Hyunjin was sitting on the floor, different kinds of boxes and files spread everywhere around him.

The room was still kind of unknown to him, it's shocked him that they even had a room this big in the mansion when the SKZ pack didn't even use it that often. It was even more confusing he haven't found this door earlier. Hyunjin guessed he hadn't even known about half of the mansion after all.

Besides knowing they were mafia, he was also told they were the SKZ clan and pack, working as CEOs as cover. Apparently, gangs ruled over a certain area and they were territorial. He knew much about that, though.

It's like they thought everything through so well and he was sure looking into the police documents, he would find no crimes on their list. They were truly smart and powerful.

What lawyers were threatened to make their safety? How many people died to ensure they would stay hidden?

Hell, he was still seventeen but Jeongin, who's younger than him, also worked at this age. He couldn't believe the younger being CEO over a company when he was supposed to be in high school.

However, he didn't get any information about other gangs. Yet, at least.

He hated the fact that he was the one knowing so little. It was a wonder if he could protect himself from whatever Chan planned.

Jisung was assigned to watch him as the older boy went through some files. He had asked Jeongin for that favor and the younger had complied, luckily with no questions asked. The others noticed though, he wondered of they had some secret mentally bond or something like that. In the end, he ended up with Jisung like some kind of babysitter with the younger smirking amusedly at him.

Hyunjin didn't really know if he was ready for this, or finding out that maybe his entire life had been a lie but destiny didn't really have mercy, did it? He needed to be strong for once and face his problems.

Even if it meant being alone.

Strangely, he hadn't found anything about his brother's friends. It was like they were ghosts, erased from the world. There was no police records, old files that didn't seem right and no movie clips on any of them. For being people who lived normally besides moving often, all of them stayed hidden surprisingly well.

He and his brother was erased from the lists too. Neither was there any files on their family ever existing in the world. Hyunjin frowned, opening a new box to scroll through the papers in there.

Jinyoung hyung had been cautious, always seeming to look over his shoulder and being on his guard. The older also taught him things Hyunjin once questioned but never objected about. And in class, he would constantly sit near the door in the back of the class, or else he'd burst into tears. Jinyoung always seemed to get the teachers to agree somehow.

They lived by strict rules, Hyunjin never usually followed any of his classmates out after school nor walked in empty streets Jinyoung hadn't shown him. He remembered how Jinyoung wouldn't come to any parent meetings or big crowds and events in all his schools. It was only when the teacher called him in to talk about Hyunjin that his hyung left the house besides for grocery shopping or work.

The alpha also remembered how he never was allowed to talk to strangers, not even help elders when he wanted too. As he asked, his older brother always said that it was for his safety.

Still, even back then, he hadn't understood why he couldn't help other people. Now, maybe, he slowly understood why. It's not like his life had been exactly normal from the beginning anyways.

Hyunjin stopped at a yellow file, recognizing the name displayed across it. Pulling it out in hope of finding something useful, he read through it only to be more confused.

The person on this paper was supposed to be dead.

But three days before he had been kidnapped, before their house had been destroyed, he'd met the other.

What the hell?

He looked through the papers. It was supposed to be a murder, the victim died because of critical wounds such as burns and severe stabs. Yet, recalling how that person looked back then, it wasn't possible. The police hadn't been able to identify the messed up face but the DNA got enough result for them to close the case.

They did such a bad job, Hyunjin scoffed. It seemed like the murderer remained free in the world, with no threads or tracks after themselves. How would the family even go safe after that?

Now when he thought of it, neither of his few friends or his brother's friends ever mentioned anything about their family. Some of them were like Jinyoung and Hyunjin, all of them siblings but no parents. He faintly remembered Taeyong hyung mentioning something about an older brother.

But it was the, alone, despite that. Some of them even lived together, another sign on their close friendship over the years. Hyunjin knew he didn't even know half of Jinyoung's contacts even.

Were they all running from the same thing? This life?

Jisung watched the older alpha grumbling, eyes scrunched up in concentration looking all serious. He looked cute like that and the younger found himself chuckling. Whatever files he was trying to look after was already deeply hidden, even for them.

It had taken them years just to get a file. Or rather, years of observation to make a file with enough information about Hwang Hyunjin. He knew others had observed Park Jinyoung and the people they used to hang around. They were good, yes, but based on their backgrounds they had at least some information. Not enough apparently, though.

All those years of watching Hyunjin from the shadows did pay off after all. Even if he wanted it or not, the older is property of SKZ Clan. And it'll be like it was burned in his skin everywhere he went, hiding or not.

A quiet hum from his phone catches his attention and Jisung looked away from the beautiful male in front of him, glancing down. Anything new?

Not yet. He looked up again, seeing how Hyunjin let out a low frustrated noise before continuing to look through the box. The file he was holding earlier was now thrown aside and Jisung made a mental note to look at it later. The raven had been staring at it longer than the other files.

Should I start it? Three dots appeared in the corner, showing the reply being written until it disappeared for a moment. Deciding to wait a little longer, he watched Hyunjin fold another paper gently. It was unbelievable how the older looked pretty even sitting there on the floor, a mess around him.

Somehow, seeing him like that reminded Jisung of the older on his knees and suddenly his throat felt a bit too dry. Luckily, his phone vibrated, breaking his focus and Jisung sighed.

Begin with the first box. Glancing at the other alpha, he typed back before rising up slowly. Hyunjin barely lifted his head, giving him a distant nod as he told the older he'd be right back.

There was no files. Not a single data or information about anyone he knew before. He started to doubt if Jeongin really gave him the information. Maybe they just gave him something that they knew he'd be occupied with.

Hyunjin couldn't help the frustrated sigh, tugging his hair slightly. He would need a haircut soon.

Absently looking at the empty spot between the windows, he let the memories come back slowly. He felt so, so tired but that wasn't important right now. His sleep could wait until later.

The files spread around him was useless, neither held information about anything important. What if some of these cases were involved in the mafia and gangs too? He had found some files about the Japanese yakuza. But neither of them told him anything about the things he wanted to know, not even that familiar name he had found earlier. It wasn't that hard faking your own death nowadays but the hospital records were too real, along with the matching blood results. The victim even had severe injuries the night they were announced dead.

Yet when he met that person, fully alive and everything, none injuries or scars were shown besides that birth mark.

Wait.the body of the corpse. Didn't the report say something about a birth mark too? Picking up the file once again, he looked closely through the results.

The victim wasn't dead.

His head snapped up as a black box was put in front of him, Jisung's cheeky smile had him shrinking down in relief. Aish, must the younger scare him like that?

"You are looking for your family record, right? Don't bother looking through those files, every piece of data has been deleted, none of you were exactly existing in this world. We have a few boxes so you can look through these instead." Hyunjin looked up at him, curious and on the same time suspicious. Why was the other alpha suddenly helping him?

He took the box, opening the cover to see the black files inside. "Thank you Jisung-ah."

The other nodded, raising his hand to pat Hyunjin on the head. Both of them ignored the way he flinched at the action and sat in silence. Slowly, Jisung's hand moved to brush his cheek before cupping one of his raven locks. "I like it this way. You should keep it like that."

Blushing out of reflex, he nodded and looked away from the other's blinding smile. Jisung hummed and squeezed his hand gently before moving away to lean towards the table. He found himself slowly breathing out, feeling the fog of tiredness wash over his brain once again.

Hwang Yeji.

He froze. All of sudden, his eye sight seemed to blur and the world spun, round, round and round and he couldn't breathe. The first black map was in his hand and he noticed how it shook along with his hands, pressing his empty hand towards his chest.

What was he doing? He didn't have time for this right now.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he opened his mouth but no sounds came out as his vision got blurrier. Hyunjin dug his nails into his arms, trapping his head between his knees as he tried to remember how to breathe.

He didn't know if he was crying because he couldn't breathe. He wanted to but he just-

A strangling sob forced it's way up as he felt the presence of a hand pressing against his shoulder, body jerking at the burning touch.

hecantbreathehecantbreatheheca-

The harsh slap on his cheek caused him to gasp, focus slamming back as the weight pressing against his chest loosened. "Hyunjin, can you hear me?"

He blinked, eyes unfocused as he tried to gulp down air with no avail. A curse were thrown from the other- Jisung?- as hands cupped his face. This time he faintly registered the wet tears on his cheeks and how he tried how scratch the hands away from him. Everything felt so distant.

Black dots appeared before his eyes as he trashed weakly, trying to move away from the burning hands, sobs getting louder. He was pulled into a warm chest, the unknown person cuddling him into their arms and hushing him gently.

"Hyunjin? Hyung? Jinnie, listen to me." He opened his mouth, fighting weakly and trying to push away.

"Jinnie, it's me, it's Jisung. It's me, you're safe." He wasn't safe at all.

Jisung's hands found his hair, stroking gently as he pushed the older closer to his chest. "Listen to my heartbeat hyung. Take my hand and listen closely, alright?"

He weakly complied, feeling the younger squeeze his hand as he weakly tapped back. "Take a breath with me, alright? Breathe in, Jinnie."

He struggled, lungs burning as he tried to do as he was told. Jisung gently squeezed his hand once again, kissing his head. "C'mon, you can do this. Breathe with me."

The younger took a dramatic breath in once again and this time, Hyunjin found himself quickly complying. Still weakly, he took a shuddering breath in, smiling shakily as his eyes focused on Jisung in the middle of the blurry tears.

"Just like that. Now breathe put with me, alright? I'm here don't worry, I won't leave." No, he would never leave. That was one of the problems.

Hyunjin felt his face scrunch up again, a hiccup escaping his throat.

"You can do it baby, take another breath with me. I'm here, you're safe, it's over." Jisung's voice was so smooth and soft, holding him as he fisted the alpha's dress shirt.

Hyunjin clenched his teeth, not noticing the last sentence as he tried doing what he was told. Slowly breathing in, before he released it out again.

They sat like that, just taking deep breaths together on the floor. For a moment, it was like the other actually cared. Like it was his Jisung again. His kind, funny, squirrel like mate that always made him laugh rather than causing him pain.

In another life, they would've been perfect for each other.

Silence settled over them as Hyunjin's breathing went back to normal, the older furiously wiping his eyes. He knew he looked terrible but paid it no attention as he slowly moved away from Jisung. His mind cleared and he felt more exhausted than ever but he really needed to finish this.

"Hyung-" Hyunjin was quick to interrupt Jisung.

"I'm going to continue working." With that, he turned his back to the other, picking up the black map without looking at it. He had a suspicion who the first three maps after it was so the alpha avoided them supposedly.

Jisung wouldn't care if he was well or not. Neither of them ever asked anymore anyways.

The new black map in his hand caused his curiosity to sparkle.

Lee Taeyong

These didn't look like police records, though. Jisung answered his unspoken question, almost like he had read Hyunjin's thoughts. "They are from our own studies and some of the burned out files. There's no other information about any of them in the world."

He wondered how long they had been watching. That night, they were still at least as young as him. Did their parents do anything? How many people was involved?

All of them were at least as young as him, which means the person who ruled before them had been involved in whatever his father had been doing. Was it someone close to them or even worse, were they blood?

Mind filling with unanswered questions, he opened the map to look at the files inside.

Ran away at age 15.

Did Taeyong really do that? What was he running from then?

Parents and siblings are deceased.

Didn't his hyung only mention an older brother, though?

An older sister and brother, two half brothers and eight adoptive sisters. Adoptive family is deceased.

Woah, that was something he never known before. It also read all of them died under mysterious circumstances, when Taeyong was seven and shortly after that, his hyung seemingly disappeared from the world only to show himself again at age 13.

Suspicion: one older brother is still alive.

Jinyoung hyung had never mentioned them looking for someone. But on the same time, he had been kept from this for years and his hyungs were all good at keeping secrets anyways. Even the darkest and heaviest ones.

Worked for ...

Significant kills:

He felt his eyes widen, a sharp breath echoed in the room. Ignoring the way Jisung glanced at him, he stared at the picture of the male in the file.

Taeyong's distressed face was hidden behind a mask and his eyes was covered by a bucket hat. He was looking behind him, the picture seemed to had be taken without him knowing. The older's hair was messily colored red, unlike the soft brown he had last seen on Taeyong.

He was holding something that looked like a small bag, gripping it so hard you could see how white his knuckles were in the picture. In Taeyong's shop, didn't he see it there?

Oh.

Taeyong's shop. How could he be so stupid?!? Of course he'd find something useful there.

But that meant leading them there...

Hyunjin shook his head, trying to shut out the idea. He couldn't lead them anywhere his friends could possibly be hiding.

He couldn't believe Taeyong had been an assassin. Lee Taeyong? He couldn't even hurt a fly, let alone a human.

The older was always gentle and loved animals. He was kind to kids and elders, always helping people even if some customers he had were rude. How could he possibly-

His mind was going to go overdrive, Hyunjin knew that. He hoped he could keep this box, Jisung for sure had more of them with how they had been chasing after them. Watching them.

If it was possible, maybe he could find Taeyong too. And not a corpse he prayed.

Another name caught his attention and he rubbed his temple in distress, carefully folding the files back into Taeyong's map.

Min Eunjeong

The older was smart and he doubted Eunjeong had been captured yet but something was definitely suspicious. He had lived with all his siblings and Hyunjin slowly realized all of them was involved in something bigger too.

Eunjeong hyung had always placed a single sunflower on his floor, before the door when he was going to sleep. And once when he was still a kid, he had asked, the older had replied with "It's for them to find home but also a warning for them to stay away.".

He hadn't asked who them was. Eunjeong smiled sadly, before tucking him in and reading him a bedtime story.

All of them were so young, even his older brother. How much could they already know at this age? How long had they been running, living that life of theirs?

It wasn't quite a life to have....

Siblings: Two sisters and four brothers.

That would be about right. It was Yoongi, Yoonji and Jihoon who he had met. He also knew Sungwoon was their brother but when he had asked, Yoonji had just shook her head, hidden anger in her eyes. Gone, that's what she told him. Gone or missing?

The last two were about his age if he recalled right. They were identical twins like Yoongi hyung and Yoonji noona. Last time he heard anything of them, they were in Japan and neither of the remaining Mins had any contact with their youngest.

Hikari and Akira, was that their names?

Close with Park Jinyoung, Lee Taeyong. Has been seen with Kim Wonpil multiple times.

They had been watching Eunjeong cautiously, he realized. As if his hyungs had been a danger for them.

Something's felt off.

Unknown to Hyunjin, if he had just read further into Taeyong's file, he could've found something.

The alpha stood up, tugging the box with him. "I'm keeping this, if you don't mind."

He barely heard Jisung's reply before black dots blocked his vision and he was falling back down again.

His head hitting something and pain shooting up in his arm was the last thing he felt before his consciousness slipped away.