[M] CH24 (1/1)

[CONTENTID1]Need[/CONTENTID1][CONTENTID2]Chapter Twenty Four[/CONTENTID2][CONTENTID3]WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGERY AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.To say that Mark was annoyed would be an overstatement.There was very little that Mark felt, generally speaking. He knew pleasure of the carnal variety and he knew physical pain, but beyond that, he was a veritable blank slate. Sometimes, he though he felt true happiness, but then he would remember that it was merely a fleeting curiosity with a fresh victim.For as long as he could remember, he was tabula rasa. He finally accepted that he was different others when he caught himself fantasizing about killing someone.He had recently turned 13 and had just been caught stealing from a local convenience store. A local man, a friend of his father’s who happened to be at the store at the same time as Mark, stood him out in front of the store and scolded him in front of everyone. But Mark had remained completely blank. The man, rattled by his lack of reaction, had told him, “I won’t tell him this time, but don’t do it again, okay?” and walked away.But it was not okay. In explaining their horrible actions, people often say that they "just snapped." Mark knew that feeling. He stood there for a moment, letting his rage reach that decision-making part of his brain, and he suddenly became filled with a sense of calm purpose. He blinked his eyes and set his jaw. He started following the man. Adrenaline started flowing; his mouth tasted metallic. He fought to keep his peripheral vision in focus, hyperaware of everything around him, trying to predict the movement of the crowded street. Mark was hoping that the man would walk into a deserted alleyway where he would find him alone. He felt so sure of himself, so focused on this one thing he had to do. An image sprang to mind: his hands wrapped around the man’s neck, his thumbs digging deep into his throat, his life slipping away under Mark’s unrelenting grasp. How right that would feel. But he knew that had been caught in a megalomaniacal fantasy. And in the end it didn't matter; he had lost sight of him.Mark had decided, at just 13 years old, that the feeling of adrenaline, that absolute rush of power that flooded his mind and body was something that he wanted more of. He needed it.And so, when he had first met Jakyung and in his fun made her life miserable, he thought he had it made. The adolescent Jakyung was so very fun to torture. How she would run and scream and cry that he was the worst. He didn’t mind; the words were like music to his ears. How sad he was to have moved away and left his plaything behind. Four years. Four whole years before he could see her again.His delight at being tasked to bring her to her father was the best news he received since his return. It meant a new opportunity to test out what he had been saving for her, what he had been learning. If he could feel love, he would feel it towards Jakyung, if only for the fact that her struggle against him gave him the rush of a lifetime.Yet once again, his toy had been taken from him. And by the enemy, no less.Mark’s only conflict with EXO was through his affiliation with Park Ryujin. He never had any real reason to hate them, but he did nonetheless because he was told to, and listening to Ryujin meant more time to have fun with Jakyung. But now, Ryujin was practically a vegetable and Jakyung was under the watchful of eye of EXO.The first time he had Jakyung cornered in the bookstore and one of them came to her rescue, he brushed it off as a fleeting association. She didn’t know that her family was affiliated with the underground, after all. The second time was also happenstance; he had been careless, too caught up in the thrill of the hunt to realize that they weren’t alone in the parking lot. So when she escaped and ran into the arms of another of EXO, he figured she was just looking for safety. When he watched her drive away from the hospital with yet another member of that wretched group in her car, he understood. She was with them. They had stolen his toy and he was not happy.He stood over the man whose bound body his was currently straddling. Under normal circumstances, he didn’t like getting his hands so dirty, but he was getting restless. The man managed to gather just enough air in his lungs to let out an anguished cry.“You’re fucking crazy!” The man’s breath came in labored gasps, but Mark felt only a vague sense of calm at having that man squirm in his grasp. He had the man bound up from shoulders to knees, leaving very little room to struggle. It had been a simple matter of finding a victim and bringing them here. It took the fun out of the chase, but he could have that when it was Jakyung struggling to free herself from his captivity.For now, as he pressed his thumbs into the soft flesh of the man’s meaty neck, he would have to be satisfied with knowing that soon, he would have his favorite toy back. And once he did, oh, the fun they would have.++Kai stared blankly at the group of men in front of him. Was he living in a dream, or were they just stupid?“I challenged you. Are you going to accept or run like a coward?”Stupid, Kai decided. They were just plain stupid.“Are we in middle school? Get real. I’m not going to fight you,” He told the group. The biggest one, who towered over Kai by at least three inches and looked like he should be a professional basketball player, stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.“You disrespected our leader, and now, you’re going to pay for it.” The man’s voice was rough, as if he had smoked a pack of cigarettes every day since he was a toddler. “No one crosses Ganjini and gets away with it.”“Listen. Gorilla Joe or whomever can do whatever he wants, but I’m losing my patience. Either you leave me alone now, or you leave me alone after I’ve broken your arms. Your choice.” Kai had never been too patient, especially when he had something he needed to get done.The leader of the group finally stepped forward. Kai could have told him that his shoe was untied. He could have gone on about how his fly was open and there was some dust on the collar of his shirt. He even could have pointed out that the hair he had clearly take so much effort to style had so much pomade in it, it was starting to droop on one side. However, Kai didn’t bother. He had better things to do than nitpick overconfident street-rats.“I tell you what, pretty boy,” the leader, Ganjini, spoke. “You call your boys here, and we go at this fairly. It wouldn’t be right to beat up on a princess without beating up on her bodyguards first.” Kai didn’t let the taunt get to him.“You’re right. Seven against one is hardly a fair fight,” he responded. He stared at the resolute man and pulled out his phone. “Sehun. Where are you? Come down to the pier, near the south gate. Oh, really? The more the merrier.” He ended the call quickly and looked up at Ganjini again.“I still don’t get how or why I offended you, but if getting your a