Tao was old fashioned in many ways, one of which being that he didn’t really like technology, he much prefered to do stuff himself.

So when he couldn’t find a Wu Yifan in any of the phone books or with a quick search of the internet, he felt like throwing the stack of phone books out of the window. Or at someone.

He wasn’t left with many options, really. He could go back to the client and ask for more, but he didn’t want to give them the impression that he was incapable of tracking down one guy, because that would be bad for business. He couldn’t go looking for him, he hadn’t been given any photos or any kind of description as to what Wu Yifan looked like. He needed help, and unfortunately he could only go to one person.

If you needed help with any kind of illicit technological affairs, then Oh Sehun was your man. Or teen.

Tao had only been to Sehun's hovel once before, and it was a highly unpleasant experience. It was exactly how you'd expect a hormonal teenagers room to be like, but amplified. Sehun had stolen enough money to live comfortably, but he lived too comfortably.

Sehun lived in a basement to one of the most luxurious apartment complexes in the city. He’d completely taken over the space with large monitors and hulking big pieces of tech which lined the walls, some of which Tao thinks Sehun actually made himself.

Sehun dealt in information, but his price was usually high. Sometimes it wasn’t even money, every now and then all he’d ask for is company, a couple of times he’d asked for ual favours. Apparently it was hard for a multi millionaire hacker to get laid. But in all honesty, Tao couldn’t fault him. Every single time he’d paid for Sehun to help, he’d delivered, he couldn’t really ask for much more.

He never warned the teen when he was coming, he always just snuck in. It wasn’t too difficult to dodge the lax security which patrolled the complex and manned the front desk. Slipping out of view, Tao carefully avoided the glances of passers by. A couple of cleaners were putting away supplies, but he silently made his way past them, turning left down to the stairs to the basement.

The lower he went in the building, the more pungent the smell of damp became. It sat in the air making it feel thick and musty, clinging to his nose. But he knew that the smell in the basement would be ten times worse.

Just from standing outside the heavy steel doors, Tao could hear the loud trance music coming from inside. Bags of garbage were piled up outside, crowding the actual door. When Tao looked up to the top corner, he could see the camera lens angled towards him. He raised an eyebrow to the camera, tilting his head slightly. Then he heard an audible click, probably from the door unlocking.

Stepping inside, Tao was almost knocked back by the loud music, he couldn't understand how Sehun could even focus with all that noise. The teen was lounging lazily in his office chair, ridiculously long, skinny legs propped up on the desk in front of him. Radiating out from his chair were empty snack and candy wrappers, which he clearly couldn't be bothered to clean up. Tapping at his keyboard to stop the music, he then kicked his feet off and spun around to face Tao, a neutral expression on his face.

"My favourite hit man, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Tao took a couple of steps forward, clearing the floor as he kicked wrappers out of the way. "I need you to find someone for me."

Sehun tilted his head to the side, drumming his bony fingers on his knee. "You know my services don't come free."

Tao knew he should have expected it, he just didn't want to. "Name your price."

The teen hummed. "Normally I would ask you to blow me, that mouth of yours is quite useful, but today we're going to do something a little... different."

Tao could feel his stomach drop. Normally he wasn’t fazed by anything, but the one piece of himself that he was hoping to save was his body. Sehun was most likely tired of being off in exchange for information, especially when he knew Tao would probably do whatever it took to get his way.

“What did you have in mind?” Tao uttered, maintaining eye contact and keeping his expression blank despite feeling an uneasy storm inside himself.

Sehun's smirk became lopsided as he slowly stretched himself out, joints popping and cracking due to sitting in the same position all day. "As much as it pains me to say, it will not be anything of a ual nature." Tao could almost feel the relief wash over himself as Sehun continued. "And it does pain me, you have skills that could make the red light districts finest go green with envy."

Tao couldn't help the angry blush spread across his cheeks as he awkwardly broke the eye contact, making Sehun laugh. "But I have my eyes on another pretty little thing, a Chinese called Lay. The only thing keeping me from him is his ridiculously overprotective pimp. This is where you come in."

Tao didn't have to be a genius to figure out what Sehun's plan was. "You want him gone so you can have Lay, correct?"

"Exactly, and you're just the criminal I need to get the job done. I've heard stories about you, how good you are at what you do, and this time I'm not talking about . You take him out for me and I’ll find whoever it is you're looking for."

Sehun was serious, dead serious. The light blue hue of the monitors didn't do anything to hide the vengeful expression he bore. There was a pregnant pause before Tao shuffled on his feet. "I'll do it."

Sehun's serious expression melted into a more playful one, and Tao was reminded that Sehun was still just a child. He shouldn't be doing things like this, he should be in college, having fun and studying with his friends. Not making deals with contract killers and living outside the law.

"Good, I'll text you where he lives and where he works, I just have one special request for you." Sehun's smirk was back and Tao could feel the shiver travel down his spine.

The red light district in Seoul was unfortunately a massive tourist attraction. It was unfortunate because a lot of women, mainly barely legal ones, were expected to stand in front of windows like emotionless mannequins and show off their bodies for the whole street to see. Tao knew that many had been sold off to pimps at a young age, being into a life they didn't want to be in.

It was the same for men, but with Korea's rather unfavourable view on homouality, the men were more secretive about it. They hid in host clubs and underground clubs that were targeted at specific clientele, but it still happened.

'The Red Room' was one of those underground clubs, the entrance was nestled between two convenience stores on one of the more unsavoury back streets. Tao had only ever been to a club like this with work, never for pleasure, so he didn't really have an opinion of them.

As with Sehun's 'special request' Tao was no longer wearing his usual attire. The long sleeved black shirt and leather jacket were replaced with a sleeveless shimmery t-shirt and nothing else. His black hair had been doused in glitter spray and black eyeliner had been smudged underneath his cat like eyes to give him a more feminine look. He would never confess to Sehun that he quite liked dressing like this.

The club smelled heavily of various different aftershaves, some more sweet and some more musky. The clientele were rather varied as well, older more mature gentlemen dressed in suits were sipping expensive drinks whilst the younger, more nervous looking patrons shied away. Clearly this was their first time here.

Sehun had been very descriptive when giving details on Lay, so it didn't take long for Tao to work out who he was. Lay was pretty, in an ethereal way, he had soft features and a delicate looking figure, which he showed off with revealing clothes and glitter. They made eye contact briefly, during which Lay his lips in an extremely seductive manner, probably an attempt to entice Tao.

By doing so the poor boy gained the attention of who Tao presumed was the 'overprotective pimp'. Tao could understand why he'd be overprotective, the man had to take care of his most valuable possessions.

Surprisingly, it didn't take long for the pimp to look him up and down, the man was shorter than Tao, and he looked youthful,  but Tao could tell from the look in his eyes that he was anything but gentle and sweet. He'd probably seen things like Tao had. The man seemed to stare at him like he was something to be eaten on a menu.

Or even something to be served to others.

Lying to him was easy, acting as if he wanted was something else. It took Tao an incredible amount of effort to try make himself look appealing, and thankfully it was paying off, but it wasn't going to be enough if he wanted to get him whilst he was vulnerable.  

Tao mingled with them, kicking up a conversation to avoid awkward silence. He quickly learned that poor Lay had learned to keep his mouth shut whilst he was in the presence of his boss, who he didn’t look to friendly with. The pimp had a strong, unnecessary grip of Lay’s far too skinny forearm, probably as a show of dominance for Tao and anyone else around him.

Plying the two of them with alcohol was easy, far too easy, the pimp’s short stature and overall tiny frame meant he got tipsy very fast, quickly lightening up and becoming much more easy going. Lay became overly affectionate, running his hand across Tao’s chest in a rather suggestive manner, which just made it easier to drop hints.

“Why don’t we go somewhere more private?” The pimp said huskily, nodding his head slightly and biting his lip in anticipation.

Somehow Tao managed to nod his head and keep his cool as Lay grabbed both of their hands and pulled them towards one of the backrooms, swaying his hips with every step. The chattering noise and the bass of the music dulled to almost nothing when they’d reached the room Lay had chosen.

It was red, probably to go with the theme, and the lighting was dim. A futon was in the middle, and a small, pokey bedside table was next to it. Not really appealing to Tao, but it evidently it worked otherwise the business would have gone under.

Tao was immediately pushed onto the futon by the pimp, and it annoyed him. He immediately started trying to pull off the thin clothing that he wore, and it made his skin feel like it was crawling. But before he could attempt to break away from him, Lay was on his mouth, tongue inside, tasting and all the inside of Tao’s mouth in an extremely professional manner.

Somehow Lay managed to straddle him, grinding his scantily clad crotch against his own, probably as a show for the pimp. Tao understood what he was trying to do, and purposefully made a show of running his hands down Lay’s back, gently dragging his nails as he did so. He let out a few moans here and there, glancing over to see the hungry look in the pimp’s eyes as he watched them together.

Lay began attacking his neck with small bites and kisses as he ran his hand underneath Tao’s t-shirt, fingers ghosting over s and running across his abdominal muscles. Tao stretched his neck to the side, allowing Lay more access, and he soon felt Lay lightly on the flesh of his pulse point, before his soft lips gently touched the shell of Tao’s ear.

“Don’t react. I know who you are.” Tao could feel himself tense. “I know why you’re here.”

There wasn’t any way Tao could get himself out of this situation without killing Lay, he would have to cover his tracks. He’d never tried to trap a mark this way, he should have been more careful, he should have thought of all the possible outcomes and planned ahead-

“Sehunnie told me. Let me help you.”

Lay’s voice was low enough that his pimp hadn’t heard him, which Tao was grateful for. He could understand completely why Lay would want to rid himself of his pimp, then he could be free. Tao didn’t respond, he merely allowed Lay to continue touching his as his pimp got himself comfortable as he watched the two go at it.

The continued making out for a good few minutes, before Lay began to whine with need. It was fake, Tao could tell, but his pimp couldn’t. Tao rid himself of his shirt, knowing that with Sehun’s special request, he would be getting very, very messy.

“Mmmm, aren’t you going to join us, daddy?” Lay asked in a sickly sweet voice, Tao nearly scoffed.

“I want to watch you, beautiful. Keep going.” The pimp said, voice high pitched but laced with lust.

Lay whined like a petulant child, bottom lip jutting out. “But I want you closer to me, daddy. Please, daddy, please.”

The pimp didn’t say anything else, but patted his lap, beckoning Lay closer. Tao followed his lead, moving closer to the man sat in the chair, legs spread wide and hard on clearly visible.

Lay giggled, shuffling even closer, running his hand down the pimps chest, taking hold of the tie he was wearing and tugging his face closer and covering his mouth with his own for a hot, wet kiss. As he kissed him, he pulled the tie off, before ripping open his shirt, sending buttons flying everywhere, but exposing the pimp’s pale skin.

Lay had now straddled the pimp, but their kiss had broken, leaving Lay’s lips swollen and red. The pimp was too busy with Lay to notice that Tao had moved behind him, and the taller male was now pressing gentle kisses to his neck, making the pimp let out a hum of approval.

There was eye contact between the two Chinese males, before Tao creeped his hand down his leg to feel the hilt of his hunting knife against his calf. Lay had a glint in his eyes that Tao had only ever seen in psychopaths.

“Do you want more, my master?” Lay whispered, his lips seductively as he briefly spoke in his mother tongue.

The pimp just smirked, a lazy, evil smile.

“As you wish” Lay giggled.

Tao was quick and precise, there wasn’t even a noise from the cut, only the sound of blood spilling over pale skin. The cut was deep, very deep, and the pimp soon found himself unable to breathe as he began to choke on his own warm blood, hands reaching to cover the wound as he made noises like a dying animal.

Lay laughed, he cackled and threw his head back as small splatters of blood dotted his face and his chest, pinning his oppressor down as he struggled and choked with a desperate look in his eye.

It didn’t take long for him to bleed out because the cut had been so deep. Lay was completely doused in his blood now, but it didn’t bother him. He stood, kicking the chair over and spitting on the ground where the body lay.

“ you! You ruined me!” Lay screamed in Mandarin, sinking to his knees as he began to cry and scream out hysterically.

At that point, Tao knew he’d lost it.

Despite being the one to wield the knife, not one speck of blood had gotten onto him. He said nothing and he quietly pulled out his phone and dialed the most recent number.

“It’s done. Come get Lay.” Tao said monotonously before hanging up immediately.

He mentally crossed Kim Minseok off of his list, before stepping over the cooling body and leaving Lay to cry his heart out.

When he got back home, he scrubbed himself in the shower until his skin was red raw, but he still didn’t feel clean.

A manilla folder was waiting on his front door when he woke up the next morning. The radio was playing softly in the background as he quickly skimmed through the coffee stained paper. A couple of pictures and a small note tumbled out when he turned a particular page.

The photos were of Wu Yifan, Tao couldn’t help but raise his eyebrow at them. He was handsome, painfully so, he could easily be a model with that jawline and those lips. He looked happy in the photo, smiling with a couple of people who he assumed were his friends with his arms slung around their shoulders. The other was a candid one of him walking out of a supermarket, hands full.

Now Tao knew his face, and at least one place he frequented, he could get to work.

The note was a haphazardously written one, he recognised the handwriting as Sehun’s.

‘This was everything I could find to do with Wu Yifan. He has no criminal record.’

At the bottom of the piece of paper were some Chinese characters, written in a different colour pen. They read ‘Thank you for setting me free.’

Tao the note paper back into the folder, before going back to bed. He would never look at it again. He didn’t want to remember.

Wow Um I don't even know how this happened???????? I'm so sleepy. Also I'm sorry Xiumin. Comment????