Audio titled: MIND GAME
Chapter
023
•
BETTER
(Much Better)
***
Jong Woo all but collapsed behind the closed door. That had been...close.
Clamped muscles, irregular breathing and a racing heartbeat...If he had to take a guess, his symptoms pointed directly to a panic attack. The question was, why?
He had never felt comfortable around other people, but Moon Jo took his uneasiness to a whole new level. But it wasn't the same uneasiness Jong Woo felt when being around someone like Sung Ryeol or Kwang Jae. With them, Jong Woo felt almost a bit disgusted at their presence, but Moon Jo? He seemed to experience an adrenaline rush whenever he was around the man. Jong Woo had once read that people could become addicted to highly dangerous sports, did that mean..?
Jong Woo shook his head vigorously. He refused to even think down that road.
He picked himself up and opened the adjacent door. A big wooden tub full with steaming hot water stood in the middle of the otherwise empty room. It only took Jong Woo a split second to identify the women as Shin Soo Oh's mother. With her dark hair and fair complexion, Shin Ji Eun—like the rest of the Shin's—looked out of place in such a worn-down inn.
"I left a new set of clothes on the floor over there. My leader kindly urges you to wear them."
With that, Ji Eun left Jong Woo alone.
Jong Woo sighed and approached the tub suspiciously. He only ever washed himself when the stench became too dominant. But even then he didn't use much more than a wet towel.
He didn't like how Moon Jo got him to take a bath, but he wasn't foolish enough to waste such luxury.
He carefully stepped out of his clothes and entered the tub. The hot water did wonders to his battered body. He closed his eyes blissfully for a moment, before he began to scrub himself. He wouldn't want to give Moon Jo the satisfaction to know that he actually enjoyed it.
Several long minutes later, the water had taken on a brownish colour and Jong Woo decided it would be contra productive if he stayed in it any longer.
The clothes fit him surprisingly well. It was an odd feeling for Jong Woo, since he was used to layers of oversized clothes. They weren't new clothes but definitely in a better state than his old ones. Jong Woo still decided to keep his old shoes and jacket.
When he exited the room, he heard Moon Jo's voice coming from downstairs. He moved to the staircase and looked down.
"...and this is the list of the smaller groups that I told you about leader. Should they be allowed to stay independent, or should I insist on a fusion?"
Jong Woo could see Sung Ryeol handing Moon Jo several stacks of papers. He tried to read Sung Ryeol's expression and was surprised when he couldn't detect any malice or reluctance. Instead, Sung Ryeol seemed almost excited and radiated a kind of satisfaction that came from being busy.
"I don't care as long as you maintain firm control over all of them. If that is easier with a fusion..."
"No, no leader! Not at all, I can handle them just fine. I merely wanted to—..."
"That would be all Sung Ryeol," dismissed Moon Jo. He sounded bored and didn't even look at Sung Ryeol while he bowed—much deeper than Yoo Cheol—and hurriedly left the inn.
When he looked up from the papers, his eyes met Jong Woo's and he walked up the stairs.
"Hmm..." he made, while assessing him.
Jong Woo squirmed under his intense gaze.
"What?!" he hissed.
"Better," commented Moon Jo and walked back in his room.
Jong Woo huffed annoyed and followed him. He could have sworn he heard Moon Jo murmur, "much better," under his breath.
"Sung Ryeol seemed happy," he began, when Moon Jo continued to ignore him.
"Of course he is."
"How did you manage that within just a day?"
"By being me."
Jong Woo couldn't hold back his laughter at the sheer audacity of the man.
That finally got Moon Jo to look up. "Is something funny, babe?"
"You are," shrugged Jong Woo.
Moon Jo looked amused and insulted at the same time. "I've been described in many different words, but I doubt 'funny' was ever one of them."
Jong Woo shrugged again and uninvited filled himself a glass of water.
"You owe me a hint Moon Jo."
"Ah yes...Let me think...Jung Hwa."
Jong Woo spurted water all over himself.
"Wha—That's not a hint!"
"With your thick head we would still be here tomorrow."
"You want Jung Hwa to—... No way! Forget it Moon Jo! Get it out of your head now!"
"Well, her little friend can help her too if she wants."
This just kept getting better and better. Jong Woo didn't even notice that he had leapt to his feet in protest.
"Hyun Ho?! He—Wait how do you even know him?"
"He's one of the best fighters group task force has, of course I have heard of him."
"But- they- I—..." sputtered Jong Woo.
Moon Jo sighed. "Calm down will you? Just think. We can't win a physical fight against group task force, but we don't need to. Jung Hwa is already highly respected among the group, the power change will go by practically unnoticed."
Jong Woo felt the strong need to defend his friends.
"There is absolutely no way Jung Hwa and Hyun Ho would betray their leader in any way! They are kind-hearted and loyal and—..."
"...and that's exactly why they will."
"You're not making any sense! Have you talked to them about it? I swear if you—..."
"I don't need to, you genius. I told you; the plan is already set in motion, without me doing anything. You already did all the work," smirked Moon Jo, pleased with himself.
"Me?! I tried to keep them out of this mess, I didn't do anything!"
"You exist."
Defeated, Jong Woo fell back down in the chair. "That's your answer for everything isn't it?"
"Consider this my hint. You exist, Lee Kwang Jae exists, figure out the rest."
"I really can't see what you're getting at."
"The laws of physics are not the only things you can manipulate babe. If you know where to look, you'll find that human nature is far more powerful than anything your science could come up with. The only thing you have to do is predict their actions and act accordingly."
"That's exactly what I expected a manipulative bastard to say, but I am not like that," objected Jong Woo.
Moon Jo chuckled darkly. "Oh no baby, you are actually much worse than I am."
Jong Woo was left speechless at that.
"Well, at least you would be, but you don't seem to have any notion of what you are doing...Just wait a little and your friends will show you just how strongly your existence can change the actions of other people."
Jong Woo threw his hands in the air exasperated.
"Yes I exist, I'm sorry, okay? Could you stop rubbing it in my face like that?"
"You're hopeless," stated Moon Jo, sounding mildly astonished, "But we are getting off topic again."
He waved the letter in front of Jong Woo.
"One week."
"Huh?"
"In order to arrive in time, we have to depart by the end of this week. You have 6 days to give me a proper answer."
Jong Woo almost asked what answer he meant, but if he was honest with himself he already knew. Moon Jo gave him an ultimatum to decide if he wanted to join him. If he went with them, there would be no way to turn back.
"You want to take over Seoul in one week?"
"I think it won't take much more than a few days. In fact, Yoo Cheol was pretty certain that it would start today."
"Start? What starts? Stop speaking in riddle's, Moon Jo!"
"Go home darling. You'll see what I mean soon. You are armed I hope?"
"Armed? Err—..." Jong Woo checked his jacket. He still had the shield with a little bit of energy left, as well as the pain-generator he used on Moon Jo. There was also a smoke-bomb and two little explosives.
He had a really bad feeling about this situation. There wasn't really anything he could do about it though. Moon Jo seemed determined not to tell him more and Jong Woo certainly didn't want to stay longer than needed.
Warily, his bad feeling growing with every step he took, he moved to the door. He looked back. Moon Jo was studying the papers Sung Ryeol had brought him.
"Have a nice day," murmured Moon Jo, without taking his eyes of the papers.
That's it, thought Jong Woo after closing the door behind him. If Moon Jo was wishing him a nice day, something absolutely terrifying was about to happen.
He stepped out of the inn. A chilly breeze made him shudder and he promised himself that he would change back into his layers of oversized clothes as soon as he got home. They might not flatter him, but at least they were warmer.
His sinking feeling wouldn't go away, no matter how hard he tried to not think about it. He tried to convince himself that—while everything was far from being fine—he had been in bad situations all the time over the past weeks. Seriously, what was the worst thing that could happen?
"Yoon Jong Woo!"
He froze alarmed. None other than leader task force walked towards him from a side alley, smiling amiably at him.
"A wonderful day to you! Such pleasure to see you again, Jung Hwa and Hyun Ho just won't stop talking about your many talents. Say, would you care for a cup of hot tea with me? This weather is really getting to my old age, and I was hoping to have some company."
Lee Kwang Jae smiled at him expectantly.
Moon Jo, that bastard. He had seriously sent Jong Woo straight into Kwang Jae's arms without any warning—or plan for that matter.
At least he could be certain that someone knew where he was, in case things got bad with Kwang Jae.
Considering that that someone was Moon Jo, Jong Woo wasn't sure if it was such a good thing after all.
***
Author's Note: Bah, I planned so much more for this chapter! (to my fellow authors: does planning ever work out, or am I just a particular hopeless case?)
It's only a couple hundreds of words, but this is actually the longest chapter I've ever written! If that isn't worth a comment then I don't know what is :P
I actually have a question for you guys: how do you feel about a Moon Jo POV? There has been a few occasions when a what-the-hell-does-Moon Jo-think scene would have helped to move the story along or just clarified certain points. But I always decided against it because I was afraid to ruin the mystery...So what do you think? Should I try writing one? It would probably be short and wouldn't dig too deep into his thoughts, but still...
Okay, now comes random rambling from my side. It will hopefully clarify some points in Jong Woo and Moon Jo's conversation. If you aren't all that interested just skip it and I will see you next time! :)
Seo Moon Jo is described as a master manipulator, who can read and predict people easily and use them to his advantage. What always bothered me is that in most fics, he seems completely ignorant of love and friendship. I am not saying the Moon Jo in my fic thinks of love as anything but a weakness (or is capable to feel it for that matter), but he knows exactly how far people would go for their loved ones and that it is indeed a considerable force. In the television series, he refuses to acknowledge love as a weapon, but here he certainly does and is not afraid to use it.
Yoon Jong Woo on the other hand grew up in a world where everyone looked only after themselves and even loving parents abandoned their children. He does not understand that love and friendship can trigger the most selfless actions in humans. Nor does he know that people could actually go to such extremes for him. However, contrary to Moon Jo he feels and gives love quite easily (therefore his saving-people thing is still here). He just doesn't understand that his friends are not merely nice to him but return his love and would do anything to help him.
What Moon Jo is trying to tell Jong Woo is that by making his friends love him, he 'manipulates' their actions in a much deeper way than he ever could with superficial words.
Sooo, that's all :D. If you've actually read all that, well... I don't know what to say, I love you :3