Chapter Text
Ok, so maybe bread’s not the most healthy food in the world, but does it really matter when you barely eat enough anyway? Actually, it probably does, but Minsoo doesn’t really care. Besides, standing in an alleyway eating bread looks a lot cooler than eating a peach or something.
Eugh, peaches.
He doesn’t mind their sweet taste, but the fuzz , it leaves an uncomfortable sensation on his teeth. Besides, all those juices are messy and he does not want to have sticky hands, especially out here where all the worst thugs run around, waving their wooden sticks and metal pipes wrenched off the side of a building.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going you dumbass kids?!”
There’s one now. Just a few meters away someone yelled at a couple of kids Minsoo assumed were probably some random teenagers in the wrong part of town. It’s 2020, wouldn’t they at least know that people hanging around in bad places usually end up dead in a ditch somewhere?
Minsoo leans over a bit to look beyond the corner of the wall into the section of the alleyway that connected to the streets. To his surprise, there were three kids, all boys, all looking a bit younger than he was. They were all malnourished, much like Minsoo. They were also panting, huffing and puffing with red faces. Minsoo supposed being overly skinny helped with your speed, but not much with endurance. Fear was painted onto their faces, and they scrambled to help each other get away from the 2 old men following closely behind. Minsoo resumes eating his bread, and shrugs. It’s not like this was a rare occurrence.
Just as the three were about to turn the corner into the alleyway, five consecutive bangs rang out, and a yelp and two thuds cut the short subsequent silence.
Minsoo leans over again to see what happened and…
It’s a gruesome sight. The youngest fell face first into the concrete and laid unmoving in the same spot. The oldest was on his knees, quivering, his worn grey T-shirt streaked with blood, and his right hand tight around his left shoulder
‘ Guns?! Where the hell did they get that shit?! They better get the hell out of here before someone comes over to inspect or something. ’
The third boy runs over to two and frantically asks the kneeling one, “What happened? Did they…?!”
He moves to check on the youngest and shakes him a bit, trying to flip him over, “Daehyun? Daehyun?!”
“Jaewon, just keep running…Agh!” The oldest tries to shuffle over and push the younger towards alley Minsoo was hidden in. He falls, but gets up again to urge ‘Jaewon’ away.
What was with these three? Especially that kid that didn’t get shot, why was he still there? If he was smart, he’d get the hell out of here? Hell, if Minsoo was smart, he’d be long gone already, he doesn’t deal with guns. At least, not usually. How the hell did they get guns in here, anyway?
Speaking of the old men with guns, why weren’t they doing anything? Minsoo’s gaze falls on the two standing a little while away.
Hushed whispers are exchanged among them, “God fucking damn it, why the hell would you do that? Now the cops are gonna show up!”
“Well what else was I gonna do, let them get away? Let me just finish them off real quick, so they don’t snitch”
“Man, come on, let’s go! They’re just kids, I don’t know why you shot them anyway, you fucking psycho!”
And off they go, tripping after one another.
The oldest tries to get up (Minsoo rolls his eyes at this, and internally ridicules him, ‘ Jeez, why won’t he just accept it? He’s dead if he doesn’t get that bullet out. ’) and give the younger a hug, but obviously, he’s never been shot before. He collapses on top of Jaewon for a second but shoots straight up right after.
“Hyung….Daehyun…”
The hyung doesn’t respond.
He lowers his head and stays silent for a minute, much to the concern evident in Jaewon’s eyes. He’s terrified, Minsoo can tell.
And goddammit, as much as he wants to deny it, Minsoo has a soft spot for kids.
“Hey. Ye kids, come with me. I’ll help ye.”
‘ Fuck. Minsoo, what the fuck’s wrong with you? How are you gonna take care of these kids? You’re not even old enough to have a job, and Minsung-hyung’s already got enough shit to deal with. ’
The oldest whips around to glare at me and hisses, “We don’t need help. Leave us alone.”
He’s overly defensive for someone who looks to be only 13 years old. It’s clear that these kids are products of the streets, left to starve and fend for themselves or group up and help each other survive.
“Hey, I ain’t gonna hurt ya. Yer just kids, there’s no reason for me to. I’m not that much older than ya anyway. So come on, it looks like ya got a bullet in yer shoulder. I can take it out for ya.”
Jaewon moves and whispers into his hyung’s ear, whose eyes flit between Minsoo and his dongsaeng.
The older nods, and lets his gaze fall to the floor. He mutters an angry, “Fine. We’ll go with you.”
Jaewon turns to the body laying a meter away. hesitantly lifts it up with shaking hands and struggles to lay it over his shoulder.
Minsoo catches a view of the wound that ended the boy’s life. A shot to the back of the head. Luckily, it was pretty quick, so they can at least hope it wasn’t very painful.
Shot in the back of the head. Like a dog.
Minsoo knows that feeling, those surreal moments carrying the body of someone close to you, someone who used to be so full of life, so he leads the way in silence. He doesn’t say anything when Jaewon sniffles, or when the other one lets tears slowly drip down his dirtied cheeks.
‘ Minsung’s gonna kill me, Minsung’s really gonna kill me this time, isn’t he? ’
***
“Sit here. I’ll get the first aid kit, give me a minute.”
Minsoo scolded himself silently for giving into his urge and taking these kids in. Sure, he wasn’t going to be adopting them, but they have to eat sometime! He can’t just treat them and kick them out. He grabs a hold of the kit and runs back into the living room to treat the other kid (he learned his name was Dongho). He walked past Jaewon, who was kneeled next to Daehyun’s body. It was already past dark, so they probably shouldn’t go out to burn him now. It would have to wait.
Jaewon comes in as well to give Dongho a clean rag to bite on and his hand to hold onto. Minsoo carefully takes out his few utensils, begins extracting the bullet.
Dongho screams ( god , can he scream) into the rag, and holds Jaewon’s hand in a vice-like grip, his eye screwed shut in agony. It’s a painful experience, but it can’t be helped.
Once he’s finished, Dongho lays back and relaxes, drained of energy and exhausted. Minsoo covers the boy with a blanket.
“So Jaewon, how’d this all happen? What kinda trouble did ye get into?”
“We…” He begins, eyes downcast and small fingers fidgeting with the hem of his loose shirt, “We were all part of this group of people. Because we ran away from home, we didn’t have a place to go, but then we all found this group of people that would take care of us. They were part of a thing called the Runaway Fam. I met Dongho and Daehyun there...We tried to run away together, but then...you know…”
Minsoo watched the younger with sad eyes. He was probably only nine or ten. He sighed and sat down.
“Why’d ye try to run?” He tried to make his voice a bit more gentle, but after living 16 years and not being shown such kindness even once, it’s kind of hard to mimic.
“Our Dad was trying to force us to do prostitution scams for money...we didn’t want to, so we ran away.”
Jesus.
A kid this young shouldn’t have even heard the word ‘prostitution’ before, let alone know what it means. And to think that he could have gone through that? Because of their own dad?
“ Yer dad made you do that?”
“Not our real dad!” Jaewon frantically waves his hands, as if saying ‘no!’ and whispers, “Our dad is the leader of our family. He’s the one that gets the ‘h’ tattoo.”
So these kids were part of some kind of twisted street family that forced minors to do prostitution scams, all because they didn’t feel safe at home?
“Oh.”
Minsoo doesn’t know what to say.
“Well...glad ye survived. I’m sorry I can’t exactly feed ye guys right now, we don’t have any food in. My hyung’s going grocery shopping tomorrow, so if ye stick around that long I think we might be able to spare some stuff.”
Jaewon’s eyes widen with fear. He kneels and says, “No! No, you don’t have to feed us, we’re fine! We can leave right now, if you want, I’ll wake up Dongho-hyung. Thank you for caring for him!”
Minsoo pulls the boy to his feet and mumbles, “Don’t. Ya don’t have to be like that. I ain’t gonna hurt ya. Just...sleep for now. Ye’ll need rest if ya plan on growing any taller than that. You too, kid,” Minsoo turns to Dongho, “Oh, he’s already asleep.”
***
He didn’t wake up the next morning.
Minsoo awoke and walked into the kitchen, yawning. He had gotten yelled at the previous night for bringing home two kids and a dead body, but Minsung couldn’t resist them either, so they were allowed to stay a little while. Jaewon was there, kneeling in front of Dongho.
“Hey kid. What--”
Jaewon didn’t turn. He sat, silently, almost as if he didn’t hear him.
Minsoo’s eyes find the body sitting just ahead. Hands purple tinted and stiff.
Jaewon doesn’t cry. He looks down at the corpse and says nothing still, until Minsoo repeats his name and sits next to him.
“He’s dead.” He mumbles, voice monotone and unwavering.
Minsoo didn’t stop to comfort him. Not because he didn’t want to. Not because he didn’t care. Rather, because he couldn’t.
They wrapped up the two bodies individually, each in an old sheet. Minsung agreed to drive them out to a spot in the middle of nowhere to start a bonfire and burn them.
Jaewon kissed them goodbye before dropping the lighter on them. It was purifying, in a way. A child whose innocence is still partly preserved, at least more than the other two.
The ashes fly away, twisting and flowing, waving goodbye to the lives they had once known, the boy they once held in their hearts.
Had it been Daehyun or Dongho that survived instead, would Minsoo still feel the same? Would he still feel the protective urge that prompted him to ask Jaewon, “Where are ya going to go now?”
“I don’t know.”
Yeah. There’s no way he’s leaving him on the streets. What would happen to him then?
Perhaps Minsoo would have heard about him again in his mid twenties, read about him online or something, about how he got arrested for selling bulk cocaine. Maybe he wouldn’t, maybe Jaewon wouldn’t be strong enough to survive on his own, and he’d die alone, stabbed by some unknown thug in the middle .
Minsoo was not ready to find out.
“I can...Ya should stay with us. Ye’re like 10, right? It’s not safe for ya out here on yer own.”
Jaewon jumps to attention suddenly, as if he hadn’t spent the entire morning in a catatonic daze. He shrinks a bit and fidgets even more, “N-No, I can’t! I’ll just be a burden, I don’t want to be the reason you guys spend more money! I’ll...I’ll...I’ll find a way...I don’t need…”
He sniffles. Minsoo lays an awkwardly placed hand on his shoulder and continues, “I have too, Jaewon. I don’t want to see anymore kids like you dying on the streets just because no one has it in them to take care of you. I’ll...I’ll be your hyung now.”
Jaewon didn’t say anything more afterwards, but he gave Minsoo a nod, and for the first time since they’ve met, his eyes are filled with hope.
Minsoo let the younger sleep in his bed that night. As he lay on his sleeping mat, he pondered a few things that he had never even acknowledged before.
Was he trustworthy enough to take care of this boy? Could he do it? Could he manage to give a new life to this child that now lost everything? The questions were mind boggling, and trying to find the answers was even more so.
‘ I’m so afraid of failing you. ’