THE CLAN SERIES BOOK 1: ALL IN

CHAPTER 9

Minhyuk didn't want to see Hyungwon go through the pain he was going through. Minhyuk swore he'd get revenge. It was just how he would go about it. He didn't have a plan or anything. Plus he didn't want to commit whatever crime he'd chosen alone. So he decided to tell Wonho and Changkyun about Hyungwon's long, mute suffering. Minhyuk also went about wondering how long Hyungwon could have been living like that. Did it start from childhood? Did it only happen when he didn't listen to his father? Minhyuk ran a hand through his white hair. He was stressed and he was trying to think of a way to go about his revenge plan. He walked down the cracked and bumpy roads. Then he came to the bridge.

Under the bridge he saw a body. The body donned white clothes that very were very similar to those of his own. Then he took a closer look. Minhyuk gasped when he recognized the face: the face was the face of none other than Chae Hyungwon himself. He looked unconscious and his face was a bright red. Minhyuk scrambled up to his friend. He gently tried to shake Hyungwon awake. When he saw that Hyungwon had reacted he he held his face and said, "Who did this to you?" Then Minhyuk stuffed a hand of his in to his pocket, he pulled out the flower. "Here, eat this, you'll feel better." Minhyuk whispered whilst still caressing Hyungwon's face. Hyungwon slowly ate the flower and Minhyuk patiently sat and waited. He asked again, more urgently this time; "Who did this to you? Please tell me. Tell me I can fix it. I will fix it." Hyungwon coughed. "My-My father's men..." This infuriated Minhyuk more, he wanted to scream and to cry. But instead he held his gentle, loving whisper. "Thank you for telling me. Come on let's get you home, yeah?" Hyungwon gripped Minhyuk's wrist with his big hand. "I'm... I'm not going home... Not today... Not back to dad..." Minhyuk gently caressed Hyungwon's cheek with his thumb, "You're not going to your dad. That's not home. Home is with me. Home is with our friends."

Minhyuk let go of Hyungwon. "You dont have to walk. Come on my back, I'll carry you." Minhyuk slowly helped Hyungwon on to his back. As Minhyuk's feet cracked the little stones on the ground as he walked he heard Hyungwon faintly say one thing before he was out cold: "Why are you so nice to me?" And Minhyuk's heart hurt again.

Jooheon knew there was something up with the flowers. He knew they were making them all feel stronger. He also knew they were making them hallucinate. It might be toxic, but Jooheon knew it made them feel great, but he wanted to find another way to consume them. Eating them didn't seem like enough. It also didn't seem illegal enough to make the government go after them. He had to find another way. So he stayed in the bathroom of their abandoned house shelter, he tried everything. He tried burning them, boiling them, cutting them. He literally tried whatever he could possible.

Kihyun had dragged Changkyun into the middle of what used to be the forest. Now the trees were naked and burned black. The used to be bright green grasses were an ugly shade of brown and it made Kihyun a little bit sad. He remembered playing in these fields when he was just a little boy. "Why do we have to put our flag here?" Changkyun asked as he threw small stones as far as he could; it was obvious he was bored out of his mind. "Why do you ask so many goddamn questions?" Kihyun barked back, annoyed. "How's this making our revolution different from Hitler and his Nazi party?" Again, Kihyun's eye twitched dangerously like it was going to pop out of its socket and roll all the way to the depths of the Black Sea. "It's a symbol you moron." Kihyun stalked up to a tree, crunching rubble and burn leaves beneath his heavy white shoes. "Okay then why is our symbol a big fat X?"

"X marks the spot."

Kihyun then climbed up the tree, flag clenched between his teeth. He sat on one of only thick branches that were left and tied the flag up on the branch above his head. "I think that branch is going to crack under your shuck mass." Kihyun rolled his eyes at Changkyun. "Stop with your unnecessary commentary before you start it, will you?" Kihyun climbed back down gracefully landing with a swan like thud. The two were about to leave when they heard a small metallic sound and they saw a scuttle of red and silver as whatever small object zoomed away. "Was that a rat?" Kihyun whispered to Changkyun. "I don't think rats are silver."
He added, "Or red."

"And they don't have a mechanic screech." Changkyun continued. "I know because I dissected a rat in my dad's lab." Kihyun grabbed Changkyun by the collar of his shirt. "Or if you just shut up for a moment and listen to me, maybe you'd also think that we're being fucking observed by that shitty government."

They saw another scuttle past their big feet, it's silver gleam sparkled in a blur and it followed it's red beam of light into the debris. Kihyun raised his eyebrows at Changkyun in a way as if to say I'm fucking right, aren't I? And so the boys ran for their lives.

Later that night Jooheon gathered all the boys to the middle of the forest. He showed them all the ways they could consume the flower. They burned them and inhaled it's smoke, they even made it into a tea like beverage. They ate it too. Soon the boys were seeing what looked like to be holographic glitter dancing across their vision: They saw visions of the past week, past years even. The boys laughed loudly, they smiled lots as well. It was euphoric. In the midst of having fun they even crushed some flowers and turned them into paints and painted each other's bodies and faces.

''I feel like we're being watched.'' Changkyun said to witch Kihyun grabbed the back of his neck in a drunken manner he pressed his forehead to Changkyun's own and said ''Don't worry, everything is fine. Just breathe.'' So the two stayed like that, inhaled the air and smiled wide gummy smiles.

Whilst drugging himself, the only thing Minhyuk was able to think about was how he would go about getting his sweet revenge. He observed Hyungwon closely. Hyungwon looked as he was having them of his life. He didn't remember the last time he saw him smile that widely. Minhyuk thought and thought. Then he found that his eyes were focused on the small fire that burned under the bowl of blue liquid. ''That's it!'' He whispered to himself.

In the morning Minhyuk told Wonho and Changkyun about his plan. ''Gasoline? You want to set the General's house on fire with gasoline?"' Wonho asked. ''Yes.'' Minhyuk told him. ''I don't understand why you're asking me that. How can i possibly help.'' ''Your dad owns a hardware place thing. I'm sure he has fucking gasoline laying around.'' Minhyuk's words hit Wonho in the face as he remembered what his could be dead dad did for a living. ''Sure I can get some. How much do you need?'' Changkyun raised his hand as if to ask a question, ''I can go steal some matches from somewhere.'' He offered. So it was settled. The boys headed out.