「here stands a man
with a bullet in his clenched right hand
but don't push him, son
for he's got the power to crush this land」

♫syml; the war

✩ s a n ✩

San was stirring around on the bed, causing the springs inside the mattress to creak slightly as he moved around. The sheet felt itchy against his skin, and the covers too - in fact everything felt more or less uncomfortable in that moment.

"Are you asleep?" San turned around on the bed, staring into the dark towards the side of the room where his brother was resting.

"No..." A mumbling answer came from the other bed, and a heavy sigh followed.

Having no follow up reply prepared, San simply sighed as well, biting into his lip with an uneasy feeling roaming inside of him.

"What's the plan now?" Jongho then asked, whispering and with a tone of discouragement that San had never heard slip from the hardworking younger Choi's lips.

"Guess it's all up to him..."

The joint silence that followed, let both of them know they were thinking exactly the same. Getting rid of Yeosang would be tricky - but not impossible. Yes, he had somehow gained access to all of Seonghwa's assets, but the death of the oldest Choi surely was kept a secret...

But for how long?

San twisted the words around his tongue, but he didn't speak them out loud yet - going back and forth between the positive and negative points. What harm would it be to let Yeosang live? Or would it end up causing him too much trouble?

"We can't kill him..." It then came from the other side of the room, as if Jongho was reading his mind. "He showed us he had killed Seonghwa, not even attempting to hide it. But we would be foolish to underestimate him. He's got nothing to lose, he's dangerous, San."

"I know..."

Jongho was right. Yeosang must have had a plan, something prepared if the Chois tried to rat him out. He couldn't be that reckless not to...

Unless?

It was hard falling asleep that night, even harder than usual, and San felt like the only thing he did was to toss and turn on the uncomfortable bed.

✩

The following afternoon - about two hours, depending on the traffic, away from the city they all met in, they made a pitstop to use the bathroom at a gas station. Hongjoong was still in the restroom, and Jongho was inside the small shop to buy some bottles of water.

San was standing outside, leaning against the car and catching some of the warm rays of sunshine on his face.

"I know what you're thinking," Yeosang suddenly hummed, calmly, as he strolled over to stand next to him.

It was as if the air became colder in that moment, like the sun stopped warming his skin even though it was still shining brightly from the clear blue sky above them.

Without even looking at Yeosang, San mumbled back: "What do you mean?"

A low snicker came from the blonde, and from the corner of his eye San could see the strangely playful smirk on Yeosang's face - but the grey eyes were as hollow as ever. Shivers ran down San's back, but he made sure to act like the gloating stare from the dead eyes didn't affect him.

"You're wondering how to get rid of me, no?" Yeosang then asked, again very calmly. San turned his head towards him, staring at him in a loss for words - and Yeosang just smiled at him. "It's okay, I've been wondering how to get rid of you a million times throughout the entire time I've known you."

"That's comforting..." San snorted, and rolling his eyes as well.

"I don't want to ruin the fun though," Yeosang continued, ignoring the eye roll and keeping the uncomfortable smile on his face. "But if you ever actually tried doing it, you're going to regret it."

San had to admit that he felt both intimidated and intrigued at the same time. His younger brother had been right, it would be foolish to underestimate Yeosang - especially now, after seeing what he was capable of.

"How so?" Sounding as careless as he could, San looked at Yeosang with a raised brow, and the few seconds before the other spoke felt like years.

Yeosang then smirked, as he took San back to an evening during those days Seonghwa had held Yeosang captured in his apartment...

~

"... Yes, so, remember this: if anything were to happen to me, I can assure you that my brothers had something to do with it, San in particular. He's already had his P.I. snooping through my things, and unfortunately that person was able to gain access to some rather personal information. I will email you the papers after this. Keep your eyes and ears open, he has tried to hurt me before, and even went as far as hurting my fiancé."

Yeosang held his breath, afraid to move even the slightest. He had just finished a shower and was walking down the hallway and about the pass by the door to Seonghwa's home office - the door, which so happened to be slightly open, enough for Yeosang to catch onto the last bit of the call the older was on.

The sound of the office chair being pushed back and steps towards the door, had him sprinting with the lightest steps towards the living room. He threw himself down onto the couch, and full of panic he almost rolled around several times, before he finally got himself into a successfully relaxing position - from the looks of it at least.

"Done with your shower?" Seonghwa asked, as he walked through the door, phone in hand and only looking up for a short moment.

"Yes, it was lovely. Are you... Still busy with work?" Too curious to stay silent, Yeosang looked at the older with the sweetest smile, but Seonghwa only nodded as he was busy typing on his phone.

"Just give me one minute, and I'm done for the day."

It was hard not to ask more questions, but it would be too dangerous to do so. Yeosang bit his lip, wondering if whatever Seonghwa was doing had something to do with the phone call - it most likely did... The older looked very focused, his face pulled into a deep frown, and Yeosang simply sat on the couch, watching him in silence.

"There, all done. Now, I'm all yours for the rest of the night." Seonghwa said with a chilling smile, and Yeosang quickly noticed how the older even turned off his phone. "Let's go to the bedroom, my love."

And so they did - letting the long shower Yeosang had just finished go to waste completely...

~

"As long as everyone else believes that Seonghwa is still alive, you've got nothing to fear, San."

San stared blankly into the thin air, with a lump in his throat. There was a slight possibility that Yeosang was bluffing, but to take the chance of finding out was too risky.

"What do you want?" He mumbled, glaring at the younger with despise that was too impossible to hide.

"Leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone," Yeosang simply replied with a shrug. Both of them turned their heads as they noticed Hongjoong and Jongho coming towards the car. Yeosang tilted his head to the side, with a burning stare aimed at San. "And leave Hongjoong alone as well. You don't deserve him, he would only waste his time on being with someone like you."

The others were too close for San to snap back, not that he even dare to or knew what to say if he wanted to. But as Yeosang turned around to open the door to the car, San could've sworn he heard the blonde mumble, in that same terrifying way that only the oldest Choi brother had been able to.

"And no one likes waste."

✩