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CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

❝THEBRIEFING❞

Woohyun eyed everyone in the planning room: Sunggyu, Sungjong, L, and Sungyeol. The brunet was expecting some more people to show up, but they’ve been sitting in this room for almost an hour and nothing had happened.

Sunggyu was to his left, quietly reading over a few documents. He tried to get a glimpse of what was on the papers, but the gaze from Sunggyu told him that today was one of those days where avoiding Sunggyu would be beneficial–physically–for him.

Sungjong was to his right, talking to L about some that Woohyun didn’t care about. It was obvious that L didn’t care either. He wasn’t even looking at Sungjong, but it was obvious the younger didn’t mind and kept going on and on.

Woohyun and the others were sitting down, surrounding a circular table. Maps and schematics of locations Woohyun didn’t know about littered the table. Across the table from him was Sungyeol. Like Sunggyu, the tall man was looking over some of the documents, mumbling to himself every now and again. There was a tablet in from of him, and from Woohyun’s viewpoint, images were flashing on the screen. Woohyun instantly recognized the device. It belonged to Kris.

The brunet groaned, slouching in his chair, “When you said that you were planning for your next mission, I was expecting a room filled with the best of the best when it comes to INFINITE,” he gestured wildly, accidentally hitting Sungjong in the back on the head. He ignored the glare from the younger because they didn’t scare him and were nothing like the looks Sunggyu gives him. He turned to Sunggyu, “I was expecting holographic images of the places you were planning on raiding to, like, be floating in the middle of the room. Where are the cool science-y things, like in the movies, that the leader uses to get his point across, to make sure everyone on the team understands how detrimental this next mission is?”

Sunggyu didn’t even spare him a glance. He leaned forward, reaching for a marker in front of him. He then placed his documents on the table and began circling various spots on the map that was laid in front of Woohyun.

“Hey,” he reached for said man, wanting his questions answered, but the moment his hand was about to touch the older man, Sunggyu looked at him.

Woohyun felt the life in him disintegrate.

Sunggyu’s eyes practically screamed, ‘I dare you. I double dare you to ing touch me.’ He quickly retracted his hand, giving the older a nervous chuckle. Sunggyu stared at the brunet for a moment before resuming his previous tasks.

Woohyun whined, slouching lower in his chair, kicking the leg of the table lightly. “Really?” Sungyeol asked, scrunching up his face.

The brunet crossed his arms, looking at the boy across from him. He rose a brow as Sungyeol rolled his eyes at him. “How old are you?” Sungyeol complained, obviously annoyed by Woohyun’s whining.

“Technically, old enough to be your ing ancestor.” Woohyun heard a snort from L.

This was the second time Woohyun actually got to say a few words to the tech geek of INFINITE. He had passed by him a few times during his exploration of the headquarters, but Sungyeol always seemed like he was in his own world.

He was probably still a bit traumatized by Woohyun’s cooking.

“Physically.” Sungyeol seemed very adamant about knowing Woohyun’s age.

“Twenty-one.” Woohyun wondered what the date was. Woohyun wondered if he was close to his birthday.

“Interesting,” Sungyeol drawled, pushing up the red frames on his face a bit. “Based on what I read,” he pointed to the tablet. “It’s interesting how you made it into this time in one piece. Like, physically, it’s somewhat understandable, but mentally…” Sungyeol stood up suddenly, startling Woohyun. “You haven’t had a complete physical check-up since you came here, right? Let me–”

“Sit down, Sungyeol,” Sunggyu warned, not even looking up. Woohyun frowned, trying to understand what Sungyeol was getting at.

“Wait, I wanna do some experimenting on him–”

“Don’t even think about it,” Sunggyu sighed, putting his documents down.

“Although Dr. Wu only got a blood sample from this guy,” he picked up to the tablet. “There is still a lot of missing information on him. It didn’t help that a lot of stuff on him was somehow deleted. If I could–”

“You’re not laying a ing finger on him, Sungyeol,” Sunggyu scowled. Woohyun could almost see fiery daggers from the pits of hell shoot from the leader’s eyes.

Woohyun slowly sat up in his chair, feeling sick at the thought of someone experimenting on him again.

Thoughts of his mother filled his mind. Where was she right now?

Thoughts of his brother filled his mind. How did he die?

He leaned forward, resting his head on the cool surface of the table, willing himself to stop thinking about his dead family members. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He heard Sungjong call his name, but he ignored him, closing his eyes.

He was so tired of thinking about them.

“But it’s for science–” Sungyeol urged.

“Are you even listening to yourself?”

“But Sunggyu, imagine how much research I could get done! Imagine how much of the unknown I would discovered related to quantum–”

“You are not touching Woohyun, and that’s final.” Suggyu’s voice was dangerously low, each word sending unspoken threats towards Sungyeol.

Woohyun heard some shuffling before Sungyeol mumbled, “When did you become so possessive?” The brunet heard some more shuffling and then a loud crash with whimper coming from Sunyeol immediately afterwards.

Suddenly, there was a hand on his shoulder. “You alright?” Sunggyu asked. The hand on his shoulder was heavy and warm, and Woohyun felt a bit at ease from the action. Woohyun nodded, slowly sitting back up.

He opened his eyes, sighing quietly. All eyes were on him. Both Sunggyu and Sungjong were frowning; the brunet could almost feel the concern for him coming from them. L’s expression was blank–weirdo. Sungyeol, on the other hand, was glaring at both him and Sunggyu. He was currently rubbing his face, a bruise already forming around his right eye.

“Okay,” Sunggyu said,