¢нαρтєя 35
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"is it too tight?" minseok asked jokingly as he tightened the ropes around jimin's diaphragm after tying his hands with a rope.

"too loose." jimin spat, his voice raspy and dry. "make it so tight that I pass out from the lack of air and die."

"if I could, I would've killed you a long time ago." minseok replied and pulled on the ropes making jimin choke from the feeling of air leaving his body.
"looks like your dear lover hasn't woken up yet... maybe we hit him a little too hard."

hoseok, who was tied back to back with jimin, laid his head on jimin's shoulder, still unconscious. jimin felt the blood from his head give off warmth to his shoulder, staining the expensive white dress shirt with the dark red liquid. jimin didn't show it, but he was worried, he knew better than anybody that if a person doesn't regain consciousness after an injury as such, he must be taken to the hospital immediately.

jimin's vision was a little blurry since it was difficult to breath from the tightness of the ropes. he looked around. looks like they were in some shabby, old basement filled with used, empty boxes and furniture. it was cold, but hoseok's body gave off the needed amount of heat, it also helped jimin know he was still alive.

"I guess you really stand by that 'loose lips sink ships' phrase, don't you?" minseok muttered under his nose as he sharpened a knife. "you were always so chatty, what happened now?"

jimin gave minseok a death glare a second before feeling himself pass out.

after what felt like an eternity later, jimin was able to open his eyes again and regain his posture.
he was in the same position, in the same basement... this wasn't a dream after all.

"you imbecile, why did you tie the ropes that tight?"
jimin heard an unfamiliar female voice behind him.
"we need them alive for now. have patience, we'll kill them all in the end."

fuck... jimin thought to himself. if yoongi comes to save us... and he will... they will kill us all. that's what the simyeon gang is all about... betrayal and lies.
but if we die before they come to save us... we'll end up saving their lives.

"he said it himself!" minseok responded. "he was being a bitch, so I taught him a lesson."

"bring in the bucket." she told him.

jimin didn't move, but a minute later felt ice cold water splashing right onto his head. it was refreshing and definitely woke him up. he noticed that the ropes were much more loose, but still tight enough to restrict most of his movement. jimin exhaled in relief after hearing hoseok starting to breathe rapidly and coughing hard.

"hoseokie? are you alright?" jimin asked quietly, turning his head to the side a little.

"what? what is this place? what happened?" hoseok looked around in confusion not understanding what had just happened. he acknowledged things pretty quickly, but was taken away by the pain that stroke through his head. "my head... jimin... is this you?"

"everything will be okay." jimin whispered to him and intertwined one of their hands, holding tightly.

"I'm glad you're finally awake." soojin said in a low and quiet voice as she grabbed a chair and placed it in the middle to see both jimin and hoseok.
they turned their heads to see the woman wearing all black, sitting on a chair with her legs crossed and a gun in her right hand.
"feeling alright?"

"my head..." hoseok mumbled and let his head drop down as he shut his eyes in pain.

"oof." soojin grimaced as she looked at the back of hoseok's head. his hair was covered in blood and now the mixture of it along with water dripped from his drenched clothes onto the floor. "that must be painful."

"give him treatment!" jimin yelled with pure anger. "can't you see? he's going to die!"

"honey..." soojin laughed loudly. "don't you think I would've done that already if I cared?"

jimin's eyes filled with tears as he imagined how it would feel to lose hoseok. he couldn't believe this all was really happening.
"hoseokie..." jimin whispered to his lover. "please stay alive, fight it. do it for me, please."
jimin felt how hoseok clenched his hand tightly around jimin's for a mere moment before letting it loose like before.

"what do you want?" jimin asked soojin.

"I want your prince charming to come here and save you." soojin answered and took out his phone. "I'll just take a picture, send him the location along with it and he'll be here."

"and?"

"and then I'll make him sign this." she took out a file with some paper inside. "which will make all of you, and all you have belong to me... not that I need the seven of you, but your recruits could be useful."

"so you'll just kill us." jimin said, looking straight into her eyes. "you'll promise yoongi to keep us alive, but will still end up killing us all."

"you see, park jimin, promises are... stupid." soojin leaned back in her chair and fixed her hair with the gun. "I personally hate them a lot, but what I love doing is making promises and breaking them."

"that's not something surprising coming from a bitch like you." jimin scoffed.

"but you better talk before yoongi comes." she said sternly. "I want to know any and all information. your connections, projects, the people you get your guns and drugs from. everything."

"we make it ourselves."

"oh?" soojin chuckled darkly. "I can find weapon and drug specialists myself anyways. one thing I'm curious about is how you managed to make yoongi sign the peace contract... as far as I am concerned, your gangs were rivals. what did you bribe him with?"

jimin smirked and looked away. "we did something you definitely won't be able to do."

soojin furrowed her eyebrows and stood up, pointing her gun right at jimin's head. he felt the cold metal against his skin and shivered.

"fine, don't tell me." she said. "you'll be the one suffering from your own actions in the end."
jimin heard the gun make a click sound before soojin placed her finger on the trigger.

he kept his eyes open, looking straight into soojin's cold and dark eyes. they looked scary in contrast to her black hair and attire, as if she were a witch.
soojin grabbed her phone and snapped a picture before sending it to yoongi.
"is the other one dead or what?"

minseok slapped hoseok earning a loud grunt from the elder.
"looks like he's still alive."

"what a pity." she exhaled loudly. "well in any case, we've got some time before yoongi gets here. let's go upstairs and have a cup of coffee... I'll send YJ and jackson down here to watch the two."

"I can text them." minseok suggested and quickly got out his phone, reminding soojin of an obedient puppy who was waiting for a treat for all his hard work.

"sure, do that." she responded and opened the metal door. "and make my coffee without sugar today."

"got it, boss."

after a few unsuccessful attempts of trying to escape from the ropes, jimin breathed out in frustration and let his head fall onto hoseok's shoulder.
hoseok was barely able to stay conscious, jimin couldn't hear his heartbeat the way he did before, it was very weak.
jimin hated crying, but he couldn't help it and let out a couple of sobs. he tried keeping it down to make sure hoseok won't hear... he didn't want hoseok to realize how bad the situation was.

jimin thought... and understood there was literally no point. soojin will just gather all of them here and kill all without a second thought, as soon as yoongi signs the contract. or maybe he won't even have to sign the contract, she'll just shoot everyone. she'll definitely trick them and make them come in here without weapons, saying she has a simple deal to offer.

jimin noticed a piece of glass laying under a table. he stretched his left leg out, trying to reach it. the glass wasn't too sharp, but it was at least something. jimin moved it up so he was able to grab it with his hand. he placed it behind his wrist and got it between the wrist and his back before pressing it against his skin.
the glass slipped away and managed to make a decent cut as it fell onto the floor. jimin reached for it again, but was cut off by hoseok's hand.

"what the fuck are you doing?" he asked in a raspy and low voice.

"hobi... there's no point." jimin explained. "if yoongi comes here to save us, she'll kill us all... but... but if we die before yoongi comes, he won't have a reason for coming here anymore and he won't fall into this trap. we'll be able to save the five of them."

"what nonsense are you talking about?" hoseok whispered, but it was obvious he was angry.
"jimin... this is not you. what's going on? you'd never do something like this."

"because you're dying hoseok!" jimin yelled out and found it difficult to breathe from the tears on which he choked back. "look at yourself... your wound... it's too deep. and too much time has passed–"

"we won't die today, you hear me?" hoseok said. "we are not dying today."

"hoseok–"

"jimin! no!" he yelled at him, using all the strength he had left. "not today."

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a/n: guys, sorry for the updates being all over the place and not on schedule. the book is about to end and I wanna finish it already so I can take a break lmao