"Boss..." Jinyoung comes rushing in through the door with Jaebum trailing behind him. "Boss, we have a problem here!"

Sitting on a white sectional sofa made out of leather, surrounded by a number of other men, is the said person they call boss. Jinyoung is scared to break the news to him, but he must tell him of Jaebum's weird behaviour which started ever since he made contact with that girl.

His boss is South Korea's second best con artist. Not many people know how he looks like or what he does to make his money, only those willing to be taken under his wing are permitted. But whatever he does are bound to be big projects, or else Jinyoung would not be here, on the top floor of one of the most expensive hotels in Seoul owned by none other than the boss. Twenty nine year old, Kim Woobin.

"What is it? What could be so big enough to get my attention?" Woobin reaches for the remotes and switches off the television. "All of you are dismissed."

Jinyoung glances at the men, bowing his head slightly. When the three of them are left, Jinyoung drags his friend in front of him. "It's Jaebum, a girl did something to him. He doesn't remember anything. I've tried getting him to remember by saying my name and yours, but he claims that this is the first time he's heard of us."

"Im Jaebum, you don't recognise me?"

A lost looking Jaebum, aware of the thick atmosphere, gives a timid shake of his head. "T-this is my first time seeing you."

"Bull. Jaebum, you know who I am. Stop joking." Woobin grits his teeth, unconvinced. "You're trying to tell me you've forgotten who I am? The person who gave you a place to belong, the person who made you rich in the span of a month. You don't remember me or anyone else, and you don't know why you're here?"

Jinyoung observes nervously as the boss stands up, serious eyes staring down at Jaebum. "I'll tell you who you are."

"Jaebum... stop playing around..." Jinyoung mutters before sealing his lips again.

"I'm not playing around! I'm serious, who the hell are you guys?"

"I'll tell you who we are." Woobin grabs Jaebum's collar tight, pulling him close. "We're a group of con artists and I'm the leader here. You know what con artists are, don't you? We lie to people, we steal, we hurt them so we can make money. That is what we do here, at least. Now I'll tell you who you are. You are Im Jaebum, one of my best men. You've stolen your own share of valuable diamonds and scammed some small businesses and innocent people to contribute to us."

"What?" Jaebum widens his eyes. "I... I... I don't remember doing all of that at all- I'm not that type of person!"

It is at this moment where Jinyoung thinks Woobin has snapped. He isn't the type of person to unleash all his anger and scream at people or act violent. It is much more scarier. This is the time where he knows he absolutely cannot disobey Woobin.

"Do all you can to make him remember his place." Woobin demands in a low voice. "As for who did this to him, tell me."

"I-It was a girl we scammed, her name is Jeon Raon." Jinyoung tries to recall the event. "There was someone else with her, a man... Baek... something. Jaebum seemed to have recognised him."

"Byun Baekhyun?"

"That's it! Byun Baekhyun. Oh, boss, how'd you know?"

Jinyoung watches the lips of Woobin transform in to a menacing smirk. Then, he lets out a maniacal laugh. "Jeon Raon and Byun Baekhyun? They know each other? What an interesting turn of events..."

December twenty third, a day before Christmas. Baekhyun should be out enjoying the decorations around Seoul or talking with Junmyeon over a cup of hot chocolate, but here he is collecting twenty thousand won bills from senior high school students in a playground. Joohyuk is next to him, handing out the promised cheat sheets. The thing is those sheets don't contain the real answers to their upcoming exams.

One day, years later, they'll think back to this day and thank him for having learnt their lessons on wanting to cheat.

Taehyung isn't with them since this has nothing technical involved in it. He did format the design on the papers to match the school's (he hacked the exam website or something, Baekhyun can't remember) and he posted a blog post on a student forum. Comments came flocking in the first few minutes it was posted and they had to arrange to meet at different places with students from different schools.

"Are you sure these are the right answers?" One boy eyes the paper in his hand after handing his money. "Where'd you get these anyway?"

"Of course they're right! If it isn't, you are entitled to sue us." If you can track us down. Baekhyun smiles, flashing his perfect teeth, which makes the girls around them melt.

"Do we get anything extra from the both of you if we buy more sheets?" A girl with short hair and thin bangs, along with striking red lipstick, has her eyes on Baekhyun. He notices that she's standing awfully close, her finger sliding down his shoulder. "Like, perhaps, a phone number?"

Baekhyun shoots her a wink and the girl places her hands over her heart. She retreats to her little circle of friends, overcome with girlish joy at his wink. 

"Here, here, take these and get out of here. What was that   No, I'm not going to go on a date with you, I'm taken  " Joohyuk averts his attention to another girl asking him questions. "I'm not a model. Why, do I look like one?"

"Mister, I think this answer on binomial expansions could be wrong."

"The hell, don't tell me that." Baekhyun frowns. Binomial extensions? What? "Go tell your teacher or the Korean Ministry of Education, I didn't come up with these questions. Stop looking at me like that," he pushes the boy glaring at him through his glasses on the forehead, "go away. You kids, stop hanging around. Joohyuk, have you given out everything?"

"Yeah, my hands are empty. Hyung, let's go."

They run away fast enough to avoid anymore questions from the high school students. Thank goodness that was their last location. Now they're heading to find a place a good fried chicken restaurant after they couldn't decide on which rib place was the best. Joohyuk is taking the wheel and the radio is playing classic Christmas songs in both English and Korean. 

"How's living with Raon?" Joohyuk asks.

Ugh, not this. "It's okay," Baekhyun replies tiredly, "she's not that nosy. She's really optimistic, and she knows how to cook and have fun. The other day we went to the arcade  " 

"You went out with Raon? Just the two of you?" Joohyuk's mouth hangs agape.

"S-she suggested it and I didn't want to disappoint her. I guess since we're living together, we have to get to know each other." Baekhyun's eyes aredowncast, his voice growing sombre. "Joohyuk, you know I can't get too close to her. I just can't."

Joohyuk taps his fingers on the wheel. "You know at first, I was extremely skeptical about you letting her stay. We're con artists, we have to be careful of the people we decide to become close with. But getting to know her now, I think she's a friend worth keeping, hyung. She's quite similar to you in more aspects than you think. Who cares about what Yunho hyung says, right?"

"I don't know." Baekhyun runs his hand through his hairs, fingers entangled between the messy strands.

Baekhyun doesn't know how to get close to her. He doesn't even know if he wants to take another step yet. 

"What do you mean? You don't know how to get close to her?" Joohyuk tuts him as he shakes his head. "Helloooo, the both of you are living under the same roof, a few feet away from each others rooms. This is the perfect time to get to know her well!"

"Ah, whatever! Keep driving..."

"FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ON  "

"HYUNG! THAT'S MY PARTY POPPER!"

Baekhyun slaps his palms over both of his ears. 

"MERRY," Joohyuk starts, readying to shoot the two party poppers at the same time, "CHRISTMAS!"

Strings of colourful, holographic confetti burst from the party poppers. Baekhyun watches the confetti flutter to the ground. Some of the bits land on Mongryong and the dog is scratching at Joohyuk's legs to get him to set off some more. Raon is laughing at Taehyung who is wearing a fake beard and doing an impression of Santa Claus.

These are one of the few occasions Baekhyun is willing to celebrate, because Joohyuk always complains that he never has enough fun with them. Thus it has become a given to countdown