Over the next few days more of the bandages were able to come off; and while the excruciating pain had considerably lessened, Mijoo now felt stiff, like her skin had been pulled too tight over her body. Hyunjin said it was normal and a sign that she was healing. That didn’t help Mijoo feel any better about it. Nayeon continued to call and text to check up on her friend and pass along assignments that she missed. Mijoo was grateful for the distraction and the illusion of normalcy it gave her.

Nayeon hadn’t been back to her apartment since that Monday and Jisung had taken up permanent residency on her couch. She was still getting used to the fact that someone else was living with her now and the fact that, that someone was a man. One night she had walked out to the kitchen to get a drink of water and walked in on Jisung changing his clothes. Her subsequent shriek as she covered her eyes in embarrassment had caused Seungmin to cross the hall and check on them. He had found the situation a lot funnier than Jisung or Mijoo had.

“I have something I need to take care of tonight, so I won’t be back till sometime in the morning,” Jisung said, drawing Mijoo’s attention from where she sat on the new loveseat that Chan had ordered for her apartment. With Jisung sleeping on the couch, and the increase in the number of people coming to visit her apartment it was quickly discovered that Mijoo’s old couch did not provide enough seating for everyone. The loveseat and the delivery men appeared unexpectedly one morning while Mijoo was eating breakfast. Jisung, who had apparently been expecting them, had let them in and supervised their assembly of the new piece of furniture before seeing them out, all without saying a word to Mijoo.

“Oh… Is that safe?” Mijoo asked, setting the book she had been reading to the side.

Jisung gave her a look as he put on his coat, “You’ll be fine. Seungmin’s across the hall, you have your phone, and I’m pretty sure you’ve learned your lesson about going out without protection. Just go to sleep; you won't even notice I’m gone”

Mijoo bit her bottom lip and didn’t say anything. She hadn’t told anyone, but she’d only been getting about an hour of restless sleep each night. Hyunjin had told her that eventually it would get easier to sleep, but so far that wasn’t the case. She had toyed with the idea of asking him to provide her with some sedatives again, just for a little while so she could get some rest again. As tempting as the thought was she figured that he would probably refuse. “Okay well… Guess I’ll see you in the morning then,” she replied, playing with one of her pajama sleeves. At first she had been wearing mostly t-shirts or tank tops to help Hyunjin easily change her bandages, but as the bandages began to come off she discovered that she couldn’t bear to look at the scars and quickly resorted to wearing long sleeves.

Jisung left without another word. With the sound of the door shutting Mijoo felt very small in her apartment. Since the incident there had always been someone else with her, someone else in the apartment to keep her company, and now there was no one. No safety net. No one to keep her safe. She was alone. A few silent seconds passed. She tried to stay calm, and picked up her book as if to keep reading, but she couldn’t even bring herself to open the book again. Suddenly she felt like she was six years old again with a monster hiding in the dark waiting to eat her the moment she looked away, but this time she couldn't call her dad to come save her, and this time the monsters were real. After a few seconds of trying to steady her breathing, eyes darting around the room, listening for any out of the ordinary sounds, she jumped, as best she could in her condition, up from the loveseat and beelined towards her bedroom, picking up Brian on the way who was busy minding his own business. He gave her a surprised and annoyed meow in return.

She shut the door to her bedroom and retreated to her bed, toting Brian like some kind of football that offered her some sort of protection. Dropping Brian at the foot of her bed, she slid under the covers and pulled them up to her chin. Brian gave her a very irritated meow at having been moved from where he had been napping before jumping off the foot of the bed and trotting over to her shut bedroom door. He looked at it expectantly as if waiting for Mijoo to get up and open it for him so he could leave. When nothing happened he meowed again and began scratching at the door, trying to get out, oblivious to the fears and concerns of his owner.

“Brian no, I’m not opening the door!” Mijoo whispered, as if raising her voice would manifest her fears. He continued to ignore her and paw at the door.

Mijoo’s entire body was tense and she knew that there was no way she would be able to go to sleep like this. After a few more minutes of sitting in bed, straining her ears to hear anything out of the ordinary, Mijoo finally couldn’t take it anymore. Grabbing her phone off her side table, she quickly called Seungmin.

The phone rang twice before he picked up, “Yes?”

“Seungmin, can I come over and visit with you for a bit?” Mijoo asked, biting her lip wishing that her heart would stop beating so fast.

“I mean… yeah, I guess. Is everything alright? Jisung told me Chan called him away; did something happen?”

“Oh, uh, no. Nothing’s happened, I just- Well, I just want to get out of my apartment and I haven’t seen your place yet and since it’s just across the way I thought I should at least see it so I decided to call you and now I’m calling you and so I guess I'll be over in a sec,” Mijoo rambled, not wanting to say the truth - She was too afraid of being alone.

“O-okay, see you in a second then,” Seungmin answered, audibly confused, before hanging up.

Mijoo quickly left her bed and opened the door of her bedroom, finally giving Brian what he had been impatiently waiting for. He dashed out and ran over to the couch to lay down. Mijoo slipped on some shoes and grabbed her keys before leaving her apartment. Knocking on Seungmin’s door, she nervously looked down the empty hallway, wondering what was taking him so long to answer and why he wasn’t standing there waiting to open the door for her.

She heard movement on the other side of the door and then the sound of locks being undone before finally the door was open and Mijoo breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the young man standing before her.

“Come on in,” he motioned with his head, holding the door open wider and stepping aside so she could enter.

Mijoo didn’t know what she was expecting when she entered the apartment, but it certainly wasn’t what greeted her. She slipped off her shoes in the entryway and let her gaze travel over the apartment. The layout was an exact mirror of her own apartment however it was completely devoid of personality. There were no framed photos on the walls, no knick knacks on shelves, or anything to give the room life. There were two couches and a bare coffee table in the living room. As Mijoo stepped further in she noted that it looked as if Seungmin had been sleeping on the couch, which she couldn’t understand why when there was a perfectly good bedroom in the apartment layout. The kitchen table was a mess of papers and photos. And while she couldn’t get a good look before Seungmin stepped in front of her line of vision, she thought for a moment she had seen a photo of Mark.

“Are you sure nothing’s wrong?” Seungmin asked, drawing her attention to his face which was looking her over quizzically.

“What? Oh… no nothing’s wrong I just, I haven’t seen you in a while and was wondering what you were up to,” She lied. “Your apartment is kind of boring, I mean- uh it looks like you haven’t really had time to personalize it.” Mijoo walked further into the apartment and sat down on the couch that looked like it hadn’t been slept in.

Seungmin let out a half-laugh, “You do realize this isn’t my real apartment. This is just- how do I explain this, um. You know in those movies where the police have a safe house where they can take a witness for protection?” Mijoo nodded that she did, “Well this is kind of like that. This is a waystation where we keep supplies, information, and where we can stay to stay under the radar. My real apartment is much nicer than this.”

“Why are you sleeping on the couch?” Mijoo asked.

“I can hear movement in the hallway much better out here and besides, we have to keep our supplies somewhere out of sight,” Seungmin answered, plopping down on the other couch.

“Oh,” was all Mijoo could say in response. “...Did I wake you up?” she asked, realizing the somewhat late hour and the fact that Seungmin’s hair was mussed and he looked to be in what was loungewear.

Seungmin waved his hand, “No I still have a lot of work to do sorting intel and stuff like that.”

“Intel?” Mijoo asked, her gaze subconsciously turning in the direction of the kitchen table.

Seungmin shook his head, “Don’t worry about stuff like that. It will only put you in more danger, and you already have enough on your plate to be concerned about.”

“Do you mind if I hang out here a bit with you while you work?” Mijoo asked tentatively.

Seungmin furrowed his brow, looking at her closer, “Yeah sure… are you sure you’re ok? Do you need me to call Chan or Hyunjin?”

Mijoo shook her head furiously, “No!” she said quickly. “No… I’m- I’m fine,” She stressed. “I just wanted to hang out with you for awhile.”

He didn’t seem to believe her, but didn’t press further. “Ok well, I’m just going to be at the table, there’s some take out in the fridge if you’re hungry”

“Thanks,” She replied, giving him a small smile as he stood up.

Seungmin went to work going through the papers on the kitchen table while Mijoo stayed on the couch, bringing her feet up underneath her in order to curl up in the corner. She watched him work for a little while before turning her attention to her phone. Adjusting the pillow and then her body so that she was laying down, her head resting in a comfortable position.

She laid there for a while longer looking at her phone before she spoke up again, “Have you been having to go to those college classes even though I’m not going?”

Seungmin hummed distractedly, “Yeah, if I stopped going because you weren’t going that would kind of defeat the point of being undercover.”

“But don’t Got7 know you're a member of Stray Kids? Or do they not know who the members are… although Mark did recognize Jisung that one day,” Mijoo muttered, speaking her thoughts out loud.

“Well we don’t exactly go around advertising who the members of Stray Kids are and it kind of depends what line of work we’re in. Other than our allies, no one knows Jeongin is a member of Stray Kids. Partially to protect him, since he’s so young, and partially because he’s so good for undercover work no one would suspect him anyway.”

Mijoo had to agree with him on that, while she couldn’t say she was best friends with the boy, after spending most of the evening at the party with him so found herself very protective of him. If Mijoo saw him on the street she wouldn’t have thought twice. Jeongin could probably shoot me and I’d apologize to him. She thought jokingly to herself, bringing a smile to her face. “So… what about you? Do they know you’re a member?” She asked, bringing herself back to the conversation.

“No they don’t, although considering that I’m posing as your mysterious cousin who just showed up I would probably bet that they can put two and two together,” Seungmin replied. “Jinyoung probably figured it out on day one.”

“Jinyoung?” Mijoo asked, her ears perking up at the new information.

Mijoo heard Seungmin curse softly under his breath, “Uh yeah… Jinyoung… He’s a Got7 member. He’s real smart, may not be the person behind the operation, but he’s certainly the brains.”

“What about the police?” Mijoo asked after some thought.

“What about them?” Seungmin asked, confusion lacing his voice.

“Well I mean,” Mijoo began trying to put her thoughts together. She was starting to get tired, the sleepless nights catching up with her as she lay on Seungmin’s couch. “Aren’t they trying to take you down or whatever. Do they know who you are or anything at all? Back when this all started I thought I saw an article mentioning how the police are trying to catch you”

“Already trying to find ways of turning us in?”

“What?! No of course not! I’m not stupid… I’m just curious.” Mijoo pouted. Honestly Mijoo hadn’t given much thought to turning in Stray Kids to the police. Seungmin’s warning from all those days ago when they sat at her breakfast table together still rang in her ears.

“Haven't you heard, curiosity killed the cat,” Seungmin joked.

“But satisfaction brought him back,” Mijoo retorted just as quickly. “I just… I want to understand how this all works. If I’m part of this world I feel like I should have a basic understanding of it, but everyone is treating me like I’m stupid for asking questions.”

“Maybe because it is stupid to ask questions which you get even more involved in something so dangerous but… I guess I can understand your curiosity. And you should know enough to not get yourself killed,” Seungmin let out a sigh and Mijoo heard the squeak of his chair as he leaned back. “Every gang is different. How they operate, how the relationships work, how they deal with allies or enemies and most importantly how they deal with the police. The police… well some of them are really competent and some of them couldn’t put two coherent thoughts together and then there are some on the take-“

“‘On the take?’” Mijoo interrupted.

“Yeah they’ll take bribes to cover things up or to ‘lose’ a piece of evidence. They aren’t loyal but for a high enough price they can be useful,” Seungmin answered.

Mijoo hummed, closing her eyes, “Do you all ever bribe the police?”

“Sometimes, but most of the time we don’t have to, it helps that we know someone who works on the force.”

Mijoo opened her eyes again, curious, “Oh? Who?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t think it’s anyone you’ve met, and because of their position we have to be careful,” Seungmin dismissed her question. “Plus he’s a member of another gang and if it came out that he was discovered because of Stray Kids? God there would be hell to pay.”

“Oh, well I guess that makes sense. Seems like it would be dangerous being a double agent,” Mijoo replied. “He must trust you all a lot.”

Seungmin just hummed but didn’t respond. After a few seconds of silence, Mijoo could hear papers shuffling again and it seemed like he had gone back to whatever work he was doing. Mijoo listened to the quiet sounds of the shuffling paper and the sounds of Seungmin writing every once in a while, her mind mulling over these men that she had met and how they could do so many dangerous things without fear. Most of her life she had been afraid. Afraid to speak up, afraid to stand out, afraid to make a move and when she did speak up it was always at the wrong time to the wrong person. After a while, without even noticing, her eyes fluttered shut and she fell asleep there on the couch, her phone still clutched in her hand.

When Mijoo awoke, sunlight filtered in through the window across her face, causing her to blink as she opened her eyes. It took her a second to catch her berings and realize that she was not in her apartment, but still in the Stray Kids apartment. As she sat up, a blanket, which had been pulled over her shoulder, fell in her lap and she spotted her phone lying on the coffee table. From behind her she could hear the sounds of a hushed conversation. Turning she spotted Seungmin, Jisung and Chan. Chan and Seungmin were sitting at the kitchen table and Jisung was leaning up against the kitchen bar, listening to whatever Seungmin was saying.

Jisung spotted her first. “I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” He retorted, drawing the other two men’s attention towards her.

“Uh, good morning?” Mijoo squeaked, feeling her face begin heating up under their gazes. She felt like she had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to.

“It’s a good thing Seungmin texted me last night that you were here instead of me returning to an empty apartment,” Jisung replied, ignoring her good morning.

“I- I didn’t think I was going to fall asleep,” Mijoo replied honestly, sitting up straighter.

Seungmin waved her off, “Don’t worry about it, Jisung’s just giving you a hard time for the hell of it. I texted him right after you called me. It was never a problem.”

“It could have been a problem,” Jisung muttered under his breath, but everyone ignored him.

“Hyunjin’s going to be coming by in about an hour to do a final check up, but he said that you should start being able to get back to your normal life again,” Chan informed her, drawing his gaze towards him. “Which is good because we have another party we have to go to.”

Mijoo felt her stomach flip at his words, “Another party? Do I have to go?”

Chan frowned. “If I can’t get out of it neither can you. I swear sometimes it feels like Minho keeps scheduling these parties to with me,” he muttered that last part towards Seungmin.

“Trust me boss, Minho absolutely gets sick pleasure out of forcing us all to dress up and schmooze with people,” Jisung snorted, to which Seungmin rolled his eyes.

“Minho does love to say ‘the best business decisions are made in the bedroom not the boardroom,’” Seungmin spoke up.

“Oh great, thanks for that image,” Jisung replied, making a disgusted face.

A hilariously pained look crossed Chan’s features at Seungmin’s remark, “Please never say that again Min.”

Seungmin put up his hands, “Hey Minho’s the one who says it not me,”

“What kind of party is it?” Mijoo dared to speak up drawing the men’s attention again, curious about the event she was going to be dragged to. She hoped she wouldn’t have to see Seonghwa again.

“This one is more about business than pleasure,” Seungmin answered. “Which means it’s also going to be more dangerous.”

Mijoo frowned. The last party had already seemed dangerous enough with Seonghwa in attendance, how could this be more dangerous? Chan seemed to see the question on the tip of her tongue and spoke up, “This ‘party’ is really a charity auction event with members of the city council in attendance, which means police presence. And while Stray Kids and a few members of Ateez will be there, there will also be members of Got7 and one of their allies present at the auction.”

Mijoo felt the blood drain out of her face at his words, “Got7, but they- they- they- tried to kill Felix!? And then came after me and are your rivals and are trying to destroy you! How can you go to an event with them there? Are you trying to get killed? Are you trying to get me killed? And then the police? But they're trying to arrest you all, how can you go to an event and not get arrested?” Mijoo exclaimed.

“This life is a very delicate game of balance,” Chan replied. “The police might know a lot of things, but they can’t prove any of it in court. All the leads they have lead them to dead ends, which means they can’t arrest me or Stray Kids. They’re waiting for us to slip up, but until that day I can walk straight into the police headquarters and say hello to Chief Park and walk out a free man. Us and Got7 may be in a power struggle, but we’re also not stupid. Well… some of us aren’t stupid,” Chan shot Jisung a look, which Jisung ignored. “No one’s going to do anything in front of the police and the council members when we’re both trying to get the council members on our dime.”

Mijoo chewed on the inside of her check, thinking this was all a bit too complicated, but she supposed it made sense, in a twisted sort of way. “So,” She started slowly. “Everyone is just waiting for someone to make a wrong move.”

“Exactly,” Chan nodded.

“And we have the absolute joy of having an innocent little civilian thrown into the mix,” Jisung remarked sarcastically.

“Oh give it a rest Ji, we get it,’ Seungmin rolled his eyes.

“I’m just reminding you all in case you forgot how stupid it is to bring her to this event,” Jisung said putting his hands up ina defensive posture.

Seungmin opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the opening of the front door and Hyunjin and Changbin strolling into the apartment.

“Sorry I’m late to the party guys, Hyunjin wanted a bubble tea,” Changbin spoke up. “Oh hey Joo,” He said nodding towards Mijoo. She blinked at the nickname, surprised.

“You say that like you also didn’t want bubble tea,” Hyunjin scoffed, rolling his eyes to which Changbin just shrugged before sitting down on the couch opposite Mijoo.

She gave him a small smile before turning back to Chan, “So when is this party supposed to be?” She asked as Hyunjin dropped his medical bag on the coffee table and started to root through it.

“Tomorrow night,” He informed her. Mijoo felt a sense of dread wash over her at his words. Tomorrow.