Kang Daniel was just watching some random news channel at the headquarter lounge room when Kwon Jieun came. “I thought you won’t be living here any longer,” She said as soon as she spotted the latter on the couch. “Ah, about that, Seongwoo hyung’s apartment is actually only a studio unit so it will be too cramped if I move in with him,” Daniel explained. “If Ong Seongwoo could manage to afford even a small studio apartment then why can’t you?” Jieun raised her eyebrow.

“I’m actually offended by that.” He frowned. “I’m just asking.” Jieun shrugged as she placed herself to sit beside him. “He makes more money than I am, okay? Modeling at some magazine pays you more than participating at random dancing competition,” Daniel snorted. “At least, you make a decent amount of money now,” Jieun deadpanned. “Speaking of money, why aren’t you making some right now?” He asked instead.

“You really don’t know how this works, do you?” Jieun replied lazily as Daniel shook his head almost immediately. “Don’t lie to me, you were trained to do this, Daniel,” Jieun continued. “Is it because someone is after me?” He guessed. “Don’t flatter yourself too much, Daniel, we just take turn in doing transaction, Jiyong might have made us invincible, but we still need to do things low-key by sticking to the schedule,” She explained, as Daniel nodded.

“I mean, you make more money that could last for years in a week, to be very honest,” He said nonchalantly. “That’s right, dirty occupation comes with a huge amount of cash indeed,” She replied flatly. “The world is dirty, Jieun, everyone does nasty works behind the scene at some point,” He commented. “The world is indeed unpleasant, Daniel, but a person always have a privilege to choose.” She sighed.

“I was never given that privilege, Jieun, people like me just take whatever the world offered us.” Daniel let out a bitter smile. “I’ve told you that that kind of smile looks ugly on you, Daniel,” She replied instead. “Really can’t help it when we were talking about life’s unfairness.” He let out a small chuckle afterward. “Were you given another option when you were about to enter this corrupted job?” He asked.

“I did, because Jiyong never really like the fact that I am a part of the league,” She snorted. “Can’t blame him though, if I ever had a little sister, I would never, never ever, let her even think about it.” Daniel laughed – Jieun still doesn’t understand how Daniel could laugh at the most random sentence, but she doesn’t hate it – she doesn’t hate the fact that he actually covers all the happiness for both of them. “Because she is a girl?” Jieun raised her eyebrow skeptically.

“Because she’s a family, she is someone I need to protect and love and I won’t be able to forgive myself if something happened to her because I let her inside this crooked industry, and that’s probably what Jiyong-ssi thought too.” He smiled while ranting at the same time. “That’s so corny, Daniel.” Jieun shook her head nonchalantly. “But that’s the truth though? Jiyong-ssi will most probably agree with me,”.

Before Jieun could response, the door was swung open by no other than Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Minseok as they entered the lounge. “Guess who’s having another party to flaunt their power and success? That’s right people, the one and only, Kwon Jiyong,” Baekhyun shouted happily but the moment he realized that there were only two people in the room, he pouted almost immediately. “Where is the other and why are you both sitting so close?” Baekhyun raised his eyebrow – Daniel retreat slightly when Chanyeol subtly shot him a death glare.

“What are you talking about, Baekhyun? They are still too much far away from each other in my very own opinion.” Minseok smirked at Jieun, who rolled her eyes at the remark. “Ha, maybe they have a different perspective of distance in Taipei, and oh, yeah, this is Minseok hyung, Daniel, he just landed this morning.” Baekhyun pointed at the older male with a smile, as the latter waved at Daniel.

“What party?” Jieun said hastily in order to save herself for getting humiliated more by Minseok. “The usual, he said that he needs to meet some people,” Chanyeol replied and shrugged. “Any idea of who he might be meeting?” Chanyeol added as he placed himself beside Jieun. “Chanyeol, he didn’t even consult about getting me Daniel, so why do you think would he tell me that kind of stuff?” Jieun deadpanned. “Oh, I requested that we bring back the rule of bringing plus one for us,” Baekhyun suddenly said.

“Really? Don’t you remember why we erase that rule for us in the first place?” Jieun raised her eyebrow in disbelief. “Well, maybe this time you could bring someone who you could actually act civil and friendly with for a good consecutive three hours, you know you and Lee Sungyeol can’t do that for real,” Baekhyun snapped. “And I need to see girls, you know, mingling.” Baekhyun wriggled his eyebrow.

“You know sometimes you don’t have to look that far, I mean, you can always pick any of us, but not Lee Sungyeol, for sake,” Baekhyun added. “Like you?” Jieun scoffed. “Of course not, Jieun, I just said that I need to see other girls,” Baekhyun snorted. “You know if we are talking about who I can tolerate for more than a good three hours, then it’s kind of pretty obvious,” Jieun stated as she stood up from the couch.

“Daniel, let’s go working,” Jieun said as Daniel raised his eyebrow in reply – but he got up nonetheless without questioning her. “I’ll tell you when I found my plus one, Baek,” Jieun said the last time before she waved the three of them goodbye.

“Thank you for killing my chance in advance, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol hissed at his friend – Minseok was busy laughing at his statement. “What? If there is any of my intention, that is to get you a date with her? You should’ve asked her right away,” Baekhyun retorted. “I will ing kill you if she ended up bringing her bodyguard,” Chanyeol huffed in annoyance.

“Guys, I am actually brave enough to bet all of my fortune that she is bringing Daniel.” Minseok was still laughing. “Shut up, hyung, and Chanyeol, listen to me, you are better than Kang Daniel so you get your into work and ask her instead,” Baekhyun snapped.

“You are taller, first of all, wealthier, more established, more skilled, and you know her longer than Daniel,” Baekhyun added, hoping that it will encourage his best friend. “Agree, but listen, not trying to make you even more depressed or anything, Chanyeol, but don’t you think all of that is useless if Daniel could make her more comfortable around him than anything?” Minseok deadpanned and Baekhyun immediately shot him his deathliest glare while murmuring, “For real, shut it, hyung,”. Chanyeol then frowned even deeper.

“You are going to be so dead, Baekhyun,”.

---

“Do I have to go to the party?” Daniel suddenly asked. They were then in Myungsoo’s penthouse that he shares with his group as their home – turned out when Jieun said that they were going to work, means working on finding the final line up with Myungsoo, who was then out to get some drinks. “Everyone is obligated to go to the party, Daniel, in one way, it shows how massive Jiyong’s connection is, and I wouldn’t really called it a party, more like social gathering,” Jieun explained.

“Same thing, Jieun, and do we really have to bring a plus one?” Daniel raised his eyebrow. “No, the last time we have that rule, I fought with my partner, so yeah,” Jieun shrugged. “What’s the matter?” She added when she found the latter was fidgeting. “I’m not really good at communicating with a lot of people,” Daniel admitted. “Nonsense, Daniel, you are better than me at least, talking with people casually is not my virtue, but it’s yours, honestly, do you really think you are unsociable,” Jieun replied.

“It will a room full of professional criminals, you know, I’m not good, with that.” Daniel sighed. “Don’t worry, I am not going to let them go near you then.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Are you asking me to be your plus one?” He smirked all of the sudden and the nervousness he emitted earlier went away just like that. “I’m not implying anything,” She replied nonchalantly – but Daniel really, really couldn’t miss how the latter flustered by his question.

“I would like to be your plus one, by the way.” He grinned cheekily. “It’s not plus one if you are also invited, Daniel.” She sighed. “Then, I would like to be your date, Jieun.” He smiled this time – the smile that made his eyes disappears – Jieun wanted to die when she actually could feel her cheek burning. “Uh, okay, yeah, I’m okay with that, at least we won’t embarrassed Jiyong like me and Sungyeol did the last time.” Jieun let out a nervous laugh to hide her stutter.

And by that, it was Daniel’s turn who have his heart beat faster than he should, in all honesty, Jieun never really laugh if it wasn’t a sarcastic laugh – so when she let out another kind of laugh, Daniel completely went off guard. “We won’t,” He replied nonetheless. “I’ll make sure that I will behave so you could tolerate me,” He added with a grin.

“You don’t really have to do anything for me to tolerate you, honestly,” She muttered, but loud enough for Daniel to hear – and he almost gasped. “Because, uh, of course, because we have been stuck together for who-knows how many hours already so, yeah, doesn’t really need any effort for me to tolerate you, yeah,” She blabbered instead and Daniel just chuckled as the response.

“By the way, about the Taipei boy –,”. “Do you think Chanyeol-ssi will go after me though?” They both spoke up in unison all of the sudden. “You mean Guanlin?”. “Why would Chanyeol do that?”. Jieun let out a long sigh when they both replied each other at the same time, again and signaled Daniel to talk first. “He looked like he was about to ask you to be his plus one?” He asked hesitantly.

“If he wanted to ask me then he will do that earlier, so it’s not your fault.” Jieun shrugged. “I mean you can go with him if you wanted too and if he asked later on, I mean, not that I don’t want to go with you, but yeah, I can watch you from afar? Okay, that came out really weird,” Daniel commented. “Don’t take this in any other way, like I’m saying because I really don’t know how to express this in any other word, okay?” Jieun suddenly said and he nodded right away.

“I will still choose to go with you,”.

---

“Where the hell is Daniel?” Jieun said when she barged into her brother’s office that afternoon.

“Granted him a day off since he nicely asked for it and why are you looking so stressed not having him around? I am glad that you finally took some interest at keeping your bodyguard but I’m starting to think all I did is a matchmaking instead which I cannot say that I completely agree with that kind of – , that really hurts, I am going to hide this stupid tissue box whenever you are around,”.

Kwon Jiyong looked pissed as when Kwon Jieun glared at him from across his desk and throwing the box again. “Why?” Jieun asked stoically. “Because he asked nicely for it and a ing reward since he broke the record of not getting killed by you even after two weeks being around you,” Jiyong snapped. “Okay, that is a very kind of you but why?” Jieun emphasized the question. “You told me to find those eleven boys and if you knew something about it then you should tell me,” She added then with a sigh.

“Did you tell me when you met Ong Seongwoo?” Jiyong raised his eyebrow in amusement. “It was supposed to be a surprise.” Jieun grinned sarcastically.

“Well then, I also have a surprise for you,” Jiyong replied with the same grin. “Don’t you think it will be much easier if we don’t hide anything from each other?” Jieun raised her eyebrow. “Deal,” Jiyong replied almost too immediately. “Yah, you don’t agree to something that fast, Jiyong, I am really serious about not keeping secrets from each other,” Jieun said and it almost sounded like a whine.

“I said yes, Jieun, okay? You are right, if we are going to find this eleven people than we shouldn’t have any more unexpected surprises from each other,” Jiyong replied and Jieun swore that he sounded so genuine that it was borderline scary. “Anyway,” Jiyong added as he pulled out his phone. “This hasn’t been moving since this morning after he asked for a day off.” Jiyong pointed out at the red dot on the screen.

“Jiyong, Daniel is highly trained and you know that, it should be too easy for him just to remove a tracker device, wherever you put it,” Jieun replied nonchalantly. “Although, I am very curious why he did that,” She continued as she leaned forward to her brother. “How high is it the probability of him using us back to gather everyone on the final line up or something else?” Jiyong deadpanned. “As much as you are using him to lead you to those people behind all of it,” Jieun replied nonchalantly.

“Do you honestly think so lowly of my bodyguard, Jiyong? I mean, you should know better than I am since you picked him.” Jieun tilted her head in amusement. “No, Jieun, I know he is not stupid, and his intentions are unclear, that’s why I need to keep him close,” Jiyong replied. “Great, because we are on the same page,” Jieun said as she pulled out her phone and pushed it to his direction.

“You seriously planted another tracker on him.” Jiyong grinned in amusement as he saw a moving red-dot. “Ong Seongwoo too,” Jieun added. “But come think of it, what if he wanted us to be the one who gather all of them? We know that someone is after them, what if they are looking for, I don’t know, safety?” Jiyong furrowed his eyebrow. “That is one of the probability, right?” Jieun replied instead.

“Speaking of probability though, how high is the chance of someone from Taipei is targeting me?” Jieun asked afterward.

“Not you, it’s Daniel, by the way, different people from the one who hijacked your car, they made it seems like they are after you so it won’t be too obvious, Daniel have something they wanted,” Jiyong explained. “Lai Guanlin,” Jieun commented. “His location precisely, nobody knows why or what he did to them, but Lai Guanlin is a scapegoat,” Jiyong replied.

“He’s one from the eleven,” Jieun stated and Jiyong nodded in understanding. “Seems like Daniel shared a lot to you, huh?” Jiyong grinned. “Barely, Jiyong, he only talks about them when he needed to, I am not that dense to actually realize that,” Jieun scoffed. “Then do something about it,” Jiyong said as he tapped at the screen where the red-dot was moving.

“If he’s doing all of this to meet just Ong Seongwoo, I’m going to kill him for wasting my time,” She hissed at Jiyong as she snatched her phone. “Then, who will you take to my party?” Jiyong wriggled his eyebrow playfully and Jieun was about to grab the tissue box again before Jiyong swat it away. “I mean, I know you don’t fully trust him but you obviously being super nice to him, don’t you?” He grinned cheekily.

“Shut the up, Jiyong,”.

---

Kwon Jieun, in her life, never really questions someone so much, she literally gave zero to anyone but Kang Daniel is something new – it’s like she just discovered a new species of human who grinned even though they were being serious, who laughed even when Jieun said something sarcastic, who literally made of ing sunshine and storm at the same time.

Kang Daniel, despite behind every smile that looks like he is a leaking sunlight, was once shaped to be dark and heartless.

In other word, Daniel is probably the most confusing person that Jieun have to deal with and it bothers her – it bothers her that Daniel actually made her doubt her sense most of the time since he arrived. So when she actually considered about peacefully entered the apartment in front of her instead of doing her usual routine of barging rudely into one, she knows she was screwed.

She actually decided to knock like a civil person and it was not a second later when a tall man with a smile, which was gone a spilt second later when he found Kwon Jieun, leaning casually on his doorframe with a slight smirk on her face. “You don’t disappoint me, Hwang Minhyun,” Jieun said – she thanked the universe that she doesn’t have to kill Daniel yet because she just found another one other than Ong Seongwoo that easy.

“Who are you? How did you know my name?” Hwang Minhyun obviously was taken aback, she could tell by how wide his eyes became. “We both know you know who I am, since it painfully obvious that someone is here to tell you all about me and my league, is he not?” Jieun replied, unimpressed. “Am I not right, Daniel?” Jieun called out with a louder voice, making sure that anyone inside that apartment could hear her voice.

“I’ll deal with her, hyung.” Daniel came out a couple of second later, tapping at Minhyun’s shoulder like an assuring action.

“Deal with me, huh? You keep surprising me every ing day, Daniel.” She smirked when Daniel closed the door behind them. “So, the new tracker is yours,” Daniel replied as he took a step forward and hell, Jieun didn’t want to took a step back but Daniel was not grinning or smiling right then, he was smirking and boy, Jieun was too taken aback to even stand straight that moment.

“Obviously, you need more than one since you seem to have outsmarted my brother,” She murmured and by the time she got her sense back, she was already trapped between the wall and Daniel, who had one of his hand placed against the wall beside her. “Miss me that much, Jieun?” Daniel raised his eyebrow – Jieun resolute that she most probably likes cheerful and harmless Daniel more than mischievously dangerous Daniel. “Flattering yourself too much, Daniel?” Jieun replied with the same smirk.

“Mind telling me about the possible mini gathering you held inside?” She added. “I was simply invited.” Daniel shrugged. “That secluded?” It was more like a statement than a question from her but Daniel answered yes nonetheless. “Is Lai Guanlin inside too?” She raised her eyebrow in anticipation. “He is safe for now, but we decided that no public seeing just yet until we found out who was trying to put him into a bidding,” Daniel said sternly.

“Say hi to him for me, Niel.” She half-smiled as she slightly pushed away Daniel so she wasn’t trapped anymore. “How many have you found already? Ong Seongwoo, Hwang Minhyun, Lai Guanlin? Seems like you are doing fine without me? See, Daniel, I like it when you keep giving me new things to be curious of like this,” Jieun said as she took a step forward – she was so close to her bodyguard that she was able to feel his breath on her skin.

“What do you want exactly?” She asked in a low tone that it almost came out like a whisper that it actually sent shivers to Daniel’s skin. “Here’s my clear intention, Jieun, I am trying to keep myself alive, it goes the same to the other ten, you know they are coming after us,” Daniel paused. “And in order to clear my other intentions, we need to find the other seven first before we can decide, because after all, they want all of us, not just Kang Daniel,”.

“So before we decide, I am on your side, so does Minhyun hyung, Seongwoo hyung and Guanlin,” Daniel added at the end. “What happened if the day came and you decided not to be on my side any longer? I am not into that kind of disloyalty, Daniel,” She replied stoically. “Hell, Jieun, won’t you give me hell for that? Besides, think about it, why would the rest of us reject to be on the Black League’s side?” Daniel smirked as the latter broke into a sardonic laugh. “You know, if this going to make you feel any better,”.

“I already have a reason to stay,”.

(A/N) Sometimes I just need to channel my anger at the duality Daniel have between Daniel in real daily life and Daniel on the stage. 

I hope you enjoy the chapter! Will surely try to update soon <3

yours truly, karoines.