Chapter 3: Surveillance

Chan had trudged his way out of bed, following the muffled sounds of stammered wimbling seeping through clasped metal walkways. He entered the hallway which led to the entrance of Jihoon’s workshop, face cringing as the side-lights blared awake upon his presence.

The door to the main workshop whooshed shut, as Chan stood knocking his fist against a hollow chunk of metal, staring down with a scowl at the robot before him. “Yah, Hyung.”

Jihoon didn’t respond, a foot which peaked out from underneath the side of the Vulcans torso tapped along to the faint beat of his headphones while Chan stood by. he huffed, trying again. “Boss!”

His attempts to get Jihoon’s attention bounced off the Vulcan’s big stupid chest uselessly, so Chan settled with driving his foot into the side of its stomach, the crash ricocheting and startling Jihoon into slamming his forehead against the metal above him.

“Augh!”

Chan immediately winced, clutching his foot and hopping about as the pain faded. At least though, he’d gotten Jihoon’s attention.

He straightened up, biting back a cry as Jihoon began to roll out from underneath, rubbing at his forehead with oil-slick fingers.

“What the was that for, Chan?” He sat up, rubbing his palms against a soiled cloth, which did little against the stains.

He scoffed. “What, you thought you were just gonna come home and get back to work without telling me ? What happened last night? Did you find anything good?”

“More than good, Chan. Some idiot at the ball gave me the date and location of our next heist.” He pulled himself to his feet, bringing up a datafile on the computer, containing pages of information. “Voila!”

Chan read through, arms anchored against the back of Jihoon’s desk chair. “What?… Some random dude gave you all this? What did you do, sleep with him?”

“Of course not, Jesus.” He flicked him in the forehead, frowning. “And he didn’t give me all of this… Just enough that I could do the rest of the research myself. It was pretty easy to find, surprisingly.”

Chan chuckled, rubbing his forehead with a smirk. “What did you do to get it, then? I’d imagine anyone with ties to Hwang would be told pretty clearly to keep things hush hush, especially the details of his precious daughter’s birthday.”

Despite scowling, Jihoon felt his face flushing as he thought back to yesterday. “It doesn’t matter how I got it. Maybe I slipped a 10,000 won bill into his pants and danced the hokey pokey, it got us our so shut up.”

“… Did you really?”

“ you, of course not. Now look at this map and make yourself useful, kid.”

Chan chuckled, pulling up a stool and zooming in and out on bit’s of the property. “This place is huge…”

“Yeah, I know. The sheer size should give me a variety of safe entrance points. Unfortunately, we have no way to know the routs of his staff and security, and the map doesn’t show the outline of security camera’s.” He clicked a button, bringing up the underground layout of the building up, overlaid on the map. “What do you think?”

“That man must pay a fortune for water bills.”

Jihoon huffed, giving Chan a light smack on the side of his head. “Focus, Channie. I have a few options this time around. Here,” he pointed, “is the lowest floor of the building, where the laundry room is. Only the maids go down there, but I’d imagine it has a lot of camera’s as well.”

He pointed to another spot, outside the house. “Here is the main fountain, it’s huge enough that I could probably drill an entrance through the pipes without being noticed, but it’s also where the guests will be entering. The media and security will be tight.” He zoomed out, rubbing his temple. “There’s a few other spots, but I see flaws in all of them. Either there’s too many camera’s or too many people. I need to be more careful this time, I can’t risk getting caught before we get what we need.”

Chan hummed. Scanning over the map, focusing on one section with a click of the mouse. “What about here?”

“The bathroom?” Jihoon raised an eyebrow.

“From the looks of it, it’s the main bathroom. Very flashy, very big. There’s a statue in the very center, see?. It’s connected to a major pipeline, which means it must shoot water or something.” He flipped the viewpoint to bring up the 3d model. “It’s ing huge, about 10 feet tall. If it’s a fountain of some type, the inside should be mainly hallowed, so I bet you could drill your way into it. Then you’d have a pretty solid place to stake out until it’s time to strike.” Chan gave Jihoon a smug look. “Plus, unless Hwang is some kind of a ert, I doubt there will be camera’s in there.”

Jihoon ran his fingers against his chin, leaving black streaks of oil as he considered. “You know, that’s not a half bad plan. How the am I supposed to get out of there without setting off alarms, though?”

“Well, you still haven’t told me exactly what’s happening, Hyung… Where’s the party going to be focused?”

He sighed. “The main floor. Partially in the dining hall, but mostly the ballroom.”

“The have a ballroom?” He gaped.

“Yeah, Chan. They’re filthy rich, can we get over it? Basically, I need to figure out where the little miss of the house is going to be when I get there. If I can get to her before anybody else see’s me, the plan should go without a hitch.” He pointed to an upper floor. “Here’s her bedroom, so she’ll likely take this path when she makes her entrance.”

“But what are you gonna do? I still don’t get how scaring the out of Hwang’s daughter is gonna help us.”

Jihoon smirked, running a hand along the screen, where Hwang’s daughter was pictured. “Lets just say, by the time I’m done with her, Hwang won’t be saying mansae.”

~

Seungcheol pulled his bowtie up to his neck, staring into the mirror with a frown as he inspected his appearance. This time around, he was playing his proper role in this whole dumb ordeal, as a bodyguard. Which, in hindsight, should be a good thing, since it meant he could avoid another awkward set-up by Mr. Hwang and his vexing young daughter.

On the other hand, it also meant he wouldn’t be able to mingle with any of the guests. God, and he had to wear these douchey sunglasses at all times, to top it all off. He let out a sigh as he ran his hand along the fabric of his suit jacket, mind wandering back to the feeling of soft skin against his palm.

He shouldn’t even be thinking about it, really. What he should be doing, is focusing on the fact that the Vulcan was likely going to show up uninvited tonight. He had to, that bastard hadn’t shown his face at any of the other event’s they’d assumed he might crash. The public Q&A, the meeting with Hwang’s important business associates, that rude son of a hadn’t even so much as dropped by. It was frustrating, partially because it left everyone in the city on edge, but mostly because until that decides to show up, Seungcheol was stuck playing dress-up with the Hwang's.

He’d never honestly wish the Vulcan would show up, that would be sick. People’s lives are at stake here, but…. Damn, couldn’t that guy just get this thing over with?

A knock against Seungcheol’s changing-room door tugged him out of his relentless grumbling, straightening up and continuing to idly fuss with his tie. “Come in.”

“Sergeant, I have the status report for tonight’s mission.” Jisoo entered carrying a clipboard of papers, smiling kindly as he approached.

“Okay, shoot.”

“The party will begin at 5:00pm, but guests are expected to start arriving as early as 4:00, and you are expected to be there well before. Mr. Hwang has requested you come at 12:00 at the latest.”

Seungcheol let out a frustrated breath. For what ungodly reason did he need him there 5 hours before the ing party? “Fine, what else should I know?”

He gave Seungcheol a slightly pitying look, flipping his page over. “Because this is the day our research team has deducted the Vulcan is most likely to strike, we are sending in our best members of the security team to act as Mr. Hwang’s staff. We have also set up hidden cameras throughout every inch of the property, and we have backup on call in case things go awry.” Jisoo lifted his hand, grinning. “Tonight’s the night we catch the Vulcan, I can feel it!”

Tentatively, Seungcheol gave his consultant a light high-five. “Right.”

“Oh, Sergeant, you-“

“Just call me Seungcheol for now, Jisoo.”

He cleared his throat, smile holding. “Of course, Seungcheol. You should have more confidence in yourself! This time the plan to catch him is full-proof. With our great Sergeant Coups leading the Calvary, what could go wrong?”

Seungcheol chuckled. Sure, who’s to say 48^th time isn’t the charm? “Thanks for the pep-talk, Jisoo. Anything else I should know?”

“Yes, well, you see… I’ve been informed to advise you on a change of attack method.”

“Huh?”

Jisoo flailed, shaking his hands in denial. “Not that your methods aren’t superb, Seungcheol. It’s just… The research team has a thesis which they would like you to put to play.”

Seungcheol raised an eyebrow, doubtful. “Well, what is it?”

“You see, during your last fight the media televised a large portion of the action, and they’ve noticed a pattern in the Vulcans defensice strategies.” He turned his clipboard towards Seungcheol. “See, every time you attack, the Vulcan puts specific parts of himself at risk. Retractable arms, legs, other bits which we don’t know the purpose of. The team thinks he does this to protect the main limbs. Here, see?”

Seungcheol leaned forward, staring at the highlighted arms and legs with a quizzical expression. Looking back, that did actually make sense. He'd always sort of just assumed any damage to the Vulcan was progress, not really caring which arm he tore off in the long-run.

“If tonight our deductions are correct, and you and the Vulcan fight... I’d advise that you ignore the extra legs, and go straight for his vital parts.”

Seungcheol nodded. “You got it, boss. I won’t let him slink away this time around, that’s for sure.”

Jisoo smirked. “Break a leg out there, Sergeant.”

~

Jihoon had never felt claustrophobic in his life. It was an unrealistic fear, seeing as he spent the majority of his career lying underneath giant robots, crawling through sewers, and curling up inside the chest of the Vulcan for indefinite periods of time. He was a lucky man for being born without that kind of a flaw, otherwise this very moment would be absolutely traumatic. It was a tight squeeze through the pipes, and finding his way through this ing labyrinth of nasty sewage was proving itself to be a .

At the point where the pipes became too tiny for the Vulcan to shove it’s 8-foot through, Jihoon triggered the drill in his hand, puncturing above him in such a manner as to not disrupt the workings of Hwang’s water system. If suddenly the sinks stopped working 5 hours before the party, Jihoon would be a deer in the headlights getting dug up by the maintenance crew.

He felt absolutely devilish for being this far ahead of the game. The quirks that came with having his personal identity separate from his villainous one were infinite. Only he would be able to-despite everyone expecting him to show up tonight-make his entrance a surprise.

He supposed this was partially thanks to Mr. Park, though.

Jihoon drilled his way up to the main garden fountain, creating a tunnel which stopped just before the concrete of it’s base. Exit point No. 1, in case the conflict ends up outside.

It hadn’t really been the plan to cozy up to a tall, dark… dare he say ‘handsome’, stranger that night. He’d actually brought a bug with him. It wouldn’t be simple, but he’d imagined bumping into Hwang on the dance floor and sticking the thing to the lapel of his suit would be suitable for listening in until an opportunity presented itself. But… Well, seeing that guy walk away from Hwang looking on the verge of committing murder, gave Jihoon a better idea.

And really, he shouldn’t have talked to anyone at that party, but was he glad he had. Getting information off of a guy with a sense of humor wasn’t completely unbearable, and it had given him everything they needed to make this a success. Plus, it wasn’t like he was actually going to meet Mr. Park again.

If they did meet, Jihoon had a feeling he wouldn’t be recognized past the whole giant metal suit thing.

The rest of the pre-planning went without a hitch. Three exit points were prepared: One beneath the basement, the fountain, and the main pool.

The main floor guest bathroom was, luckily, not blocked by the basement. Jihoon burrowed his way into the fountain with expert precision, creating a large hole through the bottom and hooking onto the circular plate of concrete as he crawled up into the statue. Once he was inside, the plate before him was pulled up and sealed back in place. He needed to pinpoint exactly where the little miss was hiding, but that would require a bit of hacking.

Luckily Jihoon still had 2 hours before the party began, and that was plenty of time to set up camp.

At 4:32pm, everything had been put into place. Jihoon twisted out, popping away a kink in his neck as he stretched as far as the confinements of the suit would allow. He wasn’t used to being in this thing for so long, it was on the verge of being painful.

After hacking into the wifi, the rest was simple. Hwang was a rich, cautious bastard, but he was also stupid. Jihoon had assumed his surveillance system would be on the IP system, so with a simple scan, and a quick search into Hwang’s computer history (which he will not be getting into the disgusting details of) Jihoon had found the exact model number of the camera’s he’d purchased. They had installed new ones recently, it would seem. A few more simple steps and scans, and Jihoon was left with full access to every single camera Hwang had set up. Here he could see staff routes, what Hwang was up to, where the guests were, etc. It turned out Dino had been wrong about there not being a camera in the bathroom, that nasty old man. It allowed him to see who was entering the bathroom, he supposed, but most importantly… he saw the little miss.

Jihoon coughed, feeling his face flush slightly as he turned away from the screen, giving the girl a little privacy while she changed into her party gown. He wasn’t a ert, it wasn’t his fault there was a camera in-what seemed to be-her changing room? Wasn’t Eunha only turning 19 today? It must have been her daddy dearest who set this one up, that ing e.

He peeked quickly first, letting out a relieved breath to see that she was decent, now talking to one of her bodyguards through the door. There was no use in hacking into the audio this time around, although being stuck here, he couldn't help but have his curiosity peaked by what he was watching. Body guards shouldn’t be allowed to enter her dressing room, should they? Wasn’t that a little too personal?

The man who had entered was moderately tall, in a dark suit, and some square-ish sunglasses which blocked Jihoon from getting a proper look at his face. What kind of a douche wears sunglasses inside? Was that his uniform or some ? Despite this, Jihoon found himself drawn to the two as they conversed. Eunha was smiling brightly, cozying up to the man in black in a flirtatious manner, brushing against him, pushing her s together to entice him. Mr. stoic looked hardly interested, but that could just be because he was working.

Interesting… Could it be that Eunha was in a relationship with her bodyguard? Jihoon took a screenshot on the picture before him, in case the information would come in handy later.

~

“Mr. Hwang asked me to walk you down, Eunha. We should go.”

Seungcheol felt himself growing increasingly agitated as Eunha held his bicep against her chest, smiling up with big brown eyes. Jesus, when was this girl going to get the hint?

“Mr. Park, before we go down… Could I ask something of you?”

He suppressed a sigh, leaving his face blank as a good bodyguard should. “Feel free.”

Eunha let go of Seungcheol’s arm, her flirtatious smile twitching into a frown as she stared down at the floor. “Today… promise me you won’t leave me alone.”

“It’s my job to protect you and your father, Eunha. I won’t let either of you get hurt.”

“But, the thing is, I overheard my father talking…” She looked up at him again, finally. “Promise me you won’t tell him I told you this.”

It wasn’t his job to share secrets with Eunha, however… he had been suspicious of Mr. Hwang for a long time now. “Cross my heart.” He did the motion across his chest, watching curiously as Eunha let out a breath of relief.

“My father is… He’s using me as bait tonight... I eavesdropped on his business meeting last night, he… he said.” Eunha shuddered, tears threatening to spill over as she spoke. “Th-they’re going to put me on a hook and-and dangle me in front of the Vulcan until he shows… That's what my father said. Hi-his exact words..”

Seungcheol gaped, taken back. “I’m sure he didn’t mean…”

“It’s true!” Eunha covered her face, feeling embarrassed. “I didn’t want to have my birthday party today, he insisted… All the information on this party was leaked online, and… God, I just can’t shake the feeling it was my father who put it there…” She wiped her eye, careful not to smear her makeup as she stared up at Seungcheol, pleading. “I’m so scared, Mr. Park… I just, I need you to promise me you won’t leave my side.”

Seungcheol felt his blood boiling, barely managing to suppress his need to soar through the walls and pummel Mr. Hwang into the floor. Unfortunately, that was going to have to wait until the Vulcan was dead in his hands, first. He put a comforting hold on Eunha’s shoulder, expression serious. “As long as I’m here, I won’t let the Vulcan lay a finger on you. I swear on it.”

She smiled, sniffing. “Thank you, I don’t know how I could repay you.”

“Your safety is all I wish for. No thanks necessary.”

Seungcheol followed close behind Eunha as she made her way down the grand staircase, smiling towards her father and her guests as if she hadn’t broken down just moments before. He felt awful, for having misjudged her before. Hwang must have told her to flirt with him for some other horrible scheme, how disgusting. It was all for his benefit, wasn’t it? Helping Mansae, the public announcements… Seungcheol had always gotten a bitter taste in his mouth from talking to him, but he hadn’t imagined it would be this bad.

Unfortunately for him, Seungcheol wasn’t going to step aside and allow Hwang to have his way. Not a ing chance.

He stuck close by as Eunha chatted with party-goers, conveniently ‘not noticing' Hwang’s gestures for him to approach. Eventually, he ceased his relentless arm flailing, walking over to talk to Seungcheol for himself.

Hwang cleared his throat. “Mr. park, a word?”

“Certainly.”

After Seungcheol hadn’t made move to follow him, Hwang’s annoyance was prevalent by the twitching of his eyebrows. “In private, now.”

Eunha exchanged a look with him, eyes wide.

“Ms. Hwang, I’ll keep you in my eye-line, so please wait here a moment.”

She hesitated, but eventually nodded. Seungcheol was glad that she trusted him, he wasn’t going to go far enough to put her in danger... He only needed to make it very clear to Hwang, that tonight was not going to run by his rules.

They stopped, a few feet out of the crowd for their chat. “Yes, sir?”

He smiled, one of the greasiest, most disgusting excuses of sincerity he had ever laid eyes on. “Mr. park, I have to ask that you don’t hover over my dear Eunha all night. It’s making the other guests feel uncomfortable. I want you to patrol the area outside, instead."

“No can do, sir. I Strongly believe Eunha’s safety is more important than the comfort of your guests, Mr. Hwang.”

Hwang’s smile dropped, the vein against his forehead threatening to burst. “Might I remind you that I’m paying you? You’re under my orders, Mr. Park. Or should I say S-“

Seungcheol held a hand over his mouth, silencing the man into a squeak of surprise as the grip around his jaw tightened. Seungcheol peered down at him, expression darkening into a threatening message behind his eyes, which now shun through the tint of his sunglasses, a chilling blue.

With a twitch of his fingers, Hwang’s jaw would become dust in his grip. It was that simple, and judging by the color draining from the man’s face, it had gotten across without fail. Seungcheol leaned in, smiling.

“Don't pay me. Your money is filthy, anyways.”

With that, he released him, leaving Hwang to gasp in air as he held a hand to the sore part around his jaw. Seungcheol returned to Eunha’s side, nodding to her with a smile as if to reassure her.

The party continued without a hitch. Hwang had been successfully scared less, and did his very best to stay out of Seungcheol’s way for the remainder of the night. Eunha seemed to relax as well, enough to properly ask Seungcheol to dance with her again. He didn’t refuse, seeing as there were no ulterior motives behind it this time around. Seungcheol, however, couldn’t shake the sickly feeling in his gut.

It was 7:00pm now… If the Vulcan was going to show up, shouldn’t he have done it by now?

“Mr. Park?” Eunha tugged at his sleeve, looking away with an embarrassed expression. I, uhm… I need to use the washroom.”

Seungcheol nodded, unfazed as he followed her.

“Can you wait outside the door?”

“Of course, I’ll be right here.”

Eunha felt her heart skipping as Park’s cold expression had melted into a comforting smile. Did that man realize how handsome he was? She could have sworn he was oblivious.

After taking care of her business, Eunha leaned against the sink, taking deep breaths as she stared into their elaborate, stupid excuse of a mirror. A ginormous mermaid statue, which held a mirror forward with hands the size of two heads, and spat water from for people to wash their hands.

This whole room gave her chills. Eunha had always had a strange feeling about the 10-foot, creature her father had built in the center of the bathroom… Although the hair was longer… She always sort of felt like the statue looked like her.

Eunha stared into the eyes of the statue, gulping under the odd sensation that she was being watched.

It was okay, she had to remind herself… As long as Mr. Park was here to protect her, everything was going to be okay.

She took a deep breath, shutting her eyes. When she had deemed herself relaxed enough to go back out there and enjoy the rest of the night, she sighed through a forced smile, staring into the gaze of the mermaid with a determined look.

It took her a moment to realize the statue had begun to crack.