Dedicated to:
erde22 smnthjyflrs moansta
~*~*~*~*~
It seemed like everyone was affected by the whole stunt the perpetrators had done last night, even the Elites, who had no personal grudge against them.
Who wouldn't? After all, the information they had broadcasted all over the nation was big news.
No one expected it at all. Not even Renjun himself. So when the X-Force had arrived at the department's meeting room once again, the Elites' indistinct conversation was abruptly interrupted.
Koeun whipped her head as soon as she heard the door opened and her eyes immediately caught up with the boys by the entrance. They stopped in their tracks upon seeing the Elites looking at them— or at least, to one of them.
The girl's eyes softened when she noticed the boy's glum expression. "Renjun..." She said in a low, soft voice.
It even hurts her to see him in this state.
A moment later, someone else had entered the room, speaking when he noticed everyone was already in the room. "I see, everyone's already here." This made Chief Moon nod, pleased. "We'll begin the discussion immediately."
While the chief strode towards his seat at the head of the table, the others snapped back to reality and did the same. As usual, the west side was taken by the Elites and the X-Force sat across them. Instead of Haechan— being the second leader of the group— Renjun took the one next to Mark.
When the chief settled down, with his hands clasped together on top of the wooden table, he began the meeting. "I'm sure all of you are already aware of the broadcast last night. Otherwise, I wouldn't have called you today for an urgent meeting."
In her peripheral vision, Koeun noticed Renjun, who was sitting across her, glancing down.
"Lucas, what are your findings about it?"
Lucas, who was sitting next to Koeun, propped his arms on the table, causing him to slightly lean forward. "According to my inquiry with the network earlier this morning, a person broke into the production control room and took over the system." He began. "The network's channel had an interruption that led to the broadcast of the expose video, which happened exactly at midnight. The culprit must've chosen that time seeing that the place was expected to have fewer workers."
"Have they identified the person?" Mark decided to join in, growing curious and concerned about who did it.
It couldn't be her, could it?
"Unfortunately, no," This made Mark sigh. "although the surveillance camera that was installed on the hallway captured the intruder, which was a man."
Mark was unsure whether the sigh was of frustration or relief.
"Also, he wasn't alone." Lucas added. "People in the security room were found knocked out. It seems like he came with a small group and escaped with them soon after."
A small group... Mark slightly narrowed his eyes at this.
"Any evidence found in the scene?" Asked by the chief.
"There was nothing."
"Did they find anything else that was noteworthy?" Mark had asked again, feeling a hint of hope inside of him.
Lucas gave him a good look before replying. "Actually, there is." He told him. "All of them were men."
Mark only nodded at this while leaning back against his seat, seemed to be satisfied by his answers. And Lucas noticed this.
Judging by how Mark acted a few seconds ago, he could tell he was expecting something... good to hear. And his response proved it.
"Are they sure about this?" Surprisingly, Koeun spoke up for the first time since the meeting started. "Maybe someone had disguised themself to avoid being caught. Or m-maybe they did it to hide their identity."
"They already confirmed it." Lucas urged. This made Koeun clamp her mouth shut, not asking further questions.
So she didn't have an alibi, Koeun thought as she tried to connect the information to her suspicion.
"From what I can see, the enemies were planning to ruin us with the same method for exposing Jaehyun last year." Mark brought the topic up after pondering. "If this keeps up, our personal information will be leaked in no time."
"It'll be more difficult for you to clear your names and earn the public's side." Chief Moon let out a short sigh.
"This is why we need to act fast." Mark gave a nod of an agreement at Lucas' statement.
"But regarding the information in the broadcast—" Chief Moon's eyes averted towards Renjun. "—was it true?"
Renjun became uncomfortable when he felt his eyes on him, and even more when the rest did the same. For some reason, he felt small and helpless in this situation, as if the only way was to accept their criticism.
The X-Force already received a backlash before and it didn't bother him that much, however, this was a different case. His personal life was involved.
Renjun tried to ignore the stares he was getting from the Elites by facing the chief with professionalism. "Yes."
The X-Force remained unmoved but the Elites only gave him different looks: curious, disagreeing, and sympathetic. The sympathetic one coming from Koeun.
"So your mother was imprisoned for scamming people, is that right?"
She already knew this story from last night.
Instead of settling with a single-word answer, Renjun took this opportunity to clarify things. "I admit, my mother is in jail... but for something she's not even guilty."
"What are you trying to imply?" Chief Moon was confused.
"A few years ago, a small company offered her a job to be their sales representative." Renjun began to explain. "My mom took the job and went door-to-door to deal with beauty products. The families found the products impressive and made deals with her."
"What happened?" Hina found herself blurting out as she listened.
Renjun threw a glance at her. "The products turned out to be fake and caused health complications. The families wanted to sue the company that created the products but it was nowhere to be found, leaving my mom to take all the blame."
Koeun looked down and pressed her lips into a thin line, remembering what he said last night.
"This is why I didn't tell you about it before. I'm worried you'd pity me."
"She wouldn't be in jail if it wasn't for me. She took the job for my sake."
"This is the reason why I joined the team. I want to prove her innocence. It's the only thing I can do as her son."
The sympathetic look was wiped away from Koeun's face as her eyes widened. This was the first time she was seeing Renjun filled with determination. She couldn't help but be amazed that despite going through a lot while being in the group, he didn't quit.
"I hope you won't see this matter as a drawback for the team's work." Renjun added. "I won't let it affect our progress."
"Good to know," The chief nodded at him. "because we will begin our side mission tomorrow."
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, on a ten-storey building, far from the enemies' headquarters, Yeri could be found wearing high-waisted faux leather pants and a white top underneath a red latex jacket adorned with spikes along the gray hallway. Her black peep-toe ankle boots took turns in coming forward as she strode towards the door, which was already near.
It didn't take long for her to arrive and swung the door open, speaking up as soon as she stepped inside. "Why the sudden meeting?"
By the time the two persons in the room abruptly stopped talking and averted their attention towards her, she had her arms crossed in front of her.
"There you are." Yuta exclaimed upon seeing the girl. He was leaning back towards his chair, twisting his pocket knife between his fingers. "Took you long enough to prepare. I guess I should've expected this from a girl."
Yeri sent a glare at him. "I didn't ask for your opinion, Yuta."
Yuta only smirked at this in amusement, settling the knife inside his fist. "Quite snappy today, huh."
Before Yeri could say anything, Taeyong had interrupted the two. "And where were you last night?"
Crap, Yeri thought. I knew he'd bring it up.
"You were out last night. You didn't get to join us on our task." Taeyong said further. "Our men told me you returned late."
"Someone's about to get in trouble." Yuta mumbled enough for Yeri to hear, causing her to narrow her eyes at him.
Letting Yuta's attitude aside, Yeri answered Taeyong's question as she walked towards her seat. "I was at the clinic to set an appointment for next month." Was her lie.
She couldn't tell them where she went. She wouldn't be the only one who'd be in trouble.
To her relief, Taeyong bought the lie but was still not pleased. "And why did you do that? We failed to get Jaehyun out of prison." His threatening eyes stared back at her. "You know you can't have surgery whenever you fail a task."
His words caused her to tighten her grip unto the chair's back as soon as she laid her hand on it.
"It's best if you won't get to their bad side."
She took a deep breath and exhaled, meeting his eyes. "Don't worry. I already had it canceled before I got back." She said. "I apologize. It won't happen again."
"Good." Taeyong said. "I know you're easy to learn from your mistake."
Yeri was not liking the topic so she decided to change, sitting on the chair across Yuta. "I heard you pulled off a stunt during midnight."
"Yes. We had to. Those... amateurs need to pay back for what they did."
Amateurs? "You mean the X-Force?"
"Does it look like I'm talking about someone else?" Taeyong raised a brow at her before sighing. "I've been planning this for a long time, and now that they're still trying to interfere with our work, I can't let it slide."
"They need to taste their own medicine." Yuta grinned as he flicked the knife's blade out. "We aren't people they can simply mess with. They must know their place."
"I have to thank you." Yeri's eyes moved towards Taeyong's direction, seeing him pleased. "It wouldn't be complete without your help."
"Help?" But I wasn't there.
"We made sure our message would be known by Mark."
Yeri knitted her eyebrows together for a second until she remembered what she did before.
"This is Mark's secret number. He uses it for mission purposes. I'm not sure if he still has it now but it might come in handy."
"And you were right. He still uses it."
For some reason, she felt a pang of slight guilt for giving it to them.
Well, what's done is done.
"Anyway," Taeyong's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "we will be having visitors in a few minutes so make yourself presentable."
"Visitors?" As soon as Yeri asked it, they were interrupted by three knocks on the door.
The three of them faced the door, with Taeyong calling out for the people behind it. "Come in."
The door was opened after it, revealing the two men by the doorframe. Both of them were well-dressed by being in suits yet it was clear to them the other one screamed money— lots of money.
The man, who was closer to the frame, had his hair styled neatly, letting it get swept to the side. The texture of his gray suit was indicating good quality, something a minimum-waged person couldn't easily afford. His formal shoes were well-polished— almost looking brand new.
He had this professional look on his face as he raised his hand to show them his ring. It had a dragon engraved to it.
~*~*~*~*~
"Tomorrow?" Haechan blurted out, creasing his forehead. The others also had the same reaction.
What? Koeun's eyes slightly widened at the chief. Already?
On behalf of Chief Moon, Xiaojun decided to explain the situation, leaning towards the table to grab their attention. "We have gathered information regarding the auction we've discussed two days ago. Apparently, The Dragon is one of the contributors so he is guaranteed to attend."
"It'll be held tomorrow night, which gives us enough time to prepare." Jeno, who was sitting beside Jaemin, butted in after. "We have confirmed his plans about a heist, and knowing this man is rich enough to pay lots of men, we will be needing lots of weapons as well."
"We need to stop them before he can get his hands on the items." Lucas stated, earning a nod of approval from the others.
While the others talked about the mission, Koeun was deep in her thoughts. A question had been bugging her so she decided to ask it out. "Will Taeyong and the others be there?"
Mark's ears perked up to this.
"Most likely." Replied by the chief, making eye contact with Koeun. "The consortium knows about Taeyong and his associates so they already have an idea of how they work. If it means to secure his plans, he must have offered them to work for him."
"Then it's an advantage to us." Mark commented. "We'll be hitting two birds with one stone."
While the others were occupied in listening to Mark, Jaemin, who was sitting the farthest from everyone, was watching someone else in the Elites team. He had noticed the person's off behavior earlier and it was bothering him.
Couldn't take it anymore, he blurted out. "Is there a problem, Hendery?"
Surprised by Jaemin's sudden interruption, the attention was moved to Hendery, who was equally shocked as them when he heard his name. "Excuse me?"
"What are you doing, Jaemin?" Jeno whispered to him.
But Jaemin ignored him. "You've been narrowing your eyes at Mark. Did you think I didn't notice?"
Koeun slightly creased her forehead at this. "Is this true, Hendery?" Seeing that he wasn't talking, she repeated. "Is it true?"
Hendery watched Koeun as she waited for a bit before sighing. "Yes."
"And what's your problem with Mark?" Haechan was slowly frowning now.
Renjun's eyes grew wide when he realized why Hendery did it and sent an unnoticeable threatening glare at his way. Don't do it.
But it didn't scare him off. Everyone needs to know. "I know all of you are willing to work with us but it doesn't feel like you trust us at all."
"What are you talking about?" Mark was as confused as everyone.
"I'm just curious why you didn't tell us about your relationship with Yeri." Hendery told him. "She's your girlfriend, isn't she?"
Koeun felt herself being frozen on her seat after hearing it. She was afraid, not for herself but for Mark.
"What?!" Lucas exclaimed, horrified by the news.
"Girlfriend?" Yangyang and Hina blurted out in unison.
She was afraid of what this would bring towards the two teams.
The X-Force was also unsure why Mark didn't mention it beforehand, seeing that it was crucial information, but they knew he had a reason. And this must be it.
Gritting his teeth, Jaemin stood up from his seat and slammed his hands on the table. "What if it is then?!"
"Jaemin!" Haechan, Renjun and Jeno warned.
"What if it is?" Lucas repeated in disbelief to the other team, fighting the urge to stand. "Have you not realized how this will affect our mission?"
"Lucas." Koeun held his shoulder to stop him from doing something he'd regret.
"Of course, they will choose his side." Xiaojun shook his head.
"Xiaojun, not you too." Koeun sent a warning glare at him.
"It's not like he's seeing her." Renjun defended Mark's side. "He's a victim here too. He just wanted answers."
"I'm not buying that." Lucas snapped at him. "If he thought it wouldn't affect our mission, why didn't he tell us about it before then?" That shut everyone up. "Unless there's something else."
This made everyone look at Mark, who had been awfully silent as he stared back at Lucas. Koeun felt sorry for him getting into this argument.
"You probably joined forces with us so you could help her avoid getting imprisoned. I know you won't just let her rot in jail after not seeing her for years—"
"Lucas—"
"You knew we wouldn't let you join us if we knew about this. You knew we'd see this as biased—"
"Lucas, stop it!"
Lucas turned back to Koeun. "Why would I? I'm only pointing out the possibility of this mission failing because of his intentions." He pointed at Mark. "We don't know if he's been communicating with her and leaking our plans. What if Yeri told the others about it now?"
This time, Mark couldn't stop himself from speaking up. "That ain't happening because I've never talked to her."
"Oh, really?" Lucas scoffed. "Then where were you last night?"
Koeun hitched a breath at this as silence broke in the room. She had been having suspicions about it as well.
"All of them were men."
"They already confirmed it."
Knowing that Yeri wasn't one of them, it was possible for the two to meet up last night. And she wasn't prepared for this.
"You suddenly went off on your own after work. It was suspicious of you to let Haechan head back without you."
For Haechan's part, he was also thinking about the same idea since last night. He never had the chance to ask Mark about it since they were too focused on the broadcast and Renjun's personal information being revealed.
"Do you really want to know?" Mark taunted towards him. "Fine."
Is he really doing this? Koeun was becoming anxious about his answer.
"I was at the hospital where Yeri was brought into when she got into the accident that got her badly burned two years ago. I did my own investigation about what happened and I found out that it was Jaehyun's doing. He told the doctor about his plans with Yeri, that's why he lied about her death and kept her." Mark told him, keeping a straight face. "And also which is why they never let me see the substitute body and had it cremated fast."
Hearing his answer made Koeun release a breath she didn't notice she was holding in for a while.
"If you want proof, you can check the hospital's surveillance cameras." He confidently suggested. "I hope that's enough for you to lose your suspicions at me."
Lucas remained unfazed by this. If Mark was confident about his alibi, then he had to try believing it. The other Elites were a little hesitant about this but didn't bother saying anything.
On the other hand, the X-Force were neutral about the situation. Some of them believed their leader, some were still in doubt. And Haechan was one of them.
"Alright, that's enough." Chief Moon decided to speak up after standing up. "I called all of you to discuss our mission, not to get yourselves into an irrelevant argument. I don't want this to affect our task for tomorrow night so I suggest you drop this before our flight."
Wait, what?
"Flight?" Hina and Chenle repeated.
"Where will the auction take place?" Koeun asked.
"In China." Was the chief's response.
Koeun's mouth hung open at this, recalling the events that happened in the foreign country from the last time she was in it. Not again.
~*~*~*~*~
My writer's block was so terrible that I couldn't write this well. I'm sorry if nothing much happened.
On the good side, I went past my word limit so I hope you enjoyed the 3k worth of a chapter.