I am @specsforwoo but feel free to call me Liv! I was previously known as @smorebin but I decided to switch over all of my fics and such to this account for convience and so that my writing blog could be my main blog as well!
Don't worry if you see me posting stories that were previously uploaded to @smorebin, I am the owner of that account as well and will be deleting all of those works as they are uploaded to this account!
Thank you so much for all of the support and always feel free to stay a while and chat!
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please continue to support us as we release more content related to the overall theme that can be found on my/their blog. Thank you!
Jung Sungchan
Was Jeno's junior in the police academy at some point, however, both were eventually assigned to different forces. He was transferred to Busan, where a few months later he was kicked off the force for withholding incriminating evidence (that would have sent an innocent man, his brother, to jail). Reconnected with Jeno in Seoul, who initiated him into S-NCT, where he now works on ground missions and as an internal mediator.
Years in Mafia: 1
Weapon of choice: Glock 22 - standard US law enforcement outfitting
Body Count: 0 (Renjun doesn't messes)
Zhong Chenle
Born into the Zhong Mafia and he assimilated quite quickly; works IT and prefers to have nothing to with the dirty work his family is associated with. Once shut down the entire Shanghai power grid, for fun. His older brother is married to Johnny’s sister.
Years in Mafia: 20
Weapon of Choice: Computer
Body count: 0
Park Jisung
Joined as a teen to escape his home life. Does mostly IT, though he is currently being trained to be a spy. Has not yet killed anyone. Specializes in torture and is highly efficient in getting information out of people, though no one except for Johnny has been in the room when he is interrogating.
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release content related to the overall theme (this) that can be found on my/their blog. Thank you!
Kim Jungwoo
Con-artist. Ponzi scheme expert. Known to scheme millions out of dirty politicians and government officials. The cause for the last impeachment of the President, allowing for a mafia related politician to take the stands
Years in Mafia: 10
Weapon of Choice: None, claims to be a pacifist and hates the sight of blood
Body count: 0
Mark Lee
Bomb maker (????); he likes to call himself a mad scientist. Comes up with heist ideas and has a degree in chemical engineering from KAIST. Could probably build a bomb with both hands tied behind his back if he tried hard enough. Best friends with Haechan.
Years in Mafia: 7
Weapon of Choice: pipe bomb
Body count: Undeterminable
Xiao Dejun
New spy. Trained under Taeil; literally blew up his first mission. Was out of the game for a year due to injuries from his first mission, recently came back and currently works with Kun on small missions. Is not allowed anywhere near Mark.
Years in Mafia: 4
Weapon of Choice: Stun Baton
Body count: 1
Huang Guanghan
Clean up. Hendery is sent out to clean up any mess created by the members-usually Renjun or Jaemin’s assassinations. Doesn’t usually kill, but if its for the well-being of the mafia he’ll kill a dozen men without a second thought. Always carries a weapon on him.
Years in Mafia: 7
Weapon of Choice: Colt 1911 1991 Series 80
Body count: 4
Huang Renjun
Best friend of Zhong Chenle who was basically adopted by his family at a young age. Assassin. Doesn’t like to get his hands dirty so he prefers guns (specifically snipers if the case calls for it)
Years in Mafia: 5
Weapon of Choice: M40A5 Sniper
Body count: 72
Lee Jeno
Policeman. Joined the Seoul Police Department to avoid any unnecessary attention from them. Is in the running for Captain even though he’s only 20. Constantly blows away the police officers with his skills. Prefers to be around Jaemin when he’s at headquarters.
Years in Mafia: 7
Weapon of Choice: Glock 22 with laser
Body count: 7 (including the 3 in line of duty)
Lee Donghyuck
Gambler/Loan shark. His dad was a hustler who taught his son the trade. Haechan started out small, slowly working his way up to the best blackjack player in Seoul. He was 16 when he hustled Taeyong out of a quarter million in a game of russian roulette, Taeyong almost killed him but he saw his value.
Years in Mafia: 6
Weapon of Choice: Brass Knuckles
Body count: 2
Na Jaemin
Joined the mafia in order to protect his mom from loan sharks and pay off his late father’s debts. He hates working for them, but knows he can’t get out. Has become so apathetic to death and pain and he is known as one of the coldest killers in Seoul
Years in Mafia: 9
Weapon of Choice: Industrial Steel Wire (decapitation)
Body count: too many to count
Liu Yangyang
Works clean up with Hendery. Newest newbie, literally has never fired a gun. Johnny allowed him in because of his literal ninja like skills; boy can literally immobilize anyone in a matter of seconds. Knows way too much about the human body and can move around the headquarters without being seen by anyone.
Years in Mafia: 3
Weapon of Choice: Telescoping Baton
Body count: 0
Shotaro Osaki
Weapons Dealer. Works closely with the only other Japanese member of the mafia, Yuta Nakamoto. Son of a large conglomerate chairman in Japan, dropped out of college and off-the-grid after he learned of his father's misdeeds in the business industry. Lived on the streets unnoticed until he saved Yuta's life from a hit-and-run incident.
Years in the Mafia: 1
Weapon of Choice: Hand-to-hand combat; trench knife if necessary
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) please support us as we continue to release content related to the overall theme that can be found on my/their blog. Thank you!
If you could go back in time to tell yourself one thing, it would be this. Never, ever, ever, move to Korea. Whatever dream you have isn’t worth chasing, and definitely not worth the 40.000.000 won it took to get you into this situation. Cheaply used expensive perfume filled your lungs while cigar smoke stung your eyes. The dim lighting was barely enough to see your own two hands in front of you, much less the cards you were supposed to be focusing on.
Slender digits tapped the table across from you to grab your attention. Looking up, you focused on the young man’s maroon corduroy jacket, too aware of the apathy that sat in his eyes. A small smirk played on his lips and he glanced between your cards and trembling eyes. “Not the best poker face you got there, love.” The sickly sweet nature of the voice that rang out caused your heart to drop to your feet and your stomach to rise to your throat.
You tried your best to steel your voice, though you imagine it was of no use to the man in front of you. “How do you know I’m not just putting on an act?”
“Desperate people don’t put on acts.” His words were short, and stabbed into your sides like a dagger of such length. “Though, I do find they are much more willing to comply at the hands of their debtors.” The smirk shifted into a full blown smile as he leaned the oak chair back on its hind legs to prop his feet onto the equally expensive poker table. “One chance.”
“One chance?”
“One chance. Those are the terms that you agreed to come here on. One chance to play against me. One chance to beat me. One chance to walk out of here 40.000.000 won richer - or in your case; just breaking even.” His feet moved and the legs of the chair slammed back down onto the floor with a heavy thud. Leaning over the table, his cherry red hair was illuminated under the light. “One chance of escaping Korea alive. You blew it.”
The same slender fingers that brought you back to reality before now reached across the table to pluck the playing cards from your shaking grasp. “Not a single winning card in sight, too bad those Americans won’t get to see the return on their investment any time soon.”
Your body stood on full alert. How much time would it take you to run past him and out the door opposite of you? Surely there were guards behind it, but maybe the sudden movement would startle them enough into giving you a slight head start.
“However, I am such a generous shark you see, I prefer to stay vegan in all of my dealings. So I guess there won’t be any blood spill today.” Sitting back down, he flipped his own cards over one by one to reveal a royal flush. “You didn’t even have luck on your side to begin with.”
Emerging from the shadows, a young man who looked to be the same age as the one sitting across from you, laid down a file on the table. Instead of retreating to his previous spot, he now stood perched behind the gambler, one hand resting on an object protruding from his hip as his eyes never left your center of mass. Flipping through the pages, the gambler muttered to himself before landing on a certain one. “ Y/L/N Y/N. 21 years old. No mother or father in contact with the target. Moved to Korea at 18 years old after being accepted for international study. Early admittance and graduate from KAIST with a major in biochemical engineering and a minor in physics. Fluent in 4 languages: English, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Youngest female scientist to work in vaccine development in the federal laboratories. Now, broke, disgraced, labelled a danger to the scientific community, and completely and utterly… lost.” He flipped the manila folder closed. “Does it seem like I missed anything?”
Before you had a chance to speak up and for him to reply, a loud buzz came from the shadow man’s pocket. The redhead diverted all of his attention to the person behind him. A few seconds of small talk went by before they both shifted their gaze back to you, and the shadow man placed his phone back where it was before returning his hand to rest on what you now knew was a holster. “Well, I don’t think I need to hear your answer now anyways, though I would appreciate more information any time.” His smirk transformed into the bright smile again, this time as he leaned down to shove all of the chips on the table in your direction. “This should be more than enough to cover your debt and buy new clothes and necessities. I’ll see you outside.” And with that, both the red-head gambler and stoic gun-wielder left you in the room alone with the croupier, who until now, made himself little known.
The croupier silently handed you a slip before walking to the door and escorting you to the cashier in the main room of the casino. Here, the smoke was much stronger and the sound of slot machines and patrons shouting bids much louder. Still, you were much too in a daze, and far too hurried by the pace of the croupier to focus on anything else. Looking down at the slip he handed to you, you just about fainted then and there. 80.000.000 won. Next to it, the seal of a Red Ace, the signature mark of the gambler from earlier.
Picking up your pace, you caught up to the croupier right as they reached the cashier’s window. Sliding over the slip, the person behind the counter gave a quizzical eye before noticing the stamp that accompanied the handwriting of the croupier. Quickly, they turned around and disappeared into a back room before returning 2 briefcases, one of which had handcuffs linked around it. The croupier grabbed the bags before clasping the free cuff of the linked case around your arm. Then, they led you out an employee’s exit into the back parking lot of the casino.
Waiting there was the same gambler and shadow man from before, but this time, another individual leaned against the wall with them. He had a different air about him. Much less threatening and more calm. The dyed chestnut hair was cut into an undercut, while he wore bomber jacket over a plain army green shirt and black jeans. He appeared to be swaying to some sort of music while the other two conversed amongst themselves, and he only looked up at the sound of your approaching footsteps.
The redheaded gambler straightened up before slipping something into the croupier’s hand, and the employee retreated back into the casino from the same door you exited. “Handcuffs? Do you really think I’m going to take away the money I willingly gave to you?” He snorted.
“I- I’m not the one who put them on. The dealer did it before we walked out here.” You doubled-taked, still not fully understanding the situation at hand.
“You’re lucky I have the key, or else you would be stuck in those things.” He leaned down and produced a thin metal key from his pocket, dropping gum wrappers to the ground in the process. “There.” You heard a click, and the cuff fell from your wrist to the side of the briefcase. “Also, all that money. Consider it a gift from S-NCT and Johnathon Suh. Your American debtors have already been dealt with accordingly. We truly are sorry for the trouble.” He gave a sarcastic bow, straightening up to fix the collar of his jacket.
“I’m… free to leave?” The shock apparent in your voice, you had come here fully prepared to become a fugitive, or end up in a casket.
“Ehhhh. Not exactly. You’re not being hunted by the American government or the Korean mafia now, if that’s what you mean. But you can’t go home.” His way of talking was much more relaxed from the tone he used in the private room, much more - friendly?
“What do you mean I can’t go home? If I’m no longer in trouble, why can’t I leave?” You were starting to mentally catch up on the twist of events that had occurred so suddenly. “My debts are paid, aren’t they?”
“Sure, but now you are technically property of S-NCT and will be working for us from now on, though I don’t think you should have a problem with our professional accommodations, I hear they even rival the KAIST laboratories.” He snickered in the direction of the new man, who had since taken out his earphones and was now wholeheartedly focused on the conversation at hand.
“I don’t work for anyone, and I definitely don’t work for you. I barely know you!” You took two steps back at an automatic reaction to his words.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He sang out, and only now did you realize that the shadow man from before had also moved, only now, his gun was drawn and he was moving to aim. “And if you want an introduction so bad, all you had to do was ask, I just figured you didn’t care much for first impressions, or else I would have introduced myself before the game. I’m the Red Ace. Of course, you already know that, but you can just call me Hyuck.” He smiled and held out his hand. Receiving no response from your end, he raised a brow at his palm before dusting it off on his jeans and placing it back into his pocket. “This is Jaemin. He won’t hurt you… probably.” Hyuck jerked his head in the direction of the shadow man. “And this is Mark Lee. Alum of your alma mater as well, and quite the disgraced scientist if he does say so himself.” This time, he pointed to the man to his left, the newcomer. “I’m sure you two will get along great!”
“There is no greatness to be had with getting along. I told you, I don’t work for you.” You were now fully standing your ground, having come to terms with the current scene.
“Well, then I guess you can just say goodbye to a whole laboratory to yourself, freedom to experiment as you see fit, and you know, the yearly salary that you are holding half of in your hands, too.” Hyuck smiled again, this time turning on his heels and walking towards a parked van in the distance, Jaemin following behind him. “Ask Mark though, I know he seems to think that he has been treated well by our offers.” He called out.
“You know full and well that you could never hope to find money like that anywhere else. Here, or abroad. Plus, the freedoms are pretty nice. I would consider taking it.” Mark spoke up, his voice much different from what you were expecting to hear from him. “And an amazing scientist like yourself shouldn’t give up on years of vaccine research like they made you do. Just saying.” And he too was walking towards the van, while you stood dumbfounded in the same spot you stopped in.
You don’t know what had overcome you, but after about 30 seconds of standing there, you broke out into a run towards the van, only stopping once your hand had prevented the sliding door from closing. Jaemin opened the door again, while Hyuck sat in the front passenger seat, smirking. “You said I can continue my vaccine research?” You breathed out.
Mark looked at you incredulously. “I said you could continue doing any research you wanted.”
“Just the vaccine research. Once I finish it, I’m leaving.”
“Just get in the car!” Hyuck yelled, the man in the driver’s seat beside him reaching over to slap him upside the head. “Please… get in the car.” He corrected, giving a sneaky snarl to the man who had delivered the blow.
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release content related to the overall theme that you can find on my/their blog. Thank you!
Racing through streets at speeds far too over the limit was exhilarating. 2 wheels under feet and no protection from the forces of Mother Nature was adrenaline inducing.
“L’appel du vide.” as they say in French, it was like a call to the void. You were naturally curious. How far could you push the limitations of science and spirit without breaking yourself. You have to admit, you have gotten far to close to the point of no return, for comfort; yet, you have no plans on stopping anytime soon. Some were addicted to drugs, others alcohol, some attention, you, you were addicted to feeling like you were one foot off the edge of existence and only tip-toeing with the other.
It wasn’t like you didn’t have the money to support your extragevent imagination either. You had a great uncle who you never really knew, but he left his large fortune to you, urging you to “spend it wisely and live a good life” in his will. In your mind, you were doing exactly that. After graduating from high school, you spent a few years traveling through Europe, where an ex-lover got you hooked on drag racing. They were more determined to settle down when you were convinced you life had only begun.
So you left. In Prague, a best friend you still love to death introduced you to bungee jumping. In Paris you learned how to free climb. But you learned something, experiences were worth much more than those you surrounded yourself with at the time. You had a motto in life, one that you learned in Germany “es nie bereuen” to never regret.
You were never going to regret something in your life. No matter what it was. No matter the bitter ending. Regret wasn’t something you would live with. Not when you had the ability to do anything you wanted.
Your recent addiction was high stakes gambling, and what better a place to do it than Monte Carlo. Even more famous than Las Vegas for its fast life. You could get bet on anything here. Derbies, races, hell, even if you had a thing for russian roulette, anything could happen in Monte Carlo.
So here you were, sitting across a young man with deep red hair, who couldn’t be but a year older than you. A poker face wasn’t his strong suit, rather a permanent smirk was plastered on his face, a metal briefcase at his feet, filled with chips. 5 Card Draw, 6 rounds in, and neither of you were close to cracking.
“All in”. A voice called from across the table, originating from the small figure of the man you were in a standoff with. The dealer turned to you, after collecting all of your opponents chips, receiving a nod from you as a response, he did the same, pulling the stacks of chip to the center of table. “That’s a risky move, darling.” The same melodic voice reached across the void.
“Isn’t the whole reason I am here because of this risk? I assume it’s the same reason for you.” You smiled, much more innocent compared to his permanent toothy smirk.
“I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt considering we are in Monte Carlo and you haven’t heard of me.”
“Oh, I know who you are, Red Ace.” Your eyebrows raised at his surprise, shocked that you agreed to such a high stakes game with someone as well known as he was. “But I’m not afraid of losing to you. I have the money to pay if I do, but I seriously doubt that will happen.”
“Then why don’t we call now.” He shook off the surprise and returned to his confident nature, checking his cards one last time.
“Feel free to do so.”
“Straight Flush.” He flipped his cards, facing them up, the dealer turning to you once again for your response. Nodding, this time to yourself, you smiled and flipped the cards.
“Royal Flush.” You stood up, brushing the non-existent dust off of your skirt, tucking the slip of paper the dealer handed to you into your hemline, and turned around, walking away from the table to go collect your money.
Out the door, you entered a smoggy room loud with the ringing of slot machines and the calls of dealers. You beelined towards the money table, excited to feel the green paper in your fingers, when a cold hand gripped your wrist and pulled you into an empty hallway leading to the elevators.
“You cheated.” He stood in front of you, a cherry blossom branch spiralling up from the collar of his shirt, to end rest at the base of his jaw.
“I don’t cheat. I analyze. And I win. Nothing against you Ace, you really are the best player around, enough to give me a run for my money, and I needed the thrill.” You gave him a devilish smile, slipping your hand from the tight grasp he had on it.
“I want a rematch.” His face hardened, determined to beat you.
“I’m sure you do love, but I don’t. Haven’t you heard the saying ‘quit while you are ahead’? Because that is exactly what I am doing. Now you if excuse me-” You side stepped, breaking free of the prison he built for you between his body and the wall. “I have 5 million dollars I would like to cash. Don’t worry, I won’t spend it all in one place. We wouldn’t want dear little Johnny finding out you lost a game, now would we darling?”
He was taken aback by the mention of the ruthless leader’s name, wondering how you held a connection with the man. The shock on his face was evident, as he was frozen to the navy carpet flooring. “And Donghyuck?” You looked back, heels digging into the plush floor as he whipped around. “Don’t take the loss too hard okay? Even an Ace is worth nothing in some games.”
He was lost. Definitely lost. He hadn’t lost a game since he was 14 years old. He was the Red Ace for a reason. That was his lucky card, if he got a red ace, he was set. Game, Match, Score. How in the actual hell did she beat him? How did she know Johnny? How did she know his real name for crying out loud? He was obviously in a daze, from the rest of his stay, to the plane ride home, even as he entered headquarters, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was someone he should recognize. Her attitude reminded her too much of Johnny, yet she was cold- a stark contrast to the man that has housed and employed him. It was like she was void of emotion, and he recalled her, hoping to find any sort of clue from her figure that could lead to her identity. Even as Taeyong dragged him from the billiards room for dinner, he was engrossed in the thought of her.
He would be lying if he said he hadn’t visited the casino once again in hopes of seeing her there. The idea of her was driving him insane, up a wall, into a ditch. They were all at dinner and he sat there pushing the food around his plate, too lost in thought to even greet the younger members joining the table. As the encounter played through his mind for the trillionth time, Chenle’s iconic voice drifting in one ear and out the other, mentioning something about his older sister visiting, not that Hyuck had the energy to care.
Another week passed and everyone in headquarters was worrying about Donghyuck, he wasn’t eating, much less sleeping, and his sparkle had all but diminished under the weight of his mind. What was he so occupied with? Or rather, who?
Taeyong had gotten him to snap out of it enough in order to get some food in his system and clean him up for the arrival of Chenle’s sister-in-law, who everyone was excited to see/meet, especially Johnny, something about him being his younger sister. Again, like he had the energy to care about some mafia wife who had everything under the sun.
They were all sitting in the living room, and as the doorbell rang, Chenle jumped up from the couch, running to the door, not even waiting for Johnny to full stand. “Noona!” He screamed in his usual manner, rushing into the arms of a girl no older than Hyuck himself. “Hi Chenle! Have you been studying well?” She asked and his head lifted so rapidly to the point to whiplash. Groaning, he grabbed the back of his neck, staring the girl in front of him down. She is Chenle’s sister-in-law? Hell, she is Johnny’s younger sister? She never mentioned relation to the mafia during their conversation, but then again, mentioning Johnny, he should have guessed so. He watched her every move as she hugged her older brother and he saw the uncanny resemblance. The dark eyes, tanned skin and signature smile that set them apart from everyone else in the room. His eyes never left their figure even as she sat down between her brother and in-law, talking merrily amongst the group, not the stone-cold woman that he had made before. And when she claimed to want to use the washroom, he made the excuse to Taeyong about finally feeling hungry, and followed her out the room.
A sole arm dancing with delicate lines and pigmented colors grabbed her wrist, pulling her into a dark room and pushing her against the wall, the feeling all too familiar with her senses. “Donghyuck.” You called into into the void, noticing the grip on your upper arm fluctuating in pressure.
“Why are you here?” His voice sounded desperate, much different from the confidence you witnessed in the gambling room.
“Donghyuck.” Your voice was softer this time.
“Why. Are. You here?” He asked again, the desperation dripping from his every word. He was confused, in an erratic state of mind, one that he obviously wasn’t even aware of himself, because the next thing you knew, the pressure on your bicep dissipated and a thunk was heard on the floor. Searching for the light switch behind your back, you were blinded by the sudden illumination of the room only to be met with the visual of a maroon haired boy with cherry blossom tattoos crumpled at your feet with a slow rise and fall at his chest. The dark bags under his eyes were evident, and the hollow of his cheeks were a sight to behold all of its own.
“Johnny!”
He awoke to a cold pack pressed against his forehead and a odd amount of pressure against his leg. He was laying down, and his hand reached up to remove towel from his forehead. He opened his eyes to find dark hair strewn across the bed, a head against his leg and his boss sitting in a chair in the corner. Johnny looked up from his cellphone, smiling seeing that the young man was finally awake. “How do you feel, Ace?” He smiled, ruffling his hair, making sure to avoid the sleeping figure at the foot of the bed.
“I’m not an Ace anymore Johnny. I failed. I failed at the only thing I am good at.” He groaned, closing his eyes.
“Don’t take it to heart kid. Y/N is a lot tougher than she lets on, and she hates losing even more than you do. Beating her is like beating a god, practically impossible.”
“I beat Taeyong.” His voice was still scratchy, proof that he hadn’t really spoken in the past week or so.
“And that’s a big accomplishment kid, not a lot of people can beat taeyong, but no one can beat her. It’s just her nature.” He smiled down at the boy laying in a hospital bed, happy that he was back to his childish self.
Johnny had long left the room and Haechan was stuck by himself with a girl sleeping on his leg. This is exactly what he had planned for today. Though, now that he thinks about it, it’s a lot better than being tormented with the thought of you every walking second. He focused on your sleeping figure, recalling the night he met you and the night he saw you again. You were very different. In the casino, you were cold and distant but around your family, you were bright and warm, immersed in the moment. His eyes dancing across your features, you appeared calm, patient, remote. He traced from the tip of your nose down your arms, to your hands, pressed against his leg. He noticed a tan line wrapped around your ring finger and stab went through his heart. He actually realized what was obvious the entire time. The pieces came flying together, colliding into a horrible image the struck him much harder than he originally imagined. You were married. Chenle’s sister IN-LAW. From what he knew though, his older brother was a creepy asshole. Is that why you weren’t wearing a ring? He was aware it was an arranged marriage but don’t some people fall in love in those situations? Renjun and his fiancee had. Once again his mind was sent reeling, but something stopped him short.
You stirred against his leg, sitting up with your eyes closed, letting out a mewl as you stretched out your back. He let his head silently fall to the pillow in an attempt to feign being asleep, a ploy that you obviously bought. Grabbing the towel that had fallen to his side, you placed it in the bowl of ice water before ringing it out and replacing it on his dampened forehead. Your eyes traced his features and you whispered something he just couldn’t make out. You laid your hand across his own before giving it a slight squeeze as something tugged at your heart. You were surprised to feel the sensation reciprocated, as his eyes slowly opened and gave you an innocent smile. “Please stay with me.” he pleaded, the same desperation from before returning to his voice.
“You know I can’t do that Donghyuck.”
“Yes you can. Anyone can tell that you don’t love him. Hell, even Chenle hates that bastard. S-NCT can protect you. Johnny can protect you.”
“Johnny is the one who gave me up. I made a choice to follow his wishes for the sake of his family. I made my decision Hyuck, and I can’t go back on that. And you don’t even know me, I’m a real bitch once you get to, so I suggest you stay away and let me live my life.” You once again pulled your hand from his grip, standing from the bed and moving towards the door. “Get well Red Ace, I need you to give me a run for my money again.” With that statement, the door closed behind him and his head fell into his hands once again.
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release content related to the overall theme that you can find on my/their blog. Thank you!
Crackling came through the walkie-talkie resting on your hip, peering through a scope, the cacophonous noise messing with the rhythm of your breath. Ripping the device from its hostler you tried to remain calm as you conversed with watchman over the line.
“If you don’t shut the fuck up, this hit is going to go south and you are going to pay me double for having to clean up the mess you caused.” The other line went dead and somehow the shrilling noise persisted.
Finally, the jarring, piercing whistle was slowly driving you insane to the point that you shut off the machine all together.
Taking a few seconds to regain your composure, you leaned back down over the edge of the building, peering into the crowd below. Running large sweeps across the courtyard, you caught sight of the man you were sent for.
Inhale.
“One.”
Exhale.
“Two.”
Inhale.
A jolt ran through your arm and up into your shoulder, the pain only bearing the familiar feeling of another notch on your post. Screams raced through the air into your muffled ears.
Mission Accomplished.
“Just who the hell do you think you are?” You whipped your head around to locate the source of the cold voice. You found a boy, maybe a couple years younger than you, with dark hair and fair skin. He held a thin case-one similar to yours. A sniper case.
“I don’t owe you an explanation. Now if you’ll be so kind as to get the fuck out of my way, I have places to be. Ta ta darling, nice meeting you,” You packed up your sniper and pushed the boy out of the way. Walking towards the elevator, the boy’s grating voice stopped you in your tracks.
“Next time, I swear to god I’ll kill you.”
You paused for a split second and chuckled lightly. This kid thought he could kill you-how hilarious. You continued down the stairs of the building and ran to the back alley you had entered from. Surely enough, your ride was still there, parked with the rear end facing the brick wall behind it. You loaded your equipment into the back and plopped yourself down in the front seat.
“Is it done?” Your driver, Joon, asked.
“Of course. I made an enemy this time though. I need some time off the field to avoid exposure,” You said, leaning your seat back and placing your feet on the dash of the car. Joon immediately swatted at your feet.
“Get your feet off my dash, nasty.” You chuckled and put your feet back on the floor. “So who’s this enemy?”
“To tell you the truth, Joon, I’m not sure. That’s why I need to stay out of the thick of things for a while. To lay low and find out just who this kid is. All I know is he’s a sniper too.” You sighed and leaned on the window. This kid really puzzled you. He looked much younger than you but spoke as if he was your equal. His Korean was good, but he still had a hint of an accent. But what accent? Who is this kid?
“Well Y/N, I don’t know what to tell ya. But Gong is definitely gonna want to hear about this,” Joon said, making you shiver. Gong was your supervisor, and he was extremely creepy. You were 90% sure he hid bodies of his childhood friends in his basement at one point. He is also a registered sex offender, so he can no longer do field work. You avoided him as much as you possibly could. But with information like this, you definitely had to tell him.
“Yeah I know. Do you think Hyeori will want to hear about this too?” Hyeori was your leader and she was ruthless. Even though she was ruthless, you trusted being alone with her more than being alone with Gong.
“About a possible new enemy? It’s worth hearing about,” Joon said, pulling into the garage. You sighed in relief.
“I’ll request a meeting then.” Since Hyeori was naturally very busy, you had to request her time to talk about things she deemed of importance. A new enemy would definitely cause trouble for the Mafia and give her more work, which made you hope she would take your request. Eventually, she did and you were in a meeting with her and Gong about the issue.
“So Y/N, tell me. How did this ‘new enemy’ come to be?” Hyeori asked, her regal voice ringing throughout the room.
“It was on my last job-the politician. Once I packed up this kid, who couldn’t be much older than 16, came up behind me with a sniper case in hand. We exchanged a few words and as I left, he threatened to kill me upon our next meeting,” You explained.
“What did the kid look like?” Gong asked, typing away on his computer.
“He had black hair with bages that fell just above his eyes, he wore a facemask and a black baseball cap along with a black outfit. He had fingerless gloves on-they were Harley Davidson motorcycle gloves. His voice had a hint of an accent, but I was not able to determine what kind.” As you described the boy, Gong took notes and Hyeori paid attention to every detail that came out of your mouth. You brought yourself back to that day on the rooftop-why was this kid even there?
“I believe I know who you’re talking about. His name is Huang Renjun. He’s S-NCT’s sniper. You are to avoid any hostility with him-I’m trying to reach an agreement with their leader Johnny. His power extends to China and he wants control of our Japanese ports. We are thinking of connecting a marriage between our mafias to allow us to work in China and his people to work in Japan. It’s a win win situation, Y/N. Do not screw it up,” Hyeori’s threat terrified you. The last person to ruin one of Hyeori’s plans is currently being manhunted.
“I understand, Hyeori. If I encounter him on another mission, what am I to to?” You asked. You needed a protocol to avoid ruining Hyeori’s plan by accident.
“Do not engage-let him have the job if you have not already completed it. If you have, simply leave the scene and let him fume about it. No need to fight. Understood?”
“Yes, Hyeori.”
“Alright. Meeting adjourned,” Hyeori got up from her seat, making you rise with her. You
let her and Gong exit before you, and you walked down to your room.
“Yo Y/N. How was the meeting?” Joon asked. He was laying on his bed tossing a tennis ball up and down. He looked like the epitome of laziness and boredom.
“It went fine. If I meet this kid again I am to not engage him and let him have the job. Hyeori’s orders,” You said, climbing up to your bunk. You grabbed your book from the shelf next to your bed and sat down facing the room with your back against the wall. You quite enjoyed reading-something that seemed to surprise everyone. You didn’t know why they were surprised-it’s not like killing people was the only aspect of your life. Jobs were usually few and far in between for you, so besides practicing your technique and accuracy, you had other hobbies as well. One of those hobbies was reading. You ended up reading so many books that you installed a shelf next to your bed so you could store them properly. You also enjoyed cooking-something that you shared with a few other members of your mafia. Your free time was often spent like this: practice from 8-11, make lunch from 11-12:30, read for an hour or so, practice from 2-4:30, make dinner 5-7, read from 7-9, repeat everything again the next day. It was routine, and you tried to stick with it as much as possible.
For the months after your initial encounter with Huang Renjun, you kept your routine. Practice, eat, read, practice, eat, read. Day in, day out. Until Hyeori called you down to her office-which was never good. If Hyeori decided she needed to see you, then there was something wrong. In all honesty, you were terrified of Hyeori. She was a powerhouse and in order to stay in her position, she’s had to prove multiple times that she’s not a soft little girl. That being said, many people have died by her hands and you did not want to become her next victim. Walking down the steps of the common room, you found yourself walking down the winding halls of K-251’s “corporate” offices. Eventually, you reached Hyeori’s office and knocked three times-as per her request. You heard a faint “Come in” from the otherside of the door and walked in. Once you walked in you were faced with Hyeori, Gong, an unfamiliar man, and Huang Renjun. Renjun seemed shocked to see you.
“You requested my presence, Hyeori?” You asked. Hyeori insisted that all the members be as polite as possible to her without using honorifics while you were at the base. The base was almost like home in a sense, and everyone here was to be considered equal.
“Yes, Y/N. This is Johnny, the leader of S-NCT, and of course you already know Renjun,” Hyeori introduced the two men sitting opposite of her. You bowed to them both.
“Hello, I am Y/L/N Y/N, nice to meet you both,” You said, waving at the two men in front of you. Hyeori motioned for you to sit next to her-obviously placing you as far away from Gong the Creep as possible. You sat down and noticed Renjun staring, but when you met his gaze, rather than looking away he made direct eye contact and continued staring.
“Well Hyeori, I do believe the meeting can finally begin now that everyone is here,” Johnny spoke, crossing his right leg over his left.
“Ah yes of course. I know Y/N knows the current state of things between S-NCT and K-251, but does Renjun know?” Hyeori asked, to which Johnny shook his head. “Well then, I’ll begin with a debriefing. For the past few months, Johnny and I have been working together to find a way for both our mafia’s to have holds in China and Japan. Recently, we came to the conclusion of uniting our mafias to allow for K-251 to have holds in China and for S-NCT to have holds in Japan. The basis of this unification, however, will be a marriage between one member of S-NCT and one member of K-251. Johnny chose his member, and I have chosen mine. So, Y/N and Renjun, you two will be united in marriage in 3 months time.” You nearly choked on your spit. Marriage? You barely turned 20 last month, now you’re getting married? You looked up and saw Renjun had a similar reaction, but was much more obvious about it.
“Marriage, Johnny? I’m not your sister you can’t just marry me off like that! I’m only 20, I have so much more time before marriage!” Renjun yelled. He had begun to pace the room and threw his hands in very angry gestures while he spoke.
“I’ve made my decision Renjun. You had already met Y/N and threatened to kill her-this is your punishment for nearly ruining my chances of creating this deal.” Damn thatt was harsh. You were considered a punishment now. Wonderful.
“As for you Y/N, you were the only logical choice. All of our other female members couldn’t hold a candle to your talent and skill,” Hyeori said, sipping her coffee. Gong snorted.
“Not to mention she’s the prettiest member too,” He said. That sent shivers down your spine. Gong was being extra creepy today.
“Yah! That’s my fiance you’re talking about! Shut it before I make you!” You looked up in shock at Renjun. In just a few short minutes he went from rejecting the whole idea of marrying you to calling you his fiance. You were in awe. Renjun noticed you staring and sighed. “What? I’m right aren’t I?” He said, sitting back down in front of Gong. You nodded slightly while Hyeori applauded. For what? You never knew but you assumed she was applauding herself this time.
“Wonderful! I knew this would turn out! Well, with everything set in place, I now adjourn this meeting! Y/N, Renjun, decide between the two of you how things will continue-also don’t forget about the wedding!” Hyeori said. You waited until she got up to stand up. Renjun however, took a beeline to the door. He’s so disrespectful to his leader, you didn’t understand how he got away with it.
“Yah, I’m not waiting all day. Hurry up or I’m leaving you behind,” Renjun half shouted from the hallway. You rolled your eyes and walked out of the room to meet your new fiance. You never really noticed how attractive he actually was. His black hair framed his face well and his facial expressions made you giggle a bit. Renjun raised an eyebrow at you. “What are you giggling at?” He said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“You.”
“What’s so funny about me?”
“Your face.”
“Well you’re stuck with this face so try to not laugh at it too much.”
“I don’t think that’ll be an issue.” You said. Renjun had a very similar sense of humor to you, which was very lucky. At least you won’t be stuck laughing at your own jokes for the rest of your life.
“So what are we going to do?” Renjun asked, walking beside you to the common room. You checked your watch, which read 11:28.
“Lunch? I make a mean grilled cheese sandwich,” You said, dropping your left hand to your side. Renjun nodded and you walked to the kitchen in silence. Once there, you immediately began working. You grabbed your supplies for grilled cheese and began working.
“Well, Y/N, we might as well get to know each other,” Renjun said, leaning on a counter to your right.
“What to you want to know?” You asked, never taking your eyes off the frying bread.
“What’s your favorite color?”
“All of them. It switches day to day. My turn, where are you from? Your accent doesn’t sound Korean,” You asked, flipping the sandwich.
“I’m from China. What's your favorite movie?”
“Definitely the Harry Potter series. What's your favorite food?”
“Hot pot. What’s your most prized possesion?” “My moms necklace. What’s your favorite place?”
“My room. Favorite animal?”
“Definitely a dolphin. Favorite color?” “Red. Siblings?” “None that I know of. When’s your birthday?”
“March 23. You?”
“July 16. Your sandwich is done.”
“Thanks,” Renjun took the plate from our hand and walked over to the table in the dining
room. You finished your sandwich and joined him at the table. Renjun put his phone down and smiled at you.
“This sandwich is really good Y/N. Thanks for making it,” Renjun said, taking another bite. You smiled.
“I love cooking so I have a bunch of recipe’s I’m waiting to try,” You said, taking a bite of your sandwich. Renjun looked at you in awe.
“Y/N I willingly find new recipes for you if it means I don’t have to cook. I will to literally anything else in the house but cook,” Renjun said, taking another bite of his nearly finished sandwich.
“I can vouch for that. Renjun hates cooking. He literally made a deal with one of our members to avoid having dinner duties ever,” Johnny said. You wondered when he got there and just how long he had been listening.
“Johnny why you gotta do me dirty like that? I’m perfectly capable of throwing myself under the bus thank you,” Renjun said, finishing his sandwich.
“Would you like another one?” You asked, making Renjun shake his head.
“I’m good for now. Just finish your sandwich so we can go somewhere,” Renjun said, leaning back in his chair and shaking his leg. You nodded and ate the last little bit of your sandwich and grabbed the plates.
“I’ll do the dishes, Y/N. You cooked, it’s the least I could do.” Renjun grabbed your shoulder and gently moved you out of the way. You were surpised-you always cooked and did the dishes. This was new.
“Seems you two are getting along well,” Johnny said, making you blush and turn your head. You couldn’t see Renjuns face, but with the way he physically tensed up, you guessed it was a similar shade of red. Johnny laughed. “Just remember to use protection, kiddos,” Johnny said, walking out of the room.
“Yah!” Renjun yelled, making Johnny laugh. You turned a deeper shade of red. Renjun finished washing the dishes and turned to you. “I-I’m sorry about Johnny. Sometimes he acts more like an embarrasing dad than a ruthless mafia leader,” Renjun apologized, his face an equally bright shade of red. You just nodded and kept your eyes on the floor. After standing awkwardly in the kitchen for what seemed like forever, you decided to break the silence.
“Wanna go to our shooting range?” You asked. It hadn’t been very long after eating, so you figured you could just start with simple handguns and stuff like that.
“Sure. Lead the way.” And with that, you two were on your way to the shooting range. It was a quiet walk, both of you still feeling awkward about Johnny’s earlier comment. Once there, you led Renjun to the small gun range that was meant for short distances.
“What’s this? I’m a sniper, Y/N. I’ll ace this,” Renjun said, grabbing a Colt from the rack. You grabbed one as well and checked to see if it was loaded-which it wasn't. You loaded the gun and stood by the firing stalls.
“Lets make it a competition then. See who’s got better aim. Best out of 6 wins,” You said, putting on the noise cancelling headphones and the goggles that your standing gun expert Jinyoo required-Renjun followed suit.
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release content related to our overall theme that you can find on my/their blog. Thank you!
“Mom I’m gonna be late! Hurry!” You yelled at your very overzealous mother who decided to spend half an hour taking pictures of you on your first day of school in Korea.
“Alright, alright. Last one I promise,” Your mom took one last picture and shut her phone off. “Let’s go honey. Can’t be late for your first day!” You rolled your eyes. If you were late, it would be her fault. You grabbed your backpack and began walking down the streets of your neighborhood to reach Seoul Preparatory Academy-your new hellhole. It looked so pretentious and the kids there looked just as pretentious. You hated it before even stepping foot on campus.
“Mom do I really have to go here for the next two years? Can’t you just homeschool me?” You whined.
“Do you really want me to homeschool you?” Your mother asked, raising an eyebrow at you. Then you remembered how she struggled to do basic algebra.
“On second thought, nevermind. Love you mom! Bye!” You quickly hugged your mom before walking to the front doors of the building. The school itself was made up of 1 big 2 story building with two wings protruding from the sides. The main office was located in the center of the building. And that’s about all you knew about this school. You gathered up as much courage as possible and walked up to the front desk.
“Um excuse me? I’m Y/L/N Y/N, I’m a transfer here from China. I’m supposed to be starting today.” You told the front desk lady all your personal contact info and she printed out your time card. Then, a girl with short brown hair appeared by the front desk.
“This is Kang Jisoo, she’ll be your guide for the week. She’s in your class, which is class 2A. Jisoo, this is Y/L/N Y/N, she’s a new transfer from China. Please treat her well,” The front desk lady said and sent you two off.
“Hi, Y/N! I’m Jisoo. So what made you come to Korea?” Jisoo asked, leading you down the west hall.
“My parent’s. Dad got transferred to Korea and my mother is actually Korean so, here I am.”
“Wow, so you’re of Korean descent. It’s not often we get transfer students who are actually Korean. The last one we had was a senior around 2 years ago. His name was Huang Renjun, I think.” She smiled, pointing up a set of stairs, directing you to follow her.
“Well, I’m technically only half-Korean, and my Korean is still a little rusty. Mom never spoke it at home unless she was angry.” You laughed, it was easy to tell that you and Jisoo would get along well.
“What are you talking about? Your Korean is amazing! Albeit, a small accent, I can understand you perfectly!” She smiled. You both stopped in front of a smaller classroom. “So I don’t know if you are familiar with the way classes are set up in Korea so I’ll give you a run down. We are split into 6 different levels based on your academic aptitude, with 2 classes each - though that has no meaning - and there are 3 grades. So, roughly 36 classes total. You are a grade 3, and apart of Class A, so that must mean you are SUPER smart, these classes tend to be small because you have to be the like top 5% of the school. But, it does allow for more one-on-one time with the teacher.” She stopped, and caught her breath, rushing to push out as much information as she could, not wanting to waste your class time. “So, do you get it?”
She gave off another beaming smile, and you laughed. “Yeah, I think I do, it was pretty similar in Beijing.”
“Then let’s go!” She grabbed your wrist and pulled you into the classroom. There were only about 9 other kids in the class, and the teacher was giving a lecture on quantum physics. The teacher paused for a moment, looked to Jisoo, and smiled. At this point, everyone’s eyes were on you.
“Ah, Miss Kang, this must be our new transfer, no?” Jisoo nodded.
“Yes’m, this is Y/L/N Y/N, she’s a transfer from China.” Jisoo introduced you before you could, which bothered you slightly, but you let it slide. Jisoo had proven to be a very excitable child in the minutes you’ve known her.
“Hello Miss Y/L/N, I’m Mrs. Park and I’ll be your physics teacher. Please sit anywhere you see an open seat,” Mrs. Park motioned to the entire classroom. There were lots of empty seats, but you didn’t necessarily want to socialize with everyone. You noticed everyone was still staring at you, except for one person, who was staring out of the window next to him. A blonde boy who appeared to also be chinese, but you couldn’t see his face very clearly so you could also be wrong. You approached the seat near the blonde boy and tapped his shoulder.
“Excuse me, is this seat taken?”
You asked, making the boys eyes widen. He shook his head and you took a seat.
“Wonderful choice, Miss Y/L/N. Mister Zhong here is also a chinese transfer student, you two should get along just fine. Now, getting back to the lesson, who can complete this equation for me?” Mrs. Parks voice droned on for what seemed like forever. It seemed almost insane how behind Korea was when compared to China’s education system. You took quantum physics last year, so this was all review for you. Also, Mrs. Park was teaching the lessons so slowly. What would usually be one lesson in China was somehow stretched to a weeks worth of lessons in Mrs. Parks classroom. You slumped in your seat as the lesson ended and the bell for lunch rang. You hadn’t even been at this school a full day and you hated it. Gathering your things, Jisoo ran up to you.
“So, Y/N, how about we eat lunch together? I could show you around the cafeteria and the rest of the campus before class resumes at 1,” Jisoo smiled. Before getting an answer Jisoo was practically dragging you out of the classroom. As you reached the cafeteria you suddenly felt starving-having only eaten half a banana for breakfast.
“They’re serving kimchi fried rice today with bbq pork! Ah that’s my favorite! Y/N let’s hurry and get in line!” Jisoo dragged you to the lunch line and you sighed. You never really had a love for Korean food. It wasn’t anything like chinese food, it was much too sweet. “Y/N, aren’t you gonna eat?” Jisoo looked quite concerned for your health when you stepped out of line.
“Uh no, I had a large breakfast. Thanks though,” You lied, mainly to avoid disclosing the fact that you didn’t like Korean food, but partially also to avoid the longest line in the history of ever.
“Alright, Y/N. I’ll meet you back at the classroom then. You to know how to get back, right?” Jisoo asked again, to which you shook your head. Jisoo handed you a map and you were on your way. Walking up the stairs and down multiple halls, you finally reached your classroom and you plopped into your seat. You noticed the Zhong boy was in his seat already, he was eating dumplings. Oh how you missed your grandmother’s dumplings. You began missing China more and more as you thought about the food back home.
“Where’s your food?” The Zhong boy asked, bringing you out of your thoughts.
“Oh uh, I wasn’t very hungry so I’m meeting Jisoo up here after she gets hers,” you said, crossing your left leg over your right. The boy obviously didn’t believe you, cause he offered a dumpling to you, which you declined.
“Eat.” You pouted and complied. You went to grab the chopsticks from the boys hand, but he pulled them away. You were confused until he grabbed a dumpling and held it by your face. You pouted again and ate the dumpling off his chopsticks. It went like this until Jisoo walked in-her voice ringing in your ears from miles away. The Zhong boy immediately went back to being an antisocial loner and faced the window. You pouted before turning to Jisoo.
“So how was lunch?” You asked the dark haired girl. Jisoo smiled.
“It was good! Although I wish you could’ve been there! There’s so many people i want to introduce you to!” You smiled. Jisoo had a good heart, and it was very pure compared to yours. Your friends back in China were very corrupting, needless to say. You were the best pickpocket anyone knew and you could work your way around any computer like it was the back of your hand. You had way too much free time, so you learned “useless” things like hacking and biochemical warfare. You also had a lot of useless trivia knowledge. Class began and there was a new teacher at the front.
“Good afternoon class,” The man said.
“Good afternoon Mr. Nam,” the class responded. You all sat down and Mr. Nam looked at you.
“Ah, a new student! Wonderful. What’s your name, miss?”
“Y/L/N Y/N. I’m a transfer from China, sir.” You stood up and answered.
“Well, Miss Y/L/N I’m Mr. Nam and I’m your history teacher. Why don’t you tell us a fact about yourself, so we all may get to know you better.” You cringed internally. How you hated getting-to-know-you things.
“Um, I’m really good with computers, I guess?” You answered, making Zhong boy perk up.
“Is that so? Well Mr. Zhong here is also good with computers. It seems you two should get along just fine. And on with today’s lesson! The second world war! How exciting!” Once again, classes seemed to drag on. You knew everything about World War II, even the things that had nothing to to with either Korea or China. After History was English, and you were basically fluent in English so you just sat there bored for the hour. The Zhong boy seemed to enjoy pissing off the English teacher, which annoyed you to no end. Just when the teacher looked like she was about to scold the Zhong boy, you spoke up.
“Yah, shut your mouth before I kick your teeth in,” You threatened, making the whole class stare at you. You had been quiet for most of the classes, so threatening someone was very odd of you.
“Miss Y/L/N, Mr. Zhong, detention. Both of you,” Ms. Brown said, pinching the bridge of her nose. The kid next to you rolled his eyes and you just slumped in your seat. Great. First day of class and you already have detention. How would you plead to your mother? Luckily, English was the last class of the day. “Rules of detention, no speaking, no electronics, and no homework. Sit there and do nothing, or take a nap. I don’t want to hear noise from either one of you for the next 30 minutes, got it?” Ms. Brown said, glaring down the Zhong boy-who just rolled his eyes and laid down on his desk. You sighed and leaned back in your seat. The next half hour dragged on and you were tempted to just fall asleep like the kid next to you. But about 20 minutes in things got interesting. The Zhong boy’s guardian came to talk with Ms. Brown.
“Ah, Mr. Lee, here to pick up Chenle?” Ms. Brown said, looking up from her papers.
“Yes, I am. I do apologize for his behavior, Ms. Brown,” Mr. Lee said, leaning on a desk. You sensed some romantic tension so you attempted to ignore the adults.
“Yah Zhong Chenle. Wake up, you idiot,” Mr. Lee yelled, making the blonde boy stir in his sleep. So his name is Zhong Chenle. I thought I recognized his last name. No wonder he’s a brat, he’s the child of two major CEO’s. Chenle woke up and glared at Mr. Lee.
“What do you want, Tae? I was napping,” You rolled your eyes. This kid was so disrespectful.
“We’re going home, and you’re grounded.”
“You can’t ground me, Tae.”
“Maybe, but your mother can. And she did. So we’re going home, and you are going to speak to your mother about everything that has happened the last six months and this won’t happen again, okay?” Mr. Lee said, grabbing Chenle’s ear.
“Okay fine, just let go of my ear.” You giggled, signalling your presence to Mr. Lee.
“Yah what’s so funny?” Chenle yelled at you. You decided to annoy him further and you just shrugged. Chenle was fuming and Mr. Lee basically dragged him out of the classroom. You had another 5 minutes, but Ms. Brown was feeling generous and let you leave early. You walked home and as soon as you entered the house your mother was yelling at you.
“Goddamnit Y/N! Your first day at school and what do you do? You threaten a kid! What were you thinking?” To be fair to your mother, you weren’t thinking. You also weren’t thinking when you walked right back out of the house. You weren’t very familiar with Seoul yet and you didn’t feel like walking back home to get your phone from your bag, so you kept walking. It was nearly dark before you decided to find your way back home. You didn’t even know your address. You kept walking in what seemed like circles and eventually wound up lost in front of a sign that said “Come Visit Again!”, meaning you were somehow at the city’s limits.
“Fuck it. I’m not going home,” You spoke, to no one in particular. You walked the back the way you came and began looking for people to pickpocket for cash. You were hungry and wanted something to eat-even if it was kimchi fried rice. And then you heard a voice you could barely believe you were hearing.
“Yah! Y/L/N Y/N!” You spun on your heels to face Zhong Chenle. “What are you doing over here?” His voice was almost angry, as if you trespassed on his territory.
“I’m walking.”
“I can see that. Why are you walking over here specifically though.”
“Is the sidewalk not public property? Can I not walk where I want?”
“You can. Just not here.”
“You bug me.”
“Yeah well too bad.”
“I’m lost, okay?”
“See that’s all you needed to say. Where do you live? I’ll take you there.”
“No need. You have a computer on you?”
“No why?”
“What about a phone?”
“Yeah, why do you need it?”
“To track mine.” Chenle looked shocked and worried about the fact that you didn’t have your phone with you. You only prayed that your phones tracking signal was on.
“So you’re telling me you were walking by yourself without your phone at 8 o’clock at night and you got lost?”
“I’ve technically been walking without my phone since 4 but you get the idea.”
“Idiot.”
“I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself, thank you.” The tracking signal was on and it was miles away. Practically on the other side of town.
“I’m walking you home.”
“Its a 4 hour walk from here, are you sure?”
“Girl how did you manage to get lost 4 hours away from your house?”
“I don’t really know. I reached the city limits though.”
“Your stupidity amazes me. I’ll call my driver and have him drive us there.”
“Why do you insist on coming with?”
“Cause if I’m sending my driver to your house, might as well get something out of it.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“I don’t know. I’ll decide in the car. Now can I have my phone back?” Chenle held his hand out for his phone, which you placed on his palm. Chenle typed a couple things into his phone before holding it up to his ear.
“Yeah, Tae? I need a ride. I’m at the warehouse with the girl from detention. Not like that you idiot. She’s lost and needs a ride home. I’m sending you the address now. Yeah whatever bye.” Chenle hung up the phone, typed some more, then looked back at you.
“You’re so disrespectful,” you said, walking towards a lightpole. Chenle followed and made a face.
“No I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. This Tae character is obviously older than you yet you don’t use honorifics when you speak to him. And Ms. Brown is literally just trying to to her job and you deliberately make that impossible.”
“Well they’re both stupid and I’m better than them.”
“Ms. Brown is fluent in 5 languages, Chenle. 5. And I’m not sure about Tae but if he’s older than you, you have to respect him.”
“I did not know that. And no I don’t. He’s just a glorified babysitter. I don’t have to respect a babysitter.”
“You’re so annoying.”
“You’re more annoying.”
“Yah!”
“Yah!”
“I hate you so much Zhong Chenle.”
“Yeah? Well I hate you more Y/L/N Y/N.” You turned to walk the other direction when Chenle stopped you.
“What do you want?”
“Rides here. Unless you feel like walking for 4 hours and running the risk of getting lost again, then by all means, please go.” You internally groaned. You didn’t want to ride in the same car as Chenle, but then again, it was a hell of a lot better than walking for 4 hours. You glared at the blond haired boy and turned to face him.
“Fine. Only because I don’t wanna walk.”
“Yeah sure. Whatever you say Y/N.”
“I’m serious Chenle!”
“Hi Serious! I’m Chenle!”
“I swear to god I’m gonna smack you upside the head one of these days.”
“Do it. I dare you.”
“I said one of these days. Not today.”
“Chicken.”
“Did you really just call me chicken?”
“Yah! Are you two ever gonna get in or are you just gonna argue? Cause if so I can leave.” You looked in the direction of the voice and you found a dark haired man standing next to a silver Mercedes sedan.
“No, Hyung, we’ll get in now,” Chenle said, putting emphasis on the word hyung. At least he used honorifics. Chenle opened the passenger door and climbed in, while you got in the back. At least Chenle wasn’t in the back. But someone else was.
“Who are you?” the boy asked, obviously puzzled. He looked from Chenle, back to you, then back to Chenle, and then back to you.
“Jisung, this is Y/L/N Y/N, she’s a new transfer in my class. And she’s lost cause she’s stupid.” You rolled your eyes and smiled at Jisung. “Y/N, this is Jisung. He’s a year behind us in school but he’s only two months younger than me.”
“Uh, hi? Wait Chenle, when’s your birthday?” You asked. If Jisung was only two months younger than Chenle but a whole year behind him in school, then how little was Chenle?
“November. Why?”
“Year?”
“Why?”
“I’m older than you.”
“No you’re not. You’re stupid.”
“Then what year were you born?”
“2001.”
“Just cause someone’s stupid doesn’t mean they can’t be older than you, you know.”
“How much older are you? Do I have to call you noona?”
“Yes you do. Because I’m a whole year and some odd months older than you.” You could see Chenle slump in his seat.
“There’s no way. Why haven’t you graduated yet?”
“Because in China I would’ve graduated next year, but here I’m graduating this year.”
“Sometimes I forget how weird the chinese school system is.”
“It really is. I’m just happy to graduate a year early.”
“Well it’s technically 2 years late, since you’re an 00 baby.”
“Don’t call me a baby. Its weird.”
“I didn’t call you a baby. I said you were an 00 baby.”
“Same difference. Either way its weird.”
“Um not to interrupt your lovers quarrel, but I believe this is your house?” The driver said, stopping the car in front of your little home. The lights were on in the windows and you could see objects flying. You opened the door and heard screaming, so you closed the door.
“Why’d you close the door? Is this not your house?” Chenle asked, turning in his seat to face you.
“No it is, my parents are just fighting and I really don’t want to go in.”
“Then don’t. You can come to my house for the night!”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely! Also I’m pretty sure I saw a knife go flying so it’s not the safest place for you.”
“If I go over I’d still need my things.”
“I’ll get them for you, Noona. Wait here.” Jisung said, getting out of the car.
“Huh? Jisung! Jisu-aand he’s inside the house; how fast is that kid?” You asked, slumping against the window. “Wait, he doesn’t even know what my stuff looks like. Chenle, gimme your phone.” Chenle handed you his phone and you proceeded to call it, praying it wasn’t dead.
“Hello? Noona?”
“Hey Jisung. My school bag is the bag you found my phone in, and could you pack an extra uniform for tomorrow? They would be in my closet in my room upstairs-have my brother help you find the room.”
“Brother? How old is he?”
“He’s five-he’ll help you. Trust me. Just hurry up, Kay? And don’t forget a charger!”
“Got it Noona.” And with that, Jisung hung up. You handed the phone back to Chenle and slumped against the seat again, waiting. Not long after Jisung walked out and handed you your things. You glanced at your parents in the window-their fight from earlier resuming. You rolled your eyes and wondered if things would ever change.
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release content related to the overall theme that you can find on my/their blog. Thank you!
A black cloth covered your eyes and a cold piece of metal was pressed to your jugular and your were dragged from your apartment. “Be quiet if you want a chance to see the light again.” He had a heavy accent, obviously not from Seoul, or any part of Korea for that matter. You attempted to dig your feet in the ground and writhe from his grasp, but the blade was only pushed further into your skin. “You really don’t listen, do you?” The voice spoke again, obviously more annoyed than angry and soon another cloth was placed over your nose.
Waking up with a pounding headache led you to believe that perhaps what you had just experienced was simply a nightmare, but as you reached up to rub the daze from your eyes, you found them restricted, and the more you attempted to free them from their confines, the tighter they got and the more your skin burned from the contact.
“You’ll only cause yourself more pain if you keep struggling the way you are.” This voice was much younger, and much more fluent than the one your remembered from earlier. Still blinded by the cloth, you twisted your head in hopes to get closer to the voice. “The burning is from the ropes soaked with nitric acid. The more your tear at the skin, the more damage it’s going to cause.” You were surprised by the apathy he presented, he almost sounded bored - unconcerned with your life. “Now, if you want to get out of here, alive that is, I suggest you tell me how your father knew about our mole.”
Your mind racked through all of your memories of your father, a simple convenience store owner, who could barely pay for your mother’s medical services. Even if you wished to convey this with him, something prevented you from speaking. This time, you felt an unfathomable pain in your thigh. “I said - how did your father know?” The pain pursued, digging deeper into your flesh. You mouth gaped open, closing again and again. Trying to find a way to communicate. You lashed at the restraints again, which only earned you even more pain as you felt a stabbing pain to the other side of your leg.
“Can’t even make a noise, huh? I’ll give you something to scream about.” You sighed in relief as the pain enclosing your legs left. Tears created riverlets upon your cheeks and you gasped for air, sending silent prayers reeling through your mind as to how you ended up in this situation. Before you could take another breath, a cloth covered your face and liquid was poured upon you. As it touched the torn skin across your lips, the pain was so unbearable you wondered what you did to deserve being in this position.
This continued for hours, the man causing your demise growing more and more irritated with every passing minute when suddenly, on the brink of your collapsing, someone burst into the room, a metal door clanging behind them.
A much deeper voice resonated through the air this time. Desperate, and broken through labored breathing, he spoke. “It’s -- It’s not her. Yuta -- he got the wrong -- girl.”
“That’s impossible.” The younger voice sounded child-like now, a large contrast from the menacing power of before. You heard metal clang to the floor and objects move frantically about the room. “Yuta. He promised. He ASSURED me he had the right person. Are you telling me she’s innocent?” His voice was broken, destroyed. Utterly lost of all anger he had before, he came over and slowly untied the ropes that bound you to the table. “I’m sorry.” Droplets fell upon your arms as he brought them to your lap. He busied himself removing all of the constraints as you could hear his sobs before he lifted you off of the table and out of the room. He placed you on a much softer surface before murmuring one last apology and the door closed around you once again. The door opened once again and the blindfold was lifted off of your features. Standing before you was a tall man with dark tones, and darker features.
He sat across from you as a young woman came in and attended to your wounds and provided you with something to drink. “This is all my fault. You have to forgive Jisung, he never knows who he is dealing
with.” You blankly nodded to his words, still in utter shock from the previous events. “But - I -- It’s too dangerous for you to leave.” He sighed. Rubbing his hand across his face. “They can and will find you. They will do anything to get what they want. They will kill you.”
You were flabbergasted. Your hands moved rapidly, signing your frustration, claiming that he was going to kill you, and why should you believe him.
“You can’t -- You can’t speak, can you?”
The expression that flashed across your face was enough to answer his question before he dialed someone, urging them to enter the room. A young man with pink hair entered the room, glancing from you to the man across the table. “Can you translate for me? She can understand me but she’s mute.” He seemed guilty, opting to stare at his shoes rather than looking you in the eye. The new man nodded. “Thanks Yong.”
You immediately began signing-essentially yelling.
“Miss can you calm down please, I need to understand what you’re signing in order to help you,” the new man said softly. He looked to the other man, silently urging him to speak. You took deep breaths to calm yourself down.
“What's your name?” The dark haired man asked, never looking directly at you. You signed your name, making sure to be slow about it.
“Her name is Y/L/N Y/N.” The dark haired man nodded.
“My name’s Johnny, this is Taeyong. You’re at S-NCT’s headquarters and we need you to cooperate with us for the time being,” Johnny introduced himself and the pink haired man. Johnny’s voice was deeper and had a rasp to it, while Taeyong’s was higher in pitch with no rasp. Making words form from your hands, you asked question after question.
“She has a lot of questions-the biggest one being why she was brought here and who did all of that to her. And if you were going to kill her, why didn’t you do it and why should she believe you after all of that.” Taeyong translated, Johnny’s face growing grimmer with every word.
“You were brought here by mistake, Y/N. One of our members-Chenle-made a mistake in getting information on a mole, and we brought you here instead. I apologize on his behalf-and on Jisung’s behalf. You were wronged and you will never look the same because of it. I’m deeply sorry, Y/N. I do not plan on killing you, I only plan on protecting you from rivals of S-NCT. Please accept our protection.” Johnny said, bowing in front of you. Taeyong’s eyes widened and he followed suit. You didn’t know what to say. On one hand, you had just been tortured by these people for hours, your injuries were extensive and you didn’t know if they would heal properly. On the other, Johnny’s apology was sincere and his face showed many signs of regret. And you didn’t know who these rivals were, but you assumed they would treat you worse than Johnny has. The two men were still bowing, so you hit something near you to get their attention. Once their eyes were on you, you began signing your acceptance-but voicing your terms.
“She says that she will stay here, only if she is kept away from whoever it was that did this to her and that she has a translator with her at all times,” Taeyong translated once again and Johnny nodded.
“Alright. Taeyong, be her translator until someone her age learns to sign. And Y/N, I’ll have to make a schedule for you to avoid him, is that okay?” Johnny asked, you nodded in response. Anything to keep you away from the person who destroyed your body. “Alright. Y/N you will be staying in the hall he lives in, it’s our only empty hall unfortunately, but he is an early riser so as long as you get up around 9 you should be good. I will find out where he’s at now and make sure he stays away from his room until you are asleep.” You nodded and looked down at your wounds. There were deep gashes down your thighs, acid burns around your ankles and wrists, bruises everywhere. You would be lucky to have minimal scarring on your stomach. You couldn’t see your face but you assumed you had wounds there too.
“I’ll bring you to your room now, Y/N.” Taeyong said, bringing out a wheelchair. You assumed you didn’t need it, but as soon as you tried to stand your legs gave out from beneath you. Luckily, Taeyong caught you and put you in the wheelchair successfully. He wheeled you out of the dark room you had been in for hours to a new, much brighter, area of the headquarters. He led you down certain hallways and rooms, eventually leading to your room. Taeyong opened the door and revealed a basic room with a twin bed and a desk with a small closet and a lamp for lighting. There wasn’t much, but it was better than your room at home.
“Stay here for a few days. I’ll lock the door so anybody without a key won’t be able to get in. I’ll have the doctor come check in on you in a few hours. Meanwhile, are you hungry?” Taeyong said, placing you on the bed before walking to the door. You nodded. “Alright. I’ll make you something to eat. Anything in particular you would like?” You shook your head. “Okay. I’ll be back soon.” And with that, Taeyong left the room, locking the door from the inside. You sat there, wondering what you could to for who knows how long until Taeyong came back with food, when there was a knock on the door.
“Hello? Y/N? I know you can’t respond verbally, so I’ll just say what I need to say and leave. I’m extremely sorry-and I know that doesn’t cut it. But I really don’t know any better words for how I feel. My actions hurt you and now you can’t even leave to go home.” The boy paused to take a breath, his voice cracking like he was about to cry. “I understand that you don’t want to be near me. I don’t even want to be near me. I hope your injuries heal well and I’m so sorry, Y/N. I’m leaving now.” After that, you heard no more. The boy who had hurt you, who mutilated you, was apologizing through tears. He no longer sounded intimidating and apathetic-but small and extremely empathetic. He sounded as if he shared the pain of others-especially those he inflicted pain upon. He didn’t sound like someone who would commit the sins that he had. It seemed that he had experienced a pain of his own, beyond recognition, something that too would haunt him forever from the pain he received to that he inflicted. You would have found his apology hard to believe, had it not been for his tears. Tears, you have found, are easy to produce from the eyes, but the key to making them believable is how they sound. His hiccups in between sobs were something you couldn’t just produce. You appreciated that his apology was sincere, but you still wanted nothing to do with him. Leaning back on your bed, you closed your eyes and wished you had a book to read or a puzzle to do. Just sitting there was boring enough. Eventually, Taeyong opened the door with a grilled cheese in his hand.
“I hope you like grilled cheese, cause I don’t feel like making you a whole meal. Also, I didn’t make it. So, enjoy?” Taeyong said, setting the plate in your hands. You smiled and took a bite of the sandwich. It wasn’t like a normal grilled cheese-it had tomatoes and garlic and other herbs you couldn’t name. It was amazing-and you made your amazement known. Who made this? You signed, setting the plate in your lap.
“A friend of mine’s fiance. She's a wonderful cook, but don’t be fooled, she can shoot a fly from 10 miles away.” Taeyong said, shuddering a bit.
Well tell her the sandwich is amazing. I really enjoy it! You signed, taking another bite.
He nodded and shut the door behind him and your head fell back against the headboard once again, not knowing what to do once your sandwich was gone. You passed the time by getting up and investigating the room you were assigned, opening and reopening drawers as if you expected something to ease your boredom would appear. After a half an hour or so of doing this, you heard another knock at the door, followed by a sweet, mellow voice. “Hello Y/N, I’m Dr.Guantez, the doctor that Taeyong told you was coming, knock twice if it’s okay for me to come in.”
You tapped your knuckles against the wooden nightstand next to you, careful to not mess with the cuts surrounding the delicate skin. The door creaked open, and a young girl, a few years older than yourself, with rather professional clothes on, and a bag at her side entered the room. She didn’t seem too surprised by your appearance, and you couldn’t decide whether to feel comforted or suspicious as a result. She approached you again with a smile, unwrapping the stethoscope from around her neck and shoving it into a pocket on her dress pants. Do you sign? Your hands moved around in coordinated chaos, but she nodded and appeared to understand what you were conveying.
“I do. Xiaojun couldn’t speak for a long while and it was important that we could both communicate with each other after he woke up.” Her answer was rather absent as she went back to digging around in her bag, pulling out several rolls of gauze and bottles of varied ointments.
The whole process lasted roughly 2 hours, as she conversed with you as best as she could while still staying focused, and before you knew it, she was leaving you alone, promising to drop by with some serious pain killers the next morning. Sleeping was rough, and any which way you laid down caused more pain than comfort, so you opted to stay awake in hopes that you would pass out as soon as your body saw fit. As sunlight started to creep into the room via the window with thin linen curtains over them, another knock was heard at the door followed by a familiar voice from yesterday. The door opened to reveal Taeyong with a young girl, maybe a year or two older than you behind him. She signed hello from behind him, and followed him into the small room.
“This is Y/F/N, the fiance I was telling you about. If you need anything don’t be afraid to ask for it okay? I’ll have Chenle come and check on you guys later. With that he left the room, closing the door behind him, and it was silent once again with only the breath of the other girl filling the empty void.
“Do you have any hobbies?” She broke the silence, hoping to ease into conversation.
I love to paint. I’m also really good at video games. You signed, happy that they had found someone around your age who signed.
“Video games? Oh my gosh, Chenle and Ji-” She cut herself off suddenly. “Chenle is really going to love you. His best friend is always busy anymore and his girlfriend is abroad right now so he has no one to play with, I’ll take you to his lair later, at least that’s what he calls it.” She rambled, obviously recalling memories of what you assumed to be someone she was close with. “But since he probably still hasn’t even rolled over in bed yet, I can bring over some of Mark’s girlfriend’s art supplies and see if anyone else will let me steal their paints?”
That would be nice thank you. You signed, and she left the room, leaving the door open. Even as the sun seeped through the curtains, you felt your head get heavier now that there wasn’t someone to keep you company. Before you knew it, your head hit the pillow and dreamland came quicker than expected.
POV Change (Jisung) -
I was woken up to a banging on the door, followed by Renjun’s fiance bursting into the room. “Noona, what do you want? It’s like… 5 am” I said, glancing over to the laptop still open on my desk chair, while still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
“Where are your oil paints? I need them.” She said, rummaging around my closet, throwing palettes and bags of spray paint across the floor.
Getting up out of bed, I threw a hoodie on, pointing to under the desk. “Under there. I’m going to get breakfast since you so kindly woke me up 2 hours early.” I heard her shout a ‘you’re welcome’ as I walked down the hall when I stopped in front of an open door. Peering inside I saw the girl I had ruined sleeping peacefully on the bed, gauze wrapped around her ankles and wrists, and a rather large bandage peeking out from under her shirt. She visibly shivered and I noticed that she didn’t have a blanket on. Dr. Guantez laid into Johnny about how germs grow in hot places, so it was always cold anymore.
I walked in and stared at her figure. How could I hurt someone so innocent? How the fuck can I repent for this one? Thoughts raced through my mind as I saw her shiver again. I snapped out of it as I pulled a blanket out from the closet, unfolding it and draping it over her balled silhouette. Please don’t ever forgive me. No matter how much I beg.
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release more content related to the overall theme that you can find on my/their blog. Thank you!
So, policy wasn’t exactly your thing. Even though that was all your family dealt with. Policies, Politics, Diplomacies, foreign affairs, homeland security - you name it, someone in your family works with it. Daughter of millionaire chaebol turned hard-ass politician, Choi Saewon, you could basically say you had it all. Money, lots of it. Friends, plenty of them to go around. Good looks, enough to shoot someone down with a glance. Brains, full of intelligence that got you accepted into KAIST. But you were missing a lot. Parental love - you saw your mother maybe twice a month. True friendship - you doubt none of the people you called “friends” knew anything more than your net worth. Discipline - now that, was out of the question. For an 18 year old freshman in college, you probably drank more than anyone you knew, probably had been high more times to count, and definitely didn’t hang around the best people when you had free time.
And that’s how you ended up here. Sitting in front of hard-ass police detective Lee Jeno as he stared you down with the smallest hint of a smirk. He sighed, running his hands through his black locks, leaning back in the swivel chair behind his desk. “You have a really bad habit of making trouble when you come from a family that only cares about public images.” To be fair, he was tired of having to clean up your mess because your family decided that if he did this, he was a shoe-in for captain during the next inter-agency election. You chuckled lowly. You stopped caring about your family’s public image ages ago-much to your mother’s dismay. You slouched in your seat and smirked at the officer in front of you. Since high school, you’ve been to this station more times than you could count and you’ve dealt with more than a few policemen. Lee Jeno has been a regular for you, since he was basically being controlled by your parents influence. Whatever he did, it was because your parents told him to do it.
“What’s it gonna be this time Officer Lee? Slap on the wrist? Phone call home? Overnight stay? Oooh or all of the above?” You had become quite close with Lee Jeno, mainly because he was the only officer who knew how to deal with you without beating your head in.
“It’s a bit of a different consequence this time Miss Choi. I’m afraid you won’t be going home for a little while. Parent’s orders.” His irritated expression turned into one of unadulterated arrogance. You could only assume that he was given permission to punish you in any way he saw fit, there was no other reason to be so cocky at the moment. “Instead, you’ll be spending the weekend following me around; that, or I gave a warden whose willing to let you see what real life behind bars is like. Your choice?” His boot clad feet slid from the desk separating the two of you as he swung his center of mass around so he was leaning as close to you as the obstacle would let him.
“I guess you get to deal with me for the next 48 hours Officer Lee.” Mustering the brightest smile you could, you were already thinking of ways to make this Officer’s weekend more miserable than the devil himself could imagine.
Jokes on you though, because so was he.
Two hours and 20 million piles of paperwork later, Officer Lee was finally done with work. You had been bored out of your mind-and it didn’t help that the other police officers kept making disgusting comments about you. Officer Lee ordered you to sit behind his desk the whole time, and given how disgusting the rest of the officers were, you were fine staying where you were. You didn’t need an assault case on your hands. You sat behind Officer Lee’s desk and sat bored for a whole two hours.
“Alright, Miss Choi. You ready to go?” Officer Lee asked, gathering his personal things-wallet, keys, phone, the works. You nodded, seeing as he also had your bag of things from the evidence room. You figured it was best to listen to Officer Lee until you had enough leverage against him to get him to do whatever you wanted him to-which at this point, was let you go. As soon as you two walked out of the station, Officer Lee’s phone rang. He picked up the phone and answered it very gruffly.
“What do you want? I have a job to do, Jun,” Officer Lee said, shifting his weight. It sounded like he didn’t like this Jun person. You couldn’t hear what Jun was saying, but you heard Officer Lee clear as day. “I have to accompany a juvenile for the next two days, Jun. I won’t clean up your mess. Get Doyoung-hyung to do it. Don’t ‘But Jeno’ me, Huang Renjun. You screwed up. You fix it. What to you mean she’s already at my house? Why is she there? You what? Huang Renjun! Come and get your girl before this gets any worse for the rest of us. Yeah, I’m on my way. I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave before you get here. Yeah, whatever. See you.” Officer Lee hung the phone up and heaved a deep sigh. He looked at you and sighed again.
“Does this mean I don’t have to spend the next two days with you?” You asked, hopeful that whoever this Renjun person is saved you from Officer Lee Jeno. But your hopes were crushed.
“Not a chance. You’re just gonna have to deal with some of my family drama. Also, from here on out, refer to me as Jeno, not Officer Lee. My family likes to make fun of the fact that I’m a police officer,” Jeno said, walking towards an apartment complex not far from the station. You walked behind him, not making a sound. Jeno’s life sounded complicated in many aspects.
As you approached the door, you made out a slim silhouette with slumped shoulder as they paced between the door and the wall on the other side of the hallway. Their head perked up at the sound of footsteps and you were met with a young man, no older than Jeno himself, his hair was dyed chestnut and the hopeful gleam in his eyes vanished when he saw you walking behind his friend. “What took you so long to get here?” He ran up to the two of you, pleading with Jeno to just open the door already.
“What did you do to your fiance, huh? That her only option was the hide away in a police officer’s house? I swear to god Jun, if you decided it would be funny to leave her out in the rain again and I walk in and see bullet holes in my coffee table, you are buying me a new one.” His voice was threatening as he pulled the keys out of his pocket.
“It wasn’t anything like that. We- we got into an argument okay? I don’t want her going on missions anymore. Not after what happened last time.” The poor young man was on the verge of tears, remembering the earlier fight.
“You know that wasn’t the right call Jun.” Jeno sighed, opening the door just as Renjun raced through, calling out someone’s name. You heard a female voice respond to his pleas before Jeno turned back to you. “I’m sure you are hungry, there is a good Greek diner down the street, we can go there. Plus, it would be better to leave them alone for the time being.”
He didn’t wait for you to decide before walking towards the stairs once agains and leaving you in the dust. By the time you had scaled the same set of stairs he had seconds before. He was already at the entrance of his building, typing away furiously on his phone, smiling. “Girlfriend?” You questioned, laughing as you walked past him in the direction of the blinking neon sign of a 24/7 diner.
“Best friend.” He responded dryly, shutting off his phone and walking into the diner. The diner was of a certain charm, as your mother would say. It was like a new school diner with none of the budget. All of the booths were damaged in some way shape or form, the tables were carved into like 20 times in the past day, and it smelled like burnt grease. The only real “new school” aspect was the electric menu above the counter. Everything else looked like it was out of the 50’s. How someone could spend more than five minutes in that place was beyond your comprehension. Jeno looked up at you expectantly, as if you were supposed to order for you two.
“What?”
“Aren’t you going to order?”
“No, I’ve never been here before. I don’t even know where to start!” You waved your hands frantically about your person, it was your way of dramaticising every situation. Jeno sighed heavily in annoyance and walked up to the counter.
“What’ll it be today Officer? The usual?” The man at the counter asked, leaning forward a little bit. The clerk was a greasy man and had a nasty beard that looked like it hadn’t been groomed in months.
“Make it two, one for me and one for the chick.” Jeno flatlined, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. The clerk looked over at you and smirked.
“Finally got yourself a girl, ey? You got it Officer.” You couldn’t see Jeno’s reaction to the clerks comment, but you definitely rolled your eyes and internally groaned. You? Dating Jeno? Never. The day you dated a police officer would be the day you went on the straight and narrow. Jeno waved you over to a table and sat down across from you.
“Chick huh? Didn’t think we were on such casual terms. If I had known, I’d have called you dude this whole time,” You commented, making Jeno glare at you.
“Call me dude even once and I won’t hesitate to smack you.”
“Wow. Bet you’re real fun at parties.” You mumbled, shifting your gaze to the window to your left. You were too busy staring out into the streets to notice Jeno was staring at you.
“Y/N.”
“Yeah?”
“My friend will be joining us at the house tonight, try not to do anything promiscuous, please. He has enough on his plate right now.”
“Yah! I’m not that type of person!” You kicked Jeno from under the table. You didn’t know where he got the idea that you were the promiscuous type, but you felt deeply offended that he thought that about you. He really held you to no standards.
“Ow! What was that for?” He yelled, standing up.
“What was what for?” A new voice made your ears perk up. His voice was deeper, but sounded more immature than Jeno’s. You turned and saw a man, about Jeno’s height, wearing all black. You couldn’t really see his features but you really didn’t want to. You assumed this was Jeno’s friend, so you wanted to stay as far away as possible.
“She kicked me!”
“For good reason! You called me promiscuous!” You defended, crossing your legs and turning your head away from the injured male in front of you.
“Was I wrong in saying that?”
“Yes! Very much so!” You yelled. You weren’t worried about making a scene, you Jeno, and the new guy were the only three customers in the diner.
“Jeno, you really need to practice having a filter. It really helps in avoiding situations like this.” The new guy said, pulling up a chair and sitting down at the end of the table.
“Says the guy who can’t even admit he has a crush.” This perked up your ears.
“Crush?” You repeated, turning to the new guy.
“She’s more of a celebrity crush. Doesn’t count”
“Well it depends. Have you met her?”
“I think so.”
“What would you say your personality is like?”
“Strong silent and mean type,” Jeno commented, making the new guy glare at him. “What? I’m not wrong. You threatened Mark’s not-girlfriend girlfriend the day you met her.”
“Who?” the new guy asked, obviously confused.
“The chick who Mark will not stop complaining about? Reorganized his entire lab and now he’s bitching about not being able to find his test tubes?”
“Oh is she the really bubbly one who’s always screaming at Mark?”
“That’s the one.”
“Ah I remember now. She deserved it. Also I wasn’t in the best of moods.”
“Okay, okay, back on track here. Is Jeno’s description of your personality correct or not?” You asked, getting impatient.
“More or less, yeah.”
“Okay then if you meet her again, be distant. Don’t let her know it’s a celebrity crush.”
“How would I do that?”
“Be around, don’t hide from her. But don’t speak to her unless it’s absolutely necessary. And if you really want to be spontaneous, corner her from time to time and be really serious. LIke in Kdramas!” Jeno scoffed.
“You want him to act like he’s in a Kdrama? Him?” The new guy glared at Jeno once again.
“It doesn’t sound so bad, I’ll try it. Thanks, uh..?”
“Y/N. And you’re welcome.”
“Alright well I hate to break the wonderful conversation you two were having, but the foods done and Jun’s calling us home.” Jeno said, making eye contact with the dude to your left.
“Like home home, or your house home?” The guy asked, his tone changing.
“Home home. Johnny apparently wants us all there for the next few days.”
“What are you gonna to about Y/N?”
“I guess I have no choice but to take her. It’s not like she’s not useful or anything. Johnny should approve.”
“I’m sorry, who’s Johnny? Where am I going? What am I useful for?” You asked, making Jeno sigh.
“It’s a long story and I’ll tell you when we get home. Which by the way, will be your new home from now on.”
“I’m sorry what?”
“Long story. Let’s go.” Jeno said, grabbing the boxes of food and walking towards the door. You and the other guy followed Jeno, the other guy quickly catching up to Jeno while you walked a couple paces behind the two men. You could barely make out the conversation they were having and eventually just resorted to reading the neon signs above your head as you walked down the streets.
The boy who had been at Jenos house prior to your visit to the Greek diner met up with Jeno and the other guy as you all walked past Jenos house, his face portraying that of a broken boy. You assumed his fiance didn’t forgive him. You walked in silence as the three boys in front of you made hushed conversation. You couldn’t help but admire Jenos features, him being the easiest for you to stare at while walking. His jawline was prominent as well as his cheekbones and other facial features. His eyebrows were straight and dark, but they fit his boxy face quite well. His eyes turned into little arches when he smiled, something he didn’t seem to do while on duty. Jeno’s entire personality changed around these two guys, and it was slightly attractive to you. The hardass police officer Jeno was no more while he was with the two boys, but instead he seemed almost carefree, like that of a normal adult who just came of age. He hadn’t had the chance to change out of his work attire, but he somehow looked less official in it now.
“Y/N.” Jenos voice pulled you out of your thoughts and you realized you were standing in front of an abandoned construction site. It looked stable enough-the building was only a few storeys tall and made of brick.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t walk away from me. No matter what happens or what you’re interested in, I need you to stay by my side until you settle into a room for the night, okay?” Jeno’s commanding but tender voice surprised you. He suddenly sounded like he cared for your wellbeing, and not just because it’s in your parent’s interest.
“Okay, Jeno. Lead the way,” you said, signalling that you were ready to go inside. He nodded and opened the back door, allowing the two boys to go in first and then you, Jeno following you in soon after. Your eyes were met with a basic hotel lobby with a front desk, old benches, an elevator, and a door to the staircase. Jeno grabbed your arm and led you to the elevator, where the two boys were waiting for you. They pressed the button labeled “B” and with that, you all went down to the basement of the old building. As soon as the doors to the elevator opened, your eyes bugged out of your head. The elevator went straight into a living room like space that had dark hardwood floors and white couches with glass coffee tables and white walls that were decorated with graffiti and pieces of modern art. There were multiple hallways leading away from the living room, one leading to a visible kitchen and dining area. The room was filled with people-more men than women-who all had their eyes on you.
“Jeno, Jaemin, Renjun, how nice of you all to join us. And Jeno even brought along an extra! Our girls should be pleased to have another girl joining them. Please, take a seat. The meeting is about to begin.” The man at the front of the room said, motioning for the four of you to sit and listen to the meeting that was in progress. Jeno led you to a spot near a graffitied “love kills” along the back wall of the room and made you stand beside him the whole time. One of the girls sitting on the couch in front of you shot you a sympathetic look before turning back to face the man who seemed to be in charge of this congregation of people.
“As you all may know, besides the lovely young lady in the back whom I have yet to meet, we are in the middle of a power struggle. China wants to limit all of their exports to the other countries and Korea doesn’t want to have to pay the tariffs on all of their Chinese imports. So, naturally we interfered with this process and now we have to pay the price. One of China’s biggest mafias attacked one of our own while on a job, and now we must protect ourselves and each other from this threat. She will now come up and explain the details of this mafia that attacked her. I expect you all to listen well.” The man ended his speech and sat down, a woman about Jeno’s age replaced his position at the front of the room.
“Thank you, Johnny. Yes, I was attacked by a chinese mafia no more than a week ago while completing a job that forced me to travel to China. I was to execute a corrupt businessman who had been in the child labor industry for years now. I missed my chance while he was in Korea due to personal issues and I was determined to complete my mission. So I followed him to China and executed him there. I had just called the local members to help clean up the body when I saw movement from my left peripheral. Immediately, I engaged the men in combat and barely escaped without much harm done to myself. The men who attacked me are apart of the Chinese Mafia, simply named, and consider themselves rivals of S-NCT and NCT-116. As of right now, our members of NCT-116 are gathering intel on the Chinese Mafia. We don’t know much, and until we do, watch each other’s backs. We’re gonna need everyone’s help and lord knows we don’t need to lose any one of us to this. Stay safe and good luck, that is all.” The woman ended her speech and was replaced by the man from before, Johnny was what the woman called him.
“She is right, everyone. So please, watch each other’s backs and for the love of god don’t die. Meeting adjourned. Yong?” Johnny looked towards a man with red hair. The man stood up and made a weird sign with his hands-a sign that everyone else replicated.
“To the world!” The red haired man yelled.
“NCITY!” The rest of the room responded, and with that, everyone dispersed. Jeno grabbed your wrist and led you to Johnny, who was still at the front of the room. Johnny watched you intently, as if he were deciding what to do with you. You suddenly felt extremely insecure, as you were wearing a ripped Rolling Stones tee and baggy ripped mom jeans with your hair in a messy bun. You weren’t exactly “presentable” for a meeting with a leader of some sort of mafia cult thing.
“So Jeno, what has our resident officer brought in today? A druggie? Maybe a dealer? OH! I know! A graffiti artist! Sorry to say Jeno, but I think the walls are filled with enough graffiti from Renjun and Chenle,” Johnny said, slapping Jeno’s shoulder. Jeno just rolled his eyes and pulled you in front of him-putting his hands on both of your shoulders.
“Johnny-Hyung, meet Choi Y/N. Choi Y/N, meet Johnny-hyung. He’s S-NCT’s leader and basically the most embarrassing dad you will ever meet. I think you’ll be of much use-you know, with your impressive criminal skills.” Jeno gently pat your left shoulder and left. He actually left you alone with a mafia leader. Typical Jeno.
“Well that was rude of him. Anyways, as you already know, I’m Johnny and I’m the leader of S-NCT. Is there anything you need me to clarify before I go into details about what you just bore witness to?” Johnny asked and you shook your head. You had inferred all your information, but you figured it was correct. You usually were. “Then sit down girl, cause you’re gonna be here a little while. I’ve got a lot to catch you up on.”
Twenty minutes later and Johnny finally finished explaining to you just what caused the meeting and you felt a strange anger towards the Chinese Mafia. You had also figured out that the girl who was attacked by the Chinese Mafia was Renjun’s fiance and a sniper from another Korean Mafia, K-251. Now, Johnny was asking about your skills and criminal offenses.
“Obviously, a criminal record means next to nothing here. But I need to know what you did so I can position you accordingly,” Johnny said, taking a sip from the water bottle he had a boy named Chenle grab him-much to Chenle’s reluctance.
“Position me?” You questioned, something you had become very comfortable with doing. Jeno was right when he called Johnny an embarrassing dad. You felt very at home here-more than you ever felt in your own home.
“Skill wise. Mark and Chenle are the IT guys, Renjun’s our sniper, Jeno’s our undercover intelligence, and Jaemin’s an assassin. Does that make a little more sense?” You nodded along, everything coming together in your mind. Jeno’s position was to gather intelligence on the police for the Mafia and possibly keep the police off the Mafia’s trail. It made sense once you thought about it.
“I think I understand. My dad is Choi Saewon, and my mom does youth programs everywhere. So I’m very well trained in politics and all that good stuff. But I hate it so I rebel. I go to major keggers at the frat house near the community college and I do whatever I can to ruin my image. I don’t want to be seen as the ‘Perfect daughter’ anymore. I’m more than my mother and my father will ever be. I attended KAIST because my dad wanted me to become an engineer because, and I quote, I have a ‘natural affinity for the world’s mathematical problems’, unquote.” You explained, sipping your water that Johnny ordered Chenle to grab for you.
“Interesting. So I could put you in IT with MArk and Chenle if that would be favorable for you, or I could have you work alongside Doyoung, S-NCT’s resident politician,” Johnny leaned forward in his seat, putting his elbows on his knees to support his upper body. This surprised you. Kim Doyoung, famous politician and bachelor, was apart of a mafia?
“Could I possibly just to my own thing? I’m an excellent escape artist and I’m a trained street fighter,” You said folding your arms over your chest. Johnny smirked and stood up.
“I was hoping you would say that. Well, Choi Y/N, welcome to S-NCT. I’ll have Jeno show you around and I hope you enjoy your life here from now on. We’re like a big family and now you’re apart of it too. So stay safe and stick to Jeno like glue. I’m sure he’ll protect you.” Johnny said, bringing you in for a hug. Your dad never showed you this much affection-ever. You were grateful for Johnny and his acceptance of your character. As Johnny released the hug, you saw Jeno turn the corner and walk into the sitting room. “Speak of the devil! Jeno! I have assigned you to take care of our newest recruit, I trust you won’t let her-or myself-down?” Johnny said, winking at Jeno, which made Jeno playfully hit Johnny’s arm.
“You got it Hyung. I wouldn’t dare let the famous Choi daughter come to any harm.” You suddenly felt a pang in your chest. Jeno only saw you as Choi Saewon’s daughter, his one way ticket to Captain of the police force. It stung.
“Jeno. She’s not just Choi Saewon’s daughter. She’s S-NCT’s resident escape artist, street fighter, and engineer. She’s Choi Y/N of S-NCT and I expect you to treat her as such.” Johnny said, giving Jeno a deadly glare that terrified the two of you. You finally understood just how Johnny became leader and kept the position.
“Yes of course, Hyung. My mistake.” Jeno said nervously. He avoided eye contact with you and lead you down a hallway and into the kitchen. “This is the kitchen and um yeah. Anyways that’s the dining room and just down that hall is the gun range. Up those stairs is Johnny’s office, Mark’s lab, and Doyoung’s office. This way leads to our dorms and bathrooms 1-3. Go down this hall a little bit more and you’ll reach the gym and music room-yes we have one of those. Music nights are a bit of a tradition here. Down here is all of our guest rooms and yes, we have guest rooms and I’m glad we do because we’ve been getting a lot of new recruits lately. They all stay here so we’ve deemed this hall ‘Newbieland’. This is also where you will be staying when you’re here. Over that way is Jungwoo-hyung’s garden-it’s his favorite place to be so should you ever need to find him he’s probably there. So coming back to the living room, just over that way is the elevator that you will use should you enter through the front. The back door is through Jungwoo-Hyung’s garden and our garage is below. Um, anything else you’d like to know before I send you to bed?” Jeno rambled on and on before finally ending his tour. Thankfully, you were staying apart from him in this somehow huge underground space.
“Yeah, just one. What will I wear to bed tonight and for the day tomorrow? This is all I have,” You asked, gesturing to your worn out clothes. Despite being the daughter of a wealthy politician, you had to fend for yourself when it came to clothes and other luxury items. Your father forbid you from using what he called the “family money”, which only proved to you that he had no intention of associating with you now that you’ve become an adult. Which begged the question, why did he care if you spent a few months in jail or not?
“Someone should have spare clothes. Taeyong just took Mark’s not-girlfriend girlfriend shopping so she should have something, you two seem to be of the same size.” Jeno said, grabbing your arm and leading you to “newbieland”. He knocked on a door in the middle of the hall on the left that had been decorated lightly with pencil sketches around the handle and about eye level for you. A girl who was about your height opened the door in a tank top and mint green pajama pants that were covered in pandas.
“Yes, Jeno? How can I help you?” She said, opening the door completely to show off her messy room. Shopping bags were strewn everywhere and clothes lay on just about every piece of furniture besides the desk and the desk chair. It was chaotic but pleasing to know that you weren’t alone in your lazy habits.
“This is Y/N, she’s a new recruit but she has nothing. She needs to borrow some clothes for tonight and tomorrow.” Jeno said curtly, pushing you into the room. You glared at him and smiled at the girl.
“Y/N! Hi my name’s Y/F/N and I joined a few weeks ago. I’m the newest recruit so far in the sense of I had no prior affiliations. If we were going off of time here, Renjun’s fiance would be the newest but she’s very skilled and brings alot to the team so I don’t consider her as new as I am. I do hope we can be friends?” Y/F/N introduced. She seemed to ramble a lot but that really didn’t matter to you. You were happy to have a friend who didn’t know your net worth.
“Of course! Now about the clothes? Also, hun, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m brand new, so you aren’t the newest recruit anymore. And I’m sure you bring just as much to the team as Renjun’s fiance. Don’t doubt yourself. It’s your worst enemy,” You smiled and walked into the messy room. Y/F/N smiled as well and ruffled through a pile on her bed, pulling out a tank top identical to hers and a pair of pink shorts with white polka dots. Not really your style but you were happy to accept something to sleep in that wasn’t jeans.
“These should fit, if not just come on back and I’ll find something else! And if you need something to wear tomorrow then just stop by around eight and I’ll find something for ya.” Y/F/N said, handing you the pajamas. You smiled at her gratefully.
“Thank you so much Y/F/N. I haven’t had a real friend in a while, and I hope we become good friends. I’m gonna go put these on now, have a goodnight!” You said, pulling her in for a hug, which she gladly accepted.
“Of course girlie! We gotta stick together if we’re gonna survive these pugnacious boys! Goodnight hun!” She shut the door behind you and suddenly you were alone with Jeno once again.
“You know, Y/N, I think you’ll fit in just fine while you’re here.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“You’re a misfit looking for a family. That’s half of the people here, too. We all found a family here in the mafia, despite it’s obvious dangers. We all care about each other deeply and we’ll do anything to make sure we all come home from dangerous jobs in one piece. Jun’s girl almost didn’t come back and it hurt all of us. Another member, Xiaojun, he’s been in a hospital for a while and was in a coma. Taeil, the oldest member here, grieved him the most. Xiaojun’s accident was hard on everyone, especially since it was his first mission. We love and care for everyone who lives in this bunker, you’re now included. I hope you can find it in your heart to love us all the way we love each other, and the way we’ll love you.” Jeno looked at you, sadness in his eyes.
“Thank you, Jeno. I think I’ll like it here a lot. I’m glad you brought me here.” You said, giving Jeno a small smile-which he returned. Jeno had never smiled at you and it made your heart skip a beat. Maybe, just maybe, your heart had been melted by this hard ass cop.
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release content related to the overall theme that you can find on my/their blog. Thank you!
For as long as you could remember, you could speak to people long gone from this realm of reality. It came as natural to you as breathing. People who were newly dead, or those who have been dead for millenia-you could speak to all of them. In your family, powers like this were not unheard of, just extremely rare. That last person to have this power was your mothers great-great grandmother-over 150 years ago.
Since then, the knowledge of the power had all but faded from your family’s history-until you were born. Your mother died when you were 15 years old, but due to your power, you were able to stay in contact with her. It was almost as if she never left.
Your father wasn’t too keen on the whole power thing, and he even believed it was completely made up, seeing as there was no written record anywhere about anyone in your family having the power before you.
Your mom was the one who kept him from going completely overboard with doctors and medications-”remedies for your illness”, he called it. However, after your mother passed, he sent you to a mental institution and kept you there until you turned 20 and you were no longer under his legal care.
As soon as you got out, you changed your last name from Song to Moon, your mother’s name. You wanted nothing to to with your father and this was one way to do it. Your family you knew as a child was long gone-and as far as you were concerned, family was a word people used to hurt others.
For the past couple of years, you lived life alone on the streets. You had no money, no home, and you had no clue how the world worked after being isolated from the world for 5 years.
At age 22 you were living in an abandon shipping crate with barely a blanket to keep you warm. You wore some clothes you stole of a clothesline a few months ago. You hadn’t eaten a decent meal in a week and you were beginning to believe you weren’t going to live to pass on your family line. It didn’t help that the sicker you get the more out of whack your powers got. You were seeing peoples death scenes-something that terrified you. Day in and day out you watched people be blown up, shot, stabbed, or just peacefully pass of disease or old age. The scene that made you lose your mind was your mother’s death.
Watching her be hit by that truck over and over broke you in ways you didn’t think were possible. You suffered alone for a while-until the doors to the shipping crate were opened wide by someone you didn’t recognize. It was a tall person who had short hair and broad shoulders, making you believe the person was male.
“Who are you? Get the fuck out if you don’t want to die today.” The man spoke in a harsh and grating voice.
His words triggered a scene of an older woman on a hospital bed, get well soon balloons were tied to the bed and an arrangement of flowers sat on the nightstand. “Don’t you worry about me, Jae-Jae, I’ll be just fine. You go have fun with your friends, I’ll be waiting to hear all about it when you get back.”
Suddenly, a young boy, about 8 or 9 years old, popped into your view. He hugged the old woman, while the old woman kissed his forehead. The boy waved bye to old woman, who tried to wave back-but something happened and she began hacking, making the young boy grow increasingly worried about her.
“Gramma, are you okay? Gramma? Someone help! I need help! Somethings wrong with my gramma! Help!” And with that, the scene ended. You wiped the tears from your eyes and began to stand up-or attempt to at least. Your legs gave out and you came crashing down to the cold metal floor.
“Hey, I thought I told you to leave! Why are you still here?” The man yelled again, which only triggered the rest of the scene of the old woman and the young boy.
You saw the boy sitting on a bench outside a hospital room-one you assumed to be the old woman’s room. Tears were streaming down his face and his sobs were traumatizing. Eventually, a doctor stepped out of the room, making the boy wipe his tears and stand up to face the doctor. “How is my gramma? Is she gonna be okay? Please tell me she’s gonna be okay!” The boy began crying again, which only made the doctor kneel down to the boys level and embrace him. The doctor said something inaudible to the boy, which obviously wasn’t what the boy wanted to hear. “No! She can’t be! No! She’s not gone! She’s not dead! NO!”
The boy ran into the old woman’ s room, stopping as soon as he saw all the tubes coming out of the woman. The heart rate monitor was still flatlining, proving to the boy his worst fear had come true. The boy began screaming, tears falling rapidly down his face.
The scene ended once again, this time you opened your eyes to see the man who threatened you just minutes earlier. You got a closer look at his face and realized he was the boy from the scene you just saw. Suddenly, you felt remorse for him-experiencing that kind of pain at such a young age would be traumatizing for anyone.
“Are you Jae-Jae?” You asked, making the man’s eyes widen in shock. His surprise was short lived, his face contorting to a vicious glare. You cowered a little, his gaze terrifying.
“How the fuck to you know that name?” He snarled. His right hand moved to grab his gun that was tucked away into his belt.
“Your grandmother told me.”
“I don’t have a grandmother. Now tell me how the fuck you learned that name or I won’t hesitate to kill you.” The man leaned in and pressed his gun into your neck, the cold metal making you shiver. Death would be better than whatever life you were currently living, but the old woman sitting just across the way from you began to speak. It was the same old woman from the scene you just bore witness to, which meant the man threatening you couldn’t see her.
“Don’t let him kill you. He needs you more than either one of you knows.” She spoke, her voice quiet and empty, as if she were far away rather than five feet in front of you. You didn’t know how she knew this, but you didn’t question her-for fear of the gun on your neck.
“You did. And when she was alive I saw her quite often. My mother was sick too and she was in the room next to my mom. I saw you a couple times, but I never spoke to you. Your grandmother told me you were her Jae-Jae and said I could meet you the next day when you visited. I never got that chance as my mother died that day,” You lied, which the man knew.
“Stop lying. I know you’ve never met my grandmother, and if you had, she would’ve called me by my name, not by her nickname for me,” the man said, pressing the barrel of his gun further into your neck. You went numb and heard the man cursing his luck as your upper body fell to the ground, your whole world turning black.
You woke up in an unfamiliar place, on a bed, with new clothes on. Your wounds had been taken care of and you noticed a pad of paper on the nightstand next to the bed. On it a note had been written for you.
When you wake up go left down the hall and take the first right. It’ll lead you to the kitchen where there’ll be food waiting for you. Afterwards, go into the living room. It’s visible from the kitchen so I won’t give you directions there. But once you’re in the living room someone will come get me, so stay there.
Jaehyun (Jae-Jae)
You found it heartwarming that he had decided to leave you a note, despite the fact that he had threatened to kill you. He also signed the letter as Jae-Jae, which you found adorable. You decided to follow the directions you were given and began to leave the room when the same old woman appeared in your vision.
“Take care of my Jae-Jae for me. Lord knows he needs it,” She spoke, giving you a small smile and leaving just as soon as she arrived. When people who have passed leave your field of vision, it’s like you’re in a bad 90’s sitcom about angels. They just disappear; no dust, no lights, nothing. They’re just gone. It’s weird but you got used to it. You left the room, turned left, took the first right, and walked into the kitchen. There was a man in the kitchen with black hair that was pushed out of his face with his hands. He turned to face you, confirming that he wasn’t Jaehyun.
“Hi, you must be the girl Jaehyun brought back. I hope you’re feeling well. My names Taeyong, is there anything specific you would like to eat?” He said, walking over to the fridge and browsing it’s contents.
“I’m okay with anything, thank you.” You awkwardly walked to the tables in the dining room adjacent to the kitchen while Taeyong fixed you a cup of noodles.
“You know, I don’t think we ever learned your name,” Taeyong said, placing the steaming cup of noodles on the placemat in front of you.
“Y/N,” you responded, picking up a pair of chopsticks that Taeyong provided for you and eating the noodles. They weren’t spicy, which you were thankful for. Soon enough, the noodles were gone and you had to go to the living room to meet with Jaehyun. Taeyong went to get him while you traveled ten feet away to the living room. The living room was simply decorated, but it still had character. It somehow matched the graffitied brick walls perfectly. You didn’t wait long, Taeyong walked in with the man you assumed to be Jaehyun. He was a tall man. He wore a simple black tshirt and black joggers, his hair a wild mess. In all honesty, Jaehyun looked extremely attractive.
“Y/N, this is Jaehyun. Jaehyun, this is Y/N. I’ll be going now, enjoy your talk!” Taeyong said, walking off in the direction he came.
“So Y/N, you have a lot of explaining to do. Let’s start off with how you knew my name.” Jaehyun said, sitting down on the couch opposite you. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees to support his upper body.
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” You mumbled lowly. Jaehyun perked up.
“Try me. I’ve seen a lot of shit during my time here.”
“How about someone who can talk to the dead?” Jaehyun choked.
“You can talk to the dead?” His voice had a tone of obvious disbelief. You just nodded, making Jaehyun rub his temples. “You mean to tell me you can speak to people who are dead?”
“I, uh, yeah?” You suddenly felt nervous. What if he decided he didn’t believe you and had you killed? You were practically trembling with fear and nerves at this point.
“So how exactly did you know my name?” Jaehyun asked, his tone never changing from one of disbelief.
“Well you see, not only can I speak to the dead, but I can also see people's death scenes? If that makes any sense at all. Anyways, I saw what happened the day your grandmother died. She called you Jae-Jae, so I called you Jae-Jae.” You explained, your voice shaking from your nerves. “She also visited me just before I went into the kitchen today. She said that I need to take care of you-that you needed it.” Jaehyun looked surprised. how? How can any of this happen?” Jaehyun asked, confusion and disbelief evident in his voice. He also sounded hurt, like he had been left out.
“I don’t know. It’s been happening since I was a child. My parents thought I was speaking to my imaginary friends. Even when our dog died and I was still talking to him, my parents just thought it was my way of coping. It wasn’t until I began speaking to people I had never met and had died long before my time that my parents began to think I could speak to the dead. My father wanted me in a mental institution and thought of any way to ‘cure my condition’. My mother was very against that. She believed that I could learn to control it and live a normal life. My great grandmother was the last known person in my family to have that power, which is why my mother didn’t want me locked away. But as soon as she died, my father sent me to a mental institution and I was put on heavy medications. I was there for five years. At age 20 I left that place and after five years of being cut off from the world, I was at a huge disadvantage. I didn’t have a high school degree, I couldn’t get a job, and I refused to go back to my father. So for two years I lived on the streets. Fun fact about my abilities: they go all out of whack when I’m sick or malnourished. Which means I could see almost like a video of when people die. The moments leading up to it, and the aftermath.” You spilled out your history to the man you barely knew who sat in front of you, words jumbled together and rushed, hoping that he wouldn’t continue to think you are lying and shoot you dead.
He leaned back into the couch he sat on, taking one of his hands and running it down his face before resting on his agaped lips. “Prove it to me.” His shocked expression hardened into determination. “What was the last thing my grandma said to me?”
“I don’t know if I should…” The frail woman’s last words rang clear through your head, knowing they were meant for him, but he most likely hadn’t heard them, and you were unsure that he would want to.
“Prove to me that this is real or else I will shoot you between the eyes without a second thought.”
You sucked in a breath before exhaling deeply, deciding to go with the words you knew he had heard. “You go have fun with your friends, I’ll be waiting to hear all about it when you get back.”
“Wow.” He audibly swallowed around nothing as his face went blank. “Did she- Did she suffer?” He asked, pain showing through the determination his eyes still held. “Is she okay now?” It was evident he was about to cry.
“I wish I could tell you, but I can’t feel their emotions. But I can tell you she is happy now. She seems to like the family you created for yourself, albeit some concerns about your profession. She really wasn’t afraid to voice her opinions on that.” It was easy to tell this was a touchy subject for the young man, his hard exterior broken as tears began to fall down his cheeks, hiccups rising in his chest.
“That sounds just like her. It really does. You have no i- I guess you do though. If she appears again, tell her I miss her okay? You can go back to the room you woke up in. We’ll talk about other arrangements in the morning.” He wiped his tears with the back of his hand, standing up and exiting the room as quickly as he had arrived.
You decided to stay back and look around the living room. In the middle was a large glass coffee table with books and files strewn across it. The TV had a picture of some lake on it, though it quickly faded out into another one of a bustling city. In the corner were bags of what appeared to be spray paint and other art supplies, you figured that’s what was used to decorate the exposed brick walls. Finally, there was a wall made fully of glass that outlooked the city, a small garden hidden in the darkness was visible and you were starting to have trouble believing this was the house of some insane gangster rather than an A-list celebrity.
Wandering back into the kitchen, Taeyong was there again, this time with 2 boys would couldn’t be older than 18, them bickering over a laptop when suddenly a gasp was heard from one of them. “Chenle hyung! You can’t do that! Do you know how much trouble Doyoung hyung had fixing the mess we made the last time you hacked the system?” Your eyes widened at the name Doyoung, the only person coming to mind was the infamous politician who was spearheading the Independent Party in Seoul. Taeyong chuckled seeing your reaction and pointed down one of the multiple corridors leading away from the advanced kitchen. Bedrooms. You made out the words on his lips before he went over and pulled on the ear of the lilac haired boy you assumed to be Chenle.
He looked like he was in for a scolding you so decided it was time to take your leave, heading down the hallway Taeyong had formerly pointed to. Lining the hallway were doors, each uniquely decorated from graffiti to light green backdrops and colored flowers to one that had the warning sign for toxic chemicals it with a name in English under it. One however quickly caught your attention, painted a slate grey, it was rather plain except for the roman numerals written vertically along the handled side. It was slightly open and you peered inside, to see whose room it could possibly be. You were met with a broad back sitting cross legged in a computer chair, as the body stooped over what looked to be a picture frame.
The unidentified body was slightly shaking and the soft sound of sobbing came into your hearing range followed by choked up words. “I’m so sorry, I-I let you down. I became the thing that took you from me.” It sounded oftly like Jaehyun, which peaked your interest more. You leaned against the side of the door frame when suddenly something small poked at your feet, looking down you noticed a small cat with wide eyes staring up at you, obviously confused at the new face entering its territory. You hadn’t realized you let out a rather loud shriek by the surprise of the animal in front of you until Jaehyun was turning around, wiping his eyes once again.
Okay, so, this is a collaboration between myself(@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release more content release more content related to our overall theme that can be found on my/their blog. Thank you!
You were sitting at the bar waiting for your drink. It was a Friday night and you were finally done for the week. Work was exhausting-especially after the bomb catastrophe. Your marketing team was working overtime these past few months to get the general public to stop associating the bombings with your company. The last time you checked, none of the executive members had a death wish. They practically built up the conglomerate from the ground up with their bare hands. You were brought out of your thoughts by angry shouting from behind you. You weren’t one to get involved in bar quarrels, but this one was different.
“You cheated me out of millions! I could have had everything! But no, Mr. Kim Jungwoo had to go and ruin it for me! You fucking snitch! I’ll fucking kill you!” For you, time seemed to stop. Looks like he’s still conning people. You sighed deeply and turned in your seat to view the ongoing squabble between the two men. One of which you didn’t recognize-whom you assumed to be the victim-and one you knew all too well.
Kim Jungwoo, also known as your ex boyfriend. His appearance changed slightly over the past couple of years, but he still had the same attitude-and occupation.He sat calmly across the unidentified individual. Not even reaching up to rub at his temples from the obvious migraine he had. How could you tell? It was simple really. Whenever he continuously tilted his head to left, while also continuously tapping his foot, it was obvious he had a headache that he couldn’t remedy. After years of a relationship it was easy to point out things in someone. Part of you hated the relationship you had with him, the other made you realize how much joy he had brought to you life. While he was a con artist who constantly put your lives in danger, he was a good boyfriend to you. He was loyal and loving, which made it hard for you to believe he could be so heartless when it came to his work.
You sometimes would wonder why you ever left, but seeing his situation now reminded you of the reasons why you broke things off after 4 years together. “Look, dude, whoever you are, whatever you do, you probably deserved what you got. Kim Jungwoo doesn’t just con anyone. They have to be extra douche-y for him to even consider it.”
You stood up and placed yourself between the irate man and Kim Jungwoo. You didn’t have to look back to be able to tell Jungwoo was surprised you were there. After all, you never were the type to drink.
“Tch. Just who do you think you are? Huh? I’ll kill the both of you!” The man yelled at you, throwing his hands wildly about his person. You didn’t really care about his threat, knowing it to be empty. If Jungwoo conned him, then he had no power, no money, nothing. That's how Kim Jungwoo worked. He made sure the people he conned could never reach their previous status and attempt to take revenge on him.
“Go ahead and try touching her, Youngkyun. She’ll kill you before you even get the chance to pull out your gun. I suggest you leave before she decides to do just that,” Jungwoo spoke up. The man looked to Jungwoo, then to you, each time his stare was matched with a cold glare. He huffed in annoyance and turned around to walk out, stopping just before the door.
“Kim Jungwoo, this isn’t over. That's a promise.” The man walked out of the bar and you were about to return to your previous spot before a warm hand caught a hold of your wrist.
“Sometimes I think you still have a death wish.” A strict but gentle voice reached your ears, a voice he only used in dealings with you. While the statement sounded rather cold and uninterested, that was how he showed he had been worried. He wasn’t one to say ‘You could have gotten hurt, you should have let me handle it.’
“After tonight I know that you still do.” You shook your wrist from his grasp , walking back over to the bar, ordering a new drink because you didn’t trust the sleazy men around you.
“It’s not a death wish love, it’s an adrenaline addiction. Completely different.” He smirked, appearing at your side, the man who previously occupied the seat moving in order to let him take the place.
“They become the same thing when you get the same rush from a gun pressed into your temple Jungwoo.” You sighed feeling the burn of the whiskey erupt your throat into flames, quickly replaced by the coolness of the drink over ice.
“That only happened once and too be fair, I did deserve it. I conned the poor guy out of billions, made his wife leave him, children hate him and the world think he was a sleaze-bag only looking for a new lover every night in the back of a gentlemen’s club.”
“You realize what you did was horribly wrong, destroyed an innocent man’s life and you still do it. That’s what makes you insane Kim Jungwoo, absolutely psychotic.” You downed the rest of your drink before pushing the stool away from the counter, brushing the non-existent dust off of your pencil skirt and picking up your purse before moving away from the blonde haired individual who was still burning holes into the space between your shoulder blades as you walked away.
Outside the dingy bar was colder than you expected, pulling your coat around your tighter, you heaved a sigh of relief as you saw your car through the dark atmosphere, however as you got closer to the black sedan, a figure crouching behind the trunk also came into your line of sight. In the past Jungwoo would have pushed ahead of you, confronting the figure and knocking them out before letting you get near the vehicle, but he wasn’t around to protect you anymore, he wasn’t able to be your con-man in shining leather shoes anymore. Steeling your expression and shifting the keys to slot perfectly between your knuckles seamlessly you began approaching the car once again. However, before you could even reach your fender, a warm hand grasped the back of your arm, pushing you behind themselves as you caught a glimpse of platinum hair pushing forward to the vehicle. Not 2 minutes later Jungwoo was back in front of you with blood dripping from his top lip, wiping his hands on the back of his jeans. “Like I said - death wish.” His expression was cold and there wasn’t an ounce of emotion in his eyes as he roughing grabbed your hand, pulling the keys out of them and unlocking the car.
He opened the passenger door before pushing you into the seat, leaning over to lock the seatbelt in place. Before you knew it, he was speeding down the highway in a direction you were all too familiar with.
-
“Hey Jung-” You were met with Mark at the door, him stopping short as he saw you cowering behind your ex’s prominent figure. He quickly shut his mouth and retreated into the living room, pulling a younger girl, probably only a year younger than himself, in the direction of his lab. Jungwoo stalked into the room, turning around and eyeing you as a silent demand to follow him into the threshold.
It was easy to tell when the lad in front of you was beyond fuming, he never really was one for hiding his emotions. Even though he wouldn’t hurt a fly in his normal state, when he was angry he had the power and drive to kill man and it was best to stay out of his way. You quietly sat down on the sofa opposite of himself as he paced in front of the television, rubbing his temples in a futile attempt to rid himself of the ever growing migraine. “Why didn’t you come back inside when you saw him standing out there?” He stopped, turning to you with the same cold expression from earlier. “Why did you think you could face someone like him on your own, huh?” He continued pelting questions in your direction until you finally spoke up.
“You’re bleeding.” You whispered, the strong confident woman you usually were disappeared in front of him, old habits tend to die hard. He always told you to let his guard down around him, that he was the one supposed to take care of you.
“What?”
“You are bleeding.” You spoke up this time, standing up and grabbing his wrist, dragging him down the familiar hallways to a bathroom, which you pushed him inside of. “You always yell at me for being reckless but here you are with blood dripping out of your mouth like a damned psychopath.”
“How else am I supposed to keep you alive.” He murmured. Too often you forgot that the man in front of you was still just that - a man. He wasn’t a superhero, or villain for that matter, he still had feelings that he often didn’t show, no matter how animated he usually was. The soft expression that usually adorned his features once again returned and you grabbed a washcloth from the closet and wet it, dabbing gently against the side of his mouth. “Why did you leave?” So that was the question he planned on asking all along.
“You and I both know why I left.” You commented, flashing back to that night, almost a year and a half ago.
*Flashback time woohoo*
Waiting in the lobby of the hotel was becoming boring, glancing at your phone you realized he was almost an hour late. It was unlike him and even if he was, he would have called well beforehand in order not to keep you waiting. Still, you sat there in a rather nice dress waiting for him to show up and surprise you with flowers or chocolate, maybe both, in order to make up for the time he wasted getting there.
Suddenly, your phone rang and you expected it to be a call from him, profusely apologizing for getting stuck in some meeting or traffic was being a bitch as it most often was on a late Friday night. Instead you were met with the initials of his best friend. J.J. It was never good if he called you, the silent man much preferring to text if the situation allowed it. Hesitantly you answered the call, the deep voice hectic on the other line. “Y/N? Thank god you answered, Taeyong is on his way, get here quickly.” Jaehyun sounded out of breath as if he had been running for a while.
“What happened, is everything alright?” You asked, worry filling your heart and pounding through your veins, paying close attention to the background noise, you could hear Johnny barking orders in every direction and feet pounding against concrete as everyone seemed to run wild.
He was attempting to speak through labored breathing which made it incredibly difficult to understand, only catching a few words here and there. “Rival….gun shot….no ambulances….Jungwoo.”
Your heart dropped at the name, and not even a second later the doors to the hotel banged open as you caught sight of the green haired individual running in your direction. Your hand dropped as your phone clattered to the floor to see Taeyong covered in blood, though none of it appeared to be his own.
No. No. No no no no no. This can’t be happening. This isn’t happening. You felt your knees give out and you slumped back onto the bench. YOu felt your heart rate rise and breathing shallow out as the man in front of you attempted to pull you to your feet, helping you to the car. All the way whispering reassurances into your ear that he would be okay, even though the doubt and worry was evident in his voice as well.
Jungwoo hated guns, he hated violence, he only got into this business because he was a good liar and an even better con-artist. He had always refused to go to trades or missions because he knew the danger and risk involved and it was apart of the business he didn’t want to be associated with. Why was he there to begin with? Why did they attack him? Why didn’t the other protect him. By the time you reached the private hospital, you didn’t know whether you were scared to death and worried or fuming with anger at the men the love of your life claimed as his brothers.
Taeyong opened the door for you, allowing you to gingerly step out of the black SUV as you both quickly entered the building, him leading you straight towards the operating waiting room. Everyone was there. Jaehyun was in the corner trying to comfort a crying Xuxi with the help of Sicheng. The younger members were looking to the elders in attempts to find hope written across their face though there was none to be found. Even Kun was there, pacing the hallway with Taeil by his side. Johnny was off to the left quietly talking into his phone, obviously trying to keep the conversation with whoever a secret from the rest of the boys and suddenly you snapped. You stalked up to the man who was supposed to be a leader, a protector, insurance, and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him down until he was eye level with you.
“It’s your fault.” You spat at him, “it’s your fault he is in that room and you have the audacity to play it off like its nothing while the rest of us are dying on the inside waiting for news.” Taeyong attempted to pull you away from the stone cold man to no avail, tears were streaming down your neck at this point but you didn’t have the energy or want to care. “You know he hates violence, you know what happened to him in the past yet you still forced him out there you sick son of a bitch.” At this point Taeyong had managed to pull you off of Johnny with the help of Kun as they both fought to keep you from lunging forward again. Thankfully for the man standing in front of you, the surgeon walked out of the room and looked around until he caught sight of you. Approaching you, Taeyong let go while Kun still kept his arm wrapped around your waist, almost as if preparing to catch you in case the worst were to come.
“I’m assuming you are Ms. Y/N?” You nodded. “Mr.Kim was hit with a .40 mm round to his upper right abdomen, roughly 2 mm away from his spleen. Thankfully the bullet was through and through, and we were able to repair the damage without any major complications, however he will be in recovery for at least a month.” You thanked him and asking him how soon you could see him, and he told you that you could head up to the recovery room and Jungwoo would join you shortly. Once again you felt your knees give out and thankfully Kun was there to catch and steady you. Jungwoo didn’t wake for another two days, and for the next week after the shooting he was still in and out of consciousness. You took care of him day and night, week after week. You barely slept-and what little sleep you got was haunted by the memories of that horrible night.
2 weeks after the shooting, Jungwoo was being moved into the basic care ward, his wound healing normally so there was no more need for the ICU. That was also the first time the rest of the boys had been able to see him, as only close family and friends had been able to see him in ICU. Previously, it was only you and Johnny who would care for him while in ICU. You would always go down to the cafeteria when Johnny visited, unable to look at the man who nearly had Jungwoo killed without feeling your blood boil. Jungwoo now kept conscious long enough to have conversations and remember them. You chose that night to pipe up about your feelings and concerns for Jungwoo’s life.
“Jungwoo, I don’t think you’re safe anymore. You need to stop conning people, it’s getting you into more trouble now and this time you almost died. Before it was just a question of morals, but now it’s a choice between life or death. Jungwoo you have to leave. Please, I cant watch your life slip away on one of these hospital beds. I won't do it.” You laid out all your concerns and feelings that had surfaced since that night, and all Jungwoo had to say was “I can’t do that either, Y/N.” You felt your heart sink into your stomach, tears were now dotting your waterline and you struggled to keep your composure.
“Then I guess there’s nothing left to say. Goodnight, Kim Jungwoo,” You stood up, grabbed your purse on the armchair across from his bed, and walked away-from the hospital, and from the man who is - was once - the love of your life. On your way out you passed Kun, who did a double take once he saw the tears building at the corner of your eyes. He didn’t question it, rather giving you a small sad smile, as if he already knew what happened, and knew that it was going to happen eventually. You didn’t know whether the sentiment made you desperately want to cry more, or rather if it was reassurance that you had in fact made the right decision. But still, you lifted your head high and walked out of the building, leaving the world full of worry, doubt and regret behind.
*End of flashback woohoo that was sad as fuck I apologize*
He kept silent for the rest of time you spent tending to his wound, moving down to wipe the blood away from his knuckles and reveal the scratches underneath them as well. After you were finished, he stepped aside and let you out of the confined room first. As you made it back to the living room, you walked to the couch you previously occupied and picked up your purse, while he remained as silent as he had been in the restroom. “Well, I guess this is goodbye once again, Kim Jungwoo.” You turned towards the heavy metal door and just as you were going to grab the handle, it pushed inward as a taller figure stepped into the room. He had light brown hair, styled so it was out of his face and grand smile that warmed your heart on the days there wasn’t a speck of life to be found. “Kun!”
“Oh my! Bean Sprout what are you doing here?” He smiled and pulled you into a bear hug, swinging you around as he picked you up off of your feet. Jungwoo coughed behind you, obviously annoyed at the interaction. Kun looked between the two of you before noticed the scratches along Jungwoo’s face and a look of realization hit when he saw you holding your purse. “You aren’t leaving tonight, if anything you are spending the night in one of the girls rooms but I’d prefer it if you stayed with me.” He said it rather sternly, surprising you, as the man who had become your best friend over the past year and a half, had only ever used gentle tones.
“What, why?” You asked, incredulous. If anyone knew how much pain being in this house any longer would cause you, it was him - someone who had become like your older brother and knew every single thought you had before you had it.
Just then, one of the younger members who you only had fond memories of, Chenle, walking into the room with his laptop in hand. “Hyung, there is this dude who has been staring at the door fo- Y/N!” He ran up to you, shoving his laptop into Jungwoo’s chest along the way, wrapping his arms around your torso.
“Hey there little one.” You laughed, ruffling his now bright orange hair.
“Noona~ I’ve grown like 6 inches since I last saw you. I’m almost as tall as Jisung now. Can you stop calling me little?” He pouted.
“Chenle what were you talking about someone outside.” Jungwoo interjected, obviously concerned as he looked at the screen that was unceremoniously thrust into his face moments before.
“Oh yeah. There is some dude in all black with a matching black eye standing by some gray SUV in the security cameras. I thought he got lost and pulled off to the side of the road at first but it’s been like 40 minutes since that happened and it looks like he’s watching the house so I figured I should let someone know.” He walked back over to Jungwoo, grabbing the laptop and typing away furiously as he balanced it on one leg, it propped up on the bar of the nearest table. He showed the live footage to Jungwoo and Kun pointed at the screen.
“That’s why you aren’t going home tonight.” He looked back and Jungwoo and the state of his face and knuckles. “I’m assuming he fucked someone up and they are here for revenge.” His words were sharp and curt, an obvious glare on his face as Jungwoo looked more concerned, concentrating on the screen in front of him.
“Can’t you just drive me home or something Kun? I really don’t want to be here.” You glanced around the room, too many memories flooding your mind with every passing second.
“Just so he can follow us there and know where you really live? No way in hell.” He grabbed you by the shoulders and turned you around, silently prodding your back in order to move you down the corridor filled with private bedrooms. You passed a light green door with flowers spiraling up the side of it, courtesy of two of the youngest - Renjun and Jisung, and a pang hit your chest as you remembered the countless nights you spent in that room, but it was soon forgotten as you felt another push to the small of your back. Soon you arrived at the slate gray door, the default color before the boys usually got to painting it, except he had a small Chinese flag in the top left corner and his name written in traditional calligraphy below it.
Walking in you saw that it hadn’t changed in the past year and a half, probably due to him constantly being in foreign countries, usually China. But this time he had a pull out bed underneath his own that pulled out before going to the closet and throwing clothes at you, telling you to go change. Walking outside Kuns room, you turned left and wandered down the oh so familiar hallway and down to the guest bathroom at the end of the hall. Before you could walk into the bathroom, a tall and slender figure walked around you and leaned up against the bathroom door frame.
“Kim Jungwoo I suggest you leave right now. I don’t have much patience left for you.” You said sternly, grabbing the door handle. Jungwoos large hand covered your petite one, prohibiting your hand movements.
“Y/N. Just hear me out alright? Meet me at our spot tomorrow after breakfast. I’ll wait for you.”
“You’ll be waiting a while because I’m not going. I can’t go through what I went through last time and you know it. Now if you excuse me I just want to change and get back to Kun.” You rolled your eyes, attempting to hide the tears threatening to appear.
“So I see what you did, moved on from someone claiming you hate violence only to move to the bed on someone who definitely has more blood on his hands than the last.” He spat each like venomous darts straight into your heart.
“You know what Jungwoo, fuck you. After I left you didn’t once consider I was suffering, if anything you moved on faster than I did. Kun was the one who actually cared, who realized I was in more pain than I let on and became someone I could lean on without regrets. He became my older brother not just some sympathy fuck. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back.” You turned around on your heels, walking down the hall before you let the tears freely and the sobs to wrack through your chest. You missed him more than you ever imagined, and being here was only proving your assumptions right.
Okay, so this is a collaborations series between myself (@specsforwoo) and the author (@marshmellowmin) so please support us as we continue to release more content related to our overall theme that can be found on my/their blog. Thank you!!!
As hoards of rambunctious teenagers filled the halls, you sighed as your head fell to the wooden desk in front of you. Is it really that hard to understand diarrhoea? You were a new english teacher at Seoul Preparatory Academy-which was filled with entitled brats. While there were the kids who listened to you, there was always the group of kids who refused to listen to you because you weren’t from Korea.
One such kid, Zhong Chenle, never failed to correct your Korean, sending the entire class into an uproar. You eventually had to give him detention-to which he never showed up to. It got to the point where you figured you had no choice but to contact his legal guardian. Chenle’s parents were well known CEOs in China, but they were almost never in Korea, so you had to contact a man by the name of Lee Tae, who had been listed as Chenle’s legal guardian for the time being.
You sent him an email yesterday after school, to which he agreed to meet with you today about Chenle’s behavior. You checked the clock above the classroom door-you were supposed to meet Lee Tae in 20 minutes. You sighed and began grading the homework assignment from last night. Soon enough, Lee Tae showed up practically dragging Chenle by the ear.
Lee Tae was an attractive guy, he had short black hair that covered his forehead and wore a black turtleneck with blue jeans and a trench coat. He was also tall-he quite literally towered over you. You greeted the two and motioned for them to sit down in front of your desk. “You must be Ms. Brown. I hate to be meeting on such circumstances,” Lee Tae shot a glare at the blonde boy next to him. You smiled.
“Yes it is a shame we had to meet. I’ve tried avoiding this but this late in the year, I saw no other way around it.” You put away your graded papers and brought out all of Chenle’s unfinished assignments and his disciplinary record. “I’m afraid Chenle’s not going to graduate this year if he keeps this up. He’s never finished an assignment I’ve given him-if he even bothered to do it at all. And the amount of detentions he’s completely ignored over the years is overwhelming. He needs to bring up his grade in this class and somehow make up the hours of detention he’s accumulated by June 6, otherwise he will have to repeat this year.” You said, circling the total hours of detention Chenle had - 43. Lee Tae listened intently and nodded along.
“Your Korean is quite good, if you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?” Lee Tae crossed his legs and leaned back in his seat. You were used to this; while you had been speaking Korean since high school, your accent was quite heavy.
“Thank you, I’m Australian. I apologize if my accent made anything I’ve said hard to understand.” You were quite aware that your Australian accent made certain words sound rather odd in Korean.
“Your accent is no issue. It’s rather pretty, I think.”
“I would appreciate it if you would flirt with the teacher on your own time, hyung.”
Chenle made a gagging noise which earned him a glare from the elder, which quickly shut up the young man; opting to pull out his phone and begin texting someone you could only assume to be Park Jisung - the equivalent to his partner in crime.
Tae looked back to your slightly flushed face and apologized profusely for your student’s carelessness.
“It’s okay, really. If I couldn’t handle comments like that I wouldn’t be able to be a teacher at a school like this.” You bowed your head, bangs coming to fall in front of your eyes.
You continued your conversation with the man in front of you, both attempting to figure out a plan to make sure that Zhong Chenle was able to graduate on time, with the grades worthy of how bright you both knew he was.
This went on for a few more minutes until Chenle was tapping Tae’s shoulder with a cautious look on his face. “Hyung, can I- uhhhh… talk to you in private quickly.” He glanced between you and his guardian, motioning to the wooden door behind him.
“Is it so important that it can’t be discussed in front of your teacher?” Tae asked, eyeing the boy, obviously accustomed to the boy’s tactics that you had yet to learn.
This time Chenle glanced back down at his phone before looking back into his elder’s eyes. “It’s Jisung, hyung. I think it’s that important.” In the 3 years you had known Chenle, this was the first time you had seen him genuinely worried. You were aware that the 2 were inseparable despite the latter being a year younger, but you weren’t quite sure of their real relationship.
“Please, go ahead. We can continue this discussion on a later date if necessary.” You commented, motioning to the same door that Chenle previously was, aware of the same look of worry that crossed Lee Tae’s face.
The older man was quick to stand up, bowing. “I’m sorry I had to cut this meeting short but I am also the legal guardian of Park Jisung as well, so I have to make sure that both of them are okay.” It was a curt response and the younger quickly stood up as well, both exiting your classroom.
- *spongebob narrator voice* a few hours later -
You were exiting the building, walking towards you car with papers in hand when a young blonde haired boy caught your attention. Turning fully to get a proper look at him you realized it was Jisung, Park Jisung. He was sitting on a bench you could find the 2 boys at during their breaks. He had his face buried in the palms of his hands and his shoulders were shivering uncontrollably, straining your ears you were able to hear the soft sound of him sobbing.
You quickly walked over to the bench, setting your papers down at your feet before sitting next to the student. “Jisung-ah?” You called out quietly, hoping he would at least acknowledge your presence.
He began sniffing in an attempt to stop the tears from continuing their steady stream down his cheeks, wiping them with the back of his hands. “Ms. Brown~” His voice was broken and you checked over his figure, noticing the blood stains on his shoes.
“Jisung! Are you hurt anywhere? Did you get in a fight?” You began bombarding him with questions as you grabbed his shoulders, checking any available space of skin for cuts or bruises.
He shook his head feebly, still attempting to stop the shivers wracking down his torso. Obviously he was in a bad state so you stopped your verbal assault, rather pulling him into a hug, rubbing his back as he continued to sob into your shoulder.
Once you had finally gotten him calmed down, you pulled your phone out of your bag, asking him if it was okay to call Tae, knowing he was probably worried sick at the moment. He nodded, wiping his remaining tears from the corner of his eyes.
One ring. No answer
Two. Still none.
By the fifth ring he had finally picked up and you could hear the panic not-so-subtly laced through his voice. “Ms. Brown this really isn’t the time. I’ll call you back later-”
“Park Jisung is in the school parking lot with me. Would you like me to drive him home?” You quickly cut him off, afraid he was going to hang up.
“He- please do, we have been searching for him for the past 2 hours. I apologize for the inconvenience Ms. Brown. I would pick him up myself but I had driven Chenle to the other side of town to see if he had gone to his… his old home.” You could hear the relief wash over his voice once he processed that the young student was indeed safe and not missing.
“Don’t worry about it Mr. Lee. It’s my job as a teacher to watch out for the well-being of my students.”
“Jisung can give you directions. Thank you again so much for doing this.” With that the line went dead and you returned the phone to its original place in your purse, picking up the papers you had set on the pavement, looking to the student. He stood up, awkwardly holding his hands in front of his body.
“I’m really sorry for causing you this trouble Ms. Brown. I can walk myself home, I promise I’ll go straight home so you don’t have to worry.” His eyes were downcast, almost if he was preparing himself to be scolded for his actions.
“I’m really okay with driving you home Jisung, and you have no reason to be upset with yourself. Sometimes we need to be alone and that’s okay. Just make sure to let people know where you are so they aren’t worried half to death.” You smiled at him as warm as you could, not used to the reluctant, cowering boy in front of you.
With that you guided him to your car, making sure he was okay before driving off to his house with the help of his surprisingly precise directions.
When you pulled off onto the dirt road, leading back to what looked like an abandoned warehouse, you looked to Jisung unsure.
He laughed at your expression, clearly amused. “It was renovated on the inside, we just keep the outside the same in order to avoid suspicions.”
“Avoid suspicion of what exactly?” You asked, parking the car in the large parking lot surrounding the building, shocked to see a federal government issued vehicle park next to your own, along with several other expensive cars.
“Uhhhhh.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Thanks anyway for the ride Ms. Brown. I’ll make sure to apologize to Taeyong-hyung for worrying him.” With that he grabbed his backpack out of the back seat and opened the car door, just as a shorter individual, probably no older than 19, rushed out of the building and grab onto Jisung’s arm.
Getting out of the car, you approached the two, startled by the young man dressed in all black reprimanding your student as if he was a parental figure.
“Excuse me. Can I ask what this place is?” The black-clad figure turned to you, as equally shocked as you are.
“Uhhhh. Jaemin-hyung - Ms. Brown. Ms. Brown - Na Jaemin.” Jisung intercepted, using the shock of the older individual to pull his arm out of the now loosened grip.
Na Jaemin let his expression steel as he shook the shock off of his face. “Ms. Brown.” He didn’t say anything else as he gave Jisung a look and retreated back into the warehouse through the metal doors.
Just as the door slammed shut, a black car pulled into the parking lot and out stepped Taeyong with Chenle exiting the passenger side door. Chenle ran up to hug Jisung and pull him inside while Taeyong walked up to stand beside you. “Thank you again for bringing him here. He had us all worried. It’s unlike him to run away like that since he moved in with us.”
“It’s fine really, but I have to ask. This really can’t be your home, it’s not exactly fitting for raising two kids.”
He gave a warm smile looking at the building. “It’s a lot more fitting than you would expect. It looks nothing like it does on the outside, Johnny wanted to make sure it wasn’t suspicious but still a facility we could all live and work from.”
“Johnny, he’s your-?” You trailed off, hoping Taeyong would finish your sentence, afraid that he would say ‘partner’.
“He’s my boss, also best friend of the past 10+ years, it’s easy to say in this occupation that you quickly become family.” He smiled, gesturing to the door, silently inviting you in.
“Uh-huh.” You gave him another glance as you followed his lead in through the heavy industrial doors. To say you were surprised in the least by what was inside is an understatement. Neither Jisung nor Taeyong were lying when they said the inside was completely renovated. Graffiti littered the exposed brick walls with a black duffel of spray paint was at the base of an unfinished piece. Modern furniture was place inside the open floor plan to create a living room with a set of desks behind them. One in particular caught your eye but before you could say anything, Taeyong was calling out into the seemingly empty space.
“Johnny~ I’m home~” With a sing-song nature, his voice carried through the area loud and clear.
“THIS IS WHY THE KIDS DON’T RESPECT ME AS A PARENTAL FIGURE TAE.” A voice from up above rang through as you saw a tall individual with midnight hair descend the stairs followed by Jisung and Chenle.
“It’s not that we don’t respect you as a parental figure, its just that we don’t respect you in general.” Commented Chenle, swerving around the man who you assumed to be Johnny.
At the same time Jisung commented. “Dad? What are you talking about, we love you so much.” Obvious sarcasm laced through his voice.
Johnny turned to look at the boys. “If you are still in my line of sight in the next two seconds, I’m gonna have fried Jisung and Chenle for dinner instead of chicken.”
Both of the boys gave a sarcastic smile before retreating down a hallway and disappearing into a black and neon green door outlined with computer grids. The older man turned in the direction of yourself and Taeyong and smiled. “You must be Ms. Brown. I’m John Seo but everyone calls me Johnny, nice to meet you.” He reached out a welcoming hand which you gladly took. “Thank you again for finding Jisung, he had a rough day and we were worried something might happen to him.” Johnny gave a small smile as the door behind you opened once again. This time walked in a young man in a police uniform along with another boy dressed to the nines topped off with a maroon corduroy jacket. They were laughing and joking with each other when the police officer stopped in his tracks, causing the silver haired individual next to him halt as well. “Jeno, Ace come over here.”
They both hesitantly eyed your figure while moving forward and you could swear you saw the police officer reach to his side to lay a hand on his weapon.
“Hello, my name is Ms. Brown.” You introduced yourself to the 2 boys in front of you, bowing respectfully.
Once you mentioned your name, they both dropped their hesitancy and laughed. “So you are the girl that Taeyong is always talking about!”
“Taeyong?” You tilted your head to the side as you glanced to Lee Tae.
“Ahhh~ my full name is Lee Taeyong.” Taeyong bowed to you, as if he was introducing himself to you all over again.
“Oh.” You could feel the blush climbing up your cheeks, Taeyong talks about you?
Johnny turned back to the 2 boys, obviously amused at both your and Taeyong’s reaction to their words. “Boys, I need to discuss something with you in my office.” He nodded towards the hallway that Chenle and Jisung had disappeared into earlier.
They both nodded before giving their goodbyes and heading down the long corridor.
You were left in the awkward silence with Taeyong across from you, usual calm and cold exterior completely gone as he glanced between the heavy metal doors behind you and your own figure, as if he was debating walking you out.
“I can hea-” You were cut off by the doors opening once again, though this time you weren’t met with laughter and conversation. You were greeted by shouting in a foreign language you didn’t understand but thankfully recognized. Japanese.
The shouting was frantic and Taeyong reacted quickly, and once again you were seeing a new side of him. He wasn’t calm and collected, and he wasn’t awkward. The only way you could describe it was he was all business. His features steeled as he raced to the door, yanking it open with force you were surprised his lanky figure even possessed.
You weren’t ready for what was going to show itself behind the stainless steel doors.
Blood. Lots of blood. Before you knew it, you were a heap on the floor, unconscious.
*a few hours later*
Waking up with a pounding headache isn’t exactly what you were expecting, the bright lights just making it worse. Sitting up you realized you were on a bed, and definitely not your own. The satin sheets were stained black, and the slate gray walls were nothing like your light airy room back home. Glancing off to the side, you saw the clock read 10:30… you had been out for at least 3 hours.
Standing up, you blinked the dots hazing your vision away as best as you could, moving to the door, thankfully it was open, noticing there wasn’t a lock from the inside. Outside the room, you were met with the same hallway that your students had disappeared down earlier, you must still be in Taeyong’s house. You moved your way to the living room as best as you could from the cloudy memory of earlier. It was eerily silent, nothing like what it was upon your first entrance, filled with the noise of numerous people conversing and laughing. It almost seemed dangerous.
Finally you made it back to the living room to see Taeyong conversing with an unfamiliar face on the couch. He looked up just in time to see you shake the last of the pixels from your vision as you glanced around for your purse. “Y/N! You’re awake.” He smiled brightly, another side to him you had never seen. How many different Taeyong’s were there really?
The unfamiliar mand turned around to look at you through long bangs, giving a small smile before his phone rang and he immediately left the room.
“What happened?” You were still trying to shake the dizziness away as he lead you over to the couch, helping you sit down properly.
“You saw something you weren’t supposed to.” His features switched to a frown but you swore you saw it falter into a crazed smile for a mere second but the dizziness was just as well playing tricks with your vision still.
“That really isn’t an explanation Taeyong.” You said, reaching up to clutch the side of your head, the banging getting worse with every second.
This time he seemed genuinely worried as he stood up and moved to sit beside you, holding your shoulder. “I seriously think you have a concussion. I can explain later but we need to get you to see a doctor.” He was already pulling out his phone before he finished his thought.
“There’s no need to call an ambulance, just drive me to emergency care.” You reached for his phone, attempting to hang up the call, but it was too out of reach.
“No, we aren’t leaving, I’m calling our house-call physician.” He said, how could he say such things so easily?
He trapped the phone between his shoulder and ear, standing up to pull a pillow next to the armrest, picking your legs up and laying them where he was previously sitting, forcing you to lay back and some of the tension in your head eased up. You zoned out his conversation as the pain continued and you attempted to hold in your tears from it.
Once again before you knew it, you were unconscious, only this time with Taeyong keeping a close watch on you.
