Euthymia

Snake In The Grass

A musty, old sack tears away from Kyungsoo's head, freeing him from the suffocating stench of years old fabric and dried blood. Blinding yellow light burns his retinas and he flinches, folding into himself. Only to realize he can't move. Zip-ties. Again. He jerks his arms and the chair moves with him.

When his eyes adjust to the dingy light swinging above his head, he makes out a dozen black figures looming over him, each armed with some blunt object ranging from baseball bats to crowbars. Pristine designer suits are a telltale sign of the kind of trouble he's landed himself in. His memory fails him, the blood loss taking his consciousness in that grassy blood stain before he saw them coming. But, as he sits before them now with a bandage around his thigh, he knows Suho and the Gangnam pack well enough to deduce what happened.

He fucked up. That's what happened.

"You know I'd ask what the hell's gotten into you, but I'm not exactly surprised you did this." Minseok's raspy voice cuts through the silence of the room. He emerges from the group, some kind of metal pipe in his hand. He looks down at Kyungsoo and sneers. "I always knew you were a little rat. Just didn't realize you were the kind to stab us in the back."

Minseok swings forward with no warning, no moment to brace himself as the metal pipe collides with the side of Kyungsoo's face. Metal and bone crackle and pop – a sickening sound that's like music to Minseok's ears. Kyungsoo groans, spits out blood and teeth, and hangs his head low. His jaw swells to an angry red, hardly able to open his mouth to speak.

"I wanted to leave you for dead. Better yet, I wanted to kill you myself. But-" Minseok sighs, jamming Kyungsoo's chest with the pipe. "Suho said I had to keep you alive for a while. At least until you talk."

"I won't say a word to you." Kyungsoo spits, red dribbling down his chin. "My loyalties don't lie with Suho anymore."

"You're telling me you're loyal to Winter now? The woman who ran off without you, leaving you to bleed to death on the front lawn? That's who you'd rather stand with?"

"I'm not loyal to anyone anymore. I'm doing what I need to do to survive and to get revenge for what you did to me."

Minseok bursts out laughing, slapping his thigh. "You, my friend, are the most pathetic person I have ever met. You wanna do what you need to do to survive? Then I suggest you start talking before I put another bullet in you. This time I won't miss like Baekhyun did."

Kyungsoo licks his lips, lapping up the pools of blood coating his mouth. Iron. Bitter. Disgusting. How did he let things get to this point? He should've shot Baekhyun when he had the chance.

"What do you want from me? You have Baekhyun, don't you?"

"It's not Baekhyun we're after."

Minseok leans down, hot breath fanning Kyungsoo's face, the stench of whiskey and cigarettes stinging his nostrils. Their faces inches apart, Kyungsoo can feel the pipe digging into his gut and the fire of Minseok's gaze burning holes straight through his skull. He jerks, his hands ready to push him back, but the zip-ties hold him with an iron grip.

"Where the fuck is Sehun?"

Kyungsoo bites his tongue.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be. Sehun isn't your problem. Just tell us where he is and we'll let you run free, straight back to Winter so you can pretend to be important to her a little longer."

"What makes you think he isn't already dead?"

"No body. The beach house was empty, save the guys Park Chanyeol took out and your sorry ass passed out on the lawn. Winter must've taken him. I need you to tell me where."
Kyungsoo looks away, keeping his chin up in some futile show of confident defiance. "I was unconscious. I didn't see anything. I don't even know where Winter is."