I wouldn't mind choking on a cold cup of spicy Namericano if I got to see this man in return
⊷ 12
Kang Jae-suk, Seoul's mayor.
Praised for being down to earth, for bringing wealth to the capital, for his unique ideas and for not being afraid to swim against the tide.
Yet, despite the public's positive view of him, Ji-yoon was utterly unimpressed to be making his acquaintance.
"You haven't even met him," Haechan complained.
"I heard about him," Ji-yoon argued. "Besides, he is friends with that wannabe-famous CEO Park."
Chenle hummed, only partly agreeing. "He is famous."
"Not popular though."
"He will be," Chenle noted. "If everything goes well, then that project is going to bring us closer to climate goals, raise safety, accessibility and effectiveness of the public transport network--"
Ji-yoon inhaled sharply through her teeth. "President Zhong, which side are you on?"
He shrugged. "I was just pointing it out," he mumbled. "I am a businessman. I might not agree with the methods but the outcome is still impressive."
Both, Haechan and Ji-yoon, rolled their eyes at this. They couldn't find much sympathy for Chenle's enthusiasm.
Just as that talk was done, the kind lady that had brought the three to the mayor's office, came to a halt.
She turned to the door to her right and knocked. As an affirmative hum came from inside, she stiffly opened it and took a step inside.
"Sir," she said politely. "The agents are here."
"Oh, right!" the man said in return. His chair squeaked as he pushed it back and walked towards them. "Let them in."
And that she did. The three were quickly inside and then soon left alone with the middle-aged man.
He had a certain warmth to him. It were his eyes and smile that made him seem oddly friendly. His voice, though it had turned a little croaky over the years, was pleasant to listen to.
"I am finally meeting you," Kang said happily. "I have heard a lot about your agency."
And as he said that, he walked straight past Haechan and Ji-yoon and offered Chenle his hand to shake.
Bored, Ji-yoon turned away from Kang and stepped further into the office. As she passed Haechan, she raised her brows as if to say I told you so.
"I am very sorry to bother you when you already have such a busy schedule," Chene apologized politely, adding a bow for the proper effect. "Thank you for taking the time to meet us."
"Not at all! I heard the DREAM agents are very capable young men. It is my pleasure to help you," he said quickly, then turned to look at Ji-yoon who was strolling through the room aimlessly.
She didn't notice the man's curious gaze when he asked,
"And who is this young lady? Is she also an agent of yours?"
"That is Miss Kim Ji-yoon, our advisor for this case," Chenle quickly said, his swift response making it clear that he had thought about this beforehand.
At his introduction, she turned around. A sweet smile on her lips, a quick bow.
"It is a pleasure to meet you," Ji-yoon lied politely.
"Oh, the pleasure is all mine!" Kang said in return, then motioned towards the two sofas in the middle of the room that faced one another. "Shall we take a seat?"
While Haechan and Chenle followed his suggestion right away, Ji-yoon took the liberty to roam around the room a little longer.
"So, what can I do for you?"
"I am sure you have already heard about the situation regarding LTM and JYP," Chenle began vaguely, curious to see how much Kang actually knew about the matter.
"Yes, it is tragic really. Such bright people brutally murdered."
Empty.
Empty words, void of any meaning. No care nor sympathy. Just something he said as an easy response to a precarious situation.
He was indeed a politician.
Ji-yoon exhaled flatly. If he was only going to pretend, he shouldn't have tried to seem like he cared at all.
She stood behind the mayor when she glared at him. Although he didn't see her, Haechan did. And his gaze quickly caught her attention.
He didn't know her well yet. He wasn't going to pretend like her polite, innocent persona wasn't obviously at least partly fake.
But something he was absolutely certain about was that she genuinely cared for the people around her.
So after their eyes met, it quickly became evident that his gaze wasn't warning but rather warm and urging for caution.
Ji-yoon nodded, looked away, turned around.
"As you know, there is some controversy surrounding JYP and the project as a whole. Since you support them, I am sure you are interested in solving this issue quickly," Chenle pointed out.
Kang agreed right away. "Of course."
"Then may I ask why you chose to go with JYP for this project?"
"They seemed the most promising," Kang replied. "They have good ideas."
"We heard that JYP lacked a lot in comparison to LTM up until a week before you chose them," Chenle pointed out, tone still only oozing curiosity rather than sounding accusative.
"Well, you see," he began slowly. "I am personally not very good with technology, so I can't judge the process. For me, it's the result that matters."
Nodding, Chenle just went along with what the man said.
"Is there anything else you can tell us about the murders or the theft?"
Kang thought about it for a second but eventually just shook his head.
"I am afraid I don't know a lot of details myself," he replied.
A reply that made it obvious that he was lying about something.
"So you knew about the alleged theft?" Haechan inquired, not hesitant to point out the man's mistake.
He seemed confused. "Sorry?"
"How did you know about it?"
"Oh," Kang said through an awkward laugh. "The police informed me about it."
"Really?" Haechan wondered, truly impressed. "How exactly did that work, given that the police dismissed the allegations without even investigating them? The case was never made public."
Haechan seemed to enjoy himself, whereas Kang struggled to reply.
"May I ask," Haechan interrupted and hesitated a bit. Just a bit to get Kang curious about what he was going to say. "The rumours that you are planning to run for president - are they true?"
A very much faked and also uncomfortably loud laugh pushed out of the man's lungs as he tried to find a proper answer to that. He could agree. He could disagree.
But he could also give a vague, useless answer.
"Who knows what the future will bring?" Kang Jae-suk said calmly. More empty words, void of any emotion or meaning.
Agreeing right away, Haechan nodded. "Right, who knows?" he agreed under his breath. "Anything could happen. It's probably best to be on your guard."
Right away, Kang stopped smiling. His warm eyes turned curious. Anxious, even.
Why did this sound like a threat?
"Excuse me?" Jae-suck asked in surprise.
"Oh, I am sorry," Haechan apologized quickly, put a hand in front of his mouth as he smiled sheepishly. "I didn't mean anything bad. I just tried to say that, sometimes, it's good to be wary."
Chenle put a hand on Haechan's shoulder and pulled the boy back a bit. He smiled a little less fake than Haechan but it remained insincere.
"No need to worry," he reassured Haechan. "I am sure that our Mayor Kang has a lot of powerful friends behind him. He is probably safer than any of us."
Suddenly, his eyes jumped from Haechan to Kang. His tone sounded almost accidentally threatening - as if he didn't mean it.
"Am I right, Mr Kang?" Chenle asked politely. "There is surely no need to worry?"
Swallowing hard, Jae-suck nodded. "Yes," he agreed hesitantly. "There is no need to be worried."
"Great!" Chenle exclaimed happily before he got up, quickly followed by Haechan. Ji-yoon walked over to them. "Then we should let you get back to work now - I am sure you have a lot to do."
Haechan quickly nodded. "We will do our best to finish the investigations quickly so that we can report back to you. I hope we can continue to rely on your support."
"Of course," Kang said. He reacted faster this time, yet it was still easy to notice that he was rather irritated. "I hope everything goes smoothly."
"Thank you," Haechan and Chenle both said before they, as well as Ji-yoon, gave him a polite bow and left soon after.
It didn't take them too long to get back to the car, where Chenle stopped before he had the chance to get in it.
He looked down at his phone that was buzzing continuously.
"I have to get that, sorry," he said, then quickly walked a couple of steps away to talk comfortably.
Meanwhile, Ji-yoon leaned against the car's door. Arms crossed in front of her chest, she looked at Haechan intently.
"So I am not allowed to unnecessarily provoke people but you are?" she asked, frowned a little. "Double standards."
"We didn't provoke anyone," Haechan said through a gasp, offended that she would even think this way. "All we did was show our concern."
She pushed out a laugh. "Yeah sure." But soon asked the question that was really on her mind. "Why did you do this though?"
"We want to see how he will react, what he will do," Haechan replied with a shrug. He didn't seem worried at all.
Confused, Ji-yoon leaned forward a little. She inspected the boy's face as if to see what he was hiding underneath his oddly unbothered facade.
It turned out though, that there was nothing much there.
He was completely confident.
"Don't you worry for your safety?" she questioned. "You know that Kang doesn't take threats lightly."
Amused, almost, Haechan smirked. He too leaned closer to her, making the small gap that was between them even smaller.
Up close his already deep brown eyes became even more endearing. Confidence was dripping from the tips of his mocking smirk.
"Scared?" he asked.
Ji-yoon poked her tongue against the inside of her cheek. She grinned, raised a brow.
"Yes," she said confidently. "For you."
Sighing, Haechan noted that, "Then you should stop following me around. I won't hold back just because it makes you worried."
Humming softly, she considered what to do. She tilted her head to the side, not taking her eyes off him for even a second.
And just seconds were also all it took for her to come to the conclusion that,
"I would rather stay," she said calmly. "So I can look after you."
Taken aback for a moment, Haechan quickly recovered. He huffed, moved further away from her.
"No need," he said. "Nothing's gonna happen anyway."
Confidently.
Haechan said that with utter confidence. So, surely, there was really nothing to worry about.
Right?
Headlines ⊶
I tried to make this chapter short but somehow it didn't work--
Anyway, thank you for reading!