20th November
2020
Seonghwa sits in the living room of their mansion with Hongjoong pacing speedily beside him. Yeosang, San and Jongho are also gathered for no particular reason. This is simply one of the rare moments where the men spend time with each other.
The fireplace is lit and everyone has a cup of hot chocolate in their hands, except for Jongho with coffee. The TV is on, although no one is watching it. It only acts as a source of white noise as the men talk. The atmosphere is warm and comfortable for the most part- aside from the ball of rage pacing through the room.
"Joong, it'll be okay. Let's just get the job done today and have fun after. It's a party we're throwing after all," Seonghwa giggles before tucking his gun into his coat pocket. He can never be too prepared.
"It just irks me. Why must I pretend to be those three men's brother? That feels like an insult to Jangmi, she's my one and only sibling," Hongjoong huffs. "Besides, we haven't even seen these men properly before. If Jangmi saw me pretending to be their brother she'd either laugh at me or cry. No in between," the man stresses.
The others in the room chuckle, earning themselves a deathly glare from Hongjoong. "Relax, I'm sure she'd understand. Plus aren't the other gang members the ones that made the request for you to pretend to be their brother? You don't really have a choice here," Yeosang shrugs.
The grumpy Hongjoong exhales loudly and slumps onto the couch next to Seonghwa childishly. It's still fairly early in the morning, but Seonghwa is still fully ready in his suit and tie. Hongjoong is also ready in a suit and tie, one white rose clipped to his chest pocket. His white hair is elegantly slicked back, a few strands stylishly falling over his forehead. Seonghwa's hair is fully slicked back, and he can't help but feel that he looks like a bodyguard right now but he supposes that's what his disguise is going to be anyway.
"We should go now and set up before guests start arriving," Seonghwa announces, snapping Hongjoong out of his trance. He jumps up and nods, restlessly storming out of the room shortly after. "We should be back before nightfall. If you guys need anything, you can ask Yeosang," Seonghwa orders the two scientists. Then he turns to Yeosang.
"You can call us if there's something urgent, but try not to. This party will be big so it's pretty likely that we'll have many eyes on us today," Seonghwa then explains to Yeosang. "Stay safe, please," is all Yeosang replies with, worry present in his voice.
Seonghwa smiles. "We'll be fine. If anything, the authorities should be the ones that are scared."
He follows Hongjoong to their car and decides to drive since he's already taken the role of the "sidekick" for today.
"This is a huge deal with a huge amount of money on the line, so be careful and vigilant. Anyone could be there to mess it up for us. Even the other friends I called to help us, one of them could be against us. So be extra careful," Hongjoong warns.
Seonghwa offers a tight smile. "My eyes are peeled," he jokes, though he does feel a little pressure. There's such a high amount of drugs in their car right now, it'll be very easy for them to get caught. While the police force are no threat at the moment, who knows what other obstacles may come in their way. Another gang maybe? A group higher than the police, perhaps?
They arrive at another huge mansion which Hongjoong rented out. They plan to make it look like they live there, though anyone paying attention could easily tell that they don't.
Seonghwa gets out of the car and shields his eyes from the intense rays of the sun. It's chilly outside, yet so sunny. The two enter the house and Seonghwa is instantly hit with the stale and damp stench of mildew.
"You should set up the room yourself, I'm going to take care of the hygiene here," Seonghwa forces out, hand making its way to his nose to block it. For once Hongjoong doesn't complain about being ordered around and lets out a cough. "You don't need to make this place perfect, just...bearable is enough," he utters before making his way up the creaking wooden stairs.
Seonghwa doesn't waste more time and runs into the big hall in the mansion, throwing open every window he can find. He expected a situation like this, so he brought a bag of supplies with him. A can of air freshener proves to be his best friend at the moment.
Some scented candles later, the mansion finally starts smelling a little better. However, the cold air from outside has filled up the house so Seonghwa's next mission is to turn on the heating.
His task is interrupted when the doorbell rings. He answers tensely, one hand hovering over his gun. He relaxes visibly when it's just one of their allies.
"Hey! It's been a long time Seonghwa, how have you and Hongjoong been holding up?" the man exclaims. Seonghwa laughs along. "We've never been better! Hongjoong is upstairs, you should join him there while I take care of a few things," Seonghwa explains. He tries to appear casual, but he's analysing the gang member carefully. He can trust no one right now.
Hongjoong invited many gang members as back up mainly as defence for Hongjoong and Seonghwa, but this might backfire if even one of the gang members turns against them.
The man obediently goes upstairs while Seonghwa continues to make the house smell a little better and feel a little warmer. It still doesn't really feel like a home, but at least none of the guests will throw up from the odour now.
More gang members arrive one by one and are sent to Hongjoong's room upstairs. Once the last member arrives, Seonghwa joins the gang members. He's already told all the guests that were invited to just enter the mansion without knocking. Some of the gang members that arrived have been set in charge of managing the party downstairs, so there's no worry there.
Hongjoong sits at a desk in the middle of the room, waiting with very little patience while Seonghwa stands at the door, keeping a close eye on everyone that enters or leaves the room.
"Have the guests started to arrive yet? The brothers are taking a little too long to arrive," Hongjoong complains. Seonghwa bites back a smile and shakes his head. "I can hear music and voices, but the brothers haven't arrived yet."
"Have you guys seen these brothers before?" one of the other gang members in the room asks. Hongjoong hesitates for a moment before deciding to not say anything at all and ignore the question. In reality, neither Hongjoong nor Seonghwa has seen these men fully before, as they are big on secrecy. Seonghwa had only met the brothers from a far distance and while they were fully covered in clothing and masks. This is the reason why Hongjoong wants to be extra cautious. But this fact might become a vulnerability for them, so the other gang members cannot know.
"Stay focused, they could arrive any second now," is all he says, much to the other men's disappointment.
After what felt like forever, a few knocks land on the door to the room.
"Come in," Hongjoong calls out.
Seonghwa stares intensely at the door as it opens and three figures walk in. The man at the front of the group stares back at him. Seonghwa can nearly feel the nerves from this man, making him incredibly suspicious already.
He observes the other brothers too, something about them raising red flags in him.
They assure Hongjoong that they brought their money and get ready to leave, but Seonghwa can't push his feelings of suspicion aside. He has a strong feeling that they aren't the real brothers.
So the "brothers" really did try to fool him and Hongjoong after all?
Seonghwa tries to keep his nerves under control, but he quickly realises he's doing a horrible job when the shortest "brother" rushes past him with haste and fear.
Once all the "brothers" are gone, Seonghwa turns to Hongjoong. It's clear that Hongjoong suspects something too, as he simply nods in silence to Seonghwa. The older man nods back and rushes out the room behind the "brothers", palming the gun in his pocket.
He's nearly certain that those three men are not the actual brothers now. So who are they then? The situation has just become infinitely more dangerous and Seonghwa's blood begins to boil.
He stays at the top of the staircase and watches the shorter "brother" run down the stairs. He must observe the men, but can't make it obvious. That will only make things worse for him and Hongjoong.
When the "brother" makes eye contact with Seonghwa, he only glares in a threatening way. He'll pursue the imposters after alerting Hongjoong.
But then the brother displays two middle fingers to Seonghwa, and that's when he can't contain himself anymore. His eyes widen and he throws his original plan out the window as he reaches for his gun.
When he's halfway down the stairs, he catches sight of the "brother" dashing into the ballroom. He curses under his breath and pulls his phone out in a hurry, texting Hongjoong to come down fast.
He impatiently taps his foot and his hand shakes with rage as Hongjoong descends the stairs. "Our suspicions were correct?" Hongjoong whispers. Seonghwa nods with a clenched jaw. "He's probably going to try hiding in one of the two rooms at the end of the ballroom. You go into the room on the left, I'll go to the one on the right," Hongjoong orders.
Seonghwa wordlessly throws the door of the ballroom open, causing a few of the guests to gasp and turn. He doesn't even spare them a glance and shoves past them, one destination in mind. Hongjoong enters the room from behind and speeds to a door at the end of the room.
They reach their doors at the same time. Seonghwa reaches the door on the left and opens the door slowly, aiming the gun around the room frantically. To his disappointment, there isn't a person in sight. But on the bright side, that means there's a good chance that the "brother" is in the room next to him with Hongjoong.
He notices that the door to that room is opened a crack, light peeking through. Out of nowhere, he hears voices. "You're here?" he hears Hongjoong's voice, followed by the shortest "brother's" voice.
As they're talking, he pulls the door open a little more. Hongjoong can see Seonghwa clearly, but the "brother's" back is facing Seonghwa and he didn't even notice the door opening.
Seonghwa doesn't hesitate as he aims his gun and shoots quickly. His bullet lands in the stomach of the other and the man falls to his knees, blood spreading quickly.
Completely unfazed, Seonghwa steps around the man until he's facing him. He crouches down and leans his face closer to the "brother's", scanning his facial features. The shape of this man's face as well as his voice are all simply too different to the little he saw of the real brothers.
"I knew it. This is definitely not one of the brothers I met the other day," Seonghwa mumbles to Hongjoong. But suddenly, the "brother" spits a mouthful of blood onto Seonghwa's face. Anger explodes within him and he quickly jumps up and brings his gun to the "brother's" head.
"Wait."
Seonghwa's eyebrows furrow as he watches Hongjoong approach the man on the floor, even getting onto one knee beside him. He seems incredibly focused.
He rips a wig off the man on the ground and Seonghwa bites back a gasp at the sight of long, dark hair tied up under the wig.
"Are you a girl?" Hongjoong asks softly, and that's when puzzle pieces start clicking in his head. Jongho had requested a female test subject to diversify his test results earlier, it's no wonder that Hongjoong is interested now.
The man- the person on the ground stays silent, but Hongjoong still turns to Seonghwa and eyes the gun in his hand, which is still aimed to the head of the imposter.
"Don't kill her. We're bringing her back," Hongjoong declares. Confusion washes over Seonghwa's face. "Wait- how do we know they're a girl?" he asks while lowering his gun.
"It was written all over her face when I asked her the question. We'll double check any ID on her when we get back to the mansion anyway. First let's knock her out," Hongjoong explains, and the two men turn to the girl.
To their surprise, she already lies on the ground in a pool of her own blood, eyes closed over and body unmoving.
"Oh," Hongjoong utters quietly.
Seonghwa turns to Hongjoong and his anger dissolves quickly, seeing Hongjoong's astonished face. "I'll sneak her back to the mansion from the window in the other room. You should get the guests out and clear anything up," Hongjoong orders. Seonghwa opens his mouth to complain, but then his eyes land on the blood splattered on Hongjoong's white shirt, probably since he was directly in front of the girl when she was shot.
Seonghwa pulls a napkin out of his pocket and wipes the blood from his own face with frustration. "I'll see you at the mansion," he grumbles, exiting the room grumpily.
A/N
From here on out, a lot of the chapters will have a substantial amount of text copied directly from "Viridescence" as the next few chapters will be about events that also occured in "Viridescence", but do keep in mind that it will mostly be new bits!!
Also I'm uploading this slightlyyyy earlier than usual (a few hours LOL) because I won't get the chance to tomorrow, I hope everyone's doing well <3