Chapter Text
It came at such an odd time in your life.
It'll make sense to you in retrospect. Why it all happened... and why to you. Someone would have to be in a very bad place or almost criminally gullible to go to a stranger's address. You were the former. It felt a bit like bad luck, then destiny, while you were going through it. Only hindsight grants you anything even resembling clarity. At that time...
Nothing feels like it's going right in your life. You're in a rut, personally, professionally... in all ways. You've been single forever, and your last boyfriend was trash, as was the one before that. Work is... alright. Working from home is nice, on the surface, but for you, it's become an excuse to neglect yourself. You can go for days without leaving the house. Even though you can cook, you always wind up ordering take out or snacking on junk food... when you remember to eat at all. Your sleep times become an ever-shifting maze as a lack of fixed schedule has you shifting into a 28 hour day. Trying to fix it every time you find yourself waking up at six PM has you abusing caffeine to a near absurd degree. This isn't the way you want to live... it's just the way you've found yourself living.
You simply wake up one morning with no will to live, and no real idea of when things had gotten so bad.
The address is in a city about an hour's drive away. Close enough for you to do it in one shot without having time to think to yourself that it's a very convoluted way to commit suicide.
And it's not that you want to die, not really. You just want something interesting to happen. Literally anything more interesting than the pit that your life has become. And this promises to be, if nothing else, an interesting story. You're more than willing to risk yourself just to feel something, anything, other than the dreary haze of a life you're barely living anymore.
You'd been expecting a lot of weird things. You enter the apartment suspecting that you're being used as a patsy in a crime, and are beginning to contemplate simply robbing the place yourself and booking it. Surely someone is about to jump out, or the door is about to slam shut to reveal the world's stupidest serial killer, astounded that there's anyone stupider than him out there. But none of that happens. Instead... your phone starts going wild.
For a group that supposedly includes a hacker and a rich businessman, the only one that really seems openly suspicious of your TOTALLY BULLSHIT excuse as to why you suddenly appeared in their dead friend's apartment, is Jaehee Kang. AKA the secretary. What a sad state of affairs. Maybe she's in the group because she's the only one with common sense...?
You're pretty sure she's like 60% convinced you're just an idiot too, though. For now, you're polite to her, hoping that playing cute and stupid will help the situation along. It's kind of hard to get a read on her, right now, and everyone else is super willing to stick you in the "cute and stupid" box. Why fight it?
You let your eyes trace around the apartment you've been asked to stay in. It's all locked drawers, with metal lockers you're completely unwilling to touch in one corner. There's a computer, but you're too scared to even turn it on after all V and 707 said about security. There are sheets on the bed, but knowing they belonged to a dead chick is waaaay too much. Even if she didn't actually die in them. Which she might have. You don't rightly know. In any case, you've flopped down on the couch instead.
It's a studio apartment, but it's a nice one. It's smaller than your place, but in a nice neighborhood in the city like this, you know square footage is at a premium. You're on like the 15th story, so while the window is tiny, it's not a bad view. There's nothing in the fridge, but there's half a roll of toilet paper. Small blessings.
You flip idly through the messenger app. Yoosung. Jaehee Kang. Zen. Jumin Han. 707. So far he's the only one to have called you. Should you call one of them? Pbbbt, no. It's like three AM. They'll all be asleep. It's a miracle they were all on at like eleven PM, when you'd decided it was a great time of day to break into a stranger's apartment. Whatever. S'not like it's your fault your sleep schedule is borked, except in the fact that it's totally your fault and no one else's.
You flick your phone off and let it drop down onto your chest. You stare up at the white ceiling.
"What in the hell am I doing?"
You nearly have a heart attack when your phone rings. Not because you're expecting something, but because you always panic slightly when your phone rings. No one really calls you... ever. It’s normally a telemarketer or a scammer when you get a call, so you basically never answer. Plus you’ve just stepped outside the apartment for the first time since answering, so you’re kind of expecting an ambush.
The call is from a number you don't know, and yet a name and image is popping up as if you've got the information saved. 707. And a familiar avatar. The “hacker” from the chatroom...
You almost don't answer it, but curiosity wins out. You answer the phone right there in the hallway.
"Your bank account has been used for a fun prank~" a heavily accented voice informs you.
You blink. Just another scammer after all?
"Were you aware of this? I must first confirm your cell phone number to verify your identity, so please calmly follow the instructions."
So obviously a scam. But why was the picture from the chatroom...?
...Ohhhh.
Someone here is definitely pulling a “fun prank.” But you kind of like that. You adopt a voice just as fake as the one you’re hearing probably is, a clueless valley girl kind of voice. "Oh my god, what should I do?!" you exclaim wildly. "Do you want me to press a number? Do I type it into the phone? What prank was it??"
There's a pause on the other line. The voice sounds a bit as if it's coming through a mouth struggling not to laugh. "Gullible customer, please calm down. And take a deep breath! Innnn... out...."
Scammers don't even talk like this! Hilarious! But you make a big show of loudly breathing in and out.
"Now, for confirmation, please go ahead and say 'Honey, I love you~'"
You try not to make an audible choking noise as you struggle not to laugh. What the hell? What kind of person is like this?? Did he not expect you to answer a call from an unfamiliar number, and decided to fuck with you if you did? What a weird guy.
Should you... play along more?
You wind up striking a pose as you say it, just because it feels like you should, and fight a flush in your cheeks as you proudly declare, "Honey~~~ I love you~~~" in your sweetest possible tone. The voice on the line cracks into laughter. You grin as well. You suppose the game is over now. You're glad you played along... he had an infectious sort of laugh. You wouldn't mind hearing it more.
Your antics earn you a lecture on the dangers of obvious scams, though. You feel a bit amused... does he think you're an idiot too? Well, that's only fair, right? You'd come to a stranger's apartment on the flimsiest of excuses. Gullible is the least suspicious of the options available to you. Let him think that, rather than something worse. Maybe it's stupid, but you kind of want them all to like you.
There's something definitely weird about being in a stranger's empty apartment at five AM. Knowing that it technically belonged to a dead girl is not helping. As the wee hours of the morning creep along, you're increasingly convinced that the apartment is, in fact, haunted, and you're going to open your eyes to the ghost of that Rika chick any minute now. Needless to say, you can't really sleep. The sun will be coming up soon... once it does, you should just go out to a corner store and get some stuff. The kitchen has supplies, like a rice maker and a stove, just no actual food.
"Do I have the money to be buying groceries in a stranger's apartment in another city...?" you wonder out loud. "Well, at least I'm not paying rent."
The messenger is stone cold silent. It's a shame, because you keep opening it and poking around. You don't blame the more well-adjusted humans for being asleep at this hour. They all seem to have jobs, with the exception of the college student. The flirty one, Zen, had been in for a few minutes around four, but he hadn't really stuck around. He seems fun... It's amusing to you, the way he flirts even though he has no idea who you are or what you look like. That sort of superficial guy would definitely be disappointed upon seeing you, but as long as you both know it's just flirtation, there's no real harm.
Then again, he's 23 and it's been 5 years since he's had a girlfriend...? Something's got to be wrong with him, right? Maybe he's a womanizer? Or a pig?
You really shouldn't be judging a total stranger like this, though.
...But still, it's got to be something, right? It couldn't just be his seemingly comical levels of narcissism. You know a lot of women who would put up with a lot worse for access to someone that pretty. Seriously! And he's an actor... Oh. You should look up that youtube video. Will it show up if you just search for his name...?
...
Ah... damn...
He's actually really good... not just crazy hot, but a good singer. It doesn't sound like his voice has been edited...
"So this group is full of people like that...?" you wonder out loud, legs trailing over the back of the sofa, head angled downwards towards the floor as you dangle upside down, watching the video a second time. "I should search everyone else's names, too... Maybe something interesting will come up."
At least it's SOMETHING to do...
You doze off for a little bit, web browser full of tabs of articles, pretty much all of them about Jumin Han--richest and assholest of the rich assholes--and the mysterious photographer V. You hadn't gotten very far, but the reading had put you to sleep, finally.
You awake with a jolt when your phone makes a noise. Someone logged onto the chatroom... It isn't a loud noise at all, just a little ding and a vibration, but you've always been a light sleeper. Groggily, you check to see who it is.
It's the blonde one, who's also apparently perpetually single and interested in the sudden appearance of a girl. He's not the sort of guy who should have to compete with someone like Zen; you feel kinda bad for him. Well, he's just a college student... It's not like he's wandering around with an actor in his day-to-day life.
He's not actually that much younger than you, but somehow he feels like a little kid. Maybe because he's the most optimistic about you? Jaehee feels the oldest for the same reason.
How does a college student wind up in a group with such illustrious members, anyway? An actor, even one that's not very famous, a famous photographer, an elite businessman and his secretary, a hacker, and... then there's a college student. Well. You suppose you should feel kindred to him; it's not like you fit in.
Actually, that's the weirdest part. They're all so optimistic and matter-of-fact about you joining. V just declared it so, and everyone fell in line with minimal fussing. And now Zen and Yoosung both are sort of buzzing around you curiously, like you're the hot new thing on the block.
"I could just delete the app," you reason to yourself. "Leave and go back to my place." But... why? Really, what's so important that's waiting for you back there? You have your tablet, so you can work from here with minimal difficulty. Nothing's waiting for you back home. No pets, not even fish, requiring your care. You live the kind of life where you can just vanish overnight and it doesn't really matter at all...
What the hell do you know about hosting parties, though...?
Well, whatever. It's not like you could drive back right now even if you wanted to. You've gotten basically no sleep. You're crashing here today whether it's smart or not... you can chat more with the people in this weird app, and figure out what you're doing... And hey, maybe if you stick around, more people will call.
It'd... be nice to actually talk to people. That odd 707 guy had already called, and that had been... really nice, actually. And where else would you get an opportunity to get to know someone like Jumin Han? Really, shouldn't you take this as a rare opportunity? If nothing else, maybe you could get a job at his company, hahaha.
They're not even asking for much. You just need to figure out which files are safe to bust open and then see about contacting people to see if they want to come to a party. Maybe you'll be terrible at it, but if you're not... it's kind of like networking, right?
You're halfway out the door when you hear the bink of someone logging onto the messenger, so you pause to check it. It feels weird to leave the apartment building... like you're going to get jumped as soon as you enter the stairwell. After all... SOMEONE sent you here, for SOME reason. You don't mind putting it off.
It's Jumin Han and Zen. You're getting a bit more comfortable with Zen, but now that you've done a bit of research on Jumin Han, you're more than a little intimidated by him. Like... there's rich, and then there's rich. He's on a totally different level, and also hadn't he said something about pressing charges if you ran off?
Yeah.
Intimidating.
And that's why chatting with him is just plain weird... It's like he's a normal person. Okay, not a normal person, but a real person. Not just a face on a billboard or whatever. He's, like, hilariously, ridiculously into his cat, for instance. You'd underestimated just how much. When you engage with him on that... well...
You wind up putting off leaving the apartment, instead laying on the couch and processing.
"I'll have to reconsider you."
"I hope we talk more about cats when Zen's not here, Yu."
What in the fuck had just happened?
Okay, this is officially the weirdest day of your life. Not even 12 hours ago you'd broken into a stranger's apartment at the behest of some weird catfisher on a newly downloaded messenger app, and now you've got one of the richest men in Korea telling you that he looks forward to talking to you again.
About cats.
You'd been turned down for a job at his company one time. Not even his company, actually, a subsidiary company. His dad was the owner of the company that owned the company that rejected you for a position. Now he wants to talk to you about cats.
"Man," you say out loud, to no one in particular. "I wonder if I actually can wrangle a job out of this mess."
You mean, you like the job you have now, but... A real job, with like, health insurance and benefits... It's tempting in its own way. You should be nice to Jumin Han. Well, it's not like you were gonna be an asshole to him before. And if you try to be nice to him on purpose, he'll probably just notice. It's not like business CEOs are unfamiliar with people sucking up to them. Still, it's not like it's pulling teeth for you to discuss cats with someone, what with their cute little noses and adorable sandpapery tongues.
You add a memo to you phone: "discuss the tongue blep with Jumin Han of C&R." Then you just laugh for a minute and shake your head.
"Alright, weird morning. Let's make it weirder... time to go buy sheets for the dead girl's bed."
Almost the second you open the door back to "your" apartment, your phone is going off. You fumble and nearly drop it to the ground, and wind up dropping one of your bags instead.
Jumin Han again... oh! And that 707 guy who called you.
Between the two of them, you feel like a friggin superstar. "Infamous Yu"? "Lady of the evening"? Pfffft. They're both silly. Although even applying a word like "silly" to Jumin Han feels weird. Silly or not, he's pretty high above you.
That feeling of being outclassed doesn't just apply to Jumin, either. 707 is a "hacker," although you're still honestly not quite sure what that entails. Is it like Hollywood hacking? Clickity clack on the keyboard, dramatic pause... I'm in...? Does he seriously work for some kind of underworld group or something? Or is he like a freelance hacker? Do those exist? How does one make a living at that?
So many questions, so unlikely that any of them are going to be answered.
Speaking of questions that won't be answered: did he seriously bite a cat's neck? You try to imagine it. You fail, and wind up imagining him biting a person's neck instead. That line of thought is not assisted by Jumin Han issuing you a formal warning about Seven that includes the words "whether you are careful or not, 707 has the ability to get his way."
Hoo boy!
Waaay too early in the morning for your mind to be going places like that! And about someone you just met, too! For shame. And here you were thinking Zen was kind of desperate. You're a hypocrite!
It's actually kind of funny, both Yoosung and Zen sniffing around you like curious hounds... Is that the reason these people are so totally welcoming? Maybe they're just horndogs, pfff. It would explain why Jaehee appears to be the only one using any degree of common sense. But Seven and Jumin don't seem that way, at least.
...Come to think of it, had Seven really looked up your information...? Nah... probably not. He'd said you were cute, ha. He'd probably found some other Yu. It's a really common name, and it’s not like he has your super-unique last name to go off of. ...Hopefully.
You check the messenger again, for no particular reason.
Should you text Seven?
Nah... that'd probably be weird, since you just talked to him...
...Should you call?
...No, definitely not.
Technically, he'd said you could call any of the members through the app, but it seems rude to just dial up a stranger, even if you've technically talked to them online. Still, your hand hovers over the little call symbol for a few more seconds before you shut off your phone and toss it idly onto the couch. No time for that! You've got a dead-bed that needs its sheets changed! Then you're gonna cook a super late breakfast... technically lunch, probably... and maybe get a nap in.
You'll make this dead-girl-apartment feel more lived in and less like it's definitely, 100% haunted, ASAP.
Even an unlived in apartment, after two years, develops a certain sort of... musty funk. So, despite the fact you haven't cleaned your own apartment in like two months, you set to work. You open the window, which is actually pretty nice for an apartment this size. It doesn't open all the way, and it has a screen, but it gets some air flowing.
You wind up going full maid, tying your hair back with a handkerchief, and just cleaning the whole thing in one go. You start with the bed; those dead-girl sheets go in a trash bag that you drag out of the apartment altogether. What, like Rika's gonna complain? Then you clean out cobwebs and dust... carefully... with a lot of screeching. You have horrible arachnophobia. Even the tiny ones, just... ugh. There's no mercy from you, no releasing them outdoors. They die. They all die. And the cobwebs are cleared off with a broom held at maximum distance.
You're just getting tired when you hear the phone go off from where it sits on the couch. Well, that's as good an excuse to take a break as any. You flop down onto the couch and flick it on. The messenger loads up immediately; it's the last thing you had open.
Ah! It's Seven again! And Yoosung. They're talking... you're tempted to just watch, but wind up jumping right in once his work comes up. What's he researching?
Oh.
You.
He's researching you.
... Is he running a background check...?
No... isn't that too basic for a hacker? Anyone can do that. Now your mind is considering every single thing you've ever posted on social media.
Oh god.
Has he FOUND anything?!
He announces he's found your cup size, and your hand flies to your chest. Oh god! You need to pay more attention to what you post on Facebook! When had you said that?! FUCK, oh god, that's--
Oh.
He was joking.
Aheheh... You knew that... Obviously...
No, actually, he's not researching you so much as he is “Unknown,” that weird guy who you'd been pretty convinced was a serial killer. It doesn't seem like he's going to tell you what he finds, though, unless his leash-holder, V, tells him he can. You're a little sour about that, but you can understand it. Still, it involves you, and your safety... Not that you can really complain about that; you're the idiot who came here thinking you were gonna get shanked. So you let it go.
Well, with a bit of teasing. You can't help it. Yoosung was like, designed to be teased.
Yoosung★: "But still, you’re happy that you met us, right Yu?"
Yu: "I’m kind of bored tbh"
Yoosung★: "Wow... so brutal".
707: "lolol"
707: "I’ll make it more interesting ^^"
You feel your face heating up. Thank god this thing doesn't have video calls... Thank god you're not on the phone! If he'd said that out loud...
Friggity.
Yoosung★: "If you fall for Seven;;"
Yoosung★: "he’ll make you join forces with the devil, Yu"
You’re already on the side of the devil, if your father is to be believed, haha... You want to take a moment to compose yourself, but now Seven's talking about what he'd do with his girlfriend. Argh... Out in one of his cars?! Goddamnit! Critical hit... you love cars, and adore driving. And Seven has really fancy cars, too! You wanna go for a ride!
...With a hacker you don't even know.
Why are you like this?!
Jaehee calls you as you're cooking lunch--soondubu jjigae, because you're lazy, and because you can put the leftovers in the fridge. You grab the phone the second it starts ringing... you were hoping for Seven, because you're pathetic. Still, it's nice to be called. No one's called you other than telemarketers in like, years, until today.
She has a nice voice, to be honest. You hadn't expected it... in the chatroom, she kind of talked like a robot. Did you expect her to sound like a robot...? Or an old lady? She just sounds like a normal girl around your age, though. You feel embarrassed by how much more together her life is, when compared to yours. She's only a few years older than you...
You chat with her a little bit while cooking, until work pulls her away. You wonder if there's a story behind her dislike for pets. Maybe she's sick about hearing it, since she works for Jumin Han? Or maybe she just doesn't like animals. Maybe she has a fur allergy, like Zen?
The soondubu comes out pretty good. You're relaxing and digesting after eating when the chatroom goes off again. Jaehee again... It must be her lunch hour, too. You chat with her for a bit. You feel like maybe she's warming up to you? You hope so--she seems to be the only one particularly suspicious. It's just your natural instinct to want to throw off suspicion through whatever means necessary. You crave innocence, or perceived innocence, because therein lies safety. ...Again, according to your dad, at least, haha...
You stare at the ceiling for a bit, your thoughts chasing themselves around in circles. Around the time they land back on Seven, you decide it's time to get back up and start cleaning again.
Jumin Han is going to give you fits. And of an entirely different kind than Seven.
Well. Maybe not an entirely different kind.
He's killing you, honestly. Sometimes he seems almost normal, and then other times he's making not-so-veiled threats that chill the blood in your veins. He must realize it, but a man of his position could effectively end your life. You hadn't signed up for that! You'd signed up for a serial killer or something, damnit! Well, this is probably a step up... But you don’t get an interesting experience story out of dying by rich man. That happens to people all the time, every day. Serial killers are at least a more unique way to go, ugh.
Still, even as you're reeling from the subtle threat and moving to placate him, he has to call you a "smart girl." Smile emoji included.
Like... fuck.
Is he doing it on purpose...? It's certainly keeping you off balance, which gives him an advantage. He's a rich and powerful man. You wouldn't be overestimating him to think that way, would you?
Well, you suppose in the end, it doesn't matter. He's been super clear--if you do a good job, everyone will be happy. You feel a bit more serious about it now... or maybe it's just because you've been cleaning and that always makes you feel super productive. But if you somehow help pull this off... A lot of good could come out of that, and not just for you. You've never really done charity work before. It'd be nice to actually do something meaningful, as Jumin put it.
You snort to yourself. He really must be good, to have you thinking seriously about something like this. Twenty-four hours ago, you'd been idly wondering whether or not you could pull off starving yourself to death out of sheer lack of will to move. Now you're thinking seriously about trying to throw some giant charity party worthy of top-tier people like Jumin Han.
Ridiculous...
...Still... It wouldn't be bad to look for some documents about the last party, right? V had given you some idea of where to find them. As long as you avoided locked drawers, you should be fine. They had a lot of layers of security for the stuff you really weren't supposed to see. Ridiculous amounts, really. What kind of crazy secrets were locked up in this apartment to make them so paranoid?
You try to forcibly suppress your curiosity, since you don't want Jumin to put a hit out on you, or Seven to... do whatever scary hacker thing he does. Instead, you thumb around for some basic information, settle down at the desk, and start reading.
You burn the early afternoon away reading what you can about past parties... You can't make a lot of sense of it, though. Guh... Where do you start? There's so much here...
You're happy for the interruption when Zen logs into the chatroom. You throw your papers to the side and grab your phone instead. He's back from practice... You wonder what that's like? More importantly, he's on about the old parties, and how huge and great and full of people in the art industry they were. Just in case you weren't already feeling the pressure enough, now you can feel it like a heavy boot on the back of your neck--a mental image that flashes through about three of the members before settling comfortably on Jumin.
Wow, what happened to your self-control? Add a few attractive men and apparently it vanishes in the blink of an eye. It's not your fault! Zen's flirting! And Seven is too, at least once, maybe. Possibly. He could have just been joking around. And Jumin...
You have no excuse there. None. He's just alternating between being intimidating and friendly, and it's doing weird things to you, damnit!
And Zen doesn't help in the least. Just when you've distracted yourself thinking about V and his secrets instead of Jumin and increasingly implausible scenarios involving "punishment" for your inability to perform adequately for the party... He goes and posts a selfie. Of himself at practice... in that hot, humid room.
Wearing just a white tank, clearly damp with sweat. Practically see-through in places, clinging to his chest--
Sweet merciful Christ. You wish you had one of the nuns from school here with you now. Especially Sister Agnes. She'd beat some sense back into you.
But nope.
It's just you, in an empty apartment, with a picture of a really hot sweaty guy.
...And honestly, those beatings had never worked, they’d just given you some weird tastes...
What happens next would be inevitable, if not for the fact that just as you're overcoming the crushing guilt and giving into the urges of hormones, your phone rings, giving you about sixteen concurrent heart attacks.
It's just Yoosung. Thank god. If it had been literally any other guy, you probably would have combusted, but Yoosung... He should be a good distraction, right? He's like a kid... even though he's only a few years younger.
Chatting with him for a bit about everyone's suspicion towards you--he thinks it was excessive, you think (privately) that there wasn't nearly enough of it--and about LoLoL, at the very least manages to distract you. Though you do think that maybe it's time for a shower, after the two of you finally hang up.
You're on the messenger in a flash the second you hear a noise. You don't wanna keep doing this work, ugh. And good thing you were fast, too! It's Seven! And just Seven. You appreciate the chance to talk to him one on one.
Ugh.
Flirt with him one on one more like. You're terrible. The nuns would be ashamed of you. Your mother would be ashamed of... Well, actually, that's nothing new.
You still don't know whether or not Seven actually hacked into your accounts, which makes you nervous... And also something a bit akin to nervousness but not quite the same. You hope it's not excitement. It better not fucking be excitement. The day you get tingly over the idea of a hacker spying on you is the day you check back into therapy.
Of course, then Seven sends you a picture of what turns out to be him, in a blonde wig and rather flattering white dress. The worst thing is, that's like the first proper selfie you've seen of him! Augh! How were you supposed to know?! And to make things even worse, he's really, REALLY cute. M-maybe it's just the makeup? Sure, maybe, except you're staring at his neck and clavicle a lot more than his lips.
Oh god.
You quickly close out of the image for the third time, and try not to open again.
You fail, opening it again not ten seconds later to stare some more.
Oh, sure, Seven had said some kind of alarming stuff about you being in possible danger towards the end, but you already knew that, you're not stupid. You'd been catfished by, apparently, a really talented hacker, into coming into this super classified apartment, probably for 100% nefarious purposes. Just because you've decided to settle in and make a home of it doesn't make the situation less ridiculous or dangerous... Just more fun. And really, isn’t that exactly what you’d been hoping for?
Well, at least Seven is holding to his promise of making it "more interesting." His mind works so fast that even you feel like you're jogging to keep up. And you’re the one used to making other people run around. You’re so used to being able to predict exactly how people will respond that it had gotten kind of boring. But Seven... He keeps you on your toes. He's interesting, he's hyper, he's funny. Talking to the others has been fun too--particularly Zen and Jumin, who are just as good at sparking your, uh, “creativity”--but you don't think you've ever met someone like Seven before.
You open the picture yet again.
Yeah.
You'd definitely remember meeting someone who looked that good in a dress.
The work for the party is... really something.
It seems like every time you turn around, people are piling more explanation--and more pressure--onto you. Between that and the reading you're doing, you're starting to get a pretty clear picture of what part is actually your job. The literal party planning--what you'd been nervous of--is actually more up to the others. The funding comes from Jumin, no surprise there. A lot of the footwork belongs to Jaehee. You're willing to bet Seven handles security. You're... not super sure what Yoosung does, actually, but it's probably important.
The thing that you do really does seem to be just dealing with people. The guests. Deciding who comes and who doesn't, convincing difficult guests to come... You're the face of the party. The face of the organization, now, in a sense. Which is ridiculous as you joined... 18 hours ago.
But still, seeing everyone talk about it so hopefully and excitedly is making you really want to try your best. Well. It's more that Jumin's unique one-two punch of threatening your well-being and then calling you a "good girl" or a "smart girl" when you acquiesce to his wishes had made you decide to try your best. You’re kind of weak to being praised. And you’re pretty sure everyone is weak to be threatened... Everything else past that has just made you more determined.
Just when you're thinking of him, too... the phone rings. You damn near jump out of your skin, then again when you look down and see the avatar.
Jumin Han is calling you.
Your hand hesitates for a bit over the answer button. What would be worse, making an idiot out of yourself or ignoring his call? With a nervous gulp, you pick up.
Haha, oh gosh, he has a nice voice. And he's a bit cocky, too, no wonder he and Zen don't get along...
"I'm sure you're glad to talk to me, but no need to get too excited."
It would be fucking obnoxious if he weren't 100% right. Is it arrogance if he's just stating facts? You are pretty excited. Definitely the richest person you've ever talked to, although you're not really thinking about that at the moment.
So you try to just talk to him like a normal human would and not to be a total weirdo. He says he called just to hear what you sound like, so you ask him his thoughts on the matter. Your heart about stops in your chest when he begins explaining that "often, there will be one person with a voice that hurts your ears. Someone with an annoying voice that just reminds you of shattering glass." Oh God. But fortunately, he goes on to clarify your voice ISN'T like that. Then was it necessary to bring up?! You'd been about to swear off talking!
Interestingly, the two of you actually wind up chatting for a while... almost twenty minutes, the whole tail end of his commute. Traffic had apparently been bad, and you'd been unexpectedly entertaining. You feel... pretty good about that. And you had gotten to talk to him about tongue bleps, so you can cross that one off your to-do list. Your obsession with that might run even deeper than his... you really want to see Elizabeth tongue-blepping. He's understanding of your desire--after all, everyone would want to see Elizabeth the 3rd as much as possible.
You don't just talk about Elizabeth, although you probably could have filled 20 minutes that way pretty easily. You find out a bit about him, too. He doesn't really ask you a lot of questions about yourself, which is nice. He doesn't even ask you your age. Maybe some people would find that narcissistic, and maybe it is, but you certainly don't mind not being quizzed.
You hang up the phone feeling satisfied. You'd done well... and you could listen to his voice for another 20 minutes, easy. Hopefully you'll get the chance to again.
You actually wind up chatting a bit more with Jumin that very day, after dinner. You called him by accident, but you adjust quickly and just ask him if he’s eaten. Instead of thinking you careless, he thinks you odd... but maybe not in a bad way. You only chat for about five minutes, and in it he manages to compare you to Elizabeth the 3rd yet again... but you're pretty sure that's high praise.
You talk with him on the messenger a lot that night, too. You suppose now that he's home from work, he has nothing better to do.
It's funny to watch him and Zen fight, to be honest. You're never going to point this out, but it humanizes Jumin a bit, to have a someone just bickering and picking at him. It makes him less scary. Plus it's cute in that fo-yay kind of way... another thing you'll definitely never mention.
Well.
No time soon, anyway. You're willing to bet the reactions would be priceless, especially from Zen. There might be a day where you totally do that. But not today, not when you're still a curiosity.
Pressure continues to mount, in regards to the party. Not even a day, and all they can talk about was how great the old parties were, how excited they are at the prospect of starting them back up again. You feel like a catalyst, sure, but a fucking NERVOUS catalyst! You really have to perform. Jumin even says it's your chance to "prove your worth," which simultaneously makes you want to do just that and also shove him into a pool, expensive suit and all. Hmm... Maybe you can have a pool at the party. That way you can kill two birds with one stone. Your worth: throwing great parties and shoving uppity executives into pools.
You're staring out your own window at the city in the rain when Jumin sends a picture of the same city out of a much larger window. You're too impressed by the beauty of the view to even be jealous, in that moment. It's so nice out... It's been drizzly since morning, which Zen had been complaining about, but you thoroughly enjoy. In between bursts of reading up on the past parties and texting Jaehee endless questions--which she answers, bless her heart--you daydream about Seven's cars and long hair in the wind. Driving up to the top of a mountain and sitting in a car in the rain, listening to music and the sound of thunder.
It's a good way to spend your early evening. You'll have to go to bed at some point. You're exhausted. You'd normally be asleep at this point... but you want to get your sleep schedule back to something approaching a normal human now that you're interacting with other people. Gives you an excuse to stay up, if nothing else.
It's a bit funny to you that Jumin thought Jaehee would be against holding the party when she's been the one you'd been turning to for help all afternoon... Jumin had told you to! Still, you're glad you definitely have her behind it. It seems like she's the hardest worker in the RFA... It stings a bit to know she doesn't trust you, but that's just your anxiety. You don't really take it personally... it makes sense to be suspicious. You showed up under really suspicious circumstances.
Everyone else being so nice was almost enough to make you forget just how strange the whole situation is. You're almost glad to have Jaehee's suspicion to remind you of the NORMAL reaction... and that you should still be a little careful. Even though you intend to do everything you can, you're still a stranger in a strange and possibly dangerous place. There's a hacker at large, who brought you here for mysterious purposes.
Still, with Jaehee being skeptical, you find you kind of want to impress her as much as you want to impress Jumin. Which is silly; impressing Jumin could land you a really good job and "effing fantastic" connections. Impressing his secretary? Not so much. But, to be honest, you don't want to impress "Jumin Han's assistant." You want to impress Jaehee.
More and more reasons to do your best. You set down your phone, pull over the files, and get back to work.
You're drowsing off in your chair when the messenger beeps, jolting you awake. It's ten PM... you suppose you could go to bed around now and it would be fine. But first... ah, it's Zen.
It's fun to chat with him... easy. Comfortable. He's easy to talk to; there's not really a lot of effort involved. It's not tense like it is with Jumin--even if you kinda like that tension--or like a race like it is with Seven.
Talking with Jaehee motivates you. Talking with Jumin leaves you a bit breathless, scared, and excited, like racing on the edge of a skyscraper. Talking with Seven is invigorating in a different way, leaves you with so much energy you feel like you could kick down a door... or clean an entire apartment in a day, which you had... and always leaves you wanting more.
Talking with Zen isn't like any of that. It's just relaxing. You don't feel like you have to prove anything or be paying super close attention. You can just sort of.. idly chat.
Still, you can't turn off the "paying super close attention" part of your brain, not really. And you can't help but wonder... why wouldn't V let you meet anyone in person? Surely you could go some place third party, like a coffee shop, so long as you didn't reveal the address of the apartment... So why? This V guy... isn't he kind of suspicious?
Well, suspicious is the natural extension of mysterious, and V is definitely that. Still, he's obviously the centerpiece of the organization, so you keep your suspicions to yourself. Maybe Zen would be able to answer your questions if you asked, or if not him, then Seven or Jumin. But you don't even want to be seen asking right now.
And you can't ask V either... his number doesn't seem to be in the messenger. You can't text or call him.
It's not even five minutes after Zen left the chatroom. You're still in the messenger, changing your avatar to a sleepy pug, when your phone rings unexpectedly, startling you. Huh... it's Zen. He'd just left, why is he calling?
"Hey, where are you?"
...?
"Uhm... the apartment?" you reply uncertainly.
"What are you talking about? What apartme--Huh? Ah! I'm sorry! What am I saying to someone I just met... I was trying to call someone else! Sorry!"
You can't help but laugh. You'd done that to Jumin earlier, but you'd collected yourself a lot better than Zen. It's kind of nice to see him goof up like this.
The two of you wind up chatting for a bit, though not too long since he still has to call his friend. He's loose and casual, and just as relaxing to talk to on the phone. He has a really great voice... you can see why he's an actor. Crazy hot, good voice, great singer... You're amazed he's not in a band or something.
You have to wonder, though, with as many hints as he keeps dropping about being single... Ha... hints. Wasn't his profile "I'm single by the way" at one point? That's not dropping hints, that's smashing you upside the head with a clue-by-four. Dude doesn't even know what you look like... it's got to just be harmless flirting, right?
You know... you'd managed not to do anything inappropriate so far, particularly involving Zen or his selfies... You were kinda proud of yourself for that. But God was clearly testing you, because Yoosung--aka Judas--sends you a picture of Zen lounging in a Zorro costume, shirt open. Dude is ripped! Total six pack! You could bounce 100 won coins off them. Lord have mercy...
You'd decided to stop working and lay down in your newly-sheeted bed, but your mind is still bouncing around on the events of the day. And unfortunately, it's mostly landing in inappropriate places. It's not your fault, damnit! People kept making comments about Seven being a sadist, you’re weak for ANYONE in tailored suits, and Zen basically has the body of a marble statue.
Thank god for Yoosung. Safe little Yoosung, the only one who hasn't been inspiring your imagination all day. Even Jaehee and her beyond-cute short hair is more inspiring than Yoosung. He's like a space place. Every time your mind wanders to sinful places, you drag it back by thinking about innocent little Yoosung, who would probably be devastated to learn you'd been masturbating in his dead cousin's bed.
Actually, thinking about it as being a dead girl's bed kind of helps... but also has you climbing out of bed to go lay on the couch again instead. It's just too freaky, even with the new sheets, ugh! Hopefully time will help. The couch is comfy but you don't want to sleep on it indefinitely.
Of course, being on the couch instead of the dead-bed isn't really helping you sleep. Instead, your mind is considering how the members of the RFA would look with their shirts off.
You don't even think you believe in "sin" anymore, but your Catholic guilt isn't going anywhere. You bounce around between idle fantasies and feeling like a bad person for entertaining those idle fantasies for a couple of hours before giving up on sleep and taking your second shower of the day.
... Yeah... Turns out... being naked and wet does not serve as a distraction from sexual fantasies. It, in fact, makes them infinitely worse.
You do feel better when you get out, but it wasn't thanks to the water, and you feel distinctly like you owe Seven and Zen an apology.
You must have fallen asleep at some point, because you dreamt.
The sounds of traffic, muffled by the rain and trickling in the open window, invade the dream, which consists mostly of driving. You're in one of Seven's fancy-ass sports cars. The dream can't quite decide which one of you is driving... you alternate, and at one point, the car appears to be driving itself. The night is dark, but the stars are bright enough that you don't have any problem seeing the road. You're up in the mountains...
"How is your car driving itself?" you ask, because you can't relax and let cool things just happen, even when you're asleep.
"I'm a computer genius," Seven replies casually, leaning back in his seat. "Of course I can make a self-driving car."
Oh, well, that makes perfect sense. At least within the confines of the dream it does. You'll be seriously questioning your subconscious after you wake up.
"You know... with the car driving itself, we don't have to worry about being distracted," Seven says slyly. You glance over at him, and start. Why is he wearing that crazy Zorro outfit from Zen's poster?! Also, is it really likely that a hacker has that kind of a body?!
"Oh, um, I..."
"Don't you want to?" he asks, shifting closer, over the gear stick. "I could show you why Jumin doesn't let me come over anymore~" he adds playfully. The back of your mind is screaming that this is terribly impractical behavior in a car, but everything seems to be working pretty well to YOU.
"What was it..." he murmurs against your neck. "Something about... biting?"
And his teeth close against your skin, the gasp and the jolt shoot you bolt upright in bed, panting and flushed.
...
...
...FIFTY Hail Marys! Where's the nearest confessional?!