*This song is a great mood setter for this chapter cause of the tense, sneaky mission that takes place. Highly recommend listening to it while reading. Enjoy!*
(if not showing, it’s One by One- detroit become human)Â
Someone was singing. A melancholic melody echoed down the quiet corridor, wordless but carrying and array of emotions.
Jisung smiled as his escort left him in the gray room. “Why are you singing?”
Minho shrugged, like someone asked him a silly question about what he was doing and he was about to say ‘nothing’. “Why are you not singing?”
“You answer first.”
Minho hummed another few notes before going quiet again. “Today was a bad day. I’ve got new scars thanks to my tests. I heard that singing can help when you’re feeling… trapped and hurt.”
Jisung couldn’t respond for a long moment, wishing he could really comfort his friend. “So sing when the pain becomes too much?’
Minho nodded. “It’s a comforting distraction. Your voice is free while you aren’t.”
A few minutes of quiet as Minho returned to humming. Then Jisung joined him, and their harmonizing voices rang down the cold halls of their personal hell, escaping into the wilderness while their bodies remained chained.
⧫⧫⧫
“What is that infernal noise?”
“He’s singing.”
“Who?”Â
“ML-32.”
⧫⧫⧫
Jisung motioned to Hyunjin, who nodded in return, and they bolted across the grass, weapons and heads lowered as they crept closer to the sprawling mansion Solswor was operating from. Thanks to Jeongin and Chan, they had a clear path to the main building, but from there, they were mostly on their own. This was only a reconnaissance mission, they couldn’t go in guns ablaze.
Thankfully, this was Jisung’s area of expertise, and they made their way to the mansion quite easily. From there, the pair split up, Hyunjin moving to study the perimeter around the buildings while Jisung entered the main building.
The room he’d entered appeared to be a study, and Jisung slipped a pair of black gloves on- careful of the healing wounds on his hands- before searching every drawer and cabinet he could see. He found Solswor’s financial records, and he photographed the pages that dated from the Assembly to the present. Other than than, there was nothing more of use, and he put everything back neatly.
Jisung adjusted his black mask, making sure it was secure before peeking through the door of the study. The hall was dimly lit by a few table lamps, and it appeared to be empty. He scanned the ceiling and spotted a camera nestled in the corner above the window at the end of the hall.
There’s always a camera. And it’s a cheap one at that.
Jisung took one of his most trusted tools from the pocket of his black jacket: a laser. Felix had specifically designed this laser to briefly rob cameras of their sight for a few seconds, so if anyone were to look back on it, it would seem like nothing more than a glitch happened. He flashed the laser across the camera’s lens, and then crept out into the hall, closing the door behind him silently.
The area in front of him was completely dark, so Jisung took advantage of that and kept moving forward before the camera behind him could recover. Despite how utterly dark it was, Jisung navigated the place easily. He’d always been able to see in the dark better than most, and he never knew why. It wasn’t until after he learned about Chimera that he realized they probably helped strengthen his night vision to be the best spy possible.
Making his way through the mansion was a tense, silent process, and Jisung was grateful for that. He easily avoided the only two men he’d seen so far, and he had a fairly clear vision of the layout of this place.
As he was about to make his way back outside, he stopped himself as he passed a seemingly unimportant wall. He listened carefully. He thought he heard voices coming from the wall, and his suspicions were confirmed when he stood completely still.
Jisung tilted his head as the wall. A minuscule line of light etched along the bottom of the wall, roughly the same length as the width of a door. A secret room. How original.
Reaching into another pocket, Jisung pulled out a thin wire and attached it to his earpiece. He slid the other end of the wire under the small crack at the base of the wall and only stopped once the tiny microphone picked up on the voices beyond the wall.
“–sitting here.”
“We just need to be patient.” A very gravelly voice snapped.
“We’ve been patient long enough,” the first voice growled. “You say this means more money than we could ever imagine, but we haven’t done a damn thing in weeks. We’re low on funds, Hoon.”
Hoon is Solswor’s underboss. Looks like he really has taken over.
“Iregray has plenty. Use what they have.”
A huff of frustration. “The Assembly is gonna have our asses if they find out about this.”
“Forget the Assembly, Ju-won. That alliance was between us and Iregray, no one else. Besides, these guys are so much bigger than the mafia.”
“Just like the pay check is gonna be bigger, right?” Ju-won questioned with bitter sarcasm.
A slam. “Are you questioning me?” Hoon’s voice was low and threatening.
“No sir, I’m questioning this ‘Chimera’. Our guys don’t even know what’s going on! Yet you’re completely okay with this? They disintegrated Iregray, you really think they won’t do the same to us?”
“I’ve made sure they won’t. As long as we keep our side of the deal. Once we get the Thrills to sign the contract, Chimera will give us our first pay.”
A beat of silence.
“So we have this organization and the Thrills behind us, and that’s it? Lee Minho is at our throat, and apparently Nightfield is backing him. Oh, and who is allied with Nightfield? That’s right, EVERYONE. We’re fucked.”
Jisung smirked at that.
Hoon was talking again, his voice grating in Jisung’s ear. “Chimera has more power than you think. Now if I hear another word of doubt from you, you can join the rest of Iregray at the underground station. Am I clear?”
Ju-won sighed. “Yes sir.”
“Very good. We continue lying low. Got it?”
“Yes sir.”
“You’re dismissed.”
Jisung pulled the wire back and wrapped it up, backing away and hiding himself around the corner. Light spilled into the hall, blocked in the center by a tall silhouette.
This Ju-won might be useful. His doubt may be an open door. Jisung waited for the light to close away before creeping out of hiding and following the tall shape of Ju-won. Taking someone in secret from a huge place like this was inconvenient and difficult, but Jisung had learned that it was best to follow the target until they reached a location that was easy to escape from.
Jisung kept a fair distance away just in case someone decided to come have a chat with his target. And just as he thought, an older woman emerged from an office and called Ju-won to a stop.
Jisung was a little too far to hear what they were saying, but he backed up nonetheless at the sight of a camera aimed in his direction. The wide corridor he’d come from stretched out to his right, and the shadows a short distance away shifted. He quickly pressed himself back into the window behind him, his eyes still on Ju-won’s back in the distance. He was exposed here, and someone was definitely coming this way.
Thinking on his feet, Jisung drew the hunting knife Changbin lended him, and positioned it carefully in his hand as he waited with held breath.
A heavy-built man barely taller than him rounded the corner, but before he could utter a noise, Jisung set his hand over his mouth from behind and slit his throat, simultaneously dragging him back into the darkness. Jisung’s gloved hand muffled the few choking and gurgling noises from his victim before everything went quiet again, and he slowly lowered the body to the floor.
After making sure Ju-won was still in sight, Jisung returned to the unfortunate but unavoidable mess he made. He pushed the man’s shirt into his throat to slow the flow of blood that could quickly dirty the floor and reveal there was an intruder somewhere, and finally dragged the body into a dark room a few feet away.
Jisung was usually much more thorough when it came to hiding his tracks, but he didn’t have the time for that at the moment. With the body out of sight, he rushed back into the hall and peeked out just in time to see Ju-won turn another corner. The woman was nowhere in sight, and he flicked the laser over the camera before going after his target.
Ju-won made it onto the ground floor and made for the front door. With four guards posted between the base of the stairs and the front entrance, Jisung had no choice but to exit from the second floor and hope that he could catch up to Ju-won in time.
After narrowly avoiding dropping right in front of a few guards and dodging others, Jisung spotted Ju-won’s tall figure heading for the large parking area on the South side of the property. One of the car’s headlights flashed as he unlocked the vehicle. Jisung moved for that car.
“Hey!”
Jisung froze where he was crouched behind a large SUV, but he relaxed as the man that yelled approached Ju-won and asked him something.
With a breath of relief, Jisung snuck into the backseat of the black car Ju-won unlocked and waited. A moment later, the driver door opened and the car dipped as Ju-won dropped behind the steering wheel.
As soon as the door was closed Jisung shot forward, digging his hand into the side of Ju-won’s neck, closing off the Vagus nerve hard enough that Ju-won went limp, his head dropping forward. Jisung caught the man’s head before it hit the horn and instead pushed him so he fell to the side.
The guard that spoke with Ju-won was still outside, though it appeared he was speaking into an earpiece and therefore not paying attention. Jisung didn’t want to draw any suspicion, so he had to go about this carefully.
Shifting forward, Jisung reached between the seats, hooked his arms under Ju-won’s, and began slowly dragging him into the backseat. “Why are your legs so damn long?” he hissed, annoyed at how they were getting caught under the steering wheel.
The man outside started coming closer, making Jisung freeze up once again. He watched the man like a hawk, his hand slowly descending on the gun that sat holstered under his arm. The man motioned, and another figure ran by, heading for the mansion. After a tense moment, the first guard walked away.
I hate missions full of tension like this.
Jisung dropped Ju-won onto the backseat and dragged his feet from where they were caught before dropping them as well. He had to catch his breath, still a bit out of practice thanks to his stay with Chimera, before he used the laces of his boots to tie his target down. Finally, he climbed into the driver seat and tapped his earpiece.
“Hyunjin, I’ve got a surprise guest that I’m taking back to Nightfield. I’m in a black Mercedes on the South side. I’m driving out of here and I’ll wait at the rendezvous.” Jisung started the car and pulled it into gear before his earpiece came to life.
“I’m on my way out,” Hyunjin said, voice hushed. “I’ll meet you there.”
“Watch your back boys,” Chan’s voice suddenly joined. “We’ve been seeing a lot of patrols in a four-block radius, they might try to stop you.”
“Good luck to them,” Hyunjin joked.
Jisung slowly pulled away from the parking area, sitting a bit taller and as casually as possible. Solswor had to know this car, so hopefully no one would try to stop him. He kept one hand on his gun the whole time, just in case.
Hyunjin appeared on the side of the road a few blocks away and held his thumb out as he sported a goofy grin.
Jisung snorted and nearly considered driving on, but he wasn’t that mean. “You’re a very unserious person, aren’t you?” he asked as Hyunjin climbed into the car.
“Life already sucks, if I can make it a little more fun, I’m going to.” Hyunjin glanced into the backseat. “So, why did you steal someone?”
“I learned a few useful things, and Ju-won back there is going to provide more information concerning those things. I needed to steal him.”
“He looks dead.”
“He’s not,” Jisung assured casually. “He won’t even be asleep for that long, so be prepared for when he gets up. I’m sure he won’t be happy.”
Hyunjin looked Jisung up and down, impressed. “Changbin told me you are the best informant in the industry. I see that he isn’t wrong.”
Jisung smiled. “No, he just says that to be nice.”
“Just to be nice, uh, huh,” Hyunjin responded sarcastically. “Jisung, you managed to wander through the entirety of the mansion and take a full grown man without alerting a single person to your presence.”
“I don’t know if that’s as amazing as you’re saying,” Jisung muttered, rubbing his neck in slight embarrassment.
“Stop being so humble. You’re very talented.”
“I did leave a body, so technically I did leave traces. Not my best work.”
“I had to kill two guys and I nearly set off a few alarms. And I was outside where staying hidden is easy as hell. Now accept the compliment.”
Jisung cracked a smile. “Okay, fine. I guess I’m pretty decent.”
Hyunjin laughed. “Good enough.”
⧫⧫⧫
Aside from asking where he was and what happened, Ju-won was quiet from the car ride all the way until this moment, when he was restrained on the couch in front of Jisung, Chan, and Felix. Since he was being so cooperative, they decided to keep his interrogation as easy and relaxed as an interrogation could be.
“Based on how you’re looking at us, I’m assuming you know who we are,” Chan began casually, leaning forward from where he was sat on the opposite couch.
Felix was sitting in the corner of the room taking note of everything while Jisung stood off to the side, ready to question the prisoner his way if needed.
Ju-won nodded, briefly eyeing Jisung cautiously. “Yeah, I do. Frankly, I’m not surprised that Nightfield has already closed in on us.”
Chan nodded. “Good, then you know what you’re here for. Now, we can either have a nice conversation like this while you tell us everything we need to know, or Jisung will take his turn and extract the information in a not-so-pleasant way.”
Jisung nearly smiled at the rehearsed words. He’d missed hearing that spiel after being away from Nightfield for so long.
Ju-won glanced between the two of them. “I’ll cooperate, don’t worry. I’ve heard enough about Han Jisung to know that I’d rather not test him.”
“Smart lad.” Chan leaned back into the cushions of the couch, a tactic to help the prisoner relax just a bit more. “We know Solswor is working with the organization known as Chimera. How long has that been going on?”
Ju-won scoffed lightly. “Saying we’re working with Chimera isn’t accurate. We’ve turned into their dog. All we do is obey orders and hope we get the pay we are promised.”
“You don’t seem so happy about this arrangement.”
“I’m not.”
Chan let the information soak in. “Interesting. So your underboss, Hoon, has taken control over everything and he passes Chimera’s orders down, correct?”
Ju-won nodded. “We’ve mostly done small things, like adjusting the ranks and killing a few rats. But they helped us eradicate Iregray almost completely.”
“So you got rid of their leaders. Where are the rest of them?”
“Most are dead. Some are missing. The rest are in an underground bunker.”
“Why keep them alive?”
“Hoon is trying to break them down to join our ranks.”
Chan shared a glance with Jisung. “And what became of Iregray’s territory?
“It’s ours.” Ju-won shook his head. “I’m a greedy bastard, and even I think Hoon is going a bit too far. Iregray was going to strengthen our standing, but not like this. What is Chimera? If they can destroy an entire mafia group so quickly and quietly, they must be damn powerful.”
Jisung answered before Chan could. “They’re definitely powerful. I can’t really explain just who they are in a way that makes sense, but do you remember what Lee Minho talked about back at the Assembly?”
Ju-won tipped his head back in thought. “Yeah, I do. Is Chimera that threat he was talking about?”
Chan nodded in confirmation. “They mean to tear the mafia apart, not because they’re amazing people wanting to create change, but because they’ve been discovered and they’re greedy.”
“What about that contract with the Thrills, what does that entail?” Jisung asked.
“If they sign it, they either have to work with us and Chimera willingly, or we’ll take them down just like Iregray.”
Chan’s eyes darkened. “So Iregray tried breaking your alliance before Chimera moved in?”
“Yeah. With Chimera it’s join or die.”
Hyeon must be desperate if he’s resorting to such dirty tricks. He’s actually going after the mafia, what a lunatic.
Ju-won suddenly bowed forward, setting his head in his cuffed hands. “I don’t want to be your enemy. I just want to know what’s going on and how to get things back to the way they were. Solswor was successful, we had a place in the ranks of the mafia and now we’re outcast and vilified.”
Jisung could understand how he felt. “Wherever Chimera goes, destruction follows. We’re trying to stop them completely.” He stepped forward, crouching so he could meet the prisoner’s eyes. “We don’t want to be your enemy either. We want your help in standing against a common enemy.”
“What can I do?”
“Work with us. Give us all the information you have, and we’ll help you restore Solswor to what it should be.” Chan motioned to Felix, who in turn nodded and quietly left. “We can come up with a contract to ease both of our minds. If you temporarily ‘join’ us, and work as an inside man to provide us with whatever we need to succeed, we will cleanse Solswor as you see fit, and you can take over as don once this all blows over.”
Ju-won went quiet for a long moment, staring at his hands in contemplation. “I never was a huge fan of Hoon, and since I don’t know what he did with our boss, I don’t trust him. He wants to ruin us, so if I can ruin him instead, I’ll do it.”
Jisung’s heart lifted as a small bit of weight was pulled from his body. His lungs had more room to function, and he found himself taking a deep breath in relief. He’d chosen Ju-won well.
We’re getting closer, Minho. Just hold on a little longer.
— —————— I know, no romance in a chapter is devastating. But like, plot is also important lol. It was a bit boring, but oh well! Hope you enjoyed. We’re getting semi close to the end. Thanks for reading o-o
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