Treasures of The Damned

31. Banished To The Underworld

Hongjoong was the first to look around, and in his hesitation, Briar was able to get free of his grasp, stumbling up to go and stand beside Seonghwa.

Seonghwa looked at her with a worried look on his face, but Briar simply shook her head at him turning to look at where the voice came from.

Hongjoong shoot a warning glare at Briar, but didn't cast her another glance, trusting Seonghwa would keep a close eye on her.

"Who's there?" Hongjoong called out with an angry tone in his voice.

There was no answer for a few moments before Mingi came from the shadows, followed by Logan quietly.

Logan glanced at his daughter but relaxed a little bit when she seemed safe. He returned his gaze to Hongjoong, who looked from him to Mingi.

"What are you both doing here?" Hongjoong asked with a quiet voice. He was concerned, that much was obvious. Logan was supposed to be under his control.

"We've been looking for our daughter. Glad we found her before you killed her." Logan snapped, and Briar paused for a moment. She'd never heard her father angry before.

"Why on earth would I kill her? She's my precious niece."

"You just told her that she was a mistake. You seem to hate her, Hongjoong." Mingi spoke up, but said nothing more, glancing at his daughter. "Are You alright? Come here." He held his hands out to Briar.

Briar paused for a moment before taking a step away from Seonghwa, walking over to her father and standing by his side. Logan walked forward and gently checked on Briar, using his sweater paw to gently wipe at the oil on his face.

"Where did this come from, hun?" Logan asked, his motherly instincts kicking in as he finished wiping the oil from Briar's face. It wasn't hard to tell she had a fear of the scent and sight of oil after the car crash.

"Uncle-...Uncle Jongho-..." Is all she managed to mumble as she leaned against Logan a little bit, watching Hongjoong for a few moments.

"What happened to your Uncle, Songbird?" Mingi spoke up next, keeping a watchful eye on Hongjoong, making sure he didn't get too close to Briar.

"Uncle Joong took control of him again and forced him to attack me- except I held up a broken piece of the chandelier above my head and Jongho chose to run into it- that way he wouldn't be under Hongjoong's control anymore." The words tumbled out faster than anyone could comprehend, but their computing systems took over and they slowly understood.

Logan hissed softly. "All this killing. And you'd think the one who was murdered in cold blood wouldn't be too keen on killing anyone." He muttered under his breath, glaring at Hongjoong from behind the protection of his husband.

"You'd think that the couple that died because of a stupid argument wouldn't be together anymore, but here we are." Hongjoong taunted back, smirking when he watched the three Song family members freeze up.

"Hongjoong. That's insensitive. Apologize." Seonghwa spoke up from where he was, slowly moving to stand beside Mingi, staring at his husband with a worried look on his face.

"Why should I? They died, because of an argument that had the simplest solution in the world, and then dumped their idiot of a daughter on my doorstep!" Hongjoong snapped back, staring at Seonghwa with a dark and angry look in his eyes.

Briar paused for a few moments. "You used to love me- why don't you love me anymore?" She whispered, staying beside Logan with a scared look in her eyes.

"Because you ruined everything. Because your precious parents had to go and have you, I had to marry Seonghwa in secret! KQ didn't allow us to marry each other because Mingi had the spotlight!"

"That's not my fault!"

"No. It's not. But because your precious little daddy couldn't be normal, you were born. And KQ found it disgusting. So they said you were adopted. Giving Mingi the spotlight. And forcing me and Seonghwa to marry each other in secret."

"What do you mean I can't be normal?" Logan asked after a few moments, peeking out from behind Mingi's shoulder.

"What else? You're disgusting. You're a carrier, you can get pregnant, you wear skirts all the time, you prefer feminine compliments. That's not normal."

"Neither is being gay, Hongjoong. Now stop it. You're lashing out at those around you purely because you're angry. You don't mean those things." Seonghwa stepped in, glaring at his husband, the man he loved. "Stop. Please. You're not my Hongjoong."

Hongjoong stared at Seonghwa for a few moments before his shoulders relaxed. "You're right. You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be saying these things. Briar was never meant to be born. She wasn't planned." He seemed to be calming down, and Briar took a small breath of relief.

"She was planned, though. We'd been trying for a kid for years. But Logan's doctor told us it might not be possible because of what happened to him while he was homeless." Mingi explained quietly, watching Hongjoong.

Hongjoong snarled once more and stared at Mingi. "You shut up. Or you're joining your brothers. Today was going fantastic! The entire day went well, the staff locked someone inside for our annual hunt, but of course, it had to be my fucking niece." He snapped and glared at Briar. "And now you're hiding behind daddy because you're scared. Just wait to see what I do to you. You don't deserve to live. You've killed four of my members tonight."

"I didn't kill anyone! You killed them! You pulled out Wooyoung's spine. You threw San off the highest building. You pulled out all of Yeosang's wires and destroyed him. You forced Jongho to attack me, causing him to kill himself. I've done, nothing wrong. Other than try to help you escape your eodums. You're the one who is causing everything."

Hongjoong stared at Briar for a few moments, not saying anything before all of a sudden he surged forward, his clawed hand outstretched and aimed for her neck. Before Briar even had the time to put her arms up to protect herself, pink hair flashed as someone put himself between Briar and Hongjoong.