jisung watched carefully at his surroundings, staying hidden with the rest of his mafia behind the windows of the national assembly building, order of the president himself.

it was a bit later than 4:30pm, barely half an hour before dark danger would be decorated with the south korean order of civil merit for their service to the nation.

the members of death park had been sneaked in the south korean legislative building a while ago so that they could watch everything from afar and then barge in the ceremony once justice will have been made.

they were all really looking forward to seeing dark danger getting locked behind bars for everything that they had done.

some of the members of death park were quite loud right now, already imagining the scowls that would appear on dark danger's faces when they would understand that they had been played on.

yeah, the smell of victory was so close, and so satisfying...

on the other hand, jisung wasn't as loud as them.

he was delighted to know that the people of his mafia were all happy to know they were so close to finally win. he was as well. but he couldn't help but feel a hint of sadness.

jisung knew that he would need to talk in public in a few minutes, as the leader of a south korean mafia, and as a member of nct who had shamelessly lied to everybody.

he knew that he would need to tell the whole truth about him. and he knew that he would need to make an important decision. but he wasn't sure everybody would be pleased with it.

diverting his eyes from the landscape outside, jisung focused on his mafia members, who were too busy speaking loudly and happily together to care about their saddened leader.

jisung looked at each and every of them, a small smile creeping on his face as he recalled his father's words.

the mafia was like a second family for all of them.

each and every man standing in this room had a life outside of the mafia; they had a home and a family to whom they weren't telling the whole truth; they also had legal and boring jobs that they left early most of the time to fulfil their mafia activities.

but this was how they had chosen to live.

over decades, jisung's family had recruited men that they judged being in accordance with what needed to be done; they were men from every background, which could bring something to the mafia, men who didn't know each other, but who grew closer while doing those illegal activities. they were men who had been in the right place at the right time and who had earned a new family.

and somehow, jisung felt sorry for them.

it seemed like all of them had chosen to be there, willingly. as if they didn't care how much blood was on their hands as long as they could get money to live with ease.

in this room, it seemed like jisung was the only one who was there without having chosen to.

he was born in this family, and this implied him to take over the business whether he liked it or not.

when his parents had first told him about it, years ago, he hadn't minded.

he even looked forwards to being the one in control of an army of killers who would follow each and every of his commands.

but growing up, he started realising how none of this was right.

jisung's vocation was to be an idol, not to rule a mafia and be feared by the whole country.

and things had gotten even worse this past month, with jisung developing feelings for chenle.

that was when he had seriously realised how wrong everything was.

he had been lying to everyone: his members, his fans, and even the boy he loved. and this couldn't keep going on.

jisung had often found himself wondering what it would be like becoming chenle's boyfriend, and then getting married in the future and forming a family. but jokes on him, this would never happen when chenle will realise how everything about jisung were just lies.

god, the sole thought of chenle was enough to make tears form in his emotionless eyes.

jisung now knew what he wanted: being an idol, and staying with the boy he had discovered feelings for.

but this wasn't possible while he was still in the mafia... and he wasn't even sure it would ever be possible...

⇄

taeyong slowly pushed open the door of jisung's bedroom, frowning at the sight of chenle still crying while lying on the younger boy's mattress.

chenle had refused to leave this room since the night before, and so, he had spent the night there, cuddling into jisung's sheets from which the boy's scent emerged.

"chenle..." the leader spoke gently as he approached chenle.

the chinese male sniffed loudly as he looked at taeyong with his puffy eyes.

"do you need something?" the leader asked, sitting down on the bed and allowing one of his hands to come and caress the chinese male's hair.

chenle shook his head no as he hid his face in jisung's sheets again, inhaling the scent he missed so much.

taeyong sighed at the sight.

"the president is going to speak in a few minutes... and he'll give a medal to dark danger..." taeyong spoke. "we'll surely have more information about everything. are you coming with us to watch?"

the chinese male hesitated for a while before slowly noddind his head and shuffling on the bed until he was sitting up.

taeyong stood up and used his hand to cup chenle's cheeks and lift his head up. he brushed one of his thumbs under the boy's tired eyes to wipe the tears that were straining his cheeks.

"hey, chenle, we don't know anything about what is real and what's not for the moment, okay?" he stated in a soothing voice. "this is perhaps a big misunderstanding."

it took a few seconds for chenle to nod, but he eventually did.

"let's go to the living room, okay?"

chenle nodded again, and taeyong led him to the living room by his hand, offering him to sit down on the big couch as soon as he got there.

a few other members were in the room, all looking sadly at chenle, but not daring to ask him anything, knowing that he was likely not to answer or to break down again because of everything that had happened to him these past days.

the tv was switched on and jeno selected the news channel as a video of the national assembly building came into view.

a large wooden stage had been placed in front of it for the ceremony, and a few south korean banners were also hung around it.

"ladies and gentlemen, it is now past 5pm, and i am standing in front of the national assembly building, where the country's legislative branch makes their political decisions. following the recent events, south korean president moon jaein will soon make a speech and recompense the members of the dark danger mafia with one of the highest distinctions of our country."

the boys inside the living room all stayed focused on the tv as a female journalist spoke, recalling everyone of what happened the days before.

and soon the camera was set on a single man who appeared on the stage and stood behind the mic that had been placed there previously, surrounded by a few protection agents.

the whole place became silent as the male smiled at the cameras.

"people of south korea, here is your president, moon jaein speaking." he spoke as the cameras filmed him from up close now. "as the leader of this nation, i am very sorry about the recent events that have been disturbing our lives. it is a well-known face that mafias and other criminal organisations exist all over the world, including here, in south korea. the other branches of the government and myself have been trying to find ways to get rid of them, or at least to prevent them from endangering our people, mostly in vain. effectively, these mafias often are very well-organised and the secrecy among them is dreadful. that is why we are having a lot of trouble containing them. but thankfully, some people took action and risked their lives for the well-being of this nation. and they did well, because thanks to them, one of the most troublesome and deadly mafias are behind the bars. ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to our saviours: dark danger."

claps were heard on tv as the cameras changed angle and filmed a group of around forty people who walked up on stage next to the president, standing in the designed spot as they bowed to the leader of the nation, and then to the public.

"here is dark danger, the organisation under the orders of mister hu ilsung that is responsible for all of this. please give them another round of applause."

more claps were heard as the members of dark danger bowed again to show their thankfulness.

"now, before going on with the awarding ceremony, we have a quick video to show you." the president spoke again, turning around as a group of technicians brought a large screen on wheels so that the members of dark danger could watch what would be displayed on tv.

everyone was silent inside the nct dorm, the members watching carefully the ceremony in hopes of getting more information about everything that had happened, and everything that would happen in the future.

the tv then stopped displaying the live video of the national assembly building where the ceremony was taking place, and instead, a recorded video was shown of a quite dark place.

chenle immediately tensed as he recognised the sm basement where he had been held captive for hours.

taeyong sensed chenle tensing beside him, making him wrap his arm around the boy to rassure him.

by then, the whole room gasped when they realised the tv displayed a recording of the cctv cameras from the sm entertainment basement: they could see chenle hanging from the ceiling by his wrists and two men that they soon identified as lee sooman and hu ilsung talking in front of him.

"the press is on their way. i asked the secretary to bring them here."

"to see chenle?"

"exactly. a few international channels are here too, so the message will be shown all over the world."

"very good.  but shouldn't we make things a bit more believable?"

"believable?"

"like... having chenle actually looking like he was tortured and not just held in captivity... oh, that would make us earn money faster, for sure."

fresh tears rolled down chenle's cheeks as he recalled actually living this scene while hanging from the ceiling by his wrists.

the video displayed ilsung approaching chenle with the knife, and soon a fourth person barged in the room, wearing a hood and a mask, and pointing a gun at ilsung.

"touch him and you're dead." the unknown man said, as air suddenly started lacking in chenle's lungs. now that he was seeing all of this again, he knew the real identity of this person. this was jisung. jisung was threatening the man that had tried harming chenle.

"oh, what a pleasant surprise..."

"who is that?"

"mister lee, let me introduce you to young park, member of death park."

"leader of death park. and future defeater of dark danger."

"oh, really now?"

chenle tried his best containing his tears, the words taeyong had spoken to him reassuringly coming back to his mind.

we don't know anything about what is real and what's not for the moment. this is perhaps a big misunderstanding.

well, now he was aware that this was painfully real. jisung really was part of a mafia. jisung really was the leader of a mafia. jisung really had lied to him, from beginning to the end...

ilsung stepped behind chenle's body, placing the knife by chenle's side, threatening to dig it in.

"don't touch him!" jisung yelled.

"how cute... the leader of death park is attached to a kpop idol... i thought your mafia had taught you feelings weren't good for this job."

the chinese male flinched again when he was himself getting hurt on the video.

hu ilsung, the man that had claimed he would keep him safe was trying to affect jisung, who was actually trying to save him.

"stop that right away or i kill him." jisung now said, pointing the gun at lee sooman which made all the boys inside the room gasp loudly. none of them were big fans of their employer, that's for sure, but going all the way to killing him? that was a bit too far.

"i couldn't care less. we're business partners, if he dies, i won't need to share the money."

"stop! please! no! i'll do whatever you want! don't hurt him!" jisung screamed as ilsung dug the knife deeper into chenle's side.

"drop the gun."

a loud noise was heard on the video, the cause of it being the gun that had fallen to the floor.

"now stop hurting him." jisung begged.

"why would i listen to you, young skull? i have plans that will make me earn lots of money. and if i need to drain this boy from his blood to earn it, i will without hesitation."

another collective gasp was heard as ilsung slashed chenle's chest open with his knife.

at that sight, taeyong pulled chenle closer to him for more comfort.

"no, stop! don't hurt him! he doesn't deserve this!"

"you shut your mouth, emotional piece of shit."

"please, don't kill him. take me instead. torture me, do whatever you want. but don't hurt chenle. hurt me, and show me off, i deserve it."

"and why would i kill an unknown boy when i could have the whole world giving me money to save a popular kpop idol?"

"because i'm not just an unknown boy..." jisung finally said before pulling off his hood and mask, revealing his true identity.

and then everything happened so fast.

jisung disarmed ilsung and pushed him to the floor, and right after, lee sooman opened the doors for the cameramen to enter and misunderstand everything.

but it wasn't a misunderstanding anymore.

now, the whole world knew that ilsung had been the one torturing chenle, and that jisung was innocent.

the video was cut and replaced by a live vision of the national assembly building in front of which the president stood with a smile. by his side, the 37 members of dark danger were surrounded by policemen who had their guns pointed at them and who were handcuffing them one after the other.

"so, now that the whole country knows what dark danger really did, we can apologise for accusing death park of crimes they did not commit. now, please welcome death park."

people stared at the unknown mafia members who stepped on the stage, led by nct member park jisung as dark danger was taken out to the nearest police station or directly to jail.

"i will now let the leader of death park speak." the president announced, handing the mic to jisung. the boy took a deep breath before taking the mic from the president's hand and approaching the centre of the stage.

in the nct dream dorm, everyone had stopped breathing, waiting in apprehension for jisung's speech and a rational explanation about all of this.

"ladies and gentlemen, i am park jisung. most of you surely know me as the youngest member of the kpop band nct, but in fact, i am also known as 'young skull', the leader of death park." the boy spoke loud and clear as everyone stayed silent, not believing that this was actually true. "you are all probably wondering how long this whole masquerade has been going on... well, the answer is... since i was born. as a child, i wasn't given car toys or dolls to play with. my parents taught me how to fight, how to use a gun or how to stay emotionless in any situation. i have been raised in the middle of a mafia, growing up around criminals, and knowing that this was going to be my future. i made the hardest decision of my life when i was 11 and i received that letter from sm entertainment, telling me that i had been taken in. that's when i realised that i'd rather be an idol instead of a mafia member. but things don't work that way in these kinds of organisations... death park was created decades ago by my ancestors, and the title of leader has been going from father to son since then. i knew that i would become one, but i thought i still had some time, and that i'd still be able to do my double-dealing; performing with nct during the day, and being a criminal at night. but i couldn't expect dark danger to murder my parents, suddenly putting me the head of the biggest south korean mafia."

there was still no sound across the room.

no one dared to speak as the members' hearts broke on after the other.

chenle was the worst of them. tears couldn't stop falling from his eyes as betrayal broke him down completely.

"so, yes. i have been lying to all of you on who i really was; all that because i wanted to become an idol when i knew a whole criminal career awaited me. but what could i do? you don't choose the family you're born in..." jisung passed a hand through his hair, his eyes looking down as he gulped. "now that i lived this mess for twenty years, and now that i am the one in command, i can finally say what i've always wanted to say..." jisung turned his head, facing the members of his mafia who were all looking at him expectantly. "i am not the idol all of you created in your mind. i'm just a criminal who doesn't deserve to be here. and that is why... that is why i am dissolving death park and promising to disappear from your lives."