An Azalea [AHS book 1]

- 14 -

Hoseok focus

Yesterday they had discussed the whole plan one last time and had rehearsed the choreography in the mission clothes, and now Hoseok sat on the floor of the transporters trunk that drove through the streets of Seoul towards his biggest pull so far and listened to Yoongi's beat to go through the choreography once more. Ten billion Won were waiting for them should they succeed. Even the thought of it made his head dizzy. Two billion Won for every one of them. This was madness.

"You okay?" Suga asked through the gap that connected the cockpit with the trunk. The hacker sat on the driver seat and next to him were Namjoon and Jungkook. The band in their band van. Taehyung sat across from Hoseok and grinned happily. The artist would monitor the mission this time, observing everything from the transporter and guiding them. Normally Suga was the voice in their ear pieces, but the hacker was their pianist today, and Hoseok wondered whether Taehyung could do the job or not. But he would have to trust the idiot who grinned over both ears.

"Yes, better than okay," Taehyung answered and showed the driver a thumbs-up.

Hoseok put the earphones back in and resumed his imaginary rehearsal. Taehyung had borrowed him a wide pair of dress pants and a matching suit jacket to hide the white mission uniform, that would allow him to melt into the walls, and in his pockets waited the grey ballet slippers, the white ski mask and the gloves. He would dump the suit in a restroom next to the archive, get in, get out with the painting, go back there to dress up again and then get out the painting like planned. Whoever had equipped the museum with cameras had been so arrogant not to scan the way between the archive entrance and the restrooms, probably because the restrooms were in the center of the building and therefor window-less. However, the two thieves had taken advantage of that with their plan.

"We're here," Suga's voice sounded from the cockpit and the engine stopped. "Put in the ear pieces. Tae, get ready."

Giving up his job as the puppeteer appeared to be difficult for the hacker, Hoseok though and chuckled. Old habits die hard.

Jungkook opened the trunk and pulled out the piano to hand it to Suga who already wore a slim backpack with his MacBook he would use for the beats (and for knocking off the Wi-Fi to immobilize the alarm system, if necessary), and then the youngest grabbed one of the heavy speakers and gestured Namjoon to take the other one while he carried the monitor in the other hand. They had been allowed to park on the museum's area to have a shorter way to the show, something that reduced the problem of their non-existent staff immensely.

"A band that has to carry their own equipment," Namjoon growled when he lifted up the heavy box.

"Make up some lie about coordination problems of the staff," Suga shut the money giver up, and the band walked off to their mission. Some steps behind, Hoseok followed, looking like he was just another guest who wanted to visit the vernissage.

While the other's put up the equipment, he pretended to be interested in the works and strolled around the area on his search for the right corridor. Once he found it, he entered the restroom and waited.

"Can you hear me Hope?" Taehyung's voice spoke into his ear. The question was unnecessary given they had done the voice check before entering the building, but apparently being the puppeteer needed some practice as well.

"Yeah," he answered into the echoing room and began to strip off the suit.

"Good. Wait for my signal."

Hoseok nodded though he knew the other could not see him and tried to get comfortable on the toilet lid. Only now it dawned on him that he had to stay here for the whole time of the performance, and he groaned frustrated.