(n.) Freedom, Liberty.

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"All done." Jisung spoke as he carefully placed the machine in its' rightful position.

He went over some of the things that Y/N should not do and how she could prevent a skin infection.

Y/N whimpered slightly as she cautiously touched her now inked skin. 

"Careful. It's going to hurt for a little while but, it will be fine afterwards. If it hurts too much, take some painkillers or approach any of the members or myself for help."

Y/N nodded her head as she processed his words and made a mental checklist to ask them about anything that Jisung did not go through.

The two teenagers stood there for awhile.

Jisung's eyes darted around the room, looking everywhere but at Y/N. You could see a faint red colour adorning his cheeks. The tips of his ears a slight red as the unfamiliar familiar feeling of awkwardness rose in him. He kept pressing his palms creating a soft sound. He would stand in the heel of his feet for a few seconds before resting them on the floor. He could feel Y/N's gaze linger on him for awhile from the corner of his eyes.

Y/N was not very different from him either. She kept twiddling her thumbs waiting for Jisung to say anything. She glanced at him occasionally, hoping that he would say something to stop this rather weird awkward feeling from rising.

Normally, the air that surrounded them was one full of tension. It was like as if one was the predator and the other was a predator too. It was like a magnificent and gorgeous lion, holding itself with such pride that it stood in the grasslands, head held high.  You could just visualise lion stalking its prey, being light on its feet and its head hidden away from the view of it prey. The lioness would be enjoying herself, lazing around, oblivious to its malicious doom. With every step that the first one would make, the other would live life as per normal. 

But, that soft rustle of leave would snap the latter one back into the world. The lioness would grow alert and she would see that hint of golden fur creeping onto her. She would ferociously growl at the lion like the Queen that she is. And, as the lion would creep out of its hiding spot, he would move towards while she makes her way towards him. The would surround each other with the occasional growling in between, moving in circles. Their sharp teeth tainted in dry blood would bask in the glory of the sun's ray as they shined bright.

 And, when time has been ticking for too long, they freeze and they growl at each other for one last time before they pounce...

"Uhh... I guess we should go out." A nervous Jisung told as he showed her to the door, holding the handle of the door to let her leave first.

Y/N mumbled a quite 'thanks' before going up the stairs via which they had came down previously.

Upon entering the living room, the two of them were bombarded with a fury of questions. 

"So, do you like the tattoo?"

"Was it painful?"

"Did you cry?"

"Did you and Jisung do anything in there?" That last question was from an excited looking Taeil. A few of them smacked their foreheads while the others groaned.

"Way to make it obvious hyung," Haechan complained.

"No, no ,no and hell no. What made you think we would do anything in there?" Y/N answered all their questions before raising her eyebrows at the last question.

"No reason." Taeil hastily spoke, in the fear of getting caught. If you looked at him close enough, you could see small beads of perspiration forming on his forehead. 

And, it definitely was not hot in there.

"Wh-" Jisung was cut off as a frantic Taeil spoke up, trying his best to cover up his tracks and to let that trail of his remain hidden underneath the washed away soil. 

"Oh, I just remembered Taeyong wanted to speak to all the younger ones in the meeting room, you included Y/N." He started, hurrying the younger ones towards the meeting room as Jisung and Y/N cast suspicious looks at him.

"We'll talk about this later, hyung." Jisung warned, not even a tad bit of fear could be detected from his voice as his narrowed eyes caused Taeil to visibly gulp.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I have called for you guys to assemble here because it's time for an assignment to be assigned to all of you."

You could sense the rather tense atmosphere in this room. The members present were very serious which was a contrary to their normal, fun selves.

"Mr Lee, the owner of the Lee Enterprises, has his hands on the 5655- carat emerald that was recently discovered in Zambia. He illegally stole it using the help of his men in the underground business. He plans on bidding it illegally at this auction that he will be holding at this high school after a supposed 'ball' for the students at this school. Some of the more important underground drug dealers will be attending in exchange for the emerald. This will be held next week, on Wednesday. Your job is to get that emerald back from him and place it on the cargo ship that will be exporting it to Europe the next day. The ship will embark from the Molton docks, located southwest from the school at end of that town. It leaves  at sharp 12.15 a.m. so you have to make sure that the emerald is on that ship before it leaves, all without getting caught. I trust that you guys will be able to do this assignment.

"What do we get from this in return?" Mark enquired the purpose behind this assignment. 

"Well, the government is going to be providing us with $10 million in exchange for this. The said 'government' will also closing both their eyes when we carry out several activities next month, which include the exchange of some weapons and products."

"Why would the government do that?" Chenle asked, curious as to what made some members of the government propose such an action.

"Getting that emerald would mean securing a stable and healthy financial relationship with Europe's government. A lot of members present in the governmemt are part of their underworld. On top of the money that they earn from the underworld, Europe is going to give them the extra money to save or spend for their own purposes." Y/N stated in the most flat and monotonous voice ever. One could even say that she had memorised what to say. It sounded like she was exhausted of saying the same thing over and over again.

It's like she was begging for something to change for once.

" So, in other words, they're greedy for more money?" Chenle enquire.

"Yeah." She concluded.

"The world's messed up." Jeno spoke up.

"That, it is." Jaemin agreed.

"More information is included in this file. You guys will be meeting up with Yuta, Jaehyun and Jungwoo, who will go over the main plan and the back-up plans should anything go wrong on that day itself. If there are no more questions, you guys are dismissed."

"Will you be going over the weapons that will be assigned to us?" Y/N asked curiously.

"As a matter of fact, you will. In fact, later on Ten and Kun will be going to collect this new stock of unique weapons that we are getting in exchange for some products. So, we will be letting you check those out but, we may not use them for this assignment if we deem them to not be suitable for use."

With a nod of acknowledgment from Y/N and the other members, they shuffled out of the room, leaving Taeyong alone in there.

~~~~~~~~~~

"It's disgusting to see that even a place that is known to help children is also a place where people carry out illegal business." Mark declared as the whole of the younger ones sat down on the living room couches.

The others had already evacuated the room awhile ago after Taeil sent them to Taeyong.

Mark and Jeno were sitting on one of the couches while Haechan, Chenle and Jaemin sat on the larger one. Renjun sat on a comfortable single couch next to them while Jisung and Y/N sat on comfortable single couches away from each other on the opposite sides of the room.

There was silence in the room as everyone took the time to ponder over Mark's words and think about them.

"In that case, isn't being part of a mafia gang at this age disgusting too? By right, we should be studying and worrying about grades, or parties or friendship problems or drama. We shouldn't even be involved in such a business that the society labels as 'illegal' or 'dangerous' or 'wrong' and so on, so forth." Y/N countered.

 With that being said, the topic ceased to exist. It was yet again another one of those things that no one could disagree with.

"So, Y/N, you never really told anyone of us what area you would  be specialising or rather, in-charge-of in this gang?" Haechan asked.

"We need to know since we will be working together a lot, especially for the future assignments. We need to know where you would be able to help and where we can help you." Renjun reasoned.

"Well, since I can do a little bit of everything, the older members haven't really decided what area I would be specialising in."

"Well, which area do you think that you are strongest at?" Jeno questioned, probing Y/N to think about her abilities and what she would be more capable at.

"I don't know. I think my combat and shooting skills are pretty good. I have had a lot of experience in them. I do know how to handle knives pretty well."

"It's true. Her shooting skills are remarkable hyung. I saw her when she was practicing this morning and she never missed the target at all. I haven't seen her practice her combat skills before." Renjun acknowledged her skills.

"You saw me shoot?" Y/N asked, her face puzzled.

"Yeah, I think you were too busy practicing that you didn't even see some of the other guys and me come for our shooting training and leave from the arena."

"So, are you more of a long-range shooter or a short-range?" Chenle asked.

"I am comfortable with any. No preferences." 

"So, if we tell you to shoot someone approximately a meter away from you with someone captive in there arms, can you shoot that person without harming the captive?" Jaemin asked.

"100 percent." A confident Y/N spoke up. 

There was no smirk or any sort of expression on her face that indicated that she was bragging about her skills in any way. She was just stating what she was sure she was capable of achieving. 

Combat was a way she released her stress. She would practice releasing her punches to a punching bag or she would spar with some of her members in her former gang. 

But, Shooting...  

Oh, Shooting meant something else for her.

It was often often a way for her to release her emotions. The sound that the gun made when she pulled the trigger back and fired. That was a sound oddly satisfying to her. Shooting meant releasing a bullet and not having control on it ever again. 

The same thing applied to her emotions. Whenever she practiced shooting, it was a way of letting go of her emotions and her desires. She never really got what she ever wanted as a child. She never had that freedom as a child.

When she was mad about something, she shot. When she was devastated about something, she shot. When she was happy, she shot. Whenever she felt anything, she always shot. She shot so much so that she grew the most in the business. 

It was a remarkable journey for a third person to see. It was like cub learning to run and learn the basics of hunting. However, as it grew into a ferocious lion, it no longer depended on anyone for aid or pity. Similarly, as a child, Y/N was so restricted, she picked up everything that she learnt so quickly that they left her on her own to be independent. She grew so dependent on herself that she never had the opportunity to rely on anyone for help. 

That was terrifying.

"That is great for us. You're a more physical person and that is beneficial for us too. It also means that we now have another shooter in this unit." Jeno concluded.

"Wait, who else trains as a shooter?" Y/N quizzed.

"Jaemin, Jisung,  Haechan and Jeno. Well, Jaemin and Jeno are more comfortable with long-range shooting like using rifles while Haechan and Jisung are more for pistols or also better known as short-range shooting." Mark explained.

"What about combat?" Y/N wondered.

"Combat is a necessity in this gang for your own self-defence. If someone were to attack you from behind, you need to be able to get out. But, if you're talking about who would be better at it, then that would be Jisung. Mark's a close second in this unit." Chenle answered this time round.

"Chenle and I are more capable with using knives and we are also the ones that commonly devise the plans and instruct the members. We are pretty good at combat but, we only use it when necessary. Jisung's pretty good at knives but, he stopped training in them." Renjun spoke.

"I help out anywhere I am needed. I am kind of like you and Jisung, an all rounder. However, since I never quite found a position that I was particularly good at, I decided to just train in all. Sometimes, it's good thing but, the other times, it's not because I do get mentally and physically exhausted since I practice too much." Mark stated when I raised my eyebrows at him as if asking him why his name was not mentioned.

 Before anymore questions could be asked by anyone, that awfully familiar alarm rang throughout the house indicating that it was time for food, in this case dinner.

~~~~~~~~~~

It had grown pretty dark outside. With winter around the corner next month, it was starting to grow darker earlier before 

You could still see the faint outline of trees outside if you looked out any of the windows. Shadows lurked around the corners leaving it to your imagination to what you wanted them to be.

 It was starting to grow colder too. Something warm needed to be worn at all times to prevent falling ill. Something cosy that would make you fall asleep at night instead of you shivering in the cold underneath your comforter while being wide awake.

All the members gathered around the table as they took their own seats. Some of the members had swapped their seats amongst each other. Y/N had taken her seat at the same chair that she had sat at previously. 

You would have expected Y/N to have been starving at this point like the other members. However, unlike the rest, after saying their prayers, she was the only one not jumping straight into the mouth-watering food that had been prepared by Taeyong this time.

Some of the other members had missed their lunch today unfortunately. Thus, they wasted no time in finishing their first serving within seconds before gulping down their second and third servings within record time.

Almost everyone was so busy in filling up their stomachs that they had not even noticed Y/N pick her half-empty plate and leave the table. No one heard the sound that Y/N made as she discarded her food into the garbage can. No one heard the rushing of the water as Y/N washed her plate clean underneath the tap in the kitchen before placing it in the cabinets. No one even heard this or even saw this.

All except one.

~END~

A/N

Hey guys!

I hope you guys are fine. 

First things first, I apologise for such a late update. Lately, everything has been really hectic for me. The past 2 weeks have been busy because I had went on a small trip with some friends and then after that, I have been having trainings, swim practices or going out. I literally have so much planned for this book that it took me awhile to organise my thoughts and phrase them in coherent sentences for all of you to enjoy.

I had a bit of a writer's block when I had began writing this chapter because I was too excited that my first draft was really a mess. So, I had to re-write this and make it much better. I do plan on writing longer chapters from now own. Hence, please do not be surprised if it ends up exceeding 7k+ words or even 10k+ words. I also apologise for any errors. 

Also, I am sorry if the story is moving a bit too fast for your liking because I am definitely not a very experienced writer so I am not that descriptive or a very good writer. I do have a lot going on with extra stuff and problems even though my holidays are going on. However, I plan on writing  well to satisfy your needs for the story.

Also, an update might be coming soon after this.

Some questions to ask:

1) Who do you think saw Y/N?

2) What do you think might happen in this mission?

Make sure to click that tiny star to vote and feel free to leave any comment down below.

-Peace-