CHAPTER 18: INGREDIENTS OF A CATASTROPHY

The atmosphere in the room was very tense. I got up from the corner and walked next to Soonyoung who didn’t stop aiming his gun towards Seungcheol at any point. When Wonwoo, Mingyu and Vernon saw from the bathroom that I had gotten out of the situation, they exited the room and joined us instead. Seungcheol had a lot of faces to glare at poisonously. He really looked like he had been betrayed by his family or something.

“Explain this to me”, he groaned, eyes wandering from Soonyoung to me to Wonwoo.

“Long story short”, I opened my mouth first. We all had agreed I’d be the one to do the talking. Seungcheol hated Wonwoo more than anyone else and Mingyu and Vernon were pretty much nothing for him. “Soonyoung is no longer part of your murderers.”

“Ah, I see”, Seungcheol nodded. “Seems like all drifters are traitors.”

“Oh, is your father a traitor for you too?” I asked with a fake smile on my face. “He’s the one we’re here to talk about.”

Seungcheol was examining my face as I was speaking. As I mentioned his father, his eyes narrowed a little bit. Of course it was natural for him to feel triggered when I was speaking ill of his father, but the truth was the man was evil.

“Seungcheol”, I called the boy’s name. “I know you know it. What Dr. Choi is doing is wrong.”

“Is everything you’ve done right, then?” the boy spat out the words, glaring at me.

“No”, I replied right away. “But at least I know what is wrong and what is right. Killing innocent people is definitely wrong.”

The boy stared at me from under his long eyelashes. My words must’ve had an impact on him as the glare had toned down a little bit and he didn’t immediately growl back at me. I raised my eyebrows a little bit, probably looking a lot more hopeful that I was supposed to. I knew Seungcheol and his father had done bad things but Seungcheol was a good person deep down, and he had been such a good friend for me too.

“Killing innocent people?” the boy asked with a calm voice. “What are you planning on doing, then?”

He directed his words towards Soonyoung who was still pointing the boy with is gun, staring at the boy with an determined expression.

“We’re not going to kill you”, I stated. “We’re trying to talk to you.”

Seungcheol snorted and crossed his arms against his chest. “Talk, then.”

“Please listen to me. Don’t turn this down immediately”, I asked of him. “The fact is that your father’s deeds are sick. He’s killing innocent people, that is not right. I know you’re only part of this because you’re his son. And I know you’re a good person so I’m asking you for help.”

The boy’s expression didn’t change at all. He just stared into my eyes blankly and tilted his head a little bit, clearly thinking about my words. “You’re asking me to turn my back on dad.”

“Yes”, I nodded. “I know it’s not easy to do but - “

“What do you want me to do?” he asked, taking a step towards me. “Do you want me to kill my dad?”

I stared at the boy with wide eyes. That was basically what we were asking. Well, at least he could help us to do something. But Seungcheol’s reaction made me feel guilty. His eyes were big and sad, there were deep wrinkles on his forehead and the corners of his mouth were turned downwards. This could’ve been a fake expression, but the sincerity in his eyes got me. I wanted to say something but I couldn’t. If I said no, it would be lying. If I said yes, it would be heartbreaking.

“Dami. No matter how bad of a person he is, he is my dad”, Seungcheol said with a quiet, thin voice. “I can’t hurt him.”

I saw the tears that were forming in his eyes and felt my eyes getting teary as well. There was nothing I could do about this. I let out a sigh. I couldn’t force him to do anything. I glanced at Soonyoung and nodded at him as a sign for him to put down his gun. He hesitated for a second but did as he was told and we let Seungcheol walk past us and leave the apartment. He and Wonwoo exchanged glares before the boy disappeared into the hallway and I almost let my knees give up.

“Are you sure it’s okay to just let him leave?” Wonwoo asked as he walked to me.

I nodded even though I was feeling unsure. “We can’t force him to do anything.”

“Then what are we going to do?” Mingyu sighed as he walked in circles, scratching the back of his head.

It almost amused me how deeply involved Mingyu and Vernon had become with this whole situation. Mingyu had voluntarily walked into the Choi family’s house to save his friend and Vernon didn’t hesitate for a second to join us. Talk about good friends.  I was almost jealous of Wonwoo. I didn’t have a lot of friends, even back in 2016. In this year, I had made friends with Seungcheol and Sunhwa and they had both betrayed me.

For a while we were helpless. We had no idea what to do next. We had just threatened Seungcheol with a gun so we couldn’t know for sure what’d happen next. He might turn up with new hunters to kill us once and for all. Or he might just let it be. But what was certain was that we really needed to come up with a plan quickly.

“Honestly speaking”, Vernon stated at one point. “I don’t understand why we don’t just take care of the man ourselves. We have a gun, we have a guy who’s been trained to kill. Right, Soonyoung?”

All four of our heads were turned to look at Soonyoung. The boy looked unsure. He did have a gun, he did know how to use it, but we had seen the panic he had gone through yesterday as he had killed his partner. He didn’t enjoy killing at all, he was too good for such things.

“It’s a scary thought”, I said quietly. “We’re just normal people. What can we do?”

“Do you think you could do that, Soonyoung?” Wonwoo asked with a serious expression. “Could you kill a man to save people?”

The boy looked down. His expression was very unsure, scared even. Still, he managed to raise his head and look back at Wonwoo with a nod. “Yes...”

“Alright then”, Mingyu said, clapping his hands together. “So that’s decided. It’s our last chance to defeat that guy so we have to succeed.”

“How should we proceed?” Wonwoo asked and I noticed him automatically turning to look at me.

I frowned a little bit, thinking hard. The idea was scary and wild, but maybe insane things would work with insane people. There were two places where we could carry out our plan. The house of the Choi family - or the hospital. And the house was out of question since they had guards and hunters all around the property.

“I think...” I started. “I think we should go to the hospital. Seungcheol is not there to interfere, and Dr. Choi has no hunters there to protect him. I’ve been there before, the hospital’s staff knows me and they think I’m part of the family.”

Wonwoo nodded. “That sounds like the best option. I think we shouldn’t take too long with this, going there tomorrow could be for the best.”

All the others were nodding in agreement but I was almost terrified. Tomorrow? That was so soon. I knew it was for our own benefit but I really didn’t see a chance of us succeeding with this plan. We were just normal people, how in the world could we stop a mass murderer?

The afternoon passed by very quickly as we returned to Mingyu’s apartment and started planning our war plan for tomorrow. I couldn’t prevent myself from moving around nervously and biting my lips pretty much all the time. Wonwoo noticed my discomfort right away and luckily I had him next to me for the rest of the day. He was rubbing my shoulders, back hugging me, making it sure I was all right.

“It’s going to be okay”, he’d say every now and then. “We’re going to be okay.”

Oh, how I hope that’s true.

I was the first one to wake up the next morning. I had been able to sleep better for the last couple of days since Dr. Choi wasn’t able to poison me anymore. This night had been monstrous, anyhow, since I was stressing out because of the thing we’d do today. So it was 8am when I was annoyed awake by the beams of sunlight. So,  got up and decided to make breakfast for everyone. We’d sure need something to eat before leaving for the hospital.

As I was preparing the ingredients I was startled breathless by Wonwoo who had walked behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “Good morning”, he said quietly.

“Morning”, I replied to him and patted him on the arm. “Would you let me continue?”

“Dami, you’re not a maid anymore”, he said softly and smiled. “You don’t have to serve anyone anymore.”

 I smiled. “I know. But since I started making the breakfast, would you let me finish it?”

“Alright”, he chuckled and placed a kiss on my cheek before leaving me alone.

Soonyoung was the next one to wake up. As we three ate breakfast in silence, we made a silent deal. Mingyu and Vernon had been involved in this mess because of us. If today’s plan wouldn’t go as planned, they might die in vain. It was just fair towards them to be left out. So we prepared in silence, making sure to not wake up the two boys sleeping in Mingyu’s bed. Soonyoung grabbed his gun and in the dim morning light we three left the apartment, leaving our friends to sleep, completely unaware of our plans.

We took a train to the hospital and hopped off in front of the huge, oval shaped building built of shiny glass. I hadn’t been here since the last time I passed out badly. To think every time before this I entered the building completely unaware of the horrors that were actually happening.

“Are you ready?” Wonwoo asked as we approached the building.

“Yes”, I said, trying to conceal the insecurity in my voice. “Remember, I’m Seungcheol’s cousin and you’re my close friends. We’re here to meet Dr. Choi for lunch.”

The two boys nodded at me in unity. Then we made our move. We entered the huge building and as the glassy main lobby opened in front of us, I gained some courage out of nowhere. We’d do this now, we’d succeed and go home happy and free.

We got into the elevator and for the whole elevator ride I was taking deep breaths and patting my chest with my fist. I had to calm down if I wanted to achieve something. I almost got startled at the bling sound the elevator made as the door opened and a familiar hallway opened in front of my eyes. I took one last deep breath and held Wonwoo’s hand as we walked forward.

As we stopped at Dr. Choi’s office’s door, I was about to knock. Then I realized we were not exactly going there for just a visit. So, instead of knocking, I just pushed the door open and entered with my chin raised high, trying to look as confident as possible.

I was about to lose my confidence in matter of seconds, anyhow, as we saw the inside of the office. Dr. Choi was there, of course, by his desk. But there was another person standing next to him. It was Seungcheol. I wanted to let my eyes widen in shock but I kept my composure.

“Oh, what a nice sight”, Dr. Choi chuckled, getting up from his desk. I was annoyed. He looked just as nice and healthy as always. “What a hunter. You bring your prisoners straight to me?”

Soonyoung’s eyes became narrow lines and he grabbed his gun, pointing it straight at the doctor. “No. I’m here to protect my own kind.”

The man’s smile faded away and he sighed. “Oh yes, Seungcheol did tell me about some traitor.”

“Dr. Choi, please”, I opened my mouth. “This is our last chance to talk like this. Can you please reconsider your actions? You know what you’re doing is wrong!”

“Wrong or not”, the doctor said, interrupting me. “I will stop the drifter gen from transmitting from father to child. There is nothing good about this gene. Seungcheol, go and get the guards. We need to get rid of the trash.”

Seungcheol was about to walk towards us but Soonyoung was quick to aim his gun at him. Nobody would leave this room.

“You do know that even if you kill the drifters off this city, there are plenty of us all over the world”, Wonwoo pointed out. “As near as Busan.”

These words seemed to trigger the man as I could see his eyes gleaming of rage. He frowned at us. “Shut up, brat!”

As Soonyoung was concentrated on staring at the doctor in his rage, he couldn’t prevent Seungcheol from rushing towards him and pushing him powerfully enough for the boy to lose the grip on his gun. It flew onto the floor and Seungcheol was quick to kick it into a corner of the room. The boy was about to run out of the door but for once I was lucky and fast enough to block the boy’s way. I stood in front of the door and stared at the boy. He wouldn’t leave. He wouldn’t get the guards. Not if it had anything to do with me.

We stared at each other for a second-like moment. There was no hate in the stare, just complicated, pent-up emotions we were trying to understand. The stare was intense enough for us to not realize what was happening around us. Dr. Choi had apparently been about to attack me from the behind so Soonyoung had been quick enough to block his way and the two were now immersed in a fight that’s sounds now broke our trance. The next thing I saw was Wonwoo rushing past me and grabbing Seungcheol by his collar.

I was standing there, in the middle of four fighting men, not knowing what to do. I looked around me, confused, before I noticed the gun on the floor.

I walked to it relatively slowly. I really felt like I was in a trance. The men were fighting in slow motion and the sounds came from afar. I shook my head and knelt down in the corner to pick up the gun. As I got up, I felt a hand on my shoulder and something sharp and cold on my neck.

“Don’t move. Moving means dying.”

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Hi! I'm really back on the track with writing, this is the 3rd chapter in two days haha. Also, I just hit 300 subscribers which is quite a lot for me since I consider myself just someone who writes for fun. So thank you everybody! I promise to continue writing quality fics haha.

I'd appreciate a comment!