Never Online ch. 43
Title: Never Online
Chapter: 43/50
Pairing: JungMin/KyuJong, HyunJoong/Tablo
Rating: R overall
Warning: AU, violence, angst
Summary: As part of the security detail for the online game known as Never, two officers encounter a group of elite hackers that seem intent on destroying the game, and it's their job to stop them.
A/N: RP with yeonah. Crossover with Super Junior, U-Kiss and Epik High
The house was quiet for hours afterwards. Daniel and JungMin came back downstairs after seeing to their carriers, but didn't disturb the two working, Daniel assisting SungHyun in watching NVR and the media for any sign of trouble. RyeoWook and HyungJoon remained upstairs with their boyfriends. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
It was getting dark outside when JongWoon stirred first, a pained noise escaping him as his brow furrowed and he turned his face more against the pillow.
Too anxious to even try and sleep, HyungJoon's eyes opened and he scooted closer to JongWoon when he heard the small noise. "Hey," he whispered. "How are you feeling?"
"...Joon?" JongWoon cracked his eyes open a little, and then closed them again, even the amount of light filtering in from the hallway sending stabs of pain through his head. "Not good," he whispered after a moment, unable to even come up with his usual funny ways of describing the pain he was in.
"That bad huh," HyungJoon murmured, afraid to even touch his boyfriend for fear of making things worse. "You need anything? Pain killers? Water? Just name it and I'll get it."
JongWoon swallowed painfully, feeling his head throb again. But he didn't want anything else messing with his head, and pain killers did nothing for him. "...Water?" he murmured.
"Water, got it, be right back," HyungJoon nodded, slipping off the bed and padding out of the room to go downstairs and get a glass of water. He didn't see or hear any sign of YoungSaeng and RyeoWook, the former probably still out. When he returned with the glass of water, he sat down carefully on the bed so he didn't jostle JongWoon, helping him sit up a little to drink.
Sitting up wasn't easy, JongWoon protesting when everything spun around him. With HyungJoon's help though he was able to sit up enough to drink the water, taking careful sips.
Shaking his head to let HyungJoon know when he'd had enough, JongWoon slowly laid back down again, one hand over his eyes.
Setting the cup down on the side table, HyungJoon rearranged the blankets to make sure JongWoon was comfortable. "They're working on putting the information together," he said softly, laying back down next to him. "We're done, and now we can get that thing out of your head and we'll never have to do this again," he whispered, watching him in worry.
The corners of JongWoon's lips quirked a little. "Something to look forward to," he murmured, voice barely audible. "That really sucked." He breathed in and out slowly. "Is Saeng okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine," HyungJoon nodded. "He pretty much passed out soon as we logged off, but he'll be just fine, just like you. You're really brave you know, I never told you how brave I thought you were volunteering for this job. I was too chicken to do it myself. You're so much braver than me."
JongWoon peeked through his fingers at the younger man. "I wanted to be useful," he murmured, one hand searching for HyungJoon's. "I suck at anything more than avatar hacks. And you are very brave Joon...you're just not crazy, that's all," his lips curled a little.
"Still the bravest man I know," HyungJoon replied, hand closing over JongWoon's as he leaned in to brush his lips over the others. "JongWoon... I love you."
The older man's breath caught a little, and he slowly pulled his hand away from his eyes to look up at HyungJoon, eyes half-open. "You do?" he whispered.
"I do," HyungJoon nodded, squeezing JongWoon's hand lightly. "I realized when you could have died, just how much I care about you. I don't want to lose you JongWoon."
JongWoon's lips curled widely after a moment, and he closed his eyes again, a tear slipping out. "You know how much I've wanted to hear that?" he whispered, even his barely audible voice expressing his joy. "I love you too Joon...so, so much..."
"I know," HyungJoon smiled, brushing away the tear lightly. "You should go back to sleep, we can have a proper conversation when you're more than halfway conscious."
"Okay," JongWoon nodded a little, trying to shift a little against HyungJoon. "You're not going anywhere, are you?" he whispered.
"No, I'm not going anywhere," HyungJoon shook his head, resting his arm gently around JongWoon's waist. "I'll be right here when you wake up."
"Okay," the older man whispered, tilting his head towards HyungJoon. He was out again a second later, never letting go of HyungJoon's hand.
Smiling softly down at him, HyungJoon leaned forward to press his lips to his boyfriend's forehead before settling in again. He doubted he sleep, but was okay with just being near JongWoon like this.
Down the hall in another room, the other carrier was slowly stirring to life. His eyebrows knitted together as he grimaced a little in pain. "Fuck that hurts," he groaned, lifting his hand to rub at his forehead.
RyeoWook's eyes snapped open at the movement, sitting up and looking down at YoungSaeng laid out on the bed beside him. "Saeng?" he whispered, scared to say anything louder for fear of hurting the man's head. "How's your head?"
"Like someone hit me in upside the head with an ax," YoungSaeng said grumpily. "How long was I out?"
"The rest of the morning and afternoon," RyeoWook said quietly, watching him with wide-eyed worry. "Last I heard, the others are still downstairs putting everything together." He lightly touched one hand to YoungSaeng's shoulder. "Is there anything I can get for you?"
"Alcohol would be lovely," YoungSaeng said with a wry smile. "But I'll take some water."
"I'm not sure alcohol would help the headache sadly," RyeoWook's lips quivered slightly, and he squeezed YoungSaeng's shoulder a little before getting up. He left the room to get the older man some water, returning a minute later with a glass in hand. "Here, I'm going to help you sit up..." He carefully eased one arm underneath the older man's shoulders to help him sit up.
Biting off another curse as he sat up to lean against the headboard, YoungSaeng accepted the water with a pained smile and slowly sipped at it. "Is JongWoon okay? I don't remember anything after we logged out."
RyeoWook helped support him as he sipped at the water. "Last I saw, he was much the same as you. I think he's resting with HyungJoon in one of the guest rooms."
"Would have been nice to be prepared for something that bad," YoungSaeng said, passing the water back and closing his eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," RyeoWook nodded, strained smile on his lips as he placed the water to the side and carefully lowered YoungSaeng back down to the mattress. "Just worried about you. Is there anything else I can do to make it easier?"
"Not unless you have some pretty strong drugs on you," YoungSaeng murmured, wincing as he settled back down into his pillow. "Have you been here the whole time?"
"Mhm," RyeoWook nodded, laying back down next to him. "I didn't want to leave in case...in case someone happened," he whispered, swallowing as he rested one hand lightly against YoungSaeng's arm.
"Hmm... like what?" YoungSaeng asked, his eyes cracking open to look over at him. "I'm not going to die RyeoWook."
The younger man's lips quivered slightly. "You had me worried for a bit," RyeoWook said quietly, meeting YoungSaeng's eyes. "You should get some more rest if you can."
"You don't think I've slept enough?" YoungSaeng's lips curled slightly. "Have you even eaten yet?"
"Wasn't that hungry," RyeoWook replied, moving his hand down to take YoungSaeng's lightly. "And I'm just worried about you...you're still in so much pain."
"But I'll live," YoungSaeng said, his fingers curling around RyeoWook's lightly. "If you go and eat a little bit of lunch, I promise I'll go back to sleep. Deal?"
"But I don't want to leave you here alone," RyeoWook looked up at YoungSaeng with wide eyes.
"And what's going to happen in twenty minutes?" YoungSaeng smiled fondly, pulling RyeoWook up towards him for a light kiss. "I'll be fine."
Pouting a little into the kiss, RyeoWook nodded slightly, looking into YoungSaeng's eyes. "...And you promise you'll sleep?" he whispered, fingers lightly cupping his cheek.
"I promise," YoungSaeng assured him, settling comfortably into the pillow and closing his eyes. "See? Going to sleep, right now," he murmured, breath evening out within seconds as he dropped off again.
RyeoWook looked down at the older man, smiling softly as he gently brushed YoungSaeng's hair out from his eyes, fingers brushing along his cheek momentarily. Then he reluctantly pulled back, careful not to jostle the sleeping man as he got up and went to leave the room, making sure not to let any light into the room.
Going downstairs to the kitchen, he found SungHyun sitting at the top of the stairs to go to the basement. "Anything yet?" he asked quietly on his way by so he wouldn't disturb those working downstairs.
"Nope," SungHyun shook his head.
"Wook?" JungMin's head popped out of the kitchen when he heard RyeoWook's voice. "Oh hey, I didn't think you'd be down for hours," he said, leaning against the doorframe as he ate ice cream out of the carton. "How's Saeng?"
"He woke up for a bit, then went back to sleep," RyeoWook smiled a little, slipping into the kitchen and going to the fridge. Maybe there was something small to eat. "He just needs more rest. How's things going downstairs? I didn't think you'd be up here either."
"I was hungry," JungMin said, following him back into the kitchen. "There wasn't anything to make that didn't require cooking so... ice cream for dinner it is. There really wasn't anything for me to do down there anyway, everyone's busy working away and I was just getting in the way."
"You want something more than ice cream hyung? I'm making something quick for myself." RyeoWook looked over his shoulder at the older man. "They getting any closer?"
"No idea, they don't do more than twitch or mumble something to one another about algorithms and code mumbo jumbo," JungMin said, perking up at the sound of food and closing up the ice cream container. "What are you making?"
"No idea...maybe kimchi fried rice, it's fast enough to make," RyeoWook smiled a little sheepishly, getting together the rice and setting it to cook. "That fine with you?"
"Anything sounds good right now," JungMin said, putting the ice cream back in the freezer. "Ice cream is good and all, but it's not a real filling meal you know? That and it's going to make me more wire than I already am. I thought about pacing around the house to get some energy out but I think that'd annoy Kyu and distract him, and I don't want to distract him..." he rambled on and on about nothing, trying not to get into RyeoWook's way.
Shaking his head in amusement, RyeoWook let the older man rant, knowing he needed to vent some of the tension that was building in the house. He made sure he was making extra food for the others to come get if they were hungry, chopping up kimchi while he waited for the rice. "If you wanted to walk around, there's always outside too."
"I'd just get lost," JungMin shook his head, hopping up onto the counter to wait. "I'm horrible with directions, and anytime Kyu and I walk around he's the one that guides us. I just make sure he doesn't trip over a stray puppy or something."
Chuckling, RyeoWook glanced over at him. "Poor puppy. You glad this is just about over, hyung?"
"Yeah... but nervous too," JungMin nodded, glancing towards the hallway. "We weren't in this thing from the beginning, so it seems like it's happening really fast to me, but I know Kyu's been waiting for this for most of his life. I'm glad that we were able to help."
"I'm glad we were able to help too," RyeoWook nodded with a small smile. "It's hard to believe really how far they've all come. And it could all finish tonight."
"Yeah... it's crazy," JungMin said. "It's getting late though, I know they want to get it done as quickly as possible, but they should really sleep soon."
"Yeah," RyeoWook nodded, looking back at him as he put the kimchi in a pan on the stove. "We'll let them work for a few more hours, then ask them to break for the night? KyuJong might listen to you easier."
JungMin laughed, head tipping back as he laughed loudly. "Kyu, listen to me? Like YoungSaeng listens to you, right?"
"Well...he listens sometimes?" RyeoWook tried feebly, though he smiled as he motioned with one hand for JungMin to lower his voice. "You're too loud hyung. And it was just an idea, since HyunJoong hyung's probably going to be stubborn along with him."
"Sorry," JungMin clamped a hand over his mouth when he remembered half the house was asleep, and the other half working. "Hmm.. you know, there's always Daniel," he pointed out. "Suggest to Daniel to take a break and then he'll make Hyun take a break, who will in turn make Kyu take a break."
"That would work too," RyeoWook nodded, getting the cooked rice from the cooker and going to mix it with the kimchi and hot sauce. "You're not just trying to avoid suggesting it yourself?" he teased.
"You honestly think I would get any reaction if I suggested to KyuJong he take a break?" JungMin snorted. "He'd just blow me off and tell me he's fine. No, best course of action is through Daniel. And I can be the one to suggest it to Daniel."
"Whatever you say hyung," RyeoWook chuckled, focusing on what he was cooking. "Daniel hyung's still downstairs with them, right? But not working? Could you go ask him if he wants to come up to eat, quietly? Ask SungHyun ah the same too."
"Sure, I can do that," JungMin nodded, hopping down off the counter. "Might as well ask Daniel to suggest it to the other two, they need to eat," he said, strolling out of the kitchen towards the stairs. "You want something to eat SungHyun? RyeoWook's cooking," JungMin said to the teenager quietly.
SungHyun looked up from where he was watching down the stairs, blinking. "Okay..." he nodded, smiling a little. He got to his feet and out of JungMin's way so the older man could go downstairs. "They're still working."
"Figured as much," JungMin nodded, slowly descending down the stairs. When he popped his head into the work room, HyunJoong and KyuJong were still tapping away and neither looked at him. Tip toeing across the room to Daniel, JungMin crouched down next to the older man's chair. "Hey," he whispered, "You hungry?"
Daniel's full attention was on the screen, brow furrowed and eyes sharp as he held up one hand for JungMin to be quiet. "One second." He scrolled through the code and brought up another message, comparing the four he'd gathered on his screen. Reading through them all, his eyes narrowed.
"...HyunJoong? We've got a problem."
It was obvious HyunJoong didn't hear, jumping nearly out of his chair when JungMin touched his arm to get his attention. "Huh? What? What's up?" he blinked, rubbing at his eye a little to focus on something other than a screen.
Daniel leaned back in his seat, the oldest of the group looking completely serious. "Reports just went out to NVR Head of Security. Someone in America got the tracing number of the router here."
"They what?" KyuJong shot upright in his seat, eyes wide.
It was the first time JungMin had ever seen HyunJoong visibly pale, the older man's lips thin. "Is there anything you can do Daniel?" he asked quietly.
"I caught it too late to stop the message from going through," Daniel shook his head. "KiBum and I can give them a hard time cross-referencing it, and they're still in shambles over that security building being destroyed...but they'll have the address eventually."
"Can you give me a time frame," HyunJoong asked, turning back to his monitor. "We'll have to be gone before they get here. Kyu, how close are we?"
"Decoding it now," KyuJong whispered, hands shaking a little. He clenched them tightly together before tapping hurriedly at the keyboard. "I got the key figured out, decoding it now. Give me another fifteen minutes."
Daniel opened up a communication line with KiBum, sending him messages. "If we crash the tracing program, it'll give us a few hours. Is that enough to get the message out to the other hackers?" SungHyun had come downstairs to see what all the commotion was behind them.
"Yeah, a few of us will go in and deposit the info into the system and send out messages," HyunJoong said. "Everyone else will have to pack and be ready to go."
"Where are we going to go?" JungMin asked, moving to get out of the way and sitting down at his station. "The beachhouse?"
"No, if they have any idea that I'm involved they'll search my families estates," HyunJoong shook his head. "We'll go to the mountains, there's a cabin up there we sometimes went to when I was a kid. It won't be nice like the beach house, and there's no electricity, but they won't find us there."
"Am I going too?" SungHyun asked, eyes wide.
"You'll have to, if they find out you're involved then you're in just as much trouble as us," Daniel shook his head. "Call your parents if you have to, tell them as little as you can get away with." The younger boy nodded mutely, turning and going up the stairs.
"We're going to have to give JongWoon and YoungSaeng whatever time we can to be ready to travel," Daniel frowned, turning back to his conversation with KiBum. "JungMin, you were saying something about dinner? Have RyeoWook hold it until we've got the information out and are ready to go, and take him with you to pack up whatever you can."
"Got it," JungMin nodded, getting up from his chair. He gave KyuJong a quick kiss to the top of his head so he wouldn't disturb him before heading up the stairs.
"Did we have a plan on how we were distributing all this information?" HyunJoong asked, turning back to his monitor. "I thought we would have more time to do this."
"So did I, but we're going to have to move quickly," Daniel said, looking over at KyuJong. The blind man had completely zoned out of their conversation, eyes closed and fingers flying over the monitor as he worked. "Our best bet is to grab everyone we know and pass it onto them, if we're being pursued then they'll be able to get the information out ten times faster than us. And there's less chance the company would be able to stop all of them."
"Alright, I'll send HeeChul a message to meet us in a couple hours," HyunJoong said, bringing up a message dialog. "I want KiBum to try and plant the information in the message systems, so it gets sent to as many people as possible, even if it's just one server it'll spread quickly."
Daniel nodded. "I have a few people I can call in as well. Maybe we should ask SungHyun, he's probably in more than a few circles himself. The more who know, the harder it'll be to stop, especially if they can get into all the messaging systems with a little extra help."
"I don't know, I don't like him doing all this," HyunJoong frowned, but knew Daniel was right. The more people they knew, the better. "Alright, us four will go in while the other's pack. I'm going to reset our IP's again, just in case they're going to try tracking those too."
"Good idea," Daniel nodded, leaning back as he finished talking with KiBum. "KiBum says he can give us a four hour window before they get our address. Hopefully, when all hell breaks loose we'll have a bit longer."
"Honestly, I want to be out of here well before then," HyunJoong said, sending out another message to another group of hackers. "Four hours is our cut off, I want to be out of the city in four hours."
"Got it," Daniel nodded, going through his own contacts and sending them messages to meet them. "Where are you having them meet us? Time to pull on a few old favors."
"The cliff, outside of the city," HyunJoong said, glancing over at him. "Less likely some security force is going to drop in on us there if we mask our signatures while we're there. I'll ask Kyu to set it up when he's done."
"Got it," Daniel nodded, typing up his own messages. Hearing SungHyun coming back down the stairs, he turned around to tell him what was going on and what they needed him to do. The teenager perked up a little at the chance to be useful, going to his station and starting on the messages right away.
"...Done!" KyuJong exclaimed just as Daniel was sending out his last message, eyes snapping open. "It's done!"
"Good job Kyu," HyunJoong breathed a sigh of relief. "Make a couple extra copies, put them on external drives, I do not want to lose this information now that we've got it," he said. "We're leaving in less than four hours, hopefully three if we can get this done quickly. Everyone upstairs is packing."
Exhaling shakily, KyuJong nodded, trying not to think about how they were going to have to leave the house he'd lived in all his live for an unknown amount of time. He'd always known it was a possibility. "Got it." His hands moved along the controls again. "It's all that we need Hyun, and more. Everything we could possibly have on NVR is here," he whispered, voice trembling a little.
"I'll look over it when we have time," HyunJoong said, getting up and crossing over to KyuJong's chair, wrapping his arms around KyuJong's shoulders. "I'm so proud of you right now, and I know your parents would be proud of you right now too."
That did the younger man in, tears spilling over his cheeks as he gave a watery chuckle. "I hope so. Thank you hyung, thank you all of you, for everything," KyuJong whispered to those present. Daniel saluted him even if KyuJong couldn't see it, SungHyun chiming in.
"We're almost there, don't fall apart on me now," HyunJoong said, kissing the side of his head. "I'm going to go check on things upstairs and make sure everyone's up. Make sure KiBum gets a copy of that," he said, giving him another squeeze before letting go and heading up the stairs.
Upstairs, RyeoWook had taken the food off the stove and covered it properly so it would stay warm before going to help JungMin pack. He wanted to leave YoungSaeng and JongWoon to rest as long as they could, putting together a quick inventory list of necessities to pack up and locating all the luggage bags in the house.
It was a good thing his instinctive reaction to fear was to make himself as busy as possible, because he was terrified.
HyunJoong found JungMin in his and KyuJong's room, packing clothes into a couple of bags. "Two hours, that's all I'm giving you guys to get packed," he said, JungMin nodding a little at that.
"I don't... I... Kyu... I don't know what he needs," JungMin said, staring blankly at KyuJong's open drawers. "He'll be so mad that I packed for him."
"Don't worry about it, I think he'll understand this time," HyunJoong said, giving JungMin a sympathetic smile. "He's got enough on his mind right now. Did someone think to wake HyungJoon up?"
"I'm up," HyungJoon shuffled out of the room he and JongWoon were staying in. "What's going on? RyeoWook babbled at me something about having to leave?"
"Yes, we'll explain later, but you're all packed up right? Waking JongWoon up in about an hour," HyunJoong said, keeping his voice down as he walked passed to find RyeoWook.
Chapter: 43/50
Pairing: JungMin/KyuJong, HyunJoong/Tablo
Rating: R overall
Warning: AU, violence, angst
Summary: As part of the security detail for the online game known as Never, two officers encounter a group of elite hackers that seem intent on destroying the game, and it's their job to stop them.
A/N: RP with yeonah. Crossover with Super Junior, U-Kiss and Epik High
The house was quiet for hours afterwards. Daniel and JungMin came back downstairs after seeing to their carriers, but didn't disturb the two working, Daniel assisting SungHyun in watching NVR and the media for any sign of trouble. RyeoWook and HyungJoon remained upstairs with their boyfriends. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
It was getting dark outside when JongWoon stirred first, a pained noise escaping him as his brow furrowed and he turned his face more against the pillow.
Too anxious to even try and sleep, HyungJoon's eyes opened and he scooted closer to JongWoon when he heard the small noise. "Hey," he whispered. "How are you feeling?"
"...Joon?" JongWoon cracked his eyes open a little, and then closed them again, even the amount of light filtering in from the hallway sending stabs of pain through his head. "Not good," he whispered after a moment, unable to even come up with his usual funny ways of describing the pain he was in.
"That bad huh," HyungJoon murmured, afraid to even touch his boyfriend for fear of making things worse. "You need anything? Pain killers? Water? Just name it and I'll get it."
JongWoon swallowed painfully, feeling his head throb again. But he didn't want anything else messing with his head, and pain killers did nothing for him. "...Water?" he murmured.
"Water, got it, be right back," HyungJoon nodded, slipping off the bed and padding out of the room to go downstairs and get a glass of water. He didn't see or hear any sign of YoungSaeng and RyeoWook, the former probably still out. When he returned with the glass of water, he sat down carefully on the bed so he didn't jostle JongWoon, helping him sit up a little to drink.
Sitting up wasn't easy, JongWoon protesting when everything spun around him. With HyungJoon's help though he was able to sit up enough to drink the water, taking careful sips.
Shaking his head to let HyungJoon know when he'd had enough, JongWoon slowly laid back down again, one hand over his eyes.
Setting the cup down on the side table, HyungJoon rearranged the blankets to make sure JongWoon was comfortable. "They're working on putting the information together," he said softly, laying back down next to him. "We're done, and now we can get that thing out of your head and we'll never have to do this again," he whispered, watching him in worry.
The corners of JongWoon's lips quirked a little. "Something to look forward to," he murmured, voice barely audible. "That really sucked." He breathed in and out slowly. "Is Saeng okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine," HyungJoon nodded. "He pretty much passed out soon as we logged off, but he'll be just fine, just like you. You're really brave you know, I never told you how brave I thought you were volunteering for this job. I was too chicken to do it myself. You're so much braver than me."
JongWoon peeked through his fingers at the younger man. "I wanted to be useful," he murmured, one hand searching for HyungJoon's. "I suck at anything more than avatar hacks. And you are very brave Joon...you're just not crazy, that's all," his lips curled a little.
"Still the bravest man I know," HyungJoon replied, hand closing over JongWoon's as he leaned in to brush his lips over the others. "JongWoon... I love you."
The older man's breath caught a little, and he slowly pulled his hand away from his eyes to look up at HyungJoon, eyes half-open. "You do?" he whispered.
"I do," HyungJoon nodded, squeezing JongWoon's hand lightly. "I realized when you could have died, just how much I care about you. I don't want to lose you JongWoon."
JongWoon's lips curled widely after a moment, and he closed his eyes again, a tear slipping out. "You know how much I've wanted to hear that?" he whispered, even his barely audible voice expressing his joy. "I love you too Joon...so, so much..."
"I know," HyungJoon smiled, brushing away the tear lightly. "You should go back to sleep, we can have a proper conversation when you're more than halfway conscious."
"Okay," JongWoon nodded a little, trying to shift a little against HyungJoon. "You're not going anywhere, are you?" he whispered.
"No, I'm not going anywhere," HyungJoon shook his head, resting his arm gently around JongWoon's waist. "I'll be right here when you wake up."
"Okay," the older man whispered, tilting his head towards HyungJoon. He was out again a second later, never letting go of HyungJoon's hand.
Smiling softly down at him, HyungJoon leaned forward to press his lips to his boyfriend's forehead before settling in again. He doubted he sleep, but was okay with just being near JongWoon like this.
Down the hall in another room, the other carrier was slowly stirring to life. His eyebrows knitted together as he grimaced a little in pain. "Fuck that hurts," he groaned, lifting his hand to rub at his forehead.
RyeoWook's eyes snapped open at the movement, sitting up and looking down at YoungSaeng laid out on the bed beside him. "Saeng?" he whispered, scared to say anything louder for fear of hurting the man's head. "How's your head?"
"Like someone hit me in upside the head with an ax," YoungSaeng said grumpily. "How long was I out?"
"The rest of the morning and afternoon," RyeoWook said quietly, watching him with wide-eyed worry. "Last I heard, the others are still downstairs putting everything together." He lightly touched one hand to YoungSaeng's shoulder. "Is there anything I can get for you?"
"Alcohol would be lovely," YoungSaeng said with a wry smile. "But I'll take some water."
"I'm not sure alcohol would help the headache sadly," RyeoWook's lips quivered slightly, and he squeezed YoungSaeng's shoulder a little before getting up. He left the room to get the older man some water, returning a minute later with a glass in hand. "Here, I'm going to help you sit up..." He carefully eased one arm underneath the older man's shoulders to help him sit up.
Biting off another curse as he sat up to lean against the headboard, YoungSaeng accepted the water with a pained smile and slowly sipped at it. "Is JongWoon okay? I don't remember anything after we logged out."
RyeoWook helped support him as he sipped at the water. "Last I saw, he was much the same as you. I think he's resting with HyungJoon in one of the guest rooms."
"Would have been nice to be prepared for something that bad," YoungSaeng said, passing the water back and closing his eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," RyeoWook nodded, strained smile on his lips as he placed the water to the side and carefully lowered YoungSaeng back down to the mattress. "Just worried about you. Is there anything else I can do to make it easier?"
"Not unless you have some pretty strong drugs on you," YoungSaeng murmured, wincing as he settled back down into his pillow. "Have you been here the whole time?"
"Mhm," RyeoWook nodded, laying back down next to him. "I didn't want to leave in case...in case someone happened," he whispered, swallowing as he rested one hand lightly against YoungSaeng's arm.
"Hmm... like what?" YoungSaeng asked, his eyes cracking open to look over at him. "I'm not going to die RyeoWook."
The younger man's lips quivered slightly. "You had me worried for a bit," RyeoWook said quietly, meeting YoungSaeng's eyes. "You should get some more rest if you can."
"You don't think I've slept enough?" YoungSaeng's lips curled slightly. "Have you even eaten yet?"
"Wasn't that hungry," RyeoWook replied, moving his hand down to take YoungSaeng's lightly. "And I'm just worried about you...you're still in so much pain."
"But I'll live," YoungSaeng said, his fingers curling around RyeoWook's lightly. "If you go and eat a little bit of lunch, I promise I'll go back to sleep. Deal?"
"But I don't want to leave you here alone," RyeoWook looked up at YoungSaeng with wide eyes.
"And what's going to happen in twenty minutes?" YoungSaeng smiled fondly, pulling RyeoWook up towards him for a light kiss. "I'll be fine."
Pouting a little into the kiss, RyeoWook nodded slightly, looking into YoungSaeng's eyes. "...And you promise you'll sleep?" he whispered, fingers lightly cupping his cheek.
"I promise," YoungSaeng assured him, settling comfortably into the pillow and closing his eyes. "See? Going to sleep, right now," he murmured, breath evening out within seconds as he dropped off again.
RyeoWook looked down at the older man, smiling softly as he gently brushed YoungSaeng's hair out from his eyes, fingers brushing along his cheek momentarily. Then he reluctantly pulled back, careful not to jostle the sleeping man as he got up and went to leave the room, making sure not to let any light into the room.
Going downstairs to the kitchen, he found SungHyun sitting at the top of the stairs to go to the basement. "Anything yet?" he asked quietly on his way by so he wouldn't disturb those working downstairs.
"Nope," SungHyun shook his head.
"Wook?" JungMin's head popped out of the kitchen when he heard RyeoWook's voice. "Oh hey, I didn't think you'd be down for hours," he said, leaning against the doorframe as he ate ice cream out of the carton. "How's Saeng?"
"He woke up for a bit, then went back to sleep," RyeoWook smiled a little, slipping into the kitchen and going to the fridge. Maybe there was something small to eat. "He just needs more rest. How's things going downstairs? I didn't think you'd be up here either."
"I was hungry," JungMin said, following him back into the kitchen. "There wasn't anything to make that didn't require cooking so... ice cream for dinner it is. There really wasn't anything for me to do down there anyway, everyone's busy working away and I was just getting in the way."
"You want something more than ice cream hyung? I'm making something quick for myself." RyeoWook looked over his shoulder at the older man. "They getting any closer?"
"No idea, they don't do more than twitch or mumble something to one another about algorithms and code mumbo jumbo," JungMin said, perking up at the sound of food and closing up the ice cream container. "What are you making?"
"No idea...maybe kimchi fried rice, it's fast enough to make," RyeoWook smiled a little sheepishly, getting together the rice and setting it to cook. "That fine with you?"
"Anything sounds good right now," JungMin said, putting the ice cream back in the freezer. "Ice cream is good and all, but it's not a real filling meal you know? That and it's going to make me more wire than I already am. I thought about pacing around the house to get some energy out but I think that'd annoy Kyu and distract him, and I don't want to distract him..." he rambled on and on about nothing, trying not to get into RyeoWook's way.
Shaking his head in amusement, RyeoWook let the older man rant, knowing he needed to vent some of the tension that was building in the house. He made sure he was making extra food for the others to come get if they were hungry, chopping up kimchi while he waited for the rice. "If you wanted to walk around, there's always outside too."
"I'd just get lost," JungMin shook his head, hopping up onto the counter to wait. "I'm horrible with directions, and anytime Kyu and I walk around he's the one that guides us. I just make sure he doesn't trip over a stray puppy or something."
Chuckling, RyeoWook glanced over at him. "Poor puppy. You glad this is just about over, hyung?"
"Yeah... but nervous too," JungMin nodded, glancing towards the hallway. "We weren't in this thing from the beginning, so it seems like it's happening really fast to me, but I know Kyu's been waiting for this for most of his life. I'm glad that we were able to help."
"I'm glad we were able to help too," RyeoWook nodded with a small smile. "It's hard to believe really how far they've all come. And it could all finish tonight."
"Yeah... it's crazy," JungMin said. "It's getting late though, I know they want to get it done as quickly as possible, but they should really sleep soon."
"Yeah," RyeoWook nodded, looking back at him as he put the kimchi in a pan on the stove. "We'll let them work for a few more hours, then ask them to break for the night? KyuJong might listen to you easier."
JungMin laughed, head tipping back as he laughed loudly. "Kyu, listen to me? Like YoungSaeng listens to you, right?"
"Well...he listens sometimes?" RyeoWook tried feebly, though he smiled as he motioned with one hand for JungMin to lower his voice. "You're too loud hyung. And it was just an idea, since HyunJoong hyung's probably going to be stubborn along with him."
"Sorry," JungMin clamped a hand over his mouth when he remembered half the house was asleep, and the other half working. "Hmm.. you know, there's always Daniel," he pointed out. "Suggest to Daniel to take a break and then he'll make Hyun take a break, who will in turn make Kyu take a break."
"That would work too," RyeoWook nodded, getting the cooked rice from the cooker and going to mix it with the kimchi and hot sauce. "You're not just trying to avoid suggesting it yourself?" he teased.
"You honestly think I would get any reaction if I suggested to KyuJong he take a break?" JungMin snorted. "He'd just blow me off and tell me he's fine. No, best course of action is through Daniel. And I can be the one to suggest it to Daniel."
"Whatever you say hyung," RyeoWook chuckled, focusing on what he was cooking. "Daniel hyung's still downstairs with them, right? But not working? Could you go ask him if he wants to come up to eat, quietly? Ask SungHyun ah the same too."
"Sure, I can do that," JungMin nodded, hopping down off the counter. "Might as well ask Daniel to suggest it to the other two, they need to eat," he said, strolling out of the kitchen towards the stairs. "You want something to eat SungHyun? RyeoWook's cooking," JungMin said to the teenager quietly.
SungHyun looked up from where he was watching down the stairs, blinking. "Okay..." he nodded, smiling a little. He got to his feet and out of JungMin's way so the older man could go downstairs. "They're still working."
"Figured as much," JungMin nodded, slowly descending down the stairs. When he popped his head into the work room, HyunJoong and KyuJong were still tapping away and neither looked at him. Tip toeing across the room to Daniel, JungMin crouched down next to the older man's chair. "Hey," he whispered, "You hungry?"
Daniel's full attention was on the screen, brow furrowed and eyes sharp as he held up one hand for JungMin to be quiet. "One second." He scrolled through the code and brought up another message, comparing the four he'd gathered on his screen. Reading through them all, his eyes narrowed.
"...HyunJoong? We've got a problem."
It was obvious HyunJoong didn't hear, jumping nearly out of his chair when JungMin touched his arm to get his attention. "Huh? What? What's up?" he blinked, rubbing at his eye a little to focus on something other than a screen.
Daniel leaned back in his seat, the oldest of the group looking completely serious. "Reports just went out to NVR Head of Security. Someone in America got the tracing number of the router here."
"They what?" KyuJong shot upright in his seat, eyes wide.
It was the first time JungMin had ever seen HyunJoong visibly pale, the older man's lips thin. "Is there anything you can do Daniel?" he asked quietly.
"I caught it too late to stop the message from going through," Daniel shook his head. "KiBum and I can give them a hard time cross-referencing it, and they're still in shambles over that security building being destroyed...but they'll have the address eventually."
"Can you give me a time frame," HyunJoong asked, turning back to his monitor. "We'll have to be gone before they get here. Kyu, how close are we?"
"Decoding it now," KyuJong whispered, hands shaking a little. He clenched them tightly together before tapping hurriedly at the keyboard. "I got the key figured out, decoding it now. Give me another fifteen minutes."
Daniel opened up a communication line with KiBum, sending him messages. "If we crash the tracing program, it'll give us a few hours. Is that enough to get the message out to the other hackers?" SungHyun had come downstairs to see what all the commotion was behind them.
"Yeah, a few of us will go in and deposit the info into the system and send out messages," HyunJoong said. "Everyone else will have to pack and be ready to go."
"Where are we going to go?" JungMin asked, moving to get out of the way and sitting down at his station. "The beachhouse?"
"No, if they have any idea that I'm involved they'll search my families estates," HyunJoong shook his head. "We'll go to the mountains, there's a cabin up there we sometimes went to when I was a kid. It won't be nice like the beach house, and there's no electricity, but they won't find us there."
"Am I going too?" SungHyun asked, eyes wide.
"You'll have to, if they find out you're involved then you're in just as much trouble as us," Daniel shook his head. "Call your parents if you have to, tell them as little as you can get away with." The younger boy nodded mutely, turning and going up the stairs.
"We're going to have to give JongWoon and YoungSaeng whatever time we can to be ready to travel," Daniel frowned, turning back to his conversation with KiBum. "JungMin, you were saying something about dinner? Have RyeoWook hold it until we've got the information out and are ready to go, and take him with you to pack up whatever you can."
"Got it," JungMin nodded, getting up from his chair. He gave KyuJong a quick kiss to the top of his head so he wouldn't disturb him before heading up the stairs.
"Did we have a plan on how we were distributing all this information?" HyunJoong asked, turning back to his monitor. "I thought we would have more time to do this."
"So did I, but we're going to have to move quickly," Daniel said, looking over at KyuJong. The blind man had completely zoned out of their conversation, eyes closed and fingers flying over the monitor as he worked. "Our best bet is to grab everyone we know and pass it onto them, if we're being pursued then they'll be able to get the information out ten times faster than us. And there's less chance the company would be able to stop all of them."
"Alright, I'll send HeeChul a message to meet us in a couple hours," HyunJoong said, bringing up a message dialog. "I want KiBum to try and plant the information in the message systems, so it gets sent to as many people as possible, even if it's just one server it'll spread quickly."
Daniel nodded. "I have a few people I can call in as well. Maybe we should ask SungHyun, he's probably in more than a few circles himself. The more who know, the harder it'll be to stop, especially if they can get into all the messaging systems with a little extra help."
"I don't know, I don't like him doing all this," HyunJoong frowned, but knew Daniel was right. The more people they knew, the better. "Alright, us four will go in while the other's pack. I'm going to reset our IP's again, just in case they're going to try tracking those too."
"Good idea," Daniel nodded, leaning back as he finished talking with KiBum. "KiBum says he can give us a four hour window before they get our address. Hopefully, when all hell breaks loose we'll have a bit longer."
"Honestly, I want to be out of here well before then," HyunJoong said, sending out another message to another group of hackers. "Four hours is our cut off, I want to be out of the city in four hours."
"Got it," Daniel nodded, going through his own contacts and sending them messages to meet them. "Where are you having them meet us? Time to pull on a few old favors."
"The cliff, outside of the city," HyunJoong said, glancing over at him. "Less likely some security force is going to drop in on us there if we mask our signatures while we're there. I'll ask Kyu to set it up when he's done."
"Got it," Daniel nodded, typing up his own messages. Hearing SungHyun coming back down the stairs, he turned around to tell him what was going on and what they needed him to do. The teenager perked up a little at the chance to be useful, going to his station and starting on the messages right away.
"...Done!" KyuJong exclaimed just as Daniel was sending out his last message, eyes snapping open. "It's done!"
"Good job Kyu," HyunJoong breathed a sigh of relief. "Make a couple extra copies, put them on external drives, I do not want to lose this information now that we've got it," he said. "We're leaving in less than four hours, hopefully three if we can get this done quickly. Everyone upstairs is packing."
Exhaling shakily, KyuJong nodded, trying not to think about how they were going to have to leave the house he'd lived in all his live for an unknown amount of time. He'd always known it was a possibility. "Got it." His hands moved along the controls again. "It's all that we need Hyun, and more. Everything we could possibly have on NVR is here," he whispered, voice trembling a little.
"I'll look over it when we have time," HyunJoong said, getting up and crossing over to KyuJong's chair, wrapping his arms around KyuJong's shoulders. "I'm so proud of you right now, and I know your parents would be proud of you right now too."
That did the younger man in, tears spilling over his cheeks as he gave a watery chuckle. "I hope so. Thank you hyung, thank you all of you, for everything," KyuJong whispered to those present. Daniel saluted him even if KyuJong couldn't see it, SungHyun chiming in.
"We're almost there, don't fall apart on me now," HyunJoong said, kissing the side of his head. "I'm going to go check on things upstairs and make sure everyone's up. Make sure KiBum gets a copy of that," he said, giving him another squeeze before letting go and heading up the stairs.
Upstairs, RyeoWook had taken the food off the stove and covered it properly so it would stay warm before going to help JungMin pack. He wanted to leave YoungSaeng and JongWoon to rest as long as they could, putting together a quick inventory list of necessities to pack up and locating all the luggage bags in the house.
It was a good thing his instinctive reaction to fear was to make himself as busy as possible, because he was terrified.
HyunJoong found JungMin in his and KyuJong's room, packing clothes into a couple of bags. "Two hours, that's all I'm giving you guys to get packed," he said, JungMin nodding a little at that.
"I don't... I... Kyu... I don't know what he needs," JungMin said, staring blankly at KyuJong's open drawers. "He'll be so mad that I packed for him."
"Don't worry about it, I think he'll understand this time," HyunJoong said, giving JungMin a sympathetic smile. "He's got enough on his mind right now. Did someone think to wake HyungJoon up?"
"I'm up," HyungJoon shuffled out of the room he and JongWoon were staying in. "What's going on? RyeoWook babbled at me something about having to leave?"
"Yes, we'll explain later, but you're all packed up right? Waking JongWoon up in about an hour," HyunJoong said, keeping his voice down as he walked passed to find RyeoWook.