Word Count: 4000

The sounds of this small town make my ears hurt
Oh yeah, you caught me. But I caught you one worse
They say, "You want a war? You've got a war."
But who are you fighting for?
The tides out, the ship's run aground
We drown traitors in shallow water

Jackson was shirtless, which wasn't really a surprise in itself, but he definitely was the last person Youngjae had expected to see. He hadn't even expected to meet anyone. Thousands of questions exploded in his mind, yet all of them rejoined to the same, ultimate one: What the hell was going on?

"Im Jaebum," Jackson greeted with a playful smile. "It's been a while. How was jail?" He turned to Youngjae and added, "Youngjae, man, it's good to see you, even though we last saw each other about like, four hours ago. Wow, you even brought your dog with you ! That's great, I love dogs."

Youngjae's mouth opened and closed several times, but no sound came out. He felt as if his friends were playing a terrible prank on him, or that he was in the middle of a weird dream. He had an overflowing imagination, and both were possible, after all.

"You look disappointed to see me, though," Jackson said, frowning and sounding slightly offended. He acted as all of this was normal, like they were about to start an early Friday Movie Night even though it was Thursday, and it made Youngjae more confused and annoyed.

With nothing further said, Jackson gestured for the two of them to come in, and JB, who was apparently called Jaebum, stepped after him. Youngjae followed, a bit hesitant.

Inside, once the door-wall had closed behind them, Youngjae felt that it was safe enough and decided to put Coco back to the ground, who disappeared in the kitchen almost instantly.

Jackson's place was an actual hideout. It looked bigger than Youngjae's penthouse, or maybe it was clearly just emptier, but Youngjae felt small and out of place. The place was kind of dark but illuminated with soft blue lights coming from computer screens hanging up the wall. Besides the strict necessary (a short platform with a king bed to the left, a living room and a kitchen to the right, and two doors in the back that Youngjae guessed were two additional bedrooms), there were quite a few computers here and there, some old and some newer, with a bunch of other electronical stuff. There was no room for any decoration of some sort. Youngjae started wondering what additional work Jackson did here besides his teleportation project and began questionning himself, since the only work material he had at his own home was his laptop - nothing else. He then realised that he'd never talked much about work with Jackson before.

"Make yourself at ease, Youngjae-ya," Jackson's voice came from the kitchen. Jaebum was already lying on the couch, his hand unconsciously clutching his side. The pain must had began to shoot again from his previous efforts. Youngjae tried to sit beside him, but Jaebum was tall and lying at almost full length, so he did his best to curl up into the small bit of room that was left.

"You dyed your hair," Jaebum pointed out when Jackson came back a few seconds later with three bowls of ramen. 

"You just noticed," Jackson smirked, handing Youngjae his bowl and sitting on the armchair across of them. "Still that much of an airhead, I see. I guess jail did no good to you."

"Shut up, Wang," Jaebum said, glaring hardly at the other and kicking him in the leg. Jackson let out a fake Ow! of pain and pouted.

"Hum, Jackson hyung?" Youngjae cut in hesitantly, having barely touched his ramen. "Could you perhaps explain to me what's happening? How can you two possibly know each other?"

Youngjae noticed from the corner of his eye that JB was staring at him, or rather, he felt his gaze burning. He shifted uncomfortably in his position and tried to look anywhere but at him.

"Dammit, Youngjae, can't we eat first?" Jackson joked, but sighed when he noticed Youngjae wasn't laughing. "Fine," he added, placing his bowl of ramen on the table. "We know eachother from work."

"We're both agents," Jaebum said. "Secret agents."

"What? That's impossible," Youngjae argued. "Jackson hyung works at the Neo Seoul Research Center with me."

"You're underestimating me, Youngjae-ah," Jackson said, sounding offended. "Didn't you know that having both the brains and the muscles was possible?"

Youngjae managed a smile at that, smile that quickly dropped to let his mouth fall when Jaebum snorted a laugh at Jackson's rebuttal. This quickly ascended to his list of "Strange Things That Happened Today". Youngjae did not know Jaebum, but the latter didn't look like the type to laugh that easily, especially at Jackson's jokes. But still, Youngjae thought Jaebum's smile looked nice, and he forgot for a second how easily he had killed a person earlier. If he was truly an agent, then that must not have been the first time, and probably not the last time either. Still, Jaebum was a mystery cloud to Youngjae.

"Well, since Jackson here seems so enclined to keep joking," Jaebum said, looking softly at Youngjae, "I'll do the story-telling myself." He then smiled slightly and Youngjae felt as if he was punched right through his stomach.

*

It was a typical after-work late night for Jaebum. Full moon, sky empty of clouds yet a light breeze to appease the mid summer heat. The day had been pretty long, in fact, most of the week had been, since he hadn't been assigned anything in a while. He decided to let himself get some free time, and drove to a pretty well known pub of Old Seoul, the "Before The Full Moon Rises", which was situated quite distantly at the back of the city. There, the bartender, a young woman that Jaebum knew was named Suzy greeted him with a smile and a "it's been a while". Without asking, she got him a glass of scotch, the usual, and left him before going off to other clients.

Jaebum had already ordered three more drinks when a man wearing all black came to sit not far from him. It wasn't his clothes that intrigued Jaebum, actually, but rather the fact that the stranger looked so familiar even though Jaebum was positive he was seeing him here for the first time. Swallowing what was left of his fourth drink, he got up and joined the newcomer, who didn't flinch at the presence beside him.

"Everyone here's a regular," Jaebum said, leaning on the counter, fingers playing with an empty glass. "But you're not, clearly. So tell me, what brings you here?"

"I never go to the same bar twice," the stranger said, smiling, small wrinkles forming at the corner of his eyes. "I visit a new one every night. I'm quite well informed regarding the network."

Suzy stopped in front of them from the behind the counter, and eyed curiously Jaebum before asking the both of them what they wanted to drink.The stranger asked for a glass of whisky, and when he turned to Jaebum, the latter ordered the same. Jaebum took the occasion to study him. He was very handsome. Despite the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes, the guy looked pretty young, if not the same age as Jaebum himself. He had dark brown hair that fell on his forehead, and a pretty naive face, hence why Jaebum was kind of surprised when he noticed a gun on the right side of his belt, half covered by his leather jacket. That's when Jaebum remembered who this guy was, only he needed to confirm this. He decided to risk an undercover role, even though the alcohol was starting to get to his head.

"You know," he said, frowning, "I'm not even gonna pretend I don't find it suspicious that you came into the bar right after I did, but I could shoot you right now." He took out his own gun and placed it on the counter next to his glass.

The stranger widened his eyes, genuinely surprised at Jaebum's act, and carefully placed his hand on his belt. "You don't look like someone who could kill," he said coldly.

"Do this for a living, though," Jaebum muttered, his brain about to explode. "You don't really, either."

"Hitman?" the stranger asked, ignoring Jaebum's last comment. "I don't think I've heard of you before. Who do you work with?"

"I work solo," Jaebum said, thinking quickly. "I'm located in New Seoul, that's why. I'm not going to do anything. Sorry for the misunderstanding, simple precaution. Got a prize on my head because I steal people's jobs."

"I'm JB," he added when the other's shoulders relaxed.

"JR," he said, and Jaebum took a deep breathe, relieved that his plan had worked. He'd been right. But he couldn't do anything without orders. 

JR was known to be at the head of the most dangerous criminal organization of both New Seoul and Old Seoul together, the Kumiho.

"Thought so," Jaebum said, smirking and leaning in carefully. A dangerous direction to take. "Crazy to run into the Park Jinyoung in such a place."

"Less talking," JR said, wincing at the mention of his name. He took a shot of his drink, and Jaebum knew was that a pair of lips were aggressively crashing on his own. 

Junior's breathe was warm and smelled of whisky, and Jaebum felt hot. He gave himself into the alcohol a bit more. He placed one of his hands on Junior's thigh and bent his head to deepen the kiss.

"Let's head out," JR panted, his hand slipping under Jaebum's shirt.

Jaebum tried to consider the situation, his brain now upside down. with a criminal in the bathroom of a pub sounded convenient enough, but it would definitely leave a stain on his record.

"Where to?" he breathed into his mouth, taking in his upper lip.

"A hotel at the corner of the street," JR groaned, pulling away, out of breathe. "Hurry."

He got up from his seat, shrugged back into his coat and headed towards the exit. Jaebum passed a hand through his hair, still breathing heavily and waved at Suzy before following JR.

The cool summer breeze did not help Jaebum's drunken state. He felt JR tugging on his wrist, and he tried to attack his lips again. "Come on," JR said, pulling away once more, and Jaebum groaned. "We're almost there."

The receiptionist, a man in his thirties with a crooked nose eyed them suspiciously, the corner of his lip twitching slightly. "How can I help you?" he asked reluctantly.

"A room for two," JR said, holding up two fingers. "Just for tonight."

The man rolled his eyes, probably used to the situation. "I assumed," he deadpanned, handing the keycard. "Here you are, room 106. First floor, to your right."

Jaebum caught the keycard himself with a barely understandable "thank you" and led Junior to the first floor, not even bothering to take the elevator.

When then they reached Room 106, Junior slammed Jaebum against the door, assaulting Jaebum's lips with his own. Jaebum let out a choked umph, a mix of pain due to his head hitting the door and lack of breathe.

"We should get in," he managed to growl against the other's lips, and Junior made no response but only reached out his hand to tear the keycard away from Jaebum's hand and opened the door.

Jaebum stumbled backwards into their room as Junior was debuttoning his shirt. Damn, he thought, with such a pretty face as his, on top of being a criminal, he's got no restraint.

Jaebum teared away from Junior, and, panting, knelt before him.

"What are we?" he asked, biting his lower lip hard.

"A one time thing," Junior replied, unbuckling his belt.

*

Jaebum woke up with a terrible headache, and much to his dismiss, with no one at his side. He started panicking. How could he have been so unprofessional? He had the Head of the Kumiho within his reach and, uncareful, he had let him go so easily. 

He understood why drinking, even when not on service, was prohibited. He mentally cursed at himself. He had gone through an embarrassing undercover, unofficial mission, and on top of that, had ed Park Jinyoung for nothing.

Sure, the had been good, but there was not the point. He was ed, literally and metaphorically.

Rubbing his eyes and yawning, he pictured his boss, Park Yeeun, going insane, pulling her hair and her desk getting destroyed to her bare hands. He would be fired. No, he would be much worse than fired.

Jaebum sighed and pulled the bedsheets over, when something on the night table caught his attention.

A note.

"Forget the one time thing stuff and let's talk business. Find me at 18, 65-gil, Sunseo-ro in Gangnam before Wednesday. Or else, you've never seen me."

Jaebum smiled, folding the paper into his wrist. His jeans were still laid on the floor near the bed; he reached for them and looked for his phone inside his back pocket. Then he dialed the direct number to the NIS's CEO's office and placed the phone on his ear.

"It's Im," he said. "I found him."

*

"You've been taking many risks in such a short time period," Park Yeeun stated, her back to Jaebum. In moments of deep contemplation, the National Intelligence Service's President would always turn her back to her office and consider the city view, so clear from the glass facade of the building. "You've put your identity, your career, and on top of that, your life at risk by taking this path, I hope you realize that, Jaebum. I'll be expecting more professional behavior from you in the future."

Park Yeeun was a young woman in her thirties, in charge of South Korea's National Intelligence Service for a good five years. Despite her young age, she was highly respected by everyone in the field, feared even. She had proved herself many times in the past, and was considered the country's top agent.

Jaebum bent his head and said nothing. He knew his boss was just worried about him, and being cautious about the situation. They had never been so close to their goal before, and he knew she was as excited as he was.

"I have decided to entrust this situation to you," she continued, turning to him, her face as serious as ever. "This mission will be the most dangerous one I've ever assigned. It won't be without risks, and your contact to us will be very limited, which is why, I have also decided to collaborate with Hong Kong's Criminal Intelligence Bureau."

Jaebum's eyes widened in shock.

"Your partner will be Wang Jackson, from the special department of science and technologies."

*

A little more than half an hour had passed when Jaebum was finished with his story. There were a few interventions from Jackson here and there, mostly mockeries. Youngjae had said nothing through the whole thing. He had listened eager to know. He was aware, though, that this was only probably half of the story. He had yet to know how Jaebum had ended up in jail, but the latter probably didn't wish to mention it at the moment. If he had gone through jail, that could only mean his cover had blown, and Jaebum seemed to have his pride as an agent, especially since he was assigned such a mission. Failing it must have hit his honour hard. 

But there was something else Youngjae needed to find out. How had he gotten involved in this mess? There was literally no reason for someone outside the Neo Seoul Research Center to find out about his work.

Jackson noticed the frown on Youngjae's face and seemed to figure out his thoughts.

"The one thing we haven't mentioned," he said, sighing. "Where in the story do you make your first appearance?"

Jaebum shifted next to Youngjae and joined his hands together.

"Start from the beginning," he said. "There can't be many informed of it."

Youngjae's brows furrowed together in thought. It all went back from when he was about eighteen, just after he had gotten into the NSRC.

"I entered the Neo Seoul Research Center right after I graduated from high school," he began, searching deep in his memories. "They said I was qualified enough. At the time, I was put in the Chemistry Department and I was friends with Mark, who had joined only a couple of weeks after I did, and a girl named Hyelim, who was there already."

Youngjae noticed Jackson tensing up from the corner of his eye, but he ignored it.

"I did a few experiences, without expecting much from them, honestly. Then it came suddenly. A positive result. At first I was a little scared and considered deleting my files and burning the work. Then I went to see our CEO, Lee Minyoung, to talk about it. At first she was even more scared than I was. But then she got enthusiasic and she eagerly encouraged me to continue. "It could definitely be progressive," she had said, and she ordered not to tell anyone else."

"Shortly after, Mark and I were moved to a different lab in the Technologies Department. And Jackson joined us," he added, staring directly at Jackson, who nodded, a serious expression worn on his face. Youngjae had rarely witnessed him behaving like this before, and he was a little surprised.

"And that was all three of us. Mark worked on Health Care Technologies and I helped him, while I continued working on my formula on the side. It was mostly equations that took me weeks to resolve, so I didn't mind. Jackson, I guess, worked on his teleportation device. Bambam and Yugyeom joined then, that was only two years ago. We all trusted eachother, so I decided at some point to do a little reunion and reveal you what I had been working on for years: a formula that cancels the effects of death."

Jackson nodded in rememberance, but seemed lost in his thoughts. Youngjae tried to reflect as well. The person who had been aware first was Lee Minyoung, but the mere thought of her being involved was down to ridiculous. She had taken Youngjae into her wing pretty early, since he was so young compared to everyone else at the NSRC, and Youngjae felt very close to her. The only people who knew beside her were is friends, but he had only told them a year earlier, and according to both Jaebum and Jackson, JR was informed for a much longer time than that.

"It's probably hard to admit," Jaebum said, breaking Youngjae out of his thoughts. "But I know you're considering it. It's obvious that there's been a leak inside your Research Center, and the only person I see at the moment is your boss. Did you receive any call or message from her right after the shooting earlier on?"

"I don't know," Youngjae admitted, biting his lower lip. "I got many texts and calls at once, so... I only called Mark back, and he told me it was getting crazy at the NSRC and that he would tell the others I was okay."

Jackson suddenly jumped from his chair, and both Jaebum and Youngjae startled, their eyes widening.

"What did you just say?" Jackson asked, his voice trembling. He was shaking hard and his fists opened and closed slowly, knuckles turning white.

"I..." Youngjae started, confused. "said I called Mark and he told me the NSRC was a mess but he'd warn you guys that I was okay?"
Jackson paled.

"The NSRC did get crazy," he slowly stated. "And Mark did warn us. But he wasn't there with us.. He texted us."

"He left shortly after you did."

*

Youngjae was standing on the rooftop of Jackson's building alone. His hands were gripping the security bareer while his head rested on the cold metal. He was crying.

He couldn't believe Mark had been a traitor all along. Mark had been his bestfriend for about five years and they had shared so much together. Being the former members of their lab, they were obviously also the closest. 

He remembered the day they first had met; both of them were awkward, shy and quiet. The perfect match. So the two of them stuck together. They partnered for work together all the time, ate lunch together. All of this until Hyelim had grown tired of them being all quiet in their corner on their own and had literally driven them out of their comfortable bubble. 

From there they had grown so playful and lively. They had adopted Coco together. Mark and Youngjae were inseparable. 

But it was all a trick.

And how did Mark know about Youngjae's researches? Lee Minyoung, just as Jaebum and Jackson had previously insinuated.
He had been betrayed by two of the people he felt the closest to. He felt like utter crap. But most of all he felt alone. Sure, he still had Jackson, Bambam and Yugyeom but Mark was a past thing.

Had Youngjae ever meant anything to Mark? Did he even consider him as a friend, even though it was all pretend? Did he even feel a thing about Jackson?

Probably not.

Youngjae's tears were hot on his cheeks. He searched for his phone in his back pocket and checked his texts, trying not to ling too much on Mark's. He indeed had received a message from the CEO, that read Youngjae, did you get home safely? Tell me where you are right now! and it made him even more upset. He started sobbing harder and threw his phone right into the wall.

He then let himself slide against the barrier and curled up on himself, resting his head on his knees and just stayed there, with his tears staining his jeans.

He did not hear Jaebum joining him, but he felt him sit next to him. To be honest, Youngjae was surprised to find him, but Jackson had gotten into a crisis after learning the truth. He had roared, the loudest shout Youngjae had ever heard, and his eyes were filled with tears and rage. He then had started to kick everything that was in his way, like a storm, crying in pain and bitterness. Youngjae had gotten frightened which was why, on Jaebum's order, he was currently finding himself on the roof. 

"I'm sorry," Jaebum just said. He was holding his knees as well, his gaze lost in the void.

"What for?" Youngjae uttered, turning to Jaebum with wide eyes.

"For everything you're going through," Jaebum said. "Jackson and I both ed up. If we hadn't, we wouldn't be here right now."

"It's not your fault though," Youngjae replied in all honesty, turning to stare in the same direction Jaebum was, tears still threatening to fall. "It's probably mine. I shouldn't have been so naive, I shouldn't... I should have known my work was too dangerous."

"Don't," Jaebum said, shifting a bit in his position. "Even Jackson was completely deceived by Mark. And you were just doing your work. It's me. I got too confident and I ended up losing everything, even going to jail. If you feel like , imagine how I must be feeling, too. Jackson just ed his career and you almost died today, twice, because of me."

"I don't think you're crap," Youngjae whispered. "Even though you can't help thinking so. I can't either, but I guess... Things can't always go as planned. I feel so lost and scared right, now, I just..."

Youngjae's voice cracked and he didn't get to finish what he was saying as he broke into a sob, burying his face into his arms to not let the other see him in this state.

He suddenly felt Jaebum's arm around his shoulder, gently leaning him in a light embrace of comfort.

"It's my fault all of this happening," Jaebum whispered, even though Youngjae didn't get to hear it through his tears. "And I'll make sure to fix it no matter what."

And we're friends, yeah we're friends
Just because we move units

HI EVERYONE! Chapter 3's up finally, and it's late, yes, I know! Well, I hate to justify myself but I got back to school last week and SUDDENLY GOT HOMEWORK? Also, I got back problems in the middle of class and they had to call /911/. Then the Paris attacks happened and I was down. Also, B.A.P came back and iKON dropped their double single thingy and I got emotional lmao. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this poop of a chapter ! Thanks everyone for the comments and subs.