Can you outsmart my dongsaeng?

Yongguk began to pace, the sentence replaying in his head on a loop, trying to decipher it's code. Himchan drummed his fingers along the table top, becoming dizzy from Yongguk's performance. His head cocked towards the monitor, watching the blurry screen. Watching nothing happen. Himchan's eyes lit up.

"Do you think he knows?" Yongguk stopped pacing to look Himchan in the eyes.

"Knows about what?" He questioned his younger.

"That we're watching him, through here." Himchan pointed towards his small monitor at the small boy who remained with his knees tucked under his chin. Himchan thought back to when he installed the contraption. It seemed like years, however it had only been a few months. The memory was hazy and it was possible Zelo was coherent when Himchan had hidden it in his room.

"Himchan. You're a genius. That will explain why he didn't make a move at Jongup when he greeted him. It will explain why he hasn't cooperated with us since."

"Yongguk, it doesn't explain the spaghetti. The rubix cube. The rainbow pencils.."

Yongguk his hand along the scratchy skin under his chin and around his mouth. "I have an idea."

Youngjae and Jongup burst through the door on cue. Jongup smiled. "Bang Yong Guk is back in business!"

Yongguk chuckled. "So what's the plan?" Youngjae asked, genuinely curious.

"I'm going to unplug the camera." The trio looked at Yongguk skeptically. "If I can hide some kind of recorder, maybe a walkie talkie, I can record if anything happens. He will be none the wiser."

Youngjae smiled at Yongguk in relief. After weeks in his rough patch, he was starting to climb back out of the ditch he'd fell into. He gave Yongguk his hospital talkie and they would communicate via Jongup's.

Yongguk bowed politely at the young boy. He signalled towards the bookcase where the camera was hidden in between. To his surprise, Zelo stood up. The boy walked over to the bookcase before Yongguk could reach it and pulled out a book. He slowly pulled out the hardback book and opened it up, pulling out the secret camcorder. He looked up and smiled sweetly at Yongguk before throwing the camera at the wall, inches away from Yongguk's face. As the camcorder exploded into a thousand pieces from the impact, Yongguk managed to keep his composure.

"Choi Jun Hong." Yongguk called his name and braced himself for a violent response. Jun Hong blinked repetitively as if he had something in his eye and smiled.

"Hyung!" His voice was childlike, but also bittersweet. The kind of sweetness that can't be obtained from honey but with a sharp after taste that is unexplainable. It was startling.

"Jun Hong-ah~" Yongguk felt realived, as if meeting a long lost friend.

"Hyung! Do you want to see a magic trick? Jun Hong is really smart!" The bittersweet voice spoke again. "Really smart." He added, venom taking over the sweetness, like biting into a raspberry without dipping it in sugar. Yongguk cocked his head at the boy who scarpered across the room like a puppy, reaching for the Rubix cube that lay there ever since it was introduced.

"Hyung thought Jun Hong was smart. Hyung was right, but Jun Hong is sad. Sad because hyung underestimated Jun Hong's intelligence." Jun Hong glared at Yongguk, his smile mismatching with his eyes. The Rubix cube was once again unsolved. Jun Hong started messing with it, turning pieces absentmindedly, not taking his eyes off the doctor. Once he began to show signs of boredom, Jun Hong showed his magic trick.

Slowly, making a performance from it, Jun Hong began to peel the stickers from the cube. Yongguk did not take his eyes from the cube. Under a minute passed and Jun Hong had re arranged the stickers to match and be complete. The surface of the cube was perfect, the glue hadn't lost strength and the coloured stickers had no creasing.

"Hyung thought that he could guess what Jun Hong was thinking, but, it turned out that Jun Hong instead knew what Hyung was thinking." The boy shone his sickly grin for a final time before sitting back on his bed, tucking his knees under his chin. Yongguk quickly left the room, locking the door behind him.

"Himchan did you get that?"

"Recorded."