Dirty Jobs: Arc I, Dirty Diamonds (III)
Dirty Jobs
Chansoo / Baekchen / Xiuhan
Suho, Yixing, Kris, Sehun, Kai, Tao
Summary
EXO is an underground group in Seoul that will do anything, meaning they will take any job you give them as long as you pay the appropriate price. You can ask them to find someone, or you can ask them to make someone disappear. They will do the dirty jobs no one else is willing to do.
Story Arch I: Dirty Diamond (Part III)
Arc I: Dirty Diamonds (Part III)
Time remaining: 17 hours.
"Once again, happy birthday Kyungsoo! May you have the time of your life in the upcoming year as an 18 years old. Cheers!"
Glasses collide into each other as the EXO members cheered following their leader's speech. Kyungsoo smiles shyly and sips on his juice while the rest chugged heartily at their mugs of cold beer. He may not be great at expressing gratitude, but Kyungsoo is very thankful for his fellow team members. They always look out for him, although a bit too much for his likings, and for better or worse they have become his new family. Whenever he is plagued with nightmares and jolts away in the dead of the night, the thoughts of having the EXO members in his life comfort him more than he'd like to admit. He wants to show more emotions to his hyungs and let them in closer to his heart, but Kyungsoo is scared. He is terrified that one day the EXO members will leave him as well; he has yet to heal from the scars of his parents' death and Luhan's accident, his young heart is not prepared to risk of losing loved ones again. Especially Chanyeol; Kyungsoo recently finds himself separating the man from the rest of the group. Chanyeol makes him feel so at ease, he often unconsciously lowered his guard around the silly giant. At the same time he is frightened to let Chanyeol into his world, part of him also craves more of the man's attention and affection in a way he has never experienced before. Shifting attention to his left, Kyungsoo peeks at the said person who laughed without reserve at something Baekhyun has just said. Kyungsoo thinks he can best relate to the arsonist; after all, both of them have lost their parents at a relative young age. Chanyeol's father died in a self-induced explosive accident when he was 15 and as for his mother, the arsonist always said "she is as good as dead to me". Genuinely, Kyungsoo admires Chanyeol's optimism and rigour for life, how he can still laugh and cry, experience every day to the fullest and fight until the end. Unknowing to himself, Kyungsoo watches as his taller companion explodes in a fit of laughter across from the con artist with soft eyes and a small smile creeps up his normally blank face.
Across the table, Jongdae takes everything in. He watches Kyungsoo’s smile expressionlessly and chugs half of his beer in one gulp. He has been closely observing the interaction between the boy and Chanyeoal lately out of pure fascination. If he’s not mistaken, he’d say Kyungsoo is falling in love, but then again what does he know about love? When he shared his recent observation with Baekhyun a few days ago, the con artist regarded him with mischievous eyes: “Are you saying that because you know what being in love looks or feels like?” Jongdae was stumped. Baekhyun was right, how does he know if what he sees in Kyungsoo’s eyes is love? He hasn’t experience his own first love yet, so who was he to make the judgement call?
“Well, do you know what being in love looks or feels like?” Jongdae retorted defensively, challenging Baekhyun of his own question. The con artist glanced at him lightly and a sly smile hung loosely on his rosy lips. Leaning in until Jongdae could feel warm minty breath against his lips, Baekhyun spoke soft and slow.
“My profession forbids falling in love, so I will never know personally how it feels. However,” the con artist tipped the Jongdae’s reddening face with a dainty finger and gazed deeply into the hacker’s nervous eyes, “I can tell when someone is in love. Rather than worrying about Kyungsoo, maybe you should worry about yourself, hm? Kim. Jong. Dae.”
Baekhyun smirked.
In a panic, Jongdae slapped the other’s hand away harshly and he practically ran out of the room, almost tripping over his two feet. “Go recite your dumbass non-sense to someone else, you fucker!” he shouted, feeling heat running through his entire body. Behind him, Baekhyun roared with laughter.
Looking away from Kyungsoo, who listened dubiously at Chanyeol’s story about someone selling Michael Jackson’s teeth on the black market, Jongdae glares at the person sitting next to him. Baekhyun turns to face the squinting hacker having noticed eyes trying to burn holes through his head. He arches his eyebrow in question and Jongdae whispers: “I do know what a person in love looks like.”
“Oh, so you’ve looked in a mirror,” Baekhyun jokes, “I know I’m irresistible,” and he winks. Jongdae’s face quickly turns from white to red but before he could deliver a smart-ass reply, Xiumin calls for everyone’s attention.
“Okay let’s talk business. We are running out of time.” Xiumin starts in a serious tone, oblivious to the huffing hacker to his right, “Jongdae, give us an update and fill us in on the next step.”
Out of spite, the man in question grabs the half-full beer mug from Baekhyun’s hand and chugs it clean in one swift motion. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo watch the man in mild surprise; Jongdae usually is not the one to be rude unless he is provoked or angry. They turn their heads to the con artist, who merely watches in amusement as Jongdae wipes the corner of his mouth clean with a satisfied sigh. Baekhyun shrugs when Xiumin stares him down for an answer. Letting out a loud burp and ignoring Kyungsoo’s complaint about his lack of manner, Jongdae begins his update.
“Okay, this is what I think went down. First, as we’ve discovered, Lee Kwangsoo has a hyung he is really closed to name Ha Dongwoon. I did a background check on this man and he was a big time gambler. He signed a lot of debt contract with Kyuhyun but he had little abilities to pay back the debts. Before he disappeared, he called Lee Kwangsoo for help and at that time Lee Kwangsoo had just gotten his job with Kris. I’m pretty sure this Ha Dongwoon is already dealt with by Kyuhyun and poor Lee Kwangsoo got stuck with the left over debts.”
“You think Suho set him up to steal the diamonds?” Xiumin asks seriously as he watches Jongdae take a sip of water.
“Definitely. If I am Suho, I would not miss this perfect opportunity either,” Jongdae smirks into the glass, looking straight back at Xiumin, eyes shining with slyness, “the plan is like killing two birds with one stone: recovering capital while acquiring new capital, all through one stranger who just happened to have the worst luck ever.”
“So now what, where do we go?” Chanyeol says as he chewed on a piece of meat and Kyungsoo cringes at the giant’s poor table manner.
“Busan.” Jongdae replies while remembering what Xiumin had told him already of Luhan’s visions, “I’ve already got the address. I’m 90% sure Lee Kwangsoo is hiding in Ha Dongwoon’s old apartment in Busan.”
“What if Suho already knows that we know and get to Lee Kwangsoo before we do?” Kyungsoo asks biting into this lower lip, worries in his eyes. Turning his attention to the birthday boy, Jongdae smiles smugly.
“He won’t, Soo, because he is an asshole and likes to play games,” the hacker says and looks meaningfully at Xiumin, who avoids his gaze, “If he really wants the diamonds to disappear completely, he could have killed Lee Kwangsoo right after he got the diamonds from Kris rather than wait for Kris to find us. So let’s play with him then.”
Baekhyun smirks at Jongdae’s words and looks at his watch. However before he could question Xiumin how they should be getting to Busan, the leader’s cellphone interrupts. Reading the screen that flashed Onew, Xiumin frowns and a bad feeling creeps up his back as he answers the call.
“Xiumin hyung, Suho’s men are on their way and you have two minutes. They have guns, so be careful.” With a click, Onew’s voice is cut off and in a swift move, Xiumin stands up, catching the rest of his team member’s attention and alarming them.
“You are all leaving now,” he commends sharply and ignores Chanyeol’s complaint about not finishing his food, “All of you, get to Baekhyun’s car and drive to Busan. You should have enough time.” As everyone quickly shuffles out of the room, Xiumin grabs Chanyeol by the arm right before the arsonist follows the rest of his teammate.
“Kyungsoo, I’ll leave him to you.” Xiumin says softly and Chanyeol nods gravely, giving one last pat on the leader’s arm before rushing out of the door towards Baekhyun’s car. Once all four members are in the car, Kyungsoo finally asks meekly and the frown returns to his young face; can’t he even have a birthday in peace?
“What’s happening? Why do we have to leave like this?”
“I think Suho’s men are here. We need to go now,” Baekhyun replies absentmindedly as he starts up his BMW and begins to reverse out of the alley way calmly. However before he could reach the end, gun shots sounded in the vicinity and a man in suit appears at the other end of the alley way. Cursing out loud, Baekhyun steps on the acceleration and the vehicle jerks at the sudden increase in speed; meanwhile, Jongdae babbles in a panic at the armed men now running towards their car. With a maniacal smile on his face, Chanyeol tosses a couple of black pellets out from the window at the charging men and cackles animatedly as the pellets explode like fire crackers all around, scaring Suho’s men and making them jump around like dancing monkeys. In a last attempt to stop the BMW from exiting the alley, the pursuer fires their gun at the tires but the bullets scrapes the side of the car instead as Baekhyun swerved sharply out of the narrow alley.
“You son of a bitch! I just got this car and I still have so many payments left! How dare you fucking damage it!!” Baekhyun switches from reverse nimble fingers and screams angrily at the pursuers, who are chasing relentlessly and firing aimlessly at the direction of the BMW. “Son of a-,” one more bullet scrapes the car, chipping off some paint job, “CHANYEOL EXPLODE THEM ALL INTO PIECES!” Baekhyun hollers at the top of his lung as he steps on the acceleration again, slamming all the passengers into their seats.
“Woah!,” Chanyeol exclaims while steadying himself in the back seat with Kyungsoo, “I’ve only got those firecrackers though,” he lies and stifles his laughter, extremely entertained by the angry Baekhyun. Just then, another bullet makes contact with the back of the car and the con artist shouts out a long string of loud curses, rivalling Kyungsoo’s ability to make sailor’s blush. Next to him in the passenger seat, Jongdae laughs obnoxiously, completely forgetting how terrified he was just minutes ago.
“Karma for paying in instalments and being a cheap ass,” Kyungsoo says suddenly from behind Baekhyun, causing Chanyeol and Jongdae to burst into more uninhibited laughter at their friend’s misfortune much to Baekhyun’s annoyance.
“Shut up, all of you!! Or else I am going to drive this car into the ocean and feed you all to the sharks!” Baekhyun screams out of embarrassment and threateningly, he accelerates the BMW even more as the car drives recklessly through the city towards the highway.
“No you won’t,” Kyungsoo smirks evilly, “remember your instalments?”
Baekhyun tightens his grip on the steering wheel and through the rear-view mirror, he glowers at the smug young men sitting right behind him, who high-fived the arsonist dying of laughter. Without another word, Baekhyun puts on his sing-along playlist and begins childish revenge. Minutes later, Jongdae and Baekhyun’s off-tune singing mixed with Chanyeol’s random ad-libs replaced the teasing laughter in the vehicle and Kyungsoo’s face darkened. For the second time that day, the birthday boy seriously contemplates his chances for survival if he jumps out of the BMW as it speeds down the highway.
Time remaining: 16.5 hours.
---
Jongdae glances at the two huddling figures in the back seat; Kyungsoo has fallen asleep with his head on Chanyeol’s shoulder and the arsonist is also snoring away with his head leaning lightly against the shorter boy’s soft hair. The hacker chuckles under his breath as he is reminded of a cat and dog napping together. Next to him, Baekhyun steals a glance at the sleeping duo through the back view mirror too and a faint smile tugs on his lips before he focuses on the road ahead again. Rain is pouring heavily outside, darkening the sky and blurring visibility. They have been on the road for almost four hours already and staring at the large pellets of raindrop crashing into the windshield, Jongdae frowns as he checks his watch once again. They don’t have much time left, especially if he is wrong about Lee Kwangsoo’s hiding place.
Half an hour into their drive, the hacker received a call from Xiumin. Other than stating that he was safe, the leader also informed Jongdae he had received another call from Suho. Judging from Xiumin’s suppressed tone, he could guess just how aggravating the phone with Suho must have been for the EXO leader. Just as Jongdae had anticipated, Suho already knew Lee Kwangsoo’s whereabouts, and his taunting call put some doubts in both Xiumin and Jongdae’s heart. In a teasing voice, Suho told Xiumin: “The most dangerous place often is the best hiding place. Is Busan more dangerous or Seoul, hm?” Jongdae bit his lips when Xiumin coldly relayed Suho’s message; that is why he is only 90% confident.
“Stop thinking so much,” Baekhyun says suddenly, breaking the silence as if having read Jongdae’s thoughts, “even if you’re wrong, we still have time to get back to Seoul and find him.”
“What if we can’t?” The hacker asks quietly, staring intensely at the wipers as they push raindrops left and right.
“Since when could you not find someone? I trust in your ability to creepily locate people.” Baekhyun replies jokingly but also sincerely, pleasantly surprising Jongdae, “Worst case scenario, we let Chanyeol loose and he can burn down the meeting place and hope Suho dies in the fire but Kris survives somehow.”
Both men chuckle at the con artist’s horrible joke and the said arsonist stirs in his sleep, nuzzling his cheek against Kyungsoo’s soft hair. The rain continues to fall and after a short moment, Jongdae speaks up.
“How much of Kyungsoo’s situation do you know?”
“Not much,” Baekhyun shrugs and carefully changes lane.
“Aren’t you curious about it?” Jongdae pushes further and turns to regard the other’s side profile. He gulps a little at Baekhyun’s side profile; he cannot deny he has always found the con artist to be more beautiful than handsome, “We all know Suho is after him, but Xiumin-hyung never really told us why. Also why would Xiumin-hyung and Luhan hyung put their lives at risk just to protect Kyungsoo? Chanyeol, I can understand. He’s obsessed with Kyungsoo… I guess that’s a form of love.”
Baekhyun laughs at the hacker’s last comment, “Are we back to the love thing again? I don’t know if Chanyeol loves Kyungsoo, but he definitely has an obsession issue.” The con artist says quietly, as if afraid his voice would awake the man in discussion snoring away in the back. If like and dislike is a gradient for most people, Chanyeol has no concept of what a gradient is; when he comes to like something or someone, he becomes extremely attached to it. Perhaps it is because he has lost too much before, he could not help but hold on tighter to the people and things he treasures. ‘Completely different from the other person…” Baekhyun thinks as he takes another glance through the rear-view mirror.
“Either way, as long as they are happy, I could care less if it’s love or obsession.” Baekhyun continues in a louder voice, “As for Kyungsoo’s situation, I’m not you; I don’t need to know everything.” Although sometimes late at night when he is bored out of his mind, the con artist has entertained himself with all the mystery around the youngest member of EXO, in the end he waved the thoughts away. ‘Keep to yourself and only know what you need to know,’ his mother’s stern voice ringing in his head, ‘that’s how we survive.’
Noticing Baekhyun’s lack of interest in the topic of conversation, Jongdae turns his attention back to the raindrops sliding down the windows with a pout. The rain is letting up and a rainbow floats in the far distance, thriving on the last ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds.
“You are a selfish person, Byun Baekhyun.”
“Just because I don’t want to gossip with you?” the con artist scoffs as if offended. The highway toll booth comes into view and the huge Hangeul characters that spelled Busan slowly become clearer in the rain. A brief silence settled inside the car before Jongdae speaks again, his tone flat.
“You know, to know about someone shows that you care. But even though you call us your friends, you don’t care to know anything about us. You always keep to yourself.”
The car slowly comes to a stop at the automatic paying machine. Wordlessly, Baekhyun pays the toll then turns to face the hacker who is watching his every move. Flashing his most charming smile at Jongdae, much to the
latter’s annoyance, Baekhyun says proudly.
“Yep, because that’s how I stay alive. You know the saying right, curiosity killed the cat, Mr. Kim Jongdae.”
Jongdae narrows his eyes at the other’s blinding smile and holds himself back from delivering a punch. Baekhyun really knows how to get on his nerves.
---
By the time the four members of EXO reach the aged blue apartment building Luhan described, the dim streetlights are already illuminating the narrow, empty street. The rain picked up again and lamely, four grown man stand in front of the dark entrance of the building covered in convenient store raincoats.
“Should I bomb the door open?” Chanyeol asks looking at the rusty combination lock. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at the giant’s suggestion while massaging his sore neck.
“Yeah okay, do that. Let everyone know we are here and maybe they can also throw us a welcome party.” The youngest retorts sarcastically, earning him a laugh from the Baekhyun, who has already moved in to pick the lock open. Within seconds, the rusty metal door swings open with a cringing creak, and the four drenched men slips into the unlit staircase discreetly.
“Soo, you should hang out less with Jongdae,” Chanyeol frowns cutely and whispers as they sneakily climb the stairs in the shadows with the hacker leading the way, “You’re speaking more and more like an asshole.”
“At least he’s not losing brain cells when he hangs out with me,” Jongdae glares briefly at Chanyeol then turns to confirm the apartment number. 302 written with black paint on a green door; just like in Kwangsoo’s dream.
“This is it. Kyungsoo, you’ve got the stun gun?”
The youngest nods and holds the weapon firmly in front of his chest with both hands. Leaning against the crusty walls on either side of the wooden door painted an ugly shade of mossy green, Jongdae and Chanyeol unconsciously held their breath as Baekhyun picks at the simple lock with practiced hands. Seconds later with a modest click, the con artist nods at Kyungsoo and slowly pushes again the door. The smell of ramen is in the air and the entire apartment is in darkness. Cautiously, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo steps in while the other two peeks inside from beside the door. Jongdae’s stomach begins to knot when he sees an empty apartment.
Suddenly, footsteps running up the stairs catch all of their attention and in an instance, a tall figure with messy, curly hair appears in their view. Although neither of them could see the stranger’s face clearly in the dark, they could tell he is wearing a shocked expression and his body has flinched visibly upon the chanced encounter. Being the first to react, Chanyeol grabs the stunned figure in a head lock and covers the other’s mouth with his large hand. This brought the curly hair man out of shock and nosily, he begins to struggle against Chanyeol’s hold. However his struggle is short lived; Kyungsoo quickly subdues him with the stun-gun, rendering him unconscious in an instant. Pulling out a small flashlight from his pocket, Jongdae shines it on the fainted man’s face.
“Yep, that’s him. Let’s get him inside.” With that said, he and Chanyeol drag the body inside by the arms and legs and the uncertainty in his heart vanishes like smoke in the wind.
Time remaining: 10.5 hours.
Turning on all the lights and pulling close the curtains, the four EXO members shed their raincoats by the door and begin their meticulous search all over the apartment. The bachelor pad is not large, but it has all the essentials: a full bathroom, an open concept kitchen, and a cramped corner for dining. Random piece of clothing are scattered across the floor and many surfaces are dusted in a layer of dirt and grime. Snapping on gloves, each member shuffles around the room and uncovers every little crevice and corner. Half an hour later exhausted and frustrated, Chanyeol and Jongdae slump onto the couch while Baekhyun sits on of the edge of the unmade bed when their search only revealed fifteen of the thirty diamonds. Standing in the middle of the bachelor apartment, Kyungsoo stares blankly at the unconscious Lee Kwangsoo on the ground, whose hands are tied and mouth gaged.
“Well we’ve got fifteen and we are still missing fifteen. These are 6 carat diamonds we are talking about,” Chanyeol laments from the couch, feeling annoyed at their minimal progress, “each of them is bigger than my thumb nail. We’ve searched everywhere already, but just fifteen. Where the hell are the rest?”
“Could he have hid elsewhere outside the apartment?” Baekhyun ponders but then quickly rejects his own idea, “No, that’d definitely be too risky. Damn it… you’d think he ate the rest or something.”
Jongdae laughs light-heartedly at Baekhyun’s suggestion, “I don’t think anyone would be dumb enough to do that. I don’t think he has the guts to hide the rest elsewhere either. Maybe the walls and floors are layered?” At his words, Chanyeol rises and starts to knock lightly on all the walls, confirming they are indeed solid concrete walls. Jongdae watches as his friend walks around the small apartment like a woodpecker then as he looks to inspect the tile floor, he notices Kyungsoo, who is still staring unblinkingly at their unconscious capture.
“Kyungsoo, you alright?”
“What if someone is dumb enough to do that,” Kyungsoo mumbles and the other three turns to look at him, confusion written all of their faces. Looking up to face his hyungs, Kyungsoo repeats himself. “What if someone is dumb enough to swallow diamonds? It is a way to hide something, albeit an extremely stupid way to do so.”
Jongdae shivers from the half-hidden excitement shinning in Kyungsoo’s wide eyes; he could never get used to the young man’s enthusiasm for any opportunity to dissect something, or someone. Without waiting for a response to his speculation, the eighteen year old delivers a powerful kick at Lee Kwangsoo’s stomach, extracting a muffled groan from the man tied on the floor as he wakes up from the pain.
“I felt something weird!” Kyungsoo exclaims and something dangerous flickers in his dark eyes, “there’s definitely something hard in his stomach, like diamonds for example!” Ignoring the pain showing on the other’s sweating face, the birthday boy kicks Lee Kwangsoo couple of times more in the stomach.
“Then let’s cut him up.” Chanyeol says in a nonchalant tone as he walks to stand across from Kyungsoo, the tip of his feet touching against the curly hair man’s back, now drenched in cold sweat. Having regained full consciousness, Lee Kwangsoo wiggles frantically on the floor while letting out sequences of muffled screams. Completely ignorant of the pitiful struggle right below their noses, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo starts discussing about the equipment they’d need to open up their victim.
“Chanyeol, you spoil Kyungsoo too much,” Baekhyun sighs after seeing the crazy ‘goddamn-do-something-about-this’ looks Jongdae was shooting at him, “Don’t you think we should at least ask him about it first? It’s impossible to feel diamonds in a person’s stomach with just a couple of kicks, you know.”
Kyungsoo blink blankly at the con artist, as if the other has just sputtered nonsense from his mouth. Taking this chance, Jongdae goes to the tied man, who is freaking out so much he looks like he is about to pass out any second, and removes the gag. He then immediately regrets his decision to do so the next second.
“PLEASE DON’T CUT ME UP, PLEASE I BEG YOU!” Lee Kwangsoo shrieks at the top of his lung, earning him a death glare from Jongdae.
“Scream like that again and I’ll leave you to the other two,” the hacker says through gritted teeth and mentioning towards Kyungsoo and Chanyeol who are smiling down at him like devil reincarnates. Terrified, a small whimper escapes from Lee Kwangsoo’s throat and he nods vigorously at Jongdae. Releasing a sigh, the hacker instigates his questioning.
“Good. Now, where did you hide the other 15 diamonds?”
“Wh- what are you talking about? I only took 15!” Lee Kwangsoo argues weakly.
“Bullshit. Tell me the truth and I’ll consider sparing you from the two lunatics over there.” Jongdae threatens and motions towards the arsonist and birthday boy again.
“I.. I…” Kwangsoo’s gaze strays around and eventually his eyes tear up as he looks straight into the hacker’s eyes like an animal caught in a trap, begging for help, “they won’t actually cut me, right?”
“You’re fucking kidding me…” Jongdae mutters and places a hand on his forehead; Kyungsoo was right, there really is someone dumb enough to swollen diamonds. Behind him, Baekhyun is cackling and rolling back and forth on the bed while rioting “he is so stupid hahaha”. Jongdae feels a huge headache come on and as he slump back onto the couch, he reminds himself again that he does not work with psychopaths; simply an arsonist who’s obsessed with an orphan that enjoys dissecting live persons and concocting poison, and an asshole con artist who gives no shit about anyone except himself and nothing but money. ‘Your life is so completely normal!’ his inner voice screams sarcastically, escalating the intensity of the pounding in his head.
Shrugging at the brief interlude, Chanyeol shoves the gag back into Lee Kwangsoo’s mouth, sending the curly hair man into another spasm of pointless struggles on the floor. Taking a minute to think everything over, Kyungsoo tosses a random piece of clothing from the floor at Baekhyun, catching the latter’s attention.
“Hyung, you still have that large plastic tarp in your trunk?” the young man asks while Chanyeol walks off to the washroom, looking for rubbing alcohol. Baekhyun nods as he wipes away a stray tear from laughing too much. “Could you bring it here please? More gloves and masks too.”
“Sure. I’ll bring the ketamine up as well.” Baekhyun responds casually, as if he was just asked to go buy dinner and he’s offering to buy the drinks too. Jongdae lowers his hand and stares disapprovingly at the con artist, but before he could find his voice, Baekhyun answers the question in his mind, “I have ketamine just in case I need to knock someone out,” he smirks and winks, “I also have morphine for pain if you need it.”
Shaking his head, Jongdae mumbles feeling defeated: “Just something for headache, like Advil or something.”
“Okay.” Baekhyun says cheerfully and leaves the apartment with bounce in his steps, leaving Jongdae behind with the two maniacs eagerly and diligently preparing a ‘surgery’ station on top of the small dining table. Looking down again at the struggling and now crying Lee Kwangsoo, Jongdae could not help but feel sympathetic towards the poor fellow.
“Jongdae-hyung, could you go get some ice packs?” Kyungsoo’s rather calm voice sounds from the kitchen and the hacker turns around to see the younger man carefully sharpening a fruit knife on a sharpening stone he has found underneath the kitchen sink.
“Do you have to cut him up? Isn’t there any other way to get the diamonds out? It’s just so… messy.” Jongdae whines and crinkles his nose, imagining all the blood they’d have to clean up afterwards.
Pausing from sharpening the knife in his hand, Kyungsoo regards the hacker stoically. “What, are we supposed to wait until he poops them out?” he asks seriously, “We don’t have the time. It’ll be fine, it’s not like this is my first time. I know how to do it quickly and cleanly.” With that said, Kyungsoo goes back to his task on hand.
Taking his last chance at making a plea for sanity, he looks up at Chanyeol who has just returned from the bathroom with rubbing alcohol in hand. However he slaps himself silly in his mind when he is greeted with a shark-like grin and thrill-seeking sparkles in the arsonist’s eyes. He should have known to plead Chanyeol for sanity; the giant is probably the least mentally stable out of them all. Resigning to the majority and their insanities, Jongdae rises from the couch and walks up to Lee Kwangsoo with the stun gun in his hand. Sighing for the third time that night, he pressed the stun gun against the trembling man’s chest and put an end to the muffled screams and sobs. Begrudgingly, he finds a re-usable shopping bag in one of the cupboards and leaves for the convenience store for ice packs. As the door closes, he hears the quiet conversation between Kyungsoo and Chanyeol about using fire to sterilize the sharpened fruit knife.
---
When Jongdae returns to the apartment half an hour later, the distinct smell of freshly spilt blood has completely overpowered the existing whiffs of left over ramen in the air. Standing by the dining table turned operating table with a huge plastic tarp covering the surface, Kyungsoo’s raincoat and gloved hands are covered in blood that were not his own; Chanyeol standing on the opposite side looks no better. Deliberately avoiding the gruesome scene straight out of hospital theme horror movie, Jongdae hurries into the kitchen with his head bowing and shoves the half dozen of ice pack he purchased inside the freezer. Having worked mostly behind scenes away and from bloodshed, the hacker is less immune to the blood and gore aspects of EXO jobs. Catching another whiff of the raw scent of blood mixed discordantly with the pungent smell of rubbing alcohol, Jongdae’s lunch lurches in his stomach and he rushes into the bathroom slamming the door behind him. Ignorant of the sequence of dry heaving and vomiting from his team mate, Kyungsoo’s fingers gropes around carefully in Lee Kwangsoo’s stomach while Chanyeol acts diligently as his assistant; every couple of minutes, a bloody diamond would land on the plate by the drugged up man with a crispy clink. Sitting cross-legged on the couch, Baekhyun leisurely reads the news on his phone until a new message pops up on the screen, instantaneously killing his good mood.
Oh Sehun is back in town. He didn’t send any word out (yet), but if I were you, I’d be careful.
In Baekhyun’s ears, the periodic jangle of diamond landing on porcelain plate slowly starts to resemble the rhythmic beat of the bamboo rocker arm hitting a rock in that seemingly serene Japanese garden. The faint smell of incense, the temperature of sunlight through the paper screen door, the bitter taste of matcha and the sheen in that man’s slender eyes, Baekhyun wishes he could erase it all from his memory. ‘I know who you are,’ the man had said confidently as his long fingers grazed gently over the tatami, ‘but that matters not to me. You will be mine one day, Byun Baekhyun, even if you’re dead.’ Unconsciously as waves of reminiscence hit him, the con artist tightens the grip on his phone, out of hate or fear even he is not sure. Unaware of anything except the unpleasant acidic burn in his throat, Jongdae stumbles out of the washroom and plops himself on the couch by Baekhyun. Groaning and moaning, he naturally links arm with the con artist and buries his face into the crook of the other’s neck; distracted by his haunting memories still, Baekhyun absentmindedly pets Jondae’s hair like he would do to a puppy. Behind them, Kyungsoo drops the last missing diamond on the plate and Chanyeol grins idiotically at the younger man, both of their raincoats covered in patches of blood.
“And that’s all thirty of them,” Chanyeol says satisfyingly and takes the plate of diamonds towards the sink to clean them.
“If I knew this job was going to be this gross, I’d have asked for more money from Kris,” Jongdae mumbles miserably from the crook of Baekhyun’s neck. Finally noticing how quiet the con artist has been for the past little while, Jongdae raises his head and pinches Baekhyun’s cheek. “What’s wrong with you? Kyungsoo’s disgusting hobby finally got to you?”
“Don’t do that!” Baekhyun snaps and reactively, he jumps away from Jongdae’s touch, leaning his body back as far away from the hacker as possible without falling over. Awkwardly, the two men remain in that position; Jongdae’s eyes darken, catching the flash of panic in Baekhyun’s eyes, and his face blanks when the other quickly hid all of his emotions again behind his trade mark smile.
“I’m not you, Jongdae, I can handle blood just fine.” The con artist recovers, the tone of his voice disgustingly mellow and unnaturally composed, pretending as if the last two seconds did not happen, and pokes the hacker back on the cheek. Wordlessly, Jongdae stares at Baekhyun’s charming smile and let the latter shameless teases him about his intolerance for violence even though he works in EXO; he could tell something is wrong, but with Baekhyun, Jongdae is never quite sure what is wrong or how he should even start figuring out the other’s concerns. Suddenly feeling annoyed at both himself and Baekhyun, Jongdae swats the con artist away and gets up in a grouch to help Chanyeol with the clean-up. Watching the hacker’s retreating back, Baekhyun purses his lower lip and goes to watch Kyungsoo stitching up his victim. As his eyes mist over and follow the needle that pierces into and through tender flesh, guiding a bloody thread to sealing the open wound, something also silently reseals inside of him. Recalling the look in Jongdae’s cat like eyes from earlier, the con artist kicks himself mentally. The hacker already knows too much of Baekhyun than the con artist would like him to know.
When the moon just passes the centre of the sky, four familiar figures re-emerge stealthily from the aged blue apartment building. Quietly making their way to the only car parked on the side of the road, the dim streetlight illuminates their tired faces.
“Back seat or trunk?” Chanyeol asks quietly as he nods at the unconscious body in his arms. If it’s not for the thin layer of sweat on Lee Kwangsoo’s forehead, one would think the unconscious man is already dead since his skin has taken up an ashy hue.
“Back seat?” Jongdae answers tentatively as he eyes the two dozens of ice packs taped around the injured man’s stomach. Kyungsoo said this will help decrease the chance for infection and increase his chance for survival back to Seoul, but the hacker thinks otherwise; Jongdae thinks the ice packs are simply freezing the poor man one step closer to him untimely death.
“Definitely trunk,” both Baekhyun and Kyungsoo replies with certainty, making Jongdae sigh again at his lack of ability that night to fall in steps with the majority.
“Trunk it is,” Chanyeol finalizes the decision and places the man on top of the pile of bloody raincoats and plastic tarp, surprisingly gentle with his action. “I’ll drive back, Baek. You must be tired from the drive here, so take a rest.”
Having no intention to argue with the arsonist at all, Baekhyun tosses Chanyeol the car key and climbs into the back seats, dragging Jongdae with him while winking suggestively at the hacker. Catching on to the con artist’s plotting right away, Jongdae giggles and kicks Kyungsoo towards the passenger seat before he quikly follows Baekhyun into the back seats. Rolling his eyes at his hyungs, the birthday boy slowly settles in the passenger seat. When Chanyeol saw it is Kyungsoo sitting next to him, his flashes a shark-like grin at the younger man and reaches over to help buckle his seatbelt. Kyungsoo would have thought of nothing of this action if the two meddlers in the back haven’t started snickering and whispering like the gossiping adjummas in the park; suddenly, the young man’s cheeks start to burn as Chanyeol’s handsome profile hovers merely inches from his face. Feeling embarrassed suddenly at their intimacy, Kyungsoo shoves Chanyeol away while stuttering.
“I- I can’t d-do it my-myself!” Behind him, Jongdae and Baekhyun’s snickering becomes louder and over reactively, they clamp both hands over their mouth. The redness of their faces could rival Kyungsoo’s, but for different reasons; desperately, they try too hard not to burst out laughing in fear of the birthday boy’s explosive temper. His face now as red as a ripe tomato, Kyungsoo screams at the oblivious driver. “Just go already!”
Blinking couple of times at the other’s bright red face, Chanyeol breaks into another huge, happy smile and starts up the car with vigor. “Alright, let’s go back to Seoul!” Slipping into the surrounding darkness, the BMW quickly disappears from the quiet Busan neighbourhood.
Time remaining: 7 hours.
---
Luhan blinks slowly at the visible Milky Way in the night sky and the gentle breeze blowing by pushes lightly at the large porch swing. All around, it’s the same garden with the same rose coloured hydrangea trees. Pulling one leg closer to his chest and having his other leg dangle loosely from the swing, his bare toes drag softly against the grassy ground. Next to him, Xiumin sits in the swing with folded legs and arms. His head tiling to the right and leaning against the wooden frame, the EXO leader sleeps soundly. Listening to his friend’s even breathing, Luhan turns his attention to the clearing right in front of the large swing, surrounded by the thickets of never-welting hydrangeas. Under the glistening starlight, two small glowing figures from the past materialized.
A boy with puffy cheeks and another boy with doe eyes run around in a circle, chasing each other and shouting excitedly. The boys that look no more than seven are dressed in the same set of uniform, a plain, white long sleeve shirt with matching white pants. However, different sets codes are printed on their back; 363N for the boy with puffy cheeks and 345N for the boy with beautiful eyes. Falling backward onto the grass, the boys take in a big breath of fresh air; it has been another week since they were last outside. Blinking at the clouds, the boy with puffy cheeks suddenly remembers something and reaching into his pocket, he pulls out two marbles, intricate and colourful like two tiny galaxies.
“Look marbles!” he said and shows his new treasure to the other boy, who stares at the glass orbs with starry eyes, “Kyungmin hyung gave them to me yesterday!”
“Woooaahhhh!” the doe-eyed boy exclaims in awe, not able to pull his eyes away from the marbles, “They are so pretty! Kyungmin hyung is the best!”
“Right? I think so too.” the puffy cheek boy smiles sweetly at the small orbs in his hand and his eyes squints cutely, making him look like a tiny fox. Placing the marbles on the grass, the two boys flick them around while they chatter about the professors and the new kids that arrived yesterday. Neither boy really like the lab but they have nowhere else; like the other orphans, they were sold to the lab two years ago as test subjects.
“Kyungmin hyung was fighting with the professors again yesterday…” the boy with puffy cheeks mumbles as he lies flat on his stomach, one of his cheeks presses into the grass.
“Why? Because of us again?” The boy with doe eyes blinks innocently, “Kyungmin hyung said one day he will take all of us out of the lab, do you think it’s true?”
Neither boy has the answer and quietly, they just stare at the colourful marbles in the grass. Suddenly, a shuffling noise is heard from nearby and nimbly, the boy with deer-like eyes sits up. Not far from behind a tree, another boy dressed in all white peers shyly at them. Silently, the three boys regard each other until finally, the new boy timidly comes out from his hiding place. When he reaches the two boys clenching their marbles cautiously in their hands, the new boy in white smiles genuinely and offers his hand.
“I- I have a marble too,” he stutters nervously as his cheeks flush, “can we be friends?”
“Pfft!” the doe-eyed boy bursts out laughing at the new boy’s cuteness and eagerly, he grabs hold of the other’s extended hand, “Of course! I’m 345N, you?”
“I- I don’t have a code…” the new boy replies quickly, “but my name is Suho!”
“Oh, you must be new. No worries! But since you told us your name, I’ll tell you mine as well.” The boy with pretty eyes smiles sincerely and a faint blush taints his cheeks too, “You can call me Luhan.”
“And I am 363N,” the boy with puffy cheeks finally joins in the conservation with a smile, “you can call me Xiumin.”
Radiant with happiness, the eight year old Suho greets his two new friends. “Hi Luhan. Hi Xiumin. Let’s be good friends!”
Watching the three glowing boys giggle at each other, Luhan shuts his eyes and with a flick of his wrist, the figures vanished in the sweeping breeze. It is always in dreams when the most distant memories resurface and haunt the present. Smelling the faint aroma of the hydrangea, Luhan let his mind wander, away from the past that cannot be rewritten. Soon, he slips into slumber and his consciousness glides freely between stranger’s dreams and unconsciousness.
When the star lights begin to fade, gradually replaced by the rising sun, Luhan opens his eyes again.
“They’re back.” He whispers and reaches out to the sleeping man next to him on the large porch swing, “Xiumin, Kyungsoo’s back in Seoul.”
Time remaining: 1 hour.
---
Pulling up to the meeting place agreed upon by Suho and Kris, Xiumin gets out of his car with ten minutes to spare. Picking up the large black sac from his truck and swing it over his shoulder, the leader walks briskly down the hallway. When he reaches the room at the end, a body guard opens the door, revealing Kris dressed in a sleek black suit siting in one of the armchairs facing each other; long fingers folded on top of his crossed leg, the morning rays bathe over his handsome features and lean body. At the sound of the door opening, he turns sharply to glare at Xiumin and his deep voice glowers with impatience.
“You’re almost late.”
“Almost,” Xiumin emphasizes and gently places the sac down on the ground. Fishing a smaller black pouch from his inner jacket pocket, he tosses it to the glaring man. Coolly catching the jangling pouch, Kris opens it and confirms the content. Satisfied and visibly relieved, he tucks the pouch away and turns to nod at the large sac on the ground.
“What is this?”
“Bonus find for you,” Xiumin replies simply and opens the sac, revealing a pale face.
“Why is he here?” Kris questions calmly but his voice sounds deeper and little raspier, exposing his inner agitation, “don’t tell me his dead.”
“No, not yet,” the EXO leader places his finger beneath the injured man’s nose just to be certain, “just a little cut up. Do you want us to dispose of him for you?”
Kris regards the man in front of him emotionlessly and Xiumin also looks straight back at him blankly but confidently. Sparing another brief glance at the dying body on the ground and remembering Chanyeols bone-chilling voice over the phone yesterday, the diamond dealer did not want to think further of what potentially happened to Lee Kwangsoo. Not wanting to bother with it anymore, he waves a hand at Xiumin and tells the man they can deal with the dying man however they want.
Nodding, the leader bends down to re-tie the sac and swings it over his should again. As he walks out, he says: “I’ll add another half a million to your bill then, thanks Kris.”
“What kind of rip off is this?” Kris glares again and finally raises his voice, “another half a million just to dispose of a little thief. Don’t try to push my button, Xiumin.”
Twisting his neck to face the angry dealer, Xiumin glares back fiercely but keeping his tone as cold as ice. “Don’t push my buttons, Kris. The time was cut short and we even need to get rid of a person now. 2 million. You can send that to my shop afterwards.” Not willing to entertain the argument anymore, Xiumin swiftly steps out the room and left Kris to glare at the air.
As he slides Lee Kwangsoo into the backseat instead of the trunk again, a Rolls-Royce Phantom pulls up beside his Audi A3. Ignoring blatantly, Xiumin slams the backdoor shut and climbs into the driver’s seat. However before he could drive away as fast as he could, someone knocks on the window. Hiding his annoyance behind a cold façade, he rolls down the tinted window and is greeted with Suho’s smirking face.
“Not even bothering to say hi now?”
“No point.”
Dramatically placing a hand over his heart, Suho teases playfully, contradictory to his ruthless reputation. “You treat me so coldly, old friend!” Xiumin’s eyes twitched a little at the last two words, and having caught the EXO leader’s reaction, Suho’s smirk widens even more. “See you around, 363N, and remember to say hi to 345N for me.
“Bye bye!” Suho waves and strolls into the meeting place, leaving behind Xiumin seething in muted frustration as his eyes follow Suho’s every move. Muttering a curse under his breath, the EXO leader steps on the gas petal and his car sped away down the road.
When he finally returns to his tiny coffee shop with the close sign hanging crookedly on the front door, he sees four young men slumping and hanging in weird positions on the table and chairs by their usual table in the corner. Biting back an endearing chuckle, Xiumin walks in alongside the crispy trill of the bell above the door. Jongdae is the only one that looks up and lazily, he greets the leader.
“Hyung, you’re finally back.”
“Mm,” Xiumin answers and makes his way behind the counter. Placing a handful of roasted coffee beans into the grinder, the quiet man quietly prepares the much needed beverage for his fatigued teammates. When the coffee is grounded and scoped into an extra-large French press, he adds the boiling water and caps the press. Grabbing five mugs, milk, cream and the sugar jar, placing all of it on a wide wooden tray along with the French press, Xiumin joins the four sleepy people sitting in the corner table. Enticed by the dark and smoky smell of fresh coffee, everyone except Kyungsoo, who has already fallen asleep on the table, grabs a mug.
“What happened to Lee Kwangsoo?” Chanyeol asks languidly after yawning, trying to rub sleep out of his eyes.
“I’ve tossed him to Yixing,” Xiumin says lightly, “Kris said we could do whatever we like with him. Even if we don’t kill him, I’m sure there’s someone out there that will want to. I don’t want any one of us to dirty our hands unnecessarily. Once he recovers, his life and death will be in his hands.”
Baekhyun nods numbly and stares vacantly at the pot of coffee, brewing too slowly for his liking. “And our fee?”
“2 million.”
“He didn’t argue with you about it?” Chanyeol looks surprisingly at the leader, “Kris is a cheap ass, just like Baekhyun.” The said person interjects defensively with a weak shout of “Hey!”, but too sleepy to further his self-defence.
“He knows better than to bargain with me,” the leader scoffs, arrogance in his tone, “If you feel bad, Chanyeol, then give him some discount next time he buys explosives from you.”
“It’s alright, I don’t feel bad for him at all!” The arsonist quickly shakes his head and Jongdae laughs at his friend. A small smile crawls up Xiumin’s face. Gently plunging the strainer down, he pushes it all the way to the bottom to stop the brewing process. Carefully, he pours the caffeinated beverage into each person’s then his own mug.
The smell of freshly brewed coffee is in the air and the soft morning sunlight shines through the clean windows, dusting everything and everyone in a thin layer of gold. Peacefully, an arsonist, a hacker, a con artists and a former gang leader sips contently at their coffee, and a genius orphan skilled at concocting poison snoozes comfortably by their side. Xiumin looks down at the sleeping Kyungsoo and dotingly, he soothes the young man’s hair. Next to the sleeping boy, Chanyeol stares blankly at the sceneries outside the window, lost in his thoughts, just like Jongdae who is also zoning out into space. Baekhyun too sips at his hot drink absentmindedly as his gaze lingers on the dark cellphone screen. Seemingly, there is only tranquility and harmony inside the tiny coffee shop.
If only their lives are as serene as this false image in that particular morning.
But they are EXO, the underground group in Seoul that will do any dirty job for the appropriate price. Breaking the rare silence between them, Xiumin pulls out his phone and begins to speak, his tone serious.
“So, the next job…”
---
Arch I Fin
TBC