jisung found himself standing nervously in front of the huge door of lee sooman's office.

he had become the official leader of death park the night before, and he was now aware of all the responsibilities that came with it. he was the man at the very top, the one who gave the orders and made sure everything was respected.

and sadly, these were not legal responsibilities, meaning that jisung would need to stay hidden to do so. but this would be quite hard considering he was living around 5 other boys, and shared a room with one of them – plus chenle who was very often around.

so, that is why jisung was currently in front of the ceo's office: to ask to have his own room.

"enter!"

taking a deep breath, jisung pushed the door open and walked inside the office, his eyes falling on the powerful man that was sitting on his swivel chair.

he looked proud and superior, as always, and jisung almost wanted to snort considering that he could kill him in a snap of fingers, or have him under his mercy for the rest of his life if he threatened him enough.

"jisung! i am very sorry for everything that happened. my condolences." he said, standing up and gesturing jisung to sit down on the armchair facing his desk.

"thank you." jisung bowed his head.

"why did you come to see me?" the ceo then asked, finding a small object on his desk and making it twirl between his fingers.

"well..." jisung's gaze lowered for a second. "i wanted to know if it would be possible for me to have my own room in the dorms..."

lee sooman frowned. "your own room?"

"yes, sir." jisung nodded. "for the moment, jaemin hyung and i are sharing a room. just like sungchan hyung and shotaro hyung. and jeno hyung and renjun hyung have their own rooms."

"i'm not objecting, but... can i have a reason for this sudden change?" the ceo asked.

and that was the cue for jisung's manipulation skills to surface.

he would never tell the ceo that he needed a room to have a bit of secrecy for the not-so-legal activities he was leading. yeah, never.

so, the young boy showed his bast pained expression, lowering his head and gulping to faint sadness and make the ceo pity him.

"well..." he started, his eyes avoiding sooman's. they settled on the small metallic object resembling an octopus that he was still twirling between his fingers. "my parent's death still affects me a lot, and it will for quite long... i'm not sure i'll be able to refrain myself from crying every night. i don't want to bother my members because of that. and i wouldn't want them to feel bad seeing me in that state."

the boy slowly lifted his head looking at the ceo, and finding him looking at him sadly.

jisung was good at manipulating people, he was glad.

"i understand your concerns, jisung." he nodded slowly. "i'm calling your manager. you'll swap rooms with either jeno or renjun depending on what they prefer."

"thank you, sir." jisung bowed again.

"don't mention it." the ceo smiled. "it's normal. i'm sorry once again for your loss."

jisung didn't answer, not really knowing what to say.

plus, he wasn't really sure these words from the ceo were sincere.

"do you need anything else?" the man asked, placing the object he had been playing with on his desk, allowing jisung to have a clear view of it: it was effectively a small octopus of a metallic blue colour, and reflecting the light from the chandelier tied to the ceiling.

"no, sir. this was all."

"well, then. you may go to the reception. i'll ask them to give you a ride to the dorms."

"thank you, sir." jisung stood up, bowing again before leaving the room and sighing loudly.

thank god, he would be having his own room...

⇄

the young boy thanked the driver that had just dropped him in front of his drom. after closing the door, he made his way to the front door, placing the keys in the lock and then pushing the door open slowly.

"hello, jisung." jaemin's voice greeted him first.

"hello, hyung." jisung answered, kicking his shoes off and walking further inside his dorm.

"manager-nim just called us to say you would have your own room from now on." the boy continued. "you're leaving me..."

"i'm sorry, hyung..." jisung lowered his head.

"oh, no, come on, jisung..." jaemin approached the younger boy, immediately wrapping him in a hug. "i'm kidding, it's okay... we'll still be living in the same dorm."

jisung gladly accepted the hug, even though he wasn't pained by the conversation they just had – or anything at that point. it somehow felt good to know that despite being a criminal, some people still loved him dearly.

"oh, hi jisung!" renjun exclaimed as he stepped in the room, noticing the two tall boys that were hugging.

"hello, hyung." jisung smiled at the chinese boy, pulling out from the hug.

"so, apparently, we're swapping rooms. i started packing my stuff, so whenever you're ready, you can put your things in my- well your room." renjun explained.

"i'll do it now." jisung informed. "thank you very much, hyung."

"it's normal, jisung."

and after almost an hour, jisung had gathered all of his belongings, and placed them in his new bedroom as soon as renjun had put his stuff away. the boy was now ordering everything to make the dull room look like an actual adolescent bedroom – he had already hidden all of the mafia stuff he owned behind his desk.

"hello, ji!"

the young boy turned around, his lips unconsciously curving upwards at the sight of a certain bubbly chinese male.

"hello, lele." he replied.

"i heard you had a new room! this is so cool!" chenle happily said, jumping to sit down on jisung's new bed.

"yeah." jisung nodded, continuing to put his stuff away.

"but you shouldn't use that as an excuse to stay on your phone later and miss hours of sleep. otherwise, i'm starting a petition to have you changing rooms again."

jisung chuckled lightly at his friend's words.

chenle was very caring, and he always tried to make the younger smile. and he seemed to be trying to do so twice as hard now that jisung's parents were dead.

but jisung didn't mind. actually, he enjoyed having his friend taking care of him. because if chenle didn't, who would? jisung didn't have parents anymore, and the only persons he had left apart from the assassins of death park were his members, and his dearest friend.

"don't worry, chenle." jisung sighed. "i'm almost 20, i'm responsible."

"shut up, you're still a baby." chenle shook his head. "you need to be taken care of and watched after. and i'll gladly do that."

oh god, if only chenle knew...

jisung had lost his child innocence long ago. he was no longer a baby who needed his parents to do everything for him.

he was a grown man, and he had been for so long...

being the heir to the mafia, and now the head to the mafia, he had had to be responsible years ago...

but anyway, he wouldn't mind chenle taking care of him. as long as the boy wasn't too present and prevented him to do his mafia duties, he was okay with it.

"well, if- "

"jisung, is that blood?!" chenle cut the boy's sentence, his eyes wide as he looked at jisung's hand which was covered in a red substance.

"oh, huh..." jisung looked down at his left palm, his eyes falling on the cut that he had inflicted himself the night before. he may or may not have acted as if nothing was there, and made his wound open and bleed again.

"oh my god! you have a huge cut!" chenle gasped, taking jisung's hand in his and staring at the red liquid oozing out of the boy's flesh, almost making himself sick at the amount of blood.

"it's just a scratch..." jisung rolled his eyes. "it will eventually stop bleeding."

"stop acting like a brave boy and come with me to the bathroom." chenle scolded, pulling a tissue out from the box that was on jisung's nightstand and pressing it against jisung's hand.

jisung sighed as he got dragged by the older male towards the bathroom.

chenle immediately pulled jisung's hand in the sink, making cold water flow on the nasty cut.

"did you even clean the cut?" chenle looked at jisung in the eye.

"chenle, it's just a scratch. it doesn't need to get cleaned..."

"see!" chenle yelled, his pointer finger poking jisung's chest. "i told you that you weren't responsible and that you still needed someone to take care of you and watch after you."

jisung rolled his eyes, holding his wince in as chenle rubbed the cut under the freezing cold water to clean it deeper. he even added some soap at some point to make sure to kill any bacteria that had formed there.

"how did you even cut yourself?" chenle asked after a while, rinsing jisung's hand and rubbing the sides of the cut with his thumbs.

"i broke my glass during dinner yesterday night. and i cut myself while collecting the pieces." jisung explained nonchalantly.

"you need to be more careful ji... you could have seriously hurt yourself..." chenle sighed, closing the tap and using a towel to dry jisung's hand, making sure not to press he tower directly onto the wound.

"i didn't. so, it's okay."

"well, who knows what would have happened to your hand if i hadn't been there to take care of it. imagine you would have needed to cut your hand?" chenle said dramatically.

"this can't happen with a scratch." jisung shrugged.

"a scratch..." chenle rolled his eyes. "sit down on the floor and raise your hand."

"huh?"

"do as i say."

under chenle's orders, jisung sat down, leaning his back against chenle's legs as the boy was still standing. he kept his hand in the air, with his palm facing the ceiling while chenle opened the bandage box and cut a piece.

"why do i need to sit?" he asked. "you could have bandaged my hand with me standing up."

"your wound doesn't stop bleeding, so for the bandage to be efficient, we need to lessen the flow. that is why i used freezing cold water. it constricts blood vessels and stops the bleeding. but as soon as you stop the water, your body heats up the wound again, and it starts bleeding again. that is why you need to keep the wound the furthest away above your heart, so that the gravity makes it harder for the heart to push blood all the way to the wound." chenle explained, as if this was logical.

jisung blinked a few times, not believing everything that had just gotten out of chenle's mouth so naturally. how the hell did he know all of that? and why the hell wasn't jisung aware of all those information when it would be very useful if he came to be hit by a blade or a bullet?

"where did you learn all of this?" jisung asked, keeping his hand in the air as he felt chenle pressing a gauze onto his wound, and then wrapping his hand in white bandages.

"taeyong taught me." chenle replied proudly. "i cut myself while chopping vegetables once, and so, he told me how to make the blood stop oozing out, and how to bandage my wound."

jisung hummed, not asking further.

"here, all done!" chenle declared, allowing jisung to stand up. "now, what time is- oh! my mom is going to scold me!"

"why?" jisung frowned, looking at the neatly-made bandage on his hand.

"she told me to be here within 10minutes. and it has been 9 and a half." chenle giggled. "we're going to visit my aunt today."

"well, let's go then. i'll accompany you to the car."

chenle and jisung walked out of the bathroom side by side, then heading to the front door and passing by the living room, where shotaro was lying on a sofa, his eyes more focused on his phone rather than the tv that was playing the news.

"oh my god..." chenle declared, catching the attention of the younger boy by his side.

jisung frowned, turning his head to see what had chenle this shocked.

his eye fell on the tv which was displaying a small square on which were lying bloody bodies covered by white cloths.

"tragic incident today in the suburbs of seoul, this square right behind me has been attacked by a criminal group who killed a dozen people. the police are currently investigating and trying to find the people responsible, and for the moment, they are highly suspecting one of the many mafias that have started developing in the city. could it be death park, dark danger, blood ruby or any other mafia? stay tuned with us, and we'll warn you whenever we'll have more information."

jisugn gulped, seeing the awful images on the screen. not that they were scaring him or horrifying him, but he was worried for chenle and his innocence.

"t-that's horrible..." chenle stuttered, his eyes staying on the screen.

"come on, stop looking." jisung turned the boy around to prevent him from seeing the horrible images. "your mother is waiting."

chenle hummed, continuing to walk by jisung's side to get to his mother's car.

"it's scary to know we're living in a world where some people are corrupted and others are trying to kill us." chenle spoke.

"yeah." jisung stated simply, opening the front door.

"like... mafias could be anywhere... they could actually be hearing us now, and plotting our death... this is so scary..." chenle gasped.

jisugn sighed. "don't worry chenle. you did nothing wrong in your life. no one would ever try to kill you."

"yes but- "

"no." jisung said starnly, placing his hand on top of chenle's mouth as the older looked at him with wide confused eyes. "chenle, stop worrying. everything is fine. the mafias aren't in this part of the city. you don't have to worry, okay?"

chenle slowly nodded, making jisung drop his hand and free the chinese boy's mouth.

"i hate living in a world full of assassins and corrupted people..." chenle mumbled as he saw his mother's car on the other side of the street, waving at his mom.

"trust me, i do too." jisung told chenle, the older being completely unaware of the real meaning of those words. "but don't worry. i'll be here to protect you, okay?"

"okay." chenle chuckled, hugging jisung quickly. "bye jisung, see you tomorrow!"

"see you!"

jisung watched chenle running to his mother's car and making it in safely. he stayed on the pavement with his eyes on the car as long as he could see it, and he walked back into the dorm when chenle's mother took a right turn, making the vehicle disappear from jisung's sight.

with a sigh, the youngest member walked to his room, closing the door behind his back and pulling his phone out immediately, dialling a number he knew too well.

thankfully, his called was answered quickly.

"jisung."

"heesun, have you seen the news?" jisung asked his godfather.

"yeah, i did."

"does death park have something to do with this?"

"i don't think so." jisung's godfather replied. "jihu told me none of his team members had a murder planned today."

"it could be dark danger... or blood ruby..."

"i don't know about blood ruby..." jisung heard heesun sigh. "they haven't been involved in murders recently."

"well, tell jihu to send some of his people there. i want details on who did this, and why." jisung told seriously.

"i'm doing it right now."

"perfect." jisung nodded.

there was a short silence.

"i'll call you back after." the godfather informed.

"sure. i'll wait for your call."

"great, i'm hanging- "

"oh, heesun, one last thing!" jisung cut his godfather as he recalled something.

"yeah?"

"say... what was dark danger's symbol again?" he asked.

heesun hummed on the other side of the line.

"an octopus, why?"

"nothing... just wanted to make sure." jisung told before hanging up.