Kwon Jieun was staring at Myungsoo for a good couple of second when they were sitting at one of the dumpling restaurant. “It’s hot, Busan is always so hot during summer, I want to kill Chanyeol,” Myungsoo protested as he munched his dumpling. “Then, you shouldn’t have come along,” Jieun said nonchalantly. “Oh, so you think I come here willingly? Like what’s the purpose, Jieun? To make sure that they didn’t run away?” Myungsoo raised his eyebrow in annoyance.

“That’s my job, Myungsoo, I am here to make sure of that,” Jieun deadpanned. “Even though it still pretty much questionable on whose side they are playing,” She continued as she exhaled deeply. “Why must Jiyong involved us into this?” She added at the end. “Hey, there is always a way, if you are not sure about it, then you just have to play your part as well.” Myungsoo smirked.

“If there is anything I learnt, there are best way to tied someone down, first is with money, and second is with feelings,” Myungsoo stated nonchalantly. “And do you know why feelings are even scarier than money, Jieun? Because feelings cannot be ing negotiated,” Myungsoo concluded. “We are not going to that way, Myungsoo,” Jieun hissed when her phone screen lit up and showed a notification from Daniel.

“You really do like him.” Myungsoo grinned in amusement. “I have told I don’t hate him,” Jieun replied. “That’s a strong word coming from you.” Myungsoo raised his eyebrow. “Tied him,” Myungsoo added afterward. “He obviously really like you, and you don’t hate him either, so what’s wrong with trying?” Myungsoo shrugged. “Relationship is not for trial, Myungsoo,” Jieun snapped.

“Who said it was for trial? It is for confirming whether you both really meant for each other or not and for the league, it is to make sure that the final line up stay with us,” Myungsoo proposed. “It doesn’t guaranteed both,” She said sternly. “Who knows?” He said as he sipped his drink. “ you,” Jieun hissed as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Hey, even if it’s not for the league, you still got a boyfriend that you don’t hate.” Myungsoo shrugged nonchalantly and got Jieun glared at him. “This is stupid.” Jieun shook her head when another notification came to her phone. “Trust me, you only think this is stupid because this involved Daniel, and since when you become this soft, Jieun?” Myungsoo taunted. “You are a terrible friend, Myungsoo,” She scoffed.

“No, Jieun, I am just proposing what we have been doing for years, yeah, surprise, we are the bad guys, a bunch of terrible person with even more ed up minds and even though there is a whole lot of another level of ed up bad, but we are worse than the majority of people,” Myungsoo blurted out. “I’ll think about it,” Jieun snapped out of the blue, which caused Myungsoo a little taken aback since he thought he would have to do a little more push.

“Goodness, this is so dumb, having feelings are so dumb,” Jieun complained afterward, which caused Myungsoo to burst into a laugh. “It’s good, use it well, feel it well, enjoy it, Jieun, this kind of chance doesn’t come a lot,” Myungsoo replied instead. “And like I said, Daniel is not bad,” He added.

“He’s bad, Myungsoo, at least for me,”

---

Kwon Jieun remembered clearly the conversation she had with Myungsoo in Busan which caused her to constantly asking herself since she stepped her feet to Seoul – whether she is doing it with Daniel just for the sake of making sure that Daniel won’t choose the other side or it was because Jieun, genuinely, like him – she was pretty convinced that she was in the middle of both, and that’s when she knew she is kind of screwed.

She wanted to confirm her slight inside turmoil by facing the particular boy, but Daniel hasn’t been around since he left the day after they arrived at Seoul and it has been three days since then – Daniel said that he needed time with s since almost all of them have gathered already, and Kwon Jieun never felt more helpless than that, she must admit that dealing with actual feelings is another thing that is not her virtue.

“Hey,” The boy greeted Jieun when she opened the door of her apartment – Daniel was standing there rather awkwardly and keeps fidgeting as he gave her a slight smile. “I’m back?” He announced afterward. “Okay.” She nodded slightly, not knowing exactly what to say. “Why are you so quite?” Jieun asked when Daniel didn’t reply her.

“I’m thinking about what to say, since you know, uh, it just hit me recently that you, basically saying yes to my request about going out with me, you know,” Daniel blabbered and inverted his gaze to somewhere else. “Well that’s cute.” She smirked in amusement as she leaned the side of her body to her doorframe. “Are you nervous?” Jieun raised her eyebrow. “Yeah, kind of.” Daniel let out a shaky chuckle.

“This is your idea, Daniel,” Jieun added. “It’s kind of part yours too,” Daniel replied instead. “But it’s mostly yours,” Jieun snapped as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I’m going back inside by the way, what are you doing here? I thought you asked Jiyong to give you like a full week off or something?” Jieun raised her eyebrow. “I miss you?” Daniel scratched the back of his hair while grinning.

“Yeah? What are you going to do about it?” Jieun smiled slightly. “That’s why I’m here, I am going to spend the rest of the day with you or not, like spend a really long time with until you are sick of seeing me,” Daniel blabbered again, still smiling widely. “That sounds terrible,” Jieun snorted. “Which is why that is perfect,” Daniel said as he suddenly pulled her arm so it linked with his. “We are going to be this close, so it will make up for the time when I didn’t see you.” He smiled proudly as he nuzzled his face to her shoulder.

“I kind of want an ice cream,” Jieun replied and Daniel immediately beamed at the suggestion. “But I wanted to stay at home,” She added nonchalantly and that’s when Daniel’s face lighten up even more. “That’s a really great idea, we could stay at your apartment all day, doing the most domestic things you could imagine, like cooking together, watch some rom-com movies, take a bath together –,”. “I suddenly am not interested at the idea anymore.” Jieun cut in immediately as she unlinked her arm.

“I’ll shut up, I’ll shut up,” Daniel snapped with a grin. “Can I come in?” He asked as his eyes formed a crescent. “Uh, what will you do if I said no though?” Jieun raised her eyebrow in amusement. “I’ll wait in front of your door until you took a pity on me and let me in,” Daniel answered rather excitedly. “That’s not a really wise choice, Daniel.” Jieun shook her head but nonetheless pushed away the door so the latter could come inside.

“Wise or not, as long as you let me in, then it’s enough.” Daniel grinned nonchalantly. “You are not going to talk like that for the whole day, right? Because I would like to pass today without getting anymore irritated than I already am,” Jieun snapped as she closed the door behind them, which Daniel smirked immediately as he suddenly took a couple step closer to her which caused her to be trapped between the door and his body.

“Of course not, now why would I want to annoy you, princess?” Daniel chuckled in his husky voice, which Jieun only replied with a slight groan. “I hate your double personality, Daniel, it’s almost like you are bipolar or something,” Jieun said as she tried to push the latter away. “Liar, you like it, pretty,” Daniel said as he lifted her chin with his point finger and immediately pressed his lips on hers before he lifted her whole body up and leaned her to the door for support without breaking their kiss.

Jieun was busy trying to circle her hands around Daniel’s neck when Daniel moved his lips to the crook of her neck before the sound of doorbell distracted both them. He immediately lifted his head and gently put Jieun down as they both stared at each other in daze before another ding brought them back to their sense.

“Later, we do it later,” Daniel whispered in a low tone – which she replied with an amused smile and a nod – before leaving a kiss on the top of her head and opened the door behind them.

Daniel wasn’t sure on how to react when he found no other than Park Chanyeol standing in front while they both pretty much looked like a subtle mess. “Chanyeol,” Jieun called out first when Daniel was too speechless. “What are you doing here?” She added. “What is he doing here?” Chanyeol asked instead as he pointed at Daniel, his eyes were burning red. “That is none of your business, Chanyeol,” She snapped immediately as she pushed Daniel slightly further inside, just in case – even though Daniel stayed on his exact position, just in case too.

“Trust me, Jieun, it’s about to become my business from now on,” Chanyeol hissed.

“You are getting on my nerves lately, Chanyeol, I know you were there in Busan, because you and your nosy ,” Jieun scoffed back as she literally pushed Daniel again back inside while closing the door as then she was outside alone with Chanyeol. “ me? No, Jieun, that boy inside is the one that can himself.” Chanyeol gritted his teeth. “I am just trying to protect you,” He added afterward.

“Stop with that bull, Chanyeol, that’s Daniel’s job because he’s the one that Jiyong hired to be my bodyguard,” Jieun sneered. “Why are you defensing him so much? Are you two like what, dating?” Chanyeol snapped back with a mocking tone that Jieun replied with a definite silence. “No,” Chanyeol gasped when the latter turned away her head. “Jieun, no,” Chanyeol repeated.

“What? I can date whoever I want,” Jieun said nonchalantly. “Well, anyone except Kang Daniel,” Chanyeol scoffed back. “Or except anyone for the final line up for this matter,” He continued with a whisper which Jieun let out a slight scoff as the response. “Chanyeol,”. “Don’t bother, Jieun,” Chanyeol snapped almost too immediately. “Don’t trust them, every inch of their word, or their action, or their request, don’t ing trust them,” He added with a hiss.

“Especially, do not trust Kang Daniel,”.

---

Kwon Jieun didn’t talk much after Chanyeol went home, or when Daniel complained about never pushed him away like that ever again, even though he stopped ranting when Jieun pulled him into the couch and simply laid her head on his chest before she told him to shut up. They did watch a 90’s movie on the television that night, ordered some Chinese take-out before Jieun let Daniel to carry her to her bed after everything.

She didn’t exactly remember every detail about the night before when she woke up, but when the first thing she saw was Daniel’s chest, she kind of recalled more things. Daniel tighten his hug around her body all of the sudden, signaling that he was awake already. “Morning,” He let out a mutter as he placed his chin on the top of her head, which made her even more squished to his chest.

“I can’t breath, Daniel,” Jieun protested but didn’t move nonetheless and neither did Daniel. “Hm,” Daniel let out another soft mutter before he placed a deep kiss on the crown of her head. “You smell nice in the morning,” He commented afterward. “Just in the morning? I must say that I’m flattered.” Jieun let out a sneer. “No, I just haven’t got a chance to smell you each hour of the day, but we have a lot of time, so,” Daniel replied with a small laugh.

“Can we like, do another domestic things, like making breakfast together? I mean, that’s the only right thing to do after waking up together like this, you know, you can mess with me when I tried to fry some eggs, so I will just lift you up at the counter and told you to stay put for awhile before I –.” “You read too much young adult novels, Daniel, we are not doing any of that nonsense,” Jieun cut in.

“Oh, we can actually do anything, as long as I’m doing it with you,” Daniel said as he pulled away from her a little bit just to smile at her. Jieun was about to throw another sarcastic remarks but decided to keep it to herself a second later before she his hair lightly – well, okay, maybe Jieun has to admit that she kind of like the second reason, which is that she maybe genuinely like Daniel, better.

They ended up eating cereal as breakfast when Daniel announced that he was meeting the other again that afternoon. “I’ll be back tonight,” Daniel said as he ruffled her hair slightly which she replied with unimpressed look. “You look cute when you are sulking,” He added when she didn’t response. “Who said I was sulking?” Jieun raised her eyebrow nonchalantly. “You don’t have to say it for me to know.” Daniel chuckled instead.

Daniel left an hour later after forcing Jieun to shower together that Jieun only replied with an absolute no before he gave up asking. When it was about to hit the lunch, Jieun heard another doorbell when she was about to leave for work. She was rather confuse about who was coming but immediately frowned when she again, found the Park Chanyeol standing in front of the door. Jieun was about to shut the door before a figure held it – the very familiar figure that Jieun would recognize anywhere even with her eyes shut.

“Let him the in,”.

---

“First of all, Kwon Jieun.” Kwon Jiyong was mad – maybe mad is kind of an understatement, Kwon Jiyong was furious. “When I said that Daniel is not bad, it is out of courtesy and I didn’t ing meant it for you to actually date him,” Jiyong raised his voice which made Jieun rolled her eyes and mouthed snitch to Chanyeol and Myungsoo who was apparently there too, which Chanyeol only shrugged in response.

“None of them should be trusted until we can confirmed which side they are playing, Kwon Jieun, which part of that did you not understand?” Jiyong snapped. “Relationship can be built without trust,” Jieun deadpanned – she knows it herself that it was a complete bull. “What the is that nonsense now? Relationship without trust means that you are just ing around with him, it made him your ,” Jiyong retorted. “Okay, you can stop right there, Jiyong,” Jieun hissed back.

“Oh my goodness, you really do like him,” Jiyong suddenly spoke up which caused Jieun lost her words. “Tell her, Chanyeol,” Jiyong suddenly added as he signaled Chanyeol to talk before he leaned to one of the wall, palming his forehead. “I’ll tell you from the beginning,” Chanyeol spoke up for the first time. “Hold the up, how did Chanyeol suddenly know about all of this?” Jieun snapped.

“Because that’s what you get when you didn’t let your feelings involved, Jieun and actually researched about this whole final line up thing who actually have the name of Wanna One,” Jiyong replied nonchalantly. “In just three days?” Jieun was the one who raised her voice this time. “The point lays on having connection, Jieun, that’s what you get when you actually socialized with people properly, not just for stealing information,” Chanyeol replied.

“Oh, okay, the great Chanyeol, elaborate the stupid and anti-social me then,” Jieun scoffed. “Ha Sungwoon,” Chanyeol mentioned a name as he opened the file and handed her a picture of a man. “He’s the eleventh member of Wanna One, the last to get in,” Chanyeol continued. “An original member of a group called Hotshot, have the largest connection among the eleven members, is friends with everyone, including Suho hyung,” Chanyeol added.

“Sunggyu hyung too,” Myungsoo spoke up for the first time. “You shut up, Myungsoo, this whole dating thing is your idea to begin with.” Jieun glared at the latter, which made Jiyong also threw a glare at the younger. “We’ll deal with that thing later one, moving on,” Jiyong declared afterward. “You know that didn’t explain on how you managed to get all of their information? Did Ha Sungwoon just give you all of this?” Jieun raised her eyebrow.

“Technically yes.” Chanyeol shrugged. “Because you are his friends?” Jieun snorted in disbelief. “Yes,” Chanyeol answered nonchalantly. “Well, more less, I just need Sehun and Minseok hyung to kind of help to hijacked his system for a bit, to get to the actual syndicate that is after them, and yeah, the stuffs go on for like a full day, but nonetheless.” Chanyeol ended by putting the whole file on the table just to prove his point.

“Does Ha Sungwoon know? That someone is after them?” Jieun studied the picture again. “Of course, you know the Hotshot’s leader, No Taehyun, is doing everything to conceal Sungwoon’s existence,” Chanyeol replied. “Does he know that the rest of this Wanna One members is looking for him?” Jieun said as she put the picture on the table. “More less, but Taehyun insisted that maybe Sungwoon staying with them is the best option.” Chanyeol shrugged nonchalantly. “Why?” Jieun raised her eyebrow. “Patience, Jieun, this is where it get more ed up interesting,” Jiyong suddenly snapped.

“Do you know why Bae Jinyoung ranked tenth on the final line up when he looked like the most normal boy next door?” Chanyeol said as he handed Jieun another picture as Jieun as she let out a deep breath. “I know you know they are supposed to be good at every ing thing to be added on the final line up, but they of course have a certain special skill to benefit the team or the syndicate behind them, right?” Chanyeol added nonchalantly.

“Why?” Jieun asked as she threw Jinyoung’s photo to the glass table. “Oh, because that boy never miss a shot, Jieun,” Chanyeol replied. “Oh, you know Lai Guanlin, the youngest of Wanna One,” Chanyeol said as he handed Jieun another picture. “He’s good at hacking since the first week, he can practically hack everything and every device, doesn’t matter where they are, he’s a perfect tech guy,” Chanyeol continued.

“Safe the rest for the later though, just show her that,” Jiyong said out of the blue. “Hyung, let me do one more,” Chanyeol actually replied which Jiyong responded with a sigh and a nod of agreement.

“Kang Daniel.” Chanyeol pulled out a couple of Daniel’s pictures and laid it on the table one by one. “Ranked first in Wanna One, good at technically every ing thing, he was perfectly trained, great physical, but do you know what he do the best?” Chanyeol paused just for the sake of the dramatic silence.

“He’s a hustler, Jieun, he’s a damn smooth talker,” Chanyeol finally said. “This boy didn’t starve on the street nor struggle when he was at the dance academy, he just keep his money low but he always have it, and yes, by what? Manipulating people,” Chanyeol continued. “The day he was kicked out from his apartment is not because he didn’t have money, but for the sake of covering his tracks from the syndicate,” He explained.

“Jiyong hyung found him out of luck, and now here he is.” Chanyeol threw his hands to the air. “We all do that, what the is wrong with all of that honestly, Chanyeol? Stop making it sound like what they do is wrong when we basically do all of that in our daily life,” Jieun deadpanned. “Yeah, well, I must admit that this is one hell of a great team to become our asset if they are on our side.” Chanyeol shrugged nonchalantly.

“Myungsoo,” Jiyong called out all of the sudden, which made Myungsoo cleared his throat. “They were called the Iris Syndicate, formed by unknown, lead by unknown, we have a name but we don’t have the profile,” Myungsoo spoke up. “They own the full ownership of Wanna One,” Myungsoo continued. “But, as you know, these eleven people don’t really want to go back to them so they chase after them,” Myungsoo said.

“The plan was to seek for our protection without them actually asking for it, more like, we have to be the one who gathered all of them one by one, without knowing their names, or their skills, or anything, so they won’t go against the contract,” Jiyong added. “We have been speculating where their base is since Jiyong picked up Daniel,” Myungsoo said.

“So, two days ago, I sent Sungyeol to go to one of the highly speculated area, and I didn’t honestly expect anything, but instead he came home with that,” Myungsoo said as he pointed at the pictures Chanyeol was handing to Jieun, which she took half-heartedly, knowing that it is going to be bad, that everything is about to go down the second she take a look at the pictures, that whatever it is left of her for Daniel will highly be gone too.

“You know who is that, right?” Jiyong asked when Jieun studied the picture carefully – the way the man in the picture entered the building without any kind of force or any kind of other men dragging him inside. He looked the same like he always do, clean and still too attractive to be involved in such a felony industry.

After all, Ong Seongwoo is always hard to miss.

(A/N) I know there might be some confusion about Hotshot's leader, I know the original leader is Choi Junhyuk, but I made Taehyun the leader in this story. I hope you don't mind about this change, but if you do, please don't hesitate to tell me on the comments down below and I will change it back to Junhyuk :)) Thankyou and I hope you enjoy the chapter! <3

yours truly, karoines.