice. Chanyeol stands right behind him in casual clothes, holding his plate of food and what looks like a glass of champagne. Not even having time to respond in words, the hacker nods and picks up his fork to place it properly on his empty plate.
"Thank you. Did you enjoy your food?" The mafia boss takes his place and starts cutting the meat on his plate. "I'm sorry for startling you earlier, as well as not really introducing myself. I was quite busy during the day. So I wanted to chat with you a little before our proper talk in the morning; I think the evening is not the best time to talk about serious things, you must be tired."
Baekhyun takes his dear time to respond to the man, stuck in a trance. The way the mafia boss talks, the way he acts in front of him - everything screams high class. The man knew how to act, how to speak in front of people to get the impression he needed to get, Baekhyun sensed that. The only thing he questions is the reason why Chanyeol, out of all people, spoke to him like that.
No matter what he is going to do to him, he is still an enemy: he had worked for the NIS and then worked for another mafia boss, why is Chanyeol so polite and considerate with him?
But out of all the people he has spoken with today, Chanyeol is probably the most pleasant one. He likes the way he structures his sentences, the way he pauses to get a response from him and only then he continues to talk. He likes how calm Chanyeol's tone is - it screams that he spends his time among important people.
"Thank you for thinking about me, Sir." Baekhyun responds after some time, head turning away to look at the waiter that takes his plate away for him. "I am a bit overwhelmed from the sudden change of settings but I must say that the laptop you gave me works really nice. Thank you, again."
Chanyeol, still busy with his meat, nods. "Glad to hear that. Had to talk to my IT specialist to know which kind would suit a person like you." He lifts his head to meet Baekhyun's eyes, and, without breaking eye contact, continues. "I hope you can get the information that I need. After that, you're going to return to Honjoo."
Baekhyun's face turns sour after Chanyeol mentioned the name, but he hides it with his glass of water he quickly gulps in one go. "Is there anything else I could do for you, Sir? Besides the document I need to get."
His heart starts beating louder in his ears. Despite hating all mafia bosses, Baekhyun's cheeks burn in shame as he realises Chanyeol is comfortable to be around with. If he ever has to choose who he wants to be with - in terms of just being in one room together - he would choose Chanyeol, without any doubt.
The mafia boss shakes his head, a light smile gracing his lips. "I don’t believe so, Baekhyun, but thank you for your offer. You may go now, if you are finished with your dinner. I will see you after breakfast to discuss our plan properly."
The hacker nods and gets up, hand immediately hiding themselves in the pockets of his jeans.
"Goodnight, Sir."
"Goodnight, Baekhyun."
After dinner, Baekhyun goes straight to his room, locks the door and lets a sigh leave his lips, wondering why his body got so tense once Chanyeol started talking to him. His palms feel sweaty, just like the rest of his body, so Baekhyun goes inside his bathroom and takes a long, hot shower to ease his mind. He stands under the water as he thinks about why Chanyeol talked with him in such a nice way. He wonders if it is just a façade and if he should fear the man like he fears everyone in this world he lives in.
His head feels heavy and the thoughts disappear once he finally settles down in the bed, sinking into the comfortable mattress. Not even seconds later, his eyes start drooping and he falls asleep with hopes of a better future ahead of him.
***
Baekhyun wakes up earlier than he usually does, the sound of other's voices in the hallway successfully waking him up. He ends up spending the remaining thirty minutes in bed, wrapped in the blanket, before dragging himself out of bed and getting ready to get downstairs for breakfast.
For the most part, the whole house did not feel like a house that would belong to someone who ruled the mafia world, let alone such a big organisation. Jongdae briefly introduced him to Chanyeol's business when they were touring around the house. Chanyeol mostly does business that involves architecture and real estate, so the normal world knows him for that. Apparently, he owns the largest number of buildings in Korea and is about to start building in both Japan and China, but he needs more partners for that matter.
However, Chanyeol also has extremely good ties in police and the government, he just needs that one file (that Baekhyun is supposedly going to get him) to earn his place and be the best of the best in this matter. Everything revolves around that file which no one really knew about except Chanyeol himself.
Baekhyun finds the clothes he wore yesterday and decides what they will do, putting them on and rushing downstairs. Today, however, he does not bump into Jongdae or Chanyeol, and that makes him sigh in relief as he lets himself walk around the tables and pick food for himself to his heart's content. He doesn't pick much, he just goes with an omelet and a large cup of coffee to satisfy his grumbling stomach.
The dining hall is still empty, not many people are eating at the moment and Baekhyun wonders where everyone is. He's sure he saw a lot more people yesterday, but now the house screams of emptiness and shallowness. Even Jongdae, who he had seen running around yesterday, doing tasks and yelling at people, has not been seen today.
He finishes his breakfast rather quickly, he hands the empty plate to the waiter and goes back to his room to change into something else as it keeps getting hotter to be in a warm, thick hoodie in a very well heated mansion. He finds a big t-shirt and puts it on, grabs his phone and his laptop and leaves to see Chanyeol.
Baekhyun sighs when he realises he is lost in the labyrinth of corridors and rooms on the upper floor, unable to guess which room is actually Chanyeol's. Jongdae had said some of his most trusted men live near him in case of emergency, but the doors to the rooms all look one hundred percent identical, making it even harder for Baekhyun to guess them. He sighs again, deciding to eavesdrop on some of them in hopes of catching Chanyeol's voice, and, to his luck, the furthest door to the right - the one he decided to check up on first - turns out to be Chanyeol's office.
He knocks and waits for a response until a soft "You may come in." is heard and he pushes the door open to walk into the gigantic office. It's all black and white with minimal touches of brown and beige, minimum of furniture and decorations. A large desk is situated in the corner of the room, along with a big sofa and two armchairs near it. There is a big stack of papers on the desk and behind it, Baekhyun sees even more - books, journals, papers, documents, notes - everything.
"How was your breakfast? Did you enjoy it?" Chanyeol doesn't even lift his head to see him - he knows Baekhyun is still busy looking around the office as he tries to soak up every little detail of it. "I apologise for not making it. Had an emergency this morning."
Baekhyun takes a seat in one of those armchairs and places the laptop on his lap, drumming his fingers on its surface. "That's completely fine!" He assures, tone a little bit too loud. "I had a very filling breakfast, thank you!"
He waits for a proper response but gets a low hum as Chanyeol, once again, busies himself with big stacks of documents, brows furrowed in concentration.
"You-" Baekhyun clears his throat, Chanyeol finally looking up at him with his deep eyes. "You wanted to see me to discuss why I'm here." He points at the computer on his lap, not sure what else to say. Chanyeol, on the other hand, seems like he understood something, nodding and putting the documents away.
"Yes, I wanted to know what you can do to see if Honjoo was honest about you being a hacker." The mafia boss smirks as he notices the surprised look on Baekhyun's face. "Don't worry, I won't test you. I just want to see if you can hack the government's website and get me the paper."
Baekhyun nods, hands still clutching the laptop. He chews on his lower lip, deciding on whether he should say the thing he needs to say to avoid any misunderstanding. "Sir, sometimes it takes days to hack a website in order to not get caught."
"I don't have any business trips I need to attend, so I still do not see your point."
The hacker panics after that. If he won't have any privacy, how is he going to hack into Chanyeol's security system to find the right file that Honjoo needs? He needs some privacy, he needs to be alone, he needs to have his ways.
Think.
"But Sir," Baekhyun starts, thoughts rushing in his head as he tries to think of a lie to convince Chanyeol to give him what he wants. "I need to actually know what you need from the website. Then I'll be able to tell the time I would need to hack into the system."
The mafia boss eyes him, dark pupils not breaking eye contact. Baekhyun shifts in his seat, feeling as if the other is trying to scan him on the spot, but remains silent until Chanyeol nods and claps his hands. "Sure."
Chanyeol goes to the big stack of documents on his table and takes his time sorting them out until he finds the one he needs. He puts it on the table and then gives it to Baekhyun. "The paper that I need contains important information about the security system that was updated not long ago where my goods are usually arriving from China," He points at a picture and Baekhyun nods, no desire to interrupt. "The file that you are going to hack contains the information. It also contains the information about other places and their security systems. Once I have it, I can ship everything back and forth without worrying about getting caught."
The hacker nods again and scribbles down some notes right on the paper to make sure he remembers. Chanyeol then tells him where he should find the document and what he should look for next.
After about twenty minutes of pure talking, Baekhyun has a full to-do list. Not only does he have to look for that document, he also needs to download everything from the government list that contains information about Chanyeol. He also needs to clear his name if anything is going up against him.
Now this is going to be the perfect excuse to actually ask for some privacy.
"Sir?" He tries again and Chanyeol hums, waiting for his question. "So, can I work in my room? You can- you can put someone there to watch over me! I just want some privacy."
The mafia boss looks at him but then nods and wants to respond when a very panicked Jongdae runs into the room, eyes wide, and points at his phone to shove it in Chanyeol's face. "Honjoo is currently under attack."
Baekhyun's eyes go wide, brain trying its hardest to process the information. What does that mean? If Honjoo is under attack, who is going to cover him on the D-date? Honjoo had initially planned to attack the Park's mansion to give Baekhyun some time to download the information and escape. But now, if Honjoo ends up dead, he has nothing to do here.
What is he going to do?
"Is he okay?" Chanyeol asks and starts packing some papers. He then stands up and looks at Baekhyun. "You are excused. I expect you to start working today. Tell me about your progress during dinner." With that, both Chanyeol and Jongdae go out of the room, the secretary running in another direction and screaming as he waits for someone to appear.
Soon, armored men fill the whole house, ready to be attacked, and Chanyeol leaves.
Baekhyun silently goes to his room and slides down the wall. What is even happening?
Chanyeol didn't return that night. Or the next night or the night after that. Baekhyun makes sure to make fake progress on Chanyeol's document, but in reality, he is just working on his own document. Half of the mansion is empty - a lot of people ended up leaving along with Chanyeol and the other half joined them the next day. Having no supervision and making sure the CCTV was turned off, Baekhyun wanders around the mansion trying to find the security room to download the needed files.
It turns out to be harder than expected when he sees Jongdae - the one who was supposed to leave with Chanyeol - near his room one day, a big pack of popcorn in one hand and a laptop in the other one.
"Let's watch some movies!"
And he has no choice, which is why right now, he is sitting in Jongdae's room - because his room did not have a TV - watching Game of Thrones and munching on some popcorn. The one and only thing he understood about Jongdae is that the man is terrible with spoilers, always saying important information about characters and not letting Baekhyun enjoy the actual thing.
And that's how they spend the rest of the week and a bit more.
Another thing that he understands is that he won't be able to do everything in peace as Jongdae had been assigned to watch him while Chanyeol deals with Honjoo and the people who attacked his organisation.
Baekhyun sighs, eyes following the main character on the screen, Jongdae's loud comments filling his ears. They are still in his room, after a good dinner, trying to finish the second season of the show in peace. Chanyeol still has not returned home, along with other men, and Baekhyun realises that he has a bit more than four days to finish his task and he has made zero progress.
"Jongdae," He starts, voice quiet. The other one looks at him and offers more popcorn, thinking Baekhyun needs some, but the hacker just shakes his head. "I'm interested just from the hacker's point of view: how does your security system work?"
Jongdae eyes him in suspicion. What a great way to get caught, Baekhyun, he thinks and tries to come up with a proper excuse of his stupid question. “I mean, I tried logging into your system today and I couldn’t. It kept saying “access denied.”
"Oh, you mean it that way." Jongdae stands up to stretch, falling for Baekhyun's lie. "You have to go to the weapon's room and log in to the system to access our documents room. There, we have a big computer that is connected to the internal server that is protected from the outside world. You have to also log in there and download or upload what you need."
Baekhyun curses internally and tries not to show it to Jongdae. This is really, really bad, he can't do it with the attention that Jongdae gives him all the time. He has to have an emergency to do something - to break into the weapon's room and download the file on his hard drive without catching attention.
Realising he's been silent for a while now, Baekhyun grabs a handful of popcorn. "Honjoo doesn't have that. I insisted on trying a better security system but he refuses."
"To be honest, Honjoo is an idiot. I have no idea why Chanyeol even supports him."
"What do you mean?" Baekhyun asks, confused.
"Well," The secretary sits next to him again and takes the popcorn bowl, hitting the play button to load the next episode. "You see, Honjoo is actually just a little gang compared to Chanyeol. And Chanyeol is his sponsor for big robberies and stuff like that. And I just know there is something fishy about Honjoo, but I know I can trust you!" He suddenly faces Baekhyun and stretches his hand out for Baekhyun to shake it.
Baekhyun tries to make the pain in his chest go away as he shakes his hand, tries his hardest not to think how in just a few days he is going to ruin this place and probably kill these people if everything goes as planned.
If there wasn't any mafia in this world, maybe, just maybe, Baekhyun would've considered Jongdae his friend.
***
The next morning is oddly quiet, even more quiet than the day before. Baekhyun wakes up with a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach as he tries his hardest to understand the reason behind it. In the end, he just blames it on the comforter that fell off of his frame during the night and left him all cold and lonely. He snuggles back into it and falls asleep for another hour or so, until his alarm goes off and tells him it’s time for breakfast.
He slowly gets ready for the day, trying his hardest to think of a way he could sneak into the weapon’s room to get to that computer. The due date is approaching fast and he needs to solve that problem quickly.
The only person that keeps bothering him is Jongdae, as if the man didn’t have work to do. Instead, he just dragged Baekhyun wherever he felt like and made him do useless things, making it seem like he wanted to bond with Baekhyun but in reality, he was just trying to distract him.
And even now as Baekhyun hears a knock on his door, he knows who that might be. He opens the door and sees a very happy Jongdae - as if the man never changed his facial expressions - waiting for him, a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Hi! What about having breakfast outside today?” The secretary asks, eyes beaming.
The hacker thinks about it for a short moment and in the end, thinking there is nothing wrong with having a little breakfast in nature, nods. He follows Jongdae when the secretary promises to show him the beautiful garden Chanyeol owns.
The walk is mostly quiet, Baekhyun still thinking about how he is going to return and download that document. There’s no way in hell he can just punch Jongdae, take away his key and run for his dear life to get that document and then return back as if nothing happened. There are cameras everywhere, and there is always someone in the security room, so his little act won’t go unnoticed.
Think, Baekhyun.
He then thinks about telling Jongdae his situation and hoping for the best - after all, this guy seems like a good one, the one who may have a good heart and the one who may spare him and pity him and help him. But what if he's not? He is still Chanyeol's secretary, his right hand, basically, he absolutely cannot risk this opportunity just for someone to turn him in.
And he is, too, a criminal.
Baekhyun becomes so deep in his thoughts he forgets to turn the right way and ends up scaring Jongdae. But nothing about his action is scarier than a loud gunshot that they hear coming from the first floor, right near the cafeteria they were about to enter. The gunshot gets followed by a very loud explosion, breaking all windows and even some statues Chanyeol has. The wave of such an explosion hits both Baekhyun and Jongdae and it pushes them to the ground. Jongdae instantly covers himself from glass shards and other pieces that come flying at them.
Baekhyun hisses as a piece of glass pierces his skin, immediately drawing out blood, and stands up, crawling towards Jongdae. The other one looks like he might have a concussion from the impact as his gaze is a bit dazed and disoriented, but the hacker still shakes him.
"We have to go somewhere safe!"
Jongdae gets out of his weird state and nods hesitantly, standing up with the help of Baekhyun. He looks around and sees men flooding in, all armored with big guns and bombs.
"Baekhyun, we have to get to the second floor. There is an emergency room."
Baekhyun nods and together, they run towards the stairs but immediately stop once they see a group of men approaching them. Baekhyun recognises them as Honjoo's men, he has seen a couple of them previously as they were assigned to watch his door to not let him escape. These men take things seriously and if they are told to kill them, then they are going to kill them.
Will he also be murdered right here,right now? Baekhyun asks himself that and watches with horror on his face as one man takes out a gun and aims at Jongdae. The secretary notices too, and quickly hides behind some statues, tugging Baekhyun along with him.
He can't die like this. He can't just die here when he is so close to being free and away from this world. He even imagines himself sitting in a chair in his kitchen, drinking coffee and thinking about the future. Baekhyun is so young, he has so many things yet to do, he can't die like this!
The hacker starts panicking once he hears more gunshots. He then sees Chanyeol's men run into the mansion and start attacking the invaders. So, does that mean Chanyeol is here too?
Just as the thought occurs to him, Chanyeol comes running up to check up on them.
"Is everything fine?" He looks like he's been in a battle beforehand, dirt smeared on his face along with a thin cut on his cheek. The blood trickles down his neck and dirties his white shirt that is covered in dirt as well.
"We're okay, just have to get through." Baekhyun answers instead of Jongdae who is busy looking for other ways to escape. More screaming, more gunshots and explosions fill the place and Baekhyun wants to cover his ears to block away the yelling and the agonizing, pained screams.
"Okay, if anything happens, Jongdae knows what to do." Chanyeol runs up the stairs and shoots one of Honjoo's men in the head, blood splattering all over the white marble stairs. Baekhyun feels his breath hitch somewhere in his throat, never witnessing death so near him before. He has never even thought he would see someone kill a person, a human being right in front of him.
Baekhyun had always been taught to think bad people deserved what they were given. And if a good person does something bad, then it's a sign that good things are about to come their way. Baekhyun was taught to think that way from a very, very young age, and no matter how absurd the theory sounded, he believed it because it came from his parents. And if his parents were doing justice and bringing peace to the world, then that probably has to be true.
But this? No one is ready for this.
Jongdae suddenly tugs on his wrist and they both run up the stairs to get to the second floor. Baekhyun tries his hardest not to look at the dead body sprawled out on their way but once they get to the floor where their bedrooms are, he sees more bodies, more blood. Everything is destroyed on this floor, he can't even see the carpet as it's littered in blood, glass and something black, probably from explosions. There is fire in the far right corner of the hallway and although it is not spreading, Baekhyun’s breath still gets stuck in his throat.
A group of men corners them unexpectedly and someone delivers a punch, but Jongdae quickly dodges it. He ends up grabbing the man's gun and shooting him with it, making Baekhyun scream.
Jongdae then turns around and looks at him, but Baekhyun is too far gone to notice anything: his eyes only focus on the speckles of blood on Jongdae's hand and the heavy gun that he is holding. He feels how harsh Jongdae is shaking him and he tries to answer - he really does - but everything is so hard to do when you're panicking.
He isn't ready for stuff like that to happen.
Once he finally snaps out of it, trying to regulate his breathing as he was taught previously, he remembers how much he missed. Even though he has been preparing himself for this all his life, no training in the NIS centre could copy the real battlefield. Nothing compares to this.
"Baekhyun, fuck!" Jongdae is literally screaming in his ear as he throws away the gun. Baekhyun can see with his peripheral vision how yet another man falls to the ground from a bullet. "I need you to be with me, fuck! I don't have fucking time for this, I'm not babysitting you!"
Jongdae looks around and curses under his breath. There is no way they are going to make it out alive with no guns. The main battlefield is happening on this floor and there are so many people and he has no bullets left in this gun.
He tries shaking Baekhyun again, even hitting him on the arm while trying to get a response from the hacker who seems to be zoned out, his chest heaving as short breaths rock his body.
"Oh, come on, Baekhyun, it's not the time to panic, shit..." Jongdae begins shaking him again once he hears gunshots and screams near them.
The hacker can see the veins on Jongdae's forehead, his pupils dilated due to the adrenaline in his blood. Even though he tries to act calm, Baekhyun can still sense the others' fear, no matter what.
"Go and get more guns for us. I left mine in my room and now it's blocked because of the fire," Jongdae explains to him one more time and gives Baekhyun a card key. "Go! And please do it fast, we have to get through, okay?"
Baekhyun nods and grips the card as he makes his way downstairs once again, trying to find the weapon's room. He hears screams and gunshots, even explosions from bombs, but tries his hardest to ignore them and just find the room.
Why did Jongdae give him the card? Why couldn't he just go and grab the guns himself? Baekhyun doesn't even know where the rooms are located!
One of Honjoo's men approaches him from behind and almost stabs him, but Baekhyun turns around, yelping in pain. The knife still managed to cut his shoulder quite deeply, making blood trickle down and ruin his clothes.
Adrenaline rushes throughout his body and he honestly does not have time to think - he punches the guy in the stomach and while he is hissing in pain, grabs him by the hair and slams his head into the wall.
The man passes out and Baekhyun, still trying to process things, finally sees the door leading to the weapon's room and runs towards it. He tries his hardest to not think about what he just did.
The man who is now lying on the floor is a bad guy, he totally deserved the thing that happened to him. He deserved everything that happened to him and he deserved to get beaten up, and even if he died, he deserved death because he was bad.
Baekhyun repeats this like a mantra as he slides the card key with shaking hands and gets into the weapon's room, immediately getting overwhelmed by the amount of weapons around him.
He wants to punch himself and he tells himself that he was training to work in this field, he was supposed to be facing criminals, trying to make the world a better place, but nothing seems to be working as he starts hyperventilating once again.
The hacker grabs two guns and is about to leave the room when he finally sees the other door, a sudden realisation hitting him. That door leads to the security room with the documents, meaning he can just enter the room with the key and get the files he needs.
But what will happen to Jongdae? The man has nothing for his own protection, and even though he is a criminal, he is still someone that has been nice to Baekhyun, offered him food, watched TV shows with him and helped him adapt to the place.
He is the one that made him laugh and feel at ease while Chanyeol was gone all this time. Jongdae is the one that actually treats him like a friend and makes him forget he is in the mafia, an organisation that kills people every single day.
With Jongdae, he feels like a human being.
With a frustrated sigh, Baekhyun clutches his head and crouches down as he debates over what he should do. He can't leave Jongdae like this, can't let him die, but he also can't just go out of this room without the document that Honjoo needed.
It's his only ticket that could help him escape and start living normally. He absolutely cannot fuck this up.
Finally deciding to think about himself, Baekhyun feels his heart clenching in his chest as he opens the security room with the card and gets inside. He sees that gigantic computer in the corner of the room and quickly walks up to it.
His fingers are trembling as he puts down the guns and logs in as a guest, trying not to panic when he hears another set of gunshots right near him. He has to do this very quickly: just find the document and print it since he doesn't have a laptop with him at the moment.
Baekhyun's hands fly all over the keyboard, eyes scanning every document in an attempt to find the right one before anyone would come in and find him. The last thing he wants is to get caught by one of Chanyeol's men because the rivals could potentially recognise him if he screams loud enough.
Just a bit more to find the document and hit the download button: the printer is literally right here. Baekhyun bites his lip, pretty sure he is drawing blood, and huffs out a puff of air once he finds the right one. His body is trembling when he hits the print button.
He is about to turn around and get the document but he swears his life just flashes before his eyes after he hears a click. Something cold gets pressed to the back of his head.
Baekhyun feels like dying.
He knows it's a gun, knows someone is standing behind him with a loaded gun, ready to shoot him. The hacker senses an approaching panic attack, hands going up in defeat. "Please don't shoot, I just need one document." He pleads and looks at the person cornering him in defeat. There is no way in hell he can escape this and run away.
Still, the person does not move the gun away, instead pressing it into his scalp, earning a hiss from Baekhyun. He wants to say something else, thinking hard of different ways he can convince the person behind him.
But his thoughts stop abruptly when he hears the voice.
"Gotcha, Byun."
Jongdae.
Baekhyun wants to turn around and explain everything, wants to say that it's not his fault, he never wanted to be a part of the mafia, never wanted to hack someone and get the information out. He never wanted to meet Chanyeol or Jongdae and he never wanted to steal things.
But he had to.
Baekhyun wants to say it but Jongdae hits him with a gun and the next thing that he knows is that he is falling to the floor with a painful scream escaping his mouth as Jongdae smirks and looks at him, not even wanting to help.
There is no way he is going to come out alive now.
Baekhyun is going to die tonight.
***
Baekhyun’s head feels like an erupting volcano, ready to explode at any given moment. He doesn’t even want to open his eyes, he just knows that whatever is going to happen to him next won’t be a good thing. He screwed up bad.
The desire to live a normal life has gotten into him and in the result, clouded his brain, pushing out all rational thoughts. But how did Jongdae find him when literally every floor had Honjoo’s men? He didn’t have a chance to even pass them alone.
When he finally decides to open his eyes, his surroundings are all blurry. The muffled voices in the background start getting clearer and clearer until a bucket of freezing cold water gets poured on him, Baekhyun gasping from the sudden shock.
His body starts trembling as he tries to catch his breath and get used to the sense of coldness surrounding him. With his clothes soaking wet, he coughs out the water he inhaled and looks around, trying to find the person who poured the water on him.
"Finally awake?" Someone snickers behind him. Only now does Baekhyun realise his hands are tied with a rope, the marks on his skin an angry red colour due to him trying to tug them free earlier, on the cold concrete floor. They are in a basement - it feels like a basement with countless boxes of unknown things, as well as something Baekhyun never wishes to see again: torture devices.
While they aren't something straight out of a horror movie, they still make his stomach turn. Big chains with locks hang from the ceiling, almost reaching the floor, with traces of blood still on them. Near those, a table with different screws and things to torture people with is situated.
Baekhyun fears that he is going to be the next candidate to get tortured.
The voices behind him get clearer as the sound of someone dragging a body fills the room and bounces off of the walls. He turns his head around and gasps as the person they are dragging is a very beat up Honjoo himself, bruises covering his face, making it almost impossible to recognise him.
He is unconscious and leaves a clear path of smeared blood on the floor. People drag him then tie him up to one of the chains and pour a bucket of cold water on him- just like they had done with Baekhyun. Honjoo wakes up and groans in pain.
Baekhyun wonders why he didn't get the same treatment.
"Now that we are all here," Baekhyun recognises the man that is walking up to him: it's Jongdae. "We can finally begin. First of all," He turns to Baekhyun, making everyone in the room stare at him, "Thank you, Baekhyun, for playing your role oh so well. I never would have thought that someone like you would agree to hack another mafia organisation. I thought you were from the NIS or something. Isn't it like, illegal?"
Others laugh at the joke and Baekhyun bites his inner cheek, trying his hardest to control his breathing. A panic attack won't help him right now.
"The fact that it was oh so painfully easy to understand your intentions only added to the fun," Jongdae continued his little speech, now walking towards Honjoo. "You thought pretending to be attacked just to get us out of the mansion so your little hacker can get the document was going to work?"
He doesn't need an answer.
"Anyway, with everything said, I think it is time to teach you all a little lesson. What will happen if someone tries to betray us?"
Baekhyun watches how two men start beating up Honjoo, his groans and screams piercing his insides. The fact that violence is so common here, the fact that no one is even batting an eye at a man who is screaming out of pure pain makes him want to cry.
Why? He just wants to go home.
When they are done and Honjoo is breathing heavily through his mouth - well, the bloody mess of the mouth, if you can even call it that - and Jongdae nods, the hacker notices the door opening wide to reveal the mafia boss.
Chanyeol doesn't look angry, In fact, he looks... pleased? Like he was waiting for it. Like he knew about it.
And Baekhyun realises one thing: Chanyeol knew about their little mission from day one.
"I see that Baekhyun has already realised that we knew about their plan," The mafia boss smirks, eyes set on Baekhyun, and walks to the middle of the basement. "It was incredibly stupid and reckless of you, Honjoo, to try and lie to me like that when I was the one who supported you all this time."
Honjoo coughs up blood, dirtying the concrete, and smiles while flinching. "You are too arrogant, Park. The fact that you are controlling the city doesn't mean that you are higher than any of us. So I wanted to teach you a lesson," He confesses and then turns to Baekhyun, "If only this son of a bitch didn't fuck up!"
He tries to escape, tries to get closer to Baekhyun, but the chains never let him do that so he just slumps in place. Baekhyun's breath hitches and gets stuck as a big lump somewhere in his throat, pupils widening as he sees someone so raged trying to get to him. He knows Honjoo won't be able to do it, but the urge to move back and hide somewhere still lingers inside.
"Never trust a fucking cop." He spits out.
Chanyeol chuckles. "Now that we've got that out the way, I want to show everyone what is going to happen if one mafia group betrays another mafia group." He nods at Jongdae and Baekhyun sees the secretary come up behind Chanyeol with a camera in his hand.
The mafia boss takes out a gun and points it at Honjoo. Baekhyun's eyes widen and he tries to look away, tries to scoot away and hide somewhere but a man standing beside him forcefully turns his head to make him look at the scene.
Baekhyun feels like crying and dying at the same time because he knows his turn is going to be next, he is going to die from a bullet to his head. No one will ever find him, mafia groups always bury their victims' bodies somewhere outside the city.
And as much as he knows the outcome, it still scares him. For one minute, he had been so sure he was going to make it out alive and escape the mafia. He may not return to the NIS, but he is going to find a stable job, buy a nice house, marry someone, maybe get a dog, and die in peace in the future.
No matter how many gunshots he had heard before and no matter how many times the instructors told him that he will be killing people at work - all of that will never prepare him for the loud gunshot he hears.
It echoes, lingers in his head as he flinches after Honjoo's head snaps back, blood on the wall and floor behind him. Some of it falls on Baekhyun and the young man is ready to pass out, a loud scream finally getting ripped out of his throat. He screams and screams, feels like the time stopped ticking and goes, he only sees the dead body of Honjoo, the man he once talked to.
The man that was alive literally seconds ago.
His breathing gets irregular and he scratches his wrists in a poor attempt to break free, cut the ropes and escape from Chanyeol and his guns, but his attempts are fruitless. Baekhyun only scratches his skin and gets it irritated and bruised from the friction. The ropes get tighter on his wrists.
Someone comes up from behind and almost slaps him, he sees a hand ready to come down at him, but Chanyeol stops him.
"Let the poor guy be. It's probably his first time seeing death."
"Aww, poor thing," He hears Jongdae. "Do I chain him as well?"
Chanyeol cleans his gun from the blood and shakes his head as he comes up to Baekhyun with a smirk on his face. "No need. He is already terrified. I just want to hear what he wanted to accomplish with his little plan."
It was a clear intention for Baekhyun to open his mouth and start talking but his tongue feels dead in his mouth, his throat aching from all the screaming and the previous ice cold shower. He shakes his head once he sees Chanyeol's gun but the mafia boss chuckles and puts it on the table.
"You have a minute to explain yourself."
And Baekhyun does. He feels tears gathering in his eyes but he swallows down the lump in his throat and opens his mouth.
"Honjoo kidnapped me during one of my missions. He- He told me that he had connections in the sector that I was in and they gave me away. I worked for him for more than a year, you know that." He gulps and scans the room to see what everyone is doing before continuing, "And then he said that if I get this paper for him, he'll let me be. He will give me freedom and won't bother me anymore."
Chanyeol hums. "So, all of this for freedom?"
Baekhyun nods.
"He doesn't sound that convincing," Jongdae appears out of nowhere, his own gun in his hands. Baekhyun flinches when Jongdae points it at him but quickly removes it when Chanyeol tells him to do so.
Baekhyun wants to think that Chanyeol believed him, wants to say that he is willing to do anything in exchange, only if they offer him freedom. He will hack countless websites and get all the information that the mafia boss needs in order to convince him that he is loyal, that he can be counted on and he won't tell anyone he was once a part of a mafia organisation.
His stomach blooms with hope and thoughts of success but they all vanish once a gun gets pressed at his forehead, the same as Honjoo. Chanyeol is looking at him from the above, dominant aura radiating confidence.
Baekhyun shuts his eyes close, nails digging into the skin of his palms.
"Please," Baekhyun whispers and feels the gun pressing in even harder. He pushes his head towards it and pleads. "I'll do anything, just- I just want to live. I just want to be free."
The mafia boss chuckles and shoots right on the floor, approximately three metres away from Baekhyun. The man screams and tries to get away from the bullet and the gun but Jongdae stops him and holds him in place.
When Baekhyun looks up again, he has tears in his eyes, ready to stream down his flushed cheeks. He scratches his palms and repeats again.
“Please! I didn’t do anything, I just wanted to go home!” The screams that come out of Baekhyun are agonizing, he breaks down and is ready to cry when a gun gets pressed at his forehead once again. He hears the countdown, hears the snickers behind him.
And he is ready to be shot but nothing happens. He then opens his eyes, heart still racing inside his chest, almost jumping out.
Chanyeol is looking down at him with his eyebrow raised in a cocky way.
"Well, if you say so." He trails off and removes the safety lock on the gun, tracing it with his finger. Chanyeol's hand comes to tangle itself in Baekhyun's messy hair as he takes his sweet time to think and Baekhyun almost passes out from stress.
"Work for me and earn my trust." He says after some time. "After that, I'll let you go."
Baekhyun doesn't know whether he's joking or being serious. He has no will to question it right now and honestly, doesn't want to test his patience at all. So, he nods and then mouths a quiet "yes", earning a hum from Chanyeol.
"Good. Move him to a room next to mine while his room is getting repaired."
Chanyeol leaves after that. His men begin to clean up the blood and wrap Honjoo's dead body in some plastic before carrying it out. Baekhyun averted his eyes as he tried to erase the moment Chanyeol shot his previous boss with no regret.
Next, someone unties his wrists and nudges him; he stands up and looks for clues, having no idea what he should do next.
"I'll take you to your room." Jongdae says and hides his gun somewhere in his clothes. Baekhyun doesn't want to think what will happen if Jongdae suddenly decides to kill him. They go up to the second floor and the secretary pushes in a code for the door to open.
Baekhyun sees another hallway and only assumes that this is where Chanyeol actually lives, hence the untouched things. Honjoo's men simply couldn't get here.
They go inside a room and Jongdae points at the bed. The room is much bigger than the one that he was previously in, but Baekhyun isn't happy about it. He saw Chanyeol's room on their way here and knowing that the mafia boss is going to be living next to him wasn't exciting at all.
Not when the man almost killed him.
"Don't know why he decided to keep you alive but don't screw up. Chanyeol doesn't tolerate mistakes." Jongdae tells him before leaving, shutting the door behind him.
Once Baekhyun is alone, his legs give up on him and he falls down to the floor with a soft thud, heart still racing inside his chest. He places a palm over it in a poor attempt to calm himself down as he lets the built-up panic escape with silent tears.
Maybe he is better off dead.