City Undertaker || Bang Chan Mafia AU

56: No Turning Back

TW: blood

~

"You know they're sending us in because they don't care if we die, right?" Lex retorted, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall. In the days leading up to their infiltration, she had very much been on bad terms with Chan, it was clear to everyone. Even going as far as sleeping in the opposite room's old couch.

They gathered in Chan's room as promised for a meeting, detailing his true intentions for coming to Japan. Unsurprisingly, he was met with backlash. There was no indication they'd have to go into battle while on a supposed holiday and passive mission. The truth had come out and along with Lex, some of them weren't happy. It was mainly the elders that dared to protest against him.

"We may die anyway if we are caught alone back in Australia." Chan spun around while he explained the situation more to his members. He realised his mistake too late and now he had to hope he had been good to them over the years for them to trust him.

"You're gambling our lives over hypothetical threats," Minho remarked, frowning. It was safe to say he was on Lex's side. One would think that Chan would tell someone, any one of them. Neither would be offended if it was the latter. But he had hidden his motives from them. And for that, he was as petty as Lex was. It was obvious why there were best friends.

On short notice, they were expected to risk their lives for people they didn't know. For someone who couldn't care less whether they lived or died. As long as Chan lived, everything would go according to plan. Otherwise, Riku remained unbothered about the fate of his members.

"It isn't hypothetical! You saw how ruthless they can be, how they left Lex." Chan tried to reason with them, his gaze landing on her. Her face seemed to soften for a moment but she quickly turned away.

The memory was blurry to her but still real in her mind, the panic and fear from that night liked to return on random nights. She would never tell anybody, but it had affected her more than she liked to admit. It had only heightened after finding out they were being followed. She was worried about it happening again, or worse to one of the other members.

It was almost like he was begging her to see his side, anything to stop her glaring at him and sleeping in the room across. Though she wasn't as forgiving this time, rethinking back to the number of times she would ask him and give him the chance to tell them the truth.

"It's now or never, guys. I'm truly sorry I kept it a secret. I really thought I was doing the right thing that way. I didn't want to bring up the plan only to have to fail you again as a leader. I now realise how stupid that was." Chan admitted, as genuine as he could've gotten. He gulped, hoping they would understand. He didn't want them angry at him. It was hard to enforce authority if all of his members were against him.

It seemed to have worked as he was no longer stared at under scrutiny. None of them were looking at him, but some meekly nodded. It gave him a burst of encouragement to know he wasn't alone on this. But Lex was still actively avoiding his eyes and leaning against the wall. She was still not happy with him and it was going to take more than a high school prep talk to get her to forgive him.

"Why does it feel like we're just being put down early so we don't have to die later?" Hyunjin questioned quietly. He felt like for the first time, Chan wasn't exactly trustworthy. Their leader always put them first, but this felt like the opposite.

"I won't let that happen, I promise. We'll stick together."

Minho also didn't seem too happy with him still. Jisung nodded at him but gave him a tight-lipped smile. It was stupid really, what he did. Had he planned to just spring it on them? They were being thrown into danger without prior knowledge. They were capable but knowledge was power on its own.