Order

Minho's head tilted.

Jeongdu raised a brow.

"…Who?"

"Giseok Nam," Taeyang said again, voice low. "From Ansan. You killed his little brother. Didn't you?"

Minho leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable. "Giseok had a brother?"

That was real confusion in his voice. Genuine.

Daehyun glanced at Taeyang, the first crack of unease flashing in his eyes.

"There wasn't a brother mentioned… ," Minho muttered. "How do you even know that?"

Taeyang stared at him, jaw set. "He told me. During the fight."

Jeongdu narrowed his eyes, now fully tuned in. "Wait..."

But Minho was already thinking. Already retracing.

And then his posture stiffened.

His face changed.

Taeyang had never seen Minho look like this before.

"You remember something," Taeyang said. "Don't you?"

Minho didn't answer.

Taeyang's eyes never left Minho. "Last year. In Ansan. Giseok says his brother died because of you."

Minho finally set the glass down.

Hard.

"I didn't know he had a brother," he said again. But his voice had changed. The confusion was gone. All that was left was a weight pressing down on each word.

"I've only ever killed one kid," Minho said. Quiet. Controlled. "And it wasn't on purpose."

That sentence alone made Daehyun flinch. He knew about the brother that had been killed, Taeyang had told him as such but… the brother was a kid?

Minho had killed a child?

"You're saying it was an accident?" Taeyang's voice was sharp now. "Because it didn't sound like one when Giseok told me what happened."

Minho didn't answer right away.

His eyes drifted—not with guilt, but calculation. Like he was weighing what he could say. What he should say.

His gaze flicked briefly to Jeongdu, then back to Taeyang.

Finally, he spoke.

"The father."

A single word. Heavy. Tired.

"We were there for the father."

Taeyang's eyebrow arched. "The father? Why?"

Jeongdu spoke up, sighing. "Old ties to Anyang before the Circle even existed. When Ansan started rising, he turned. Sold us out. Got people killed. Real piece of shit."

Minho nodded once, slowly.

"He went underground. Started hiding like a ghost. Slipping between safehouses, skipping cities. We got intel he was holed up in Ansan. Small apartment, quiet block. Supposed to be alone."

"And you planned it," Taeyang said flatly.

Minho didn't deny it.

"Every inch of it," he said. "No breach. No frontal assault. One shaped charge through the window. Target was the third floor. South side. It was supposed to be surgical. Clean."

His jaw clenched.

"Just enough to force him out, maybe catch him if he was close. That's all. No more."

"But his son was home," Taeyang said.

Minho's jaw worked.

Jeongdu added in a low voice, "We didn't know there were kids in that apartment."

Daehyun's face had gone still.

He was looking at Minho like he didn't recognize him for a moment.

"And what?" Taeyang asked. "You just walked away? Clean hands?"

"I stayed behind to help dig through the rubble," Minho said. "By the time we found the body, the father was gone. We never found him."

Taeyang stared at him. "So you just went back to Anyang."

"We had no choice."

"That kid was Giseok's brother."

Minho's brow furrowed slightly, like some part of him was still trying to connect the dots. "I didn't know. I swear, I didn't know they were related."

"You still killed him," Taeyang said. "You still killed a kid."

Minho's eyes snapped up. "And you think I forgot that?"

Taeyang didn't back down. "You act like it."

Minho stood slowly from the table, the chair scraping behind him. "You think this is easy to live with? You think I sleep at night? I've had to keep Anyang alive through two fucking wars. I make one miscalculation…one, because I trusted the intel, and it ends in blood. I'm not proud of that."

"Then why the hell do you talk like you're justified?" Taeyang snapped. "Like you're untouchable?"

"Because I have to be, Taeyang!"

The words slammed through the warehouse like a gunshot.

Taeyang froze.

Minho stepped closer, eyes burning now. "You want to stand here and talk about what I did? You? The same guy who stole from us and got dragged in kicking and screaming four months ago?"

Daehyun's brows furrowed. He knew the story, but he'd never heard Minho throw it in Taeyang's face like this.

"You didn't join out of loyalty," Minho said. "You joined because you had no other choice. You were just trying to survive. We thought you'd die in your first month. But somehow, you didn't. Somehow, you were good at it. So you stayed."

Taeyang didn't blink.

"You're not here because you believe in the Circle. You're here because fighting's the only thing you've ever been good at. You would've gotten half this Circle killed if I hadn't leashed you in!"

Daehyun stiffened, sensing the shift.

Minho kept going, voice steady, cold. "You think this is about justice? It's not. It's about order. About keeping our guys alive. But you…" he jabbed a finger at Taeyang's chest, "... you don't care about anyone else. You'd have gone charging into Ansan alone, swinging just because someone looked at you funny."

Taeyang's jaw clenched.

Minho's voice rose. "You're not trying to protect anything. You're not here for revenge. You like violence. You like pretending you're doing something meaningful when really, you're just another wrecking ball."

A quiet settled into the warehouse. Heavy. Sharp.

Daehyun looked between them. He didn't say anything. Couldn't. Because as much as it burned him to admit it, Minho wasn't wrong.

And that pissed Taeyang off more than anything.

His hands were clenched into fists before he realized it.

His blood was hot. Head pounding.

"…You killed a fucking child," Taeyang said, voice low… sharp enough to bleed. "And now you're standing there talking about order?"

Minho didn't answer.

Didn't flinch.

But his jaw twitched.

And for one second, Taeyang almost lunged. Almost closed the distance.

Almost. But he didn't.

Because something about the air between them felt heavier than anger.

It was history. It was guilt. It was everything that couldn't be said. As much as Minho could talk about there being no loyalty... Taeyang had been here for months now. They were the first people he could even consider his friends... 

But now?

Minho looked away first.

Taeyang turned and walked out.

Daehyun didn't follow right away.

He lingered and then raised his head slowly, looking up at Jeongdu, who's head was tilted down, face covered in shadow.

His voice came out soft, the softest it'd ever been.

"Did you know?" he asked.

Jeongdu didn't move. For a moment, it seemed like he hadn't heard.

But then… he nodded. Just once.

Daehyun's chest tightened. He looked down. Then up at Minho.

"…You're not the same person I used to know," he said, voice quiet.

And with that, he turned, and followed Taeyang out, leaving Minho standing in the middle of the warehouse, silent.

Jeongdu stayed beside him, arms folded, eyes unreadable.

They didn't speak.

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Sorry for it being short, I couldn't make it longer and if I added something at the end I thought it would dilute the emotional weight or whatever. Next ones are longer.

Honestly, if I could rewrite the Ansan arc, I'd change the Giseok part. I'd have added that Giseok Nam was maybe the name of the kid brother and that's why Minho was suspicious. And then Taeyang would have found out that the older brother had taken Giseok's name out of grief. It would've added a nice element of mystery to the arc.

I also would've probably foreshadowed the pre-gen more.

Eh, this is what I get for not planning it out well enough. 

Anyways, now Minho and Taeyang had an argument, I wrote it so I can't take any sides because I kinda wanted both sides to be in the right but I'm not sure if that's how it's gonna come off so if you could please comment your opinion that'd be nice. I'm not used to writing arguments and I need to get better at those.

Also I didn't expect that Naruto fic to become popular so ig I have a third fic now.