KAI’S POV

“There’s only one thing that can stop me from doing this, and that is you, Kai,” the voice pauses and my grip on Wonho’s arm tightens. . . He doesn’t need to say anything else. It’s him—I’m sure of it now. It’s gotta be him.

 “Yes, your father is now talking specifically to you. The only thing that can stop my plan is if you join me.”

Suho immediately looks at me in disbelief. With his eyes, he asks me if I want to say anything. I shake my head no. For now.

“You hear me, Jongin?”

Beneath me, Wonho struggles against my hold. “Boss, he’s he—”

“Shut up,” Suho hisses and with a sharp, deadly movement of his arm, knocks Wonho out cold.

I look instead to Chanyeol, who’s sitting in our van with the door open, bent over his laptop. The light from the screen illuminates his face and I clench my jaw, noticing how tense Chanyeol looks. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. A call from the boss wouldn’t be traced that easily.

“If you join me, I’ll take your friends in too and we’ll all be a part of building an empire much bigger than the HOC has ever been. Maybe we’ll bring in some of your best men too. And if it matters so much to you, your son and that babysitter you seem to like so much can be spared too, I guess. If you don’t join me, well… you can all go down together. Bye bye!”

The caller’s matter-of-fact tone erupts into shrill, maniacal laughter and I have to dig my nails into Wonho’s flesh to stop myself from planting a bullet in the phone. My mouth is still sealed shut as I will myself to not be swayed by what this undead lunatic is saying.

What the is going on? Build an empire bigger than the HOC how? What the does he want—does he just want power? If he’s really my father then why, as a family member of the House, did he ever play dead and leave in the first place—

“Yah, you’re making me lose my patience here. I’m talking to you, but if you won’t respond then I’ll take it as a no and hang—”

“You shouldn’t even be able to talk to me right now,” I finally respond, talking through clenched teeth. “You should be dead. Where are you? If you really are my father then let’s settle this together—”

“Exactly!” The man on the line shrieks, erupting in boisterous laughter. “Let’s do that—so is that a yes? You’ll join me?”

“Oh, for ’s sake,” I mutter under my breath, running a hand through my hair. From the corner of my eye, I see Chanyeol signaling for us to keep going. “If you’re really my father, why are you even trying to bring down an empire you are supposed to be part of? If this is about Sooman becoming the Joker instead of you—”

“Don’t even say his name in front of me!” The voice shrieks maniacally. “Jongin, you don’t get to ask questions before you answer. Last chance—join me, yes or no?”

“You barge back into my life after disappearing for 20 years with a preposterous offer and not a single proof to back it up. Who in their right mind would ever say yes?”

“It’s like you keep forgetting that I’ve managed to infiltrate your organization, kill your goddammed leader, and steal one of your most important artifacts, Jongin.” The er on the other side of line has the audacity to sound bored. “Come on, I don’t have all night. 10, 9, 8—"

“What’s supposed to make me believe that you won’t betray us again? You killed the Joker, your own brother—”

“No, don’t you bring him up—”

“—if you are my father and if what you wanted was power, you would have gotten it here at the HOC. You just needed to get your act together and prove yourself worthy of it first. The HOC was supposed to be your home. Why the would you go these lengths to destroy it—”

“He left me in that burning warehouse that night, Jongin!” The voice screams, its piercing tones ricocheting off the surrounded containers, producing a chilling echo. “You want to talk about family and betrayal? Learn the truth about what happened that night 20 years ago, Sooman declared me dead even though he could’ve saved me!”

“We don’t talk about things like this over the phone,” I interrupt coldly. I look at Suho and an unspoken understanding passes between us. “Most importantly, you can’t prove that you are who you claim to be over the phone.”

We’re both thinking the same thing—let’s act as if we’re even considering accepting. For the first time, we were met with silence.

“If you hate the HOC and the people that built it enough to do all this, then you’re gonna have to prove that you’re serious about this proposition a little more convincingly. How do I know you’re not just trying to lure all of the most important HOC members over to your side and kill us all the moment that they do? How do I know you’re not just trying to take us all down? Where are you?”

Dry laughter crackles through the line. “Are you saying the only way you’ll consider this is if we meet, then?”

I look at Suho. If there’s one thing that we can infer from this, it’s how the speed in which he gave in means that there’s still something he needs from the HOC.

And I’m about 95% sure that to carry out whatever diabolical plan he has in mind, he needs the Aces.

“I want to verify if any of this is real,” I finally say, relaxing quite significantly. “Bring the Joker’s ring, or I’ll assume you sent a random jockey instead.”

The Joker’s ring would definitely be something he guards himself. He wants that ring.

Why? Because if this is indeed my father, all he’s ever wanted is for that ring to be his. He wants that ring—or rather, the power it signifies—with every last breath of his rotten life.

“Only if you bring yourself only,” The voice replies. “If I find out that this is some plan to ambush me…”

I nearly burst out laughing when I look at Suho. “Like I said, all I want to do is verify if any of this is real.”

Pausing, I look up and see Chanyeol waving an arm, signaling that he’s got something worthy already. How come, after months of an insane cat and mouse game, this is now all too easy?

“And then anything else I decide to do will come after that,” I smirk.

“Jongin, Jongin,” the voice sighs, almost patronizingly. I frown. “You’ve always given your trust to the wrong people too easily and rejected those who actually deserve it. You know what? Fine—let’s do it. This might be the first and last lesson I’ll ever teach you as your father. You know the abandoned gas station east of the Incheon highway? This Friday, 8 PM. Come alone or the whole deal will be called off.”

“No, you come alone or the owner of this phone dies.” I reply calmly. “You try to pull anything funny and I’ll tear that empire of yours down before you finish building it.”

It’s nearly 1 in the morning when I finally arrive back on the floor of my unit. A million hypothetical scenarios are racing through my brain that I barely register the presence of Dae, who’s still standing guard outside my door after an evening of watching Jongguk and putting him to sleep.

“Thanks Dae,” I say as he bows slightly to me. “I’m sorry for having to ask you to do this again. We’re in the middle of transition and haven’t really figured this babysitting thing out. I’ll wire you a little bonus for this.”

“No problem Boss,” Dae answers politely. I rub my face in exhaustion and approach my door, ready to just collapse inside.

“Have a good night, Dae.”

“Boss,” Dae calls, sounding slightly hesitant. “Taeyong asked me to pass this to you today. I think… there’s something you should see.”

I immediately turn around, concern building. I take the brown envelope Dae is holding out. “Is it something to do with the Joker situation?”

“I don’t think so, Boss. This is about that other mission you sent him on.”

For a moment, it doesn’t click in my brain. But then it does. The other mission he’s talking about—that’s about looking over Iseul. Blood drains from my face and I feel my stomach twisting.

“What is it, Dae? Did Taeyong say? Is she okay?”

“Taeyong didn’t say, Boss. But it didn’t seem like it was extremely urgent so I believe she’s okay.”

I’m speechless for a second. If it’s not danger, then…

“I believe it’s best if you take a look yourself, Boss.” Daehyun suggests. “Have a good night.”

“Good… good night, Dae,” I stutter, the brown envelope in my hand suddenly blocking my ability to think. I look at it with a mixture of dread and curiosity. I push open my door and lock it shut behind me just as I hear Dae getting into the elevator.

Kicking off my shoes, I throw myself on the couch and place the brown legal-sized envelope on the table in front of me. I stare at it, pondering about its content but not daring to touch it either.

My brain is bouncing back and forth between thoughts like an unhinged metronome, but I know there’s really only one truth. If Taeyong said she’s not in danger, then an update like this could only mean…

The knot in my stomach tightens. I don’t want to open it because I’d probably be better off not knowing. But every second this thing spends staring back at me unopened, the more intense the vomit-inducing nausea in my stomach gets.

“ it. Let’s just see.”

With shaking, clammy hands, I pick the cursed brown envelope up and rip it open.

And the first thing I see is color. A still burst of color.

These are photographs. Becoming more and more convinced that I’ll be getting what I dread when I’m alone in bed every night, I let the photos spill out of the envelope and all over the table in front of me. Now they’re all out, and I stop.

My hands freeze mid-movement and so does the air around me. Slowly, I go through the pictures… the pictures in front of a tall, gleaming office building and the pictures on a subway platform. Pictures of someone I used to know and pictures of someone I don’t.

My breath catches in my throat and if the twisting in my stomach could get any worse, it does.  

I knew it.

I ing knew it.

Despite the emotional pain that’s slowly turning physical, I pick one of the photographs up and look at it more closely.

Her face is most visible in this one, while for him—only his back is showing. Breathing becomes a painful labour as I peer at it, studying her expression, searching the smile she’s showing him and…

I try to recall if that’s what she used to show me.

How long have I been looking at this picture for?

I knew this was bound to happen—I’ve known it since day one and I’ve tried, I’ve tried to prepare for it. But no amount of telling myself ‘I’ll be ready for it when it happens’ has actually readied me. What can? The moment I saw those pictures, I feel nothing but empty.

She looks so, so beautiful still. So kind and bright yet professional in her office attire, and I could not be prouder of how she’s finally made the first mark in her adult working life. I find my thumb moving across her smiling face, gently her cheek.

I miss you… I miss you so much, Iseul. And I’m sorry—I’ll always be sorry.

Staring at the rest of the pictures while blocking the guy’s face out, a desperate spark of hope flickers to life.

Maybe I should note that there isn’t a picture of them hugging or anything. Maybe I should hold on to the fact that they’re not even holding hands yet. Or maybe the fact that he didn’t walk her all the way home should be a source of comfort for me.

But in a dark, cynical way, I hate having these thoughts. I hate having hope.

Because just as hope teases, it can also take. I want to look at these pictures under a harsh microscope calibrated by the rosy picture my mind is aching to paint and say no, there’s nothing going on between them yet, but at the end of the day, I know it’s no use.

It’s no use to speculate because I can see it in his face, plain as day. This guy, whoever he is, has feelings for Iseul.

The emotions that come with this realization is an undecided flurry – frustration, indignance, anger at the unidentified guy, anger at myself, anger at Suzy, fury at the main claiming to be my father, hatred towards the overall situation.

Because even though I don’t want to speculate about how Iseul feels, I know that in a situation like this… it’ll only be a matter of time. She’ll be as good as gone if I don’t take action fast enough.

But fast enough how? Even if we do meet with that bastard person on Friday and we succeed in killing him that same day, I’m bound by the rules the HOC imposes on me. Until I’m no longer under the command of Suzy…

I close my eyes in frustration. The spark of hope has been trampled on and put out permanently, and the frustrating, paralyzing feeling of emptiness washes over me again.

The pictures still lay spread out in front of me.

And if I rebel? Then what?

The textbook consequence of rebelling against the HOC is death.

But to be fair… but I’m not a textbook member of the HOC. I’m a much more valuable asset.

This is not the first time this devilish idea has uncurled its tail in my mind. Sometimes I think – maybe I won’t get such a sentence dumped on me that easily. Maybe I could just throw caution to the wind and rush back to Iseul’s doorstep right now. Maybe Suzy and the Royals would just berate me, punish me to some extent, but at the end of the day, they’d still keep me.

I entertain the hopeful thought a bit longer tonight. Maybe, maybe by the end of this week… after we meet again with that sick bastard… maybe if the issue with him has been resolved I’ll have more freedom…

“,” I mutter, rubbing my face as I recline on my cushiony couch. How long do I have, Seul? One week? Two?

Logic slowly sweeps the rebellious idea into one of the corners of my brain again. The number one thing to remember here is that I can’t be rash in doing this. Maybe I’ll just start with carrying the mission on Friday as a job well done first.

Or, hang on—actually, maybe I can buy myself more time…

Like for example, if this guy isn’t as nice and innocent as he seems, then I’d be doing the right thing by plucking him out of Iseul’s life, right?

A new wave of energy finds me.

I sit up and smirk at the unknown man in the picture. There’s no time for moping around here. I’m Kai—one of the biggest names in the underground society feared by mobs big and small. What I want, I can get.

And what I want is some dirt on this man right now.

And how hard can that be? Every boy who’s gone through puberty has done questionable or is linked to someone who has done questionable .

Jumping to my feet, I pack all the photos up.

Casting one last glance at the unknown face, I shove it in the brown paper sleeve and fold its flap shut. Office guy, let’s see what you got.

ISEUL’S POV

Let me just put this on the record: no matter how cool it sounds to work at a company as big as this, nothing is going to change the fact that this place’s code documentation is .

I try not to sigh audibly as I scroll through the code, trying to decipher ancient comments and bogus abbreviations made by past engineers who have also worked on this part of the database. God, why…

Okay, it’s okay. You can do this Iseul. 

But anyway, now’s not the time to rant. What’s important is that I’m almost done with my official first week of work – meaning it’s Thursday and almost time for the new hire welcome dinner!!

Right now, I’m working on processing the flow of real-time data on our largest accounts and shaping all this data into table schemas that can then be used by our more line-of-business analytics teams. It may sound like voodoo but it’s fun – this is making me realize how much I miss working on stuff I actually learned in university. I can’t deny that my life now—working in a good job where my skills are actually being put to use—has given me a newfound sense of pride. I think I’m doing better and better at coping and forgetting each day.

“Wow, look at the newest member of our team working so diligently~” A loud, cheerful voice sings from my left, and I see Heechul approaching with his packed lunch that he has just reheated. “Yah maknae—ah sorry, Mr. Shin told me to stop calling you that—Iseul, aren’t you going to have lunch?”

“I will in a bit! I’m just waiting for Bom who’s still in a meeting. What are you having today, sunbae?”

“Beef! But hey, you wanna see something cool? Here, come here!”

Heechul’s face morphs into a devilishly sneaky grin and I find myself quickly wheeling my chair over to his desk. “What?”

He uncaps a small thermos bottle. “Here, check this out.”

“Is that soup?” I ask, taking it in my hands and giving it a little sniff. The distinct smell hits me. “You have got to be kidding me—Heechul!! Beer?!”

Heechul, who I’m quickly learning is a crackhead who thinks he’s invincible, laughs boisterously. “What are you so loud for?! You’re gonna get me caught!”

“Are you—is that—is that allowed?”

“This is the worst kept secret of this company’s engineering department,” Heechul winks, screwing the thermos lid back on. “This is our doping strategy to always achieve stellar result, but you didn’t hear it from me, of course.”

“You mean everybody does this?”

“A lot of the older employees. I’ve been here for 6 years now, you know? And this is just beer, beer isn’t gonna knock anyone out,” Heechul grins, his gummy smile filled with mischief.

I open my mouth to respond but suddenly the door to the meeting room by our area flies open. “Okay, I’m done! I’m starving! Iseul, girl, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know the call was gonna run way over!” Bom, talkative as always, dumps all her stuff on her desk unceremoniously and grabs her wallet. “Where’s my buddy? Yah Heechul, what are you teaching her huh?”

“Me? Nothing!” Heechul gasps, feigning innocence. “You two have a good lunch, okay? I’m just gonna sit here and enjoy mine.”

Bom narrows her eyes at him but decides that it isn’t worth it. “Hmm. Why is you saying nothing so hard to believe? But anyway, ok—you ready, Seul? Let’s go grab some food from the cafeteria!”

I nod and take my own wallet, and Bom naturally links her arm through mine like we’ve been best buds for the past decade. “Enjoy your lunch, Heechul!” I sing as we walk off.

As we last discussed, Bom and I are going to grab lunch and talk a bit about the welcome dinner that’s happening tomorrow night. Bom gives me brief updates on several of the key projects she’s working on and as I listen, I marvel at her ability to make everything sound like celebrity gossip. She’s an excellent talker!

“Did you say that this had to do with Apache Spark and machine learning?” I ask, my interest piquing at the mention of big data and machine learning.

“Yes!”

Oh that’s something that I’m interested in! I quickly express my interest in the subject and ask if there’s anything I could support with. We talk about the scope of the project for a bit and if it relates to anything I’m working on, or anything else currently being done by the team.

“I definitely see the opportunity to loop you in and support but let’s talk about it with Mr. Shin too first, shall we?” Bom smiles as we stand in line and wait for the buffet station.

“Oh, of course!” I smile. “Thank you so much!”

“No problem. I’m glad you’re expressing your interests like this!” Bom gives me a thumbs up and peers over my shoulder to check out the food today. “I wonder what we’re having today…”

“Is that squid? It looks like spicy squid. But you can’t be serious—that’s way too fancy for office food!”

“I think it is! Our company does that sometimes, like every once in a while they give us a little treat so that employees would keep using their lunch cards because that’s money for them too.” Bom rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, that’s gonna work on me alright.”

“Me too,” Bom chuckles.

We soon reach the front of the line. Then, with trays in our hands, Bom and I chat as we look for an empty table to sit. The smell of food, all the people and the chatter, the bustling yet professional atmosphere—I feel like I’m in a K-drama and I love it!

“So how are you settling in? Damn it, this place is really busy today. I think everyone smelled the squid.” Bom grunts as circle around all the filled tables like vultures.

“I’m settling in really well! Everyone’s really nice and helpful, especially those on our team. Heechul’s really funny too sometimes.”

“That’s good to hear! I know we’re planning to talk about this a bit more today but while we’re on the topic, let me just say that Heechul’s one of the guys you can trust out there. Like, he talks a lot and sometimes he’s flirty, but he’s more interested in his snacks and alcohol than anything else. So. Just something to keep in mind.”

“Oh that’s good. Thanks for the heads up.”

“You close with anyone else from other teams yet?”

“I—”

Just then, we pass a table of about 6 people and one of them catches my eye. At the same time, one of them looks up at me and grins. Forgetting the sentence I was working on for a bit, I smile back at him.

I briefly look at everyone else seated with Lucas. Spotting Yuta, I wonder if those people are also part of his team.

“I take that as a yes,” Bom smirks. “Is he a new hire too?”

Something about her expression makes me blush. “I—yeah, we met during our interviews and then again during our first day this week. That’s Lucas, he’s on the software engineering team.”

“Cool. Guess we’ll be seeing him too during the welcome dinner.”

“Yeah.”

We finally find a small table for exactly 2 people and I breathe a sigh of relief as soon as I plop my on the chair.

“Oh thank God. Enjoy your meal!” Bom picks up her chopsticks and begin digging in.

We sit in silence for a while, too busy ravishing our own food. At some point the heat begins to kick in and I’m forced put my chopsticks down for the first time in over 5 minutes to grab my glass of water.

“This is actually not bad at all. This place is gonna make me gain weight, I just know it,” I pant after several gulps of cold water.

Bom groans at my mention of that. “Dude, Freshman 15 happened to me here instead of college. Like, have you seen that snack drawer in the pantry?? And all the alcohol at company dinners… I know that’s on me but my self-control is a weak !”

“So company dinners happen often around here?”

“Yes! You know of the new hire one, right? There’s at least 1 extended team dinner every quarter and 1 company social every month, and in addition to that, Mr. Shin is actually quite generous and treats us to dinner every now and then. Lowkey we all think he comes from a loaded family, so don’t get on his bad side,” Bom leans in and wiggles her eyebrows scandalously.

We chat more on the topic of company dinners, and before long Bom is spilling all kinds of insider information. How we click and become like long-time best buds so soon is honestly a miracle.

“Everyone usually mingles at the company dinner. Just as a heads up, software kids are usually the loudest and like to make the conversation about them, while the infra engineers are quiet but can actually be pretty cool once you get them talking like, more than 5 sentences,” Bom takes half a second to breathe. “The team lead for the DevOps team is actually really nice, I think he called me an Uber once when I had a bit too much to drink and he said I didn’t need to pay him back.”

I giggle. “Well that’s useful. Thanks Bom, what on earth would I do without you?!”

“No, thank you for being on this team! I swear I’ve always wanted to have another girl my age that I can talk to comfortably… Hyoyeon’s like Mr. Shin’s right-hand man—woman—so I don’t talk to her this freely.”

“She seems nice though, right?”

“Oh she is, she is!” Bom nods quickly. “This whole team is nice. But you know. Sometimes I’m just… awkward.”

“Pfft, if you’re awkward what does that make me?!”

“You? Awkward?” Bom narrows her eyes. “First of all, it takes two to tango. If talking to you is like talking to a broomstick then I wouldn’t be finding it this easy to talk to you. Second, if you’re awkward then how come you were already able to pick up a cute guy here so soon, hmm?”

My cheeks burn as I painfully try to suppress a giddy grin. “Well first, it takes two to tango for you too so you’re not awkward, and second, I did not pick up anything. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Seo Iseul,” Bom narrows her eyes threateningly.

“But if you think my friend is cute then maybe I can—”

“No that’s not the point! But see! You know what I’m talking about!”

“It’s true though! I didn’t pick anything up, we just met during our interviews and again on our first day so naturally we started talking.” I try to sound cool, but deep down inside I’m strutting with my chest puffed out, fluffing my feathers like a proud mother hen. That’s right I picked something up, hehe. “So seriously, if you think he’s cute…”

“No!” Bom makes such a twisted face that I burst out laughing. “Don’t worry, just because I said cute doesn’t mean I’m interested—plus, I don’t date guys younger than me anyway.”

“Okay.” I say, feeling very relieved. To be honest, that was stupid. What if Bom was actually interested? Like are you ready for that Iseul? Hoe-Seul has been craving for action since the beginning of the century and now that there’s a potential outlet for her you wanna give it away just like that??

“Anyway, I’m not sure about that guy himself—what’s his name, by the way?”

“Lucas.”

“Lucas. I don’t know much about Lucas obviously but his team’s pretty chill. They’re like one of the nicer software teams. I know the team lead pretty well myself. But there’s like this one other girl—I think her name is Jihyo—she acts all nice and stuff but I heard that sometimes she talks about people behind their back. One of my friends on the DevOps team? Her name’s Joohyun; I think Joohyun told Jihyo something once and like 2 days later some guy she never even talked to about it. So be careful what you reveal to her, she’s a bit mouthy! Oh, totally not like us though.”

I laugh. “Haha! Of course not. We’re… we’re not gossiping, we’re merely making an objective assessment of the environment.”

“Correct.” Bom nods, comedically grave. “What we’re doing is qualitative data analysis.”

“Purpose is purely educational of course.”

“Right. You think I’m gonna talk about how one time, Joohyun said she saw a peaking out of Kyunghoon’s pocket when she sat beside him? No, of course not.” Bom rolls her eyes playfully.

“No but wait, stuff like this is actually what you need to tell me though.” I chuckle.

“And didn’t I just?” Bom winks.

We burst into giggles again like a pair of chemically imbalanced schoolgirls. Talking a bit more about various names I’ve never even associated with faces, Bom chatters about how her welcome dinner experience went even as we put our trays away.

“Anyway, they always choose a really nice place to go to, so I’m sure that this year—wait, did they say where we’re going yet?”

“The Shilla!” Thank God not the HOC, I mentally add. I nearly passed out in relief when I saw the email invite saying The Shilla.

“Oooh that’s awesome!” Bom gushes. “That’s one of the fancier ones for sure!”

“Do we usually go right after work?” I ask as we head to the elevators, ready to go back to our floor.

“Yeah, you’ll just see people looking a little nicer than they normally do this Friday,” Bom winks. “What I usually do is just wear a cute cami with a modest blazer over it so when, you know, we go have fun later in the night that can go straight to coat check.”

“Genius! This is why the world needs you!”

Bom lets out a bark of laughter and we continue conversing animatedly even as we step into the elevators.

Just before the door closes, a loud “WAIT!” cuts through the narrowing gap and before Bom can hit the ‘Close’ button instead, a hand appears through the crack and makes the doors start to part again.

“Oh, hi Mr. Yoo,” Bom smiles coolly, as if she wasn’t just trying to leave him 2 seconds ago. I feel her bumping on my shoulder subtly. Because of course this had to happen. Mr. Yoo, whatever his full name is, is Lucas’ team lead and behind his left shoulder is Lucas’ pretty head.

Oh, and Yuta’s standing there too.

Lucas smiles at both Bom and I politely and Bom shoots me a quick look as we shuffle backwards to make room for the 6 additional passengers.

“Hi Bom, how’s it going?”

“Good thank you, and you?” Bom answers so fast it seems almost automated. I, too, wonder what my automated office small talk reply would be.

“Flourishing!” Mr. Yoo declares grandly, and I nearly let a chuckle out. I catch Lucas’ eye and he makes an expression that tells me we’re both internally laughing at this man.

“Wonderful!” Bom gushes. “This is Seo Iseul by the way, she’s on my team and she’s part of the new hire cohort who just started this Monday.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Yoo!” I chirp brightly, bowing.

“Welcome to Shinhan!” Mr. Yoo claps. “How are you liking it so far, Iseul?”

“I only have good things to say,” I reply smoothly. “My team has been really supportive in helping me get up to speed quickly and I’m beginning to meet more friendly people from other teams too.”

“Aha! Have you meet some of the new members of my team, then? Lucas and Yuta joined us this week too.” Mr. Yoo smiles and gestures at the two boys standing behind him. “These three here have been with me longer. This is Johnny, Mark, and Taeil.”

The elevator dings, signifying our arrival at the engineering floor again. All of us walk out together and I exchange polite ‘hi and ‘heys’ with the unfamiliar faces while Lucas and Yuta just grin at me. “I met Lucas and Yuta earlier this week at orientation actually. But nice to meet you, Johnny, Mark, and Taeil!”

“Perfect!” Mr. Yoo beams. His ceremonious way of talking reminds me of a famous Korean MC. “Well, we should all talk more at the dinner tomorrow, okay? You both are coming, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it!” Bom replies.

“Good. Let’s all see each other there then. See you ladies tomorrow!”

“See you!” Bom and I sing back. Lucas and Yuta wave briefly at me, Lucas subtly wiggling his eyebrows. I return it with a small smile. It’s all making my insides turn to mush, to be honest, the semi-secret wordless exchanges between us. But what the , Iseul? If all it takes is a smile and a cute eyebrow movement for you to romanticize a 1-minute elevator ride, you seriously need to get help.

“Saw that,” Bom whispers, nearly making me jump. “Trust me, whether you meant to or not, I think you picked something up sister.”

“Bom!” I scold, blushing. “Don’t say stuff like that, my hungry ego might hear.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll shut up for now. But we’ll see at the welcome dinner, if he does anything remotely cute to you…”

“Why are you trying so hard to be best friends with me?” I joke.

“Says the person who said they could not have found a better buddy!” Bom retorts, sticking her tongue out.

“Okay, fine. But since we’re best buds now don’t you even think of leaving me alone at the company dinner. Otherwise I’ll be surrounded by men and I hate that.”

“Oh really? You hate that? What if it’s Lucas?”

“Bom!!”

“What?” Bom whines. “It’s a valid question!”

“Bom seriously, there’s nothing going on between him and I.” 

“Oh, we’ll see,” Bom winks, and with that, twirls around and flips open her laptop with a snap.

BAEKHYUN’S POV

The world is ending soon and it’s all because of this man named Lucas.

I don’t know who he is or what his story is but if anyone has a plan on how to get rid of him, I’m listening. 

This man is single-handedly ruining 6 people’s day—mine, Chanyeol’s, Suho’s, DO’s, Sehun’s, and Suzy’s—all because he has stepped into Kai’s territory and is undoubtedly (at least from the looks of it) about to win it over.

Ever since Kai found out about how Lucas is Iseul’s new friend at work who’s in the same department and goes halfway home together with her, he’s been taking it out on all of us by acting like the crankiest, most irritable motherer to exist in this solar system. In fact, you know what? If anyone has a plan on how to make Kai’s death look like an accident, maybe I’m listening too!

It doesn’t help how Kai is legitimately unable to find any dirt on Lucas either. His thought process is that if Lucas was someone sketchy, maybe we’d have a reason to rip him right out of her life, but as of right now, all Lucas seems to be is a software engineer at Shinhan who graduated from university a couple months ago—with a not-so-lame GPA too, at that.

Our resident man here is just worried that Lucas is going to whisk Iseul off her pretty little feet and into the happily-ever-after sunset. Som