Centers of Fate - Stray Kids

Chapter 36 - Party Lines

As much as Hyunjin wanted to go information-spelunking with his friends to find Felix and Changbin faster, he has Superior appearances to keep up. He enjoyed his few days off in the wake of the article, but his idol duties called. He would have to trust his much smarter and more intuitive friends to find the pair.

The type of news that made its way into the Superior echo chamber was selective, and often not very impactful. This made it even more impressive that the articles he and his friends inspired became a talking point at the next party he attended. He figured his fellow acquaintances would have heard about it because of him. Of course, this is a good sign. What he wasn't expecting was deeper discussions about what the protests and the President's order meant to Superior society. Its insular nature and inherent pretentiousness was usually impervious to ground swells of change.

In simpler terms, rich people don't want to talk about real issues.

As Hyunjin walked off the elevator, he took a quick peek in the mirror to his right. His white suit had barely visible light and dark gray vertical lines, and had a breast pocket with a purple handkerchief shaped like the top of a heart. The top was cropped just below his belly button, showing off a matching purple waist chain underneath that would be visible anytime he would be expressive during the night, which, he hoped, would be often.

He couldn't help but be inspired by Seungmin with the purple, but he knew that his shy Average friend was straight. There wasn't a lot he could do about that, since Seungmin was steadfast in how he saw himself. All he could hope for was more cuddling lessons. That, and to teach Seungmin to be the best ally he could to their friend group, since he was the only true straight kid.

"Hyunjin, darling, lovely to see you again!"

He approached her, giving air kisses on each cheek. "Great to see you too!"

To be completely honest, Hyunjin was awful with names. He would try to identify people by a strong facial characteristic or personality quirk. Sometimes, with the amount of peer pressure to get plastic surgery or "better yourself with therapy," (which was becoming ironic the more Hyunjin learned from Mr. River) even those cues would fail him after a while. This particular woman was the "darling" woman. She held her robust frame with rigid and perfect posture. Though she was only connected tangentially with royalty, that didn't stop her from acting the part. Her look was more fashion forward than normal this evening, with a sleeveless full length red dress held up by thin straps, showing off her shoulders. She accented this with elbow high red velvet gloves, a gold chain holding a large ruby that settled high on her collarbone, accented by the outline of smaller emeralds, and matching ruby and emerald earrings. Hyunjin had no doubt all of the jewels were real.

"My goodness, you've been quite the talk of the town lately!" She settled her hands properly in front of her.

"I've been away for a while, so I only know so much." He responded shyly.

"Well let's talk to some mutual friends about it!"

She reached for his hand and dragged him across the ballroom towards their "friends". There was a wall on the far side with a large digital screen, scrolling through advertisers for the event, as well as teasers for the new technology products for the next year. It was no mistake that Hyunjin chose this party to attend. He didn't tell his friends, but he was hoping to get information on iStar to see if there was a connection that wouldn't be public knowledge.

"Head of the Hwangers! How are ya Hyunjin?!?!" 'Loud Man Stereotype' greeted him.

"Good!" Hyunjin shook his hand and put on his best Superior party face, as much as he hated it. "Glad to see you again!"