Seokmin just watched as the rest got ready. Junhui was fixing his hair with wax until it looked like sheer perfection. Jeonghan packed his bag with a change of clothes and what looked to be fake silicon s. Now, Seokmin did not want to ask the elder what those were for to be very honest. Minghao paced around and hummed to a new song that just came out. He said it was The 7^th Sense by NCT U.

After a while, Seokmin just adjusted his hoodie, pushed his glasses higher, and tried to look professional. He didn’t know about acting. All he wanted to do was at least tell his dad “Hey dad! I got a job. on that .” and to not listen to Hoseok’s old man ramblings. Just then, Jeonghan approached him. He cocked his head to the side and looked at Seokmin as if he was some strange being from another world. “You don’t look like much of an actor.” Jeonghan said.

“I’m more of a singer.” He smiled back.

“To be honest kid, I had a bit too much wine last night so I’m not in the mood for some handsome idiot to serenade me. But thanks anyway.” 

Then Junhui made his way to the two. Junhui was a bit taller than Seokmin. He had sharp features and an even sharper gaze. Seokmin then learned that Junhui had the sharpest tongue known to man.

“Are you trying to seduce the newbie? That’s a new low, even for you Jeonghan. Pretty sure he doesn’t want your crusty .” He snorted.

Jeonghan simply rolled his eyes. “Junhui, I’ve got to ask. How do you get girls to sleep with you? Since, you know… Your pick up lines are as greasy as the fryers at a McDonalds. I also have to ask where you get the grease from, a fast food restaurant or from your hair.”

“Hahaha. Oh Jeonghan.” He laughed. “How funny! Your comebacks are getting better than your acting, which isn’t saying much because your acting . Maybe you should go take actual lessons.”

Before Jeonghan could even respond, a Xu Minghao entered the room (Seokmin never noticed that the youngest even left). “Jihoon hyung gave me the ear pieces for later. He asked if we can test it out.”

The four of them placed it in their ears.

“TESTING. TESTING. 1 2 3.” Blared from the ear piece. Seokmin and Minghao immediately pulled theirs out of their ears.

“JIHOON THAT WAS TOO LOUD.” Jeonghan yelled.

“I think I’ve gone deaf.” Junhui said as he knelt down dramatically and cupped his ear.

“Stop it drama queen.” Jihoon deadpans. Their boss walks into the room, calm, composed, and ready for action. “You guys ready or what?” He asked.

Jihoon’s sketchy looking van was not safe at all. The wrecked up van his dad bought in 1999 was a death trap. The breaks barely worked and you had to pray that it would. The van supposedly had no shock absorber because everyone could feel every tiny bump on the road. The front seats had foam coming out of the tears. There wasn’t even a back seat. It was just the back of the van where the rest who weren’t Jihoon were seated. There was a table that was duck taped to the floor to prevent it from moving around as the vehicle was in motion.

“I feel like dying.” Seokmin said as he landed on Jeonghan’s lap. He had to admit that this was the worst car ride ever.

“Whiners. My van hasn’t killed me yet.” Jihoon started.

“Yet.” Minghao repeated with his fingers doing the air quotation mark sign.

“It passed a safety inspection.”

“How did this piece of even manage to pass?” Junhui asked as he fell on Minghao, which caused the latter to get flustered.

“I have my ways.” Before anyone can ask about Jihoon’s sketchy ways, the van actually stops.

“Thank god.” Jeonghan said.

The passenger seat door opens and a blue haired, Kwon Soonyoung enters. “Soonyoung, what the ?” Jihoon cursed.

“Disguise. It’s okay, the police force wouldn’t know. I’ll wear a wig on top of my new hair.” He defended.

“Wait…you dyed your hair blue?” The shorter of the two asked.

“Well, yours is pink, so you have no right to judge me. Plus, at this rate, we’ll go bald together. BFF goals, am I right?”

“Close the goddamn door.” Jihoon spat, unimpressed with his best friend.

After another 15 minutes and Soonyoung congratulating Jihoon on actually fixing his car up, they managed to arrive in the department store parking lot where Jeon Wonwoo used to work.

“You know hyung, I can hardly believe this is your description of fix.” Seokmin said as he slowly made his way out of the van, completely dizzy from that whirlwind of a ride. He clung on Soonyoung’s shoulders as he attempted to walk.

“You should have ridden his van in college. That moving, hunk of junk was worse. It nearly killed us after a party.”

Jihoon handed the extra ear piece to Soonyoung and gathered everyone together. “In the entirety of our interrogation, we will be using code names.” This garnered sighs from the older cast members.

“These are going to be ridiculously code names.” Jeonghan mumbled.

“I’m Woozi. Soonyoung is Hoshi. Jun you’re…Doge.”

“What the ? Why?” Junhui asked. Jihoon simply grinned, took out his phone, and showed Junhui a picture comparing him to the internet meme. “ you.” He grumbled.

“Minghao, you’re The8. Jeonghan is Cheonsa… Seokmin…umm…” Seokmin prayed hard that it wouldn’t be as dumb as Junhui’s. He doesn’t want to have an ugly code name. He thinks Jihoon would give him a code name related to a horse. Seokmin thinks back to his days in high school where everyone compared him to a horse. The horror.

“Dokyeom.”

Seokmin sighed in relief. “Thank you Jesus.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” Jihoon said. “Now, Hoshi here will hack into the surveillance cams for me. I will remain in the van and tell you all what to do. Got it?”

“Got it.”

The department store had barely any people today. Jihoon split the team up as Junhui and Minghao, and Seokmin and Jeonghan. Minghao spots Yao Mingming quickly. The tall woman with the sharp features who worked at the lingerie section was talking to another customer when Minghao approached him. The young Chinese man was careful as to not touch any of the garments there. He knows that if he touches it, he’ll freak out.

His fear of women started at a very young age. His cousin accidentally showed him lesbian and tentacle that his young mind got frightened and he couldn’t even look at girls the same way ever again. It took him a year to actually act normally towards his own mother.

When Mingming finished talking to the customer, Minghao coughed to call his attention.

“May I help you?” Mingming asked.

“Yes…um…I need to find lingerie for my girlfriend.” He gulped. Mingming smiled and asked for her sizes.

“The8, call Cheonsa.” Jihoon said through the telecom. He pulled out his phone and speed dials Jeonghan.

“Yes Minghao?” The elder answers.

“Honey, what are your sizes?” He asked sweetly. Jeonghan immediately pitches his voice higher and starts giggling. “35 – 25 – 37.”

“Thanks honey.” He hangs up and says the fake sizes to Mingming.

“I think I know the perfect lingerie for her, be right back.” In less than a minute, Mingming returns with a lacy bra and . “Is this okay?”

“Yeah. But, I was just wondering…” Minghao started. Before he could say anything else, Mingming places the lingerie in Minghao’s hands. Minghao starts to freak out, walks back slowly, and accidentally knocks over a rack of bras. “!”  

“Sir, are you okay?” Mingming approached him and touches the younger man’s shoulders. “!” Then Minghao passes out.

“. Doge, you’re up. Save your partner.”

“Roger.” Junhui enters the scene with a look of concern. “Hao? Are you okay? I’m so sorry about my friend.”

“Is he always like that?”

Junhui inches closer to Mingming. “You have no idea. Traumatic incidents from his childhood that haunt him to this day. Tragic.” Mingming takes a good look at Junhui’s face and starts blushing. He knows that he has her right where he wants her now.

“You’re a pretty girl…Usually, older women are the ones who have jobs around this area.” Junhui purred. He was inches away from Mingming’s face.

“Uh…well…I used to have an older co-worker here around a year ago. But she quit and after a while died in an accident.”

Junhui gasped. “What happened? That sounds serious.”

“This is what the public believes… She was murdered by her own daughter.”

“What? What do you mean?” He asked, feigning his shock.

“They say that her own daughter drugged her and set her house on fire. I don’t believe it though…”

“Why?” Junhui firmly holds her shoulders making her blush even more.

“From the stories I heard about her daughter, she never seemed like the type to do that. Even if she and her daughter argued a lot, even if she would never answer her mom’s letters, she never seemed like the type to do that.”

Junhui gently wrapped his arms around her. “Believing something that seems controversial to the public must be hard. You’re a strong person Mingming.”

Mingming reciprocated and embraced Junhui.

“Okay Doge. Too much PDA.”       

“I know this is a strange question. But do you know anything more about her daughter? Like where she is right now?” Junhui asked.

“No. But a friend of hers … His name is Park Jimin, I think. He comes here often to get his photos printed. I talked to her a few times.” She said.

“Cheonsa, Dokyeom, 2^nd floor. Doge, mission success. Now get The8.”

Junhui pushes Mingming way and makes his way to Minghao. Before he can get any closer to the younger boy, Mingming grabs Junhui’s wrists. “Wait…”

Mingming turns the elder around and motions closer to Junhui’s lips. “I’m in love with-”

Before she could say anything else, Junhui places a finger on her lips prompting her to be quiet. “I’m sorry.”

He leaves her, puts his hand out for a now conscious Minghao, and pulls him up. “I’m gay and I’m in love with this man right here.”

He leans in and give Minghao a kiss on the lips. Minghao can feel his rubbing against his jeans.

“I love life.” Mingming said before passing out from a nosebleed.

Junhui pulls away and smiles at the younger man. “Nice acting Minghao.”

Jeonghan and Seokmin made their way to the photo printing place. As soon as they see the shop, the elder stops them. “Okay, Seokmin. We have a problem.”

Seokmin looked at Jeonghan in disbelief. It wasn’t even 5 minutes since Jihoon gave them the go signal and Jeonghan was already telling him ’s about to happen.

“I don’t know if that guy is gay or straight. I can’t get information if I can’t seduce him. I need you to find out and I’ll listen to your conversation from here.” He stays by the stairs and tells Seokmin to begin.

He had no idea on what to do. He’s not an actor. What does he have to do?

The man on the counter was playing with his toy cars when he sees Seokmin in front of him. “Welcome to V Photos. Kim Taehyung at your service.”

He takes a deep breath, slowly takes his hoodie off (he was thankful that he wore a tank top today), and starts flexing.

“Do you think I’m y?”

He remembers those very hot guys when he was in school and how they keep flexing. Well, Seokmin thinks he’s pretty hot. Like not extremely hot like Junhui but he was good looking.

Taehyung blinks. “Yeah?”

“Cheonsa save your partner. I have no idea what he’s doing. Is he a bad actor or is he just dumb?”

“Got it.” Jeonghan answered. He acted like a giddy high school student as he made his way to Seokmin.

“Dokyeommie what are you doing? He asked kindly. Jeonghan twirled his hair and acted like an angek. Taehyung’s eyes widened. “Your hair…”

“Huh?”

“Your hair is amazing!” He exclaimed. “Can I play with it?”

Jeonghan smiled and pushed Seokmin away. “Okay!”

Taehyung jumped over the counter and started playing with Jeonghan’s hair. The long haired male looked at Seokmin with a smug look on his face. “I’m here to pick up pictures for a Park Jimin.” He smiled.

“Oh. Park Jimin! Yeah! Do you have your slip?” He asked as he let go of Jeonghan’s hair.

“Oops. I lost it. I’m so sorry about that. But you don’t mind right?” He turned around to face Taehyung. His eyes sparkling and cute.

“Not at all. Wait just a moment.” He jumped over the counter again and started rummaging for Jimin’s pictures. “Here we go.”

“You’re amazing!” Jeonghan squealed as he tried his best to hug Taehyung with a table in between them. “Wanna take a selca?”

“Sure!”

Jeonghan takes his phone out, opens the camera, and holds the phone above them. “1,2,3…” He took a shot while Seokmin stood there baffled at the turn of events. The elder started checking the picture out and smiling.

“Did it turn out well?” Taehyung asked.

“It did. Now bye.” With that, Jeonghan walked away. He grabbed on to Seokmin’s arm and started dragging him out of the 2^nd floor.

“Wait, are you not picking up the films?” By now, Jeonghan had completely ignored the nice, little print shop worker.

“Amazing. You guys were actually kind of good this time.” Jihoon admitted. “But we’re still missing something.”

They were gathered in the back of Jihoon’s van. Soonyoung opens the door with a grin on his face. “Newbie! Watch as Jihoon and I show you how to interrogate a man like a pro!”

“Wait? What?” Seokmin asked.

“Watch on Jihoon’s laptop and listen on the coms on how true interrogation is.”

Soonyoung and Jihoon approached the man. From the information Soonyoung gathered as the others were looking for clues on Jeon Wonwoo’s whereabouts, a man only known as Bang PD might have information on the Jeons.

“Hey! Old man!” Soonyoung greeted.

“Who are you calling an old man?” Bang PD sneered. Jihoon immediately repaired the situation.

“What he meant to say was gentleman. You know…dialects.”

The two sat down next to the elder. “So… That Jeon Minju. Damn, what a sad story.” Jihoon sighed.

“Yeah… Damn. If she didn’t die I would have dated her.”

Soonyoung slapped the man on the back. “Oh. You old player!”

“Who you calling old?!?” He slapped Soonyoung on the back of the head.

Bang PD sighed. “Before she quit, I used to make passes on her whenever she went to the bathroom. She always looked sick every time she passed by. But then…” He paused.

“Then…” Both Soonyoung and Jihoon chimed.

“She’d smile and wave back at me and she had the brightest and prettiest smile in the whole damn world.”

Soonyoung whistled. “You had yourself a catch man. Damn...”

“No.”

“No?” Repeated the pink haired man.

“I saw her with some sketchy looking guy in a restaurant. They were talking about life insurance…or something. I didn’t really care because the store nearby had a 2-for-1 sale on old JYP albums.”

Soonyoung gasped. “That’s amazing! Your taste in music is a-ma-zing. Old man! You got it good.”

“For the last time…” Soonyoung was slapped on the back of the head again. But this time, it was hard enough to actually get him off his seat. “I’m not an old man!”

They were back in the theater’s building. Even Jisoo was there and was briefed on what had happened earlier.

Jihoon starts, “So… from what we’ve gathered. We’ve found Park Jimin’s location.”

Jeonghan puts his phone in the middle. Zoomed in was the picture of the return slip of Park Jimin’s films.

“And we now have a new suspect on our hands… The sketchy male Jeon Minju was meeting with.”

“We don’t have any information on him now.” Soonyoung said.

There was a knock on the door and Jeonghan sighed again. “Jisoo, you have the honor of telling my fans to off.”

Jisoo cleared his throat and yelled “Junghan isn’t here. A lawsuit will be filled against you if you don’t leave!”

“We’re not here for Junghan.” The muffled voice from behind the door said. Jihoon stood up and opened the door to reveal two teenagers.

“Seungkwan? Chan?” Jisoo yelped.

“Mr. Hong, you’re an actor here?” The smaller boy asked.

“Yeah… What are you two doing here?”

The older of the two boys stepped forward. He had a confident smile on his face. “We’re here to join the controversial and famous SVT Troupe.”