Chapter 58 - You know, I know, Who knows?

Yes, I love Madtown

Wonho. The blond flirt of Monsta X. He was crouching right in front of me with a calculating look to his eyes. With a mistrusting look to his eyes. But wasn't I the one who should have been mistrusting? He was Wonho. He had been Wonho all the time I had known him. And suddenly he introduced himself as Shin Hoseok.

“You're a spy”, I finally managed to say and he huffed.

“You're the real spy here.”

“I know but you're not-” You're not good enough to be a spy. Your Chinese is horrible.

“You're not even denying it? I thought you'd put up a fight”, he mumbled through clenched teeth and I my lips.

“When did you become one, W-Wonho?”

“It's not as complicated as you might think. I told you I couldn't choose. I know we might even be in the same boat but how can I be sure? I can't. Not even after everything that happened with Minhyuk.” His jaw tensed and he looked to the side while taking a deep breath. “Back when you found me at the brothel I told you I had met my old man again, right? You remember?” I didn't recall and shook my head. Wonho clicked his tongue as he rose to his feet. “Well I did, it was the truth. It was his brothel after all. He wanted something in return for blocking the room of the little girl. I didn't even get to say anything-”

The blond froze up when steps were heard and my already wide eyes only kept widening. What the was going on here? The third person approached and I glanced past Wonho to find a white head of hair speeding towards us. Oh great. I suppressed a groan. “Wonho? Hyungwon?”

“Don't go near him, Minhyuk”, Wonho growled and blocked the other's way with his arm. “He's a spy.”

“How often do I have to tell you I didn't betray-”

“You can say whatever you want! It won't change what Yi-en told me about you guys. Don't say you didn't meet again because I know you did.”

“Hold up”, Minhyuk cut in as he pushed past Wonho's arm and helped me get to my feet again. His voice was stern and without a chance of negotiation. “I want you both to keep calm. Whatever you have to say we'll listen to all of it and evaluate. I've got enough questions for both of you.” Wonho opened his mouth in protest but Minhyuk only glared at him with a huff. “Brothel? Spy? You have a lot of explaining to do, young man. You know I'm-”

“It's not- I mean, Minhyuk, I'm not-”

“We'll explain one by one so let's just sit down someplace quiet”, I interrupted before things could get further out of hand. Minhyuk was right, we had to sit down and listen to each other. And I wanted to know what the hell was going on as quickly as possible. “Somewhere nobody unfit listens.”

Minhyuk's grip on my arm tightened while his other hand reached for Wonho's. “The building a few streets down is empty.”

Neither of us said another word until the white-haired reached his destination and we started walking up the stairs. I noticed how he avoided looking out of the windows we passed by and inhaled to say something but Wonho beat me to it. “Are you okay? We don't need to go that high.”

“I'm fine”, Minhyuk growled through clenched teeth. “The higher we get the less people can hear us.”

I let myself be dragged along until we finally reached the fifth floor. Minhyuk let go of my arm and Wonho's hand but the latter hat other plans. He yanked Minhyuk back by his wrist and put an arm around his shoulders with a cold gaze directed towards me. “I told you he's a spy. Stay away from him.”

Minhyuk pushed himself away with an annoyed expression. Minhyuk was never annoyed with anyone. Especially not Wonho. “I know. Just sit down.” A moment of silence passed during which Wonho looked all the more confused. He wanted to say something but couldn't believe what he had just heard. My sigh got stuck in my throat when Minhyuk raised his voice all of a sudden. “I still can't see you sitting down?”

We were quick to obey and he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Who wants to go first? There's far too many secrets between the three of us.” Wonho stared at the ground and I met gazes with Minhyuk for a moment. His eyes were filled with anxiety and uncertainty. He didn't know what was going on but he was willing to listen as always. As always. He knew my part already so it was obvious whom he'd call out next. “Wonho. What's with the b-brothel stuff?”

“I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid of your memories!”, he blurted out with frustration visible on his face. “You didn't remember back when my problems started and I thought you would- thought you might-” A sigh escaped his lips and he took a rattling breath. “I didn't want you to hate me for what my family started.”

“I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other”, Minhyuk whispered with hurt in his voice when he glanced at me again. He meant both of us.

“I didn't think I ever would either. But I was thinking it to be for your own good”, Wonho replied just as quietly while fidgeting with his hands. Suddenly the creepy guy from only minutes ago had turned into a shy puppy in front of Minhyuk. What a strange behavior. I swallowed. But are you any different?

Our mediator ran a hand through his hair. “How considerate. And I suppose you knew, Hyungwon?”

I shrunk under his gaze and chewed on my lip with a nod. “I only knew up to the reason why he goes there. Not the...consequences.” I turned towards Wonho again. “But how did you become a spy and why didn't you tell me if you knew?”

“Why did you-”

“I'm asking the questions”, Minhyuk cut us off while sitting down on the dark ground. “There's a lot to explain and I'm totally not fine but we'll do this step by step or it will never be resolved. Hyungwon, shut up for a while. Wonho-” Again he looked at the blond to his left. “-that's what you meant last week, right? I'd forgotten about it with all the panic surrounding Shownu.”

“Wait, what-” I stopped talking upon seeing Minhyuk's glare and adjusted my sitting position. The right time would come. It was my turn to wait for answers.

________________

“Minhyuk, can I talk to you for a moment?” I turned around with a frown and looked at Wonho's fingers circling around my wrist.

“I need to go look for Shownu and Jooheon”, I insisted but his grip didn't loosen.

“It's important.”

I didn't like it when he got serious and squirmed for a good five seconds before letting him drag me into the garden. He his lips and took a deep breath, eyes all over the place but never resting on me. He was nervous beyond words. “Okay, Minhyuk, listen. You know I'm not home a lot these days, right? The reason is a little complicated and I want to apologize. Just know that anything I do that might harm the Clan is still part of my plan. I don't have a choice. I might end up looking like the bad guy but I'm not. I'm doing my best to keep you guys safe and I just want you to know that. I'm not giving out information that is concerned with your identities.”

“Wonho, what's wrong? It sounds worse than anything you went through before.”

“Ha”, he sneered with a helpless smile, “it is.”

“Then why don't you just-”

My words were interrupted by the front door opening and I was quick to abandon Wonho and run back inside to find Jooheon on our doorstep. “Oh my God, Jooheon. Where have you been? What's happened? You know, there's this thing that Shownu-”
“I shouldn't have suggested it”, he muttered under his breath over and over again.

And things spiraled into chaos.

“You were talking about being a spy, weren't you?”, I clarified myself and Wonho lowered his head.

“Yes.”

What would have happened if I hadn't seen Wonho's blond hair on my way back from Jooheon's university? Would I still be wandering in the shadows of assumptions? Would he ever have told me? I couldn't hold back a disbelieving huff. What was this even? “So now you're all coming out, yeah? What do you think, how many spies do we have in Monsta X? Is it all six of you guys? Am I the normal one now?”

“No, that's not-” Hyungwon and Wonho started at the same time and stopped to stare at each other – Wonho in mistrust and Hyungwon in shock.

“Okay, I need a summary”, I brought the attention back to myself, “Wonho is a spy. Wonho went to a brothel for some reason? Wonho isn't the bad guy. Right?” He nodded frantically and I closed my eyes. “Hyungwon is a spy. Hyungwon met up with his ex- I mean his former comrade. Hyungwon isn't the bad guy. Right?”

The other his lips with his eyes locked on mine. He wanted me to believe him so bad. “Right.”

“That leaves us with the question of 'Why' but we're all on the same side. Right?”

The two of them glanced at each other and Hyungwon was about to confirm it when Wonho shook his head. “How can we trust his words? He's been a spy and assassin for about three years now. Why would he-”

“The question of 'Why' will be asked later”, I insisted while massaging my temples. This was like a kindergarten. A kindergarten of war but still just as immature as a normal one. Pointing fingers wasn't of any help, I had only learned about that the day before myself. Three years. Three years of Hyungwon's life had consisted of nothing but gaining trust and then destroying it. It was not surprising that he had difficulties with finding his place now. The more I thought about his words from when he had chased after me the more I found myself believing him so I sighed. “I'll ask again: Are we all on the same side? The side of Monsta X? We are, right?”

“Right”, Hyungwon confirmed with a serious voice and Wonho chewed on the inside of his cheek for a while before finally nodding his head.

“Right.”

“Good. Then let's not talk like enemies.”

It seemed like we had all known things about each other that had been kept a secret from the third. It led to misunderstandings and caused things to get out of hand. I was confused most of the time but we sat for a whole hour talking things out and even Hyungwon opened up to Wonho after getting to know about his whole story. He left out things like the general and his mental issues but he even mentioned 'his brother' in passing. Things were going well.

So let's start with Wonho:

I knew his real name was Shin Hoseok. Hyungwon knew his father owned a chain of brothels around Korea. Wonho had never told me because back when we had gone to school he had heard about the mother who had become a for her son to survive. When he found his way to Monsta X he realized that I was that left behind son through one of my (worthless) tries to stop taking Delphini