Hunted [Chapter 23]
“Hyung!” ”We need to tell you something awesome!!” “You’ll never know what happened!!”
All 3 of them start to yell at the same time.
“Okay guys, one at the time, what’s so great?” I ask. Jiyong steps forward and grabs one of my wrists and well as Dae’s.
“You need to sit down!” And he drags us both towards the bed and makes us sit on the side.
“Ready?”
“I guess…” Is my answer. The three of them are practically jumping up and down with excitement.
“Oh oh, can I tell, please?” Seungri begs and Jiyong nods.
“Okay, so we were looking at that place, you know the abandoned red building? And we contacted the government because it was actually their building. We told them who we were and our plans and that we wanted to buy the place… But they didn’t want to sell… initially…”
“Initially?” Dae asks, looking at Seungri with some confusion. Jiyong takes over the explanation.
“Yeah, I got a call this morning. It was some high placed political guy who wanted to help us. Turns out his daughter is one of us and he very much likes our idea. So here’s the deal…” Jiyong stops talking, clearly to build up some tension.
“We can’t buy the place, BUT we’re allowed to renovate the building so we can live on the top floor. We have to rebuild the rest so it’s some kind of shelter slash place where people like us can come together when they have a rough time or when they simply want to hang out. That major-ish guy said that he wants to create a place where we feel safe.” This is great news. Now we can all come together and talk about our powers and stuff.
“The government is also willing to hire us to run the place… Well, part-time at least. So we’ll still need to find us a part-time job or something, but the food, materials and stuff needed for the place is going to be paid by them. So we don’t really need another job. Youngbae came with a great idea. Since the place is going to be filled with mostly young and scared people, we need some teachers, shrinks and stuff to support them.” Indeed a great idea, but Dae interrupts.
“That’s great and all, but normal shrinks… I mean shrinks that aren’t like us can’t really help those people.” He has a point. I mean, we figured most of our lives out already. But look what had to happen before we did. Those kids need somebody that knows their pain, fears,…
“Yeah we figured that.” Now it’s Youngbae’s turn to talk.
“So I suggest we all go to college and get us some knowledge about stuff that can help those kids… and… we really need to start thinking about how we’re going to do all this… the design of the house, what we can offer to help, stuff like that.”
And so we spend the entire day and the next figuring out how to do this. We came up with the renovation plans. The top floor is going to have everything a normal house have, with three bedrooms.
We have 3 floors for the shelter. We decided to use the third floor for beddings and sanitary, so those kids can stay when they feel the need to. The second floor is going to be used as a cafeteria and study rooms which can be used for private conversations as well. The first floor is going to be recreational space, information point and stuff like that.
We all decided what we’re going to study for. Jiyong and Youngbae are going for teaching, with both different specialisations. Youngbae’s going to focus on physical health care and Jiyong’s going for art courses, mainly music. Both will be able to teach basic courses as well, so that’s good.
Dae’s mindreading thingy is going to help him to talk to those kids so he’s going to become a psychologist. Seungri’s going to specialise himself in financial stuff and law. He’s going to become our spokesperson and manager. I’m going to learn how to do research. Not only scientific research but especially research about our conditions. We know almost next to nothing at the moment. The shelter and all those special kids are going to be a great help.
We spent two days talking about all of this and frankly, I’m tired as hell. Probably because I’m still recovering. The others don’t look good either. They’re very excited, but exhausted. I stand up from the chair I’m sitting on, but I can’t say a word before Dae speaks.
“Hyung, you should rest a bit… We all should rest a bit.” I nod in agreement. Although our healing takes less long than other ‘normal’ people, we still need a few days for stuff like bullets. I’m still in the hospital since I don’t have a place to go… well, I do now… but I’m not going to be able to recover in a building that’s practically inhabitable. The others are staying over there when they’re not visiting, using sleeping bags for the moment. It’ll do.
“The hospital is releasing you tomorrow…” Dae interrupts my thoughts. “The doctor thinks you’ll be healed enough by then… You’re staying with us, right?” I nod again, but apparently not convincing enough.
“What’re wrong?”
“I’m not sure my leg can handle sleeping on the ground yet though…” I mumble. Dae rests his hand on my shoulder. I turn around and see him smiling at me.
“That’s not going to be a problem, hyung. They already delivered our beds! And we’ve got electricity and one functional bathroom and toilet.” They made that much progress already? Wow.
“But there’s barely a safe floor or wallpaper still hanging on the wall… Why’s the furniture there?” Dae’s facial expressing doesn’t change.
“The fourth floor is in way better shape than the first three floors. Okay, it need some work, but furniture, electricity and water is more important than looks at the moment. Besides, those first three floors get priority… There’s a company today, however, that’s going to replace all the windows and doors. They should be done by tomorrow evening.” I’m amazed by the flexibility of Daesung and the other guys. But after living on the streets and in prison, I guess you could say that our new home is already awesome.
The rest of the day goes by without anything worth mentioning. Daesung went back to help and I fell asleep soon after.
**
“Hyung, hyung! Wake up!” I’m abruptly awoken by the sound of Seungri screaming.
“Shut up, we’re in a hospital.” Jiyong hisses.
“Jiyong hyung, you’re quite loud as well” Dae joins.
“Seriously…” Ah, and there’s Youngbae’s sigh… My eyes are open at this point, but they’re too busy looking at each other to notice I’m awake.
“Jeez… And to think I’m going to live with you guys…” Are my first words. They all point their eyes on me again and smile. Seungri however is clinging at me.
“Hyung, come on, you’re allowed to leave!” I sit up, or try to anyway and find my clothes at the end of my bed. I don’t even have time to get up completely before Seungri grabs them and throws them at me.
“Go to the bathroom and change! Come on, hurry!”
“Okay, relax, I’m going! I’m still recovering…” But as I stand on my feet, I don’t feel any pain. In fact, I can move like I did before.
“Or not…”
“Wow… The doctor’s right, you’re fully healed…” Jiyong’s staring in disbelieve.
“You’re exceptionally fast, even for us…” Youngbae nods and Seungri’s copying Ji’s expression. Daesung however has a cheeky grin all over his face…
“He’s fast in any way possible…” He says, making everyone looking like him with a confused look on their faces. I’m turning beet red however, knowing all too well what he really means.
I’m clearing my throat and try to return their attention back to me. I don’t want them to think about that sentence for too long, but it doesn’t seem to work.
“Anyway… I’ll be ready in 5 minutes.” I say as I make my way over to the bathroom. They are still looking a bit puzzled as I enter and close the door behind me. I sigh and walk towards the toilet when I hear Yougnbae uncharacteristically yell as it finally sinks in.
“GOOD GOD, I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW THAT!!!”
Tbc
All 3 of them start to yell at the same time.
“Okay guys, one at the time, what’s so great?” I ask. Jiyong steps forward and grabs one of my wrists and well as Dae’s.
“You need to sit down!” And he drags us both towards the bed and makes us sit on the side.
“Ready?”
“I guess…” Is my answer. The three of them are practically jumping up and down with excitement.
“Oh oh, can I tell, please?” Seungri begs and Jiyong nods.
“Okay, so we were looking at that place, you know the abandoned red building? And we contacted the government because it was actually their building. We told them who we were and our plans and that we wanted to buy the place… But they didn’t want to sell… initially…”
“Initially?” Dae asks, looking at Seungri with some confusion. Jiyong takes over the explanation.
“Yeah, I got a call this morning. It was some high placed political guy who wanted to help us. Turns out his daughter is one of us and he very much likes our idea. So here’s the deal…” Jiyong stops talking, clearly to build up some tension.
“We can’t buy the place, BUT we’re allowed to renovate the building so we can live on the top floor. We have to rebuild the rest so it’s some kind of shelter slash place where people like us can come together when they have a rough time or when they simply want to hang out. That major-ish guy said that he wants to create a place where we feel safe.” This is great news. Now we can all come together and talk about our powers and stuff.
“The government is also willing to hire us to run the place… Well, part-time at least. So we’ll still need to find us a part-time job or something, but the food, materials and stuff needed for the place is going to be paid by them. So we don’t really need another job. Youngbae came with a great idea. Since the place is going to be filled with mostly young and scared people, we need some teachers, shrinks and stuff to support them.” Indeed a great idea, but Dae interrupts.
“That’s great and all, but normal shrinks… I mean shrinks that aren’t like us can’t really help those people.” He has a point. I mean, we figured most of our lives out already. But look what had to happen before we did. Those kids need somebody that knows their pain, fears,…
“Yeah we figured that.” Now it’s Youngbae’s turn to talk.
“So I suggest we all go to college and get us some knowledge about stuff that can help those kids… and… we really need to start thinking about how we’re going to do all this… the design of the house, what we can offer to help, stuff like that.”
And so we spend the entire day and the next figuring out how to do this. We came up with the renovation plans. The top floor is going to have everything a normal house have, with three bedrooms.
We have 3 floors for the shelter. We decided to use the third floor for beddings and sanitary, so those kids can stay when they feel the need to. The second floor is going to be used as a cafeteria and study rooms which can be used for private conversations as well. The first floor is going to be recreational space, information point and stuff like that.
We all decided what we’re going to study for. Jiyong and Youngbae are going for teaching, with both different specialisations. Youngbae’s going to focus on physical health care and Jiyong’s going for art courses, mainly music. Both will be able to teach basic courses as well, so that’s good.
Dae’s mindreading thingy is going to help him to talk to those kids so he’s going to become a psychologist. Seungri’s going to specialise himself in financial stuff and law. He’s going to become our spokesperson and manager. I’m going to learn how to do research. Not only scientific research but especially research about our conditions. We know almost next to nothing at the moment. The shelter and all those special kids are going to be a great help.
We spent two days talking about all of this and frankly, I’m tired as hell. Probably because I’m still recovering. The others don’t look good either. They’re very excited, but exhausted. I stand up from the chair I’m sitting on, but I can’t say a word before Dae speaks.
“Hyung, you should rest a bit… We all should rest a bit.” I nod in agreement. Although our healing takes less long than other ‘normal’ people, we still need a few days for stuff like bullets. I’m still in the hospital since I don’t have a place to go… well, I do now… but I’m not going to be able to recover in a building that’s practically inhabitable. The others are staying over there when they’re not visiting, using sleeping bags for the moment. It’ll do.
“The hospital is releasing you tomorrow…” Dae interrupts my thoughts. “The doctor thinks you’ll be healed enough by then… You’re staying with us, right?” I nod again, but apparently not convincing enough.
“What’re wrong?”
“I’m not sure my leg can handle sleeping on the ground yet though…” I mumble. Dae rests his hand on my shoulder. I turn around and see him smiling at me.
“That’s not going to be a problem, hyung. They already delivered our beds! And we’ve got electricity and one functional bathroom and toilet.” They made that much progress already? Wow.
“But there’s barely a safe floor or wallpaper still hanging on the wall… Why’s the furniture there?” Dae’s facial expressing doesn’t change.
“The fourth floor is in way better shape than the first three floors. Okay, it need some work, but furniture, electricity and water is more important than looks at the moment. Besides, those first three floors get priority… There’s a company today, however, that’s going to replace all the windows and doors. They should be done by tomorrow evening.” I’m amazed by the flexibility of Daesung and the other guys. But after living on the streets and in prison, I guess you could say that our new home is already awesome.
The rest of the day goes by without anything worth mentioning. Daesung went back to help and I fell asleep soon after.
**
“Hyung, hyung! Wake up!” I’m abruptly awoken by the sound of Seungri screaming.
“Shut up, we’re in a hospital.” Jiyong hisses.
“Jiyong hyung, you’re quite loud as well” Dae joins.
“Seriously…” Ah, and there’s Youngbae’s sigh… My eyes are open at this point, but they’re too busy looking at each other to notice I’m awake.
“Jeez… And to think I’m going to live with you guys…” Are my first words. They all point their eyes on me again and smile. Seungri however is clinging at me.
“Hyung, come on, you’re allowed to leave!” I sit up, or try to anyway and find my clothes at the end of my bed. I don’t even have time to get up completely before Seungri grabs them and throws them at me.
“Go to the bathroom and change! Come on, hurry!”
“Okay, relax, I’m going! I’m still recovering…” But as I stand on my feet, I don’t feel any pain. In fact, I can move like I did before.
“Or not…”
“Wow… The doctor’s right, you’re fully healed…” Jiyong’s staring in disbelieve.
“You’re exceptionally fast, even for us…” Youngbae nods and Seungri’s copying Ji’s expression. Daesung however has a cheeky grin all over his face…
“He’s fast in any way possible…” He says, making everyone looking like him with a confused look on their faces. I’m turning beet red however, knowing all too well what he really means.
I’m clearing my throat and try to return their attention back to me. I don’t want them to think about that sentence for too long, but it doesn’t seem to work.
“Anyway… I’ll be ready in 5 minutes.” I say as I make my way over to the bathroom. They are still looking a bit puzzled as I enter and close the door behind me. I sigh and walk towards the toilet when I hear Yougnbae uncharacteristically yell as it finally sinks in.
“GOOD GOD, I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW THAT!!!”
Tbc