I Want To Live! (6/?)
Title: I Want To Live!
Pairing: (Main) KyuMin, (Side) KangTeuk, HanChul, SiMin (one-sided only)
Genre: A little angsty, attempted humour (might fail miserably) and romance
Rating: PG-13 (I SERIOUSLY suck at smut, so there!)
Disclaimer: If I own any of them, KyuMin would be married by now. But sadly, they aren’t because they don’t belong to me. Only my imaginative mind does.
Notes: Words in ‘italics’ are thoughts.
Summary: Lee Sungmin is a trained hitman by the codename ‘MIN’. His only sole purpose is to kill his assignments regardless of their backgrounds. So why did, one fateful night, on the brink of death, he met Cho Kyuhyun? The one who taught him the meaning of life. But then why life, had to be so full of twisted humour?
It was the same cold darkness again. At the same time, it all felt so familiar and so alien to him. He’d remembered grappling with the same darkness, trying to hold onto something as his life support but found none as he drifted further and further away into the endless abyss. Nothing was scarier than being alone but strangely enough, he had not found that intimidating the least in his past. There was nothing around him. Silence is his only companion now. He could almost see Death welcoming him like a long lost old friend.
Yes, he is now back as MIN who can only obey orders with no questions asked. He is the silent killer who won’t even spare another chance for his victim no matter how much they plead or beg for their lives. His fate was sealed ever since he was recruited to be an ‘asset’ in the Headquarters.
An invaluable asset.
He’s a puppet with no will to live and his movements and actions are determined by the Headquarters who holds his strings. A useless or broken puppet will be disposed of immediately, having no use to the Headquarters but those who prove useful will be recycled over and over again till they break down into little unrecognisable pieces before suffering the same fate as the useless puppets. It was the same ending no matter what. No chance of escape and no outlet for release.
Till he found Kyuhyun. Or rather, Kyuhyun found him. The clumsy young oaf had nursed him, cherished him, tended to him and made him laugh. It was then Sungmin realized that there is more to life than he expected and that when God closes a door, he will leave a window open. But karma is a bitch. It will always come back to haunt you, reminding you of how life really sucks when everything you hold dear is on the brink of being destroyed and then let you taste the utter devastation when it did. The bittersweet happiness was hard to swallow. It was like a huge invisible lump that was stuck in his throat, making it hard to get through life without being reminded every single second that he will continue to suffer no matter where he is or what he does. Because without Kyuhyun by his side, he has now lost the will to live. And that is the greatest suffering he is going through right now.
The saddest part is that he can’t even kill himself because he needed the happy memories of them together to be replayed over and over again in his little dark hole hidden within himself. And also because of the fact that Kyuhyun will be killed if he did commit suicide. There was nothing brighter than Kyuhyun being vibrantly alive and going on with his daily activities, destroying the kitchen, tripping over the furniture, sleeping on the bed they had shared and smiling at the little delights that came by him now and then. These memories almost brought a smile to his expressionless face. But he knew that he can’t lose focus now.
Not when there’s a machete aiming for his throat!!!
Sungmin jumped back swiftly to avoid another heavy swipe of that dangerous weapon. Breathing raggedly because his stamina was depleting fast, empty-handed and almost backed up at a corner, he was fast running out of options to get this over with. It was most certainly that he was at a very BIG disadvantage. This assignment is a little more ‘lively’ than his previous ones. A gang leader who is fast rising among the ranks of the slums, making other mafia bosses’ fat butts squirm uncomfortably in high-ranked seats and that underground businesses were snatched from under their very own noses. Feeling threatened, they had seek the services of the Headquarters to dispose of this man whom Sungmin had mentally nicknamed ‘Gorilla’ because of the exceptionally huge built and the quickness of the heavy attacks.
Priest was probably lounging somewhere hidden, smirking at his helplessness and waiting for him to call out for assistance. There were a few cuts and scrapes here and there. Clenching his teeth, he quickly decided that there was no way he was going to ask for help. If there was one thing he learnt in order to get out of sticky situations was to rely on himself and nobody else. Being overly dependant on others will just make him soft and weak and that very useless feeling could KILL him!
Slash after slash came raining down. His opponent was a rather big gorilla sized Latin man in his late thirties with a big Mexican moustache on his ugly scarred face and bulging red eyes, bad breath and his body stank of stale sweat. Sungmin had to admit that the big oaf was rather speedy in his attacks but surely someone as big as this Latin gorilla must be somewhat clumsy?!? Quickly assessing his chances of getting out alive, an idea struck him. As he ducked another attack, he took off his sweat soaked black shirt and twisted it in his hands and waited for a good opportunity to strike back
There!
Every single slash, there was about a three second interval before the stupid gorilla lifted his deadly weapon to come down on him again. One wrong move would in a deadly result. Almost immediately, Sungmin took that opportunity and lashed his twisted shirt at his opponent’s face with all his strength, hoping that it would momentarily blind him so that he could have a chance to counter back.
And it worked.
“ARGHHHHHH!!!” The gorilla man clutched at his face in pain, cursing incoherently and turning his back to Sungmin. His machete fell from his chubby fingers with a loud clang onto the hard ground.
This is my chance! He pounced onto the bent back and with the ends of his twisted shirt tightly in his grasp, he wrapped it around the taut neck and tugged. HARD! The gorilla immediately snapped out of his pain-filled frenzy and began struggling, his oversized hands trying to pry the source of his strangling off him. But Sungmin clung on for dear life for he knew that if he slipped here, there was no saying of him surviving the attacks of an enraged gorilla.
“You know you can just ask for help?” The satiny voice called out in the midst of the struggle.
Sungmin ignored Siwon who had magically materialized nearby but not near enough to be struck by the gorilla’s heavy blows. The thrashing was getting more and more violent now and the gorilla’s face was slowly turning blue. His entire body hurt and his muscles were screaming from the strain, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer, his adrenaline-fuelled brain worked frantically on solving his current problem. Just then, the corner of his eye caught sight of the evil glint of cold steel not too far away. The machete! Mentally slapping himself for not realising that his current problem can be solved so easily, he gathered all the strength in his legs and kicked off from the gorilla’s thrashing back before he dove in for the machete. It was a race against time. Grasping the handle, he skidded to a stop from the inertia, sprang back onto his heels and without further ado, he aimed for the gorilla’s neck for a clean kill.
And he succeeded. Blood splattered all over him and onto the walls like droplets of rain, the gurgling shriek of pain and surprise echoed through the cold dark alley in which all living inhabitants were sent scurrying miles away for safety, leaving Sungmin to collapse into a messy heap beside the twitching body as the liquid of life poured profusely out of the gaping wound.
“Tsk, tsk. This was a messy way to handle your assignment.” Siwon skipped lightly over the small streams of blood flowing away from the dead gorilla now. He then looked at Sungmin who was breathing heavily, shaking his head with arrogant distaste. “The Headquarters isn’t going to like this one bit. And your wounds are bleeding again.”
Sungmin glared at Siwon. “Shut up. I don’t need your help or anyone’s.” He threw the machete away which hit the bloodied wall, denting it, uncaring where it hit and slowly got up in wobbly legs. He understood that this wasn’t his style of killing for he didn’t do such messy work but in his already weakened body conditions, there was no other way. Wiping the blood away from his face with the back of his hand, he began to stumble away.
Meanwhile, Siwon had opened his bible, tore a page off and placed it beside the dead body. “May your soul rest in peace. Amen.”
Turning back, Sungmin stopped in his tracks and sneered sarcastically, “Praying for the dead? What a hypocrite you are, Priest.” His head was throbbing and he was tired. He longed to take a good rest and a hot shower to wash away the blood, sweat and grime stuck to him like a second layer of skin.
Siwon merely chuckled as he got up. “This is my style of doing things.” He placed the Bible back into his coat before taking it off and flinging it over Sungmin’s shoulders to cover his naked torso who accepted it as if it was only proper of Siwon to do so. He didn’t care if his blood or the blood of his victim sullied the expensive leather coat and almost welcomed the residual warmth of Siwon’s body.
“Makes me wonder why the police haven’t caught you.”
“I’ve got God’s divine protection.” Siwon replied as he led Sungmin away, one gloved hand at small of his back. “He’s protecting you too.”
“We’re forsaken creatures, Siwon.” Sungmin muttered tiredly. “Nobody will protect us.”
And Siwon didn’t answer because even without God’s protection over Sungmin, there is still him, for he will never allow Sungmin to be endangered in any way possible. I will always protect you. No matter where you are or what you do. These silent thoughts echoed resonantly within his mind, as if reminding him over and over again the reason why he continually obeyed the Headquarters. Anything for you, Sungmin.
Anything for you.
-*-
When they had returned to the Headquarters, Sungmin was quickly ushered to the medical bay where he was fussed about and his injuries were quickly tended to by its personal professional medics. Siwon had disappeared from his side, probably to give his latest report to ‘Sir’, the man who has the highest authority in this place; the man who single-handedly found the Headquarters and built its reputation to the extent of being internationally recognized for its professionalism and 99% efficiency in dealing with whoever has the money to afford its services. The Headquarters did not care who their target was as long as their customers satisfied two important conditions, pay an unearthly amount of fee and spread their name by word of mouth.
However, despite their notorious reputation, they were still elusive and very private. The Headquarters has its own means of avoiding being investigated and being found out since it is powerful enough to silence even the greatest of authority in the world. Its fake cover was that of a normal company with a normal business with normal people working during the daytime on the above floors but deep underground, it hid another deadly secret where different types of professional personnel who work almost hand in hand in what they specialize in: Intel and assassination. They have contacts who sat in high places that will get them out of the hot water and enough spies all over the world to alert them when danger lurks. Nobody could get in its way and nobody ever survived to tell the tale. The Headquarters was that one place where justice could never reach.
And all that was controlled by the one man named ‘Sir’.
But he couldn’t care less about all these. All he knew was that whatever his assignment was, he was required to deal with it quickly and efficiently. But right now, as he lay in his small bunkbed, staring at the spotless white ceiling above him, Sungmin couldn’t help but reminiscence about his time with Kyuhyun. The memories that teased and taunted him to return to Kyuhyun’s side and forget about his misery here but the invisible heavy manacles kept him rooted in the Headquarters. He could never go back to the past that he had abandoned and Kyuhyun must be worried sick because he left without a word. Are you thinking about me, Kyu? Because I’m thinking about you every second of my life.
He turned to his side, only to encounter a cold white wall. Remembering how Kyuhyun had slept by his side, his mind pictured the scene before him where Kyuhyun had just woken up, yawned and stretched before his eyes fluttered open sleepily to focus on Sungmin. There was a short silence where their eyes met before it was broken when Kyuhyun had greeted cheerfully, “Good morning, Minnie.” And smiled when a blushing Sungmin stammered in return a, “Go-good morning, Kyu.”
That precious time had long disappeared from his reality.
It had already been two weeks since he had ‘willingly’ returned to the Headquarters. He’d still remembered how he had stepped into the building of the infamous Headquarters, the nine inch thick steel doors had eerily slid close behind him with a muffled bang, and he was ushered quietly by two beefy men to the Interrogator’s Room. Siwon had a look of concern etched over his handsome face but there was nothing he could’ve done. Rules were rules and the law was what the Sir’s words were. Nobody can ever refute or go against that man.
The Interrogator was a very private man who rarely shows himself and is often self-confined to the Interrogator’s room. He does not interact with anyone but Sir himself, obeying only Sir’s orders. Naturally, with his abilities to wring out the deepest secrets out of the most steel-willed of men, he was often feared by every personnel and his enemies alike as he would resort to means that were unspeakable outside of the room. Nobody dared to even go close to the Interrogator’s Room which was often plagued by continuous and horrendous screams of women and men that echoed endlessly along the empty corridors who begged and sobbed to be spared from their frightful fate. Probably that’s why Sir still kept this madman around.
***FLASHBACK***
Once the room was bolted and sealed, Sungmin sat with his back straight and still. Any false movement will have the Interrogator coming down onto him like a hawk eyeing its prey. He dared not risk being cheeky or sarcastic. Despite the fact that assassins were trained in the art of lying, nobody can deceive the Interrogator. “Did you betray the Headquarters?” The Interrogator leant back as he fiddled with his pen, tapping it impatiently against his paper in front of him.
This was the first time Sungmin has a good look at the Interrogator. If he were to summarize what are the facial characteristics of the Interrogator, the first animal to pop into his mind was an alligator. The man had burnt scars on the left side of his face, thick eyebrows that curved menacingly to give him that fierce look, a strong squarish jawline, a crooked nose that seemed to have be broken before, slightly thin lips and beady-like bloodshot eyes that never seem to blink as he scanned Sungmin from head to toe. Confidently, he replied, “No.”
“Then why didn’t you come back after you were injured?”
“I had been advised to refrain from doing any strenuous activities.”
The Interrogator snapped his pen into half, obviously impatient and irritated at Sungmin’s lack of replies. He wasn’t getting any answers he needed and that was a big no no. “Bullshit!” Throwing the broken pieces of the pen at Sungmin who didn’t even flinch when the jagged end of one half of the pen grazed his cheek, causing it to bleed a little, the Interrogator continued, “We have the best medics here and you would’ve been stitched up real good before you know it!”
But Sungmin wasn’t fazed and he knew that the Interrogator was no idiot. “You’re welcome to check my condition to support my answer.” Responding to the intense stare by the Interrogator, Sungmin silently dared him to do it. Since he hadn’t done anything wrong, he wasn’t afraid to answer anything thrown at him. He had nothing to hide.
Nothing to lose.
This was his hell.
He is living in it. And nobody will be able to scare him out of it.
An eyebrow twitched. “Did you tell this Cho Kyuhyun anything about us?”
Hearing Kyuhyun’s name made Sungmin’s heart rate accelerated but he forced the panic down. He wasn’t about to give up now. Not when he is so close in convincing the Interrogator that there’s nothing going on. “Cho Kyuhyun knows nothing.”
There must’ve been a reaction somewhere because Sungmin caught a glimpse of a mischievous glint in those cold eyes. “Oh?” The Interrogator circled around the glass table and stood behind Sungmin, placing his cold clammy hands on Sungmin’s shoulders and started massaging. “Shall I bring this Cho fella here and ask him?” Bending down till his mouth was at level with Sungmin’s ear, he whispered, “Maybe he’ll be more truthful than you.”
That was when Sungmin realized with dread that his next answer will determine the life and death of the one person he loves...
-To be continued-
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A/N: Sorry for the short chapter and late update. It’s currently Chinese New Year and things have been pretty hectic for me, running around town to visit friends and relatives. XDXD Anyway, no KyuMin action in this chapter. But I promise to update faster!!
Please comment. They make me feel loved.