The Hidden Card || NCT MAFIA

Chapter sixty-four: Unexpected guardian

Park didn't seem to share Taeyong's perspective regarding the situation and did not laugh.

"You know she's gonna have to pay, right?"

Taeyong's smile vanished immediately.

"I think you've spent enough time with Iseul," he said, raising his right arm so his gun was pointed at his brother. "You won't hurt her."

"I wouldn't be worried about that if I were you," Park replied, rolling his only visible eye. "I mean look at us. Your little psycho of a girlfriend is the one who did this to my face while she's standing there unharmed. I'm the one who should be fearing for my life here, really."

He had said the last sentence while raising his arms in defeat, irony filling his tone.

"Besides," he added, now bringing his attention back to Taeyong, "you and I both know you won't shoot, Yongie, so why don't you put away that thing?"

He pointed at the gun that Taeyong was still gripping hard with a smirk on his damaged face.

Iseul frowned, what did Park mean by that?

Taeyong didn't move an inch, his fingers turning white around the metal of his gun.

"We have a deal, brother," Park said, his voice now stricter. He was clearly not liking how Taeyong refused to obey.

"Wrong," Taeyong replied, "we had a deal. But since you didn't keep your word about staying away from Iseul, I suppose that means I'm free of my promise about keeping you alive as well."

A spark of doubt shone in Park's eye. He suddenly didn't seem as confident as he was a moment before.

"I kept my word," he said through greeted teeth, "she's unharmed."

"That's your word against hers, and even if you didn't hurt her, you still took her away."

"Took her away from what exactly?" Park snickered. "From you? From that poor life you have planned for her? From a life of misery and worry surrounded by a gang? Tell me, Taeyong, where do you think Iseul is safer? In your house where everyone seems to be able to get in and out without any of your members noticing? Or here, where you wouldn't have been able to find her if it wasn't for someone tipping you off?"

Taeyong seemed to be surprised by the sudden attack, and took a step back.

"Let's face the truth, brother. You can't keep her safe. You never will be able to keep her from harm. Look at how easy it is for me to always get to her."

What is he doing? Iseul thought. He clearly doesn't care about my well-being, so why is he trying to pretend like he does?

Taeyong took a deep breath, clenching his jaw in anger.

"You won't be a problem anymore once I put a bullet through your skull," he spat, "so I really wouldn't worry about that."

Park tried to cover his nervousness with an arrogant smile.

"Oh, Yongie, you've always been too naive for this. Do you really think that once you take me out of the equation the problem will be solved? Things don't work this way, I'm afraid. Even if you do kill me, someone else will replace me. Iseul is quite famous within our community now. Do you seriously believe that she'll be safe even if I'm dead? Because if you do, then do I have some bad news for you, brother."

"What are you talking about?" Taeyong almost snarled.

"Do I really have to spell it out for you?" Park sighed. "Think, brother. Do you really think that out of all the gangs out there, I would be the only one after Iseul? She's the heir of one of the most powerful empires in our world, and you seriously thought no one would try to get to her the way I did?"

The more Park talked; the more things seemed to become clear in Taeyong's mind.
He had been blind. He had been so blind.

His brother seemed to notice, and went on with a chuckle, "That's right, Yongie. I took away most of the competition while you didn't even realize how much Iseul was in danger. Just in the past month, I took down three gangs trying to infiltrate your house. So I'll repeat my question: where do you think Iseul is the safest? With you, or with me?"

All colors seemed to drain from Taeyong's face. All this time, the one keeping Iseul alive had been the one man wanting to kill her the most.

"If Iseul is still breathing right now, it's thanks to me. Not to you, brother. I'm the one who has been protecting her all this time while you were doing God knows what."

"Protecting her so you could be the one to kill her," Taeyong spat back.

"Well yes, of course," Park snickered. "I never pretended to be a saint -as opposed to you."

"So you planned on breaking our deal from the beginning?" Taeyong asked, anger twisting his features. "And to say I genuinely thought you were still a man of your word despite everything."

"Oh, no, I never planned on breaking our deal, it just sort of happened when I got a better offer."

"A better offer? Is that about the person you were talking about the other day?"

Park didn't reply and stepped closer, getting dangerously close the gun still pointed at him. Once he was so close his chest almost came in contact with the weapon, he took a step to the side.

Iseul hadn't moved, still holding Kim down, even though her grip on him was considerably loosened. When Taeyong understood that Park was trying to get close to her, he grabbed his brother's arm to stop him from going further.

"Don't even think about it," he growled.

"Oh, so now you're being protective," Park taunted. "Where was that same energy when your little girlfriend was being targeted by the most dangerous individuals out there?"

Taeyong didn't respond, but he held his arm tight enough that Park grimaced.

"Iseul," he spoke, "you see, your mother and I made a deal. Her offer was clearly better than Taeyong's, so I had a hard time resisting to it."

From up close, his face was even more atrocious than what Iseul had first thought. The wound taking a good half of it would leave an ugly scar, for sure.

"I'm supposed to give you back to her in exchange for what she said she'd give me, but now that you're here with me, I might as well keep you to myself. After all, if she really cared about you, she wouldn't have left you behind in the first place..." he trailed off, ignoring the clicking sound of Taeyong's weapon now on his temple.

"I never left," a voice rose from behind.