“I looked over this information just two days ago, and it was all organized, I really don’t know how I missed it.”

The secretary talked as he scrambled with some papers, looking for Himchan’s and Yongguk’s copies of the information, which he had Xeroxed just a few hours ago, but seemed to have already misplaced, his clumsy actions not really backing up his words.

“But he came on the right date, with all the right papers, everything matching the system.”

The poor man just couldn’t let it go, he was completely sure he checked everything properly, but there was no way Junhong’s information just magically appeared into their locked system, so it obviously had to be his mistake.

“We had no time to prepare; our room is such a mess. And I wanted to plan a proper tour to show the kid around.”

Himchan complained, as he was really counting on the one week’s notice they were supposed to have to get everything nice and organized. Now he was quickly going through his schedule in his head to see how he was going to manage the kid shadowing him around.

“I’m really sorry.”

The secretary apologized again, sighing in relief as he finally located the papers, handing them to the two right away.

Very different from Himchan, Yongguk was completely calm. He was not at all worried with the situation, he found it very simple. The boy was there to see how the university life was like, so he just had to keep living and let the kid follow him around, no brainer. He didn’t understand why Himchan made such a fuss over easy things, but he always just let the man be, as it would be too much work to try to reason with him and calm him down.

“This way, he’s waiting in the next room.”

The secretary started moving, but paused and turned back to them, pointing at the papers.

“If you have any questions about anything, you can come and ask, everyone in the office can and is willing to help.”

The two students nodded back in response, but even though it was sudden, they were well informed about the program, and knew what to do.

…

Zelo had been waiting for a long while already, but the boy had expected it, and was completely relaxed in his chair, playing with a portable game he had brought along. The first hour, he was quite the center of attention, but as time went by, the people of the office grew accustomed to him being there, and now he was completely invisible. People passed by him as if he was a piece of decoration.

He was attentive to his surrounding though. He looked very focused on his game, but he was well aware of everything that was going on in the room. Who came in, who went out, and down to the guy sneakily stealing his co-worker’s pen; he noticed everything. It was in his nature, he was raised to be like that. He’d be of no use to his father if he didn’t have such skills. And now he could finally use them in his favor.

If his old man knew back then that the things he taught Zelo would all serve to help the boy scape from him, he probably would have been more careful of the skills he passed down. But he wasn’t, it never crossed his mind that his son would run away from the life he had so carefully prepared for him.

“Junhong.”

With the three men already at the corner of his eyes, Zelo had waited to be called before looking up at them, pretending to be amazingly immersed in his game.

“Yes?”

He stood up, bowing respectfully at the two new individuals, whom he was meeting in person for the first time, but whose faces he was very familiar with already.

“These are the students you’ll be shadowing, Kim Himchan, and Bang Yongguk.”

The secretary said, practically sighing as he did so, looking completely done with that day already.

Zelo couldn’t help but shine a smile when both men greeted him. With that deep voice adding to the way he looked, Yongguk was even better than what the boy had expected. He had indeed chosen the right guy. Few would doubt he was a gangster, and that was exactly the man Zelo needed.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Ze-- Choi Junhong! Please take care of me.”

He was so excited to finally see Yongguk, that his fake name almost slipped his mind. Introducing himself as ‘Zelo’ just then would’ve made his plan more complicated, he had to be careful. But he still couldn’t take the smile off his lips, his eyes gleaming in triumph, which to his luck was being mistaken by the two men as admiration.

“Boy, you’re tall.”

Himchan stated with a smile, getting Junhong to properly look at him for the first time. As soon as the boy’s eyes hit himchan, his smile faded out, and he eyed the older man up and down without much care or emotion. It was less than five seconds before he was back to gazing at Yongguk, his smile returning as quickly as it left. Those actions managed to get Himchan annoyed, but Yongguk didn’t notice. And even though Himchan did, Junhong didn’t care. Himchan was not important for his plan.

“You guys can get going now. Come back here if you have any trouble. One last time, I’m sorry for the inconvenience, and I hope you all have a nice experience.”

The secretary said, actually sighing this time, and giving them a rushed goodbye, as he couldn’t wait to be rid of all that confusion. Now it was out of his hands.

“Come on, let’s leave your bags at the dorm.”

Yongguk said, smiling nicely, and finding Junhong’s excited ‘Yes!’ very cute. The boy only had a backpack and a duffel bag with him, which he easily carried as he followed the two.

“So, what school are you from?”

Himchan asked, managing to make the younger’s smile disappear once more. The man himself wasn’t smiling anymore, as he suspiciously eyed the boy. People’s reaction to him and Yongguk was usually the other way around. They’d find him nice and charming, and be afraid of Yongguk, even if the other didn’t do anything. Junhong’s actions were making him feel uneasy, and the fact that the boy seemed to be giving him the stinky eye every time their gazes met wasn’t helping with that first impression.

“Incheon Public High School.”

It was a real high school, but Junhong never stepped foot in it. He picked carefully, and arranged everything as he did with the university, so if anyone were to check his records, they’d find him in the school’s system. He made sure his plan was well thought out through all aspects.

“I’ve never heard of that school. You live far?”

Yongguk joined the conversation, getting a huge and bright smile out of Junhong, as the boy cheerfully answered.

“Yes, it’s a bit far. But I really wish to attend this university.”

Himchan didn’t really ever wish for people to treat Yongguk as if he was a bad person based on his looks alone; but he was finding Junhong really weird, being all cheerful towards Yongguk, and he didn’t like it. He always had a strong sense for these things, and something smelled bad.