into your End of the World 12/16
title: Into your End of the World
chapter rating: PG
warnings: mild language
summary: Park Chanyeol works for the quasi-governmental System in the post-apocalyptic Seoul, leading a simple, dull life without close friends or keeping contact to his family. When he is given the job to trail a university student called Byun Baekhyun, everything seems to go smoothly - until Chanyeol gets an unexpected visit and a warning and finds the case he's involved in is much more cruel than he has expected.
story notes: See the foreword for more information on the story. ALSO LOOK AT WHAT MY BB MADE ME although I'm getting some error noooo
Upon opening his eyes Chanyeol found Baekhyun was sitting at the desk, reading with a pen in one hand. It was bright although the shutters were down. The edges of things were slightly blurry, so Chanyeol reached to pick up his glasses and sat up a little. Baekhyun turned his head a bit to look to his direction briefly.
"Did you sleep okay?"
"Yeah, thank you." Chanyeol stretched his arms. It took him a while to remember where was he and why. Somehow, the only thing that felt natural and that he didn't question was the brunette sitting there, wearing college bottoms and the same tank as last night. "What time is it?"
"Ten in the morning", replied the boy and penned something down.
Chanyeol nodded a little. "Don't you have school?"
Baekhyun grinned a bit. "I've a guest to entertain, right? One day here or there, it's not that important."
"What about the gym in the evening?"
"Oh?" Baekhyun leaned back in the chair and turned the page. "I teach hapkido."
Raising his brows a little Chanyeol could remember the events at the library restroom. Thinking about it made his back hurt for a second, the muscles remembering the odd workout they'd been put through by surprise. He nodded a bit.
Baekhyun got up, stretched his fingers, and went to the sink system. "Tea? Coffee?"
"Coffee, please." Chanyeol slid to sit on the edge of the bed. He listened to the sounds of Baekhyun prepare half a potful of coffee and pour some in a cup. Chanyeol asked for milk and sugar, and nodding the boy added some, bringing the cup to him with a smile.
He'd have to find some options on where to go, Chanyeol thought as he sipped the hot brown drink, the cup warming his hands. He couldn't stay here with Baekhyun forever. It hit Chanyeol he'd usually have work on that evening, and he began to wonder which was better, going and pretending nothing had happened, or staying here like the brunette was staying out of school. Maybe that was the best thing to do. He'd have to go to the bank eventually. It would be better to go somewhere further away. It was difficult to decide whether to concentrate on putting things into an order by priority, or whether to wallow about his home and work; denying he was feeling sad would be lying. It wasn't immobilizing sorrow, but nevertheless, Chanyeol felt lost and unsure about what to do next.
Baekhyun looked at him through this internal quiet debate, looking a little bit curious, tapping the pen against the book without a sound. Finally, the brown haired boy stated, "If you've nowhere else to go you can stay until you figure it out."
Chanyeol looked up at him. "I don't want to be a burden to you."
The other laughed. "You might've followed me around, but you've no idea what kind of a person I am. I said I don't have anything against you."
He chuckled lightly and looked down at the cup of coffee. "Thanks."
"Cheer up", Baekhyun said with a smile. "You can give me a hand with some of this." He patted the pile of books.
Chanyeol was about to speak when his phone went off in his bag. He got up, pulling it out to look at the caller ID, not recognizing the number. Baekhyun peeked over his shoulder as he waited for the call to end and switched the device off.
"Someone tried to call you at night, you know", Baekhyun pointed out as Chanyeol stood back up and began pulling on his jeans.
"Really?" The tall male looked over at him.
"Yeah." The brunette was looking at the book again. "You know, I'm sorry if I'm the reason they're after you. Like, the whole thing, you having to stalk me and all."
He smiled a bit as he sat back down. "It's okay", Chanyeol stated. "I haven't even reported back to them about you yet. Even though you confessed you stole that data and all."
Baekhyun grinned wide. "See, you like me."
Chanyeol laughed. Yes, he quite liked Baekhyun. The brown haired boy was kind, warm... Familiar. He couldn't shake how familiar, really. The people he usually came by were a little cold in a way, distant, minding their own business. But Byun Baekhyun had accepted him into his house, him, the person who had trailed him, stolen files of him, been to his apartment door to deliver mail. Chanyeol wondered if he should admit all that, but decided against it. Baekhyun didn't need to know all these things; he was already aware of the fact that the Calcutec in his dormitory room had been following him. That sparked a question. "When did you notice me the first?"
Baekhyun hummed, didn't look up from the book. Chanyeol was amazed by his concentration to multiple things at the same time. "Last week", he replied finally. "When I was leaving school with friends. I noticed you, but didn't really think much about it... But then I saw you a few times the next day."
Chanyeol nodded a little. He thought about what had gone on a week ago. He'd been to the library, watching Baekhyun read the information technology books. "Why information technology?"
"I'm trying to figure out some data", the other replied, looking at Chanyeol. "A guy from the offices handed me something they'd found, but it's all encoded, mostly tabulations, I'm trying to break it."
Chanyeol nodded a little. "Can I see the data?"
"Sure." The boy pulled open a drawer. There were piles of clothes inside; the taller watched him dig out a paper file much like the ones he'd had on his desk, now stuffed into the other bag lying on he floor. Chanyeol missed his desk and books, even the KFC paper cup and the paper clips. He'd have to go through a lot to get anything similar established for himself again. Baekhyun handed him the file, and Chanyeol laid it open.
"Who gave this to you? Do you know their name?"
Baekhyun closed the drawer and turned a page. Chanyeol looked at the numbers and letters printed on the paper in three neat columns. "Kim Jongin.”
He froze for a moment, and then looked up. "Jongin? Converse All Stars, black hair, tan?"
"...Yeah", Baekhyun nodded. "You know him?"
"He lives--" He bit his lip. "I lived in the same house. He's worked for the System for a couple of years." Jongin was handing information like this to outsiders? He had a hard time believing it. Sure, Baekhyun had said he wasn't a Semiotec, but still, it was illegal. He'd thought the black haired male in the elevator had seemed nice - distant, but nice, not the kind of a person who'd deal information. He'd even warned Chanyeol about this mess. "Did he sell this to you?"
"We had a deal", Baekhyun explained. "I paid him to look up certain things."
"Is this related to the accident you told me about?"
"I hope so." The other chuckled and looked back at him briefly.
Chanyeol returned his eyes to the file. He licked his lips and frowned. In its current form, the data was impossible to read. It would require specific programs and revision to convert it, and even so, it wouldn't entirely correspond with the original. He looked through the few pages in the file while Baekhyun was leafing through his book. Silence hung in the room, save for some sounds coming from outside.
He thought the data looked extremely familiar, then. It was like he'd seen it multiple times before. Chanyeol began looking at it again from the start. Yes, he'd definitely seen it before. His frown deepening for a moment as he concentrated the tall male tried to figure out where. At the office, maybe? It could be something he'd worked with on the computer before someone laundering the information. Doing the numbers and tabulations on the computer already required some concentration. But it was a little odd that he'd remember something like a routine job like that. Chanyeol wasn't brilliant with remembering long lists of numbers like this. Calculations were easy for him, but this was a lot of data to memorize without actually engaging in the laundering. Sure, he didn’t launder often, but…
"I've seen this data before", he admitted aloud, finally. "I think I've processed it."
Baekhyun turned to look at him, seemingly forgetting the book completely, Chanyeol getting his full attention. "You remember?"
"I remember I've seen some of it before, and trust me, I really don't remember shit about the data I look at when I don't need to process and shuffle it myself."
The brunette chuckled, but it was a firm laugh, not the open and humorous kind Chanyeol had heard leaving his lips before. They looked at each other in a slightly measuring manner for a good minute or two, Chanyeol trying to figure whether Baekhyun believed him, and Baekhyun looking like he was trying to see if Chanyeol was being serious. Then, Baekhyun nodded his head a little, his thin lips pursed as he put down the pen. "Do you know what is it about then?"
"No", Chanyeol replied. He sighed and lowered his gaze to the file for a moment. "But if I really laundered this, the chances are I've also shuffled it, and that means you might be able to decipher it and put it back together."
Baekhyun let a thoughtful but approving hum. "Then we should try it."
"I can do the reverse shuffle myself", Chanyeol stated, "but to put it together you'll need the right software."
The grin spreading on the other boy's face was quite obvious, and Chanyeol knew without words that Baekhyun either had the software or knew where to go for it. Then, he grew more serious. "Are you up for it though? You were pretty burnt out yesterday."
Chanyeol bit his lip. He'd slept well, now. Chances were he'd be exhausted afterward, but not as much as last night. "I need a proper meal", he concluded, "and then I'll be okay doing it."
Baekhyun nodded. "We should go see my friend who has the programs for it, you can eat at his place."
"Your friend?" Chanyeol bit his lip lightly and wondered if this friend was a Semiotec.
"Yeah. Don't worry, he's trustworthy all right."
"Right", said Chanyeol.
Baekhyun got onto his feet. "Let's do it, then."
Chanyeol got up to dig out a new T-shirt, and pulling it on returned to sit on the edge of the bed. He looked at the books on the table while the brown haired boy disappeared to the bathroom for a while and then returned, kicking off the college bottoms looking entirely fine with the presence of a person he'd only officially met a day ago. Chanyeol watched him fish a pair of skinny jeans from a pile of folded clothes in a plastic basket he'd moved to the bookshelf sometime after Chanyeol's arrival, most likely while he'd been asleep. He jumped on one foot pulling them on and then put on a pair of socks that laid on the floor and pulled the tank off. He had an awkward bruise on his side, and Chanyeol assumed it was something from the gym. His skin was a little paler than Chanyeol's, toward the whiter end of the scale.
Slipping into a soft-looking T-shirt and pulling a collarless jersey blazer on top he picked up a creamy backpack and nodded a bit; with that, Chanyeol bounced up onto his feet, retrieved the tape from one of the bags and tucked it into one pocket, his wallet to another. They put on their shoes. Baekhyun slid the safety chain off, opened the door to peek out into the corridor, and they left.
The elevator felt much slower to Chanyeol now that he was fully conscious. It certainly was slower than the one at his (now previous) building. In the lobby, the receptionist was talking with a girl to whom Baekhyun said hi to as they passed by.
Walking in silence they went for the subway. Chanyeol couldn't help feeling a little concerned about walking in broad daylight like this, but his companion didn't seem to mind showing up in public despite skipping school and hanging out with a wanted man (it was quite amazing; only the day before yesterday Chanyeol had thought of Baekhyun as the wanted one). He seemed completely relaxed as they boarded the subway and stood side by side in the packed space. Chanyeol kept peering around.
They got off a few stops later, Baekhyun leading the way. This was a part of the city Chanyeol didn't come to too often, and although he'd been there, he didn't really know any of the buildings just by looking at them. They passed by various blocks of flats and a few cafes until arriving at a building looking a little newer than Baekhyun's dorm but older than the house where Chanyeol's condo was. It was a tall building, but the ones by its sides were much taller. The windows were quite large. They walked into the lobby; it was smaller than that at his apartment building, but there was a reception anyway. It was empty at the time, a bell placed at the counter, and Chanyeol assumed there was someone in the back room working on other things, as the hall was empty. They crossed to the elevators - there were two -, and Baekhyun pressed the button. With a soft ping the doors slid open and they stepped to the cage.
The metal doors had a dull, worn-out colour, no reflection whatsoever, and there was an advert for a mall opening taped on one wall. The elevator let a gentle hum as it began ascending. Baekhyun was humming a tune Chanyeol couldn't recognize.
"What's the song?" he asked as they were passing the third floor and kept going.
"Oh? Love Light. A friend of mine likes to sing it in noraebang." The boy flashed a bright smile.
The elevator finally came to a halt in the fifteenth and the doors slid open slowly, almost reluctantly as if they were really tired. The corridor was bright, the walls dull off-white, but the elevator was really the only thing appearing very old and the rest of the house quite polished despite the odd shade chosen for the walls. They walked down the corridor, Chanyeol's sneakers squeaking a little against the polished floor whose tiles formed a stylish black-and-white chessboard pattern. The doors were dark wooden colour that didn't entirely match the walls. Outside apartment number 306 they finally stopped, and the brunette rang the doorbell. It had a similar tone as that in Chanyeol's apartment, and for a moment he felt sad and broken and lost again. As they stood waiting, not really putting any thought to it he reached to grasp the other's fingers lightly with his, finding comfort in the little contact. Baekhyun glanced toward him, but didn't remove his hand until they could hear the lock clicking, and the door open a crack.
Inside stood a young man slightly taller than Baekhyun, light creamy brown hair, rather large eyes like those of a deer, wearing a white T-shirt with a large print in the front and loose jeans, his feet bare. He was eating something, swallowing before saying, "Baekhyun?"
"Hyung", said the brunette happily, putting up a hand in greeting. "Sorry to pop up like this. Can we come in?"
"Uh, sure." The boy moved out of the way, and they stepped into a small rectangle hallway with black wallpaper and shelves plus a clothes rack fitted into an open closet on one wall. Pairs of sneakers were neatly arranged in front of it, and the two added theirs to the row. They stepped to an open plan room, a fine set of drawers with a marble top creating a sense of separation between the living room and the kitchen, the floor neat and wooden. The bedroom, located next to the kitchen bit of the room, was visible through a wide doorway (in fact the more Chanyeol thought about it the more it resembled the lack of a doorway), smaller than the living room in terms of width. There were wide fitted bookshelves all across one wall and a closed door amongst it; long curtains pulled aside, a desk by the window. It wasn't messy per se, but the shelves were crammed with both books and various computer games, a pile of hand-held gaming consoles, some still in their boxes that indicated they were somehow special. The items on the desk were neatly arranged and it appeared quite empty compared to Chanyeol's own or even Baekhyun's. There was a small black sofa in front of a TV set on the shelves, game consoles standing in line by the television. It was all designer colours, and looking at the resident, Chanyeol figured it must've been put together by someone else, a family member maybe, or a friend studying interior design. The creamy haired male came off rather geeky judging by all the gadgets. He'd gone off to the kitchen part of the room, finishing what appeared to be the last of a plateful of baozi, looking at the two of them expectantly. On the countertop by the now empty plate, other dishes and a few transparent small plastic bags was an unfinished Rubik's cube.
"Chanyeol, this is Luhan", said Baekhyun in a tone that suggested he'd forgotten about the fact that the two other hadn't met before. "Hyung, Chanyeol."
"It's nice to meet you", Chanyeol said with a bow of his head. Luhan chewed, swallowed, and replied as politely. His accent was quite spot-on, but something about his soft pronunciation (and his name, the more Chanyeol thought of it) suggested Korean wasn't his first language. Chanyeol decided not to ask. Putting the plate into the sink Luhan picked up the plastic cube, bringing it with him to the living room and placing it onto the desk.
"I've a favour to ask", Baekhyun stated finally. "Chanyeol says he can unshuffle this data, but we need to borrow a program to actually read it."
"Oh", said Luhan. He had a quite buoyant voice. Chanyeol looked at the multiple books on the shelves. "Let me guess, it's something that could get us all into trouble."
"I'm already in trouble", said Chanyeol matter-of-factly.
"Why's that?" the cream-haired one asked.
"I might've put him in a bad position because of a job he got", Baekhyun grimaced. "Anyway, Chanyeol needs to eat before he can get down to it. Do you have anything we can cook?"
"That's a favour within a favour", Luhan pointed out and chuckled, "but there's something in the fridge and rice in the cooker."
"Great. Thanks."
"You owe me." But he was smiling a little. Chanyeol found it was a tender smile although it didn’t entirely touch his eyes, and felt at ease. This person seemed trustworthy, more so than Kris and Tao at first sight. But then, Luhan hadn't exactly barged into his home while he'd been asleep.
Chanyeol stood a little bit awkwardly while Baekhyun went through the contents of the fridge. Feeling useless, he watched the shorter male produce a pan from one of the kitchen cabins, put it on the stove and begin cooking some thin strips of meat. "Hyung, you want some?"
"Sure", Luhan replied from the desk. Chanyeol looked over, finding him concentrated on whatever he was playing on DS. The tall male chuckled softly and as Baekhyun asked him to, got three bowls from another cabin, filling them with portions of rice.
"How do you know him?" he asked while watching Baekhyun turn the meat.
"Met him through some Semiotecs", Baekhyun admitted. Chanyeol nodded a bit. "You know, it's so general for everyone in the System to think there's only the good and the bad. There's the likes of us who don't deal information, you know. So I might've stolen some, but only for myself, not to toss it to the black market like the Semiotecs would. Buying for the sake of selling. I just have questions and your likes would have the answers."
"I think this line of work just creates more questions than answers", Chanyeol said thoughtfully. He, for one, hadn't really had any of the big questions answered for the past few days now. It made him feel somewhat stressful. There he'd been, leading a perfectly fine, normal life as a Calcutec, and then it all had been blown away like an a-bomb had gone off outside his door.
"Well", Baekhyun hummed, "in any case, Luhan's more into the technology of it than the information. You know, he's actually a music student."
"Then why does he risk it by being involved with the Semiotecs?"
"You're concerned about him but not me?" Baekhyun looked over at him with a grin tugging the corners of his pink lips. "I'm a student, too."
"You stole something and threw me on the library restroom floor", Chanyeol said defensively, but he couldn't help the amusement taking over his voice.
They ate in the living room, Chanyeol and Baekhyun on the sofa, Luhan at his desk. It was a peaceful, early lunch, and Chanyeol found himself not feeling too down over the trouble he'd wound up in. Once they were finished, Baekhyun went to do the dishes while Chanyeol asked if Luhan had a tape recorder.
"Naturally", the other chuckled. "I might not be a Calcutec, but this isn't the first time someone comes to my place regarding shuffling something."
"Really?" He felt silly asking, though. Luhan smiled as he disappeared to the bedroom and soon returned with an oval-shaped tape recorder.
"Baekhyun's done some, occasionally, for example."
Chanyeol looked over at the brown haired boy who was putting dishes into the washing machine. He hadn't expected to hear the boy who'd for a reason or another quit working as a Calcutec - to be able to steal any data from the System, Baekhyun had to have completed his training if nothing more - to visit a friend's place to shuffle data. Maybe he shouldn't have been surprised by something like that after what had been going on for the past two days, but somehow the small things seemed to stand out more now. It was like standing in a room with bright blue walls and one turquoise painting on one wall. At first glance it'd easily blend in, but after spending a moment in the room, the painting would become a significant point. He'd grown able to see the trees from the forest, it seemed.
He pulled the tape out from his pocket, made sure it was inserted the right a glass of cold water, and got down to work.
***
He opened his eyes slightly. Baekhyun was sitting on a kitchen stool by Luhan at the desk. They were speaking quietly under their breath not to disturb Chanyeol. He sat still for a while longer, breathing in deep and exhaling slowly, looking at the dark TV screen opposite to him. He could hear the two boys speak about a band or something alike. The Rubik's cube had moved from the desk to the shelf, now solved. Chanyeol had never figured out how the puzzle worked. He wondered which one of them had done it.
Finally, he stretched his arms and sat up. Baekhyun peered at him, their conversation dying and then the brunette got onto his feet. "Feeling ok?"
"Yes." A little groggy, pins and needles in his other foot, but other than that he was much better than yesterday evening.
They continued work at once. Luhan had a laptop ready on the desk, bringing it to the sofa for Baekhyun who slumped down next to Chanyeol. Doing the tabulations normally was more boring than it was complicated, but they were doing the whole process in reverse, now, as if gluing together two pieces of torn paper. The final product would be scarred where the pieces had originally been separated, and here and there data might be wrong entirely, appearing as mistakes like incorrect words and spellings. The hardest data Chanyeol had ever retrieved had been an article of law: getting each word and tense correctly had taken ages, because getting it right had naturally been crucial. No use for a rule that originally stated innocent until proven guilty, and came out saying guilty as charged.
It took hours and multiple pots of coffee. According to recommendations they took a thirty-minute break every hour and a half, stretching, turning on the TV, talking about education and other things that hardly mattered.
"Are you Korean?" Chanyeol asked as they took their third break.
"Oh, no, I was born in Beijing", Luhan shook his head.
"Funny thing, you're the third Chinese person I meet this week."
Baekhyun raised his brows. "The guys you mentioned?"
Nodding, Chanyeol explained, "Two men came to my house the other morning to give me a warning about this case. Recommended I quit my job. Then, they came again to have me process something, and helped me flee the condo before the System got there."
"The other one would be Kris, right?" the brunette asked. Chanyeol was slightly taken aback. He asked how the other knew. "I've come across him, when I was looking into this accident. He hangs out with that boy who's received martial arts training."
"He said it's wushu", Chanyeol hummed.
"He was part of this school taught by a relative of Kris's, grand-grandfather or something", Baekhyun said with a frown that suggested he wasn't sure whether Chanyeol had it right. "Voiceless Dragon, it was called."
"Never heard."
"I've heard of it", Luhan said with a firm nod. Chanyeol looked over at him. He was fiddling with the DS, but lowered it now, seemingly more engrossed in the conversation. "It was a small school favouring soft forms. A long, long history. Word says the master was killed and since then every member disappeared."
Chanyeol nodded slowly. It sounded like something quite special. "Then, it's not taught anymore?"
"Yeah", Baekhyun nodded a little. "I think they went underground to avoid getting into trouble with whoever killed their teacher."
"So that's why he didn't say it straight", the tall male mused.
"Sounds reasonable", Baekhyun agreed.
Chanyeol came to think how much there was he didn't know. He might've worked with information for five years, now - sure, he hadn't really been told what it all was - but all that had happened during the past two days was making it painfully obvious Chanyeol hadn't really been aware of how complicated the world around him was. It seemed like nothing was as it looked, and Chanyeol couldn't exactly compare with how things had been before the war twenty years ago, either. He'd been just a kid; he didn't remember how was it, experiencing the 21st century world fall apart from the seams. But the world before Wednesday and the world now, on Friday, were entirely different. Before Wednesday he'd been a regular good employee at a (fairly) regular company, enjoying strolls and coffee, reading, listening to music. The world had consisted of work. The world of Friday consisted of enemies disguised as friends, governmental secrets, strange schools of martial arts, and Chinese intruders and whatnots. He was a wanted man for a reason he didn't even know, giving a hand to a cyber terrorist student wanting to find out if he'd actually witnessed a dangerous accident that, according to most sources, had never happened. What had happened? Everything had changed overnight.
They got back to work.
An hour later they were finally done, the finished product sitting in front of them on the computer screen. Chanyeol rubbed his eyes and stretched, and Luhan suggested some more coffee. "Much obliged", the taller one nodded. "Thank you."
Baekhyun strolled around the sofa stretching his arms, then finally sat back next to Chanyeol, leaning to look at what they had gathered. "Do you think this matches the file?"
Lowering his eyes to the papers one more time Chanyeol nodded a little. "I'm sure."
"If this is right", Baekhyun said quietly, his voice sounding almost weak as his words trembled ever so slightly, "then you were there, too, when it happened."
***
Just to clarify a little: Voiceless Dragon is something I've pulled straight from Nick Harkaway's The Gone-Away World. It's a school of martial arts (soft form). They fight ninjas. Yeah. I thought it was fitting for this. Except that there's no ninjas in my stories, but you get the point. Tao. Martial Arts. You know.
chapter rating: PG
warnings: mild language
summary: Park Chanyeol works for the quasi-governmental System in the post-apocalyptic Seoul, leading a simple, dull life without close friends or keeping contact to his family. When he is given the job to trail a university student called Byun Baekhyun, everything seems to go smoothly - until Chanyeol gets an unexpected visit and a warning and finds the case he's involved in is much more cruel than he has expected.
story notes: See the foreword for more information on the story. ALSO LOOK AT WHAT MY BB MADE ME although I'm getting some error noooo
Upon opening his eyes Chanyeol found Baekhyun was sitting at the desk, reading with a pen in one hand. It was bright although the shutters were down. The edges of things were slightly blurry, so Chanyeol reached to pick up his glasses and sat up a little. Baekhyun turned his head a bit to look to his direction briefly.
"Did you sleep okay?"
"Yeah, thank you." Chanyeol stretched his arms. It took him a while to remember where was he and why. Somehow, the only thing that felt natural and that he didn't question was the brunette sitting there, wearing college bottoms and the same tank as last night. "What time is it?"
"Ten in the morning", replied the boy and penned something down.
Chanyeol nodded a little. "Don't you have school?"
Baekhyun grinned a bit. "I've a guest to entertain, right? One day here or there, it's not that important."
"What about the gym in the evening?"
"Oh?" Baekhyun leaned back in the chair and turned the page. "I teach hapkido."
Raising his brows a little Chanyeol could remember the events at the library restroom. Thinking about it made his back hurt for a second, the muscles remembering the odd workout they'd been put through by surprise. He nodded a bit.
Baekhyun got up, stretched his fingers, and went to the sink system. "Tea? Coffee?"
"Coffee, please." Chanyeol slid to sit on the edge of the bed. He listened to the sounds of Baekhyun prepare half a potful of coffee and pour some in a cup. Chanyeol asked for milk and sugar, and nodding the boy added some, bringing the cup to him with a smile.
He'd have to find some options on where to go, Chanyeol thought as he sipped the hot brown drink, the cup warming his hands. He couldn't stay here with Baekhyun forever. It hit Chanyeol he'd usually have work on that evening, and he began to wonder which was better, going and pretending nothing had happened, or staying here like the brunette was staying out of school. Maybe that was the best thing to do. He'd have to go to the bank eventually. It would be better to go somewhere further away. It was difficult to decide whether to concentrate on putting things into an order by priority, or whether to wallow about his home and work; denying he was feeling sad would be lying. It wasn't immobilizing sorrow, but nevertheless, Chanyeol felt lost and unsure about what to do next.
Baekhyun looked at him through this internal quiet debate, looking a little bit curious, tapping the pen against the book without a sound. Finally, the brown haired boy stated, "If you've nowhere else to go you can stay until you figure it out."
Chanyeol looked up at him. "I don't want to be a burden to you."
The other laughed. "You might've followed me around, but you've no idea what kind of a person I am. I said I don't have anything against you."
He chuckled lightly and looked down at the cup of coffee. "Thanks."
"Cheer up", Baekhyun said with a smile. "You can give me a hand with some of this." He patted the pile of books.
Chanyeol was about to speak when his phone went off in his bag. He got up, pulling it out to look at the caller ID, not recognizing the number. Baekhyun peeked over his shoulder as he waited for the call to end and switched the device off.
"Someone tried to call you at night, you know", Baekhyun pointed out as Chanyeol stood back up and began pulling on his jeans.
"Really?" The tall male looked over at him.
"Yeah." The brunette was looking at the book again. "You know, I'm sorry if I'm the reason they're after you. Like, the whole thing, you having to stalk me and all."
He smiled a bit as he sat back down. "It's okay", Chanyeol stated. "I haven't even reported back to them about you yet. Even though you confessed you stole that data and all."
Baekhyun grinned wide. "See, you like me."
Chanyeol laughed. Yes, he quite liked Baekhyun. The brown haired boy was kind, warm... Familiar. He couldn't shake how familiar, really. The people he usually came by were a little cold in a way, distant, minding their own business. But Byun Baekhyun had accepted him into his house, him, the person who had trailed him, stolen files of him, been to his apartment door to deliver mail. Chanyeol wondered if he should admit all that, but decided against it. Baekhyun didn't need to know all these things; he was already aware of the fact that the Calcutec in his dormitory room had been following him. That sparked a question. "When did you notice me the first?"
Baekhyun hummed, didn't look up from the book. Chanyeol was amazed by his concentration to multiple things at the same time. "Last week", he replied finally. "When I was leaving school with friends. I noticed you, but didn't really think much about it... But then I saw you a few times the next day."
Chanyeol nodded a little. He thought about what had gone on a week ago. He'd been to the library, watching Baekhyun read the information technology books. "Why information technology?"
"I'm trying to figure out some data", the other replied, looking at Chanyeol. "A guy from the offices handed me something they'd found, but it's all encoded, mostly tabulations, I'm trying to break it."
Chanyeol nodded a little. "Can I see the data?"
"Sure." The boy pulled open a drawer. There were piles of clothes inside; the taller watched him dig out a paper file much like the ones he'd had on his desk, now stuffed into the other bag lying on he floor. Chanyeol missed his desk and books, even the KFC paper cup and the paper clips. He'd have to go through a lot to get anything similar established for himself again. Baekhyun handed him the file, and Chanyeol laid it open.
"Who gave this to you? Do you know their name?"
Baekhyun closed the drawer and turned a page. Chanyeol looked at the numbers and letters printed on the paper in three neat columns. "Kim Jongin.”
He froze for a moment, and then looked up. "Jongin? Converse All Stars, black hair, tan?"
"...Yeah", Baekhyun nodded. "You know him?"
"He lives--" He bit his lip. "I lived in the same house. He's worked for the System for a couple of years." Jongin was handing information like this to outsiders? He had a hard time believing it. Sure, Baekhyun had said he wasn't a Semiotec, but still, it was illegal. He'd thought the black haired male in the elevator had seemed nice - distant, but nice, not the kind of a person who'd deal information. He'd even warned Chanyeol about this mess. "Did he sell this to you?"
"We had a deal", Baekhyun explained. "I paid him to look up certain things."
"Is this related to the accident you told me about?"
"I hope so." The other chuckled and looked back at him briefly.
Chanyeol returned his eyes to the file. He licked his lips and frowned. In its current form, the data was impossible to read. It would require specific programs and revision to convert it, and even so, it wouldn't entirely correspond with the original. He looked through the few pages in the file while Baekhyun was leafing through his book. Silence hung in the room, save for some sounds coming from outside.
He thought the data looked extremely familiar, then. It was like he'd seen it multiple times before. Chanyeol began looking at it again from the start. Yes, he'd definitely seen it before. His frown deepening for a moment as he concentrated the tall male tried to figure out where. At the office, maybe? It could be something he'd worked with on the computer before someone laundering the information. Doing the numbers and tabulations on the computer already required some concentration. But it was a little odd that he'd remember something like a routine job like that. Chanyeol wasn't brilliant with remembering long lists of numbers like this. Calculations were easy for him, but this was a lot of data to memorize without actually engaging in the laundering. Sure, he didn’t launder often, but…
"I've seen this data before", he admitted aloud, finally. "I think I've processed it."
Baekhyun turned to look at him, seemingly forgetting the book completely, Chanyeol getting his full attention. "You remember?"
"I remember I've seen some of it before, and trust me, I really don't remember shit about the data I look at when I don't need to process and shuffle it myself."
The brunette chuckled, but it was a firm laugh, not the open and humorous kind Chanyeol had heard leaving his lips before. They looked at each other in a slightly measuring manner for a good minute or two, Chanyeol trying to figure whether Baekhyun believed him, and Baekhyun looking like he was trying to see if Chanyeol was being serious. Then, Baekhyun nodded his head a little, his thin lips pursed as he put down the pen. "Do you know what is it about then?"
"No", Chanyeol replied. He sighed and lowered his gaze to the file for a moment. "But if I really laundered this, the chances are I've also shuffled it, and that means you might be able to decipher it and put it back together."
Baekhyun let a thoughtful but approving hum. "Then we should try it."
"I can do the reverse shuffle myself", Chanyeol stated, "but to put it together you'll need the right software."
The grin spreading on the other boy's face was quite obvious, and Chanyeol knew without words that Baekhyun either had the software or knew where to go for it. Then, he grew more serious. "Are you up for it though? You were pretty burnt out yesterday."
Chanyeol bit his lip. He'd slept well, now. Chances were he'd be exhausted afterward, but not as much as last night. "I need a proper meal", he concluded, "and then I'll be okay doing it."
Baekhyun nodded. "We should go see my friend who has the programs for it, you can eat at his place."
"Your friend?" Chanyeol bit his lip lightly and wondered if this friend was a Semiotec.
"Yeah. Don't worry, he's trustworthy all right."
"Right", said Chanyeol.
Baekhyun got onto his feet. "Let's do it, then."
Chanyeol got up to dig out a new T-shirt, and pulling it on returned to sit on the edge of the bed. He looked at the books on the table while the brown haired boy disappeared to the bathroom for a while and then returned, kicking off the college bottoms looking entirely fine with the presence of a person he'd only officially met a day ago. Chanyeol watched him fish a pair of skinny jeans from a pile of folded clothes in a plastic basket he'd moved to the bookshelf sometime after Chanyeol's arrival, most likely while he'd been asleep. He jumped on one foot pulling them on and then put on a pair of socks that laid on the floor and pulled the tank off. He had an awkward bruise on his side, and Chanyeol assumed it was something from the gym. His skin was a little paler than Chanyeol's, toward the whiter end of the scale.
Slipping into a soft-looking T-shirt and pulling a collarless jersey blazer on top he picked up a creamy backpack and nodded a bit; with that, Chanyeol bounced up onto his feet, retrieved the tape from one of the bags and tucked it into one pocket, his wallet to another. They put on their shoes. Baekhyun slid the safety chain off, opened the door to peek out into the corridor, and they left.
The elevator felt much slower to Chanyeol now that he was fully conscious. It certainly was slower than the one at his (now previous) building. In the lobby, the receptionist was talking with a girl to whom Baekhyun said hi to as they passed by.
Walking in silence they went for the subway. Chanyeol couldn't help feeling a little concerned about walking in broad daylight like this, but his companion didn't seem to mind showing up in public despite skipping school and hanging out with a wanted man (it was quite amazing; only the day before yesterday Chanyeol had thought of Baekhyun as the wanted one). He seemed completely relaxed as they boarded the subway and stood side by side in the packed space. Chanyeol kept peering around.
They got off a few stops later, Baekhyun leading the way. This was a part of the city Chanyeol didn't come to too often, and although he'd been there, he didn't really know any of the buildings just by looking at them. They passed by various blocks of flats and a few cafes until arriving at a building looking a little newer than Baekhyun's dorm but older than the house where Chanyeol's condo was. It was a tall building, but the ones by its sides were much taller. The windows were quite large. They walked into the lobby; it was smaller than that at his apartment building, but there was a reception anyway. It was empty at the time, a bell placed at the counter, and Chanyeol assumed there was someone in the back room working on other things, as the hall was empty. They crossed to the elevators - there were two -, and Baekhyun pressed the button. With a soft ping the doors slid open and they stepped to the cage.
The metal doors had a dull, worn-out colour, no reflection whatsoever, and there was an advert for a mall opening taped on one wall. The elevator let a gentle hum as it began ascending. Baekhyun was humming a tune Chanyeol couldn't recognize.
"What's the song?" he asked as they were passing the third floor and kept going.
"Oh? Love Light. A friend of mine likes to sing it in noraebang." The boy flashed a bright smile.
The elevator finally came to a halt in the fifteenth and the doors slid open slowly, almost reluctantly as if they were really tired. The corridor was bright, the walls dull off-white, but the elevator was really the only thing appearing very old and the rest of the house quite polished despite the odd shade chosen for the walls. They walked down the corridor, Chanyeol's sneakers squeaking a little against the polished floor whose tiles formed a stylish black-and-white chessboard pattern. The doors were dark wooden colour that didn't entirely match the walls. Outside apartment number 306 they finally stopped, and the brunette rang the doorbell. It had a similar tone as that in Chanyeol's apartment, and for a moment he felt sad and broken and lost again. As they stood waiting, not really putting any thought to it he reached to grasp the other's fingers lightly with his, finding comfort in the little contact. Baekhyun glanced toward him, but didn't remove his hand until they could hear the lock clicking, and the door open a crack.
Inside stood a young man slightly taller than Baekhyun, light creamy brown hair, rather large eyes like those of a deer, wearing a white T-shirt with a large print in the front and loose jeans, his feet bare. He was eating something, swallowing before saying, "Baekhyun?"
"Hyung", said the brunette happily, putting up a hand in greeting. "Sorry to pop up like this. Can we come in?"
"Uh, sure." The boy moved out of the way, and they stepped into a small rectangle hallway with black wallpaper and shelves plus a clothes rack fitted into an open closet on one wall. Pairs of sneakers were neatly arranged in front of it, and the two added theirs to the row. They stepped to an open plan room, a fine set of drawers with a marble top creating a sense of separation between the living room and the kitchen, the floor neat and wooden. The bedroom, located next to the kitchen bit of the room, was visible through a wide doorway (in fact the more Chanyeol thought about it the more it resembled the lack of a doorway), smaller than the living room in terms of width. There were wide fitted bookshelves all across one wall and a closed door amongst it; long curtains pulled aside, a desk by the window. It wasn't messy per se, but the shelves were crammed with both books and various computer games, a pile of hand-held gaming consoles, some still in their boxes that indicated they were somehow special. The items on the desk were neatly arranged and it appeared quite empty compared to Chanyeol's own or even Baekhyun's. There was a small black sofa in front of a TV set on the shelves, game consoles standing in line by the television. It was all designer colours, and looking at the resident, Chanyeol figured it must've been put together by someone else, a family member maybe, or a friend studying interior design. The creamy haired male came off rather geeky judging by all the gadgets. He'd gone off to the kitchen part of the room, finishing what appeared to be the last of a plateful of baozi, looking at the two of them expectantly. On the countertop by the now empty plate, other dishes and a few transparent small plastic bags was an unfinished Rubik's cube.
"Chanyeol, this is Luhan", said Baekhyun in a tone that suggested he'd forgotten about the fact that the two other hadn't met before. "Hyung, Chanyeol."
"It's nice to meet you", Chanyeol said with a bow of his head. Luhan chewed, swallowed, and replied as politely. His accent was quite spot-on, but something about his soft pronunciation (and his name, the more Chanyeol thought of it) suggested Korean wasn't his first language. Chanyeol decided not to ask. Putting the plate into the sink Luhan picked up the plastic cube, bringing it with him to the living room and placing it onto the desk.
"I've a favour to ask", Baekhyun stated finally. "Chanyeol says he can unshuffle this data, but we need to borrow a program to actually read it."
"Oh", said Luhan. He had a quite buoyant voice. Chanyeol looked at the multiple books on the shelves. "Let me guess, it's something that could get us all into trouble."
"I'm already in trouble", said Chanyeol matter-of-factly.
"Why's that?" the cream-haired one asked.
"I might've put him in a bad position because of a job he got", Baekhyun grimaced. "Anyway, Chanyeol needs to eat before he can get down to it. Do you have anything we can cook?"
"That's a favour within a favour", Luhan pointed out and chuckled, "but there's something in the fridge and rice in the cooker."
"Great. Thanks."
"You owe me." But he was smiling a little. Chanyeol found it was a tender smile although it didn’t entirely touch his eyes, and felt at ease. This person seemed trustworthy, more so than Kris and Tao at first sight. But then, Luhan hadn't exactly barged into his home while he'd been asleep.
Chanyeol stood a little bit awkwardly while Baekhyun went through the contents of the fridge. Feeling useless, he watched the shorter male produce a pan from one of the kitchen cabins, put it on the stove and begin cooking some thin strips of meat. "Hyung, you want some?"
"Sure", Luhan replied from the desk. Chanyeol looked over, finding him concentrated on whatever he was playing on DS. The tall male chuckled softly and as Baekhyun asked him to, got three bowls from another cabin, filling them with portions of rice.
"How do you know him?" he asked while watching Baekhyun turn the meat.
"Met him through some Semiotecs", Baekhyun admitted. Chanyeol nodded a bit. "You know, it's so general for everyone in the System to think there's only the good and the bad. There's the likes of us who don't deal information, you know. So I might've stolen some, but only for myself, not to toss it to the black market like the Semiotecs would. Buying for the sake of selling. I just have questions and your likes would have the answers."
"I think this line of work just creates more questions than answers", Chanyeol said thoughtfully. He, for one, hadn't really had any of the big questions answered for the past few days now. It made him feel somewhat stressful. There he'd been, leading a perfectly fine, normal life as a Calcutec, and then it all had been blown away like an a-bomb had gone off outside his door.
"Well", Baekhyun hummed, "in any case, Luhan's more into the technology of it than the information. You know, he's actually a music student."
"Then why does he risk it by being involved with the Semiotecs?"
"You're concerned about him but not me?" Baekhyun looked over at him with a grin tugging the corners of his pink lips. "I'm a student, too."
"You stole something and threw me on the library restroom floor", Chanyeol said defensively, but he couldn't help the amusement taking over his voice.
They ate in the living room, Chanyeol and Baekhyun on the sofa, Luhan at his desk. It was a peaceful, early lunch, and Chanyeol found himself not feeling too down over the trouble he'd wound up in. Once they were finished, Baekhyun went to do the dishes while Chanyeol asked if Luhan had a tape recorder.
"Naturally", the other chuckled. "I might not be a Calcutec, but this isn't the first time someone comes to my place regarding shuffling something."
"Really?" He felt silly asking, though. Luhan smiled as he disappeared to the bedroom and soon returned with an oval-shaped tape recorder.
"Baekhyun's done some, occasionally, for example."
Chanyeol looked over at the brown haired boy who was putting dishes into the washing machine. He hadn't expected to hear the boy who'd for a reason or another quit working as a Calcutec - to be able to steal any data from the System, Baekhyun had to have completed his training if nothing more - to visit a friend's place to shuffle data. Maybe he shouldn't have been surprised by something like that after what had been going on for the past two days, but somehow the small things seemed to stand out more now. It was like standing in a room with bright blue walls and one turquoise painting on one wall. At first glance it'd easily blend in, but after spending a moment in the room, the painting would become a significant point. He'd grown able to see the trees from the forest, it seemed.
He pulled the tape out from his pocket, made sure it was inserted the right a glass of cold water, and got down to work.
***
He opened his eyes slightly. Baekhyun was sitting on a kitchen stool by Luhan at the desk. They were speaking quietly under their breath not to disturb Chanyeol. He sat still for a while longer, breathing in deep and exhaling slowly, looking at the dark TV screen opposite to him. He could hear the two boys speak about a band or something alike. The Rubik's cube had moved from the desk to the shelf, now solved. Chanyeol had never figured out how the puzzle worked. He wondered which one of them had done it.
Finally, he stretched his arms and sat up. Baekhyun peered at him, their conversation dying and then the brunette got onto his feet. "Feeling ok?"
"Yes." A little groggy, pins and needles in his other foot, but other than that he was much better than yesterday evening.
They continued work at once. Luhan had a laptop ready on the desk, bringing it to the sofa for Baekhyun who slumped down next to Chanyeol. Doing the tabulations normally was more boring than it was complicated, but they were doing the whole process in reverse, now, as if gluing together two pieces of torn paper. The final product would be scarred where the pieces had originally been separated, and here and there data might be wrong entirely, appearing as mistakes like incorrect words and spellings. The hardest data Chanyeol had ever retrieved had been an article of law: getting each word and tense correctly had taken ages, because getting it right had naturally been crucial. No use for a rule that originally stated innocent until proven guilty, and came out saying guilty as charged.
It took hours and multiple pots of coffee. According to recommendations they took a thirty-minute break every hour and a half, stretching, turning on the TV, talking about education and other things that hardly mattered.
"Are you Korean?" Chanyeol asked as they took their third break.
"Oh, no, I was born in Beijing", Luhan shook his head.
"Funny thing, you're the third Chinese person I meet this week."
Baekhyun raised his brows. "The guys you mentioned?"
Nodding, Chanyeol explained, "Two men came to my house the other morning to give me a warning about this case. Recommended I quit my job. Then, they came again to have me process something, and helped me flee the condo before the System got there."
"The other one would be Kris, right?" the brunette asked. Chanyeol was slightly taken aback. He asked how the other knew. "I've come across him, when I was looking into this accident. He hangs out with that boy who's received martial arts training."
"He said it's wushu", Chanyeol hummed.
"He was part of this school taught by a relative of Kris's, grand-grandfather or something", Baekhyun said with a frown that suggested he wasn't sure whether Chanyeol had it right. "Voiceless Dragon, it was called."
"Never heard."
"I've heard of it", Luhan said with a firm nod. Chanyeol looked over at him. He was fiddling with the DS, but lowered it now, seemingly more engrossed in the conversation. "It was a small school favouring soft forms. A long, long history. Word says the master was killed and since then every member disappeared."
Chanyeol nodded slowly. It sounded like something quite special. "Then, it's not taught anymore?"
"Yeah", Baekhyun nodded a little. "I think they went underground to avoid getting into trouble with whoever killed their teacher."
"So that's why he didn't say it straight", the tall male mused.
"Sounds reasonable", Baekhyun agreed.
Chanyeol came to think how much there was he didn't know. He might've worked with information for five years, now - sure, he hadn't really been told what it all was - but all that had happened during the past two days was making it painfully obvious Chanyeol hadn't really been aware of how complicated the world around him was. It seemed like nothing was as it looked, and Chanyeol couldn't exactly compare with how things had been before the war twenty years ago, either. He'd been just a kid; he didn't remember how was it, experiencing the 21st century world fall apart from the seams. But the world before Wednesday and the world now, on Friday, were entirely different. Before Wednesday he'd been a regular good employee at a (fairly) regular company, enjoying strolls and coffee, reading, listening to music. The world had consisted of work. The world of Friday consisted of enemies disguised as friends, governmental secrets, strange schools of martial arts, and Chinese intruders and whatnots. He was a wanted man for a reason he didn't even know, giving a hand to a cyber terrorist student wanting to find out if he'd actually witnessed a dangerous accident that, according to most sources, had never happened. What had happened? Everything had changed overnight.
They got back to work.
An hour later they were finally done, the finished product sitting in front of them on the computer screen. Chanyeol rubbed his eyes and stretched, and Luhan suggested some more coffee. "Much obliged", the taller one nodded. "Thank you."
Baekhyun strolled around the sofa stretching his arms, then finally sat back next to Chanyeol, leaning to look at what they had gathered. "Do you think this matches the file?"
Lowering his eyes to the papers one more time Chanyeol nodded a little. "I'm sure."
"If this is right", Baekhyun said quietly, his voice sounding almost weak as his words trembled ever so slightly, "then you were there, too, when it happened."
***
Just to clarify a little: Voiceless Dragon is something I've pulled straight from Nick Harkaway's The Gone-Away World. It's a school of martial arts (soft form). They fight ninjas. Yeah. I thought it was fitting for this. Except that there's no ninjas in my stories, but you get the point. Tao. Martial Arts. You know.