The Gone-Away Moons 1/25
title: The Gone-Away Moons
chapter rating: PG
warnings: mild language
summary: Diligent and quiet, Tao is used to following Kris around on the job. In his opinion, Kris knows everything. Kris is all he needs. They've wound up in Seoul trying to settle the score with the System, and have finally secured a meeting to end the game. But an unexpected turn of events changes everything, and Tao is left having to figure out his place in the puzzle. Everything seems to tie back to ten years ago, but how and why; and more importantly, does Kris have all the answers after all?
story notes: See the foreword for more information on the story.
96 hours from here, things would look very different for the two of them.
On Wednesday, one hour, six minutes and ten seconds past midnight, neither Tao nor Kris had any idea of the nature of the task at hand that they'd more or less voluntarily wound into.
Tao stirred awake at the sound of the alarm. It was one of the obnoxious, self-set tones, one that Kris had chosen because the blasting rock tunes were disturbing to say the least. With the phone positioned on the table at the opposite end of the room it was difficult to carry on with the poor-quality slumber with the whole thing screaming for attention. If Tao had it right, once upon a time Kris had actually liked the song; but the universal curse of using a previously likeable tune as an alarm tone was that after approximately five days the song had been rendered unfit for listening. Trying to not mind the fact that his ears were probably bleeding by now as the result of the sound echoing slightly off the walls he crawled up, shivering as his bare feet touched the cool floor and in as straight a line as possible, considering how groggy he was still feeling, Tao made a beeline for the phone to turn it off.
The silence was almost deafening as it fell upon the little rectangle room. Tao scratched the side of his neck, pursed his lips to suppress a yawn, and then stood still for a minute just to make some sense to his surroundings. Kris was getting up, tugging on a pair of clean socks, looking slightly better rested than how Tao felt. He didn't seem bothered by how cold the room felt after being tangled somewhere amongst thick covers for the matter of a few hours. Had he slept at all? Tao had to consider that it could be Kris had simply laid down staring into nothing thinking about the universe like he sometimes would. While he'd known Kris for years sometimes he still had the feeling there was a whole different person tucked inside a rock hard shell and that during their time together he'd only managed to scratch the surface of all the things that defined the older and taller young man.
Wednesday, one hour, eight minutes and twenty-one seconds past midnight. Tao trekked back to the bed to pick up the black T-shirt he'd tugged off before lying down, pulling it over the tank that filled the position of both pajamas and undershirts. They had a good moment before they would eventually have to set out to take care of business. Moving from by the bed to drop down into the single lazy chair in one corner of the room he started to pull on the black army boots, his moves still a little slow with sleep taking its time to slip away. Kris stood up, adjusting the white shirt, stopping to stand halfway through the room. For a moment, the room was void of sound.
"Something is wrong with this", said Kris after a while and crossed his arms across his chest. The top three buttons of the white shirt hung open revealing the heavy pendant he always seemed to be wearing. Tao couldn't recall when he had last removed it. Long fingers tapped his other arm as his eyes were fixed on the papers pinned on the wall.
Still seated Tao was tying the bootlaces and had a good view around the room. The doorway was located opposite from where he was sitting at the other end of the room, with the small vestibule-slash-entrance hall visible only partially. The fridge stood in one corner next to the sink system, a simple small square table and two chairs between the fridge and the lazy chair. In the last corner was their makeshift bed consisting of two mattresses put together on the floor, it was better than nothing. "Only temporary", they'd agreed, but getting a bed had quickly become less prioritized. It hardly bothered Tao. He knew Kris was frequently annoyed by it, much more used to well-furnished housing with at least the necessary furniture than himself, and secretly the black-haired boy thought it was one of the few differences putting them apart so clearly on a fundamental level. While Tao preferred peace and security he often found Kris seeking a certain level of comfort.
Kris was focused on the papers. They formed a map of sorts: not an image of places, streets or houses, but a mind map of people and events. Along the pins tucked into the thin white wallpaper ran red and blue threads, making it a grand spider web spreading across the whole wall. The documents were bundled as to separate them by topic and person, colorful post-it notes marking dates and locations and such summaries of their contents for easy archival. It was all very detailed and precise. Tao had followed its growth, only offering a hand when necessary, commenting when Kris wasn't so focused on it like when they were eating or when Kris was reading a novel instead of the many files littering the table top. At first they'd had only a few important things taped on the wall for easy access in the lack of proper bookshelves for keeping things. Tao wasn't certain if Kris had foreseen how large their collection of old paperwork would eventually grow, but each time he sat down and looked at the wall Tao felt amazed.
With a scoff Kris repeated, "Something is wrong." He followed a red line with his fingers, making the whole web tremble.
"What is?" Tao asked, uncertain whether the taller was speaking to him or simply mumbling. He straightened his legs, rubbed his palms against his thighs, and then propped his elbows onto his knees, leaning forward in his smooth seat. Kris peered over his shoulder as if to make sure Tao was focused, like he'd been worried he would possibly need to speak his ideas more than once, but it was an unnecessary worry: Tao couldn't have been more focused. Nothing else in the room moved, nothing else required him to concentrate. And most importantly, Tao always focused on Kris.
"Well", spoke Kris, not looking at him any longer. "Maybe it's not wrong, exactly, but something about this is off."
Frowning a little the younger stood up and closed the distance between them, standing next to the slightly taller man who had again crossed his arms. For a blink Tao focused not on the wall but on the many leather bracelets adorning Kris's wrist, especially the one bearing the fine, elaborate dragon symbol on a thin metal plate. Erasing the thought off the top of his mind the black haired youth chewed his lip, looked at the papers and strings and post-its, but with the passing seconds carried on by silence he couldn't really see what it was the other meant. Most of the data was in Korean, and while it was written neatly not by hand but by computer Tao couldn't read it quickly enough, couldn't quite make out all the meanings of the words. The post-it notes and some remarks Kris had written amongst the originals with a red ballpoint pen, however, were in Mandarin. Although Kris had informed him of all there was to translate it was difficult to come up with anything only by the little scribbles and summaries. It took him time, and time was certainly something Kris could offer him if there ever was anything the light haired man would've given him without asking. It wasn't in Tao's nature to ask or demand, and upon these silent terms he'd agreed to submit to his role without ever really having had anything to complain about.
"Missing?" he suggested at last. "Something's missing?"
"Couldn't agree with you more, there." Kris had a difficult expression on his face. He'd pressed his canine hard down on his lower lip and was sporting a troubled frown, not necessarily a very angry one, but even so it came off a little passive-aggressive. Tao was somewhat fascinated by this hard-to-read look, but instead of inquiring what was it the older was thinking he retorted to observing. For a moment Kris was out of his reach, lost in thought, his mind set on something in his own world, be it related to the wall or not. Tao knew this very well, knew how the other's breaths would grow slower and how he would part his lips slightly to heave the smallest of sighs to mark the end of his internal search for something. It was something Kris had done since day one and it never bothered Tao whatsoever.
It was difficult to say what exactly could've been missing, though. They had seemingly every nook of the thing covered. The System and its employees: one, their contact on the job, Kim Jongin; two, the target of their job, Park Chanyeol; three, subject related to the job, Byun Baekhyun; four, another link to the offices, Kim Minseok. Kim Jongin and Kim Minseok's involvement in the job was clear with how they were to mediate between the offices and Kris and Tao; Park Chanyeol had his hands full with a job of his own and Byun Baekhyun's purpose on the case was to play dumb. As far as the two men were concerned it didn't seem like this case had anything to do with why they'd come to Seoul in the first place, but the System itself was obviously related to it.
At last Kris seemed to surface back to the present and the light haired man shrugged with a sigh. "I guess staring at it won't really make a difference."
"We still got time", Tao offered.
"Never mind the time", Kris mumbled and turned to walk over to the table, taking a seat and crossing a leg over the other. "What I'm worried about is whether there's someone we can't trust on this one."
It was an ironic statement considering they were the ones carrying out tasks of the most questionable kind, hovering somewhere between criminal and political. Tao ambled to brew them some tea. He knew Kris preferred coffee, but from his point of view at such a late (or maybe it was extremely early instead) hour it would've been unhealthy. The gentle scent of the leaves soaking in boiling water soon filled the room. "What do you suggest?"
Kris let a low hum. "We've got to be careful", he nodded. "We're too close to make mistakes."
Nodding his head a bit Tao set two mismatching mugs on the table and poured them both a cupful of the transparent greenish drink, setting the pot beside the pile of paper files to create some homely atmosphere.
They drank in silence with Kris eyeing the map of strings on the wall, Tao not really focusing on anything in particular. Once their cups were empty Kris announced grumpily that he'd take a shower, and Tao moved to do the dishes, finding his place in the lazy chair once more. One hour and thirty-two minutes past midnight Kris re-emerged dressed with a hairdryer in one hand, the warmth of the blow heating the rather small room quite a bit in a minute.
Wednesday, at exactly one hour and forty minutes past midnight they departed. The lock on the door clicked a goodbye that, for some reason, made Tao's heart feel heavy.
If one stopped to look around at the people pouring in and out of subway stations at 1:54 AM, loitering about the nightly streets, the shops with elaborate windows and tall buildings flashing their neon cries into the deep shadows it would have been impossible to envision the world all these years ago. Not just here: all around the world cities had sprouted from ashes, societies built anew when people had least expected. It was inarguably amazing and remarkable. There were people who believed humans could do anything, come across any level of destruction. Some believed the human race had evolved into something invincible.
"Pests." That was what Kris had said, and Tao couldn't really have argued.
While it was certainly unexpected that for the third time people had managed to build their homes from scratch after such worldwide destruction everyone seemed to have forgotten that it was people themselves who had caused it. Naturally one might've argued that Kris's statement was biased and Tao didn't have a chance to deny. But a superior race? Invincible? He could imagine how Kris would laugh, snarky and sarcasticly, and then with a steady face ask, "Seriously?"
Humans were flawed like a somewhat broken record: scratched here and there but still capable of playing its contents. They were capable of going about their lives, talking and working and doing other things that either shortened their individual life spans or gave them a few years extra. Generally speaking there was nothing wrong with people as an anonymous mass. But singling out individuals one would eventually come across the rotten ones, and as he walked down the subway station stairs behind Kris whose hands were tucked deep into the pockets of the bomber jacket Tao could easily point out things that the bad crop of human race would do. Starting useless wars over personal interest was one thing. That had started this whole mess. At times he was almost sad the people whose idea it had been were gone, killed in the bombings or the aftermath: they hadn't lived long enough to witness all the suffering they'd caused. At the same time he was proud that they were gone. After all, far away from this quietly breathing city a good long time ago people whom Tao would've liked to call members of some extended family had been there to see they got what they'd deserved. And then there were groups of people whom he couldn't really identify into either the good or the bad, such as those who had in their sincere minds wished to erase this same suffering from innocent people, but who, having decided to do so, had exploited, hurt, and killed the same civilians.
People could be so complicated. Biting his lip Tao wished he could've shared the same simple stream of thought about the surrounding crowds as Kris did. To Kris people were a destructive force, hardly good for too many things, and good individuals were hard to come by. From Kris's point of view there were only two kinds of people: those who wanted to exploit and those who could be controlled. It seemed that his opinion on which set the two of them belonged to changed depending on the situation and his mood. Tao had concluded Kris either wasn't sure, himself, or that the concept of dividing people up so easily was kind of flexible. Lately it seemed they belonged amongst the latter, which Tao assumed must've pissed Kris off.
Not that Kris had been a simple person. Tao had accepted there was no way for him to ever know Kris completely. He'd accepted all he could do was to try, and he knew somewhere deep down behind the cool look Kris appreciated the effort. At least that was what Tao liked to believe. Above all, though, he respected and admired the other's black-and-white way of going about things.
Naturally, Tao was too young to have lived the war himself. Kris hadn't quite been around for the beginning, but had managed to grow to an age where he could somehow remember how it had been. To Kris, Tao knew, the war was both a beginning and an end whose scars were obvious, engraved into his past, and it had been a major factor in how had Kris turned out this way. Without the war, Tao liked to imagine, being Kris would've been a lot easier. But then, without the war, it would've been likely their paths had never crossed. Saying he would've wished the war never to have happened was, while honest of him, also a small lie colored by the fact that Tao was content following the lanky, light haired man through the crowds pooling by the gates to the platform area. While fate as a concept was slightly obscure Tao liked to believe there was a reason for things to happen, and even such a disastrous and painful thing as the war had a reason, consequences, and a conclusion and all these things went much further than the average person could fathom.
Basically, though, as it was a result of human action it had begun of human emotion; and human emotion, if anything, was complicated. Tao slipped his train pass to the back pocket of the black jeans, quietly peering at the various kinds of people joining them to the escalators. The station was loud with speech and steps and announcements. No matter how many times he would board the train Tao was certain he'd never get used to the noise. He wondered whether Kris was bothered by it. Did the noise take the older back to when noise had been a bad thing? Or maybe Kris had adapted well and fast. It wouldn't have surprised Tao, not really. On the one hand, the noise of all these people coming and going was a sign of life, the very life the war had nearly wiped away, life that proved those who had wished to erase human suffering had been wrong. Pain would subside. The scars would remain, but strangely enough people had learned to live with them.
They boarded the subway, standing close to the doors. Kris stared into the darkness outside as the tube whooshed through the underground passages. Tao could imagine how it must've looked like, had anyone stood out there in the caves slithering below the surface like tangled snakes. A caterpillar traveling at speed of light was how he pictured it inside his head albeit Tao was fully aware in reality it was probably quite far from that mental image. A few meters away, seated on the other side of the car a drunken girl was yelling. Tao caught Kris scoffing at her, knowing the older wasn't too far away from this world. Lowering his eyes to his feet, staring at the black boots Tao couldn't quite help the smile. The car tilted to its left, and Kris placed a hand around the metal bar by the door; Tao didn't bother, instead leaning backward slightly until the floor found a level position in relation to gravity.
"Showoff", muttered Kris idly.
In fact, it wasn't too often that they'd take the subway these days. Having gotten to know the city it had turned out inconvenient and occasionally risky, too, and they'd found other ways to navigate the city than by tube or the streets above ground. But even so, some places still required them to surface to where people dwelled, join the crowds, and leave safe harbor yet again. This was one of those times; they couldn't afford being late because the floodgates had given in or because someone had forgotten to turn on the generator rendering the pathways cold, dark, and impossible to pass through.
Getting off the subway a few stops later they arrived at a quiet suburb where silence lingered like it had been hanging its head. The lights of the city bursting into the sky were visible all the way here, but the street lamps rattling quietly and electricity buzzing through the smaller signs above doorways and windows and on top of buildings could be heard easily. It was like the sound of a fly stuck between the windows. The air was cool, void of the presence of people. It was a lonely place, but not sad. Rather this part of the city had simply curled under thick blankets, separated from the rest like sleeping children left upstairs into their rooms while the adults continued the party in the floor below.
"Which way is it?" he asked at last as they'd crossed the road and stood under the cold light of one of the lampposts, Kris looking around in thoughtful silence.
"Map, will you?" The older was chewing his lip staring down the nightly road heading to their right. Tao nodded, fished the phone out of his pocket, and fiddled with it for a while to produce the map, offering the device to the other. Looking at it, turning the phone in his hand once or twice Kris was humming low, occasionally peering at the buildings by them; then, finally, he nodded conclusively and returned the phone to its rightful owner. Tao tucked it into his pocket and scurried after the taller.
After a short walk Kris asked, "Feel anything?"
Tao shook his head. "No, not really. Why?"
"I've a bad feeling about this." Kris looked his way briefly, the cool, narrow eyes speaking loudly of what he was thinking for a change. It made Tao alert. He was used to having to observe hard; such direct glances were usually present only at the time of trouble. They'd established their ways of silent communication early on, back when words had been secondary in being understood, and the skill to pick up the little things had rooted into Tao. He was sure Kris was just as good at finding the traces of thought and emotion on Tao's face, as not once had they misunderstood one another; Kris was simply the one more comfortable with using words of many tongues, and Tao was glad to leave that part of the job to him. Kris had his way with these units of language while Tao knew other things better, and hence in their few differences they complimented each other quite well. Listening to the night, blending well into the shadows surrounding him Tao peered into the darkness past the cool light cast down onto the ground at regular intervals. Behind the even white circles nothing moved, nothing said a word, but whether that was a good thing or a bad thing he wasn't certain.
They passed by a bar where men approximately in their forties or fifties were standing outside smoking, the door to the entrance hall open, the music playing indoors carrying to the street. He found Kris slowing his steps, and for a second Tao was wondering if the older considered asking for directions. The men were not paying attention, only blowing circles of smoke into the air laughing amongst them, and soon enough Kris caught back with his earlier tempo. They strode by without another look, but once they were a few houses away Tao made sure to peer back in case anything had changed.
Nothing had. The darkness lingering between the slightly older houses and lampposts and neon signs reading the names of the shops all of which were closed remained dense and quiet and sleepy like an old friendly dog. Still, Tao kept holding his breath for short periods of time to hear better over the sounds of his own exhales.
Kris checked his watch, but didn't voice the time. Judging by how he didn't speed up Tao guessed they were well on schedule. A turn at a crossroads, the road led them down another strip of street, and then at last the older halted.
Looking up at the tall building, a simple rectangular block of flats with the only distinctive feature being that it was the tallest one in the neighborhood Tao found himself questioning the entire situation they were in.
The hotel was quite simple and anonymous in the same way a striped cat would be amongst other striped cats. Nothing about it spoke strange or different or secretive, save for the tacky name shining bright into the night in the form of a neon sign on the top of the building. The whole structure was of a fairly neat make and matched the other flats around the suburb. The all-same drawn curtains on each window exactly the same size as the next was almost cute to a point, and hardly gave the bad vibes. Tao dared to be quite sure that hardly anyone in the whole neighborhood had ever stopped to have a proper look at the place. If anyone had, they most likely had simply thought something along the lines of, "Oh, look, a hotel. I didn't know there was one here." He couldn't imagine any single person standing here on the curb looking across the little strip of yard in front of the tall first floor windows resembling those of any regular shop except for the closed shades feeling ashamed of facing a quiet little love hotel, and with even more difficulty could he think of anyone actually wondering what, if anything, was going on behind the curtains.
It wasn't too often that he'd feel concerned with the plan. It was quite simple. They'd left home to pursuit answers, and having come across enough, they'd set to find the way to put an end to it all. A straightforward thing. Avenge what was lost, basically. Revenge wasn't really Tao's thing, not under usual circumstances. Had Kris suggested they avenge the war, for example, he would have refused politely and stayed behind quite gladly. He wasn't out of his mind; Kris wasn't, either, but then, Kris was driven by different forces. But they had made it personal, and while revenge wasn't his thing, that meant the opposing party had crossed a very important line. In his mind, Tao found it comparable to stepping to a strip of yard another person owned, and refusing to move until one's boot had stomped the flowers fully to the ground. Of course the comparison of lawns was also quite suitable considering the circumstances that had led to them coming here in the first place. After all, it concerned their home, and their home had included a yard. Biting his lip Tao tried not to think about it too much. While Kris most likely only got angrier the more he'd think of it like the memory had fed more burning coil to his convictions, Tao only got sad, and this really wasn't the time and place to be focused on such sentiments.
Rather, he focused on their surroundings, the darkness hugging the walls of the building. The neighboring houses stood so close there wasn't really space left between them. He turned his head to look at the road, both on their left and their right, and at last stepped around to explore the other side of the road. Not a living soul was in sight; the windows of the apartments across the road were dark, as well, and the shops were all closed for the night. It was peaceful. But beneath it Tao could feel something hiding in the shadows. Beside him Kris was standing with his hands in the jacket pockets, waiting for his word. Breathing in the night Tao finally looked his way, offered a nod to gesture they were as good to go as they could be considering the situation, and with this Kris took the first step to cross the strip of yard to the front door. No guns, no explosions. Without turning he followed, looking at the quiet scenery, finding it quite pleasant a sight. Not many parts of this city were this nice. He didn't give himself time to succumb into imagining a proper life here, instead turning on his heels and closing the small distance between himself and the older.
They stopped at the front door, listening carefully for any sound coming from inside. With nothing to hear Tao placed his hand onto the vertically placed, long metal handle, giving the door a light tug; it opened with ease, revealing a small vestibule with a rectangular mat saying welcome in English on the floor. It looked more like the entrance of a small house than that of a block of flats. Past the vestibule was another door, partly open, and through the crack a strip of a lobby was visible. Tao kept holding his breath, glancing at Kris by his side. Their silent conversation went on for a second or two, consisting mostly of Tao seeking for possible guidelines and whether Kris wanted to wait. The older finally gave him a firm, small nod, and Tao stepped silently over the threshold into the vestibule, pushing the door ever so slightly.
In the lobby, behind the reception counter, were two people.
chapter rating: PG
warnings: mild language
summary: Diligent and quiet, Tao is used to following Kris around on the job. In his opinion, Kris knows everything. Kris is all he needs. They've wound up in Seoul trying to settle the score with the System, and have finally secured a meeting to end the game. But an unexpected turn of events changes everything, and Tao is left having to figure out his place in the puzzle. Everything seems to tie back to ten years ago, but how and why; and more importantly, does Kris have all the answers after all?
story notes: See the foreword for more information on the story.
96 hours from here, things would look very different for the two of them.
On Wednesday, one hour, six minutes and ten seconds past midnight, neither Tao nor Kris had any idea of the nature of the task at hand that they'd more or less voluntarily wound into.
Tao stirred awake at the sound of the alarm. It was one of the obnoxious, self-set tones, one that Kris had chosen because the blasting rock tunes were disturbing to say the least. With the phone positioned on the table at the opposite end of the room it was difficult to carry on with the poor-quality slumber with the whole thing screaming for attention. If Tao had it right, once upon a time Kris had actually liked the song; but the universal curse of using a previously likeable tune as an alarm tone was that after approximately five days the song had been rendered unfit for listening. Trying to not mind the fact that his ears were probably bleeding by now as the result of the sound echoing slightly off the walls he crawled up, shivering as his bare feet touched the cool floor and in as straight a line as possible, considering how groggy he was still feeling, Tao made a beeline for the phone to turn it off.
The silence was almost deafening as it fell upon the little rectangle room. Tao scratched the side of his neck, pursed his lips to suppress a yawn, and then stood still for a minute just to make some sense to his surroundings. Kris was getting up, tugging on a pair of clean socks, looking slightly better rested than how Tao felt. He didn't seem bothered by how cold the room felt after being tangled somewhere amongst thick covers for the matter of a few hours. Had he slept at all? Tao had to consider that it could be Kris had simply laid down staring into nothing thinking about the universe like he sometimes would. While he'd known Kris for years sometimes he still had the feeling there was a whole different person tucked inside a rock hard shell and that during their time together he'd only managed to scratch the surface of all the things that defined the older and taller young man.
Wednesday, one hour, eight minutes and twenty-one seconds past midnight. Tao trekked back to the bed to pick up the black T-shirt he'd tugged off before lying down, pulling it over the tank that filled the position of both pajamas and undershirts. They had a good moment before they would eventually have to set out to take care of business. Moving from by the bed to drop down into the single lazy chair in one corner of the room he started to pull on the black army boots, his moves still a little slow with sleep taking its time to slip away. Kris stood up, adjusting the white shirt, stopping to stand halfway through the room. For a moment, the room was void of sound.
"Something is wrong with this", said Kris after a while and crossed his arms across his chest. The top three buttons of the white shirt hung open revealing the heavy pendant he always seemed to be wearing. Tao couldn't recall when he had last removed it. Long fingers tapped his other arm as his eyes were fixed on the papers pinned on the wall.
Still seated Tao was tying the bootlaces and had a good view around the room. The doorway was located opposite from where he was sitting at the other end of the room, with the small vestibule-slash-entrance hall visible only partially. The fridge stood in one corner next to the sink system, a simple small square table and two chairs between the fridge and the lazy chair. In the last corner was their makeshift bed consisting of two mattresses put together on the floor, it was better than nothing. "Only temporary", they'd agreed, but getting a bed had quickly become less prioritized. It hardly bothered Tao. He knew Kris was frequently annoyed by it, much more used to well-furnished housing with at least the necessary furniture than himself, and secretly the black-haired boy thought it was one of the few differences putting them apart so clearly on a fundamental level. While Tao preferred peace and security he often found Kris seeking a certain level of comfort.
Kris was focused on the papers. They formed a map of sorts: not an image of places, streets or houses, but a mind map of people and events. Along the pins tucked into the thin white wallpaper ran red and blue threads, making it a grand spider web spreading across the whole wall. The documents were bundled as to separate them by topic and person, colorful post-it notes marking dates and locations and such summaries of their contents for easy archival. It was all very detailed and precise. Tao had followed its growth, only offering a hand when necessary, commenting when Kris wasn't so focused on it like when they were eating or when Kris was reading a novel instead of the many files littering the table top. At first they'd had only a few important things taped on the wall for easy access in the lack of proper bookshelves for keeping things. Tao wasn't certain if Kris had foreseen how large their collection of old paperwork would eventually grow, but each time he sat down and looked at the wall Tao felt amazed.
With a scoff Kris repeated, "Something is wrong." He followed a red line with his fingers, making the whole web tremble.
"What is?" Tao asked, uncertain whether the taller was speaking to him or simply mumbling. He straightened his legs, rubbed his palms against his thighs, and then propped his elbows onto his knees, leaning forward in his smooth seat. Kris peered over his shoulder as if to make sure Tao was focused, like he'd been worried he would possibly need to speak his ideas more than once, but it was an unnecessary worry: Tao couldn't have been more focused. Nothing else in the room moved, nothing else required him to concentrate. And most importantly, Tao always focused on Kris.
"Well", spoke Kris, not looking at him any longer. "Maybe it's not wrong, exactly, but something about this is off."
Frowning a little the younger stood up and closed the distance between them, standing next to the slightly taller man who had again crossed his arms. For a blink Tao focused not on the wall but on the many leather bracelets adorning Kris's wrist, especially the one bearing the fine, elaborate dragon symbol on a thin metal plate. Erasing the thought off the top of his mind the black haired youth chewed his lip, looked at the papers and strings and post-its, but with the passing seconds carried on by silence he couldn't really see what it was the other meant. Most of the data was in Korean, and while it was written neatly not by hand but by computer Tao couldn't read it quickly enough, couldn't quite make out all the meanings of the words. The post-it notes and some remarks Kris had written amongst the originals with a red ballpoint pen, however, were in Mandarin. Although Kris had informed him of all there was to translate it was difficult to come up with anything only by the little scribbles and summaries. It took him time, and time was certainly something Kris could offer him if there ever was anything the light haired man would've given him without asking. It wasn't in Tao's nature to ask or demand, and upon these silent terms he'd agreed to submit to his role without ever really having had anything to complain about.
"Missing?" he suggested at last. "Something's missing?"
"Couldn't agree with you more, there." Kris had a difficult expression on his face. He'd pressed his canine hard down on his lower lip and was sporting a troubled frown, not necessarily a very angry one, but even so it came off a little passive-aggressive. Tao was somewhat fascinated by this hard-to-read look, but instead of inquiring what was it the older was thinking he retorted to observing. For a moment Kris was out of his reach, lost in thought, his mind set on something in his own world, be it related to the wall or not. Tao knew this very well, knew how the other's breaths would grow slower and how he would part his lips slightly to heave the smallest of sighs to mark the end of his internal search for something. It was something Kris had done since day one and it never bothered Tao whatsoever.
It was difficult to say what exactly could've been missing, though. They had seemingly every nook of the thing covered. The System and its employees: one, their contact on the job, Kim Jongin; two, the target of their job, Park Chanyeol; three, subject related to the job, Byun Baekhyun; four, another link to the offices, Kim Minseok. Kim Jongin and Kim Minseok's involvement in the job was clear with how they were to mediate between the offices and Kris and Tao; Park Chanyeol had his hands full with a job of his own and Byun Baekhyun's purpose on the case was to play dumb. As far as the two men were concerned it didn't seem like this case had anything to do with why they'd come to Seoul in the first place, but the System itself was obviously related to it.
At last Kris seemed to surface back to the present and the light haired man shrugged with a sigh. "I guess staring at it won't really make a difference."
"We still got time", Tao offered.
"Never mind the time", Kris mumbled and turned to walk over to the table, taking a seat and crossing a leg over the other. "What I'm worried about is whether there's someone we can't trust on this one."
It was an ironic statement considering they were the ones carrying out tasks of the most questionable kind, hovering somewhere between criminal and political. Tao ambled to brew them some tea. He knew Kris preferred coffee, but from his point of view at such a late (or maybe it was extremely early instead) hour it would've been unhealthy. The gentle scent of the leaves soaking in boiling water soon filled the room. "What do you suggest?"
Kris let a low hum. "We've got to be careful", he nodded. "We're too close to make mistakes."
Nodding his head a bit Tao set two mismatching mugs on the table and poured them both a cupful of the transparent greenish drink, setting the pot beside the pile of paper files to create some homely atmosphere.
They drank in silence with Kris eyeing the map of strings on the wall, Tao not really focusing on anything in particular. Once their cups were empty Kris announced grumpily that he'd take a shower, and Tao moved to do the dishes, finding his place in the lazy chair once more. One hour and thirty-two minutes past midnight Kris re-emerged dressed with a hairdryer in one hand, the warmth of the blow heating the rather small room quite a bit in a minute.
Wednesday, at exactly one hour and forty minutes past midnight they departed. The lock on the door clicked a goodbye that, for some reason, made Tao's heart feel heavy.
If one stopped to look around at the people pouring in and out of subway stations at 1:54 AM, loitering about the nightly streets, the shops with elaborate windows and tall buildings flashing their neon cries into the deep shadows it would have been impossible to envision the world all these years ago. Not just here: all around the world cities had sprouted from ashes, societies built anew when people had least expected. It was inarguably amazing and remarkable. There were people who believed humans could do anything, come across any level of destruction. Some believed the human race had evolved into something invincible.
"Pests." That was what Kris had said, and Tao couldn't really have argued.
While it was certainly unexpected that for the third time people had managed to build their homes from scratch after such worldwide destruction everyone seemed to have forgotten that it was people themselves who had caused it. Naturally one might've argued that Kris's statement was biased and Tao didn't have a chance to deny. But a superior race? Invincible? He could imagine how Kris would laugh, snarky and sarcasticly, and then with a steady face ask, "Seriously?"
Humans were flawed like a somewhat broken record: scratched here and there but still capable of playing its contents. They were capable of going about their lives, talking and working and doing other things that either shortened their individual life spans or gave them a few years extra. Generally speaking there was nothing wrong with people as an anonymous mass. But singling out individuals one would eventually come across the rotten ones, and as he walked down the subway station stairs behind Kris whose hands were tucked deep into the pockets of the bomber jacket Tao could easily point out things that the bad crop of human race would do. Starting useless wars over personal interest was one thing. That had started this whole mess. At times he was almost sad the people whose idea it had been were gone, killed in the bombings or the aftermath: they hadn't lived long enough to witness all the suffering they'd caused. At the same time he was proud that they were gone. After all, far away from this quietly breathing city a good long time ago people whom Tao would've liked to call members of some extended family had been there to see they got what they'd deserved. And then there were groups of people whom he couldn't really identify into either the good or the bad, such as those who had in their sincere minds wished to erase this same suffering from innocent people, but who, having decided to do so, had exploited, hurt, and killed the same civilians.
People could be so complicated. Biting his lip Tao wished he could've shared the same simple stream of thought about the surrounding crowds as Kris did. To Kris people were a destructive force, hardly good for too many things, and good individuals were hard to come by. From Kris's point of view there were only two kinds of people: those who wanted to exploit and those who could be controlled. It seemed that his opinion on which set the two of them belonged to changed depending on the situation and his mood. Tao had concluded Kris either wasn't sure, himself, or that the concept of dividing people up so easily was kind of flexible. Lately it seemed they belonged amongst the latter, which Tao assumed must've pissed Kris off.
Not that Kris had been a simple person. Tao had accepted there was no way for him to ever know Kris completely. He'd accepted all he could do was to try, and he knew somewhere deep down behind the cool look Kris appreciated the effort. At least that was what Tao liked to believe. Above all, though, he respected and admired the other's black-and-white way of going about things.
Naturally, Tao was too young to have lived the war himself. Kris hadn't quite been around for the beginning, but had managed to grow to an age where he could somehow remember how it had been. To Kris, Tao knew, the war was both a beginning and an end whose scars were obvious, engraved into his past, and it had been a major factor in how had Kris turned out this way. Without the war, Tao liked to imagine, being Kris would've been a lot easier. But then, without the war, it would've been likely their paths had never crossed. Saying he would've wished the war never to have happened was, while honest of him, also a small lie colored by the fact that Tao was content following the lanky, light haired man through the crowds pooling by the gates to the platform area. While fate as a concept was slightly obscure Tao liked to believe there was a reason for things to happen, and even such a disastrous and painful thing as the war had a reason, consequences, and a conclusion and all these things went much further than the average person could fathom.
Basically, though, as it was a result of human action it had begun of human emotion; and human emotion, if anything, was complicated. Tao slipped his train pass to the back pocket of the black jeans, quietly peering at the various kinds of people joining them to the escalators. The station was loud with speech and steps and announcements. No matter how many times he would board the train Tao was certain he'd never get used to the noise. He wondered whether Kris was bothered by it. Did the noise take the older back to when noise had been a bad thing? Or maybe Kris had adapted well and fast. It wouldn't have surprised Tao, not really. On the one hand, the noise of all these people coming and going was a sign of life, the very life the war had nearly wiped away, life that proved those who had wished to erase human suffering had been wrong. Pain would subside. The scars would remain, but strangely enough people had learned to live with them.
They boarded the subway, standing close to the doors. Kris stared into the darkness outside as the tube whooshed through the underground passages. Tao could imagine how it must've looked like, had anyone stood out there in the caves slithering below the surface like tangled snakes. A caterpillar traveling at speed of light was how he pictured it inside his head albeit Tao was fully aware in reality it was probably quite far from that mental image. A few meters away, seated on the other side of the car a drunken girl was yelling. Tao caught Kris scoffing at her, knowing the older wasn't too far away from this world. Lowering his eyes to his feet, staring at the black boots Tao couldn't quite help the smile. The car tilted to its left, and Kris placed a hand around the metal bar by the door; Tao didn't bother, instead leaning backward slightly until the floor found a level position in relation to gravity.
"Showoff", muttered Kris idly.
In fact, it wasn't too often that they'd take the subway these days. Having gotten to know the city it had turned out inconvenient and occasionally risky, too, and they'd found other ways to navigate the city than by tube or the streets above ground. But even so, some places still required them to surface to where people dwelled, join the crowds, and leave safe harbor yet again. This was one of those times; they couldn't afford being late because the floodgates had given in or because someone had forgotten to turn on the generator rendering the pathways cold, dark, and impossible to pass through.
Getting off the subway a few stops later they arrived at a quiet suburb where silence lingered like it had been hanging its head. The lights of the city bursting into the sky were visible all the way here, but the street lamps rattling quietly and electricity buzzing through the smaller signs above doorways and windows and on top of buildings could be heard easily. It was like the sound of a fly stuck between the windows. The air was cool, void of the presence of people. It was a lonely place, but not sad. Rather this part of the city had simply curled under thick blankets, separated from the rest like sleeping children left upstairs into their rooms while the adults continued the party in the floor below.
"Which way is it?" he asked at last as they'd crossed the road and stood under the cold light of one of the lampposts, Kris looking around in thoughtful silence.
"Map, will you?" The older was chewing his lip staring down the nightly road heading to their right. Tao nodded, fished the phone out of his pocket, and fiddled with it for a while to produce the map, offering the device to the other. Looking at it, turning the phone in his hand once or twice Kris was humming low, occasionally peering at the buildings by them; then, finally, he nodded conclusively and returned the phone to its rightful owner. Tao tucked it into his pocket and scurried after the taller.
After a short walk Kris asked, "Feel anything?"
Tao shook his head. "No, not really. Why?"
"I've a bad feeling about this." Kris looked his way briefly, the cool, narrow eyes speaking loudly of what he was thinking for a change. It made Tao alert. He was used to having to observe hard; such direct glances were usually present only at the time of trouble. They'd established their ways of silent communication early on, back when words had been secondary in being understood, and the skill to pick up the little things had rooted into Tao. He was sure Kris was just as good at finding the traces of thought and emotion on Tao's face, as not once had they misunderstood one another; Kris was simply the one more comfortable with using words of many tongues, and Tao was glad to leave that part of the job to him. Kris had his way with these units of language while Tao knew other things better, and hence in their few differences they complimented each other quite well. Listening to the night, blending well into the shadows surrounding him Tao peered into the darkness past the cool light cast down onto the ground at regular intervals. Behind the even white circles nothing moved, nothing said a word, but whether that was a good thing or a bad thing he wasn't certain.
They passed by a bar where men approximately in their forties or fifties were standing outside smoking, the door to the entrance hall open, the music playing indoors carrying to the street. He found Kris slowing his steps, and for a second Tao was wondering if the older considered asking for directions. The men were not paying attention, only blowing circles of smoke into the air laughing amongst them, and soon enough Kris caught back with his earlier tempo. They strode by without another look, but once they were a few houses away Tao made sure to peer back in case anything had changed.
Nothing had. The darkness lingering between the slightly older houses and lampposts and neon signs reading the names of the shops all of which were closed remained dense and quiet and sleepy like an old friendly dog. Still, Tao kept holding his breath for short periods of time to hear better over the sounds of his own exhales.
Kris checked his watch, but didn't voice the time. Judging by how he didn't speed up Tao guessed they were well on schedule. A turn at a crossroads, the road led them down another strip of street, and then at last the older halted.
Looking up at the tall building, a simple rectangular block of flats with the only distinctive feature being that it was the tallest one in the neighborhood Tao found himself questioning the entire situation they were in.
The hotel was quite simple and anonymous in the same way a striped cat would be amongst other striped cats. Nothing about it spoke strange or different or secretive, save for the tacky name shining bright into the night in the form of a neon sign on the top of the building. The whole structure was of a fairly neat make and matched the other flats around the suburb. The all-same drawn curtains on each window exactly the same size as the next was almost cute to a point, and hardly gave the bad vibes. Tao dared to be quite sure that hardly anyone in the whole neighborhood had ever stopped to have a proper look at the place. If anyone had, they most likely had simply thought something along the lines of, "Oh, look, a hotel. I didn't know there was one here." He couldn't imagine any single person standing here on the curb looking across the little strip of yard in front of the tall first floor windows resembling those of any regular shop except for the closed shades feeling ashamed of facing a quiet little love hotel, and with even more difficulty could he think of anyone actually wondering what, if anything, was going on behind the curtains.
It wasn't too often that he'd feel concerned with the plan. It was quite simple. They'd left home to pursuit answers, and having come across enough, they'd set to find the way to put an end to it all. A straightforward thing. Avenge what was lost, basically. Revenge wasn't really Tao's thing, not under usual circumstances. Had Kris suggested they avenge the war, for example, he would have refused politely and stayed behind quite gladly. He wasn't out of his mind; Kris wasn't, either, but then, Kris was driven by different forces. But they had made it personal, and while revenge wasn't his thing, that meant the opposing party had crossed a very important line. In his mind, Tao found it comparable to stepping to a strip of yard another person owned, and refusing to move until one's boot had stomped the flowers fully to the ground. Of course the comparison of lawns was also quite suitable considering the circumstances that had led to them coming here in the first place. After all, it concerned their home, and their home had included a yard. Biting his lip Tao tried not to think about it too much. While Kris most likely only got angrier the more he'd think of it like the memory had fed more burning coil to his convictions, Tao only got sad, and this really wasn't the time and place to be focused on such sentiments.
Rather, he focused on their surroundings, the darkness hugging the walls of the building. The neighboring houses stood so close there wasn't really space left between them. He turned his head to look at the road, both on their left and their right, and at last stepped around to explore the other side of the road. Not a living soul was in sight; the windows of the apartments across the road were dark, as well, and the shops were all closed for the night. It was peaceful. But beneath it Tao could feel something hiding in the shadows. Beside him Kris was standing with his hands in the jacket pockets, waiting for his word. Breathing in the night Tao finally looked his way, offered a nod to gesture they were as good to go as they could be considering the situation, and with this Kris took the first step to cross the strip of yard to the front door. No guns, no explosions. Without turning he followed, looking at the quiet scenery, finding it quite pleasant a sight. Not many parts of this city were this nice. He didn't give himself time to succumb into imagining a proper life here, instead turning on his heels and closing the small distance between himself and the older.
They stopped at the front door, listening carefully for any sound coming from inside. With nothing to hear Tao placed his hand onto the vertically placed, long metal handle, giving the door a light tug; it opened with ease, revealing a small vestibule with a rectangular mat saying welcome in English on the floor. It looked more like the entrance of a small house than that of a block of flats. Past the vestibule was another door, partly open, and through the crack a strip of a lobby was visible. Tao kept holding his breath, glancing at Kris by his side. Their silent conversation went on for a second or two, consisting mostly of Tao seeking for possible guidelines and whether Kris wanted to wait. The older finally gave him a firm, small nod, and Tao stepped silently over the threshold into the vestibule, pushing the door ever so slightly.
In the lobby, behind the reception counter, were two people.