Night falls, and I am greeted by my last customer of the day— Lee Haechan.
"Hey," he greets casually as he stalks towards the counter, a bag hanging from his right shoulder with a laptop tucked between his arm and his side.
I narrow my eyes at him wordlessly, to which he catches.
"What?"
"Hey," I mock him. "I haven't had a proper conversation with you since the day you left me at the science lab. I'm sure you could afford to say more than just a hey."
"Well, I freaked." Haechan shrugs. "So, what's your role?"
Before I could ask him what he meant, Mark groans. "There is no role, Haechan. Besides, that whole computer guy thing was all you."
"That title was the least you could've given me after everything I've done for you." The younger shoots Mark a glare as he settles on the stool next to him. "So, what's the plan?"
"We go to Seo Industries." Mark puts down his pencil, flipping his book shut. "To see if my suit is done. And no, don't worry, I won't be using it today," Mark turns to me to cut me off before I could even say anything, as though knowing I was going to oppose his words. "Then, I guess we just work it out from there."
"Boring," Haechan fakes a yawn, and Mark nudges him.
"Did you bring what I told you to?"
"Yeah, yeah," he mutters mindlessly before putting his bag on the counter, unzipping it to take out a thick fabric.
"Here." Mark throws it to me, to which I barely catch. "Put it on. I can't risk you getting seen by anyone."
I almost blush at his thoughtfulness, but I know that the risk of being put in danger is very real. I put the hoodie on wordlessly, Mark's scent immediately infiltrating my nostrils.
"C'mon." Mark slings his bag over his shoulder, and soon the three of us are out headed towards Seo Industries.
I have no idea how to get there from Moon's, and while I had expected for us to be taking the subway, Mark hails down a cab.
"Hey," Haechan whispers from beside me a few minutes into the ride, the three of us squashed in the back seat of the taxi with me in the middle.
"What?" I turn to look at him weirdly, wondering why he's whispering.
"Uh... how's Chaerin?"
Before I could answer, Mark scoffs. "I can hear you, you know."
"Yeah, whatever. At least I'm brave enough to admit that I actually like her," Haechan argues childishly, and for a moment I wonder what he means by that.
Does Mark like someone?
"Shut up," Mark mutters, rolling his eyes before turning back to the window. Haechan nudges me, forcing me to look back at him.
I clear my throat. "She's fine. We made up— thank you, by the way. For being there for her. And for covering for me too, though it didn't really work," I mumble the latter part of my sentence.
Haechan waves a hand mindlessly, telling me that it's fine.
"So, you finally admit, huh?" I ask after a few moments of silence. "You like her."
"Well, yeah. It's not like you didn't already know," Haechan says flatly as he stares out of the window, but I'm adamant to know more.
"Did you tell her?"
"Hm."
"Haechan, c'mon," I poke his arm, and he finally looks at me.
"I don't know if you noticed, but the girl hates my guts. Telling her would only be a recipe for disaster." He rolls his eyes, and for the first time Lee Haechan isn't actually joking around.
"She willingly went to you for help. I wouldn't exactly call that hate," I mumble under my breath, but Haechan ignores me.
He's stubborn, but I can kind of see where he's coming from. If he were to ask me to declare my feelings for Mark, I don't think I'd be able to do it either.
The taxi comes to a halt right outside Seo Industries, and we all shuffle towards the building after Mark pays for the ride.
"Stay with me," Mark mutters as he tugs me closer to him by my hoodie sleeve. This late at night, the building is already void of people, but one could never be too sure. Despite that, the lobby is brightly lit, and I can't help but to agree with Sera— the lobby, is in fact really nice.
The elevator ride up takes a while, considering Mr. Seo's office is located at the highest level. It's clear how familiar Mark is with this place despite it being so maze-like, and he finally leads us to a lone door at the very end of the corridor.
Mark leans down towards a black box attached to the door, which I would soon find out is an iris recognition lock. The door beeps open, and I am met with a huge room which resembles a lab.
"Woah..." I don't stop the awe that escapes my lips, and Haechan scoffs from behind me before he brushes past my shoulder to enter.
"Get used to it."
I roll my eyes my eyes at his arrogance, but follow the two boys in anyway. The lab seems to be void of people— that is until my eyes land on a familiar back standing before a circular contraption, Mark's Spider-suit suspended in the middle.
Mr. Seo turns around, his white coat following his movement. "What are you kids doing here?" He asks, pushing his lab goggles up to his forehead.
I leave it to Mark to answer as I let my eyes roam around the contraption in awe— and here I was, thinking the hologram was the most futuristic thing I've seen.
Multiple robotic arms stretch out from the sides, working busily on Mark's suit which already looks slightly different than the last time I saw it. I'm unable to tell what really is going on considering how fast the mechanical parts are moving, but they seem to be doing the job in fixing— if not, improving— the suit.
Mr. Seo taps on a screen next to the arc, causing the robots to stop working. "I've just been working on a few minor adjustments," he explains.
Mark nods, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Can I try it?"
"Patience, kid," Mr. Seo tuts, bringing his googles back down to shield his irises as he turns back to the suit.
"This place is really cool," I mumble as Mark moves to stand beside me. "Is this where you spend all your time during your... internship?"
"Not all, but essentially yeah." Mark turns to me. "C'mon. We have work to do."
He leads me to the end of the room where Haechan had set up his laptop, hooked up to a giant monitor.
"Found anything?"
Haechan gives him a side eye. "Patience, kid."
Mark nudges his head harshly, causing him to almost fall face-first on his mechanical keyboard. "Get to it," he says sternly, and I can't help but to notice how serious he always is with his roommate— a stark contrast to the usual Mark Lee I know.
Haechan rolls his eyes as he rubs the spot where Mark had pushed him. "I've just been looking at the police reports from the past week. There has been two newer cases of people consuming Gold Dust, but nothing about the gang. They're super secretive."
My mind goes back to the day at Mr. Seo's penthouse when he had explained to me how Neo Seoul works. It seems as though the people consuming the drug actually have no idea where they actually come from, seeing as the gang doesn't deal with the public directly— making it easier for them to get away scot-free.
"How did you manage to access confidential files?" I ask instead. "Did you hack the police system?"
"I know someone," Haechan says. "Let's just say, Doyoung hyung owes me."
"Isn't that illegal, though?" I mutter, and Haechan waves a hand mindlessly.
"Back to the matter on hand," Mark interrupts. "I don't think we should waste any more time with these people since they don't know jack-shit anyways. We need to locate the gang members head-on."
"They wouldn't double-cross their boss, would they?" Haechan turns around on his swivel chair. "I mean, two of them are already in jail right now but they're insisting that they don't actually know where the drug is being manufactured. Does that make sense to you?"
His words cause me to perk up, and Haechan turns to look at me. "What?"
"What if it's true?" I ask, looking at the two boys. "What if they're telling the truth?"
Mark takes a step towards me. "Yena-"
"No, listen," I interrupt, pacing the floor as I try to form my thoughts. "Remember when I said there could be a hierarchy, of some sorts? Could it be possible that the lower-ranking members don't actually know anything about Gold Dust, rather just blindly doing the dirty work for their bosses?"
Mark's lips part before he shakes his head. "Yes- no. I don't know." He runs a hand through his hair. "Even then, we don't know the order of the tattoos. The one we bumped into had the cherry bomb, while the one who tried to kidnap you had the other version."
"One of them could be lying," Haechan pipes in. "It's smart. They're trying to cause confusion so it would be harder to get to the boss."
"Or, they're both telling the truth and that there could be another tattoo above them," I suggest, and Mark nods his head in agreement.
"Yena's right. And we need to find that out." Mark looks at us determinedly.
"Mark!" Mr. Seo calls out from the other side.
Mark holds my stare for a bit longer before he breaks it off, stalking to where Mr. Seo is standing before his suit.
"It's ready." The scientist crosses his arms as he waits for us to gather.
Mark's suit hangs grandly in the middle of the circle. The only physical difference I could make out is the blue accents that are now switched out for black, though I'm sure the enhancements to the suit's capabilities are what matters more.
"Your web shooters are now smaller and integrated into your suit so you wouldn't lose them. They're of higher capacity too so it's unlikely that you'll use up all of them in one sitting, but in the event that you do, they would flash red. I also put in some taser webs— it's just something I've been working on." Mr. Seo walks towards his workbench, picking up a prototype that looks like a normal rectangular box. He presses a button, causing a glowing blue web to shoot out of it and almost hitting a wide-eyed Haechan in the process.
"You almost killed me," he whispers shakily.
"Stop being dramatic. You won't die." The scientist rolls his eyes as he sets the prototype down. "At least not instantly," he murmurs, and I'm not sure if Haechan had caught that.
Mr. Seo walks back to the suit, standing in front of the small monitor screen as he taps on it a few times. "Web wings. For longer flight time."
The suit's arms spread open, revealing what resembles a paraglider attached to the side. My lips part in awe, and I instinctively turn to look at Mark to have a gauge at his reaction. Surprisingly, Mark has his lips in a straight line with his arms folded across his chest as he stares at his suit, clearly focused.
"The rest are just minor enhancements. Durability, eye lenses. Ready to give it a go?"
Mark nods as he steps forward, a glint in his eye. His sudden change of demeanour is something that I'm not used to (not like it's a bad thing), and I find myself taking a step backwards, coincidentally brushing shoulders with Haechan.
The tanned boy pats my shoulder reassuringly. "Welcome to the team, Yena."
—
Happy Lunar New Year to those celebrating!