PLUGGED IN | minsung

part 14

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Jisung was silent, and didn't look like he planned to speak anytime soon. So Minho continued.

"Jeongin works for me. Hyunjin, too. Well, they work for me, and the two other guys you saw in the kitchen. The kids are runners. They sell drugs for us."

Something in Jisung's face twitched. Minho couldn't work out what it was; worry? Shock? Hatred? No, it felt different... It felt like Jisung was reliving something. Minho paused before he continued.

"When I was 16, I was cut off from my parents. It... I won't go into that now. But I had nothing. I had no money, nowhere to live, nothing. I was trying to keep up with my studies, because I've always wanted to go to college. But it was hard. I got involved with bad people. I did bad things. And then I met Chan."

A small smile burned brightly on Minho's voice for a second at the mention of the older boy's name before it flickered and died.

"At first, he tried to clean me up. But he realised pretty quickly that that wasn't an option. So we joined forces, you could say. We started selling drugs together. I'm not sure how Changbin managed to worm his way in, but he just kind of appeared out of nowhere. Chan is supply; he picks up the stuff. Changbin is demand; he finds the parties."

Jisung nodded, but still didn't speak.

"We don't sell anything too bad. Not, like, heroin. Or meth. Just the stuff that the international students crave, stuff they can't find as easily here. Weed. Coke. Ketamine. I'm not saying it's not bad. Just that it could be worse."

"I needed to pay for college, and Chan and Changbin had their own situations that they needed to take care of. So we started selling. It was just the three of us first, a lot of street deals and housecalls. Then Changbin realised how much easier it would be for us to slip into college parties and start finding people who really wanted to party."

"That's where Jeongin and Hyunjin came into it. There are a few others, too, who help us out when we need it. But we try to keep it small."

"That's what I don't get," Jisung said suddenly. His voice was small and it shook as though he was holding back a sob. "Jeongin, he's so... He's still a kid. He's still in high school right?"

Minho bit his lip and looked down at his hands. He hadn't even realised that his fingers had curled inwards into his palms, sharp fingernails digging into soft flesh and reopening all too familiar scars. He nodded.

"Trust me, I never would've- I never wanted him involved. But he has a story. Well, don't we all? He wouldn't take no for an answer. He told me so many times, if I wouldn't take him on, he'd find somewhere else. So I decided that if he had to do it, at least he could do it with us. We could look after him. Or, at least..."

Jisung frowned as Minho turned his head away and his fists clenched even tighter together. The silver scar that Jisung had noticed once before stood out against pale skin and royal-blue veins. Minho sniffed, and Jisung realised he was crying.

"Look at me," Jisung said, his voice soft. "Stop hiding. Finish your story."

At first, Minho didn't seem able to keep speaking. But he dragged the back of one clenched fist against his cheeks and continued.

"Tonight wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to be working. I should've known; Chan said Jeongin had come round to pick up more supplies so him and Hyunjin could sell more tomorrow. We have a rule. No one goes alone."

"It's dangerous, alone. We're a small group so we manage to slip under people's radar. Usually, we don't have to worry. But I think Jeongin must've made it onto someone else's territory, or sold to the wrong people... And you know what happened next. When we were eating, when he rang me, he could barely speak. He just made this noise, this horrible noise that I'll remember for the rest of my life, and I knew something was wrong."