"stop pretending."
▓█ au ▬▬▬▬ present day ▬▬▬▬ potential starter
“should you really be talking to me like that?” he asks, not bothering to hide his exasperation. he shoots his accompanying glare at the young officer, or babysitter which seems more accurate, since all protocol has seen him do is keep an eye on any witnesses or suspects that filter in and out of the precinct. now, it’s protocol’s turn, or jeon jeongguk’s– regular customer of baratie, the mere intern that often enjoyed the restaurant’s atmosphere with his laptop and simply bought a high end cup of coffee instead of the food most did.
when the spd is finally ready to question him on what he knows, he’ll say nothing– put on the perfect face of an innocent teenager, shocked and frightened that the owner of the very restaurant was arrested under suspicion of being second in command of one of the biggest gangs in seoul. i had no idea. i talked to him sometimes, but i was just a bratty kid that gave him a hard time about anything i could. i knew he was the owner of the restaurant and the chef but i didn’t know anything else…i barely even knew his name. seokjin, was it?
except officer daehyun here, if he’s even earned the title yet, has taken it upon himself to try to question jeongguk before the actual questioning begins. he’s too on-edge, like there’s something dark lurking beneath the surface of his skin waiting to spring forth, and jeongguk would be fearful, if protocol didn’t know who he is.
vanguard isn’t known for their technology, and he thrives on that aspect, because people expect him and his databases and his wealth of information even less. he doesn’t know daehyun personally, no, but he knows him through security cameras and stories from people he claims to be friends with just for the information, and through rumors and intel. at the very least, he knows he is an ex-syndicate member with a foolish, inexplicable change of heart.
in truth, he should thank daehyun, because he chased around rumors of the second in command of syndicate, but failed to find a proper answer. it drove him to baratie, and then drove him up a wall when he couldn’t find anymore of the equation, but he’d been so close. daehyun gave him the answer. it didn’t take long for rumors of 12, syndicate’s second in command, being kim seokjin, and being arrested, and getting away, of course, to reach him.
he sighs lightly, and taps his foot, and wonders if he should defect to the spd too, if he sees through more of all of the illusions the crime world brings than anyone in the police department seems to.
“maybe you’re the one that should stop pretending,” he comments with a knowing smile, probably too dangerous for his current location, but he can’t resist it. it falls off his face in a moment, though, replaced by the typical feigned innocence and teenage mischief and desire to pass time.
“i mean…if you’re going to accuse me of pretending when the guy that’s supposed to ask me the questions hasn’t even asked me anything yet, you might have something to think about too, huh? i learned in psychology that what people attack others for is often an insecurity of their own. but even then…you’re pretending to be the guy that’s supposed to actually ask me the questions…so…” and nervous laughter to top off his own illusion.
