“Also, you have to be authoritative at all times. That’s having self confidence even if you might be wrong, got it?”

Jimin gave a single, firm nod of his head, looking directly into Jongin’s brown eyes. “You are our artifice. You must be clever and cunning despite being that innocent boy you seem to be on the outside. You are an artifice just by simply existing, don’t you see. It’s in your nature. You don’t even have to try.” Despite Jongin’s uplifting tone, Jimin couldn’t help but feel even more discouraged than before. His heart clenched painfully.

Jimin resisted the sudden urge to exhale deeply in response for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last hour he’d been in Jongin’s room discussing the mission.

“You think so?” Jimin involuntarily ran his short, stubby fingers through the silver strands of his hair, a sign of vulnerability on Jimin’s part that Jongin definitely noticed.

“I know so. Now repeat what I just told you,” Jongin stated assertively, crossing his arms across his chest and allowing his head to fall back against the warm colored plaster of the walls. Jimin took note of the way his older brother stood, talked, and carried himself: authoritative and prim, yet ferocious all at the same time. To Jimin, being able to exude those traits, especially with a tender face like Jongin’s, just had to be some type of constantly practiced skill because even as Jimin attempted to subtly match his brother’s demeanor, he failed miserably.

“You said…Y-you-” Jimin froze up, all of his thoughts getting lodged in his throat. He scrutinized himself silently. Jimin knew this information like the back of his hand and he grew increasingly frustrated with himself for not being able to show what he knew. Knowing what was coming, Jimin gave into his desire and exhaled deeply and looked towards the carpet of Jongin’s bedroom floor, curling his toes tightly.

“Nope. You lost your power just now,” Jongin scolded pointedly, pushing himself off of the tan wall to advance on Jimin who was sitting rigidly and stiffly on the foot of Jongin’s bed. “You can’t hesitate. Don’t think too much. Because when you think, you doubt yourself, and you end up like this. Stuck and frozen. Something like this could have you dead in a matter of seconds.” Jongin kneeled in front of Jimin and gestured for Jimin to look up from the carpet and into his eyes. Jimin blinked several times, so disheartened as he felt the burn b behind his eyes. This was not the time to cry.

Jimin obeyed and shifted his attention to Jongin, his brother’s eyes still piercing and formidable, even when he noticed that Jimin’s wide, boyish eyes watering and reddening. Jimin in a cold breath of air into his lungs, that felt like they were on the brink of shriveling up completely to the point he wouldn’t be able to breath. However, when he exhaled that deep breath, he allowed his overbearing thoughts to flow into the atmosphere and soon disappear, similar to the exhalation of smoke.

“You know this stuff. I know you do. So, try again. Now… Repeat what I told you, Jimin,” Jongin reiterated, his voice low and focused.

“Be pernicious, but gradually and schemingly. Pay attention to anything that is encrypted because it’s most likely something I could use against them later. Be authoritative at all times even if I’m wrong because it creates a demeanor of power and self confidence.”

Jongin smirked. He placed a hard, reassuring hand on Jimin’s thigh, giving a light squeeze to emphasize his approval a bit further. But mostly to give Jimin more confidence because Jongin was completely aware of how much Jimin enjoyed praise.

“Good. Now for the last and most significant thing you need to know. Infiltrate. That’s your mission, Jimin. Gain access to the 7 Point Syndicate, both their headquarters and their most important men and women. Infiltrate, gain information, and send the information to us in the encrypted code that Minseok taught you yesterday.”

“What about when I get all of the necessary information? How the hell am I gonna get out of this when I’m done?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout that part,” Jongin reassured.

Baekhyun suddenly entered the room with a folder tucked in the crease of his elbow with a tense raised eyebrow with Chanyeol and Kyungsoo right behind him, also toting folders in their arms. They all were oddly underdressed which instantly let Jimin know that Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were definitely staying the night.

“Baekhyun and Chanyeol are going to take care of that,” Jongin supplied. Baekhyun quickly looked up, his face twisting up into a frown, when he heard his name.

“What are you talking about? I asked you not to give Chanyeol jobs that I don’t approve of first,” Baekhyun groaned. He motioned for Chanyeol and Kyungsoo to give him their folders before mutinously shoving all three of the folders into Jongin’s hands, who slowly stood up to loom over Baekhyun’s short frame.

“I was just telling Jimin that you and Chanyeol are in charge of devising a plan to get him back when all of this is said and done,” Jongin said, setting the set of folders onto the cream colored settee positioned against the wall. He then shifted his attention towards Kyungsoo, who was standing obediently by the door waiting to be spoken to. Even when they weren’t on the job, Kyungsoo was still as compliant as ever to the heir. Jongin gestured for Kyungsoo to come over and without a word, he ambled towards Jongin and melted into his hold when he s an arm around his waist.

“Oh really? And what are you and Kyungsoo gonna do besides each other six ways to Sunday?”

“We configured the plan to get him in there, the least you could do is make a plan to get him the hell out of there.” Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were about the same height, so when Kyungsoo growled out that complaint, Baekhyun glared potently at him. While that occured, Chanyeol noticed Jimin staring off at nothing in particular, obviously deep within his thoughts and struggling to find a way out. The boy’s face was twisted up in overwhelming concern as he absentmindedly scratched at his wrists.

“Jimin.” Chanyeol’s deep voice had caught everyone’s attention, pulling the poor boy from his deafening thoughts that were threatening to swallow him whole.

“It’s about to be midnight, guys. Tomorrow’s D Day for Jimin. We have to be prepared meaning we should probably get some rest.” There was a short moment of silence as the situation that all of them had been trying to avoid acknowledging suddenly dawned on them. The ferocious, mean glare written on Baekhyun’s face quickly disappeared and his expression became unreadable as he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and fumbled with the waist hem of his pajama pants.

Jimin was getting ready to leave and do an incredibly mentally draining job all on behalf of the two older brothers. Was this the right thing to do?

Jongin tightened his grip on Kyungsoo’s waist subconsciously and looked around at nothing in particular. Kyungsoo noticed but didn’t mention it verbally, knowing that Jongin would only deny it all anyway. He only laid his head on Jongin’s shoulder.

“You’re right, Chanyeol,” Jimin said, voice barely cutting through the tenseness of the silence that surrounded all of them. “I’m gonna go to bed.” He stood on shaky legs, avoiding the eyes that followed him as he exited Jongin’s bedroom.

Just a few seconds later, the sound of Jimin’s bedroom door shutting much harder than usual echoed through the entire second floor of the penthouse. Baekhyun stayed standing in the middle of the room, immediately letting out an exasperated, exhausted sigh when the door shut. Chanyeol silently walked up behind Baekhyun and wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his head on top of the shorter’s. “You should get some sleep too, boss,” Chanyeol whispered. Baekhyun frowned.

“Don’t call me ‘boss’ right now, Chanyeol.” He rolled his eyes. “Just take me to bed. We gotta be awake at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning so come on, please.” Chanyeol didn’t hesitate to follow the orders he was given but he didn’t miss the rare usage of the phrase ‘please’ and the begging in his tone as Baekhyun made his way towards the bedroom door. Baekhyun wasn’t one to say please to people that weren’t his parents or his brothers. It was a sign that Baekhyun was stressed, so stressed that he couldn’t assert his dominance. Tonight wasn’t going to be an easy one for Chanyeol.

When the door closed and Jongin and Kyungsoo were left alone, wrapped in each other’s embrace, they sighed simultaneously and pulled away from each other. Jongin threw himself onto his bed with a loud groan that made Kyungsoo chuckle under his breath.

Jongin uttered something into the cushion of the pillow and even though Kyungsoo couldn’t hear exactly what he said, he knew that Jongin was looking for something to calm his nerves. The latter knew exactly what he needed. “Weed, , or Valium, sweetheart?” He asked, going over to the side table.

“Just give me the blunt. I need a few hits before I go to sleep.”

Kyungsoo nodded, more to himself than to Jongin, and did as he was told while Jongin repositioned himself to sit upright on the right side of his king sized bed that the two of them definitely didn’t fill. Opening the side table and pulling out the already rolled blunt and the Cartier gold lighter that Kang-Dae gave to Jongin as a gift, Kyungsoo settled on the left side of the bed with a deep sigh of distress.

Jongin glanced at him, worriedly. “What’s wrong, Soo?”

Kyungsoo didn’t answer right away like he was trained to do when he was just a mere recruit in the kidnapping/assassination department of the Lotus Syndicate. Kyungsoo was always told and expected to be able to think fast on his feet. He’d long ago mastered the art of not freezing up in any situation that involved business and easily gave quick, factual answers to any question that was asked of him. That’s why he had easily received such a huge promotion from being one of a hundred easily replaceable men in charge of assassinations to being the assistant to the heir of the Lotus Syndicate.

When Kyungsoo was recruited to be Jongin’s assistant and put in charge of aiding the younger in the process of becoming an efficient, knowledgeable mafia boss, Kyungsoo had furthered and improved his skill of being so quick witted because he had to be the man that Jongin could rely on no matter what the circumstances may be.

So what he couldn’t understand was why he had frozen up when asked such a simple question about the way he was feeling. Sure, he wasn’t technically on the job but he still was acting as professional as one could while clad in his boss’ oversized pajamas and lying in his bed. But that was usual for the two. Sleeping together, in both senses of the word, was normal.

But the nickname wasn’t. The concern laced in Jongin’s tone when he asked Kyungsoo what was wrong, wasn’t normal for the two of them either. The emotion and connection was what caused Kyungsoo’s mind to short circuit. Feelings and emotions weren’t part of his job, so what was he supposed to do?

“Kyungsoo?” Jongin questioned again. This time, Jongin moved a bit closer to Kyungsoo and placed a hand on his thigh.

“I’m… worried about you, sir.” He answered in a whisper.

“You don’t have to call me that right now.” Jongin took note of how Kyungsoo purposefully avoided his eyes and instead loosely fumbled with the blunt and gold lighter in his small fingers. “Why are you worried about me, Soo?”

There goes that nickname again. Kyungsoo closed his eyes and remembered what Junmyeon told him and Chanyeol when they were recruited to be the assistants of the two sons. Don’t let your emotions get involved. It’ll make your job even harder than you need it to be.

But then he recalled Minseok’s line of defense. Emotions don’t equal weakness, Myeon. Out of control emotions make things hard, but having some emotion might actually make things a bit easier. Helps you make the best decision. So heed both of our words, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. Emotions are a good thing, but only when you use them in tandem with your brain.

At the time, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were on opposing sides. Chanyeol agreed with Minseok while Kyungsoo agreed with Junmyeon. Kyungsoo was never one to show much emotion anyway and was a firm believer that emotions only made doing his job harder than if he was to only use his knowledge and logic. But when he felt Jongin’s warm, rough hand on his thigh, he felt a slight pang in his heart.

In lieu of pondering on the thought, he removed Jongin’s hand from his thigh and placed the weed blunt and Cartier gold lighter in his palm instead.

“Because your emotions are getting the best of you,” Kyungsoo uttered shortly.

“I know…” Jongin sighed. “Soo, remind me in the morning to tell Jimin to not fall prey to emotions and to avoid emotions and bonds as much as he can,” Jongin said as he placed the blunt between his lips and flicked open the lighter to draw a flame.

Kyungsoo knit his eyebrows together and turned to face Jongin. “Is that necessary, Jongin?” The aforementioned took a moment to inhale the smoke of before exhaling it from his nostrils, a cloud of grey smoke forming in front of him.

“Yes. Like you said, I’m letting my emotions get the best of me. I don’t want that for him,” Jongin said.

“He’s your brother. These emotions are inevitable. Of course, they’re going to get the best of you at time.” Kyungsoo decided to look at Jongin completely now. “Because of these emotions, you’re gonna do everything in your power to get him back. You’re gonna be precise and prim. Correct?”

Jongin took another inhale of the blunt, flicking off some of the ash into the ashtray on the side table, before, this time, he exhaled the smoke through his mouth. “Yeah,” he mumbled.

“Instead of telling him not to feel any emotions, tell him that he needs to keep them under control. Following only your heart makes your weak in this empire. However, relying only on your mind can make you weak too. If you tell Jimin to use both his emotions and logic during the mission, it might make things it a bit easier for him and take some of the pressure off.”

“You might actually be right,” Jongin said after a moment of silence.

Kyungsoo smirked. That was Jongin’s way of saying that Kyungsoo was right.

He was sure none of them would see the day when Jongin would actually admit that someone else’s opinion or answer was right over his own. Seeing Kyungsoo smirk, Jongin grinned a bit while blowing out another cloud of smoke.

Jongin offered the blunt to Kyungsoo who quickly took the offer. He brought it up to his lips and inhaled the fumes of deep into his lungs. He held it in for a second, letting it burn slightly before slowly exhaling it through his mouth also.

“You know, if you think it would be better for you, I could always go in Jimin’s place,” Kyungsoo suggested, his voice deeper than usual from the burn in his lungs. The blunt was quite short now, so Kyungsoo held it between his index finger and his thumb. He let his eyelids hang low, already feeling the effect of kicking in.

“I’m sure I would react this way even if you were the one leaving, Kyungsoo,” Jongin chuckled huskily and lowly. Kyungsoo slowly diverted his gaze to Jongin and smiled. He had spent enough time with Jongin to know what he was hinting at. Kyungsoo knew exactly what the aforementioned meant and it made him smile subconsciously.

Feelings.

Jongin was like an encrypted file that Kyungsoo usually asked Chanyeol to decipher for him. Everything Jongin did and said almost always had an underlying meaning to it that Kyungsoo had to decipher in only a matter of seconds which proved to be the hardest part of Kyungsoo’s job. Despite that, Kyungsoo could almost always read when Jongin felt something and wanted something. Or wanted him. Like now.

“Master,” Jongin breathed, eyes low and red as he seductively reached to take the blunt away from Kyungsoo. The latter shivered and met Jongin’s lustful gaze with his own. Both sudden power and arousal ran through Kyungsoo’s veins when Jongin gave him control, opening himself for Kyungsoo and calling him Master. Begging him so needily.

“Yes, baby?”
“Give it to me before we go to bed. I want it in me so bad.” Jongin didn’t wait for Kyungsoo to accept or deny him, he just maneuvered to straddle Kyungsoo and capture his lips in a sloppy kiss, both of their senses heightened by the effects of . Kyungsoo made a mental note to tell Jongin to get this type of weed again.

The way Kyungsoo firmly grasped Jongin’s before quickly flipping them over so Kyungsoo was lying on top of him and pinning the latter to the bed let Jongin know that he would definitely be getting what he wanted.

“You want me inside you, Jongin?”

“Yeah,” Jongin gasped when Kyungsoo nipped and gingerly at his neck. He keened under his touch, silently praising Kyungsoo for knowing exactly what he wanted without him having to say so. Kyungsoo was dominant but his touch was still tender instead of rough. Exactly what he wanted. “Make it quick please. We have to get up early, Master.” Jongin’s voice was suddenly high pitched and slightly feminine, much to Kyungsoo’s satisfaction and arousal.

“Just give me twenty minutes and you’ll be spent, baby boy.”

 

When Jimin woke up, he didn’t make any sudden movements to get out of bed. Judging by the little amounts of sunlight seeping in past the slight opening of the light blocking curtains, he assumed it was early, early morning. About 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning, maybe. He naturally sleeps in a fetal position, his body curled up to conserve as much heat as possible during the night. But this position did nothing but make him feel a bit more childish than ever. He’d never be able to run away from his innocence and he hated that.

Still curled up in this position, thighs hugged loosely against his chest, Jimin began to think again. If he had the energy, he would’ve groaned audibly because his lack of energy was solely due to the fact that Jimin’s thoughts were continuously racing and there was no finish line in sight. He was tired of thinking; in fact, the boy was tired in general.

Tired of thinking about how much he’s miss the house, his bed, his parents, his brothers. Everything. He was tired of thinking about crying out Jongin’s and Baekhyun’s names in the middle of the night to tell them how much his fear was eating away at him. How scared the youngest was of doing this job. But Jimin fought against those urges.

He can do this. He has to do this. His older brothers were right, Jimin was the only one who could do this and successfully go undetected if he didn’t  up.

Once again, he felt the annoying burn behind his eyes as if he was going to cry. A few tears did manage to make their way past their confines but Jimin quickly wiped them away with his forearm, that being the first movement he’d made since he’d opened his eyes that morning.

Jimin hadn’t known how long he had been lying motionless in bed until he heard footsteps entering his room. Even though his back was turned towards the door and he usually would immediately put up his defenses without a second thought, he didn’t. He just stayed idle, already knowing it was either one of his brothers because of the calculation in every step made. Only his brothers would care enough to walk softly enough with the intentions of not waking him. Chanyeol might. Kyungsoo definitely wouldn’t.

“It’s 5:30,” Jongin supplied. Soon after hearing the older’s voice, there was a dip in Jimin’s mattress that prompted Jimin to turn over to lie on his back. Glaring slightly at Jongin, he saw that the older was already half dressed, only having to button up his waistcoat and tie his tie before he was ready. “The car will be here in thirty minutes or less, so you need to throw some clothes on quickly.”

Jongin was looking down at him with an unreadable expression. But despite the immaculateness of Jongin’s appearance, it was obvious that he hadn’t gotten any sleep either. His eyes were low with the desire to sleep and a bit red from the lack thereof. Jimin envied his brother for a moment. The fact that he was also overcome by emotions yet he was able to possess the determination to get business done and push emotions aside. He looked his brother over one time.

“Okay,” Jimin croaked. Jongin gave a quick nod before standing and making his way across the large room and towards the door again. Jimin watched his brother closely as he walked away. He didn’t miss the obvious reluctance to leave the room when Jongin stopped for a split second when he reached the door.

Don’t go. A voice in Jimin’s head whispered.

“Hurry, okay,” Jongin said a little above a whisper, his back still facing Jimin. “Baekhyun and I will wait for you in the living room.” Jimin only responded with a grunt of acknowledgement and with that, Jongin shut the door behind him.

Jimin didn’t realize that his brother had in fact left the door slightly opened because of the fact that he knew how much the younger hated being alone. Jongin knew that the echoing sound of the door shutting completely would break Jimin’s heart. But Jimin hadn’t noticed this because the tears welling in his eyes were already hindering his ability to see. Just the sight of watching his brother leave was enough to break his heart.

He wanted to be stronger. Needed to be stronger if he was going to do this job.

 

Their driver arrived at exactly at 6:01. Jimin would’ve been quite relieved for an extra minute inside of his home, but it was ruined by Baekhyun ranting angrily about their driver being late, even if by just a minute. His voice was just a pitch higher than normal and that only seemed to agitate Jimin’s nerves even further. Jimin wondered if Baekhyun was aware of this slight change in tone and break in his exterior. However, it didn’t really matter because only the three of them were in the living room, silently basking in the others’ presence, when they heard their driver, Jiwoo, honk the car horn.

Jimin was the first one out of the front door because he desperately wanted to hide his fumbling fingers, that were pulling at his warm colored tie, from his brothers. Deciding to take the passenger seat, Jimin threw open the door of the black Aston Martin Db11 and slid inside, offering Jiwoo a quick smile before redirecting his attention elsewhere.

Jiwoo returned the gesture even though Jimin didn’t take notice to it and waited for Baekhyun and Jongin to secure themselves in the backseat. “Good morning, Jiwoo. We’re sorry that you had to wake up so early just to drive us into town, we’re aware of your situation at home, so be expecting a much larger paycheck this month for your cooperation,” Jongin said.

“Thank you, sir. And just to let you know, I don’t have a problem with doing this at all. I actually enjoy the presence of you three at any time of the day.” Jiwoo looked up at the rearview mirror to meet Jongin’s eye and smiled brightly to emphasize her point. Jongin quite forcibly returned the smile with a slight chuckle.

“We appreciate you so much,”Baekhyun agreed. With a sweet hum of acknowledgement and approval from her thin lips, Jiwoo started the car and pulled off of the curb and down smoothly paved road that led from their isolated home into the city.

Jimin expected the car ride to be about fifteen minutes, a minute or two less if there was no traffic, because that was always how long it usually took to arrive at the Lotus’ casino, hotel, or any of the other places his brother’s usually did business. Instead, they drove past the main part of Seoul.

“Where are we going?” Jimin questioned, gripping the expensive, white leather armrest subconsciously as he turned around to glare at Baekhyun and Jongin.

“We’re almost there,” Baekhyun said shortly, which also meant to dismiss the conversation right then and there. Usually Jimin would’ve rebelliously pushed Baekhyun for an answer, but he just turned around with a childish huff that made Jiwoo giggle.

They had indeed arrived in a matter of five minutes. Jiwoo had, not to long ago, made a turn into an unfamiliar quiet, pleasant looking neighborhood. It almost looked too perfect and symmetrical to be a real neighborhood. It was more similar to the neighborhoods in the t.v. shows he had made a habit of watching during the ten years the boy hadn’t been allowed to leave the house. All of the houses, one after the other, were an exact replica of the one before it. Each and every one a one story, quaint home that looked like they only had one or two bedrooms at the most. A starter home. The lack of people outside made the neighborhood look almost inhabited. The lack of people was weird to Jimin because, again, on the t.v. shows he watched, there was always people outside.

Jimin scolded himself internally. If he wanted to survive in this reality, he would have to stop comparing life to the shows he watched on television.

When they were midway down the considerably lengthy street of duplicate houses, Jiwoo slowly came to a stop. Throwing a quick but meaningful “thank you” to Jiwoo, Baekhyun and Jongin threw open the car doors and slid out. Jimin slowly followed suit, waving at the long haired woman.

This time, Jiwoo smiled sadly at Jimin as he shut the car door. He noticed that smile and wondered why she seemed so sympathetic for him. Even there driver was questioning his ability to do a real job?

Jimin inhaled the chilly air of October into his lungs before exhaling it seconds later. Clearing his head, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his black slacks and began to follow his brothers along the concrete path and up the three steps of one of the houses. Looking around, mostly because of primal instinct instead of actually feeling threatened, Jongin reached inside of his buttoned suit jacket and fished out a single, silver key.

Jongin easily pushed open the door open. The front door led straight into a small living room area where Kyungsoo and Chanyeol were sitting on the cheap looking couch searching through a few paper files with a laptop opened on the coffee table for both of them to see. When the door opened, both assistants discarded their work and stood, stretching out their legs.

“Ah, you’re both here. Is everything ready?” Baekhyun asked shutting the door behind them and toeing off his shoes. Jimin and Jongin did the same.

“We were double checking Jimin’s files and the house in general,” Kyungsoo answered. Chanyeol had began talking afterwards, probably elaborating on exactly the two had been doing, but Jimin had stopped listening to look around instead.

The house was small, most of the house could be easily seen without even moving from by the front door. Big enough for one person to live in. For Jimin to live in. Suddenly the house felt even smaller and he found it hard to catch his breath.

He was snatched from his thoughts when he heard one of the doors inside of the house creek open. Snapping his head in that direction, he wasn’t at all surprised to see Minseok and Junmyeon walk out of that room. Jimin knew automatically that the room would be some type of office for him to work in. The dead give away was when Junmyeon fished a small key out of his pocket and locked the door behind him.

“Alright. Mama and daddy should be here in the next ten minutes, so let’s get this mission set up,” Baekhyun announced. “Chanyeol, finish looking over the files and make sure everything is correct.” Chanyeol obeyed almost robotically.

“Junmyeon, Baekhyun and I need to speak to you,” Jongin followed up. His tone was as blunt and nonchalant as ever so there was no way for Jimin to make any predictions about what they had possibly needed to talk to the man about. Despite the uncertainty, Junmyeon didn’t seemed phased by it one bit and only nodded in response.

“Kyungsoo and Minseok, tell Jimin everything he needs to know.” With that Jongin waved his hand, a sign that everyone was dismissed and was expected to do what was asked of them now. While everyone else started moving around the small space, Jimin stood there, still a few inches from the front door. What the hell was he even supposed to do?

Minseok and Kyungsoo’s gaze fixed upon him is what caught Jimin’s attention. They motioned for him to follow them towards one of the closed doors that Jimin soon found out was a bedroom. His bedroom. It was decorated contemporarily, most of the room clad in colors of tan, black, white, and a hint of olive green. Jimin was fond of the room but appreciated the large window that took up most of the sidewall. It reminded him of his own room at home.

Jimin made his way to sit on neatly made up bed while Kyungsoo sat on the comfy chair in the corner and Minseok just opted to lean against the wall. “I’m sure you already figured out that this is where you will be living. Well unless they give you another place to live then you should take the arrangement. It could help you,” Kyungsoo began, crossing one of his other legs over the other with his hands neatly folded over his knee and lounging back in the chair.

“But everything you need is in that locked room.” Minseok pulled a key from out his pocket and tossed it at Jimin. He didn’t make any attempt to catch it, just let the key soundlessly land on the plush white comforters next to him. “Your office is where all of your significant files, data, and more will be. Don’t let anyone in here either, including any females you might meet.”

Jimin scoffed. “What if they ask for a back story or something?”

“I doubt they would really care,” Kyungsoo said. “But if the situation does arise then just say that your parents left one day a few years ago and never returned. You make money by hacking a variety systems for people.”

Jimin furrowed his brow and glanced at Minseok, who, just like Jimin thought, was now rigidly standing against the wall, eyes wide and jaw clenched tightly. The story was incredibly similar to Minseok’s own before he was recruited into the Lotus.

He only knew this because Jimin questioned Junmyeon about Minseok’s hatred towards perfect, nuclear families or just family in general. He was sure that even just muttering the word ‘family’ would piss Minseok off. Junmyeon quietly told Jimin that Minseok had once had a nuclear family. He had one brother and, of course, a mother and father that was perfect in his eyes. However, on a specific date, that Jimin couldn’t remember at the time, his parents had left to pick up some seaweed soup for the two boys to eat for dinner but never returned. Minseok, being seventeen at the time, was skilled at hacking and used this skill to illegally hack the school system’s database to change grades in exchange for money. Minseok had then taught his younger brother how to hack also.

But when Minseok was nineteen, he’d came home to find that his younger brother had also went missing all of a sudden. It shattered Minseok’s heart and Junmyeon, having been Minseok’s friend from high school, recruited him to work with the Lotus in hopes that one day he’d be able to acquire the necessary skill to track down his family. But even 6 years later, Kim Minseok still hated families because his had been suddenly snatched from him.

Minseok openly glared angrily at Kyungsoo who hadn’t responded verbally but with just a roll of his eyes. There was no need to be so oversensitive. Minseok wasn’t the only one who had a ed up childhood so why should Kyungsoo have to tiptoe around his feelings?

“O-okay,” Jimin answered, shifting his attention between both men. “So how am I going to get into the 7 Point Syndicate?”

“Ah, yes.” Kyungsoo stood before ambling towards the door while Minseok stayed silent. He opened it enough to stick his head through and inform the four other men that Jimin was ‘ready.’ In a matter of seconds, the four other men filed into the room, all appearing tall and confident as they lined up along the wall opposite of the bed, like a wall of sorts.

Jimin maneuvered to sit in the middle of the bed to get his own place in the now crowded room. “The plan…” Jimin reminded, now looking at his brothers who were seated on the end of his new bed. Jongin was turned towards him but Baekhyun kept his back facing Jimin, almost blatantly defiant and purposeful.

“Right… That computer that Chanyeol is holding is going to be your personal laptop. You’re gonna use it today to hack into any department of the 7 Point that you would like and purposefully leave traces to catch their attention. After seeing where the traces are coming from, they’re going to most likely send a timed message to your computer, telling you what they want you to do.”

“What if they want to kill me for ‘mistakenly’ hacking into their databases?””

“They won’t,” Baekhyun suddenly said. “You don’t look intimidating and you’re pretty young which is an advantage.” Finally his innocence isn’t a hindrance to him but instead an advantage. “Plus you’ll be wearing an anti pollution face mask with an air respirator on it. You’ll pose as if you have an immune system deficiency meaning that you can’t breath in non-purified air.”

“That means they definitely won’t see you as a threat because you have a ‘sickness,’” Kyungsoo added.

“So if everything goes as planned, they’ll recruit you into their ranks as a hacker and you’ll be in,” Jongin finished. As if to further complicate things, Chanyeol placed the laptop in front of Jimin where he was sitting cross legged in the middle of the bed, even opening it for him.

“Got it…” Jimin muttered, reaching for the laptop and placing it on his lap. Jongin smirked and nodded while Baekhyun, who still had his back facing Jimin, only lowered his head.

 

“Yoongi!” The voice yelled out in frustration as if the owner of the voice had been calling for Yoongi more than just a few times. And like he had done the first few times the person called for him, Yoongi ignored it and continued to take random pieces of paper that he deemed unnecessary from Hoseok’s desk, holding them over the flame of his favorite lighter and watching them burn.

He grinned slyly as he watched the paper curl up and gradually burn away into nothing but a few ashes. When the flame got close to his pale fingers, he would drop it in the waste bin under Hoseok’s desk and repeat the process all over again.

It was so calming to Yoongi and it was the only reason Yoongi enjoyed coming to Hoseok’s office when he had a few hours of free time. As he began to light another file aflame, the door swung open smashing against the walls that provide little circulation of air due to the fact that Hoseok’s office was in the basement of the warehouse in the middle of Jung-gu.

“If this matter doesn’t have to do with explosives and isn’t incredibly significant, I don’t want to hear about it,” Yoongi said nonchalantly, not taking his eyes off of the paper as it soon began to burn.

“It’s important, Yoongi,” Hoseok said, anger laced in his tone at being ignored so many times so Yoongi could set fire to some stupid papers.

“How important?”

“Someone’s hacking the system again,” Hoseok said. Yoongi dropped the last bit of unburned paper into the waste bin with the rest and looked slyly at Hoseok, sensing his irritation.

“You angry with me?” Yoongi asked, standing before following Hoseok out of the office and down the hall. He wasn’t given an answer. Hoseok just his heal and stormed away. Yoongi was ready to call out to him but Sehun’s, Hoseok’s assistant, rushed voice from one of the considerably larger rooms where most of Hoseok’s best hackers worked. Sehun was sitting in front of three computer screens, files and emails scattered across every screen.

“The person left a considerable amount of traces for me to track,” Sehun confirmed, his fingers rushing nonstop across the keyboard. Yoongi didn’t know if the sound of the keys loudly tapping was annoying or satisfying to his ears.

“Then track them,” Yoongi demanded, leaning over Sehun’s cluttered desk. There were files everywhere and multiple coffee stains scattered about on the desk. The twenty year old liked coffee just as much as Yoongi liked fire.

Sehun grunted before obeying silently. Hoseok leaned against the wall behind Sehun and watched closely at every new thing that popped up or loaded. Yoongi looked at the computer screens absentmindedly for he had no idea what any of this meant. He only understood the ending result.

So when a map of Seoul popped up and an address materialized on screen, Yoongi definitely understood and was just as confused as the other two. This was coming from someone who lived in a pleasant neighborhood? “It can’t be the Lotus then,” Sehun said, turning to look at Yoongi who was biting at the nail of his thumb in thought.

“The traces were too easys to be the Lotus in the first place. Plus, the fact that this is coming from someone in some family neighborhood is peculiar enough. What if it’s one of those stupid street gangs that made some rookie mistake and needs their asses beat? That makes sense,” Sehun continued, taking a sip of his coffee that had a nice shot of espresso in it. Just what Sehun needed to be ready for the day.

“It could also be the police, you know. Maybe they made some stupid mistake or are trying to lure us into some type of ambush,” Hoseok suggested. Yoongi thought about it for another few seconds and suddenly agreed with Hoseok. “You’re right, Hobi,” Yoongi acknowledged shortly. “Now how are we gonna deal with it?”

“I say we send ‘em a message. Tell whoever it is that they need to meet us at the cafe right across from our casino. Warn them that if they even think about telling anybody, that they will be killed.” Hoseok’s voice lowered to a sinister tone because, just like Yoongi, Hoseok hated the police.

“I’ll call Taehyung and Jungkook and ask if they can keep watch and scope out the area. Make sure there’s no other police or street gangs around trying to set you up,” Yoongi said, straightening up once again. He looked to Hoseok, beckoning for him to smile. To forgive him. But Hoseok only rolled his eyes and redirected his attention back to the three screens of Sehun’s computer.

“Right away, Young Master Yoongi.”

 

When the message popped up on the screen of the laptop, black backdrop and small, white lettering, Jimin was, to say the least, incredibly startled. For some reason, even the font looked malicious and sinister.

“Jongin and Baekhyun,” Jimin muttered. Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, Minseok, and Junmyeon had been sent to the living room while Baekhyun and Jongin stayed with Jimin, watching the boy focused strictly on the laptop screen. They had pulled out their phones a few times, presumably to send a few texts and emails, before going back to muttering to each other under their breaths.

Hearing the youngest brother’s voice, the smile that had made its way onto their faces quickly dropped as they looked at Jimin apprehensively.

“They said meet them at a cafe in the middle of the Gangnam District right across the street from the Lucky 7 casino. 3 o’clock sharp. If I tell anyone, they say they won’t hesitate to put an end to me.”