AMONG US .. nct（✓）

052

a small chuckle was heard from her left, and the blonde smiled. "even beardy?" hendery jabbed a thumb at the large man with an even larger beard, and gyuri quickly recognized him as the one who threw the guy now passed out at her feet. "especially beardy. he sacrificed this guy for me, you know."

the boy with pink hair forced a very dramatic look of shock and slapped the sides of his face like the kid from home alone. "wow. i need to step my game up. maybe i'll offer yang."

"oh please, no higher being would ever willingly accept him—"

their playful banter was cut short when gyuri noticed how silent it became. "well that's not good," she muttered, standing quick despite henderson's hand trying to pull her back down.

unlike her prior thoughts, no one had pulled a weapon. instead, jeno and donghyuck were glaring at a sly-looking junseok, neither group daring to move or speak. well, she wasn't sure if the latter's group was even able to speak properly with the number of teeth they were collectively missing.

fed up with the fuming masculinity and dangerous looks, gyuri climbed up onto the bartop and cleared her throat. "y'all done? i'll have you know the damages are getting put on your tabs." many of her regulars instantly fixed up their spots and sat, resuming conversation as if nothing happened.

heaving a sigh and rolling her eyes, gyuri jumped off the bar and approached junseok, who was wearing his grossly iconic smirk. "aw, come to check on me?"

as the girl bit back a curse, her hand stealthily slid into her pocket to adjust her phone. before jumping up on the bar, she'd begun live streaming on her instagram for her now hundreds of thousands of followers to witness her 'grand scheme'.

"why did you do it? the texts. the scandal." the boy with jet hair's cocky expression never faltered, even as his eyes followed her hand towards her slacks pocket. "i've never been an idiot, angel. i know when my services can be best provided."

a flash of some unusual emotion flickered past junseok's irises, and just like that, she knew. she knew he was aware of the recording. why he didn't say anything? gyuri wasn't sure, and that made her nervous.

he took a step closer towards her, and the blonde took one back, tense shoulders relaxing a bit when she felt a familiar hand on her back.

"what was her name... jung eunchae? she paid well to forge those messages between the two of you."

taking another step forward, junseok slyly pulled the phone from her pocket and ended the stream, leaving gyuri paralyzed. "you got what you want, angel? i helped you out. now you owe me."

"she doesn't owe you anything. you admitted the truth." junseok's attention was lifted towards the hoodie-clad boy wearing an emotionless expression. he raised a brow and nibbled on his bottom lip. "and who are you? her boyfriend?"

"i don't see why it concerns you."

"and don't act like you don't know who i am." donghyuck chimed from behind the blonde, voice unnaturally low. he wasn't over the way junseok looked right through him earlier. "if you don't remember me, you'll certainly remember my friend here—"

jeno swiftly moved past the other two and punched him, once again, right in the mouth. this time, junseok was knocked to the floor, and jeno knelt down to grab his collar, "you really don't know how long i've been wanting to do that."

before another fight could break out, the jet-haired boy held his hand up to prevent his guys from piling on jeno. he held eye contact as if challenging the younger for dominance. then, junseok chuckled and gave jeno a light slap on the cheek. "i like him. he's got spunk."