Title: A Thousand Beautiful Things
Main Pairing: Kangin x Leeteuk
Side Pairing: Siwon x Kyuhyun; Yesung x Ryeowook; Yunho x Jaejoong; Hangeng x Heechul
Rating: R in this chapter, NC-17 in later chapters
Warnings: male x male relationship, violent graphic descriptions
Disclaimer: I do not own either Super Junior/DBSK/JYJ
Summary: Mafia AU. Kangin didn't expect to find a child when he led his Family in an assault towards a rival family. He also didn't expect the child to be someone he treasured most of all.
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WARNING: I rate this chapter R because although there's no graphic torture that might sugest NC-17 rate, there are some parts here that might be disturbing to some people.
Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, I don't really have any excuse. But! It's been a year (I think) since I first posted the prologue for this fic and that fact alone is enough to move this story higher on my priority list. Along with "Half of The Moon", this will be my main priorities.
....Unless there's sudden random muses that decide to play xD
A Thousand Beautiful Things
Chapter Thirteen
By: Sharl/zielddhy
When he was a child, Kangin wanted nothing more than his father’s attention. His mother was long gone and an old picture was the only keepsake he had of her. His father had thrown out everything that might remind him of her and although he was still young, Kangin respected that decision. As a single parent and a Don for Kim Family, it was understandable his father would come short in one of the roles. And the parental role was the one he chose to sacrifice. A logical choice, but it had taken its toll on the young heir.
“Father?”
Kangin peeked into the barely opened door, wanting to know if his father was done with his meeting yet. He hadn’t seen his father in two weeks now, and this morning he watched his father go into the library with several men, obviously discussing something. He just wanted to say hello, and maybe if he was lucky he would get to hug his father today.
However the library was empty. Kangin frowned and opened the door wider. No one was there and that was silly. He clearly saw his father came here earlier and he hadn’t seen him going out. The young heir clutched tighter at the book he was carrying, forgetting momentarily to place the bookmark and closed the page he was reading instead.
Kangin maybe a child, but he was a smart child. He knew what he saw. And the only thing his brain could think as a logical solution was that there was a secret trap door in here or something. Some secret passage that might explain why his father and his men were not here even though Kangin saw them coming in.
He began to look around the room carefully, knocking the walls and listened for any hallowed sounds. Kangin was only halfway done when suddenly the wall to his right opened and his father’s Consigliore walked out. The older man was clearly startled seeing Kangin, and he immediately hid his hands behind his back. “Young master, what are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for my father,” the young heir answered. “Have you seen him?”
Kangin peeked past the Consigliore’s taller form, but the older man quickly blocked his sight. “He’s busy, at the moment. Why don’t you go back to your room and I’ll tell him that you’re looking for him young master?”
“I was bored in my room, that’s why I want to see him.” He knew he sounded childish, but Kangin was a child.
“Then I’ll ask Kyuhyun to come and play with you. Wait for him in the drawing room, alright?”
Kangin frowned. It wasn’t that he disliked Kyuhyun, the Consigliore’s son, but Kyuhyun and Kangin had different interests. Kyuhyun liked computers and laptops and internets, while Kangin preferred more outdoor activities like sports and the like. But he didn’t have a choice now, especially since the Consigliore’s words were more like a direction to be obeyed. Kangin unwillingly nodded and turned around, walking towards the drawing room as ordered.
He was only few steps away down the hall when he remembered that he left his book in the library. He ran back there immediately only to see the Consigliore was still standing exactly where he was. But he wasn’t hiding his hands anymore. The Consigliore was holding something and it was covered in blood.
It was Kangin’s first sighting of a torture tool, the pear of anguish.
He didn’t know what it was back then, but when he discovered it few years later he realized what was going on in that secret door. His father and the other members, including the Consigliore, must have tortured someone. And suddenly Kangin was thankful his father wasn’t around often. Who knew how much blood that man must have had on his hands?
Kangin vowed right then that he won’t ever lead the Kim Family, no matter what.
***************************************
Heechul frowned.
The radio provided some background noises but he couldn’t focus his mind on the cheesy songs. He stared at the empty road ahead of him as he pressed on the gas to drive faster. Something was off but he couldn’t point out exactly what, at least not until he saw or heard something strange. Turning off the radio, Heechul swerved his car to the left, ignoring the screeching tires.
He hadn’t been in this area for years now, until recently that was. Although technically it was theirs, this sector was abandoned long time ago because the Kim Family was focusing on the other part of town. And then there was the status quo war with Choi Family which changed their priorities entirely and so this place was forgotten.
Jaejoong pointed out few weeks ago that they might need additional space to store newly purchased guns and ammos that are due to arrive next month. Their current weapon storage was fully loaded and besides it was always a good idea to have more than one warehouse ammo.
Kangin, being the stubborn asshole he usually was, insisted that they could use the abandoned sector despite Siwon’s urging that it was dangerous. They needed to clear out the space and its’ surroundings especially after being unoccupied for so long. Who knows what kind of booby trap they might find out here?
Two weeks ago the Kim Family began to clear the sector out, with Heechul leading the job. So far it was still pretty on track except for few minor distractions like discovering a street gang that had taken refuge there or had to chase out few illegal residents. But other than that everything else was pretty much done. With some renovations and security adjustments they would have the area secure for weapon storage just in time for the newly arrived shipment.
But something was off. Heechul couldn’t place exactly what that was and it worried him. The last time he felt something like this, Hangeng got shot. Hopefully there wouldn’t be such thing this time and it’s just Siwon’s paranoia syndrome rubbing on him. The Consigliore was notorious for his distrustful nature, although it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing considering they were in the middle of cold war with Choi Family and all their pathetic allies. Siwon was a great Consigliore and Heechul had to hand it to Kangin for picking the right man for the job.
If Kyuhyun was the Consigliore, like how it was supposed to at the beginning, well, Heechul didn’t even want to imagine that.
On the other hand, The Choi Family had been quiet these last few years. After the attack to The Don’s car years back, there were no further attacks from anyone. Yes, there were some small skirmishes every now and then but they were small. And for The Choi Family, either they kept quiet or that they tried to bid out Kim Family in some financial cases but so far they hadn’t done something as drastic as using Jung Family, or Kang Family or any other Families. In fact they seemed to be thinning out their allies lately, cutting down connections with Families they don’t consider beneficial anymore. It was so unlike their previous strategy which was to gain as many allies as possible.
If wasn’t for the fact that Kangin actually met TOP face to face one year ago, they would have suspected a coup happened in Choi Family. But TOP was still the Don and according to Kangin, still as arrogant as usual, so the question remained: what brought the changes?
Heechul was about to turn the car right to enter the warehouses area when suddenly something caught his eye. The gate was opened. It was opened.
Few guards were supposed to stand there, making sure nobody entered but right now the fucking gate was opened. “Shit,” Heechul cursed under his breath. He pressed on the speed dial of his cell phone and spoke immediately the moment it connected. “Siwon, the gate is opened and I don’t know what the hell is going on. Do you change the order or something?”
“No,” from the other line came Siwon’s confused voice. “I haven’t changed anything and if Kangin did he would have cleared that out with me.”
“Fuck, that’s what I’m worried about.”
“Okay, turn the car around and get back here. You’re not authorized to do anything until further instructions.”
“I need to know what’s going on.”
“Heechul,” Siwon warned, “get your ass over here right fucking now.”
“Too late for that. I’ll let you know when I found something. Just send some people here, okay?” With that, Heechul cut off the connection, ignoring The Consigliore’s shouting voice. Well he was looking for trouble here, Heechul know that but if something happened to the Kim Family then they needed to know what was going on immediately and time was the essence. Kangin would probably lock him at the mansion for few weeks after this, although he was sure The Don would do the same thing if he was in Heechul’s shoes. That bipolar bastard.
Pulling the car to a stop, Heechul didn’t bother to lock it. Instead he fished out the gun in his jacket and put the safety off. He crept towards the first abandoned building, listening to noises but there was none, only silence greeted him. He peeked into the windows and nobody was inside. He found the same scenery for the second, third and fourth warehouses; no voices, no bodies dead or alive. The last possibility was the fifth building, which was under lock and key.
Or at least it was supposed to. The lock had been broken, there were footprints around the building. Heechul frowned. They would need Yunho to take closer look at those. That man was a master at deciphering footprints, really. He could tell people’s weight and height just from their footprints and usually he would found something else that could be useful to help them identify the profile later.
Heechul peeked inside the window and immediately wished he wasn’t alone. On the ground were five dead bodies. And their faces had been removed
**************************
“No hyung, it’s very easy. Look, if you add this number to this formula here, you can easily calculate what’s the x is,” Taemin said exasperatedly as he explained Algebra to a very sour looking Jonghyun. The two were huddled together on Key’s bed, pouring over home works and notebooks as the six high school students decided to group study that evening.
Jungsu looked up from his history textbook and felt his eyes were blurring. He blinked few times, before rubbing them and said, “I’m going to take few minutes break, anybody want popcorn or something?” He hopped down from the high stool he was sitting on and stretched.
“Are you sure?” Minho piped up from the corner, his face was hopeful.
“Yeah totally,” Jungsu said again, “come on, I need some help carrying the food here. I think your mom left some food at the kitchen,” he said again to Key. The nice lady earlier had told them that they could eat everything in the fridge if they wanted to and hinted that she had baked some cookies and brownies earlier. Now Jungsu was hungry and he knew his friends were too. Minho hopped down from the high stool he was sitting on and followed Jungsu out the door.
The six friends were currently having group study at Key’s house because final exams were coming soon and they all needed Taemin’s smart brain to help them study. Jungsu peeked outside, looking around until he saw Yoohwan-hyung and few other members stood nearby. He couldn’t help but sigh; even inside his friend’s house, they still needed to guard him like a glass crystal. It wasn’t that Jungsu couldn’t understand why and he wasn’t looking forward to argue with Jaejoong-hyung again so he had no choice but to stay put.
“Jungsu?” Minho’s voice brought him back from his daydreaming. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah I’m fine, just… you know, thinking about the exam.”
Key looked unconvinced, but he didn’t press on it and for that Jungsu was grateful. He quickly helped preparing the snacks (brownies, cookies and some popcorn) while Key grabbed some soda cans and piled them into a big tray. They carried all food back to Key’s room. Unfortunately after the snacks arrived, neither of the six students wanted to study anymore so they popped in a dvd and spent the rest of the afternoon arguing about ‘Man of Steel.’
One phone call from Taemin’s mother four hours later reminded them that it was quite late already. Deciding that it’s about time to go home, they began to pack up their books and notes and trotted downstairs. Key’s parents were still not back from work but they left a quick note, saying thank you to her and that the brownies and cookies were really delicious; although Jungsu thought Jaejoong-hyung cooked them better.
Jungsu was about to go to where Yoohwan was waiting when Minho suddenly called his name. He jogged a little towards where Jungsu was and stopped in front of him. “Here,” he said shoving a small box to Jungsu, “this is for you. Open it when you’re home, okay?”
“What is it? And what for?” Jungsu frowned.
Minho seemed nervous and he kept shifting from one foot to another. “Nothing, it’s just… I just want to give this to you, that’s all. Do me a favor would you? Open it when you’re at home, that’s all I’m asking. You’ll be surprised.” With that, he turned around and walked away, but not before leaving one final reminder that Jungsu should open it back at the mansion and no sooner than that. Jungsu was confused. His birthday was still months away so why would Minho give him presents?
Shrugging, he pocketed the small box and waved at Yoohwan-hyung. Well, he wasn’t about to argue with Minho, that boy was always a bit weird. Jungsu just had to trust him and if Minho wanted him to open the gift at home, then he would open it at home.
The drive back to the mansion was interrupted by an urgent phone call from Changmin. Yoohwan had to bring Jungsu back to the mansion immediately, and no, whatever Jungsu said, they couldn’t stop at that bakery in Eight Avenue to buy blueberry cheesecake for Kangin. Jungsu pouted at the news, but he knew that something was wrong. Yoohwan said that Changmin’s voice was strange, like he was worry and it was the first time he called Yoohwan to give him that kind of order.
Jungsu just hoped nothing serious was going on, like that time when Hangeng-hyung got shot or that Kangin-hyung’s car blew up.
The moment he stepped into the mansion, Jungsu could feel the tension and nervous air almost immediately. It wasn’t chaotic, not at all. In fact the mansion was in perfect order and eerily silent. “Where is everyone?” he asked to no one in particular.
“I think they are all in the library,” Yoohwan replied, “why don’t you go to your room, Jungsu? I’ll tell Jaejoong and Yunho that you’re back.”
Jungsu pouted again because he really wanted to see Jaejoong-hyung, but Yoohwan-hyung was adamant in his order. The high school student had no choice but to obey and went to his room. He dumped his backpack on the floor and was about to get some fresh clothes when his stomach grumbled. Turned out that he was hungry too, no wonder of course, it had been five hours since he last ate something. And they didn’t get the chance to buy any dinner on their way back here too.
Sighing, he walked towards his closet and picked out a comfortable sweatpants and hoodie. He was about to go into the bathroom when he patted his pocket and remembered Minho’s gift. Curious, Jungsu took it out. There was a small card on top of the wrapped gift. He opened the card and read,
This is a gift from TOP. Thank him for his kindness.
Jungsu frowned. He didn’t know any TOP, who the hell was TOP? He took off the card and placed it on the table. His mind whirled. Maybe Minho made a mistake? Perhaps he got the wrong present and so this gift wasn’t for Jungsu?
But then Minho had repeatedly said that Jungsu shouldn’t opened the present until he’s at home so it was impossible if Minho gave him the wrong present. Jungsu glanced at the gift again. It was pretty nice, and was wrapped in ribbon too. Shrugging, he decided to just open it. Well, he could always re-wrapped it again in case it’s needed.
He pulled at the ribbon, watching the silky material fell apart and put it on the table next to the card. Next he opened the box. His blood went cold. Inside were three human fingers.
And then Jungsu screamed.
**************************
Yunho crouched down, squinted his eyes and looked at the footprints closer.
When Kangin called him earlier, he thought it was going to be one of those ‘how’s-Jungsu-doing’ kind of call. The Don usually called every two days or so, asking either Yunho or Jaejoong about the young teenage boy. At first it was weird receiving those calls because they all lived under the same rooftop, Kangin included so actually Kangin didn’t have to call them, he could ask Jungsu himself. In fact Jungsu always seek out Kangin whenever the Don was at home, so the phone calls were really unnecessary.
However Yunho knew that Kangin was just being overprotective towards Jungsu like usual, so both he and Jaejoong just accepted the phone calls. But today, for the first time in years, Kangin called him and said that he was needed at the abandoned sector immediately. Kangin spoke to him in calculated tones, but Yunho could detect the worry underneath that calm voice.
Kangin told Yunho that Heechul had called Siwon earlier that day to report about what he found at the warehouse construction site, and The Don immediately call for a red alert condition. Every main member was contacted and they had to go back to the mansion immediately, except for few members who had to check the scene personally.
And so, here the surgeon was, looking at the grounds as five faceless bodies were being carried away. Hangeng and Yesung were the one who had to carry those bodies; the fact that their faces were removed were enough to make weaker stomachs felt nauseated and none among the younger members could handle it. In fact, in order to determine who those bodies are, Yunho had to cut small tissue samples from each body because there was no way Ryeowook or Kyuhyun willing to be within 20 feet from those.
Kyuhyun and Ryeowook then would match the DNA to Ryeowook’s database. Hopefully they could get a match soon, although judging from where the bodies were found, it was easy to guess that the bodies belong to few guards from Kim Family.
Twenty minutes later, Yunho was done with his examination. He was about to go back when his cell phone suddenly rang. Siwon’s name showed up on the screen.
“Yunho,” Siwon’s voice could be heard immediately the moment Yunho picked up the call, “are you done?”
“Yes, just now. What’s wrong?”
The surgeon could hear Siwon sighed, a sign that The Consigliore was beginning to feel frustrated. Not a good sign because Siwon could handle pressure quite well. “Jungsu received a package from TOP earlier, it was given to him through one of his high school friends.”
“What?” Yunho narrowed his eyes, “Siwon this is not funny.”
“I’m not joking Yun, he really received a package.”
“But I thought we already check the background from his entire social circle.”
“We did,” Siwon sighed again.
“So how-“
“Fuck Yunho, I don’t know okay? Maybe we miss something or The Choi just initiated the contact few days ago, there are many possibilities and we will look into that. I’ve already informed Jaejoong about this, both him and Kangin are so furious with the rest of us right now so don’t you fucking dare throw your shit on me too.”
Yunho took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm and not lose his cool to Siwon. The other was right, Jaejoong and Kangin must have chewed him good, especially The Don. And it wasn’t Siwon’s fault, or anybody else’s fault on that matter. They would look into that, but right now Yunho was more concerned about Jungsu’s condition. The fact that TOP could send him a package, so to speak, suggested that it wasn’t safe for him anymore. “Do we know where Jungsu is now?”
“Yes, he’s at the mansion. But Yun, inside the package were three human fingers.”
“Shit.”
“That’s not the worse part. They are Kibum’s.”
-End of Chapter Thirteen-
Author's Note: So. This crime-arc will be on three different chapters, mainly because it's quite long and a bit complicated. I will introduce four new characters in this arc, the first one is Xiah and he will appear in next chapter. ^^ And if you're confused and wondering "Who the hell is Kibum?" then I suggest you look up for earlier chapters, I think I've mentioned him quite few times although only in passing.
Part Fourteen 12.
Part Twelve11.
Part Eleven10.
Part Ten9.
Part Nine 8.5
(Not So Planned) The Birds and The Bees 8.
Part Eight7.
Part Seven6.
Part Six5.5
Stick and Stones 5.
Part Five4.
Part Four3.5
A Little Bit of Hope3.
Part Three2.
Part Two1.
Part One0.
Foreword