There’s a thrill to riding the winds of the night. Tao has always loved it since before. The streets weren’t that crowded, so he could ride freely. The voice in his ear keeps on telling him which way to go, and he did as instructed. When the light turned red at the intersection, he engaged the brake and stopped, putting his right foot on the ground.

Whilst waiting for the green light to go, he went over the mission in his head. Go in. Assassinate him. Take the file. Get out. Why go through so much trouble for a file though? Meticulously following him from the restaurant and keeping an eye on him for the whole night, when Tao could just hack his way into his apartment and wait for him, then take his fingers and open the safe. Before Tao could think further, the red light turned green and he hurriedly disengaged the brakes and drift off.

He took a speed turn to the left, realizing he almost missed it due to his preoccupied thoughts. If the higher ups wanted him to follow the man for the whole night, that probably means the mission isn’t as simple as getting the file or killing the man. Then, maybe they wanted something else other than the file?

Tao could see the luxurious building appearing in his view, he sped up and passed the building. Looking around, he spotted an alleyway between two shops. Tao pulled into the rather tight space, turning the engines off, then descended the bike. He shrugged off his leather jacket and draped it over the motorbike, before sending a quick update to his brother and sister that he had arrived. Running a hand through his hair, styling it a bit, he grabbed his duffel bag and went straight for the building.

Either the higher ups had another agenda to this mission that they weren’t telling him, or the file must be damn important enough to kill for.

~~~

Yifan pulled off the headphones he had on and closed his laptop. He looked at the clock, sighing as he did so. It was almost 11 p.m. and he looked over to the empty bed across the room. Chanyeol wasn’t back yet. He heaved a sigh and went out of his room. His door closed with a soft click as he wasn’t sure if the others were sleeping or still awake. Everyone else’s doors were closed and the window above their room hinted the dark lighting, so they all must be asleep.

He arrived in the kitchen, flicking on the lights as he did so. Opening the fridge, Yifan took the carton of milk out and brought it to his mouth before stopping, remembering the lecture he got from Minseok hyung when he caught him drinking from the carton. Snorting softly at the memory, he opened one of the overhead cupboards for a glass before pouring the milk into it and closing the fridge door. Well, now he knew Chanyeol wasn’t in the living room either. Yifan was at a loss.

He walked back to his room, but stopped in front of his door. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Baekhyun and Tao’s room across from his own. Even though Baekhyun and Tao has been here for two months or less, Chanyeol was already closer to Baekhyun than he was to anyone else in the dorm. So, he went on a limb and hovered over their door. Bringing his fist over their door, he gently rapped his knuckles against the wood surface twice, loud enough to alert his presence and soft enough to not disturb them if they were asleep.

He got no answer, and heaved out a sigh, letting his hands fall. Accidentally, he was caught on the handle of the door and the impact pushed it down enough to open it. The door creaked open slowly and Yifan made a move to close it, but stopped. He slowly let his hands push the door open.

“Do you think everyone’s already asleep?” A voice echoed through the dark hallways, Yifan heard. He quickly closed the door and walked down the hallway to the living room. “Probably, we kind of took longer than we expected,” Chanyeol’s voice sounded sheepish, scratching the back of his ears like he always does when he’s nervous or embarrassed.

“Oh!” Baekhyun greeted, “Yifan is that you?” He set down the plastic bag containing the food on the dining table while Chanyeol the lights. “Hey, we bought some food to share with the others, but they’re fast asleep I guess, you still want some?”

Yifan smiled at him and nodded his head softly, “Why’re you guys back so late? Where have you been?” Taking a seat on the dining table, he watched Chanyeol rummage around the cupboards for plates and utensils.

“We went to the night market, funny story, I met Baekhyun at a restaurant I was out in, he was working there,” Chanyeol chuckled, setting the table and got a playful glare from Baekhyun in return. “Surprising right.”

“It’s not against the law to have a part-time job,” Yifan pointed out, before digging into the oil tteokbokki. “Speaking of which, do you know where Tao is?”

Baekhyun snapped up in the mention of his little brother. Why was Yifan asking? “Hmm?” He hummed, shrugging it off, “He’s asleep in our room, said he was tired.”

Yifan frowned, but nodded regardless. Did Baekhyun just lie to him or was it his imagination? Why would he anyways? No, he must’ve seen wrong just now. But he could’ve sworn that the room was empty.

~~~

Tao passed the lobby with no problems, claiming that he was here to drop files off for a tenant. He got on the private elevator and got an override card out to swipe on the elevator buttons before pressing the 17th floor; Hyung Jung Joo’s private condo.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to the mission than there really was, but he knew it was best if he didn’t pry. Curiosity gets you nowhere in these kinds of jobs, except of course, it gets you killed.

The elevator doors opened and the background music elevated with a ting when he got off. He walked without hesitation of being seen by the cameras, as he had hacked them through the panel box in the basement of the building, and stopped in front of the double doors to listen in. There was water running. No sign of movement from the entrance hall.

Tao got his override card out again and swiped it against the card reader on the handle, opening it softly and closing right after. Tao whistled in his mind, the place was huge. This Jung Joo guy was beyond loaded, no doubt due to his underworld business. “Illegal deals sure brings you a lot of cash, ofcourse, until it kills you for it,” He mumbled, setting his duffel bag down.

Opening the duffel bag, Tao searched for two metal box, pulling it out and setting it down on the glass table. The first one he set aside on the table behind the tissue box.The second metal box clicked when he unclipped it, and inside was two sets of thin syringe and two small bottles with labels.

He slipped on gloves and picked up one of the syringe and his other hand moved to pluck the small bottle. Carefully, he punctured the top of the bottle’s aluminium seal with the needle of the syringe and pulled at the plunger. He watched as the yellow liquid slowly filled up the barrel of the syringe. After that he set it down and continued with the other bottle filled with clear liquid.

The water in the showers stopped. Tao shoved the empty bottles into his bag and threw it under the couch. He stepped off into the shadows of the curtains, waiting for his prey to come into sight.

Jung Joo walked out of the bathroom, his bathrobes tied loosely around his waist, and headed to his couch where his laptop was placed. He sat down, made a move to reach for his macbook when a hand slithered around his shoulders and to his mouth, trapping him in place.

“Make a move and I’ll kill you instantly.” A voice behind him whispered, to which he nodded quickly. He felt the tip of something cold and thin at his neck. “Which won’t help you much, because either way, you’re going to die today.” Jung Joo whimpered against the hand clamped on his mouth. “It’s your choice if you want your death to be painful and slow, or quick and fast.”

Before be could hear a reply, Tao injected the clear liquid into his veins on his neck. Jung Joo took a sharp intake as he felt the needle pierce into his skin. “I just injected you with concentrated aqueous creatine phosphokinase. You may be paralyzed, but it’s a natural occurring enzyme in your bloodstream so this won’t kill you, don’t worry.”

Tao smiled, even though the man couldn’t see him, and reached for the second syringe before placing it on the exact same spot. “But this one will,” He threatened by pushing the needle until it breaks the skin, “So tell me what I want to know, and I won’t have to use this.”

Jung Joo sputtered out and complied with hastiness. Tao simply chuckled at the man’s action. Everyone was scared of death, how boring. “What connections do you have to SM entertainment?”

“N-nothing,” Jung Joo stuttered, “I have nothing to d-do with SM entertainment.”

Tao simply plunged the the needle in completely, watching the metal sink into his flesh while the man screamed, “This is Potassium Chloride, not necessarily bad if not helpful, given the right amount, but if you concentrate it enough and upped the dosage, well, let’s just say it’s a recipe for a heart attack.” The man flinched but not enough to comply, so he continued, “The injection I gave you earlier has another use, other than paralyzing. High levels of CPK enzyme in your blood level can cause seizures and, since it's an enzyme, it breaks down the potassium chloride faster than usual. So, when the coroner performs an autopsy on you, all he’ll find is increased levels of CPK enzymes that will tell him of an unlucky seizure that sadly led to a heart attack.”

“Please, I-,” He started, but stopped to stifle a cry when he felt the needle in his vein twist, “Okay! okay. I- I work for him.” He felt movement on the needle and hurried. “I swear! I filter half of my earnings through SM entertainment, and Lee Soo Man, he gives me products that I can’t acquire from out of the country.”

Tao chewed on the information. So he was laundering goods through Soo Man, and in return, Soo Man gets half of his net worth. Exporting illegal goods from foreign countries to Korea, that’s a high security measure to get past, he would have to check with Baekhyun. “What’s on the file in your safe?”

Jung Joo shook his head, “Ple-please, I d-don’t know wh-what you’re talk-talking ab-” He screamed.

“One last chance,” Tao whispered, digging the needle deeper into his flesh, painfully slow.

“It’s … it’s a ledger.” Jung Joo sighed, his eyes closing, “Of all the deals and business I’ve done. I keep it all in paper and pen, instead of digital, so no one could hack it.”

Pleased with his answer, Tao left the syringe stuck to his neck and took one of Jung Joo’s prescribed sleeping pills. He dissolved it in hot water quickly and placed it in Jung Joo’s hands to collect his prints before forcing him to drink it.

“Wh-what are you-” Jung Joo gurgled, but eventually swallowed. “Please, I told you everything I know, don’t kill me, please.”

Shushing him up, Tao walked over to the painting that took the centre of the wall facing the floor-ceiling windows. He lifted the frame and set it down against the wall, directing his focus to the safe, ignoring Jung Joo’s desperate calls.

“Code.” He called out over his shoulder to the man paralyzed on the two-seater sofa. Jung Joo tried to protest with him but he was answered with a simple, “Now.”

“351679501,” Jung Joo listed, but drew out a sigh, “Even if you have the code you need a handprint to get past it.”

Tao ignored him and went to grab the metal box obscured by the tissue box. He opened it and took off his glove on his right hand, before carefully picking the microplastic in the box with his gloved left hand and layered it onto his right hand, palm side up.

“What is that?” Jung Joo demanded, but he sounded just as terrified.

“Microplastic that records your fingerprints and enables it to be used by someone else,” Tao replies distractedly, as he approached the safe and entered the code with his right hand, “It’s heat-triggered adhesive, so it stays on your palm through body heat and perfectly goes over security details like these.” He placed his palm on the hand scanner, that processed it for a second or two until the light blinked green and the safe let out a satisfied click.

Tao looked back, confused by the silence, only to see that the sleeping pills have kicked in. He sighed, and goes back to opening the safe by the handle.

Inside, as predicted was a file, more like a thick leather-bound book, and as curious as he was, he had no time to check it, so he simply took it. He wasn’t supposed to anyways. He was already pushing the boundaries by asking the target about the file, however Tao had a sudden urge for answers ever since their file was moved up into the ranks of the Company when their assigned handler died. He sighed, and accepted his fate then made a move to close the safe.

He stopped, however, because something caught his eye. A USB was hidden under the ledger. A USB that the Company never told him existed or was involved in the case. They didn’t know that there was another object inside the safe. Tao snapped his head to ask Jung Joo about it, but saw that he was asleep and useless.

He closed the safe and placed the painting back. He carried Jung Joo’s body to the bed and tucked him in after injecting the yellow liquid into his bloodstream. Gathering his things into his duffel bag and plucking both his gloves and microplastic off, he went out the apartment door and hurried down the emergency staircase to his motorcycle with his fingers clenched around a sleek black metal.

Tao knew how the world he lives in works. No questions, just a target and a weapon.  But things changed, he didn’t know how, but the game changed. He had questions now, and he knew it was connected.

He wanted answers, and hopefully the USB in his fist will give him just that.

Last Chapter on the Deadly Cuisine~ I'm going to be doing a lot more of these chapters where it's all under one mission, and please be patient because I've finished outlining the story and this story is going to be a long one, like 50 chapters long or more, and it's gonna be based on a plot, so the romance will have to be integrated, but yeah I'm focusing more on the plot. Sooo~ enjoy~~~

Next up, I'm going in for some Taoris so look forward to it sweettiieess~~~~

Please comment and upvote or subscribe because that really gets me going and writing... yeah