e i g h t 

The hotel was nothing short of grand. Sky-high ceilings, red carpets, sparkling golden chandeliers, powerful men and women who had way too much time on their hands clinking their champagne flutes together with soft jazz music playing in the background – it made sense Sehun would choose a place he’d fit right in.

Well, no matter, Baekhyun wasn’t here to dilly-dally.

He’d taken an empty luggage cart to help in bringing cleaning materials to the rooms recently evacuated. Another advantage to the monstrous size of the hotel, no one noticed Baekhyun much, much less look for the body that Baekhyun just killed.

His name was Junji. Probably a rookie, Baekhyun concluded, because Junji’s tag was colored yellow while the managers had white tags. He scoffed at this – it would be harder to reach Sehun’s room in this status. It didn’t take a brainer that Sehun would take a longue suite, unless...

Baekhyun looked around, adjusting his tag as he let his eyes roam around the other staff. One woman caught his attention. She was bubbly and pretty, with innocent eyes that could easily be deceived, and a laugh that found too much humour in everything. She’d be perfect. Small, pretty, naive... the type that Sehun would enjoy staring at, and her tag was a light shade of coral pink.

He his lips, attention focused on the glass bottle safely encapsulated in her arms. Baekhyun placed the carts along with the other one, strutting next to the woman whose name tag read Kiyomi.

Baekhyun offered a nervous smile, scratching his shoulder with his head turned down. He figured Kiyomi was of a higher rank, the scarf tied around her neck the same shade as her tag. It wasn’t his favourite, but as long as no one saw his tattoos and scars, he pulled off the innocent act really well. “Long day, huh? The staff is kind of tense.”

Kiyomi, as expected, beamed at him, the slight tinge of worry in her lips. “For good reason.”

“Why, do we have an important guest or something?” Baekhyun tilted his head to the side before chuckling softly to himself, “Well, I suppose since we’re in the centre of the city, we’re only bound to house some really prominent figures,” His eyes lit up at the idea, snapping his eyebrows upwards as he placed his hands down his chest. “You think I can win the heart of whatever princess we have within the house right now? This uniform looks rather dashing on me.”

“Unless you swing that way, then no, you’re not winning the heart of whoever,” Kiyomi snorted in amusement, “We have a South Korean political figure housed right now, but he’s only staying for a while. Boss said we have to do everything we can to impress them.”

Bingo. “Let me guess,” he gestured to the bottle in her hands, following her up the elevator. Kiyomi was too distracted in the conversation to notice that Baekhyun – if he really was an employee – should have better things to do. “He ordered that wine? Isn’t that the one untouched in our cellar for a long time? That’s a really expensive drink.”

“Exactly,” she fanned herself with a laugh, “I’m nervous enough as it is. I don’t understand why I had to be sent here,” Kiyomi stopped laughing, turning to Baekhyun with a ridiculed expression. “Also, why are you following me? Don’t you have some cleaning to do?”

He gestured to his belt, which was filled with cleaning materials and a disinfectant bottle hanging from one loop. “I’m just in the unit right next to yours. Ring me up if you need anything,” Playfully, he patted her back with enough pressure that Chanyeol’s experimented product would stick. It came in the form of a transparent sticker, thin enough not to be noticed, but thick enough to hold at least enough jolts to shock someone. He almost felt bad for her. Almost. “Oh, and Kiyomi?” Baekhyun pressed his fingers to his face, “Lift your smile wider. We wouldn’t want them to see we’re nervous now, are we?”

“Okay,” she breathed out in relief, mimicking Baekhyun’s wide grin. “Thanks.”

Baekhyun nodded, leaving the elevator before her as he entered a room that was recently vacated. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the unit right next to where Kiyomi knocked, but two doors down didn’t seem too bad. He just had to wait.

He entered the room, ears pressed against the door in case Kiyomi screamed in the hallway. The jolts wouldn’t be enough to electrocute her to death, but it gave enough shock that she’d definitely up and need his ‘assistance.’ Baekhyun took out the pin sized remote control Chanyeol gave him, waiting a few more seconds before pressing the small pearl head.

A crash – then a light scream.

Baekhyun opened the door in a flurry, his cleaning gloves and spray bottle in his clasp. He knocked on the door, but no one opened it. From inside, he could hear Sehun scolding her and poor Kiyomi was profusely apologizing for it. It was against protocol, but the frown and panicked look in his eyes was so well perfected Baekhyun didn’t think twice about opening the door.

“Kiyomi-san,” he called out in faux worry, gasping at the mess she’d made.

Sehun sat at the edge of his bed, his strong features pressed into barely restrained anger. His long fingers were wrapped around his wine glass, but only a few drops ever made it. The white sheets of his bed were soaked in ruby red, his free hand clenching the fabric beneath him. Sehun scoffed, facing away from the bumbling Kiyomi who hadn’t stopped bowing in apology.

“Kiyomi-san,” he approached her, hand landing on her shoulder. The poor woman was trembling, tears running down her cheeks. They needed to impress Sehun, after all, and she’d ed up. Massively. “I’ll take care of this. You should go,” he whispered in encouragement. Kiyomi remained rooted for a whole minute before she ran out the room, head still ducked down. Baekhyun sighed, doing a perfect ninety degree bow as he gestured to the bed. “We sincerely apologize for that. I suppose everyone is in a shamble of nerves right now, Sir. May you please stand up so I can change the sheets?”

Junmyeon’s intel promised him that Sehun would be alone for a while because he changed his guards on routine. No one seemed to be around, and the man was far too lax (save for his frustrations over the wine, of course) to detect any real threats.

It would be easy. Baekhyun had done this over a hundred times. A powerful mafia king or even just a regular thug, they were all men down to the core. Really, no one was that invincible. A slash to the carotid artery or jugular vein resulted in immediate death from bleeding out. Another slash across the biceps and arms could deter their limb movements and immobilize them, even resulting to profusely bleeding out.

The human body was strong and impressive in most ways, but it wasn’t formidable. And the human body was something Baekhyun was extremely interested in – for several reasons – that he liked to consider himself a master of touch.

He glanced up at Sehun, hiding his eager to kill the man under his blank gaze.

“You’re more worried about the sheets?” Sehun demanded, crossing his leg over the other. Baekhyun couldn’t stop himself from staring at the pointed shoe. Italian leather; hand-stitched. Perfect in impressing a yakuza heir. He really must be giving his all for tonight’s ritual. “Your friend just spilled a thousand dollar drink. It’s a waste of what I paid for.”

“Surely though, Sir, it’s not really such a huge chunk out of whatever you have?”

His statement made Sehun raise a brow. Then, he chuckled, drinking whatever got inside his glass. “You’ve got some guts in you,” he flicked his glass towards Baekhyun’s way, mischief gleaming beneath those dark eyes. “What’s your name?”

“Junji, Sir.”

“Junji-kun,” Sehun stood up and stood next to the window, allowing Baekhyun to change the sheets. It was a good thing Baekhyun was a neat freak and his roommate, Chanyeol, wasn’t, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten this good in cleaning things. “Next time, tell your co-workers to do their job right, and don’t forget you’re nothing but a hotelier, okay?”

“We never forgot that, Sir. We’re just lowly employees,” Baekhyun conceded, expertly replacing the sheets with the spare clean ones all hotels had in the linen pantry. His eyes travelled to the room, making sure to keep his head bowed so Sehun wouldn’t see. On the other side of the room, Sehun’s suit was hung from his closet, but Baekhyun was more surprised at the shiny black mask barely hidden from the pocket. He cleared his throat, patting the sheets to flatten them. “So it seems like you’ll be going to quite an event tonight. On behalf of the hotel, we hope that we’d provided good service to prepare you for your expeditions.”

“It’s just business, nothing fancy. And that’s funny considering your friend just messed up right now and ruined my mood,” he shook his head. “If it weren’t for your liquor, I’d have her fired already,” he situated himself in one of the leather recliners near the window, eyes hazed as he stared at his empty glass.

“I heard you won’t be staying here for long. Do you check out at midnight? I can hire a higher-ranker hotelier to clean up your room for you and to assist you should you need it for your departure. It’s the least we can do to apologize for tonight’s inconvenience.”

“I suppose that’s alright.”

Baekhyun nodded, tipping his hat off to cover his eyes. He turned to the door, closing it quietly before clicking the lock. The room fell into a deafening silence, nothing but the tension stringing from one corner to another.

Reaching inside his uniform, Baekhyun pulled out his gun, the nozzle covered with a silencer. He adjusted his cap so it didn’t shield his eyes, a smirk on his face as he pointed the gun to Sehun. The latter froze for a moment, the muscles under his shirt tensing and bunching up, before he leaned back in his seat.

Sehun laughed, two fingers tapping his temple. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

. Baekhyun glanced down. No wonder Sehun kept his windows open with the curtains tied to the side. He should’ve found it odd that a criminal like him willingly let himself be seen. Of course he’d have men outside. Three red dots floated on top of Baekhyun’s forehead, daring him to move.

The -eating smirk on Sehun’s face irked Baekhyun.

But no matter. His victory would be short lived.

Baekhyun ducked on the floor, kicking his feet back until he reached Sehun. The mafia leader growled when Baekhyun kicked the foot of his chair, causing the man to topple over. Sehun was twice in size and his strength wasn’t something Baekhyun wanted to challenge, but Baekhyun was faster, swifter. Before Sehun could recover from his face planting smack in the ground, Baekhyun had flicked the curtains in a second, shielding them from his snipers.

Sehun sat up just as Baekhyun faced him, his lips open in a growl. If he were to throw all his force on Baekhyun, he could be pulled back. Baekhyun didn’t waste time in using his momentum against him.

He planted his feet straight into Sehun’s chest, sending him backwards. His head knocked against the wooden headboard, a trickle of blood flowing the side of his face already. Baekhyun whacked his gun on Sehun’s head, further immobilizing him as the larger man heaved beneath him. Baekhyun didn’t want to risk his recovery, so he snatched the dirtied sheets and wrapped it around Sehun’s neck, whose legs flailed out before him.

Baekhyun tightened his hold on the sheets, freeing his other hand to retrieve his gun.

“Give us back our money,” he gritted his teeth, the tip of his gun pressed on Sehun’s temple. “You act high and mighty with your honesty when you can’t even complete a simple transaction.”

“The ing audacity,” Sehun managed through his half-concussed state. “For you to say that after your gang stole from me!” Baekhyun froze. They stole from him? Sehun easily understood Baekhyun’s silence, forcing out a laugh before clutching his head in pain. “They didn’t tell you, did they? As expected from someone as sneaky as Junmyeon, but really, sending his assassin after me is just asking for a death of ,” he choked out.

To say Baekhyun was stunned was an understatement. His grip never loosened on the sheets, but his focus was thrown to the side.

Junmyeon...lied to him? And he sent Baekhyun to kill a mafia leader who would soon be acquainted with the Chises? Sehun was right. This was a suicide mission – but Junmyeon knew that, of course. He was the one who stole from Sehun; took their goods and left without payment before hiding in the armour of Baekhyun, his greatest warrior.

He betrayed him.

He sent him to die.

Sehun blindly patted the ground in search of something, hissing when he reached the broken glass bottle. He gripped the shard, stabbing the edged side into Baekhyun’s leg, making him loose his grip.

Baekhyun cursed to himself. He could kill Sehun at this moment, but he was backed into a corner. If he killed the Chise heir’s fiancé now that his gang had betrayed him, betrayed by the man he considered his brother, he’d have the whole mafia clans after him. Junmyeon would deny allegations that he sent Baekhyun on his mission. He betrayed Baekhyun and sent him on a suicide mission – he could easily lie Baekhyun acted on his own will too.