I'll be with you

The heavy door opened with difficulty as Minho, his hands occupied with the box, leaned on it. Luckily, it wasn't locked, which meant some of his neighbors were still at home. Lee stumbled into the kitchen, careful not to trip over either of the cats, and set the box down on the table with a small sigh, resting his hands on the surface and wiping the sweat from his brow. Things weren't that bad, but the situation itself was making Minho very angry. Why didn't anyone tell him anything? Why the hell didn't his boss contact him? Who is this psychopathic Yang Song who popped out of nowhere like a pimple on the morning of an important day? Felix must not have heard the door opening because he was surprised to see Minho in the kitchen. “Minho? Shouldn't you be at work?” “I don’t have a job anymore,” Minho muttered, almost falling into his chair, “any day now I’ll be officially fired. Can you imagine, they completely remade “Racha”, it’s a completely different place now!" Felix raised an eyebrow, asking with slight confusion: “Wait, you didn’t know about this? I thought you were told...” “Did you know about this too?” Minho looked up at him, “You didn’t even work there! Why do you know this, but I don’t?”   “Seungmin told me,” Felix clarified, “and your boss, in turn, told him. Apparently, he was not joking when he said that he would not tell you anything, so that, God forbid, you would quit." “Why the hell didn’t Seungmin tell me anything?” Minho muttered, “what's the point of keeping me in the dark? Did they really think that simply withholding this information would be enough to keep me employed?” “What incredible nonsense,” Lee snorted, hiding his face in his hands, trying, it seemed, to hide from all the absurdity happening around him, “who could even offer them this as a good plan?” “Yang Seung, of course. I’m surprised that you don’t know about him,” Felix chuckled, sitting down opposite Minho, “he’s in the news quite often with his scandalous antics... he’s a fabulous idiot, you’ve probably noticed that, right?” “Who is this anyway?” he asked in a perplexed tone, frowning. “Frankly speaking, the devil only knows. He’s famous simply because he’s famous,” Felix shrugged, “all that can be said for sure about him is that he’s a psycho who has too much money.” “Well, I don’t really follow the news, you know,” Minho muttered, “and why did Seungmin tell you all this?” “He suggested that I get a job there as a waiter, since I was so tired of working part-time as a tutor,” the guy explained. Minho remembered that Seungmin and Felix study together, and that explained everything, “I even thought it would be cool. Like, you didn’t say anything about leaving, and I was sincerely sure that you were aware, so I came to the conclusion that we would work together, and wouldn’t that be nice?” Minho chuckled, looking up at his roommate. “I couldn’t stand being in the same room with you all the time, you know. But anyway... I need to know something. Is Seungmin okay?” “Not at all,” Felix shook his head, “he seems completely depressed. I thought this was due to the fact that he was fired, but now it seems to me that this is not the only reason.” “Do you think I should talk to him?” Lee asked thoughtfully, squinting. "Yes, great idea! In the meantime, I’ll help you take things apart,” Felix was about to reach for the box, but Minho stopped him with a sharp movement of his hand, “what’s wrong again?” “I’ll sort it out myself, don’t mess with my things.” Minho leaned back in his chair, taking out his phone and dialing Seungmin: “If he doesn’t answer, then I don’t know what I’ll do with myself,” he muttered, putting the phone to his ear. However, he didn't have to think of a way to carry out his threat because the long beeps stopped and he heard rustling in the speaker, “Seungmin, can you talk?” “Yes, hello,” he answered from the other side. The colleague’s voice seemed somehow devastated and sad, just as Felix said, “I can. Did you want something?” “Yes, I have a couple of questions to which, for some reason, I did not receive an answer. And one of them is addressed directly to you,” Minho sighed, trying to choose his words as carefully as possible, because, based on his data, his former colleague was already having a hard time, “why didn’t you tell me anything about the change in management? I was surprised to say the least when I came to work today.” Seungmin was silent for a couple of seconds, as if contemplating his answer, then said: “I should have told you, yes... but listen, I was one hundred percent sure that Jefferson would tell you everything,” Jefferson was the name of Minho and Seungmin's former boss. “I’m also surprised by this, by the way. Why did he tell you everything, but not me? Did he comment on this somehow?” “He, of course, made a couple of jokes about how he wouldn’t tell you anything so that you wouldn’t run away, but that would have been beyond his competence, so I sincerely considered it nothing more than his usual joke, well, as usual, you know,” Seungmin’s voice did not radiate any emotion, which was a little unusual, however, Lee decided to mind his own business, “in the end, did you stay?” “Of course no!” he snorted, “transfer me from the position of barista to waiter, not tell me anything and hope that I will run around the entire cafe with a tray, pretending that everything is absolutely normal! I simply don’t have enough hemoglobin for such movements, not to mention the fact that the situation is completely idiotic.” “Wait, Seung really doesn’t see the difference between a waiter and a barista?” Having heard at least the mockery in his colleague’s voice, Minho noticeably calmed down, “What an idiot.” “Yes, can you imagine? Do you know anything about him, by the way? Felix told me that he is quite a loud personality, but this is the first time I have heard of him.” “I know more about him than I would like to know,” Seungmin answered gloomily, “and I’m seriously telling you, don’t get involved with this man. Just forget about him. This won't end well.” “Don’t worry, I’m not in the mood to get involved with this idiot,” the young man chuckled in response, “what about Jefferson? He doesn't answer my calls.” “But this is strange. Maybe he’s already… um, bought a farm?” Seungmin cautiously suggested, “unlikely, of course, it’s too early at fifty-something years old, but still?” “We’ll have to find out. Okay, how are you? We’re both kind of fired now...” “Disgusting, to be honest. Now I have no idea where to get money for rent.” “You also live alone,” Minho muttered sympathetically. “Well... not exactly, at the moment I have a roommate, but I risk being left alone again from week to week. Maybe we can look for a job together?” “We also need to find one to combine with studies,” Minho sighed, “I already only went to the most necessary classes in order to take out the rent.” “It’s unpleasant, yes... I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to continue my studies at all, given that I’m not only bad with money, but also with nerves now. Well, you know, because of all this”. “Just don’t jump off the roof,” Minho grinned gloomily, “let’s hold on for now. If you find any vacancies, send them to me. Let's figure it out.” Seungmin sighed, fell silent for a while, and then spoke again: “Okay... but please, just don’t try to contradict with Seung in any way. He's crazy, completely crazy.” “Don’t worry about this. I'm not some kind of cretin, you know. Good luck.” “Good luck,” Seungmin answered, hanging up. Minho put the phone down. Felix, as it turned out, delicately left the room at the time of the dialogue, but it seems he was eavesdropping, because he came and carefully said: “Listen, the main thing is don’t worry, Hyunjin and I will cope for a couple of months...” Lee sighed, gently petting the cat Soonie who had jumped into his lap. He was silent for a couple of seconds, looking thoughtfully into space, but then answered: “Thank you. I honestly have no idea what to do.” “For starters ─ distract yourself. You'll find another job, don't worry. In the end, you will also go to tutors, like me, if things get really tough.” “I can’t not working!,” Minho hissed quite loudly, almost scaring Soonie, “I need to work, I have to be at work now!” Felix sighed, patting him on the shoulder. “Calm down. You will always find a job for yourself, someone like you, with your hands ready to tear it off. Just try to at least rest today.” Minho groaned, leaning back in his chair. “Okay, at least my wallet wasn’t stolen,” he unsuccessfully tried to console himself, “just imagine, some homeless person really wanted to steal my wallet.” Felix raised an eyebrow. “Wait, he started threatening you with a knife when you refused to give him money?” “Yes! How do you know?” “Judging by Seungmin’s stories, someone started hunting for “Racha” workers. He, too, was almost robbed by a homeless man with a knife.” Minho frowned. He snorted and said: “Damn it. Today I won't do anything at all! I've had enough adventures for today.” “Good luck,” Felix chuckled, “okay, I’ll go to university. Please don’t go crazy from idleness, otherwise we both know what a workaholic you are.” *** The day that was supposed to be a full day off became simply unbearable for Minho. He simply could not help but work, he could not even sleep. He must really have problems if he feels so bad when he does nothing. Perhaps it was the strict adherence to the daily routine that aggravated the matter, or the stress that did not allow him to simply relax, but at some moments Minho found himself sitting on the floor in his room, sorting clothes by color. Then he would curse quietly, get up abruptly and go to the other end of the apartment, trying to do everything to distract himself and do nothing. Hyunjin would call him stubborn, but he wouldn't be back for another three hours, so Minho could act a little longer like a stubborn teenager who went on a hunger strike to gain pity from his parents and get more pocket money. But in his case, everything was even worse: he was both a stubborn teenager and a parent. And now, the evening of this disgusting day has finally arrived. Minho lay in bed, not wanting to sleep at all. It was still too early to sleep, but Dory was lying on top of Lee, so getting out of bed was impossible. The door opened with a creak. Someone came to the apartment. Felix or Hyunjin? So, it doesn’t matter, Minho will be happy with either of them now. He picked up the cat as he left the room. A visibly alarmed Hyunjin stood on the threshold. “Hello, what happened?” Minho asked from his seat, “if anything else happens to me today, I’ll probably throw myself off the window or something like that...” Hyunjin carefully looked from the guy to the door, at some point hesitantly answering: “It looks like you share the desire for you to throw yourself off the window with someone else.” “Really?” Minho grinned, raising his eyebrows, “and who is this dear sir?” Hyunjin silently pointed him to the front door. Lee put the cat on the floor and left the apartment, looking around. Not seeing anything strange, he called out to his roommate: “Hyunjin, what are you talking about? It seems like everything is as usual... “ he turned to the front door, and his eyes widened, and his words froze in his throat. There was an apple hanging on the door. Red, ripe, as if fresh from the branch. However, it would hardly be possible to eat it calmly ─ it was pierced by an arrow. Not just any kind of toy, but a real long arrow made of hard wood, with a metal tip and a bunch of white feathers, by which the structure was suspended above the door. On the apple there was a very eloquent inscription in white letters, written in sloppy handwriting: “Lee Minho” *** The young man turned the apple over and over in his hands, examining it from all sides. “I can’t even imagine who needed me. Maybe this is some kind of prank?” Minho asked with a hint of hope, no longer hoping for anything. “Yes, it’s strange. Do you think this might have something to do with your leaving “Racha”?” answered Hyunjin thoughtfully, to whom he had already told everything, “but then it would be completely absurd. Seung, of course, is such an asshole, but will he threaten a person who refused to work for him?” Lee bit his lip as he examined the apple and arrow again and sighed. “But so far, everything points to the fact that it is him. The arrow is quite expensive, and he had some kind of motive... let's just forget about it? If this was some kind of one-time event, well, you understand." “But if there is even one more threat, we will call the police, okay?” Hyunjin seriously looked up at him, taking the arrow in his hands, “the threat is quite serious.” Minho nodded and placed the apple on the nightstand next to his bed. I’ll leave it as evidence for the police. Give me the arrow here too.” “Don’t tell Felix, please,” Hyunjin muttered quietly, hiding the arrow under Lee’s bed, “he called me, he’s very worried about you now. If he finds out that you are also being threatened, he will simply go crazy.” “Okay, I won’t tell him anything if the threats don’t continue. Although, I hope this is just someone's stupid joke.” “I hope so too. But we will need to change the locks on the doors.” *** The night was also simply disgusting. Minho slept, but all night he was tormented by nightmares consisting of Indians with huge bows and sharp arrows aimed at Lee, Seung, who smiled sadistically, biting off piece by piece of a huge red apple, on which “Racha” was written in the most neat and calligraphic handwriting, that he had ever seen, and Jisung, who tried to steal Minho's wallet. The alarm clock interrupted this endless madness with a saving trill. Minho's eyes snapped open, breathing heavily and sweating. “Is it possible that the whole day yesterday will turn out to be just a nightmare?” he whispered pitifully, stroking the cat, “I’ll just turn off the alarm clock, go to work, and everything will be as usual...” He turned off the alarm clock. The date on the phone left him no hope: yesterday really happened. Minho stood up and slowly walked towards the closet to pull out his clothes for study. Opening the mirrored door, he noticed for a split second that the cat Doonie was interested in something, sitting on the windowsill by the window. He turned around. There was a dead bird, it seemed a starling, glued to the glass of the second floor window where the guys lived. It looked like it had been taped to the outside of the window. Under the bird, in a clumsy handwriting that was already familiar to him, were written words in white letters that were already familiar to him: "You are next" *** Hyunjin insisted that the policeman come to their home. It was a young guy in good shape who introduced himself as Bang Chan. He approached the situation with some humor and joked a lot as he learned the details of the situation. “In general, you are not the first in this matter,” he sighed at last, “you did the right thing in taking these threats seriously, in fact.” He patted Minho on the shoulder sympathetically. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.” “Okay,” Lee sighed, “so, there were such cases before me?” “Yes,” Bang Chan nodded, “two, to be more precise. The handwriting of the threats is very similar. Let's say that exactly the same arrows were used in the threats to the first victim. Therefore, I personally thank you for not taking these threats as an empty joke,” he smiled, raising his eyebrows. “Without him, I wouldn’t have said anything, to be honest,” Lee chuckled, pointing at Hyunjin, “I just even have a suspect...” “...but he will not express these suspicions, because you are unlikely to take such an accusation seriously,” Hyunjin interrupted him. Bang Chan looked at both guys, frowned, sighed and waved it off. “Okay, if you decide to tell me something else, then call me.” Minho closed the door behind him, and inadvertently listened when he realized that right at the entrance the policeman began calling someone: “Hello? Yes, yes... this third one is completely different from the other victims. He is, of course, connected to the second victim, but he has no connection with the first, if I understand correctly. Yes, I also have absolutely no idea what to do! We're at a dead end, you know?” At this point, his voice completely died down, along with the steps of heavy boots. Minho leaned his back against the wall, looking pitifully at Hyunjin: “Why do I deserved all this?” “I don’t know, honestly,” he sighed. “Are you going to tell Felix?” “Yes, probably. We have to be careful, you know.” *** Towards evening, Minho received a message from an unfamiliar number on his phone: "Hello. It's me, Jisung. I know the policeman you saw this morning, so I know what happened.” Lee froze, rereading the message a couple of times. Due to the tension of the situation, it seemed like the meeting with Jisung happened about a week ago. However, he answered quite quickly:

"Hello. Are you interested in what is happening?”

The answer doesn't took a long time to arrive: “It’s just that this case has been at an impasse almost from the very beginning. Bang Chan is already going crazy over him. I have some thoughts on this matter, but, as a person who has nothing to do with the police, I, of course, will not be allowed into the case, you understand.”

"What do you mean?"

“I need an assistant in my personal investigation, and I have found that you would be the best fit.”