The Saturday morning sun woke up Sehun up with relentless shine and ardor. His back felt worse than it had ever, and his feet felt tight inside his sneakers. When he finally managed to crack open an eye, he was still half-asleep and couldn’t make out where he was. It took a little more glancing around and mumbling ‘’ and ‘ugh’ for him to figure out he was laying on the bench of a bus stop. After he finally came to, he saw the little stand he had been drinking at the previous night was only a shell of itself and was closed.

“What the .” He grumbled and sat up, running a shaky hand through his hair. He had no phone to check the time, he was scared his family had put a GPS tracker and would find him. He couldn’t find his hat or protective mask, meaning he had to face the world and was at risk of being noticed and recognized. He’d also had the same amount of money that he’d arrived with last night. 

Oh yeah, he remembered. Wu Yifan had somehow noticed him from where ever the he was and paid for his tab. At first, the only thing he could recall was the sassy little brat who had been his server telling him, “Hey mister, your friend Mr. Wu paid your tab. He told me to tell you that he welcomes you back and is awaiting your first move. He said you’d get what he meant.” With a shrug, the kid had left, obviously not giving a . 

It irked Sehun in his deepest parts that Wu Yifan of all people had caught him in a dirty food stand full of doctors and taxi drivers. Then he had paid for his meal and drinks like he was some kind of angel from God, and had the nerve to say he was awaiting ‘his first move’, whatever the that meant. 

Wu Yifan was just some from the triads. He was daddy’s little puppet who got lucky enough to run the gang. When Sehun got locked up their presence in Korea had only been minimal but steadily growing. From what he heard on the news and from his sister, their presence now was large enough to compete with any of the gangs who ran the turf. Those triad bastards had succeeded in capturing a lot of the land in the south and by the coast as well. The Oh Organization was probably one of the only potent and potentially dangerous rivals they had left.

Of course, Yifan didn’t know that Sehun had voluntarily banished himself from his gang and family the night before, not even his own gang knew. 

The more he recalled last night’s events he remembered seeing a tall, broad-shouldered, suit-clad man with ugly snakeskin loafers. The Wu Family and their associates loved everything snake, their emblem even had a snake. It was just a damn testament to how conniving and false they were, just like snakes. There’d been a person who’d stuck close to Yifan that night. He couldn’t recall the face of the person, but that night he saw something that the old him would have salivated for: a vulnerable Yifan. A vulnerable Kris Wu meant a weakness. A weakness meant something to hurt him with. 

The old Sehun, the gang-affiliated Sehun would have reported it back to his lieutenant and more importantly, his father, immediately. The Sehun of today, who had no last name to proudly bare, didn’t give an absolute . In fact, he wished the blond man prosperity. He and the rest of the gangs in the area could all shoot each other into an inferno for all he cared. 

Yeah, he was free to live his life and not worry about being killed while eating sashimi or ing his wife like most of the tough guys in the gangs that surrounded him.

A wretched smile crept its way onto the dark-haired man’s face. Hah, if only Yifan could meet his maker quickly. He would have started laughing like a dastardly freak if the stare of a scared woman next to him hadn’t stopped him. Sehun had forgotten he was in public. With haste, he picked up the duffle bag he’d been laying his head on and scurried away, making sure to put his hood on with its strings tightened. 

He had nowhere to go and no plans, but he was enjoying every second of it. He would have been more concerned if he was unprepared to go off on his own. He probably wouldn’t even have left home for good if he had arrived in Korea still dependent on his family, but like any Oh family man, he was always prepared for disaster.

When he’d gotten arrested and tried, his belongings were taken as restitution and every single bank account was frozen and seized. Except for the secret accounts that only he knew about. His father had always nagged and moaned about how Sehun was terrible at saving money. Sehun had been notoriously known for spending his money on vacations, watches, and cars. 

Smart men never announced their moves. A few years before getting thrown in the slammer he’d opened a few bank accounts using false credentials and a different name, Im Wonbae. It was a random name he’d picked off of a baby name generator from google and it’d gone the distance. Sehun didn’t just have enough to last him a few months; He had enough to last him a few lifetimes. 

Im Wonbae would have to make a few trips to the bank in the next few days in order to pick up a new debit card and checkbook. Oh Sehun would have to find somewhere to live and fast. 

The longer he stayed outside, the higher the chances were that a gang member or rival group would see him and try their worst. He didn’t know whether his sister had found out, or if the house cleaning and cooking staff had reported him missing to his younger brother, but it would happen eventually. Whether they would actually look to care was a different matter.

He decided to spend a few hours at a PC bang that offered instant food and other services. He hadn’t entered one of these places since he was in high school. His father had banned it, claiming that video games were going to rot people’s brains and make them violent. He’d remedied it with target practice and then going on missions to kill actual people and sell narcotics. Grade A parenting if you ask me, Sehun thought.

An hour into playing Modern Warfare or whatever the he was playing, a stunning realization hit him. He was among many in his very PC bang, in this row of people playing video games or video chatting online, and absolutely nobody noticed him. Nobody was bowing their heads in fear, the people playing in his party had even cursed him out a few times and called him ‘bro’ without alarm. Before, he wasn’t able to go anywhere without calling some kind of attention. His expensive clothing and unabashed good looks attracted women’s attention, and his arrogance and menacing glare caught the eyes of jealous men. 

Here he was just some anon who at sharpshooting and was slurping away at cheesy ramen and kimchi pancakes. Sehun stayed in his temporary reprieve for two hours or so, playing away and not worrying about his pressing situation. Finding somewhere to live could wait, cybrogkev7712 and tickle_the_p1ckle were depending on him for this mission. 

“Okay, okay, okay. Sorry guys, time to get serious. I gotta go, uh, my mom is calling me to come home to eat. I’ll log on tonight or tomorrow, bros,” Sehun hated the way he sounded. He could hear the other guys in his party peacing out and talking about how much homework they had or about how they had to study for entrance exams later. Damn, he was such a ing loser for lying to a bunch of high schoolers about who he was. Also, a potential internet freak that kids are warned about.

It took an additional hour of searching for a motel as far away from the direction of his house as possible that accepted cash only until he could finally find one. It was a mom and pop family motel, tiny and old. The reviews were good, the two old people who ran the place offered a weeknight mahjong party for all the neighborhood and offered a breakfast buffet on weekends. He could definitely crash there for a few nights until he found somewhere safe and discreet to live.

Sehun got up with his duffle bag and exited the PC bang. He’d have to return soon to make a new email and play again with his CoD party, but for now, he could only concern himself with his reality. 

There was nowhere even remotely secure where he could walk, so he’d decided to take a taxi all the way there. He was getting used to politely entering and asking the drivers if they could take him to a certain location. This is what normal life feels like, he thought. 

His thoughts were occupying enough to get him through the fifteen-minute cab ride. The motel was pretty much just like the pictures. Although it looked a little less run-down than he had thought. The short-haired man paid the taxi driver, swung his duffle bag on his shoulder with an ‘oof’ and left.

The two owners weren’t there to greet him, but a young woman who he guessed was probably a granddaughter or something was there to grab his information and check him in. He secured a room on the third floor with a king bed and a nice view of the hills and residential buildings. When he got up to his room he didn’t bother to unpack or look around. In all honesty, he didn’t care all that much. 

Sehun plopped down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. His mind went vacant for a little bit and he focused on the little specks of color that contrasted with the white ceiling. The bed was large and the mattress was soft, it made no noise when he practically dove on top of it. 
After he’d shed his shoes and shirt, he decided to close his eyes once more and recover whatever amount of sleep that he could.

At night, Sehun had abandoned his hotel room for the night to find refuge in a new bar he’d found around town. He had no cellphone and he figured that in the old days when there was no phone people had and drank wildly in order to pass the time. “Do as the Romans do,” He said and probably thought he’d messed up the old saying