like clockwork (oneshot)
like clockwork
b.a.p/secret, yonggook/jieun, slight himchan/zinger
3007w, thief au, pg-13
Hana gracelessly adjusted the tight skirt of her red dress and scowled. "This isn't going to work. There are too many." She gave the six men lined up before her a harsh glare and sighed.
Jieun bit her lip and lowered her eyes in a silent apology. When she raised them again, they begged Yonggook to say something, but he stood firm with arms crossed. He only backed off a little when just a bit of venom seeped into her pleading gaze. It never took much.
"Look," he began with obvious hesitation, "you said you needed guys. I got you guys."
Tossing her head, Sunhwa scoffed and checked her make-up in her compact. "No matter how you look at it, you screwed up."
Hyosung remained curiously silent as the four women stood before the gang of six young men. The one beside her grinned and shrugged. "The more the merrier, am I right?" He looked around for support from his friends, but they averted their gaze as Hana walked straight up and boxed him on the ear.
"You," she growled. "You're with me, hot shot."
Himchan emitted a whine which heightened into a scream as her grip on his earlobe tightened. The other boys chuckled, but hidden safely behind their hands. Suddenly Hyosung snapped her fingers and gave Jieun a triumphant smile.
"It'll work," she declared.
Jieun felt herself smiling with the slight hope, but Hana's look was horribly dubious. "How?" she asked, arm now fully locked around Himchan's. "This is a party for couples, in a museum, not some warehouse rave. Extra guys hanging around with no dates attached will seem suspicious."
Hyosung's smile widened wickedly. "Not a problem. The math is still on our side."
With that, there were no more questions. The ten of them huddled around Hana's dining room table and Hyosung dealt out the new plan. Her eyes were glowing with a special light that could only be aroused by such a complicated plan - by such a deliciously big reward waiting at the end. "First," she practically purred, "Hana and Himchan will create a distraction."
Feeling unwisely brave, Himchan gave her a wink. "I think we can handle that." And then Hana gave him a thorough description of what would happen to him if he dared to wink at any of the other women at the party tonight.
The museum was only a few blocks from Hyosung's apartment, but they made sure to secure separate, ritzy modes of arrival. Hana couldn't restrain her smug smile as she stepped out of the gleaming but modest limo, Himchan bowing gallantly to help her out. Maybe this idiot could be useful, she thought for an all too brief moment.
"Your legs make me want to--"
A swift elbow in his ribs kept him from ruining her moment.
She felt eyes on them the second they stepped through the entranceway. Even if he was a complete and hopeless idiot, Himchan's face and natural charisma were an unexpected bonus. Much to her surprise, he obeyed her orders and didn't so much as glance at the countless women who gave him less than subtle looks. He kept his eyes on her the entire time, the perfect attentive date, and she could practically feel the envy radiating from the other couples in the room. Yeah, she could get used to this.
"Five seconds," she whispered to him as he bent to brush her hair from her shoulder. He grinned and turned around just in time to collide with a waiter carrying wine for the guests. Bright red splattered across his immaculate white suit and the entire room held their breath in a simultaneous gasp. Before her eyes, Hana watched Himchan's darken, his eyes narrowing in a perfectly furious scowl.
Immediately she was at his side, gripping his arm and eyes pleading. "Baby," she said sweetly, but with a tinge of panic that made the guests start glancing around. Something was about to happen. "It's okay. We can get it cleaned."
The look in Himchan's eyes told Hana - or rather, told the onlookers - exactly what he thought about that idea. The waiter decided to try and make a run for it at that precise moment, and Himchan grabbed his arm. Hana's eyes narrowed at that, but she noted that the hold wasn't too harsh. "I don't think so," Himchan said to the poor guy, his voice low in warning. "I'd like to speak to your supervisor."
The boy looked ready to cry, and the room erupted into whispers, some disapproving, some in awe, some in worry. Hana feigned pulling at Himchan's arm. "Sweetie, please," she cried.
While Himchan ordered the boy once again to go get the manager, another couple slipped inside, coasting along the edges until they could escape down a hallway.
"Too easy," Sunhwa laughed with a smirk. No one even looked at the two of them as she dragged Jongup along by the arm. Any other time and she'd be offended, but tonight was different. The hallway they turned down was marked clearly, "Staff Only," but she only glanced at it before sweeping past.
Meanwhile, her 'partner' was being annoyingly quiet. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and shrugged. Though she knew better after being introduced to him properly, Jongup looked like your average newbie. His eyes were wide and he palm sweaty against hers when she grabbed his hand to try and hurry him up. Her few attempts to get him to chat ended in failure, so it was a good thing they weren't being relied on to act natural.
The soft scuffle of shoes and Sunhwa yanked him into a doorway. His face went bright red as she pressed against him, but she only rolled her eyes in response. A few staff members hurried by them and she breathed a sigh of relief. "We should be close," she murmured before she started back out. Jongup looked up and nodded in agreement. She followed his gaze and scowled. "Using words would make this a little easier, you know."
Jongup swallowed. "Wires," he said finally. She followed where his finger pointed and actually cursed out loud for missing them - several wires running along the walls, security camera wires, leading them towards their goal.
They found the room a little ways further down the hall. One look at the television screens told her what she needed to know; Himchan had the waiter by his jacket collar and Hana was in tears trying to get him to stop. Several staff members were around them, trying to placate who they thought was an extremely irate guest. "Your friend's good," she commented. Jongup glanced at the screen and shrugged as he sat down in the chair before the screens.
"When he feels like it."
Sunhwa actually laughed. Settling on the edge of the table, she watched as Jongup went to work on the equipment, his hands moving so fast she could hardly keep up. Apparently Himchan wasn't the only one who could be surprisingly useful.
She might have felt a little useless herself, except she knew what she was here for. Just to check, she ran her hand over her inner thigh, tracing the outline of the gun. Jongup could handle the technical stuff; Sunhwa was here to handle any unexpected interruptions.
Hyosung snatched up her phone the second it started vibrated on the table. "Security here sucks," Sunhwa whined through the speaker. Beside her, Daehyun squirmed impatiently in his seat and strained to hear what they were saying.
Rolling her eyes at both of them, Hyosung's fingers flew over the keyboard. "Complain when it's over. Are you two ready?"
Sunhwa mumbled something in the background. There was a male voice, one Hyosung didn't recognize but knew to be Jongup. That poor kid hadn't said much when Yonggook assigned him his task. He'd looked more than a little terrified when he was given his parter. Hyosung didn't exactly blame him, either. "God, why can't techies ever just say yes?" Sunhwa muttered. "Jongup said a lot which I'm pretty sure means we're ready." More quiet talking, and Sunhwa cursed.
Daehyun looked annoyed when Hyosung giggled and ended the call. "Are they okay?"
Giving a shrug, she smiled to herself and turned back to the computer. She could practically feel the boy's frustrated glare on his back, but that was his problem. Connecting her system through the link Jongup created took her full attention, not to mention time, and they did not have time to waste giving pointless explanations. When she started back in on the computer, Daehyun fell silent. At least he wasn't stupid, she decided.
Finally, she had a complete visual. She saw Hana and Himchan in the main hall and smiled. Hana's mascara was running down her cheeks and security had Himchan in a not so gentle hold, but they still looked hesitant to drag him away. Between his face, his clothes and his acting, Hyosung could imagine they thought they had someone important on their hands. Hyosung certainly couldn't imagine any of Yonggook's other friends pulling off that kind of act. She glanced back at Daehyun and giggled at the thought.
"Is something funny?" he growled, but it was more pout than bite.
Hyosung gestured vaguely at the screen. "Your friend." Daehyun leaned over and rolled his eyes at what he saw. He looked far more interested when Hyosung pulled up the footage from the other cameras. The two of them peered down the halls and around their target and were pleased at what they found.
This time Daehyun was the one going for his phone. "Hyung, you're up," he said into the phone with a wicked grin.
"You're enjoying this," Hyosung said with obvious approval as Daehyun hung up.
Jieun was genuinely startled when they stepped into the building. Sure, Hana had said they were going to make a scene, but this was a little much. Shards of glass glittered in a sad pool of spilled wine on the floor. Security guards held Himchan's arms as he berated the waiter, almost in tears, the waiter's manager, only a bit calmer, and everyone else in the building he laid eyes on. In his rage he spied Jieun and Yonggook enter the building and he even shouted curses their way. The manager shot the couple an apologetic glance and they hurried further into the room and away from the noise.
Yonggook fetched them intact glasses of wine from a table and grinned over his. "No wonder this is going so smoothly," he chuckled. Jieun smiled into her own glass and allowed herself one more glance towards the center of the room. Hana met her eyes and winked, and that was all Jieun needed to center herself again. Jieun didn't like being so involved in the active parts of these things. She was too accustomed to sneaking in, sneaking out without being noticed. The notion of drawing so much attention on purpose made her hands shake.
But only for a moment. Finishing her glass, Jieun took Yonggook by the hand and they slowly made their way out of the room, down a hall opposite the one Sunhwa and Jongup had followed. They passed a security camera and she flashed it a quick smile, imagining Sunhwa and Hyosung watching.
"Go to the end of the hall and turn left," Hyosung's voice explained quietly through Yonggook's speakerphone. "It's the museum's pride and joy, so you should find it with no problem."
Nodding, Yonggook thanked her and slid the phone back into his pocket. Jieun led the way and he followed willingly, peering around corners and showing him where to stand so he didn't cast a shadow. Yonggook had plenty of skills, all of which Jieun admired and envied, but Yonggook's specialty wasn't stealth. He'd started his life as a common street thug and felt no shame in that, nor did she think he needed to. The reason she'd allowed him into her life at all was because he recognized that they both had their strengths, and he was willing to shut up and let her take the lead when she knew what she was doing.
As they expected, the display was not hard to find. It wasn't meant to be, after all. The jewels were the museum's main attraction. The huge metal gate around the display with its electronic keypad system probably seemed like a good enough deterrent anyway.
It almost made Jieun laugh.
Jieun was struggling with breaking the code on the keypad when a flashlight beam appeared at the end of the hall. The guard stepped noisily towards them, but slowly, not having seen them yet. Jieun glanced up at Yonggook and he nodded, the smallest of smiles on his face. He grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her to her feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her clear off the floor, her back banging against the bars of the gate and drawing the attention of the guard. By the time the beam of light fell on them, Yonggook had one hand sliding up her dress and across her thigh.
The guard froze. Jieun blushed and turned her head away in shame. Yonggook grinned at the guard and shrugged as he struggled to pull something out of his pocket. Holding out an obscenely large bill to the guard, Yonggook asked, "Give us five minutes, man? You know how excited girls get about jewels." For a second, Jieun worried that this was where their night ended, but then the guard chuckled and accepted the cash, walking back the way he came.
Jieun sighed against Yonggook. "That was close," he breathed, his thumb rubbing over the inside of her thigh.
This time, her blush was genuine, but that didn't stop her from detaching herself and kneeling back in front of the keypad. "Later," she murmured, smiling at him over her shoulder.
Back in the main hall, an awkwardly tall boy edged around the crowd's with his similarly awkward date beside him. He kept his arm slung casually over her shoulder, but her face was turned decidedly towards the floor, refusing to so much as look at any of the other guests.
"The hallway's clear again," Hyosung instructed Junhong through the cell phone pressed to his ear. "Go join Jieun and Yonggook."
"Sure we don't need to give them a minute?" Junhong joked. He'd lost count of the times he'd managed to interrupt them during a job.
Hyosung paused, and Junhong almost cursed. Those two really needed to learn timing. "No," Hyosung finally replied. "It was close, though." She laughed as he grumbled something in response. "How is Youngjae?"
Squeezing his date's shoulder, Junhong pressed the phone through the wig so Youngjae could speak for himself. "I fucking hate you," Youngjae grumbled without looking up. Junhong could hear Hyosung laughing on the other end.
Youngjae's mood wasn't any better by the time they were halfway down the hall, when he stopped and yanked off the wig. He was two steps away from throwing it on the ground and stomping on it before Junhong's stopped him. "Hyung, you'll need that to get out," he reminded Youngjae gently. Youngjae glared at him for a good minute before picking it back up and stuffing it into one of Junhong's pockets.
Yonggook was leaning against the metal gate when they approached. Jieun sighed and rose to her feet, shaking her head. "I was able to disable the alarms around the gate, but there's no way we're getting it open without someone knowing."
Junhong winced. "So how the hell are we going to get the jewels?" Youngjae sneered. For such a nice guy, Youngjae had very little patience, especially after being forced into a dress for an hour.
Sadly for him, Yonggoon wasn't exactly known for his patience, either. "You two are going to get your sorry asses over it or I'll throw you over."
That succeeded in keeping Youngjae quite for a good five minutes, until he was hanging half over the gate and cursing everyone in existence. With one light push, Junhong finished the climb down for Youngjae and then made his own way over. If they weren't so pressed for time and if Yonggook weren't breathing down their necks, Youngjae would no doubt have beaten Junhong senseless. Hence why Junhong chose to push him. Shooting Junhong a glare, Youngjae moved to the glass case around the glittering jewels. He ran his hands over the keypad in the case.
"How long will it take?" Yonggook asked from beyond the gate.
Youngjae ran his hand over his chin and thought for a moment. "Five minutes."
On the other side, Yonggook grinned.
By the time the security guards dumped Himchan on his ass at the bottom of the steps that led up to the museum's entrance, Yonggook had the van parked outside and ready. Himchan was a little worse for wear, his suit torn, his lip bloodied, but he cheered upon seeing the van and hopped in despite the bruises he would no doubt have in the morning.
"It took them that long to figure out he wasn't the mayor's son?" Sunhwa asked as Hana slid onto the seat beside her.
Hana peered at Himchan over her shoulder and shrugged. "He's pretty good at playing a spoiled rich brat, I'll give him that."
When Himchan lunged forward and kissed her on the cheek, Hana punched him. In the front seat, Jieun giggled and wrapped her arms protectively around the heavy black bag in her lap. Yonggook smiled at her from the driver's seat and held her hand.
"Anyone else starving?" Hyosung asked from the back of the van. She ran her hand affectionately through Daehyun's hair. "I think these kids deserve dinner. It's on me."
Daehyun, Jongup, Youngjae and Junhong would have cheered, if they weren't passed out in the cleared space in the back of the van.
b.a.p/secret, yonggook/jieun, slight himchan/zinger
3007w, thief au, pg-13
Hana gracelessly adjusted the tight skirt of her red dress and scowled. "This isn't going to work. There are too many." She gave the six men lined up before her a harsh glare and sighed.
Jieun bit her lip and lowered her eyes in a silent apology. When she raised them again, they begged Yonggook to say something, but he stood firm with arms crossed. He only backed off a little when just a bit of venom seeped into her pleading gaze. It never took much.
"Look," he began with obvious hesitation, "you said you needed guys. I got you guys."
Tossing her head, Sunhwa scoffed and checked her make-up in her compact. "No matter how you look at it, you screwed up."
Hyosung remained curiously silent as the four women stood before the gang of six young men. The one beside her grinned and shrugged. "The more the merrier, am I right?" He looked around for support from his friends, but they averted their gaze as Hana walked straight up and boxed him on the ear.
"You," she growled. "You're with me, hot shot."
Himchan emitted a whine which heightened into a scream as her grip on his earlobe tightened. The other boys chuckled, but hidden safely behind their hands. Suddenly Hyosung snapped her fingers and gave Jieun a triumphant smile.
"It'll work," she declared.
Jieun felt herself smiling with the slight hope, but Hana's look was horribly dubious. "How?" she asked, arm now fully locked around Himchan's. "This is a party for couples, in a museum, not some warehouse rave. Extra guys hanging around with no dates attached will seem suspicious."
Hyosung's smile widened wickedly. "Not a problem. The math is still on our side."
With that, there were no more questions. The ten of them huddled around Hana's dining room table and Hyosung dealt out the new plan. Her eyes were glowing with a special light that could only be aroused by such a complicated plan - by such a deliciously big reward waiting at the end. "First," she practically purred, "Hana and Himchan will create a distraction."
Feeling unwisely brave, Himchan gave her a wink. "I think we can handle that." And then Hana gave him a thorough description of what would happen to him if he dared to wink at any of the other women at the party tonight.
The museum was only a few blocks from Hyosung's apartment, but they made sure to secure separate, ritzy modes of arrival. Hana couldn't restrain her smug smile as she stepped out of the gleaming but modest limo, Himchan bowing gallantly to help her out. Maybe this idiot could be useful, she thought for an all too brief moment.
"Your legs make me want to--"
A swift elbow in his ribs kept him from ruining her moment.
She felt eyes on them the second they stepped through the entranceway. Even if he was a complete and hopeless idiot, Himchan's face and natural charisma were an unexpected bonus. Much to her surprise, he obeyed her orders and didn't so much as glance at the countless women who gave him less than subtle looks. He kept his eyes on her the entire time, the perfect attentive date, and she could practically feel the envy radiating from the other couples in the room. Yeah, she could get used to this.
"Five seconds," she whispered to him as he bent to brush her hair from her shoulder. He grinned and turned around just in time to collide with a waiter carrying wine for the guests. Bright red splattered across his immaculate white suit and the entire room held their breath in a simultaneous gasp. Before her eyes, Hana watched Himchan's darken, his eyes narrowing in a perfectly furious scowl.
Immediately she was at his side, gripping his arm and eyes pleading. "Baby," she said sweetly, but with a tinge of panic that made the guests start glancing around. Something was about to happen. "It's okay. We can get it cleaned."
The look in Himchan's eyes told Hana - or rather, told the onlookers - exactly what he thought about that idea. The waiter decided to try and make a run for it at that precise moment, and Himchan grabbed his arm. Hana's eyes narrowed at that, but she noted that the hold wasn't too harsh. "I don't think so," Himchan said to the poor guy, his voice low in warning. "I'd like to speak to your supervisor."
The boy looked ready to cry, and the room erupted into whispers, some disapproving, some in awe, some in worry. Hana feigned pulling at Himchan's arm. "Sweetie, please," she cried.
While Himchan ordered the boy once again to go get the manager, another couple slipped inside, coasting along the edges until they could escape down a hallway.
"Too easy," Sunhwa laughed with a smirk. No one even looked at the two of them as she dragged Jongup along by the arm. Any other time and she'd be offended, but tonight was different. The hallway they turned down was marked clearly, "Staff Only," but she only glanced at it before sweeping past.
Meanwhile, her 'partner' was being annoyingly quiet. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and shrugged. Though she knew better after being introduced to him properly, Jongup looked like your average newbie. His eyes were wide and he palm sweaty against hers when she grabbed his hand to try and hurry him up. Her few attempts to get him to chat ended in failure, so it was a good thing they weren't being relied on to act natural.
The soft scuffle of shoes and Sunhwa yanked him into a doorway. His face went bright red as she pressed against him, but she only rolled her eyes in response. A few staff members hurried by them and she breathed a sigh of relief. "We should be close," she murmured before she started back out. Jongup looked up and nodded in agreement. She followed his gaze and scowled. "Using words would make this a little easier, you know."
Jongup swallowed. "Wires," he said finally. She followed where his finger pointed and actually cursed out loud for missing them - several wires running along the walls, security camera wires, leading them towards their goal.
They found the room a little ways further down the hall. One look at the television screens told her what she needed to know; Himchan had the waiter by his jacket collar and Hana was in tears trying to get him to stop. Several staff members were around them, trying to placate who they thought was an extremely irate guest. "Your friend's good," she commented. Jongup glanced at the screen and shrugged as he sat down in the chair before the screens.
"When he feels like it."
Sunhwa actually laughed. Settling on the edge of the table, she watched as Jongup went to work on the equipment, his hands moving so fast she could hardly keep up. Apparently Himchan wasn't the only one who could be surprisingly useful.
She might have felt a little useless herself, except she knew what she was here for. Just to check, she ran her hand over her inner thigh, tracing the outline of the gun. Jongup could handle the technical stuff; Sunhwa was here to handle any unexpected interruptions.
Hyosung snatched up her phone the second it started vibrated on the table. "Security here sucks," Sunhwa whined through the speaker. Beside her, Daehyun squirmed impatiently in his seat and strained to hear what they were saying.
Rolling her eyes at both of them, Hyosung's fingers flew over the keyboard. "Complain when it's over. Are you two ready?"
Sunhwa mumbled something in the background. There was a male voice, one Hyosung didn't recognize but knew to be Jongup. That poor kid hadn't said much when Yonggook assigned him his task. He'd looked more than a little terrified when he was given his parter. Hyosung didn't exactly blame him, either. "God, why can't techies ever just say yes?" Sunhwa muttered. "Jongup said a lot which I'm pretty sure means we're ready." More quiet talking, and Sunhwa cursed.
Daehyun looked annoyed when Hyosung giggled and ended the call. "Are they okay?"
Giving a shrug, she smiled to herself and turned back to the computer. She could practically feel the boy's frustrated glare on his back, but that was his problem. Connecting her system through the link Jongup created took her full attention, not to mention time, and they did not have time to waste giving pointless explanations. When she started back in on the computer, Daehyun fell silent. At least he wasn't stupid, she decided.
Finally, she had a complete visual. She saw Hana and Himchan in the main hall and smiled. Hana's mascara was running down her cheeks and security had Himchan in a not so gentle hold, but they still looked hesitant to drag him away. Between his face, his clothes and his acting, Hyosung could imagine they thought they had someone important on their hands. Hyosung certainly couldn't imagine any of Yonggook's other friends pulling off that kind of act. She glanced back at Daehyun and giggled at the thought.
"Is something funny?" he growled, but it was more pout than bite.
Hyosung gestured vaguely at the screen. "Your friend." Daehyun leaned over and rolled his eyes at what he saw. He looked far more interested when Hyosung pulled up the footage from the other cameras. The two of them peered down the halls and around their target and were pleased at what they found.
This time Daehyun was the one going for his phone. "Hyung, you're up," he said into the phone with a wicked grin.
"You're enjoying this," Hyosung said with obvious approval as Daehyun hung up.
Jieun was genuinely startled when they stepped into the building. Sure, Hana had said they were going to make a scene, but this was a little much. Shards of glass glittered in a sad pool of spilled wine on the floor. Security guards held Himchan's arms as he berated the waiter, almost in tears, the waiter's manager, only a bit calmer, and everyone else in the building he laid eyes on. In his rage he spied Jieun and Yonggook enter the building and he even shouted curses their way. The manager shot the couple an apologetic glance and they hurried further into the room and away from the noise.
Yonggook fetched them intact glasses of wine from a table and grinned over his. "No wonder this is going so smoothly," he chuckled. Jieun smiled into her own glass and allowed herself one more glance towards the center of the room. Hana met her eyes and winked, and that was all Jieun needed to center herself again. Jieun didn't like being so involved in the active parts of these things. She was too accustomed to sneaking in, sneaking out without being noticed. The notion of drawing so much attention on purpose made her hands shake.
But only for a moment. Finishing her glass, Jieun took Yonggook by the hand and they slowly made their way out of the room, down a hall opposite the one Sunhwa and Jongup had followed. They passed a security camera and she flashed it a quick smile, imagining Sunhwa and Hyosung watching.
"Go to the end of the hall and turn left," Hyosung's voice explained quietly through Yonggook's speakerphone. "It's the museum's pride and joy, so you should find it with no problem."
Nodding, Yonggook thanked her and slid the phone back into his pocket. Jieun led the way and he followed willingly, peering around corners and showing him where to stand so he didn't cast a shadow. Yonggook had plenty of skills, all of which Jieun admired and envied, but Yonggook's specialty wasn't stealth. He'd started his life as a common street thug and felt no shame in that, nor did she think he needed to. The reason she'd allowed him into her life at all was because he recognized that they both had their strengths, and he was willing to shut up and let her take the lead when she knew what she was doing.
As they expected, the display was not hard to find. It wasn't meant to be, after all. The jewels were the museum's main attraction. The huge metal gate around the display with its electronic keypad system probably seemed like a good enough deterrent anyway.
It almost made Jieun laugh.
Jieun was struggling with breaking the code on the keypad when a flashlight beam appeared at the end of the hall. The guard stepped noisily towards them, but slowly, not having seen them yet. Jieun glanced up at Yonggook and he nodded, the smallest of smiles on his face. He grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her to her feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her clear off the floor, her back banging against the bars of the gate and drawing the attention of the guard. By the time the beam of light fell on them, Yonggook had one hand sliding up her dress and across her thigh.
The guard froze. Jieun blushed and turned her head away in shame. Yonggook grinned at the guard and shrugged as he struggled to pull something out of his pocket. Holding out an obscenely large bill to the guard, Yonggook asked, "Give us five minutes, man? You know how excited girls get about jewels." For a second, Jieun worried that this was where their night ended, but then the guard chuckled and accepted the cash, walking back the way he came.
Jieun sighed against Yonggook. "That was close," he breathed, his thumb rubbing over the inside of her thigh.
This time, her blush was genuine, but that didn't stop her from detaching herself and kneeling back in front of the keypad. "Later," she murmured, smiling at him over her shoulder.
Back in the main hall, an awkwardly tall boy edged around the crowd's with his similarly awkward date beside him. He kept his arm slung casually over her shoulder, but her face was turned decidedly towards the floor, refusing to so much as look at any of the other guests.
"The hallway's clear again," Hyosung instructed Junhong through the cell phone pressed to his ear. "Go join Jieun and Yonggook."
"Sure we don't need to give them a minute?" Junhong joked. He'd lost count of the times he'd managed to interrupt them during a job.
Hyosung paused, and Junhong almost cursed. Those two really needed to learn timing. "No," Hyosung finally replied. "It was close, though." She laughed as he grumbled something in response. "How is Youngjae?"
Squeezing his date's shoulder, Junhong pressed the phone through the wig so Youngjae could speak for himself. "I fucking hate you," Youngjae grumbled without looking up. Junhong could hear Hyosung laughing on the other end.
Youngjae's mood wasn't any better by the time they were halfway down the hall, when he stopped and yanked off the wig. He was two steps away from throwing it on the ground and stomping on it before Junhong's stopped him. "Hyung, you'll need that to get out," he reminded Youngjae gently. Youngjae glared at him for a good minute before picking it back up and stuffing it into one of Junhong's pockets.
Yonggook was leaning against the metal gate when they approached. Jieun sighed and rose to her feet, shaking her head. "I was able to disable the alarms around the gate, but there's no way we're getting it open without someone knowing."
Junhong winced. "So how the hell are we going to get the jewels?" Youngjae sneered. For such a nice guy, Youngjae had very little patience, especially after being forced into a dress for an hour.
Sadly for him, Yonggoon wasn't exactly known for his patience, either. "You two are going to get your sorry asses over it or I'll throw you over."
That succeeded in keeping Youngjae quite for a good five minutes, until he was hanging half over the gate and cursing everyone in existence. With one light push, Junhong finished the climb down for Youngjae and then made his own way over. If they weren't so pressed for time and if Yonggook weren't breathing down their necks, Youngjae would no doubt have beaten Junhong senseless. Hence why Junhong chose to push him. Shooting Junhong a glare, Youngjae moved to the glass case around the glittering jewels. He ran his hands over the keypad in the case.
"How long will it take?" Yonggook asked from beyond the gate.
Youngjae ran his hand over his chin and thought for a moment. "Five minutes."
On the other side, Yonggook grinned.
By the time the security guards dumped Himchan on his ass at the bottom of the steps that led up to the museum's entrance, Yonggook had the van parked outside and ready. Himchan was a little worse for wear, his suit torn, his lip bloodied, but he cheered upon seeing the van and hopped in despite the bruises he would no doubt have in the morning.
"It took them that long to figure out he wasn't the mayor's son?" Sunhwa asked as Hana slid onto the seat beside her.
Hana peered at Himchan over her shoulder and shrugged. "He's pretty good at playing a spoiled rich brat, I'll give him that."
When Himchan lunged forward and kissed her on the cheek, Hana punched him. In the front seat, Jieun giggled and wrapped her arms protectively around the heavy black bag in her lap. Yonggook smiled at her from the driver's seat and held her hand.
"Anyone else starving?" Hyosung asked from the back of the van. She ran her hand affectionately through Daehyun's hair. "I think these kids deserve dinner. It's on me."
Daehyun, Jongup, Youngjae and Junhong would have cheered, if they weren't passed out in the cleared space in the back of the van.