Luminous • Jisung

25 • Slip-up

this has nothing to do with the story but what's this picture and why didn't I know it was a thing

• Chapter 25 •

Jisung looked at her strictly. His intense eyes lingered on her questioning ones. 

"Stay here, don't move," he instructed once the two arrived at the scene. Corpses piled up in front of them, the atmosphere was tense, dark, anxious. "Also act like a regular person - you don't know who's watching." 

Cho-a nodded curtly. 
"Stay still and do nothing. You can count on me." 

Jisung frowned. 
"That would be the first time." 

"Hey-" 

"Gotta go," he interrupted half-heartedly and pointed at the spot on the ground she was standing on. "Don't move." 

One last nod to the boy whose eyes were already turning grey before he vanished just to stand right next to one of the corpses a moment later. 

Cho-a took in the sight. 

There was a sense of dread, something dangerous that was looming in the air. Something uncomfortable, yet there were countless people standing and staring.  

Emergency personnel arrived quickly, not knowing that for almost all of the people involved in the accident all help would come too late. 

Since they didn't know though, they tried anyway. It's not like they could've spotted the more than half a dozen grim reapers that filled the place. 

Cho-a spotted Jisung easily. He stood in the middle of what was going on, giving orders to the others. She had been nervous. She thought that there was no way Jisung could properly separate work from private matters considering his impulsive nature. 

However, when talking to Renjun he didn't seem to treat him any different than the others. He was strict, polite, impatient - but he wasn't rude nor annoyed. 

A true professional, for whatever that's worth. 

Standing at the sidelines, seen as one of the other many bystanders, Cho-a just watched. She inspected the place in hopes to find something that would give her a clue of what happened whilst also trying to stay somewhat subtle about it. 

If someone was watching, it would have been easy to spot her if her eyes kept following Jisung or Renjun or Haechan or Chenle or any of the others. 

"What are you doing here?" someone suddenly asked out of the blue. 

Startled by the sudden sound, Cho-a flinched, stumbled back and only didn't end up falling to the ground because the boy quickly grabbed her am. 

Once stabilized again, he frowned as he looked at her. 

"Careful," he said, checking if she was standing properly again before letting go. 

Cho-a narrowed her eyes at him, then playfully hit his shoulder. 
"Don't just sneak up on me, Yangyang." 

He frowned, pointed at himself with a baffled expression. 
"I didn't! Don't blame me for being jumpy," he defended poutily. "So, what are you doing here?" 

The girl looked to the side briefly, watched as some of the grim reapers disappeared to a place further away leaving soulless bodies behind. She watched as emergency personal checked up on dead bodies with high hopes. 

It smelled like blood and gas. 

The traffic lights turned green. 

"I asked Jisung to take me."

Yangyang didn't follow the girl's gaze, he just watched her eyes. As if he was trying to figure something out. 

He wasn't quite sure. There was something he seemed to miss. 

He tilted his head to the side. 
"Haechan asked me to keep an eye on you." 

Cho-a snapped out of her thoughts at the familiar name. 

"He did?" 

"Mhm," he hummed in affirmation. "Anyway, I have a question but Haechan told me you don't like answering questions." 

"So you want to be polite in case it'd make me uncomfortable?" she concluded. 

Yangyang frowned, shook his head quickly. 
"I want to save my breath in case asking is useless." 

Cho-a was taken aback for a second, speechless by his boldness. But then she grinned, amusement sparkling in her eyes at his playful nature. 

"Shoot."

"Sweet," Yangyang said with a smile. A pretty, bright gummy smile that Cho-a found to be rather comforting. "You know who they are, don't you? The half grim reaper?" 

It came as a surprise. He was bold indeed, not holding back. He didn't hesitate before asking, he didn't sound careful with his phrasing. 

He just asked. Confident, curious. 

It took Cho-a a moment to find a proper answer. He seemed so certain that she knew. She could've lied. 

But she thought she'd react by being just as straight forward. 

"Yeah," she said casually. Swiftly in an oddly calm tone. 

Yangyang grinned, believing her right away. 
"Figured," he replied. "Don't worry, I'll find it out soon too." 

Cho-a tilted her head to the side. She was trying to see behind his facade. Was it a facade even? He seemed to talk light-heartedly. 

"What's the rush?" she questioned. "Scared they will hurt Jisung or any of the others?" 

Yangyang quickly shook his head, his frown almost disappointed at her question. He glimpsed at the scene before him yet again. 
"I'm worried about them," he said under his breath. "What if they need help?" 

It shocked her. 

He was concerned? She thought everyone viewed her as a bad, dangerous person. She thought- 

"Do you know if they are safe?" he enquired with a sense of urgency.

Cho-a was taken aback. Shifting on the spot, she nodded slowly. 
"They are fine." 

And Yangyang smiled at that. 
"You know, when Jisung said that Taemin and a few others were looking for you, Jaemin and Jeno, I thought that maybe someone is looking for them too." 

His eyes got stuck on the accident. He trapped his bottom lip between his teeth thoughtfully, stuffed his hands into the pockets of his sweater. He seemed a little lost in thoughts at the sight. 

Cho-a tried to connect the dots as good as she could. 

"You think these accidents are caused by someone to find her?" 

Yangyang's head snapped to the side. He looked the girl up and down carefully, causing her to take a step back. 

Did she say something wrong? 

But Yangyang nodded, reassuring her a little. 
"At first I thought that maybe it's our mystery person that's causing the accidents - but that didn't make sense. If they really wanted to harm Jisung this would be useless; Jisung doesn't care if people die." 

Although not the nicest of arguments, it made sense. She nodded. 

"So?" she pushed to get him to finish his thought. 

"So," he continued. "Whoever is causing the accidents is probably not trying to get at Jisung. So what are they trying to do exactly?" 

• Slip-up •